someone is happy with less than you have

it's Friday & all across the world kids are going to get out of school today for the weekend. there will be excitement in the air.

in a tiny forgotten corner of Kenya there are a handful of orphans who will get out of school today and run "home"... a couple of miles from school back to their orphanage.

6 or 8 of them will quickly assemble on the tiny "field" (dust, dirt, and big rocks) in front of their orphanage and start a soccer game with bigger rocks for goal posts and a ball that hasn't had air for a very long time.

they will run and laugh and play. life is good. they will be happier than you can imagine.

and they have nothing.

in a posh suburb of Charlotte, NC today a spoiled 10 year old will come home to the nicest amenities imaginable... with more luxuries in his own room than the kids in Kenya will ever be able to fathom.
He will sit and play his Playstation 3 all day and complain to his Mom about what they are having for dinner and that his friend at school has something newer and cooler than he does.

he will spend a large portion of his Friday afternoon pouting and being unhappy.

and he has everything.

why is this?
why does this scenario of ironic polar opposites exist?

because it's not how much you have that brings you happiness; it's how much you appreciate how much or little you have.

and adults are way worse. worse than children. some adults i know are the most ungrateful and unappreciative and therefore most UNHAPPY people on the planet.

Gratitude may be the greatest secret to happiness.

but if that's true then being rich comes with a very serious hidden danger... more money & more "Stuff" is a THREAT to happiness.

be grateful today. be thankful.
you have SO MUCH... no matter how much or little you may think you have.

kony 2012!

everyone knows Invisible Children... let's hype Kony 2012 this year...
check it out if you haven't watched it already.



who's in with me? - let's hook it up that night in April. i'm up for a good all-nighter on the streets of Charlotte posting some Kony 2012 propaganda!
let's make it a party and join up and do it together.

what we should learn from African theology

(I originally wrote and posted this to renown on February 10, 2010.)

Earlier this year I finished reading my 1st book written by the late, great missiologist David J. Bosch. He is the guru, but I've never read an entire book he wrote. But I recently finished Believing in the Future: Toward a Missiology of Western Culture and it was great stuff.

He applied much of his expertise in cross cultural mission to our mission here in the West [as it rightly should be applied the same!].

So, I know there are TONS of things we (in the West) should learn from African theology, but this is just one thought from Bosch on what we would do well to take from them

“African theology was to a significant extent missiological through and through.”

and along those lines...

“Third World theologies are missionary theologies, whereas First World theologies are not.” 

This is so true and points to the root of a lot of our problems here in the West. Many only think of being "on mission" in a foreign context, but not here in the West. 

Bosch wrote this back in the year of his death - 1992. Thankfully over these past 17-18 years the shift he wrote about has been happening here. We've still got a long way to go, but we're getting there, imho.

success! (part 2)

ever read a book and been overwhelmed with the feeling that the author is talking directly to you? i've mentioned before that this is how it is for me with Visioneering by Andy Stanley. i don't know how to explain it other than that it's like he's having a 1 on 1 conversation with me. i don't think he would say anything differently to me if he were a very close personal friend and sitting down at a coffee shop with me giving me advice.

A couple weeks ago the words spoken to me from this book were so powerful and dead on for me that i was totally overwhelmed.

i talked about it a little bit yesterday in my preamble to success & i'm continuing it below.

i'm in this "waiting" stage - but i feel very unsuccessful in this "waiting" stage. yes, i'm praying and planning like crazy... but it feels like i've been rolling that ball up the hill for too long now.

this praying and planning stage is so difficult for me (and everyone probably) because i get confused about what success actually is!
Andy reminds me:
“There is a tendency to confuse success with the rewards of success. If I am where God wants me, fulfilling the responsibilities He has given me, I am successful.”  

*this is HUGE for me right now!

Andy's Definition of Success = “Success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for me.” (“Success is not the raise, the promotion, recognition, Christian home, or wonderful children. Those are simply enjoyable mile markers along the way.) Success is staying faithful to the process that contributed to those things becoming a reality.”

*So, most successful peeps are successful long before they see the fruits of their success. make sense?

success isn't about "the moment" when the vision hits it big. it's about all the tiny little moments along the way that build to "the moment". it's about all these moments where i just keep plodding along. continuing to pray and plan. rolling the ball forward.

Andy puts it another way = “You are as successful now as you will be the day you see your vision materialize.” 
WOW*** That’s freakin’ sweet! and the timing of me working through this stuff again is impeccable. as if God was behind me being able to hear this somehow...

“Confusing success with the rewards of success is one of the primary reasons people abandon their dreams.” – whoa! This is big to remember! i cannot imagine me abandoning this vision. i wouldn't know what else to do. BUT i'm not naive. i'll work hard from now on to NOT confuse success with the rewards of success.

“Waiting time is not wasted time for anyone in whom God has placed a vision… He is the master strategist.”

this sentence brought me to tears. because that is the name i need to give to God in faith right now. He is the Master Strategist. even though i can't see it He's up to something.

my praying/planning/waiting time is not wasted... He's prepping me and everything else that needs to happen to make this vision go off. He's gonna make it happen.

it's His vision anyway. what am i so worried about?

preamble to success

i've been working hard these past couple months trying to practically map out the vision God has for my life and put flesh on it. harder work than it sounds like.

when you have a RIDONCULOUS sized vision (to spark a Jesus-revolution in Africa) it's easy to feel OVERWHELMED by it. i'm finding out that this is normal. normal for me anyway. it often feels like it's taking forever and that there's not a whole lot i can do right now.
Or that things aren't quite progressing as quickly as i dreamed they would... or hoped they would... or expected they would.

And i guess the biggest tension is that i often start to think that God isn't doing things quite right. i say out loud to Him - "You put this vision in my soul... now what are You doing about it?" [and He likes to say back - "what are you doing about it?"]

so i am doing what i can do right now in this "waiting" stage. being faithful. praying. praying for favor and opportunity. every day.
and planning. planning as if i had all the resources i needed.

Still... many days it feels like "time's a wastin". OR it all just feels too overwhelmingly big... like it's never going to happen. Really, God? are You still gonna do this?

but i constantly have to remind myself that these next words are very true, so DON'T GIVE UP PATRICK, no matter how much it feels like i'm just sitting around waiting:

“I don’t know what God is up to behind the scenes of my life. I don’t know how close I am to a breakthrough. It is no accident I am where I am.”             (Andy Stanley)

in my waiting and praying and planning...behind the scenes...

GOD. IS. UP. TO. SOMETHING.

& that is encouraging to me beyond what anyone else can realize. i don't know what He's up to. it's definitely no accident i am where i am. i embrace that. i believe it.

i'm COUNTING on that.

wandering beyond...

my heart is in some fresh embryo stages of something big.
not really something new, because the gist has been in my heart since i was 18ish. now it's even bigger. if that's possible.

dreaming about the future a lot. what God wants to do with my life. it's revolutionary, scary, world-changing, and confusing all at the same time.

Andy Stanley seems to have the unique gift of putting into perfect words what i'm feeling. so, straight from my heart but his mouth... here's what i'm doing these days:

allowing my heart and mind to wander outside the artificial boundaries imposed by the world as it is.

i'm doing (and seem to continuously do) a lot of what Andy calls "visioneering".

i'm trying to look beyond what is and paint a picture of what could be. 

it's not a picture that i'm even painting like an artist. 
i feel like it's one that is BEING PAINTED on my soul.
everything that's being painted there is big, and crazy, and audacious. revolutionary.

maybe you know what i'm talking about. maybe it's happened to you. or happening...

if you haven't experienced this... something being painted on your soul... a picture beyond what is - what could be...
if you haven't experienced that then you might just think i'm crazy.

maybe i am.

but off i go.

wandering...