Break In

Last night while Nicole and I went out to dinner someone attempted to break into our house. They were not successful, but they did cause some damage.

In thinking about this event I had three main thoughts:

1.) Whoever did this was basically the opposite of Santa Clause. They attempted to break in and steal.

2.) The only thing of "value" that I would have been upset with them stealing, had they been successful, was my jar our quarters (for more info on the quarters check out my wifeys post http://kneecoalgrace.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-42-of-100.html.)

3.) There is a LOT of risk involved in breaking into a house and this person must have been very desperate. They had a very small timeframe, with us leaving for dinner and coming back soon after and so what happens if the person returns? What happens if there is someone inside still...who has a gun? What if you break into a house like mine where there is nothing of value? What if someone sees you break in? And then if you do get something of value, what do you do with it? To me it doesn't seem worth the risk...you would be far better off knocking on my door and asking for money...

Anyways, we are safe and have filed a police report. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the subject because it's been on my mind.

Why this song?

The Music Genome Project

Pandora.com has changed my appreciation for music. I create a station based on a song that I like and then it plays a continual song list of songs that I love. If for some reason it plays a song that I don't like, I thumbs down it and never hear it or anything like it again. It also has a feature that explains why you might like this song. Here is why I like the music I like:

Why this song? Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features hiphop influences, acoustic rhythm piano, a twelve-eight time signature, basic rock structure, punk influence, subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, acoustic sonority, mixed acoustics and electric instrumentation, basic rap roots, major key tonality, extensive vamping, prominent bass riffs and mandolin parts.

So, if you are looking to get me a Christmas present and want to buy a CD just look for that ;)

Priorities

I just finished reading Children's Ministry Leadership by Jim Wideman. In the section on "Your Roles, Priorities, and Goals" he goes through a process of determining what is truly important to your life and leadership. Here is my work in progress:

I will be a man of God in every part of my life.
I will love and be in the Word of God.
I will be a godly husband and an example to others through my marriage.
I will be an able minister and love the people of God seeing them through the eyes of Christ.
I will be a leader's leader in word and example.
I will lead and pastor a local church's children's ministry.
I will help children in my care to see the love of Christ and to fulfill the calling on their lives.
I will be healthy and in good physical condition.
I will be a soul winner.
I will train those in my ministry to be soul winners.
I will recruit, train, and maintain a teaching staff.
I will train and encourage myself through books, resources, and mentorship.
I will train and encourage the next generation of youth workers who can and will become better leaders than I am.

Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission

I recently read Darrin Patrick's book Church Planter. I did not really know what I was getting myself into when I began reading. I thought that this was simply a book on how to be a church planter and what that looks like but found the book to be much more profound. The book is broken into 3 sections; the man, the message, the mission.

The Man talks about my generation and how we are ban, both boy and man. It talks about the trends of how we spend our time, money, and what we are passionate about. I was encouraged in reading because I don't fall into the living at home with mom and dad paying my bills, spending my time playing video games, and lacking maturity, but I was discouraged thinking about a lot of my friends who fall into this category and how sometimes I lean to the edge in time wasting activities. This part of the book personally challenged me in seeing my call to do ministry. It excited me to think about the stage of life that I am in now where I will be getting back into the ministry and focusing on discipline volunteers and families.

The Message brought into light the focus of the church and what God's plan for me as a minister is, sharing Jesus Christ. In thinking back about the lessons that I learned growing up, I don't remember a lot of the stories or fun activities that we did, but I do remember learning about the love of Jesus and how I should follow Him. I liked that this part of the book explained that Jesus truly does love us and that we don't need to be in ministry to make Him happy because nothing we can do will earn more of His love.

The Mission begins with having compassion for God's people and then moves into what we need to do to reach others. I am not a very compassionate person and so this part of the book really challenged me to see people as Christ does and to love them regardless of their faults. I have been praying for compassion and for this personality shift to occur in my life. I want to be more like my wife and to truly love people who are messed up. I also want to be more like my dad and be touched by emotion. Hopefully over time this will take place in my life.

Anyway, I REALLY liked the book and have been thinking about it since I finished. Very rarely do I read a book twice and I'm thinking about starting this one again in a few weeks. Good stuff!

The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree

For any VeggieTales fans out there, or Christmas music enthusiasts, check out Amazon's Free release of The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree!

http://amzn.com/B001232ODA

I just added this guys book to my amazon wish list.

Church Planter: The Man, the Message, the Mission

Someday Nicole and I would like to plant a church in an area that does not have many if any church of Christ or Christian Churches. I think this book will be good :)

Batman - The Long Halloween

Today I borrowed a book from Buddy, Batman The Long Halloween. And I remembered why I really like reading graphic novels. In about 2 hours, I read almost 400 pages. I feel like a superhero when I read that fast.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the book. Overall really good, but there was one section that I appreciated more than the rest. Bruce and Batman are working together and take down a warehouse full of Falcone's money:

The conversation goes like this:

Dent: oh boy. you know...if we were two other guys...in a room full of untraceable cash...

Batman: We're not.

Dent: yeah. But I was just thinking how easy--

Batman: Don't

Dent: Okay then.

I like this because it shows character. Batman does what is right, even when no one will know. He is a man of integrity. This is one of the many reason I like batman!

How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the first bestselling self-help books ever published. It was written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1937, it has sold 15 million copies globally.

I recently read this book and throughly enjoyed what I learned. Over the past few weeks I have been trying to put his techniques into practice and so I have been reading this on a daily basis. Hopefully these will become a habit.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. Give honest and sincere appreciation. Arouse in the other person an eager want. Six Ways to Make People Like You Become genuinely interested in other people. Smile. Remember that a man's Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves. Talk in the terms of the other man's interest. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely. Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking Avoid arguments. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never tell someone they are wrong. If you're wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically. Begin in a friendly way. Start with questions the other person will answer yes to. Let the other person do the talking. Let the other person feel the idea is his/hers. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view. Sympathize with the other person. Appeal to noble motives. Dramatize your ideas. Throw down a challenge & don't talk negative when the person is absent, talk about only positive. Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment Begin with praise and honest appreciation. Call attention to other people's mistakes indirectly. Talk about your own mistakes first. Ask questions instead of directly giving orders. Let the other person save face. Praise every improvement. Give them a fine reputation to live up to. Encourage them by making their faults seem easy to correct. Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest. Seven Rules For Making your Home Life Happier Don't nag. Don't try to make your partner over. Don't criticize. Give honest appreciation. Pay little attentions. Be courteous. Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage.

Love Languages

If you have never read the book, The 5 Love Languages, you definitely need to. This will get you thinking about how to interact with the people around you as well as help you communicate love to those you care about. You should take a minute to assess yourself to see what your love language is. You can do this by reading the book (which I recommend) or you can simply take a 5 minute assessment online at: http://www.5lovelanguages.com/assessments/love/

During my Freshman year at Mid Atlantic Christian University I took a class that used this book as one of the textbooks. I learned a lot about myself and found that I am VERY much a Quality Time person. I have seen this to be very true in my relationship with my wifey. We are very different than many couples where we both want to spend as much time together as possible. Our goal is to always wake up together, work together, eat meals together, and do life together. It stresses both of us out when we are apart, even for a short time, because we both feel loved and show love through our quality time.

Here are my scores:

3 Words of Affirmation

12 Quality Time

5 Receiving Gifts

2 Acts of Service

8 Physical Touch

With this being said, I often desire to show love though through quality time, but also often through gifts. I am very purposeful in the gifts that I give to those I care about. I even have a folder in my phone called "Gift Ideas" where I write down things that come to mind that people would like. For instance, if I hear someone say that they would really want a certain coffee mug or something like that I will try and remember that and make it happen. I spend time with those I love but often this is difficult and so sometimes a well thought out gift will suffice.

Coffee Shop

One day my wife and I want to own a coffee shop. We believe that this can be a fun and exciting way to do ministry. We will be very purposeful in the people we higher, events we hold, in the way we decorate and arrange things, and pretty much everything. We do not want this to be the "christian getaway" but rather more like the gorilla lovers tactics and catch people by surprise. So, this is what I think about on a regular basis. Someday's I find it motivation to get up. I get out of bed and think, "Today, I'll go to muddies and think about owning a place like this." And whenever we travel, which is about once a month, I try and find a neat local coffee shop to take notes on.

Here's our last coffee shop visit:

Double D's Coffee Asheville NC

I have a memo in my phone where I write down ideas dealing with our future coffee shop, here are a few:

Market: Coffee drinkers, people who like art, college students, old people, business people, people who walk their dogs, chess players. Then I have ways written out to pull all these types of people in: creating a walking route around the city where x coffee shop is a stop, free wifi, music nights, displaying and selling local art, college discount nights with music, locals or regulars discounts.

While these may seem like simple ideas, they are much more vast and broken down into much greater detail in my head.

I also have been thinking about ways to partner with churches, encourage discipleship, evangelize, and connect with dignitaries/important people.

Anyways, this is just something I think about on a regular basis and so I wanted to share it. If you would like to share back, what would be a good name for this future coffee shop?

Quirky College Life

At MACU there are a lot of little things that in another location would seem VERY peculiar...


Someone sneezes 7 times and you get to spot whatever you're doing and enjoy some free time.

If a bell rings, everyone stops what they are doing and then sings as if they were intoxicated.

Walking on the grass is done in fear of ones life.

A break in one of the most busy times of the year for a day outside with friends.

Food cannot be "to go" and outside food is considered contaminated.

Everyone knowing the words to "wonderful the matchless grace of Jesus."

Every student skipping class for a day to hang out, and that being okay.

Seeing people dressed up like colonial's and remembering that it must be constitution week.

Being able to say that you have eaten with every professor and staff member.

And not just knowing everyone's names but actually knowing them as an individual.


While MACU is a different kind of culture, I really have grown to appreciate its quirkiness.