Sniff.

Groan. I have been waylaid by a sinister snot monster. It ambushed me sometime early Wednesday a.m., because I woke up talking like Donald Duck. Normally, I would appreciate that since he’s my favorite cartoon character.

Just before lunch, the sneezing started. Ryan came over for a pastoral meeting, and I still had the energy to chuck snotty tissues at him. Just when you think a person can’t move any faster, they surprise you.

After lunch at La Teraza, I came home and worked through the afternoon on some website stuff and began to slowly go through a roll of toilet paper, which I find to be much more convenient at times like this than a box of Kleenex.

Our small group met at my house last night, and no, I wasn’t emotional… It’s just my eyes had started betraying me – trying to keep up with my runny nose, I suppose. (oooo. nose… suppose…)

I went to bed early and discovered this morning a vacant house. I was rather surprised to discover it was also 11 a.m. I realized that my phone had roused me. I froggily informed (my voice sounded like a muppet) a friend that I wouldn’t be making it to Fordyce for lunch.

I’ve drug around the house this afternoon doing some reading and just finished some belated design work for Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana. The kids both have afternoon activities, and Caro is taking pictures at Kim’s Dance all week.

My trash can is filling and my TP is shrinking. What a day…

K.I.T. vs. Yojimbo

I was trying to catch up on some podcasts today and was listening to Neat Little Mac App’s review of K.I.T. (Keep It Together). One cool thing about NLMA’s podcast is that while not quite a vidcast, they do use occasional screen shots of the program they’re reviewing so you can see what they’re talking about.

Then I visited and saw his advertisement for Yojimbo which seems to promise the same thing.

I downloaded both software packages – Yojimbo ($39) has a 30-day trial, K.I.T. ($24.95) only a 15-day. So, for the next 15 days, I’ll attempt to review both packages. On the outset, they look nearly identical, as you can tell by the screenshot below.

Got any great Mac software that you use consistently that we need to know about?

Twitter Blocks

Talk about a definite time waster… but soooo fascinating. If you have a Twitter account (and if you don’t, why not?!), check out Twitter Blocks. It graphically shows who is following your updates and who is following theirs, and so on…

Between here and there

I was listening to an Bill Hybels’ podcast the other day from this year’s National New Church Conference. Hybels is the pastor of megachurch Willow Creek in Illinois, and he was sharing some thoughts and principles for church planters.

As he shared, he related the concept of “between here and there,” and I had to pull out a pen and paper just to jot down the thought so I could elaborate on it here.

Where you are right now is “here.” That is the point at which God relates with you and invites you into His work. It’s the point at which you know you’ve heard from the Lord. No doubts. He’s called, urged, convicted, or coaxed. You know that and can’t escape from it. The challenge is that God never allows us to stay here. He always directs us to a there. “There” is what God is asking you to do, where He asks you to go, or who He wants you to be. He will provide all the resources, enablement, courage and power to get you from here to there. An old phrase that I use often is “where God guides, He provides.”

However, here’s the rub: you won’t receive God’s intervention here. Yep. You’ve got the be on your way there.

Stinks for you and me, doesn’t it?

What Hybels did such a great job touching on briefly could be elaborated on in numerous instances in scripture. Abraham did not experience all that God planned for him in Ur. He had to leave it. Moses and the people of Israel didn’t experience manna until they were in the wilderness. David wasn’t crowned king until after dealing with Goliath as a shepherd. Peter didn’t become the courageous preacher until after the Holy Spirit came. Paul had written none of what would become the New Testament until after he was sent out as a missionary… The list goes on.

You see, the principle is this: we will encounter God fully somewhere between here and there.

He waits until we’ve said yes and are on the journey before He reveals more of Himself to us, before He provides completely for us, before we see His greatest work. Essentially He says, “Before you get there, I will intervene, and you will discover that I am sufficient.”

So between here and there = a life of trusting obedience. That ambiguous experience between where you are now and where God is calling you to be is what faith is about. You cannot wait to answer God’s call until you have “it” all figured out. Face it. “It” will never add up, never make complete sense, never be controllable. Because God will not allow Himself or His work to be quantifiable, measured and explained away.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55.8-9)

So… if you’ve been waiting on clear and unambiguous direction, I would suggest that it may never come. God may be waiting on you, while you’ve been thinking that you’re waiting on Him.

It will never be seeable from here. You’ve got to be on your way there.

I would highly encourage you to begin your journey.

Tips for bringing more readers to your blog

Dan Zak, a columnist for the Washington Post has a great article for all of us – both pro and beginning bloggers. He lists 10 things that we can do to “be more than a blip in the blogosphere.” Swing by and read his full article. Here are the ten summarized:

1. TELL STORIES RATHER THAN STICKING SOLELY TO LINKS OR PHOTOS.
2. CREATE A VOICE FOR YOURSELF.
3. MAKE EVERYTHING EASY TO READ AND ACCESS. 
4. SIFT THROUGH BLOGROLLS AND CREATE YOUR OWN. 
5. WIDGET YOUR PAGE. 
6. COMMENT EARLY AND OFTEN.
7. PRAY FOR A LINK FROM THE BIG BOYS.
8. NOMINATE YOURSELF FOR AWARDS. 
9. POST WITH VERVE AND CONSISTENCY.
10. JOIN THE CROWD. 

Articles like this interest me because I unashamedly want more readers – both people I know and people I don’t know. More readers = more influence. If I have more influence, then people will eventually hear from me what is singularly most important in my life (and I believe, theirs too) – that a love relationship with the God of Creation through faith in Jesus Christ is of paramount and eternal significance. I’m not even concerned that they agree with me. I just hope readers keep returning, that there’s “something” here are Notes that draws them back again and again.   So… how about you? Do you care if your blog is read by more and more people? Or do you prefer its readership to be kept within a select group of family and friends? Are you uncomfortable receiving feedback from people you don’t know? Or perhaps criticism about things that are important to you? 

A plethora of Journey Churches

I was doing a search just to see how many “Journey Churches” I could find on the net. It’s a little overwhelming. Our church is unrelated officially to any of these, but I thought I’d take you on an internet stroll to show you some of their websites…Let me know which ones interest you and which ones you think most compare to Journey Church Monticello!

Count the cost

Allow me to preface my ramblings with this statement: I know many people have studied this topic more than me; books probably exist about this topic. Also, I understand that these concepts did not originate with me.

I was reviewing some notes I found on my laptop from a LIFE group with the Journey youth about two years ago. We were contemplating the meaning of “counting the cost of following Jesus.” The discussion stemmed from a short study we did on the parable of the farmer scattering seed (Matthew 13:4-9,18-23). While reading scripture and digging for its meaning, I asked the youth how we can prevent ourselves from being the seed that does not get planted properly and what can we do to assure that we become the seed that produces a harvest of “thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted?” As we thought of examples in scripture that directly dealt with this issue, we determined that the best way to be properly planted and to produce a harvest would be found in the teachings of Jesus. We came up with Matthew 8:34-35.

“If any of you wants to be my follower,” he [Jesus] told them, “you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.”

We felt like we were on to something with this passage because it told us how to “find true life,” but we needed a starting place.We began looking at contexts of scripture similar to the one above in Matthew. We found Luke 14:27-28,

“And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me.”

Verse 27 sounds similar to Matt 8:34, but it was the next verse that got our attention.

“But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills.”

We all felt like this was a clue to the parable in Matthew 13. Even this group of young people had seen certain individuals who attended church, read their bibles, and even called themselves Christians fall away from the Christian faith. Why?Here is one possible solution: We live in a culture where we invite people to become Christians because Jesus loves them and all they have to do is believe and walk an aisle. But Jesus did not make it this easy. He told people to count the cost. He held nothing back when telling people about the sacrifices they would have to make in order to be his followers. Jesus warned his followers while he was on earth that they would have no place to lay their heads (Matt. 8:20) Some disciples will have to surrender their jobs (Matt. 4:19, 9:9), their money (Matt. 19:21), their dreams (Matt. 16:24), and some even their lives (John 21:19).

Yes, Jesus died for us, and yes, salvation is free for us, but when we join into a relationship with Christ we need to understand what we are doing. We give up our rights to act on our behalf. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). If we decide to warn people about the cost of becoming a Christian then less people will probably join our churches, but the people who do join will hopefully produce a harvest of “thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”

Reader appreciation; October awards and November announcement

Well, I must say that the nifty little plugin created by Nate Sanden has really done its job. Combined with the financial reward to commenters (first saw the idea on Glen’s blog), it spawned more interaction and comment participation in one month than I’ve had before! So without any further ado, here’s the October awards:

1. $30 to newfound Notes enthusiast Dustin Cook (any way to make a buck, right?!?) 
2. $10 to regular K.T.
3. $10 to….Mandy Moss I need some help… who was third? (sheepish grin) I forgot to look last night, and as soon as November 1 rolled around, the plugin reset for this month. (Thanks, K.T.)

 I was pretty impressed with the comment race between Dustin and K.T. They each did a good job leaving legitimate comments, and each were neck and neck until the final hours.For November…I think I’ll keep the cash award structure, but this time, I’m going to award the prizes to the commenters who leave the most significant contribution to the site. I know this is a rather subjective way to award the prize, but hey, it’s my blog and my money. I’ll be looking for the following:

• Quality of content
• Respectful interaction
• Humor and/or thoughtfulness (doesn’t have to funny; doesn’t have to be thoughtful)
• Encouragement
• Comments generated by interaction of the original comment

I think this way of awarding commenters will generate as much comments, but will also help recognize those who might not have the blog time to comment as regularly as others.Again, many thanks to readers of Notes!   

Interview with UAM’s The Voice…

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by a student from UAM for an article in UAM’s online student magazine, The Voice. The story is up now.It was a little strange being interviewed (again) for MonticelloLive and its contributions to the community. I’m grateful that the new owner is continuing the positive direction.