Archive for the ‘Leadership’ Category:
The Value of Risk in a Risk-Averse Culture
When I was in high school, my Dad encouraged me to pursue a career in financial planning. I really did like the idea of helping people get out of debt, invest wisely, and build wealth. But the career I really wanted was in law enforcement. While my Dad wanted me safely behind a desk from 8-5, I wanted the freedom of keeping the peace in a roaming patrol car at all hours of the night.
I’ve learned over the last several years that I’m a bit of a closet adrenaline junky, and thrive in stressful or risk-inherent environments. But I’ve also learned that this is not necessarily the norm for our culture.
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The “Country Club” Church Is Crap.
Say that ten times fast…
Danielle recently made a comment concerning a post comparing Jack Bauer of the TV Series 24 with Jesus Christ:
And I think there’s a comparison to the church in there. Because although the suspense is pretty cool (as in what will happen here on earth, as well as after we die), it is the human parts of the story that compel people to keep reading/listening/feeling/believing perhaps. And the church has been nothing if not revolutionary in history. Jesus’ story is a prime example.
It instantly reminded me of a couple quotes that generally make me want to pick up sword and shield to charge headlong into this cosmic revolution. This is an axe I gring almost continually. Having not grown up in the church, paradigm for what church should be is not as convoluted by tradition and/or fundamentalism. I am perhaps more able to read how the church is portrayed in scripture without the baggage of moralistic rules and cultural taboos. Of course, I do have other things that cloud my judgment, and there are people who have grown up in the church and are able to see through much of that. But this is something that is particularly close to my heart because of my experiences.
For your reading pleasure, here are two of my favorite quotes Read more »
Jesus Christ and… Jack Bauer?
This post makes me smile. Mark Driscoll, a Seattle Pastor often criticized for being “overly macho” and dudely (to which he will gladly admit to the latter and deny the former as even being possible) wrote an article last year that I keep coming back to for some valuable perspective and laughs.
While I am not nearly as outgoing in my “dudeliness,” or advocation thereof, I certainly appreciate the perspective and agree that a responsible, biblical, and moral masculinity is sorely lacking in our culture. Neither he nor I are advocating misogyny, subjugation of women, or anything else that would disagree with the heart and spirit of equality between the sexes. Rather, we both see a need to redeem men in our culture to values like responsibility, fatherhood, loyalty, faithfulness, sacrifice and selflessness service. Driscoll’s article uses humor to connect biblical masculinity as lived out by Jesus to similar parallels in culture. In this instance, we have the pleasure of giving you Jack Bauer.
Enjoy!
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american justice
I’ve sometimes heard that with respect to public figures, the established stereotype is far from how they actually are as a person. In American politics, there are few people as polarizing as Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. Just mentioning his name may make you think of what you think about him. It certainly does to me. Liberals hate him. Many African Americans misunderstand him. But who is he?
Thomas recently wrote his memoirs titled My Grandfather’s Son, and also recently sat down for a fascinating interview with 60 Minutes. This is possibly his first interview of this depth he’s given since the U.S. Senate approved him to the Supreme Court.
He discusses many aspects of his life, including time spent studying at a Roman Catholic seminary. He later left the seminary due to how he perceived the school’s indifference to civil rights issues, but came back to his faith later in as an adult. I wish they had spent more time on this, but with so many other topics to consider in his life, it’s understandable.
I won’t spoil the rest of the interview, but it is an intriguing look at someone that so many carry opinions about, but few actually know. Regardless of how you feel about him, you will be better informed for watching this. See for yourself, and tell me what you think after watching it.
