What Do You Do When Everything Sucks?

I'm a Denver Broncos fan. Last season was brutal. Watching the team implode the way it did was awful. I guess they didn't implode so much as they just sort of forgot how to play football against any other team... I don't know. I remember some bad games when I was a kid, even tough seasons, but nothing was ever like that. I remember watching with my grandma and laughing as she got so irritated with John Elway that she'd be yelling at the tv. Grandma was little, but I think she was ready to step through the TV and put  on a helmet a few times and show those boys how it's done. I loved watching games with Grandma. Even the tough losses. But last year... all the fun seemed to be sucked out. There wasn't much to enjoy.

I didn't get to watch the game last night, but as I checked my twitter feed occasionally, I saw lots of updates (thank you @milehighreport). There seemed to be signs of life at times, but the end result was still a loss. I bet it's tough to get the tar knocked out of you and have nothing to show for it but a loss, knowing you're going to get back out there and work to do it all over again.

But life is like that isn't it? We have "seasons" where it seems like everything sucks. Maybe every single thing doesn't actually suck, but it sure feels like it. After the horrible season last year, a time where nothing seemed to be going right, the Broncos fired staff, rearranged responsibilities, brought in fresh ideas to the organization, all in attempting to defeat the suckiness and bring back the joy (and hopefully some wins!).

What do you do in those times? How do you regain a perspective that lets you enjoy life again? Do you need to "fire some staff" in your life? Or rearrange your priorities? Where can you bring some fresh thinking into your day?

Does 'reality bite' or 'life suck'? You can't change it until you refuse to accept it. Make some move today to make it better.

Watch Your Step

Found this link over at churchcreate. This place looks awesome... I need to visit Los Angeles again, soon. I'll probably have to take my brother if he sees this though!

5 Signs Your Creative Problem Solving Efforts Have Failed

Problems beg to be solved. Sometimes, the solution is obvious - other times... not so much. So we start thinking, imagining, tinkering. We get creative.

Unfortunately, there are days when creative solutions just flat out fail. Here's how to tell if your creative solution is probably going to fail (or already did).

1. The gathering crowd seems to sense impending doom as you implement your strategy.
2. The solution involves half a ton of dynamite and a consensus of city officials & the highway department.
3. Police are called in to cordon off a safe zone before you can act.
4. The problem is still there when you're done. Doh!
5. The problem is worse when you're done. Duh.

HT to Sheldon Shires for bringing this stunning bit of creative thinking to my attention.

Bonus Signs
If either of these phrases could possibly be uttered as a result of the implementation of your tactics:
     "Bits of whale rain across the beach."
     "Over a quarter mile away, a massive chunk of blubber has flattened the roof of a brand new Cadillac..."

Momentum Starts When You Take Action

I came across this video by Geoff Schultz that was made for Elevation Church. The graphics are fun, but the message has been recurring for me lately - take action... do something... move... go... take the next step... put ideas into motion...

I get it.

I lost momentum. Over the past year or so, I've gained some new momentum back, but there is much that still feels stalled. Pray I make the right steps next, that I incarnate the right ideas.


Momentum from Geoff Schultz on Vimeo.

Impossible is Nothing

"We're too young to know certain things are impossible, so we will do them anyway." (the William Pitt character in the movie Amazing Grace)

What a disservice we do to the world when we rob youth of their dreams and teach them what can't be done. What if instead, we showed them "Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." and helped them learn to fully love and follow His lead?

3rd Grade Track Day

As part of winding down of the school year, Emily had her first track meet today.  Kids from 5 or 6 of the elementary schools in the area come to the Middle School and get to run on the track.  They're all excited (maybe just because they're not stuck in a classroom and they know the year's almost done), parents are excited, teachers are a little frazzled trying to get everyone where they need to be at the right time - but they're excited too!

Emily was one of the kids not so much excited by the running and racing as by the fact that she was getting to be outside all day.  She likes to be active, but hasn't ever really shown too much interest in being athletically competitive.  The thrill of winning never seemed to interest her as much as the chatting on the sidelines with her friends.  That may have just changed...

I have to be honest and say that I didn't have high expectations of 3rd grade track and field glory today.  She tried to convince us to let her run in her canvas flats (that would fall off if they were run in) because she didn't run that fast anyway and her tennis shoes made her feet too hot.  The 50 meter dash was her race of choice - because they had to choose something and it was the shortest choice available.  As we headed for a shady spot, I told her to get her tennis shoes back on when the girls were running the 100m.  "Why do I have to put them on that early?"  I explained to her that each heat of the 400 would be a minute and a half or so, the 100 would only take about 20 seconds and then she was up.  "So how long will the 50 take?"  I said, "You'll only have to run for about 10 seconds, so run as hard as you can."  She got a huge grin at the realization that her "running" task would be so brief and the satisfaction of knowing she had chosen "well"!

I've been emphasizing to her that I didn't care if she won or lost or was stuck in the middle somewhere, I just wanted her to do her best.  That's all I ever really want from my kids - the best effort they can muster up.  At the realization of the brevity of her run, she finally agreed that she would do her best.  When the whistle blew, she took off and ran her best for 50 meters.  Today, her best was enough to win the race!  I know it's only third grade and it's only one short race, but today I'm very proud of my oldest child.

Not because she won, but because she did her best.  She tried as hard as she could to run as fast as she could.  I love how she got excited at the end.  There was something in her eyes that wasn't there before - or at least not as brightly.  When it finally dawned on her that she won  (which wasn't for several seconds after she'd walked off the track) she had this huge grin and a look of disbelief.  I could see the thoughts forming in her mind "I actually won!  If I can win this, what else can I do?  What dreams can I achieve?"

Her imagination is running wild with possibilities.  And she's just learned that great effort can create great outcomes.  My little girl surprised me today - reminded me to never write off the unexpected.  I have a feeling she's going to surprise a lot of people for the rest of her life - not necessarily on the track - as she imagines her way into a tomorrow very different from today.

Final Speaker at Catalyst West - Perry Noble

First, let me just say that the lineup at Catalyst West was the best group of speakers I've ever seen at any one place/time.  Every speaker at each session had some important things to say and did so very well.  One of the highlights was Perry Noble, the last speaker of the week.  He was a huge encouragement as he laid out a call to endure in the face of discomfort and pain.  You Can Do This.  It was sort of a run to the Gospel truth with a NASCAR foot to the floor.  It was a great way to end the week.

"The size of the vision God will give me is directly related to the amount of pain and discomfort I am willing to endure."  The thing about these conferences is they can be overwhelming.  You go and hear the exciting things God is doing through some pretty incredible leaders.  But you know you're going home to people that weren't there - and you're not going to be able to fully explain to them what happened.  It can be frustrating to have such an infusion of encouragement and energy only to go home and get doused with the wet blanket of budgets, short-sighted plans, lack of commitment... There can be a let down a few weeks or even days after getting home.

Perry talked about Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones to tell a better ending to the post-conference story.  He talked about how dryness leads to desperation for God and how God takes us through pain to show His provision (another one of those recurring themes for me all week).  Even when things are dry - we need to trust Him.

Ezekiel knew that only God could account for the right answer to the situation He'd brought him into.  He needed to believe (and did believe, as evidenced by his actions) that God could do hwat God wanted to do.  "You alone know."  So when God told him to call the dry bones to life, that's exactly what he did.  There was a vision put into Ezekiel's mind of dead bones returning to life, so He obeyed what God told him to do (even though it made no sense).  We need to "consistently obey Jesus and be ready for God to move.

He interjected the question here, "What would you attempt for God if you knew it couldn't fail?"  What vision is He planting in our lives that we need to believe He can do?  Are we courageous enough to act?

He finished with the thought that we need to Honor Him.  God doesn't need us sitting around waiting for Him to zap people into submission to Him.  We need to not only take the first steps toward our vision, but we need to finish what we start.  We need to see through to completion the vision God places within us and understand that He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..."

After several days and a number of posts, I'm tempted to say that wraps up my Catalyst musings, but... I think we all know better don't we???

New Year's Imaginations

*Originally written for our WestWay newsletter - thought I'd post it here, as well.
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“It’s my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact on living than major efforts at change.” –Thomas Moore

You may have already made New Year’s Resolutions by the time you read this. You may have even already broken them! Why do we do this every year? Why do we decide that we don’t like certain aspects of our lives, so we’ll resolve to change them – to fix ourselves?

Haven’t we learned yet that it doesn’t work? Our resolve isn’t strong enough. Real transformation of our lives is never going happen by our own sheer will power, no matter how much of it we have. Our “major efforts at change” are insufficient for the metamorphosis we really need.

But if you’ll return to your childhood for a moment, you may remember something important: when you were a kid, you could be anything. Your imagination allowed you to play in the NFL, and rescue people from fires, and maybe even leap tall buildings in a single bound… You could be the princess, deeply loved and cherished by your devoted prince…

I wonder… when did our imagination die? When did we stop believing in “what might be” and enter into self made prison of “that’s just the way it is”? When did the sin in our lives gain enough gravity to rob us of our hope to soar?

As disciples of Jesus, we need to re-ignite our imaginations. We need to turn our imagination over to Him and allow Him to show us what we can only be in Him. And then watch Him turn His imagination into our reality. Instead of mustering up all the resolve we can manage to change ourselves this year, let’s find out what dreams exist in the heart of our Father and let Him make His dreams come true in our lives.