Hey! Look over here...

Made ya look.  

For some reason this is a fun game for my kids.  "Hey dad, look an elephant!  Ha!  Made ya look."  This game could go on for hours.  As I drove to work today I turned off a few distractions.  I feel like there have been quite a few things distracting my attention lately.  Disclaimer: sure, there are times that some distractions are good.  If you've been focused in on a project; it's good to take a break and distract your attention for a bit.  Ok... that's over.  For the most part distractions are not beneficial to the end game.  I remember my first accident; being distracted at 16 by my radio led to me crunching the front end of my Z.  Those events are fixable, but being distracted from something eternal...  

The events this morning got me processing what are the distractions that I don't see right now.  Some leadership circles might term it "sideways energy".  I wouldn't even give it that much credit.  What distractions do I know of that I can change?  I think that one of the worst distractions as a follower of Christ is to get distracted off of purpose.  We don't have to be led into some big, huge, destructive, divisive sin, just distracted from our purpose and meaning far enough to cause a crash with eternal ripples.

You're welcome

In honor of the manly efforts of mustache week... you're welcome. Gotta be tough with the scruff.

Run in the Dark

This past Saturday I ran in a 5K. It was so much fun. The Community Storehouse sponsored the Run in the Dark 5K. Sam and Emma were so funny, they loved it that I was running in a race. Sam was sure that I was going to win. The Community Storehouse is a worth while group to support and was a great excuse to jump into doing some running. About a year ago I was working out consistently with the goal of doing a triathlon. I am determined that I will get to compete in one.

The best moment was coming to the finish line kicking it in and seeing my family cheering. Emma reached out her hand and chased me across the finish line in her flip flops. She is looking forward to running a race soon.

Mustache week '08

Thanks to Josh for tipping me off to Mustache week '08. Here is invite post...

Gentlemen,

Across the ages, one thing has stood out as a beacon of masculinity. A symbol of manhood. A declaration of the Y chromosome. That eternal symbol of the male is the mustache.

As a tribute to its glory (and as a sign of unity) we, the men of the world, will be sporting the most glorious of all facial hairstyles in the coming week.

Consider this your official invitation to Mustache Week ‘08.

Mustache Week ‘08 will be taking place from Sunday morning, September 21st through Friday night, September 26th. The only thing you need to participate is an actual mustache. (No going to Costume Castle and purchasing one!)

At some point during the week, a group picture will be taken to commemorate the event for future generations.

This will, no doubt, be the greatest week of our lives.

I started growing mine yesterday, we'll see how it turns out at the first shave of the week. This is going to be fun...

Are you in?

Risk

If you've never failed you've never lived.

If you've never risked you aren't living.

My son the artist

I received a text from my wife with these pictures attached. She said that Sam wanted to color... that he did.

UPDATE: for clarification... Sam asked Glenda to color with a marker.  He was coloring with this marker on our bed.  The canvas that he chose to create his masterpiece: his face and our sheets.  He looks so proud of his wonderful picture.

Truth Fears Nothing

Teens and Video Games

Fox news reported on Pew Internet national survey. The study illustrated just how ingrained video games have become in youth culture. It's a great article that shows just how enormous the video game market has become. The article says that 97% of teens are playing video games. Check it out.

Little bit of bragging

My daughter is brilliant.

Ok... time out... I know that quite a few parent like to brag and think they have a smart kid. Some parents even like to declare to all of traffic that their kid is on the honor roll. But my daughter's first grade teacher just told my wife that she tested out "off the charts" today. I am so proud of my little girl. I am also very thankful that my wife passed along her "smart genes".

Truth

One of my new favorite shirts is from the Jedidiah Hope Series. I picked it up a couple of months ago. I am a huge Jedidiah fan. I still remember my first Jedidiah Risk shirt almost 6 years ago. My new shirt features a phrase about truth that sealed the deal that this shirt would be coming home with me that day. It reads...

Truth Fears Nothing

The phrase has stuck with me. Does truth really fear nothing? Do people believe that? Do we live that? What about the church and truth? Sadly, it's just the opposite, people fear truth?

Why is truth feared? truth hurts... truth is messy... truth is hard to do in love.

Even still I am afraid that we fear the truth all too much. What's worse this fear seems to be prevalent especially in the church. We talk a good game; we are all about truth, but in the words of Jack... "you can't handle the truth". We'd rather fake a good game then have to deal with the harsh reality that we don't have it together. No wonder that authentic relationships are hard to find and so desired. Young leaders crave someone that is authentic and willing to, in truth, fear nothing.

There are a couple areas that this "truth-avoidance" sticks out the most.
• Church leadership... when the truth gets too personal it's rejected.
• Sacred cows... when the truth affects my ministry then I don't want it.
• Perceived truths... perception is everything. In many churches perception and appearance seem to be more important than heart condition.

Craig posted about the power of truth. It got me thinking about truth... how warmly do we welcome truth in our lives and in our ministries? It's been my experience that it's not too warm, maybe more like a cold shoulder. I value people that can speak the truth in love and receive it in love also. Just one of the many reasons I love the authenticity of the place we are in right now!

I like the truth. The bible actually says that it will set you free. Do we really believe it?

A lesson in puddle jumping

As the storm came through I would occasionally peek outside to check the status. At best it was a rainstorm with a moment of high winds. For the most part the DFW area only experienced a light bit of rain today. We are praying for the TX coastal cities that were hit so hard. The pictures and video of what happened in Houston and Galveston are unbelievable. So many of our church staff have relatives that are affected by Ike.

At one point I stepped outside and it seemed to be a perfect opportunity to have my kids come out and play. The kids had been inside all day and were getting a bit stir crazy. I had no idea they'd have so much fun. We ended up walking around the block. The longer we went the more the kids jumped. At one point I had to roll up Sam's pants so that he could keep jumping.

We found the drain where the water was rushing to. We sent leaf boats down the drain and jumped around. I was reminded of a few things on our puddle jumping walk today.

• Go for it... I didn't have to teach my kids how to jump in the water. I showed them the best puddles and they jumped. How many times do I know the right thing to do, have it pointed out, and yet wait to think about if it's right or not?

• Carefree... I saw this quite a bit on our walk. Emma's socks were getting wet and Sam's pants got soaked, but they didn't care because they were having a blast.

• Laugh a lot... there was no shortage of laughter on this walk. By the end of the walk the kids had even made the spashing into a game. I am convinced that there are too many adults that have lost their ability to laugh and have fun. The saddest part of all is that most of these adults think they are being a better Christ follower this way. Some how there's an equation with honoring Christ and being boring. Just to clarify, I totally disagree! A Christ-like life is the most exciting life. A God-honoring life is more exciting than the greatest day of puddle jumping. Jumping in puddles is good for the soul.

Watching my kids jumping around and laughing today made me remember a time like this for me. One particular rainstorm I jumped onto my BMX bike and rode all day. I was soaked. It was great. Somehow responsiblity equals not taking any risks. We even term it as calculated risks. Can a risk be calculated?

Get out... find a puddle... and jump. It's kinda fun.
Live life and experience some laughter.
Live the life that Christ has said we can.

Hurricane Day

This week has been spent watching and waiting to see what Hurricane Ike would bring to the Texas coast. My family has been through just about every type of weather, but we've never see a hurricane. We have also never seen what it's like to prepare for a hurricane that is hitting 275 miles away. The news has said that we could see tropical storm force winds, rain, and the potential of tornadoes that spin off. Many people in the Dallas area have friends and family in the Houston/Galveston area.

I am amazed that even yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful and people were out and about like normal. Since we didn't know what to expect, we figured we had better heed the warnings. Glenda picked up a couple movies and found a great deal on Lego Indiana Jones (I guess we are counting on having power). When they got home last night the kids got really excited for "hurricane day". The news reports slowly downgraded the wind strength and amount of rain the Dallas area was going to experience, but we went ahead with the "hurricane day" plans. We've had quite a day having pancakes for breakfast, playing Lego Indiana Jones, and watching Fox news' reports of Hurricane Ike's path. Glenda did awesome planning a fun family day.

Apache, bumper boats and go-karts

It was quite an eventful day...to say the least.

The last two Fridays we've been trying to do more of the "Friday-day-off-routine-traditions-stuff". We hit up a new coffee shop and enjoying it. Today we started with an early Sonic lunch with my daughter at her school. Sonic is literally on every corner! I feel sorry for those that don't have a Sonic on every corner... ok I don't. After lunch we headed off to the rest of the Friday traditions. Today we added dinner to the event plans.

A family favorite is having dinner on the patio at Central Market. On arriving, there was a shock... someone parked an Apache helicopter in the parking lot! Sam was pumped! The kids were so excited to see this sweet machine up close... ok, so was I. After a quick photo shoot, we grabbed dinner, then off to U-Pick.


U-Pick was our North TX multisite event. I had a blast hangin with some awesome students and leaders at Mountasia... unlimited go-kart + unlimited bumper boats + unlimited mini-golf = unlimited fun!


Makes for a good night. Whew... what a day. Now off to prepare of the aftermath of Ike.

The Renewed Mind Is The Key

You'll be tempted to stop watching, but hang on to at least 1:53.

you are SO cool

Thankfully I have never popped a collar. It seems a lot like pinch rolling your pants... years later you'll wonder, "what was I doing?"

Just one more reason

This just one more reason I am a fan of this sport. There is no feeling like running someone over. I have delivered a few great hits. You never forget it and neither does the guy you left cleat marks on. This is a great game.

Questions for Guys

Proverbs 27:17... I love concept of iron sharpening iron; but like Tony says, "it's usually just two dull rocks passively talking about sports." Or maybe it's someone that thinks they've got enough people around them and they are doing good enough. How are we doing at being authentic with each other? How authentic am I being in my relationships?

Tony posted some great questions for guys. Check them out. Here's a few...

Are you honoring your wife in your marriage’s sex life?
Are you giving your kids the right attention?
What did God teach you in your quiet time this morning?
What have you done right this week in your faith? marriage? family? job?
What is something worthy of celebration in your life that you’ve just kept to yourself? Let’s go party about it!

You've been benched

This is great! I love what's happening through this... This is a great challenge and encouragement to do something positive. This might sound like algebra, but... If Jesus is good and I have chosen to live a life like Jesus did, then wouldn't it be true that good things would be naturally happening? This is a very good thing.



Benched from Brandon McCormick on Vimeo.

Football Season

Are you ready for football season? I am pumped; this is going to be a great season. These clips are in honor of the start of the regular season games. These locker room speeches will get you jacked. For those that never played, probably be a mini-jack; for those that never played but love the game, maybe a half-jack; for those that played and still "feel" it...

Summer will always mean two-a-days. September will always mean the start of football season, even if baseball is going too long. Fall will always feel like football season. Friday nights will always be for football.








If you like them you can watch the rest here.

The class of 2012

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.

For these students, Jim Henson, and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
IBM has never made typewriters.
There has always been Pearl Jam.
Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
Caller ID has always been available on phones.

Check out the whole list.

Your church is...

How would people in your community finish this phrase?

Is the message you think you are sending the same message your audience is hearing? Our intended message isn't always what is heard. Many times our best attempt at being culturally relevant sends "our" message with an outcome that falls short of what we had hoped. I am a student of how people view the "Church" and the local church; even more specifically, my church. Pop Goes the Church has a chapter in it titled Molly Your Church Sucks. How many times has this phrase been used? Probably too often...

I love the collision that happens when God's timeless truth is communicated through culture. It is a life's goal of mine to do the best I can to arrange these collisions and celebrate what God does as real people encounter God in a real way.

There are plenty of ways to get your community buzzing about your church. I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that we all desire that the buzz is positive, but there are times it doesn't go too well. So far the buzz on this one isn't so positive. Negative buzz is so hard to recover from. I'd really be interested in understanding the intention behind this church sign.

"We meant that as a loving warning to teens. … The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue." - a church in Ohio

There is an intended message and then there is the message that is being heard.















How can we influence a positive buzz? Can't we do better?
Thanks to places like this that help make a positive buzz.

No Wheels

When did this start?

Bible In a Minute

Role of Pastors

“I think the role of pastors at this time in history is to be a curator of human talent. They need to learn how to cultivate, how to identify, how to nurture, how to develop and unleash the God-given potential in every person.”

- Erwin McManus

Wow... I don't know of many pastors that are doing this. More are know for what they are against than what they are for. Why is it that we aren't developing and unleashing the God-given potential more?

ht to Tony... read the article in Outreach Magazine