The old saying is true…if you’ve ever seen something like the picture above, chances are it didn’t happen without some help. We all are indebted to the people around us, before us, and behind us for the contributions they’ve made to help us get up on our particular fencepost.

One of the greatest – but often overlooked and underperformed – aspects of leadership is acknowledging the amazing contributions of others in our lives and journeys.

This little article from Fast Company Now is a good reminder to acknowledge those who help us get where we’re going every day.

A little exercise from the article…

1. Who has contributed to your life significantly in the past five years?
2. Send them a note or take them to lunch.
3. Let them know how they’ve helped you and why you appreciate them.
4. Recognize that you don’t have to wait until something is over to thank someone.

I really like that last one. Why do we wait until some amazing shared journey is ending before we take the time to show our appreciation to those who’ve shared the journey with us? My challenge today – and yours?

Take some time to acknowledge those who make a contribution to your life and journey.

As I mentioned earlier, it was over a week before today since I last put anything up in this space. Some of that has been by design, most of it by default. Anyway, here’s some of the stuff I’ve been collecting over that time…

• Today’s best leaders are not know-it-alls (Tom Peters, via Worthwhile)
• Can we see the stories developing right under our own noses? (Link, via 2Weeks2aBreakthrough)
• Cool sound effects, using only the equipment God gave you!
• How to lose friends and alienate people with e-mail. Part one. Part two.
• The high cost of trying to fit in
• The SBC’s conservative resurgence, carried to its logical conclusions. Everybody may not be happy.
• “Even though”: the tension between what is and what could be (Alan Creech via NextWave)

There’s some more…I’ll get to it later this evening.

One of the real misconceptions that a lot of folks have about church growth is that it’s all about numbers…more, bigger, greater, etc. There are people out there who actually think it’s somehow unspiritual to even count the people or keep track of their spiritual progress.

Mark Waltz, at Granger Community Church, wrote one of my favorite new books First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences In Your Church.

In one of his recent blog posts, Mark wrote about why counting and numbers and all that are important. Numbers are important because behind every number, there’s a person who matters to God, and who ought to matter to me. Behind every number, there’s somebody who’s hurting or seeking or wandering or wondering. Behind every number, there’s a unique individual with an awesome story of how God is working in her or his life.

They count carefully at Granger. Why? Mark says…

• We still count attendance on the weekends to measure the effectiveness of our efforts to draw a crowd to hear that God says they matter.
• We still count those who are volunteering, serving in the ministry. We believe that’s a good sign of growth, ownership, or at least interest in our mission of following Christ.
• We still count giving. We believe it reflects growth and surrender of people’s hearts. It also helps us be responsible with our ministry vision. Oh, yeah, the auditors like it, too.
• We still count people who are connected in relational environments such as groups, core classes, retreats and events. Every step taken toward Christ matters.

We should count because counting is one way – not the only way – to determine if we are being faithful to the missio Deo, the mission of God.

We shouldn’t count just to post higher numbers than the folks across the street or up the hill or in the next town. We shouldn’t count just to be able to brag on Mondays. We shouldn’t count just so we can look good when our denomination comes calling.

We should count because people count. As Mark says, every time you click on his blog, “…because People Matter.”

OK, so I’ve never won his money. I’ve never used the eye drops he hawks. I’ve never even been in his class. But Ben Stein is a heck of a writer.

In this New York Times op/ed piece from Sunday, he talks about how his father taught him about gratitude. And how gratitude – not positions or possessions – is what made him truly rich. Check these excerpts…

Now, I have found that I cannot predict the stock market except over very long periods. I cannot tell you when the housing bubble will burst – only that it will burst. I cannot tell you when the dollar will stop rallying – only that it will stop. So I cannot tell you anything that, in a few minutes, will tell you how to be rich.

But I can tell you how to feel rich, which is far better, let me tell you firsthand, than being rich. Be grateful.

And this…

Gratitude. As my pal Phil DeMuth says, it’s the only totally reliable get-rich-quick scheme. Gratitude. Losing the luxury of feeling aggrieved when, if you look closely, you have an opportunity. My father washed dishes at the Sigma Psi house so that he could build an education and a life for the family he did not even have yet.

A good read, that’s worth the registration hassle. (Of course, there’s always that cool BugMeNot thingy…)

Some Sundays, your life reminds you of a punch line…

…makes one week!

(Sorry!)

I’m still here, still thinking, still reading, still watching, still listening…just not taking a lot of time to put stuff down…

(It’s not like you’re missing anything, that’s for sure!)

“If you people don’t get out of my house, I’ll set it on fire!”

Unbelievable…(Link via Free Republic)

Taught about making the most of your time, etc. etc. today, and gave everybody in attendance one of these “checks” as a reminder that every single day is a precious – and irreplaceable – gift from God, that if squandered, is gone forever.

OK, I know it’s sort of “cheesy” and all that, but it got the point across to our folks…

My old low-top Chuck Taylors are finally looking too ratty for the lovely and gracious “Mrs. Charphar” to tolerate going out in public with me, so I’ve been in the market for some new sneakers. I loved the Adidas Stan Smith models when I was in high school – many moons ago. (One of the coolest guys I knew had some!)

Anyway, I had narrowed it down to some more Converses – the Jack Purcell to be exact, the Stan Smith, and the also-old-school Adidas Rod Laver mesh. Then Reebok went and threw a monkey wrench in the works when I found their old-school tennis shoe in canvas twill.

Well, in the end, it was a purely economic decision. The leather “Stans” were half as much as the others. I’m breaking ’em in as we blog!

Oh, and they made shopping at Kroger sound like match point at Flushing Meadows (the rubbery squeaks! Yes!)

OK, so it obviously doesn’t take much to amuse me…

Well, some time during the night – actually around 12:30 this morning – the cops got the guy on top of the crane.

57+ hours after he went up there, they got him down by Tasering him, as he reached for a cup of water.

My earlier post about the incident raised some points about whether or not they should have just let the guy jump and end it all with minimal expense and aggravation. This led to some comments from some folks I know personally and respect a lot, and some folks I don’t know at all – except through the great medium of the blogosphere – and respect a lot.

Yes, I do care tremendously about the worth and the value of each individual before God. Yes, my heart cries out for people who are obviously in need. Yes, I’m concerned about the guy’s alleged victim in Florida. Yes, I’m concerned about the hundreds of other valuable individuals who lost a part of their lives while this guy put on his little stunt in the sky.

Yes to all that…and I still say they should have sent Crocodile Dundee up there.

After all, Crocodile Dundee talked “his” jumper out of it.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for commenting. Thanks for your prayers and friendship – in real life and over the Web.