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Thursday
Aug262010

A Prayer 

Yep.

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

-From Tozer's, "The Pursuit of God"

Wednesday
Aug112010

"11 blockbuster films": Pixar, Google, and Humility

Interesting article regarding the differences between the two companies. 
Despite an unbroken string of 11 blockbuster films, Catmull regularly says, "Success hides problems." It's an insight Google should acknowledge and act on. Google's leadership admirably tolerates failure on side-projects (and big projects as well), but what Pixar has that Google does not is a culture where the fear of complacency is a strong motivator, where new problems are identified, discussed, and addressed openly and honestly, all of which requires humility.
What interests me is not the Google stuff, but the discussion of the culture of humility at Pixar.  Success does not equal health. . .

Click to read more ...

Monday
Aug092010

Perfection Addiction 

The pursuit of perfection is what most of us are after. It’s a noble pursuit. However, it can be an addicting one as well. You can really equate it to a drug addict or alcoholic in some ways. I found myself constantly reading. Finishing one book and picking up the next. Constantly thinking about how to achieve this or to achieve that. At the end of the day, this pursuit of perfection is all about a future state. I found it very difficult to enjoy what was happening in the now.

Very insightful and encouraging post about productivity.  

Monday
Aug092010

8 Lessons I Must Remember: Part 3

7. If you can't have joy in trials then your joy is not in Christ.  

This one is hard. (I've taught fairly extensively on this, though I don't know if the most detailed message ever made it online. I was not at Savior both times I taught it from Philippians 4:4f).  It may sound like I'm hard on myself, but I try to keep an eye on my own sense of blessedness and joy.  These are a strong indicator of worshipfulness and Christ-centeredness. When circumstances dictate, not just my emotions, but my perspective then I know that my sense of inner joy is less. . .

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Thursday
Aug052010

8 Lessons I Must Remember: Part 2

4. Humility is the essential element needed for true inward transformation to take place.  

I have settled on a definition of humility as consistent awareness of utter dependence upon God’s empowering grace, built upon knowledge of complete spiritual poverty (i.e. neediness).  It involves a recognition of our own sinfulness, but not in the sense that we try to exaggerate our claim to be more wicked than others.  Rather, we recognize that we are like all others, entirely fallen and utterly helpless apart from Christ's empowering work.  This leads to a posture of dependence in our every breath in the Christian life.  

The reason I say “essential conviction” is that without it none of. . .

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Wednesday
Aug042010

New York Times on Ministry Burnout

With less than 2 weeks left on my Sabbatical this Article  from the NYT was a helpful reminder about why I took a break in the first place.  The focus in the first half of the article is largely on the demands people set on clergy.  At SaviorCC this has never really been an issue, though the demands of my time have become increasingly difficult to manage over the past year.  For me, what seemed to be an oncoming burnout developed from a combination of my church work and heavy teaching load.  Heavy for me anyway. 

One quote started to approach a significant frustration that I have been more and more aware of: 

Larger social trends, like the aging and shrinking of congregations, the dwindling availability of volunteers. . .

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