As I mentioned in my Birthday For a Cause post last week, I turned 40 recently. This, along with multiple other factors going on in my life right now, has me introspective. I do believe I’ve got a couple posts in me on this topic, hopefully relatively quick hit kinds of items. For starters, though, I’ve been thinking about the kinds of impact I’ve had on my world in my 40 years of living. In some ways, I can look back and be proud of some of the things I’ve been a part of. But I ran across a few names of people who died at the age of 39, and my resume is pretty slim by comparison. I am now older than the following men at the time of their deaths. Che Guevara – controversial figure, to be sure . . . but someone who had enormous impact during [...]

This blog is currently undergoing a reconstruction.  Please check back soon for a grand re-opening.  Please reset your RSS Feed, and we’ll be back in business soon.

Once again I’ve been guilty of inconsistency in my posting. My apologies. I’ll have some more time on my hands soon, and plan to do some sprucing up around here, and relaunch. For those who loyally check in here, my thanks . . . and my apologies. I’ll get my mojo back, I promise.

I just booked a spontaneous quick trip out of town for this weekend.  I’ll be visiting family and friends in San Diego.  While there, I will be attending this.

O.k., completely random post here, but hey, it’s better than nothing . . . and it is, after all, my blog, so I get to do these things every once in a while. I was musing this morning, wondering what the environmental impact of my shampoo is.  Beyond the plastics it takes to make the bottle, beyond the packaging the shampoo comes in, and beyond the fossil fuels it takes to deliver my shampoo from manufacturer to market to my shower, the shampoo I use has a carbon footprint. I have a strange little scalp condition.  It’s not infectious or out of control.  But I do have to use a medicated shampoo once or twice per week.  The main ingredient of this shampoo?  Coal tar.  Mmmmm, lovely, eh?  No coconut, strawberry, or melon fragrances, either.  Just this thick sludge of coal tar – I mean, I wouldn’t want anything to [...]

Hi all.  I know it’s been extremely quiet ’round here lately.  As I try to tie up loose ends on my doctoral dissertation, that’ll probably persist for the next several weeks.  However, just in case I decided that one of my New Year’s Resolutions for the year is to blog daily, I figured I should go ahead and post something!  Just kidding. 2008 was a wild ride in many ways.  I’d do a year in review, but hey, that’s what the archives are for.  Looking back, I’ve made some very good friends in the past year, gone deeper with other friends, and been stretched in some important ways.  I’m looking forward to 2009 – there are still way more questions than answers about what this year is likely to have in store. I’ll try to have more fun on the ‘ol blog this year.  Maybe I’ll change my layout, throw [...]

My friend Petey and I talked on the phone for over an hour the other day.  We were talking ’bout “missional” leadership styles.  He asked what I thought about decentralized forms of leadership and organization, like the concepts and examples discussed in the book The Starfish and the Spider.  I told him I was all for that   approach to leadership, but we have to be honest and admit that it’s a tough way to  run an organization.  Over and over I have found myself having to reassure those who follow my leadership that they DO have permission and encouragement and empowerment to go do things, get involved in projects, participate in activities.  We still live solidly within a leadership paradigm that forces people into top-down modes, and people still have a hard time believing that it’s o.k. to step out of that mode.  The “leader” is still seen as the [...]

Please join me in praying for one of my doctoral classmates, John Stumbo.  He came down with a strange, undiagnosed illness, and is unconscious in what is being called a life threatening condition.  He’s the lead pastor of a large church in Salem, Oregon.

Hugh MacLeod

I’m flopped her in my big squishy comfy chair, across the room from my lovely bride, but we’re both dialed in on our laptops for the moment.  I should be talking to her, given that I’ve barely seen her over the past couple of weeks.  I’m feeling a tad bit overwhelmed for the moment.  Having been away, and largely out of contact with phone and internet, I’ve gotten well behind on e-mail, important items on the task list, and voice mail messages.  I’ve got my work cut out for me over the next couple of weeks, just catching up.  Unfortunately, on top of catching up, I need to move forward on many fronts.  Our trip to India is right around the corner, which means in the next few weeks, I need to: – listen to about 25 hours worth of class lectures, write a short research paper, and take an [...]