I hope you will stay in touch and involved in my life.

Therefore, I am trying to envision what those things are.

But herein lies the problem, I’ve never looked ahead.  I am the type of person who lives in the now.  I always have and it is a struggle for me because I am always weary of setting aside time to figure out my future.  An example would be if I don’t have time for myself now, it doesn’t matter what happens on my Sabbath a week from now, I want to have time now and this leads to many frustrations on my part if I don’t have a time to relax soon.

I’ve never looked ahead to where God wants me to be.  Or where I want to be.

As a kid, I had these dreams of playing music for people all over the world.  This dream was mainly influenced from the likes of Aerosmith and Michael Jackson but it was a vision of the future I saw nonetheless.

So I am learning to take steps to plan toward what I desire.

Currently, I am learning more deeply than ever before that in order to go somewhere, you must first know where you are going and then take steps to get there each day.  And as they say, consistency is the key.

This is a truth that I am being forced to see in most of the things that I am reading and most of the times in prayer.  I need to be focused on where I am supposed to be going and on how I can get there one day at a time.  After all, a dream is really only a step away.

What things help you stay focused on your dreams and goals each day?

I believe that I love this movie simply because of two scenes in the movie.  The first one is between Orlando Bloom’s character, Drew, and Alec Baldwin’s character who just so happens to be Drew’s boss, Phil.  In case you are not aware, it is very funny to see Alec Baldwin act no matter what his character is doing.  But when Phil says, “I cry a lot”, it is awesome.  Drew has made a big mistake and it is one that could ruin his career and his company.

After discovering this new fiasco, Phil is like so many people in this world because at one point during this grieving state, after losing almost a billion dollars, because of Drew’s fiasco, Phil says “I am ill-equipped in the philosophies of failure.”  This is how we approach life.  We fear failure so we don’t try.  This is personified through Phil.

But the more defining moment of the movie (which I believe could change our lives if applied) is when Kirsten Dunst’s character, Claire Colburn, finds out about Drew’s so-called failure.  Here is what she replies immediately by saying, “So you failed. Alright you really failed. (almost in a sing-songy way too).  You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you’re still smiling.”

I love that.  Today I found another quote that hit this issue of failure too but in more spiritual terms.  Here it is:  “Sometimes the difference between living a great life for God and living in mediocrity is how we handle our failures.” – Mac Lake

So, today, I want you to fail.  Fail big.  Cry a lot about it.  But then keep on going.  Keep dreaming the dreams and trying to strive for their reality.  Make them wonder why you’re still smiling.

Over the past year, Vickie and my Maltese dog, Kate (named after a character on my all-time favorite show which recently met its demise), has been quite rambunctious.  She doesn’t bark.  She doesn’t bite. But she gets…..

well…

annoying.

Especially while we are sleeping.  We (my wife blames me) let her sleep in the bed with us (usually at the end) but over the past few weeks, little Kate has been pacing around at exactly 1:08 in the morning.

We don’t know why but we either take her outside to do her thang or we put her in her cage.

Not sure why I am sharing this with you but I am learning that we, as people, tend to have no problem putting up with those we love when they do what we want them to do.  And we struggle to love them when they ignore our intentions for them.

It’s a common part of human nature.

But here’s my suggestion for the day – let them be who they are and love them anyways.

As the picture below shows, don’t dress up your dog, just let it be who it wants to be.

They might look cute to us, but I am sure that it hurts their little souls.

Well I have a treat for you.  Here are some posts by my wife on her new preggo blog.  Click to enjoy.

Jeopardy!

The Connection

I am happy and proud of both of them because let’s face it…I’m mentioned.  Some might even say that I am a big part of them.

What are you looking forward to the most at this moment in time?

Me?

I am looking forward to the weekend and to little Harrison (little Indy) coming into our world.

But take this list of the 50 worst inventions.

What is the value of a bad idea?

I believe it is a whole lot.  One bad idea can be the thing that spurs you on to a great idea.

If the only thing you have to fear is failure, then go for it.

Make some bad things.  Go crazy.  Because if you keep having ideas, eventually you might get one that sticks.

Have you ever thought about how that one guy came up with Post-It Notes?  I doubt it came about because the guy had one great idea that turned into millions of yellow sticky notes.  (In all truth, that guy made a mistake which turned out to be the good idea).

I would say that it came about through a lot of bad ideas.

The value of a bad idea is not based in that idea itself.  But in the future that extends its potential.

Go forth and dream up the dumbest things you can because I guarantee you, something will eventually stick.

Cram a great amount of truth into a small package and you will usually be my friend for life.

I have had many life-altering conversations.  They all showed me different things.

But they all had one thing in common:

Simple truth that smacked me upside the head.

That is the mold I am trying to conform my writing to.

Some might say that I am trying to copy Seth Godin and Rob Bell but honestly, I am simply trying to communicate better.  I tend to talk.  A lot.  If you know, you know this.  But I don’t want that with my writing.  It’s not that I am trying to get away from being me.  It’s really that I want to get to the point quicker.

Currently, writing things out is helping me communicate it better.

So I have a new motto:
Talk less.
Say more.

But at the same time, I forget that ministry is in the everyday and not in the someday. This is probably the most important thing that I am currently learning.

My niche has always been to look to tomorrow.  How can I get there?  What am I doing now that is pushing toward there?

But those questions miss the point.  You have heard this many times before – the journey is the point, not the destination.  Yet we lose sight of that.  We lose sight of the current promised land that God has allowed us to be in.  We can be in His presence at any moment yet we continually seek after the Canaan in our dreams.  We have the land flowing with milk and honey yet we want that land flowing with milk and honey.

I read a quote from Michael Horton this past week that hit me – “The modern tendency is to downplay the ordinary ministry of the church in favor of the extraordinary movements of the moment.”

I believe in its truth.
Live each day as if its your destination.

I will have a place for music as well as some other things but I would like to simply ask for your prayer in this time because I have a lot on my plate at the moment and it is in the stages of greatly increasing in the coming months so please be praying for me and my ministry.

Thanks.  I’ll keep you updated also.

j

Here are the links that inspired me this week:

1. Chase the Prodigals.  One of my favorite blogs is the People of the Second Chance and in this post they are sharing that some who once had dreams are now not living them out.  They are not even trying to do so.  Let us seek them out and encourage them to keep dreaming and keep living as if their dreams are their reality.
2. Finding the Creative Break.  There are so many times when I can’t seem to get that needed idea that will spark a revolution of thought.  Maybe its because I am trying to do too much.  In this post by Stephen Brewster, he talks about how we need to find that creative break because with it, we can get breakthrough.  Without it, we might simply never reach that fresh idea.
3. Finding a church facility is among one of the hardest tasks for any church to make.  This post on the Resurgence blog titled 23 factors in finding a church facility shows that “selecting a facility is not simply making a decision about where to gather for corporate worship, [but that] it says something about your perception of God and your congregation.”
4. 5 reasons you may not be seeing spiritual growth is a great post.  Definitely check it out.
5. I just heard about this website called Fancy Hands that becomes a digital personal assistant.  Through the website which can link to your Google account, you can set it up to accomplish tasks that you don’t really have time for such as researching a product that you wish to have or finding inspiring quotes to share with your team.  It is quite interesting.