Fuzzy Thinking

"I Cannot Do This Alone"

O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray
And to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,
But with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you
   there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is
   peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you
   there is patience.
I do not understand your ways,
But you know the way for me...

Restore me to liberty,
And enable me to live now
That I may answer before you and
   before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring.
Your name be praised.
Amen.
   -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

My dad was a man of stories. If you ever met him, you would agree. I think if you spent maybe a half of hour with him you would know that he was a man of stories.

I took this picture as my dad was telling one of his stories. For the life of me I can’t remember what it was about. I’m sure I had heard it before. In fact, I’m sure I had heard it at least fifteen times or more. You see, my dad had a tendency to tell me the same stories over and over again. It use to drive me nuts and so often I just wanted to say, “Dad, you’ve told me this one before…do you have anything new?” But I never did. I always felt if I did I would be interrupting him and that would be rude…I wonder if it is rude to share the same story over and over again…

My dad grew up in Arkansas in the Ozark Mountains. He would tell me stories about growing up there in the 20’s and 30’s. It seemed like an odd  place and an odd time to me. One time he told me that when he graduated 8th grade his parents had to send him off to high school. That seemed odd to me. I always got on a bus to go to high school or caught a ride with my friend Bruce. We rode his motorcycle once and one time we decided to stop at McDonald’s instead of going to some of our morning classes.

I guess my dad wasn’t able to do things like that because they sent him away to high school. He had to live there because there weren’t any high schools in the area. If you wanted to go to high school, you had to leave the area.

I signed up for Google Wave the day they announced it. I’ve been patiently waiting. Friday, I finally received my invitation.

From my limited exposure to it, I would say it is a service I want to use, but I’m not sure why. I can think of several collaborative projects where it would be helpful, but I keep finding issues with it. Of course this is still in the early stages and as Wave progresses I’m sure I will find more potential.

If you find yourself on Wave, look me up!

Well, this is simply a test.

I have been a Twitter user since February 2007. At first I did not use Twitter too much. But after I found TweetDeck I discovered that Twitter could be a very useful too. I was able to connect with people, get news stories, and ended up discovering new things on the internet. Some of the webpages others pointed me to were of great help. Some of the conversations were good too. Yet, as of late, I am cooling toward Twitter.

I am not sure how long I have been using Facebook . It is a great service. I have been able to keep in touch with friends, family, and various church members. Yet, I am cooling toward Facebook too.

Why am I cooling to these services? One word: Distractions. Over time I began to realize how distracting these tools can be. While I believe there is a place for these tools, I am also finding that for much of what I need to be doing distractions are a killer. There have been various studies reporting that multitasking is a pipe dream. Even though we believe we are multitasking, the tasks we are working on all suffer.

So, I have decided to cool it on Twitter and Facebook. I am still trying to find a place for them in my life and from time to time I will check in with both services, but for the time being, I am going to focus…on focus.

Philip Clayton and Harvey Cox both have new books out and they are taking them out on tour. One of the blog tour stops will be here, but as you can see below they will be making their rounds over the next month until they wrap things up in Montreal at the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting. There they will be joined by an illustrious panel including Eric Gregory, Bruce Sanguin, Serene Jones, Frank Tupper, and Andrew Sung Park to share a 'Big Idea' for the future of the Church. These 'Big Ideas' will be video tapped and shared, so be on the look out for live footage from the last night of the tour.

Philip's new book is Transforming Christian Theology for Church & Society and Harvey's is The Future of Faith. Both are worth checking out at one of the many tour stops. If you can't wait you can listen to them interview each other. Enjoy the blogging!

Here is a list of individuals participating in the tour: Joseph Weethee , Jonathan Bartlett, The Church Geek, Jacob’s Cafe, Reverend Mommy, Steve Knight, Todd Littleton, Christina Accornero, John David Ryan, LeAnn Gunter Johns, Chase Andre, Matt Moorman, Gideon Addington, Ryan Dueck, Rachel Marszalek, Amy Moffitt, Josh Wallace, Jonathan Dodson, Stephen Barkley, Monty Galloway, Colin McEnroe, Tad DeLay, David Mullens, Kimberly Roth, Tripp Hudgins, Tripp Fuller, Greg Horton, Andrew Tatum, Drew Tatusko, Sam Andress, Susan Barnes, Jared Enyart, Jake Bouma, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Blake Huggins, Lance Green, Scott Lenger, Dan Rose, Thomas Turner, Les Chatwin, Joseph Carson, Brian Brandsmeier, J. D. Allen, Greg Bolt, Tim Snyder, Matthew L. Kelley, Carl McLendon, Carter McNeese, David R. Gillespie, Arthur Stewart, Tim Thompson, Joe Bumbulis, Bob Cornwall
This Tour is Sponsored by Transforming Theology DOT org!

Adam Hamilton said something that really has caused me to pause and reflect. He said that successful (however you define it) pastors and churches are willing to do what unsuccessful pastors and churches are not willing to do. This seems to make a lot of sense. It is not only true of pastors and churches, but of musicians, athletes parents and students. Really it is true of just about everyone.

In the book Outliers Malcolm Gladwell discusses the very successful. Among his various observations is the ten thousand hour rule. Ten thousand hours is the time it takes to become successful. If you want to be a virtuoso, then you will need to practice around ten thousand hours Malcolm says. Sure talent plays a role, but the findings are that ten thousand trumps innate talent.

Successful people are willing to put in the time; in the gym, the practice room, the library, etc. The unsuccessful ones just are not willing to do so.

Perhaps one of the most productive things we can do is determine what we are not willing to do as individuals. Ten thousand hours is a lot of time. It takes most people about 10 years. I might not be interested.

What are we not willing to do as a church? The ten thousand hours may not come into play, but it is still helpful to know. Are you not willing to help in the nursery? VBS? There are things I'm not willing to do. Just remember though, the successful churches are those who are willing to do what the unsuccessful aren't.

-- Post From My iPhone

Listening to Adam Hamilton caused me to realize that as United Methodists we need to embrace our theology. It is one that connects the head and the heart. Hopefully I can post more later.

-- Post From My iPhone

"Father in Heaven! What is man without thee! What is all that he knows, vast accumulation though it be, but a chipped fragment if he knows not thee! Thee the One, who art one thing and art all! So mayest thou give to the intellect, wisdom to comprehend that one thing; to the heart, sincerity to receive this understanding; to the will purity that wills only one thing." - Soren Kierkegaard

Grief is a funny thing. As a pastor, I've read about grief, I've studied it and I've watched people go through it. Yet, I am still surprised. I was surprised this morning to find myself in tears after a dream I had about my father. My father died in September. Here it is in May and I thought I was finished with grief. I was wrong.

One of the principles of Adrian van Kaam's Formative Spirituality is appraisal. Van Kaam's science maintains that everything is important. Even the most mundane and boring moments in our lives are pregnant with God's formative potential. So, whenever an event happens, we pause and ask ourselves "what is going on here?" Living out a Formation Theology means not allowing events to pass through our fingers without appraising it in light of formation journey.

I did that this morning. After the dream and the tears I asked myself, "Why?" Why now? What's going on that I would dream about my father who died in September? I thought I was over my grief. I thought it was all in my past. Why would I have such a dream now?