Good Reads Online
Here are a couple of posts I read online this week – I thought they were good and would be worth passing on to you. Check ‘em out…
This post from Micah Murray… Read More
Category "Uncategorized"
Win Or At Least Smile
It’s Friday and I want you to win something or at least smile (but hopefully laugh out loud and call a friend over to watch the video with you).
Let’s start with the stuff you could possibly win… Read More
The Danger of a Single Story
Last week, I noticed this Tweet from a local Christian celebrity:
“I like guns, sports, red meat, cage fighting and yelling. It’s called being a man. Deal with it Seattle.”
Honestly, it annoyed me. Why?
Because it’s a reduced, overly-simplified, single story of what being a real man is all about – and it implies that Seattle-area males fit into a different single story (they’re vegan pansies).
I resist this type of single story because I know it does not represent the whole truth. Not even for the guy tweeting it. I believe he also has a gentle, romantic, peaceful, kind, and compassionate side – that is just as fully “man” as his testosterone-laden self-description.
Here’s how I scored on the 5 things you’re supposed to like in order to be called a man… Read More
The Science Of Why Storytelling Is So Powerful
Stories are powerful. They draw us in and they make us feel.
The experience of hearing or watching a story is processed in our brains differently than when we simply are given facts.
When we hear facts or read information, it hits our “language processing” parts of the brain where we decode words into meaning. And that’s it. Nothing special happens.
But when we hear a story, something very different happens. Not only are the language processing parts of the brain activated, but also the parts of our brain that we would use if we were actually experiencing the events of the story ourselves.
A good story can put your whole brain to work.
I remember some particularly memorable stories from my growing up years in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s… Read More
Stories With Mischief & Little Bits Of Trouble
This time of year makes me think of a story that happened a few years ago…
Shari and I were on a double date with some friends. After dinner, the date took a nosedive when we ended up at Ross (you know, as in “Dress For Less”). I was trying to make the best of it by finding random, ridiculous items for sale in the store.
The girls walked around the store together, so I stuck with my friend. He found some socks to buy and we stood in line, waiting behind several people. I noticed a bin of VHS movies near the checkout line and one of them caught my eye: 1987’s Buns of Steel workout video… Read More
Tapping The Brakes
Listen in on this conversation with Andy Jones and myself – we talk about The Preachers of LA reality TV show and ask the question, “Can something good be abused to the point where it no longer has any redeeming value?”
I Love The Bible
It is said that after Jacob wrestled with God, he walked with a limp.
So it has been with the Bible and me.
I have wrestled with the Bible, and it has left me with a limp.
But I am glad. I am glad because this limp has slowed me down a bit. It has humbled me. It has forced me to stop running so fast and sure down the path of certainty that I forget to listen, to pay attention, to ask questions, to build altars, to wait… Read More
Gotta Share
Here are some things I watched/read online this past week and gotta share with you – because they’re that good…
This post by Allison Vesterfelt, Why I Quit Being Nice. I love the word she’s exchanging for nice (it’s a word that gets an entire chapter in my upcoming book)… Read More
Happy Friday To You
Did you have a fantastic Halloween? I did. I even have some leftover candy—which brings me to my first point…
1. FREE—LEFTOVER HALLOWEEN CANDY.
I’m not joking. And I’m not talking about all the nasty stuff that nobody wants. This is the good stuff—and it’s from this year, not last year… Read More
Things I Dislike About Ministry Pt. 3
“Work it, make it, do it—makes us harder, better, faster, stronger.” —Kanye West, Stronger
I really do wish ministry was always “Work it, make it, do it—makes us harder, better, faster, stronger,” but the truth is, sometimes it’s also, “Work it, make it, do it—and we still end up with little or no progress at all.”
What I mean is this: the smallness of our actual impact is a discouraging reality.
It’s not always bigger, better, breakthroughs, and bomb-diggityness. Despite our hard work and urgency, we haven’t healed the world (or ourselves, or the individuals in our churches). The actual impact of our efforts is smaller than we’d like. And slower too… Read More