Graphic Teesus

I am in marketing. I participate in the sale every day. I understand targeting messages toward a customer. I've seen marketing done in honest and dishonest ways. And many times I have seen over thought, over consideration, and over messaging which doesn't even allow a product to speak on its own. It is lost in the delivery.

Nike has done an outstanding job of marketing its brand moreso than its product. I wonder who truly researches and understands the benefits of a Nike shoe vs. another manufacturers. I'd venture to say it has mostly to do with the swoosh on the side and the credence it holds*. You could say this is exemplary. And perhaps it is within the industry and the marketplace.

I am curious if we are doing the same thing with "church". There seems to be an overemphasis on style and performance in many churches or faith experiences these days.

Now this is nothing new. The pharisees had their performance of overobedience to the law, and the pomposity associated with it. We've been exposed to our fair share of over-the-top faith healing southern baptist preachers, not to mention Arsenio Hall's hysterical black Pentecostal portrayal from Coming to America. And I am sure there were many others along the way. I am curious that if today's representation of a pastor et al. would be some skinny jeans, cool hair, and a graphic tee.

Is there too much of a blending into current cultural experiences from our churches? Do we feel a need to provide entertainment from our churches**? Does God need us to do this? Or does this get between us and God? I wonder what God would think of the time and energy spent on strategic thinking and messaging discussion on how to reach "today's" audience in a relevant way. Does God need help reaching? Is the ancient-of-days-way not relevant anymore?

Now to be transparent and clear. I have a pair of designer jeans (they were a gift). I have a couple of graphic tees. I go to a church which has some tremendous worship time, gifted singers and musicians, and a dynamic spirit-filled preacher. I'm not saying this stuff is wrong, but we just need to ensure it holds its proper position. Subservient to God.

A buddy was sharing something that is going on in Idaho called Cowboy Church. I guess this is just some folks in some fields with some pickups—reading their Bibles, talking about God, praying and singing a bit. Sort of sounds like an upper room from a long time ago.

Maybe I am old fashioned...




*Clearly Nike makes a good product or they wouldn't have been able to leverage their brand and product line as successfully as they have.
**Certainly it makes sense to reach an audience where and how they need to be reached, but I believe sometimes this dilutes the reality of God and sort of makes him more like us instead of the other way around.

Safe Cracking

For those of us who live in an environment and a economic state which is of astronomical proportion compared to the majority of our country and world, I wonder if it is too easy to remain in our own shell of an existence. Does this cause me/us to be too sedentary. Too comfortable. Too safe. Perhaps God is asking us to be actively still, remain where we are, and retain some of the status quo. Or do we need to crack the safe from our world and venture out a bit. Or a lot.

This safe cracking can take on many forms. Mission. Investment. Discomfort. Etc. Certainly we shouldn't create some sort of radical change for change sake. But are we open to it if so led? Would I/we actually breakthrough the shell?

Consider Consider

I have a dear friend who has made the statement that he "no longer considers white people". Upon first hearing this statement, as a white guy, I was taken aback a bit. BUT, upon true consideration (and conversation), I got the understanding that what he means is that he doesn't want to live daily with the consideration as to what another race would think of him or his actions. It must have taken quite a bit of consideration to no longer consider this.

We don't consider much these days. We know a good bit. We have opinions, etc. thrust in our face from many sources. And we are busy. I believe that I/we can be too predispositioned or too made up in our minds to consider much these days.

Consider the political arena. Consider religion. Consider God. Consider faith. Consider our neighbor. Consider our inner cities. Consider the fatherless. Consider the childless. Consider the homosexual. Consider the servant. Consider the leaders. Consider the addict. Consider the donors. Consider the beaten. Consider the convict. Consider the lonely. Consider the busy. Consider the proud.

We are too quick to combat, agree or conclude.* Consideration takes our time.

What if some long haired guy was talking about flowers...Hey man, think about this flower. Think about the petals, and how they grow. Think about how they don't even have to try. They just sit around and let the rain fall on them. Let the roots drive deeper into the ground. Their petals are more beautiful than anything you could buy with money, man. Bill Gates has nothing compared to this flower...we'd probably think this guy was smoking a bit too much.

Take the time to consider.



*Certainly we can have stalwart beliefs and convictions which are paramount in our lives. However, sometimes these can become blinders to some things we might need to "consider".

Not Again

So Hailey Trainer is the longest living survivor of her form of brain cancer at two years old. A few months ago there was a wonderful birthday celebration of her life. Hailey rolled on the floor and wrestled with her older brother. Now, another tumor...

Amid the horrible news comes the "why" and the wrenching decision-making of the parents, particularly when they've just been through this. I was told one of the really hard parts of the recurrence of cancer is the fact that you know what you are going to be going through. I guess this is time for the Body to come surround the Trainers with love, support, and to bathe them in prayer.

I have started reading a book called Radical with the subtitle "taking your faith back from the American Dream". The first couple of chapters have shared the cost of faith in the third world. Life-risking faith. Pain-submitting faith. I suppose the Trainers can relate a bit right now.

Pray that the Trainers faith remains strong—that they can somehow hold fast to God as they deal with horror here on earth. And that the faith of those (myself included) who hear of this story, or are close with the Trainers perhaps can understand that some of God's allowance is out of the scope of our understanding. And that all He wants us to do is trust Him. And that we are to recognize our alien status in this world. And that He has another world intended for us. Like His first....

Losing My Relation

I've found that as I age (turned 43 last week) that I am having more and more of the "kids these days-type" conversations. I had another two nights ago. At dinner with a few friends we talked about how "relationship" is going, or has gone out of business relationships. It seems these are more and more data-driven relations. ROI, efficiencies, cost saving mechanisms, outsourcing, are all not only common practice, but thwarting the actual relationship. Surely delivering success and savings, etc. is an integral part of good business, but the add on of the who we work with, and why we work with them, and the trusted pieces are of lesser importance.

We are even losing our relations on the personal level. Our lives are busier than ever and we often don't have any "room" to build relationships. We rush from one thing to another, are bombarded with technology, and time is sucked away. More and more we've got to be intentional about relationships. They have got to take a priority. We've got to recognize, nurture, and place emphasis on them in order to enjoy the fulfillment they offer.

Of all places, last night, The Office brought into existence the art of relationship, albeit over a few margaritas. Steve Carell's Michael Scott negotiated a big deal for Dunder Mifflin over an Awesome Blossom onion and some Baby-back ribs at Chili's, much to the shock of his hard-nosed boss. Now I am not saying the idiotic Scott is a saavy business guy, and much of the Dunder Mifflin experience is not exemplary, but there was an often overlooked, sweet spirit of relationship that showed up bar side at Chili's where a couple of guys talked, cared and wanted to do better and provide more to their respective stakeholders. And, having "related", trusted the other to do their part.

Mornings with Dolly: Straining the Leash

Dolly’s leash is made of woven nylon, colored blue gray, and roughly 6 feet long. When we are walking, this is her lifeline. When a car approaches, or we walk by another dog, I grip the middle of the leash and keep her close at my side as far away from any harm as I can.

Now Dolly is not one of those trained to heal kind of dogs. She is more of a pull as far as I can on the leash until I am strained in my breathing kind of dogs. I don’t know that I can properly put into writing the sound she makes when she’s straining as she does, but its something like “hecccchhh, heccchhh, heccchhhh”.

So, this leash is her lifeline. Yet she wants more. If I were to let her go. Unleash her. She’d most likely take off (probably eventually come back when called) on some sort of dog adventure, maybe get struck by a car, beat up by a dog, eat a dead animal, or just simply have a blast until she decided to come back.

Freedom. Running care free. Running wreckless. Are there too many leashes in this world? Things which constrain us? Even things which keep us restrained from harm? Society has its fair share of leash needs. They are there to keep order. Parenting surely has its fair share of leash needs. But they are there to protect, coach and guide our kids to be unleashed. Faith has its fair share of leash requirements. But they are there to protect coach and guide ourselves to be unleashed.

Mornings with Dolly: Unashamed Pooping

Dogs seem to have the innate ability to poop in public. Dolly is no exception. Her preference however is to find some nice tall grass amid which to do her doodie....err...duty. Not only is this on any given public road or property, but under the direct surveillance of their master, or in my case, their walker.

I wish to a degree that I didn’t care as much about where I pooped. In the figurative sense. I mean, this is a very personal experience. In some cases ashamed, dependent upon a previous day’s diet. I digress....back to the figurative sense. We really care too much about others seeing us in our vulnerable state of beings. Donald Miller has written in many cases about how Adam and Eve walked around, pre-fall, naked and unashamed. When they had to poop, they probably did as Dolly. Perhaps amid some taller grass. Perhaps not.

I want to be able to figuratively poop unashamedly. To not care too much. Certainly there are times where discretion is appropriate when dropping a figurative number 2. But I am encouraged to open up a bit more. To figuratively walk clotheless, and drop a big deuce when I am so inclined.

Mornings with Dolly: The Alarm Thwap

So my wife and two boys are sharing a room in a house full of the extended Fossum family. The Rick Fossums are in four twin beds in a long narrow room. Sort of like I’d picture in some sort of sea vessel. There is no door to the room. My first morning with Dolly was started with the unwelcome entry of Dolly clacking down the wooden floor and nudging her snout into mine. I probably shushed her away to which her reply was simply turning her head from me and showcasing the unceasing thwap-thwap-thwap of her tail against the mattress. On some mornings, this would leave me irritated—it is vacation after all, and it is only ten to six in the morning, for gosh sakes. But for some reason, this was a welcome sound.

Now I think I heard a comedian one time talking about dogs and the fact that they have no concept of time. And that they are as happy to see you if you’ve left for 1 minute, or a day—they are always SO happy to see you. There is an unbridled joy to a dog. And Dolly clearly was sharing hers with me via her tail thwap. So I went downstairs with Dolly with the dog walk in mind.

As I was sitting in a chair and lacing up my shoes, Dolly was tearing around the house excited to be up, excited to have people up, and excited to be a dog. My sister-in-law descended the stairs and non chalantly said good morning to Dolly. Now I was thinking that she’d have been something like “DOLLY, calm down!”, but she wasn’t. She immediately found understanding and pleasure in Dolly being a dog. I gotta admit, I found that quite cool. Too often we course correct things which may not need it, or even by nature, allow it*.

Dolly IS a dog. And a very excited and happy dog in the morning. Perhaps thrilled to go take a pee, but equally as thrilled to be awake and alive. I wanna see the morning like Dolly does. I wanna thwap my tail upon awaking.

*Clearly there is a time and place for course correction for both dogs as well as folks, but all to often we are critical and correcting when patience and understanding is what is required.

Mornings with Dolly: An Introduction

So I am on vacation with the family and have left the heat of Atlanta for the cool breeze (at the moment) of the Maine coast and Bailey Island. Now Bailey Island is a wonderful sleepy lobster fishing village where I’ve vacationed since I was a child. I figured this would be a great place for some deep thought and some unique inspirations for me to think and write about. Well, its taken a while for me to find a launching point. Perhaps the first few days were solely intended to encompass good family time, conversations, and certainly some cold beer.

Little did I know that amid all of God’s splendor of the “Down East” Maine coastline, my inspiration would come from a medium-sized, floppy eared, black mutt named Dolly. Perhaps I need to give a nod to Donald Miller’s recent blog postings from his own dog, but we really can’t target some of our sources of inspiration, and if it happens to come from an animal who takes an unabashed shit while you stand and wait, so be it.

So I’ve decided to create a few postings drawn from my morning walks with my brothers dog, Dolly.

Now my wife and I are dog people, and my boys certainly would like to be. But I have confirmed something as to my household and dogs. While on vacation getting up and going for an hour-long walk across an island is quite nice, regardless of how early you get started. However, a cold rainy Monday morning when you need to get to the office is another story. I love dogs. We just don’t own one. So this brief stint at dogging it is fun, but will most likely leave the conversation as we exit off the island in a week or so.

Pelotons

According to Wikipedia, a peloton is "a field, bunch or pack...the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race. Riders in a group save energy by riding close (drafting or slipstreaming) near (particularly behind) other riders. The reduction in drag is dramatic; in the middle of a well-developed group it can be as much as 40%."

I heard mentioned once the concept of spiritual pelotons. We all should ensure we have at least one peloton in our lives. Groups of folks who we take the life race/ride alongside who serve as teammates. People we ride closely with who can work together to "reduced the drag" in life. As per the above definition can reduce life's drag by as much as 40%. Imagine that. I can think back on many times where I could have used a drastic reduction on the headwind in my life.

I assume much of the benefit of the peloton is derived from a self-awareness and a selfless awareness:

• A self-awareness to recognize when I might be in need of rest (whatever that might look like). In addition, we also need to be transparent and prideless enough to allow this to happen. Sometimes a "buck up" approach is not the answer, and a willingness to say "help" is what is needed.
• A selfless awareness to ensure I am in tune with the other members of my peloton. To understand when I should take the lead and provide a draft to take on the headwind for another.

Within the peloton, "Teams generally attempt to cluster their members... in order to maximize their ability to affect the pack as a whole." Life throws too much at us to go it alone. If there are opportunities to "maximize the affect of the pack", we should grab them*.


*Of course the maximization of a bad thing is not good. I recall Bill Cosby in a stand up bit say something like "I was talking to a friend who did cocaine 'cause it 'intensified his personality' to which I replied, 'what if you're an asshole.". Obviously we need to be careful as to our peloton choices.

Act Your Age

I don't know how long ago C.S. Lewis lived and when specifically he wrote things, but I am constantly challenged and enlivened by some of his work. I follow a Twitter account which provides daily tweets (gosh what would C.S. think about his work being tweeted). A little while ago, this caught me both as genius and incredibly joyful. It read as follows:

"When I became a man, I put away foolish things including the fear of childishness & the desire to be grown-up"

Forgettable Me

I was reading an article on an illustrator recently (his name escapes me), and he was commenting on his rendering of George Bush as Time’s Man of the Year. This got me thinking about the ongoing Iraq war. And the Afghan war. And as I sat at NTB waiting for my new car tires, CNN is sharing as to how Wycleff Jean is continuing to raise awareness for Haiti relief. And lest we forget New Orleans post Katrina. And of course our current BP oil fiasco.

We continue to be bombarded by our world, and the thousands (or is it even millions) of media outlets and influences which vie for our time and attention. I’ll admit, I had forgotten about some of the above issues. Shame on me, I guess. Throw in our own individual influences which pull for our time (work, family, etc.) and it is a wonder we have time to truly consider a lot.

While not a big list guy, and I certainly struggle with keeping things top of mind prayer-wise. Perhaps more self discipline is required in this area. How on earth can we pray for it all? Well certainly we can’t. But the Bible makes it clear that the Spirit groans for us in prayer (Rom 8:26). And understanding that God knows our hearts, he knows where our prayers would go—even when we forget. This helps. But I feel like I gotta do more. Or at least more often.

I am reminded of Jim Carrey in Bruce Almighty when he’s substituting for God. And he is reeling and confused from all the prayers lifted up to him. Once again, thank God for God. He is so out of this world, that He can make sense of it all. Amid all of the chaos and unending need, He knows us individually. Knows our hearts, our prayers—spoken and unspoken.

Faith Choice

I remember when Bob Dylan went through his "Christian" period in the early eighties and he had a song on his Saved album which had a line in it which read "You gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but your gonna have to serve somebody...". I remember the song was vintage nasally Dylan and included the gospel-like choir, I assume to help drive home the christian message. I like Dylan's understanding of the fact that there is a choice in faith.

We lost a friend to cancer yesterday. In times like these—and particularly with the brutality of cancer—what we believe and where we've chosen to place our faith seems to have a bigger significance*. It can allow for comfort and an unworldly peace. And can also create confusion, anger, and despair.

I have another close friend going through his own battle with cancer. He has shared some wonderfully faith-inspired statements as to why this thing, this horrible cancer, has stricken him. Statements like "for some reason God wants me to go through this" and "perhaps someone needs to see me go through this". I trust and pray that he'll beat this disease, but it is strongly evident where has chosen to place his faith.

When our faith choices are considered in our day to day, and we try to consistently view things through the lens of this chosen faith, perhaps things like death can make more sense**.

Hebrews 11:1 states "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.". In Joshua 24:15, the author charges the audience to "choose this day whom you will serve".

Hope? Unseen? The choice is ours. Everyday.




* Though truthfully, I believe there are no times more significant than others.

** Clearly this is not a wash my hands and everything is gonna be okay 'cause I have faith in God time. There is very real tragedy and loss. And we all should certainly do our best to bear each others burdens and participate in areas of grieving and support.

A Fly Guy?

Okay, there are so many opinions when it comes to theological discussions (or ideological, or any discussion for that matter). So many views, beliefs, facts, and options. And I dig exploring the who, what, where and why of things—and perhaps try to be a catalyst for deep conversation, consideration or even confrontation—but sometimes, with some folks, I feel as though I may be a fly in the ointment.

I had a conversation with a neighbor who's a good friend, confidant, and someone who enjoys the deep dive. We were discussing this whole fly and ointment thing. He challenged me with a consideration. Am I a fly in the ointment? Or am I trying to BE the fly in the ointment? Its one thing to honestly discuss and debate. Its another to poke, and perhaps annoy.

I so value friends like this. Folks who challenge you to check your intentions...

Close But Far

Last night I was at my first born's swim meet. These are pretty chaotic, noisy, sweaty events where children ranging from what seems like four through about eighteen swim across a pool, all the while mom's, dad's and kids are yelling at them. While I am aware these are screams of encouragement, sometimes it just seems like a herd of cats. So there I am, eating a burger, watching the swimmers, admittedly enjoying myself amidst the chaos, and a dear friend of mine is in the ER.

There are so many occasions where we are going about our daily lives unaware, or at least removed from the major life occurrences of our friends, colleagues, even our fellow man. We are aware of global injustice, AIDs, abuse, as well as folks close to us battling life-threatening disease, joblessness, etc. While there is SO much of this we have no control over, we can make an impact. Be it in international awareness, local movements, or simply being available to others, it is our duty to keep our antennae up to opportunities. Not necessarily some hippie sign-waving thing (unless of course that is appropriate), but just to be there to encourage, or to give of yourself.

My folks spent some time in Uganda working with an orphanage and school. While there, they were struck by the poverty and living conditions of the Ugandans. They were moved to want to sell their possessions, or at least pare way down. One of their Ugandan hosts shared his thoughts on that. He said something like, You live in your culture, not ours, it is okay to live in your culture.

We can't experience things for others, or take away life experiences (or tragedies) from others. BUT we can act, love, serve, encourage, pray, be available. THAT we can choose to do.

Going Tribal

I stumbled across a Rick Atchley (an Austin area pastor) tweet where he stated "Love your particular Christian tribe, but remember: you are SOME of God's people, not the SUM of God's people." I don't know if this is an original Atchley quote, but I do know that I love it.

I wrote about in my May 25th blog (Santa God) how many people within the church can cast the definition of being a "good Christian" on someone who achieves a certain level of behavioral traits and I really thought that Atchley hit the nail further on the head about Christian circles (or as he's stated—tribes).

I recall a time when I was in a singles study group at my church a while back. The group seemed to be brought up within the church. They were all well read in the Bible, and sang songs, and prayed, and had times of fellowship. But I couldn't really get engaged, and I think one time I said a curse word once in a discussion. It wasn't a fit for me, and perhaps I for them. Now this is not at all a bad thing to not fit in (and perhaps I shouldn't have sworn). I guess it just shows that there is a bird of a feather thing to a lot of Christian tribes. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. There certainly are doctrinal and ritualistic things which pertain to particular Christian tribes. But when in a tribe, we need to ensure that we examine ourselves and our intentions — recognizing that no one has the book on God outside of Himself. And that we love one another...

Validation

I was pointed to Seth Godin's latest blog on validation (http://tw0.us/HwV). In which he describes validation as being "overrated" in the workplace. He also describes, or rather encourages, folks to push towards achieving their goals and find fulfillment in, well...fulfillment.

I don't know that validation is overrated. I believe that we all need validation. What matters though is the source of our validation. Certainly as Godin describes we all to often look for validation from our colleagues, or work leaders, or even what we do professionally. On the personal side, many of us look for our validation from our neighbors, or those Joneses we tend to focus on keeping up with. But that is not where we should find our individual validation. There are bigger validators at play than simply our boss, or our peers. But it is up to us to find, define or recognize them.

Around my 40th year was when I was able to truly experience this. I was going through what I have shared with many as a "gray time" at the office. Let's just say that things were not going well for me and that I may have been underdelivering (that's still open to debate). However, from a long endured desert-like experience came my utter reliance on God, and the understanding that His was the sole necessary validation for me. It really was what He thought of me that mattered—and matters still.

Certainly my wife, children, and close friends can show me support, recognition and yes, validation in a wonderful way, but when I really need to understand it and receive it, I gotta get to my knees.

For Real?

A while back I'd asked a friend if they'd read my blog. They replied that they had, they liked it, but the spiritual bit scared them. They said they'd had a bad experience with some hypocritical people from church. It seems this hypocritical thing has been a constant descriptor of "church people" through the ages. Wikipedia defines Hypocrisy as "The act of persistently professing beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that are inconsistent with one's actions. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie." Pretty heavy stuff at the tail end of this. "Hypocrisy is thus kind of a lie.". I think the origin of the word comes from Latin or something which means actor, or playing a part. Not being real.

Hypocrisy escapes no one. We've all been there and done that. It is far too often in leadership positions and roles. Be it a do as I say, not as I do form of parenting or some finger wagging politician who is wrought in scandal. We are not holier than thou—if thou is just someone else.

The reality of hypocrisy within the church is a shame — a tragedy. And Jesus clearly spotted the hypocrites and called them out (Matthew 23 is loaded with this). I hope that the words that I've been typing within this blog, as well as the life I am leading is transparent enough to have me not veiled or saying I am things that I am not. I do my best to place myself, my faith, and my life out in the open, as well as try to look in the mirror for self-examination. I fail. I succeed. I insult. I encourage. I fall short. I get up again...by the grace of God.

ROI

Most have heard the term ROI, or Return On Investment (ROI). Typically a business term and deliverable where we are asked to either receive or provide some sort of ROI. This will either be some sort of financial or awareness type of return. Many times there are measurables in place to determine if ROI is being achieved along the life of a project. As well as there being some sort of mapped out end game, where goals have been met and everyone is happy. Now there certainly are times where said project has not necessarily met its goals and folks aren't happy. People may even lose a job. Or at least some reputation. There is frustration on both sides—the investor's and investee's.

But how many of us are willing to invest without any proof or awareness of return? Certainly when we are dealing with money and business goals, we want to see that return. We are paid to see that return. But what about our investments from a life standpoint—are we willing to invest?

As a parent we have a more innate desire for investment. They are our kids after all. And we are called to raise them as best we can. But what about if we don't see the return? Sometimes there is snubbing, and disrespect. What empowers us to keep on? A sense of duty? And what energy do we continue to apply?

When it comes to our community, or our "fellow man", it can perhaps be even harder to invest without the return. We may give, and simply have our giving taken. Unthanked. Or even unnoticed. Would we give again?

Even in our professional lives, will we continue to go to the proverbial well? I imagine someone in the counseling or teaching field would find this sort of investment drudgery a lot of the time. Outside of a paycheck (small as it is for most of these folks), what motivates?

I wonder what God felt when he invested in us through His son, Jesus. I suppose with His omnipresent perspective he has a good idea as to His return on that investment. So many times our actions and attitude leaves Him snubbed, disrespected, unthanked, unnoticed underpaid. Fortunately for us His well is deep and He continues to invest...