Why Feb 1st is when you should make your New Year's resolutions

Many people fall into either one of three categories when it comes to New Year's resolutions. 

There are those who year after year enthusiastically commit to various audacious goals only to experience failure a few months in. The meant well, but it just didn't come together. "Well, if the Cubs can try again next year so can I" is the annual attitude.

There are also those refuse to set resolutions. "No one ever sticks with those. Who wants to feel like a failure?"

And then, similar to the existence of Big Foot, there supposedly is a group of people out there who indeed do keep resolutions. I always wondered if such people were successful because they set goals like, "I'm going to make sure to breath every day this year." But if the resolutions are actually more challenging then this, then I need to meet the Sasquatch so I can ask him what the secret to success is.

To set goals is a good and necessary endeavor, a discipline of the successful and prudent. I'd like to offer the suggestion that maybe the reason some fail at keeping resolutions is tied to when they are made: New Year's Eve. 

What a Christian needs to know as President Obama begins 4 more years

Last night our political process played out and by a electoral vote of 303-206 and a popular vote currently at 59,584,661 to 56,959,312 Barack Obama will retain his title of Commander in Chief for four more years.

But you already knew that.

 

I've yet to see the concession and victory speeches, having gone to bed early last night. I'll be honest, I really hope Obama put his arms out and dropped the mic at the end of his. Regardless, skimming through the Facebook news feed this morning I've seen everything from ecstatic praise for the victory to people apparently having a little ancient Mayan in their blood based on their cries of the end coming around the corner.

So what is a person who loves and follows Jesus supposed to do? 

3 helpful links and 2 thoughts on election day

After today the barrage of commercials will go to a trickle (hopefully), followed by lawn signs getting pulled up and 7-11 Obama/Romney cups being replaced with 007 cups (hopefully). 

But as of writing this there are still around 10 hours left in Chicago to vote. For those still undecided, here are a couple links I found helpful:

• www.isidewith.com - The site lists a bunch of questions along the various issues, asking your opinion and how important the issue is for you. Once done it will tell you which candidate you are most in line with. If you go to the site you'll notice that each category has a link under each grouping for additional questions on the topic. Make sure to answer those as well.
• 5 Questions Romney Never Answered About Mormonism - very thought provoking article. For me #4 is the big one to consider. 
• Moral and Spiritual Issues in the 2012 Election - chart on the various issues for the two parties. Thought-provoking, though at the same time should be seen as a summary of generalities. It would be incredibly wrong to make the assumption that a person claiming to be in either of the given parties holds to each and every issue in exactly the way this author has defined them.

A couple thoughts for my fellow Christians:

• Be respectful in how you speak of others that you disagree with. All of the issues are important in an election. However some issues will be more heart felt than others to various individuals, including various believers. There will even be debate on which of those issues should rise to the top. In the same way, though most would agree that we should vote for the candidate that is closely in line with Biblical principles - it is very possible that various believers will disagree on the specifics of those Biblical principles. It is OK to disagree with others and it is OK to have healthy debate on such things. So avoid phrases today (or ever) along the lines of, "I don't see how anyone who believes in God can vote for..." To flippantly make such a statement is more arrogant than anything. There's a right way and a wrong way to point to one's understanding of the truth. How a fellow church family member votes in a political election should not deter us from being in community with them.
• Be respectful in how you speak of the candidate that you disagree with. For example, anyone who refers to our current president as Obama Bin Laden is not being obedient to scripture!!!  See Romans 13:1-7, 2 Timothy 2:1-7, and 1 Peter 2:13-17.

Never a fan of election years for the rift they can cause in families, friendships, churches, and communities. But they are necessary. Pray for God's guidance as you cast your vote.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Just heard that Stephen Covey passed way today at 79. He was the author of many books, but two that I feel are must reads for anyone really but all leaders for sure: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 8th Habit.

The 7 Habits are:

- Be proactive

- Begin with the end in mind

- Put first things first

- Think Win/Win

- Seek first to understand, then to be understood

- Synergize

- Sharpen the saw

As a student leader at Moody we read the 7 Habits together and it was incredibly impacting, becoming one of my all-time favorites. Even typing them out I want to go back and again reread the book.

If you've never read these books just go to Amazon and get them NOW!

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
• The 8th Habit

This is a video clip of Stephen Covey teaching on "Do the Big Rocks first" - a concept from the Put First Things First habit. One of my favorites:

Pastoring: the happiest of jobs, the most painful of jobs

Within the same hour yesterday I came across two different articles that speak about the job of being a pastor: 

• One from Forbes: The Ten Happiest Jobs 
• And one from a daily devotional that a friend from church forwarded to me: What Our Pastors Wish We Knew.

Though seemingly in contradiction of one another, both are accurate. 

To be honest though, I hope more people read the second one.

 

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you." 1 Thessalonians 5:1

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Don't quit too soon

Seth Godin wrote the following on his blog today.

"I don't even know what I'm afraid of"

This is the fear that kills brands and b2b sales and individual creativity. It's the fear without a name, without a face, without false facts that can be shot down or arguments that can be reasoned with.

This is the amygdala firing, the lizard brain being triggered without rational explanation.

When we are wrestling against the elusive and resilient fear with no name, often the only choice is to live with it, to care enough about forward motion and practical progress that we can come embrace the inner trembling that won't give up.

In market after market paralyzed with fear, this trembling might be the very best sign that you're on to something.

He is speaking about business, but the truth flows into faith and relationships as well.

Life gets shaky at time. Life can bring a ton of uncertainty. Life can be downright scarey. Throw in a side of loneliness or hurt or letdown and things can move from uncertainty to overwhelming in the blink of an eye. 

Living in the red white and blue doesn't like this. We don't like uncertainty nor imbalance and certainly hate the feeling that we have no control. So whenever we find ourselves wrestling with the "elusive and resilient fear with no name" we would rather step away than step up. We'd rather go after balance and wholeness somewhere else than risk facing the unknown outcome of where we are.

So where does faith come in then?

Maybe that shaky, uncertain, scary, lonely, confusing, fearful spot is the most amazing, holy, beautiful, incredibly spot you could be in. 

Maybe you look around with, "God, why do you have me in this impossible situation? 

And maybe God looks around with, "Why not? It's perfect! You get to trust me and I get to show off!"

Easy doesn't produce faith. 

Easy doesn't produce anything.

Imagine what you're on the verge of!

Whether marriage, family, friendship, or church: Avoid backwards. Move forward. Don't give up. Keep on.

Don't quit too soon.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 10:39-11:1

5 Ways To Keep Moving Forward When You Hit A Wall

Before starting to work on my own post for today I checked my email and found the below post from Michael Hyatt's blog. I normally don't just rehash other people's stuff on here but this was too good to not share. Highly recommend you reading this today:

Hearing Commanding Army General Francis Wiercinski speaking to chaplains

I'm at an US Army Chaplaincy Annual Sustainment Training right now where almost 200 chaplains are being equipped. It's been a really phenomenal experience being around these men and women.

At one point in the schedule this morning things got quiet, someone called for attention, and Commanding General Francis Wiercinski walked into the room. Though I've obviously never heard of him up till this point, it was pretty amazing to sit and ease drop as this level of leadership in our military shared with the chaplains.  

As he spoke it was the only time in the last two days that the room was dead quiet. Partly I'd imagine this was because of his rank but in realty I'd say it was also because his words were really profound. Straight to the point, but empowering. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:

"If I should have a daughter..." and spoken word poetry

Watching this video would be one of the best investments of your time today:

 

This immediately became one of my favorite TED talks before it was even over.

The poem "B" at the beginning has me wanting to get back home to hug on Baylee and Jaxon. "10 things I know to be true," "10 things I should have learned by now," and everything she communicates around them has me putting aspects of my teaching and leadership back under a microscope. The imagery she crafts in "Hiroshima" make a word that I needed to hear today. 

You need to hear it to.

Watch. This. Video!

Thankfulness for someone who encouraged thought

A great man of God passed away yesterday: Chuck Colson.

There are leaders of the faith who have inspired me, those who have equipped me, those who have encouraged me. But Chuck Colson is a leader who challenged me to think about and understand my faith. And in doing so he inspired, equipped, and encouraged.

The first time I ever heard Chuck Colson I had no idea who he was or that it was him I was listening to. At the beginning of his song, "Heaven in the Real World," Stephen Curtis Chapman had a sound bite of Colson saying this:

"Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that's where our hope is in this country. And that's where our hope is in life." 

His life story is about that hope. His story is a testimony to the powerful grace of God.

If you've never heard of or interacted with the work of Chuck Colson, I highly recommend you do.

Read his obituary press release here.

Read his story here.

Check out his books here. If you want some suggested starting places I'd go with The Faith, How Now Shall We Live, and The Body. 

And check out this video...

When was the last time you went to church?

Just because the last message was incredibly boring doesn't mean today's will be.

Just because no one said HI before doesn't mean no one will smile and say welcome today.

Just because fakes were at the last place doesn't mean they aren't genuine at the new place.

Just because you were hurt at the last church doesn't mean you can't find healing at the next one.

Just because the last pastor was a prideful jerk doesn't mean the next can't be a humble servant.

Don't condemn all Christians as guilty because a few act like complete idiots.

Don't attempt to hold Jesus hostage because of how His children behave sometimes.

Don't allow a few worse case scenarios to blind you to all of the best ones.

When was the last time you went to church?

Don't miss an opportunity today.

Exciting new part of the Moss fam's journey

In the last couple "Week In Review" posts I've mentioned that big news was coming in regards to what's going on with our family. Well, here is:

No, we are NOT expecting another child. =)

This past Sunday at New Life's Lincoln Park campus, Pastor Mark announced that I would be stepping in to take over for him as Teaching Pastor.  Jeannette & I will be joining with Rick & Sylvia Allen to lead the location and bring the gospel to the Lincoln Park area. My primary responsibilities will include teaching/preaching on Sundays, but also to provide leadership in various areas of the church and to help build up the community.

We've been attending NLLP pretty consistently since February. To say it's an understatement that we are excited about this would be an incredible understatement. The people at LP are AMAZING! There are such great people serving and making things happen, and we are humbled and grateful to be able to join in with them.  

Yes, I'll still be working at Logos and teaching at Moody, to answer the expected questions. Logos is my primary job and I love it, being able to travel the country helping people get equipped for Bible study. I'm fortunate to be able to do both. Going into next semester I'm rearranging my teaching schedule at Moody to only be teaching one day (Mondays), so we're going to see how that goes. 

Because of a couple previous commitments in the church and other things, the official transition/start isn't until around Thanksgiving. Between now and then though I'll be teaching most evenings during the 5pm service and also a couple times in the 10am service. 

We are excited, pumped, freaked out, little nervous, but are so ready and anticipating great things to come!!! Without listing all the names here, there are so many people who have carried us through to this point in the journey. "Thank you" seems inadequate, adding "we love you" still not enough. But I feel both very deeply.

Thankful for yesterday, in awe of today, dreaming about the future.

Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

It's worth your time to check these blogs out

Supposedly, there are 152 million blogs on the internet. "What in the world is a blog?" you might ask (please don't ask what the internet is). It is basically a way to share information. That's a pretty short, unsexy definition, but it works.  

Blogs can be a way for people to record their daily ongoings and feelings, or they can be a means for corporations to share about their products and vision. There's pretty much a blog out there for any area of life, and any nuance is passionately detailed and received by those who care. 

I follow about 135+ different blogs. Some are written by people that I know, most by people I've heard of. Some have to do with ministry, some with culture, some with techie news, and some are just for fun. Here's a breakdown of some of the blogs I follow that would be worth your time to check them out: 

Week in review #11

Just woke up from getting over 9 hours of sleep last night. Can't remember the last time that happened. But based on the past week, the extra sleep was needed:

Week in Review #7

An entire week back in the city with no traveling! Huge wow!!!

That's just ugly!

The Aspire Pastor's Conference is going on right now in Phoenix AZ, and I'm here with some guys from the Logos team.  Last night we heard Bob Pitman speak on everything the pastor does being about Jesus; pastors aren't to ever proclaim themselves, we are proclaiming Jesus.  Sometimes the most basic truths are the ones we need reminded of, and they also make for the most powerful sermons.

Toward the end he was talking about genuine and fake humility when he said this:

Some of the ladies in our churches have their blouse sleeves down to their wrist, their skirts down to their ankles.  They have large bee-hive hairdos that tower over the congregation.  I asked one such lady why she does that, to which she said, "I'm just trying to have humility."  Come on lady - that's not humility, that's just ugly!"

6000 people in attendance, and you could probably hear me laugh above them all.  Even this morning I'm laughing as I type out the recounting.

Then he said this: "Humility is not an outward expression, it is an inward reality."  

Now that's powerful.

Always good to get a humility check.  Always good when it comes along with a pretty hilarious story.

"I won a button for being humble once, but they took it away from me because I wore it." - Mike Warnke 

"Call me buddy"

The most read post from my blog this year so far as been when I wrote about Baylee not wanting to grow up.  This is another one of those "out of the mouth of babes" stories.

Yesterday I went out back to the garage to load the car with some things for work.  Coming back I heard a kid's voice calling me, "Are you Baylee's dad?"

The voice was coming from the second story of our next door neighbor's building.  I hadn't met our new neighbors yet, but this was one of their little boys.

"I am Baylee's dad.  My name is Bobby, what's your name?"

Spoiled

If you are one who likes to hear teaching about God, the Bible, and life, then you'll agree after seeing the below list that recently I have been incredibly spoiled.  I've been at three different conferences in the last 8 days.  As the phrase goes, it's been like drinking from a fire hose.