O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
-Psalm 8:1-4
The Newman family is visiting relatives that live about 20 minutes outside San Diego. These relatives (Tiffany’s Aunt and Uncle), have a beautiful home that is located in a small mountain range. Though this housing development has all the newest technological bells and whistles, you are still able to hear coyotes howling at the moon at night.
We are having a great time swimming, relaxing, and hanging out.
Today we did something really cool. Early this morning (at exactly 4 am!), we all woke up to look at the stars. Because of the elevation and the lack of artificial light, the clarity in which you can see the stars from this place is truly breath-taking. They shined so bright it scarcely seems real.
Gazing at this cosmic masterpiece, I thought about the God that made it. Falling stars, meteors spinning through the sky, lights sparkling like Christmas right before my eyes.
Wow.
I shuddered while considering the expanse of the countless galaxies, innummerable planets, and ever increasing span of space itself.
I serve a God that did all this?
And more?
It kinda scared me to think about how awesome and amazing God really is.
It also humbled me to think about how easy it is for me to doubt Him. To worry about the details of my day-to-day life.
But I think a God that can hang the sun on its hook, is a God that can take care of me.
If I can trust Him to keep gravity working on planet earth, I think I can trust Him with my future.
In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote the lyics, ” …you’d better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin.” Those words couldn’t apply more to our present epoch. We live in the new frontier of rapidly changing times.
With social networks such as Facebook, Youtube and Ustream our communication has drastically changed since 1964. This change has affected the definition of our words and brought about the creation of new ones (see . . .terabyte, HDTV, WiFi, DVR). So with a million different voices clamoring for the heart of this igeneration, how does the church clearly communicate the timeless love and message of Jesus?
The Mad Hatter: [Points to Alice’s heart] In there.
Like Alice we have, “lost our muchness”.
Lost our moxie, our courage, our imagination. We have stopped hoping, dreaming, and believing.
Resigned to a hopeless, dreamless, faithless world we do our best to convince others to live there with us. Instead of inspiring others into “muchness“, we lead them into leastness. Having allowed ourselves to be made small, we do our very best to shrink others.
I had a conversation with high-school senior a few weeks ago. As is my custom with any high-school upperclass student, I asked what she was going to do after she graduated.
Her face crinkled up.
“Maybe I will get a job.”
“Maybe I will go to school.”
“Maybe I will…”
I interrupted.
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmmmm. Maybe sports medicine.”
“Cool. What school do you want to go to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. Let me ask you this: If I gave you 10 million dollars right now, what would you do? Where would you go? What is your dream?”
“Oh. Maybe I would go to UCLA or University of Arizona. Then I could work in someone’s practice.”
“What if you had YOUR OWN PRACTICE? What if you had a huge sports complex with your name on the front and you helped train and rehab the best athletes from all over the world? Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“Yeah, it would.”
I smiled back, but she didn’t seem too convinced. Recalling the conversation, it appeared that the legions of leastness had already gotten to her. Had already crushed her hopes, sabotaged her dreams, and broken her beliefs.
Somewhere along the way she lost her muchness.
So I tried to give her some of mine.
I’m still hoping, dreaming, and believing in the impossible. Still jotting down ideas and scribbling plans that have never been seen before or heard of at all.
For many of these impossible dreams I am:
Too old, too young, too poor, too little known, too this or too that.
And many of these impossible dreams are:
Too wild, too crazy, too dangerous, too risky, too unprecedented, too strange, too odd, too expensive, too this or too that.
But I refuse to listen to the legions of leastness.
Their favorite way to start a sentence is, “That is too…”, and then they fill in the blank with a word designed to steal muchness.
But I’m determined to keep my muchness.
And I am hoping that you are determined to keeping your muchness too.
“You’re mad, bonkers, off your head! But I’ll tell you a secret: All the best people are.”
I am so excited to help tell this orginal story that God gave to me while at the gas station earlier this year. It is an honest, sometimes raw depiction of Jesus stepping into a broken, dysfunctional family and bringing healing to it.
I guarantee you will laugh (Kenny above, one of our actors is going make sure you laugh yourself silly!), cry, and be moved. For those that are able to make it, you need to be here. If you are across the country and can’t come, then please pray for us. We are believing for a great kingdom return on our investment.
If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast, check out the weekly messsages and talks that are happening at Renaissance Church. To get the podcast, click here.
This has been a great week connecting with other writers, learning how to develop my skills as writer, and being coached/critiqued by experts.
Some of the most talented writer’s in the country were in Mount Hermon at this event. Almost every Christian publishing company in America was represented.
A few of the quotes I heard this weekend:
“If you can’t imagine it, you won’t experience it!”
“True ministry happens when the world’s greatest need meets your greatest passion.”
“People read more functionally than recreationally in 2010. Technology is changing the industry more radically than ever before. We have to make the adjustment.”
Had a great time yesterday (except for getting lost a few times!).
Our Thursday night speaker was Austin Boyd. Five years ago he attended this conference as a participant, and now he is a published and accomplished author with multiples titles to his credit.
He spoke to us in a session called, “How to Pitch your Project”.
We learned about speaking to editors, how to work on tightening your work, how to “Give a Pitch”, and how to refine your “Elevator Speech”.
He had volunteers offer to “pitch” their idea. I volunteered. Great experience.
Wonderful feedback and encouragement from Austin Boyd and other writers.
What was really funny to me was the fact that I was really nervous about pitching my idea. I speak to large groups almost every week with confidence, but I got in front of these writers and cold feel my voice getting shaky.
Not only was it a different forum (which contributed to my nerves), but there is a certain vulnerability that hits you when you are sharing your ideas with a crowd of people you have never met before.
This is an inspiring atmosphere that stirs you to hone your craft and allow the Lord to draw His greatness out of you. For me, this weekend is really about worship. Worshipping Him by growing in the gift that he placed inside of me.
(P.S. -The picture above is a shot of me with 3 of my “Inspirations”!)
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
-Psalm 8:1-4
The Newman family is visiting relatives that live about 20 minutes outside San Diego. These relatives (Tiffany’s Aunt and Uncle), have a beautiful home that is located in a small mountain range. Though this housing development has all the newest technological bells and whistles, you are still able to hear coyotes howling at the moon at night.
We are having a great time swimming, relaxing, and hanging out.
Today we did something really cool. Early this morning (at exactly 4 am!), we all woke up to look at the stars. Because of the elevation and the lack of artificial light, the clarity in which you can see the stars from this place is truly breath-taking. They shined so bright it scarcely seems real.
Gazing at this cosmic masterpiece, I thought about the God that made it. Falling stars, meteors spinning through the sky, lights sparkling like Christmas right before my eyes.
Wow.
I shuddered while considering the expanse of the countless galaxies, innummerable planets, and ever increasing span of space itself.
I serve a God that did all this?
And more?
It kinda scared me to think about how awesome and amazing God really is.
It also humbled me to think about how easy it is for me to doubt Him. To worry about the details of my day-to-day life.
But I think a God that can hang the sun on its hook, is a God that can take care of me.
If I can trust Him to keep gravity working on planet earth, I think I can trust Him with my future.
Whoa.
Our God is an amazing God.
Posted in Creativity/Innovation, Family, Worship | No Comments »
In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote the lyics, ” …you’d better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin.” Those words couldn’t apply more to our present epoch. We live in the new frontier of rapidly changing times.
With social networks such as Facebook, Youtube and Ustream our communication has drastically changed since 1964. This change has affected the definition of our words and brought about the creation of new ones (see . . .terabyte, HDTV, WiFi, DVR). So with a million different voices clamoring for the heart of this igeneration, how does the church clearly communicate the timeless love and message of Jesus?
To check out 1st 2 messages of the New Frontier Series, click here for “Inheritance” and here for “Flip the Switch”.
Posted in The Church, Media/Culture, The Future, Creativity/Innovation | No Comments »
“It’s a whole lot more satisfying to reach for the stars, even if you end up landing only on the moon.” - Kermit the Frog
Shoot for the moon today.
Why not?
What do you have to lose?
Posted in Media/Culture, Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake | No Comments »
Mad Hatter: You’ve lost your “muchness”
Alice Kingsley: My “muchness”?
The Mad Hatter: [Points to Alice’s heart] In there.
Like Alice we have, “lost our muchness”.
Lost our moxie, our courage, our imagination. We have stopped hoping, dreaming, and believing.
Resigned to a hopeless, dreamless, faithless world we do our best to convince others to live there with us. Instead of inspiring others into “muchness“, we lead them into leastness. Having allowed ourselves to be made small, we do our very best to shrink others.
I had a conversation with high-school senior a few weeks ago. As is my custom with any high-school upperclass student, I asked what she was going to do after she graduated.
Her face crinkled up.
“Maybe I will get a job.”
“Maybe I will go to school.”
“Maybe I will…”
I interrupted.
“What do you want to do?”
“Hmmmm. Maybe sports medicine.”
“Cool. What school do you want to go to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. Let me ask you this: If I gave you 10 million dollars right now, what would you do? Where would you go? What is your dream?”
“Oh. Maybe I would go to UCLA or University of Arizona. Then I could work in someone’s practice.”
“What if you had YOUR OWN PRACTICE? What if you had a huge sports complex with your name on the front and you helped train and rehab the best athletes from all over the world? Wouldn’t that be cool?”
“Yeah, it would.”
I smiled back, but she didn’t seem too convinced. Recalling the conversation, it appeared that the legions of leastness had already gotten to her. Had already crushed her hopes, sabotaged her dreams, and broken her beliefs.
Somewhere along the way she lost her muchness.
So I tried to give her some of mine.
I’m still hoping, dreaming, and believing in the impossible. Still jotting down ideas and scribbling plans that have never been seen before or heard of at all.
For many of these impossible dreams I am:
Too old, too young, too poor, too little known, too this or too that.
And many of these impossible dreams are:
Too wild, too crazy, too dangerous, too risky, too unprecedented, too strange, too odd, too expensive, too this or too that.
But I refuse to listen to the legions of leastness.
Their favorite way to start a sentence is, “That is too…”, and then they fill in the blank with a word designed to steal muchness.
But I’m determined to keep my muchness.
And I am hoping that you are determined to keeping your muchness too.
“You’re mad, bonkers, off your head! But I’ll tell you a secret: All the best people are.”
-Charles Kingsley
Posted in Media/Culture, The Future, Leadership, Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake | 1 Comment »
What amazing adventure will go on today?
Where is going to take you?
Who are you going to meet?
What are going to see?
How brave will you be?
How much faith will you need?
What amazing adventure will you go on today?
Posted in The Future, Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake | No Comments »
One of my favorite writers Seth Godin, often speaks about the power of ‘noticing’.
It is this power of ‘noticing’ that gives us the ability to see common things in uncommon ways.
One day I took a picture of these 2 signs.
One sign has a guy walking with a surfboard, the other just has a guy walking.
I wasn’t sure what the 2 signs were saying to me, or if they were saying anything to me.
But if I hadn’t taken the time to notice, there wouldn’t be any opportunity for insight.
Most see what is common as common.
But some of us see what is common with uncommon sight.
It is this “uncommon sight” that allows those that change the world to…well…change the world.
To change the world (or our circumstance), we must change the way we see.
Posted in Leadership, Creativity/Innovation, World Change | No Comments »
Little Billy has a very special message for the people!
To check it out, click here.
Posted in The Church, Creativity/Innovation, Transformation | 1 Comment »
Today “The Promise” opens!
I am so excited to help tell this orginal story that God gave to me while at the gas station earlier this year. It is an honest, sometimes raw depiction of Jesus stepping into a broken, dysfunctional family and bringing healing to it.
I guarantee you will laugh (Kenny above, one of our actors is going make sure you laugh yourself silly!), cry, and be moved. For those that are able to make it, you need to be here. If you are across the country and can’t come, then please pray for us. We are believing for a great kingdom return on our investment.
Posted in The Church, Creativity/Innovation | 1 Comment »
If you haven’t subscribed to the podcast, check out the weekly messsages and talks that are happening at Renaissance Church. To get the podcast, click here.
Posted in The Church, Creativity/Innovation | No Comments »
What an experience!
This has been a great week connecting with other writers, learning how to develop my skills as writer, and being coached/critiqued by experts.
Some of the most talented writer’s in the country were in Mount Hermon at this event. Almost every Christian publishing company in America was represented.
A few of the quotes I heard this weekend:
“If you can’t imagine it, you won’t experience it!”
“True ministry happens when the world’s greatest need meets your greatest passion.”
“People read more functionally than recreationally in 2010. Technology is changing the industry more radically than ever before. We have to make the adjustment.”
And there were many others.
An incredibly amazing time.
Thank you Renaissance Church for sending me.
Posted in Leadership, Creativity/Innovation | 1 Comment »
Had a great time yesterday (except for getting lost a few times!).
Our Thursday night speaker was Austin Boyd. Five years ago he attended this conference as a participant, and now he is a published and accomplished author with multiples titles to his credit.
He spoke to us in a session called, “How to Pitch your Project”.
We learned about speaking to editors, how to work on tightening your work, how to “Give a Pitch”, and how to refine your “Elevator Speech”.
He had volunteers offer to “pitch” their idea. I volunteered. Great experience.
Wonderful feedback and encouragement from Austin Boyd and other writers.
What was really funny to me was the fact that I was really nervous about pitching my idea. I speak to large groups almost every week with confidence, but I got in front of these writers and cold feel my voice getting shaky.
Not only was it a different forum (which contributed to my nerves), but there is a certain vulnerability that hits you when you are sharing your ideas with a crowd of people you have never met before.
This is an inspiring atmosphere that stirs you to hone your craft and allow the Lord to draw His greatness out of you. For me, this weekend is really about worship. Worshipping Him by growing in the gift that he placed inside of me.
(P.S. -The picture above is a shot of me with 3 of my “Inspirations”!)
Posted in Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake, Family | No Comments »