"Where's The Boy"?

This morning, our family delivered our Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes(http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/occ) to the collection tables at our church. Preparing shoeboxes, which has become an annual tradition for our family, began the first Christmas that Tonya and I were married. In the years before our first son was born, Tonya prepared a shoebox for a girl while I prepared one for a boy. But since our sons have been born, they have each prepared a shoebox for a boy their own age.

My favorite Operation Christmas Child story comes from a few Christmases back when, for the first time, we thought our older son understood what the shoeboxes were all about. We had taken him shopping for items for "the boy" he was preparing the box for. He had helped place the items he'd chosen in the shoebox (mostly things he would have wanted for himself) and then helped wrap the shoebox for "the boy". On the night we took the box to church to turn it in at the collection table, with boxes stacked high along the wall, our son asked, "Where's the boy?" Turns out that our son thought he was preparing a box that he would be personally delivering to "the boy" he had shopped for. He had brought his gift for "the boy". And in that moment, I began to experience Operation Christmas Child in an entirely new way.

Here's The Point: For years, when I had prepared a shoebox, I was preparing a gift for an unknown, never-to-be-seen child somewhere on the other side of the planet. But for our son, Operation Christmas Child was personal. He expected to meet "the boy" that he had prepared the box for. He had spent time and effort on the box because it was his gift for "the boy". It wasn't about the box, it was about "the boy".

That Christmas, because of my son, I was reminded how personal ministry truly is. That "the boy" who we send a shoebox to is a child who Jesus Christ gave His life for. That Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are not simply a thing we do each Christmas. They're about reaching "the boy" with the love of Jesus.

Fun on Friday

If you're looking for a great blog with lots of information on the Tennessee Vols Men's Basketball team, check out this blog http://www.tnfullcourtpress.wordpress.com/ by my friend, Mark Pancratz, who serves on the UT basketball staff as the Assistant to Head Coach, Bruce Pearl.

If you worked in the campaign of any candidate in the recent election, please make sure all your candidate's signs have been removed. What was once a campaign sign is now basically trash on the roadside.

Great Quote Thursday

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them- John F. Kennedy

On Veterans Day 2010, a very sincere "thank you" to military veterans, several of whom I am honored to work with daily.

Catalyst Conference- Daniel Pink

Daniel Pink is the best-selling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind. Here is some of what he shared at Catalyst:

In the workplace, people are really attuned to fairness.

Once you pay people enough, you take the issue of money off the table. Additional money does not significantly affect performance.

People connect in the workplace around three main areas:
Autonomy- People engage by choice. When people talk about their favorite boss, they mention freedoms.
Mastery- People desire to get better. For people to get better, there must be feedback.
Purpose- There are limits to the profit motive; it is insufficient.

The problem with annual performance evaluations is that they are annual.

The workplace is a feedback desert for the millennial generation when they are a feedback generation.

Catalyst Conference- Gabe Lyons

Gabe Lyons is the author of The Next Christians and the founder of Q. Here is some of what he shared at Catalyst:

We must understand the context into which we are called. The cultural landscape is post-modern (there is skepticism toward certainty); post-Christian (a decline of Judeo-Christian thought) and pluralistic (all faiths are welcomed in society).

There are three approaches for Christians to interact with culture:
Separatist- having nothing to do with modern culture
Cultural- attempt to blend in without regard to the Gospel
Restorer- to focus on creation/fall/redemption/restoration

Don't just critique but create.

Don't just state the Good News, embody the Good News.

Christian mentors must help young adults learn to "be" Christian- "as you go make disciples".

Fun on Friday

Last weekend, on a drive to West Tennessee, we drove through Bucksnort. Just saying the word Bucksnort makes me smile.

Realized this week that it's probably been about a month since I've stepped foot in a Walmart. Gotta be a personal record.

Congratulations to my friend Andy Holt, or should I say Representative-Elect Andy Holt, for winning the election for the Tennessee State House seat for District 76 this week.

Great Quote Thursday

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow- General George Patton