One Name Wonders

There are a few people in society that are famous enough to be known by just one name. Like Michael, Lebron, Oprah, and Bono to name a few. I’m not going to lie; I think it would be pretty cool to be that famous. My only problem is that Mike and Michael are already taken. I guess I could go by my middle name, Gordon or Gordy, off the top of my head, I can’t think of any famous people with that name. Before you start laughing, I get my middle name from my grandfather. He was one of the coolest guys I have ever known so I wear his name with pride.
It’s interesting to me that the Christian community imitates the secular world in many ways. I’m not sure that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but that’s a message for another blog. In the Christian world, we have Billy, Andy, Louie, and Fee. Now don’t get me wrong, I like listening to these guys, and I’m pretty sure they are not in it for the fame and notoriety. In fact “pastor worship” probably says more about us than them.
The truth is however, most of the people impacting the kingdom are not “one name wonders.” They’re guys like my boss, Jack. Jack is 83 years old and still going strong. He’s responsible for thousands and thousands of Kenyans coming to know Christ and thousands more being turned into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Most people in the world have never heard of Jack, but I know this, when you get to heaven you’ll find him hanging out in one of the bigger mansions. I know this because there are going to be so many people stopping by his mansion to celebrate and say thank you it’ll have to be huge.
Another one of those guys you’ve never heard of is Sarnaa (long a at the end), which by the way would be a cool name for a one name wonder. I met Sarnaa this summer and he has a great story. I find myself attracted to people with great stories who spend more time serving God and less talking about God. Sarnaa felt God calling him to Ethiopia and so last year, he got on a plane with about $80 in his pocket and went to Ethiopia. Did I mention he only had a one way ticket to Ethiopia! I don’t have time to tell you his whole story; you can read more about Sarnaa at http://www.pleaseread.org/. It’s a great story and a must read so check it out. Sarnaa got involved with the kids in Ethiopia and started talking to them about God and stuff. He asked them what they wanted and they said they would like a library “to study, to learn, and to get empowered.” Pretty cool, huh? Well guess what one of Sarnaa’s projects are? That’s right; he’s starting a library one book at a time (check out his website for the details). So I was thinking there might be someone at Landmark (cough, cough, Beth, Hillary, Sarah) who could start collecting books or someone at Auburn University (cough, cough, Mike, Will) who could start collecting books. And with the thousands of people (evangelistically speaking) who read this blog, we could probably help Sarnaa take a truck load of books back to Ethiopia when he goes back (but don’t ask him when he’s going back, he’s very sensitive about this).
Even though most of you have never heard of Sarnaa you are definitely going to want to get involved. He’s going to be another one of those guys with the big mansions in heaven and I’m sure you don’t want to be left off that guest list.

It's a beautiful thing

"If you restrict your love to those like you, those you understand, those who make you feel comfortable, you will be pretty bored. If you dare to open your life to one person who needs a friend, you just might find yourself in an adventure of eternal proportions."
Christi Avant Watson from If God Were Real

Christi is a former student of mine. It has been great to follow her career and writing from a distance. It has inspired and encouraged me. It’s a very cool thing when the student becomes the teacher!

When I read this in If God Were Real (which I highly recommend), I can’t help but think of my wife, Judy. For those of you who don’t know, Judy, Kris, and I moved into a very needy neighborhood several years ago in hopes of making a difference. There are lots of drugs, alcohol, abuse, and kids with no direction and no role models. One of the first people we met was Marie. As far as I can tell, Marie and Judy have two things in common: they are both women and they both grew up poor. After that, they could not be any different. Judy is white, Marie is African American. Judy grew up in a strict Christian home; Marie had her first child before she graduated from high school. Judy went off to Bible College after high school; Marie went off to Atlanta to be a dancer (among other things). Marie is addicted to alcohol; Judy is just addicted to me! Marie spent last summer in jail and as far as I know Judy has never been in jail though last summer she did visit Marie. Marie walks with a limp and always has a few bruises because she has been in an abusive relationship for years. In fact, one night Marie was lying in the middle of the road. We almost hit her because she looked like a bag of trash!

Yet as different as they are, Judy and Marie have become friends. Not the “I think I’ll take Marie on as my project” friends; they have become real friends. In many ways, it would have been better for Judy if Marie was one of those “project’ friends. It’s kind of like doing service projects. You find a need, spend a day or two meeting that need and leave feeling good about yourself and what you have accomplished. Now I’m all for service projects, it’s just way different when you don’t go home. Marie is very needy and a lot of the friendship goes in one direction. I will say this about Marie, usually after she cusses Judy out for something that’s not her fault, she usually apologizes.

With Marie, progress is measured in inches and disappointment is measured in miles. Many nights, we sit and wonder if we have accomplished anything; of course Judy has set her goal pretty high, she just wants to save the whole neighborhood. While it has been frustrating for Judy, here’s what I know. Judy is probably the only true fried Marie has and quite possibly the only person that really loves Marie and in those rare moments of clarity when the anger of her life choices subsides, Marie knows this and it is truly a beautiful thing.

So, do you want to “find yourself in an adventure of eternal proportions?” It’s simple, “dare to open your life to one person who needs a friend.” Not only with the Marie’s of this world be better off, you will too.

I wonder what they will think?

"There's a difference between us. You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom. And I go to make sure that they have it." William Wallace

Coming to America! Thursday is going to be a good day. Cornell and Duncan from Care for AIDS in Kenya are coming to America. They will be speaking at Dogwood Church Friday night (not to late to get tickets http://www.careforaids.org/). It's very difficult for Kenyans to get a visa to come to America, in fact Duncan was turned down his first time. Duncan is young and single and many young, single Kenyans are turned down by the US Embassy because they come and never go home.

I often wonder about the reaction of people who come to America for the first time. I happened to run into our football coach last night and he was telling me about a young man who grew up in the slums of Kenya who was in the US speaking at a local church. The young man was sponsored by Compassion. He was nine years old before he got his first pair of shoes! It wasn't until he got a birthday card from his sponsors in America that he realized he even had a birthday! He spoke about the first time he ever slept in a bed, can you remember the first time you ever slept in a bed? I can’t remember the last time I didn’t sleep in a bed! One of the most amusing conversations I imagine having is over the storage centers that have become so prevalent in our communities. Can you imagine trying to explain to a kid, who if he’s lucky, has one additional set of clothes that that’s where we store all the stuff that we “need” that won’t fit in our house?

Now I know I’m supposed to use my time, treasures, and talents to impact the kingdom of God, but for some reason I struggle most with the treasure part. It’s frustrating because while I know this, I still have difficulty giving up my stuff. I want to blame it on American culture, but that just makes me weak or I want to convince myself that I need everything I have but come on, do I really need three TV’s? Maybe someday I will actually need the stuff in my storage unit, but much of that stuff has been sitting there for years. Oh and here’s the best one that because of how hard I work or how important the work I do is, I somehow deserve it. But if that were the case, Cornel and Duncan would be two of the richest men in the world.

Who Has Your Ear?

I am sometimes amused at the advice I hear teenagers giving each other. It’s not that you intentionally give each other bad advice; it’s just that with your life experience you don’t know any better. We all have critical decisions to make about things we have little experience with and the places we go for advice can be critical to making successful decisions.

There’s a great story in the Bible in I Kings 12 about a young guy who had one of these decisions to make. His name was Rehoboam, he was the son of Solomon (you know, the wisest and richest guy to ever live). Shortly after Solomon died and Rehoboam was named king, one of Solomon’s adversaries, a guy by the name of Jeroboam, came to King Rehoboam with the whole assembly of Israel to make a request. Basically he asked Rehoboam to lighten up on the people of Israel. Solomon had but a heavy burden on the people, both financially and physically, to build the temple. Rehoboam listened and told Jeroboam to come back in three days and he would have a decision for him. During the three days, Rehoboam sought council from two groups. The first group was “the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime” and they recommended that Rehoboam lighten up and give the people a favorable answer and they would always be his servants (v 7). The second group, “the young men who had grown up with him,” gave him the exact opposite advice, that not only should he not lighten up, but that he should increase the burden (v 8). Unfortunately, instead of listening to the elders, Rehoboam listened to his buddies who had no experience in governing (but who no doubt thought they were giving him good advice), and the result was disastrous for Rehoboam and the kingdom. Ten of the twelve tribes rebelled against Rehoboam and created their own kingdom and named Jeroboam their king. For the next 200 years, the two kingdoms were in constant conflict and weakened in their ability to defend themselves against invading armies. All because Rehoboam listened to the wrong people.

I’m guessing you won’t be making a decision that big any time soon, but chances are you will have some big decisions to make. Some of those decisions you may have some past experience with, but many of them you won’t: where to go to college, what major to pursue, where to work after college, who to marry, etc. I’m also guessing there are some people in your life that have not only made those decisions in the past, but made GOOD decisions in those areas.

So here’s the question. What big decisions do you have to make in the near future? Who do you know that had a similar decision to make that seems to have made the right decision? Maybe you should spend some time with them this week.

Integrity

"I would never do any of that crap. You think I'm going to ruin my relationship with God just because I want to get better in this game? You think I'm going to ruin everything because of steroids?"

Have you been watching the news lately? Do you recognize the names Steve McNair, Arturo Gatti, Mark Sanford, and Roland Burris have at least two things in common. First, I would put them all in the leaders column on my scorecard. Why? In it's simplest form, leadership is influence and all four of these men where influential in their particular field. Second, they have all been in the new this week at least partly because of moral failures in their lives. Which brings me to my point.

If you've been around Landmark Christian School for any time, you recognize this picture. The iceberg is one of the images we use to illustrate our view of leadership. Most of you are aware that 90% of the iceberg is underwater and only 10% is above the surface. We believe the 90% below the surface is a leaders character and integrity and the 10% above the surface represents a leaders skills.

If you think about it, most leadership failures are not a result of a leaders lack of ability, but rather a result of the leaders character and integrity. And just like it was not the part of the iceberg above the surface that sunk the Titanic, if you fail as a leader, it probably won't be your skills that cause you to fail. Yet, if we are not careful, we'll spend the majority of our time as leaders on improving our leadership skills at the detriment to our character and integrity. If you think about it though, it's only natural. If you are a leader, you are always thinking about how to get your group or organization from point A to point B. How can I motivate my followers? How can I communicate our vision to my followers more effectively? How can I plan and strategize to be more effective? While all these questions are important, without a foundation of character and integrity, you will never maximize your ability to lead. Also, because leaders love progress, there will always be a temptation to cut corners and compromise our character at the altar of progress. That's why quotes like the one at the beginning of this blog are so encouraging to me. Anyone know who said it? I'll give you a hint: I'm watching him hit home runs while writing this blog.

Whale Wars

So have you seen Whale Wars? It's a reality show about a group of people who sail around on a big boat searching for whalers. When they find them, they try to disrupt their ability to catch whales sometimes putting their lives in jeopardy. Would you risk your life for a whale? Would you give your life for a whale? Now I like whales. I've seen them in the wild in Alaska and seen them at Sea World. I think they are an amazing animal, but I'm sorry, there is no way I would give my life for one of those big guys.

What attracts me to Whale Wars and what keeps me from turning the channel is the passion of these guys. Here's a group of people so passionate about saving whales that they are willing to give their lives. Their entire lives are centered around saving whales. They spend months at a time on the oceans searching for whalers and when they are not at sea, they are preparing and getting ready for there next trip. I think after spending a few hours with these guys it would be clear what they are passionate about.

Makes me think, what am I passionate about? And, after spending a few hours with me, what would people think I'm passionate about? I know the right answers to the first question: God, family, the poor, etc. but the second question has me a little worried. It seems to me that it should be obvious to people around me what my passions are and that my two lists should be virtually the same. Not sure that's the case. It would be interesting to ask the people around me what they thought I was passionate about. Not sure I have the courage for that.

On a larger scale, maybe that's the problem with Christianity. Most of us who are followers of Jesus Christ would say our relationship with God is important. But how many of us would say we are passionate about our relationship with God? (Dictionary.com defines passion as: a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.) An, how many of the people we meet would say we are passionate about God?

Here's a pretty good video from an atheist that really makes me think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

Read Any Good Books Lately?

So I'm hanging out at St. Simons this week. I'm not really a beach guy, but as long as I have a good book, it's ok. While sitting on the beach, I can't help but wonder what happens to people's good judgement when they come to the beach. Is it the salt air? Maybe it's the sound of the waves crashing on the beach? I'm talking about the things people wear on the beach. I mean come on, does that guy think he really looks good in that speedo? Or how about the rather large lady with the bikini on? I realize that makes me seem shallow and judgemental, but please.

Speaking of good books, I have heard it said, "The only difference between me today and tomorrow, is the books I read and the people I meet." I don't think this is completely true, but it is true that the books you read have a significant impact on who you become. Did you know if you read 15 minutes every day, you can read twenty books in a year? I've also heard it said that if you read four books on a particular subject you can consider yourself an expert on a that subject. That means at the end of the year, you can be an expert on five different subjects. For you "youngsters", do you really want to end the summer with just a bunch of memories and pictures? Why not go back to school next year (actually next month!) with a bunch of pictures, memories, and a better understanding of God, a better idea of your calling in life, etc.

With that said, here is my summer reading list:

1. Wide Awake: The Future is Waiting Within You
by Erwin Raphael McManus
2. In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day
by Mark Batterson
3. Wild Goose Chase
by Mark Batterson
4. The Principle of the Path
by Andy Stanley
5. The Irresistible Revolution
by Shane Claiborne

I'm always looking for good books so please feel free to add your favorites the list.

Calling

Though I got home Tuesday, I have not been able to update until today. I spent the last four days visiting my parents in Virginia and my father has not completely embraced the computer age as of yet, he still has dial up. For those of you born in the last 20 years, the internet has not always been available on your phone or ipod. Back in the day, everything was dial up. Everytime you wanted to get on the internet, your computer would dial your internet provider over the phone line. This took a long time and was very slow. I think the only people who still have dial up are my dad and the people of Kenya!

I have mixed feelings about going home these days because my mother is suffering from Alzheimer's; it's very difficult to watch the people you love slowly lose their mental abilities. If there is any positive that has come out of my mom's condition, it's that it has brought the rest of my family closer together. Which brings me to my post for today. I am the second of four children. I have an older sister and a younger brother and sister. My youngest sister (we call her the golden child) is 12 years younger than me but probably the most like me (poor kid huh!) She has been teaching for about 10 years and this year will start a new teaching job at the alternative middle school. The alternative middle school is the place all the kids who get expelled from regular middle school go. They are the kids who bring guns to school, physically and verbally assault their classmates, etc. You get the idea, not the place most of us would look forward to teaching, but Amy can't wait. I don't know if she would use the word "calling" to describe what she does, but I would. I think my sister is just as much called to the kids in her middle school as I am to the people of East Africa. And, while she has no desire to work with the people of East Africa, I have no desire to spend my days with kids in an alternative middle school. In fact, I don't have any desire to spend my days with middle school students period! But that's what's great about God. He wires us all up different, gives us special gifts and talents, and the perfect job to fit our gifts and talents.

Have you ever looked around at all the suffering in the world and wondered why God would not do something about it? While I'm not positive, I'm pretty confident that with every problem in the world, God has gifted some of us and "called" some of us to meet that need. Maybe the problem is not with God, but rather with us and our not fulfilling God's call for our life. Something else I am absolutely confident of is that there's a group of kids in Northern Virginia that are going to be better off because my sister has answered the call. I am also confident that somewhere in the world, there is a group waiting for you to answer your call and when you do, you will find great satisfaction and fulfillment, and people will be blessed. So, go find your calling and answer it!
Please.