tongue in cheek humor

I wonder if they have sold out of these posters yet?

a great compliment

yesterday i was paid one of the greatest compliments i have ever received. i don't bring this up for bragging rights, but more as a wake-up call to how i treat everyone i come in contact with.

here is my paraphrase of what was said to me: "i have never felt more appreciated for what i do..."

of course i was incredibly flattered and felt like i had accomplished one of my primary goals which is to make the people i work with know beyond a doubt that i value their time and effort.

as i thought about this i began to wonder if i show this same level of appreciation to everyone or just those that i think deserve it. did i show a high level of appreciation to our waitress on saturday night? what about the check-out person @ costco the other day?

for some reason, there seems to be an unwritten criteria of the levels of appreciation that i show. fast-food workers & gas station attendants seem to be at one level whereas the lady that cuts my hair is slightly higher. then there is the front desk workers at the ymca where i go to work out that barely get a "hello" from me as i head into the health center.

if i'm supposed to be living out the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12 "do for others what you would like them to do for you.") and Acts 20:35 ("it is more blessed to give than to receive.") in my life, then how i show appreciation shouldn't be dished out in measured incriments. there must be sincerity in my "thank you"s and honesty in my tone and body language.

so here's the deal... "i won't receive it until i give it."

pardon me, but i have a few thank you notes i have to write now.

i argue with myself

why is it that i hate/love change?

when i was in college, my roommate & i loved to re-arrange our dorm room. @ our college, we weren't allowed to build lofts so we had to come up with some pretty interesting configurations in what seemed like 59 square feet.

i used to change my room around at home all the time. try the bed on a different wall, @ an angle, maybe just floating in the middle of the room - i tried them all.

now i start going into seizures if my wife suggests something like "so... you wanna move the couch over here tonight?"

i nearly went into panic mode when we found out our landlord was going to let the house we are renting go into foreclosure. we've lived in this house for 2 years. we've got every room set up as best (i think) as we can. i'm comfortable. don't make me change. i hate change.

i love coming up with new ideas. i love sitting down & brainstorming with creative friends about different things we can do, being more effective as youth pastors. i love coming up with new designs...

i hate/love change. i think i finally have a handle on this. i love change in MY life when I'M the one that decides it's time for change. don't force me to change. don't try to corner me into doing things different...

so how am i supposed to handle it when God wants me to change? what am i going to do about the "All Mighty" asking me to change something in my life? i want to say i handle it better than when my wife asks if i'm ready to change up the living room. but i don't. do i pretend like the water was too loud as i quickly try to wash my hands? do i pretend like i'm at the other end of the house and didn't hear? or that i was so engrossed in my book that i was reading i must have "missed what you just said."

when change comes crashing into my life, i need to realize that i'm not in control & look for the best way that this change can be of benefit to me. if God is asking for me to change, he obviously sees what my future is & that there is something holding me back from being the man that he needs me to be. it's in my best interest to accept the change.

i know the shortcomings i have in my life. i know there are things that i could be better at, things i should avoid. i'm guessing you do to.

what is one thing that you want God to change in your life?

challenges or opportunities

i'm not sure where i saw this shirt the first time, but i think it was in a target. for some reason i thought i'd go back and get it before i left the store.

i'm pretty sure i could become the president of the local union of procrastinators... if we ever actually got together. last i heard, we're going to try and get together next year.

if statistics are accurate, you're probably just like me in that you want to become the leader that God has designed you to be - but we keep putting off developing that characteristic, that drive, that habit, that ability to nail down what comes next.

process development has been something that i've wanted to be better at. you know what i'm talking about, right? it's where you evaluate yourself or a group of people to see where you are at and then (after much prayer) determine where God wants you to be. but what are the steps to make that happen?

here's what i have learned: it's the challenges and opportunities that God places in my life that gives me the chance to develop the leadership skill of creating a process. right now i have a huge challenge in front of me (for real!). so which "chad" is going to show up? the procrastinator or the "chad" that really wants to be the leader that God wants me to be?

imagine how joshua must have felt after moses his mentor died (Joshua 1) and God said to him "I want YOU to go in and clear out the land." i'm sure there must have been a lot of doubts, questions, "let's wait until tomorrow" moments. but after all those thoughts, joshua tells his leaders "let's go!"

maybe i'll go get that shirt today.

what's my point?

so here's the deal...

blogging isn't anything new to me, but there are times when you need to progress. so rather than have a obscure blog out in the deep nether-regions of cyber space, i'm going to try jumping out a little closer to the front.

so what's the point? i'm going to share some of my ideas, thoughts, frustrations, very random thoughts, & maybe something deep just to keep everyone guessing.

so stick around for a while, introduce yourself, & join me on my journey through life.