Hot Enough for You?

To keep from killing each other in deranged fits of heat-induced rage, somebody thought up this little parady about the local weather (Bedford, Indiana is 12 miles north of where I live). HT (Hat Tip) to Heidi Klein Kromhof for sharing. Anywho, I thought it might give you a chuckle . . .

May 30, 2007: Just moved to Bedford, Indiana from Fargo, North Dakota. Now, this is a city that knows how to live! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! I watched the sunset while lying on a blanket. It was beautiful. I've finally found my home. I love it here.

July 28, 2007: Really heating up. Got to 100 degrees today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.

August 3, 2007: Had the backyard landscaped with hardy plants today. Used lots of decorative rocks, and some succulents ... the yard is a breeze to maintain! No more mowing the lawn for me. Another scorcher today, but I love living in Bedford.

August 5, 2007: The temperature hasn't been below 100 degrees all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least it's kind of windy because we're on the river, but getting used to the heat and humidity is taking longer that I expected.

August 7, 2007: Fell asleep by the pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body.) Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my lesson, though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

August 12, 2007: Morgan (our cat) sneaked into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car for lunch, Morgan had died and swollenup to the size of a shopping bag and stank up the $2,000 leather upholstery. I told the kids that she ran away. The car now smells like Kibbles and shits. I learned my lesson, though. No more pets in this heat.

August 15, 2007: The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer! And it's hot as hell! The home air-conditioner is on the fritz, and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order the parts.

August 18, 2007: Been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. The monthly housepayment is $1,500 and we can't even go inside. Why did I ever comehere?

August 19, 2007: It's 101 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today for a cost of $900. The temperature gets down to 78 degrees, but this freaking humidity makes the house feel like it's about 95 degrees. I hate this stupid city.

August 20, 2007: If another wise ass person cracks, 'Hot enough for ya today?' I'm going to strangle him. Damn heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!

August 21, 2007: Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts and sat on the black leather seats in the ol' car. I thought my ass was on fire. I lost two layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass. Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.

August 22, 2007: The weather report might as well be a damn recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do anything for two damn months, and the weatherman says it might, just might, cool down next week. To what? 95? Doesn't it ever rain in this damn desert? Water rationing will be next, so I might as well watch $1,700 worth of cactus and yard plants just dry up and blow into the damn pool. Not even cactus can live in this damn heat.

August 23, 2007: Welcome to HELL!!! The temperature got to 102 degrees today. Forgot to crack the window and blew the damn windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and said, 'Hot enough for you today?' My wife had to spend the $1,500 house payment to bail me out of jail.

Freaking Bedford!!

Back to the Summit: Session 6

Colin Powell is a figure who demands your respect, but he does so very quietly. To me, his presence spoke of power. Bill Hybels interviewed Powell, who speaks of leadership from the perspective of life versus death. There was a very real sense that you really needed to focus and listen to what this man said.

Here are some highlights:

• Reward your best performers: When someone doesn't carry their load, it kills the morale of the good team members. Conversely, the worst performers must be removed; pruning must be done.
• Promote a "clash of ideas" - Allow a variety of flowers to bloom; unleash the individual creativity among your team.
• Simple suggestion: Use a circular table in your meeting room to promote equality (never a square table!).
• Be prepared to disappoint people.
• Optimisim is a Force Multiplier.
• "The Church has an obligation to go out into the world and serve those not like us."
• "I want to go out in a state of grace."

Call Me Butter, Cause I'm On A Roll!

It started as a friendly game of volleyball. You know, have some folks over, share a meal. Smack the ball around a little as a way to get to know everyone a little better. At least that's what Jodi said when she called to invite us over. Ya, right. Do you know Jodi Mundy? If you keep score, you play to win. So I broke out the doo rag, tied it on, and we went at it. At the end of the night, I was a tired, sweaty 42 year old. And my team split with Jodi 2 games to 2. And, yes, I botched the final point of the last game. But Rachelle was serving, and you know I let her win, right?

These are good times that we share. These are my friends, the people that the Collins' "do life" with (Luke and Karissa Kimmel left just before the picture - they're homeys too!). We're trying our best to share life - the best possible life, life in Christ - together. We don't always do it right (let's not even say words like "perfect!"). But we try. And you know what? We're always ready to add people to the party. Wanna play?

NOOMA 011 - Rhythm

As I pray for Tulip Street Christian Church, I ask God to help me lead people to not only hear the song of God that surrounds us, but to understand that they can join in. To me, a church is a group of people who collectively hear the most beautiful song imaginable, and make it richer - fuller - by adding their lives to the melody. God invites us to help set the world right. That is the kind of person that I want to be, and it is the kind of church that I want to be a part of - a church that understands its Kingdom role and will lean hard into bringing that role to Life.

This is just a clip from a NOOMA called "Rhythm" that moves me to tears each time I see it, as it depicts what I think of when I think of living life together. I'm praying for my church to realize what life like this can mean; I'm also praying for the wisdom to lead them into that kind of life. Come Lord Jesus!

Guitar Hero II

Rachelle shredding a blistering, face-melting solo . . .

It should be illegal to have this much fun! ROCK ON! :)

Happy 25th Birthday, CD!

The Compact Disc recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and USA Today ran a story about it. I remember waaaaaaaaaaaay back when I was at DePauw University, and Steve Crawford was my room-mate my Senior Year. I only had a turntable (you know, for those vinyl things, what were they called?), but Steve, he had one of those new-fangled SONY CD players. And I bought my very first CD, which was "Third Stage" by Boston.

So how 'bout you? What was the first CD that you bought? Leave a comment - Give us a band name and the title of the, um, album?

Hurley, Three Dog Night, and Hope

The Collins' are addicted to LOST. The addiction really hasn't been a gradual thing, slowly building over the past three seasons of the show's airing on ABC. No, thanks to the generosity of Niek and Heidi Klein Kromhof, we've crammed 3 seasons of LOST into 3 months, making us more like crack addicts than simple popcorn munching TV watchers. It's sad when we draw the curtains to darken the room and huddle around a laptop with a 15" screen, elbowing for position, all because our DVD player is on the fritz. LOST is that good. But most of you probably know that - we're just late to the party, hosted by Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the gang. Anywho.

An episode in Season 3, entitled "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" was a good one for me. Our large LOST friend Hurley ("dude") has a lot of stuff going on is his head (on this show, who doesn't, right?) - but something Hurley needs, maybe more than anything else, is HOPE.

And HOPE is found in a VW Van.

While I don't want to spoil the episode for you, I do want to say that something "clicked" for me when that van was flying down the hillside, about to slam into the rocks. Hurley whispers the words "Hope is never stupid", pops the clutch, accidentally knocks in an 8-track of Three Dog Night sending "Shambala" pumping through the old van, and . . . Hope is restored.

I suppose I'm typing all of this now, because I've been reminded of several things by LOST. One, is that God is big enough to use anything He wants to speak to me. Am I listening? Am I looking for him in the everyday? Am I really? Jesus speaks often of those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. It's for sure that He uses a bizarre, captivating TV show all the time in my life! May I not limit the ways in which I am open to God to pull me closer.

A second thing is that some songs just make you happy. Does that sound silly? Do you know what I mean? Some call them driving songs or road trip tunes. I prefer the term "porch music." At any rate, there are some songs that you're just really glad you heard them when you did. And for me, "Shambala" was one of those songs. [Editors note: PLEASE don't bring me down with comments about all the Buddhist stuff swirling around that song and how it's infiltrating my brain each time I hear it . . . please don't. Just dig the song, man. Just dig the song. Isn't God bigger than Buddha?]

Lastly, I am reminded of the human need for HOPE, and how that HOPE is ultimately manifest in the person of Jesus Christ. Hurley needed hope, and when he found it, it set him free. My prayer, as I consider the continual need in my life for hope, is that you too will be set free by seeking HOPE in Christ. I'll close with some words by the Apostle Paul.

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:15-17 (English Standard Version)

Enjoy the ride. Peace Out.

Poll on Youth Happiness

On Monday, the Associated Press released a great story detailing the findings of a poll on "youth happiness." Those of you with kids will find it most interesting, I suspect. You can read it here.

Summit Session 5

Session 5 of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit opened with a demonstration of innovation in action. If you haven't checked out the Erik Mongrain video that I posted last week, you need to do so - Erik's "Air Tap" is amazing.

From there, Harvard Professor Michael Porter spoke to us about "Strategy and Leadership." Specifically, Porter's topic was "Trying to Do Good in Your Community" which led to the question, "How do you do well at doing good?" I appreciated his passion when he stated quite simply that "We can't afford to not be effective."

Porter is a very educated academic-type of cat, but he raised a lot of questions that I think most Missions Teams at our local churches would do well to wrestle with. In particular, some ideas that got me thinking were:

• The mind-set of philanthropy must be shifted from seeing your efforts as charity to understanding that you are delivering a social service; the question then becomes "How do I add value to that customer?"
• Value = Social Benefit / Dollar Expended
• "Worthiness" can't be the basis for why we choose to do something, as there are literally thousands of worthy causes; our decision must be based on where I/we can add the most value.
• Most groups do too many things with too little value, allowing passions to supersede the examination of value!
• Meeting the needs of our communities must be at the core of our purpose as a church, but it must be done well.

Summit Session 4

Okay, if you ever have a chance to hear Marcus Buckingham speak, drop what you're doing and go. Seriously. He's really good. REALLY good. He is one of the premier thinkers on personal performance in the workplace as well as workplace management. And you're thinking, "I can't tell you how boring that sounds." Well, trust me - this cat has it going on. He is one of the sharpest, most entertaining speakers you're going to find.

I can go on and on about how Marcus got to where he's at; your best bet is to check out his web site. That will save me time typing, and I won't sound like I have a man-crush on him. :)

While he's written several excellent books, I HIGHLY suggest viewing "Trombone Player Wanted" -- if you're ever struggled with putting people in places where their strengths flourished, whether that was in a ministry or business setting, this is a great product. The film was produced by the same folks who do Rob Bell's NOOMA series. Again, good, good stuff.

Okay, here are some quick hits from Marcus:

• Contrary to what Madonna might say, we live in a "remedial-based world" -- we are fascinated with our weaknesses and less interested in our strengths!
• To learn "good" you don't study "bad"; you only learn about excellence by studying excellence!
• Leadership is not about fixing weaknesses; it is about stepping up strengths.
• Our ideal life is usually far from what we're living now.
• We must begin to build on our strengths and manage around our weaknesses.
• Anais Nin quote: "There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom."

Summit Session 3

Rev. Floyd Flake spoke at Session 3 of the Summit. I have to admit that he was the hardest guy I've ever tried to take notes on, and I'm a pretty good note-taker (color coded even!). But there were still some great leadership insights thrown our way, and I managed to catch a couple of them:

• Understanding the process must be coupled with an understanding of direction -- where we are moving to, while achieving the ultimate goal.
• Failure to delegate is the pitfall of passive leadership.
• Information flow and open communication are signs that a problem can be solved.
• Any entity requires transformation before it can be the best that God desires it to be.
• Our role may be to introduce change into a process; we may not be around to see the change take its final form -- consider John the Baptist.

Psalm 19

This really spoke to me this morning, and I thought I'd share it with you . . .

Psalm 19 (The Message)
A David Psalm

1-2 God's glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.
Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.

3-4 Their words aren't heard, their voices aren't recorded,
But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

4-5 God makes a huge dome for the sun—a superdome!
The morning sun's a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed,
The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.

6 That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset,
Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

7-9 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes.
God's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee.
The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.

10 God's Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds.
You'll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.

11-14 There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.
Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool?
Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh!
Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work;
Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

Summit Session 2

The lead-in to Session 2 at The Leadership Summit was a video entitled "Homeless Karaoke" - you can watch the clip here. This is an awesome reminder that we are called into the world, and can't expect the world to come to us. When will I follow Christ in a way that makes someone else's life better? The time for questions must end, and they must be replaced with action.

Carly Fiorina was the CEO of HP and led the merger with Compaq. She was the only female CEO in the Fortune 20. And she was fired. For reasons I'm still not able to see clearly, her story kind of captivated me. Here are a couple of nuggets she dropped on us:

• A logic class in college taught her "the power of the right question."
• Leadership is about seeing and unlocking the potential in others.
• Nothing worthwhile happens with a single person acting alone.
• Learning takes place outside of your comfort zone - doing what you're good at is simply using your skills.
• Give people a vision that's more compelling than what they are afraid of.
• Being fired gave Carly the "gift of freedom."

Next up: Session 3 with Floyd Flake

Thinking About the Leadership Summit

If you do a google search for "2007 Leadership Summit" you can find complete sets of notes on each session - some people were even posting "live" to their blogs, which on some level is cool, but on another causes me to pause and think "Dude, get a life!" :) My point is that there may not be a lot of value in me simply adding my notes to the huge collection already on the web.

But what I'm thinking might be kinda cool is to simply share 1 or 2 interesting comments or quotes from each session. Maybe something that surprised me (like watching Erik Mongrain do his "air tap" - way cool!) or really caused me to think an issue through.

So, without further ado, I'll begin with Bill Hybels' first session "Vision to Die For"

"Vision is the painting of a picture that produces passion in people."

"Great leaders spend more time building ownership of a vision than they do taking credit for the vision."

Next up: Session 2 with Carly Fiorina

Air Tap!

This cat played at The Leadership Summit, and it was simply amazing; I thought you'd enjoy it as well. I give you Erik Mongrain . . .

Heading to The Summit!

If you were ever looking for a premier leadership training event, this is it. And I'm heading there tomorrow! Peace Out!

The Day of Release Draws Near

Halo 3: Finish the Fight. Oh ya, it's ON!