Bee-Bop Version of "Jesus Loves Me"

My Natalie was at dance class yesterday. The class hadn't started just yet, so she was waiting in the gathering area. All of the sudden, she breaks out into a bee-bop version of "Jesus Love Me". It's hilarious!

She has great time and rhythm! I just wish I could see the expression on her face!

(BTW...she had a Coke a few hours before).

Does Broccoli Make You Fart?

Ok so my youngest daughter is a goof-ball. My wife made some pasta and was trying to figue out what veggie to cook: broccoli or corn. Natalie insisted on her making broccoli. So Jenn threw in one of those bag thingees that you nuke in the microwave (it was a broccoli and carrot mix).

When dinner was all set, we put a few broccoli parts on Natalie's plate. She wanted more. In fact, she wanted THE WHOLE BAG (minus the carrots).

She ate it all and got me thinking:

1) pick a veggie and eat lots of it

2) if the veggie you pick makes you fart, go for it! at least you can blame it on something.

3) check out my wife's blog at http://www.oczepek.blogspot.com/

Life's Too Short

I had a great night last night with my 2 girls. We turned the TV off, turned on some radio tunes and busted out the iconic games Candyland and Trouble.

We had a great time (although I cheated because I wanted to win)

What made it great was that I got away from all the stress and pressure of work and life in general and immersed myself in something where I didn't have to think or solve any problems or be so serious.

When's the last time you just unwound and played a board game for children? Go for it and have fun!

BTW...my favorite character is Gloppy the Chocolate Monster.

If You Only Had 50 Minutes Left, What Would You Say?

Just finished "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. Randy is a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This book is the written form of his lecture that he gave on September 18, 2007.

This book wasn't about how to embrace and deal with death. This book was about how to embrace life and live it to its fullest. The book forces you to tap into your childhood dreams and to re-discover what those dreams were. Many times we go through life and its a routine; all dry and boring. But if we could tap back into our dreams and revisit the place where we knew no bounds then we could reset ourselves on the path of joy, peace and life.

The book is very realistic because Randy states that even though we can work to try to achieve our dreams, they sometime get fulfilled in unexpectant ways. For example, one of Randy's dreams was to play in the NFL. He never was able to go pro, but he did play football in his lifetime which taught him valuable lessons.

This book was a wake up call for not only my life but for my leadership at my church. Life is too short to go through the motions, be bored to tears, and at the end of it all say to ourselves "what did I do for the past 40 years?" Instead, let's dream and, more importantly, let's ask ourselves "how do I help someone else fulfill their dreams?"

Check out the website.

Coffee Art

Last week at this time I was headed down to Huntsville, AL to visit some good buddies of mine that I haven't seen in years. David Moerbe is a pastor at Good Shepherd in the Birmingham area and made the time for me over coffee. We caught up from our seminary days, chewed the fat, solved all the world's problems and dreamed about a vision for the church at large.

After that, I zipped off to this cool coffee place in Huntsville called Stearns Coffee. (But, as some of you know, I got way way lost and was an hour late, but I got there and it was worth it!) What a cool place! They make coffee art lattes. Check out the video. It was so beautiful that I felt guilty for drinking it.

I caught up with a college buddy of mine named Billy Chia who is a worship art pastor at Chase Valley Church. Billy is doing some amazing things and has a passion for connecting people to Jesus. And, he's got a cool blog...check it out.

As an aside: it is always a great idea to go to a different community and break up your routine. All too often, we get stuck in ruts (which are just graves with the ends kicked out). When we are in a routine, it's hard to get new ideas, a fresh perspective and a different way of looking at problems and opportunities. Leonard Sweet talks about this in his March 16, 2007 Napkin Scribble called "randomizing rituals". (it's about 3/4 of the way down on the page).

If you are in a bad rut, get outside your routine and check out a place you normally don't hang out at. You just might find new inspiration for your life.

All Growed Up

Ok, so my little girl, Clarissa, started school today. And I'm feeling excited, fearful, and hoping-she's-not-crying kind of a morning. I also hope that I can embrace change in all areas of my life. I hope that I'm open to all kinds of experiences as I grow older. I know I want that for my kids so it means that I need to lead by example.

Change happens. You can either complain about it or embrace it and celebrate it. Let it go.

Be a Better Communicator

Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley is what I needed to read back in seminary where I first learned how to preach. (Although I had Dr. Glenn Nielsen and he was awesome and put me on the right track!)

Stanley gives you the inside look on how he crafts his messages in order to provide the environment for the Holy Spirit to produce life change in his hearers. Preaching isn't about information dump; it's about producing change in people's lives and I totally line up with Stanley on that one. I just need to be better at it. If you (or your pastor) needs improvement, pick up this book.

The first half of the book is a narrative parable that imagines a conversation between a preacher and a skilled preacher (who doesn't have a church but shares his faith very effectively). The second half of the book gives you the teaching and practical advice as if you were having a cup of coffee with Andy.

I got this book Thursday and couldn't put it down! I finished it Friday night while watching the Olympic opening ceremonies. It's an easy read but I have a feeling it will be tougher to follow thru because it means changing and adjusting my preaching. But it's worth it. It's not about me but it's about what people do on Monday after they hear and internalize the message from Sunday.

How Would You Like to Change Anything

How would you get a tribe in Africa to filter their water in order to save their lives from a devasting parasite?

How would you get people to behave differently in order to eradicate the HIV virus?

How would you help 4 million people emerge from their poverty?

How would you change the culture of a business, church, lifestyle...anything?

I know what doesn't work: preaching at people.

I just finished the book "Influencer" and it was a great book on influencing change in any aspect of life. The book outlines 6 pieces of influencing change and all these must be initiated in order to facilitate any sort of change:

-Make the Undesirable Desirable
-Surpass Your Limits
-Harness Peer Pressure
-Find Strength in Numbers
-Design Rewards and Demand Accountability
-Change the Environment

The book was an easy read and the authors walk you through each of these concepts with ease. They also provide real-life examples that any leader, or I should say influencer, can relate to.

Power quote:
"Practice DOESN'T make perfect. PERFECT practice makes perfect."

How Should a Church Handle The Money Entrusted to Them?

I recently listened to a podcast by Nelson Searcy who is a church planter out in New York.
(by the way, I'm missing the taste of a good New York hot dog and a papaya! Yummo!)
Ok, back to money. Nelson interviewed Steve Stroop and had some excellent insights for church leaders on how to handle church budgeting and financial planning.
This podcast hit all of my convictions about church budgeting. My church has come a long ways in our financial stewardship of the offerings entrusted to us, but we still have a lot of work to do. I'm forwarding this to all my leaders so enjoy this easy to listen to podcast on Money Matters in Church

Pushups

Ok, so I've got this friend from college who's got me hooked on a campaign to get people to do 100 pushups all at one time at the end of 6 weeks.

I'm working the middle column and can't wait to see how buff I am at the end of this!

(oh, btw, he's got a cool blog and even a cooler name)