risk/reward

The interesting thing about risking just about anything is that you typically fail. 
 

Maybe that sounds odd, wrong, or at the least gainsaying?  I'd just throw out there that if you wouldn't typically fail with whatever, it probably wasn't risky.  In fact, it was most likely the most prudent way to go.
    

Here's another thing that could wrankle your feathers.  Even if you succeed, you're going to tick people off with your risks.

   

Call it jealousy or defensiveness...but you're risking something that others aren't willing to risk.  They'd rather slow play it and see if they can creep into the position that you now sit in.  When you threw caution to the wind and did something that statistically wasn't wise...you jumped ahead of them in line.  Jerk.

 
No risk no reward?  That's not true either.  If you play the odds you're probably going to slowly move ahead.  Sure, if you play the odds in a silly way...or end up facing a lot of unforeseen circumstances come your way...or give up...you're not going to move ahead.  That's not what we're talking about here.  We're talking about the statistical advantage.  Play it safe, keep plodding ahead.

 
I know this is the age of talking about revolutions and risk, but be warned - risks are harder, scarier and more often than not, on the losing end.

So the question is - Is this something I care enough about to risk everything?

Peer Pressure

I've decided to succumb to the pressure of the "25 things" lists that all the kids are talking about.

The problem I'm having is that I'm really busy today...so I'm doing a 2.5 list.

So here are 2.5 things about me:

1.  I have an excellent horizontal leap.

2.  I've never been involved in a forest fire, despite what Smoky might say.

2.5  I have always thought that st

Adding something

Giving up something for Lent has an interesting deal for me.

I’ve talked/written about the sort of funny taste this always leaves in my mouth. Often it’s about quitting smoking/sugar/crack thing more than it’s a focusing on my relationship with God thing. It can confuse spirituality with self improvement and I personally believe that that takes it from a God focus to a Me focus. I really think this is the core of much of our confusion with faith. We make God in our image. We believe the stuff about God that we want to believe. We make him a blond haired fella with piercing blue eyes and a tenor that would knock your Birkenstocks off.

So I heard this quote and I thought this wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe it’s semantics…but I liked it.
“Maybe you normally give something up for Lent? … Instead of giving something up for Lent, maybe you should add something for Lent. Add a spiritually strategic thing to your life for life.” – Brian Tome

It seems like this would help me to start doing something – to be more proactive – less reactive – and might just propel me into some life choices or risks that would put me in a position to be more receptive to what God’s doing.

my speech

Since I didn't win last night, I thought I'd go ahead and record my unspoken acceptance speech here.

I'd like to first of all thank my mom, for whom I would not be here.  I'd also like to thank the guy that drove me here, for the exact same reason.  Wow, this thing really is heavy.  OK, I know I only have forty five seconds, so...I'd like to thank my beautiful wife, my kids, my agent, my life coach, Sags, all the wonderful people of Worthington, Ohio (Home of the Cardinals) and let's not forget the little people:
Herve Villachez - Mary Lou Retton - Cooper

This award means a lot.  Some people say that art has nothing to do with competitions and voting - that this should be a celebration of the arts, not a contest - well I'm here to tell you that they're just saying that because they weren't even nominated.  I was honored just to be nominated among these truly gifted performers, and Jack, and I'll cherish this always.

Oh, they're playing the music.  Let's all sing along...

I sort of don't understand why this hasn't hit 10,000 views yet...what the heck are you doing with yourselves?

fity

I just read a “the 50 things everyone should know” post on a webblog. It’s an odd blog that seems to be pushing Dianetics.    Anyhow, I was curious about the 50 things I should know and it turns out that I don’t know the 50 things I should know. Sadly I only know 44 out of 50.

You should know that I’ve married a beautiful, smart & funny woman – fathered three kids and remained undefeated in thumb wrestling for over a decade – all while not knowing six things that EVERYBODY should know.

I guess I’m sounding a little defensive, huh? I’ve never taken a class to learn how to speed read, but I like reading…so why do I want to do it faster? I’ve read books, listened to tapes and gone to seminars and I still make my family wear name tags. I’ve officially given up on learning a second language, mapquest has made learning geography largely trivial, if forced I could probably figure out sewing a button and I’ve not yet had my identity stolen…so maybe I’m better at it than I thought.

So how’d you do?

1. Build a Fire
2. Operate a Computer
3. Use Google Effectively
4. Perform CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver
5. Drive a Manual Transmission Vehicle
6. Do Basic Cooking
7. Tell a Story that Captivates People’s Attention
8. Win or Avoid a Fistfight
9. Deliver Bad News
10. Change a Tire
11. Handle a Job Interview
12. Manage Time
13. Speed Read
14. Remember Names
15. Relocate Living Spaces
16. Travel Light
17. Handle the Police
18. Give Driving Directions
19. Perform Basic First Aid
20. Swim
21. Parallel Park
22. Recognize Personal Alcohol Limits
23. Select Good Produce
24. Handle a Hammer, Axe or Handsaw
25. Make a Simple Budget
26. Speak at Least Two Common Languages
27. Do Push-Ups and Sit-Ups Properly
28. Give a Compliment
29. Negotiate
30. Listen Carefully to Others
31. Recite Basic Geography
32. Paint a Room
33. Make a Short, Informative Public Speech
34. Smile for the Camera
35. Flirt Without Looking Ridiculous
36. Take Useful Notes
37. Be a Respectful House Guest
38. Make a Good First Impression
39. Navigate with a Map and Compass
40. Sew a Button onto Clothing
41. Hook Up a Basic Home Theater System
42. Type
43. Protect Personal Identity Information
44. Implement Basic Computer Security Best Practices
45. Detect a Lie
46. End a Date Politely Without Making Promises
47. Remove a Stain
48. Keep a Clean House
49. Hold a Baby
50. Jump Start a Car

Clearing the Air

I certainly can't make any "official" statements, but I do want to address an isssue before this things turns into a three ring circus.  Two rings seems to be our limit.

I am not, nor have I ever been, on steroids or any other performance enhancing drugs. (we're not counting caffeine, pop tarts or crack as performance enhancing) 

I can also say that I know of no one else on our staff that has knowingly used steroids in my presence or otherwise.  There was some talk during the first ten years of the church growth that this must somehow be the result of the "juice" the "clear" or the "allowing people to wear jeans to church".  We may never know.  There was no reliable test done in those days.

Over the next ten years there were some small growth spurts and some shrinkage, but we lay most of that at the feet of big oil.

We've largely leveled off for the past few years and we think that that is decent evidence that we are in no way associated with Balco or any other agency that's recently undergone the scrutiny of this fine nation.

I'll now take any questions you have.

switching teams

I think I'm a day or two away from switching the 'ol weblog address.  A few years ago my boss showed me this thing he called Blog.  I went home and started one up with the intent of getting more "hits" than him.  That was 100% of my motivation.

It's one of the few things I've done with this sort of consistancy for this long. 

I have been ylcentreco.blogspot for this long because I was the Director of Young Life in Centre County when I cranked it up.  I recently spoke with the Director of YL in Centre Co and he told me that he once created a therealylcentreco.blogspot account.  He doesn't really care that I have the ylcentreco address, he just thought it was funny.  It is odd that I live in Cincinnati, do not direct Young Life and I type something up daily in it's name...sort of...

It doesn't really fit, and I'm thinking I'll switch it up soon.

A couple of possibilities:

1.  SJFuller.blogspot

2.  arebelpilgrim.blogspot

3.  yldetroit.blogspot

4.  saget.wordpress

5.  utube.blogspot

6.  blogspot.blogspot

still thinking...

Seth said it

"The music industry is really focused on the ‘industry’ part and not so much on the ‘music’ part. This is the greatest moment in the history of music if your dream is to distribute as much music as possible to as many people as possible, or if your goal is to make it as easy as possible to become heard as a musician. There’s never been a time like this before. So if your focus is on music, it’s great. If your focus is on the industry part and the limos, the advances, the lawyers, polycarbonate and vinyl, it’s horrible." - Seth Godin

I like the way he thinks.  People around the industry are crying out that the sky is falling...and he's gently reminding them of why they're in the business in the first place.

They'd forgotten their first love.

We didn't get into working for the church to build new buildings or to count more people.  We didn't go into ministry to organize more events.  We didn't join this mission to raise more money, give more speeches or create impressive stuff.

Sometimes along the way we lose sight of our original intentions.  We get lost among the details.  We forget our first love.

It's not too late.  Today is a new day and straining towards the future goal doesn't seem like a bad way to spend it.

Happy Valentine's Day!