Okay, time for a little famous brands trivia.
Without Googling for answers, see if you can guess how many of the following brand names were/are actual people:
Aunt Jemima
Ben and Jerry
Betty Crocker
Chef Boy-Ar-Dee
Duncan Hines
Marie Callender
Martha White
Orville Redenbacher
Sister Shubert
Uncle Ben
Answers are below: [click to continue…]
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Recently I was on the campus of a school where I teach as an adjunct professor. I was walking through the student center and saw this – a massive list of that university’s graduates for this year.
It was really gratifying to see the names of people I recognized. To a random stranger these were just 470 some-odd names on a really big page. To me they were much more.
The List wasn’t able to capture the sleepless hours, the frustrations and insecurities, and the enormous energy invested. And that’s just the professors! (Just kidding.)
It couldn’t detail the hours of work, the sacrifices and support of families, or the poignant life stories behind each of those names. Behind every name is a story worth telling and a future worth finding. (That, friends, is why they call it “commencement” when people graduate.)
My joy was in knowing I had planted some things in some of those students and they had nourished it to a point of fruitfulness. And what was I doing when they were celebrating this big accomplishment?
Planting some more in a future crop of leaders. And grateful for the privilege.
There are lessons in The List. For you. For me… [click to continue…]
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When you’re seven kinds of busy and 21 kinds of tired…
When you’re pulled in so many different directions you need a compass to find the bathroom…
When it’s bedtime and you just remembered that you forgot suppertime…
It’s time for a different tune. It’s time for His song of peace.
When you speak all day with the language of engagement…
When you find yourself panting even while you’re sitting still…
When you’re feeling guilty because you’re not checking something off that stupid list…
It’s time for a different tune. It’s time for His song of peace. [click to continue…]
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This is what everybody else sees.
This is what he sees.
It’s not just a difference of perspective… [click to continue…]
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This is a story about a father and son.
About a pathway to prosperity and strength.
About how that pathway separated them, then brought them back together again.
It’s a story of shattered dreams, unspeakable grief, profound loneliness, and the ultimate family reunion.
This is the story of the Broken Road, and how God used it in two people’s lives to rewrite history – theirs, and yours.
Psalm 105 contains an interesting description of the father, Jacob:
Israel also came into Egypt;
Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And [God] caused His people to be very fruitful,
And made them stronger than their adversaries.
Sounds simple enough. But let me ask you a question. If you were going to write a plan to get somebody to a place of fruitfulness and strength, how would you script it?
Start with a dream, maybe?
Then a few targeted objectives?
Maybe a good strategic plan, with a collaborative partnership or two?
Throw in some hefty funding, maybe some high-dollar training, and a few little victories to establish momentum, and you’re on your way, right?
That’s not exactly how this story went down. [click to continue…]
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I’d rather write about just about anything than this. But Jesus said a few things about little ones and offenses and millstones, and I believe Him.
So can we talk about the secrets we keep? And the ones we shouldn’t?
Last week a group of Evangelical leaders joined together to release a statement in conjunction with the American Association of Christian Counselors and an organization called GRACE, which stands for “Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment.”
Boz Tchividjian, the executive director of GRACE, said of the statement, “To my knowledge, this is the first major public statement by the evangelical world regarding the horrors of sexual abuse within the church and the dire need to begin addressing this in a manner that loves and serves those who have been so hurt. This is a historic moment in the life of the Church.”
My God, what took us so long? And I do mean “us.” [click to continue…]
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I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing praises to You before the gods (Psalm 138:1)
Gratitude is not for the half-hearted.
It’s all-in…mind, will, and emotions.
And it’s a choice, regardless of our current state. [click to continue…]
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There are over 3,000 words in the English language to describe some kind of feeling. According to design student Pei-Ying Lin that’s about 21 words short. Lin, in working with colleagues from London’s Royal College of Art, identified 21 words from other languages for which there is no English word. Example: The Russian word, Tocka, which means “Great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause…ache of soul, a longing with nothing to long for.”
You can find out more, and see Lin’s infographic, by clicking here.
Of course, what Lin has accomplished, while significant, is no real surprise – especially for anybody who’s ever found themselves not knowing how to express exactly how they felt.
Sometimes the gratitude is too great. [click to continue…]
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They say timing is everything.
And it certainly matters. [click to continue…]
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Ever see something funny that wasn’t intended to be? When language could be interpreted a bit differently than its original meaning?
Example: One day when the kids were still at home we were on the way to school and passed a local hotel. In their attempt to be friendly to an industry meeting there, they posted this message on the marquee: Welcome Pest Control.
Yeah, that’s probably not what you want to see when you’re checking in.
More to-date, once a year I teach a strategic planning class for Crown College – a fine Christian school in Minnesota. Like most schools, Crown has an online system for maintaining accounts, library access, classes and the like. In their case, it’s called “my.crown.”
A few months ago, Jeff, the IT guru there, sent notice that the system was having some technical problems. The message: My.Crown is Down.
Go ahead, call me weird. But put in a different context, I just thought that was sorta funny, in a Dr. Seuss kind of way. [click to continue…]
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