“Friends” at 33…

Go ahead and scoff, you facebookistas.  You’ve been going to this school for some time now; you even grew up here.  I’m the new kid in class… been here only a couple of days… I don’t sit alone in the lunch room anymore.

Actually, I think I can solve a dilemma that some have had looking for me.  There are like 500 “Bob Scott” profiles that come up when you search.  I believe that the link for MY profile can be found here.

If that doesn’t work… sorry.

Sunday Night

Gateway is getting good.

I would love to take some credit for it all, but quite frankly I am just standing back amazed.  It is exciting to see the church in a post-starting gun mode, just getting out of the starters position and beginning the run of its life!  Today, I got to sit (sort of) during the message… Paul did a great job in part three of “The YOU Show” series.

In the middle of the excitement there are some challenges:

• Our reach is expanding with people coming from out of town.  Great thing, but it creates a ministry that is not as centralized.  Seem to remember that God said we would be in many places.
• I’ve got to learn to give the things away that I have had to fight for.  Others can and will step forward.
• I don’t want to get program oriented.  I don’t want the schedule to dictate whether or not we seek God’s presence.
• The more accessible I can be the more effective I will minister.  I will also guard my time.

I’m excited.  I’m scared.  I’m stoked.  I’m tired.

What a ride.

Be my friend…

I’m on facebook. I know, I’m so cutting edge 2.0 that I am actually in beta for version 3.

I’m also not really sure what that means.

Anyway, I’m on facebook but can’t really tell you how to find me.  I think that you go to www.facebook.com and search for Bob Scott.  I’m the handsome one, so you can’t miss me.  Things I have quickly learned:

• I am most popular, having 16 friends after only one day of activity.
• There are some with like, 2000 friends.
• I think our definition of “friends” has become a tad loose in its meaning.
• Don’t use a picture where you are pointing because it can be mistaken for something else.
• Apparently a lot are mad at facebook for changing the look of things.
• It is strange for those on facebook, twitter, etc. to be upset about “change.”
• I don’t know how to get my blog and twitter linked to my facebook page/wall/profile/whatever it is.

I have actually scoffed at facebook.  I scoffed at txting as well, but that is the greatest thing ever from my blackberry.  Now, I see it for what it can be… a tool for community.

Gone are the days of walking down the street to sit on the porch to catch up.  The porch is across the state, or the country, or the world.  I can’t walk there, but we can still stay connected.  While I don’t think I can lose touch with the bond of face to face, I am now realizing that “wall to wall” (facebook reference) is a great way to bridge the gap between those in person encounters.

I don’t want to substitute the online for the in person.  However, I do want to be as accessible as possible – and constantly search for ways to influence those in my world.

Oh, and maybe my world can grow as well.

Video Up

The YOU series began this past Sunday at Gateway.  Man, it’s real exciting to see all that God is doing in us; and I look back at the process and stand amazed at His work through it all.

Sundays message is up here.  Just letting you know, we’ve got to get a better camera.  We’ll work on that one.

YOU

Who do you think you are?

Sunday morning starts a new series looking at “YOU.”  What do we think of ourselves?  Who are we when no one is looking?  Who is the person our family sees, and our co-workers see?

I’m excited and nervous about this series.  It’s important.  It is truth.

The reality that is revealed can change us.

You can watch the promo video here.

Doing What I Do

It’s an ongoing process… seeing what you are made to do.  There are times when it is so clear; but other times you just kind of stumble through the whole thing.  Today was a day of stumbling.

I am processing.  I want to move forward, and I want to find that niche.

I care too much what people think.  I try to please them all while staying true to what is right and best.  You know, I will never please them all.  At the very least, if I try then I will never please myself.

So… what matters?  That is what I will do.

• I will give it my all when planning and preparing.
• I will give it my all when presenting.
• I will give it my all when I put it away… and just be the me that my family needs me to be.

Changing the World…

I believe changing the world is my mission.  I get frustrated when I feel so far away from my mission.

It’s overwhelming.  People are hurting everywhere, and most are looking for “they don’t know what.”  I find myself these days unable to set in my office for even a little bit.  There is study and work that I must do; but there are people that I must see and places that I must be.

The adventure is that these people and places are not there by schedule and appointment.  I am not going to meet them, but I must run across them as I go my way.  Most would call these chance encounters, but I tend to think of them as divine moments.

• I’ve got to learn to recognize those moments as they are happening
• I’ve got to prioritize my schedule to allow time for the “unscheduled”
• I’ve got to go find them where they are, because most of them don’t know where to look to find me

This is random, but it is the nature of my mission.

I don’t make the tangible; and my goal is filled with the intangible.  I can’t lay it down with a time card; but I have to debrief or the all-consuming will consume me.

The overwhelming great goal begins with a small moment.

God, help me put those moments together into something great.

Forgetting How You Get There

We tend to think that the story begins with us.  In our mind it not only begins with us, but is all about us and no one else could ever have even heard of the story but for us.  We forget that the story was being written long before we came on the scene.

You see, when a great thing happens we tend to look at the one standing at the helm in the moment.  What we fail to see are the ones who have tried before and never quite made it happen.  These who went before softened the way for the one who sees the victory.  It’s like loosening up the lid on a jar of pickles so your child can “open” the jar by himself.  The child gets the credit.

Most forget that others have gone before us.  Those who led had to go before anyone else, and they had to realize that everyone would forget them when they finally chose to follow.  This has to be OK with the leader.

It can never be about the leader… just about the mission he or she leads.

The Great Equalizers

There are two things that can make an option seem better than it actually is:

• Fear
• Purposed Destruction

First Fear.  If you can make someone afraid enough, they will be all the more willing to accept any solution that offers them the least glimmer of safety.  Horrible illustration… but it’s the equivalent of taking a girl to a scary movie so that she will feel like sitting close to you is a great idea.  All too often I see others using the strategy of fear to set up a scenario in which they can become the savior.

If you need to feel needed, make someone else afraid.  Then set yourself up as unafraid, and you will become a hero by default.

Second, Purposed Destruction.  Quite candidly, this is blowing out anothers candles so that yours can shine brighter.  It seems that some would try to be perceived as great not by becoming great, but by making others less.  It’s like the old joke that if you and I are being chased by a bear I don’t have to be faster than the bear; I just have to be faster than you.  If an idea or way can be torn down long enough, the status of the alternative grows bigger and stronger.

If you need to be seen as big, make someone else little.  Then by comparison to the room you will be looked up to.

These two things tend to make the mediocre be seen as great.  In reality, it is only the dumbing down of the definition of great.  It is like fighting and wedging yourself in to a place of influence, rather than being invited in to be influential.

Just a word: Real leaders see through these tactics.  The maneuvering will work for a while, but these two items will always catch up with you.  Learn to be great because you are great.  Learn to be a lifter of others, because this will teach you how to be lifted in the future.

Next: A thought on forgetting those who have gone before, or thinking you’re the first to get there.

Mountains out of Molehills

Or… I’m really sorry but I can’t see past this huge log in my eye to get the speck of dust out of yours.

Why do we constantly think we know all there is to know when we only truly know a small bit?  Why do we take that small bit that we know and create a bias and understanding that is based on perceived influences rather than fact?  I see it all of the time:

• You quote from an author and automatically your are one of his (or her) disciples
• You question a thought or process and are labeled as uncooperative or troublemaker
• You place an “R” or a “D” next to your name and placed in the category of the extreme on either side
• You stand up for the one and are seen as the enemy of the other

The middle of the road is a dangerous place, and I’m not advocating that we live there.  I believe in some things very strongly; and on those things I cannot and must not back down.  However, the more I know I realize that there is a lot that I don’t know.  I must learn to choose my battles wisely.

I have learned that it is better to get it right than to be right.

I am also increasingly grateful that I can take the good from others and filter it through the Spirit of God that dwells within me.  This allows two things to happen:

1. I can see the good and learn from those who are not exactly like me.
2. I can also know that one belief does not automatically connect you to another.

The pendulum swing is a dangerous thing.  When one extreme frightens you it is not always the best decision to run to the other extreme.  It is not always correct to assumptions based on one thought or comment.

I will put it this way.  The bible says, “Jesus wept.”  (John 11:35)  Now, I can build my whole life around that thought and believe that what it means to follow Christ is to cry.  However, I must understand that there is a context – that there is a story.  The story and context is bigger than the comment.

I must understand that I don’t know what I don’t know; and that ignoring what I don’t know will always lead me to inaccurate knowledge.

It’s a molehill… it’s a speck…

Get over it.