Pursuit of the inactive

Lessons come at us left and right from Jonah chapter 1.
Slowly reading the Bible allows us to linger over each thought and have a conversation with God where the biblical text intersects our life.

A few of the lessons from Jonah 1 follow.
1. Jonah disobeys God and runs the other way. Where are you currently running from God in your life?

2. Jonah falls asleep. The captain shakes Jonah to wake up. He calls out, "Wake up and call on your God, we are dying!" In what ways does God need to shake you and wake you?

3. Jonah's remedy for his disobedience is for him to be tossed overboard. What ever happened to the first logical choice? Jonah, first pray, confess and repent because you're being disobedient! When we are facing problems, do we first go to God? I know for many of us we struggle with this and instead of turning to God right away we first turn to friends "to talk" or chunky monkey ice cream. Or maybe you're the type that just sweeps it underneath the rug, and continues to distance yourself from God, acting as if there's no real problem. The lesson here, turn to God first, rather then leaving God as the last resort when nothing else works. How are you doing with this lesson?

Finally, if we think on a larger scale about Jonah 1, we see three main characters. God, the sailors, and Jonah. God and the sailors are both very active in chapter 1. Jonah however is inactive and sleeping, both physically and in his relationship with the Lord. Here is one sentence tying up Jonah 1. God pursues the inactive Christian.

Where are you at with God today? Are you sleeping on your relationship with God like Jonah did? Are you pressing the snooze button on God? Are you actively running from God? Are you apathetic and not carving out time for God as the number one priority in your life? Take comfort today, because although we all struggle with pursuing God, God is still pursuing you.

Every Generation

The senior generation can feel left out and then check out. They can feel as though they're on the back burner. We must encourage them, and integrate them once again into the church family. Every generation has something to learn, every generation has something to contribute.

Get lost

Get lost in something bigger than yourself. Get a juicy dream, a worthwhile vision, then go after it! With God on your side, and a tenacious heart full of compassion for others, nothing, absolutely nothing can stop you.

Get lost in praying for others. So on a Saturday night, when it's tempting to waste the night doing nothing important, get lost in something greater than yourself.

gotta love them politics!

Give a punch and make a point

From the pulpit, in the classroom, or in the business world, presentations need tapering. They need a pinnacle. A talk that bleeds and runs all over the place is a poor presentation. Keep revamping and revising until it's clear to you where exactly you need to bring your audience. Then cut everything else. If it lacks precision and exactness then the points are weak and liquidly. It's like repeatedly throwing wet noodle jabs without ever bringing home the strong forceful uppercut. So next time you speak, take some Pepto-Bismol, end the diarrhea spewing forth from your mouth, and make the killer point.

Dialogue seizes attention

If you can create dialogue in your presentation you have your audience glued. But I’m not talking here about dialogue between you and your audience. I’m talking rather about dialogue and interplay within the presentation itself. Your audience in these scenarios are the on-lookers of the embedded dialogue, exchange, and interplay. This method of presentation works very well, and you should look to incorporate it in creative ways whenever possible.

One reason why it works so well is because the audience is guessing and anticipating what’s next in the exchange between the characters. There is a ping-pong back and forth effect, which can captivate and mesmerize your audience. If you can do this, you have your audience, their attention, and everything else.

Example to illustrate: Look at the captivating effect of the exchange of the two characters from the MAC vs PC commercials. Dialogue seizes attention! Brilliant characters, brilliant exchange, great interplay. Creative, humorous. It’s got everything in 30 seconds.

Dropping PHAT philosophy on napkins

You wanna drop huge lofty dreamy complex PHAT ideas? Well, you need present them simply to be effective.

The gods of marketing, presentation, and design like Seth Godin, Dan Pink, Garr Reynolds, and Guy Kawasaki are joined at the hip. Wonderful stuff. Dan Roam's new book, "The Back of the Napkin," helps us to think visually to make a powerful connection with our audience. No need for fancy technology. If you know what you're doing, all you need are powerful simple ideas displayed visually on a napkin.

My points to bring the dreamy to the pavement.
1. Thinking visually and creatively so points can transfer and stick.
2. You do the complex and thoughtful background, but then, leave it at home. You bring your imagination and simple clean crisp design when you present.
3. Mission statements are run on German philosophers' sentences. Toss them and opt for mantras, and slogans. You can't remember mission statements, but you can remember mantras and slogans!