The Story of the $20 Bill - You Are Worth A Whole Lot More!

This story has been around for a long time. But there is still great truth in it….

A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

You are special. Don't EVER forget it. If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it may bring. Count your blessings, not your problems.

Good words for a Monday morning!

Love One Another - Brian

The Weekly Round-Up for March 9, 2013

Coming off a week of travel and finishing some teaching assignments at Tri-C Community College, it has been seven days of playing catch-up. There is a local teacher's strike in Strongsville, Ohio that has my attention. I am wondering if this action is not the tip of the iceberg for many other school districts as municipalities and school boards struggle to find additional revenues to cover costs. In Medina, Ohio, the School Superintendent, was rewarded an $83,000 signing bonus (which he later returned). How does this happen? What justification can be made for an administrator to receive such an outrageous sum of money when the real champion is the teacher in the trenches. Where is that bonus? 

The Weekly Round-Up begins now....

Observation: Notes on Freedom and Culture: What Culture? Whose Freedom? (Huffington Post)

The Economy: 9 out of 10 Americans are Completely Wrong About this Mind Blowing Fact (Upworthy.com)

The Economy: Robert Reich Rips Walmart (pressdemocrat.com)

Opinion: Welcome to Deadwood (NY Times)

News Analysis: The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking (NY Times)

News Analysis: Was Syria Ever the Secular, Non-Sectarian State We Were Led to Believe It Was? (The Telegraph)

News Analysis: Congressman John Lewis Tells Story of March from Selma to Montgomery (sojo.net)

Ideas: Banished Words (thesmartset.com)

The Papacy: The Ratzinger Legacy (NY Times)

Papacy: New Pope Survey Finds American Catholics believe Church Must Change Course (Huffington Post)

The Papacy: Father "Phony" Tries to Sneak into the Conclave (USA Today)

Advertising: What a Brilliant Ad - A Must Watch (Facebook)

Music: The Metropolitan Opera Announces the 2013-14 Season (metopera.org)

Music: The Vienna Philharmonic to Release Nazi Connections (NY Times)

Music: Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (NPR.com)

Job Search: Job References Are Pointless (Huffington Post)

Church: Youth Ministry that is More than Fun and Games (FaithLeadership.org)

Church: Nine Lessons on the Missional Church (Anglican Journal)

Church: But We Always had Sunday School? (buildingfaith.com)

Church: History Channel's "The Bible" Keeps Conservatives (Mostly) Happy and Jesus White (religiondispatches.org)

Church: Spiritual but not Giving a Damn (elephantjournal.com)

Love One Another - Brian

Avoiding Becoming A Self-Promoting Jerk Online

Mark Sayers is a writer and speaker, who is often sought out for his insights into faith, contemporary culture and the future of the Church in the West. Mark is the Senior Leader of Red Church, and the co-founder of Über Ministries. An author of many books and articles, I find Mark’s ideas and opinions spot on. If you have time, check out his blog: http://marksayers.tumblr.com. Here is a recent piece he wrote about social networking that really rings true. I especially like #5 and #10.

10 Tips for Christian Leaders Who Don’t Want to Become Self Promoting Jerks Online

Social Networking can be a fabulous tool for leaders to advance the kingdom. However like so many other things it can also lead us into dangerous territory if unexamined.

Below are some tips on how to use social networking well in our celebrity obsessed, image based culture without falling into the sin of pride. I have probably broken several at times, but hopefully they will be of help to you. 

1) Avoid being a fame-vampire. Just because you had coffee with someone well known doesn’t mean that you have to tweet about it. We tend to do this because sub-consciously believe that if we broadcast the fact that we are associating with someone well known, that their fame/influence will rub off on us. Would you be willing to tweet that you just met with a person who had no influence or social capital?

2) Don’t add to the Hubbub. We live in a culture of incredible distraction. Just because we can broadcast to thousands the first thought that comes into our head doesn’t mean that we have to. Just communicate the important stuff. By refraining from the cacophony you just might give others space and silence. Is your broadcasting of the mundane robbing others of the silence they need to encounter God?

3) Real life Followers>Online followers. 

4) Platform never beats spiritual authority. Lot of people talk about platform these days. Platform sells books, generates hits and followers and results in speaking requests. However platform doesn’t always equate with spiritual authority. You can have a massive platform with little spiritual authority, and you can have significant spiritual authority and a terrible Klout score.

5) Promote resources not yourself. Beware the thin line between selling books, resources, events, Churches, others you wish to champion, ministries you believe in and selling yourself. Do your social networking patterns push people towards resources that will build up their faiths, or are you allowing some of the glory to bounce off onto you?

6) Avoid humblebrags. Don’t ever use the hashtag #humbled. My friend Amy said to me the other day that if someone uses the hashtag #humbled there is a 90% chance they are bragging. We know deep down that social networking naturally tilts towards self promotion, so we try and self promote whilst trying to be humble, check out the humblebrag feed on twitter to see why this approach doesn’t work.

7) Ask the dangerous question ‘why?’ Before posting always ask yourself ‘why am I posting this instagram pic/tweet/status update?’ Deeply search your heart for your true motivations. If you struggle with this find a social networking accountability buddy who will ask you the tough questions.

8) Take breaks. Take regular technology Sabbaths. This is one of the best ways to ensure that you keep social networking as a tool rather than an idol.

9) Be Patient with God. God will advance your ministry if he so desires in His good time. Just because we live in a time where it is easy to push our own carts does not mean that we need to. Both the bible and history is littered with the tragic tales of people whose influence exceeded their spiritual development. 

10) Track your time. Keep a track of how much time you are devoting to social networking. Not just in real minutes and hours but also in mental energy. Do you find yourself thinking about what you could say online when you are even off line? Are you robbing your family, friends and neighbors of your complete presence and attention? Sit down and plan how much time you wish to spend a week online and stick to it. 

Love One Another - Brian

"Lord, teach us to pray...." Stretching Out the Tentacles

Evelyn Underhill was a spiritual titan during the twentieth century. A scholar, Underhill assisted seekers of all shapes and types in the study of religion and the spiritual life. She was educated at King’s College for Women in London and served as the Upton lecturer at Manchester College at Oxford. A spiritual conversion of sorts occurred when she was thirty-two from which time she practiced the devotional life with greater intensity. Her gift to the study of spirituality was the combination of authentic spirituality and academic integrity. Underhill's book, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Man’s Spiritual Consciousness is a must read for anyone serious about the spiritual life and journey.  This passage is taken from another of her works, The Essentials of Mysticism.

“What do we mean by prayer? Surely just this: that part of our conscious life which is deliberately oriented towards, and exclusively responds to spiritual reality. God is that spiritual reality, and we believe God to be immanent in all things: “He is not far from each one of us: for in him we live and love and have our being.”

“’Prayer’, says Walter Hilton, ‘is nothing else but an ascending or getting up of the desire of the heart into God by withdrawing it from earthly thoughts.’ It is ‘ascent,’ says Ruysbroeck, of the Ladder of Love. In the same spirit William Law defines prayer as ‘the rising of the soul out of the vanity of time into the riches of eternity.’”

“It entails, then, a going up or out from our ordinary circle of earthly interests. Prayer stretches out the tentacles of our consciousness not so much towards the Divine Life which is felt to be enshrined within the striving, changeful world of things; but rather to that ‘Eternal truth, true Love, and loved Eternity’ wherein the world is felt to be enshrined.” (Underhill, The Essentials of Mysticism)

Love One Another - Brian

Sabbath Rest

Tuesday is the weekly Sabbath for the John 13:34 Blog. Thank for checking in. Back at it again tomorrow. I hope you will return, dear reader, and join me on the journey.