3:00 AM Arrival

I don't think I am getting older. It was only six months ago that I took this trip to India, but it seems that it took a lot longer this time. Maybe the 3:00 am arrivals in India (after traveling for almost 24 hours), and the three-hour car ride to Kazipet over not-to-perfect roads adds years to one's life. At any rate, I am here!

Thank you to Freddy, Pastor Daniel's nephew and main worship leader, for coming in the middle of the night to gather me and my luggage and drive me to Kazipet, then to turn around and go back to college for a 9:00 am class.

I am spending Thursday resting and catching-up with Pastor Daniel (and eating some excellent 'home-cooked' Indian food), then I start ministry on Friday. I will be speaking to the Immanuel's School of the Bible - India students as they begin their second semester. I count it a privelege.

On Saturday and Sunday I will be preaching at the Second Saturday Crusade meetings back in Hyderabad (where my plane arrived). Busy, ministry-packed days and evenings...but I love it!

Off To India!

I'm sitting in the Emirates Airlines lounge at JFK in New York waiting to board my flight to Hyderabad, India. After an almost full day at the office I began my journey, first to BWI airport, then on to JFK.

So far it hasn't been uneventful. As my wife was taking me to BWI, an unusual noise started coming from her car and we lost most of the power. We quickly turned around and went back home to transfer my luggage into my car and then got back on the road to the airport. On the way I called a wrecker and alerted our automobile service center, Vipre automotive, that they would be receiving a delivery.

Well, we made it on time to catch my shuttle to New York, and here I sit. My heart and mind have begun to get around this mission trip to India. (It has been a busy three weeks leading up to this past weekend, so much of my focus has been on our ministry at Immanuel's.) I am trusting the Lord for many opportunities to share His grace and love, and for a great harvest for the Kingdom while in India. (See the previous post below to get an idea of what is in store for me.)

Please check this Blog regularly, as I will be posting as often as I can with updates of the trip.

A Divine Appointment With India

Next Tuesday, October 6th, I will be leaving for India on a mission trip. I will be connecting with Pastor Daniel Kalyanapu of Ecclesia Ministries, India, and Immanuel's School of the Bible in Kazipet, Andhra Pradesh (sponsored by Immanuel's Church, where I serve as Executive Pastor). This will be my sixth mission trip to India and the fifth time I am partnering with Pastor Daniel.

Our team, including Pastor Daniel's son and nephew, will be conducting evangelistic meetings where we will share the Word of God and pray for physical needs among the largely Hindu population. We will also expand the team to include doctors and conduct medical camps among some remote peoples and villages.

In planning and preparing for this trip (which was conceived last March), Pastor Daniel informed me that he had arranged for a three-day series of preaching and ministry meetings in Kadapah, a ten-hour journey by car from Kazipet. I believe that this crusade is a divine appointment.

Three weeks after Pastor Daniel finalized the plans for this crusade, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (comparable to a state governor in the USA, but with 80,000,000 constituents) was killed in a helicopter accident.

The Chief Minister, who had just completed the first year of his second five-year term, was a Christian and a friend of the people. He enacted and supported legislation and policies that benefited the populace, especially the poor. Upon hearing the news of his death, over 480 people died, either by heart attack or by committing suicide. He was truly beloved by the people.

The reason I believe that this is a divine appointment, is because Kadapah is the Chief Minister's hometown, and they are still in mourning. Pastor Daniel and I believe that opportunities for ministry there will be great!

I will post to the Blog at least once more before I leave for India, and will update it frequently. Please comment and let me hear from you!

Singular Multi-tasking

Here are some interesting facts from a Stanford University study published in the August 24, 2009 edition of the Precedings of the National Academy of Sciences:

• In the study, Stanford researchers tested two groups of people — regular multitaskers and non-multitaskers — in an attempt to identify cognitive differences in people capable of doing many things at once. It turns out that non-multitaskers scored higher in all three categories of the study: attention, memory and even work efficiency.

• Some scientists believe that multitasking can not only hurt productivity, but also damage the brain. The solution is simple: Focus on one thing at a time.

(Allow me to confess that I am multitasking as I write this Blog. Brain damage!)

Although you may be a multitasker, may I ask if you are the most effective, and most productive when multitasking? When you sit down to work, study or create, do you feel the most comfortable when you have a few things going on? Have you ever tried to do a singular task?

I offer that we were created by the Creator, so we can be creative. And to accomplish this, sometimes we need to turn off a few devices and close a few folders, and focus on one thing.  That's how God created: one focus per day.

Parallel Parking And Other Rites Of Passage

My daughter is about to get her driver's license. Remembering my driving test, hearing from others, and of course knowing first-hand my two son's experiences, parallel parking is many would-be drivers nemesis. And so we practice parallel parking.

A course is marked off, traffic cones are set-up, an hour of time blocked out. It must be done. It is inevitable. We have to learn how to parallel park. Frustrations set in, encouragement morphs into rebuke, and sometimes tears are shed.

Many equate getting one's driver's license as a rite of passage. And it is. But I want to offer that parallel parking is a rite of passage also, for it seems that outside of parallel parking, taking the driving test is easy. And so we practice parallel parking.

And isn't life the same way? We assign significant value to events not realizing that the real value comes from what we invest in to achieve or experience those events. Our first part-time job, graduation from high school, getting into the college of our choice, landing our first job after graduation. Even scuba diving or running a marathon. Each of these require work.

I offer that we do not lose sight of the value of preparation for the events we experience in our lives, but even suggest that we celebrate the journey as much as the destination. For the real value of our character being built and the skills we refine are more important than the reward we receive.

And so we practice parallel parking.

Too Old To Dream?

Too old to dream? Martin Luther King was 34 years old when he gave his famous I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Back in May, one of the most-viewed YouTube videos was Susan Boyle singing on Britain's Got Talent show. The unemployed 47 year-old woman dreams of being a professional singer.

In the 2008 Olympics, Hiroshi Hoketsu of Japan competed in an equestrian event. He was 67.

How old is too old to dream? John McCain was 72 years old when he was defeated in the 2008 presidential election

Jack Weil, the founder and CEO of Rockmount Ranch Wear in Denver, at an astonishing 104 years old, still goes into work every day.

In 2007, Nola Ochs, who began taking college classes more than 30 years ago, graduated with a degree in history from Fort Hays State University in Kansas.

You may be seventeen, twenty-seven or seventy, but you can still dream.

What is your dream?

Tetris On The Brain

Just as my second son was born, the video game Tetris hit the market for the old-school Nintendo game system. I can't remember if we received it as a gift or if my wife and I purchased it, but we owned it. I do remember my wife and I staying up very late many nights playing the game, justifying it by saying that our newborn son was going to wake us up anyway. I also justified it by saying that I was a Youth Pastor, and I needed to be culturally relevant to the students I was seeking to have an influence on (I was undefeated against my students for four years until I was beaten by a freshman girl!).

Yesterday my oldest son emailed me with a Wired.com news story stating scientific evidence that Tetris can alter the structure of the brain. I was intrigued and at the same time vindicated as I read the article. Intrigued because the information was enlightening to me, and vindicated because of all of those late-nights watching the relentless colored blocks fall made me smarter!

By the way, the study cited in the article was conducted on adolescent girls, but who cares!

When I was s senior in high school, my Youth Pastor shared with me the benefits of memorizing and meditating on the Word of God. One of the benefits he spoke of was the growth that takes place in ones mind, as stated in Psalm 119: 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. Imagine having more insight than all my teachers! That was motivation enough for me.

The result: I went from a 2.3 GPA my first semester of college to a 4.0 by my 5th semester and I never looked back. Why? Because I memorized and meditated on God's Word (Tetris hadn't come out yet).

My encouragement is this: Do things that stimulate your mind and make you better, smarter, and more creative, thus a better leader and influencer. Even if it means spending a few minutes each day playing a mind-altering game!

You Can't Miss This!

I saw a headline on MSN.com today that said, "Top Five Shows You Can't Miss", referring to this Fall's television lineup. Isn't it interesting that the words you can't miss carry such powerful meaning?

What will happen to me if I miss those shows? What if I catch only four? Will it be worse if I only watch two, or just one? Are the penalties compounded if I miss two weeks in a row? What if I have a good excuse for missing (funeral, being out of the country)?

I think you get the absurdity of my comments. But go back to those words: you can't miss. Think about them in other contexts.

If you are going to an important meeting on the west coast and your boss says, "You can't miss your flight or we lose the deal", then you better not miss your flight. If your daughter is getting married, and being stuck in traffic you call her on your cell phone and she says, "You can't miss my wedding," you had better find a way to get there.

If you are a soldier staring down the sight of your gun at your enemy, who is staring down the sight of his gun at you, you can't miss!

All of a sudden, I don't feel so pressed to watch the "Top Five Shows You Can't Miss." In fact, those TV shows seem pretty insignificant compared to my life and the things I am called to do, the relationships that I am called to invest in.

So the next time you are told you can't miss something, maybe it's worth missing for something greater.

Willet Band Coming To Immanuel's

This Sunday, August 23rd, brings the Willet Band to Immanuel's Church in Silver Spring, MD. They will be ministering in both our morning worship services, and also be doing a concert at 4:00 that afternoon. These guys are completely committed to the ministry of Food for the Hungry, an organization that feeds poor people around the world. Check out their video...

What Are You Aming At?

I heard someone once say that the best way to hit a bulls-eye is to shoot an arrow into a wall and then paint a target around it. Not very purposeful, but certainly accurate.

Many people go through their lives aimlessly, focusing on nothing in particular, and hitting it every time. They justify their actions by finding something purposeful in them, after the fact. Random actions, conversations and relationships, with certain random results.

Sure, sometimes they get lucky and do something with substance that matters. But most of the time their lives are about drifting wherever the current or wind takes them. When they look back over their lives, they are not able to see much substance, or anything of value that remains.

I was one of those random drifters, relying on my relationship with God and on the strength of my personality to get me by. But was there anything of substance that was left behind? Not much as far as I can see.

Now I seek to be a man of vision and purpose. Although I am not always on task, I am doing a lot better than I was several years ago. Now I want to have purpose in my life, to develop goals based on a God-given vision of my preferable future. I want to be involved in shaping my future, not having it shaped for me by circumstances. I want to be able to look back on my life, and realizing that I may not have hit the target every time, I still took careful aim for it.

So what are you aiming at?

Botox For Business

According to KGW.com, a Portland Oregon news station, "As the pressure to retain or land a new job increases, some job seekers are turning to a competitive-edge-in-a-needle, Botox."

Advocates report that looking younger boosts both first impressions and personal confidence in job interviews.

On June 5, Washington, DC-based aesthetics emporium Reveal offered a Botox Bailout — free Botox injections (a $300-500 value) for the first fifty people to show up with pink slip and resumé in hand. The party included headhunters who gave job-search tips and conducted interviews (ABCNews.go.com 6.5.09).

What does this mean? Beauty and grooming are making a slow shift from the indulgence category to competitive strategy. Crossing their t's and dotting their eye area with Botox assures Control Freaks they're putting their best face forward.

Most people would say that appearances don't matter, but when the chips are down, some consumers are placing their bets on pretty.

This weekend, our church is hosting an event featuring Employment Workshops, where job seekers can get resumé advice, interviewing tips, life coaching, and help with navigating job posting websites. Did we cover all the subjects or have we left out something that is staring us right in the face?

Advice if you need a job: Put on a clean outfit, update your resumé, cover your tats, and get a Botox injection!