I Am Amazing

I Am Amazing.

Truely and undeniably amazing.

Not because I am talented, good looking, skilled, rich or powerful.

I am beyond worth.

There is no value high enough that you could name, or write a cheque for, that could match my worth.

The exciting thing is that.....so are you!

You see, I, and you, are created by God. Not as clones but unique individuals and we are soo loved.

When we freeze water, we make icecubes. When God freezes water he makes snowflakes.

Do you know Him in your life?

5 Loaves and 2 Fishes. Really?

Lets get this straight: the feeding of the 5000 (John 6) or 5000 men plus all the women and children. That could be around 15,000? some estimates are even higher.

So from all of the men women and children, all the disciples could get is the 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish? Oh, really????

From this story we learn that God is so mighty and powerful that he can perform a miracle and provide for so many with such a small offering. We learn that we cannot out give God. We learn that we can give whatever we have to God and he can use it.

What we don't learn, and maybe we should, is that even amongst those who are happy to watch Jesus, listen to His teaching, follow Him even, it's still easy to hold on to whatever we have.

It's easy to settle for security but it can cost us obedience.

Even those blessings He has already given us need to be given back to Him. This giving cycle should not end with us holding on to anything too tightly because the blessing goes on. Somewhere in the region of 14999 people were blessed , and blessed abundantly, because of that little guy and the food he handed over. Is it your turn now?

YHWH.

Movember! Movember! Movember!

Movember is all about 'changing the face of men's health'. Conceived 12 years ago the movember.com movement has grown (!) to include both raising money and awareness of men's health issues - particularly the male cancers.

And so, in 2010 I finally heard about it (too late) and then...completely forgot about it until October this year. A few social network reminders prompted me to think about doing it. Not for the money, but to get some conversations going. Believe me it worked!

If you're a guy and you've mentioned my mo' (AAC excluded) then you've already had a conversation about health.

At the risk of my marriage, and having learnt that I don't want to grow a mo', I embraced the silly and ploughed on. The result.....?

Actually there's something to add before you get the picture.....

The Men's Health Paradox


The biggest problem with getting guys to look after their health is the paralysing paradox we are stuck in; damned if you do and damned if you don't.

One one hand there are stacks of statistics showing that men don't go to doctors soon enough or pickup on their health issues or even talk about them openly enough. So we want guys to talk about their health more, right? Women want it, the medical profession want it and it's a message you can find in every type of media from magazines to TV.

But on the other, we have 'man flu'. A singularly divisive bit of humour. Used throughout the media and in general conversation, this one 'joke' may have been funny. It may even be funny, but it's also emasculating. If you get nothing but hastle and derision for saying how you feel, you're going to learn to keep quiet very quickly. Right?

So there you have it. You either promote the paradox or you have to actively chose not to. Maybe it's true that whatever you don't condemn, you condone. Whose side are you on?

Women, make your minds up, this is genuinely life or death stuff. Are you going to help us promote men's health issues or hinder us?

As for me, well, I have an appointment with a man and his cut-throat razor!

Picture to follow.......

Vision: Don't leave the house without it!

Why is it that the best people, really good, wise, amazing people don't know why they do what they do? How is it even possible? When did we move from vision to routine?

I've recently asked some leaders I know what their vision is. Active, loving people. They could not tell me straight away.

I asked some others what their churches' vision was. They could not tell me.

If I asked you what your church or company's vision was, could you tell me? how close to what was written on your website would your answer be?

Bear in mind I'm not comparing how well your day to day activities relate to your vision; if they don't then you MUST STOP: the vision is not working!

Ignoring people abilities to communicate clearly, which may be a factor in telling me, these are all people who would only have taken on a role, responsibility or task with a good reason. So where did that reason go?

Anyone who's ever been any where near Willow Creak or Bill Hybels will know the phrase 'Vision Leaks'. Usually, Bill will draw a bucket on a flip-chart and then draw holes in the bottom to illustrate this. What he usually does is leave the remaining space blank but I wonder if that's right. Maybe, just maybe we fill our 'Vision buckets' with something else. Something more mundane, and less God filled. Maybe routine and comfort start to scale up our buckets. Perhaps even if we do get our vision topped up, there's not quite as much room there as there used to be. Do our visions start to get smaller too? or does a tension start to build albeit subtly at first?

I don't know about you but I want to be led by people with clear vision and I want to lead with clear vision.

God I pray that I would never leave the house without it!

Me and My Obsession

Two moments have combined in the last few days to create and interesting effect in my life; a question and a description.

To start with the description: I was reading a blog post by Mark Tuma and as I read it, I just recognised myself. I have thought myself obsessive for some time and I wonder if my life had been different just how easy I would have found addiction. I can easily listen to the same album for literally months as I bike to and from work.

Yet, that obsessive (focused) behaviour does not cover all aspects of my life and indeed just like Mark, does not cover my faith (at least not often). In fact it can often be a distraction. I can obsess over all the areas of my gifts rather than focusing on the God who gave the gifts.

The second (which was actually the first) was a theological question posed to me; classic apologetics.

Only, I didn't know the answer. I postulated a little, but I didn't know. Now, I have been a Christian for as long as the person asking the question has been alive (!) and yet they prompted in me an urgent need to know and so I did went to the only source of information left on the planet and exercised my Google-fu.

However it's not enough to just have the answer, I needed to understand the answer and so, my obsession was focused on my faith and my theology. My in-built preference and style was aligned with what I want to be at the centre of my life.

I am grateful to the person who asked me the question and I am reminded of an phrase:

The Gulf Stream can pass through a straw; if the straw aligns itself with the Gulf Stream

I want to use my gifts and skills to know God more but that means it must be my way and my journey. I have to discover and develop that relationship myself, with God, and I cannot rely on other peoples experience alone. Of course, this effort must not be solely for my benefit alone though.

Brother Lawrence writes, "Let us often remember, dear friend, that our sole occupation in life is to please God"


God, I pray that you would be my obsession.

DiW: 2 Ways to become a better drummer - guaranteed!

Two top tips for becoming a better drummer and yes, they really do work AND I'll tell you them for free...

The better the drums sound, the better you'll play

I was reminded of this one while talking to one of the Gateway Vineyard drummers about the newly tuned snare on the church kit. She had been energised by the fact that when she hit the snare, it had good sound. There were no distracting overtones, or disappointing  noises, just a good sound that freed her up to be more musical and dynamic in her playing.

Good sounding drums help make good sounding drummers.

The better the musicians you work with, the better you'll play


I have previously outlined that one of the things we do in the kind of music I play in church, is to copy other peoples arrangements. It's all very well working on new patterns and parts but if those around you aren't able to play theirs, it's just not going to work as well. But, get together with a group of players who are better than you and they will stretch you, ask things of you musically, and you'll get better. When you're creating your own arrangements, that sort of interaction is vital to make new, interesting music that sounds like you!

Don't forget though that sometimes you'll be the better player helping others step up and sometimes they'll be helping you.

I can think of two bass players that I have worked with in particular, who have made me get better. They have had such good rhythm & tone that I've stepped up my game to match theirs.

Good sounding musicians help make good sounding drummers.

Motivation: a new way to do it?