I have really gotten bad at writing lately.  I always intend to make time to write things down but somehow I allow myself to get sidetracked. 

Off to Dallas early in the week then back home and then off to Chicago.  Travel is getting to be a regular part of my life now, the sheen has already worn off.  I have the airport security warning memorized.  

Today my friend Matt and I rescued our neighbor’s home from the overgrowth that became his yard.  He moved to Ohio several weeks back leaving his home for sale and unattended.  It’s amazing how tall grass can get in a short amount of time.  It took almost all morning just make the yard look somewhat presentable.  The sad part of the job is that it will all need to be done again in a matter of days I am sure.

As Matt and I were working together on the yard, we had a chance to talk about what living in community looks like in the nitty gritty of everyday life.  Many people live out community around pot-luck dinners and that is pretty much where things stop.  The reality of community is that it is hot and dirty and inconvenient and often times very unpleasant . . . but at the end of the day it is true community.  

In my  journey of trying to follow Jesus, I have found that the reality of my faith – the reality of true community is being lived out most often, in the dirty, inconvenient and sometimes exasperating work of being available for others who have no one else.

I have noticed that the response to person’s need, regardless of how inconsequential that need might be, is often in direct proportion to how easy it is to be around that person.  In other words, the more lovely, more beautiful, the more enjoyable that person happens to be, the larger the response. Must have something to do with our fallen nature.  

Well that is enough for tonight. Time to go pack so that I am ready to leave for the airport in the morning.  Sleep will be a welcome friend tonight.

Man, I sure have been slacking when it comes to making time to journal through this electronic medium we call a blog.  I have been so inconsistent.  Although when I think about it I would rather be inconsistent than incontinent.  At my age you start to think about crazy things like that.  

These days my head is slowly trying to wrap itself around the needs of the local church.  The local church, whether large, small, house, coffee shop or whatever is all that we’ve got to make a collective difference in this great big world that we call home (for now).  I am concerned that we, the church, have at our disposal all these amazing resources that could impact our local communities in crazy ways, and yet we seem to tend toward squandering many of these resources on ourselves.

In what I do for a living, I have the opportunity to meet pastors from all over the country.  It’s a wonderful thing to meet so many people with such diverse backgrounds.  One thing I have learned from listening to these men and women is that the most difficult aspect of ministry is dealing with not nice people in their churches. 

So here we are big churches, little churches, amazing churches, etc, and we are dragging ourselves down by our infighting and and squabbles.  I found what seems to be the common denominator in all of these internal quagmires – the common element seems to be people’s need to be “right.”  

Small seemingly insignificant problems escalate to large scale conflicts all because someone decides that they are right, and that is that.   Sadly, this demand to be right not only ruins relationship but it can halt the effectiveness of the church where the conflict is occurring.  

If we can learn to give up our need to be in control and our seemingly insatiable appetite to be right, I think we can make some pretty great progress as a Christian community.  

I actually didn’t intend to journal about this today, but it’s what came out.  I hope that you and I can learn to let go of demanding to be right, and of having to be in control.  That whole thing that Jesus talked about . . . the two great commandments – love God and love one another, seem to come into play in all of this don’t you think?  

Wow . . . what a summer; I can’t remember a summer when the time has sped by as quickly as it has this year. Thankfully Char and I were able to break away for a weekend in Door County last weekend. At the end of this month and a good deal of September I hit the road again for a series of stops throughout the Midwest and Texas.  Oh well, its warm and the sun is out, its all good.  

I happened across a great blog today that has an excellent post about safe and unsafe people.  I think this will resonate with everyone who reads this blog.  I certainly have become far more keenly aware of people that I consider safe as opposed to unsafe. I am much more careful these days about who I “let in” compared to those that I am willing to hang-out with.  The same is probably true for you.  Here is the abbreviated post, if you would like to read the entire piece please go to Kathy Escobar’s blog.

unsafe people (and communities):

• think they ”have it all together” instead of admitting their weaknesses
• are defensive instead of open to feedback
• are self-righteous instead of humble
• only apologize instead of changing their behavior
• avoid working on their problems instead of dealing with them
• demand trust instead of earning it
• blame others instead of take responsibility
• lie instead of tell the truth
• remain stagnant instead of growing
• resist freedom instead of encouraging it (can’t take no for an answer)
• flatter us instead of confronting us
• condemn us instead of forgiving us
• stay in parent/child roles instead of relating to us as equals
• unstable over time instead of being consistent
• gossip instead of keeping secrets

ouch. some of these are pretty brutal & even though i consider myself a fairly safe person i cringed at a few, knowing that i do & think these things more than i wished.

safe people (and communities):

• accept us just like we are
• love us no matter how we are being or what we do
• influence us to develop our ability to love and be responsible
• create love and good works within us
• give us an opportunity to grow & stretch & practice
• help us feel comfortable being “ourselves”, to be on the outside what we are on the inside
• allow us to become the us that God intended
• use their lives to touch ours and leave us better for it
• help us be more like Christ
• help us to like & love others more
• make the relationship more important than opinions
• receive instead of just give
• are humble & willing to say what they need
• are honest, kind & don’t pretend
• work through resistances instead of giving up

Weekend away to Door County. Looking for a time of solitude and rejuvination with my gorgeous wife. Very nice!