Stop Dropping The Ball And Get Things Done

April 5, 2016

Are people beginning to drop hints about your forgetting to do something? Too often? Do you think of things you’d like to do? And then think of them again a week later? Are you stressed out trying to remember things?

Lately I have run across many people exhibiting those traits.

I recommend the methodology of David Allen laid out clearly in his book Getting Things Done.

Someone remarked recently about how productive they think I am. Well, to be honest, I could be better–I’m looking into my daily habits. But, I adopted the GTD method about 10 years ago. After trying a number of digital apps as an aid, I settled on Nozbe.

Want to be more productive? Buy the book. Read it. Do it. If Nozbe helps, get it. There is a free version or you can upgrade for a few more features.

Method

The reason I talk about this in a spiritual development blog is that if your mind is not clear and you are worried about many things (Martha), then you will not be able to settle into your study, prayer, and meditation time.

Collect

Collect all the things you need to process, remember, do. Emails, requests, “honey-do”, reports, shopping lists, and so on.

Put them in one trusted place. Either in pen and paper in a file folder or in one digital spot.

Process these things:

Can  I do them in 2 minutes or less–then do it.

Is there a date requirement–put in a dated tickler folder to pull out on the date you’ll do it.

Is there a context? Gather all your things to get while out running errands. List all the calls you need to make while you have phone time. List all the things to do while you’re working at your computer. Etc.

Most important–translate everything into next actions. If your action is “birthday party”, you’re not quite right. Your next actions really are something like write invitations, mail invitations, buy cake….Get the picture?

Everything goes on a list.

Every night, look at the list and determine the three most important tasks to tackle tomorrow.

Every week, review the previous week and the upcoming week and determine what you need to get done.

Every month, take some time and review at a higher level. Is what I’m working on helping me accomplish what I want to and become the kind of person I want to be?

Every year take a couple of days into a self-retreat. Think about the bigger picture of who you are and what you want to do and organize your lists or set project.

Stopping dropping the ball. Become known as a dependable person on top of things and your life.

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Showing Beats Telling Every Time

April 4, 2016

I picked up the morning paper and immediately saw articles about problems caused in people because of drugs. Overdoses among those released from prison are proportionately high. Locking people in prison for using drugs had essentially no effect.

There are many other stories about what drugs and addictions do to people daily in every news source.

There are other things that people do that destroy their lives–physically, emotionally, relationally. We know about them. We see them. We read ancient texts that describe them. It’s not a new phenomena.

Yet, what have followers of Jesus really done about it?

Do we point fingers and preach (telling) about how bad those things are?

Do we support locking people away in prisons or other institutions? Anything to get them off the streets and away from our sight?

Helping people after they’ve gone far down the wrong road is exceedingly difficult. There are people who do that. They should be celebrated as heroes. (How about that media? Celebrating people who help rather than loud-mouthed politicians? Maybe that would solve a few things?)

What about before they get so far down that road?

I wrote Friday about repentance. Turning away from the road you’re on and going down a different one. About how Matthew says Jesus began his ministry the same way–preaching repentance.

However, Jesus did it differently than John. Reading at the end of Matthew’s report, Jesus leaves his followers (us) the “Great Commission”. I love the way Jon Swanson approaches his writing. I wish I could be like him. But I guess I’m more like me. Today, Jon paraphrased that passage:

“Make more followers of me the same way I made followers of me. Spend time with people, showing them how you live. When you do, make sure that you are choosing to spend some of that time with every class of people. The kind you fit with, and the kind you don’t.”

What if we (including me…and you) did more of this when we can reach people before they get too far down that road?

I’ve always liked the heart of American liberalism more than that of American conservatives. The emphasis on helping people. However, they picked up some ideas in the early 20th century from Europe about using the power of government to help. Governments really can’t solve all problems.

Who can help? Who can solve the problems?

Well, Jesus of course. But not miraculously by some lightning strike from the sky, but through his followers. Who show people how to live and save them one person at a time. And one at a time until we reach every single living person. Isn’t that what we were commissioned to do when we signed up?

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Change Your Direction

April 1, 2016

According to Matthew, Jesus appeared publicly in his new role first to be baptized and then to seek solitude in the wilderness where he was tempted (OK, that wasn’t public). Then, Matthew says (4:17), “From that time Jesus began to proclaim ‘Repent for the Kingdom of God has come near.’ ”

To American, and probably British ears, the word “repent” may conjure images that are really far from the actual meaning of the word. I picture the hate-filled preacher with the black suit and hat and black beard in the movie version of “Paint Your Wagon”. You may have a similar image come to mind of an accuser pointing a finger and shouting “repent or go to hell.” And you get the idea that they’d rather see you roast.

I’m sorry the word has been so misused.

It really just means to change direction. Jesus was inviting people into a new way of doing life. Just like his cousin John (the Baptist).

Think about Jesus’ entire ministry. He made pointed comments to those who thought they were right with God but who were deluding themselves. John (the Evangelist) loves to point those out.

Jesus really used the word as an invitation. There was no accusation. No condemning to Hell.

He was saying, follow me and walk into a new life. Now. And forever. And we still can.

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Study From The Source

March 31, 2016

The podcast host was interviewing a professor at a smaller Christian university.

“The kids today are entering university with very little knowledge of the Bible. They don’t get information by reading, and they don’t read the Bible.”

“So what do you do?”

“We have a mandatory class on the Old Testament and New Testament.”

That comment encapsulates why I don’t think that a BA or even BS degree these days is worth much more than a high school diploma from years ago.

I went to the university having read many philosophers (I know, you’re shocked). We had a mandatory one-year long class “Philosophy and Religion.” Yes, it was a Christian school.

That year we read about philosophers, religion, Christianity, the Old Testament, the New Testament. Even at 19 years old I inherently knew that the class was just superficial — get your A and get out.

Even in graduate school we read more about thinkers than reading the thinkers themselves.

We’d have  been better served with a reading list. Read these works by Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Kant, Hegel; then read this list of books of the Bible. Come to class prepared to discuss the key points the writers were arguing.

Our students are coming to university Biblically illiterate? Have them start reading–the Bible. I know that’s revolutionary thinking.

Instead of a survey course that gives overviews of the books of the Bible, read the Bible.

Then after they’ve read the Bible for a basic foundation, then they can be introduced to interpreters. I prefer reading the early church Fathers up to and including Augustine. I am not enamored of the later theologies–Reformed in its various guises, what we call “fundamentlism” or some flavors of the evangelical world, the interesting stories people make up riffing from Daniel and Revelation. But at some point they need to read those thinkers.

Instill one of the most important disciplines early in life of these students–reading from the Bible every day.

By the way–what were the churches these kids attended before going to a Christian university doing, anyway? Maybe it would be a good service for some of you to lead youth in actually reading the Bible!

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Are There People Who Are Not Christians In Your Church?

March 30, 2016

I didn’t mean to miss posting yesterday. We had guests and then we were relaxing and I forgot all about writing. Yes, that’s hard to believe. And, I left at 5:30 am for a meeting on the other side of the state. In Ohio, that’s a 3-hour drive.

Looking at our Easter service and thinking about the early  church growing by attraction, I started to meditate on people in the church. Especially when I see posts on Facebook from people who claim Christianity, but their posts belie that stance. Meaning that there is precious little in what they say that sounds as if it were rooted in the New Testament.

So, I got to wondering, how many people were attracted to come to the church who are not followers of Jesus?

Then I thought, there are two types of these people.

On the one hand would be seekers. They know that they are not followers, but they are attracted enough to find out more. They feel a need and feel there’s something that other people have. So, they come.

On the other hand, there are members or regular attenders. They may even say that they are a member. On a questionnaire, they may even check Christian.

But one wonders. Are they really? As the old saying goes, if you were tried at court for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Well?

So, I wondered. How many people around me are that second type? And why have I not attracted any of the first type?

And, how do my actions stack up?

I’ve been reading in an early “catechism” ascribed to the apostles themselves called the Didache (dee-da-kay). Many chapters are advice on how to live. Makes me wonder–if someone were watching my life unfold, would they know that I’m a follower of Jesus?

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Easter Comes, Then What’s Next

March 28, 2016

The day of the crucifixion came and afterwards Jesus’ friends and followers hid out in a locked house for fear the authorities might come after them.

On the third day, some ventured out to perform funeral rituals. Problem–no body. Then Jesus began appearing to various ones.

They were still confused. Some scattered. A bunch returned home to the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. They really had no clue what came next. It took a while to digest the experiences.

Then the Spirit came. They were on fire. There was no stopping them. They didn’t build “churches,” they shared a new way to live. And the new faithful indeed did live differently from their neighbors. Differently in a way that attracted others.

The theme in my reading over the past couple of days has been centered on what’s an after-Easter life.

That is why we practice what are known as spiritual disciplines–regular Bible reading, meditation, prayer, service, prayer, worship. The days after can slip into the old routine. Starting new habits is hard.  We must be intentional in our new life.

For most of us, that “Easter moment” happened many years ago. But as the Righteous Brothers sang so movingly, we’ve “lost that loving feeling.”

What better time than after the Easter celebrations to develop new habits with intention. Not just slipping into a mindless routine. Choose our routines.

Live out Easter daily.

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Jesus Lived, Jesus Died, Jesus Lives Again

March 25, 2016

The very first misunderstanding about Jesus was that he could not possibly have been a human being. Taking Greek rationalist thought (which still screws us up even today) to a logical extreme, some thought that material things and spiritual things could not abide together.

Christians put that heresy away. Jesus lived as a man, a human. He was born a baby, grew up a boy and adolescent, taught as an adult male. There is not even a hint in the New Testament writings that Jesus may have been just an apparition.

My Muslim friends are taught Jesus lived, was a spiritual leader, and will return in glory. My friends from India whether Hindu, Jain, or Sikh all believe that Jesus spent time in India learning from the spiritual masters of the day.

Being a Galilean and looking at the texts, Jesus apparently was comfortable interacting with people from a diverse set of cultures and languages. It appears he spoke Latin and Greek as well as Aramaic and Hebrew. He’d have grown up with people who did. It wouldn’t be unusual.

A side note–modern Americans, especially those of us in the Midwest–are very uncomfortable dealing with a multitude of cultures. Unlike the mixtures and melting pot of the ancient Mediterranean world, we expect everyone to be “American.” We’re shocked, hurt, maybe even fearful, of those who are not. That fear leads to a number of political and social problems.

The thing that energized those early disciples to believe to the extent that they were willing to die for the cause was the resurrection. Christmas may be a big holiday, but Easter is the reason. Without the resurrection, we are nothing but fools–to paraphrase Paul.

The shock, surprise, consternation that followed discovery of the empty tomb is a huge story right there. And then Jesus appeared among them for forty days. The witnesses were many. The power of their testimony beyond all measure. They overturned the world. In 300 years, the mighty power that none of the New Testament writers thought would ever be destroyed became a Christian government. Without a war being fought.

We can have that power today.

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He Came To Serve

March 24, 2016

Can you imagine being only a few hours away from trials, beatings, and execution–and knowing it was coming–sharing a meal with your friends? And doing the servant’s work of washing their feet?

I’ve had communion in the Upper Room (or where they think it is). It was a most memorable experience.

In my religious tradition, we celebrated Maunday Thursday. Even as a kid I liked to play around with words, so I’d drive Dad crazy playing on “Monday Thursday” themes. Even today, I have no clue as to the word Maunday. But the celebration or remembrance–that is important. It’s actually a discipline of worship and celebration to remember Jesus’ last meal with his closest disciples and the meaning of taking Jesus into my life.

My wife, on the other hand, never even heard of Maunday Thursday. They remembered Good Friday and had a service that day. Those Baptists–what can I say?

I find remembering the celebration a spiritual moment. Sacred, if you will. I find myself somewhat annoyed when parents give it to their little kids simply because it’s the thing to do rather than with a feeling of the sacred. Rebel that I am, I kind of think that the Catholic First Communion at around 7 is pretty early. (Good thing I don’t make the rules, I guess.)

What really stands out isn’t communion–the bread and wine. That was somewhat common except for Jesus’ new meaning. But the foot washing. By the host. That was radical.

We gloss over that in our remembrance. Up until the end, Jesus came to serve. And he told us–we also were called to serve.

I just finished reading (again) Bill Hybels’ book Holy Discontent. This book contains stories about people who experienced something that caused them to change their lives and go serve.

Do we think about this enough in our Lenten devotions to move from the disciplines of remembrance and celebration to the discipline of service. Certainly Jesus pointed the way.

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Eating Your Own Harvest

March 23, 2016

Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus.

Jesus is in his last week. He knows what’s happening. His friends? Well, they have no clue. John, writing maybe 50 years later, acknowledges that they didn’t comprehend until later the significance of the words and the events.

Here Jesus is predicting his death. He is also stating a truth. If we stay within ourselves, self-contained as individuals, then we remain just a single grain. If we die to our ego-bound individuality, then we can live a new life with Jesus and bear much fruit.

How many times have you looked at someone and thought, “Wow, so much potential. All lost down the drain. They are just so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t realize what they could be.”

It happens to organizations, too.

I saw an old friend today. We were talking about churches. About how some churches just cannot see beyond their own doors. They spend their money on themselves–their buildings, salaries, offices. Mission giving? Well, that’s on the back burner. Maybe if we get a surplus of money we’ll spend some of it.

She called it, “Eating your own harvest.”

I thought, how appropriate given the verse that I’ve been meditating on. What little harvest we do receive, we consume ourselves instead of planting to reap a larger  harvest.

As for Jesus, his single grain died and he put forth a mighty harvest. No other single person in the history of the world has had such an impact.

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They Got It All Wrong

March 22, 2016

Sometimes we miss the significant thing and reward someone for the wrong thing. We thought they did one thing, when in reality they did something else.

Jesus healed a guy who was dead. For four days he was dead. And Jesus healed him, gave him new life, restored him to his family.

There were many witnesses.

The religious/political rulers did not like that. The plotted to kill not only Jesus, who was their chief antagonist, but also Lazarus, because he had been dead and now he was alive. (Irony that they wanted to kill him again.)

So Jesus went away and essentially hid from the rulers.

Then he came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. And people spotted him. “There’s the guy who brought back a man from the dead. He must be the anointed one of God. The long-expected king to reclaim our land for us.” Word spread, people gathered, they gave Jesus a royal reception into Jerusalem.

Sometimes in our study we go off on a wrong path. We didn’t understand something the way God meant it. Some people have taken that misunderstanding and done much harm. With Jesus it certainly ended his attempt to be incognito entering Jerusalem.

We must take great care when interpreting what we read while studying the Bible. We must understand what it says, not what we want it to say.

One thing I find interesting is that we don’t find Jesus discussing that royal reception and parade into town. He knew what was in store for him. We don’t know if he waved to the people like today’s politicians. Or if he looked aloof and stoic like a royal person would. We don’t know how the adulation affected him. I know how it would affect me. I’d get a big head.

He seemed to accept it and move on toward his destiny.

Our lesson is to also accept what happens and move on toward our destiny. And to take care to celebrate the right things.

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