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J.K. Rowling – A Wiz with “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone”
Photo Credit: By Amazon.com
I know, I am probably one of the last people on the planet to read the Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling. Call it peer pressure – but I have finally read the first book: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. Most people would look at the books and think they were only for children – I have to admit that I was one of these people. One of my former coworkers used to constantly talk about the books and told me that I really need to read them because she thought I would like them. I picked up the first book at a used bookstore thinking that if I didn’t like it, there was no great financial loss since I bought it used. To say that I was very impressed with the book would be a huge understatement.
The story is about a boy named Harry Potter. He is left on his aunt and uncle’s doorstep as a baby and knows no other life than the one they so begrudgingly provide for him. Harry is forced to sleep in a cabinet and must deal with the constant abuse of his cousin Dudley. The poor kid later receives several letters (which his aunt and uncle hide from him) informing him that he is a wizard and will be attending Hogwarts for his schooling and training. While at the school Harry discovers that he is some kind of legendary hero of sorts, as everyone knows his name and his story – even he doesn’t know his own story. He finds out that his parents were killed when he was a baby and that one of the professors had a strong dislike of his father.
Along the way Harry befriends Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Rubeus Hargrid who join him on several adventures but also become his partners in crime. The main premise of this book is the children find out about the Sorcerer’s Stone (the individual who posses this stone will live for ever) and believe that one of their professors is trying to steal it. I don’t want to ruin the book for you so I will just leave the details at that. I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it. It was a very easy read that kept my interest the whole time. Viewing the first movie is next on my list of things to do, as I’ve heard that you can’t read the book and not watch the movie.
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It’s (Not) All About The Benjamins!
Time is one of many things a leader can invest.
I am leader in one of the environments at my church called Fusion. This cycle we are talking about the subject of investment. When people hear the term “invest” they immediately think of money. It’s not always about money. You can invest your time, talents, and so many other things.
My friend Susanne does something really cool for her Facebook status. She will find a word that has impacted her and provide the definition. It would go a little something like this (Susanne – this one goes out to you! (c: ).
“Invest: to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.), as for a purpose or to achieve something…I like that word.”
She always follows it with “I like that word.” When I read that definition this morning it made me think…how can we as leaders invest in the lives of those we lead?
- Be a great listener – People want to be heard. Don’t try to solve their problems, just provide a listening ear.
- Celebrate with them – Birthdays and new jobs are just the beginning. In one of my previous small groups we always celebrated everyone’s birthday and it turned out that one of the guys had never ever had a birthday party thrown for him.
- Mourn with them – Losing a family member is difficult and it’s even harder when you feel alone. It’s easier to go through the loss of a job with others supporting and encouraging you. A guy in one of my previous small groups lost his daughter to a childhood illness. The majority of our group traveled from Atlanta to Tampa just to be with him in his time of need.
- Spend time with them – Be intentional about doing things with them. Go out to dinner. Grab coffee. Find out what they enjoy doing and do it together.
- Remember the details – When you have conversations with people, remember things they tell you. You never realize how much it means to people when you ask them how their interview went or if they finished their big project at work. It makes them feel important.
How do you invest in those you lead?
Photo Credit: By mpclemens
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You Make Beautiful Things
"Beautiful Things" by Gungor is amazing!
Music is one of my passions. Hearing moving lyrics together with amazing instrumentation is just something that moves me. Last week at church we had re:Group (an annual small group leader training) and at the end of the night, the worship band played this song I had never heard. The lyrics felt like they were speaking directly to me – like they were written by me to a loving Heavenly Father who is providing for me and taking care of me. The song is “Beautiful Things” by the group Gungor. Here are just a few of the lyrics:
All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
This song just reminds me that regardless of the circumstances that are going on around me, God can use them to make something beautiful. Even with all that is going on in my life right now, it is comforting to know that I have not been forgotten and that everything is not happening in vain.
Enjoy “Beautiful Things” by Gungor below.
Photo Credit: By Amazon.com
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Baby Movin’ On Up…
Packing - one my least favorite things!
This week is going to be extremely stressful. There is so much going on, that I’m already for it to be over and it’s only Monday. Have you ever had one of those weeks?! It wouldn’t be so bad if all of these things were happening on different weeks, but unfortunately they are all happening at the same time. I can already feel my head starting to throb.
Item #1 – I am moving this week. It’s literally only two minutes from where I live now, but I’m still moving. I absolutely detest packing. Some of my things will be going in storage, some things will be going with me to the new place, and other things will be trashed or given to Goodwill. My youngest brother and I were renting a house together and now I will be living with two guys I know from church. I’m looking forward to it, but the transition of getting there is very stressful right now. In the long run this will also help me save money.
Item #2 – The reason I am moving. My youngest brother (he is eight years younger than I am) is getting married on Friday of this week. It will be a very small family only ceremony in Tennessee. I am the oldest of three boys. My middle brother (he is three years younger than I am) is married with four kids. My youngest brother will be getting married this week. And then there is me…the oldest, not married, and not even dating anyone. I am excited for my brother, but I still kind of feel like the “odd man out.” I would like to get married one day, but there are no signs showing that it’s going to happen any time soon and that can be depressing at times.
Item #3 – I am job hunting. I lost my job toward the end of June and the current status of the economy and job market is horrible. I am collecting unemployment, but that only helps so much. Unfortunately things in life cost money – food, gas for your vehicle, insurance for your vehicle…well, you get the idea. I am ready to find the right job for me (one I enjoy doing and one where I get up every morning excited about what I do for a living) and get a more stable way of life.
If I don’t post for a few days, I’m probably buried underneath boxes of stuff from the move – so you’ll know where to find me. Just say a little prayer for my sanity during the move! (c:
Back to packing!
Photo Credit: By Ben Hoyt
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Remembering 9/11 – 10 Years Later
The front page headline from September 11, 2001.
September 11, 2001 – A day that changed our world forever. I remember vividly the happenings of that tragic day. It was my first day working at Old Navy at Parkway Pointe. We were setting things up to open the store and when our manager came in, she was almost in tears. She told us what had happened and we all went back into the break room and turned on the television to see the disastrous events that has just happened to our country. There was absolute silence through out the entire store.
We opened the store as usual, but only two customers came in and the topic of conversation immediately turned to what had happened at the Trade Center and the Pentagon. Corporate office called our manager and told us that we could shut down the store early so that everyone could go home to be with their families and to make sure any family members near the tragedy were okay. I later found out that a friend of mine from high school was in the area of the tragedy, but she and her husband were both okay. Many people weren’t so lucky and lost their lives due to this insane display of terrorism.
Today, we look back exactly ten years to the day of when it all happened. Our country is united and has more compassion for others. It is sad that something of this magnitude had to happen in order to draw our country closer together. I personally want to thank every man and woman who serves our country so that we can live a life of freedom without fear. I still think about the families who lost their loved ones in this tragedy and it makes my heart hurt. I don’t know what it’s like because I didn’t experience it first hand, but know that you and your families are still in my thoughts and prayers even now ten years after your loss.
Photo Credit: By Eric Shoemaker
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The Church of Facebook – Community or Connection?
Photo Credit: By ChurchOfFacebook.com
Community is an integral part of life. It’s hard to believe that Facebook started out in 2004 – in seven years, over 750 million individuals have become a part of this social networking phenomenon. What are these people seeking to get from their experience on Facebook? In his book The Church of Facebook, author Jesse Rice seeks to determine the motivating factor(s). One of the main issues he raises is can you really have true community online – without having face-to-face relationships?
This is a great read that I highly recommend. I enjoyed it more and more with every chapter. A few take aways I received from reading Rice’s book:
- “At the root of human existence is our great need for connection: connection with one another, with our own hearts and minds, and with a loving God who intended intimate connection with us from the beginning. Connection is the very core of what makes us human and the very means by which we express our humanity.”
- On Facebook we communicate to get a reaction. It’s not an immediate interaction.
- People tend to have a “whatever goes” mentality when it comes to Facebook – saying and doing what they want without taking into consideration how it may effect others.
- Being friends on Facebook is not a demanding relationship. You click a button and that’s it – you don’t have to do any maintenance on the friendship.
- Don’t define what a friend should be for you. Find out what others need in a friend and be that for them.
- Which is more important – being authentic or being liked?
- We have become a society that is too focused on what is new instead of what is now.
I love how the author uses the story of the woman at the well and how Jesus established a relationship with her based on her needs – correlating this with the whole Facebook experience. We tend to get on Facebook and play the comparison game by looking at how successful or active our “friends” are and either looking down on them because they don’t have what we do or we wish we had what they have. We also use Facebook and other social media venues to create a facade of who we think others want us to be and project that as our “real” self.
Rice even gives some great examples of how to enhance your Facebook experience – these alone are with the price of the book. The Church of Facebook is a must read for anyone in social media or ministry (or both).
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Big Brother – A Dissection of (Not So) Good Community
Looking for "true community?" Watch reality tv shows like Big Brother and do the opposite!
The subject of “community” has been on my radar lately. A couple of weeks ago, the sermon at church was on community. I am also starting two new community groups – one that I will be leading and another in which I am participating (a mentoring group for community group leaders). When I look up community in the dictionary, four of the definitions really stick out to me:
- “A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.”
- “A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the): the business community; the community of scholars.”
- “A group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.”
- “Similar character; agreement; identity: community of interests.”
One of my latest guilty pleasures is the reality television show Big Brother. If you’ve never watched the show, it’s basically a group of people whom have never met and they have to live in a house together under the watchful eye of “big brother” (the American public). Each week there is a competition that determines who becomes the “head of household” and that person has to nominate two other residents to be considered for eviction. Residents then compete in another competition for “power of veto” and whomever wins this competition is able to veto one of the nominations or keep them as is. At the end of the week, all house guests must vote to evict one of the people who ends up on the chopping block. Once the competition is down to two people, the previous eliminated house guests vote on which of the remaining two will receive an enormous amount of money.
Needless to say, this show is a VERY bad example of how a community should be:
- Individuals on the show form alliances against one another – in community you must be willing to work together as one unit.
- There is a lot of back-stabbing that occurs on Big Brother – members of community should not turn on each other.
- Big Brother contestants are caught frequently calling one another names – those involved in community should encourage one another and not embarrass or put down others in the group.
- Greed seems to be a common theme on Big Brother – those in community want to see everyone succeed in the group and actively celebrate those times with them.
If your “community” were to be filmed for a reality show, would it be like Big Brother?
Photo Credit: By Elaine Ashton
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“Every Single Man’s Battle” Has The Best Of Intentions
Photo Credit: By Christianbook.com
About a year ago, I read “Every Man’s Battle” by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey. I read the book with six other guys in a single men’s small group through my church. The overall message was much appreciated, but we found out the book was geared more toward married men. When I found out about “Every Single Man’s Battle” (by the same authors) I was very excited, that was until I actually read the book. To my dismay, I was disappointed for a few reasons.
- “Every Single Man’s Battle” constantly refers to “Every Man’s Battle.” What gets me is there wasn’t a whole lot of information from that book that was geared toward single men. They should have just taken what little information that was for single men in “Every Man’s Battle” and just put the information in “Every Single Man’s Battle” instead of saying “read chapters 1-5 of Every Man’s Battle.” It’s like the sole purpose they did this was to sell more books and I have a big problem with that.
- The author’s writing style was a little bothersome as well. Everything was “you need to do…” or “you should…” which comes across as if the authors were not single men, but married men who are not currently experiencing the whole issues trying to be a sexually pure single adult male. I would have liked it a lot more if the authors changed the wording to “we as single Christian men should…” or “we should…” that way it doesn’t come across like the authors have no idea what single men are going through or like they don’t sympathize for them.
- This book is better suited as a small group study curriculum, otherwise it is a very difficult read.
The message of the book is a good one that is definitely needed for all single Christian men and I found several take away items including:
- “Actually, sexual impurity is a series of bad decisions on our part – as a result of immature character – and deliverance won’t deliver you into instant maturity. Character work needs to be done.”
- Our sexuality is not just about obeying God’s commands but also a way to honor our relationship with Him.
- “When you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
- “Being about our Father’s business is our rite of passage into manhood.”
- Single men should not live alone, but have at least one male roommate to help provide accountability in the area of sexual temptation.
I definitely recommend this book (with the above disclaimers) and even though it is a challenge at times to abide by this, the long term rewards are well worth it.
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Pretzels, Distractions, and Leadership
Anything can be a distraction for a leader.
I love being an uncle. My nieces and nephews are constantly teaching me new things through their innocent, child-like eyes. The other day I called my parents to ask them something and my two year old nephew was at their house. My mother put me on speaker phone so my nephew could talk to me. He said “Hey Uncle Scott!” and then I asked him how he was doing…absolute silence. It turned out he was distracted by pretzels. At the end of my call, I told my parents that I would talk to them later, suddenly my nephew came back to the phone and said “Hey!” again. The little tyke then proceeded to go back to the pretzels.
There are so many things in life that can distract us, much like my nephew’s pretzels. These distractions may ordinarily be something good, but they can take us away from doing what we need to do or doing it to the best of our ability. Your distraction may not be pretzels – it may be a person, circumstances, money, or any number of things. As a leader, it can be difficult at times because you are not only trying to take care of yourself and grow personally and professionally, but you are also responsible for doing the same for others. When you find yourself going through times of distraction, find a trusted friend or mentor with whom you can share these struggles. Having someone who knows what you are going through makes it easier to focus on the right things.
How do you combat distractions as a leader?
Photo Credit: By Dottie Mae
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When I Grow Up…
"When I grow up I want to be a cartoonist!"
When you were a child, you probably got the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question from the adults around you. We had hopes and dreams of becoming something cool and exciting – a rock star, a policeman, a fireman, or even a super hero. The logic of a child is just priceless. I told everyone who asked me that I wanted to be a cartoonist because (and I quote) “Cartoonists don’t have to wear a tie to work.” It didn’t matter that I had no drawing ability whatsoever, I had made my mind up and was going to be a cartoonist.
As we grow up, we realize how humorous those thoughts of our future career were and how realistic we need to be as adults. This weekend, I went to my high school reunion and several people had changed in appearance, but no one shared of their adventures as a super hero (or even a cartoonist). Most of my former classmates are now parents, teachers, police officers, or work for the government. How did we make such drastic changes in our career choices?
I was talking with one of my mentors last week and he shared with me a list that has helped him with his career choices. He said that you need to constantly be asking yourself the following questions:
- What do you want people to say about you?
- What is it about your job (or previous jobs) that you love?
- What do you want your ministry to be/look like in 20 years?
- What are your passions?
- When have you been in the zone?
- When did you experience greatest success? Failure?
- Where have you had the biggest impact? Least?
- In what do you take pride? Of what are ashamed?
What words of wisdom have others shared with you that have helped you make big decisions (like career choice)?
Photo Credit: By Devon Weller
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Scott Couey 