Growing and Being Grown

I love growing people – challenging them to see things differently, hear things differently, react differently.  That means I’ve got to allow my mentors to challenge me just the same.  It’s painful sometimes  – for them and for me.  I’m constantly picking at my leader’s actions – “why did you do it that way? how does that make you feel? what goes through your head when that happens? etc…”  I’m sure I wear him out most days.  But I’m just so hungry to learn how to do things different – better.

Every week I get to touch base with different team members.  I’m so humbled that God would entrust them to me.  Yes – we’re all adults but their MY peeps!  I love them all so dearly.  It’s my goal to impact them with the leadership I’ve been impacted by.

Recruit – Naturally

Acts 2:46 – 47
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favor with all the people.

I love recruiting for teams.  It’s connecting people to the heart of the church.  It’s taking a stranger and welcoming them into my home – my church.  Being Pastor Micah’s assistant I’ve had the opportunity to grow several different teams.  This is not a daunting task but it does take time and energy.

If you go out into the crowd because you want to “grow” your team then everywhere you go will be business first.  That’s the mistake most people make.  If you recruit out of the love and enthusiasm you have for your team then people will want to share in that enthusiasm with you.  It gives you an immediate common ground.

It’s not just going out into the foyers engaging yourself in the hunt.  The best way to network is to do what you enjoy outside of your weekly volunteer position.  Create opportunities to get to know people without it being a “business endeavor”.  Take the time to make it count.  How awesome it is to break bread with friends and friends and friends.

So back to this scripture:
Acts 2:46 – 47
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favor with all the people.

Did you know that this includes small dinner parties, basketball leagues, dance classes, skydiving, bookclubs, parent groups, weekend trips… etc?

Challenge yourself to move out of the ordinary tactics and ask yourself, “How can I meet people who will trust me enough to want to serve with me?”

The Momentous Gaining Zone – prt 2

Muscles are made out of two proteins that need to be broken down in order to start the process of recuperation.  But if those proteins are broken down from over-training, with not enough time to recover, damage can be done to the muscle fibers.  Over training occurs when a muscle group is worked too long, or too frequent.

Since I hate messing up and tend to learn best by jumping in and making mistakes or taking too much on, I often find myself in this weird place. I want to laugh at myself and condemn myself at the same time.  Then I want to quickly learn what and why I did that something wrong and move on. (Did I mention quickly)

This is where I get into that over-training mindset. I forget to listen to the messages that my body sends me and I start spiraling – pushing harder and harder until God reaches out His hand and says “STOP!  It’s time for rest and not growth”.

Here’s what I forgot about rest – most of the muscle growth occurs while we are sleeping.  I am so conditioned to think in order to succeed I must work hard and therefore I place little value on rest.  I am reminded that there is great growth in the seasons of rest just as there is when the season requires incredible momentum.

So…

I figure if I am able to laugh at myself when mistakes happen and trust these incredible leaders God has placed in my life to lead me, and help me find balance, then I’m in safe hands.  I can run and play hard with just as much confidence as when I sit and rest.

Some last parting thoughts about muscles and growth:

· The goal is to develop constant resistance on the muscles throughout each movement – (It is my goal to balance out my life with putting consistent pressure on times of growth and rest)

· Never sacrifice form just to lift more weight. – This will result in surrounding muscles assisting in the lift. – (Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should)

· Decreasing the resistance placed on muscle decreases the intensity of the exercise and provides little or no results. – (I will give it all I’ve got – every single day bringing honor and glory to my Lord who created me to be more than a conqueror!)

· Our bodies are fantastic at adapting. – (There is peace in having second, third and fourth chances)

· Muscles will not increase in size or shape unless we give them a good reason to. – (I will never get lazy.  That is something totally different than rest)

· Each workout should start with the goal of beating our last training session. – (As I grow, it will be with the intention of always exceeding the point at which I left off)

The Momentous Gaining Zone prt. 1

We all differ when it comes to our growth strategies.  I tend to take the “Muscle Confusion” perspective.  I constantly shock my daily life by pushing for more… and more… and more.  This keeps me almost always in a driven, frustrated,  even agitated and confused state.  It’s so much fun and oh so tiring most times.  This year I’m taking on the challenge of some personal growth like never before.  But does it need to be confusing, baffling, perplexing, puzzling, bewildering, disconcerting or befuddling to my spirit?

No.

I’m so driven though.  I don’t want to waste anymore time than necessary.  There is too much to do, so much more to learn, so many people to touch.  So I run and I run hard. Pushing, pulling, stretching, reaching to do more – to go farther.

Because of this, there is a mistake I’ve made all too often.  I’ve increased the volume of exercises or tools to create change so much so that I’ve neglected to increase the intensity of the use of the basic tools like using my confession cards and my Bible.  I’ve found so many times that my spirit becomes overloaded.

Longer and harder most often brings me to a place where I lack control.  I lose that “sweet spot” because I end up drowning myself in the intensity -  In the drive.

When training muscles in this manner, this practice can actually cause a decrease in strength and size.  So, it’s time I start working smarter, to learn  to flow in God’s timing more. And this simple act will allow me to accumulate enough feedback to tweak my strategies, putting them into what is described in the muscle training world as – “the momentous gaining zone”.

Can I have this dance?

It’s time to dance.  The music of life is playing and it requires some fancy footwork.  No walking, no running… dancing.  It’s defined as a series of motions and steps using prescribed or improvised steps and gestures.

Sigh…I hate to admit it but dancing is something I’ve never been able to do with grace and ease.  My ankles seem to lock up and my feet stick to the floor.  The little bit that I have done gets me in trouble.  I lead and my feet get tangled up.  I follow and the ground seems to open up leaving me stuck to the floor where I am.  If I move I might fall into this huge hole.  How do you follow without knowing where you’re going?

For me, dancing requires trust and submission all the way to the core.  It means being led by faith and not sight.  It means believing in him who leads – trusting that he knows where he’s going and is capable of bringing me along.  It means being confident that I won’t be abandoned if I mess up – that there will always be a place in the music to get back on beat, back on time.

I’ve faught and conquered my way through so much garbage.  I’ve taken on the most inconceivable challenges.  But I’ve never learned to dance.  This year I’m going to change that.  I’m going to surrender my feet to the great leaders in my life and trust like I never have before.  I fully expect to trip up – to get mad at the process, to fight through the doubt, and most importantly to laugh at myself.

As my stomach turns and my heart tightens I’m holding out my hand.  Can I have this dance?

Trust – a risk worth all

I’ve heard it taught that trust is something earned.  I wonder if taking that approach actually causes us to miss out on some incredible opportunities.  Do we risk more by not trusting people than we do when we risk trusting them?

Sure, when trust is violated it hurts.  Sometimes the pain is excruciating.  But we are only a victim if we choose to be.  Pain is a fleeting response if we can simply teach ourselves to pick up and move on.

I’ve wasted so much time keeping a mental record of what hoops people have jumped through in order to gain my trust.  I’ve burned people out and frustrated them to the point that they turn away.  It makes me sad to think about that.  It humbles me to realize how incredibly shallow and insecure that approach is.  And it challenges me as I realize how much more I need to learn to trust God to enable me to simply pick up and move on.

I’m thankful that God trusts me.  Even when I fail, fall, flounder and flop.  He still trusts me.  Why?  Because He created me in His own image and called me worthy.  Wow!

He sent His Son, Jesus, into this world for me, for you, for the ones who violate our trust, and took the risk Himself to trust.

So maybe the act of trust isn’t something to be  earned .  Maybe it’s a gift.  No strings, no hoops – just a simple opportunity filled with faith, hope, and love.

08 almost over!

I can’t believe the year is almost over.  Planning week just ended but it only feels like we just started the year.  Time seems to be moving faster.  At least I’m getting younger. My kids and my team do a great job of that.  I’m having more fun now than I’ve ever had.

I am blessed that I get to do all the things I love – from planning spreadsheets with timelines that make peoples heads spin to directing the graphics and services that change people lives.  I get to work with a team that challenges me to be better as well as allowing me to speak into their lives.  I love my peeps.

We’re getting ready to layout our 3rd issue of Impact, start the Christmas series – Vantage Point, and meet for our last Leadership Update for the year.  Not too mention all the great parties coming around the corner.  Life is busy.  And I’m loving it.

The Music of Passion

I have this amazing job and I work with an amazing boss and together we are building an amazing team.  It’s such an honor and privilege to be part of this team.  I’m humbled when I step back out of the tasks and timelines and see how God is knitting us together.

We creative people tend to be extreme in most every area of our lives.  Passion drives us up to the edge and then we jump without looking back simply because we love love love what we do.  But trying to harness that passion in a team can be the most challenging task of all.  Or so I thought for such a long time.

Most creative people live in the moment and drive themselves with flexibility and freedom.  I am also very creative but it has to fit in boxes – lol!  And where most creative people eat the icing before they eat the cake,  I have to give myself permission first.

So for awhile now I’ve been challenging myself to loosen up, to put this flexibility and freedom in my days.  This week, Micah left on vacation and I did something so extreme to my normal pattern of managing all the details…

I just flowed…  I relaxed…  I became visible.  I didn’t realize how much I was hiding behind the details and timelines – reacting versus just being.  At one point this week, my door was open and I stopped working to just listen to the noises in the hallway and other offices.

I closed my eyes and listened as Riley went through file after file after file of sound effects for the next video we are producing.  Dee and Diane would break out in cackles of laughter as the hum of probably Jody’s voice stirred them up.  And others like Mario and Dave would float through the halls creating their own string of voices.

It was like an orchestra playing music.  The song of ministry played with our hearts. It about brought me to tears.

It’s such an honor to be part of this.  And YOU are a part of this too!  We all have a part in this never ending song that glorifies an Amazing God.

I have this amazing job and I work with an amazing boss and together we are building an amazing team.  It’s such an honor and privilege to be part of this team. I’m learning that it’s not about harnessing our passion but rather finding ways to build upon it and releasing it into the “hallways”.  I’m looking forward to conducting more music with my team.  Changing lives with our passion.

Beach Video

Here’s a video of the kids playing in the surf…

Going Home…

Tomorrow morning we leave for home.  This has been an incredible vacation.   I’m sitting on the deck watching my kids jump in pool laughing and playing together and helping John list out his life on paper.  We’ve committed ourselves this year to move forward embracing life more proactively rather than watching it sail past us.  It’s a huge eye opener when you put your life on paper and compare it against what you really want to be doing.  I love watching reality hit people as it has me so many times.  It’s empowerment at it’s fullest.

Am I ready to come home.  YES!  But don’t get me wrong, I love vacation.  Especially when it’s done it’s job.  Now, I’m refreshed, revived and ready to tackle the world changing more lives.  And I get the honor of doing this with the rest of my family in the ministry.  Oh – how I’ve missed you all!

See you Friday night at the marriage conference!!!!