One of my frequent driving paths takes me through a neighborhood that has an "amenity center" for the residents. A good size neighborhood swimming pool is part of the center. During the summers, children, families, and mothers and tots, occupy the pool most of the time every day. Mothers and tots have a stronghold on the mornings, children (supervised of course) take over the afternoons, and families grab the evenings and weekends.
The management keeps the pool filled and pretty clean year round even though it is closed in late fall through late spring (yes, it does get cold enough in Texas to not swim year round - remember the snow pictures).
Over the last few weeks I have noticed that the pool is occupied once again even though it has not officially opened for the summer. The resident swimmers and sun bathers are not the usual crowd. They do have two legs but their feet are webbed. They are colorful and skilled at both swimming and flying, but seem to be a little skiddish if someone wanders too close to the fence surrounding the pool. Several Mallard Ducks have found themselves an "amenity center" well suited to their liking. They swim and then sit (or stand or maybe waddle) around the pool to keep their tan lines even, I guess. And before you ask, I don't know how the clorine in the water affects them!
What concerns me is not that ducks are swimming in a pool designed for people. Rather, I am concerned about how many things that were intended for one significant purpose are now being used for lessor purposes. A few come to mind rather quickly - guns designed for protection or for war being used for crime and random shootings; drugs developed to save lives being taken illegally and resulting in the loss of life; sex created as a means of intimacy in marriage and for the procreation of the human species being used as a profitable business or desire for popularity; and the computer created so that we could do things faster to have more time for relationships but the result has been we use the computer for everything, even emailing our co-workers and playing games or working at home instead of time with family.
Am I just getting old (I did just have another one of those birthdays go by) and beginning to complain about everything or are our improvements and enlightenments really not so improving or enlightening? The truth is that some days I think there are ducks swimming in the pool. Maybe soon I will take some time and write about getting the right use of things, afterall I just wrote five paragraphs expressing my thoughts to WHOM? Maybe just to me!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Seeking Significance
Recently I was reminded of the report that states: "For the first half of our lives, we seek success; for the last half of our lives, we seek significance." Since the oldest, documented living person currently on planet Earth is 115, I am definitely in the second or last half of my life. And life the results of the report, I, too, find myself wanting to do those things that will make a difference - things that will have a significant impact upon people and upon institutions.
I mention institutions because my profession is largely about working with churches. The role is varied and includes helping start new churches, helping revitalize decaying or declining churches, and encouraging healthy churches. In the fabric of our culture, churches have held places of significance. Our culture has looked to churches to provide moral and ethical leadership, to provide spiritual stability and strength, to develop children and adults as morally upright individuals, and to care for those in need.
It is true that such a view of the church has not been continuous in our history. In fact, this may not be one of those time segments when our nation views the church in such high esteem. But it is because of that possibility that I feel a need to help encourage churches toward a renewed reality of significance in these days.
My desire in this last segment of my employed life is not to help churches and church leaders become what the culture wants them to be but rather to help them become what God has stated He wants them to be. Whether we look at the Old Testament in the Bible and see God using the nation Israel to reveal His purpose and love, or in the New Testament with the emergence of the church as the Body of Christ, we see that the real significance of the church is in the transformation of lives by the power of God. Significance is not in the amount of property, size of budgets, or weekly attendance. The significance of the church has always been in God's transformation of people who come to Him in faith through Jesus Christ.
I mention institutions because my profession is largely about working with churches. The role is varied and includes helping start new churches, helping revitalize decaying or declining churches, and encouraging healthy churches. In the fabric of our culture, churches have held places of significance. Our culture has looked to churches to provide moral and ethical leadership, to provide spiritual stability and strength, to develop children and adults as morally upright individuals, and to care for those in need.
It is true that such a view of the church has not been continuous in our history. In fact, this may not be one of those time segments when our nation views the church in such high esteem. But it is because of that possibility that I feel a need to help encourage churches toward a renewed reality of significance in these days.
My desire in this last segment of my employed life is not to help churches and church leaders become what the culture wants them to be but rather to help them become what God has stated He wants them to be. Whether we look at the Old Testament in the Bible and see God using the nation Israel to reveal His purpose and love, or in the New Testament with the emergence of the church as the Body of Christ, we see that the real significance of the church is in the transformation of lives by the power of God. Significance is not in the amount of property, size of budgets, or weekly attendance. The significance of the church has always been in God's transformation of people who come to Him in faith through Jesus Christ.
Where Have I Been?
Time passes so quickly, particularly when you are having fun or it is Saturday. I was searching through a stack of bits on my computer and found my blog buried deep in pile of documents, emails, spreadsheets, calendars, and organizational planning. I haven't spend any time with my blog since April 1st. I don't suppose that changed or altered anyone else's life in any way, but I committed myself to writing an entry at least weekly - obviously it has been more weakly in April.
We all get caught up in a variety of responsibilities that call for our urgent attention. Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, states in his book, Quiet Strength, that while he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he gave instructions to all the coaches and players that when they lost a game (often) their response was to be "No explanations, no excuses!" Well, that is my story and I sticking with it. That is a lot easier than trying to explain the past 21 days.
We all get caught up in a variety of responsibilities that call for our urgent attention. Tony Dungy, the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, states in his book, Quiet Strength, that while he was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he gave instructions to all the coaches and players that when they lost a game (often) their response was to be "No explanations, no excuses!" Well, that is my story and I sticking with it. That is a lot easier than trying to explain the past 21 days.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
What Makes Me Laugh?
Laughter is so relaxing, and yet at the same time, exhilarating. I know that not everyone laughs at the same things. Some people seem to find little to no humor in anything. In a way that makes me laugh.
I like jokes, slapstick, video, sight gags, and yes, even puns. The truth is that I don't believe we laugh nearly enough. We take ourselves and everyone and everything else far too seriously. Medical science has even discovered that laughter can result in the dimishment of pain for a period of time. Of course, the Bible stated that a long time ago in Proverbs 17:22 by stating "A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Young children like to laugh and do so at the antics of adults - I think they really laugh either at the way we look or the baby language we try to speak to them. What does "goo-goo, gaga" mean anyway? They even start trying to tell jokes just so they can laugh more (because we adults never seem to get the joke.)
Last Saturday I saw two women riding Harleys. Nothing too unusual there except for the fact that they looked like they were on their way to a wedding and one of them happened to be the bride (yes, she was already dressed for the wedding!).
People really do go to work wearing unmatched shoes or socks; have toilet paper stuck to the bottom of their shoe; get their shirttails caught in their zippers; look for their glasses that are on their heads or around their necks or worse, on their eyes; lose their cell phones that are in their hands; answer the phone with the receiver upside down; reverse letters of words; and remind us all that Aggie jokes and blonde jokes and all the other labeled jokes, are not jokes at all but the recounting of true, or at least almost true, stories.
The video clip below is about dogs rather than people, but it should bring a laugh to your day. It did to mine when a friend sent it to me. OH, DON'T FORGET TO READ THE COMICS EVERYDAY - IT MAKES THE FRONT PAGE MORE BEARABLE!
I like jokes, slapstick, video, sight gags, and yes, even puns. The truth is that I don't believe we laugh nearly enough. We take ourselves and everyone and everything else far too seriously. Medical science has even discovered that laughter can result in the dimishment of pain for a period of time. Of course, the Bible stated that a long time ago in Proverbs 17:22 by stating "A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Young children like to laugh and do so at the antics of adults - I think they really laugh either at the way we look or the baby language we try to speak to them. What does "goo-goo, gaga" mean anyway? They even start trying to tell jokes just so they can laugh more (because we adults never seem to get the joke.)
Last Saturday I saw two women riding Harleys. Nothing too unusual there except for the fact that they looked like they were on their way to a wedding and one of them happened to be the bride (yes, she was already dressed for the wedding!).
People really do go to work wearing unmatched shoes or socks; have toilet paper stuck to the bottom of their shoe; get their shirttails caught in their zippers; look for their glasses that are on their heads or around their necks or worse, on their eyes; lose their cell phones that are in their hands; answer the phone with the receiver upside down; reverse letters of words; and remind us all that Aggie jokes and blonde jokes and all the other labeled jokes, are not jokes at all but the recounting of true, or at least almost true, stories.
The video clip below is about dogs rather than people, but it should bring a laugh to your day. It did to mine when a friend sent it to me. OH, DON'T FORGET TO READ THE COMICS EVERYDAY - IT MAKES THE FRONT PAGE MORE BEARABLE!
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