I have decided to re-order my highly right-brained world and work according to the system purported in Getting Things Done by David Allen. I don’t know what’s come over me; probably my wife’s prayers and a gracious God.

I’ve tried everything through the years, and almost get nauseous when I think of personal ordering plans that would appeal to executives and business suits (ick… just ick). I’ve always strayed from them as soon as I start, though I’ve tried and tried, and learned how to make projects happen, and yet my memory seems to progressively weaken as I stress and create a fray at the last minute.

As for the past week, I’m accomplishing daily tasks and projects, with a renewed peace of mind and personal order, that is astounding for me. Everything, absolutely everything, is written in a system I trust, can rely on, and that propels me in next actions at every turn.

I’m just fresh into it, but I highly recommend the model – you and I might actually become more reliable. It’s available in book and CD audio – I’d do audio first, then read the book.

Getting Things Done

More insights and downloads are at:
www.davidco.com

Here’s a link to some tips and tricks tools:
David Allen Downloadable Tools

Here’s a great summary of the system by another website, in case you want to feel it out:
Getting Things Done Summary

Out Of Ur is Leadership journal’s blog on emerging views within the Church.

This session, Brian McLaren is addressing the issue of homosexuality. Very interesting.

I’ve added Out Of Ur to my blogroll, as it seems to be a blog to watch.

We all have our struggles, right? For Nero, it was psychotic delusions. For Van Gogh, it was the artist’s sometimes toxic power of perception. For me, it’s sleepless agitation and raging battles with hidden fear.

What brings on this act of self-disclosure? Another night of sleeplessness is upon me. A combination of too many jobs, too much on my mind, too much hi-vision talk too late at night, and a low tolerance for a little caffeine that put me over the edge.

Instead of lying in bed until 4 am (the common pattern on such nights), agitated and moving in and out of a quiet panic over the most hopeful of situations, I’ve decided to blog and create a place for others to know their own struggles are shared.

God is kind to me, but He rarely evidences it in rescuing me from these nights. I’ve noted that sometimes they fold into a deep state of prayer, and often revelation. At other times, I fall in love with my little family all over again. Still others, I’m drawn to pray for a few people for which I have faith. Still others, I simply fend off talons of fear and cry out to my silent God all through the night.

I hate these nights, quite honestly, but I’m learning to just keep moving forward. Sometimes I fear, as Churchill put it, the black dog will get me (depression), and keep me down. But for now, I trust.

Actually, writing some of this down, in such a public space as this blog, has been helpful. I might almost be feeling tired, if I let myself.

I continue to be amazed how dense life can be with two teens and a 9 year old. The combination of cultivating family life, accomplishing work, serving others in community and maintaining creative vitality is a challenge at the best of times.

As we look toward the future of the Church, we must continue to form and reform paradigms of Kingdom living that embrace the venture of Monday breakfast with the kids as being on par with ventures that impact global poverty.

Life is meant to be well-lived, in both the near and far, in both the large and small. Therese de Liseux (the “little Theresa” that Mother Theresa named herself after) continually calls us back to the “little way” of following Jesus – small deeds, done with great love, will change the world.

I always loved this song, duet sung between two favorite voices of mine, Alison Krauss and Sting.

Sadly, it’s not a normal vid, but it does integrate pictures of the civil war, and the movie, the Patriot.

I’m becoming very fond of pure silence. It’s addictive, as in once you get some, you start to desire more.

In the fray of a noisemaker and popgun generation, silence holds the heart in warm waters, and teaches it to feel the ripples within.

We’re in the middle of a St. Croix Vineyard leadership retreat, reviewing the past, present and future, and last night it seemed that God came near to us in a unique and beautiful way.

Passion for our community, a sense of our desparate need for God to be near, and our need to personally place Him above all else, gave our prayers, songs and discussion a sweet fragrance.

As well, we spent our first night talking about what we have loved, happening in our community and in people, over the past year. After that, we addressed our weaknesses as a community, but with a driving question:

“What would you like to be able to say about our church one year from now?”

What a beautiful way to address our weaknesses. The question moved us away from whining and forward to vision – an infinitely more productive mode of progress for any community.

The centripetal spirituality post is rising in views and activity over at Ginkworld.

We’re having very interesting discussions on the role of signs and wonders in the emerging world and the emerging church.

I’m fascinated by how the emerging Church discussion bends so cerebral, when so much of the drive behind it is an intuitive and instinctive impulse that the Church must change, as a caterpillar in a chyrsalis.

An excerpt from a contributor:

So, I guess we can either be “center-seeking” and remain, or “out there-seeking” and disconnect. You bring up some good points in asking what is it that keeps us connected.”

Canadian election tomorrow.

What a privilege; to have some say in who governs you. What nations of the world enjoy that freedom regularly?

Corrupted as the systems are, how can one simply not vote in the face of so many nations that have no say and must take whoever muscles their way into power? It’s one way we can shape the future for our kids – no matter our stance.

“If we can serenely bear the trial of being displeasing to ourselves, then we will become for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter.”
Therese de Lisieux

“It’s only love that makes us what God wants us to be, and for that reason it’s the only possission I covet. But how to come by it? Our Lord has seen fit to show me the only way which leads to it, and that is the unconcern with which a child gtoes to sleep in its father’s arms.”
Therese de Lisieux, from her Letter To Sister Maria

“Our Lord doesn’t ask for great acheivements, only for self-surrender and for gratituude.”

“…Does God really ask no more of me than these unimportant little sacrifices I offer him, these desires to do something better? Is he really content with me as I am?”

“You’re almost at a place I can use you, because you almost believe that I love you.”
Peter Fitch, a word from God to him.

“Overachieving is an addiction for some of us. I suggest, with Therese de Lisieux and other spiritual friends, that the love of God could replace the underlying motives that push us to overachievement. I’ve been afraid to give myself to silence and reflection, because when I do, I slow down both mentally and physical. I fear that if I give myself to this quietness, I will underachieve, lazy in the love of God. I receive accolades from overachievement, work and opportunity. To disquiet my pattern is to quiet my forward motion.

Now percieving that I am addicted to my overachieving, growing in impure soils as it is, I seek a remedy that will not take away from impetus. Is it possible that the seed of love could displace the seed from which my present overachievement springs? Might I become more centered, more creative, more discerning in my ways? Knowing that I need not impress God, that I may no longer want to impress people, could I become not only a more liberated child of God, but also a great gift to my human family? It is my hope that such dreams could pass into my reality, and that is enough to move my heart to decision. I will allow the love of God to be my addiction, and let the fruit grow as it may.”

This goes out to my bass and drummer pals.

I stumbled across a good interview in Bass Player mag with Adam Clayton on the musical connection between the drummer and bass player.

Adam Clayton Bass Interview.

I was watching a piece from U2’s Vertigo Tour DVD the other day, and something came to mind.

The reason U2 remains so popular with the culture of today, and with Christians, is due to the fact that they are not primarily championing a faith family in their music, but rather a human family.

Their quest, as I’ve said before is the quest of the artist, is an underlying yearning to restore the wholeness of Eden once again - to revisit its landscape.

Artists push us to “remember how to walk on water” (Madeline L’ Engel), and artists with faith do so mingling their love for God with their longing for the human family to get along and heal itself (in part) by love.

Without making Jesus in our own image, if we begin to tease apart the stories and sayings of the gospels, we can thunderously sense that Jesus is getting at the same ideas related to Eden – a far cry from the goals that are often rampant in today’s brands of evangelical church life.

We are coming full circle, not to Eden as it was, but to Eden amplified.

Friends,

I’ll soon be able to launch a full-blooded, full-bodied podcast here, within the next few weeks, thanks to Apple’s new iLife.

Their iWeb is fantastic, integrates seamlessly with Garage Band, and sets everyman and everywoman to easily create podcasts and much more.

Only issue I can see is some slow upload (or poor compression) on the images you drag in.

Other than that, I’m astounded at how Apple – though it wants your money like every other computer company – continues to aim right for the felt need brooding in the heart of its logically loyal customers.

I’ll pay for that, and use it to amplify communication across the global landscape that is the web.

No, I don’t advertise for Apple. I’m just sold on something in a market that continually takes from us all. Steve Jobs does a Keynote at the MacWorld Expo that demos all of it, and its pretty incredible.

1593-1633. A tumultuous time. Catholics are still killing Protestants. The monarchy is sponsoring uniformity with Prayer book, and the fight between Puritanism and established Anglican Church. Puritanism can’t gather everyone together. It is a violent time.

George Herbert (dies at age 40) comes from a wealthy background, university orator at Cambridge in 1620, member of Parliament, married, and named rector, ordained to Anglican priesthood at Salisbury Cathedral. Lives only 40 years, 3 of which are as a pastor.

Much of his The Country Parson is idealism. He’s chosen to leave Parliament to be faithful in a small place that no one will see. Many of his people are illiterate; he writes the poems to bring the Gospel to the people he leads.

“…People by what they understand, are best led to what they understand not.” p. 58

“Scriptures hee findes four things; Precepts for life, Doctrines for knowledge, Examples for illustration, and Promises for comfort.” p. 58

“When You speak, all are scholars…”

“The country parson’s library is a holy Life.” If you make it through a temptation, you’ve got a sermon.

“Sermons are to inform or enflame.”

Further to the emerging worship trends activity, and the buzzing post below, EnhanceWorship.com was kind enough to send me a beta version to be a tester for their Mac OSX app (Tiger). Thanks guys. That’s better than a t-shirt. They also do a PC version.

So far, I’m really thrilled with what I see in EnhanceWorship’s package, and Vineyard Records UK is behind them, too. I see no one else is working so hard to create software that aids the Apple-based worship leader – especially those who want their initial database full of a mix of Vineyard, Soul Survivor and Passion songs. I do believe that’s where they’re headed, to include all of those contemporary song resources.

Way to go, guys.

Now, WorshipConnect.com is still there and in the running, doing a web-based worship leader tool, and I love what I see. Their look is great, and all the functionalities that SongBase (only catering to PC users at this point) and others have put in are promised to be there but I’m waiting to hear from them how soon they’ll release their finished product.

I’ll keep you posted, Apple friends.