Friday, December 31, 2010
TAVERN
Thursday, December 30, 2010
TOP TEN 2010 (5)
The #2 favorite blog post #2 of 2010 by my readers, based on the number of visits that day, was also one of my personal favorites. It was originally posted on October 1st and titled, 'MESS.' Essentially it was a post describing the messiness of the Christian life, of which I am a prime example. I admitted that I sometimes dream I’m following Jesus, wishing He would notice me, wanting Him to personally choose me, then all of a sudden He turns around and looks me in the eye and says, 'Follow Me.' With a heart that skips several beats, realizing my life is about to change forever, I run His direction when all of a sudden He says, 'No, not YOU - the guy behind you.' It's then I realize spirituality is kind of messy - it isn’t perfection with a nice bow on top. It’s about accepting the reality of your own flawed-ness and understanding God is present in your mess.
The #1 read and commented-on blog posting of the year - whether you like it or not - was the posting on February 22nd originally titled 'HAGGARD.' It detailed our in-person meeting at KFA with Ted Haggard and a few others in the room where he shared about the accusations against him a few years ago regarding morality. The true spirit of the blog was about God’s grace and my desire that KFA be a place that manifests it. I think people would rather talk about ‘the Haggard situation’ than about God’s grace but my prayer is that we would be a church that faithfully reflects it.
NOTE: The #3 - #10 favorite blog postings can be reviewed by visiting the past four days’ entries.
And be blessed.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
TOP TEN 2010 (4)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
TOP TEN 2010 (3)
Monday, December 27, 2010
TOP TEN 2010 (2)
The readers' #8 Favorite Blog Posting this year was titled 'JOB' and posted on December 3rd.
I was feeling 'sappy' that day, I remember - and wanted everyone to know how much I love my job -- our staff -- our volunteers -- our church. I love it because I know it's where I'm supposed to be. I ended the post with a little challenge for you to do the same.
#7 - 'SIR' - original posting way back on March 6th ...
While I used the blog title as a way of 'venting' that one of the young, muscle whippersnappers at the gym had called me "SIR" as he passed me going into the locker room, the big idea of the post was that there are doors of opportunity open to you and me everywhere all day long if we'll just watch and listen. If we'll pray for doors to open, they will.
And be blessed.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
TOP TEN 2010 (1)
This tells me what people are interested in - what elicits responses - what stirs people up - what excites them - what bores them - etc etc etc. Maybe it will prompt you to return to read them again and/or comment again.
This blog post began innocently enough. I had observed that the strong majority of relative newcomers to KFA were actually calling it KFA rather than the full-blown Kenosha First Assembly. I even mentioned that KFA could even be considered 'insider' language if you weren't sure what it meant, although you could likely figure it out pretty quickly. From there, I moved to making some comments about successful companies around the world who were known more by their initials than by their full names. Ninety-five percent of the blog post was about that. Little did I know it would set off a chain of blog and FACEBOOK responses - exciting, spirited and passionate all.
#9 - "GIMMICK" - original posting on October 11th ...
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
JOURNEY
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
SIGNS
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
ALPHABET
I probably just have a personal 'thorn' when it comes to this. I'm a "T." That means I remember being near the end of every line in grade school and high school. The only three behind me were Kid 'Thomas,' Kid 'Williams' and Kid 'Young.' Now our eldest married daughter has even worsened her lot by going from 'Taylor' to 'Thulin.'
But here's the larger question. What I wonder is: Who, exactly, invented alphabetical order? Ever thought about that? I mean, why does M come before P? Who said? It kind of ticks me off.
So, I'm proposing a new order to the Alphabet, based loosely on Scrabble, because everyone knows that's the coolest word game there is. Pass it around:
T N R L S D G C M W P B H F Y V K J X Q Z E I A O U
And be blessed.
Monday, December 20, 2010
VENT
Sunday, December 19, 2010
FRUITCAKE
A poll was taken recently asking what would be the worst
Christmas gift you could possibly receive.
31% said fruitcake. It ranked higher than ‘NO gift’ -- most people would rather receive nothing than receive fruitcake.
30% said if they got a fruitcake - they’d hide it in the closet.
25% said they’d return it.
20% said they’d give it away to someone else. Which means, if you get a fruitcake for Christmas this year, odds are 1:5 that it was given to the gifter by somebody else, who then re-gifted it to you.
But when we receive a gift that comes from someone’s heart, something happens in our heart. That’s what God is about -- giving something to us that is so great that something happens in our hearts.
If we did a survey and asked: “What are your favorite qualities about God?,” people would say things like ... He’s loving - kind - forgiving - patient - merciful - grace-giving - powerful - sovereign ... and all that is true - but a quality so often overlooked about God is that He is also generous. He is all about giving. It pleases the heart of God to give. We struggle with generosity, but God doesn’t.
Acts 20:35 - 'It is better to give than to receive.' You get more pleasure when you give than when you get. It's just true.
Over the years, we loved watching our kids’ faces light up when they started unwrapping gifts around the tree. That certain look has meant the world to Joelene and me and you begin to understand a verse like that - how much joy you get from giving -- and not just to your children.
On certain years we have done something extra at our house at Christmas. We’ve wrapped all the gifts and then we’ve hidden the best and last gift somewhere else in the house. Then at the end we go: “Well, I guess that’s it. Oh, wait! I think there’s one more.” Then we go to the garage or the basement - wherever we’ve stored it --- it’s been a big dollhouse or a Nintendo ---- or when they got older, it was a nice camera or an ipod. And we’d get our camera ready so we wouldn’t miss the reaction.
I believe God gets the same satisfaction when we receive His gift of Jesus. It puts a smile on His face when we finally come to the realization that we need Jesus ... and God snaps the picture of us at just the moment. That brings God the most enormous pleasure.
We forget that the baby Jesus was born to die - so Jesus comes near the end of His life and says in John 10:18 - ‘No one can take My life from Me. I’m going to GIVE it ... willingly.’ He’s all about giving.
So when we think about God offering us a gift at Christmas, the bottom line is that He doesn’t just offer us a gift; it’s bigger than that. He offers us an unbelievable gift - and indescribable gift - a gift too wonderful for words.
And when we think about the gift God gave us in Jesus, it should elicit the most amazing, thankful response from us possible. But sometimes I think we become de-sensitized to the story of Jesus. ‘Yeah - it’s Christmas time again. Jesus came as a baby in a manger, right. We heard that last December, didn't we?‘ And when we come to church this month, we know we’re probably going to hear it again ... and probably this time next year, too - and the one after that - and the one after that. And we act like we’re getting fruitcake.
But the fact that God sent His Son, Jesus, to the world as a baby with skin on to ultimately die on a cross for our sins is the most wonderful news we will ever hear or experience.
And be blessed.
Friday, December 17, 2010
FLEAS
Athlete Roger Bannister ran the first 4-minute mile in 1954. Doctors said it couldn't be done because the human heart would explode with that kind of exertion. A few weeks later, a second runner did the same thing. (We don't remember his name, do we?) Then, one by one, more and more people began doing it. Roger Bannister just had to do it first.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
AMAZING
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
APOLOGIZE
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
BOWLING
DISHWASHER
It happened again this week.
Monday, December 13, 2010
DUMB
Sunday, December 12, 2010
GREAT
Saturday, December 11, 2010
REPEAT
I was reading something by S. Godin the other day and he said something that so resonated with me, that I wish I would have said it. in fact, I've thought it so many times myself. Here it is, slightly edited for personalization purposes:
If you want to drive yourself crazy, read the Facebook or Twitter comments of an audience after you post something - or after you give a talk of some kind.
You didn't say what they said you said. You didn't mean what they said you meant.
Or read the comments on just about any blog post. People who read what you just wrote completely misunderstood it. Or else you did - but you WROTE it, so how could you misunderstand what you wrote yourself? Still, people sometimes insist you did. Hmmm.
We think direct written and verbal communication is clear and accurate and efficient. It is none of those. There is a huge amount of information communicated via your affect, your style and your confidence. The same thing is true by the affectation, style and confidence of the person reading/listening. But I don't think humans are so good at getting all the details.
Plan on being misunderstood. Repeat yourself. i've found this is particularly true when communicating vision. Not only does it leak, but it leaks wrong sometimes. And it has to be repeated many times to get thru the right way. I've been learning this the hard way, quite frankly.
So when in doubt, repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself. Repeat yourself. Repeat yourself. Repeat yourself. Repeat yourself.
Now ... what did I REALLY mean by this posting?
And be blessed.
Friday, December 10, 2010
CALLING
Thursday, December 9, 2010
ATTENDANCE
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
SHRINK
If we could shrink the population of the earth to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like this. There would be: