Proximity or Intimacy

Today marks the beginning of a new month. As i plan my august i can already tell that it is going to be crazy busy. I am excited to take on the challenges that lie ahead, but I can't get this lingering question out of my head:

This month will I be seeking proximity with God or intimacy with God?

I think that a lot of times, sadly, I want to be in the same area with God. I want to be close to Him because...let's face it, there are perks involved with being close to God. With proximity we have a false sense of being close to God, but there are no risks involved. Spending time around God and learning about God and staying busy doing things for God are not the same as being intimate with God. People who choose to live in proximity with God without intimacy tend to be really into religion, but get really uncomfortable when you start asking questions like: How's your relationship with Jesus been lately?

I talk to married couples all of the time who live in proximity with each other for many years, but never really become intimate with each other. How sad is that? Yet, sometimes we chose the same thing with our relationship with Christ.

God wants to have a voice in our lives...he wants to be involved in the mess that we sometimes make. When we choose to become intimate with him, that means we have to let him past the outer shell that we so often keep up for everyone else. So I have re-alligned my goals this month from what I want to accomplish for God to how intimate I want to be with God.

Will you choose proximity or intimacy this month?

Away

One of the coolest parts about my job is that I get to travel to our off-site locations and assist with training the small group leaders at each campus. Today Mac and I are in Greenville, SC and trained some of the sharpest small group leaders around. It constantly amazes me at the talent and leadership at Seacoast Church. Props to Chris Surratt for doing such a great job of leading the Greenville Campus. For those who were wondering, Chris is my uncle.

The only drawback to doing what I do is that occasionally I have to spend nights away from my Lisa...which means it can be tough to sleep...which is why I am posting at this hour.

Sometimes a picture will have to do.

Line Drives

I know what you're thinking...this is the first picture I have ever posted on this site, why did I choose a baseball player lying in a vulnerable position?
This is a picture of Matt Clement. He is a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who was hit in the head with a line drive off the bat of a player that he was pitching against. Can you imagine...you're about 50 feet away from a guy when he smacks a 95 mph pitch back at your head going well over 100 mph. For about a half-second you think about reacting but there's no time. This is one of the reasons that I have no desire to be a major league pitcher. They are right on the front lines!

For some strange reason the image of him getting beaned has stuck in my mind. I started thinking about how in ministry we talk about how we are on the "front lines" in a spiritual battle. If so, what are the "line drives" that we have to react to? I have been reading Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby and he talks about some pitfalls that we face as leaders so I thought I would start a series of posts where I will talk about some of them. I am going to call them line drives since I am a crazy sports fan.

So #1 - Pride - An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit

• It tempts us to take credit from others and God
• It closes our mind and makes us unteachable
• It makes us think that we can do it on our own
• It causes us to lose compassion for others
• It will eventually lead to the loss of our relationships, credibility and ultimately our position as a leader

How can we dodge the line drive of pride as leaders?

Building Muscle

I mentioned before that I was going to read Now, Discover Your Strengths and find out what my strengths are. It is a great read. Here's my results and a brief description of what they mean:

1. A D A P T A B I L I T Y - Prefer to "go with the flow". They tend to be "now" people who take things as they come and discover their future one day at a time.
2. R E L A T O R - Enjoys close relationships with others. They find deep satisfaction in working hard with friends to achieve a goal.
3. B E L I E F - Have certain core values that are unchanging. Out of these values emerges a defined purpose for their life.
4. D E V E L O P E R - Recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from those improvements.
5. C O M P E T I T I O N - Measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place and revel in contests.

The best that I can figure out is that I desperately need to see a psychiatrist. The developer in me likes to see others succeed, but the competition in me doesn't want them to do as well as me. Scary.

I am meeting with Mac Lake on Tuesday to talk about how these results may impact what I do. It's great to work in an organization that wants to use the strengths of it's employees so that they can contribute to their maximum potential.

Are you the best in the world?

I just got back from a great trip to Colorado with my brother and my dad. I got the opportunity to spend some time with three guys who have seen a lot of success in three completely different areas.

• King Herrington - This is my 84 year old grandfather. His talent is very unique and somewhat weird. He is a member of the "Barbwire Hall of Fame". I know that doesn't sound like much, but when grandpa was 50 years old he decided to learn about barbwire. I won't tell the full story now, but to sum it up, he fell in love with the history of fences in Colorado. He is now recognized, albeit by not more than a few hundred other barbwire lovers, as one of the top barbwire collectors in the world. It was fascinating to hear his stories.
• Daryl O'Dell - A friend of ours who is the retired police chief of Ft. Collins. After 27 years in the police department, Ft. Collins had one of the top police forces in the country. After retiring, he and his son partnered in buying a golf course, which we enjoyed thoroughly. I'll post about that later.
• Brent Rowen - We spent some time in Steamboat Springs with a legendary guitar player named Brent Rowan. The albums that Brent has played on have sold more than 100 million copies - artists including Alabama, Chris Ledoux, Hank Williams Jr., Reba McIntyre, Tim McGraw and the Beach Boys, to name a few. Most of the music isn't my style, but he has risen to the top of his field.

On the flight home, I was thinking about what I could learn from these guys. The overriding thought is this: Find out what you're good at and become the best in the world at it. God has created each of us to excel at something. For my grandpa it was a hobby, for Daryl it was his career, and for Brent it was both.

My next step is to read Now, Discover Your Strengths and see where I land. I'll keep you posted. What are you great at?

The Osbournes...errr....Surratts

I think our family may be falling apart. We are on vacation - 9 of us total and we just attempted to play a card game. I am humbly submitting a request for your prayers! We still have two days left on this trip.

More to come later.