Month: June 2010

The Gentle Art of Conversational Ping Pong

  1. Listen with your heart. Words are a small part of any communication. The intellectual exchange is only part of the exercise. You can pick up a lot by paying attention to the non-verbal cues, including the other person’s eyes, their tone of voice, and their body language.
  2. Be aware of how much you are talking. I try to talk in sound bites. Frankly, I learned this from doing hundreds of radio and TV interviews through the years. If I didn’t periodically stop talking and give the interviewers a chance to speak, they weren’t bashful about interrupting me or bringing the interview to a close. People are more polite, but you can still lose them, as the would-be consultant did with me.
  3. Hit the ball back over the net. Nothing communicates value and respect to a person more than asking them what they think. Unless you’re giving a formal speech, every encounter should be a dialogue. That means you have to consciously hit the ball back over the net and give the other person a chance to respond. The best way to do this is with thoughtful questions.
  4. Ask follow-up questions. The best listeners I know never stop with just one question. Like peeling an onion, they ask follow-up questions, going deeper each time. This is where you learn the most and where you tap into the possibility to add real value to the other person’s life. One question I like to ask is this, “How did it make you feel when that happened?”
  5. Provide positive feedback. A “poker-face” may help when you are playing cards, but it does not help build trust or develop relationships. People need to know that you are listening and understand them. Nodding your head and providing verbal affirmation are critical skills that anyone can learn, but they must be cultivated.

From Michael Hyatt’s blog The Gentle Art of Conversational Ping Pong

Oasis of Living Water

On Sunday nights, our Church has been going through John Bevere’s new book/video series “Extraordinary”. This Sunday John was talking about the makeup of a man flesh, soul, and Spirit. He said a lot things that really made me think, but one thing he said really stuck out. He said that a non believer’s spirit is dead, and when he said that it was like a little movie started playing in my head. In it I saw a desert and a really thirsty man off in the distance was an oasis.  What I felt the Holy Spirit was saying was that the thirsty man was the spirit of a non believer. This guy in this harsh desert was as good as dead, if he didn’t get a drink soon.  The oasis is a believer full of the Spirit the living water.

Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. John 7:38

When thirsty guy sees the oasis he’s going to use every last bit of what energy he has left to get to the oasis to try and quench his thirst. But this water didn’t just attract one thirsty person, it attracted a crowd of thirsty people.

Off hand you might say D’uh! But really this revelation is the answer to a prayer. During the week we as a Church have been fasting and praying for the lost. And one question on my mind is how do we attact people with out having to restort to trickery or some kind of bait and switch tactic. This revelation is the answer.

There are thirsty people out there today just like there were in Jesus’ time. And if we are walking in the Spirit, letting him guide our lives rather than us accomplishing our own agenda then the Living Water will flow and those thirsty will be drawn to it.

Dreams: Ironman

This was the second dream that I had last week.

In it I’m playing a new video game, unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced,  it’s played on circle platform with a giant I-Max like screen in front of you. The game seemed to be some kind of version of Ironman in it I could fly around and battle enemies. There were several times that I got so into it that the game seemed like real life (which is interesting cause sometimes I get my dreams confused with something that really happened).

After the game was over I met up with Pastor Joe, together we got into the elevator to get to his office. At some point he had given me a book, so when we got to his office I asked him where he’d like me to put it back and he pointed to a small bookcase to the left. His office was small but cool with a warm light in the background behind his desk.

It was after that I woke up.

Dreams: Going Up!

I had two interesting dreams during the week.

The first dream started off in the lobby of a building and for some reason I needed to go upstairs. So I go over to the elevator, but when the doors opened it wasn’t a normal elevator. Instead it was a small black cart encassed in dark glass. Somehow I just knew what to do. I opened the hatch and climbed in. The space inside was definetly cramped. Once I was inside the elevator doors closed, the cart backed away and started up. The ride was crazy. Imagine a rollercoaster inside of a building. The first few floors were normal, but as I got closer to the top I could see that these floors were under construction. My cart began to weave in and out dodging exposed steel beams. As my ride came to an end my cart zoomed down a hallway almost hitting a few people. When I got out I passed the construction foreman who remarked to me that maybe he should put in a normal elevator.

After that Ari and I were out in a field for a celebration and as we were walking along, we came across a tall black pole that was the beginning of the roller coaster that was very similar to what I had experienced in the building previously.  After taking a ride, the creator/owner of the roller coaster gave it to Ari.

Five Characteristics of Weak Leaders

From Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Michael Hyatt pulls out five characteristics of weak leaders.

General George B. McClellan, commander of the “Army of the Potomac” and, eventually, first general-in-chief of the Union Army…

  1. Hesitating to take definitive action. McClellan was constantly preparing. According to him, the Army was never quite ready. The troops just needed a little more training. In his procrastination, he refused to engage the enemy, even when he clearly had the advantage. He could just not bring himself to launch an attack. When Lincoln finally relieved him of his duties, he famously said, “If General McClellan does not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time.”
  2. Complaining about a lack of resources. He constantly complained about the lack of available resources. He didn’t have enough men. His men weren’t paid enough. They didn’t have enough heavy artillery. And on and on he went. The truth is that, as a leader, you never have enough resources. You could always use more of one thing or another. But the successful leaders figure out how to get the job done with the resources they have.
  3. Refusing to take responsibility. McClellan was constantly blaming everyone else for his mistakes and for his refusal to act. He even blamed the President. Every time he suffered a defeat or a setback, someone or something was to blame. He was a master finger-pointer. Great leaders don’t do this. They are accountable for the results and accept full responsibility for the outcomes.
  4. Abusing the privileges of leadership. While his troops were struggling in almost unbearable conditions, McClellan lived in near-royal splendor. He spent almost every evening entertaining guests with elaborate dinners and parties. He insisted on the best clothes and accommodations. His lifestyle stood in distinct contrast to General Ulysses S. Grant, his eventual successor, who often traveled with only a toothbrush.
  5. Engaging in acts of insubordination. McClellan openly and continually criticized the President, his boss. He was passive-aggressive. Even when Lincoln gave him a direct order, he found a way to avoid obeying it. In his arrogance, he always knew better than the President and had a ready excuse to rationalize his lack of follow-through.

From Michael Hyatt’s Blog

Book Review: Priceless by Tom Davis

Good Christian fiction seems to be hard to find. And I’m not sure why. I can remember reading  Frank Peretti’s books as a teenager, my imagination was floored by the vivid pictures he painted of spiritual warfare. But that was a long time ago, and since then I haven’t read much or seen much of interesting Christian fiction. Now that’s partially my fault, for a long time I read only Tom Clancy or Michael Crighton, both great authors, but they both paint a world that is void of God and the work that he is doing. After my Dad passed away and I began to turn back to God, I gave up the things of this world that I knew held back from and intimate relationship with God,tons of  movies, pictures, and books were all thrown away. I assumed that good fiction literature was just something I would have to do without. Thankfully I was wrong, I don’t remember exactly how I found his blog (it was probably through Seth’s blog) and I don’t remember what made me add him to my google reader, but I’m very glad I did. A year ago Tom Davis released the book Scared (a book I still am meaning to write a review of :)), if you have a heart for Africa, orphans or just want to see real world example of how God works I suggest you read it.

Tom’s follow up book is called Priceless. The back drop for this book is Russia and focuses on the sex trade that seems rampant not just in Russia but in our own back yard. This book is a spotlight on the darkness that is all around us, we’ve closed our eyes to it for far too long.

The plot of the book is fast paced, I mean the first few chapters alone nearly blew my socks off, and it only gets better from there. Fair warning, putting the book down and going back to life as normal, isn’t possible, after reading it there’s something left behind. A burden for those girls to do something anything. In the past few days I’ve sketched out ideas for how I could create my own band of SEALs or Marines that would bring justice to sick men and freedom to innocent girls. I know that will probably never happen but I can dream. 🙂

I’m reminded of Eph 6:12

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (NLT)

And the more I think about the more God puts a burden on my heart to pray, pray for the girls for protection and redemption, pray for the men who are paying to have sex with them that they will be saved, pray for the men who are responsible  that they will be saved as well. God’s agenda is to save all… That at times can be so hard to remember. Especially when it comes to harming innocent little girls even more so when you are a father of a priceless little angel.

What I liked about Priceless is that it redefines the norm. The norm is that God isn’t active in the world today and Tom’s books paint a very different picture. And that’s a message I hope continues to spread.

I’m glad to have found good Christian fiction again. Fiction that entertains, inspires, and exposes the world to the truth.