Early Birthday Present (aka, my newest toy)

Thanks to early birthday money from Mom and Dad, I bought my newest toy this week: a Creative Zen V Plus 4 GB MP3 player.

Go ahead, just spend a few quiet moments taking it in.

Yeah, I know. It is pretty amazing. Small. Light. Beautifully styled. Incredible sound. Easy interface. Rechargeable battery. Sleep timer. Radio. Calendar and Contacts - sync'd with Outlook. All for $100. I know! It just can't be beat! So far, I've put 482 songs on it, and it's not even half full!

Ahhh...

Contemplation is the response to a call

I know I've posted a portion of this reading before from Thomas Merton, but I just keeping coming back to it over and over. Read it slowly, pausing at each line break, and learn from the master of contemplation:

Contemplation is the response to a call:
A call from Him Who has no voice,
and yet
Who speaks in everything that is,
and Who,
most of all,
speaks in the depths of our own being:
for we ourselves are words of His.

But we are words
that are meant to respond to Him,
to answer to Him,
to echo Him,
and even
in some way
to contain Him
and signify Him.

Contemplation is this echo.

It is a deep resonance
in the inmost center of our spirit
in which our very life
loses its separate voice
and re-sounds with the majesty
and the mercy
of the Hidden
and Living One.

He answers Himself in us
and this answer is
divine life,
divine creativity,
making all things new.

We ourselves
become His echo
and His answer.

It is as if
in creating us
God asked a question,
and in awakening us to comtemplation
He answered the question,
so that the contemplative is
at the same time,
question
and answer.

And all is summed up in one awareness -
not a proposition,
but an experience:
"I Am."

- Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours, 48-49.

Lunar Eclipse

Thanks to my wife's alarm clock, we all got up at about 3:00am this morning to view the full lunar eclipse. It was pretty cool, actually. The moon was red and the stars were amazingly bright in a cloudless sky. Here is a local TV channel's article and and a picture.

I wonder what people thought 1,000 or 2,000 years ago when they saw something like this...

A Rainy Morning and a Bagel

I love cloudy, rainy mornings. We don't get many here in Tucson, but we had thunderstorms all night that are just now beginning to clear. So I had a nice walk to my favorite neighborhood Bruegger's bagel shop, got breakfast for the family, and had some memorable ordinary moments:

• Smelling the freshness of the rain, reminding me to pay attention to each step I take...


• Touching the wet Red Bird of Paradise in my front yard, reminding me that water is essential to life...


• Saying good morning to Cliff and Linda on their way home from the Oro Valley Farmer's Market (remember Cliff?), reminding me of friends along the way...


• Hearing the huff and puff of the beginning jogger passing me ever so slowly, reminding me of the air I breathe...


• Seeing a circle of rain-battered pink oleander blossoms on the ground around the bush, reminding me that there is a time for every season...


• Tasting the Bruegger's everything bagel with plain cream cheese, reminding me that food is good...
  

(bagels are truly bread from heaven...)

Follow-up on Peru quake

I found this follow-up article on the Peru quake last week, even though it's no longer one of the top stories:

Rescuers: 'No hope' left of finding survivors of Peru earthquake

I hate summer colds

Maybe it was too much recycled airplane air...

Maybe it was being around our best friends' daughter...

No matter...I've now missed two days of work because of my summer cold. ugh.

I actually feel quite a bit better today and I'm trying to catch up a little. But I can feel the first afternoon nap coming on...

When the ground moves

On January 17, 1994, at 4:31am, my wife and I were violently awakened in Woodland Hills, CA, by the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake. I remember trying to hang on to the sheets of the bed to keep from being tossed out of it. We were literally bouncing on and off the mattress. I also remember thinking that I was glad we were on the 3rd floor of the apartment complex because I didn't want to be crushed when we fell all the way to the ground - and I was expecting to feel that falling sensation at any second. It was the most frightening experience of my life.

We were lucky, though. Our building didn't collapse. We didn't fall. Our one-year-old son, sleeping in the next room, never even woke during the quake. None of us were hurt.

But I do know what it's like to try to get out of a damaged building in complete darkness. I do know what it's like to sit outside, waiting for news and wondering what to do next. I do know what it's like to be on edge for months and months, riding out aftershocks, hoping it's not happening again. I also know what it's like to have family and friends come together and support each other in the days following.

But I don't know what this is like:



I don't know what it's like to lose all your belongings in a matter of seconds. I don't know what it's like to have a loved one perish when the ground moves.

My thoughts and prayers are in Peru tonight...

Beautiful Southern California

I'm in the LA area this week for work, and so far the days have been postcard perfect. Clear skies (yeah, I know, that doesn't happen often here...), cool temperatures, calm seas, good food. Ahhh...

I don't like being away from my family for a week, but at least this is a nice place to come for work. I do miss them a lot this time, though, because I'm still feeling a little out of sorts after last weekend...

I can't wait to get home...

Drained...

Yesterday's class still had come of the emotional charge from Friday night. Plus, the A/C unit in the building broke around 9:00am, so we had to find a new venue to finish our class. Thanks to a fellow student, we were able to relocate to a University of Phoenix classroom just a few miles away. In hindsight, that probably helped release some of the tension we carried into the morning from the night before.

So, drained and reflective, I'm heading to our morning service, thinking about the paper I have to write over the next four weeks, our group meeting tonight, and my trip to California tomorrow...

Not sure what just happened...

Tonight in class, in the midst of something which initially appeared as very ordinary, something extraordinary occurred.

Right now it feels very holy, and I'm struggling for words.

I think this was one of those times when God interrupted our plans to reveal something to us. I don't think I'm exaggerating by saying that everyone felt something was...shifting. I think every one of us could feel it. I think most of us caught a glimpse of ministry that you can't get from a book or a sermon or a lecture. And I think a few of us walked away tonight facing demons we didn't know were there.

Healing, restoration, forgiveness, grace, mercy - yes N., the kingdom is that radically different, and no, it doesn't make sense, does it?

Why are we doing this on a Friday night? Why are we giving our lives to it? Because He did, and He has called us by name, and we have nowhere else to go. That is where the power comes from. That is where the authority comes from. It doesn't come from position or title or credentials or degrees. It comes from Him.

What else are we to do? What else can we do?

Three Voices of a Leader

The inspiration came on a walk this morning in my neighborhood: Three Voices of a Leader.

I believe there is a connection between three voices of a leader and his/her effectiveness. One voice, the public voice, is how a leader speaks to a large group, such as a pastor to a congregation. A second voice, the private voice, is how a leader speaks to an individual or a couple of people in a small, intimate setting. A third voice, the silent voice, is how a leader speaks with his/her life: his/her way of being in the world. These three voices comprise most of what is "spoken" by the leader.

Further, I believe that a leader's effectiveness is directly related to the consistency of these three voices. Ok, that may seem obvious, but how many times do we hear leaders say one thing and then do something else? Or say one thing publicly and then something else in private? Saying different things publicly, privately, and in actions undermines the effectiveness of the leader. On the other side, how refreshing it is to see a genuine, authentic leader speaking consistently regardless of circumstance, location or audience. That's someone I can follow. How about you?

Struggling for a topic...

I thought sitting in the Oro Valley Public Library gazing out at Pusch Ridge might bring me some inspiration for a topic for my paper.

It's not working.

Maybe some David Crowder on the way up to Phoenix tonight might help...

Thoughts so far with no convergence to a thesis statement:

• Compare "non-Christian" leadership principles (stuff promoted outside the traditional Christian literature) to biblical leadership principles
• Spiritual disciplines of an effective leader

Help...

A Leader's Heart

Last week in class, we talked at length about the connection between a leader's interior life and his/her leadership effectiveness. In short, if a leader's interior or spiritual life is unhealthy or chaotic, then he or she would be more likely to damage the organization than to help it. An organization may remain "profitable" (however one may define that), but will likely not function anywhere near its potential or be sustainable in the long run.

In general, I agree. I believe that a leader who nurtures his/her spiritual life, balancing contemplation and action, solitude and community, will be a much more effective leader than one who does not. A vital and healthy spiritual life is a prerequisite for effective leadership, but that does not automatically make one an effective leader. A deep and meaningful spiritual life does not equate to the ability to effectively lead others into an unknown future. I think this is a crucial difference that we must recognize when we seek leaders for the church. Never has the future been more uncertain for the church in North America, and we cannot settle for anything less than men and women of character who are completely devoted to God and His purposes for the world. This devotion and commitment begins in the leader's heart.

Leadership Questions

Dr. Heuser posed a very interesting leadership question last night in class for us to ponder:

Is Christian leadership counter-cultural? The majority of us answered yes.

• My answer was yes, because leadership within a "Christian" context calls us to serve those we lead, to love those we lead, to lead not from a position of power but from a desire to serve, and to share leadership
• Others answered yes because to be a Christian leader means primarily to follow Christ - and Jesus was very counter-cultural
• Also, being a Christian leader typically goes against the prevailing cultural value of seeking opportunities to advance one's career