Being The Best

Q: Is it desirable or even morally acceptable to strive to be the best of or at something?

The question is not about being the best one can be based on their own personal assets and liabilities or being the best within a certain group or set, but being the undisputed best at something. Period.

Take skateboarding, cello playing or parenting, it doesn't matter what the "something" is, the questions still stands.  Is it desirable to work towards being the best skateboarder, cellist or parent in the world?

I think the issue is not so much in the quest for being the best, but in the cost one is willing to pay in order to be the best.  What is an individual willing to sacrifice in order to be the best magician, chemist or sales person in the world?  During this kind of pursuit the usual items placed on the altar of this desire are:

• Family
• Faith, belief, conviction
• Health
• Soul
• Personal life/time
• Money
• Education
• Friends/ social life/ community
• Spiritual development and growth

One with an once or two of biblical knowledge may point to  Philippians 4:11 as Paul's desire for us to be like him in our contentment. Or even Hebrews 13:5.  Maybe because of these verses the answer to the posed question is, "no."

But wait, are we really to be content in all situations and circumstances? Are we to be content with:

• a life of untapped or unused potential?
• a marriage that is mediocre or poor?
• a view of socail conditions that looks are how things could be worse and not better?
• a low understanding of self worth or human value?
• a job where one is under employeed?
• a life that is trapped in a generational cycle of abuse, poverty or addiction?
• a perspective of sin that seeks only to comapre and contrast itself to others as a form of moral superiority?

Of course not!  So, at some level discontentment is OK, if not down right good and just.  I believe Christ followers are allowed and instructed to strive for change and transformation.  God wants and desires for people to use their skill sets (giftings) in the pursuit of changing our world to look more like his world.
A: Yes.

It is acceptable and even desirable to be the best at something, provided a proper balance and perspective are maintained. The error is not in the desire to be the best, but in the sacrifice of equilibrium to achieve this desire. An "at all costs" mentality loses sight of everything but the goal itself. A sense of contentment must be held fast when one understands the goal is not achievable without the lose of balance and sacrifice of perspective.

How To Be A Visionary In 3 (Not So Easy) Steps

The other night while taking out the trash I had an epiphany!  For one who does not fancy himself a visionary, I was struck by the idea of how to become a visionary.

Step #1 “Have a vision.”

Call it creativity, innovation or divine inspiration, call whatever you want, but visionaries have visions.  Not revelation of the end of the world or some hallucination, but an idea.  Visionaries see the world differently than most people.  This can come from frustration or hope.  Visionaries see possibilities where others don’t.  They create paths where there are none.  They are not content with the status quo.  They have a desire to change the world.  So, to be a visionary you have to have an idea, a suspicion or a vision.

Step #2 “Implement your vision.”

Probably the biggest difference between those who are visionaries and those who are not is action! You can have the greatest idea or the most wonderful inspiration, but if you don’t put it into action it is useless.  Those who are visionaries are willing to do what it takes to see their visions become reality.  It’s not that they always succeed, but they always try.  Failure is actually good seed for step #1.  Many people are too scared, too limited or too rigid to take their ideas and breathe life into them.  Those who try may fail, but those who don’t have failed already.

Step#3 “See past your vision.”

Being a visionary is just like washing your hair, “apply, rinse and repeat.”  Visionaries are not content when they have seen their vision become reality.  What usually happens is through the process of implementing their vision, they have another one and the whole cycle starts all over again. To stop the process leads to creating another status quo, which really produces stagnation again.  Visionary people are those who can’t leave well enough alone.  Victory (or defeat) should not constipate creativity, innovation or divine inspiration, it should liberate it.  Visionaries reproduce and reincarnate the cycle with further visions.

If this hold water, it is a great encouragement to me!

The World Needs Conventional Churches

Play along with me here. Let's say you didn't normally go to church.  Let's even say you have an aversion to church. And you wouldn't describe yourself as religious or even spiritual. OK, now answer this questions:

Q:If you wanted to find a pastor, minister or priest where would you go?
A: "A church (although these days you might say Starbucks.)"

Q: "When do religious people go to church?"
A: Mostly likely you would answer, "Sunday mornings."

Q: "What happens at most churches on a Sunday morning?"
A: You might say, "singing (whether you liked the music or not),  someone would talk about the Bible, God and/or Jesus (even if you don't buy what they are selling) and there would be an ask for money (every week!).

Q: If you were to go to church what would you wear?
A: You might think,  "I will dress up."

Here's my point: I think there is still a need for conventicle churches in our day and age. The reason is because there is still a stereotypical image of "church" lodged in the collective consciousness of western society.

If one Sunday morning you, as the non-religious, non-church goer decided, for whatever reason, you wanted or needed to go to church where would go? 

Would you go to church I work at and attended?  Nope. We meet on Tuesday nights, not on Sunday mornings. 

Would you go to a movie theater, Jr. High School or even a pub? Probably not.  Who would look for a church in those places.

Would  you try to find a church with the coolest name (eg. Vox, Mathew's House, Quest or b2x)? Doubt it, since these don't even sound likes churches? 

Would you look for a themed church to match your style (eg. Cowboys, Skater or Facebook)? Nope.

You would probably find a church like the one your grandma took you to when you were six and it was Easter.

I say this because with the push to find all kinds of ways to "do church differently" there is still a need for smart, creative and passionate people to be a church that fits some of the old clichés in order to reach people with the gospel.  Its not all about the new.  Its not all about the different.  Its not all about chucking the past, forsaking tradition and the being "progressive."  It is about caring for people and establishing bridges to met right where they are. Sometimes the old is just as good as the new.  Sometimes the old is better than the new.

Care and Cure

I was reading Nouwen the other day and felt a great burden fall from my shoulders, like Bunyon's lead at the foot of the cross.

I have been chewing on Nouwen's small book (lit. booklet) Out of Solitude. In the first devotional thought he talks about how we offer care and cures to those who are hurting and in need.  To my great relief I understood providing care is not predicated on giving the right answers to life's hard questions, dilemmas and confusion.  This would be offering a cure, but not seeking to care for people.  Nouwen contrasted trying to cure poeple with the value of just being with people in their need.  I would put it this way,  "In the chaos of life, presence is more welcomed than solutions."

Nouwen makes the point that many great thinkers, philosophers and theologians have addressed (acknowledged) the pain, sadness and bleakness of life without trying to offer any answers them.  If they did not have answers to offer, feel the need to reveal any cures they had or did think it was useful to share their homemade remdies, why should I.  Its not that I don't want to, but its that I don't have to. This was a hugh releif to me to now that Nouwen and others didn't have all the answers.

Being a "fixer" I want to make everything better.  I want to resolve conflicts, heal wounds and stop pain.  But apparently, what is needed, what is more valuable is not to resolve conflicts, heal wounds and stop pain, but to walk with people as they go through the valley of the shadow of death. 

A traveling partner is more reassuring than a know-it-all.

Hiking with Jake

This past weekend "Fish" and I spent some father and son time hiking.  We went into Evergreen and hike the Maxwell Falls trail. It was gorgeous and we had a great time!  About four miles round trip.  We did a little trail blazing and rock climbing to get to the peak of a mountain to over see the small valley that waterfall runs into.

Reasons to church plant

Today I was talking with another, more experienced pastor (Tom Melton) about church structures and philosophies of ministry as found in Neil Cole’s Church 3.0.  As we came across the topic of church planting (addition vs. multiplication) he had an interesting insight.

For while I have heard the best way to reach people who don’t go to church is to start a church. This gives a reason for church planting other than the, “I don’t like what’s already out there” thinking.

As I was talking to Tom, who planted the church he currently pastors nearly 20 years ago and which has since mothered 6+ church plants, he gave another viable reason for church plants.  Not only are they affective at reaching people who don’t go to church, but they also provide a platform for leadership development and an arena for the exercise of spiritual gifts. 

In essence a church plant can be on-the-job-training for new and current leaders, a lab for those exploring the way God has gifted them and a way of facilitating spiritual transformation.

Not only are church plants about introducing people to God and his church, but they can be about taking current Christ followers and shaping into more into the image of Jesus.

This may not a revolutionary idea to some, but a thought provoking to me.