This is going to be a great resource when it’s released, but until then, you’ll have to simply enjoy a new clip. It will be released in January 2011 by Lifeway Christian Resources, and will be called Building Biblical Community.
Here, Steve Gladen and Bill Donahue give an example of how to not listen well. Then give a brief example and explanation of how we should listen well.
Enjoy!
I rent creativity from Starbucks. And it costs me $2.30 (the exact price, coincidentally, as a Venti Bold coffee, black, filled to the rim).
I need time away from my office, away from my desk and the normal demands of my job. I can get so sucked into the day-to-day that I forget to lift my head up and move beyond the task list in front of me. And if you’re a leader, you need that time, too.
For the role it plays, $2.30 is pretty cheap to rent a little creative space.
Where do you go for creativity? Is there something you listen to? Read?
How do you remove distractions so that you can lift your head up?
Continuing my Follow Friday series (you can catch up HERE), I’ve got 5 more people I think you should follow.
And they all make me laugh.
Jon Acuff – author of the book Stuff Christians Like, and the BLOG by the same name, Jon has recently moved to Nashville to work with the Dave Ramsey Show. His blog does a great job mixing pop culture references with the goofy things we Christians do…the things Jon brings up, and the way he writes about them, will make you laugh. In fact, I often laugh out loud when I read his stuff. You can follow him on Twitter HERE.
Tyler Stanton – Tyler writes for his self-titled blog, TylerStanton.com, and produces short videos with Tripp (below) at TrippAndTyler.com. I don’t know how to describe it. But one thing I can say for sure about his blog: it’s trivial. And it makes me laugh. (And that’s more than one thing…sorry) But that’s his goal. He wants to make people laugh. And it’s clean, PG-rated stuff. You can follow him on Twitter HERE.
Tripp Crosby – I first saw Tripp when he interviewed Rob Bell after Catalyst last year. You can see the hilarious video HERE. Owner of Green Tricycle Studios, Tripp’s sense of humor connects with me. And like Tyler (above), it’s often pointless. You can read his blog HERE and follow him on Twitter HERE.
Bryan Allain – Bryan’s blog is hilarious, and he’ll help you be a better blogger and writer. Read his blog HERE, and follow him on Twitter HERE.
Xianity – I don’t know who this Twitterer is, but they do a great job poking fun at Christian culture in a lighthearted, non-threatening, non-offensive way. Follow them HERE.
Who else would you include in this list?
My friends Steve Gladen and Bill Donahue talk about the fact that healthy, Biblical community is not full of meaningless talk.
Or, as Bill calls it here, vain janglings. To which Steve, like the rest of the world, says, “What?!?”
Kittens are cute, right? I mean…who can resist a kitten?
They sneak, they pounce, they purr…and they’re just so cute and cuddly.
But there’s one glaring problem with kittens…they’re going to soon become cats.
Though it’s a longer discussion for another day, I could make a great theological argument why cats didn’t appear on the scene until after the Fall of man in Genesis 3 (j/k). And for the record, cats are never mentioned in the Bible (not j/k). Ever.
1. You don’t own a cat. A cat owns you. Which is a problem.
2. They don’t come when you call.
3. One day they love you, and the next day they act like they don’t know you.
4. Claws. I’ve been scratched by many cats. And it was in those moments that I wish I had claws so I could scratch those cats back.
5. Teeth. I’ve been bitten by a cat. Not the best day of my life.
6. I’m allergic to cats. I realize that this final reason is specific to me, but it’s enough of a deal for me to include.
I can put up with a kitten. All of the problems with cats above are small when the adult cat is just a kitten.
And the same thing could be said about our sin. Our sin, when it first starts, is rather manageable. Under control. Not all that damaging. “Acceptable” by you, and others.
But the problem is that, just like kittens, you can’t stop its growth. It’s inevitable that a kitten will grow into a cat.
A little bit of pride grows into hate.
A second glance at a girl becomes a life-altering struggle with lust.
A “little” lie matures into a difficulty with telling the full truth.
A tiny anger problem grows into an uncontrollable temper.
A little unthankfulness grows into greed.
When you notice sin in your life, take care of it before it has the chance to grow.
But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. – James 1:14-15
Do you read blogs? If so, you’ve got to have a favorite or two.
Some you find incredibly helpful.
Some you make sure to never miss.
Some that help you think more clearly about life.
Some that help you strategize.
Some that help you love God and others more.
Some that are unique to your niche in leadership.
Some that make you laugh.
Here’s the time to brag on them!
I’ll start it off.
1. Graced Again – this is the blog of my pastor, Ron Edmondson. He paid me to put his blog on here.
2. Stuff Christians Like – I know that some of my good friends (I won’t name NAMES) think this blogs is too long…but I think it’s great.
What are your favorite blogs/sites?
I have an STM bag. In fact, here’s a pic of my specific bag:
Every day, I advertise for STM. Do they pay me? No…though I wish they did.
I’m a walking billboard for the company, though, because I love my bag and take it with me everywhere. It serves my needs well, protects my computer, and (I think) looks pretty awesome, too.
If you put out a good product, it will do its own advertising.
If you put out a bad product, it will do its own advertising.
Whether it’s a product, a service, an experience, or life change, your organization is selling something. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing.
What kind of product is your organization putting out?
Ever seen the show Hoarding: Buried Alive?
If you want to feel much better about the socks you have on your floor and your unmade bed, go ahead and watch this show. As my wife and I watched it, I honestly was blown away at the trash that has piled up in these people’s homes. It’s so visible to everybody else that there’s a problem here. But check out this quote from one of the people highlighted on the show:
I just found out I’m a hoarder.
My response to the TV (come on…I’m not the only one that talks to the TV, am I?) at that point:
Seriously?
The camera pans out to her living room, almost filled to the ceiling with stuff, with a pathway just barely wide enough to walk through to get from the front door to the kitchen. The kitchen table is so full that it can’t be eaten on (and hasn’t been for 6 years). In order to get into the bedroom, she has to move bags of more stuff and a cabinet. When the bedroom door opens, more stuff is piled nearly to the ceiling. Her husband hasn’t lived at home (because of the hoarding) for years, and her children are suffering as well, with one son saying lamenting the fact that he can’t ever have any friends over to hang out.
She’s just now realizing she’s got a problem?!?
Can I get a collective, “Wow. That’s sad. That’s so messed up.” Go ahead…everybody say it together…
Isn’t it so easy to notice someone else’s sin? It sticks out like a sore thumb (their thumb, not ours…if it were our sore thumb, we’d probably notice it). And it’s almost comical that they don’t see it themselves, right?
The flip side of that coin must be true as well…you have faults that are obvious to those around you, yet you go on not noticing them. Others look on and wonder, “How does he not notice?” … “Does she not even care?”
Why do we like to find people that have sins that are “worse” than ours? Because it helps us feel better about ourselves, easing our consciences. And it keeps our own struggles at bay. If there’s somebody out there worse than me, I don’t have to worry, because me and God…we must be good. Because God grades on the curve, right?
Which explains why in our churches, small groups, family gatherings, and circles of friends, it’s easier to say, “You’re not allowed” than to say, “I’ll walk this journey with you.”
We need others to help us see ourselves for who we really are…and are willing to say, “You’ve got mustard on your face.” Because our hearts are deceitful…even to ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9). We can walk through life thinking we’re pretty awesome…and other people are pretty rotten. And shows like Hoarding:Buried Alive only amplify that tendency. But if we have people in our lives that love us, encourage us, and are willing to walk through the junk with us…life’s much easier.
My sin’s not worse than yours. Yours isn’t worse than mine. We’re on this journey of the Christian life together.
And we’re better together than on our own.
Our culture is operating faster than the printed page. And though I think there is still a great place for books and magazines, if you don’t read blogs, you’re missing out on the cutting edge of information and idea transfer.
I like to keep up with blogs. In fact, there are over 100 I (try to) check regularly. And the more and more I find that are good, the more and more I subscribe to. And the more and more I subscribe to, the more and more content I have coming through. And the more and more content I have coming through, the further and further I get behind in trying to keep up with it.
New posts go up at random times on random days, and, since I’ve got a family, a job, hobbies, and lots of other things to fill my time, I don’t always catch when new content is posted. And though Google Reader helps (I wrote on it HERE), I just don’t check it enough, leaving me with hundreds of unread posts. And I feel really bad, but I often end up “Marking all Read.” It’s not that I don’t want to read them…I just get so far behind that I don’t have time to catch up.
But I think I’ve found the solution.
NetNewsWire. **
It is an app that you can run in your back ground on your Mac or PC. It syncs with Google Reader, and automatically uploads all of your new feeds into its browser.
Here are the features I like:
1. Easy to comment. I can click through and make a comment on a blog, without leaving the application. This is a huge win for me. It’s quick and easy to leave a comment on somebody’s post, because I don’t have to open up a separate window.
2. Latest News. I’m able to sort all of the updates by the latest post, and even condense it down to just the ones that were posted in the last 24 hours.
3. Updates throughout the day. I have mine set to update my feeds every 4 hours, so a couple of times a day, I’m alerted (via a pop-up window on my screen) that there are new feeds. At that point, it takes 10 minutes (or less) to read them all.
4. It syncs with my phone. This is a huge plus for me, and part of the reason I didn’t find myself keeping up to date with my Google Reader feeds. If I have an extra few minutes, I can just open up the app on my phone, read my updated feeds, and it will be synced up with my computer next time I log on.
5. Organized feeds. Like Google Reader, I can organize my feeds by folders (and it automatically picks up your existing folders form Google Reader).
6. Quick sharing. I can quickly and easily email the link to a particular post to others I think may benefit from it. Though I wish I could also update to social media sites…
7. I can subscribe to other feeds within the app. I can quickly and easily add feeds that I want to read…very similar to Google Reader.
8. It’s free. I probably wouldn’t have tried it if it weren’t.
So, you see, it’s similar to Google Reader. The main difference for me, because of the frequency of the automatic updates and the usage on my phone, is that I actually find myself using it consistently.
Do you read many blogs? Which do you read? What are your favorites?
**This post has not been solicited by NetNewsWire.
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