There was an online conference yesterday put on by the Leadership Network called Aha!  I didn’t get to spend much time watching the conference because there was too much going on in my office, but I did get to hear most of one of the speakers (each speaker had a 6 minute video).  I don’t even know who the guy was, but what he said was really good.

Saul had taken the army out to fight the Philistines.  Enter the famous Goliath.  Now enter shepherd boy David.  He quickly gets fed up with Goliath’s crap and knowing that God is on his side decides to go out and fight Goliath.  As David is getting ready, Saul tries to get him to wear armor that belongs to and fits Saul.  The armor is far too big and bulky so David tells the king that he will go without (that and he has God on his side).  Then David proceeds to completely destroy a giant with a sling shot.

The point of the speaker yesterday was simply this.  Stop trying to fight in someone else’s armor.  It was made for them, not you.  It fits them.  It may provide some sort of brief comfort or protection, but you will quickly find out you are dead in the water that way.  I think David understood this.  He didn’t try to fight a very experienced and huge opponent someone else’s way.  He did it how he knew to do it.  He followed God’s calling on his life and not someone else’s.  This is massively important in ministry.  If God has called you into ministry, He has called YOU into ministry.

He hasn’t called me to be Billy Graham.

He hasn’t called me to be Chris Tomlin.

He has called me to be Brook James.

He has called you to be you!

I’m not supposed to be anyone other than me.  No matter what your role is in the church, you are there to do it as YOU!  This was something that took me a good while to learn.  I spent so much time trying to be what I thought everyone else wanted me to be, I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t fulfilling the calling God put on me.  Later I figured out that I was trying to fight my battles with someone else’s armor on and it didn’t fit!  I could fake it for a little while, but not for long.  Turns out the best way to minister is to do it as you.  The best way to lead is to lead as you.  God made you to be, lead, minister, love, etc. as you!

Are you leading as you?  Are you or someone else trying to get you to lead as someone else?  Maybe you are just doubting yourself.  Maybe you just can’t figure out why your ministry isn’t exactly like that person’s.  Just remember.  While there are always things to learn from other people and ministries, God calls you into YOUR role.  Do it as you.

As the clock is ever so slowly winding down to our due date, the waiting mode has gotten old quick.  I expected that it would.  I feel like I’m sitting there waiting for the red phone to ring.  All day long I keep checking my phone.

At work.

In the car.

At basketball.

All the time.

I am waiting (not so patiently) expectantly for this phone call saying it’s time.  I am waiting expectantly for my new baby to arrive.  Our lives should be the same.  We should be living our lives expecting that Jesus will return at any moment.  We don’t know when He will come, but we do know that it could be any day.  We should live our lives like it will be tomorrow.  Just as my life is consumed with the excitement, passion and joy of a firstborn on the way, we should be living in the same way with excitement, expectation of Godly greatness, joy, passion, contentment.

Caption please.

As we have been reading through the Gospels on our YouVersion daily reading, I have gotten a chance to see some things that I hadn’t really noticed before.  This past week I saw one that really confused me.  I haven’t done any research at all about this, but I thought I would ask anyway.

One of these things that has been interesting to see as we read through the Gospels is the timelines.  It’s a little weird reading the different points of view because they don’t always tell the same story or with the same detail.  But the one that stuck out to me the most was the story of Jesus going into the temple, seeing all the madness of the people selling animals and loans, and driving them out of there.  I am confused about when this happened.  In Matthew (Matthew 21:12-17) the story is told after Jesus and the disciples come to Jerusalem for the Passover just before the crucifixion.  But in John (John 2:13-16), the story is told toward the very beginning.

So what’s the deal?  I don’t know that the timing really makes a difference because that isn’t point of the story.  But I’m still curious.  Any ideas?

Last week my wisdom teeth were chopped out of my head.  Not the most fun I have had for sure, but it could be worse.  Well, the most common complication from the removal of wisdom teeth is dry socket.  That’s when some crap happens to cause the new hole in your head to be unprotected and heal slower.  Oh and there is pain involved.  Well, I was warned ahead of time by my now fellow wisdom teeth removal survivors that dry socket is something that I should do everything I can to avoid.  So, I did.  I didn’t spit.  I tried not to yawn, cough or sneeze.  I still haven’t used a straw.  I didn’t even brush my teeth for 4 days!  Ok, that’s a lie, but I brushed them VERY gently.

And guess what!

I got dry socket.  The bottom left side of my mouth is not agreeing with the other three surgery sites that healing is a good idea.  A few days after the surgery, this wonderful new friend of mine decided to check into Extended Stay Hotel Brook’s Mouth.  Good times.  Frustrated, annoyed and hurting I finally talked to the on call doctor on Friday night and got it as taken care of as possible.

Seriously?  I deprived myself of all those things I have enjoyed for so long (spitting, drinking from a straw, snoughing…you know…sneezing and coughing at the same time) and I still ended up with the evil phantom tooth?!  Well, it happened.  Now I have to deal with it and move on with my life.  But if nothing else (and I highly expect there is nothing else good to come from this) it made me think about some things in life from a different perspective.  We all have our goals, ideas and desires for our lives.  We take steps to reach them.  But sometimes we can do everything right and still end up in pain.

Maybe you have done all the preparation, get dressed up, have a great interview and still didn’t get the job.  Maybe you have conditioned, strengthened and practiced but the other team is still better.  Maybe you have poured yourself into your kids or a friend or a protégé and taught them well, but they still strayed from what they learned.  Life just doesn’t always go the way we planned it.  But in those times we have to learn perseverance, patience, and trust.  Whether you are in pain or just hurting watching someone else fall apart, you must have faith in God and trust that He knows what He is doing and is in control.  Our lives are not always measured by the successes that we see.  Sometimes the success is fighting and learning through the pain.  Sometimes the math just doesn’t add up to the intended goal, but relying on the FACT that God has a plan and knows what He is doing.  Find your success in Him and His understanding, not your own.

There are very few times in my life that I read.  Those would be my Bible, blogs, an occasional book and when sitting in a “certain” place.  I have never really been much of a magazine reader.  I more or less get the sports ones (Sports Illustrated, Surfer) and look at the pictures.  But as I was recently flipping through the most recent Surfer magazine, I started thinking about the demise of print.  It was revolutionary in the past, but how long will it hold on?

Newspapers used to be the “immediate” way to get your news.  Now they are a day late!  Magazines used to have the great articles and ideas.  Now they are a month late!  The Internet has just killed these things.  Twitter and Facebook have news as it happens.  News and sports web sites have in depth articles and interviews immediately.  Seems like it should be time to say goodbye to newspapers and magazines. They used to be great but then became mostly waiting room and bathroom readings. Now they aren’t even that anymore. Instead of racks for magazines we should have charge stations for our iPhones or iPads.  That would be perfect.

Do you sill read the newspaper or subscribe to magazines?  Have you moved to the digital age or are you still hanging on to print?  Just curious.

Everyone who is working in any church is doing so for one main reason.  We do so to see God made known through changed lives.  It all boils down to changed lives.  If God isn’t changing the lives of the people coming, then I would be willing to be we aren’t following His will in it.  That doesn’t mean that 500 people have to become brand new Christians each week (not counting that one person who always has a hand raised to receive Christ).  It could be just one person.  It could be a couple getting their marriage right.  Or maybe one kid seeing the role model that he doesn’t get at home.  However it is taking place, changed lives are what we hope for.

But is seems to me that sometimes we get caught up in the methods of what we think changed lives look like.  It only happens when someone walks down the aisle or when every head is bowed and every eye closed and someone raises their hand or when the salvation prayer is repeated back out loud.  Right?  Well, it seems to me that those are just methods that we have stamped on to the changing of lives.  I don’t ever remember Jesus asking everyone in the room to close their eyes and then if someone wanted to make a decision that they had to make eye contact or raise their hand.  According to John, it doesn’t take any of that.

“It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

John 5:24

All it takes is believing in Him.  A person doesn’t have to stand up and say the words “I believe”.  They don’t have to go down to the front, be anointed with oil and then transfer their membership/transfer papers/letter of intent/resume to be a member of the church.  They just have to believe in the truth of Jesus Christ and put Him in charge.  Doesn’t mean the other things are wrong.  They may be great for each individual church as it may take more commitment or faith or belief or whatever for someone to make that kind of a bold statement.  But all they have to do is believe!  The rest is all well and good, but regardless of what each church’s process is, changed lives happen in the heart and start with believing.

So as you go about your week or your weekend, remember that all it may take is just showing someone the truth of God’s love for us to really change a life.  Maybe you need to change your direction back toward God again.  All you have to do is believe in Him and His truths.  He is there for you.  You don’t have to wait until the next time you are asked a specific question during the invitation time on Sunday that tugs at the heart.  Believe in Him.  He changes lives.

If you watched TV at any point from 1983 – 1994 you have been blessed.  No, I don’t mean because of Transformers, Smurfs and Thundercats.  While those were equally blessing they are not the subject today.  There was one place in particular that was really a bright star.  PBS.  PBS had some wonderfully educational programs, many of which were actually relatively entertaining to the young mind.  But if you had any artistic streak in you at all, you have seen this guy.  

He was known for his hair.

He was known for his work.

He was known for his sayings.

That’s right.  Bob Ross.  Mr. White Afro himself.

Mr. Happy Trees.  Mr. Happy Everything.

It didn’t take a very long pause on the PBS channel during one of his shows to get drawn in and hooked waiting to see how the painting would turn out…or how many times he would say “happy”.  Just recently, I was thinking about how I haven’t seen those shows on in a really long time and all of a sudden the other day, one happened to be on.  Needless to say I sat there and watched for the entire painting.  As I watched I realized that there are some really great things to learn from Bob Ross (outside of how to paint).  Here are 5 things every person and organization should learn from Bob Ross.

1. Attitude – Bob Ross had an amazing attitude.  Like I said before he was Mr. Happy Everything.  During one show he told a story about it.  ”I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, ‘Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.’ That’s for sure. That’s why I paint. It’s because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it. Shoot, if you want bad stuff, watch the news.”  He understood that attitude is a decision and obviously he chose to have a happy one.  I have heard him say that you need dark to show the light.  How many times when things are going just perfect do we stop and think about how much we are not in control?  It is a very easy thing to overlook.  When those hard times hit our lives they show us how great the good times are and that we are not in control of them.
2. Hair – He was the king of the white afro.  That’s a big reason we loved him!  I mean seriously, who doesn’t love an awesome white ‘fro?!
3. Vision – Many people want to start something, but just stare at the blank canvas and don’t know where to start or where to go.  Ross was not that way.  He saw mountains, trees, lakes, snow, cabins, bushes, animals and more when he looked at the blank canvas.  He had vision for where he was going.  He didn’t have all the steps planned out, but he was never lacking for vision of what he was creating.  As the leaders of our families, churches and companies, we need vision.  We don’t need to have every single step laid out before us ahead of time, but we must have vision.  Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision the people perish.”
4. Decisive – With any project it is far too simple to drag it out because you can’t make up your mind.  Maybe you just talk about solutions or problems but then don’t do anything about them.  Watch one show and you will see how decisive he is.  Should I put a lake here?  Yes.  Done.  He isn’t constantly measuring to make sure his happy trees are going to be best here or over there.  He gathers the information and makes a well educated decision.  I know I could learn from that.
5. Generosity – Ross gave.  He gave his time to teach those of us who are NOT painters.  He gave away his paintings to the PBS stations to help them out.  He gave his time to help animals as well.  He went above what was expected of him.  We should to the same.  We have been blessed.  We would live in a different place if we all generously gave more than the minimum.

Bob Ross was a very interested dude.  One that I would definitely love to have met.  Maybe one of these days I’ll get a Joy Of Painting video and learn how to make happy trees.  But until then, I guess I’ll just have to learn other things from Bob Ross.

I asked my wife what I should blog about for today and she told me to blog about how snuggly she is and how smelly the dog is.  So there you go.  She is snuggly and he is smelly.

You should go be a part of the prison ministry.  How about you lead a Life Group?  No?  You should give huge chunks of money to the church.  Or hold babies all weekend.  Or do setup and teardown.  Or whatever.  Doesn’t matter exactly what it is.  We all get told at church that we should do some of these things (if not all of  them).  But sometimes it is hard to get people to buy into some idea or philosophy.  It seems that no matter how hard we try, we just can’t get people into this ministry or do that or give above their tithing.  We can try so many things but we don’t stop to think they need to be led by example and not talk.  They need vision.  They need to be shown.

Forget them. They are blind men leading blind men. When a blind man leads a blind man, they both end up in the ditch.

Matthew 15:14

Without vision it’s just like the blind leading the blind. Why should they follow us if we can’t tell them why we are doing it or even worse if we aren’t doing it?  As leaders of any church or company, the people that are following us, whether by choice or by job, if we want to really lead them to the next level we have to be willing and taking part in whatever it is we are preaching to them.  If you aren’t willing to get your hands dirty and serve your community, why should they?  If you don’t get out of bed to help setup, why should they?  If you aren’t willing to build community, why should they?

If we challenge those looking to us for leadership to fast for a day, we need to lead the charge in fasting and not just tell them it’s a great idea and that they will grow closer to God.  Actions based purely on guilt trips will only make some one change for a bit.  A modeled lifestyle is something they will want to continue watching.

Think about your leadership roles this week.  Are you a blind leader leading blind people that don’t know where they are going?  Do you need to start leading in an area of ministry or work more than you have been?

Now that it is a few days past the Super Bowl and the newness of the commercials that debuted during the game has worn off, is it safe to ask questions?  Well, either way, I’ve got a few.  Bite my head off or agree with me, I’m gonna ask them.  I mean, we can’t get too offended anymore since they are all just regular commercials now.  I just can’t wrap my mind around most of these questions yet, so I’m curious what you think.

• With the staggering price that that goes along with the commercial spots, is the amount of viewers worth it to debut your ad during the Super Bowl?
• If your commercial sucked (Carmax dramatic music and cheesy animals, random car commercial with a squirrel that didn’t seem to have anything to do with it, Taco Bell and Charles Barkley who do NOT rock, MetroPCS nerds, Denny’s screamingly bad chickens, and so many more) 1 – did you approve the commercial and what were you thinking, and 2 – does it adversely affect your return on investment?
• What was the point of the Focus On The Family commercial?  Was it just to promote Tim Tebow?  ’Cause that’s all I saw.
• Is there a better use of the millions spent on that commercial (Haiti, starving kids, etc.)?
• Will we ever drop the awful Clydesdales?
• Will GoDaddy think outside the fake “too hot for tv” box ever again?
• What was your favorite commercial?
• This was probably the best Super Bowl game I have ever seen.  Did you watch it?
• Can we all agree that leaving the “Who Dat” chant to the actual Saints team is best for everyone?