We should find people of great influence in our peer group and in our discipline and listen to them. Because they differ slightly from us, these people sharpen us. Sometimes they are achieving such greatness that we feel a drip of depression looming in our seeming lack of accomplishment. But that only remains when we focus on our accomplishments or lack thereof.

Many would call this sort of activity “self-centered.” I contend that it is probably not “self-centered” enough. Perhaps we need to go even deeper into searching ourselves - we need to search inside of ourselves to find the still small voice instructing us. This voice trumps all external, peer-reviewed comparison. It says, “Keep running the race” and “fight the good fight” and “I will give you rest.” Man, I love that still small voice.

Katrina here. Blog #2. I was painting a young lady this afternoon downtown, and I noticed she was staring off into the buildings. I asked her what she was thinking about and she said, “I’m trying not to.” What a profound statement! We conjured up a business proposition: contemplative prayer meets fine art. Hmmmm… (It’s more like performance art, I suppose…) The question on many brains that needs attention is “HOW does one dump their brain clutter?” So, let’s talk about how to clear your brain. Well the parts are not difficult to understand, and naturally, this will look different for different people. I don’t have a recipe, but I have been trying some things. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Learn to trust more

2. Take your time, be graceful with yourself

3. Only say what you intend to do / only say what you mean

4. Do what you say / mean what you say

5. Be diligent (ask, seek and knock)

6. The door will open

Transparent Practicality — Here is what this has looked like for me. I haven’t perfected this at all, and this may only work for a season, but here is where I am at the moment. As I mentioned in my last post, I have just read David Allen’s Getting Things Done and Armchair Mystic by Mark Thibodeaux. And as Mark mentioned in the comments, these books seem quite opposed at first glance — one is about efficiency and the other is about the art of being. Doing vs. being. Are they really at odds?

I would venture to say that the art of being and contemplative prayer are a means to efficiency. I get much more accomplished when I am fully aware of my surroundings and my time than when I am quickly rushing from one thing to the next. I am also a nerd/geek. I love technology. I was taking apart computer hardware with my mom as a young girl while other girls were playing with Barbie dolls. So here is a tool I’ve been using to dump my brain. It’s a tool I’ve had to come to learn to use, and I like it. (And ultimately, true security is only found with God, and if it falls apart for some reason, I trust that He will provide and take care of me.) The tool is Toodledo, a free online software that manages tasks and assigns them priority. I use it in conjunction with Google Calendar. (You can see the little green checkbox next to the weather icons.) Here is a screen shot:

I like the fact that I can sit down to the checklist, take five minutes and dump everything that needs to get done (with a priority level and due date, if needed).

I used to do the same thing with checklists on pencil and paper, but I always dropped it because I would lose the checklist, and I was tired of transferring all of the tasks that I didn’t do onto a new sheet — I felt like a failure. Ultimately, I didn’t really trust the process either. I didn’t trust that I would do what I had said I would do.

Now, I use Toodledo as a referral point and a sacred space. By placing these things in this “silo”, my mind is like water. If I don’t intend to workout that day, I won’t write it on there! The only way this works is if I make the tool an authentic representation of what I truly desire and need to do. Otherwise a great deal of time and resources has been wasted. Once I’ve dumped those action items, I don’t think about them again (until it’s time for me to think about them). The process has been freeing and helpful.
This tool is one helpful lifestyle change that has really brought me peace of mind. Everyone’s approach will look slightly different. Please leave a comment if you have any suggestions or examples of what this looks like for you.

What about brain noise resulting from non-task based items? Like philosophical concerns or relationships? See you for the next post.

I have been fully engaged this morning in reading a book on the Missio Dei (mission of God).  I was reminded that God is first and foremost a missionary God who came to Earth to announce the good news of an arriving Kingdom, and that his will is to see us not planting churches, not spreading the message of Americo-centrism, but making disciples.  The earliest missionaries moved from a periphery like Jerusalem, and arrived at the center of power: a spiritually bankrupt Rome.  For so long missions has been about “sending”, now it is about “going”.  And truly, even more than “going”, because we are always on the go in this culture.  It is while we go that we make disciples of Jesus Christ.  It is in the midst of life that we group together with a band of disciples and live out the subversive, provocative lifestyle that God have designed for us.

I’m not interested in “missions” as something we do during our summer break, or support financially, or even make a career out of.  I will not rest until it is everything that we are and do.

Now I think about Abilene.  In many ways it is out in the periphery of the world.  It is the desert, physically and politically speaking.  My wife and I are heading to Chicago.  In many ways that is the cultural and economic center of the country – and in many other ways, the entire world.  The great cities of our nation are going to be infiltrated with revolutionaries of The Way, and we aren’t going to be preaching a health and wealth Gospel.

It is the small things that make the biggest difference.  Right now people from all over the world – people who just one generation ago heard the Gospel message for the first time from an American – are now migrating to the US to “make disciples”.  African groups like the Nigerian Redeemed Christian Church of God hold vibrant worship, and are connected with home churches all throughout Florida and the Southeast, Christian groups from Ghana are now holding bible studies in the World Bank in Washington D.C., and Asians are grouping together to head for locales a Westerner could have never gained access to.

The shift in God’s mission is taking place – now there is no one center of mission.  We now see an interplay of the Gospel being passed back and forth in a network of cultures and societies.  Each supporting the other, these groups committed to a center-less religion are watching the Spirit move in fascinating ways.

I want to be a part of that network.  I renounce my desire to be the center of power.  I commit to finding myself in the dangerous and amazing mission God has created for his disciples.  Praise be to God!

I need a fake job.

Twice already this morning as I'm meeting with new friends for breakfast, getting coffee, going to the grocery store, etc, people are asking me, "What do you do?"  It's a simple question really.  But the answer gives me away every time.  "I'm a student."  I usually keep it as vague as possible, hoping they won't ask the next question.  You see, most people who ask me are people who would feel isolated, embarrassed, or even condemned if I told them that I was currently working on my Masters of Divinity at Abilene Christian University's Graduate School of Theology.  Yes, when its not Lectureship week, or I'm not talking with other preachers (or preachers-to-be), I'm ashamed of it too.  I'd rather go through my studies without having to tell anyone what I was up to.  You see, no matter how I say it, what words or phrases I use, and what body language I employ, I convey the message that "I'm better than you."  If I just made up some job, (or okay, I'd honestly try to get one…or at least apply for one), then maybe I could avoid such an unpleasant conversation.

When I told Mike this morning during breakfast at BOBS, his whole demeanor changed.  Our conversation went from life, struggle and hope to him convincing me that he and his family go to church every Sunday and that he had been ordained online so he could perform wedding ceremonies.  I hated every minute of it…I wanted the old Mike back.