Microwave Society

I haven't blogged for a few days...with my husband starting his new job in ministry, trying to meet our new students, my business keeping me busy, and trying to spend quality time with both my husband and my two year-old everyday (while trying to convince our family & friends we haven't fallen off the edge of the earth), the chaos of this past week has completely sapped me! 

Because of the craziness, I haven't gotten much sleep over the past seven days...seriously--maybe a few hours at the most every night. It's just been one of those weeks. Just a few minutes ago, I realized that I hadn't drank my wonderfully full cup of Starbucks coffee which is cold by now. So I opened the microwave door to reheat my glorious cup of coffee, closed the door, and immediately took the coffee out and took a (cold) sip.

Here are three things I learned from doing this:

1) I need to drink my coffee while it's hot

2) I need more sleep

2) I need more sleep (did I already write that?)

3) Microwaves don't work unless you actually press the buttons

Catalyst and My Ironic Resistance to Change

Catalyst...

That's a strange word, isn't it? It just looks funny to me. I'm not a fan of words that "look funny." It's this strange obsessive-compulsive thing I have going on with some (not all) things. One of those hang-ups is with words...they have to "look right." It makes me physically uncomfortable to look at strange-looking words. Weird, I know, but it's one of the many "oddities" I possess. Even with this silly hang-up, this is the very word that God has been speaking to me over the past couple of weeks, and I'm really beginning to like it.

Here are the definitions I found for the funny-looking word "catalyst":

1. Chemistry. a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.

2. something that causes activity between two or more persons or forces without itself being affected.

3. a person or thing that causes a reaction and precipitates change.

4. a person whose talk, enthusiasm, or energy causes others to be more friendly, enthusiastic, or energetic. 

Sadly, we have only been fortunate enough to go to the Catalyst East conference in Atlanta back in 2004. This was during the same time that my husband dyed his blonde hair hot pink because our students had won a challenge he posed to them. We enjoyed laughing at all of the strange looks he received during that trip. But I digress...

I was checking out the website again today because we are thinking about going to the Catalyst West conference in Cali. Because God has been speaking this word to me over the past few weeks, I felt prompted to click "What is Catalyst?" on the website. Here's what it said: "Catalyst is here: a conference that inspires next generation church leaders to be agents of change."

WITH THIS ONE FUNNY-LOOKING WORD, THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS BEEN SPEAKING TO ME!!! Through all of my ironic resistance to change, God is calling us to BE the agents of change where he has now placed us! Do I want to be in the new place? I think you already know my answer. Not too thrilled about it. But my husband and I can now impart and implement what we have learned from the awesome place we were in order to be the agents of change where we have now been placed. God's bottom-line desire is for people to know Him. How can they even come close to knowing Him if they view the church as being irrelevant to today's generation and stay away at all costs? 

We still have many questions, but our purpose is now becoming clearer...

Starting Over...

So, tomorrow...the Big "T"...

Tomorrow my husband & I start over again at a new place of ministry.  I must admit, I am still gun-shy from previous battles in ministry. My newly re-opened wounds are far from being healed...there's actually quite a bit of repair work left to be done in the O.R.  To be completely honest...I don't want to be at a new place. I loved being where we were and I felt like we still had so much to learn there. So starting at a new place of ministry is almost like walking into a movie knowing exactly how it will end. 

And yet--this time--I'm hoping it will be different. I'm praying it will be different. I'm asking God for the fulfillment of specific promises and various prophecies (same message, different people) that have been spoken over our ministry in the past. I have NO idea how those things will happen...but I trust that He does. 

As for the Big "T"? And the "T" after that? It scares me to death. It really does. But I know Someone who holds the Big "T" as if it were a little "t".  And so my (Big "T") Trust is in Him. 

Top 10 Ways to FAIL as a Leader

Some friends of ours sent us the link to this post they found here: www.annemcclane.blogspot.com

I thought I would share as it can be applied to every leadership position...

Top 10 Ways to FAIL as a Leader

by Steve Macchia and Rick Anderson

Perhaps you've even personally served under a notoriously bad team leader and secretly wondered whether or not you'd have what it takes to sabotage a team of your own. Just follow these simple guidelines:

10)  CONSERVE AFFIRMATION.  You don't want your team members to become arrogant. Use affirming remarks sparingly.

9) HAVE A CLOSED-DOOR POLICY.  Openness to feedback is a slippery slope. One day you're listening, the next day you're on the verge of a teachable spirit.

8)  MAKE SURE NOBODY APPEARS SMARTER THAN YOU ARE.  Nobody has more knowledge or experience than you do. That's why you're in charge, right?

7)  FOSTER AN ATMOSPHERE OF PARANOIA.  Nothing puts a better positive filter on incoming information than a renowned fear of your response to bad news.

6)  MAKE SURE ALL IDEAS ORIGINATE WITH YOU.  Good ideas come from the top, not the team. Shared credit is for couples with debt problems.

5)  EXERCISE HIGH CONTROL.  Remember, you're the team leader, and it's your way or the highway.

4)  LOOK OUT FOR #1.  When in doubt, ask yourself, "What's best for me and my interests?"  Don't underestimate the value of manipulation.

3)  DON'T TRUST ANYONE.  If you refuse to trust them from the start, you don't give them the opportunity to disappoint you.

2)  ASK SOMEONE TO DO A SPECIFIC JOB, AND THEN DO IT YOURSELF.  Micromanagement is one of the surest ways to fail as a team leader. If you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself.

1)  FILL YOUR TEAM WITH PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU.  Could there be a more ideal team than one made up of multiple versions of you?

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Excerpted from an article in Church Volunteer Central's Idea Depot, where members can read the entire text of this article as well as hundreds of others.

Copyright 2008 Group Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. 

First Kiss

This morning my husband comes into our bedroom with our newly-turned-two-year-old little boy saying, "Sweetie! Sweetie! You've got to see this!" and then proceeds to tell our sweet boy to give me a kiss. I smiled as he jumped up on the bed and said, "Hi Mommy!" with a huge smile on his own face. My husband repeated, "Give Mommy a kiss!" He crawled up next to me, puckers his lips and SMACK! It was the first time he kissed me and made the "smacking" sound at the end!

I never thought I could be so happy. But then again, he had me at hello!   :) 

I am there...

A friend of mine had this quote posted on her MySpace and it hit home with me so I thought I would share...

"Peace...it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."

I am there. With the events of the last month and my husband being forced out of his job in ministry, I should be no where near there. And yet--strangely enough--I am there. I can't explain it. Not going to even try to. But I know I can say that I am there. 

Now that doesn't mean I'm not angry or upset about everything...I'm human and I'm doing the best that I can to work through those emotions because what happened to us was flat out wrong in every sense of the word. But it does mean that God--in spite of it all--is leading and guiding and working out everything for my good and for His glory. He has never failed us, never let us down, never led us astray, never not had the best in mind for us. We may not be able to see the road ahead, but I can rest in the fact that He can. 

And I am there.