I came across this verse this morning and I love it:

Proverbs 28:1: The wicked run away when no one is chasing them,
but the godly are as bold as lions.

Sheesh. Bring it, Solomon.

It got me thinking, “I can afford to be a lot more bold than I currently am.” When I look at people like Ben Arment and Anne Jackson, I get inspired. Homeys be makin’ it happen. (Ben’s post about kids with famous parents still haunts me, as I think he’s spot on.)

If there’s a theme emerging in my life and in the life of BeDeviant.com, it’s that God can afford our failures. He’s not up for blind stupidity, but he is up for us taking chances–”sanctified guesses” as Mark Batterson put it.

Ben wrote this morning, “A few friends are making murmurs of departure from cubicle life to follow their dreams. I think God is stirring our generation.”

I would agree. The Spirit is breathing and I, for one, am going to catch that wind.

Where do you need to be more bold?

• A new business idea you’ve had forever?
• Asking a girl out that you’ve liked forever?
• Going back to school?
• Launching a new ministry in your church?

Where could you stand to take a few more chances? What gets you excited?

Please share.

Inspired by recent life events from Tony Morgan and Ben Arment, I want to ask you a question today:

If you could launch one of your biggest dreams right now, what would it be?

Me? I would develop Deviant Media Group (BeDeviant.com’s “mother” company) into a full-fledged communications-solution juggernaut. I’ve always wanted to help churches better communicate the most important message on earth in a culturally relevant way; a way that the normal, everyday world can understand. Workshops, blog and social media coaching, books (both e- and paper), graphic design, and of course continuing this beautiful blog–you name it, we’d do it.

That’s what I would do. What would you do?

This is the video that played before Guy Kawasaki’s presentation at Catalyst West and it is hilarious. For realz.

(HT: Ben Arment & Catalyst West)

I tweeted this last week:

It struck a chord in me, and I wasn’t even there to hear it live. (Thanks to all the Twitterers at Catalyst West and their amazing social media coverage of the event! #Catwest let me feel like I was in on the action while being 1800 miles away! Well done–specifically Brett Crimmel and the always reliable Tony Morgan.)

How many of us stagger through our days having no energy? We slog through the day trying to hammer through tasks and jobs that have little to do with what we’re passionate about. So we have no energy and we wonder why we hate our jobs. I believe there are theological reasons abound as to the connection between our jobs and our spiritual lives, suffice to say that most of us live believing that work is “just something you do” instead of something you’ve been “fashioned” and “crafted” to do.

At any rate, Warren is onto something. In those situations where we dislike what we do, it does not matter how well you manage your time, your energy went out the door before you could even hit “task one” on your to-do list.

I’ve been asking myself the question, “Lord what have you created me to do and to be?” In a real, concrete way, what have I been created to create? In my experience, when we’re living in the reality of what we’ve been fashioned to do, energy is never a problem.

Think about it, what takes up more energy?

• Getting up early to go to a dentist’s appointment to have a root canal?
• Getting up early to go to a conference that you’ve had on the calendar for six months?
• Writing the last page of a paper for a class that you absolutely loathe?
• Writing the last page of a book on a subject that you’ve waited all your life to write about?

You get the drift. And here’s the thing: The answers are out there. People will tell you that they aren’t, that sometimes “you have to do things that you don’t like to do,” but they’re out there. A lot of that criticism comes from people’s pain in never asking the question, “What am I uniquely crafted to do by God?”

You can ask. And you should. The energy of God’s Spirit is waiting to fill you up.

A helpful reminder for those of us in Iowa (and abroad) today who might want to think otherwise (HT: Erik Carlson):

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one-of-a-kind Son, that whoever believes in him shall not die but have life everlasting!”

I read today in Proverbs that “hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Great Scripture, but let’s sweeten the deal a bit…

According to the Hebrew calendar, we are in the month of Nisan. Nisan usually falls in March–April and Jewish scholars say that Nisan is “the first of the months” because it’s when the people of Israel were liberated from Egypt. According to Jewish custom, this entire month is to be one of happiness and freedom. Nisan also happens to coincide with when the Christian church traditionally celebrates Easter…

Do you see a theme going on here?

My friend Mitch and I were talking the other day and we believe that we’re in a extraordinary time where God wants to begin to bring “happiness and freedom” to his people–that’s you and me–for his purposes and plans.

Let me ask you a few questions and then you reply in the comments with your answers:

• What are some hopes or dreams that you’ve had for your life that are in deferment?
• How would it feel if those hopes and dreams were fulfilled?
• What kind of miracle needs do you have in your life right now?
• What do you feel called to do that seems absolutely impossibe?

This is the month of miracles. God is a God of miracles. Do you see the connection? Holla!

Happy Easter! He is RISEN!

“A little Hindu girl caught the meaning of what a real Christian is when she gave this definition of a Christian: ‘One who is different from all the others.‘”

Now that, my friends, is an @$$ kicking from a little Hindu girl. Think differently! (Via “The Christ of the Indian Road” by E. Stanley Jones.)

The following is a guest post from Dan Bryan. Dan’s a good friend from seminary and budding blogger. Check out Dan’s Twitter at Twitter.com/_danbryan and give him a follow. Enjoy the post, and let Dan know what you think in the comments!

My wife and I participated in something called ‘Earth Hour’s this past Saturday night – read more here www.earthhour.org. There were a variety of participants ranging from regular people like me to the famous Big Ben clock tower in the U.K. In my city Chicago, last year’s participation resulted in a reduction of electricity use of 7% over that hour – the equivalent of taking about 1 million cars off the road or planting 158 acres of trees. All good things right?

This was hardly an act of heroism – in fact we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (NCAA tourney games ending in time helped my activism as well!).  This picture pretty much sums up our experience:

Armed with some candles and a couple glasses of wine, we did our part, staring out our 9th floor window to see which neighbors were participating, chatting till 9:30 until we could make something in the oven (it’s electric and after an hour we got pretty hungry – we like to eat).

So, why should you care? Well, I found some of the chatter leading up to earth hour incredibly fascinating. No huge buzz, but around Chicago there were billboards, short news stories, and of course I watched my Twitter/Facebook accounts. Some of the commentary leading up to 8:30 PM CST really struck me; I heard several statements like this one (I’m paraphrasing):

“I’ve almost got every light on, a few more to go and I’ll be ready for earth hour.  Maybe I’ll even buy more!”

I could go on, but I won’t. You get the idea. Whatever the reason, some people didn’t agree with the premise of earth hour – reasonable. But, why would you choose to respond in that way? I’m not a card-carrying member of WWF (the organization behind earth hour and NOT the “world wrestling federaton”) – but I agree that we are a culture of users – I am a wasteful user. Conservation isn’t a big value for us; we use more than we need all the time and responses like the ones above only validate that point.

I’m not interested in debating the premise of earth hour; what I’m interested in is this deep seeded urge in all of us to be contrary. In fact I want to give these folks the benefit of the doubt – they probably have great reasons for dissenting; but because of the way they went about it I doubt anyone is listening.  How am I responding when I disagree with something? I might have the best reasons, carefully crafted, scientifically ‘proven’ even – but does that give me license for responding in a way that only escalates conflict and division – or in this case adds to the problem? I propose that it doesn’t.

My question to myself and to you – what are the ‘earth hours’ you’ve responded to lately? How did you do? Is my posture one of conversation and relationship with the world around me? Or have I taken a stand only to be sending a message I never intended?

“Gay marriage will be legal in 21 days.”

This was the tweet from the Des Moines Register that brought me the news that the Iowa Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage in the state, declaring it unconstitutional. Gay couples will be able to marry in the state of Iowa in three weeks.

No matter which side of the fence you fall on, this is a historic day for Iowa (where I live) and for our nation (if you live in the U.S.)

As soon as I heard about the ruling, I checked out Twitter and found the #iagaymarriage hashtag and it was booming. Lots of people with lots to say. The only unfortunate part for me in watching all of it wasn’t the fact that people were celebrating the ruling. It was watching how Christians were responding:

• “Churches are going to get sued now.”
• “First Obama, now this! Our country gets what it deserves!“
• “I’m going pray extra hard tonight!”
• “God have mercy on this nation! We don’t know what we’re doing!”

With all due respect to my brothers and sisters in Christ who choose to respond this way: Shut up. You are speaking curses over this state and this nation. You are Christ’s ambassador and your speech is to be filled with light, not darkness.

I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to see your fellow Christians responding in such a disdainful way. If you’re a Christian and you are responding in this way you need to stop it. Now.

What you ultimately have to ask yourself if this is you is, “WDJD?” What Does Jesus Do? Jesus does not speak to people this way. Jesus does not treat fellow image bearers of God with such disrespect, no matter what they believe or behave like. These responses, ultimately, sound like the grown-up equivalent of “I’m taking my ball and going home! Hmph!”

I can’t say that I’m crazy about the (unanimous) decision that our Supreme Court made today, but that’s beside the point. As Christians, we can (and should) have firm convictions that are rooted and grounded in Scripture. But as followers of Jesus, we are to live differently. We are not to react as people who have no grounding in something greater than ourselves. We either believe that Jesus is Lord or he is not. Not the Iowa Supreme Court; Jesus.

If you’re a Christian and you are upset about the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling today, let me ask you this question: Are you busier telling people what they are doing wrong or living a light-filled life? There is a huge difference between the two, I hope you make the right choice.