Inspire: Give me the instant relationship glue

This is the beginning of a new post.

And soon, it will have an end. And you can search for it, and read another one, but once this is over, it's over.

Resolution is something I constantly seek. Finish work so I go home. Finish paying off that debt. Finishing school so I can graduate. Finishing unpacking the boxes in the basement so it finally feels like home.

And I seek it in my relationships - finishing people. I'll start with someone who has a few of the right characteristics, and mold them into 100% reliable, 100% dependable, trustworthy, wise, and with a good sense of humor.

But people don't like being molded. And they're not finished. The only "finished" people I know exist on the other side of the sod. I need to be more willing to walk with incomplete people - because, just like them, that's where I am. I need to be more willing to forgive. I need to be more willing to teach and to learn.

Most of all, I need to remember that real life happens in that tension between what we were and what we are becoming. If there is no tension, it's because there is no growth. The state of being unresolved leads me to seek new ideas, new perspectives, new information. I need to make decisions slowly - leaving time for other perspectives to come in. I need to be willing to work in curing process.

Ah, enough of that - just give me the instant relationship glue... although it never seems to stick long enough for me to do anything useful.

Inspire: Taken Out

What happens to a team when the leader isn't there? Chaos. Eventually, things reorganize and a new leader is chosen - but there's an interim where things go badly.

I'm in that interim. My team needs me for this weekend. I'm aware of how indispensable I am. Which is great for job security, but sucks when you're not able to be there.

So I'm sitting in a bed, nursing a variety of hot beverages, trying to sleep, and hoping that my team can get on without me. The worst thing about the flu is not the nausea or the headaches or the pain, but the knowledge that out there is a group of people I want to help - my people - that I can't.

So I'll throw this one out to the community - what do you do... when you can't do?

Inspire: Character is who you are when everything changes.

Working an event tonight - a concert, to be exact. And the concert that was on paper a week ago looks nothing like tonight. It bears some resemblance to the concert that was rehearsed last night, but not overly much.

My first reaction is to lash out - alright, who didn't have their stuff together? Except, in my head, it's rarely "stuff" I'm thinking. My first instinct is to judge - who is it that's wasting my time by not supplying me with the information I need to do my job? I know my bit - please, please know yours.

But then I sit and ask what I'd like - what I've needed, time and time again: Grace. Because I don't come to the table with all the answers, either. In anything worth really working at, I run into wrinkles and creases, refinements, re-dos, and even the occasional complete removal.

What do you look like when your plans get changed or run over or ignored? Can you forget what you do... to remember who you are?

Inspire: Make A Difference.

A picture's worth a thousand words:

Inspire: Thanksgiving

I want to give thanks today.

And it has nothing to do with a turkey.

I recently got back from a vacation, and ended up in the post-vacation mode: Plop your bags down, to be dealt with when you have time, get ready to frantically head to work, try to keep some of the joy you experienced from flying away the moment you get back.

This means that the bachelor pad, already in a bachelor-pad-ish state, was even more so, with everyone and their baggage lounging around everywhere. We were up to our elbows in dirty laundry, dishes, and general mayhem.

Enter an angel in disguise. She asks if she can come clean my place. I am flabbergasted. I've never had the offer - someone that wants to just clean my house, to be a blessing to me, the guys, and the Lord. And she comes in when the house it at it's worst.

I come back home and find something beautiful I never knew existed behind piles of laundry and layers of dirt. Not only has she cleaned, she's done dishes, laundry, and unpacked my stuff (putting it all in the right places, to boot!). My day of "okay get it done" is replaced by a gratitude... this is such a gift.

So here's to angels - I know some of them read blog posts, and so know that this is one man who is forever thankful that I get to see this beauty you create.

Thank you.

Inspire: Learning from Our Past

Today I'm reminded of a line from the movie, Batman Begins.

Maybe you already know what line I'm thinking of. In one scene Alfred says to Bruce, "Why do we fall, sir? So that we might learn to pick ourselves up."

Some may say that it's simplistic or cheesy. But I, for one, can see a lot of truth in it.

Oftentimes our lives are run by our circumstances. We give our joy away to the predicament we're in. We allow others to steal our joy.

Life doesn't have to be that way. Your joy is your own. Even in difficult situations, we can learn to remain in God's peace, which He has provided in abundance for us.

Why do we fall? Why do we make mistakes? Why do we have regrets? Why do our plans fail? Why?

When we're first learning to walk as children we fall a lot. But we can't learn to pick ourselves up if we don't fall. We have to know what falling down feels like.

Our circumstances as adults may appear to be more complicated, but really it's no different. You learn from your first heartbreak. You learn from going into debt. You learn from losing a loved one.

This doesn't mean that we have to make mistakes to learn, but often we don't learn anything when we try to play it safe. More than likely, God will bring you out into the wilderness when you are seeking security.

You were betrayed by a friend. But there's someone right around the corner looking for true friendship. Maybe someone you overlooked or ignored. They've been waiting for you in silence and bearing the loneliness.

A business venture failed and you lost all your money. But you're going to meet someone that is looking for true partnership. It may not happen right away, but believe that God is ordering your steps and that He's going to connect you with people of right faith.

Your heart was broken. But you're going to meet your spouse, an amazing man or woman of God. It's going to be better than you could have ever imagined. It's going to take work on your part, yes, but don't sit around thinking that you're unattractive and that it's never going to happen for you. Learn to be happy where you are. You are loved.

Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

Inspire: Stolen sense.

I got robbed today.

I didn't get help up at knife-point on the street. Someone ended up walking into my church and stealing some gear from our booth.

I feel violated. Something I valued is gone. Because of this, we don't have lighting at our booth this weekend. And stealing from a church? Is there nothing sacred? I've never seen the guy (statistically speaking), and probably never will. But he took something of value to us. However, more than violated, I feel sad.

I guess being a criminal doesn't pay because the smart money is elsewhere. What was stolen was a lighting controller. Probably a $200 item. Except that he didn't take the power adapter required to plug it in, or the cable required for it to do anything.

I almost want to be there when he tries to pawn the item and can't explain what it is, what it does, or anything. If he manages to go through an ordering process and get a new power adapter for it (I couldn't find anything, including from the states), he MIGHT get $50 for it. Minus the three hours, minimum, of calling and the $120 for replacement parts.

And it wasn't like there wasn't expensive stuff just lying around next to it... guitar amps, even small, portable expensive equipment. There was even an entire PA system ON WHEELS that was ready to be hauled away.

So please, if you're going to rob me, please at least don't do a half-assed job of it. Because I'm mildly miffed about stuff being stolen. I'm more disappointed that the gene pool allows someone with that level of intelligence to continue to survive.

Inspire: Taking Ownership

God calls us to higher standards. He calls us for our own good. He calls us because He wants to bless us.

How many times have you called your peers to higher standards?

I've been seeing a lot of change in my life since I started taking some ownership. I realize that can mean a lot of different things, but what I'm talking about is a paradigm shift in which your friends, your family, your finances, your life becomes yours. Maybe you feel that the people in your life are 'just there'. But no, it's not an accident. They are your friends and they are your family. Maybe you've already experienced such a shift in your life.

Unfortunately society has told us that 'possession' is a bad thing; or at least given it some negative connotations. The ownership I'm talking about isn't about manipulation or the act of being possessive. It's about taking responsibility in your life. It's about taking action.

If you saw your friend being hurt by another person, what would you do? Would you stand by idly? Would you confront that person? I was in a situation like that recently. I decided the right thing to do was to call that person to a higher standard. It's quite amazing what happened. That person responded to that call, and started to show a lot more respect. How important are your friends to you? Are you willing to fight for them?

There's a lot more risk involved in taking ownership in life. It means a lot more responsibility. It means a lot more effort. But ultimately, it means more fulfilling relationships and a more fulfilling life.

It seems like too many people feel they are entitled to everything in life, including respect. They don't know that you have to fight for what's important. They don't know that they are hurting a lot of people with their words and actions because they haven't taken ownership of them yet. They blame other people and external circumstances for their bad behavior.

But no, ownership means that you take responsibility regardless of how you're feeling. We don't need more yes-men in this world. We need more people that fight for what's important to them. We need to reflect God's love by calling others to higher standards.

Inspire: Digging down to the depths

After an all around tiring and not great day, I realized that there had been something incredible missing - a true fight of mind versus body. Walking into the gym at the time that I usually slide into bed, I prayed that this run would be enough to change the verdict of the day. The last thing you want when you take a stab against the flesh is for it to come back with a reluctance toward activity.

If the Olympics could be on every week of the year, I wonder if we would perhaps have a nation of fitter, more focused average Joes? The ability of incredible athletes to inspire and remind us of a spark that is deep routed in all of us is nothing less than delicious. Hopping onto the treadmill, I happened upon the Men's Olympic Triathlon just as the top contenders were transitioning from their bikes onto the track. The commentators then proceeded for the next 25 minutes to make predictions about how our own triathlete superhero, Simon Whitfield would fare in this field of intense competition. Whitfield was sitting in and around 13-14th place for much of the run until the better runners shook off the pack and Whitfield ran with them into 4th position for most of the remainder of the race. It was a gruesome race to watch as Whitfield's shoulders looked tense and like any typical Canadian, I started to come to grips that our superhero Whitfield, (gold medalist at the Sydney Olympics) maybe just didn't have it in him. It was also gruesome because as these super runners started to make their way into the last 2.5 km, I had to support Simon by increasing my treadmill speeds all the more as well.

For a while, it seemed as if he was going to accept a 4th place finish. By any standards, this would have been excellent....4th in the world! I suppose that the reason that we all started to hope however is that he wasn't letting the three leaders take off. His face also didn't look like he was giving it all. Did we dare to hope that there could be more? The threesome from Spain, New Zealand and Germany started to pull away from Whitfield and despite my cheering on the treadmill, I started to concede that maybe it was just too big for him, and for us, too much of a dream. The commentators certainly didn't have much hope.

Then, just when the three would-be medal winners started to make their plunge toward the finish, Whitfield pulled out his heart and showed it to the world. He threw down his hat, dug down as deep as humanly possible and not only made up time but surpassed each of the front runners. It was a leap of faith that we yearn, hunger and desperately need to see in this life. We need to know that it's ok to dream big, even at the risk of failing big. Ultimately, Whitfield was passed at the end by Germany's Jan Frodeno. Whitfield had truly physically exerted everything of himself and had come up short. Post-race, commenting on his seemingly impossible move from 4th to the lead, Whitfield said "I thought there's no time like the present. I tried to make it a battle of pure willpower. I gave it everything I had."

What more can we ever ask for in a champion, or in ourselves? All we can do is all we can do. But what if like Whitfield, there is more in that mental/physical/emotional reserve than what the world or we ourselves think? What if like Whitfield, we can do better than a 4th place finish? Will our faith carry us through if we take a courageous step forward? (rom 8:28)

Will we risk it all at the chance of finding out?

Inspire: I'm In My Happy Place

Dark blue, dark blue /
Have you ever been alone in a crowded room
Jack's Mannequin, Dark Blue

We're a network of people. Pretty much everyone alive today in North America understands that. We're on the internet, on Facebook, on MySpace, reading blogs, text messaging our boss, attaching vacation photos to our email, and generally connecting very well with friends, family, and even anonymous people in a richer media environment every month.

But there's something lost here. We're all consuming private media, and there's so much of it, and it's all targeted for us, and we need time to get it all. So we put our headphones on while waiting for the bus, like the guy pictured above. What you don't see in that shot, however, is the crowd of people just behind him. There's literally twenty people within a step and a half of where he is... and he isn't interacting with a single one.

As a society, we've praised the individual to death. And that's just not a cute turn of phrase. Every day, I meet people who are dying for some real human contact - a handshake, a "good job," a "hey, buddy, how's it going?" If you live in an urban setting, I guarantee you that every day you pass within ten feet of literally HUNDREDS of people that are aching for some kind of connection, community.

But our modern society discourages establishing community in the face to face world. When was the last time you made a friend out of someone that you met in your community? Can you tell me the names of the people that live next door to you? Would you feel comfortable asking your neighbors for a cup of sugar (I did once, actually - it was an egg, but the principle was the same - and it led to a good relationship).

And this isn't something that's a nice little "in the abstract" discussion, either. This is how my life goes. I met my girlfriend, who in real life is so amazing it boggles the mind... online. If we had walked past each other on our way to work, we would have ignored each other. Other then friends I've met through friends, I have friends I've met through online forums who live in different continents, online video games, who live in different countries. I can't remember the last time I "met someone" just by... *shock* meeting someone!

I'm missing something local. Maybe I'm an idealist, but I think you should be able to walk down your block, wave to someone who's cutting the lawn, and say "hi" without feeling like you've just walked over someone's grave. I want to know who the people who live across the street from me are. I think I've had more interaction with the crew that built their new fence then with them.

So let me know in the comments - because we're all in this together - how can we break this cycle of loneliness and isolated?

Imagine. Inspire. Transcend.

Three words. Three powerful words. What do they mean? Well, if you're legalistic, you can use Websters. If you're instinctive, you've already decided what they mean (and if they're important). If you're average, you'll run out of attention span after the second one (they are, after all, surrounded by other words, and reading entire entires is so last year). If you're rare, and patient, you'll stick around and find out.

This is a beginning. And like most beginnings, it doesn't spring out of nothing. Just like the best stories have been told since the dawn of time, the best ideas have always existed in the minds of just about everyone. It's just now that some of those stories get written down.

Should you stick around? That depends. Do you value community? Do you work on a balance of art and commerce, freedom and justice, a pursuit of life, true life? Do you end up with better questions instead of answers when you ask?

If so, welcome.