Jon McCartie

"There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:19:39 -0600

“There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.”

- JFK

"God speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but through your circumstances."

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:50:24 -0600

“God speaks in the language you know best— not through your ears, but through your circumstances.”

- Oswald Chambers

"Are we experiencing the “much more” He promised? If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the..."

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:35:30 -0600

“Are we experiencing the “much more” He promised? If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and have cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries. How much time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him? Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process.”

- Oswald Chambers
http://utmost.org/look-again-and-consecrate/

"It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does..."

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:50:28 -0600

“It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary. His entire life will be a priestly ministration. As he performs his never so simple task he will hear the voice of the seraphim saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.””

- AW Tozer
The Pursuit of God

"Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually “Be thou..."

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:23:16 -0600

“Let the seeking man reach a place where life and lips join to say continually “Be thou exalted,” and a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.”

- AW Tozer

"God says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” and still He says it, as if He means to..."

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:21:22 -0600

“God says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” and still He says it, as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence.”

- AW Tozer
The Pursuit of God

"God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other..."

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 10:46:06 -0600

“God is so vastly wonderful, so utterly and completely delightful that He can, without anything other than Himself, meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature…”

- AW Tozer
“The Pursuit of God”

"What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the..."

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:09:41 -0600

“What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.”

- Isaiah 58:7, 8 MSG

"All of man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone."

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:23:26 -0600

“All of man’s miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.”

- Blaise Pascal

3 Words For 2012

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:50:00 -0600

When I first started at LifeChurch, I saw a blog post from my new boss, Terry Storch: “3 Words for 2010”. I was new to LifeChurch (and LifeChurch culture) and I remember thinking, “Can he really be that clairvoyant? Can he really see 12 months ahead and know for certain that these words will define his year?” However, I’ve learned from Terry (and others at LifeChurch) that goals have less to do with the extrasensory and more to do with just being intentional.

So I join the ranks of fellow Team Digerati like Brian Russell, Terry Storch, Alex Tran, and Adam Bouse (link forthcoming, right Adam?!) and post my three words for 2012.

…think of how you want to be successful in 2010. Then, try to think in even broader terms. Extrapolate on the broader terms, and find one word to hang the idea on. -Chris Brogan

People | Pursue | Patience

(apologies for the alliteration in the 3 words — it just happened, I swear)

People

I write code for a living — lots of it. In 2011, I built 11 web apps (I’d worked on about 3 or 4 in all my years previous). Coding is not intrinsically an anti-social vocation (see: pair programming), however, it is for me. Because of the structure of our team, I’m usually the only programmer on the project. In addition, I have a few things going against me here: 1) I’m easily distracted, and 2)

As a result, I’ve learned to sequester myself in order to be productive. Unfortunately, this can lead to me ignoring a whole side of me — the side that loves people.

ENFP, woo, communication, empathy — I love people. I love talking. I love talking to people. But 2011 was about writing code — all day, every day. While balance is not always possible in all things, I think I need a little bit of it here. I need to better organize my day and my work such that I can be more of an asset to my team in the things that come more natural to me.

I know how “people” applies to my work, but I know it will extend beyond this sphere and I’m excited to see where it takes me.

Pursue

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about “cultivating” a relationship with God. I still don’t fully grasp all that I wrote, nor do I fully grasp what this will mean for me this year. However, I know that my pursuit of God is — as Facebook puts it — “it’s complicated.”

I once heard John Maxwell say that in the Church, “we’re educated way beyond the level of our obedience.” I’m living proof of this. I’ve worked so hard at “learning God” that I’ve completely muddled up what true relationship is like. As a result, my time with God is more akin to a business meeting than time alone with the Creator.

I want to pursue God — not learn more doctrine. I like how AW Tozer put it:

We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

Patience

…or “slow down” as I’ve been referring to it recently. This one started to emerge all the way back in August of 2011. It kept showing up throughout the Fall and — despite my attempts to push it aside — it kept bubbling up. Ironically, I had to slow down to even understand what this meant.

I’m driven by change. I crave it. If something is not moving, I can spot it and get it moving again. This trait has served me well in several areas of my life, yet there is a nasty side effect — impatience. If I don’t feel like change is happening at the proper rate, I will try to “help it along.”

Everything in me resists the urge to slow down. Slowing down means stagnation. Slowing down means missing opportunities. But slowing down can also mean solid growth — not “flash-in-the-pan” bravado. Slowing down can also mean waiting for the “right time” — not just jumping at the best option available in my time.

I’m learning that some things just take more time than I’m willing to give them and this year I want to give them that time. I have the ability to make things happen just fine on my own … without God. My challenge is simply to resist this urge. To not step out in front of Him — to not feel like I must “help things along.”

This is terribly difficult for me — which usually means its worthwhile.

—-

Ok, now it is your turn…share your 3 goal words!

"Everything in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture. Ransomed men need no longer..."

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:02:56 -0600

“Everything in the New Testament accords with this Old Testament picture. Ransomed men need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.”

- AW Tozer
The Pursuit of God

"Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them..."

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:56:45 -0600

“Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.”

- AW Tozer
The Pursuit of God

"Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and “things” were allowed..."

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:10:15 -0600

“Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and “things” were allowed to enter. Within the human heart “things” have taken over. Men have now by nature no peace within their hearts, for God is crowned there no longer, but there in the moral dusk stubborn and aggressive usurpers fight among themselves for first place on the throne.”

- AW Tozer
The Pursuit of God

"We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be..."

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:24:02 -0600

“We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.”

- AW Tozer, “The Pursuit of God”

"It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God’s children starving..."

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:15:37 -0600

“It is a solemn thing, and no small scandal in the Kingdom, to see God’s children starving while actually seated at the Father’s table.”

- Tozer

"You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in..."

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:46:47 -0600

“

You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint.

We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

”

- Oswald Chambers
http://utmost.org/wrestling-before-god/

"I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you..."

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:54:43 -0600

“I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason.”

- Hugo Cabret

Cultivating a Relationship

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:07:38 -0600

Erin and I just celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. Depending on where you’re at, that might be a drop in the bucket for you, or an eternity. Regardless, we’ve spent a considerable amount of time together. We’ve seen each other cry, wrestle with tough decisions, mourn the loss of family, and laugh so hard it hurts. When we need to communicate with kids around, we can sometimes talk through mumbling and eyebrow movements. (get a toddler and you know what I mean here) My point is this: we work hard on this thing. Really hard. We didn’t wake up one day with a relationship — we built it. It’s messy and it’s not perfect, but no one knows me like Erin. And no one knows Erin better than I do.

My relationship with God is just that … a relationship. But if I’m honest, I don’t treat it like one. Good relationships start with good communication, so let’s take a look at my prayer life, shall we?

I think a good amount of my prayer time is spent asking for stuff. Sure, I make sure to precede my requests with all kinds of flattery (I want to butter Him up before I ask for that miracle, right?). But once the formal introductions are over, I feel like we can then get down to business: “Ok, God, now let’s talk about what really brings me here today.”

Really?! That’s what I’m building my relationship with God on? A strategic one-two punch of flattery and petition?

There is no depth or maturity there — just manipulation. I play my little game with God. Granted, it’s not always like this, but it’s definitely a prominent character in our story together.

What would happen if I really cultivated a relationship with God? If I got to the point where we finished each other’s sentences, and could communicate without words? I think that’s what “pray continuously” looks like. And I definitely think it’s what a relationship looks like.

God is not a puzzle to be figured out, a game to be manipulated, or another item on my todo list. I need to spend less time asking for a “fix” and more time immersing myself completely in God’s presence.

John 10:27

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

Psalm 46:10

“Be still and know that I am God…”

—-

What about you? Do you find yourself too busy to just stop and listen? What steps are you making to actively cultivate a relationship with God?

Bless You's

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 07:53:10 -0500

Me: Ah-choo!
Ava: Bless you, daddy! Why do you have the bless you's?
Me: Something tickled my nose.
Ava: Was it a caterpillar or a goat?
Me: Hah! I don't think a goat got into my nose.
Ava: Then it must've been a caterpillar.

My tent buddy (Taken with Instagram at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch)

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:36:26 -0500

My tent buddy (Taken with Instagram at Horseshoe Canyon Ranch)