Uncertainty

:: CATALYST WEST :: APRIL 23-24, 2009 ::

Recently, I went to the CATALYST WEST conference in southern California. The conference was packed with great speakers. I took some notes on what they said and am putting them on my blog so that 1) I can re-evaluate what each speaker said and hopefully gain something from it, and 2) you might be able to gain something from my notes as well.

Here is the first installation.

:: Andy Stanley ::

Uncertainty is why we have jobs. Uncertainty is why we need leaders.

Life is uncertain, but God is not uncertain.

Uncertainty is not an indication of poor leadership, uncertainty is the arena in which great leadership is found.

Uncertainty is when God shows up.

Clarity :: As a leader it is okay to be uncertain, but it is not okay to be unclear.
Flexibility :: Plans change, vision remains the same.

In uncertain times, to be clear we need to go back to the original thing we were called to.

Joshua 1:10-11 :: So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.' "

The reason a lot of churches are dead is because people long abandoned the vision and fell in love with the plan.

No decision was sacred, but he never changed the vision. (referring to Sam Walton, founder of Walmart)

BE HONEST (when sharing vision)!

Leadership is not making decisions on your own; it's about owning them once the decision has been made.

teachable moment?

Two in one day? You may say I'm getting carried away... and I might agree. I'm just feeling contemplative.

Some think God is trying to teach us something in every situation. The other day, through [Lemony Snicket's] a series of unfortunate events (I couldn't help it), I ended up having to clean coolant off of my car. I lifted my windshield wipers to clean the windshield and the wipers as well. I then opened the hood to clean off any coolant in the engine compartment... forgetting that one of the wipers was still up. I cracked my windshield, cracks going from the bottom of the windshield all the way to the top.

Don't worry, though, I paid to have it fixed.

Which brings me to my point: What is God trying to teach me in this moment?

I am stupid. Seriously. I am not nearly as smart as I think I am. God has a sense of humor and was just using my windshield to remind me that He knows more than I do. Lesson learned for now. I'll forget and have to pay another $155 to replace my windshield again... or something else that I break in my stupidity.

Play in the yard?

I visited my parents last weekend and went to church with them. While sitting in church a thought struck me so I started writing. Here is what I wrote:

"Before I make this analogy, I'll say this: analogies are frustrating in that they will always be incomplete or fall short or fail on some level. Yet there is still value in them because they [in this case] help us to better understand who God is.

With that out of the way, here's the analogy:

God guides like a parent. Sometimes he says [something like] 'clean your room before you go play' (specific guidance). Other times he says, 'go play just don't leave the yard/street' (general guidance). The tough part is learning to discern the difference!"


NOTE: anything in [brackets] I added to clarify.

My mentor, Brian Holland, has said something like this before. I'm just stealing the idea from him... because it's a good one. And I don't bring this up for no reason. right now, I am trying to figure out what God, my Dad, wants me to do... play in the yard or clean my room? What do you want, Dad?

El Hombre

"You know how I want people to remember me?" [El Hombre] asks. "I don't want to be remembered as the best baseball player ever. I want to be remembered as a great guy who loved the Lord, loved to serve the community and who gave back. That's the guy I want to be remembered as when I'm done wearing this uniform. That's from the bottom of my heart."

How many professional athletes would say that? And how many would truly think that? Very few. It's one thing to say that, and maybe even think it, but it is another thing entirely to live it.

El Hombre. The Man. Read the Article Here.

Just a Character

I've never written a book. I certainly enjoy reading books (primarily fiction) and think that it could be a fun adventure to my hand at writing. I think the most exciting idea of writing is that, as an author, you are completely in control. An author has unlimited choices when writing the book. He can create and destroy, give and take. The author can do whatever he wants because it is his story.

Let's think about a recent movie to help me illustrate that point. The Dark Knight. If you've seen it, do you remember Detective Anna Ramirez? No? Well, she was the detective that worked for Lt. James Gordon and she ended up helping the Joker and Two-Face. Anyway, my point is that she was a relatively small character in the movie. What if, after reading through the script, she said, "I think this story should have me in it more. You're focusing too much on the Joker and Batman. The real story here is my role in deceiving everyone." What if she said that? The author/director would probably explain to her that the movie wasn't about her. The story is really about how Batman saves Gotham City from the Joker and in the end sacrifices himself for the greater good. It wasn't about Anna Ramirez, but she did get to be part of the story!

Let's think about another story for a second. The Story of the World. You are in it, whether you want to be or not. You are playing yourself and, I hate to break it to you, but you have a fairly small role. The title won't have your name in it, most people probably won't even notice that your in the story.

But you are. You are in this story. It's just not your story. It's God's. And just like Detective Anna Ramirez, you can think, "this story should have me in it more. You are focusing too much on [Jesus]. The real story is my role." Okay, Okay. I know that you would never say this. But how much do you think it? How often do you stop and realize that this story that you are taking a part of is not about you at all? I know I rarely think about it.

The story is really about how Jesus saves us from sin and in the end sacrifices himself for us. The story was not ever about us. We are just a character in the story, but we get to be in the story!

God is not in my story, because it is not my story. I am in His story. Just a character, and a minor one at that. But I am glad God saw something in me to give me the part.

Cliche Love

'Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.' -I Corinthians 13

This is so cliche. It's quoted too often. Overused. Boring. Irrelevant. Impossible.

If that is the case, our perspective needs to change. Love never fails.

Actions fail. Words fail. Thoughts fail. But Love never fails.
People fail. Money fails. Possessions fail. But Love never fails.
Work fails. Institutions fail. Countries fail. But Love never fails.
Life fails. Liberty fails. "The pursuit of happiness" fails. But Love never fails.


Love never fails. It's patient and kind.
It is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.
It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.
It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Love never fails.

Happy Valentine's Day!

random consistency

I started this blog a while ago. This will be my third post. Dating back to October 2007. If I tried to "update" everything since my last post, this would get pretty long. So, I'm not going to do that. I'll just give you three thoughts for the day:

1 - marriage is full of wonder, hope, teachable moments, and love.

2 - beauty can be found in the desert.

2 - love is never more apparent than when it is given even when it is not reciprocated.