Wall of Gratitude...Pipergirl77

Ever since I heard Zig Ziglar and his motivational mobsters I have tried to be intentional about thanking those who have made a difference in my life. Pipergirl 77 is the #1 referer to my page. For this I say thank you. And by the way... her and her hubby celebrated 5 years of marriage yesterday. Way to go Mr. and Mrs. G. Also, Thanks for training our dog and being fantastic friends.

Random Links, which deserve entire posts, but not now.

I am a high "I". I often consider legally changing my name and putting letters from my first name into my last name so I can be a motivational speaker. This guy rocks, was very helpful, and the world series ring is for real.

Yes I was at Kaiser last Thursday. Yes it hurt. Yes I'm feeling better.

This is really cool!

I've been reading. I finished this, and that, and I'm almost done with this.

2007 Goals Evaluation...

Body...
I currently weigh 295lbs (I will get official results tomorrow, when I go to the fat doctor and stand on the freight scale). Thats down 65 lbs with 45lbs to go by September. This feels good.

I have not been exercising. I have not been going to bed by midnight. I have been eating breakfast everyday. I have not taken any more steps towards education in these areas, however, doing that now would not help my health because my time is already too stretched. I have avoided caloried drinks and sodas. I have not been able to resist the occasional late night plate of nachos. The wife has joined me in my efforts and she is doing very well.

Despite my few successes and feeling like I'm on track, I give myself an unimpressive 50% success in my progress.

Mind...
I just finished God Sex by Rob Bell and I think that's the fifth or sixth book I've finished this year. I have joined the book club and I'm developing relationships with some of the best people God ever created. I have made time to read Blogs and Websites I find helpful and interesting as well as renewing or begining at least 5 subscriptions to periodicals. The local youth pastors have not met yet this year for our monthy breakfast, but I have been in contact with all of them. I've also stayed connected with in my fellowship and will be attending a "cluster" meeting next week. I have fairly faithfully kept my blog up to date and I'm doing research on a contextualization piece I hope to submit to some "user submitted sites". My bible reading flucuates. I think I actually have some catching up to do right now.

Who needs a Masters Program when there's so many books out there? I give myself a 92% success in my progress.

Soul...
Taking time to pray? Hang'n out with Jesus? Walking? No, not really. Not like I should. Students First? Things are good, but I can't say they're first. No time to waste. That's good. Staying out of trouble, holding every thought captive. Had some great meetings in regards to future plans, but no real concrete efforts or preperations. Hope to read some specific books and attend some specific conferences. Debt... has unfortunately increased a little. I don't feel like a lavish spender. Thinking about taking drastic measures like cancelling Netflix and abstaining from diet soda. Really looking for a means to generate resources that does not involve "pre paid legal services". Have enjoyed some special times with each of my kids, but have not scheduled time for them or my wife like I should. I'm not sure what to do different but I know I have to do better. Outside of a few dart games and lots of prayer, don't think I've done much to help my bro. I'm still concerned about his health, and I'm very proud of him for keeping his job and taking care of his bills. Having a hard time not being discouraged in these areas.

With a little bit of embarassment, I give myself a generous 35% success in my progress in these areas.

Overall... 59%... ouch. Even after going to the "Get Motivated" Seminar. Although, acheiving 59% success when the year is only 25% over keeps things in perspective. I'll Re-evaluate in June. I'm feeling like I need to make more time for people, especially the important ones.

Right now I find tremendous hope in God's Grace. And the fact that I know that I know that I know that these people love me. Glad there's still alot of '07 left.

A call to the church... It smells like chicken

Last night was round two of the D&D book club. It grew. By one. Fabulous! Recently I went to a "Get Motivated" seminar (got enough material for about a hundred posts). Zig Ziglar was a main speaker and talked about his "Wall of Gratitude". Anyway, I'm starting one and both the D's get a spot on it. These guys, and also Nick, are becoming such good friends.
Often times my humor is described as dry, cynical, or even recently, "tight-fisted". I thank God for allowing me this space with these gracious guys who put up with me. Often my venue for processing thoughts is by "decontructing" them to the lowest possible sarcassic denominator and then putting them back together from there. I just need to thank these guys for tolerating me.
So the Peter Rollins book was our launching point for discussion. I was so relieved that I was not the only one who felt largely uncomfortable with parts of the book, and also that I was not the only one who neglected to finish the book. Oh how misery loves company! Two things that struck me from our discussions and I can't stop thinking about them; First, the importance of relationship. Second, the aroma. In order to love people, we must be in realtionship with them. As leaders, there's always this fear of, "What if I'm wrong?" and, "What if I take others to the wrong place with me?" I was so encouraged by Nick's Comments expressed towards Damien. "You were there." And you told me, "The spirit won't jack you!" I was once again reminded that more important than our theologocial leanings or even our prefered program possibilities, it is friendship that allows us to trulely minister to others. Also, it's the Holy Spirit, not us, that does the real work, and The Spirit will never take people to the "wrong place". I know, that I know, that I know this, but it was good to know it again.

Yesterday I was driving a bus to pick up some steel with our spanish pastor and my four year old son. I know, I was probably the only person on the planet yeaterday driving a bus to pick up steel. Isaac, my son, has not been feeling well, so he was laying down in the seat behind me. We were stopped, in the front of the line, at a red light, when we sits up, looks all around and says, "Dad, I smell chicken!" Being near some of my favorite sit down restaurants, I made some suggestion about where the smell was coming from and then took off as soon as the light turned green. By the next stop light, this little prophet behind me says, "Dad, I'm hungry". And by the next light he's insisting "Take me to a place where they have food!" By the time I took him home, we was a little bit frustrated. He tells his mom, "Will you feed me, Daddy won't."

Peter Rollins talks about living out our faith so it's not just a pleasing aroma to others. He talks about being the kind of Aroma that makes people hungry. How often do people who hang out with us, sit up from their rest, forgetting about their own sickness and issues and say "I smell Jesus"? If this question wasn't disturbing enough... How often does it last to the next level where they are tapping us saying "I'm hungry... for Jesus"? Does it ever reach the point where they are pulling our shirt shouting "Take me to where I can find Jesus!"? And if it does, how often do we just stick to what we "have to get done", and take them home with out ever feeding them?

Adventures in missing the point? I know I've been guilty.