I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
I'm also blogging at:
Personality™
Church Marketing Sucks
July 2004 Archives
July 29, 2004
The Sabbath Misses Us
Filed under: Life's Journey
An essay by Nancy Gibbs in the August 2 issue of Time magazine is a poignant reminder for the rhetorical prioritization of the Sabbath. Unfortunately, Gibbs has not discovered a radical new way to take that Seventh Day of rest, but she has attempted to give us a little origin for how we have slowly lost our conscience for it. No, the Sabbath has not disappeared from us. We have disappeared from it.
I think it would be interesting to see some research that tracks personal debt, material accumulation, obesity, and the breaking up of families alongside the subtle ousting of a personal Sabbath. If we could not shop, eat out, or work one day a week, the input/output of our economy would be cut by 1/7th (presuming all days are equal).
And if our personal debt loads were less, our homes were smaller (because we didn't have so much stuff), and our waistlines were thinner (because we ate out one less day a week), how would that affect our quality of life? Would we live longer? We would have closer families with better communication?
I am not suggesting that taking a Sabbath is the solution for all of life's problems, but what if it helped with yours?
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July 27, 2004
A Thought From 1999
Filed under: Life's Journey
Browsing through some old files on my computer, I found a file called "Thought.doc." It was created on August 24, 1999 at 9:17 PM and it reads:
As another day comes to an anticipated close, I am constantly reminded of my pleasantly puzzling life. A life that seems to have no end - and probably never will. As I wake up each refreshing morning, I think to myself, "Is this the day that will change the course of my long awaited future. Is this the day when all my diminutive problems will disappear into the vast past?" It seems as though life continues to throw you into an unwanted environment. A place where happiness is only a dream and "problem free" means nothing more than "buy now pay later."
How is one to find a different way of life? Or is this the manner in which it is to be continued? Where is the fun, adventurous, care-free lifestyle that everyone else seems to be living? My desperate attempt to find an undeniable meaning for my life seems to only bring me unwelcome sorrow. I turn to close friends for answers, only to be drawn into their myriad of uncertainty.
Why do I constantly put myself in the same repetitious situations? Can I not learn from my inconsistent fallacies? I desperately need a solution. Do I just give up and start all over? Or do I reason with what is presently going on and look ahead and not back?
[end]
Whenever I read old stuff I wrote, I'm frightened by how much I haven't changed and even more thrilled at how much I have.
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July 26, 2004
Susanna Wesley Defines Sin
Filed under: God, Faith & Spirituality
Driving to work today, I was listening - for the second time - to a sermon by Ravi Zacharias. I have begun listening to sermons more than once because it is frustrating how much you forget! Ravi quoted from a letter Susanna Wesley wrote to her son John, on June 8, 1725. In it, Susanna gives a definition for sin:
Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.
This has got to be one of the best definitions I have heard. It goes along the lines of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial."
I want to be a man who has strong reasoning, a tender conscience, a clear sense of God, and a relish for spiritual things. In short, I want my mind to have authority and strength over my body.
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July 22, 2004
Church Marketing Sucks
Filed under: Brad Works
Today one of my companies unofficially launched ChurchMarketingSucks.com. The official launch will come later this year, but for now we're working out the bugs and kinks as well as the design. The whole idea is to "frustrate, educate, and motivate" church leaders in the ways they communicate with people. I'm excited to be working with writing guru Kevin Hendricks, who dates back to the Real magazine days and is perhaps one of the original bloggers in existence before the word "blog" was ever a part of our vocabulary. Kevin is helping out with several "company" items in the hopper; this is only the beginning.
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July 20, 2004
We Tried
Filed under: Abare News
Our ambitious idea to write on a new topic each week for all 52 weeks this year got as far as April. Yep, we only made it 13 weeks. With both of us in school and Brad working more jobs than he should, our weekly ponderings were pushed to the side. You can read our individual thoughts on all the topics we did cover right by clicking on the Hot Topic category on this page.
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July 10, 2004
Jamaica Shutters
Filed under: Abare News
Jamaica got a new camera for her birthday in July and she can't stop taking pictures. Look for her visual theater to come online as soon as she learns how to use iPhoto.
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July 5, 2004
Summer School
Filed under: Abare News
Jamaica started summer school today. She will be doing a crash course in German for her graduate work at Claremont. She will be in school every day (Monday through Friday) for over four hours a day plus study time! We also confirmed our fall academic schedules and it will be a full fall season ahead!
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