The sages do not consider that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself.

-Wang Yang-Ming (1472-1529) Chinese Philosopher

Did you know that Condoleezza Rice, the President’s Secretary-of-State-to-be is responsible for all the evil in the whole wide world? Yep, Condi did it! It’s all her fault! You know who’s making these charges, right? Those paragons of virtue in the U.S. Senate, of course…

Check out what Rich Galen has to say about the matter. Oh, and while you’re over there, don’t forget to click on the “Secret Decoder Ring” link. The one about the parade passing him by is pretty good stuff. And the caption of the day picture is, well…you’ll see!

I’m not real sure why Harry Nilsson’s words are going through my head right now, but they are…

I wanted to be a spaceman

That’s what I wanted to be

But now that I am a spaceman

Nobody cares about me

Maybe the post about being a “leader” has something to do with it. Maybe that post reminds me that in the deep, dark recesses of where I really hang out, it is, no matter how good a mask I wear, all about me. And when it’s all about me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Why is it that He always gets in the way of what we’re doing “for Him?” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Isn’t it all about being a great leader “for Him?” Why does He have to come along and mess that up?

Check out Rick Luoni’s powerful words about how Jesus ruins it for the rest of us leaders…

Jesus changed my idea of being a leader. I used to think I wanted to be a Christian leader until I took a close glimpse of Jesus. I figure that if I am going to be a leader in the Church I ought to have a perspective on how the dude who started it all led.

And Jesus kind of blows it for Christian leaders doesn�t he? For if I really want to lead like Jesus then I get to die like Jesus. Dying sucks. Why waste death on someone with my talents. That seems a bit silly.

And his bottom line…

Leadership is really what the Church needs now – not more “Christian” leaders like me. If you are looking for a leader, don�t look up�look down, they are usually the ones with the dirty rag in their hand on their knees beside Jesus. As for me, I don�t have the guts to lead like Jesus so I settle for being a Christian leader.

Just found this in my Inbox…

A life without purpose is a languid, drifting thing; Every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let me make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is naught! -Thomas a Kempis

I’m finally digging into The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. The latest quote to be scribbled in my Moleskine?

The church bids people to come and hear the gospel in the holy confines of the church and its community. This seems so natural to us after seventeen centuries of Christendom, but at what price and to what avail have we allowed it to continue? If our actions imply that God is really only present in official church activities – worship, Bible studies, Christian youth meetings, ladies fellowships – then it follows that mission and evangelism simply involve inviting people to church-related meetings.

In fact, this is one of the core assumptions that the attractional church is based upon – the assumption that God cannot really be accessed outside sanctioned church meetings or, at least, that these meetings are the best place for not-yet-Christians to learn about God. Evangelism therefore is primarily about mobilizing church members to attract unbelievers into church where they can experience God. Rather than being genuine “out-reach,” it effectively becomes something more like an “in-drag.” (p. 41)

My earlier post about bad coffee has me thinking about the things that life is too short for. So far, I’ve come up with these…

Life is too short to drink bad coffee.

Life is too short to play church.

Can you finish that phrase? Life is too short…

Add your thoughts to the comments, and we’ll put ’em together and see what we come up with.

OK, if you’re a regular reader in this space (and who’s not?!?!?) you’ve been introduced to a group of guys that I get the great privilege of hanging out with from time to time…

You’ve met Revdude, a Methodist (gasp!) who has a knack for finding the most obscure bits of Internet news and weirdness. Oh, he’ll also call you up for lunch and listen to your moaning and whining, and before you know it, life won’t be so bad after all!

You’ve met the-one-and-only-thank-goodness Gary Lamb. (I put that link there on Gary’s name just to be consistent…don’t even bother clicking on it, as he has yet to post anything!) Gary is best described by that phrase from the movie The Fly: Be afraid. Be very afraid. Seriously, underneath all that “stuff” he’s a focused and successful church planter.

You’ve met TMc. Tony pastors a church in a movie theater. And gets you free gigs with leadership gurus. And funerals. And creative ideas by the big ol’ boatload.

I think I may have even talked a time or two about KenBob. Well…KenBob is in the blogging business now! Ken is the pastor I want to be. He’s made the jump from the “traditional” thing to doing a really neat God-thing in a young and thriving “after-modern” church. You’ll get a lot of good insight and encouragement – and probably a dose of Eric Clapton somewhere along the way from KenBob. Oh…he’s the one who coined one of my favorite phrases:

“I made a commitment this weekend to grow old LOUD!”

Check these guys out. You’ll be glad you did!

This is Velcro. Yep, Velcro! Magnified 50x! Cool, huh? Stuff like this amazes and fascinates me. This image comes from the Eye of Science website.

Paige Davis trades spaces. This is like Paulie leaving American Chopper, this is like Flav leaving Brigitte! What’s reality TV coming to?