Hey you!...That's right I'm talking to you!

Are you the type of person that it takes someone knocking you upside the head or standing in your face with a bullhorn to get your attention? I am and was reminded of it in a great conversation the other day with a lady on staff concerning the Holy Spirit.

So often i go through my days thinking about facts and hard logic. i tend to take past history or "common sense" into my decision making and advice that i give to others. Times that i feel leadings outside of these areas i often refer to as my conscience or emotional intelligence.

The thing is, when i chalk it up to my "conscience" its too easy to ignore it because I don't feel accountable to God in it - it's "my" conscience not God's spirit. I am finding that the more i am grounded on the Word daily and resting in moments of prayer my "conscience" begins working overtime!

I had some questions i needed answered to i went to my friend with those and within a few minutes she was handing me a book on the Holy Spirit and encouraging me to acknowledge these promptings as God speaking through His Spirit, not my own mind. I shared my feelings that it's a lot easier to ignore my own self than God's Spirit and how scary it can be to let go and surrender to the Spirit. In response she shared this really beautiful and encouraging thought:

"The Holy Spirit knows you better than you know yourself and He will never prompt you in an area you are not equipped to handle". 

Talk about a freeing statement if you acknowledge its truth! When we are daily in the Word and in open conversation with God we should have confidence in His leading through the Holy Spirit, moving boldly into territories he's already prepared us for.

For me this is still easier said than done but i am choosing to own this Truth as I start each day in hopes that I will acknowledge Him in every prompting and situation. How about you?

Mr. Big Stuff...who do you think you are

Matthew 18

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them.3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

humbling text this morning - in three different ways Jesus tears you open about how you perceive yourself and others. Wanting to be the greatest, looking down on others and refusing to forgive are all things that i struggle with every day! we are so deceived to think that status in this world even matters a little bit - why do we continue to strive for that? how often do we continue to judge others - even when the Judge has pardoned us?


its awesome that in two of the sections Jesus uses the image of a child. since becoming a dad i have realized (as every parent does) how much your children teach you and how often they bring conviction to your life. i had one of those convicting moments saturday on the the way to soccer. 

charlie often turns his head in the car away from me if he is frustrated or tired but this time was different as he was whispering to himself. i quickly asked what was up and he promptly responded "dad - don't listen to me".  i thought "what is he upset about or dreaming about"? turns out he was nervous about his soccer game and was asking God to help him score in the 'right' goal! at 5 years old the kid knows that when he's nervous about something he needs to talk to God - not his dad!


now i know i can help him with his nerves by being supportive and reminding him he's loved but i am NOTHING compared to God who knows my sons every thoughts and who loves far beyond anything i can ever even fathom! whats even more humbling is that fact that if charlie had told me he was nervous i would have immediately given him pointers on how to better attack the ball or hustle so that he had a better chance at scoring that goal. is that what he needed - no way! he wanted Gods peace - and received it from its only source.


thanks God for being there for us, for using our children to point out who you are and for reminding us that apart from you we are NOTHING.

technology rules...my life?

just got done using the the speaker phone option on our new phone system at work. its amazing how great these things sound! who knew that we would be living in the day and age where technology was so advanced that i can talk to someone on the phone through a tiny microphone and hear them back on a $2 speaker and feel like they are sitting right in front of me. sure beats the old rotary phone days i grew up on with the big stick on shoulder cushion for "hands free" chatting!

you know one of the other things i love about this type of technology is i can do my own thing and control my interruptions and how often i have to interact face to face with people. caller ID, texting and twitter have all played into this new world for me. as an introvert (ISTP) this is not necessarily a great thing! i too often catch myself wanting to interact with my technology more than with the people that need/deserve my attention.

Donald Miller is an author i follow and he posted this on his blog. give it a read - it was convicting on many different levels. i can remember being amazed when my son knew the difference between a cell phone and an iPhone (and yes there is a HUGE difference). i wonder if he'll think it is nearly as cool in ten years - i hope so, but i'd rather he know how cool i think HE is.

Ding! Ding! Sparring Redefined...

i've been wading through the sermon on the mount this past week and today landed in Matthew 7 and was challenged to think through healthy conflict and judging of others. I have been known in my life as someone who "likes" conflict and who "looks for it" and have had to own those statements at times. i've been learning to swing from a fixer, hard truth teller attitude to someone who uses it as a tool for growth. I have lots of progress to make in this area. The first 5 verses of this chapter remind us that before we can enter a dialogue with someone on their issues we must first address our own (some like to say it says don't judge at all but that would not be a complete reading of this section) and i had to assess where i am at in my progress on this.

as is always the case with God my day had several parallel moments centered on this concept including a really great conversation with a friend on relationships and conflict resolution. we discussed all sorts of aspects including intentions, timing, growth, and judging. at the end of the conversation i shared my philosophy that all issues with someone should be discussed with them at some point because relationships are one of the most important things we have and we need to promote health in them.

i grabbed a quick lunch, hit some meetings and then returned to my office planning to wrap up my day. God put verse 6 out of chapter 7 back in my mind at that moment.

6 "Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy.s Don't throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.

i wasn't sure why He prompted me again with this but i thought "i better sit down with it again and investigate". the sermon on the mount is divided up in defined sections about things such as prayer, generosity, fasting, and worry and 7:1-6 is the section on judging. earlier in the day when i had read it i just blew through verse 6 - although i remember thinking "that doesn't make sense to be in this section".

being an extremely wise person i immediately went across the hall to a gentleman i'll call "the danimal" who could help me understand what Christ was saying in this verse and why it has been grouped in the section on judging by the translators. he first gave me the popular interpretation that centered on the idea that Jesus was closing that part of his message and admonishing those listening on how to handle what he had just taught them. this made a great deal of sense but i pressed him on why the translators included it in a particular group instead of having it stand alone. he smiled and lowered his voice a touch like he was going to let me in on the greatest secret of all time and proceeded to bring to light another possible reading of this verse.

the basic idea is that in verses 1-5 God reminds us that we must be pure in heart before we can talk with others about there hearts. basically, if i want to talk with someone about cussing i must first make sure i do not have an issue with cussing. i also must want growth for them and not just an opportunity to show them their weaknesses and shortcomings.

in verse 6 Jesus could be saying "once you have those things covered make sure the person you are planning to confront will accept it - you run the risk that they may not and disregard you or worse, turn on you". Holiness and Truth are the "pearls" of wisdom we have to offer when our hearts are pure but placed in the wrong setting we can risk it being mishandled and/or backfiring on us. this was great stuff for me to think about!

the danimal may or may not be on to something here but it sure brought my conversation from earlier in the day into a completely new light. i might be wrong on my assumption that conflict must happen when issues arise.

so for the next season of my thinking on conflict i'm going to add one more item to my list of "sparring" rules and see if it works:

1. identify and train to overcome my own issues
2. respect the fighters code and have honor in my intentions
and
3. choose my sparring partner wisely!

Ding! Ding!

Gotta Get Back In Time . . .

after having "footloose" in the set this past weekend it got me thinking about all the great movie themes from my childhood. these are in no particular order and is far from an exhaustive list - just 10 tunes that aided me in my movie viewing experiences :

Gonna Fly Now (theme from Rocky)

who doesn't love the strings pumping and the choir of singers singing lyrics you can't understand but make you want to go for a 10 mile run through the city!




Walking On Sunshine (from The Secret of My Success)

Classic Michael J. Fox movie. I also remember hula hooping to this song in 4th grade gym class.









You Could Be Mine (from Terminator 3)

This is one of those songs that made me go see the movie. the second i hear the opening guitar riff there was no question i was going opening weekend.





Axel F (theme from Beverly Hills Cop)

Harold Faltermeyer took the classic instrumental movie theme to a whole new dimension using all synthesizers. this might be the most popular theme song from the 80's.







The Glory OF Love (love theme from Karate Kid II)

I always get this confused thinking its from the original Karate Kid movie. In fact - i'm not sure i ever even saw this movie - HOWEVER i have sung at the top of my lungs every time this song has come up on my iPod playlist.






Ghostbusters

who can forget the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man? even better who can forget the the ORIGINAL version of this song? thanks Huey for inspiring Ray Parker Jr.

Miami Vice Theme

ok - so i know this wasn't a movie at the time BUT i couldn't wait to see the cigar boat screaming across the water every week as the 16th note hi-hat and screaming guitar lick got me pumped up for tubbs and crockett to bust some cuban drug lord.

In Your Eyes (from Say Anything)

Never actually saw this movie all the way through but whoever wrote and directed this thing picked one of the most incredible songs to have cusak play through his jam box! i wonder what song he is jamming to in his latest flick "hot tub time machine"?

Bad Boy (Opening Theme to Three Men and a Baby)

Gloria and the Miami Sound Machine are the 80's soundtrack band! Not only was this movie a huge hit (who doesn't love guttenburg) it created quite a buzz the the "ghost boy" in the background of this pic. turns out it was a cardboard cut out of ted danson in a tux.

Back In Time (theme from Back to the Future)

Huey Lewis and the News solidify their stake as the quintessential 80's feel good band with this hit and The Power Of Love both written for what could be called the greatest 80's movie franchise (after Indiana Jones - and no i am not including Star Wars since it started in the 70's).

i miss the days when songs helped define movies - whats on your list?