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Archives for April 2010

Facing an uncertain future

April 28, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

“I’ve worked at Cape Canaveral for 23 years. We have 3 more shuttle launches then my future is really uncertain.”

Gary was seated next to me flying to Atlanta. The end of the space shuttle program is hitting central Florida pretty hard. As I’ve written before, Delta Airline’s seat assignment system is God’s appointment system. So out of the 200 people on this flight, Gary was my appointment today.

I continued in the Explorer phase, finding out about his work, family, hobbies, interests. Gary recently flew in a World War 2 vintage airplane for 30 minutes of pure delight (which I’d love to do). He’s worked in the space industry for 23 years (which was an early dream for this engineer-in-budding ever since watching Shepard, Grissom, and Glenn on little portable TVs in my 4th and 5th grade classroom).

I asked how he was working though his future, handling the uncertainty. I asked if there was a spiritual aspect to his life.

Moving into the Guide role, I moved the conversation towards spiritual topics.

It turns out that Gary is involved in a good church fellowship. He is helping the 30 people on his launch team to work through meaning and purpose during uncertainties. We talked further during the hour flight.

So, my divine appointment wasn’t to help someone find God, but to help someone who is helping others during difficult times. You just never know what God has in mind until you accept the appointment and start Exploring.

(PS This blog post is being written using WordPress for Android on my next flight to Dallas. I have an empty seat next to me and the guy the next seat over has earbuds and a book, kind of looks like he’s hung out a do-not-disturb sign. Do I only have one appointment today? I have another hour or so to explore what God has for this leg of the journey.)

(PPS I was able to break through the earbuds and book. We had a very interesting conversation. He is a 30 year veteran pilot of major airlines, former Air Force fighter pilot, and recently separated from his wife. He was willing to talk about “theology”, but  he continually deflected my efforts to get personal about his spiritual life. But it was an appointment which I kept. I recall an early definition that success in witnessing is simply taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.)

Filed Under: ccc, Ministry Tagged With: cojourner, evangelism

Extreme dependence on God

April 27, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Extreme dependence on God.

As we go about launching movements of evangelism and discipleship, we must learn to rely more and more on His power rather than our own. For us the norm needs to be taking faith risks and asking God in faith, “What do You want us to believe You for now?” The alternative is simply go after whatever we imagine we can accomplish in our own efforts. (Steve Douglass, President, Campus Crusade for Christ)

Today is a special day. Today, thousands in the family of Campus Crusade for Christ will gather around the world. We will set aside our normal activities and spend the day before the Lord. We have the privilege of doing this corporately, together worldwide, twice each year.

Together, we will be asking God for more. More people to come to know him. More of His glory to shine like the stars on a cloudless night. More of his justice for the oppressed. More laborers for the harvest fields.

Steve also said, “God is calling us to a renewed posture of extreme dependence on Him and His Word.”

Today, I am asking God in faith, “What do You want me to believe You for now?”

Filed Under: ccc, Prayer Requests Tagged With: prayer, worldwide day of prayer

Travel is interesting

April 26, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

Things that happened on our recent trip in Southeast Asia:

“Kay, wake up. There are ants in our bed.” At 4 am. I felt crawling and itching. I thought I must be developing a rash. No rash, just ants!

Grammy Kay bumped Abby off a baggage cart when they hit a bump exiting a moving walkway. Abby was unhurt and jumped up laughing. (Grammy says I must use bumped not dumped for her escapade!)

Grandad Keith dumped Abby and two of her friends off a baggage cart when it became unbalanced and turned over. All were unhurt and laughing. (Do you think Abby wonders about grandparents now? What do Daniel and Michelle’s new team friends think about their parents?)

8 bags of household possessions for Daniel and Michelle were heavily packed. Thai Airways only charged them $90 for 500 pounds rather than the expected $1500. Amazing answer to prayers.

Daniel and Michelle received their visa to Thailand just a few days before moving there, after weeks of trying. Amazing answer.

Life continues to be an amazing adventure walking with the Lord every day.

Filed Under: Stories, Travel

Solitude doesn’t mean alone

April 17, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

There was another good interaction following my original blogference article.

My highly extroverted friend Rich asked: “Being alone drains me. How does an extrovert like me take advantage of “alone time” without me giving in and making contact with someone else? ”

I’m repeating this extension of the concept of solitude here in my blog. To read the original interaction, click here.

The article Solitude and Leadership outlined several components of solitude. One is: deep, intimate conversations where you hear your thoughts out loud in a safe environment.

The author Deresiewicz writes:

But there’s one more thing I’m going to include as a form of solitude, and it will seem counterintuitive: friendship. Of course friendship is the opposite of solitude; it means being with other people. But I’m talking about one kind of friendship in particular, the deep friendship of intimate conversation.

He continues:

Introspection means talking to yourself, and one of the best ways of talking to yourself is by talking to another person. One other person you can trust, one other person to whom you can unfold your soul. One other person you feel safe enough with to allow you to acknowledge things—to acknowledge things to yourself—that you otherwise can’t. Doubts you aren’t supposed to have, questions you aren’t supposed to ask. Feelings or opinions that would get you laughed at by the group or reprimanded by the authorities.

So, Mr. Extrovert, talk to a close friend!

Filed Under: ccc, Leadership Tagged With: blogference, Leadership

Followup to Solitude as a Leadership Path

April 16, 2010 by Keith Seabourn Leave a Comment

The Blogference is continuing to generate good interaction even though (fortunately) the firehose flow is reduced somewhat!

Justin posted a very insightful comment in a different discussion thread called Get Over Yourself. I and others responded. I’m repeating the (slightly modified) response here since it’s another part of the Solitude as a Path discussion. You can read the full interaction here.

Time is often a forgotten factor in our immediate-focused world. We all grow throughout our career with CCC, however long it is. In the early years, we’re just trying to learn the skills, learn the methods, figure out which way is up. Think about all the things a new believer has to figure out about the Christian life. Much is by rote mimicking others in the early years. This is normal. It’s kind of like early childhood in which kids mimic the way parents talk and walk and hold their spoons and speak about others. This is the time of dependency.

But over time, the basics become second nature. That’s when the growing of Leadership skills really kicks in. That’s when it’s important to start testing out your own ideas and sharing them with others to see what they think. That’s when questioning is normal, often trash-talking the status quo. Think about adolescence and middle and high school. Even college years. It’s when we try out our own thoughts. It’s a time of independency.

Eventually we move into an adult world in which we learn how to be our own person but to value and respect others also. We learn how to collaborate where we can share our ideas while valuing others. We can give and take without our identity as a person being challenged. This is interdependency.

The challenge to us as leaders helping others develop is to help the process along over time. Recognize the stages. Accept where people are but also help them keep developing.

I really connected with the Greenleaf quote that Brian Virtue used in his post on Serving Self Leadership. The measure of our servant leadership is how well others develop as servant leaders. How well do they move from dependency through independency and into interdependency.

Filed Under: ccc, Leadership Tagged With: blogference, Leadership

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