I was standing behind a young mom, who was holding a small child in her right arm while taking pictures on her Iphone with her left. After snapping a series of shots she would stop, and look at the photos she had just taken.
Then she would do it again.
After going through this rotation a couple of times, I couldn’t help but ask her what was going on.
“Hey, excuse me but, what are you taking pictures of today?”
“Who me?” she laughed, smiling at the question.
“Well, I am taking pictures of that lady over there. I love her haircut.”
“Really?”
“Yep. She is giving me a few ideas.”
“That’s right. She is giving you a new vision for the future.”
“That’s right. She is giving me a new vision.”
“That’s cool.”
“And then, I am going to give this vision to my hairstylist. I am going tomorrow!”
I looked at the lady (completely unaware of the maternal guerilla photographer taking pictures of her or the conversation she was having with yours truly) who embodied this vision and nodded. I used my imagination to picture this woman’s hair on the mother carrying an Iphone, a little kid, and…a new vision.
It made me think of how important it is for leaders to give a picture of the vision to those that are entrusted to carry it.
By practically showing the vision that we see, we create an opportunities for others to see the vision with greater clarity.
If we want people see your vision, give them a clear picture that tells the story.
Last week Apple released their latest update to the iPhone. It was what is called MMS(Mulit-Media Messaging) which gives the user the ability to drop picture media (soon video) directly into messages (like text) from one mobile device to another.
I was so excited to add another feature to an already amazing machine. I mean, MMS gives me the ability to send crazy pictures like the one above to your mobile phone in a matter of seconds (I know that you were waiting for that!).
But here is something that you probably didn’t know, and Apple didn’t update:
Jesus uses MMS!
He really does.
He sends messages to us through daily experiences, other people, the Bible, church community gatherings, sunrises, sunsets, dreams, visions, music, movies, books, billboards, and many, many others.
Take a minute and think about all the different ways Jesus sent messages to people in the Bible.
He used:
A burning tree.
A writing hand.
A huge fish.
A little fish.
A donkey.
A slingshot.
A shout.
A whisper
A crumbling wall.
A fireball.
A flood.
A staff.
A lion.
A lamb.
A cry.
A cross.
Think about all the time it would take to determine the different media that Jesus used to communicate His message in the scriptures.
He is always messaging us.
And we know it.
But we often ignore it.
Because we don’t really want to know what He wants to tell us.
Too challenging.
Too difficult.
Too deep.
Too honest.
Too real.
Too true.
We would rather be blissfully ignorant than starkly aware.
But the truly trippy thing is:
We still ask Him to message us.
Ask for His guidance.
Ask for His will.
Ask for His plan.
Ask for His purpose.
Ask for His direction.
The irony is….more times than not, we already know it.
We got His Message.
His picture came through.
With a map, directions, and instructions.
We know what to do.
We know where to go.
We know who to speak with.
We know who we should stop speaking to.
We know how to act.
We know how to choose.
We know what to add.
We know what to subtract.
We got His Message.
The question is, do we have the courage to do what He says?
A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of the world to study the prospects of expanding the business. One sends a text message back saying:
SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES!
The other sends a triumphant message:
AMAZING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY! THEY HAVE NO SHOES!
What message would you send? One of optimism and hope? Or one of pessimism and failure?
“Speak, for your servant is listening.”
-1 Samuel 3: 10
You never know when someone says something to you that will change you life. In the Great Epic of God, the is much detail about how God speaks. He has spoken in the midst of storms, on mountains, through prophets and priests. In this Great story, spanning from Genesis to Revelation, kings,queens, judges, and other people of ’stature’ communicate His message.
But He also used regular people.
The words at the top of this post come from a little boy asking God to speak. The very next day, little boy becomes a messenger himself.
You never know when God will say something to you that you need to hear. Sometimes He uses dignitaries and holy people standing on mountains in the midst of storms. But most often He uses regular people in regular situations as His voice.
It can happen as we are listening to a song, watching a movie, or in the middle of a common conversation with a friend. Most of the time, that was not the communicator’s intent. They rarely realize the profound impact of their communication.
Truly, it is not really important for them to know.
But it IS important that we know.
We can never quite be sure when God will speak, or how He will speak.
If you haven’t picked up Seth Godin’s latest book “Tribes: We need You to Lead Us”, get to Border’s, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com or Download it from Itunes (where you can also get the Diary of a Dreamer podcast, by the way!) and get it.
In Godin’s simple but profound style he challenges us all to lead, connect, and revolutionalize right where we are.
I am so excited about the book that I am reading it and listening to it on my Ipod.
Went to Chipotle’s today for lunch.
I was standing behind a young mom, who was holding a small child in her right arm while taking pictures on her Iphone with her left. After snapping a series of shots she would stop, and look at the photos she had just taken.
Then she would do it again.
After going through this rotation a couple of times, I couldn’t help but ask her what was going on.
“Hey, excuse me but, what are you taking pictures of today?”
“Who me?” she laughed, smiling at the question.
“Well, I am taking pictures of that lady over there. I love her haircut.”
“Really?”
“Yep. She is giving me a few ideas.”
“That’s right. She is giving you a new vision for the future.”
“That’s right. She is giving me a new vision.”
“That’s cool.”
“And then, I am going to give this vision to my hairstylist. I am going tomorrow!”
I looked at the lady (completely unaware of the maternal guerilla photographer taking pictures of her or the conversation she was having with yours truly) who embodied this vision and nodded. I used my imagination to picture this woman’s hair on the mother carrying an Iphone, a little kid, and…a new vision.
It made me think of how important it is for leaders to give a picture of the vision to those that are entrusted to carry it.
By practically showing the vision that we see, we create an opportunities for others to see the vision with greater clarity.
If we want people see your vision, give them a clear picture that tells the story.
Posted in The Future, Leadership, Communication | 1 Comment »
Last week Apple released their latest update to the iPhone. It was what is called MMS (Mulit-Media Messaging) which gives the user the ability to drop picture media (soon video) directly into messages (like text) from one mobile device to another.
I was so excited to add another feature to an already amazing machine. I mean, MMS gives me the ability to send crazy pictures like the one above to your mobile phone in a matter of seconds (I know that you were waiting for that!).
But here is something that you probably didn’t know, and Apple didn’t update:
Jesus uses MMS!
He really does.
He sends messages to us through daily experiences, other people, the Bible, church community gatherings, sunrises, sunsets, dreams, visions, music, movies, books, billboards, and many, many others.
Take a minute and think about all the different ways Jesus sent messages to people in the Bible.
He used:
A burning tree.
A writing hand.
A huge fish.
A little fish.
A donkey.
A slingshot.
A shout.
A whisper
A crumbling wall.
A fireball.
A flood.
A staff.
A lion.
A lamb.
A cry.
A cross.
Think about all the time it would take to determine the different media that Jesus used to communicate His message in the scriptures.
He is always messaging us.
And we know it.
But we often ignore it.
Because we don’t really want to know what He wants to tell us.
Too challenging.
Too difficult.
Too deep.
Too honest.
Too real.
Too true.
We would rather be blissfully ignorant than starkly aware.
But the truly trippy thing is:
We still ask Him to message us.
Ask for His guidance.
Ask for His will.
Ask for His plan.
Ask for His purpose.
Ask for His direction.
The irony is….more times than not, we already know it.
We got His Message.
His picture came through.
With a map, directions, and instructions.
We know what to do.
We know where to go.
We know who to speak with.
We know who we should stop speaking to.
We know how to act.
We know how to choose.
We know what to add.
We know what to subtract.
We got His Message.
The question is, do we have the courage to do what He says?
Will we ignore or obey His Message?
Posted in Communication, Discipleship | 1 Comment »
A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of the world to study the prospects of expanding the business. One sends a text message back saying:
SITUATION HOPELESS. NO ONE WEARS SHOES!
The other sends a triumphant message:
AMAZING BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY! THEY HAVE NO SHOES!
What message would you send? One of optimism and hope? Or one of pessimism and failure?
How we see things can make all the difference.
Posted in The Future, Leadership, Communication | 2 Comments »
“Speak, for your servant is listening.”
-1 Samuel 3: 10
You never know when someone says something to you that will change you life. In the Great Epic of God, the is much detail about how God speaks. He has spoken in the midst of storms, on mountains, through prophets and priests. In this Great story, spanning from Genesis to Revelation, kings,queens, judges, and other people of ’stature’ communicate His message.
But He also used regular people.
The words at the top of this post come from a little boy asking God to speak. The very next day, little boy becomes a messenger himself.
You never know when God will say something to you that you need to hear. Sometimes He uses dignitaries and holy people standing on mountains in the midst of storms. But most often He uses regular people in regular situations as His voice.
It can happen as we are listening to a song, watching a movie, or in the middle of a common conversation with a friend. Most of the time, that was not the communicator’s intent. They rarely realize the profound impact of their communication.
Truly, it is not really important for them to know.
But it IS important that we know.
We can never quite be sure when God will speak, or how He will speak.
We just need to listen.
Posted in Prayer, Communication | No Comments »
If you haven’t picked up Seth Godin’s latest book “Tribes: We need You to Lead Us”, get to Border’s, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com or Download it from Itunes (where you can also get the Diary of a Dreamer podcast, by the way!) and get it.
In Godin’s simple but profound style he challenges us all to lead, connect, and revolutionalize right where we are.
I am so excited about the book that I am reading it and listening to it on my Ipod.
Posted in Media/Culture, Leadership, Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake, Communication | No Comments »