Flight Days

Today I went over and enjoyed "Eagle Flight Days". It's the local town festival in Eagle. I think tomorrow morning I'll participate in the 10K before church. The theme for the parade was Hawaiian. It was a pretty neat parade, with some rather elaborate floats. It was well done. I think it was helped by having a theme, it encouraged the floats a bit more. The day campers from the church here in Gypsum were in a Noah's Ark float that was really quite cute. We then went over to the town square area where there were booths, a bake off, and a coloring contest going on. I kid you not it looked like a scene straight out of a movie, with train rides for the kids and everything. It was fun, but it was so different than other small town festivals that I've been around. This one was so clean, so organized... I'm not sure what it was. It was just straight out of a movie, where other festivals have tended to be a bit more haphazard, which is frankly part of the charm in them for me. Perhaps it was the order which gave it a more sterile feel, where a thrown together festival feels a bit more earthy and real. I don't know. What I do know is that I had fun.

Waiting

As some of you know I started working this past week waiting tables. It's been an interesting personal test to say the least. To begin by competing for jobs against high school students and migrant workers and now to work along side of them as my equals has been a lesson in humility. Waiting on tables, dependent on tips to bolster the income to be used for food has brought out attitudes in me I haven't really seen a whole lot. Sure I've joked in that manner, but I've not really felt it until now. The other day as I was making change for a fellow I had chatted with for quite a while during is time at the diner and I found myself without any coins. He told me not to worry about it and left saying something about not being a rich man and was sorry about the lack of tip. The change I was unable to come with was my tip, a whole freakin' nickel. What's up with that? Later that night the change of seven cents was once again my tip. Oh sweet joy, I'll be buying a mansion in Vail in no time! Seriously, I don't expect a lot but thirteen cents between two people is pretty lousy. If you don't want to feel encumbered by tipping then go somewhere they don't give tips like McDonald's. The system itself is a bit screwy. In just the few days that I've worked it seems clear to me that the amount of tip is generally much more dependent on the person sitting in the booth than the person bringing the food. The tip money then is more a lottery of luck of who winds up in your section than a matter of your hard work and quality service. Now that hardly seems fair. It also makes it a little scary that somebody was sharing at work that Bush has apparently bounced around the idea of lowering minimum wage. I don't know if there is any truth behind it or not, but if it's true it is absolutely ludicrous (and I'm not speaking of the rapper). I wonder what more lessons are in store? I suspect there are a few.

Purpose Driven

I have also started working my way through "A Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. While employed as a youth minister I enjoyed "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry" by his colleague Doug Fields. With the great popularity of "A Purpose Driven Life" I've gone into it with some great hopes, but also some trepidation. Whatever the case may be it seems that it is something for me to read because so many others are, so that at the very least I can be up to speed on what it is all about. Consequently in the coming days I'm sure I'll have a number of posts in relation to some of the stuff I come across in the book.

To start with I am a bit hesitant with the whole premise of the book. It seems to suggest, and Warren definitely leans that way in the introduction, that if you simply apply yourself well enough over the next 40 days you will have a better life, a better faith. I don't think it's that easy. Of course Warren then goes on in the first chapter to suggest this is not a self-help book. I don't know, it sure sounds like it is to me. If the idea is that you apply yourself for the next 40 days you will find purpose, what we are looking for, then it sounds like a self-help book to me.

Yet to be fair Warren's primary premise of chapter one is a good one, that it all begins with God. Our focus is to be on God, not on ourselves. It is a helpful reminder. I do wonder if Warren doesn't go too far with that suggestion though. I would think especially for somebody who comes from a more evangelical perspective that he would be more okay with looking inside oneself. I would suggest that it's not all bad to look at yourself as well because God is in there as well. Folks like Warren will often use language like, "Invite Jesus into your heart." That would suggest to me that Jesus resides there, so it's not all so bad to take a look inside. I think it is a good thing to look inside and see what God is up to in your life... at least that's my opinion.

A Bit of a Retraction

So a while ago I posted something about seeing the Fahrenheit 9/11 preview and...well...I think part of that was my gross misunderstanding of this whole documentary genre. Sorry about that...I'm still not so much sold on the movie, or the style but it sure better do well. The last few days it's been hard to turn on the television and not see Michael Moore. He is everywhere, talking to everybody he can. I kind of like the comparison I've heard from a few people about him being kind of like the liberal version of Rush Limbaugh. I suspect both folks have plenty of good ideas, but they have a way of going over the top and embracing what sounds like conspiracy theories to me that just sort of makes me tune out. Unfortunately these guys are the ones that get the air play and I am left with little quality discussion of the issues. Perhaps someday...

Paul and Leadership

I've had the chance this summer to take a look at book that is not yet published (how cool is that?) that is about the Apostle Paul and Leadership. One of the trends in leadership literature is modeling after great leader icons. One of the premises of this book is that in this long list of great leaders we've mined for their leadership qualities Paul has yet to really be tapped from this perspective. They would know better than me, having looked at so many more books, that there isn't a lot written about Paul from a leadership perspective, but it seems to me that many of the models shared with me in college and through those years of being an employed youth minister that most models were based on Paul, or some portion of his writings....

One of the things that has struck me so far is some of the discussion about Paul and his passion. Which leads us to understand that a great leader has passion. What if I'm not passionate about something, how might I find that passion? Let's look at me for a brief example. I do have a bit of a passion for ministry and so I have chosen to follow that particular call. One day I will be heading out to a congregation and at some point it might seem reasonable, if not necessary, to have some sort of stewardship campaign. I don't really have a passion for stewardship so to speak, so where might I derive that from to be a better leader of this campaign? Is that even possible? Should you not ever even consider a leadership position until you have found a passion?

I wonder as well about this whole concept of using icons like Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Jesus, Paul, etc. as models for leadership. Yes, they were all great leaders, but are we setting ourselves up for failure in trying to live up to their standards? It's like that popular campaign a few years ago "What Would Jesus Do?" Even if we were able to precisely discern what Jesus would have done in a particular situation would we really be able to do what Jesus would do? Before you answer to quickly in the affirmative remember that Jesus is also the Son of God. Paul was not Jesus, but he was an amazing leader and witness. Am I just setting myself up to fail by trying to model my leadership after his, because I will never, ever do it as well as Paul?!

Action

It is summer so that means it's about time for me to jump back into the "Left Behind" series. I started a few summers ago to find out what the hype was about and then somehow I've gotten sucked in. Are they the best written books ever? No, but there are aspects that are fun and now I want to know what happens to these characters, especially after investing in them for about nine books now.

So I'm on to "The Remnant". I came across something last night that struck me. One of the characters said, "We are a people of faith. And we know you are too. We must also be people of action...We don't know what else to do." I think we in the Lutheran church miss that sometimes. We miss the action part because we are afraid of doing "works". Sure there a lot of people who volunteer with projects like Habitat, the soup kitchen, etc. Yet, how many of those people are willing to verbally share their faith? Is that not an important action as well? I'm not saying prostelitize at every given moment, but words are a part of action, and action is a part of faith. The action grows out of faith. It would seem that faith produces people of action. I know I'm often guilty of sitting on my tushy and letting faith die a slow death. Perhaps today I will live out my faith, give my faith some action if you will.

Freedom

One of the things that I've really come to realize recently is how much I enjoy writing. I've found that with each passing day I come appreciate the opportunity ever more. I think it is largely because in writing I find a certain amount of freedom. A freedom to say whatever I want. A freedom to be who I am. A freedom from non-verbals. A freedom to be heard.

I am working on a suspicion that it is this last one that drives me most. It is my hunch that I don't often feel in life like I am being heard. I spend a lot of life just listening, and I love it very much. I also have a lot to say, and as I'm sure you've seen by now it can take me a while to rev up to finally saying what it is I want to say. Consequently when I am face to face with people we often get side tracked and by the time it is my turn to talk again the opportunity is lost to return to what I wanted to say. So I begin with something new and again I get interrupted. When I write at least I know that the paper, or the screen, that I am writing on has to listen. For somebody to reply they have to read what I have said, you have to "listen" before responding, which is easier to not do when we are face to face. When I write the non-verbals like tone of voice and body language are eliminated and we are left with the plain, simple words that have been written, the words are what they are.

So I write... and I feel free.... for I have been heard.

Another Quicky...

Just a quick update to let you know that I am back in Colorado now. I've come up with a few more things I would like to share, but first I must catch the rest of my life back up to speed. It was great to be back in Minnesota and to see family and friends. While it's going to be a great summer, I know, it was also tough to leave Minnesota behind this time. I guess that's good because then I will be looking forward to returning at the end of August.

Very Quick Update

So I've been quiet for a while and there's a reason. I was up in Duluth to run Grandma's Marathon. I was with a number of people from the seminary and it was a good time. I unfortunately lost track of my friend Josh at the water stop at mile 15. He did end up finishing, along with Sally, Shawn, Pierre, Ellie, Dick, Mary, and Jared. I think that's all of us, it never was real clear who all was involved. It was fun to run into a college friend, Eric Dahl, before the run. I hadn't seen him in years. Anyway, I think it's pretty cool that nine of us all finished! Today I will be celebrating Father's Day and then I'll start making my way back to Colorado. I will be staying with my friend Karen and her kids in Lake Benton, and then probably with Jim again in Boulder/Louisville. I'll then start my job as a waiter on Tuesday. So hopefully I'll be back up to speed this week with my entries.