My internet was down for most of the week, as if something was trying to stop all forms of communications for me. Nevertheless I twittered from my iphone which is not 3G...does that make me "old school"? So even though I was down from doing any mainstream blogging...I secretly twittered away in joyful delight. "It's all good", as they say down here in Texas.

Happy Halloween.

No. I am not going to get into all the spiritual junk that people carry with Halloween. Instead, I am reminded of my youth. I remember waiting up all night in anticipation to MTV and waiting to see the super hyped video, "Thriller". It wan't even a few weeks and most of us had the dance routine worked out in our living room. You know the routine...be honest.

So with that...I leave a video...or maybe a link to a video...depends on what works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xs9OQHpwDE

Headed out last Friday to get a little “tree time”. That is what I call it. Other people call it “hunting”, but I always end up sitting in a tree far more than anything else. Hunting is only a small part. I love it. I love sitting there and just observing God’s beautiful creation in its natural habitat. Cold beautiful mornings mixed with luscious green pines on rolling landscapes of knee high grass. It’s breathtaking.

Tree time gives me time to myself…and that’s important. I need a break every now and then. I need a break in routines. I need a break from work. I need a break even from myself.

Sometimes I just need to sit still…be quiet…and just relax. Sometimes I just need to hear the wind blow through the trees. It’s peaceful. Somewhere in all that peaceful surrounding, I lose myself for a second and forget all the stress of everyday life. I let go of the responsibilities that I have for a few hours and just slow down to enjoy the scenery.

My greatest goal in life might be to figure out a way, in my life, to just slow down and enjoy more of the scenery. I don’t want to work to death. I don’t want to get to the end of this journey and reflect back on how hard I worked or gave myself to any one thing…unless that one thing is my family. I was reminded of that this weekend. I fell more in love with my wife and kids this weekend then ever before. Why? Because they are my heartbeat…they are the wind that sway me…they are the gorgeous orange yellow sunrise in my life. This weekend reminded me who I am supposed to be. It slowed me down another 10 miles per hour and gave me more patience than I had the previous weekend.

Do you have a weekend like this? Do you set aside quiet time just for yourself to refocus? You should.

The weekend is finally here…it’s a moment a way…and I love it. This weekend will be a reunion of sorts for a mentor of mine. We used to attend church together and work together. He was a great manager, and an even better friend and mentor. He is really the reason I have this fascination with “impossibility” and “defying logic”. I am really looking forward in hearing all that he has been up to as well as sharing my journey as well. It is going to be a good time…

I will be taking my journal and a few books as well. This trip is about quit times, friendship, and reflection. I am looking to be refreshed and renewed.

So…I am keeping is short today…sales picked up throughout the week and I didn’t write half as much as I wanted too. Forgive me. I will pick everything up next week.

Tonight is my turn to preach in the youth on the “Crazy Ones” series…We basically got the idea from an Apple commercial that challenges us to continue to think different…to believe that it is possible for a person to change the world. I have to admit I love this whole series. I love what it represents and what it stands for. I love to speak and dream over kids, teenagers, and even adults the concepts and disciplines of hope, love, vision, dreams, destiny, and purpose. I think all of us could use a little encouragement in this area of our lives. We all have a purpose and a destiny…so what happens to us along the way? Why do we become so complacent…why have we become tamed?

Tonight I get the honor of speaking on “wild originality”. My subject in point is none other than John the Baptist. John is a wild man. This guy isn’t your ordinary person…he doesn’t dress ordinary…he doesn’t speak ordinary…he is just downright weird.

Check this out…

Mathew 3

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

John was a strange guy to say the least. Think about it. Here is this man dressed in “camel hair” with a leather belt. He is eating locust and honey…now I don’t know about you…some of you might have had that for breakfast this morning…I don’t know…but I assure you it’s not in my diet. Let’s not forget that if we ever went to church and our preacher came out with only a dead animal skin around him held together by a leather belt…he would probably be kicked off the stage…and maybe even thrown in jail.

Put all that aside and what do you have?

You have a man who doesn’t care what people think…only what his God thinks. You have a man so utterly dependent and focused on God that he doesn’t even care about the impending danger that approaches his own life. You have a man that can call it like it is and still see the altars flooded with souls crying out repentance.

Yea…John was original…and you know what?

So are you…

So reach out today…be a bit crazy and chase the impossible dream. Ignore the snickering and laughing. Reach past the thoughts of feeling foolish because of how you look, walk, and talk. Reach past that and see for yourself…that your life has value…not because of what you do or the things that you will accomplish…but because of whose child you are.

The last four days have been awesome. I really enjoyed NTLC this year and I am already looking forward to next year. I also managed to get some things done around the house and a bit of rest. It’s so crazy how a little bit of sleep can make me a new man. Well…almost new!

I want to take the time and share with you my “déjà vu” moment this weekend. (No…I wasn’t watching the Matrix) I was on the way out the door to get some things out of the car and I saw my wife playing with our youngest daughter and I remembered…I remembered that before my youngest was even born that my wife sat up one morning and said, “I had a dream, last night, that we had a baby girl.” She went on to describe her and even what she was wrapped in detail.

What I remembered as I walked by the other day was that a week after she was born, my wife had a “déjà vu”. She had seen this scene before. It had already played out in her mind. God gave her insight into our future. What an awesome phenomenon!

My thought: Why don’t we have more “déjà vu” moments with God?

“Spiritual” déjà vu’s are pivotal praise moments in our life. They are reminders that we really did hear from God. In the case of my wife and I, we physically saw the dream come to pass. The child was physically in our hands, exactly like God had showed my wife. Allow me to give this disclaimer…this isn’t a testament to who we are…it is a testament to who God is. God gave the vision…we became obedient…believed in faith…and are now living in the vision.

What spiritual déjà vu moments have you had in your life?

What a week! NTLC was great as usual. I have said it before and I will say it again…Pastor Gerald Brooks is one of my heroes. It is just such a staggering investment that Grace Outreach makes into the lives of pastors. As a matter of fact the whole thing kicked off with these two sentences by Pastor Brooks, “I love pastors. I want you to realize that you are some of the most important people in the world.” If you can’t feel loved after starting a conference like that, then you might want to check your pulse. Moving on…

Did I take notes? Are you kidding me? I have tons of great sound bytes from the conference from different pastors…

Pastor Gerald Brooks – “Shelf Life”

• What people say that don’t go to your church matters…
• God is eternal, your church isn’t.
• Vision has a voice…it’s called prayer.
• People you love…organizations you inspire.
• Vision is a tool to get someone else to see where you are going.
• Airports never say destination unknown…but many churches sometimes do.
• Leadership is not longevity…it’s productivity.
• Jesus gave thirty years to become like us…and then spent only three to change us.
• Long before someone follows you…they watch you.
• The job of the church is not to have services…it’s to transform lives.
• The day you realize that ministry is a marathon…is the day you become a pastor.
• Few people live to see two revivals…because they fail to let go of the first revival.

Dr. Samuel Chand – “Worst Case Scenerios”

• Pastors fail when they replace faith for wisdom.
• Pastors have to be able to preach beyond this season.
• My Church grew because I was a foreigner…I was like a panda at the zoo!
• What is bad for the world can be the most incredible time for the church.
• If we can’t be an example in how we live…let us be an example in how we repent.
• Your church will respect you for your accomplishments…but they will love you for your pains.
• The time to be ready is not the time to get ready.
• Hurting people…hurt people.
• A crisis can change your theology…so speak softly…you might have to eat your words some day.

Pastor David Swann – “Large Influence in Small Places”

• You are seven people away from knowing everyone on the planet.
• I define salvation as three things…Repent, believe, and follow.
• 60% of churches in America have less than 100 people in attendence.
• What you waiting on? God wants growth more than you.
• Treadmill churches: Lots of movement…little progress.
• Four killers of predictably good services: Bizarre service, legalism, long service, boring service.
• I don’t want to quench the Spirit…I want to quench stupidity.
• Teach servanthood and watch your leaders appear.
• Leadership combined with servanthood make for a successful combination.
• Winning isn’t the goal…improvement is the goal.
• As pastors, it’s about the team improving…not the individual.

There was a lot more…and I am sure over time I will make time to reflect over it…but college football is on today and I’ve got rest and relaxation on my mind!

Not looking to really make this blog, but I definitely wanted to put the shout out that I will be attending the North Texas Leadership Conference at Grace Outreach in Plano, Texas. I look forward to this conference every year. I love it. It’s a conference with the heart of God.

It’s basically a day and a half conference of which there are break out sessions for different areas of ministry. Pastor Gerald Brooks goes out of his way to hand out for FREE the best seven books he has read for the current year and caters in Macaroni Grill on Thursday night to the entire conference. I said it before and let me say it again…Grace Outreach looses money every year on this conference. They do it because Pastor Brooks has a heart for ministers that are at small churches that don’t have the budget to make the big conferences. I love that. He is one of my heroes in this aspect.

If you are going…I will see you there…or maybe not…I am a ninja, you know. You can count on me to “twitter” the whole thing. Also will be there with my wife! I am so thankful she is going. She loves going as much as I do.

So we will see you there…you just won’t see us!

I had a conversation with my wife last night where I was accused of having “a life” in the blogosphere. What? She has said stranger things…but here is what I think she sees. She sees me devoting a great deal of time to writing and journaling because she knows it helps me calm my soul…and I think, with all the compassion in her for me, she wishes she was more a part of that process. Why? Because she loves me…she desires to see my life transformed…she wants me to be happy.

And that is why I love her.

So I blog on…

Ninja Net…

I broke down and decided to jump off the social network bridge and try Facebook. Still learning the advantages of having a Facebook account. I absolutely like it better Myspace. It is way more streamlined that I imagined and I can genially see why people like it. It’s actually a pretty easy process compared to Myspace…and for the most part, at least for now…advertisement free.

If you look over to the right hand of the screen and you see a tiny white ninja…it’s my Twitter ninja. I twitter daily…almost every other hour sometimes. I also follow others in the Twitter verse. I like it. It’s simple one to two sentence thoughts.

Link: Twitter Ninja

Ninja Books…

I was looking through a stack of books the other day in disbelief, as I didn’t realize I had done that much reading this year. It has been rather fruitful and I have enjoyed downloading business, ministry, fiction, fairy tale, and other good stuff into my brain. Since I am using this day to reflect…here is a list of books that I read this year.

1. Ladder Focus, by Gerald Brooks and Samuel Chan
2. UnChristian, by David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons
3. In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day, by Mark Batterson
4. Chasing The Wild Goose, by Mark Batterson
5. A Technique for Producing Ideas, by James Webb Young
6. Why Great Men Fall, by Wayde Goodall
7. The Chronicles Of Narnia (All 7 books), by CS Lewis
8. The Shack, by William Young

Huge chunks of data are making the rounds in my brain today…just thinking over different ideas, concepts, theology, media, life, love, etc…a little bit of everything.

The road I’ve been traveling these days, the road of possibility, has opened up some new areas in my life that have amazed me as well as saddened me. For instance I am blown away at the “atom” concept, but I am terribly upset about “limits”. Both sink into my spirit and really tear at me. I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster and I don’t know how to stop it long enough to re-focus and re-energize myself. To be quite honest, I am not myself these days. I am really struggling to find myself again. Like I have said before, I struggle with identity issues. I am so busy reading, learning, and trying to do ministry like everyone else that I don’t actually know how “I” do ministry.

With the start of this blog I set out on a journey to find who I am in Christ. Me. Not my ministry heroes…just me. Who am I? Why do I behave, act, love, hate, and feel the way I do? I am trying to understand my “uniqueness”…or maybe my “weirdness”. I am trying to walk with God in a way that will change my walk upon this earth. I am trying to change my thoughts and actions by focusing them on the thoughts and actions of God. I am trying to reach the impossible.

Something in me is ready to roar.

I took a long needed break this past Sunday. I needed rest. No. I need rest…

I am so tired mentally and physically wasted from just trying to do too much. Stress raised its ugly head this past Saturday in the form of a bad attitude and I was reminded how much I need God. My problem is my schedule…and my lack of controlling it. Can’t blame anyone but me on that issue. Moving on…

Been thinking about a few things…food for thought so to speak.

Just was thinking about a few things we do as parents, but don’t do, sometimes, as mentors, friends, and even pastors. Over the past few years, I have “let the cat out of the bag” on my calling. I have talked about youth pastoring…or maybe even pastoring young adults. Now, my friends and mentors tell me that although they could envision me as a pastor, they couldn’t see me as a youth pastor, or a young adults pastor, and on and on…I can’t help but feel challenged when they do that to me. It honestly makes me just want to go out and do it…

Do you know why?

Because I have bought into the concept placed upon me by my parents…“You can do anything you set mind on doing.” (Or something like that…)

My question is, when did we stop believing this for ourselves? When did we stop believing this concept for others also?

It’s no wonder we run back to our parents when were hurt or in trouble. We run back to them because in their eyes we can do anything. We can make fiction…fact. We can turn limits…into limitless. In the eyes of my parents I am so full of potential, purpose, and destiny. However, in the eyes of my friends, mentors, and even pastors…I have limits. There are things that they absolutely can’t see me doing it.

Do you think God sees His children as having limits? Is God short-sided on vision? I don’t think so…and I think that is one of the reasons I find it easy to run to him with my problems. God tells me I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me. There is no limit to the word “anything” and I like that.

Maybe that’s why I find it easier to run to Him…instead of the church.

How come some people don’t appreciate what comes free?

Most people have to attach value to everything and the church isn’t exempt. We want to charge for everything…for books, resources, media, etc. I honestly think that some people charge just because they know that their talents and gifts to the church will never be appreciated if they don’t charge.

Can I be really honest now?

As an IT professional, I have a habit of charging really high prices. Do you know why? It’s not because I am better at what I do than other companies. No. It’s because people tend to think that the more they pay, the better work they are getting. When I offer deals or when I do work for free, most people never look at me the same as those who pay for my services.
So, I get it…I understand it…my problem? I just don’t like it.

I am tired of hearing ministers say that we have more resources available than ever before. That might be true…but shouldn’t it really be said like this, “There are more resources for sale than ever before”. Isn’t that more like it?

Maybe this is a rant better left for another day…However, I will leave you with some of my heroes…in this area at least.

Pastor Gerald Brooks
Pastor Brooks runs the North Texas Leadership Conference every year. It’s not free to get in but…I doubt other conferences are loosing somewhere around 20K to 30K in giveaways. Pastor Brooks gives away over 8 top selling leadership books of the year as well as tons of other stuff. It’s an event that cost that church tons of money every year. Why does he do it? Because he has a heart for small churches and ministers that don’t have the budget to travel and get the information they need to take back and grow their churches.

Pastor Leonard Ravenhill
Leonard Ravenhill has long since past away, but I marveled at his lack of desire to be captivated by money. He wrote many books…all of the profits have been donated to missions. He was a revivalist by heart that posed the question, “Are the things we are living for…worth Christ dying for?”

Pastor Mark Batterson
We all know I like Mark Batterson…regardless of buying his book. I listened to his free audio/video podcast for the longest time. Don’t know how many know this, but National Community Church owns a coffee house of which all the profits go to missions. Pastor Mark has a vision to establish more coffee houses in an effort to give millions toward missions.

When I meet death…I want to be broke…my last dime given to my kids, or the church. I want to give every dime, nickel, and penny to the Kingdom. If this means I don’t get a “lake home”…I think I can live with that. I feel guilty enough for living in a home, having food on the table, and clothes on my back…when I know there are people around the globe that don’t have anything. I know…because I have seen them. How much money and vanities are we allowed to have before we decide what a “good offering” is?

Ok…off the soap box…and back on topic next time, I promise.

It has been an emotional roller coaster this week. The conflict between the present and future wage a war of depression upon my soul that would choke the hope out of me if not for Jesus. Like a lyrical line borrowed from Third Day, “If you just call My name, I’ll be there.” I have to confess it makes me a emotional mess on the ride home.

Still hanging in there with the series I have been concentrating on…“Challenging Impossibility”.

While studying about Samson, and his super human “Hulk” like strength, I couldn’t help but focus in on his beginning. There is something unique that takes place.

Judges 13: 2-5

At that time there was a man named Manoah from Zorah from the tribe of Dan. His wife was barren and childless. The angel of God appeared to her and told her, "I know that you are barren and childless, but you're going to become pregnant and bear a son. But take much care: Drink no wine or beer; eat nothing ritually unclean. You are, in fact, pregnant right now, carrying a son. No razor will touch his head—the boy will be God's Nazirite from the moment of his birth. He will launch the deliverance from Philistine oppression."

It’s interesting to me how God establishes a covenant upon the birth of this young child before there is even a child to have a covenant with. I found this to be strange until I looked up the word covenant to get a better understanding of it.

Covenant…a covenant, in contrast to a contract, is a one-way agreement whereby the covenanter is the only party bound by the promise. The only party that can break a covenant is the covenanter.

Only God was bound by the covenant promise. Maybe that’s why Samson took his “uniqueness” for granted. However, Samson lost his hair. Over and over, we see Samson basically toying with his “ability”. He was a mockery to ministry and a shame of a man when it came to lustful youth. However, in the end, we see that God kept his covenant. The Bible says, “But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again.”

Maybe it’s time your hair starts to grow again…

I know for me it’s time I dig in. It’s time to get some things done, so I can conclude a ten-year covenant promise. Yes, I feel like a failure at times, but one thing is for sure…my life isn’t over. It’s only one covenant away from living…in the promise. This is what I live for…this is what I hope my kids will remember me for. I hope they remember how I chased after God with a heavily intense passion.

I woke up this morning and just marveled at how God made my children. It was just a few “post” ago that I shared how I encourage imagination in my household.

Here is some sidewalk art…courtesy of my girls!

One thing is for sure…a life spent chasing God is an adventure into impossibility. It’s fairly safe to say that you can expect the unexpected. Unexpected circumstances are often occurrences on the road of life. The more we walk down that road, I think the more we understand the shaping process of our faith.

Are you familiar with the term “shape charge”?

A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy.

Let me give you an easier translation.

A shape charge is explosive material that is shaped to deliver a greater explosion. This is done by just shaping the explosive material into a different shape. Keep in mind that the result from shape charging is an explosion usually ten times greater than what it would be had the explosive material been just left alone. Do you see where I am heading now?

Maybe everyone has the same measure of faith given to him by God. I mean exactly the same. However, if we want our faith to explode to be ten times greater than where its at right now…then I think it’s time we start shaping our life to produce the atomic bomb we are supposed to be.

Great faith is shaped over time. It takes kneading, pulling, tearing, and stretching. Its not going to feel good, but over time…you could go nuclear!

Think big today!

I enjoyed this past Sunday school lesson. I basically weaved a series within a series and closed out on something I found rather interesting this past week. Here is a bit of a preview…

Genesis 11:1-7

Now the whole world had one language and common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.

This has got to be one of the most overlooked scriptures in the entire Bible.

Think about it. What if, one day, you came home from work to discover your kids had invented something so revolutionary that it would impact society? Wouldn’t you just be in awe of your kids? If that isn’t the stuff you brag about, I don’t know what is. Also…don’t think I didn’t noticed that when men started to build this tower, it was conceived more in vanity than anything else. I see it and understand it. However, what is unique…is what God says on the matter.

“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

Communication is one of the keys to impossibility. How do you communicate today? Are you reaching out to bridge communication gaps? The Lord basically is saying in verse 7 that if we can just unify ourselves under one language, than anything is possible.

I don’t know about you, but I can imagine a place where the impossible happens…where we become unified under one language…where impossible is a foreign word…where thousands receive the gospel call?

Where is this place?

Acts Chapter 2!

Cool header right? I love it...It's something I have been working on for a while now that I have yet to share...it's a book for my children called (at least right now) "The Sythian Key". My kids are slowly becoming "not" kids. They are growing up at a rapid pace, but there is one thing I really want them to retain as they get older.

Their imagination.

Imagination is so powerful. Imagination gives visual life to distant unknowable dreams. It has the ability to distance itself from what we call fact and without educational reason it paints impossibility as possible.

I have 3 chapters so far written...it's the most extensive thing that I have devoted a lot of thought to. I also wrote somewhat of a novela called the "The Great Awakening". No hasn't been published. Thought about creating a "e-book" and setting up a paypal account. Of course, the every dime would go to "Speed The Light"!

I made my first sale today at the new job. It feels good…especially since I found out today that they let go one of the other salesmen. Wow, right? I know exactly how that feels and I do know that I am not beyond “letting go”.

I also have been dreaming a lot lately. Don’t know what that is all about, since it’s really not that normal for me. I usually have a hard time sleeping and end up wrestling with pillows and sheets all night. That’s my day in the life…so I don’t understand all the dreaming…but it is opening up my creative pores. The Lord has been showing me things about individuals, moments in life, goals, etc. It’s a bit overwhelming.

Shot an email out to a friend today that was in one of these dreams. I hope they receive what I spoke into them. Been praying for them for what seems like forever. As a matter of fact, I can’t imagine prayer without their name coming into play. God is stretching them right now…and it’s a good thing. They can handle it.

Lot’s on the plate right now as I juggle a little bit of life and ministry.

I have been so busy lately...but the creative juices are still flowing. As we lay the groundwork for the new "Crazy One" 4-week series, I am gathering all the media together for a complete free download package for those out there that might want to tackle it sometime...If you don't know what it is...I will give a synopsis when it's available for download.

On another note...

The new series tickling me right now is...The Manhattan Project. It’s a project that explores being explosive and passionate in driving to achieve your purpose or God-ordained destiny. It will tell the tale of the atom/nuclear fission, fiction/fact, and the communication gap/bridge. Only a 3-week series…but it packs a punch…Haven’t really put it all together just yet…I have video material, some written material also…just got to put the pieces in order.

Sitting down this weekend, to start a “life goals” list…also going to develop some core values for my family. I would to eventually hang our family list of core values in a frame on the wall. I want my kids to know…and grow to establish them in their everyday lives. So those 2 things are on my mind these days.

Will write again soon…maybe even have some stuff ready for download!