Posts by: Brian Dolleman

Our 2010 included…

BBQs.

Parties.

A car show.

A Kid’s Carnival.

Weekly giveaways.

500 backpacks stuffed with school supplies—given to local children.

Frozen turkeys and Thanksgiving groceries—enough to feed 1,100 people in our community.

Hundreds of Christmas gifts for kids in foster care.

Over 5,000 hot meals given to the hungry.

Why?

Because we have a city to love.

It’s not “us -vs- them.” We live here and we are them.

God has us here for a reason—and that reason does not include hating on the city or its people.

Consider these instructions from God to his people:

“Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you… Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29.5-7 NLT)

I believe these instructions are fitting for us today…

Work for the peace and prosperity of the city.

Pray for the city—its welfare will determine your welfare.

It’s clear that we have a job to do.

We have a city to love—our future and well-being depends on it.

The list of things we did in 2010 isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning.

In 2011 we will care more, love more, give more and serve more.

Our greatest days are before us, not behind us—because we have a city to love!

I find this story intriguing…

Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer whose work depicts scenes in Chicago and New York in the 1950s and 1960s. Her photographs were not discovered until 2007. Following her death in 2009, her pictures began receiving critical acclaim.

John Maloof, a 26-year old real estate agent in Chicago discovered her work and purchased nearly all of it—100,000 negatives and prints. He posts some of the photographs on a blog and recently announced plans for an upcoming book and documentary about Vivian Maier.

The blog: http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

Here are some of the photographs featured on the blog:

It’s possible to be so good for yesterday that you’re no good for today.

I feel sad when I drive by a local casino’s sign and read the names of their upcoming acts…

REO Speedwagon, MC Hammer, Smokey Robinson, STYX, Rick Springfield, Brian McKnight, Air Supply.

Kinda seems like the last stop before the grave for musical artists.

I wonder, has anyone rebounded from performing in (local) casinos?

If I had to choose, I’d rather be so good for today that I’m no good for yesterday.

I’d rather be creating, writing, inventing, dreaming, producing, thinking—than living off yesterday’s success.

I’d rather be filling stadiums with today’s songs than playing hits from 30 years ago in local casinos.

This is what I’m saying…

You’re alive.

You’re here, today.

You’re not at the last stop before the grave!

Your best days are still before you—they’re not behind you.

Be good for today—so good in fact, that you’re no good for yesterday.

Keep dreaming, thinking, creating, inventing, producing, growing, changing, learning.

Think stadiums, not casinos.

I was doing some reading yesterday.

Specifically, I was reading from the Bible Reading Plan—it had me in John chapter 12.

I was struck with the experiential nature of worship described…

First, a woman pours expensive perfume all over Jesus’ feet. Judas flips his lid—calling it a waste of resources, but Jesus defends her.

Next, a large crowd gathers around Jesus. They had palm branches (not sure really what they were doing with ‘em—I’ve always pictured them waving the branches around) and they shouted some good stuff about Jesus.

What I’m noticing about the worship described in these stories: there were smells, sounds and stuff.

Their worship was experiential.

Mary, the woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet, went home smelling like the perfume.

The crowd broke branches off palm trees.

Maybe their hands smelled like palm branches.

Maybe someone got a sliver in their finger.

And they shouted… they were yelling things.

Maybe someone went home with a hoarse voice.

Maybe some of them woke up the next morning with no voice left.

I think what I’m saying is that worship is more than just reciting something.

It’s more than singing along.

It’s experiential.

It might cost you something.

It might make you sweat (or even stink).

It could cause you to lose your voice.

You might even get a sliver.

It’s all good—embrace the experience.

Worship is experiential.

The Israelites were subjected to harsh conditions as slaves in Egypt.

God heard their prayers, their cries for help.

God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt.

God sent plagues to Egypt in order to frustrate Pharaoh, Egypt’s leader.

God opened up the Red Sea so the people could cross over on dry ground.

God provided bread from heaven and plenty of quail for the people to eat in the desert.

God provided water for them to drink from a rock.

Moses went up a mountain to meet with God for several days.

A few days later, the people forget about God and decide to make their own god…

Aaron (Moses’ brother) leads the way, collects gold, and makes a golden calf for them to worship.

“The people responded with enthusiasm: ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!’” (Exodus 32.4 MSG)

They gave credit to the cow for all that God had done.

It seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

I want to call them a bunch of idiots…

And then I realize, we do the same thing.

We credit the cow—we praise our efforts as if that’s why we’ve come this far.

Our rule keeping, morality, accomplishments and achievements are just hand-crafted golden cows.

Paul reminded the Ephesian church of this truth:

“Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role, If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. (Ephesians 2.8-10 MSG)

Here’s another way to say it:

Don’t credit yourself—don’t credit the cow. Give God all the credit.

Most of my memories of what we did in church during my growing up years wouldn’t exactly fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

We did other things (not bad things—but not really celebratory things)… things like “waiting on God” and “crying out to God”. Our “worship face” was usually some version of a pained expression.

Of course, the kid’s songs in Sunday School were fun, energetic and pretty celebratory.

Unfortunately, as we grew older, the mood of the songs we sang became more and more melancholy.

When God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, they celebrated.

They weren’t just celebrating their new situation or their new location.

They were celebrating Him.

They wrote a new song—they sang it. They danced and they celebrated.

Here are some lines from their song (found in Exodus 15):

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
God is my strength, God is my song, and yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have and I’m telling the world.
This is the God of my father—I’m spreading the news far and wide!
Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty, in awesome praises, wonder-working God?

The number of people singing, dancing and celebrating: about 2 million.

That must have been some noise. Makes me wonder if the ground shook…

During the recent Seahawks playoff win against the New Orleans Saints, Marshawn Lynch ran 67-yards and broke 8 tackles for a touchdown. The crowd’s wild celebration registered as a small (magnitude 1 or 2) earthquake on a seismometer 100 yards from the stadium. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/01/stomping-by-elated-seahawk-fans-on-pivotal-play-caused-local-quake/1

The Seahawks are still in the playoffs. Who knows what will happen next?

Our God is not in the playoffs—He’s already won the victory for us and He deserves to be celebrated.

To celebrate means “to proclaim the glory of….”

Synonyms and related words: bless, exalt, glorify, magnify, resound, adore, worship, acclaim, applaud, commend, hail, salute, cheer.

Maybe your experience in church has been somber, restrained, quiet, reserved, or even depressing.

Perhaps much of what you’ve experienced in church wouldn’t fit in a category labeled “celebration”.

I say, it’s time for us to cross over—into that place of celebrating our great God.

Let’s celebrate Him.

I noticed something recently… my blog is all work and no play.

It’s time for some fun.

I love style and fashion.

My favorite fashion blog is the Sartorialist.

The Sartorialist (also known as Scott Shumann) is the subject of a new mini documentary by Intel.

Maybe you will enjoy it as much as I did…

After saving my hard-earned money for months, I finally had enough to buy it—the brand new, bright yellow, Sport Sony Walkman. Man, I loved that 1984 Sony Walkman!

I remember listening to U2’s Joshua Tree album (cassette tape) on it.

My Sony Walkman went places with me and it looked great hanging on my belt (only problem: it was 6lbs and made my pants fall off).

It played my favorite hits of the 80’s.

Did I mention that I loved my 1984 Sony Walkman?

Fast forward—time moved on…

Things changed, as they always do.

Technology progressed.

Eventually, they stopped selling cassette players and cassettes.

CD’s were the new thing.

Soon my precious ’84 Sony Walkman was a clunker.

Next came the digital revolution.

MP3’s.

The iPod.

Still today, I have fond memories of my 1984 yellow Sony Walkman.

Heck, I’ll even give myself permission to love it… but I’d be an absolute fool to hate what replaced it.

Seriously, the iPod I have today isn’t just better than my ’84 Sony Walkman—it’s better than my first computer!

Here’s what I’m driving at…

You can love ____________ (fill in the blank) from the past, but you would be a fool to hate what took its place.

You have permission to love the 1984 Sony Walkman (or whatever it is from the past that you have fond memories of— a technology, a song, a method, a style, traditions, a building, a format, an arrangement, relationships, etc.).

This is the real kicker…

While you have permission to love the 1984 Sony Walkman, you also have a responsibility to embrace the new!

Permission to love the old; responsibility to embrace the new.

Remember: yesterday’s home run won’t win today’s game.

Picture in your mind a trailer—one that has arrived and has been in that same spot for years now…

Brittle, cracked, flat tires with weeds growing out of them.

Moss and other plants thriving on the roof.

This trailer may have arrived…

But it’s stuck.

Stuck = unmovable, done, finished, over, going nowhere—the best days are all in the past now.

Beware of “arriving”.

We tend to celebrate arrival (graduation, marriage, career, parenthood, retirement).

Unfortunately, we also tend to get stuck soon after arriving.

When we’re stuck, we become brittle, cracked and weeds start growing out of us.

And moss grows on us.

After leaving Egypt, God’s people looked like a trailer that got stuck in the desert.

They spent 40 years there as if they had “arrived” – but their time in the desert was only supposed to be an 11 day walk to somewhere else… (Deuteronomy 1.2)

Even Paul – the “super apostle” – knew the danger of arriving: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on…” (Philippians 3.12 NIV).

Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, recently said: “What I do know is that we have not yet built our defining product at Under Armour. We are not living in the past. Our larger competitors are 20 times our size. There is running room all over.”

I really love that line: “There is running room all over.”

Beware of “arriving”.

Moving forward, growing, changing, learning and pressing on is a bigger deal than arriving.

Graduated? Keep studying, learning, achieving.

Married? Keep dating, growing, loving, learning.

Got your career? Keep producing, climbing, inventing, creating.

Got kids? Keep growing younger, live, laugh, embrace each season.

Retired? Keep investing, serving, blessing, contributing, loving, encouraging.

I know we like to celebrate arrival, but I think it’s just as important (probably more important) to celebrate movement and progress.

Keep going—your race isn’t over yet!

The start of a new year brings a sense of new opportunity and hope for a better tomorrow.

Maybe you’ve been going in circles for a long time.

Maybe 2010 sucked.

Maybe it’s time for you to start moving towards a better tomorrow.

God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt, through the Red Sea, into the desert—and on their way to the Promised Land.

Unfortunately, they got stuck in the desert for a long time.

Aimless wandering.

Going in circles.

Frustration.

Finally, God told his people it’s time for you to start moving towards a better tomorrow: “You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north…” (Deuteronomy 2.3 NASB).

Here’s the Message paraphrase of that verse; “You’ve been going around in circles in these hills long enough…”

Maybe today you need to hear that same message: “You’ve been going around in circles long enough—and it’s time to start moving towards a better tomorrow.”

We’ve already crossed over from 2010 to 2011.

I say, let the cross over continue…

Let’s keep moving forward, believing for greater days.

I like how the Apostle Paul said it: “I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep running…” (Philippians 3.12 CEV).

It’s pretty simple really—we’re not where we used to be (thank God!), and we haven’t yet arrived… so we keep moving towards a better tomorrow.