Comedy Break!

Three of my favorite skits all time!

Ignorarrogance

Add this new word to your vocabulary: ignorarrogance.

"ig·nor·ar·ro·gance: [ ig-ner-ar-uh-guhns] –noun– offensive display of superiority or self-importance due to one’s lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.

•Arrogance is being 90% right and 100% certain.
•Ignorarrogance is being 90% oblivious and 100% certain."


HT: Alan Danielson

Happy Thanksgiving!

For my brothers and sisters in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! If you're not in the US, I hope that you, too, will take some time to express your gratitude to God today.

Leadship Trends

If you read this blog, you're probably in a leadership role -- family, church, community, workplace.

There are some very exciting trends in church and business leadership. I keep up with dozens of blogs on leadership and management and innovation, and read 2-3 books per week. I push myself to learn more so that I can be a better leader and help others more.

If you'd like to skip a lot of the books and blogs and get the executive summary, check out this Steve Denning article, The Death-- and Reinvention of Management. This has the gist of a whole bunch of recent books and blogs. I believe God is doing something wonderful in these days!

Keeping Up with Blogs

I'm occasionally asked how I keep up with so many blogs and authors. RSS feeds are wonderful things! Instead of me clicking through to a long list of websites, I set up the feed so that every time something new is available, it's provided to me at one place.

To do this you need an RSS feed reader tool. Google Reader works very well. Michael Hyatt wrote up a nice how-to article explaining how to set it up. Easy, free, effective!

Refresh Your Bible Reading Plan

This is the time of year when I have the highest likelihood of getting off my Bible reading plans.

So just a word of encouragement: rededicate yourself to this life-giving discipline of systematic reading, study, and meditation on God's Word.

Family Devotions Resource

Dads, this looks like a terrific resource for short family devotions. Comes well-recommended.

"I Will Pray For You"

We're pretty good at saying to one another "I will pray for you."

Let's be real: our batting average is poor. We say that much more than we do it. And since we know that about ourselves, at times when other people say this to us, we think "maybe."

But Jesus is our faithful advocate:

"Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." (Romans 8:34)

You can count in Jesus praying for you! This is a good way to encourage our own hearts and our families.

How Would You Caption This Video?

Africa is a BIG Continent!

I love maps. I have a big world map over my office desk and enjoy using it to ponder and pray. Many people fail to understand the size of the African continent -- check out this representation to help you get it!

Source

I Missed Reformation Day!

I completely forgot to blog about Reformation Day (Oct 30), but recommend this short video clip from the film Luther for your enjoyment. How would you handle yourself in this situation?



One more thing -- I rather doubt Luther spoke this quietly!

How Scientific News Gets Distorted

I've long been troubled by the poor reporting on scientific studies by various news outlets. There is far too much truth in this cartoon!

Books I Re-Read

I recently mentioned that some books are on my "re-read regularly" list, because they are so influential and deep that I continue to gain wisdom and insight from them over a period of years.

Here are some of those books (in no particular order) which I heartily recommend to you:

• Spiritual Leadership (J. Oswald Sanders)
• Life Together (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
• In Search of Guidance (Dallas Willard)
• A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life (William Law)
• Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)
• Knowing God (J. Packer)
• With Christ in the School of Prayer (Andrew Murray)
• The Pursuit of God (A. W. Tozer)
• Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices (Thomas Brooks)
• Thoughts for Young Men (J. C. Ryle)

I honestly don't read a lot of fiction, but I do have two titles on my re-read list:

• The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R.Tolkien). I've read this every year since 1978.
• The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis). Great messages for children of all ages!

What's on your list?

Some Books You Read and Re-Read

There are a number of classic books that are worth reading, re-reading, devouring, and drawing upon again and again.

One of those books for me is Oswald Sander's Spiritual Leadership. If you check the Amazon review site you'll see why it's on the must-read list. If you haven't read this book, get it in your reading pile soon -- you'll be blessed. If you have, dust it off and find some new insights.

Next post: I'll share some more of my "re-read regularly" list. Some books have been very influential in my thinking at a critical point in time, but I don't go back to them. The ones I go back to are those which speak to me in new and refreshing ways as I get older and gain more experience.

Who Are You Mentoring?

Men, here's a short exercise for you: get a sheet of paper, and write down a list of younger men and peers that you are influencing. Who asks you questions? Who hangs around you? Whom do you help with projects, or just engage in conversation?

Two more questions:
(1) Whom do I need to invest in more?
(2) What can I do [today, or in the next week] to more intentionally mentor someone on this list?

Bonus question: What can I do to add more men to my list?

Operation World

Recommended resource: New version of Operation World (The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation).

Dad's, this is great for meal time with your family. Teach the family a little bit about new countries, and give them a world perspective.

Use Stories and Logic

If you want to influence people, you must use stories and logic. God has wired us to respond powerfully to stories, drama, hints, and discovery. But he also wants us to think wisely, including using logic carefully.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Philippians 4:8