Accustomed to the Amazing

So it's been a while since I've written, but I've definitely had some thoughts rattling around in my head here recently & thought I would share them here. I don't want to waste anyone's time by writing stuff that doesn't strike me as important/interesting, but when this thought hit me late last night, I knew I wanted to write about it.

I spent the last half of this past week in the Atlanta area taking part in the Orange Conference. I attended Orange 2 years ago & had a great few days of inspiration, challenge, information, etc. It was a great few days. Orange 10 was no different. Oddly enough though, the thought I wanted to write about wasn't anything that was said/triggered by a speaker or breakout during the few days.

I had a direct flight from Atlanta to Kansas City last night & I was seat 38C. It was the aisle seat in the last row on the plane. As we were accelerating & heading down the runway to take off, it seemed odd to me to see more than 190 people simply going about their business - reading books, listening to their ipods, talking, yawning, doing sudoku puzzles & word-searches, etc. We were in a giant steel cylinder, weighing multiple tons, accelerating in speed, & leaving the earth to ascend into the air. I don't fly all the time, but I've flown enough to have ignored the weirdness of this event, but I noticed it yesterday. The 190 ticket payers + the flight attendants behaving as if what was taking place is completely normal. There is nothing normal about something that weighs as much as this plane flying in the air! It may happen often, but it's not normal! It's amazing. It's amazing & we're used to it. This amazing thing was happening all around us, but it went almost completely unnoticed.

It hit me that there are a lot of things that are amazing that we have grown accustomed to & because of us growing in comfort, we lose the wonder. I take it for granted that if I want to have some grapes for a snack, all I have to do is go to the grocery store & pick some up. So what if it's December. I'm accustomed to having them when I want them & don't give the fact that those grapes are shipped in from another continent & on my table in a matter of a couple days.

I have grown accustomed to being able to connect with friends & family, in a matter of seconds, regardless of how much distance may separate us. Cell phones, email, facebook, are just a few ways to keep in touch & stay connected. Take a second to think about how difficult it would be to maintain relationships with friends living 1000 miles away 100 years ago. Correspondence would take weeks not seconds.

There are so many amazing things that should make us marvel that we have simply gotten used to. Whether it's the ease of our travel, where or how your food finds its way to your table, how quickly modern communication connects us to one another, we have simply become a hard people to impress.

The greatest example of this is in regard to God. There is nothing normal about him, but most of us have become accustomed to him & live as such. While he is doing amazing things in the world around us, we are distracted by the truly normal things we choose to focus on.

Predictability Isn't Safe

About 4 years ago I attended a funeral for the brother of a friend of mine. The brother was a good guy by most all standards & had lived a pretty solid life. He was only 45 years old when he died though. He died from some sort of cancer in his throat. He developed it as a byproduct of acid reflux - stomach acid was leaking from his stomach up in his esophagus (check out webmd.com if you want the details). Each time he experienced an attack, the acid would damage his esophagus...it would scar up...heal...get damaged at the next attack & repeat the whole process over & over again.

I was experiencing acid reflux at that time & my doctor at a number of prior visits told me that my problem could be addressed by losing a little bit of my extra weight. My oldest daughter was about one at the time & I could not imagine her losing her dad when she was thirteen because he couldn't push away from the dinner table.

I assumed a pretty strict diet & in about six months lost about sixty-five pounds. (The reflux went away by the way!)

The funny thing about my situation was that I would have told you that I was healthy, but chubby. The exact phrase that I would often use was "healthily overweight." I rationalized that I could run up & down the basketball court with high school boys, carry out household chores, & do just about anything without any problem. I may have been chubby, but I was "fit & capable."

As I look at photographs of myself from the days before my weight loss, I'm stunned to see how bad of shape I was in. I was not in a good place.

I developed a routine.

I had become lazy.

I had set the cruise control.

I had settled for less.

I'm not entering any triathlons these days, but I am in much better shape.

I share all of this because I've found that if I'm not careful, I can have a very similar tendency in my ministry.

It's very easy to develop routines, become lazy, set the cruise control, & settle for less than what could/should be. Not only is it very easy to wind the clock & step back & watch it work, I've found that, for the most part, other people (parents, volunteers, staff, etc.) are often happy when you do. Routine is predictable. Most of us think that predictable things are, by in large, safe. The truth is that routine & predictability is a step away from death. (If you don't believe me, say the exact same things in the exact same way to your wife/husband every day. Let me know how that predictable pattern works for you!)

My predictable habits in life caused me to get to a very unhealthy place physically. It was a severe shock to the status quo that moved me from unhealthy to healthy & I think the same is true when it comes to ministry. I'm all for setting up rhythm in ministry, but I think that sometimes the rhythm can become the point or at the very least allow us to disengage our brain from thinking about what would best help us as we strive to make disciples.

The problem is we get into a pattern (I would argue a rut) & assume that because that approach/pattern worked last year it surely will next year...& the next...and so on & so on. (This is precisely how it worked with my weight. I didn't start eating more. I ate the same, but my body reacted differently. Something about metabolism slowing down. Maybe you can relate.)

When was the last time you stepped back & took an objective look at what you're doing? (I hope you've thought about it.) Where you're heading personally with God? (Regardless what you do, this will have greater impact on those you're leading.) Who you're becoming? (This is the best predictor of the outcome of those whom you disciple.)

My fear is that we don't step back, that we don't do an honest evaluation, that we don't invite others who will be brutally honest as they survey our ministries. What's worse is that we don't even think to do it, or that we rationalize it.

As bad as it may be, we need to take a long hard look in the mirror & brace ourselves to face the truth of our reflection. It's only when we face our reflection & evaluate it honestly that we have any shot at improving. It's more comfortable to rationalize, but it's definitely not safer.

I'm very interested in reading your feedback on this, what you've done to help yourself look into the mirror & be honest with yourself. Hopefully, we can equip & challenge each other to honestly evaluate ourselves & our ministries as we go forward from here.

Super Bowl...er...Big Football Game Resource

Hey there fellows...

It's kind of weird to post stuff on a blog when I have two people following it. I feel like I should just call you guys or something. At any rate, I found this game online & thought I'd pass it on to you guys...especially Dan. (Nate, I've already got this going for Legacy, so Dan...if you want to use this...it's a great game for Super Bowl parties, especially for people who aren't that into the game itself.)

The game is Super Bowl Bingo & it gives people a number of events to look for during the game. If they see the event happen, they mark their card (just like bingo). If they make a line, fill their card, whatever you decide...they have a bingo & you give them a prize. Everyone clears their board & you start a new game. The link at the end of this post is to a website that you can print up the bingo card, hit refresh & shuffle up the events in the squares. It's a quick & easy game that is a lot of fun!

If it's useful to you, pass it on to some buddies so they can use it too!

Otherwise...I'll see you two later!

http://scottcanoni.com/links/SuperBowlBingoPrint.php

Ministry & Musing: Take 1

Everyone has a blog. At least now they do (I mean I just got one.).

I'm not sure why everyone I know has one.

In some cases it seems the guys who perfected the art of procrastination when it came to writing papers back in the college days now have blogs where they choose to write in free time. Maybe it's because they can write about whatever they want, with no worry of anyone offering criticism or the chance to be confronted by truth, or at the very least, a differing perspective.

I'm sure some of them actually enjoy (or have enjoyed) writing for some time & now the technology has caught up enough that everyone who wants to broadcast what they're thinking can.

I know of some who think having a blog is a logical step/progression to being published someday.

Whatever the motivation, it sure seems that everyone & their brother is blogging about something or another.

As for my motivation, well, I just like talking. It's that simple. I enjoy talking with people about the things that are going on & hearing from them what happening in their lives. I'm planning on writing primarily about what I do full-time - student ministry. I'm passionate about what I do & will look to share the specific things I'm doing/thinking.

I'm sure there will be other ideas/issues that will pop in my head from time to time that will find their way on here. My hope is that in time, some people will actually begin to read it...find it interesting...& engage in a dialogue.

I'm thinking to post about the similarities between how people think about ministry (probably most of life in general) & physical fitness. It should be interesting.