We’re in the planning and production stage for a fall outreach series on marriage.  It’s called “Making Love Last” and it will begin in mid-October (October 16 and 17, to be exact).

Over the last week or so, I’ve had a chance to dust off my web skills and have put together a working blog for the new series.  You can find it at www.makinglovelast.org.  It’s still a work in progress, so be kind.  The idea is to push online avenues of advertising that are essentially free.

Brendan, our IT/missions/outreach guy, has coded a slick app that allows users to send a free singing telegram to any phone number.  It’s in beta but you can check it out here.  Right now it’s just using the standard Microsoft voice recognition software but eventually it will have a Barry White imitation voice.  If you like it, pass it along to your friends.

Seeing Life From God’s Perspective

The decision to follow Jesus puts us at odds with the prevailing values of our culture. It has always been that way. It was that way for Jesus and his first disciples. It was that way during the Roman Empire. It’s still that way today.

The upside down way of God …

• Redefines success
• Offers true freedom
• Turns weakness into strength
• Encourages generosity
• Calls for courage

Join us for this new series at Mountainview starting August 14 and 15.

BrandFreak.com has an interesting post about how The Village People reacted to YMCA’s recent decision to shorten their brand name to “The Y.”  For year’s I’ve heard people refer to working out at “the Y.”  It’s an interesting article, not just for the Village People connection, but from a branding and social media perspective.

“There are two ways to get enough: One is to continue to accumulate more and more.  The other is to desire less.”  — G.K. Chesterton

Brendan, our IT/missions and outreach guy, has created a cool way to track our Mountainview Ukraine mission team.  It’s Mountainview Mission Trip Updates and it allows you read updates, view pictures, and even see where our team is on a Google map.

It uses Wordpress as the blogging software and our team simply updates the site by sending an email to a dedicated address.  That simplifies the process and allows them to send quick updates without having to login, etc.

Check it out!

I must admit, it felt nice.

For much of my message this past weekend, I preached while sitting on a couch on the stage.  A nice leather couch with cushy cushions.  All I lacked was a good cup of strong coffee.

I was speaking about how Moses fled Egypt after killing a man (see Exodus 2) and then began to argue with God when God called him to go back to Egypt (see Exodus 3 and 4).  Arguing might be a strong term.  He was making excuses … why me?  Who am I?  What if they don’t listen to me?  What if they don’t believe me?

If we’re not careful, we can grow comfortable in the space between our disobedience and where God wants us to be.  With each missed opportunity to get back in the game, it becomes easier to stay on the sidelines.  The couch begins to feel nice and we can think of every reason why we shouldn’t be … more involved … leading a group … speaking up … or simply returning to church.

Near the end of my message, I stood up from the couch and closed with three characteristics of people who turn setbacks into comebacks:

1. They face their failures.
2. They learn from their mistakes.
3. They start moving forward.

If you’ve been sitting on the couch of life for too long, why not get up and get back in the game?

As I mentioned in my last post, getting better at a skill or task or relationship is often incremental rather than monumental.

Breakthroughs happen one step at a time; maybe one inch at a time.  It’s the small decisions made correctly over sustained periods of time that build the momentum we need to move forward.

Unfortunately, we are conditioned to look for the one key thing — the one secret or step — that will produce a major change.  We expect to get better immediately.  We expect to improve by quantum leaps.  We expect our relationships to magically correct themselves and lead to endless bliss.

While we wait for the monumental to appear, we miss the incremental changes that are well within our grasp.

Perhaps a failing marriage cannot be transformed overnight.  That’s looking for a monumental change to save the day (and you’re probably hoping to buy real estate with no money down).  However, if we think incrementally, we can begin with a simple gesture of gratitude that forms the first step towards repairing the breach.  We might start by taking out the trash without being asked.   It could be a short, hand-written note left in a purse or briefcase.  Incremental change recognizes the power of small gestures.

Do monumental breakthroughs happen?  They do.  I’ve seen people grow in ways and at rates no one ever imagined.  I’ve also seen good people grow frustrated because the big breakthrough never comes.

Rather than wait for your monumental change, why not pick one thing you can do today and do it?

Are you looking for one question that will keep you on the path to continuous growth?  While there are many questions you may choose to ask yourself, I’ve found one question that is helpful no matter what you do for a living … or what relationship you are trying to improve.

Ready?  Here it is …

“How can I get better at what I do?”

When we have a mindset of continual growth — as opposed to a self-imposed belief that we cannot improve — we will look for opportunities to improve in every situation we encounter, in every relationship we have. But the key is to be always on the lookout for ways to improve.

What you may find is that getting better is incremental rather than monumental.  But I’ll write more on that later.

People who have comeback capabilities are the ones who face their failures, learn from their mistakes, and begin moving forward.

You see this in sports.  No quarterback wins every game.  Every quarterback misses a read and throws an interception — and sometimes it may cost them the game.  But the next week will find the good quarterbacks watching film, making notes, and rehearsing how they would do it differently when they face the same situation again.

The same is true in healthy marriages (except there may not be as much film to watch).  Having a healthy marriage doesn’t mean the husband will never say anything stupid; sorry ladies, but it doesn’t even reduce the odds.  But in a good marriage both partners face up to their mistakes and move on.

Winston Churchill once said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

To turn a setback into a comeback, we must first admit it was really a setback.

In 1981, Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley had open-heart surgery.  Here’s what one of his pitchers, Steve McCatty, said about it:

“When Charlie Finley had his heart operation it took eight hours.  Seven just to find his heart.”

• How hard is it for folks to find your heart?
• More importantly, how hard is it for God to find your heart?