darkness.

Lent seems to one of the most misunderstood events out there. We're on day 3 of these very confusing 40 days but maybe I can just say it this way. 

The goal of Lent is not to create more suffering. Giving up chocolate is fine but the world has plenty of suffering, no one is asking us to create more for ourselves. 

The goal of Lent is to become aware of the suffering already in the world. Once that occurs all kinds of things can start to happen including a) being better at sitting in negative emotion, instead of building lives to avoid and suffocate it b) being better at bringing something better to suffering where we can and c) finding the gift in the desert. There always is something to be learned in the desert, as the Hero's Journey tells us, but first, we have to be okay being in the desert.

So, we spend 40 days being okay being in the desert. So, we can bring back more gifts to this world. 

cash flow negative.

We were recently on a conference call with a big company that has been around for years and that, seems, incredibly successful. On the call, they said they have not had a year yet where they have been cash flow positive. They are hoping to get there in 2017. 

I was blown away. They've lost money every year of their existence. I would have never guessed.

I was recently with a man who has been a stalwart of religion and morality and he told me two big "mistakes" he's made in the past month. 

I was blown away. 

But, then again, I wasn't. Everything in our society is trying so hard to come off "successful" - whatever that means. 

Can we just make authenticity a success? 

obedience.

I'm sure there is an exception somewhere, but, generally, nothing innovative, creative, award-winning, or exceptional has ever happened because someone followed the rules, the norms, the standards. 

Of course, we'd all agree, rules have value. They bring order. Some semblance of order is necessary for  innovation, creativity, awards, and the exceptional. Rules matter. 

But, the important thing is the expectations with the rules. Following the rules and expecting to find some kind of vibrancy with life ... spiritually, artistically, sociologically, scientifically... is pretty difficult. 

 If you're following the rules, at least know why. Don't confuse rules with great change. Rules are order and order is important, except when it's not. 

getting better.

I've been sick for about a week. I'm terrible about being sick. I try really hard, and I'm getting better with my attitude, but I still hate it. 

Yet, at the end, there is the "feeling better". Last night I could barely sleep I was so excited to feel "right" while falling asleep. I appreciated it so much. I was so grateful. Not to be too graphic, but I cleared out my nose today and it felt amazing! My ear popped naturally and it was one of the greatest feelings in the world. 

Being sick sucks. But, getting better is amazing. 

We're going to get better everyone. We're going to get better. 

to oppose.

Mark Rylance said it at the Oscars.... "opposing without hate"... and I can't stop thinking about it. 

One is constructive, one is destructive.

One is necesssary, one needs to go away.  

Just because we oppose, does not mean we hate and just because we hate, does not mean we oppose. 

Oppose hate, not with hate. 

Oppose injustice, not with injustice.  

Oppose inequality, not with inequality.  

Oppose evil, not with evil. 

Oppose with love, with grace, with empathy, with compassion and don't stop opposing that way. 

enemies.

Life is so much easier with them. We don't have to be for anything, only against. We don't have to worry about earning trust, we instantly have it by choosing a side. We have instant purpose and meaning: to bring down someone or something. 

Enemies are addicting. When we don't have natural enemies we will create unnatural enemies, just to make our lives easier.

Of course easier is rarely better. But, it is easier. 

But Jesus was always after the better - not the easier. So, he said don't have enemies. Get rid of them.

Now we get to be for something. Now we get to earn trust. Now we get to find purpose and meaning in building up someone or something.

More difficult, maybe. But, always better.  

politics vs empire.

Empire demands allegiance. 
Politics don't. 

Empire's sole motivation is more power. 
Politics don't have to be. 

Empire does not tolerate those who resist. 
Politics, sometimes, is resistance. 

Jesus spoke against empire. 
By speaking against empire, Jesus was political. 

Christianity is by it's very nature antithetical to empire. 
That too is very political. 

Sometimes, politics and empire cross paths. 
An unawareness of that is the true danger. 

the worst part.

The worst part of apathy is that it rarely stays that way and when it finally decides to fade, and when we begin to care, it's usually not for good reasons. 

Apathy creates reactionary living, and the reaction is usually to something negative, a perceived threat even. 

So, in order to get people to care, there will be more negativity, and perceived threats even. 

Start caring before you have to. 

Try to be passionate about keeping things the way you like them, or even making them better, instead of just preventing all hell from breaking lose. 

get better.

It's a rule as basic and as old as life but that doesn't make it less true: to get better at something you've got to do more of it. 

To get better at yoga, you've got to do more yoga. 
To get better at cooking, you've got to do more cooking.
To get better at writing, you've got to do more writing.

To get better at taking a risk, you've got to take more risks.
To get better at failing, you've got to fail more. 
To get better at listening, you've got listen more. 
To bet better at generosity, you've got be more generous. 
To get better at life, you've got to live more.  

We will do almost anything to try to break these rules, but I'm not sure we can. 

this is the problem.

You can choose whatever side you wish. But this is the problem. Read this article and watch the video from Fox News contained within it.

The article is obviously biased, and the video is obviously biased. 

You will see two completely different narratives, two completely different uses of statistics, two completely different world views, two completely different uses of anecdotal information, two completely different sets of people to blame, two completely different victim mentalities, and two completely different ideas of what makes a country and/or person "great" or "good" or "safe". 

Again, no matter which "side" you take I encourage you to read this article and then watch the entire Fox News segment imbedded in it. 

It is the reason that people who disagree can barely have sane discussions anymore. 

(Feel free to start googling things like "Swedish no go zones" to try and find the truth somewhere down there at the bottom of infinite web sites.)

what if it's you.

Instead of asking God to make the decision. 
What if it's you? 

Instead of waiting for someone else to help. 
What if it's you?

Instead of wondering how they can be so wrong.
What if it's you?

Instead of critiquing their art. 
What if it's you? 

Instead of wishing you were someone else. 
What if it's you?

getting there.

If you've ever been on a vacation, you know the feeling of finally getting on the plane. It's a similar feeling to the first chair ride skiing. 

It's a pain to get there but once you are there, you can begin to relax and enjoy it. 

Here's the good news. If it's a pain right now, chances are you're getting there. Keep at it and enjoy the vacation, the skiing, or whatever else is on the horizon. 

written in 1845.

I'll just let this speak for itself. From Frederick Douglass. 

Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in America.

They strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Could any thing be more true of our churches? They would be shocked at the proposition of fellowshipping a sheep-stealer ; and at the same time they hug to their communion a man-stealer, and brand me with being an infidel, if I find fault with them for it. They attend with Pharisaical strictness to the outward forms of religion, and at the same time neglect the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. They are always ready to sacrifice, but seldom to show mercy. They are they who are represented as professing to love God whom they have not seen, whilst they hate their brother whom they have seen. They love the heathen on the other side of the globe. They can pray for him, pay money to have the Bible put into his hand, and missionaries to instruct him; while they despise and totally neglect the heathen at their own doors.

talking tigers.

I was sitting at a red light getting a podcast ready when the guy hit me and slammed my car almost into the car in front of me. Fortunately, I was pretty relaxed and didn't see it coming so it didn't hurt too bad. 

Not cool. But, strangely enough, my first thoughts were that at least it was going to be on his insurance (if you rear-end someone it's pretty much always your fault) and I would probably be able to drive away since he didn't hit me too hard. 

I tried to smile and be nice but he came at me blurting out all kinds of things. 

He told me that this Uncle was hit by another car just yesterday and that a tiger had jumped out on the highway three days ago and his best friend had swerved into another car and wrecked his car and ended up hitting the tiger anyway. He then started going on about how everyone had lied to his uncle and his best friend and that those wrecks were not their fault but they acted like they were. 

"What are you talking about?" I asked, pretty simply. 

"Not my fault, man. There are tigers out there." 

"Tigers?" 

"Yes! Didn't you hear me? They were on the highway last week." 

We then launched into an argument about tigers. I told him that there were not tigers anywhere - we then talked about Cat Tales - and we then talked about cages and zoos arguing that they don't actually let tigers out and, before I knew it, we were yelling at each other about the threat of tigers breaking into our homes and killing us. 

Yeah, you get it. None of this is real. 

Except it is. 

power and trust.

After listening to an amazing podcast from Richard Rohr, in which he basically says that once Christianity is in power, it's not Christianity, I started thinking quite a bit about power. 

Do I want more power?
How do I know if I do or don't? 
What about trust? 
How is trust different than power? 
Do I want more trust? 

I'm not done reflecting, but I do have some thoughts: 

Power takes. 
Trust receives. 
Power takes via fear. 
Trust receives via love. 

Once someone trusts another, there is an inherent power. 
Once someone has power, there is not an inherent trust. It still must be earned through love.  

If your god takes power through fear, well... there might be a reason you don't trust that god. 

If your god earns trust through love, well... that's about as powerful as something can get. 

And we act like our gods. 

bad guys. bad things.

I recently received an email that said:

I’m just not as clear as you are on who the good guys are and who the bad guys are in our current envorionment. I think you think you know but I’m not sure you're always right.

As with most well constructed critiques, after you get over the initial emotional sting, you self-reflect. 

Good guys? 
Bad guys? 
Do I think I know?

Which leads me to this: 

I hope I'm not always right about anything.
If I am, or even think I am, that's a real deterrent to ever changing my mind. 
Then I'm stuck. 

I try not to label humans as good or bad. 
If I do, that means humans are going to have a tougher time changing my view of them. 
Then our relationship is stuck. 

If humans have a tough time changing my view of them, I'm probably going to label some "good" things as "bad" and some "bad" things as "good" to keep my narrative consistent that good people do good things and bad people do bad things. 
Then I'm all kinds of things including naive/ignorant/blind/hypocritical.

None of this, of course, means I don't have opinions on things like hate, violence, fear, consumerism, terrorism, security, compassion, love, grace, peace, immigration bans, and concepts like "good" and "bad".

I think these are important distinctions. 

There are not bad guys. There are not good guys. 

Your neighbor might terrorize you and the Muslim Syrian refugee might teach you about God. 
The Muslim Syrian refugee might terrorize you and your neighbor might teach you about God. 

Assuming we're all wrong on some things, maybe we can start talking about what terror is, what God is, and then learning how to see the possibilities for everything are in everyone, including you and me.

know no.

There is a proposed building project in our city that would convert a 1 mile section of Monroe street from a 4 lane road to a 2 lane road with sidewalks, bus stops, etc... 

The proposition has stirred up all kinds of support and opposition. No Monroe signs are all along the street which has prompted another group to start up Know Monroe to try and get more accurate information out about what the project could do/would do for business, etc... 

I just learned from someone involved with Know Monroe that they have been getting threatening phone calls from No Monroe people and had to ramp up their security on a business as a result.  

Businesses are angry. People are picketing. Facebook posts are piling up. Mean letters are being written. Each is calling the other ignorant, uniformed and stupid - sometimes justified, sometimes not. 

The Sheriff just weighed in with his opinion. The Sheriff? (Well, he drives the road every day too.) 

And this is over a 1 mile section of street, used by about 15,000 cars a day in Spokane, WA.

This is almost nothing - and is nothing in the grand scheme of things. And we're threatening each other over it?  

Is anyone surprised at what is happening everywhere else in the country? 

This problem is deeper than Trump, Clinton, Monroe Street or, even, immigrants. 

Until we start admitting that, I'm not sure we're going to get anywhere. 

addicted to negative.

The negative is fun. To say that you don't agree is a rush. To criticize, produces adrenaline. 

But, be careful.

There are some that are so addicted to the negative that even when they win, they can't help but win poorly. When they have power, they can't help but complain that some people don't like that they have power. When they have the chance to change the world for good, they don't. They continue to consume instead of produce, they continue to critique instead of create, they continue to complain instead of inspire. 

You don't want to be that person, when your chance comes. Start practicing now. 

nothing and no.

If you can't do nothing well, chances are you won't be able to do something well. 

If you can't say no well, chances are you won't be able to say yes well.  

the cost of change.

If you're someone who likes or wants change, you should be more excited than anyone else right now. 

Change never happens without most of the things we are currently seeing everywhere across our nation. As to whether or not the change is going to be one you agree with or not, I can't say, but change never comes without a price and that payment is being offered up all over the place. 

Don't bemoan the cost - it's necessary. Anticipate and help guide where it goes.