1.06.2010

The Sound of Potential

God used this video of a young man born without eyes and limited use of his joints to teach me some things I needed to hear today:



• Attitude and perspective are inextricably connected
One defines the other.

• Plan B is ok.
"Ok, we're not going to play baseball, but we're going to play music together. And that was really exciting. Let's see how far we can run with this."

• A father sacrificing for his child is stirring, always.
I think there's a reason that story moves everybody.

• Our limitations may be the very things that give birth to our greatest gifts, if we'll let them.
It's like a cosmic judo move or something. In the video Patrick Henry Hughes makes the comment, "God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal! He gave me the musical gifts I have and the great opportunity to meet new people." He may not have been able to do so many of the things that other people do in the way that other people do them, but that doesn't prevent him from doing the things he can do. And much of what he does are things that others can't do. Plus, and this is important, he doesn't do it alone.

• Don't be that guy... whoever that other guy is. Be you.
I think we often see what we admire in others - their gifts and talents and abilities. I wonder how often the pressure we put on ourselves to imitate or conform to those things, thinking that would allow us to inspire others, prevents us from being what God would have us be. And if we'd just be obedient to who God has made us... well THAT WOULD inspire others.

Technorati tags: , ,

1.02.2010

Twitterific!

Some favorite Tweets from November:

  • jasonyounglive A leader must commit to that which has not yet happened. Otherwise, you're not leading, you're following.
  • BrianCHouston Old methods won't produce new results! Break old habits for a NEW year!
  • RickWarren To be faithful in loving people the way Jesus does you must be willing to appear foolish to those who just don't get it.
  • johncmaxwell Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -Einstein
  • BCooP Celebration is a MAJOR KEY to REPLICATION.... if you want to see MORE OF SOMETHING... You've GOT TO CELEBRATE IT!
  • perrynoble Two powerful weapons the enemy will use against you is discouragement and distraction...keep your eyes on Jesus!
  • kevinqueen There is no such thing as small obedience. God writes mountain sized stories through mustard seed moments.
  • stevenfurtick Don't just pray for rain...prepare your fields! Faith w/o works is dead.
Find me @joshburnham.

Technorati tags:

1.01.2010

A Quote for Friday

"Tradition should never get in the way of Mission."

Dan Kimball

Technorati tags: ,

12.25.2009

A Quote for Friday

"When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flock, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart."

Howard Thurman

Technorati tags: ,

12.24.2009

What's It All About?

Technorati tags: ,

12.23.2009

A Quick Jog Down Memory Lane

I was thinking back on past Christmases and memories I've held onto over the years. Here are a few:

  • The year my parents video taped Santa delivering our gifts. The camera flashed out of focus and the living room reappeared with all our gifts in place. I was amazed. (I later figured out how Auto-focus works when you flash a cloth over the camera lens.)
  • When I was in elementary school and sang a solo of Silent Night for our children's Christmas musical. I sang the first verse, but never memorized the second verse because everybody else sang that part while I was walking back to my place on the risers. I memorized it the next year during the Sunday mornings leading up to Christmas just because I felt like I'd gotten left out.
  • The year my brother and I thought we'd opened all the gifts, then noticed the last two boxes: Red Ryders. It was just like the movie. My parents swore we peeked.
  • A few years after my parents' divorce, mom let dad come over and sleep on the couch so he could be there as we opened gifts Christmas morning, which felt both odd and comforting at the same time.
  • The year my uncle Walter died the week before Christmas.
  • The first year my dad didn't get me a gift.
  • When I was chosen as a reader for our church's Christmas Eve service. It was my freshman year in college and I got to share the opportunity with two close friends I'd graduated with the year before. It felt pretty special.
  • Mine and Shannon's first Christmas together.
  • Our first year with Noah and looking forward to this year, our first with Ansley.
Anybody out there have a Christmas memory or two you'd like to share?

Technorati tags: ,

12.21.2009

A Comment About Comments

I've got a little sad news to share. It's just a little news and just a little sad.

For the past several years, I've used HaloScan to host the comments on this page. They've recently changed their service and introduced what they call Echo. They also introduced a price tag. Albeit a somewhat small price tag, I'm not real sure I want to jump onboard with the Echo comment service. And HaloScan is discontinuing any other comment hosting. So, I'm switching comments back over to the Blogger. Now, two things about this...

One, HaloScan has provided a way to export all the old comments and I'll have those in my very own .xml file. And that's nice enough of them to offer it, really, but it's sort of like giving a two year old keys to a car. I can't really use it for much right now, but maybe someday.

Two, the down side is that Blogger doesn't have a way to import comments, which means the old comments won't show up here. Thus, the little bit sad part.

All that to say, the option to comment on here may seem a little fuzzy for a bit. During the next few days while this is being switched over, if I miss your comment or you can't get it to work or your RSS feed to the comments is messed up... well, there you go. And, if for some reason you're hoping to go back and read old comments, they'll probably be gone until Blogger kindly offers a way to import comments. Thanks guys!

Technorati tags: , ,