Marc’s Musings

Listening to Dave Schmelzer of VCF Greater Boston talk about relationships.

Here’s a nugget: He talked about his first experience with a small group. Each week he’d decide whether he was going to go or not.

Three or four weeks into it, he had a friend ask him how it was going. That friend told Dave that he’d never get what he wanted from the group and from God if he were hemming-and-hawing about going each week. “You need to pre-decide to go. Make this a priority. It’s just something you do.”

Pre-decide.

I really like it. No matter how much we like people or small groups, we don’t emotionally commit to others if we’re hemming and hawing before we go. But if we pre-decide, something shifts.

I find it to be the same with things like tithing too. If I’m trying to decide every paycheck whether or not to tithe, it’s awful. Hemming and hawing. Playing mind games with myself. Being upset with God for being confusing.

But when I pre-decided to tithe, an emotional shift happened. It’s now a none issue. It can be uncomfortable at times but it’s still a done deal.

Pre-decide. Folks at church will probably be hearing me say that from now on!

The whole sermon is here: The Glue Behind All Great Relationships.

Today was supposed to be my bottling day. But fortunately, I have a laid back homebrew store guy. I called him today and said I was wiped. He said this was a hobby and the beer could wait for a few more days.

I like laid back homebrew guys that know more than I do!

The bottling will happen at some point this week.

Still want to work on a great name for this Guinness-like Pura Vida coffee stout…

This is qouted a few times in Akeelah and the Bee. It’s been challenging me for a week or more:

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

That’s what my car’s thermometer read this morning on the way to work.

-6

I tried telling myself it wasn’t that bad because it’s a “dry cold.”

A long time ago I committed to feeding my mind at least as often as I feed my body.

This week, I found out the hospital had a copy of Brian Tracy’s “Psychology of Achievement” so I’ve been listening to it almost non-stop.

Here’s an idea from today: write your top goals down every morning within 30 minutes of getting up.

According to Tracy, your mind is incredibly impressionable at that point. Rather than filling it with the doom and gloom of the news, he recommends filling it with good things. I bet this may be why so many Christians like doing their devotional activities in the morning.

I’m going to give this a whirl. If you’ve used the MagnetGoals process, why not re-write your MagnetGoals each morning? Or at least your top for life goals and top four 5-year goals?

[Update: 2/2/2007 I've totally forgotten about this. Sheesh. Well I just wrote them out. 10:30 a.m. isn't close to the first 30 minutes of my day, but it's a start!]

Here’s a link to the Warm Fuzzy tale I referred to in my sermon on Sunday.

I love the teaching of Dwight Pryor. I’m a member of his “Haverim” community and have access to downloadable audio. Here’s bit of the seminar from November. You’ll get a glimpse into the incredible insight he has.

It’s based on Matthew 11:28-30

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 

This passage resonates with me on a deep level, always bringing peace. But I never really thought of this as being an incredibly radical, potentially inflammatory, comment from a revolutionary leader.

Dwight uses this passage to show a form of ancient Jewish hyperlinking, a rabbinic form of biblical interpretation known as “stringing pearls.” Check out the passages Jesus is connecting with:

• “Come to me you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” is a direct quote of God speaking in Ex 33:14. Jesus is speaking as God!
• “Take my yolk upon you and learn from me” is about God being the shepherd of His people in Ezekiel 34.
• “and you will find rest for your souls” is once again God speaking! Read Jeremiah 6:16.

Jesus is not only speaking on behalf of God but as one with the Father!

This isn’t just a nice Near Eastern, illiterate, peasant teaching peace. This is the well educated Jewish rabbi that knows He is the One prophesied since the beginning.

No wonder Jesus’ life–from conception to ressurrection–scared the temple leaders and shook the very foundations of their existence!

Jesus isn’t just one of God’s lackeys saying, “C’mon guys, knock it off. Play nice.” Jesus is God Himself come to clean up Creation!

Google QOTD:

Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.
- Otto von Bismarck

It’s started.

I made a goal to do at least one personal servant evangelism project a month in 2007 (in addition to the monthly ones VCW does). This stuff has to come out of overflow so I want it to be a habit for me too in my ordinary day-to-day life.

My first experiment starts today. I’d called the manager of my local Starbucks. (He knew me already.) I told him our church likes to do out-of-the-box community service projects thinking people have heard enough words about the love of God but don’t get to see it in action much. He already knew of some of the projects we’d done.

I asked him if I could put $50 on a gift card and leave it for the baristas to randomly buy people’s orders. And I asked him if they’d hand the person a VCW connection card. The card says “This is a practical way for us to say that God loves you” and gives our information.

He was totally open to it!

So I bought it today. I explained to the lead barista (who I know too!) what the manager and I had discussed. “Basically you get to randomly bless people throughout the day!” She seems excited.

Please join me in praying that this will be a powerful way to shine God’s love into the lives of lots of people!

I’ll let you know how it goes!

[Update, 1/24: People have been blessed. But they found out they weren't allowed to give out the cards inside the store. So they stopped until they could talk to me. I told them "go for it anyway." They'd be happy to say the order is paid by the Vineyard Church of Waterville.]

Just went to a web site for information on a cool sounding seminar.

I must be odd. When I want information on a product, price is right up there at the top of my “want” list.

What’s the deal with not showing a price?!

So many sites selling so many different things from products to seminars seem to think it’s helpful to not have the price until you’re in the shopping cart. Or worse, until you open a PDF’d registration form that you have to print out and send back.

*sigh* Why can’t people just be open book? What are they afraid of?

I’m done. I’m getting back to work.