Naked

About four to five years ago I began a journey that did not have much clarity or direction. All I knew was that something was off in my life and I needed to get to the bottom of what that was. Even though I was a minister, I felt as though something in the church was off and we were missing the heart of the matter. During that time I started a blog to work out many of my thoughts called “Naked.” It was my thoughts uncut, unreserved – naked.

That journey took me through some seriously high highs and some seriously low lows. I began to question everything I had ever been taught in church, school, home, etc… as it pertained to my relationship to God. I wanted to purge my mind of my old way of thinking and allow Him to give me new lenses through which to view the world. The worst part of it all was the fact that those closest too me could not understand what I was going through. Some of them criticized me and still many more turned their back on me all together.

For the first year or two of my journey I struggled with understanding what my issue with today’s church was. I was finally able to articulate this thought, “We (the church) preach and teach a love that we do not live.” Once I was able to articulate that issue, I then set out to learn how to live out the love I had been singing and teaching about. That journey landed me on this one central thought… Live Love.

I say all that to say this… Over the weekend I was able to figure out how to merge my old blog that I started in 2005 with my new blog that I started in 2008. The blog entries from 2005 and 2006 are indicative of where I was at the time. Perhaps the best blog to provide a snapshot of what I was thinking is the last one I wrote called Questions Volume 1.

After writing Questions Volume 1 I did not feel as though I should go public with thoughts that I was trying to “work out.” I felt like I should wait until I arrived at some type of a conclusion before I started sharing again. As a result there is about a two year time span that I did not post blogs.

Now every day I wake up with a passion to live love. My journey looks much different today than it did those years ago. Now I have clarity and direction. My purpose and passion are clear. So, now my journey/ blog is about "learning to live love.

If you would like to take a look at some of the thoughts that I was wrestling with feel free to look through some of my old posts from 2005 and 2006.

Moving Out

I turned thirty on Tuesday of this week. This year was perhaps the best birthday I have ever had. It was the best for so many reasons. My friends and family threw me an amazing birthday party. I was given some great gifts. I was surrounded by people I love all day. Perhaps the biggest factor that made this year better than years gone by is because the day began with me having a chance to live out my purpose.

The twenties are difficult. At least they were for me. I spent the majority of my twenties trying to figure out what direction I was going in life. The best part about leaving my twenties is the fact that I have finally found my purpose. I was created to live love.

Ever since I connected at Safehouse Outreach more than two years ago, that purpose has become clearer and clearer. This year on my birthday I had the privilege of putting my love into action by helping a man move his things out from under a bridge.

My friend lived there for more than a year while he tried to put things back together. I was able to get him into a program where he can live for free for the next 90 days as he saves money to move into his own place. The special thing is I was able to capture about eight minutes of this experience on tape. This is the first thing I have ever filmed while working at SHO.

After having helped my friend that morning the whole rest of the day my spirits were high. I love living love. It is my purpose. Thank you for joining me on my journey as I continue to learn what it means to live love more and more. I hope that through me sharing my journey that you will be inspired to live love as well.

Thanks to all who made me 30^th birthday amazing!

Need Magazine Post - A Dream Loved Back To Life

Yesterday I had the pleasure of having a blog posted on the Need Magazine Blog. Check it out here.

Georgeology?

Earlier today I posted a tweet that read, “GOD - I would rather know Him than about Him. That's why I traded my theology for theognosis.

I got some interesting feedback on that comment so I decided to post my entire thought process behind it. This was a blog I wrote two years ago.

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In my opinion Star Wars is the greatest movie ever. I am the quintessential “hardcore” Star Wars fan. My wife and I have two cats. Their names are Obi Won Kenobi and Mace Windu. For you no- Star Wars weirdoes those are two Jedi in the movies. If you don’t know what Jedi are then you need some serious counseling.

For my birthday some time ago my wife bought me a real light saber. No, not a cheap flashlight wannabe light saber you buy at Wal-Mart. It had a die cast metal hilt and an actual halogen beam. The hilt was motion sensitive so when you moved it around it would make the wooooo woooo sound. It was freaking awesome.

Darth Vader sits on the edge of my desk right now. Across the room is a great gift my best friend bought me, Darth Tater. It is a Mr. Potato Head that looks like Darth Vader. I have about twenty five Star Wars Posters. My little girl was Darth Vader for Halloween last year. I have seen all of the movies about on hundred times each. I even have and wear Star Wars underwear.

Like I said, I am a hardcore Star Wars fan.

I personally think that George Lucas is a brilliant man. I loved every single Star Wars he made (Yes…even the new ones). To be honest I think George Lucas could make a movie of Luke Skywalker mowing the grass and I would probably think it was incredible.

When you become such a fan of someone you begin to try and learn as much about that person as you can. Because I looked up to and respected George Lucas I began to study his life and learn as much about him as I could. I watched documentaries about his life. I bought books and began to read about him. I even got a photo of him and put him in my office for creative inspiration. I began to learn anything and everything I could about this man.

You know what sucks? Even though I have read all his books, seen all his movies, studied his life, and bought all his merchandise, I have never had a chance to actually meet George Lucas. I only know the little pieces of him that he has put in his biographies.

Never have George and I sat down over coffee and discussed his likes and dislike. I have no idea what his favorite color is. I don’t know what season of the year he enjoys the most. I don’t know if watches sunrises and thinks or goes to bed early. I don’t know if he bags his groceries in paper or plastic. I don’t know if he loves people or they get on his nerves. I don’t know what he wears to the beach. I don’t even know if he likes going to beach. I don’t know if likes to read or watch movies. I have no idea who George Lucas really is. I have a general Georgeology, but no Georgegnosis.

If given the chance to meet George Lucas and take him to coffee and actually “get to know him,” all of the stuff I read about him in my books and all the stuff I learned about him in documentaries would fade in comparison to having a chance to meet the real man.

Now having said that let me see if I can clarify my point. Let’s just say for some crazy reason George Lucas decided he wanted to have a relationship with me. He wanted to be my friend and every Sunday we were going to go to coffee and hang out.

The first time we go to coffee we begin with our silly small talk. Then our conversation moves to deeper discussion about life. He begins to tell me this story of the time he went sailing with his friends. He enlightens me that he likes sailing. He then proceeds to share with me a funny story that happened on his sailing trip. While he is telling the story little pieces of his personality begin to shine through. His humor becomes evident. His attention to the details of the story ring out. His great ability to tell the story becomes noticeable. All of the unseen things that make him an awesome man begin to come clear to me.

I leave our discussion with an new understanding of who George really is. During that short conversation about stuff I began to really get to know George. Not just facts and figures, but personality and person ability. Two things were happening as we talked.

First, I was learning about George- Georgeology or about God- Theology

Second, I was getting to know George- Georgegnosis or getting to know God- Theognosis.

In order to get to know the heart of George or the essence of George I was confronted with the facts of who he is.

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Enough about George. Let’s talk God. When I put my focus on getting to know God I naturally begin learning about God. Getting to know Him takes me down paths of learning about Him.

When in this order one naturally leads to the other. Theognosis naturally leads one through theology. However, when they are inverted theology does not always lead one through or to theognosis.

You can study all day long every day about God and not actually know Him. The problem is when you invert these two and put Theology first.

Theognosis speaks to the heart.

Theology speaks to the mind.

This is why I am going back to innocence and trading in my theology for theognosis. If I simply get to know God and fall in love with Him more and more the theology will come. I will no longer live bound to the dogma of crossing my “T’s” and dotting my “I’s” of God. I am letting go of religion and diving into love. Theology is no longer my priority. God/ Love is.

My Birthday Wish - TOMS Shoes

In 2006 an American traveler, Blake Mycoskie, befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers.

The fact that companies like TOMS are forming with a greater purpose in mind speaks to the increasing spirit of love that is surfacing in our culture. I am excited that this year for my birthday my wife ordered me a pair. I am joining the TOMS movement to live love through shoes.

To learn more about TOMS visit their website or take four minutes and forty five seconds to watch this video.

The Diamond Miner

Yesterday, at Safehouse Outreach, we had our monthly Advisory Board meeting. As in each of these meetings, one of the staff members will share about their department and their latest work. This month our Mentoring Program Director Errol Boyland was invited to share.

He began by saying, “It has been said, ‘diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’ We men like them every now and then too.” The room had a good laugh and then he continued to share this story about a young man who was a shining diamond in the dust.

This all took place earlier in the week at the gathering Errol and his wife, Darlene, lead at the Forest Cove apartment complex. Just to set the tone, Forest Cove is one of the darkest places I have ever visited. When we did an outreach there on MLK day there were about twenty to thirty drug dealers hanging around as we began setting up. I can remember seeing beer caps ground into the sidewalks all around the complex. Many of the apartments I got a glimpse of were dirty and in need of much repair. We were told by some of the people that gun shoots are heard in the area on a regular basis. Forest Cove is a dark cave of despair.

Each week Errol and Darlene go to Forest Cove to lead a gathering in one of the family’s homes. When it came time to read the scripture, a seven year old young man asked if he could do the reading. Errol was slightly hesitant to let him as he was not looking forward to a seven year old stumbling through the words. However, he agreed and the young man began to read. Much to everyone’s surprise this young man began reading like a pro. Even the big words were no challenge for him.

Once the gathering was over, Errol took the young man to his mother, as his father is in prison, to brag on him. After they told the mother, she went to back room and got a notebook full of this young boy’s achievements. This seven year old is an amazing student and is even being considered to transfer schools to one more challenging for him.

Errol wanted to reward the young man’s academic achievement and show some positive reinforcement in his life. So he went out and bought the boy a skate board, helmet, and pads. When he delivered the skate board the young boy was so excited. Tony Hawk, the pro skater, is one of this boy’s biggest heroes and now he too has a skate board.

When Errol shared this story, he kept coming back to the idea that this boy was a diamond in the ruff. As dark and dingy as Forest Cove is, it had produced an amazing diamond. Errol finished by asking the entire room, “What if this young man had the right influencers around him? What if he had a mentor to help lead him in the way he should go? Imagine what an amazing shining diamond he could be.”

As I walked away from the Advisory Board meeting, a different perspective came to my mind. That is the perspective of the diamond miner. There are diamonds in caves all over the place. The problem is that there are not enough miners willing to get dirty enough to dig them out. You see, we all want to wear the shiny diamond around that has been mined, sized, cut, and polished, but how many of us want to go into the dark dirty mine to get it? I am so thankful that Errol and Darlene love the children of Atlanta so much they they’ll go into any mine to look for diamonds sparkling in the dust. I am challenged by their constant commitment to live love in the lives of these kids.

Perhaps Errol is such an amazing miner because he is such a beautiful diamond himself. Through his life he has risen above homelessness, addiction, gang banging, and more. He came out of a dark cave, has been cut and shaped and now is a shining diamond who seeks to mine out the beauty in others. Thank you Errol!

If you are interested in becoming a mentor please contact Errol or Darlene. This brilliant seven year old boy still needs a mentor. Become a diamond miner yourself.

Squidoo

About five months ago I bumped into an online tool called Squidoo. It is a knowledge networking site that gives money to charity. You have heard of social networking…. Now be introduced to knowledge networking. This is a place where you share what you know and allow others to connect with that information through a networking platform.

Squidoo makes money from ads and affiliate links. 5% of what they earn, right off the top, goes to charity. 45% they keep to cover overhead and stuff. That leaves 50%. That goes to charity or to the creator of the page. That decision is up to the creator.

I share this with you for two reasons.

First, I find it interesting that when Seth Godin and his team were putting together this resource that they built donations to charities into the business model. From the beginning they did not intend on keeping all the money, but rather chose a model by which they could invest in organizations that are making a difference.

I think this speaks to an underlying trend that is emerging in today’s culture. More and more people are looking for ways they can build outlets for love into what they do naturally.

Second, this is an easy way to live love. Go make a page today around whatever subject you are most knowledgeable about. You can make a lens about anything. It’s easy, it’s free, and by sharing what you know you can make a difference in someone’s life.

I started a page five months ago on Homelessness In Atlanta. Since the time my site has climbed to #7 in it’s category and has donated several dollars to charity.

I hope you will join me in the world of Squidoo.