Have you heard about a conference taking place on the West Coast in Portland Oregon? It is called The Living a Better Story Seminar and is hosted by author Donald Miller. In his blog recently, Donald posted rules for a contest to win two spots to the conference. All you have to do is write a blog to say why you would like to go and so, here is my submission. Enjoy the read and check out the conference at the link above.



"My Desire is to Inspire"

These were the words that one of our college age musicians shared with me one day last November as he excitedly told me all about a new design project he was in the midst of in college. The words struck me. What was my desire? What did I want to do with my life? Kind of a strange question for a 40 year old father of two who has been a college professor for nearly 18 years and has traveled the globe working as a physical therapist with international athletes. But, that was a question that really stung, and stung deep.

A week or so later my wife and I were talking about a segment on Compassion International at the Catalyst East Coast conference where a young African man had met a 40 something year old Canadian who had been his sponsor for nearly 16 years. That was inspirational. We were challenged to start sponsoring a little girl in El Salvador, but the words of my college friend still stung. How could I inspire others to action? How could I inspire others to sponsor children?

I had an idea, which I believe was a whisper from God, and it was certainly going to be inspiring for others and painful for me. As the director of worship at our church I am up front every week leading our service and so 200+ people look at me every week. I have an audience to inspire, but I needed a way to inspire them. I decided that the best inspiration would be one that was easily recognizable as one that cost, and cost a lot. It would also need to be long term. Achieving a flash in the pan thing would not produce the long term changes in people's hearts that I felt was needed. I decided that with the year 2010 approaching I would set myself the challenge of dropping my body weight to 210lbs by the 20th October 2010 (20-10-2010 if you are from the United Kingdom). I liked the symmetry and thought it would be a sufficiently difficult challenge. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that at the time I made the decision I weighed 314lbs. That would mean a drop of 104lbs in 10 months. That should be inspirational.

In January of 2010 I joined the gym and began the arduous process of changing my life in an attempt to change other people's lives so that they in turn could transform the lives of 210 children who they would sponsor through Compassion. The rest of this story is well documented in my other blog http://210-in-2010.blogspot.com/ . To date, I have dropped 70lbs of me and have inspired 40 people to sponsor children, a great step forward, but not quite what I had hoped for. I am looking for opportunities to tell my story to as wide an audience as possible and have been blessed by the guys from the Catalyst Podcast who have picked up the story and update their readers regularly with my progress. I am hoping that at this year's catalyst East conference we might be able to inspire more people to sponsor so I can reach my goal of 210 sponsors.

That is the story I am currently living. The message from Donald in his explanation of the rules of this contest was that people were asked to write a blog on the story they hoped to live. You cannot understand the story I hope to live without understanding the back story.

As I have been walking through this story of exercise and child sponsorship I have been listening for more whispers from God. Currently I am in a period where I am feeling a call to move out of my current career in academia and to step into a full time role inspiring people to deepen their relationship with God as a church planter. This is a scary proposition and yet I want to be faithful and follow where God leads. My desire to attend the conference in Portland is to avail myself of the things that were outlined in one of the press releases. It says on the web site for the conference that people who attend will, 'exchange valuable insights and practical ideas for structuring your life, starting a new story, and analyzing your life through the lens of a screenwriter, mining it for meaning and renewing a personal vision for your future.' I would love to put myself in a place where I can exchange insights with other people who are currently outside of my story and have no personal interest in my story, aside that developed from our meeting at the conference. There is honesty and selflessness in those types of interaction as the people you meet have no vested interest in your decision.

I would also hope to learn something more about writing your story. Having read the book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years this summer, I have begun writing my first book which tells another story I live about our mission efforts to reach our own city with the love of Jesus through practical acts of kindness. I know there is a story to tell in what I have done with my life to date and more to tell about where my life will go over the next ten years. I would love to be a part of this event to be in a place where I could hear those whispers a little more clearly and learn practical skills to help me share where I have walked and prepare for the journey ahead.

The contest rules state that all entries need to paste the following video, so here s Donald Miller himself talking about the conference.


Living a Better Story Seminar from All Things Converge Podcast on Vimeo.

Wholly Weak

Have you thought about this weekend? I am sure you have, but have you just sat down for a few moments of quiet contemplation and really considered what this weekend is all about? I have found myself caught in the tension of spending all my free time in preparation for this weekend and yet have not really sat down and spent enough time in contemplation of this weekend. This weekend we will run through a number of emotions as we spend Thursday remembering the Passover and the final meal that Jesus had with his disciples before he was arrested. On Friday we will, in some way, relive the sacrifice that He made when He submitted Himself to the authorities and allowed them to beat His body and ultimately, after an unfair trial, crucify Him on the cross. On Saturday, we have a chance to come together like the early disciples and to remember the things that God has done and how He said that on the third day He would rise again. Finally on Sunday morning we have the tremendous opportunity to worship together and to celebrate the truth that Jesus, who was dead, now lives.

How do you get your head around that? How do you not explode when you think that the creator of the universe, the God of heaven and earth, the God who spoke and light became, sent His most prized possession, His only Son, His boy, to come to the traitor race who had rejected Him and turned their backs on Him? How can do anything this week but fall flat on our faces in adoration and praise because we were once dead but Jesus, through His sacrifice, came to bring us life? This week is known as ‘Holy Week’ but I think that we should think of it as ‘Wholly Weak’ because that is what we are.

We are completely unable to rescue ourselves. We are completely unable to get ourselves out of the difficulties we find ourselves in. we are completely helpless. We are WHOLLY WEAK and we need to accept that – quickly. I have found myself this week planning things for this weekend and not even going to the Lord in prayer with them – who do I think I am? When did I begin to think that I had a good idea? Even Jesus when He was on earth only said and did the things that He saw the father say and do. I wonder if He talked all the time – or if God the Father had moments when He was silent. I am sure that Jesus did not fill in the silences with His own words. I believe that He waited until further instructions. In my weakness though I know there are times when I fill in the blanks with what may be very good ideas or thoughts, but they are not always what God the Father is saying. I need to not be afraid of my weakness and not look upon my weakness as, well, a weakness.

Our culture has dictated that only the strong survive – it is the Darwin way! But yet it is not the Christian way. We are reminded in Matthew 5 that it is the poor, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers who are blessed. Society dictates that the weak will not survive, only the strong will. God’s kingdom is not governed by our societies dictates though. Isaiah 40:29 says, ‘He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.’ Romans 8:26 says, ‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.’ 1 Corinthians 1:27 reminds us that, ‘God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.’ God said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

We need to embrace our weakness and in fact we need to set aside our own strength, our own abilities, our own talents and gifting and take on only what the Father asks us to do. We need to become WHOLLY WEAK during this Holy Week.