London » The joyful sacrifice.

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Worship is our joyful sacrifice.

Psalm 27:6-10:

6 And now my head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
9 Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the Lord will take me in.

We mentioned the first (confidence),  second (vision), and third (beauty) themes for our speaking in London. Here’s a preview of the fourth theme, of six:

#4 Worship: The joyful sacrifice (Psalm 27:6-10).

Like beauty, we’ve missed the meaning of true worship. True worship, in Spirit and in truth, should encompass all of life. We worship through our work, our words, and our witness to the world (1 Peter 2). And as God delivers us from every evil, on a daily basis, our response should and will be a joyful sacrifice of praise. A loud sacrifice of praise – one of shouts and singing. We see from Psalm 27 that worship should be 1) Sacrificial, 2) Joyful, 3) Musical. The greatest battles have been won by worship in God’s Word, and our greatest battles demand that we not forsake this critical spiritual discipline in our daily lives.

 

Facebook domination.

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Facebook is the McDonald’s of Social Networking. With more than 650 million active users, the social media site has become the choice of online connection around the world. (The U.S. is increasingly saying “I’m Lovin’ It”: more than 42% of Americans have a Facebook account.)

So, how has Facebook spread?

Vincenzo Cosenza has given us a new edition of the World Map of Social Networks, showing the most popular social networks by country, according to Alexa & Google Trends for Websites traffic data* (June 2011).

Below you will find an infographic poster of all changes since June 2009. You can also see an animated version of all his maps.

Cosenza writes:

Facebook is slowing gaining users around the world (almost 700 millions) establishing its leadership in 119 out of 134 countries analyzed (in this edition I’ve added Ethiopia and Tanzania).
Since December 2010 Zuck’s creature has conquered Iran and Syria, although struggling against censorship. Europe has now became the largest continent on Facebook with 205 million users (Facebook Ads Platform).

Probably Netherlands and Brazil will be the next countries to surrender. According to Alexa Facebook is already the leader there, but Google Trends shows a different picture (I will change my map when the two sources will say the same).

timeline

Here’s the current social media landscape:
Continue reading →

 

Flying football.

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Alaska Air commercial featuring Portland Timbers head coach John Spencer:
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/dhlhV0iCsgM?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0

Awesome.

Here in the States we call this game “soccer,” and instead call “football” a game that only involves using one’s feet to kick in the margins of the game: to begin halves (kickoffs), when you’ve given up your turn (to punt), want to grab a few points (field goal), or just scored (point-after-try and then another kickoff). All of the kicking in football happens in “special teams.” In professional American Football (the NFL) those teams practice separately, have special coaching staffs, and run their own special plays. It’s kind of an oddity. Football fans like to crack jokes about “soccer” — that the game is boring, there’s not enough scoring, and the game is too long. In reality it is our “football” that is a little bit silly; consider there are only about 11 minutes of game action in an NFL game. A whole lot of grown men standing around; and then running into each other.

Even over here in little America there are avid football fans. (And by “football” I mean “soccer,” which is the true football). Listen as Portland Timbers fans all join in together for a chant: “You Cannot Stop Us … We Are The Rose City”:
Continue reading →

 

4,178 days: Gritty, gusty, tough and resourceful.

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Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for becoming the 2011 NBA Champions. The Dirk Side won over the Dark Side.

Mavs coach Rick Carlisle used terms such as grit, guts, mental toughness and resourcefulness to describe his team, saying the men he coached embodied those attributes more than any other team he’d been around. (That’s saying a lot; he played on the ’86 Celtics.) [See a great article by ESPN.com’s J.A. Adande.]

The most outspoken and fan-like owner in sports was especially silent during this trip to the NBA Finals. After the game he said:

“I learned chemistry matters, that it’s a team game. That you have to have players that believe in each other and trust each other and trust your coach. And that it’s a process. And that it doesn’t happen overnight.”
—Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (breaking his media embargo for the NBA Playoffs and Finals); via the Daily Dime on ESPN.com

MavsThere are few shortcuts in life. Sports and business commenter Darren Rovell noted that Mark Cuban had to wait 4,178 days for a title. Perseverance and faithfulness pay off. This morning he had company on the plane back to Dallas. I don’t know much about Mark Cuban, but it appears the man is growing in humility and gratitude, which is helping him muster the courage to be generous towards others.

Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team LeBron James left last July in “The Decision” to “take [his] talents to South Beach” after six years together, tweeted that there are NO SHORTCUTS. There may be some shortcuts, but ultimately we won’t be successful in life over the longhaul if we take the easy road.

Let’s be clear: neither road for either team was easy.

The constant scrutiny, the overplayed commentary on the faux coughs (D-Wade and LeBron apparently mocking Nowitzki, caught on local media). Some would say they did this to themselves. I agree. But it still has to be an overwhelming ordeal, self-inflicted or not. They began the year celebrating themselves, long before the season. And today the Miami Herald has a Macy’s ad offering Heat championship gear. Oops.

The Miami Heat of 2010-2011 have been together for about 340 days. Under Cuban’s leadership the Mavericks invested 4,178 days pursuing a championship. That should be celebrated. It’s not so much that they waited so long. It’s that the persevered so diligently.

I wasn’t able to watch game 6, but was rooting from afar for the Mavericks. Something about their non-superstar superstar Dirk Nowitzki makes we want to root for him and their team. (And not just because we were born two days apart.) His whole adult life is wrapped around pursuing the great prize, and in the off-season he holes up in a gym and works on his game. Gritty, gutsy, tough. No excuses. During interviews he grabs the mic and speaks eloquently, never deriding the opposition or mocking them. The young man from Würzburg, Germany seems like a class act to me. One of those people who is the same from far away as when you see them up close.

The fallout from the Heat’s loss will be as big a story as the Mavs win. The Heat were supposed to win; they almost bought themselves a championship, and the fear was this would become the new norm. The Mavs took a different route, and though they too are spending millions there are no easy fixes. After the game LeBron James commented on those who were rooting against him:

“At the end of the day, all the people rooting for me to fail, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I’m going to continue to live the way I want to live. . . . They can get a few days or a few months on being happy about not only myself but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point.”

He’s right. We all woke up to our same mediocre lives. He woke up to the same personal problems he had yesterday as well. That’s true of all of us. Sports give us a mini-escape from reality, but we must face our problems and persevere through them. We are all witnesses to the challenges of life.

In the face of Dirk’s brilliant fade-away jumper, the Miami Heat probably wish the criticism would just go away. Of course they will rebound. Life treats talented people very kindly, especially those who are a business-in-and-of-themselves; LeBron’s ‘brand’ will take a hit, but after next year’s pending lockout he’ll have another chance to courageously pursue faithfulness and perseverance.

Actually, during the lockout, when the games are not televised or scrutinized — that’s when one must persevere and be faithful. If we would be awesome when everyone’s watching, we must do the daily work when no one’s there to see. If we’re honest, that’s the title we desire: to be called faithful and courageous. It takes grit, guts, and resourcefulness. A ring is just bling; becoming a faithful person who perseveres is the real deal.

All of it makes we want to get a new shirt.

[Thanks to @darrenrovell for most of these links.]

 

London » One thing I seek.

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VisionPsalm 27:1-4:

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.

We mentioned the first theme for our speaking in London. Here’s a preview of the second theme:

#2 Vision: The one thing I seek (Psalm 27:4a).

Unless we’re proactive, we can fall into the mindset of simply waiting for life to happen to us. Our world tell us to decide what we want to be and go do it. Our fear tells us to avoid failure at all cost, so play it safe and wait for destiny to knock on our door. God’s Word says neither is enough but instead gives us one pure and holy passion, one magnificent obsession. When we are freed from insecurity and can move forward boldly in godly confidence, we have the courage to pursue this one thing – the glory of the risen King. All of life becomes filtered through this single-mindedness. To live is Christ and to die is gain. A complex world becomes simple as our focus becomes fixed. What one thing do you seek?

 

31.

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Proverbs 31:10-31:

10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

[Today is my wife‘s birthday.]

Kari,

You are an amazing woman, fully of godliness, abounding in joy, overflowing with wisdom, and committed to faithfulness and perseverance in our family. (Proverbs 31 describes the trajectory of your life. You are a woman of noble character.)

May our kids come to embrace and embody the Gospel which you adorn so well. And may others behold the beauty and goodness of the one true God whom you serve.

A wife of noble character who can find? I did. (Somehow. Still amazed.) God brought me you.

 

In Christ,
Me.

 

Constantly.

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Ask yourself:

“Does gratitude characterize your thoughts of God? Thankfulness is a good test of your faith. Its absence demonstrates that your faith is more lip service than experiential knowledge. Your days, whether easy or difficult, should be filled with thanksgiving because while life changes drastically, your God remains the same forever. He is constant — constantly good, loving, and faithful.”

—Joe Thorn, “Thanksgiving,” Note to Self, p. 44.

 

London » Themes.

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As Kari and I prepare to travel to London to speak at the Single-Minded conference, we landed on themes and emphases we are convinced are God’s heart for His people.

Kari drafted up the key themes, which come from Psalm 27:

  1. Confidence: The stronghold of my life. (vv. 1-3)
  2. Vision: The one thing I seek. (4a)
  3. Beauty: The holy gaze of life. (4b-5: men & women split sessions)
  4. Worship: The joyful sacrifice. (6-10)
  5. Consistency: The level path. (11-12)
  6. Hope: The courage to wait. (13-14)

Over the next couple weeks I will give a summary of the intent behind each talk. Here’s the first:

#1 Confidence: The stronghold of my life.

Confidence is hands-down the #1 most attractive quality. It spans generations, cultures, and draws others in more than liposuction and bulging biceps. Moreover, God created us for confidence as true confidence comes from knowing Who He is, who we are, and Whose we are. In a world that bombards us daily with messages that we need to be a certain way, look a certain way, hook-up in a certain way, God’s Word stands in beautiful contrast with a message that cuts straight across the grain. In a media-saturated consumer culture that feeds on our insecurities, the first step to a single-minded life is attaining the unshakable godly confidence that only comes from the One who fashioned our form.

 

Old enough to encounter the Story they already live inside.

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This morning I led a Bible study for sixth grade boys. Each week this year they’ve gathered before school to dig in God’s Word and be instructed and challenged by a godly leader. For my third visit to this group [read about another time], we walked through the Story of God in summary.

We started with their curiosities, each boy with a note card answering a few simple questions:

  1. What is your favorite sports team? (And favorite player?)
  2. What is a movie that inspires you? (Who starred in it? Or, what character is the hero?)
  3. What is your favorite song and/or band?

Every student was eager to share theirs, so we interacted a bit. Here are a few of their answers:

Then on the back of the card the answered these seemingly unrelated questions: Continue reading →

 

The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It is to lose yourself.

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Borrowing from the post this morning, here’s the conclusion to David Brooks’ NY Times op-ed column:

Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life. But, of course, as they age, they’ll discover that the tasks of a life are at the center. Fulfillment is a byproduct of how people engage their tasks, and can’t be pursued directly. Most of us are egotistical and most are self-concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.

(Emphasis added.)