Every leader and influencer should be investing with intention into someone else.

Who are you currently investing in?

Luke 21:28
Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

I am sure you have heard the phrase, “…everything but the kitchen sink”. Generally it is a sentence that communicates all hell breaking loose in a person’s life or situation. And everything but the ‘kitchen sink’ has been thrown at the team, the organization, the the family, etc.

But what happens when the sink comes too?

In Luke 21, Jesus is talking to His disciples about the things that would precede the breakthrough that they were looking for. He predicted problems, persecutions, and difficulty.

But He also spoke of the proper response when these things occur:

Look up. Because rescue is right around the corner.

So when the sinks are flying, duck.

Then look up.

Where does creativity come from? Where does a dream begin? When does a vision for a new tomorrow get its start? In what place does the world changer find their voice? If you take any time to research great leaders, whether past or present, more often than not they got their voice, their vision, and dream from the basement.

Now the basement is not a physical location (even though it can be), the basement is more of a life circumstance. God allows all of us to spend time in the basement to shape and hone who we are, and make us into the people He intended us to be. Basement life can be frustrating, debilitating, and exhausting. But it is in the darkness of the basement, where deep wells of leadership, revelation, creativity and vision is most often found.

One of my favorite ‘basement dwellers’ is Joseph of the Bible. I love Joseph. God gave him a dream as a young man, but it was in the basement God made him into the man that would one day make it real.

So many of us find ourselves in the basement. The question we have to ask ourselves is: While I am in the basement, what is Jesus making real in me?

I named Joseph. Do you have any favorite ‘dwellers of the basement’ that have inspired you in your journey?

Tell me, what does a revolution feel like?

How do you know it is coming?

What does it look like?

How does it sound?

It is an anthem set in music or is it the cry of an anguished soul?

Is it both?

You see, a revolution will make you listen up when you hear it.

Make you stand up when you want to stop.

Make you move on when you want to drop.

Make you believe when your dreams are dashed.

Make you look for light in the darkest of nights.

Make you sing when no one can hear it.

Make you dance when no one can feel it.

Make you drum when no one can beat it.

Tell me, what does a revolution feel like?

How do you know it is coming?

What does it look like?

How does it sound?

It is an anthem set in music or is it the cry of an anguished soul?

Is it both?

Joel 1:3
“Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation”

Check out my little princesses. Aren’t they beautiful? One of the responsibilities I have, is transfering the goodness, awareness, and connection with God to these three little people. In the hustle and bustle of life, it is easy to lose the intentionality of making sure God is being made real to my daughters. There are some things that I need to regulary ask myself in my overall ‘Dad’ assessment.

‘Am I praying with and for my girls?’

‘How am I doing in my own relationship with God?’

It is my job to take time to invest in my kids, as well as other young people God has placed in my path to encourage them in Jesus. I can remember in my own journey, how God used people to lift me up when I was a kid, and how many of their words have stayed with me to this day.

Now a question for you:

Who are you investing in? To whom are you leaving a legacy?

Hey Dreamers. These are pictures from our Hot Chocolate/Donut Giveaway. I will just say, we were pretty popular people this morning at 4:00 am when it was 38 degrees!

We had a great time. Thanks to everyone that set their alarms early and made it out. We had about 22 or so people out there at Best Buy and Fry’s with almost everything given away (approx: 500 donuts and 500 cups of hot chocolate) by 4:50 am. It was a mad house, to say the least.

I will try to get some ‘action shots’ of the crew interacting with the folks in the lines, but the lighting was really bad (dark like night-time) and I was not able to get any good shots. Will check with some of our other photographers.

Hey Everyone. Just wanted to let you know, that when most of you are sleeping, a few of us from the FC2 family are going to be up early. We are going to some of the stores that open early the day after Thanksgiving to bless people with a cup of hot chocolate and a donut while they stand in line. Most of the doors of the various establishments open at 5:00 am.

From 4:00 am to 5:00 am we will be handing out hot chocolate and donuts with a smile (And meeting at the church at 2:30 am and 3:00 am!). Some would say, ‘Why in the world are you doing this?’. Well my response is, if people can get up at the crack of dawn so they can save 3 bucks on a popcorn tin, then we can get out there and bless people in the name of Jesus.

Have you ever been at the end of your rope? It is when the rope ends, we find out the most about ourselves. When our human ability, power, and insight come to their end, we discover who we really are and what we really believe.

Most of us are theological philosophers and biblical theorists. We talk a good game, but it isn’t until the rope ends do we find out how well we really play. In these moments, the temptation is the greatest, the stress level is the highest, and the whispers of discouragement begin to creep in.

Now we have to live out what we say we believe. We have to walk when the bridge is out, sing when there is no music, and hold on when everything in us is telling us to quit.
We have to praise when we don’t want to, pray when we would rather not, have faith when we are terrified and in the middle of the raging storm.

You are at the end of your rope.

Now what are you going to do?

You know what’s crazy? Since my last post, which was inspired by some spam smack dab in my e-mail box, I have received more spam than ever before. Yeesh.

Don’t you hate spam? I tell you I get more spam now, then ever before. Spam in my e-mail, on this blog, all over the place. Spam is everywhere.

I have been offered pills to make my life better, from steroids, weight loss tablets, and other stuff. I have been promised money from presidents and heads of state in far off countries. Bill Gates and Microsoft have shown personal interest to make me rich, and free Ipods and exotic trips have been a click away.

Spam is a nuisance and a distraction, diverting us from our main purpose of why we are on our computers in the first place. It is a frustration and a thief, stealing away time, energy, and focus.

Spam comes in all sorts of forms, not just on the internet. There is ‘Life’ spam as well as internet spam. And ‘Life’ spam is the stuff that gets in our way that blocks us from accomplishing God’s mission in our lives, and/or promises a shortcut or a diversion that is a counterfeit of God’s best for us.

And just like spam in our e-mail, we have to eliminate it, delete it, and throw it in the trash. We have to mark it as ‘junk mail’. So every time it rears its ugly spammishness (just made that up 2 seconds ago), we know what it is, how to react, and how to keep moving.

Don’t eat spam.

I took these pictures right after a sisterly disagreement. I told them to work it out themselves. And they did. They resolved it with laughter, posing and tickling. Wouldn’t it be great if all of our arguments and disagreements ended this way?

Well, okay. Maybe tickling would be a little weird. (Can you imagine you having a misunderstanding at your job and your Boss or co-worker coming over to your cubicle saying ‘Okaayyyy…Ya want a little tickle? Let’s be buudddddieeeees now! Tickle, tickle, tickllllllleeeeee!!!!!!!!’. No, that would not be a good idea. Yuck.)

But we could learn something from forgetting and overlooking the foilbles of others and focusing why we like and love them in the first place.

And I guess we could do that without tickling.