I play Ultimate Frisbee. If you haven’t heard of it, you’re missing out. I love it! It’s my best exercise, and usually only, of my entire week. A few months back we had two pretty big games. As Captain, my role was to motivate, encourage, teach, and lead by example.

In our first game, I did none of those. We were trying new things I had taught and nothing was working. I was playing horrible and my attitude switched to silent, negative, and frustrated. What kind of a leader is that…a useless one. I recognized it near the end of the game and tried to switch back, but it was too late. We lost a game we should have won.

When I look back on that game, our entire team was more negative. There were nearly no “high-fives” going around like usual. Nothing was clicking. Attitude reflects leadership. If you’re a leader, its time you reflect on your own attitude. If you follow a leader, your voice has a major impact on your leader. Encourage and challenge that leader to be a better one!

People tell me that their favorite leader is one that lives what they teach. Is your attitude reflecting what your calling people to have? How is your attitude when you lead people? Would you want people to echo that attitude?

What are your thoughts about this?

In my second post on leadership, I will give a few definitions of leadership, followed with a potential definition of a lead pastor of a church.

For Jesus’ fame,

James Kelly (JK)

Around the mid 1900s, Costa Rica got rid of it’s army.  A group of peace-loving Quakers liked that, and decided to move here.  They settled in the Monte Verde area, where they live to this day.

We happen to be staying at the home of a Quaker. Her name is Deb, and she’s great.  I wanted to understand a little bit more of what she believes and practices, so I picked a book off her shelf on the subject.  (I’ve finished 3 books in the past 2 days… and am lovin’ it!)

Read the rest of this entry »

Scratch that- suffering sucks.

But the byproduct can be a very good thing.  In fact, hardship might be one of the best things that could happen to you.  Here’s what I’ve been meditating on for the past 48 hours or so…

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As of Tuesday we have been living near the town of Puriscal, Costa Rica.  After sleeping on the floor of an airport for a night and taking several local buses and taxis on mountaneous roads, we were happy to arrive at our final destination: a horse ranch and farm about an hour’s drive from San Jose.  We came here on a quest to simplify our lives and learn as much as possible about the world around us.

I have learned here that even humble places that we associate with ‘the simple life’ can have clutter if we are not intentional about it.  No matter how rustic life gets, there is a tendency for us to stress, lose stuff, and accumulate more than is needed or manageable.  Our human nature follows us to these simple places and wreaks havoc on our little paradise. We remain greedy, worried, irritable, insenstive, and focused on ourselves.

Decluttering our lives in pursuit of simplicity requires more than just a change of place. It requires a change of heart.

Thanks for reading, we will post as often as we can!

Michelle

Actually, we’re leaving on an Airbus, which is way more awesome than a jet plane.  With the amazing help of Lea, Jess, Shelley, and Cody, we managed to do the entire move in 10 hours.

We have way too much stuff….  Read the rest of this entry »