Ok, so in high school – I was not one of the cool kids. I wasn’t an outcast, but I wasn’t part of the “in” crowd and I was ok with that. As a teenager at church – I wasn’t part of the “in” crowd either. Again, I wasn’t an outcast–we all knew each other and got along well, but if the cool kids threw a party I usually didn’t make the list. And I was ok with it…here’s the fact of the matter: I’m kinda dork…I used to play role playing games, I love StarWars, and on a Friday night I was just as happy to play some BattleTech as I was to hang out and do nothing.

So why the confession? Am I looking for sympathy? Not at all. I’m actually content with who I am. I still love StarWars, I still play video games, I still watch Muppet Movies periodically, I can carry on an intelligent conversation about any of the Star Trek series…in a lot of ways I’m still dorky. And I’m still ok with that.

The reason for the confession is that I was reflecting on the blessings that God has put into my life. And as I sat down at my desk last week, I was overwhelmed with how faithful God is and how much he has blessed me.  I have a great wife, I have a great job, my boss is awesome, I’m able to pursue a Master’s Degree, my family loves each other…I could go on and on about the great blessings that God has given me.

Lamentations 3:22-24 in The Message says: “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.”

His mercies are new everyday and I don’t want to ever forget that, neither do I want to think it’s because of me…so I keep reminding myself that I’m essentially a dork. I always want to remember that I am where I am because of who God is…

How about you? Do you count your blessings and give God the glory for all the great things that have happened in your  life because of who he is?

So this morning I was supposed to fly out at 10:54 for class. My flight was supposed to go through Atlanta. I don’t know if you heard, but Atlanta got 3″-6″ of snow…so my flight got cancelled.  As soon as I found out my flight had been cancelled I called Airtran. After 20 minutes on hold I decided to go ahead and get ready for the day while my wife listened for a customer service rep…they kept saying it would be soon. After 35 minutes I decided it would be quicker to run up to the airport and see what they could do for me (I live 2 minutes away). So by the time I got to the ticket counter I had been on hold for 45 minutes…fun times.  I told the Ticket counter lady about my flight being cancelled…she looked me up and said “Oh, they’ve already rebooked you on the direct flight.”  What?  I didn’t have to call and ask them to do that? They had already done that?  They took the initiative and took care of my problem?  Way to go Airtran!!

The proactive-ness of Airtran is exactly what a leader does! When we read the parable of the servants who were trusted with the talents – the first two servants didn’t need to be told to do something, they just did it! The third servant is the one who really messed up because he waited for someone to tell him he should try to be productive! Really?  Does someone need to tell you to be productive?

Sometimes that’s the mistake that a lot of people make – they wait to be told what to do.  Granted there are times when you should wait for instructions…if you’re disarming a bomb, make sure that you know if you’re supposed to cut the red wire or the green wire. If the decision you’re about to make will have long-term ramifications – make sure you know what you’re supposed to do first! But there are somethings you just don’t need to ask about you can make the decision on your own.

If you’re teaching a lesson and you have an epiphany that would help reinforce the lesson, but isn’t written in the curriculum – do you need to ask before you share? No! If it doesn’t detract from the lesson and isn’t heresy – then use it! You don’t need to ask!  If a child cuts their arm – do you need to ask to get a band-aid? No! Just do it! If there’s a parent who is lost do you need to ask if you can help them? Nope!  If you are doing something that adds to the vision for the ministry and is appropriate in the context you are serving in you probably don’t need to ask!

Too often individuals focus on what they can’t do. “We don’t have enough workers…” “We don’t have enough money…” “We don’t have….” W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R! What about the things you do have?  What can you do with the resources you already have? Quit focusing on what you can’t do and find the things you can do! It’s like the warning on the side of a cup of coffee – “Contents may be hot!” Really? Did I need to tell you that?

Now go out and be proactive initiators of the things you can do!

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 18 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 22 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 1st with 39 views. The most popular post that day was Proud or Prideful?.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mail.yahoo.com, facebook.com, childrensministry.com, mail.live.com, and ministry-to-children.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for railroad crossing sign, railroad crossing, railroad sign, spencer click, and philippians 2 painting.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Proud or Prideful? November 2010
11 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

Margin and Team work July 2010
10 comments

Eureka! and a paradigm shift…. August 2010
2 comments

The Best is Yet to Come August 2010
5 comments

Are You A Growing Leader September 2010
6 comments