These videos will change your life. Do not watch them if you have a weak stomach. Be prepared to cry, and cry hard at the reality of this horrible autrocity that happens in our world. It made me want to vomit, not at the images, but at the reality of this happening to people all over the world. Let’s rise up and do something.

I like to do unexpected things. It gets me out of the norm, and challenges me not to be just what others expect of me. Most of all it challenges me to really be me. We often just fall into what others expect of us, and we should never be bound by those expectations if they contradict who we are at the core.

New adventures are a good way to shake things up as well. I’m very thankful to have taken many fun adventures. This can be going somewhere new, or just finding some beauty if something near. I love the mantra from Mark Batterson, “A Change of Pace + A Change of Place = A Change of Perspective.” Take a new adventure and shake things up. Make a ripple effect in that pond. For what it’s worth, I like to think of my life as an adventure everyday, and I wouldn’t want to live any other way.

Think of the things in your life that are routine and have become almost ritual. How might you change them up, so the meaning can come back? As a church leader I am constantly trying to think of new ways to speak old truths. Many people know and hear the same old things, but they no longer carry the same meaning to them because it has become normal. Try to make things new again. That may be in your date nights with your spouse, in the way you drive to work, in how you pray, or in anything that you do of deep meaning.

Sometime we just need to throw a stone in the pond so the water isn’t sitting still for too long. Change can be great, and bring something fresh to your life. Throw the stone and make a ripple.

I recently took the Strengths Finder 2.0 test and found my top strength is called futuristic. They say that futuristic people are “People who are especially talented in the Futuristic theme are inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.” This says I am supposed to be able to cast vision, and get others to buy-in to a bigger picture. I think it says I’m a dreamer. I’m okay with that. I love to dream and tell stories of things I think could be, and we could do.

Futuristic sounds too business for me. I’m much simpler, and prefer to stick with being a dreamer. Even if that has it’s own negative connotations to go with it. I’m not just a dreamer though, I’ll actually follow that dream. Not so I can say I did something cool, but because it’s worth doing. So that I can take other people to a place they didn’t think we could go to. I love to be able to tell stories of things we’ve done, but first we have to tell stories of what we dream we can do.

What stories are you dying to tell? What stories are you wanting to create? Be futuristic. Be a dreamer with.

January and August are two great times of year. In August, we start a brand new school year with brand new students. Vision fresh on the mind, goals and expectations set high and we go. Then the winter hits, frustrations arise and we fall back into the same old routine. But here is January and we have another opportunity to set goals, resolutions and expectations for a fresh year.

January is a great time for new goals, but think long term and not just 2012. . .

For the rest of the post click here.

Check out I am second. They tell incredible stories of people deciding and choosing to live for something much bigger than themselves. What are you living for? Are you first? Or are you living to be second?

It doesn’t really matter how you answer that question. You have no choice but to sell if you are a leader. You must sell your organization to any person you encounter. You sell the lifestyle you live by having conversation with anyone you work with. You sell your attitude to the team you are working with (and guess what. . . they buy it). You sell what type of car to drive simply by driving. You sell how to treat your spouse, by the way you act in public. You sell how to lead, but how you lead. We are all salesman, so let’s get rid of the negative attitude toward sales people, and come to the reality that we are all selling something at any moment. Even I’m selling you on the idea that your life is a sales call.

What are you selling? And better yet, is it worth buying?

I absolutely love this video. I’m thankful for the great innovators of our time like Steve Jobs. Have a great weekend, and take life by storm, you never know how long it’ll last.

Photo from Gapingvoidgallery.com

I hate when religious, educational, political, or any other type of leader tells people what they have to do. They can tell people what they should do, might do, or even just could do, but never tell them what they have to do. As a leader and writer, I never want people to simply do what I tell them to do, because I told them to do it. I want people to hear what I have to say, weigh out the options for themselves, and make their own decisions. Do not vote because I tell you that you should, do not obey the Bible because I tell you it’s good for you. Do what makes sense, and if the person telling you gives a good explanation or story for why you ought to do something, then do it, but they are not and will never fully be where you are. You are the only person that can make the decisions that will change your life and your situation. Do you want to take charge, or give it to someone else that won’t bear consequences for it?

Be yourself, make your own decisions, but listen to what others are telling you too, they may make a good point.

Matthew 7:24-27

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Are you building on rock?

That is reading, growing, praying, and learning so you can apply things to your life and live them out?

Or are you building on sand?

That is reading, growing, praying, and learning so you can have more knowledge and do nothing with?

This doesn’t have to just apply to scripture and teachings, it can apply to any part of life. It does no good to go to school and learn, if you never intend on applying it or passing it on for the greater good of others.

I absolutely love Christine Cain and the A21 Campaign. Check them out here.