March 2007

In our ‘class’ people are gathered in groups of four. To share not necessarily a ‘testimony’ but an experience or a moment in which they felt God became in anyway possibly more real to them.

What is it about sharing in smaller groups? Is it the defusing of fear in an intimate environment? Is it the lack of competing voices in the group? Is it because there might be lesser likelihood of someone ridiculing or rejecting their thoughts, feelings, or ideas?

Whatever it is, it seems to almost always stimulate better discussions.

Point of the exercise - there are so many distinct ways in which people have encountered God in the past - through relationships, prayer, meditation, media, intrinsic longings, unique circumstances, etc.

Why is it that going forward we often only advocate a limited number of ways of continuing the journey with God? Ie. Read your bible, and make sure you come to church…?

Entering the room - I tried to create an environment that was different from any thing people were use to. Lights were shut off. Candles were scattered. Tables were covered with kraft paper from Montana’s Restaurant. Crayons were distributed for doodling. Music like U2’s “City of Blinding Lights” played.

I did this not because it was cool, or even for ambiance, but to help break people out of routines. Leading educators tell us that when people enter what is known as a ‘classroom’, after years of being a part of stale educational institutions our brains simply disengage as we sit down for more of the same old.

On a side note, in university during the rare moments I attended class, I fought desperately to stay awake. Quite honestly I had just about a hundred percent hit ratio of not making it to the end of the lecture conscious.

I would sit up at the front of the class hoping I would stay attentive fueled by the guilt of falling asleep directly in front of the professor. It didn’t work.

I would try to engage myself by furiously writing notes, just to keep my hands moving, only to wake up finding sentences that turned to gibberish as my pen slid down the page.

What I finally discover did work, was snacking on chips and high-sugared drinks, and even that failed to work at times. I recall loading up a hot dog with the works before class, and waking up discovering a trail of toppings running down my jacket with the hot dog in my lap!

How else might we create environments where people are creatively engaged?

Here’s an interesting link I just found on developing brain-compatible classrooms.

Over the next while the bulk of my writings will center around Spirituality & Creativity.

I just finished teaching a four-week series on the topic and I hope to offer readers a glimpse into it, while fleshing out more of the thoughts and experiences that arose.

Together (that means you), I hope to explore with you how Spirituality & Creativity relate, how they necessitate one another, as well as biblical foundations, and some practical expressions of our God-given creativity.

If we are created in the image and likeness of the Creator, then we too are creative beings. How is it that followers Jesus are more known for conformity and standardization than the revolutional and innovative ways of Christ?

Here’s a clip of Stellar at twelve weeks

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I was reading up on where my daughter is developmentally, and according to this website, it states that as she enters the fourth month,

“She is starting to realize that she can influence the world”

Don’t tell me she isn’t preparing for world domination here…

I wonder when so many of us stop thinking we can influence the world…

I think there was something I was suppose to talk about at the conference, but I ended up simply sharing a bit about my life and doing an anything goes Q&A for the rest of the time.

When it comes to speaking to crowds, I don’t think on-the-fly talks that can be done over the long haul. The truth is you can only ride your personality and past thoughts and experiences for so long. Every great communicator spends time working at their craft.

Still, I absolutely love meeting people exactly where they are and thinking on my feet, rather than trying to recall what I had intended to say.

When young person asked me, what’s the deal with people getting possessed?

What a fantastic question I thought. I broadened the term possession and shared about how possession is when people are overtaken by something.

I shared of an old room mate who had no issues doing the 30 hour famine everyday because he was ‘possessed’ playing Warcraft (Sorry Brian). I shared about how I can be possessed for hours online shopping at times just trying to find a way to save a dollar . I shared of how so often, not only with youth, but adults find themselves being different people when they’re with different people.

People are possessed when they are not being the person that they were created to be.

Jesus came to free us from this and walk with us on a journey towards relentlessly becoming the person that God had always intended for us to be.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing�, if what Edmund Bruke says is true, then passive neutrality will never overcome evil in this world.

Risky leadership is unafraid of moving forward in the face of uncertainty. The apostle Paul went from city to city so that some may hear his message of hope. He became all things to all people so that he might save some.

When a leader is driven by core convictions rather than circumstances or consequences their visions and their future are not determined by their resources. In fact, Peter Drucker goes as far as saying that the best way of predicting the future… is to create it.

Leaders learn from their failures as well as their successes. The only real failures are those where one violates their own hearts and do not make the most of opportunities presented.

Leaders act not because something is easy, but because it is right. They are willing to die trying, knowing the streaks and stains of their blood, sweat, and tears, might point others to what it means to fully live; just as the living God did.

My wife and I have risked, and will continue to risk, to create the future.

I’ve been speaking at Teen’s Conference over the last few days. Looking into the eyes of these incredible emerging adults, I had forgotten how lost I was when I was their age.

- thoughts of ending my life secretly plagued me
- I mocked anyone who wanted to do anything significant with their life
- my journals were filled with darkness, death, and general destruction
- the bulk of any laughter that remained in my life was at the expense of others
- Every day I wanted to scream, but never did because I was more afraid of hearing the silence of no one really caring.

I remember telling people that I was sure that I’d be dead before I hit my mid-twenties, because I could see no further reason for existence. Life was just a sucky side trip on the way to oblivion. And anything worthwhile had already been done.

I could not have been more wrong.

Years back as a young punk kid, a friend and I stole some video games downtown.

Even worst, we put it in the backpack of another friend, without telling him. I remember sweating as I watched him prance through the metal detectors completely oblivious he was carrying our stolen goods.

Needless to say my friend wasn’t all too happy when he found out. He would later become the best man at my wedding. That in itself is a testimony to grace.

The heart-pounding part of the story is when we were in the mall later laughing about how we just scored, and a security guard yells out ‘Hey you!”

We tried to ignore him and just kept walking.

He quickly runs up to us. I almost urinate.

and he says “Gung hay fat choy!” (It was the Chinese New Year).

We make some small talk and he wishes us all the best.

Sometimes this is how I feel when I enter the presence of God. I’m exposed with all my failings, and as if He was almost oblivious to them all, He sends me forward with all His best.

Yesterday we got pulled over by the police and were rudely slapped with a ridiculous $500 fine of tickets!

Because we moved, we never got notifications that Yvz license and our plates had expired, just last month. On top of that the insurance card was misplaced.

How’s a guy suppose to change the world, when I’ve got details like this bogging me down?

Yvz recently wrote me a stunning letter that has been fueling my heart through these draining days.

Stellar continues to be on of the most exhausting and exciting aspects of my life.

My community consists of some extraordinarily unique and interesting people. I’m amazed at how God has crafted each of them. Both of us being job-free the last while, we’ve been spending a lot of time (re)connecting with people and it’s just been fantastic.

The series I’m leading on creativity and spirituality kicked off yesterday. I takes quite a bit of work to be creative sometimes.

Today much of my life will revolve around a major paper on sex for my crisis counseling course that’s due tomorrow. I originally wanted to do it on ‘the crisis of apathy’, but I guess it’s not seen as a real crisis in our culture, yet.

I’ll need to go from 0 to 20 pages and find time for Heroes tonight.

Sometimes I question how busy my life is, but it’s hard to complain when I love so much of what I do.