[Abram bounces his head to the song as he pulls the phone out of his pocket.]
[Abram’s glances at the caller ID and stops cold. He raises his eyebrow for a brief second, thinking about letting it go to voicemail.]
Abram: Ah, man. I don’t really have time for this today. Give me a break… OK, whatever.
[Abram swipes to take the call]
Abram: [With a little frustration in his voice] Hello?
God: Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
Abram: You don’t even say hello anymore? For once it’d be cool if you would at least say who it is. [pause] OK, OK… what do you want me to do? Leave the country and go somewhere? What do you mean by “leave?” You mean go for a little trip? Or do you mean I need to pack up my house, quit my job, and move? Are you OK? Have you been creating planets again? A little more clarity would be nice here.
God: I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you.
Abram: [pausing, looking inquisitively at his dog, who just raised his leg to pee on a bush.] What does that even mean? You don’t even say hello, you tell me to leave the country…. and now, a great nation? All I ever asked you to do was to help me be a better dad. A great nation? I’m not into politics. I don’t want to become a great nation… I just want to now how to talk to my kids about the tough stuff… you know… sex and why the Cubs suck. Stuff like that. [Pause, catching up to the reality of who he’s arguing with.] Any way we can talk a little bit more about the blessing part of it and a whole lot less of this moving somewhere else bit? I mean… I’ve got my kids in a great school. There better be one heck of a blessing for me to talk about pulling the kids out of school. You know, I’ve got a wife. I’ve got to sell her on this idea. Blessing, yeah… talk about the blessing some more.
God: I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
Abram: [Letting out a little doubtful snort] You want me to tell that to Sarai? Have you met her? [raising eyebrows and envisioning getting punched when he tells her.] She’s pretty comfortable in our neighborhood as it is. She loves our house. She’s got a whole bunch of girlfriends. Our kids our happy. We’re safe. And you want me to go home and tell her that leaving all of that is going to make our name great? She’s gonna throw that back in my face, you know? And I don’t think I like the sound of “you will be a blessing.” I can’t sell that to her. She’s going to want to here that you are going to bless us. Not be a blessing, get a blessing. Work with me here, G.
God: I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.
Abram: [turning his heart from despair, slowly to more of a realistic tone.] Well, now we’re talking. Sarai’s gonna dig this part of it. So when our kids start at a new school and the other kids tease them because they don’t look right, don’t dress right, and live in a neighborhood they clearly don’t belong… you’re gonna have their back. And you’re going to make it pretty obvious that people are getting blessed because they bless my family, right? I’m getting the idea that you aren’t asking me if I’m willing to do this… so you’re starting to speak my language.
God: And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Abram: [long pause, having been stunned into thinking deeply about those words] Whoa. OK… so what’s you’re saying is that if I go home and convince my wife to move from a house we love to a place to be determined later… that every person on the planet will be blessed through me? I’m not even sure how to respond. I guess I get to respond just by doing it, right?
[Abram realizes that God has hung up]
Abram: Hello? You still there? Yeah, I’m out here walking the dog… this canyon must have a dead zone or something. You’re breaking up.
[Pulling his phone down, he sees the screen displaying “Call ended.”]
[By this time, the dog has gotten tired of standing on his walk. So he’s laid down on his side. Abram puts his phone back in his pocket, stares off into the distance some more.]
Abram: [under his breathe] Yeah, easy enough for God to call me like that. Now I’ve got to go home and try to convince Sarai. How would God know? Not like He has a wife.
[Pulling on the leash and getting the dog going.]
Abram: Come on. Let’s go. Good dog.
[Light out]
Narrator: So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
But RSS (Really Simple Syndication) has a lot more to compete with in 2010 than it did in 2005 when it took off.
In 2005, the advent of aggregators like Bloglines, Google reader, and even the über popularity of my.yahoo.com made RSS the best way to grow your reach as a blogger. If you could just get them to click that orange button– they’d get your blog post every time you published automatically!
RSS was king.
For a few years RSS was one of the easy measurement tools of blog power. As people visited a site for the first time they were more likely to subscribe to a blog if they knew say… 1034 other people already did. (And yes, tons of the names in the Christian blogosphere you know today got known simply because they figured out how to manipulate the Feedburner subscriber chicklet. They made it seems like they had tens of thousands when they really had about a hundred. Tricky, tricky. It was dirty but you bought their books. Sorry.)
In 2006, the apple cart began to get upset with the popularity of sites which sifted through thousands of relevant RSS feeds within a niche` and curated the niche` into a website. Power wasn’t just measured in your ability to have thousands of RSS subscribers… it became measured in your ability to get your conent brought to the front page. Sites like Boing Boing, TechCrunch, Huffington Post, and Mashable exploded simply by curating their respective niche`. (Imagine editors looking through tens of thousands of RSS feeds and choosing 10-12 things a day to link bait.) Interestingly, since that’s essentially what newspapers and television news folks do, these curators became recognized as legitimate news outlets within their sector. All because they subscribed to thousands of RSS feeds and started to bring the best stuff to the top. Along the way they earned more than your RSS subscription– they earned your trust.
In 2008 and gaining strength through today RSS has become less important.Why? We don’t need to have tons of content automatically sent to us via an aggregator. Nor do we need the big niche` sites to curate the conversation generally. Instead of subscribing to Mashable or Boing Boing or the New York Times, I monitor my friends feed on Facebook or Twitter. I allow them to go through their aggregators and allow them to be my curator. In other words… I read what my friends tell me to read because they thought enough of it to retweet it or recommend it to me on Facebook.
Here’s the new reality bloggers, news agencies, and marketers are wrestling with every day: We’ve gone from RSS to FFS.
What is FFS? I just made it up.
Friends and Fans Syndication: Delivering your content through relationship-based platforms.
Learn how to manipulate FFS and you will be king in 2011.
These were the words of Paul to the Colossian church. He was wrapping up his letter to them with a few tidbits of sage advice. Like bits of dessert after a Holy Spirit inspired meal.
Those words have stuck with me and become part of my self-talk. You know, the little words that run through your head all the time. A lot of people label me an optimist or a glass half full guy. In fact, I label myself an opportunist. I’m constantly asking myself, “Am I making the most of this opportunity?”
Maybe that’s a spiritual or ministry opportunity? (Paul’s original intent of those words) But maybe that’s an opportunity at work? Or a business opportunity? Or an great idea? The possibilities are as endless as the food combinations at a buffet.
The Opportunity Stomach
I’ve found that there is a strategic difference between waiting for the right opportunity and and jumping at every opportunity.
Think of opportunities like a meal. You are either hungry for it or you aren’t. (Most people aren’t. They just pass on opportunities without even thinking about it.)
But if I jump on too many opportunities my appetite for really great opportunities wanes. Then, because I waited for the perfect opportunity I tend to lack the experience to know the difference between a choice meal and a cheap rip-off.
I notice that most people tend to approach new opportunities like they approach their favorite restaurant. They like what they know and they know what they like. So they turn their nose up and almost all new opportunities.
Whereas, I tend to nibble at a lot of opportunities and save room for the big ones. That way I know what a great opportunity tastes like when it comes along.
With that said, the only problem with nibbling is that sometimes you get too full for the big meal.
Discovered in 1427 by Cardinal Joseph Cran, the cranberry is useful for many things. It is delicious. It is tasty. It is tart. It is good mixed with various other fruits. It floats. It is from heaven. It’s amazing canned shape invites my gobbling. It’s juice keeps away urinary track infections.
Cranberry and brain share the same latin root word, cranium. The Romans believed the cranberries tart flavor stimulated the brain.
The cranberry has medicinal values. It cures everything from a hangover to gout.
Cranberry bogs are protected in Vermont. It is unlawful to visit one without a permit.
There is a Cranberry Festival in Iowa in which the Cranberry queen is carried on a litter as citizens stuff cranberries in their cheeks like a hamster.
The female cranberry is separated from the male cranberry in the processing plant. Males are bagged and served fresh. Females are jellied and canned. Left together they would multiply their goodness and overtake the world.
Starved for delicious fresh cranberry– Christopher Columbus discovered America. A state secret of Spain, it was recently revealed that the Columbus party actually had 4 boats. The Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, and the Cranberry.
The red in the United States flag… symbolic of the ancient order of the cranberry… 1749. (Betsy Ross was secretary of the order at the time)
It is against the law to serve turkey on Thanksgiving without cranberry sauce in the city of Cleveland, Ohio.
Man, I was smoking hot back in the day. (circa 1991-1992) Just as humble as today just twice as young.
Backstory to the picture above:
Over the last few months I’ve gotten reconnected with Joanne via Facebook. (pictured above) We went to First Pres in Mishawaka together back in elementary, middle, and some of high school. And we also shared a common bond of the same church camp each summer.
As these things are prone to happen… we lost track of one another. And, as Facebook is so good at doing, we have gotten to catch up. At one point it even looked like we were even going to be able to meet-up in Port-au-Prince this summer. We were both looking forward to reliving some old silliness from a mission trip we did to Tennessee. (I remember little else of that trip than yelling “he haw!” at people passing in cars and the drive to/from Appalachia.)
Last week Joanne sent me this picture.It cracked me up. First, it cracked me up because I had no idea why we were in this picture together. (Apparently, we went to a dance together in 10th grade. I don’t think we ever “went out” so we must have gone as friends.) Second, it cracked me up because I was so self-conscious in high school, looking back at my former self, I had nothing to be self-conscious about. Third, it cracked me because of how stinking young we were!
Do you have an old picture from a high school dance? If so, post it and share the link.
Photo by Laura Burlton via Flickr (Creative Commons)
My favorite story in the Bible, hands down, is that of Joseph. I’ve read Genesis 37-50 about 100 times. It never gets old!
From the first reading of the story until today, I’ve always wanted to be like Joseph. Dream on, dreamer!
Take it from this dreamer… dreams do come true.
May God grant you the opportunity to chase dreams like I’ve been fortunate to chase dreams.
Just once in your life… it’s my prayer that you wake up in a cold sweat with an idea that won’t let you go. And you realize that in order to shake the dream, you need to chase it. So, not knowing how else to get rid of it, you set out to fulfill it.
Maybe that dream takes a day or a week or a month? (Like building a treehouse for your kids or running in a 5k or recording a song.)
Or maybe that dream takes years until you see real progress?
Both timeframes bear the same satisfaction.
Here’s my encouragement today:
Just chase. Be a dreamer. Get after it. Geek out on it. Own it to the point where people call you Joseph. Invest yourself to the point that your friends mock you like they mocked Noah. Enjoy the satisfaction of getting fired for dreaming too much.
The results will come. And seeing things happen in your life will give you a glimpse of something heavenly. As you chase dreams you’ll see God do things you’d never thought possible.
The world is full of perfectly ordinary people like you or I doing extraordinary things.
They are dreamers. And membership in the tribe of dreamers is open on only one prerequisite.
God has dreams for you more wild than you could ever imagine.
Since before you were born, before your fertilized egg implanted in the womb of your mother, before she peed on a stick and knew you even existed… God knew who you’d be and what kind of person you could become! Could is the operative word. It is the opportunity placed before you if only you’ll act on the impulse to chase recklessly.
Contrary to the pessimists in your life chasing dreams is not child’s play.
The world needs more dreamers. Not fewer. We have big problems that need big dreams to fix.
Chasing dreams is horribly inefficient. It takes time to make the impossible possible.
The bottom line is simple:
Your dreams will never be fulfilled until you do something with them. A dream is just a dream until you do something with it.
The concept of change is the fulcrum of the Gospel message.
Am I willing to look at myself in the mirror, accept who I am, (not) and commit to the hard work of change?
The Gospel message is about change. Changed hearts. Changed lives. Changed motivations. Changed intentions. Changed directions.
Without change– a life with Jesus becomes good information at best and good entertainment at worst.
Without change– the Gospel is devoid of value.
God changed the course of human history when He sent Jesus to die on a cross. He changed how he engaged humanity so you could change your life.
To anthropomorphize it, God changed in the hope that we would change.
Accepting Jesus is accepting that you need to change.
But I wonder how many people are actually open to change in their lives?
Am I open to change?
Are you?
Is change a part of your life? Or do you just talk about it, asking others to change, but you are too good for that?
Or are you afraid to appear weak, displaying a changed heart?
If my byline is “Crazy enough to change the world” that implies that I’m always on the lookout for people, organizations, groups who are willing to change.
Sadly, among Jesus followers, few seem open to change.
They refuse to accept who they can become, thus refuse to change.
Pride sets in, change becomes impossible, and we become “about the Gospel” without living into the Gospel.
Christian organizations would rather go out-of-business, accepting failure, than change.
Churches would rather reach a decreasing congregation in an increasing population than change.
This deeply saddens me.
Oh, that we might be a people changed by the Gospel.
I think Ricky Martin had it wrong. While living la vida loca (the crazy life) looks attractive to the bored, I prefer to set my sights on living la vida simple. (the simple life)
As crazy as things seem, feel, or appear– I do live a pretty simple life. A life that is satisfying in its simple pleasures.
Weekends give glimpses into these pleasures.
Near agenda-less. There are things to do, but it’s far from the frantic pace of Monday – Friday.
Sleeping in. (That means until 6:30, pretty lame, but that’s as late as I can sleep.)
Going to the farmers market and discovering new smells and flavors. (Our kids suddenly love pomegranates)
Sharing the intimacy of talking about nothing with Kristen over a cup of tea.
Kristen and I are completing our first year of transforming our backyard into an organic garden. The first year has been full of fun harvests and humiliating defeats.
If we’ve learned anything about gardening in the first year it is this principle: To eat more, you need to guess less.
We’ve learned that when we planted things is as important as what we want.
We’ve learned how to adapt our watering to the weather as opposed to just setting a timer.
We’ve learned how a baby weed is just as dangerous as a major one.
We’ve learned that is something gets bigger than you wanted, prune it right away or it’ll take over the garden.
We’ve learned that if we want to keep our harvest coming, we need to be patient in spreading out when we plant so it doesn’t all come at once.
We’ve learned that planting something in the wrong season really doesn’t work.
We’ve learned that your yield is directly proportional to the quality of soil where you plant at.
We didn’t know anything walking into this. So we guessed a lot. And we let our emotions get the best of us a few times.
But heading into the second year, we’ve learned a lot and documented what we did, we hope to eat a little bit more with less mistakes in 2011.
Isn’t this the same as with any other endeavor? You might guess and get something right by accident. But experience always yields a better result.
My byline is: “Crazy enough to change the world.”
