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Category Archives: Rule of Life

Removing the Clutter

Etty Hillesum, a Dutch Jew, knew she was about to be sent to a concentration camp. In A Life Interrupted, she describes how she knew she could only take with her one small backpack to sustain her as she entered hell. In her mind, she pondered and planned, mentally packed and unpacked that small bag, before finally deciding on a Bible, a volume of favorite poems by Rilke, a bottle of aspirin, an extra sweater, and a chocolate bar. Etty struggled to define what was valuable to her, and what would sustain her on her journey. A stripping-down, a letting-go was inevitable as transport to the death camp came closer. If we are going to have an interior life, out of which we lead, it demands we limit what is in our knapsack, or backpack. Not knowing how to listen to our interior world puts us, our family, and the people we lead in. Read more.

The 10 Commandments of Technology and Team

My good friend, Lance Witt, has written Ten Commandments for our use of technology that are well-worth disseminating to your team. He expounds on them in chapter 40 of his book, Replenish:Leading from a Healthy Soul. 1. Thou shalt not use e-mail to deliver bad news. 2. Thou shalt not put anything in e-mail that you mind being forwarded…because it probably will. 3. Thou shalt not e-mail (or chat on-line) during meetings. 4. Thou shalt not use “bcc.” 5. Thou shalt be more personal than professional. 6. Thou shalt keep e-mails short and to the point. 7. Thou shalt not text or take calls while in conversation or in a meeting. 8.Thou shalt not call or e-mail people on their day off. 9. Thou shalt use e-mail for prayer and encouragement. 10. Thou shalt give phone/e-mail/Facebook/Twitter (etc.) a Sabbath. What might you add to this list?

My Five Most Important Lessons – Leighton Ford

Leighton Ford has been one of my primary mentors for the last 32 years. He has walked with Christ for 80! Yes, 80 years.  I asked him over lunch recently his most important life lessons. Here they are: 1. Start with what you have been given (i.e. your raw material, what is in you through blood, your family/cultural history). 2. Listen to the voice most true to your heart (i.e. following the invisible thread of God in your life). 3. Be willing to listen to other voices too (e.g. secular novelists, new Christians as they talk about faith, theologians who differ from you). 4. Learn to be thankful for what seems thankless (e.g. pain, loss, betrayal, failure). You will become more than what you would have been otherwise. 5. Open your life to contemplate beauty and cultivate wonder.

My Five Most Important Lessons – Leighton Ford

Leighton Ford has been one of my primary mentors for the last 32 years. He has walked with Christ for 80! Yes, 80 years.  I asked him over lunch recently his most important life lessons. Here they are: 1. Start with what you have been given (i.e. your raw material, what is in you through blood, your family/cultural history). 2. Listen to the voice most true to your heart (i.e. following the invisible thread of God in your life). 3. Be willing to listen to other voices too (e.g. secular novelists, new Christians as they talk about faith, theologians who differ from you). 4. Learn to be thankful for what seems thankless (e.g. pain, loss, betrayal, failure). You will become more than what you would have been otherwise. 5. Open your life to contemplate beauty and cultivate wonder.

A Couple’s Prayer for 2014

Geri and I have been praying this prayer each day for our marriage as it articulates our vision as we enter into 2014. If you are married, pray it for your marriage several times a day. And if you are single, pray it for the marriages in your church. It is a prayer filled with a rich theology that the sexual love between a man and woman is the closest thing we have to the intimacy of the Trinity and the passionate life-giving desire God has for each of us. (This is adapted from a pamphlet distributed by the Pastoral and Matrimonial Renewal Center.) Lord, grant us the strength to answer your callto become a living sign of your love.Make our love for each other like your love for us:passionate, permanent, intimate, unconditional,and life giving. May we be as present to each other as you are to us,so that all the world can see your presencemanifested. Read more.

A Couple's Prayer for 2014

Geri and I have been praying this prayer each day for our marriage as it articulates our vision as we enter into 2014. If you are married, pray it for your marriage several times a day. And if you are single, pray it for the marriages in your church. It is a prayer filled with a rich theology that the sexual love between a man and woman is the closest thing we have to the intimacy of the Trinity and the passionate life-giving desire God has for each of us. (This is adapted from a pamphlet distributed by the Pastoral and Matrimonial Renewal Center.) Lord, grant us the strength to answer your call to become a living sign of your love. Make our love for each other like your love for us: passionate, permanent, intimate, unconditional, and life giving. May we be as present to each other as you are to us, so that all the. Read more.