More Math

• genuine action > generous sentiment
• real change> twitter-worthy socially-minded sound bites
• compelling communication driving collaboration> isolated intellectual discussion
• solid foundation> clever innovation

big difference between "we should talk about this / we need to engage in this conversation" and "i'm going to take responsibility to lead change and follow through"

Perhaps we are overly concerned with creating our own personal brand, trying to differentiate ourselves from the masses.

I don't think we should be so occupied with differentiation. We should be occupied with conformity to Christ.

In Michigan a 3X3

Done

• Moved in
• Purchased fish. Name = Sushi
• Signed up for Gym

Near Term To Do's

• Overcome Financeaphobia
  
• Find Church / Plant Church (hmm...)
  
• Get a Reputation --> Christian Hedonist

By the Time I Leave Ann Arbor

• Delight in God more
  
• Witness to peers
  
• Be a light to Ann Arbor
  

*Bonus*

• Be compelled to go anywhere, do anything, at any cost, for the sake of the Glory of God
  

Leadership Requirements

Found this to be really interesting.

Originally written for church planters, much of it is useful for evaluating pastoral candidates and other church leaders.

Job Match

Dear Job Seeker,

You have received this e-mail message from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development because you recently received Unemployment Insurance benefits and/or you registered to look for work through one of the State's One-Stop Career Centers.

To assist you in your job search, the Department's nightly match of new employer job orders with our job seeker database has identified the job(s) listed below as a potential employment opportunity that appears to match your recent job experience. Click on the job title link(s) to see a full description of the job. If the link does not work, copy the URL below the link and paste it into your browser. You may contact the employer directly or, if specified, follow any special application instructions.


PACKER NWK AIRPORT /AREA, NJ
http://web1.dol.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/joborder.pl?a=NJ0755449&b=7220831


Good luck with your search for employment. We hope this service will help speed your return to work.

Sincerely,
David J. Socolow, COMMISSIONER
New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Get Over

Get Over The Sun. Where Life Is Hidden. [S&S]

They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and

turn even that agony into a glory.

C. S. L E W I S

Mission

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

[Luke 4.17-21]

How are you doing?

Nightmare

What do your nightmares look like?

I had one tonight.

Mine goes like this:

I am at dinner with friends. And for two, three hours, we talk about the most mindless, banal topics. We talk about the weather, we talk about what movies we're renting...we talk about absolutely nothing. Nothing about the world, nothing about evidences of Grace or God, nothing about needs of the community, nothing about how we're being shaped by God, nothing about convictions...nothing.

And we're used to it. And we enjoy it. It's how we live.

Then we go home and live it all over again tomorrow.

..........................................................................


"The church's worst enemy is the man of little faith within its membership, not the faithless man of the world." Martin Lloyd-Jones

Light for Revelation, Ours

for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples

a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel


.luke.2.30-32

Sub In

Without the penal substitution of Christ, there is no permanent salvation for us.

Article: The Acid Test

Really enjoyed this short, insightful article by Tim Keller.

The Acid Test of Being a Christian

Some quotes:

• "There are two kinds of people that go to church: there's religious people and real Christians"
• If you are a Christian you have a spirit of wonder that permeates your life. You are always saying "how miraculous", "how interplanetary", "how unreal".
• You see when things go bad, when problems happen, here you can tell the difference between a moralist and a Christian. A moralist says, "What good is all my religion? What good is going to God?"
• A Christian keeps that spirit of wonder. A Christian may say "my career has not gone too well, my love life has not gone too well, it's astonishing... Its amazing that God is as good as He is to me." Its all grace. That spirit of wonder. That sense of being a miracle. That everything that comes to you being an absolute mercy.

Something So Precious

It's been slightly over a year since I taught through "Reason for God" by Tim Keller.

I had the privilege (a true privilege) of teaching through the chapter on Suffering. It not only corrected some misplaced notions I had on suffering, but it also gave me tremendous hope, comfort and joy as I reflected on the difficult periods of my life.

Here's one of my favorite quotes...quoting Dostoevsky in Brothers Karamazov:

“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, of the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; and it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify what has happened.”