Death by Airport

February 26, 2:45pm
I'm writing this as I sit in the Gainesville airport. After 4.5 hours of sleep last night I got up early to get here today by 7:15am. One of the things I love about the Gainesville airport is that you can show up 45 minutes before take-off and feel comfortable that you'll have plenty of time. Ha.

Around 9am this morning I found out that the reason we were delayed was because of extreme weather in Atlanta. I then began a game of debating about waiting it out or renting a car to drive to Pensacola (my destination). I'm the biggest loser. I would have been in Pensacola by now. I'll spare you the hour by hour updates and delays that resulted in me sitting at this Gate for the last 7.5hrs. Suffice it to say that our flight was "supposed" to take-off at least 4 different times including once when were on the plane and taxiing to the runway before they called us back and made us de-board.

3:07pm
Our flight that was supposed to leave at 3pm has been rescheduled again to 4pm. I'm stuck again. If I rent a car and drive right now I will be in Pensacola by 7:30pm. If all goes well with the flight I could be there by 6:30pm without the stress of having driven 5.5 hrs after an already long day. What do I do? I'm in limbo.

4:10pm
Standby comes through! I got on a standby flight that should get me through to Pensacola by 6:30pm.

5:30pm
Arrive in Atlanta and get to the gate. Somehow the ticket agents messed up my ticket but I do have a seat and they can make it work. Who knows what all that means but I'm at my gate and reasonably happy?

[side note] Sometimes just being able to complain to people helps a lot. I feel like a wimp for that but texting people kept me sane today.

6:15pm
Everybody is here at the gate and ready to go. Except for the pilot! We'll see how this unfolds but I smell another delay.

7pm (Central Time)
Finally arrived in Pensacola. Everything is great. Except my luggage didn't arrive...

Excellence In Leadership

This is a great little book on leadership, drawing principles from the life and work of Nehemiah. Maybe the best thing about it is that it has drawn me into the story of Nehemiah and I think that I will continue to go back to the biblical account as a leadership resource for years to come. I believe that is White’s main goal even beyond his own words and thoughts on the subject.

There are many memorable lessons: the importance of prayer in leadership, Spirit led planning, dealing with opposition, and finishing strong, to name a few. In addition to my own use of the book in the future, I will encourage other leaders to read it, but I think it may be more valuable to the leader with some experience than for the young leader looking for a training manual. My appreciation of the book is much greater now than it probably would have been at the beginning of my leadership journey. I think this is because it is not meant as a comprehensive overview of leadership but more as a reflection on the example of one particular leader and the situation he found himself called to lead in. It is a great book, I highly recommend it. Though short, it’s not a fast read, more like something you drink slowly and enjoy.

John White on leadership

There has always been a true elite of God's leaders. They are the meek who inherit the earth (Mt 5:5). They weep and pray in secret, and defy earth and hell in public. They tremble when faced with danger, but die in their tracks sooner than turn back. They are like a shepherd defending his sheep or a mother protecting her young. They sacrifice without grumbling, give without calculating, suffer without groaning. To those in their charge they say, "We live if you do well." Their price is above rubies. They are the salt of the earth. And Nehemiah was one of them.

biting the nails of success

"it's no secret that a conscious can sometimes be a pest. no secret ambition bites the nails of success..." - U2, The Fly

I've been thinking a lot about ambition lately. Is it good? Is it bad?
Neutral maybe?

Paul writes, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit." Are we capable of ambition that is divorced from selfish beginnings and endings? How many of the great evils in our history were waged with the fuel of ambition? They all seem to come from it. That or fear.

Is there any room for ambition in the life of a disciple of Jesus? Should we aspire to things? For most of my life as a follower of Jesus I've been afraid of having too much ambition. It would be better not to get my heart too caught up in any enterprise. Better to make sure that I steered clear of any selfish pursuit. But maybe I've been wrong. Maybe there is room for a consuming passion. Maybe it requires ambition to get anything great accomplished. I want my life to count for something. And I think I'm going to crawl out of this old shell of fear. What is there to fear anyway? If God is for me who can be against me? Even if I crash and burn miserably, my consolation is God himself. Imagine that. So I think I'm going to take these dreams and allow God to add fuel to the fire. Who knows where it will take me, but I want it to be somewhere with a view.

processed religion

At church today my pastor preached about the dangers of processed religion. Upon coming home and enjoying some reheated chicken for lunch in front of my computer, imagine my surprise when Google Reader fed me this delectable treat.

It scares me what well meaning professional Christians will say sometimes. Some people are claiming that ideas like this will become the "new denominations" of the future.