everything and nothing

You can want everything and have time for nothing. 
You can want nothing and have time for everything. 

I assume we're all somewhere in the middle. 

But I think we could all move toward wanting less and having time for more
and we might actually be able to get what we want. 

there is often more power in a hug

than most 

theologies
beliefs
ideas
visions
conferences
books
and sermons.

That should empower and convict us. 

results not rules.

Here's a thought interrupting Like Wise. 

If you have a partner of any kind (boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, lover, friend) you want them to do the things you want them to do without having to ask them for it. 

No one wants someone to bring them flowers after they say "I really wish you would bring me flowers." That's alright, but we really want the person to bring the flowers because they already know we want flowers. We didn't need to ask. 

The flowers are a result of something.

A result of love. 

Flowers are not a rule to get love. 

Jesus, I think, pointed to the same kind of ideas with the law. 

Behavior is an effect, a result, an indicator of something else. 

It is not a way to get that thing. 

It's not about adultery. It's about seeing humans as humans. If you see humans as humans you won't commit adultery. If you don't commit adultery, you won't necessarily see humans as humans but you'll think you're doing everything right.

It's not about murder. It's about seeing your enemies as the same as you. If you see your enemies as the same as you, you won't murder. If you don't murder, you won't necessarily see your enemies as the same as you.  

Religion is backward. It starts with a rule and thinks it will get somewhere. The only place it gets is judgment, arrogance, and false pride. 

Jesus wanted to change that. I think that's why he said the entire law (all the rules) hinge on love. If you know you are loved, if you love others, you'll see some results and won't need to worry about rules. 

10.

I was recently with someone who was nervous that they were too young and knew too much. At first, this could sound arrogant and conceited (I'm sure there was some immaturity there) but I don't think it was. 

It was a scarce worldview. There isn't that much blow-your-mind-information-especially-about-God out there and what if I know most of it already? What then?

We just discovered the Universe has 10 times more galaxies than we thought. We're now estimating 2 trillion galaxies. 

1 million seconds is about 11.5 days,
1 billion seconds is about 32 years
1 trillion seconds is equal to 32,000 years.

If you spent 1 million dollars every day since the day Jesus was born you still wouldn't have spent 1 trillion dollars. 

There are 2 trillion galaxies. If you could explore a galaxy every second it would take 64,000 years. We live in a Solar System that we've only just begun to explore. Barely. 

There is no room for scarcity in this universe, except for the realization that we can scarcely know anything at all. 

tests.

It seems like mosts artists don't like school. There are probably all kinds of reasons but artists are generally creative and school is generally tests and tests are not creative. 

Tests are memorization. They are predictable, certain, standardized, and judgmental by their very nature. They produce hierarchy and obedience.   

Creating is not and does not.  

If you want to be an artist, you don't have to take the tests anymore, but it's like we become addicted to them. 

a match.

First there is a strike. 
Then there is friction.
Then there is heat.
There is conversion. 
There is decomposition. 

It takes a lot to liberate oxygen and bring light to darkness. 

go to the grocery store.

For the 18th straight month, restaurant sales were more than grocery store sales in the U.S., despite the success of cooking shows of just about every kind. 

Probably about way more than food. We often like to watch others or live through them as they work. 

My favorite analogy of the Bible is that it's a menu... you aren't supposed to memorize the menu you are supposed to read it and order the food to taste for yourself. 

I now think the analogy should change a little. The Bible is a recipe. It tells you what ingredients to go into the world to look for, how to find them, and how to mix them together for something that will satisfy not only basic needs of hunger but of finer tastes of goodness and life. 

Of course this takes work, time, effort, mystery, risk, vulnerability, and humility... 

to sum it up.

Someone once summed up Buddhism this way. 

Everything changes.
Anything can happen anytime.
I’m not exempt.

Think about how much of the energy we spend to

Prevent change.
Make sure things don't happen.
To me. 

Who's winning? 

tri.

Malcom Gladwell was recently talking about triathletes and the line they have to walk. They can't specialize too much in one event at the risk of costing themselves in another event. They have to be "good enough" in multiple endeavors. 

There are cyclists and swimmers and there are runners and basketball players... in creativity and business too. 

If you're trying to be a decathlete don't become discouraged that you aren't the best runner in the world. If you want to be the best runner in the world, don't put time into learning to throw the javelin. 

Art. Writing. Leadership.

You can't have it all - at least know what race you want to compete in. 

prayer is not that.

I was sitting in a restaurant last week right next to a man and a woman. I was by myself (without my phone) so I had lots of time to observe. 

When I first sat down, I felt awkward. It was obvious, within seconds, that the two people were not speaking. At all. I was so close I felt like I should say something. Are you guys alright? I honestly wondered whether one them had just disclosed the fact they had an affair. That was the energy. Looking away from each other, staring off into space, waiting... It was unsettling. 

This lasted for 5, 10 minutes. I could barely take it. 

Then the food came. The man mumbled something and they both bowed their heads to pray. 

I don't pretend to know their story, or them, or what they were going through. Maybe they wanted some time for silence and space. I don't know. 

I do know the view I had served as a great illustration. 

Prayer is not something you say to the air as though God wasn't hanging out until you bowed your head and closed your eyes.

Prayer is happening when you are sitting at the table.
What are the words spoken to the God in the woman across the table/the man across the table? 
Prayer is happening when the food hits your tongue. 
What do you say to God as you taste, ingest, and satisfy your desire for food? 
Prayer is happening when you get up and leave. 
What remnant of your spirit/energy is left behind when you leave? 

politics.

The political waters are rough right now and the wake of the most recent Presidential Debate (is that what that was?) is in my face. 

Accusations are flying from every direction. 
Fear is in the air and the anger is thick. 
My feeds are full as people make their opinions known. 

With 4 weeks to go, I figured I would write a list of things that I value, to keep my own sanity and remind myself there are better ways to impact the world than a vote every 4 years. 

1. Compassion over security. 
2. Inclusion over tribal fear. 
3. Care over violence. 
4. Enabling the poor over enabling the wealthy. 
5. Trust over suspicion. 
6. Knives over guns. 
7. Equality over profit.
8. Redemption over justice. 
9. Freedom over certainty. 
10. Life over death. 

leal.

Have you ever heard of John Leal? He's basically why we have clean drinking water. He, almost single-handedly eradicated typhoid fever and waterborne sickness in the U.S. 

Even better, he started with a major risk: he didn't tell any authorities and, in almost complete secrecy, started experimenting with chlorine in water supplies. It easily could have ruined him. 

The risk of being ruined is how we often defeat the resistance to change. 

things are better.

In the summer of 1854, in Chicago, 60 people were dying every day because officials didn't understand the connection between waste and disease. 

Once again, the "good old days" don't exist. 

they just might not listen.

Reginald Fessenden invented early sonar. He tried to pitch it to England during WWI but they weren't interested. The Americans basically ignored him too. Thousands of lives were lost to German U-Boats that could have been "seen" if someone had listened to Fessenden and his invention. 

Change is really, really hard.

they might laugh.

You may have heard this one. The Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis was laughed at, made fun of, and generally derided as an idiot when he suggested that doctors should wash their hands between dealing with dissecting dead bodies and delivering babies. 

He died in an insane asylum.

Keep changing. Keep suggesting new ideas. Don't let the laughter drive you crazy.  

taco bell.

I was at an elementary talent show and they announced that someone was playing "Pachelbel's Canon". The 6th grade boys in front of me started going crazy with excitement. Really? 

Then I hear them whispering "Taco Bell!" We're getting "Taco Bell". 

They were really disappointed when the song started. 

What does this mean? I'm not exactly sure. 

But lots of people are disappointed and miss Pachelbel's Canon - because they were expecting Taco Bell.

I know that. 

narrow roads.

I was talking with a friend and he said "It's easy not to sin, the hard part is showing grace to people who do." 

Great line. 

Which got me thinking. 

The narrow road is often equated to Heaven. But it's not. 

What many have done is equated the narrow road to doing "good things".  Or better not doing the "bad things". We all make up lists up the actual "bad things" that matter. The rest really don't. 

When the road is narrow enough or when the "bad things" are small enough, like my friend said, it's easy to do the good things. 

And we see much of this in religion today. It's actually a wide road with some barriers on it to make it seem narrow - but it's still wide and leading to destruction - maybe the most - because people think there are the road of life, of freedom, of inspiration, and love. 

But the other narrow road, the true narrow road, is the one that lives in grace and love.
To everyone. 

I think one of the great things that "the Law" does is break down the barriers and reveal that we're actually on the wide road.

But, when it does, no need to panic. 

Grace still wins. Love is still the story. For you and for everyone else. So get on the true narrow road. And actually I think that narrow road is actually a perspective. When we live there, we're able to walk on the wide road with everyone else and maybe even change the direction of the road. 

And start living. Not many people are there. 

the radio.

The "Father of Radio" Lee De Forest once wrote this: 

What have you done with my child, the radio broadcast? You have debased this child, dressed him in rags of ragtime, tatters of jive and boogie-woogie.

Yes, change is, and always has been, really hard. 

we were wrong.

Some of my favorite articles begin with "we were wrong..." 

One of my more recent favorites was about the moon, and where it came from. 

We were wrong. 

It wasn't a surface collision from a Mars-sized body and Earth it was more like a massive collision that nearly vaporized Earth some akin to "a sledgehammer and a watermelon". 

Two things:

1. We are still wrong about all kinds of things. I am wrong and so are you.

Tread lightly. 

2. That big beautiful orb in the sky at night came from great destruction. 

Beauty finds a way. 

(Bonus recent wrong: Giraffes are actually four different species.) 

it's getting real.

The idea of humans going to live on Mars is getting real. 

I don't mean real as in "that would be cool" I mean real as in actual human beings are coming up with actual plans that actually work to get humans to Mars.

8 years from now. 8 years. 8 years ago Obama was running for President. 8 years from now there is a very real possibility that a group of humans will be on a rocket to live on Mars. 

That is one of the most amazing things I've heard lately. 

If you want to read more, you should. If you think it's all crazy, that's alright. Lots of people do. At least one man doesn't. Elon Musk started multiple companies with multiple ideas and all with the intention of getting to Mars. He's looking a little less crazy all the time. 

But this isn't just about Mars. 

What are you doing today?

Don't feel guilty about not doing enough. That's just an excuse to not be inspired to dream big and an excuse to not start doing some work.