Transformation

I talked to a friend of mine on Thursday. She is an awesome lady that has a great job and does tons of kingdom work. My friend has been mentoring a gal for the last two years. Their relationship started when my friend became part of this prison ministry, StepUp Mentoring, and met this mentee in her last few weeks of incarceration.

This mentoring program is a faith based org that works with people in River City Correctional. They help inmates transition into society. They hope to reduce recidivism and build productive members of society while showing God’s love in a practical way.

My friend was all kinds of excited on Thursday. She was bubbly almost giddy. It seems like she always has this big smile on her face but Thursday she just seemed happier. Finally she couldn’t hold it in any longer and she told me of her mentees success.

The mentee has saved $3000 and will be buying a home this week. What a transformation. Talk about setting the captives free. My friend is way excited and I’m super proud of her.

On The Streets

Recently I’ve been running into a homeless guy; he’s about 45 years old. He is a black guy that has very few teeth and an arm and a leg on opposite sides that don’t work very well. Every time I see him he asks me for money. I never give it to him.

He is always outside a restaurant that I’m leaving; about five different places. I don’t think to buy him a meal. I just lie to him and tell him that I don’t have any money and walk away. I kind of feel bad about it but then again I don’t know what to feel.

I don’t know if he remembers me but about four or five months ago a friend and I tried to help him in a tangible way. He was well on his way down from a crack high and really wanted to kick the crap. So we got him into a shelter that specializes in helping people kick these kinds of habits.

I talked to his mom on the phone to let her know what we were doing. I could hear the caring in her voice underneath the melancholy attitude. The guy’s dad was the one I was to discuss any issues regarding the welfare of the homeless son and he “couldn’t” come to the phone. So the homeless guy was off to the shelter.

The shelter is in Dayton, over forty miles from the area he knows. He had some real serious withdraw issues that night. The shelter wasn’t equipped to handle this guy’s issues so they got him admitted into a medical rehab clinic. His issues were pretty bad, bad enough to kind of scare the folks at the shelter. He didn’t make it through the night in the clinic. The homeless guy refused treatment and left the clinic in the early hours of the morning, around four or five I believe. I’m sure he was off to get the fix his body so sorely craved.

No one heard from him until I started seeing him back in Cincinnati again. Every time I see him I wonder what I should do but I always do nothing. I don’t know why God has this guy back in my life.

Barbeque in the Barbeque Mecca

Well going into this I must confess that I most definitely prefer Texas barbeque but I love all regional variations. I also love bacon and most people can relate to how delicious bacon is so we’ll use bacon to scale the goodness. Going into this I expect to enjoy every bit of BBQ I encounter so we’ll assume that it will all be as good as bacon and some will be better than bacon. Thus the scale will be one to three. One is as good as bacon, two is twice as good and three is three times as good. I don’t anticipate having anything better than that but here’s to hoping!

Memphis has BBQ around every corner and most BBQ restaurants have signs saying that THEY have the best in Memphis. Virtually all BBQ shops in Memphis are “hole in the wall” type places and some of the best restaurants are in the worst neighborhoods. So I couldn’t let the looks of an establishment prevent me from visiting a place. I focused on chopped pork sandwiches and sweet tea. Most places in Memphis have a small sandwich on the menu and who can avoid sweet tea in a Tennessee BBQ shop.

Memphis BBQ pork typically understates a hickory smoked pork flavor. The sauce is slightly sweet with peppery notes and is a brownish red color. Pork sandwiches are usually served chopped pork, BBQ sauce then topped with coleslaw all on a round bun. Sweet tea is almost always served with too much sugar. Maybe it’s appealing to those with a sweet tooth but I don’t like tea with my sugar. Sugar should be an enhancement not the dominant flavor.

Jim Neely’s Interstate - One Delicious Piece of Bacon
Interstate is out of the way and is in a rural area, kind of on the edge of town with a junk yard down the street. They have a sign in the restaurant stating they are ranked number two in the nation by People Magazine. There are a few old clippings from foodie news papers touting the superiorness of Jim Neely’s quality que. Also the restaurant is decorated with the prerequisite 40 year old paneling and equally old tables and chairs.

The chopped pork was juicy and tender. The slaw is done well and didn’t over power the pork or the sauce. I wouldn’t say it was superior stuff. It was done well and the flavor was as I expected. I wasn’t impressed with the soggy bun and it seems like they’ve toned down the flavor in the sauce to be more mainstream. The sweet tea was more sugar than tea as expected.

Alfred’s Bar and Grill on Beale Street - Is this pork? Definitely not Bacon!
Alfred’s wouldn’t have made the list of places to check out but it was on Beale Street and I was on Beale Street and well I couldn’t wait to dig into some quality que. They have a decent pork sandwich but the Elvis impersonator was the best thing in the place and he was scary looking.

Neely’s Bar-B-Que – One Delicious Piece of Bacon
Neely’s is different than Interstate and they both are quick to note it. The place had a nice façade and I thought it would be nicely decorated. After all the owners have their own show on Food Network. There is an appropriate amount of paneling and by appropriate I mean it’s everywhere. The place was darker than most and had a few extra holes in the booth seats, yup, decorated nicely.

The chopped pork is tender, juicy and well balanced with the slaw. The service set a new standard. The gal we had was great. The sweet tea was as expected, too sweet. Witch is a shame because I love sweet tea.

The Bar BQ Shop – Two Delicious Pieces of Bacon
The Bar BQ Shop is a great place with great service. Not only was the pork tasty the sauce was lip-smacking. The Dancing Pig sauce was the best sauce I encountered on this trip. There are char notes in the sauce that really complemented the hickory smoke in the pork. Texas toast was their bread of choice, you can get it on a round bun but you’d be missing out. They not only had the best pork sandwich they had great sweet tea. The tea has an unusual nuttiness and the proper amount of sugar.

They also had the best quote on the trip:
Q: Waiter! What kind of wood do you use to smoke the product?
A: Wood? Well I … It’s tree wood. Yup, they bring it every day! Comes right off the tree.

I love that!

I looked at a few other places, Tops BBQ and Curly’s, but the mass production turned me off right away. Most people don’t like bold flavors, at least that’s not what most people buy, and products that do well in mass production I normally don’t like.

Great Christmas Gifts for the NFL

Happy Thanksgiving

Another Day in Paradise

Kairos

Kairos is a cool word. An ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment. A undetermined period of time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word.

Sophists, paid lecturers of the 5th century, stressed it is a key ability to adapt to and take advantage of changing, contingent circumstances.

Aristotle the time and space context in which the proof will be delivered to an audience in order to reawaken them to the speaker.

The New Testament refers to Kairos as the point in time where God changes things. The appointed time in the purpose of God.

I like kairos as the special thing that happens when God shows up. The time when it's an Oh My God moment and the Holy Spirit shows up big. I'm sure the appointed time in the purpose of God isn't always dramatic. I still like to think of this mysterious word as God's wake up moment. The time when God reveals him self, leaving all uncertainty a side.

My Redeemer Lives - Team Hoyt

"Incredible video about the relationship between a father and son.... and God's relationship with us."

The Story

Faith and Politics

Last night on CNN there was an interview with the two Democratic Presidential Candidates that focused on Faith and Politics. Yes, it was the Democratic Presidential Candidates. Leaving the political arguments out of things for a minute I want to say how cool I thought it was. Some will say they were pandering, some will say they didn’t like this position or that position, some wont like the idea at all.

I hope God will use this to open doors for people of faith and seekers to have conversations they may not have other wise had.

Way too Cool!

Home!

I’ve been working out of town for a few weeks and I just walked in the door. H O M E! I never thought it would be so refreshing to be home. Hugging my wife and kids has never been better. If I play my cards right I might even get a home cooked meal. I forgot how comfortable MY spot on the couch is…Yeah. My own bed, my friends, my clicker, my big screen; I know I’m really going to enjoy being home for a change. All 49 hours. Yeah baby!

Benja is Home!

Yesterday my brother in-law returned home from Uganda with his newly adopted son Benja. My wife’s sister and her husband have been trying to adopt this orphan boy from Uganda for quite sometime. We are all so excited to have him home.

My brother in-law traveled to Uganda several times and sent back emails during his trip. Americans are not popular in Uganda and while he was there he hired a driver to help him get around. At night there was bombing and gunfire. He had been told to stay in his hotel and every time he went out, everyone stares and calls out "light man". He was told that he was in harms way. There has been risk of kidnappings and he risked his safety in attempt to help this boy. Below is an excerpt from one of the emails he sent.

Sent: Mon 10/22/07

Today, I went to the end of the earth, starting with bad roads to dirt roads to
no road at all, just a walking path, ending up at a mud house with mud floor.
It was raining and my driver thank God had a 4 x 4.  It took nearly four hours,
but the destination was important.  It was benja’s six brothers and sisters, and
his 78 year old grandmother.  we were invited in to sit on three small chairs
like ones made for kindergarten.  they were so happy to see their baby brother,
who they had not seen for 3.5 years.  They greeted him warmly, and his
grandmother gave me a chicken and an african sleeping mat.  I was told I could
not refuse, which devastated me because there were no other chickens.  When they
gave me gifts, i wept.  i just couldn’t handle that.  we brought food but they
have so little.  they  were turned away from school in a nearby village for lack
of money.

i never knew people could have so little.  they wanted for even a candle, and
the house was so dark where we met, i could not see them all unless they were by
the doorway.

On the way there, my guide knew the spot where Benja was born—on the side of
the road, where his mother gave birth and died.  she was in labor and on her way
to the hospital on a boda boda, which is a motorcycle taxi.  she fell off and died,
giving birth to benja as her last act of life.

please pray for these people and all like them.  Uganda is a place of real
wonder.  beauty, riches, poverty, and death.  I’ll never be the same.

Thank you for all your prayers.  i am being summoned by my driver that I need to go.

To Be Baptized or Not To Be Baptized

I grew up Catholic and was baptized when I was a baby. Its been on my heart to be baptized again. Over the last five or six months almost every time I open my bible someone is being baptized. I feel like God was telling me to take the plunge.

At first I was a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. I’ve been active in my church and I volunteer at a faith based place that helps people in poverty. I coach a group that prays with people about their problems and helps them through their situations in a tangible way. I know most of the staff at church and lots of the congregation. I would say to myself “Everyone knows whose side I’m on; I live an obedient life. But am I being obedient?” So pride was a big hurtle.

At the church I belong to they baptize people once a quarter and last November I couldn’t attend a class my church requires before taking the big plunge. I had mixed feelings about not being able to attend. The class is always on the Wednesday before the Sunday pool party. I work out of town so I thought I wouldn’t be able to attend the class until I could find a job in town.

I had a job interview and needed to do some things in town so I took last week off. After being home for a few days I realized that it was baptism week so I decided to be baptized. I asked my pastor if he had any problems with dunking over weight people in the pool and he felt like my buoyancy would help him get my head back out of the water before I required additional air. So I was set.

I set my pride aside, well mostly, and went for it. The Senior Pastor had just returned from a mission trip in Nigeria. He witnessed the drilling of the first well our church dug in an area that had no access to clean water. He brought back a bottle of the water from the well and poured it into the baptismal and the celebration began.

I was third in line and was letting Jesus know that I was surrendering through prayer. The church contemporary Christian band was rocking out worship music. My pastor led me into the pool, said a quick prayer and dunked me into the water. I haven’t felt the same since.

I came out feeling lighter and I have a sensation around me that I can’t describe. The feeling is a cleaner sense but much more than what I can explain. When I read the bible or hear a song about Christ it means so much more. I didn’t expect any of this. It was just a plunge in water… right? It has meant so much more.

Isn’t God Great!

A friend of mine has a son that has heart problems. The young man, about 9, was born with problems and has had a couple of surgeries and now has issues with two valves on one side of his heart. This has caused the boys heart to enlarge on one side.

The young man had a 3 ½ hour MRI last week. All the staff was so impressed with his ability to refrain from fidgeting and all the other stuff you would expect with a youngster his age. The MRI staff was able to review the results with my friend before he left.

He was concerned as they explained what they were seeing in the 3D pictures of the heart. The staff was caring but concerned as they described the heart and the enlargement of one side. As you can imagine all this has weighed heavily on this fathers heart.

My friend has been praying so heard and we have been praying for his entire family. A few days before the MRI our small group was praying for the family and one person said he could see the finger of God healing his heart. Everyone was encouraged.

It was expected that the boy would need surgery very soon as the family left to meet the doctor. The doctor compared the results with previous analysis and he was very surprised. As the Lord would have it, there has been little progression and many years will pass before the boy will need to even discuss surgery.

My friend is walking on cloud nine. He says he feels like he is three inches taller. How are things going to go in the future? One only needs to ask the young man. My friend did before the results were in. The caring father asked his son if he was worried about things and his son said that God has healed me in the past, He’ll do it again. What Great Faith! My friend said that he wants to be like his son when he grows up. What a Champion this young man is.

The Lord Reigns and His Grace has rained on His humble servants once again.

Isn’t God Great!

Bible Management

As most managers, I’ve read many management/leadership books throughout my professional career but I’ve never looked at the Bible as a management tool. There are many books about this practice but I looked at things a little differently.

The main focus has been on the competitiveness of the Apostle's. You know where they start to argue about who’s the greatest. Jesus tells them that the greatest among them will be the biggest servers. Also Paul has some things to say about leading from a point relationship, the use of harsh joking and tons of other stuff. I used the New Testament and didn’t go back to Nehemiah or any of the other Old Testament books.

The facility was well below standard for labor, yields, and just about everything else. So we started with the basics.

We fostered a servant attitude in every area. Requiring as many people as possible to train or help someone complete a task. The leadership on the plant floor was encouraged to train someone to replace them so they would have an opportunity to be promoted. While doing this we were able to promote people into low level leadership roles through the addition of new production lines.

A spirit of achievement was fostered by setting goals throughout the operation and celebrating the successes as often as possible. We made sure everyone knew what a good job was and we looked for the good things while correcting the bad things. This was done with the requirement that correction had to be done from a point of relationship. People began to crave the praise.

The result has been that attitude and profits are way up. If we don’t get better than we are today we will add well over 900K to the bottom line over the next twelve months. It looks like the Bible is a good management tool.

Sign of the Cross

Did you see Around the Horn today? Tony Reali had a big Cross on his forehead. I think it was cool for him to go all out in his statement of faith.

It’s Ash Wednesday and he celebrates the occasion by having a Priest apply burnt palm leaves to his forehead. I’ve never seen anyone with such a big cross on Ash Wednesday. I hope he has a bigger heart for Jesus.

Favorite Super Bowl Ad

Honorable Mention









Really Gross