On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
-1 Kings 8:64
One of my favorite entertainers back in the day (other than Michael Jackson or New Edition!) was MC Hammer. MC Hammer was a bad boy. In his earlier and most explosive days, there was a sidekick that he performed with that was somewhat of a ‘Hype-Man’ who got the crowd fired up and excited.
His name was ‘Too Big’. In fact in one of Hammer’s best songs (They Put Me in the Mix) Too Big would say,“…I am ‘Too Big’ and he is…..!”.
‘Too Big’ was too big.
The reason I am on this ‘Too Big‘ kick today is because I was reading a section out of 1 Kings (above) that speaks of a time when the worship and praise was so big that altars were too small.
The structures for worship were not made to function at the level that the people were praising at. When I read that it blew me away. Think of the people of God in the our generation worshipping God to the point where the ability to contain it is a challenge.
It is hard to imagine isn’t it?
In most cases the altars are much too big and our worship is too small. We never come close to testing the limit.
May our worship and passion for God one day be ‘Too Big’ for our present structures to contain.
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
-Phillipians 4:5-7
As a leader and an agent of change we are faced with a variety of challenges. Some of the challenges in front of us are HUGE. They make us afraid. Unsure. Unsteady.
But when we get to that place of weakness, fear, and anxiety; the scriptures tell us to give it to God in prayer. That God will replace our fears with His peace.
A Leader’s Prayer:
Oh Lord!
We are facing great challenges in the assignments that You have given us.
In our own power and strength we are doomed to defeat.
But with You, we can overcome all things.
We give You our anxiety and fear.
We give You our uncertainty and doubt.
We given You our weakness and imperfection.
We give You our praise with an attitude of thankfulness.
We accept Your peace and security.
We accept look for Your guidance and direction.
We wait with great expectation for Your breakthrough.
When I read the words, Captain Eo I was transported back in time. I can remember going to Epcot center with my family in the mid 80’s while on vacation in Florida. And the first thing that I wanted to see as soon as we went through the entrance was, (you guessed it) Captain Eo. All I could talk about was Captain Eo.
“When are we going to see Captain Eo? Are we close? Is that is over there? How long do you think it is going to be?”
And finally after what seemed like forever, we went to the place where the were showing Captain Eo. I sat down into the plush theater seats and excitedly put on my Captain Eo 3-D glasses. My heart raced as it began. I jumped when I heard Michael’s first, ‘OOOOOOOH!‘. I mean no one could touch Mike back in the day. No one. As we left the building after it was over, I was soaring.
Captain Eo was amazing.
Captain Eo was cool.
I wanted to be Captain Eo.
Yesterday when I read the words, ‘Captain Eo’, I couldn’t help but to go back to this great memory of my mid ’80’s Captain Eo experience. So I went to YouTube and searched ‘Captain Eo’. It came right up. I was curious to see how it would effect me now, after all these years.
I clicked the ‘Play‘ icon.
I watched it and was blown away all over again.
Not because it was great film-making or a great story, but because it was a dud. Captain Eo is almost as terrible as the latest Indiana Jones flick (On second thought, it is probably a tie). I couldn’t believe that something this ridiculous once made me so happy. I shook my head at the dialogue.
” Captain Eo:(looking up at Evil Queen Lady) And that is my gift to you!
Evil Queen Lady:(while strangley moving her claw-like fingers) Let me see this gift!
Captain Eo: (while pointing to ear in an overly dramatic fashion. Only Michael could pull this off!) Not only see Your Highness, but hear!”
(Inevitable song and dance sequence begins)
I realized that Captain Eo was a trainwreck of a film. As time passed, what seemed so major really wasn’t. As the distance increased, I got a new perspective.
And I suppose that is not true of just Captain Eo. But also true of the challenges, trials, and problems we currently face. One day with laughs, chuckles, and smiles we will look back at what seemed so major but from a different vantage point looks so small.
The distance of time combined with our growth will give us a new perspective on just how far we have come.
“So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
-1 Cor. 3:7
I think one of the most difficult things as a leader is coming to grips with the things that are outside of your control. Most of the conversation and dialogue about leadership and change is centered on what we CAN DO and not what we CAN’T DO.
There is so a lot we CAN DO, but so much more that we can’t. We can’t change people’s hearts. We can’t make people’s choices. We can’t make people grow. We can’t make the sun shine or the rain fall.
Only God can do that.
Lately that has been one the biggest areas that God has been challenging me to grow in and understand. I am to surrender to Him the things that I can’t change, and trust Him with the results. That doesn’t mean is that I have adopted a ‘whatever will be, will be’ attitude.
It just means that I am investing my time, energy and passion in the ‘boxes’ that God has given to me, and leaving His ‘box’ alone. When I get in God’s Box, I develop anxiety, I get stressed, I can’t sleep and I don’t have peace. But when I stay faithful to my assignment and do attempt to do His, I am a MUCH healthier dude.
In my Box I am to:
1. Plant: Invest the right things in the right places. Get the ground ready for what God wants me to plant.
2. Water: Nurture what is planted by providing the right food that will get the seeds growing. Remove any weeds that would stunt or choke the growth of new plants.
God’s Box:
Taking what I have planted and watered, invested and sown, and making it fruitful and alive.
If I do MY part (and stay out of His Box) , God is free to do His part.
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.
There is a book by late theologian called, “Deep is the Hunger” that inspired this blogpost title. But I think the question is a good one: How deep is the hunger?
Are we still hungry for God?
Or have the cares and worries of this world broken our spirit and made us weak, unable to eat? Are we too full and satisfied to be hungry anymore? Have we become too pre-occupied with ourselves that we have no attention for Him?
“Success is found in much smaller portions than most people realize. A hundredth of a second here or sometimes a tenth of a second there can determine the fastest man in the world. At times we live our lives on a paper-thin edge that barely separates greatness from mediocrity and success from failure.”
—Olympic Champion Michael Johnson
Something fearful has happened to us. We have forgotten how to speak. Like natives of the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming, we are losing our language. The language of God. We have forgotten how to speak and to sing the lyrics of faith, hope, love, and belief. They have been replaced with fear, hatred, skepticism, and manipulation. And in losing our language, we have diminished our very life.
We don’t dance anymore. The rhythm of visions and dreams has left our memory. There was a time that we could fly. But we are now bound to the earth. Chained to the ground, shackled with reality’s gravity, afraid to jump.
Why do we think of how others need to get right or with the program when we first encounter God’s truth? Think of the last time you heard something profound or insightful from the word of God. Did you think of how your friend/spouse/neighbor/daughter/son/or someone else could really use that information?
Or did you think of how YOU really needed it?
Somewhere on the inside of us, we have this ‘Bounce-Back’ reflex that deflects God’s words on others while we remained unchanged.
On that same day the king consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
-1 Kings 8:64
One of my favorite entertainers back in the day (other than Michael Jackson or New Edition!) was MC Hammer. MC Hammer was a bad boy. In his earlier and most explosive days, there was a sidekick that he performed with that was somewhat of a ‘Hype-Man’ who got the crowd fired up and excited.
His name was ‘Too Big’. In fact in one of Hammer’s best songs (They Put Me in the Mix) Too Big would say,“…I am ‘Too Big’ and he is…..!”.
‘Too Big’ was too big.
The reason I am on this ‘Too Big‘ kick today is because I was reading a section out of 1 Kings (above) that speaks of a time when the worship and praise was so big that altars were too small.
The structures for worship were not made to function at the level that the people were praising at. When I read that it blew me away. Think of the people of God in the our generation worshipping God to the point where the ability to contain it is a challenge.
It is hard to imagine isn’t it?
In most cases the altars are much too big and our worship is too small. We never come close to testing the limit.
May our worship and passion for God one day be ‘Too Big’ for our present structures to contain.
Posted in Media/Culture, Transformation | No Comments »
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
-Phillipians 4:5-7
As a leader and an agent of change we are faced with a variety of challenges. Some of the challenges in front of us are HUGE. They make us afraid. Unsure. Unsteady.
But when we get to that place of weakness, fear, and anxiety; the scriptures tell us to give it to God in prayer. That God will replace our fears with His peace.
A Leader’s Prayer:
Oh Lord!
We are facing great challenges in the assignments that You have given us.
In our own power and strength we are doomed to defeat.
But with You, we can overcome all things.
We give You our anxiety and fear.
We give You our uncertainty and doubt.
We given You our weakness and imperfection.
We give You our praise with an attitude of thankfulness.
We accept Your peace and security.
We accept look for Your guidance and direction.
We wait with great expectation for Your breakthrough.
We know that You are near.
Amen.
Posted in Prayer | 1 Comment »
Kirah is nine years old today!
I can still remember her cute little face on that very first day.
Her mom and I are getting old!
Posted in Family | No Comments »
I was reading a movie review about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (terrible movie by the way. Really, really bad) that referenced Michael Jackson’s ‘Captain Eo’. Captain Eo was a short film made by George Lucas that played at Disney’s Epcot Center and other venues.
When I read the words, Captain Eo I was transported back in time. I can remember going to Epcot center with my family in the mid 80’s while on vacation in Florida. And the first thing that I wanted to see as soon as we went through the entrance was, (you guessed it) Captain Eo. All I could talk about was Captain Eo.
“When are we going to see Captain Eo? Are we close? Is that is over there? How long do you think it is going to be?”
And finally after what seemed like forever, we went to the place where the were showing Captain Eo. I sat down into the plush theater seats and excitedly put on my Captain Eo 3-D glasses. My heart raced as it began. I jumped when I heard Michael’s first, ‘OOOOOOOH!‘. I mean no one could touch Mike back in the day. No one. As we left the building after it was over, I was soaring.
Captain Eo was amazing.
Captain Eo was cool.
I wanted to be Captain Eo.
Yesterday when I read the words, ‘Captain Eo’, I couldn’t help but to go back to this great memory of my mid ’80’s Captain Eo experience. So I went to YouTube and searched ‘Captain Eo’. It came right up. I was curious to see how it would effect me now, after all these years.
I clicked the ‘Play‘ icon.
I watched it and was blown away all over again.
Not because it was great film-making or a great story, but because it was a dud. Captain Eo is almost as terrible as the latest Indiana Jones flick (On second thought, it is probably a tie). I couldn’t believe that something this ridiculous once made me so happy. I shook my head at the dialogue.
” Captain Eo:(looking up at Evil Queen Lady) And that is my gift to you!
Evil Queen Lady:(while strangley moving her claw-like fingers) Let me see this gift!
Captain Eo: (while pointing to ear in an overly dramatic fashion. Only Michael could pull this off!) Not only see Your Highness, but hear!”
(Inevitable song and dance sequence begins)
I realized that Captain Eo was a trainwreck of a film. As time passed, what seemed so major really wasn’t. As the distance increased, I got a new perspective.
And I suppose that is not true of just Captain Eo. But also true of the challenges, trials, and problems we currently face. One day with laughs, chuckles, and smiles we will look back at what seemed so major but from a different vantage point looks so small.
The distance of time combined with our growth will give us a new perspective on just how far we have come.
Posted in Media/Culture, Creativity/Innovation, Dream Awake | No Comments »
“So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
-1 Cor. 3:7
I think one of the most difficult things as a leader is coming to grips with the things that are outside of your control. Most of the conversation and dialogue about leadership and change is centered on what we CAN DO and not what we CAN’T DO.
There is so a lot we CAN DO, but so much more that we can’t. We can’t change people’s hearts. We can’t make people’s choices. We can’t make people grow. We can’t make the sun shine or the rain fall.
Only God can do that.
Lately that has been one the biggest areas that God has been challenging me to grow in and understand. I am to surrender to Him the things that I can’t change, and trust Him with the results. That doesn’t mean is that I have adopted a ‘whatever will be, will be’ attitude.
It just means that I am investing my time, energy and passion in the ‘boxes’ that God has given to me, and leaving His ‘box’ alone. When I get in God’s Box, I develop anxiety, I get stressed, I can’t sleep and I don’t have peace. But when I stay faithful to my assignment and do attempt to do His, I am a MUCH healthier dude.
In my Box I am to:
1. Plant: Invest the right things in the right places. Get the ground ready for what God wants me to plant.
2. Water: Nurture what is planted by providing the right food that will get the seeds growing. Remove any weeds that would stunt or choke the growth of new plants.
God’s Box:
Taking what I have planted and watered, invested and sown, and making it fruitful and alive.
If I do MY part (and stay out of His Box) , God is free to do His part.
Posted in Leadership, Transformation | 1 Comment »
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 »
There is a book by late theologian called, “Deep is the Hunger” that inspired this blogpost title. But I think the question is a good one: How deep is the hunger?
Are we still hungry for God?
Or have the cares and worries of this world broken our spirit and made us weak, unable to eat? Are we too full and satisfied to be hungry anymore? Have we become too pre-occupied with ourselves that we have no attention for Him?
How DEEP is the Hunger?
Posted in The Church, Leadership | No Comments »
“Success is found in much smaller portions than most people realize. A hundredth of a second here or sometimes a tenth of a second there can determine the fastest man in the world. At times we live our lives on a paper-thin edge that barely separates greatness from mediocrity and success from failure.”
—Olympic Champion Michael Johnson
Posted in Leadership | No Comments »
Brad Sciullo a chef from Uniontown, Pennsylvania ate a 15 pound hamburger at Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub. He was the first to do it. It took him 4 hours and 39 minutes.
Sciullo ate the burger because, “I wanted to see if I could.”
For completing the challenge in the under-five-hour time limit, Sciullo won $400, three T-shirts, and a certificate.
Wow. I don’t know what to say.
I am sure there is meaning in here someplace, but I just can’t find it yet.
Posted in Uncategorized, Media/Culture | No Comments »
Something fearful has happened to us. We have forgotten how to speak. Like natives of the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming, we are losing our language. The language of God. We have forgotten how to speak and to sing the lyrics of faith, hope, love, and belief. They have been replaced with fear, hatred, skepticism, and manipulation. And in losing our language, we have diminished our very life.
We don’t dance anymore. The rhythm of visions and dreams has left our memory. There was a time that we could fly. But we are now bound to the earth. Chained to the ground, shackled with reality’s gravity, afraid to jump.
In ages past, His people could soar.
Like Peter Pan in ‘Hook‘, we have forgotten Neverland.
Forgotten how to laugh.
Forgotten our joy.
Forgotten how to imagine.
Forgotten His choruses.
Forgotten our letters.
Forgotten how to spell.
Forgotten how to read.
Forgotten the Language of God.
Can we find it and remember?
Posted in Relationships, The Church, Media/Culture, The Future | No Comments »
Why do we think of how others need to get right or with the program when we first encounter God’s truth? Think of the last time you heard something profound or insightful from the word of God. Did you think of how your friend/spouse/neighbor/daughter/son/or someone else could really use that information?
Or did you think of how YOU really needed it?
Somewhere on the inside of us, we have this ‘Bounce-Back’ reflex that deflects God’s words on others while we remained unchanged.
And the crazy thing is, we barely even notice.
Posted in Relationships, The Church | No Comments »