The Odd Pratchett

I suppose most people have heard of author Terry Pratchett, if not read him. I'm not big on sci-fi but he is the exception, mainly due to the odd humor. One of my favorite quotes: from Wee Free Men

"I would like a question answered today," said Tiffany. "Its about zoology."

"Zoology, eh? That's a big word, isn't it."

"No, actually it isn't," said Tiffany. "'Patronizing'is a big word. 'Zoology' is really quite short."

Strengths

Several years ago Christian Schwarz did research on what were the eight essential qualities of a healthy church. I think it was well done research and he developed Natural Church Development (NCD) out of it. The theory was that you should identify your weaknesses out of the eight qualities and work to improve them. It was the old "weakest link" argument. Our church took one of the assessments that they provided and I think our weakest quality was Ministry but I don't remember for sure.

The thing I liked about NCD was its emphasis on a biotic approach. It recognized that a church is a living, breathing organism and not a machine. That fit well with the weakest link idea because nature is filled with examples of the weakest link being the limiting factor. (A mineral deficiency will stunt plant growth.)

But working on your weaknesses can be depressing. Who wants to put tons of effort into what your bad at doing? Gallup has now come out with a new report that basically says that strength based development nets you the biggest return. One of the big reasons for this is employees are motivated because they love their work. Interesting. I think Schwarz might have identified the problem but missed how you fix it.

Intimacy

We had Joe and Natalie share with us in church about their mission work. They did an excellent job but I was struck by something Natalie said. She was talking about developing a strong community where they minister and she said that what they would do to develop community is have each person write out their life story and share it with everyone. The intimacy of this created very strong bonds resulting in "one of the tightest" community experiences she had ever been involved with.

Kim and I were recently talking about how difficult it is to get people to share their stories. A lot of people are embarrassed or ashamed of their past and wouldn't dare share their true life story. They would rather hide that away and keep it a secret.

No wonder we are often frustrated that we don't develop authentic community. It is just easier being superficial.

Grand

Went and saw the Grand Canyon a couple of days ago.

Wow!

Pictures just don't do it justice.

Being so late in the year there was not that many people there. We went down one of the trails a little ways just to see what it was like below the rim. Met one guy on his way up who had gone all the way down and was heading back up in the same day. That is one tough hike.

It started out kind of mild but later started snowing. It was amazing to watch the weather move in. The snow wasn't that bad but by the time we got close to Flagstaff it looked like a blizzard. We basically saw it all in one day including snow, whiteout, sleet, hail, thunder snow, and rain. Very glad for four wheel drive.

Iverson

As a Piston fan I'm excited about the Iverson deal they recently made. I liked Billups and McDyess just fine but Iverson makes things a lot more interesting. I think the Pistons could go far or, just as easily, crash and burn with him. No matter what it will be fun.

Of course, I can't wait for the pressers. His famous "practice" tirade from his Philly days was classic. I know a lot of people were bothered by it but I thought it was hilarious.

Airsick

Well, Kim and I are off on vacation. We are headed to New Mexico to spend time with friends and basically chill for a week. As a pastor I started doing the Wednesday to Wednesday vacation thing and I like it. I can kind of get things pulled together and ready for the next week on Monday and Tuesday and when I get back I have a few days to get things going for my first week back. Also airline flights are usually cheaper on Wednesdays.

As a missionary kid and as a missionary myself I've spent a lot of time on airplanes. I've also flown into some pretty remote places and experienced a number of harrowing experiences in an airplane. I don't fly like many business travelers do now days but I'm not new to it either.

None of that helped our arrival in Minneapolis this morning. Things were nice and smooth until we started descending into the twin cities area. I would say it was severe but my brother would laugh at that since he is a pilot and says things have to be flying around the cabin to be called severe. It was pretty rough though. My stomach was floating up somewhere in the vicinity of my esophagus and I began to think we would need to divert. Apparently the pilots stomach had dropped and was resting on his bladder because suddenly he made a dive for the runway. I suppose the airlines are trying to save fuel but it seemed we landed way to fast and he still didn't use the brakes very much. He careened us around the airport like a teenager in a school parking lot.

Glad that's over. Hope the next leg is better. In the meantime I'll sit around and wonder at people who it looks like will come close to electing Al Frankin to congress. I can't say much. My state almost elected 27 year old to congress who would have no idea what he was doing, to replace a guy who has built up 14 years of seniority and is a pretty decent guy even though he does do a few things I disagree with. I actually live outside that district though so I wouldn't have accepted the blame.