Rick Nier...Woo!

I've told you recently that large amounts of drive time make me think. Then I gave you definitions and anti-definitions of insignificance. Having done that, we need to answer the nest question; why should you join me in my search for insignificance? If you look, you will find. This isn't like asking God for humility or patience, something every Christian knows you do not want to do. There is only one way to get those attributes and you do NOT want to go through that. I made the mistake once of asking for both of those things. Trust me, it wasn't pretty. But searching for insignificance is the same. If we're being honest, it's the same in both ways. You can be guaranteed that God will grant your wish and you'll most certainly not enjoy the process. On the other hand, isn't it nice to know that you can succeed at something? Success comes in failure.  I know, it's starting to sound like Jesus meets Confucius in here. Trust me when I tell you th...

I know, I know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But look at this cover. There's nothing to it. There's nothing glossy. There's no picture of the author, wooing us in, saying, 'Look at how smart I am. I can offer you wisdom.' I received this book as a gift from a friend. When I first read the title, The Little Red Book of Wisdom , I had some questions. Why is it red? Why is it little? Was there not a lot of wisdom to necessitate a larger book? And why did my friend give this book to me? Did I need some wisdom? Am I ... (gulp) ... dumb? Soon enough I left my insecurities behind and opened up this small book by Mark DeMoss, who runs a public relations firm. I submit that I have learned once again the truth about not judging a book by its cover. I was hooked by the first chapter. Mark is a Christian, but he does not use the Bible or his religion as a hammer to say why he's so smart or even that his smarts are better than someone else. It is simpl...

Last Friday we talked about what isn't included in a search for insignificance. But what is included? Just what is insignificance? Insignificance is understanding The dictionary definition of insignificance is lacking in importance or consequence. Sounds kind of dreary, doesn't it? I can almost hear you asking why we would be searching for this. In the interest of full disclosure, I heard you in the voice of my young son, who asks why he has chores and why he can't just play video games all day. Yeah, it's kind of a high, whiny voice, but I felt like I needed to be open with you. While I'm not going to attempt to redefine the word, I think we put too much emphasis on being important and having consequence. If we understand our real role in this life, then we will understand that we do not need importance or consequence to fulfill it. Insignificance is accepting What are we accepting? We're accepting our secondary role. And when I say 'secondary',...

On Tuesday , I started talking about the purpose of insignificance and this blog and how I can both achieve and fail at my goal of finding insignificance by building a bigger platform for this blog. And I was just about to sell you on joining me in this journey when I decided you'd read enough of my words for one day. So here we are now, and you're ready for some more words. Words of what? I'm not sure yet. I'll write some words, you read them. Then you can decide and tell me what kind of words they are. Then, if necessary, I'll cry myself to sleep. If I told you I was on a journey for some big treasure, you might wonder what kind of treasure. You might ask me questions about how long the journey would be, what we need to take along, or if I'd been watching too many Pirates  movies. These would all be great questions. But I'm going to start by telling you what insignificance isn't. Insignificance is not obscurity. This might be a huge load off o...

Ruin Your Life?  Sounds like a book I'd like to read. There's enough how-to books on succeeding. We need to know how to go the opposite way. I didn't even know what the book was about when I agreed to review this one by Chris Folmsbee and Nate Severson. The title alone grabbed me.  Imagine my surprise when I realized I would be joining the authors in writing this book. That's because it's a journal. Not just any journal. As they explain in the intro, this book is about discovering your thoughts and feelings through creative expression.  Each day has a creative exercise, then invites you to explore what you learned from that. We're also given a prayer, some scripture to read from the Bible and an inspirational quote. The original authors are not scared of what happens to the actual book along the way, as they believe that beauty can often come from messiness.  Sounds like a great idea to embrace.  My good friends at Youth Worker Journal have hooked me up wit...

Recently I had multiple meetings that required long distance driving with nobody else in the vehicle. This left me plenty of time for thinking. Thinking and listening to audio books. My thanks go out to Ted Dekker, Michelle Anthony and Jon Acuff for helping the drive time to go by more quickly. However, as quickly as the time goes by, I do happen to find myself drifting into thought from time to time. For as entertaining as Quitter  by Jon Acuff was, it was a book that generated ideas. Perhaps I'll review the book at another time, but for now, know that it caused me to think. This is both a good thing and a dangerous thing. See, Acuff was talking about how to pursue your dreams and, if needed, build a platform. This got me thinking about this silly blog I have and what I want to accomplish with it. And......as much as I'd like to hide it, I wouldn't mind having a larger platform. Yes, I'm aware of the irony. I post blogs about how searching for insignificance is...

I was just given a high honor. They chose me as an accomplished professional in my field. Yeah! Me!?! At this point, some of you are rejoicing with me because you realize I'm finally getting the credit I deserve. Others are shaking your heads, wondering who even knows I'm here, while also wondering just how big my head can get. The rest of you already know this was a sales pitch. Sigh. The things is, I'm ok with not being recognized. Because it's not about me. Even my own stated purpose on this blog is that I am searching for insignificance. But I must admit that I often find insignificance about as well as I see what needs to be cleaned around the house. According to my wife, I'm not very good at that. The funny thing is I didn't think I was feeling down on myself the day I got a call from this company, telling me I'd been chosen for their version of Who's Who. So after playing phone tag with them for a bit, they caught me. I wish they hadn...

Radical. Do you remember when that used to be the word to use? I was so chest deep in this word that I can remember slowing it down and emphasizing each syllable. Rad-i-cal. Cool wasn't cool enough and tubular was for wanna-be surfers. So if you wanted to express an idea as being worthy, radical was your word. Now I don't know enough about David Platt to know if he feels the same way about radical, but he has used this idea in a series of books now. This one, A Radical Idea , is available as a 10-pack, for you and your 9 best friends. The subtitle explains more of Platt's focus; Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God . At just over 50 pages, Platt doesn't waste anytime getting to the point. Writing from a pastor's perspective he wants to know one thing. "How can we in the church best unleash the people of God in the Spirit of God with the Word of God for the glory of God in the world?" That's a great question. Platt weaves in per...

This is part 2 of a purity talk I gave to local teenagers. I posted part 1 here. It is something I am sharing here because I believe purity is not just an issue for teens and that this is something that affects every area of our lives.  There will be times when temptation knocks on our door. It used to be that people would have to go looking for things like porn. (I don’t say that in the same way your grandparents talk about the ‘good ol’ days’.) The world has changed, something made evident to me when my 10-year old daughter asked my wife, a fellow child of the 80's, what her favorite website was when she was a child. Sorry, little girl, we played outside. In today’s culture, temptation often comes in your email and is just a mouse click away on a sidebar advertisement. What do we do then? Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.~2 Timothy 2:22 Do you recall the movie  A K...

I'll admit it. I probably think different than other people. I'm really ok with that. For instance, yesterday I was part of leading a membership class at our church. I was looking forward to it. That's not a typo. It wasn't because there was a free lunch involved, although it was delicious. It wasn't because there was the potential for new members, which means growth for the church, although that is good on several levels. It was because one of the sessions I got to teach was on the way of salvation. The focus, for our church and the class, was on God's grace being the crucial ingredient through every step of the journey. We teach prevenient grace, saving grace, sanctifying grace and glorifying grace. Yeah, that's a lot of grace. So I started it all with one of my personal faves; For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works so, that no one can boast. ~Ephesians 2:8-9 ...

So I picked up a copy of Charles Kelly's book Finnegan's Way: The Secret Power of Doing Things Badly . People over 50 might think I stopped by a bookstore and actually picked up a physical copy. Hardly. I used my sources to find a free ebook version of this book being offered over at Amazon. To them I say thank you. To Charles Kelly, I say well done. This book read quickly and in the style of the many smaller philosophy books I read through college. Perhaps you know the kind. A guy down on his luck meets a suave know-it-all who exudes humility and dispenses wisdom. In this case, the ne'er-do-well is a guy down on his luck and doing poorly with his paper supply business. The guru is a coffee shop dwelling guy named Finnegan, who we never learn much about. But over the course of several conversation we learn new methods for running businesses, losing weight and finding soul mates. The solution being offered is to do things badly, although that is probably a misnomer. T...

Note: The following article is part of what I presented at a Pure Life Event for teens recently. However, the truth is that purity is not just for teens and it’s an issue that everyone deals with in every area of life. Part 2 will be posted next Tuesday. Genesis 19:16. This one verse tells us that ‘Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.’ This is in direct opposition to what the angel told her to do, which was to not look back. It would be easy for us to assume that this was a simple Yoda decision. ‘Do or do not. There is no try.’ We could assume that this was as simple as Lot and his wife being told not to look back as they ran from Sodom and Gomorrah. But this story starts long before that. Back in Genesis 13 Abraham and Lot are living in a land between the cities of Bethel and Ai. But because they are both rich and have so many flocks and herds, the land is not big enough. It’s causing fights between their servants, so Abraham tells Lot to look around. There is ...

I am at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Today is the fourth and final day, so I am pretty exhausted. But the major theme this year had been Breathe. Breathe. And while they build us up and encourage us here, they also remind us that our churches have been fine at home without us for a weekend. Tthat can be a humbling feeling. But that is what God tells us over and over again. He is God. I am not. Be still and know that I am God. ~Psalm 46:10

I think I like the prophets of the Old Testament because they are wild. Pastor's-kid-wild. People often assume there's only two kinds of pastor's kid. There's the kind where they have the Bible memorized by the age of 10 and only know what sin is based on watching the friends they are witnessing to. Then there's the Katy Perry kind. But I like to think there's a third kind. They're wild, but in a good way. They have a view on life that is authentic enough not be jaded by anything they saw growing up. They end up seeing whatever they do as a ministry, but they approach it in a way that is unique and effective. Kind of like the prophets. See, the prophets didn't just point out sin. They would drop what they were doing, lie on their side, marry a prostitute or weep through a warning just to get their point across. They also delivered almost everything in poetical form and you have to admire anyone who spends enough time doing what they do to think up so...

On Tuesday, I challenged us to use part of yesterday to do something for someone else. It didn't have to be earth-shattering. Just something. What made yesterday special? It was February 29 and it only comes along with Leap Year. It would have been super-easy for me to just use up every spare minute yesterday. I've got a weekend trip coming my way and plenty on my to-do list to complete before I go. But I wanted to lead by example, even if it was small. After all, insignificance is the stated purpose around this blog, so I didn't want a huge story to overwhelm anyone or puff myself up. My story will be in the comments. Hopefully it won't be alone.