Archives for August 2009

Dirty, messy spaces really bug me. I find myself not wanting to be in them, uninspired, even drained by them. This is true at work, at home, at places I shop… anywhere really.

The exact opposite happens when I clean something up or when I find a space that is organized and makes sense. I become inspired, I gain energy, I want to enjoy it.

One of the biggest drains in my life is messy spaces I can’t find time to fix. One of my most motivating things is solving that problem. The 2009/2010 school year is going to be my year of removing the junk and making my spaces into the ones I want to actually live in.

As a result of this wild crazy cleaning hair I have crawling up my back side, I went on a cleaning/simplifying spree here lately and fixed tons of stuff that’s been bugging me.

• Fixed the ceiling in our bedroom from a leak which resulted in an entire sheet of sheet rock being removed and left unfinished in our bedroom for 4 years. For some crazy reason, I decided enough was enough and fixed it with a friend. It is now textured and painted and good to go.
• We rearranged our bedroom, ditched the drapes, and lost some stuff and it’s cleaner and neater. I might actually get dressed slowly now before leaving. Maybe I’ll even read in bed. Maybe.
• I helped clean out and organize all of Jake and Billy’s clothes.
• I cleaned out and reorganized our kitchen pantry and cupboards.
• I sold a bunch of stuff in a garage sale.
• I sold a bunch more on craig’s list I couldn’t sell at the garage sale.
• I gave a bunch of stuff I didn’t want to bother selling or couldn’t sell either way.
• Then last night after church, I cleaned out my office/work out space in the single car portion of our garage. This one has been a long time in progress. First I put up the wall and built the cabinets and added sheetrock about 4 years ago. I then painted and added the desk. Last night I added carpet that I scored for free and now all I have left to do is paint one more wall and perhaps put in a door with a window and I’m done with this room.

On my to do list:

• find a way to get rid of the carpet in our house- the whole house.
• shelves for becky’s room.
• make a new hall cabinet
• make a new cabinet for our play room.
• 2 bathrooms
• 1 kitchen
• a few interior doors
• shade sails for the backyard.
• paint our house trim
• finish the front planter project I started 2 years ago.

Wish me luck. Might have to be the 2009/2012 plan… but I’m gonna keep cleaning and pray when I’m done, God doesn’t move me again 🙂

I NEED AN HTML class. I tried to tweak the blog html of our encounter blog script for a new one I found that I liked online and after 3 hours of screw ups… I gave up and went generic. Oh well. I can’t figure it out.

THIS VIDEO. Yeah. I have watched it maybe 50 times. If it’s real, he is either “A” totally nuts or “B” very lucky or “C” a math/physics magician or “D” all of the above. Totally crazy I tell you.

THIS VIDEO TOO: Super old, but can’t figure out if it’s real either. But if you pause it. His shadow stays in the right place in each frame. This is crazy too.

I’ve been attending the leadership summit from Willow Creek via satellite for 8 years in a row now I think.  It always moves me to tears.  It always inspires me.  It always challenges me.  It always has waaaaay more information than I can assimilate effectively into my life in the 360ish days in between.    This year was no different in that regard.

Great content. Great challenges.  Great stories of men and women around the world doing great things for God. Great hope in me that I might be that kind of Kingdom leader.

So in an effort to not merely attend another seminar, I’ve developed a habit over the years of taking extensive notes and then trying to weed through those notes and speakers to hear the one or two things that God might be saying to me (usually coming through as a theme through multiple voices).

So, this year, I was reminded of several things I wanted to re-up and commit myself to again and then two that I want to try to implement. Here they are:

REMINDERS I WANT TO RE-UP MY COMMITMENT TOWARDS:

• SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-DISCIPLINE:  both are mandatory for good leadership.  Self-awareness is my personal “one word” definition of maturity.  In order to increase it, I need to make intentional time for self-evaluation, submit my life to the discernment of the Holy Spirit, and invite trusted friends to offer honest observations.  I am the hardest person I will ever lead. Self discipline and Self awareness are two inseparable character traits to all great leaders.  I re-uped my commitment to pursuing both.
• DO SOMETHING…. something small is fine.  But do something.  All big challenges are overcome by people who do something- maybe not the biggest thing, but small things that make a big difference.  I know this.  I agree with this.  But I re-uped my commitment to being an activist for Jesus- a doer of my faith, one step at a time.
• LEADERS ARE READERS…  I need to continue to up my commitment to reading good, challenging, life altering material.  Biblical, christian, and counter faith readings.  I want to read that which strengthens my current beliefs and that which stretches me into new paradigms I might never have pondered otherwise. 
• LEADERS SEE FAILURE DIFFERENTLY…  places that fear failure will never be the trail blazers of success.  I yearn to be that kind of leader.  I re-uped my commitment to accept failure as part of my leadership process and to re-defining it in my own life, family, and ministry. 
• EARN THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD:  good leaders don’t demand leadership from position, they earn it through integrity, example, and experience.  I re-uped my commitment to personally demanding that my life speak louder than my mouth. 

2 THINGS I WANT TO COMMIT TO THIS NEXT SCHOOL YEAR:

• OPEN SHARE MINISTRY:  I want to work hard this year to earn not just unity, but collaboration.  I don’t want merely understanding or compliance towards a common goal in our ministry, I want ownership and investment.  I’m going to work extensively and creatively to try and increase the points where students and staff have a voice into our ministry.  I’m going to add sermon prep ideas to our weekly production meeting, seek insights from leaders more regularly, and strive to open new ways for students, parents, volunteers, and staff to invest in our ministry.

• RELATIONSHIPS. RELATIONSHIPS.  RELATIONSHIPS.   The last 3 months of my life, I have noticed an increase in my prayer life and and increase in my notice and awareness towards students and even my family’s needs based on conversations I have had with them.  I’ve been to lunches, stayed late after youth group, made intentional conversations in “normal” meetings or meals, and been more purposeful about using facebook, texting, e-mail, face to face meetings, and even old fashion note sending to maintain and advance relationships.  I’m praying that this year is a watershed year for me and a marked increase in the depth and influence of my relationships with students and even my family.  

I need mentors.  I value mentors. I want to be a mentor.  I just met with our middle school pastor and we need more mentors in our middle school department.  I’m constantly in need of more mentors in our high school department. 

I think this:

• If I don’t have a mentor, my learning curve is inhibited.  It’s foolish trail-blazing.

• If I’m not being a mentor, I’m inhibiting someone else’s learning.  It’s selfish.

Mentoring is how discipleship happens. It’s how learning happens.  It’s how we are trained by the experience of those who have been there and done that and can help us do it better.

Today, I was sharing a passion for students and photography with one of our small group leaders.  He is a photographer by trade and today we were meeting in my office and I was bragging about the face of my son in this photo and how much I loved taking pictures and then…. then… then the mentoring moment was seized.

He asked, “what do you edit your pictures in?” 

I said, “Iphoto or photoshop.  But I feel like photoshop is a ferrari that I use to go get groceries with.  It has so much untapped potential, but I’m not sure how to use it.  I really need to take a photoshop class.”

He said, “Open that picture in photoshop.”

I said, “Ok.”… and we were off to the most helpful 15 minutes of training I’ve received in a long time.

BEFORE MENTORING:

AFTER MENTORING.

Mentoring Rocks!!!  Jake was always cute, but now you can see him clearer and the colors are awesome.  I so appreciate people who mentor. 

Our friends the Hammonds had a wood fence to burn, so they said, “Hey, wanna go have a bonfire on Coronado?”  We said, “Sounds good”. 

So we played in the water on a BEAUTIFUL night in Coronado, ate dinner, watched the sun go down while God painted the sky and polished it off with a bonfire and smores.  The whole time I kept thinking the same thing I always do on nights like this… “Man, I can’t believe God lets me live here”.    The coast can be so beautiful.  Add that to some great weather, great friends, and a lightly clouded Sunset and you have the perfect mixture for an “Pinch me so I know I’m not dreaming moment”.

I posted a bunch of pics on facebook, but here’s some for a taste.  I haven’t done a collage in a while.  So here’s two quick ones.  Click them to get a bigger view.

One of the people:

And one of the beautiful surroundings: