The Philadelphia Eagles traded short term “success” for long-term failure. They did this when they brought in Terrell Owens.
Sure, people change; sure, people can turn their lives around and become a team player. But when he refused to go to Baltimore after he was traded, you had to see that something was awry.
He begged to go to Philadelphia. They happened to need an extremely talented receiver to complete their “Super Bowl Puzzle.” They signed him; puzzle finished. They sailed through the regular season, losing Owens to an injury late in the season. He made it back just in time to experience his first Superbowl loss. And he was still all about himself.
The offseason arrives and Owens continues to rant on his amazing-ness. The need for a raise. How important HE is. He makes more catches. He runs his mouth some more.
The Eagles sink (not only because of him, but partially). Terrell keeps talking about Terrell.
The Eagles cut Owens. He’s out. Something about being detrimental to the team. And Terrell is still talking about Terrell. And the Eagles are tanking, now losing three straight.
Do you think they would have traded the Superbowl appearance last year for something more tangible down the road? I think they would.
Do you mortgage your future for short-term pleasures? For those little things that may not be so beneficial down the road? I think we’re all more guilty of this than we’d like to imagine.

From Church Marketing Sucks: Stupid Church Rules

The “task force” considered your requests to provide links to your blogs on the Church web site at our last meeting. The following conveys the committee’s thinking on the subject at this point.
Whereas blogs are typically personal and should not be controlled, censored, or managed by anyone other than the owner of the blog; and
Whereas links and/or sub-links which may be placed on a blog could have content inappropriate to the purpose and audience of the church web site;
Therefore, the “Information Policy Task Force” of our church states that unless and until the IPTF is able to produce standards to which blogs must conform in order to be consistent with the purpose of the church web site, no blog references will be identified on the church web site.

Enough whereases? Give me a break!
And from Effective Ministry Notes: Technology is too important to ministry to be left to Techies:

Technology may end up being too important to be left to techies, Gartner said, and business executives may end up managing it as part of their regular roles.

Technology will become part of everyone’s job. Even more than it is now.

These posts show why you should call/im/email/say “Happy Birthday:” TOP TEN REASONS why MY 25TH BIRTHDAY WAS THE BEST EVER! and My Top Ten Reasons for a Happy Birthday.
It’s so simple; it means so much. Why not just say “Happy Birthday!?”

Throughout life, we are constantly confronted with choices. And of these choices, we make our decisions based on emotion and fact. Every decision we make is likely to be influenced by both factors.
Take dessert, for example: after dinner you may want dessert (emotion) but you may know that it is not healthy (fact). Your decision to purchase a dessert or pass entirely is based upon either of those two feelings.
Other times, emotion and fact don’t disagree, for example: You need a job. A company has offered you a job and you are planning to take it because (a) you need a job (fact) and (b) you think the job will be fun (emotion). It seems to be the best of both worlds.
But mainly what I have been considering is how knowledge limits our impulse. It’s like the time you were in Best Buy looking at the plasma screens, and you wanted to buy one (emotion), but you knew that you could not afford it (fact). Or (for the girls out there) you were looking at some outfit, but you knew that it you could not afford it at the time. Your knowledge of your situation impeded you from making a poor choice.
It could be a relationship: your emotions could tell you to date someone, but your mind tells you not too. Your impulse to date is being confronted by reality and certain knowledge. Or making comments: I have something very funny to say, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to say it. Or traveling: I don’t want to visit my grandparents house, but I know I need to.
In spite of every emotion we feel, our knowledge of many situations push us to do what is right–no matter how emotionally opposed to it we are.
The key however, is not to entirely discount your emotions. They play an enormous part of life and to ignore them would be foolish. I guess the best thing to do is to interpret your emotions based on what you know to be true. If the emotions don’t fit in life with what is truth, then ignore the emotions (buying something rashly). And if they do agree…enjoy them both for the split second they do agree!

After a conversation about mission statements this weekend, I started thinking about them while driving today. Are mission statements good? And should everyone have a mission statement? To that end, I decided:
Mission Statements should be internally defined and externally obvious.
Take ExxonMobil’s “Guiding Standards” for example [Link]:

Exxon Mobil Corporation is committed to being the world’s premier petroleum and petrochemical company. To that end, we must continuously achieve superior financial and operating results while adhering to the highest standards of business conduct.

What does that mean? Achieve superior financial and operating results? Premier petroleum and petrochemical company? All business-caliber fluff.
I would have to work hard to see that in their day-to-day operations. The mission statement sounds good, but it has little effect on who they are. It’s simply political and business one-liners.
Mission Statements: 0;
No Statement: 1;
Now consider Apple. How do you recognize Apple? I searched their website for a mission statement. None to be found. None at all.
Now I ask you, what do you think of when you consider Apple? I think of simple, easy-to-use software and beautiful design. Their website communicates this. Their products communicate this. Everything about
Apple exudes those two things.
Does Apple have a mission statement? I don’t know. I would think they do, but I honestly don’t have any idea. But I’m sure that their corporate goals are internally defined. It is interwoven in their culture.
What you do with the mission statement is more important than the statement itself. If the statement doesn’t illustrate who you are or where you’re going, then it is worthless.

Disagreements are a funny thing. They happen rather frequently and are a source of continuous dischord between people. The ironic thing isn’t that they happen; the ironic thing is that we rarely do anything about it.
Every day we disagree– Where do you want to go to lunch? Fazolis? No. Quiznos? Maybe. Whataburger? No. Then I guess we’ll go to Quiznos. Of course, this is a minor disagreement; not agreeing on lunch means little when you consider the scope of real life. But this is only a trivial example.
Normally, we chat and disagree. Maybe the disagreement lies in an off-hand comment. Maybe it’s because of tone. Maybe because of a gesture. Who knows. Something causes it.
Our first reaction when we’re angry is to bottle it up. We storm off to our room and pout for a while. Then when we’re done pouting, we call a friend and talk about our disagreement . Of course, the conversation digresses into a bash-fest, describing in detail how much you despise the person with whom you disagree. You repeat this step with sixteen other friends–and being good friends, they all agree with you and join in the opportunity to criticize.
After a few days, your story has spread to 100 people, and by this time, the story has made it back around to the person you disagreed with. Of course, the disagreement deepens when this second hand knowledge is received. That’s when the situation gets much worse.
Some people prefer to maintain the status quo and continue the policy of behind-the-back commenting (and stabbing). Some prefer to confront the problem and deal with it.
I would say that confrontation is the better option. Period.
Why, you ask? Secret conversations about people are bad. It’s usually called gossip. Or if you’re at a church, it’s a prayer request. The essence of those conversations is bashing someone else; bashing is neither beneficial nor good. Perhaps it makes you feel better for the moment, but it has no lasting benefit.
People talk about how wierd it is to confront people. They act like it is foreign and wierd. I say it is always better do deal with the problem. It prohibits festering and limits gossiping. But mainly, it allows for the problem to heal and for the relationship to go back to normal.
Confrontations are awkward. They create more awkward situations. And sometimes they don’t work. Other times, you need to have three or four conversations before you really make any headway. But instead of focusing your efforts on complaining and talking about the problem, you deal with it. And that’s the benefit of the confrontation…

This past weekend, I have been considering what makes me learn…What is it in life that causes me to reevaluate myself and reconsider whom I am and what I am doing. I wish I could say that I am constantly changing–that is, I look at my life and adjust my behavior based on what I learn, but that’s a work in progress.
1. I learn by watching.
I constantly look at everything. (Except when I’m asleep, of course). There is so much to be learned by watching–watching what people do. Watching what they say. See how situations are handled. See how people are treated.
2. I learn by reading.
I read the news. I read blogs. I read the Bible. I read books. I read magazines. I all of the times. Reading provides volumes of information ready to be ingested.
3. I learn by asking.
Sometimes (a lot of the time), I simply don’t know. I have watched and read, but I still haven’t learned what I needed to learn. Now is the time to ask. Asking does not mean you’re stupid; asking does not mean you’re not able. It simlply means you acknowledge the fact that you do not know everything, and you are appealing to someone with more knowledge. As I have been looking at bikes for the past few weeks, after reading reviews and looking at parts, I asked a friend who knows bikes. Why? Because he could explain it to me and help me to understand the more practical aspects of trail riding.
4. I learn by doing.
After you take care of the basic information, you’re ready to test out what you know. Put it in action. See how it goes. If you’re successful, great; if not, see the next step…
5. I learn by failing.
I can honestly say that I learn the most through failure. Failure pushes me to “try harder.” I don’t try harder for the sake of trying harder, but because my failure indicates that I need more work. Every failure causes me to reevaluate who I am and what I am doing. Do I need to consider trying this course of action? Do I need to adapt my life? Do I need to research, practice, and try again? Who knows, but failure makes me think about all of the possibilities.
In all forms of learning, you have to evaluate everything. Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” And so if you see all of the things in life and don’t relate them to your life, are you wasting your time? And are you really being beneficial?

What are the root causes of being defensive? Why are people defensive, but more importantly, why I am defensive from time to time?
1. We are unprepared.
Being defensive is partially caused by not planning. Is the website that you designed well thought out? Is the navigation useful? Are the buttons easy to read? Are you creating something for a reason? Are you just creating something to fill space?
If you create something with no overall plan, when someone questions your reasons, the natural responnse is to deny and get upset.
2. We are prideful.
No one likes to have their work criticized–especially if they have put a lot of effort into it. To a certain extent, it’s like you are being personally criticized.
3. We don’t seperate ourself from our work.
When you create something, it is no longer you. So when someone criticizes your work, they’re not necessarily criticizing you. Most likely they are interested in making your work better. (I guess as a result, they will be making you better as well…)
4. We forget there are other people in the world.
This is nearly identical to point #1…Being defensive is primarily a result of poor planning. We didn’t think about this. We didn’t think about that. We fell in love with what we were working on. We worked on the project so long that it became a part of us (see #3). And we assumed the rest of the world would naturally see the goodness of the work.
But they didn’t.
And so we get defensive.

In the May issue of Fast Company. Alan Deutshcman made some great points…so great I highlighted them in the magazine (a first for myself). The quotes below are made by Dr. Dean Ornish (as part of the article) Enjoy…

Telling people who are lonely and depressed that they’re going to live longer if they quit smoking or change their diet and lifestyle is not that motivating…Who wants to live longer when you’re in emotional pain?

He goes on to describe that the “fear of dying” is not an effective motivator–but the “joy of living” is the best way to encourage change and better behavior.
Do you think we could apply that in church?

The big challenge in trying to change how people think is that their minds rely on frames, not facts.

That’s a huge deal that we overlook much of the time. Many times, facts don’t actually matter to people. My grandfather wouldn’t touch foreign cars b/c he fought against those countries in WWII…it didn’t matter if a vehicle was better or worse. And so in life we have our predispositions–the question is how do we actually encourage positive change if cold hard facts don’t matter?
Hmmm…

Yesteray I read that Microsoft finally was introducing tabbed browsing for IE. It was by way of the MSN Toolbar, but still it was a momentous moment for Microsoft. Of course, The IE weblog mentioned that IE7 will have tabbed browsing, but that will not be available until the end of the year at the earliest.

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