Of Teams Structured To Fail

I recently attended a major event intended to mobilise a key part of the Christian movement in New Zealand to reach our diverse society. The leadership team were introduced: every one a middle-age, Pakeha male. 

In a multicultural, co-ed society with energetic and vision-filled youth, this is a recipe, not for success but for failure. 

A group becomes what it's leaders embody. Want to reach Maori, or Women, or Youth? Then your leadership must include and embrace them. Not as tokenism: they need to earn their place. But be pro-active and seek out quality people who represent those you want to reach.

... Of action

A short post, to return with. 

Never mistake activity for achievement. All the busy-ness in the world means nothing if you make no difference: be it growing a relationship, producing a new/ better service or good, or even advancing a hobby. 

More action is no substitute for a purposeful plan. 

...of Mark Twain

Mark Twain once famously stated: "The report of my death was an exaggeration".

At the time, a cousin was gravely ill, and a newspaper confused one man with the other. Yet it was understandable: the two men's names were similar, and Mark Twain had not written anything for some time.

Neither, I see, have I.

Lest anyone be concerned, let me restart my posting with an an assurance: I am still alive. Normal service shall now resume.

Whatever that means :-)

... Of Roadrunner

When I was growing up there was a cartoon called "Roadrunner". Roadrunner was always being chased by Wile E Coyote, who never caught him  (There's a blog in that, I'm sure: about chasing what we cannot catch. Another time, perhaps).

The song for "Roadrunner" had this one line: "Running down the road is his idea of having fun..."

I thought about that this week, after I had gone for a 20 minute 'run' (I'm being generous to myself: but stagger sounds so... old). As I stood at the door, panting and puffing, I savoured each breath. Somehow, my lungs could almost taste the air as I drew it in, and I could feel every breath as I took it.

It was simple. It was exhilarating. It was magic. It had been a while since I last felt so 'alive'.

Simple, innocent pleasures. God created so many of them that we can do and still be in His will. Yet each day, the world crowds onto us more and more overwhelming sensations: sensations that drown out the way we are meant to feel and connect with creation.

Why not find one of those innocent pleasures, and give yourself over to it for a time today. As for me, I'm looking forward to running again tomorrow.

To quote Roadrunner: "Beep, beep".

of King Henry's Table

Recently my beloved and I watched a series of cooking shows by Heston Blumenthal, in which he recreated the recipes of different times in history. One episode is set in the England of Henry VIII: the king famous for having six wives and taking England out of the Roman Catholic Church. Drawing on the cook-books of the period, Heston’s culinary skills ran wild, recreating outlandish dishes combining art and opulence to a height not seen before in ‘Merry Olde Englande’. All sorts of meats, sweet dishes, pastries and ales formed the backbone to a daily feast ‘fit for a king’. 

What was fascinating was how bad the diet of the wealthy was, compared to the poor. The poor ate vegetables, and simple stews. They had no sugar. The wealthy scorned vegetables and gorged on sweet food. The result: although it was definitely no easy life, the diet of the average peasant was actually far healthier than that of the aristocracy: there’s an irony in there somewhere!

This made me think of the old saying “You are what you eat!” and that had me thinking about our spiritual diet. Our modern Western has never had so much variety of things to ‘chew on’, spiritually speaking. Television, cell-phones, the internet: all provide a never-ending ‘diet’ of food for the soul. 

The challenge is to work out what is best for us, and to ‘chew’ on that. The Tudor aristocracy despised the humble vegetable, to their detriment; how many of us overlook the basic in pursuit of the exotic.

We are what we eat. Why not set aside games, reality shows, self-help sites, pornography; let’s instead enjoy worship music, nourishing on-line sermons, and interviews with real heroes (such as +nick vujicic : look him up – now that’s a story worth Googling). ‘Desperate Housewives’ getting you down? Sample ‘Bethel tv’ instead. Missed your favourite ‘Survivor Outback’ show? In its place, podcast +Andy Stanley, or +Joyce Meyer Ministries. Let’s really care for ourselves.

But wait: there’s more! What about the infomercials? The ‘Five+ a day’ rule: why not make it both five vegetables/ fruit and five chapters of scripture? Within 30 days I guarantee you’ll be healthier than you have ever been – or your money back...

... Of Ringing Bells

..And the Tyranny of the Urgent.

Last night, for the second time this week and the fifth time this month I woke up to the sound of the church bells ringing. No, not the ‘call to worship’ bells: the ‘someone may be breaking into the building’ bells. Off I went, to check the site for mice or flapping curtains (the usual culprits). Mission accomplished I returned to bed; to sleep, perchance to dream...

This morning I thought about how in life we are so often called to action by the screaming bells of urgency. One of the best decision making tools I have been given is the “four quadrants of priority”.

1                     Important      and Urgent	3       Urgent, but           not important
2                     Important, but      not Urgent	4       Not important             and not urgent

Most of us implement boxes 1 and 4 quite well: we might get them wrong occasionally, but in the main we know when something really important has to be done right now, and when the task in front of us is totally trivial.

The challenge, and the key to great decision-making is learning to prioritise ‘important’ over ‘urgent’. On paper it can seem easy. But in life it often is not. Which do I respond to first? The requirement to make and fold 100 copies of the newsletter that is wanted in one hour, or the phone message from the young couple looking for marriage advise? Can’t the phone call wait? Pleasing 100 people easily makes so much sense – doesn’t it? Or is it just the ringing bell of urgency calling?

Many of us ignore ‘quadrant 2’ (the important) until it moves to ‘quadrant 1’ (now urgent and important). We tick of lists of ‘quadrant 3s (the urgents), but never feel truly satisfied. We know we can be doing better. And we can: it just takes practice.

Start with this one: when you are meeting with someone and your cell phone beeps with a text, don’t rush to pick it up. Finish the conversation you are having. It you both made time to have the meeting (even if it's 'just' for coffee), it is important. The chances are high that the text is merely urgent. 

For some of us even thinking about ignoring a text makes us break out in a cold sweat. That there is a sign: you are at the mercy of the ringing bell of the urgent. 

Time to make a change. Time to start, by... 

Oh wait: someone’s just tweeted me about Justin Bieber. Got to go. I'm sure you can work it out for yourself...

...of Salt

I have a 'thing' for salt on my food. I might sometimes have too much - though so far my heart and blood pressure seem fine.

However every now and then, I also have a negative reaction salt. Just yesterday, after biting into a sandwich with the barest amount of salt, I suddenly felt quite unwell. My taste buds reacted violently, I felt nauseous, and I had to close my eyes to help overcoming a strong fainting feeling.  It doesn't happen often: the last time was well over a year ago. But when it does, it is immediate, obvious, and 'memorable' - in the most unpleasant way. I'm not the only person to have this reaction. And I've read (because I can be a hypochondriac) that too much salt can in fact be deadly. So I do have to be careful.

Salt. We need it to survive, and yet this negative - even deadly - reaction does occur.

After my last turn, I got to thinking about Jesus describing the people of God as being salt and light. We often think of the salt analogy in the positive seasoning sense: A Godly community makes a society think and take notice of the truly important things. But perhaps its also true in the 'negative reaction' sense. Our society doesn't actually enjoy the Christian flavour. John, writing about Jesus, reminds us that the people of the world love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

Too much light gets rejected by the world, because it lays bare their real nature. Too much salt gets rejected as well, and for the same reason: the world prefers its own way, even though it needs the Gospel. The temptation for God's people is to cut back on the salt; to ease off the light.

But Jesus told those who listened that we are called to be salt and light. All the time. Not just when the people of the world react well, but also when they get a bad reaction. Sure, we need to find the most positive way to enter the world's "eyes and stomach". And we shouldn't set out to cause the negative reaction. But when it comes - and come it will - we are called to stay true. To be salt. To be light.

For the world needs both, whatever the reaction.