slow staccato sequences

delicate dichotomous

chords crescendo arch over

soaring emotions

soul gripping

gripped by Him

a quite fade

pacing slowly

one note

ever so slightly sings

is that the call

of hope in pursuit

slow staccato sequences

he shows

He's sovereign

still be still

don't wear me down
I know You're
watching over me
life is revived

its late but
not too late
it never is
You exist
always will and
I can't deny

another chapter
ends happily ever after

but it'll be
a long wait

lifes too real
my emotions reveal
still be still
rest in Your will

Spring Break Envy

One of these is not like the others:

1. Captivating white-sand beaches.
2. A cool breeze blowing across crystal clear water reflecting a cloudless blue sky above.
3. Scuba diving off a charted boat.
4. Sunbathing on the deck of a cruise ship.
5. Driving in the New Jersey rain in a 1997 Camry with a malfunctioning passenger side door.

I have Spring Break this week - this week being half over. The prevailing thought has been, "I'm wasting my Spring Break. I'm not on a beach or a cruise ship or doing something fun and exotic. And when I go back to school I'll officially have the most boring Spring Break story to tell - no story at all."

I thought:

• a week without warm-weathered fun is a wasted week
• a week without exotic travel is a wasted week
• a week without adventure and exploration is a wasted week

But tonight I realized:

• A week without Worship is a wasted week.

So as I drove in the New Jersey rain in a 1997 Camry, I sang...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

Having Ideas Versus Having a Vision (HBR Blog Post)

Having Ideas Versus Having a Vision

9:35 AM Monday March 1, 2010
by Roberto Verganti

In the past decade, firms have been praised for ideas. Experts have celebrated the power of brainstorming and idea-generation techniques. Eureka light bulbs have populated the covers of many books. Businessmen have been asked to improve their creative attitudes. And 2009 was named the Year of Creativity and Innovation by the European Union.

One consequence of a decade focused on idea generation is ideas are now more easily accessible, which has also made idea generation less of a differentiator in competition than it has traditionally been. When more than 30% of the population belongs to the creative class, as Richard Florida suggested in his 2003 book The Rise of the Creative Class, ideas are not in short supply. And with the diffusion of open innovation processes, ideas competitions, and the like, executives are increasingly exposed to a wealth of ideas.

What is in short supply, I'm afraid, are visionary thinkers who will be capable of making sense of this abundance of stimuli — visionaries who will build the arenas to unleash the power of ideas and transform them into actions.

Could the next decade be the decade of vision building? If so, we will witness a significant shift in the way we think about innovation, creativity, and leadership. Popular studies of creativity have suggested that the fast generation of numerous ideas (the more, the better); in contrast, visionary leadership requires a relentless exploration of one direction (the deeper and more robust, the better). Idea generation values a neophyte perspective; vision building is based on research and deep understanding. To generate fresh ideas we have been told to think outside of the box and then jump back in; vision building destroys the box and builds a new one. It does not play with the existing paradigms; it changes them. Studies of idea generation have lingered on variety and divergence, but vision building is based on convergence, on bringing others onboard. Ideas are culturally neutral as long as they help solve problems; visions are intrinsically ideological and biased towards a clear aspiration of how the world should be: They strongly reflect the personal culture of the thinker.

I'm certainly not questioning the essential value of ideas. They will still ignite the innovation process. Tossing around a large number of ideas will still be important, especially for incremental improvements. It is not one or the other. It is a shift in the most rare and precious asset that will drive competitive advantage: visions. It's time for thought leaders to move beyond post-its and embrace a more advanced form of creativity. A radical form of think-action that somewhat resembles that of researchers and entrepreneurs fighting to implement their vision.

What do you think? Is it time to call for a new form of creativity? If last decade was the decade of idea generation, will the new one be the decade of vision building?

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

This article triggered an underlying concern I've had with regard to generational gaps and church leadership.

We peg the older generation as uncreative and status-quo huggers.

We, the younger crowd, then pride ourselves as creative and innovative, and experimental. But between those camps is a desert plain. We need leaders that can truly work in both camps and move things forward not just bridge understanding. And those leaders need not be in the middle (age-wise), but they must have the clarity of vision, skill, and determination to create the collaboration necessary for progess.

Holiness

"God's holiness is a dangerous thing..."

[ESV Study Bible Note on 1 Chronicles 13:7-12]

Tim Keller: Preaching the Gospel

Tim Keller Feb'09: Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Sojourners

After graduating from college, I’ve had a semi-nomadic existence. The consulting life + ministry responsibilities will do that. For about 5 years, where I woke up Tuesday morning was a different place than where I went to bed Sunday night. I thought this was a modern phenomenon.

Of course, I was wrong.

Turns out, Abraham was quite the nomad himself. After the death of his wife, Sarah, Abraham makes an appeal to acquire a burying place, opening with these words…. “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you…” (Genesis 23:4)

The ESV Study Bible Notes: Abraham’s description of himself emphasizes his immigrant status. Even after 62 years of semi-nomadic existence in Canaan, Abraham has no permanent location to call his own. This is all the more noteworthy in light of God’s repeated promises to Abraham that his descendents will possess all the land of Canaan. The author of Hebrews develops the idea that Abraham chose to go on living in tents because he was looking forward to a city “whose designer and builder is God.”

“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents…for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” Hebrews 11:8-10

When I was constantly traveling, sure I loved the constant change, but a deeper part of me wanted a place to call home. And though I would fly back every weekend, New Jersey still didn't quite feel like home.

My guess is that as we traverse this life, no matter how settled we get, we will still long for a place that truly feels like home...after all, we are all sojourners on this earth and our home is the city of God.

Almost Forgot I'm in School

You are a student.

But it definitely doesn't feel like it. You're over halfway through your first year at Ross, but you've only spent part of your time actually being a student in the academic sense.

January was filled with the "R" word - recruiting. Recruiting can be the most wonderful or most devastating time of the year. Dreams are made or crushed. It starts off with getting "close-listed" which means the company of interest has selected you to interview with them.

So, the first round of caparison amongst classmates is "how did you do on close-lists..." aka "who did you get interviews with" aka "how desirable are you on the general job market" Your self-esteem rises and falls in direct proportion to how many close lists you got. Thankfully, you got twice as many as most people. You look forward to flaunting it by wearing a suit to class more often than your envious classmates.

Then come second round interviews. The curse of the second / final round interview: You feel like you're close, so close...they really liked you but the rejection just hurts even more. A second date, but couldn't seal the deal.

Finally - Offers. This is the goal of all your schmoozing, cover letter writing, case practicing, new suit / shirt buying, hair cutting, fingernail-trimming, thank you note composing... You just wait for that phone call - "Hi, this is Jim from [consulting firm]. I have some good news...." You silent fist pump, crumble to your knees, lift your eyes towards Heaven and shed a tear, and don't hear another word over the phone...because you made it and that's all that matters.

Pure Bliss.

....

Then you realize you have 50 group projects to work on, dozens of cases to read and only 3 weeks till finals.

Oh yeah, you're a student.

If We are Ever to be Happy

Now, if we were the cause of our own nature, then, indeed, we would be the fathers of our own wisdom...And if we were the source and the only object of our love, we would be self-sufficient and would need enjoyment of no other good to make us happy.

But God is the Author of the existence of our nature and, therefore, He must be our Teacher if we are ever to be wise, and He must be the Source of our inmost consolation if we are ever to be happy.

- St. Augustine, The City of God

Death without Dying (via Between Two Worlds)

Really appreciated this post from Justin Taylor a few days ago.

Death without Dying

Jesus: “Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish.”

In the comments below Tim Keller adds a good word about this verse:

For decades, this verse has challenged me personally. Derek Kidner in his commentaries often refers to it. It shows that modern people have a view of happiness that is defined as a life that is going well, when often the Bible defines happiness as a life that is lived well. One ounce of sin can harm us more than ten tons of suffering, because sin ruins our soul, while suffering (if handled well) only makes us more Christ-like and joyful. So Jesus is essentially saying, “I won’t keep you from suffering, but I’ll keep you insuffering so you can triumph over it.”

Books

"Calvin Miller, in his 1985 article “Confessions of a Librophiliac” in Christianity Today said, quite correctly,"Readers, on the other hand, have at least 7.5 books going all the time... I am working on a survey that will show that, over a lifetime, readers are in bathrooms seven years and three months longer than nonreaders."

I would tend to agree.

Holding Fast to the Word of Life

Quick Thoughts: Genesis 3, 4

Definitely behind on my reading schedule already! But that's OK. It's only January 11th.

Genesis 3:8 “..and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden…”

Don’t we all hide ourselves from the presence of the LORD? It might not be that obvious in how we do it. We might not literally hide. We may still go to church, go to fellowship, go to meetings…we still wear our cross and we don’t do things that bad people do. Yet in all are goodness, we hide from God – we hide from the presence and intimacy with God. We hide in our TV watching, we hide in our hanging out, we hide in our game-playing. And God is seeking us, and sees us, but we turn our eyes away, partly because of shame and partly just because we don’t care.

But that’s no life to live – a life spent hiding from the One who loves to seek us. O God, help us to repent and turn away from our idols and safety nets, help us to stop hiding from you. Turn to us and be gracious to us. Change our hearts so that we might be drawn to Christ…drawn to You.

Genesis 4:9 “Am I my brother’s keeper?” - I think this applies not only in the context of Cain and Abel, that is Cain’s coldhearted killing of Abel out of jealousy of Abel and anger towards God.

This rhetorical question implies that God says we are all our brother’s keeper. And we are responsible for one another. Our relationship should not be marked by polite civility..interaction at comfortable distance. There is rawness, and intimacy, a required proximity of life if we are to be our brother’s keeper, if we are to be sharpened as iron sharpens iron, if we are to be encouraging each other daily to press on.

New Wall Decoration

I took this idea from Tim Keller, who would say inaudibly to his congregration before he preached, "You are not my peace." He recognized that he had really longed to be liked by his people, but needed to find his peace in his acceptance by Christ and not by the approval of his congregation.

I've found that I've subtly been placing my peace and hope in internship prospects. Somehow I feel that if I get internship X, all in the world will be OK, that I will have peace.

I know this is untrue.

And so as I apply to each internship, as I walk into each interview, I will say, "You are not my peace - Christ is."

Jesus, you are the hope of the world.

[reflections on today's reading]

We didn’t need the death of all evil men.

We needed the death of a holy man, in whom there was no evil.

He became the ultimate and final sacrifice for our transgressions. He bore upon his shoulders, all the evil that has been done and will ever will be done

The world’s hope doesn’t reside in the death of evil people, but the death of a holy man…who crushed death and evil itself by coming back to life and giving us life.

Jesus, you are the hope of the world.

Crushed and

Crushed and rushed

Where is my portion

I’m sinking in these waves

Blown and tossed

But here I’m held

Forever firm

Obliterated violently

The remains of my heart

Hears faint whispers

Painful flashbacks bring

Back painful flashes of

Agony repeats

Reminded of that

Terrifying word I never

Say but You are it

Unshakeable suddenly

Gripped unrelenting

unrealistic redemption and

she disappears fades

Agony repeats

Crushed and abandoned

He became my portion

O how he loves

Me so

[Nathan Albiston]

Advent Conspiracy

Saw this from my buddy Tony Lan

Missional vs. Evangelistic

Encapsulates some of my deep hopes for my home church, RCCC.

Book Lists (entire post from Justin Taylor)

Sam Storms’s Top 10 Books of 2009

Sam Storms has given me permission to post his top 10 list for 2009:

* * *

I’m following the lead of several others who are posting their Top 10 books of 2009. I’ll start with number 10 and work down the list. Happy reading!

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(10) Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional, by Jim Belcher (IVP).

I didn’t always agree with Belcher’s proposed “third” or “middle” way, but he is extremely helpful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of both emerging and traditional churches.

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(9) 1969: The Year Everything Changed, by Rob Kirkpatrick (Skyhorse Publishing).

Be forewarned: this book contains some raunchy language and is assuredly not a spiritual treatise by any stretch of the imagination. But for those of us who graduated high school and started college in 1969, and who continue to think of that year with more than a little nostalgia, it provides a fascinating tour of the major cultural events that transpired in “the year everything changed.”

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(8) Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement, by Richard Brookhiser (Basic Books).

It is only fitting that in the year Buckley died (who, for many of us, has long been a towering political and social hero) a book should be written chronicling the development of the magazine he established. Far more than that, Brookhiser (still a Senior Editor at National Review), who worked closely with Buckley for several decades, provides a superb brief history of the conservative political movement in America over the last 60 years. A great read!

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(7) Understanding Jonathan Edwards: An Introduction to America’s Theologian, edited by Gerald R. McDermott (Oxford University Press).

Gerry McDermott, of Roanoke College, may well be the most knowledgeable and articulate Edwardsean scholar alive today. He has done all of us who love Edwards a great service by gathering this volume of 17 essays on the greatest theologian the church has ever known. Do I sound prejudiced? No, I’m just convinced!

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(6) Jonathan Edwards and the Ministry of the Word: A Model of Faith and Thought, by Douglas A. Sweeney (IVP).

I was thrilled to see yet another book on Edwards released this year. Here is the endorsement I wrote for Doug’s book: “I love this book! Doug Sweeney not only demonstrates the central role of Scripture in the theology and pastoral ministry of Jonathan Edwards but also provides us with a vibrant portrayal of his life and the many brilliant insights that have rightly contributed to his global reputation. Combining clarity and ease of style with a remarkable breadth of research, Sweeney has given us a treatment of Edwards that may well prove to be the standard against which all future contributions are judged. I highly recommend it!”

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(5) The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate, by John H. Walton (IVP).

This is surely the most controversial book I read this year and one of the most challenging as well. I say “challenging” not because it is overly technical but because it proposes a reading of Genesis that is both fresh and unsettling. If you’ve grown weary of the debate between young earth six-day creationists and old earth day-age advocates, I strongly encourage you to read Walton. You may not agree with him but you won’t be bored!

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(4) Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again, by John Piper (Christian Focus).

It would be a strange list, indeed, were there not at least one Piper book included! This is the most biblically grounded and theologically solid treatment of the new birth that you’ll ever read.

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(3) Calvin, by Bruce Gordon (Yale University Press).

In the year that we celebrated the 500th anniversary of Calvin’s birth, Gordon’s treatment of Calvin’s life and ministry was far and away the best of the many biographies and other books released on the great Reformer.

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(2) Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion, by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck (Moody).

If you really want to know what I think of this book, purchase it and read the lengthy endorsement I wrote. If you haven’t read it yet, don’t let 2009 go by without digging in deeply. You won’t regret it (even if you don’t agree with all of it!).

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Drum roll please . . . . The number one book I read in 2009 is:

(1) Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem, by Jay W. Richards (HarperOne).

You may find it strange that the best book I read this year is on economics, and in particular a rigorous defense of capitalism. But in a season where our country is drifting all too swiftly in the direction of socialism, this is precisely the book everyone needs to read. You don’t need to be a scholar to understand it. Richards is clear and concise and convincing. Please don’t pass it up.