"Between the Lines"

Last night, my wife and I were watching one of the hallmark specials about the prairie family struggling to survive the dust storms. This story stared with an ad written by a widow from the west, looking for a new wife that was answered from a women living in Maine. There cortshiped started with a series of letters that pulled her west.

Some time later, in a discussion with her new ten year old daughter, who is a budding writer her self, asked, “His Daddy a good writer’? To which this new mother says, “not really, but it’s what he says between the lines that I love”.

Reading between the lines is a figure of speech. Attending to the empty spaces between the lines of print refers to what is left unsaid, to the values and assumptions that are an important dimension of what we read.

When it comes to others, what kind of reading “Between the lines” do we do? I know at times, the tension is between a wonderful love story filled with life and vitality, and a blood filled horror story.

What about you, what do you see “between the lines”?

For me, a person that is called to bring change to the lives of the people I meet and have influence over, I have to see hope and opportunity as I read “between the lines” of peoples lives.

What about you? What are you reading “Between the Lines?”

Have a Great Day

David

"A Little Over your Head"

I was talking to few of my friends yesterday on the subject of leadership . . in my readings I came across a simple question that was asked of one of the churches new names in church leadership . . .

The Question: How do you develop leaders at your church?

The Answer: He simply said "the way you develop leaders is to put people in opportunities that are a little over their head then coach them as they take action" (paraphrased).

We talked for about 30 minutes on this subject . . .it tickled the ears of those who heard, but I'm waiting for the action . . . .

As we dialogue, it was pointed out that the three things are needed when we get over our head . . God, others and good swimming coach . . .or . . a leadership coach would do.

So, I'm waiting . . .. the coach is on the deck . . do you want to jump in?

Have a Great Day

David

Why do we think the worse

Why is it when someone says . . . "He we need to talk" . . . why do we think the worse? Donna and I have some new frineds, a young couple that is new to the church has been starting to make there way into the core group. They are fun, filled with fresh idea's and really what or church needs. You see, I think our church is no different then many other churches that spead themselves over all the generations, in that process, we miss some, in the process. For our 10 year old church, it seems like the once late 20's and early 30's have grone up to mid 40's and yearly 50's.

As the year's go by in our church, it seems like the age of void is what we started out with, the mid to late 20's and early 30's. Not sure why that is, but as I share our challenge iwth other church leaders it seems like we are in the same boat with a lot of other churches.

So, what does this have to do with "thinking the worse"? Well, I think our churches really played into my negitive thinking . . .you see, my mind was filled with a lot of thougths like . . . "Great, they are going to tell me that our church is to old and they need to move on" OR "We are moving and we just wanted to tell you". Onec again, why do we think about this?

Well, for me, there is several reasons . . it could be the moment I'm in (tired, distracted, thinking about another negitive issue . . and others. But why do I let my self think this way?

Well, for me, I simple ask myself, two things How and Who . . .How far am I looking today, and Who do I think God is going to bring to partner me to accomplish it. The bible says, Why worry about tomorow, becasue Today has enough worries. It is really true . . someone once said tha worry is a deposit paid on a dept that you may never have. This is very ture . . .think about today, don't worry about tomorrow . . .

And the Who . . . I really beleie that God will bring the who to accomplish the what . . he really will and I need to celebrate the who while they are with us to accomplish the what.

These are good reminders that I need to apply today.

Oh, we met with this young couple and the center issues was simply this . .they wanted to get more involved in what our church is doing . .

What was I thinking

Have a Great day

David

Noise

We talked about the value and the victory of vulnerbility yersday at church. In my readings las week, I cam across a blogger by the name of Jim Martin that blogged these words over a year ago.

Last Sunday morning, little Jenna had just come out of Bible class at our church.

Jenna has not been around very long. She may be two years old. That’s pretty close anyway. She and her daddy had just come into the "big room" — the sanctuary/auditorium. She managed to get away from her daddy. She made her way down the center aisle until she got to the steps leading up to the podium. She climbed a couple of those steps and then turned around and sat down. When she sat down on the step, she seemed to be taking in the moment. Jenna looked down at the step she was sitting on and put the palms of her hands on the step. She began watching the people as they came in.

Hundreds of people were coming in through three different doors. You could hear the steady roar of people greeting one another. People were making their way to their pews. When they sat down, some of them saw Jenna and smiled. Meanwhile, she was taking it all in.

I had been standing near a front row (our pews are arranged in sort of a fan shape) and had been watching little Jenna. I walked over to the steps where she was sitting and sat down beside her. (This was about five minutes before the worship service would begin.) I looked at her. She looked at me. I said, "This is fun isn’t it."

Then she heard a familiar voice. Her dad had found her. (All of this took place within a minute — if even that long.) Away she went to sit with her parents. (Her parents, Jason and Erin, are a wonderful couple who I have loved for a number of years.)

That morning Jenna was not self-conscious. She did not notice herself. She was not worried about what others were thinking. She was not preoccupied with the impression she was leaving with others. No, she was just being Jenna. That is the beauty of a child. A child lives in freedom.

We adults are often very self-conscious. I have known adults who were so preoccupied with themselves and with what others thought that they resorted to a kind of emotional manipulation. That is, they tried to hijack the emotions of others instead of just living in the freedom of genuine relationship. Such manipulators have a way of just wearing people out over a period of time. Such a relationship becomes more about the manipulator than the give and take of a loving friendship.

In a recent issue, both Dallas Willard and Richard Foster were featured in an interview.) Recently, I read an article in which the authors asked,

Are you willing to go beyond sharing selective windows into your lives, being only cautiously transparent? Are you willing to be really ‘vulnerable’?

Maybe that is a good question for all of us. To be vulnerable is to forget self and remember God. If my life is found in God, why would I be preoccupied with what others think? After all, he has not only shown me his love and acceptance, he lavishes me with his love on a daily basis. What does a preoccupation with self really say about me or you? Does this make sense?

In the meantime, I think I would like to be more like Jenna.

Have a Great day

David