They have been doing this song at church lately and has quickly become my current favorite worship song. Check it out…I especially love the chorus and posted the words below:
Now all I am
I lay at Your feet
I’m humbled by the wonder of Your majesty
One thing I know
I find all I need
In Your unending love
In Your unending love
I can’t remember having had an emotional response to a movie like that since seeing Forest Gump. Friday 
night I watched: “We Bought a Zoo” with my sister and nieces. The content wasn’t what I was expecting at all which I’ve found is the best setup for a great movie. After the movie my oldest niece Aida made a comment about the movie being all about romance. And yet to me part of what made this movie beautiful was that it was about a lot of things: A man grieving the loss of his wife, teenage love, the stress of being a parent, letting go, being courageous, raising an adolescent boy,and trying to find your way forward when you have no clue.
This movie made me want to be a dad, to be back in student ministry and to be courageous for 20sec – especially with the opposite sex. The movie answers a question I’ve been asking for a while now: “Is it better to have loved and lost or to have never loved at all?” With an exclamation point it declares it is far better to have loved and lost. Even with the huge loss of his wife there are still the memories they made, and though rough at times, the life-giving relationship with his kids.
I think one of my core issues centers on this issue of risk-taking. I tend to wait until all my ducks are in a row before making a decision. I hold back whenever I sense danger or potential hurt. While I believed in my heart this has protected me, even necessary at times it has also blocked me from so much joy in this life. As said in the movie, on the other side of that scary, gut-retching 20secs of courage is something beautiful.
The movie ends with its main character taking his kids to the cafe where he first met their mother. He tells with emotional detail what it was like to work up the courage to talk to her for the first time. The point is made without saying it verbally that none of this adventure of owning a zoo, their memories made or relationships would have happened without those 20secs of courage.
I want to be that man this year…to display radical courage if only for 20sec and step out where I would have normally held back. If you haven’t seen it yet do yourself a favor and see this wonderful film.
I want a zoo.
What do you do when you are unemployed and single? TRAVEL! Well that and continue to look for a job! I spend the past week and a half on two mini-trips. I spent four days visiting my buddy Scott in Ohio and returned just yesterday from visiting my dad in sunny Florida. Don’t worry Portland you are next up on my travel destination plans…hope to get there Spring/Summer. Here’s a short video from my Florida trip….complete with dolphins!
“What’s past is prologue.” – William Shakespeare
All of your years have prepared you for this one. Donald Miller is big on story and seeing our lives from a narrative perspective. A couple of years back he was teaching at a retreat I attended and asked us to discuss an interesting thought in our small groups: if your life was released on DVD what would be on the cover? The responses were very telling for it revealed how we view our lives as primarily comedies or tragedies. We also had a fun time considering what our DVD might be rated.
I suspect that we would feel a great deal more confident in our lives if we agreed with Shakespeare and viewed our past as prologue. I also think we would have an easier time making peace with our past if we thought of it this way. The good, the bad and even the ugly stuff can bring about great things in our future if we choose to let it.
What wisdom have the years given you? Where do you see this chapter of your life taking you based on what you learned in past chapters?
(BTW: This is the final post in the 12for12 blog series…I trust that you have enjoyed it and pray some of the quotes stick with you throughout this New Year. Be blessed my friends for…The Best Is Yet To Come!)
“A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.” – Knights of Pythagoras
One of the absolute greatest joys in my life has come from investing in the lives of young people. Whether you call it mentoring, befriending, pastoring, counseling, or even parenting I believe it’s part of the grand design for older people to pass their wisdom along to the next generation. Wisdom?!? You might be wondering what wisdom you have to pass on, but I think it’s pretty easy to find some; simply consider what you wish you had known at the age a particular child is at. Also what was passed on to you that you think positively impacted your journey? While there is certainly more, just sharing on those two would be huge. I know this is challenging in our individualistic and busy culture, but I would submit that there isn’t a greater need in our world than investing in the next generation.
What investment are you making in the life of a child? Who is on your radar? You probably dont need to search very far; a niece, nephew? neighbor? Maybe a student at your church? Don’t let another year pass without helping a young person navigate in this tough new world we live in.
“Beware of the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates
What does being busy do for us? While we don’t typically give it much thought…I think we are often busy simply because we think it’s what “normal” people do. In our culture the people who aren’t busy are often labeled lazy, weak, mentally/physically handicapped or some other title that isn’t a positive one. I know personally life can seem just plain overwhelming at times. While it can run at a pace that I usually keep up with, I don’t feel like I am excelling in much of it. This is what I believe Socrates was driving at with this quote…we tend to think that it’s the busy people who live fulfilling lives and yet if we aren’t careful, being busy can steal life right out from under us.
The picture that comes to mind is that of running on a treadmill. Very determined we can run at a fast pace, exerting alot of energy and yet remain in the exact same spot. Most of us don’t need to work harder we need to work smarter. Instead of investing small amounts of ourselves in a lot of places, we have a far greater impact with large investments in fewer places.
What are some things you can stop doing in 2012? How can you invest smarter in a few areas?
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” - Walter Winchell
I have been observing as I continue in this blog series how many of the quotes center on relationships. No doubt this has to do with how essential they are to our lives. When our relationships are going good then life is going good…when they are going bad then our lives tend to be as well.
In today’s world it’s not uncommon for us to have 100′s of “friends” on Facebook and yet feel lonely. 
We have increased our skill of relating to lots of people on a shallow/surface level and yet at the same time have lost many vital face-to-face relationships that are required when life gets rough. Think about the toughest moments of your life…when you were experiencing something that brought you low, drained your emotions and you were in great need. Who called you? Who showed up? No doubt I’ve discovered friends I didn’t even know I had in these seasons of life. Ironically some of the people we wished had called or showed up were no where to be found. Though we longed for their care and concern they just didn’t come through. Life has a way of revealing who our true friends are.
Bottom-line is that we need eachother on the journey of life…be the kind of friend in 2012 that sticks it out through the tough times…especially the tough times
“Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past.” – Landrum Bolling
Maybe the reason we don’t forgive people who have wronged us has less to do with letting them “off the hook” and more to do giving up the hope of a better past. If you’re like me there are allot of things in your past that you wish had been different. Sadly this includes people who while in relationship had wronged us and we continually choose not to forgive them.
Who do you need to forgive in 2012? Who could you write an email to, pick up the phone and call? Give up the hope of a better past…allow it to be the past and move on.
“Only in fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to be rightly in fellowship.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
When people ask me if I consider myself to be an introvert or an extrovert I respond that I am a weird mix of both. Sometimes I love being the life of the party; spending time with groups of people doesn’t scare me and usually brings joy. On the other hand I also enjoy time alone; hikes in the woods, nights in…which is why I have chosen over the years to live alone rather than with a roommate. In reality I don’t know if I buy into the “extrovert/introvert” labels. I believe Bonhoeffer nailed it, as I think God intends for each of us to spend time alone as well as with others in healthy community. Often people use the label introvert to avoid stepping out into uncomfortable situations and making friends. Still others argue since they are extroverts that always have to be in a relationship even when that relationship is unhealthy or even abusive.
Lets strive to live 2012 with a balance of time alone as well as time in community. While we each have developed a tendency towards one, lets step out and grow this year.
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” – C.S. Lewis
A lot of people view their faith as an add-on to their life…but I don’t think this does anything but frustrate people. True Christianity, as in the kind of Christianity that looks like a couple of brothers dropping their nets, a rich man selling all his possessions and a murderer turned missionary spreading the message of Christ throughout the vast Roman empire.
With this new year I think it’s time we do away with this counterfeit lukewarm Christianity and decide to go all-in or stop identifying ourselves as Christians altogether. May your faith light up things this year that you have never seen before.
