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Your life is unique.

The last couple of weeks I have been reflecting on some challenges that we have faced.  Nothing that any of you haven’t found yourselves in, but challenges nonetheless.  Yet, I found myself reflexively thinking as I look at my oldest son cheerfully running around the house singing, knowing that he too will face challenges.  Instead of meddling in the murky waters of pessimism because of an obstacle, I chose to smile, knowing that in the midst of obstacles, God is present - as I will be for my two boys.  As I look at my boys, who I love more than life itself, I found myself seeing life through their lenses, as maybe God does.

As God is there for me, I will be there for my boys as they run through life’s maze…

to encourage them…

to help pick them up when they fall…

to walk them through painful moments…

to celebrate high moments in life…

to love them when they have made a mistake…

to embrace them when they have been hurt…

and to celebrate their uniqueness as God does.

3 Things to remember:

1.) We have a purpose in life

2.) We have been made with a distinctive touch

3.) In the vastness of God’s creation, your birth and your reach IS something unique

Celebrate life, in the midst of curve balls.  Embrace God’s unwavering grace.

In the end, the very fabric of who you are and who you are becoming is wrapped up in the reality that YOU ARE UNIQUE.

“Life is a storm, my young friend.  You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next.  What makes you a man is what you do when the storm comes.  You must look into the storm and shout as you did in Rome.  Do your worst, for I will do mine!  Then the fates will know you as we know you: as Albert Mondego, the man!” - Alexandre Dumas

A few weeks back I did a message at The Orchard entitled, Anchored.  We grappled with this notion that each of us will engage the storms of life.  That each of us, even those in God’s “perfect” will are challenged, tested and tried.  In fact, one time Jesus tells his disciples after a intensive time of teaching, to get in a boat and travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  While they were in the boat a storm emerged.

What’s interesting about that story is that Jesus told them that his plan for them was to go to the “other side.”  I believe I would be safe to say that they were following God’s plan.  Yet, a BIG storm emerged.

The story depicts followers of Jesus captivated by the shifting and changing world around them, instead of an UNCHANGING God.  A God of grace.  A God of hope.  A God who can be trusted.

For a majority of us we currently fall into three categories: entering a storm, engaging a storm, or emerging from a storm.

A question for you: How are you engaging the storms of life, today?  Are you afraid?  Are you allowing the changing world around you to govern your emotions, thoughts and beliefs?

What if Jesus that day was trying to help the disciples to see, after rebuking and calming the storm, that God is not: A myth.  He is not a lovely idea.  He is not an abstraction.  He made everything that is.  He stands above raging waters, time, space, and history.  He is able to save us from the raging sea.  Therefore, we do not have to live in fear  Therefore, we do not have to live in defeat.  Therefore, we do not have to cower.  Therefore, we can dare to face the storms of life with a posture of TRUST!  We have a heavenly Father who loves us!

How are YOU trusting God these days?

The last couple years I have experienced an overwhelming feeling of responsibility to be a good model for my boys.  Humbly, I have had the extraordinary honor of having a father who has lead and lived an integral life. Who, in gist, has been a great model for me.

Currently I have been re-reading several books on raising boys, specifically a book called, Raising a Modern-Day Knight.

Here are some hard hitting thoughts by the author:

“Many sons have a premonition that they were created for something significant, if only someone [father’s] would notice them. “

The most disturbing quote…

“The most urgent domestic challenge facing the United States at the close of the twentieth century is the re-creation of the fatherhood as a vital social role for men.”

I can’t etch into words the importance of a father’s role in their sons lives.

Dad’s, how are you doing with leading your boys these days?  Make it count!

It’s been awhile since I have blogged anything. Mainly because I haven’t made time to blog.

…school

…new born

…family

…misc. projects

I will be back shortly.

Psalms 19: 1-3
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

Notice what the psalmist really does here.  He speaks of Creation as a language.  Notice what the text is asking us to do…it is enforcing God’s handiwork…it speaks to us in a language of its own!

I found the below description of God found “in” Creation.  I believe a teenager wrote the paragraphs below.

Very Powerful!

“I have been asked by some how I can be so certain in the existence of a good God, and I have asked them in return if they have eyes to see.  God has woven himself irretrievably into Nature; left his fingerprints behind to show us where he’s been.  His signature is smeared into the curls of the Milky Way, forever circling above the rim of the world.  God has scattered fragments of himself about the earth like a father hides eggs in the yard before his son’s very first Easter; hiding behind a tree with laughing eyes and waiting to see which of the treasures his child will uncover first.

God is crying out all around us.  He is present in the breathless silence of the snow-smothered mountains; he is dancing with the sunlight that shatters on the ocean’s waves; he is hiding in the decaying moss and crumbling shale in the old forgotten places in the world.  No jagged mountain throws its sharp weight against the sky that is not a testament to his goodness.  The entire sum of Creation, each private and individual act of nature, is God waving hello.”

Thought provoking questions by Bill Hybels, that we need ask ourselves.

1. Is my calling sure?
2. Is my vision clear?
3. Is my passion burning hot?
4. Is my character fully submitted to Christ?
5. Is my pride subdued or is my ego messing with it?
6. Are my fears at bay? Or do I have anxiety?
7. Is my psychological baggage affecting the way I make decisions?
8. Are my ears open to the voice of God?
9. Is my pace sustainable?
10. Is my heart for God increasing or decreasing?

How are you leading self these days?

What does a “Winning Formula” look like in today’s economic landscape?

Tom Peters (aka: Management Guru) has an insightful formula for those who are in the workplace, who are choosing to be winners!

Tom Peters says:

People who are 100%, everybody, no exceptions, Receptionist to EVP R&D:

Committed.
Engaged.
Growing.
Learning.
Fearless (unfailingly encouraged to try new things).
Respected.
Trusted.
Appreciated.
Independent-minded.
Team focused.
Focused themselves, even when fresh caught, on the growth of others
Passionate about their work, their mates, and their customers.
Informed.
Open (fanatic about sharing).
Caring.
Committed to EXCELLENCE in everything they do.

And, in turn, that demands 100% “servant leaders,” to shamelessly steal from Robert Greenleaf, who are 100% devoted—as Priority & Job #1—to developing people, in good times or bad—100% of people—who are:

Committed.
Engaged.
Growing.
Learning.
Fearless (unfailingly encouraged to try new things).
Respected.
Trusted.
Appreciated.
Independent-minded.
Team focused.
Focused themselves, even when fresh caught, on the growth of others
Passionate about their work, their mates, and their customers.
Informed.
Open (fanatic about sharing).
Caring.
Committed to EXCELLENCE in everything they do.

Well said, Tom!

March Madness 2009!

Okay, I know this isn’t basketball, but I have a maddening amount of pictures of my family.

The fam taking it easy in Naperville.

Three generation of studs.

GQ George

Looks like George is scratching his stomach while we are trying to take a nice family photo.

Chics dig the car!

Why are you laughing?  That is my normal smile.

Waassssuuuppppp!

Thank you Heather for taking such great shots!