I will greet the day with love in my heart. (The Greatest Salesman)

After sharing with Bob at work a little about my life's passion, he gave me a book.   I thought the part below was worth passing along

"I will greet the day with love in my heart. 
And how will I do this?
Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. 
I will love the sun for it warms my bones;
yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. 
I will love the light for it shows me the way;
yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars.
I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart;
yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. 
I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due;
yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.  "

The Scroll Marked II:
The Greatest Salesman in the world
Og Mandino

Restoring Lives West: They will Know we are Christians by our Love

All I knew is that I wasn't supposed to work with my hands, but to pick up drinks snacks and be available. Just before I left a hailstorm turned into a downpour, but we ended up having a wonderfully pleasant day together with the folks from Lynhurst Baptist Church (Dave, Hope, Don and Ben) and the 25 people from Connection Point in Brownsburg (Mike, Darrell and many other REALLY hard working folks). We even had a couple of other visitors from Bluff Creek Church from Greensburg IN, who plan to return on August 18 to bgin work on the house--removing the plaster walls and work on the Kitchen.

I was really struck by the deep desire of everyone to give from a thankful heart, and how we have it set deep in us to follow Jesus to serve others, as he set an example with His disciples.

(click on the picture to enlarge)

To explain the why Restoring Lives West exists, Hope began talking about the teens. She described how important it was just to have someone pick up the phone when they had no one else to turn to. This was really more important than the food, shelter, laundry, job referral and training. However it was was important to be able to take those pains out of the way, so that others could hear the message. Not in a "preachy way", but in response to a question like "How did you get this food Hope?" or "Why are you still here when we treat you so badly Hope?". These become the springboards for the good news that they need to hear, and can finally believe, because somebody showed them love in a way that they really needed. Something we take for granted everyday.

Dave from LBC told me a story about a relative who worked in the army driving tanks, owned several farms, including large farms he cultivated around what is Park 100 today.The fellow finally moved up to live the "good life" on a farm in Lebanon, and died when his tractor rolled off the bank into a pond and pinned him underwater. Ben reminded me of the story in Luke 13:12 about the man who built bigger and bigger barns, and then his life was taken away...all this makes me think about what really matters now that I am "not over the hill, but I can see it".

Today I felt we were all receiving, giving and loving God together.

Many more Pictures of all Project Work at Restoring Lives West
http://picasaweb.google.com/bluebird1996/RestoringLivesWest#

Restoring Lives West
http://www.restoringliveswest.org/

Participating Churches
http://www.lynhurstbaptist.org/
http://lifechurchindy.com/
http://www.bluffcreek.org/home.aspx?iid=102741
http://www.connectionpointechurch.org/

Who are you? Where are you going?

Who are you? Where are you going?

How would you answer these questions? Have you answered them recently?

One of my bosses at work asked, and laid out all the questions below in preparation for a team-builder event. I thought to myself: good questions! Then conviction hit, WOW, I wish I had been paying even more attention to the stuff I believe really matters.

The same STUFF came up in a conversation at training this week. We were practicing interview techniques, and asked one of my coworkers, "How would you define success?" She started saying "RESULTS", went on to tell about how her dad instilled the desire to set goals, then achieve them. My heart started to break, because I could see in her eyes a little girl trying to gain the approval of her father, for years. Later in the practice interview, she admitted to not having friends, or family, and that her whole life was about work. Hmmm....Maybe she/we should focus less on results, more about enjoying daddy.

This is a real Fortune 500 corporate questionnaire, with real answers I submitted today: Maybe I would have answered this survey differently about two years or even two weeks ago. How about you? Have your priorities changed? Should they? Should mine?

Who are you?

Rank the following things from 1 (most important to you) to 11 (least important to you)

1. Sense of belonging
2. Being trusted
3. Pleasant work environment
4. Interesting work
5. Loyalty from above
6. Job security
7. Recognition from above
8. Challenging work
9. Money
10. Opportunity for travel
11. Opportunity for promotion

Please answer the following questions about yourself

--What do you like to do in your spare time? Facebook, blogging, spend time with my sons, men's group

--Who are the most important people in your life right now and why? Church: They help me understand why I am here, and provide the venue for me to help others Family: They are a key part of my mission

--What are you most passionate about in your life? Finding God in the details of life and sharing that with others

--What are two of your biggest strengths? Empathy, storytelling

What are two things about yourself you are trying to improve? Move from Dissipation to boldness, relationship with daughters

--What are your favorite movie and your favorite book? The Guardian/Wild at Heart --What are you most looking forward to in the next 12 months? Restoring a house for street outreach and student referral

--What is the one thing most people don’t know about you but you wish they did? I love to blog, build community

--What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about having a job to support yourself? Leading a long-term community service project that helped others discover God and find hope in the midst of the difficulty in their lives


Below is a message from Scott Himes about Your story,

Band of Brothers Wedding Celebration

Photos

The youngest among the Band of Brothers (Jeremiah) is getting married. To honor and help him, we got together last night to share some great Brats (thanks Bill), some stories, and finished up with some pool (9-ball) in the basement. We even watched a short video of Jeremiah sky-diving!

Each of the guys spent time asking God about the stories from their own life, and the life-lessons they learned. Most of the stories were intensely personal, but the life lessons below seemed that they deserved to be remembered, not just by Jeremiah, but anyone who is in a relationship with a spouse, or with God.

---

Brad C.

1. "New covenant....written on their hearts...remember their sins no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34 ....Its a covenant based on forgiveness.
2. "[God] calls things that are not as though they were." Romans 4:17 ....Seeing our spouse as God does
   
3. "Love never fails" 1 Cor 13:8 ....Love always wins, despite what you see.

---

Bill O.

1. "May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth" Proverbs 5:18 Set a high value on your marriage and your wife. Everything you invest in marriage now will pay off dividends for the rest of your life.
2. "Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife" Proverbs 21:19 I once heard that you can’t win an argument with your wife…cause even if you win…you still loose. Women react to the way we treat them and they become quarrelsome when they are not being treated well.
3. "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. "Proverbs 27:6.... Stay in the company of people who will give you good advice and tell you what you need to hear rather then what you want to hear
4. "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 ....Seek fellowship of other men who desire to grow in Christ, fight the good fight, win the race and help you stay on your current path in life.
5. "...may you rejoice in the wife of your youth" Proverbs 5:18

---

Bill G.

1. "...we are the salt of the earth" Matthew 5:13
2. "....Is tasteless food eaten without salt.... I refuse to touch it...such food makes me ill." Job 6:6
3. A chefs hat doesn't make a good chef. We season life, the seasoning the good Lord puts into you. Each flavor from the Holy Spirit ( salt, pepper, basil) helps the bland pot of stew.
4. Love her even when you don't like her. My dad said " soup with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate".

---

Garry C.

1. Communication: Prov 13 Real communication, stay connected.
2. Consideration: Helpful and forgiving and considerate of each other
3. Compromise: Honor and value one another
4. Conflict: Learn how to have conflict
5. Committment Malachai 2:16 God Hates Divorce, not many times God says he hates something
6. Christ: Takes Three to Tango Ecclesiastes , a chord of 3 strands is not easily broken.
   

Shared a song called Slow Fade

---

Ed B.

Learn how to breathe...not respond out of emotion, but in response to God. If you make a mistake, you can alway fall back on the fact you are a man....they usually accept that as a good reason :)

---

Joel C.

Let her shop, saving other thoughts for the next event.

---

Scott H.

I ask my wife to replace the word Love in 1 Cor 13 with his name everywhere the word Love appears, and asks her how he is doing on each of those measures.

1. Put toothpaste on her toothbrush
2. Call her another name, like "Beautiful", careful not to use it to be manipulative.
3. Recognize that as they draw near to God (picture three points on a triangle), they will draw near to each other.
   

---

Mike C.

From Brennan Manning (Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God)

"Ruthless trust is choosing to be a homebody. As you exhale breath throughout the day, let AH be a simple reminder of your true domicile. My gracious Lord has shown me that the best way to strip fear of its awesome power is to be a homebody, to stay home in the palace of nowhere. Ruthless trust is an unerring sense, way deep down that beneath the surface agitation, boredom, and insecurity of life, it's gonna be all right. Ill winds may blow, more character defects, may surface, sickness may visit, and friends will surely die, but a stubborn, irrefutable certainty persists that God is with us and loves us in our struggle to be faithful. A nonrational, absolutely true intuition perdures that there is something unfathomably big in the universe (kabod), something that points to Someone who is filled with peace and power, love and undreamed of creativity--Someone who inevitable will reconcile all things to himself.

Why does our trust offer such immense pleasure to God? Because trust is the pre-eminent expression of love. Thus, it may mean more to Jesus when we say, 'I trust you,' than when we say, 'I love you.'

Where am I in all this? With you, clasping hands each morning and crying out in union, "Lord Jesus, I trust you, help my lack of trust."

Photos here

http://picasaweb.google.com/bluebird1996/2009BandOfBrothersWeddingCelebration#

Death, What are we to make?

6/23 Ed McMahon, 86
6/25 Farrah Fawcett, 62
6/25 Michael Jackson, 50
6/28 Billy Mayes, 50
7/1 Karl Madden, 97
7/4 Steve McNair, 36
7/6 Robert McNamera, 93

Death, What are we to make?
Very rarely do we see
the mighty fall so suddenly.
What are we to think, what are we to see?
If to them it happens, what dear Lord of me?

Is my life the same today....
will I live for naught.
Did it mean anything?
What now I have I wrought?

At the end will others know
the better life ahead
If my life were over now,
If my body dead.

All that lies within me
Now quickens at the call,
"Live your life as though you died",
or live
not at all.

My hope is in you

Death be not proud (John Donne)
Death be not proud, though some have callèd thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Restoring Lives West: July 4th

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up I noticed I was late
Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat

A day in the life
Beatles, 1967

Do your days run together, until you forgot why you were alive?  Today I had an adventure with my friend Garry with a weapon of war that was a lot like a Star Wars light-saber.  We spent the morning clearing brush a trash and yes, even tearing out an old fence (cost me a cracked rib).



We braved poison ivy, hidden danger in the weeds, but we triumphed together just before the rains came.  It was a good day to read a section from the Wild Goose Chase (Batterson),  "We have a primal longing to be un-caged.  And the cage opens when we realize that Jesus didn't die on the cross to make us safe. Jesus died to make us dangerous". Think about what he asked the rich young ruler to do.

Here is a quick list of the cages we allow ourselves into:
1) Cage of responsibility
2) Cage of routine
3) Cage of Assumptions
4) Cage of guilt
5) Cage of Failure
6) Cage of Fear

"Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 18:18
much more to learn about this.....stay tuned.   :)