Mike Rowe of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs talks sheep castration, peripeteia, the value of hard work, and the forgotten values of our grandfathers’ generation.
I hate when people say that they’re “only human” as a way of excusing failures and asking for grace.
“Hey, whaddaya expect? I’m only human.”
It isn’t so much the excusing element of the phrase. Though I’m not a big fan of excuses.
What I hate is how that the person who says this is actually being arrogant (under the guise of being meek) while simultaneously insulting the power and the beauty of our humanness.
I’m only human.
I didn’t live up to your standard so I am going to establish my own, lower standard. And it is by that standard I demand that you give me grace for not living up to your standard.
I am only human.
...
Jon Acuff, founder of Stuff Christians Like is back at it leveraging the power of online community to save lives.
This time the challenge he’s set before the community of Christians who like stuff is:
The project is in partnership with SafeWorld Nexus, a non-profit that serves the people of Uganda and Haiti to promote community health, clean water, and protecting children.
You can follow the project’s progress on:
I don’t know if you’ve been watching the coverage in the past 12 hours as the trapped Chilean miners have been emerging after 69 days trapped underground. But it’s incredible.
There are so many amazing things to say about the ordeal but I was really struck this morning by what Mario Sepulveda, the second miner to be rescued, said:
“They gave us our lives back. It’s incredible they rescued us from 700 meters down and without being able to see us face to face.”
Mr. Sepulveda is turning out to be quite a character. You can see for yourself in this video of his reaction after being brought back to the surface.
Sometimes I wonder if I don’t spend too much time inside my own mind.
Two things I’ve been wrestling with recently:
I mean it may have existed but the way we experience it, measuring the ebb and flow of our awareness of its passage as we travel steadily from birth toward death – this was not part of creation. While there was birth, by virtue of the fact that there was no death we would have no need to measure time’s passage the way we do. The flow of time has little value to the eternal.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the nobility of most causes, inspired by a vision for a better future we dedicate ourselves to creating change in this world.
And our intentions are good…
…angered by the injustice and oppression, we fight for social justice.
…frightened by unchecked pollution, we become environmental activists.
…dismayed by the corruption and greed synonymous with business, we put our hope in social entrepreneurship.
…disheartened by the apathy that is endemic in most churches, we become enchanted with leadership.
…frustrated by the limitations of our efforts, we become enamored with the power of technology.
…disgusted by the depravity all around us, we seek to purify our culture.
Unrest leads to interest. Interest becomes passion. Passion becomes our purpose which quickly becomes our calling.
...Thank you Tim Keller for blowing up my worldview yet again. From Ministries of Mercy: The call of the Jericho Road (affiliate link):
“While accomplishing this task [loving in word and deed], Francis Schaeffer said, Christians may at times be ‘cobelligerents’ with the Left or the Right, but never allies. ‘If there is social injustice, say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need order … But do not align yourself as though you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different from either — totally different.‘”
...
I’ve been watching reruns of the show The West Wing. The stories of these fictitious men and women striving to make America better, driven by a vision and a passion to fulfill the greatness of this nation, united by their belief in a greater purpose for man inspire me. The show inspires me. There are moments in the show that move me and stir something deep within my heart.
“If you are anything like me… you’ve settled for comfort rather than Christ, but your cravings for God are slowly thawing your cold heart. The only remedy I can see for our comfortable Christianity is to do what Paul told us, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices to a God who is worthy to receive them.” –Chris Tomlinson
Crave by Chris Tomlinson
[<Disclosure> I received this book directly from Harvest House (the publisher). I have not been compensated financially in any way for reading or reviewing this book... though the author did compliment my beard. I'm a sucker for people who compliment my beard.</Disclosure>]
...If the Business as Mission movement does universally agree that a particular metric is not indicative of BAM success, it does is not mean that metric isn’t valid. Of all of the measures tested by the BAM survey...
At this point, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Is Kevin really this awesome in real life?"
The answer is no. But people never believe me when I tell them. So feel free to find out for yourself:
I do Strategy Work. I help people, businesses and non-profits do what they do better. The reason why your organization exists... that core thing you do... I help you to do it better. That's what I do.
I do a lot of things. Here's what I do best:
