20 billion hours

Recently I read a sentence that grabbed my heart and I have not been able to shake it.

“IN A GIVEN YEAR IT’S ESTIMATED THAT AMERICAN ADULTS VOLUNTEER ROUGHLY 20 BILLION HOURS OF THEIR TIME.” (from Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels)

20 billion hours! That’s 20,000,000,000 hours!

My only response to this unbelievable sentence is…

Wow, Thank you.

To all the people that so selflessly give their time to churches, hospitals, ministry programs, nonprofit groups, schools, charities, and all other volunteer positions – THANK YOU. The world is better because of what you do. You are appreciated.

Thank you.

connecting with the right mentor

Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous.” – Proverbs 2:20 NLT

You need to connect with the right mentor. It is extremely important. Why? You NEED a mentor in your life to help get you where you cannot get alone.

A mentor is not a babysitter. A mentor is not a best friend. A mentor is someone worth following.

I encourage you to begin to establish relationships that will help you get to the next level in your relationship with God, in your marriage, in your profession, etc.

I encourage you to look for 5 things in a mentor…

A person who loves and follows God.
A person who makes right choices.
A person who is where you want to be in life.
A person who will push you to be a better person.
A person who will pray for you.
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DO YOU HAVE A MENTOR?

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A MENTOR?

I love my ducks

Its been a week since Oregon lost and although it still sucks I still love my ducks! They will be back next season better than ever!

Tear the roof off friends

Friends are extremely important. In fact, your friends and relationships will determine the direction and quality of your life. Connecting with the right friends and making wise choices in your relationships is crucial.

The Bible speaks a lot about the importance of connecting with the right friends.

Check out Mark 2: 1-5 (NLT)…

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

Let’s focus on the phrase “dug a hole through the roof”. Other translations say “made an opening”, “removed part of the roof”, and “uncovered the roof”.

It’s very easy to pass over this simple phrase. We often think the roof was some ancient, primitive, thatch roof. But that was not the case.

If you study 1st Century architecture, you will find that this specific roof was more than likely a mud clay (a lot like cement) roof with tiles. To lower the paralyzed man through the roof, they literally had to do major construction and demolition to the roof.

Can you imagine this picture? You’re in this packed house – wall to wall people – trying to listen to Jesus. All of a sudden you start to hear some banging on the roof. Then the roof begins to fall in on you. These friends literally tore the tiles off the roof, tore a hole in the roof, and lowered the paralyzed man by a rope into the house.

Imagine the people’s responses. I’d guess anger because they are there to listen to Jesus. They earned their spot. They got there early. He could have been in the middle of a life-changing sermon and they missed part of it because of the whole roof being torn open situation. What about that person who owned the house? That’s not a quick fix. That’s not a minor, cosmetic problem. That’s a huge hole in your roof.

Now look at Jesus’ response. “Seeing their faith…” Did you get that? The Bible does not say “seeing his faith”. No, the Bible says “seeing their faith”. Jesus didn’t rebuke them and say “Don’t you know how much a roof costs?” He didn’t say “Have you ever heard of a door?” No, he saw their faith and their lives were never the same.

Here’s the truth: the paralyzed man would have never gotten to Jesus or been healed without his friends.

DO YOU HAVE FRIENDS IN YOUR LIFE WHO WOULD TEAR OFF A ROOF FOR YOU?



From Week 2 of the REVOLUTION series CONNECT 4 entitled “Connecting with the Right Friends”.

Jesus first?

The worst thing you can do as a Christian is to try and put Jesus first in your life.
I know it sounds good, and Lord knows, I’ve said it plenty:
Put Jesus first, your family second, your job third…
But it’s a flawed paradigm.

Jesus doesn’t want to be first on your list. He doesn’t need your shout out.
He’s not content to be first in your life.
He insists on being the center of your life.

Putting Jesus first in my life means I kind of segregate Him from my other priorities.
Making Him the center of my life means I integrate Him into every priority.

It’s not Jesus, then my family, then my job…
It’s Jesus: in my family, in my job…

It’s not Jesus, then anything…
It’s Jesus in everything!

Just my thoughts...

Tonight! Connect 4.

REVOLUTION is starting a brand new 4-week series tonight called CONNECT 4.

In February 1974, Milton Bradley started selling the now popular board game “Connect Four”. The object of the game was simple: to connect four of one’s own discs of the same color next to each other vertically, horizontally, or diagonally before one’s opponent can do so. If you lined up four pieces in a row, you win.



In the series CONNECT 4 we will be discussing that if you want to win at the game of life, you need to be connected four specific ways: (1) connected to God, (2) connected with the right friends, (3) connected with the right mentors, and (4) connected to someone you have yet to meet.

CONNECT 4 is going to be an amazing series that will be filled with relevant/Biblical teaching, big surprises, a whole lot of fun, and much more.

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REVOLUTION

More Impressive... Ripkin or Favre

Well…it’s official…again.

After 20 seasons, 41-year old Brett Favre is retiring from professional football. Assuming this is the end (he has retired two other times, only to come back the next season), Favre departs as the National Football League career leader in victories (186), yards passing (71,838), touchdown passes (508), attempts (10,169), completions (6,300) and interceptions (336).

While those records are undoubtedly impressive, I am most impressed with Favre’s NFL-best streak of 297 straight starts. From September 1992 to December 2010, he never missed a start. He showed up to play quarterback every week for 18+ years.

That got me to thinking…

Who has the more impressive streak? Brett Favre or Cal Ripken Jr?

Cal Ripken Jr has the Major League Baseball record for most consecutive games played. From from May 30, 1982 to September 20, 1998, Ripken played in 2,632 consecutive games. Everyday for 17+ seasons, he played shortstop or third base for the Baltimore Orioles.

Both streaks are extremely impressive. Both took guts. Both required a ton of toughness. Both took consistently showing up.

If I had to choose, I would go have to go with Cal Ripken Jr’s streak.

I understand how violent NFL football can be. Anybody who ever turns on their TV on a Sunday can see that. I know how Favre played through multiple injuries and personal tragedies. In no way am I disrespecting or downplaying his amazing streak.

Personally, it all comes down to the incredible daily grind of baseball. MLB teams play a 162 game schedule. NFL teams play a 16 game schedule. MLB teams also play much more often. For example, in april-may 2011 the Los Angeles Dodgers are scheduled to play 57 games in 61 days with only 4 off days. NFL teams play once a week often having 7 days between games. There have been many times where Brett Favre has missed a full week of practice due to injury only to play in that week’s game. Cal Ripken Jr never had that luxury.

That’s me.

What about you? What do you think?

What is the more impressive streak – Brett Favre’s 297 straight NFL starts or Cal Ripken Jr’s 2,632 MLB consecutive games played?