caffeine, please.

Days away

So I've been absent for the last several days.  I think this is the longest blog entry drought I've had since I started in June.  Thursday and Friday I left my computer home on our family trip to Michigan to see family.  Saturday and Sunday have been in full gear mode for Africa Sunday.  This is my first chance to sit down and even check email.

I'll blog some processing of the Africa Sunday experience tomorrow.  Awesome Day! 

Reading

Just updated my book recommendations list to reflect some recent reads and some other books that have strongly influenced and shaped my heart in the past. 

Here's an important question for anyone hungry to grow--what are you reading right now?  I have several books going at any given time.  I look to read at any available moment.  I make it a practice to carry a book and highlighter almost all the time.

Reading is a powerful tool for discipleship.  By it you can become a disciple, for a brief period of time, to someone who has learned and grown in ways you haven't yet.  In fact, in reading you get the best thoughts, the most tested ideas that a person has to offer from their experience and they're learning. 

Reading isn't the only tool for growth, but it is a legal way to sneak into someone's inner sanctum and glean their best thinking and teaching on that subject.  Let me encourage you to be a reader. 

Do you have a recommended book?  Drop it on me in the comments.  I'd love to hear how God is growing you through what you are reading.

Chasing lions

Just finished reading

...Mark Batterson's first book and a great read!  The book is based off of 2 Samuel 23:20-21, an obscure reference about a key member of David's military leadership.

Here are some great little nuggets from the book:

• Lion chasers know that their best thought about God on their best day falls infinitely short of how great God really is.
• Lion chasers aren't afraid of doing something that seems ridiculous to others--because they know that anything is possible with God.
• Half of learning is learning.  The other half of learning is unlearning.  Unfortunately, unlearning is twice as hard as learning.  It's like missing your exit on the freeway.  You have to drive to the next exit and then double back.  Every mile you go in the wrong direction is really a two-mile error.
• ...Psychiatrists posit that we're born with only two innate fears:  the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  That means that every other fear is learned.  And more importantly, that means that every fear can be unlearned.
• Lion chasers have a high threshold for fear because they have built up fear immunity.
• The cure for the fear of failure is not success.  It's failure.  The cure for the fear of rejection is not acceptance.  It's rejection.  You've got to be exposed to small quantities of whatever you're afraid of.  That's how you build up immunity.
• If we did an honest assessment of our prayer lives, I think we'd be amazed at the percentage of prayers aimed at problem reduction.

Those are some good starter quotes.  I may add more later.  Thinking that this may be a great book for a small group (men's group?) to use this coming year. 

A Crime Against Manhood

The scene of the crime:

The story:  I had begun to notice a subtle drop on the marriage "fun-o-meter" in my house and resolved to take my wife on a date to increase the fun factor and raise the fun-o-meter reading.  Wednesday night was our only available evening--so Wednesday night becomes date night at the Bruursema's. 

Babysitter--check, gift card to great restaurant--check, beautiful wife--check, let's go!  We arrive at our dinner destination, have a great meal, identify some key family schedule changes that will relieve some stress in our life and then head out for our second destination:  The Fireside Bowl on Fullerton.

On the way in I suggest to my wife that she receive a 30 pin handicap in her favor to account for her lack of bowling practice and prowess.  I'm a gentleman.  I don't relish beating up on girls.  She flatly refuses my offer.  Claims she's a great bowler and that I'm in trouble.  I snicker.  "This poor woman is going down in a head to head bowling match with me."  Before bowling I let her beat me at billiards one game just to make sure the night isn't a total loss for her.

We put on our bowling shoes (mine were flashy neon), selected our ball and settle in to lane 11.  I enter her into the computer as the first bowler.  As I said before, I'm a gentleman.

She steps to the line for her first ball, rears back and heaves... a STRIKE!  Seriously.  How did that happen?  Next ball?  STRIKE!  At the 5th frame are a few points apart and I'm feeling like I am getting into my bowling groove.  Turns out it was more my bowling gutter.  Final score, game 1:  Gil--141, Kevin--128.  Ouch.

Second game.  Chance at redemption.  "Must win, Kevin."  Again, 5th frame we're neck-and-neck.  This time the aire of foolish confidence is diminished.  I'm scrapping to win.  10th frame, close game, her first ball is a strike.  I need approximately 3 strikes in the 10th to win.  I don't get 3 strikes.  Game over.  Gil--121, Kevin--111.  Oh the humanity!  The blow to my manhood and my competitive spirit!  Beaten twice by my own wife!

Seriously, though, I must have married the coolest chick in the world.  Never bowls.  Beats her husband at bowling, twice and looks good doing it.  Nice.

Scripture rescue

This morning, for no earthly reason, I just woke up feeling a strong desire to quit.  Ever feel like that?  I just felt like enough is too much.  And this was after a great day yesterday.  Life is like that isn't it?  You're up one day and then for no reason, the next morning, you don't feel right.

On a day like this, you need spiritual disciplines in your life to protect you from yourself.  If you don't have disciplines to protect you then you're left with your feelings and your feelings will take you the wrong direction on a day like that.

I opened my Bible while still in my pj's.  Hebrews 12:12-17.  I didn't plan it--it was just where I was in my daily reading.  And it was like a long drink of Red Bull, spiritually speaking.  I prayed the passage back to God with faith but not with strength.  And God restored my soul.  That's as clearly as I can state it.  Praying the right Scripture at the right moment restored my soul.

And that's why everyone needs spiritual disciplines built into their daily life. 

Chest Bump Principle

Yesterday I spent the day with my #2 earthly friend (#1 being my wife), Matt Mason.  We called the day "Twosday" and our focus was to spend the day helping each other evaluate our lives, plan and grow.  For 6+ hours we talked through personal mission statements, ministry planning, business planning and personal goals.

I'll say this:  Twosday was the most power-packed, personally beneficial day I've had in a long time.  That's the power of a good friendship--when you connect in a purposeful, intentional way, you can really help each other grow.

We discovered a funny principle as we were hanging out in Barnes & Noble cafe talking.  Matt called it the "Chest Bump Principle". 

Here's the thing:  I have a tendency to shoot off my mouth.  To sometimes make, shall we say, emphatic statements and then have to eat my words.  Matt gives it a positive spin saying what I'm really doing is throwing myself out there for a "chest bump" and waiting for an opposing force to respond to my chest bump.  In other words, through chest bumping I grow if my chest bump is met with a return volley.

Matt and I had two clear "Chest Bump" moments yesterday: 

CB Moment #1—Kevin:  “My personal mission statement will never be as short as yours.”  In 15 minutes of further discussion, my mission statement ended up being even shorter than Matt’s.
CB Moment #2—Matt’s question:  “what about telemarketing as a way to connect with people who need God.”  Kevin:  “I hate telemarketing.  No way.  We’ll never consider doing that.”  Matt:  “Since you are so emphatic, let me challenge your response.  Why not use the phone to reach people?”  10 minutes later we birthed a vision for a city wide campaign to pray one-on-one for 1% of the city of Chicago in 2007, including prayer over the phone.

This is the Chest Bump Principle in dynamic process.  Growth happens when I can emphatically chest bump, and have my chest bump met with the resistance of the other person’s chest bump.

Fun stuff.  Enough self-revelation for today. 

A Plea to the NFL

I've been a Detroit Lions fan even before Eric Hipple's Monday Night Miracle in 1981 against the Chicago Bears.  The glory days for my team were under Wayne Fontes.  Think about that--Wayne Fontes.   

I blame my dad, really.  He let me be a Lion's fan.  He could have kept me from it--I could have been a Bears fan; they're only 3 hours from my home town.  But I'm stuck with the Lions.  The mascot of futility in all of sports.  The model for ineptness. 

You can't quit a team when your team stinks--thats a core rule of fandom.  As long as your team is still bad, its your team.  Since the Lions will always be bad, I will always be stuck with them.  Unless...

An idea struck me this morning while listening to Bears fans revel in their latest victory:  what if the NFL fired the Lions?  What if they sent the Lions to NFL Europe?  What if they made the Lions an Arena League team?

If the Lions were no longer an NFL team--fired for their colossal, longterm patheticness--then I'd have freedom to pick a brand new team.   Then, if my team stinks, I alone am to blame.

So here's my plea, Paul Tagliabue:  Fire the Lions.  Please.  Deliver this pathetic fan from constant embarrassment and shame over the Honululu Blue and Silver.  Let me pick a new team from your league.

Welcome to the World of Panera

Had a good meeting this morning with Terre Haas, a church mobilizer from Operation Mobilization's U.S. Office.  I was able to introduce him to Panera Bread.  It's always fun to introduce the uninitiated to the wonderful world of great bread, decent coffee and free unlimited WIFI internet access.

But more importantly, we got a chance to talk about how as a church we can support Stephanie Pugh, a new OM missionary who calls New Life Lakeview her home.  I appreciated Terre's heart.  His desire was to give us ideas and help in staying connected with Stephanie while she serves during the next two years in the U.K. with O.M.

Terre was a pastor for 23 years at the same church before coming to work for O.M.--a rare commodity in the modern American church and something I highly respect.  Always enjoy new partnerships that happen when we connect with people serving Jesus. 

Always pray and don't lose heart

Tonight as I tucked in the kids I asked each one individually, "what is something that you are praying about or concerned about right now that I can join you in praying for?"

Tyce was trying to tell me something but it was really getting stuck and he was getting choked up and tearful the more he tried to say it.  With much labor he told me, "daddy, it's like there is a little voice inside of me that is telling me I don't love Jesus.  It kind of sounds like my voice and it is making my head hurt."  He said this with many tears.

We hugged and I comforted him for a few minutes and then we began to talk.  I reminded him of some important truths:

• Jesus invites me to tell the truth to Him, even when the truth is that I feel like a voice is saying "I don't love you."
• The Cross is always where I bring everything that burdens my life.
• Jesus always exchanges my life for His at the Cross--my thoughts for His thoughts, my love for His love, my heart for His heart.
• Jesus loves me as I am and I can't convince Him to stop loving me no matter how crazy my thoughts or actions are.
• It is normal to have wrong thoughts, feel spiritual turmoil and struggle to love and honor Jesus because of the nature of sin inside of me.

Afterward we prayed and then I reminded him he'll need to keep praying in this pattern each time these thoughts come up.  It was a very powerful encounter.

Can I be honest?  A part of me leaped in panic when my son told me there was a "little person inside" telling him he didn't love Jesus.  But love, prayer and honesty is better than panic and I hope we just had a major opportunity to face a Giant in Tyce's life and that he's beginning to learn how to defeat that Giant in Jesus' name.

What you are doing right

I want to encourage you to make a list.  In just a moment when you finish reading this, I'd like you to load Microsoft Word, and begin making a "What I'm Doing Right" list.  That's right, make a list of everything you're doing well, each moment you sensed victory, each part, however small, of a project or a task that you could say, "I did that right."

Why?  Well, if you're even a little like me, the list you have an oceanfront view by default is the "What I'm Doing Wrong" list.  On this list is each failure from your last several days/months/years, each undone item on your to do list, each missed opportunity, and each weakness or failure in your skills or character.

Problem:  if you spend the majority of your time obsessing over and trying to fix your failures, you are likely spending very little time trying to develop what you are good at.  And that means what you could be really good at, your only sort of not bad at.  And what you are really bad at isn't really getting better, its just making you more miserable because you spend so much time thinking about it.

I believe that if you and I can take our eyes off of our "Doing Wrong List" and move over to the "Doing Right List" for a few minutes, we might just find ourselves smiling a little more, getting a little more excited about our day, seeing our attitude lift and being a little bit better prepared to tackle some of the "Doing Wrong" items that need our attention.

So go ahead, make a list, as hard as it might be to refocus your attention...  And encourage someone else to do the same thing.  Here I go to make mine...

What is hidden

There is no easy way to face news like what surfaced yesterday about Ted Haggard.  Ted has been a leading light for Evangelicals, a friendly Christian voice who told the truth about the gospel when interviewed on national news outlets.  He's also appeared on TV specials, was elected the president of the NAE, regularly gives advice to our President and pastors a church of great influence in Colorado Springs.  Ted is a humble guy--no self-importance or perceived big ego in his manner.  He's always struck me as the real deal.

About 6 months ago I had given out a message from Ted on fasting.  I told people it was the best message I'd ever heard on any spiritual discipline.  Many people were blessed by it. 

Now the dust has yet to settle on what is true and what is false--it may never settle, in fact.   But here's me hoping that most of what has been alleged is not true.  Yet my instincts tell me that this is going to be more ugly than anyone would like.

Lord, God, guard my life.  Oh, guard me Jesus.  Guard our pastoral team.  Don't let us hide.  Expose us in your mercy so that we don't let what is hidden become a source for destruction in people's lives and a blight on your name, Jesus.

Why we can't ignore Africa

There is an episode in Band of Brothers called, "Why We Fight".  It shows the soldiers' experience as they encounter a concentration camp for the first time toward the end of WWII .  It puts into perspective all the ugliness of war they'd experienced when they are able to free concentration camp victims.  The episode is powerful, as is the entire series.

I believe we in America have a similarly undeniably calling to respond to the AIDS and orphan crisis happening halfway around the world in Africa.

This Kenyan widow says it better than I could:

"In the past, [African] people used to care for the orphans and loved them, but these days they are so many, and many people have died who could have assisted them, and therefore orphanhood is a common phenomenon, not strange.  The few who are alive cannot support them."  (from the UNICEF Report on African Orphans)

Christians respond to the cry of widows and orphans.  It has always been so.  Sub-saharan Africa has 80% of the worlds AIDS orphans--over 10 million!   In God's ears, that cry is loud. 

Would you join in response?  Come to Africa Sunday, November 26 at our New Life Lakeview location.  You'll hear more about the crisis from African speakers who are responding with the love of Jesus and we'll give you an opportunity to respond.