I need a Staycation

A few weeks ago I went on a staycation. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is when you take vacation time but don't actually go anywhere. I spent the week connecting with those who mean a lot to me in life. I met with my best friends, old mentors, current mentors as well as those who I just hadn't connected with in a while. It was an amazing time of catching up and resting and reflecting. Here are a few things that I learned during this time. 

Intimacy with God and others- I am continually amazed and blessed by the friends God has placed in my life. Getting the time to decompress with close friends and pray with them was rich. We had a lot of time to just hang out and laugh and have fun, but we were also intentional about going deep. The last few years on my life have been spent chasing after the fullness of God and I am continually realizing that we can never attain the fullness of God in our lives in isolation. Having people to pursue God with you and alongside of you is absolutely vital and I am filled with gratitude for that. 

The Presence of God- On that Thursday morning I woke up early for a 7AM breakfast with my mentor. Most people want to sleep in during their time off but I was so excited for this time at breakfast. Everytime I get to meet with this man my life is rocked. I get there and our conversation was great as always but when we walked out, I realized something else. The presence of God rests on this man. I got in my car truly feeling light-headed and euphoric. The presence of God has been welcomed into this mans heart and it doesn't just visit there occasionally, The Holy Spirit resides in this man. I decided I want my life to be marked by that. I want to be so full of the Holy Spirit that people are change just being around me. 

Rest- Rest is best when it is spent with God. I had two reasons for taking time off. First was that I have extra time that needed to be used. Second, I have not felt more exhausted than I have over the last few months. I felt like I had truly poured myself dry. I am used to running at a high pace but these last few months caught up to me in a strong way. But I realized that while time off is good and necessary, it doesn't refresh us unless it is spent with God. God is our source of peace, joy and rest and we need to continually seek Him in order to remain full of those. 

Hopefully this post will inspired you in the same ways. 

Recommended Reading

So I am a reading nerd. I love to find a comfy place and just get lost in a book. While it is still January, I wanted to get a recommended reading list out there for the year.

Personal:

Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky - This book as done wonders for me for personal organization and productivity. I have always considered myself organized but this book took it to the next level. I have been able to bring action into many of the ideas that I have had in my head for a while.

Financial Peace by Dave Ramsey - If you want to get your finances under control, read this book!! I am leading a Financial Peace class here at Vinelife this Spring and his stuff works. Everyone that I know that has read his stuff or taken his class and put it into practice has raved about how much help it has been to them.

Spiritual:

The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer - This is my favorite book outside the Bible. Everytime I read it, it ignites a desire to chase after God with everything that I have. This book is a must read before you die.

Leadership:

Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley- This book is a book to return to and re-inspire you to lead. Are we going to sit back and allow the world to direct our lives or are we going to step up and direct the world around us?

I will leave you with those four for now. There are so many more but four is a good start. I will post some more later this year.

Leaders are Readers

Ok ok. I know this line sounds a little cheesy and cliche, but the truth of it still remains.

Good leaders are committed to continual learning and growing.

Leaders recognize the fact that they don't have all the answers on their own and therefore are willing to find it wherever it exists.

Leaders want to lead their tribes well enough that they are willing to be disciplined so they can continually serve their tribes effectively

Meetings

In our rapid pace society meetings more and more are being discouraged. They are seen as pointless, a waste of time, irrelevent, boring and demotivating. These general perceptions came about because for the most part, they are true. So many writers on leadership and management are discouraging having meetings. They have looked at the current culture and decided that meetings are overrated.

Books such as "Death by Meeting" and "Rework" talk about the pitfalls of meetings and how it kills productivity. But I would like to suggest a different view. Our problems with meetings are real but instead of giving up on meeting, lets rework meetings.

What if meetings guided productivity? What if they energized people instead of draining them? What if they reduced each persons workload because everyone was on the same page and people were able to gain from collective wisdom.

I am not advocating for more meetings, but I am suggesting that with some thinking, vision casting and some work, we can make meetings one of the most valuable parts of our week instead of a necessary evil.

I have been in meetings that just absolutely drain me and leave me frustrated. But I have also been in meetings where I didn't want to leave. I could have been there all day, But when it did come time to leave and get back to work, I was so energized because it refreshed the vision and what my work was accomplishing. It redefined my roles, my focuses and gave me new insights.

Our problem with meetings is real, but lets reshape them instead of nixing them.

Back up and going

Wow, it has been like 10 months since I have posted on this thing. I recently decide, in fact about a minute ago, that I want to try to start posting regularly again. The reason for that is primarily for me. I believe that this is a good creative and expressive outlet for me to use.

I going to use this either to post random musings, things that I am learning or things that God is saying to me. I hope that you enjoy.

A call to Prayer

America just celebrated the one year anniversary of our first black president. As always, Americans find it to be our duty to provide a yearly assessment of his time in office. The results for Obama seemed mixed. I want to do something a little different for this blog today. I want to give an assessment of the American populace instead.

I would like to start by laying down a little groundwork of my personal convictions are guiding the rest of this post. By the way, if you don't agree, please know that I don't profess to have everything right but I am seeking the right response to these issues. First, I believe that Obama and his administration care about this country. Second, I think he is imperfect just as everyone who has ever been brave enough to try and run this country. Third, my views on our response in no way convey my support or opposition to his administration or his policies. Fourth, while I am a "citizen of heaven" I am every bit called to this country and will serve it as long as the Lord has me here.

Throughout the Bible, God has called us to be ambassadors to this world and to those who don't particularly glorify Him. In the Old Testament you can read the stories of Joseph, Daniel and Nehemiah. All who served those who conquered and oppressed the Israelites. Yet they were called to serve their conquerers and did so with all their heart and with humility. In the New Testament, Jesus infuriated the pharisees by claiming that a Centurion had more faith than anyone He had seen. Paul told us to obey authorities and most of all to pray for those in authority. Has also said that they only rule by God's allowing.

We seem to have lost sight of that over the years. Instead many of us have been led to believe that our primary role in this country is to judge and whine and complain. This shift in views and action have had a profound impact on this nation. I believe that the things that we aren't quite satisfied with when it comes to the current administration is more a result of our lack of prayers than anything else. We rally together on the National Day of Prayer and lift our government up but tear it town the other 364 days. The solution is short and simple, We need to pray and we need to pray hard and often. It will be incredible to see what God does when this happens.

Quarter Life Crisis??

At the end of last school year (even though I graduated over two years ago I still operate on semesters), my roommate decided to put off getting a job for a while and go do YWAM. This decision was a result of what he called a quarter life crises. I admire him for that decision and while I wasn't called to take that step I feel like I am going through a quarter life crisis of my own.

Let me lay it out for you.

While I am aware that I am a child of God's, I constantly wrestle with who I am. There are moments that I am painfully aware of my awkwardness. Other times, I might be just as awkward but blissfully unaware. Sometimes I converse with people and leave feeling somewhat wise, only to move into a new conversation and realize that I am still just a child. I have tons of learning to do.

While I know the dreams that are in my heart are from God, I rarely trust in Him to bring them to pass. There are days that I am honestly overwhelmed by the fact that for the most part they are still just dreams. Out of this tension has birthed what can be described as "what the heck am I doing here?" moments. I have tried to run from them and yet they only grow. This is not a bad thing by the way, but nonetheless not an easy thing.

While I know that God created me for intimacy with Him and I long for it, I am not as deep as I want to be. I wake up some mornings and ask what have I been doing all this time? I would foolishly assume that I should know everything about an infinite God. Not only would I know everything about Him, but I would know Him intimately. Like Paul did or John did. Not only do I not know much about Him, I oftentimes feel I barely know Him.

While intellectually I know that we were created for deep community with others, I seem to only get glimpses of it. Only moments where I sit there and think wow this is amazing. Those moments often feel few and far between. Yet, sometimes when real community stares me in the face, I choose to read a book about it instead. That can feel less messy.

I was driving home the other night and all this hit me in the face at once. This happens occasionally. In the middle of it something happened that usually does. Yet my short-term memory usually doesn't seem to retain this. Or perhaps it does and yet the reality of it still needs to sink into my heart. It was in this moment driving home, thoughts speeding through my head, emotions going on overload, the fear of my body shutting down in order to cope with these one at a time, that a voice crashed through it all. Even though it was a gentle whisper it packed a punch. A blow stronger than anything I had just been feeling. The voice and Gods' and the words were questions. "Bryan, do you trust me? Do you love me? Will you receive my love for you? Will you walk with me? Do you believe that I placed these things in your heart? Do you believe that I will bring them to pass? Do you have faith?" They weren't asked condescendingly or rebukefully, but rather honestly, raw and full of love, compassion and wisdom.

In that moment things changed. One I had renewed energy and I felt excited rather than overwhelmed. Two, the manifest solutions hadn't come, but THE solution, who was there the whole time, manifested Himself. Three, rather than asking me to give up my dreams, he reiterated that He was behind them and that I need to continue to pursue them. Only this time, He wanted to pursue them with me. That encounter solved nothing and everything at the same time. I am still walking and learning. But I am walking with Him and getting to know Him. And perhaps that's all that matters.