Later in September

American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins

Posted using ShareThis

Life Transformation

Want to fill your bucket? Watch this amazing work by Robbie Carlson capturing real life change here.

Buckets, Brains, and Drains

My church, the church I also work for part-time, SGCF, sent me to The Leadership Summit for the second time. What a smart investment. It is--without a doubt--the most powerful conference I've attended in the last 10 years. The collaboration of brilliant leaders from within and outside the church domain is unprecedented.

Tony Blair.

Bono.

Gary Hamel.

Tim Keller.

Jessica Jackley.

Lots of big brains.

The list goes on and on. All of these hosted by Bill Hybels, one of my mentors in faith.

What a privilege to attend.

Hybels confessed the downturn in the economy has created another full-time job for most leaders: how to navigate through this new reality. And, in his humble way, he also confessed his natural response to all of this was to work harder. In his own words, he said the life he was living was not sustainable. He had to make adjustments.

He drew a bucket on a paper. It's so simple. All of us have a bucket that holds our sense of peace and well-being. When the level is full or nearly so, we can lead, work, love, give and perform at our potential. However, the very act of doing these things drains the bucket. Add to this the people that we all must deal with that also have a "draining" effect on our energy, and you very quickly can begin to see the levels of peace, fullness, satisfaction drain away.

We have to re-fuel. We have to renew. We have to proactively take responsibility for the filling of our own bucket. For those of us who follow after God, this necessarily involves time with Him, with scripture, prayer, and truth. And, of course, it could involve engaging in more of the activities that are energy boosters (exercise, hobbies, time with family, etc.) and adequately monitoring the energy drains.

This is just one simple, but profound "take-away". More to follow; my bucket is spilling over.

All Over the Map

The next few weeks are "full".

• Our WILDlife Family Camp kick-starts Friday up at The Oaks in Lake Hughes, CA


• Upon returning home Sunday afternoon, Tim and I take off for San Diego so I can attend my first ever User Conference with ESRI the 12th through the 15th. My presentation slides are here


• Got to go to Disneyland for my birthday next week to get my gift card


• Campbell has a swim meet in Hemet the following weekend


• SGCF has another event planned for 4th-6th graders on the 22nd...it will be "cosmic"


• Prep work for a new course (to me) at CSUSB should begin later this month: Econ 335 "Tools of Economic Analysis". I'll be teaching one of my favs as well "Economics of Sport"


• Anticipating some new contacts after my GIS presentation which will hopefully lead to some more productive research in this area and a finalized paper submission before school begins

That's just a snapshot. I know your summer is full of jam-packed-action, too. It's a good thing we're all on vacation???

Finish Well

One of the lessons (if not the most important one) I'm learning from the death of my father-in-law is the importance of finishing well. Those who knew Bud well were not blind to the obvious blunders and areas in his life where he had fallen short and missed the mark. But, many--far more--beheld a man pressing forward, forgetting what was behind, reaching out for the prize--the upward call of Christ. This was captured poignantly by the dark-haired 6th grade boy who got up to speak at Bud's memorial. Trembling and scared, this little man expressed beautifully the importance Bud's example. He spoke of Mr. Ray's ability to tell the stories of the bible well. In particular, he recalled the story of Easter. Because of Bud's passion for Christ and his commitment to teaching Sunday School week after week, this boy came to Christ and has unlimited potential in the kingdom of God. His testimony obliterates any notion that somehow there is a scale of justice where our sins, our mistakes, the trash of our lives (of Bud's life), are somehow weighed against the trivial "good" things we think we do. If there is such a scale, no one "not even one" would prove righteous. Instead, this boy's testimony reveals what it means--for any of us who call ourselves Christians--to be redeemed. Only Christ can take the trash, the blunders, the mistakes, the missed marks and transform them into something...wonderful. Something purposeful. Something eternal. The sooner we grasp this lesson, the sooner we can all get on with finishing well.
Philippians 3:13

Perspectives

Success.

Fulfillment.

Ambition.

Dreams.

Words we attach particular meaning to.

Each requires perspective.

Yesterday, on the way to swim practice with the boys, the merits of swimming and practicing more during the summer were being discussed. The main idea being: the more you swim, the better you swim. The boys, however, being 11 years old and inclined to just a bit of summer-time laziness took issue with the main idea. Using their keen logical minds one of them said:

"so, if I swim four days a week I'll be as good as Michael Phelps?"

I replied with something equally logical but parental:

"Not every great swimmer is an Olympian like Michael Phelps. There are far more great swimmers than there are Olympic swimmers".

We went back and forth. Finally, we did agree if you want to be a better swimmer it will most likely involve more swim practice. And, four or five more years of swim practice would make them both better swimmers.

Since Campbell just posted some much improved times at his last meet, it must have inspired Wylie to prophesy the following:

"Well, in five years Campbell can be an Olympican (pronounced o-limp-i-can) and I can be working at McDonalds with my best friend, Thomas".

Success.

Fulfillment.

Dreams.

Ambition.

Words we attach a particular meaning to....

Perspectives.