My younger brother hates the sound of brushing teeth.
I cannot stand the sound of teeth scraping on a fork.
To us, those are like nails on a chalkboard. Probably even worse.
Now to you; noise, smell, action, non-action or otherwise, what’s that one thing you can’t stand?
Bonus question: what does that reveal about you as a person?
I wrote a post a couple weeks ago about a benefit concert called Help Haiti Live.
Today is the day!
The concert will be held in Nashville, but will be streamed live on HelpHaitiLive.com. Shaun Groves has produced the event, and in a very short time, has pulled together quite the lineup.
All donations will benefit Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund.
The lineup:
Big Kenny, Alison Krauss with Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Jars of Clay, Matt Kearney, Jon Foreman, Matt Wertz, Brandon Heath, Dave Barnes and NEEDTOBREATHE.
The show starts at 7:30 CST, and if you haven’t found a way to give to Haiti, this would be a great opportunity to tune in and donate.
This is the first day I have been involved in packing up our apartment in preparation for our move back to Des Moines, IA. Amanda has been packing in short spurts while I am at work, but today has been declared a full-on cleaning and packing day. I don’t get excited about cleaning, but I am embracing what this move means to us:
If you wouldn’t mind, we would welcome your thoughts and prayers. And be ready for a few sappy, nostalgic posts in the near future.
We will be transitioning out of our roles as Experiences Pastor and O.C. Kids Director (awesome that we never actually used these titles) this coming week at One Church. Please keep the One Church community in your prayers as well, specifically for continued growth, reach and impact in Winston-Salem.
I see the same man every morning. Young. Arrogant. Battling self-doubt and invincibility. He looks at me with a pride in his eyes that make you want to shrink back – turn away. He carries a sense of entitlement that weighs heavy on those around him, and he refuses to help shoulder the burden. He avoids responsibility and searches for an easy exit that eliminates any and all extra work. He slides by. He doesn’t claw. He slips around conversations and inner–searching in route to lazy self-gratification. He needs my mercy, but grace is like my last dollar in a clenched fist.
I search for strength and pry my hand open, finger by finger. I hand over the mercy, letting grace slip through my lips with a, “Blessing to you.”
Then I can pull my eyes down and break my gaze. Another day begins.
Here’s the thing, you may be talented and resourceful but that shouldn’t provide any sense of entitlement.
Dell is a great computer brand. They have found a way to make machines on the cheap. But if they somehow convince themselves that they have arrived, while in the mean time, Steve Jobs is announcing the newest Apple product that dissolves pre-standing market boundaries, they are in for major trouble. Dell is a reputable brand, but Apple is widely known as a superior brand. It’s just reality. This doesn’t make Dell the red-headed stepchild of computers (even though you may think so) they just can’t beat Apple at Apple’s game.
That’s ok. There is a market for “Not Apple.” And Dell has played to that market well. Dell advertises their entry-level laptops as THE computer to send your kid off to college with. It’s cheap and if they break it, you didn’t throw a couple grand down the tube. It’s the art of the niche.
I made a few goals for this blog a month ago, and since January, have been posting everyday (but not writing everyday – which allows for the “step away often” goal to be met). I believe I have something to add to the endless self-published jungle found on the internet. Ultimately, I want to generate meaningful content and become a great writer. Daily writing is the best way for me to see that happen. I would say that I am a talented writer, but…if I think writing everyday somehow gets me the corner on the blog market, it’s going to end badly. This blog, like any other venture, business, aspiration, or ministry must find it’s niche and connect well with an audience. You may be talented, but it doesn’t end there…
Here are some other posts about writing you may enjoy.
And in case you need to be reminded…
Economic production has been linked to overall happiness, as shown in this post from The Atlantic. While you can’t argue against the data, it can make you worry a little.
It makes sense that in our society, where value is all too often placed on material accumulation, that people who find themselves out of work and/or not making high amounts of money, would experience lower levels of well-being.
Of course, if you define yourself by what you do, how much you make, and what you can buy, you will undoubtedly have a lower perceived self-value if you aren’t making the big bucks.
It reminds me of an explanation I heard about the Sabbath. God commanded an entire nation to rest once a week who until that point, were valued on their production levels. If your value equals the amount of bricks you can make (reports you can file, designs you can create, articles you can write, campaigns you can produce, etc.), taking Saturday off is ludicrous. But it is exactly what they need to gain perspective.
The message of Exodus: You are valued because of who you are, not because of what you produce.
We all need to be reminded of that from time to time.
I feel the biggest obstacle for church’s who are desiring to publish content online is determining their target audience, and what is expected from said audience. “Whoever decides to show up” is not only a terrible target, but it sets everyone up for confusion and discouragement.
Having no expectation for their engagement is an equally terrible approach.
Consider these questions…
You can read the rest of the post I wrote over at ChurchCrunch.com – a newly redesigned and beautiful blog, that is part of the 8bit network.
Every Sunday morning for the past couple years, I’ve woken up to go to work (serve, for you religious folk) at a local church.
I went to/worked at Cornerstone Family Church in Des Moines, with an occasional Thursday night or Sunday morning in attendance at Lutheran Church of Hope.
Now I spend my Sunday mornings helping run One Church.
So that’s how I spend my Sunday mornings.
How do you spend yours?
Do you go to church? If so, where?
If not, what’s your Sunday morning routine?
I love the Olympics. I love watching athletes from all over the world coming together in one place with a focus on global peace.
This year, however, I feel like we are missing the point when it comes to the spirit of the Olympic games. As nations come together to cheer on their representatives, there is a nation that lay in ruin. The earthquake in Haiti happened a short five weeks ago, and there was a tremendous immedate response. The reports lately have been along the lines of,
The devastation is still staggering, and the Haitian people are in great need.
But now we have the Olympics updates instead of Haiti updates. Now we have Olympic results streaming nearly 24 hours a day instead of Haitian death tolls. Now we have athlete profiles from major media outlets instead of earthquake survivor profiles.
So in the spirit of the Olympic Games, let’s not forget our neighbors in Haiti as the rainy season approaches.
To get involved in both the short-term and long-term housing efforts in Haiti, check out ahomeinhaiti.org.
So Lent started, and I completely missed the opening ceremony Ash Wednesday. Amanda and I were registering for a baby shower at Babies R Us and I saw a lady with something on her forehead. As I licked my thumb in preparation to save her public embarrassment, I realized the ashy smudge was in a sloppy cross sign. Then it dawned on me, and I realized I hadn’t quit consuming sugar or given up American Idol to be closer with God. Crap.
I missed Ash Wednesday as a result of not celebrating Lent growing up. I do, however have a desire to participate in ancient traditions that unify believers across the globe. There is something profound to me about being a part of something on that scale.
A cool Lenten resource: The Gateway Church in Des Moines, IA is tweeting their way through Lent, you can follow along by following them on Twitter @Gateway_Church