40 in 40: #38

I grew up in the bowels of American Evangelical Christianity.

My parents are devout Christians, my grandparents were devout Christians, my great grandparents were devout Christians. My Aunts and Uncles, with a few exceptions, are devout Christians.

You get the picture.

I heard the message of Christianity all the time. It sounded something like this:

• Believe the right things
• Be good and do good things
• Get into heaven

At some point as an adult I realized something that seemed scandalous to me: the Christianity that I was taught growing up was not the message that Jesus himself taught.

For someone who called himself a Christian this was earth shattering. Wasn’t Jesus the guy who created Christianity?

Lesson #38

Jesus didn’t come to start a religion. Jesus came to free people from things that enslave them.

Jesus himself described why he had come by quoting a passage from the Psalms:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

If you study Jesus you will see this everywhere. In almost every story.

Jesus came to free people who were bound. He came to care for the oppressed and poor. He came to bring healing. He came to bring God’s favor to man.

This way of life provides unbelievable freedom. This way provides hope for everyone: rich, poor, successful, failures, addicts, downtrodden, people on top of the world and the destitute.

Jesus message is freedom and hope.

I’ve met lots of people who have trouble with Christianity. I’ve never met anyone who had trouble with Jesus message.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

40 in 40: #36

I learned some great lessons while training for the marathon that I ran a month ago. I’m planning on sharing more of those lessons later.

But one of those lessons was extremely helpful.

When you are train for running there are certain principles that are really important. Some of them are obvious: you have to run a lot, you have to gradually increase your distance over time, etc.

But here’s the one that surprised me: your best “gains” in performance are when you push yourself incredibly hard and then rest. In fact my performance got better when I ran fewer, harder miles, and then rested more. This surprised me.

I would often run really hard one day, get busy and miss a day or two of training, then run again and find that I was able to run faster and further than I thought I previously could.

There are rhythms in life and I need to learn to pay attention to them.

Lesson #36

Continuous hard effort doesn’t produce great results. Great results come from periods of intense effort followed by periods of rest.

One thing I’ve rested from in the last month is social media. I love Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and blogs. But for the last month I’ve largely “fasted” from those things. I’ve occasionally tweeted something or interacted but by in large I’ve abstained.

While taking a social media break I’ve been working really hard on some other projects at work. That level of focus has been great.

And now I’m really looking forward to reconnecting on Twitter with people.

What would you benefit from taking rest from? What should you be pushing really hard right now?

Keep moving forward,

Greg

p.s. check out a post I wrote today for Blue Ocean Ideas, “It’s not about the tools!”

40 in 40: #34

The big day is actually here.

My mom tells me that as of 3:30pm I’m officially 40. (I’ve missed a few posts here and there so I will be writing the last 6 over the next week or so).

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about 40.

I’ve thought about: what I have accomplished, what I haven’t accomplished, who I have become, who I would like to become, who I have developed relationships with.

For whatever reason it has been a big deal to me.

It FEELS like I’m halfway done life on this side of eternity.

There’s some fear associated with turning 40, some joy, some feelings of maturity, some feelings of immaturity.

One idea has stuck with me for months as I’ve thought about today:

Lesson #34

I want to stay thankful.

I have a tremendous amount to be thankful for:

• An incredible wife who loves me, and whom I love.
• Children that I LOVE being with and who enjoy being with me.
• A business partner that I like working with more than anyone I have EVER worked with.
• 4 parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles that make up a rich family that I’m surrounded by.
• Work that I am enthusiastic about. I wake up wanting to get to work in the morning.
• My Health: I’m more healthy than I have every been in my life: spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
• Clients and staff: I get to work with terrific people at Blue Ocean Ideas.
• Jesus Christ: I still find Jesus to be the most compelling and inspiring person that I have ever encountered. Regardless of your religious affiliation I have never met ANYONE that has studied Jesus and not been inspired. (I’ve met plenty of people that are not so inspired by his followers; that’s another topic.)
• Deep and lasting friendships: I just had lunch with a friend that I’ve known for 20+ years. I can share anything with him. He’s not the only one either. I’m thankful for some great friends.
• I live in a great place: I LOVE Baltimore.

And here’s the thing: my life is FAR from perfect. I’ve got issues. I’ve got struggles. I have pain.

But when I stay thankful the imperfections, issues, struggles, and pain make sense. They are part of the process of maturing. They are the things that allow me to be thankful.

Take all that away and I’m just a man who takes it all for granted.

What are you thankful for today?

Stay thankful my friends,

Greg

40 in 40: #33

I had a great experience on Sunday. I took a risk talking with someone that I had been meaning to talk to for a long time. Talking about a topic that was a bit scary to bring up.

I’m so glad that I did.

I moved toward the relationship and as I did the other person moved towards me. We ended up having a great conversation. I don’t know where our relationship will go next but I do know this:

If I hadn’t taken a risk I wouldn’t have the relationship.

Lesson #33

Risk is the currency of relationships.

As I think back over the past few years. My life has been filled with taking some degree of risks in relationships. Here are a few examples:

• This spring, at the last minute, I invited myself to a conference that a friend was going to. I’m so glad I did. We had a great time and have a richer relationship for it.
• This fall I asked an acquaintance that I had met only a couple of times to mentor me in a particular area of my life that I felt like I needed help. He said yes and we’ve met together a number of times since.
• I reached out to a couple of friends that I haven’t heard from in a long time. In my head they had “lost interest” in getting together with me but when I did they said yes and we had lunch a few weeks later. It was so great to catch up.
• I had a pretty significant life hiccup a month ago. I was stressing about it. It took some humility but I needed to talk to someone about it so I approached one of my close friends that I share office space with and talked to him about it. I was a bit embarrassed but he was gracious, encouraging, and gave me some great wisdom. What a difference a month makes.

In each of these relationships the easy thing to do would be nothing. But nothing get’s me the same thing I’ve been getting.

Are you taking risks in relationships?

Keep Moving Forward,

Greg