busy but good week ahead

first of all: go here barnabastrading.com and give 10

second: this is going to be short because I've got a bunch of stuff to prepare for the upcoming week (besides the usual Sunday sermon, going to be leading and speaking at our ministry's first-ever (non-"board exclusive") leadership retreat. 

third: listening to a Catalyst interview with Seth Godin and heard the following three cool things

- "The Dip": The "dip" (the moment when things get really hard after some earlier success) is a huge gift to all of us. Let's take medical students and doctors for example. The dip for many of them happens when they take O-Chem. Many of them fail. And this is good for all of us, because it keeps out those (no offense intended for those who failed o-chem...some of my good and very smart friends have failed o-chem) who wouldn't make good doctors. 

- "________": There was a really good second idea in there, but I can't remember. Just another good reason to go listen to this podcast for yourself. 

- "I notice things": Godin was asked about how he comes up with what he creates, and he really understood himself well. He said that he simply notices things. Everyone else sees these same things, but they don't notice them in the sense that they're not able to activate and articulate those ideas and connections in their own lives. He admits that he doesn't have the time or discipline to do deep research, but that isn't who he is anyway (and I think those of us who follow Christ can say this is an issue of doing what we're "called" to do rather than what we think appears good).