I love this poem. I found it (and thought I linked to it, though apparently not) a couple years ago somewhere. It’s great to hear it spoken. This man is a word smith. Preachers take note. In 3 minutes he give a coherent, compelling, memorable, important thought.

“Totally Like Whatever” by Taylor Mali (original text on his site)

I am a terrible money manager, am even worse at time management, and have zero discipline when it comes to eating. Contrast this with the fact that I am blessed with a good income, have very flexible time commitments, and access to any and all food I could want.

Not a good combination.

The end result is that left to myself I tend toward debt (credit cards), being overweight (I weight 229 lbs at 6’2″. Down from 235, after a week of Weight Watchers), and a life of disorganized crazy-busy-ness. I have little discipline, or latent management skill when it comes to these areas. I am in need of outside structure and accountability to keep me on track.

In college I discovered the necessity of a regimented schedule (or “time budget” as I like to think of it). I have all of my commitments and appointments plotted out in a calendar (iCal, to be exact, and it syncs with my BlackBerry). The degree to which I stick to the starting and ending times I have set up for myself (or have had set to me) relates directly to the sanity of my life. It is important that I follow it.

Nancy and I have kept a budget ever since we’ve been married that has kept us relatively on-track. With the help of Larry Burkett’s Finance Guide for Young Couples, steady work, and God’s grace, we fashioned a plan that allowed us to live without a lot of financial stress (except for a few bad decisions on my part). About a year and a half ago, we discovered Dave Ramsey and his Financial Peace University, and are now attacking all of our debt, and Lord willing, will be “debt free except for the house” in about 12 months.

Last week, Nancy got me started on Weight Watchers. In essence, I see it as very much related to the schedule and the budget. It’s a “food budget” of sorts, and fits very nicely with the way I think about things. As I mentioned above, sticking to their plan, I have lost 6 lbs in just a week (I hear you lose more in your first week or two, and then it slows down to about 2 lbs / week). In about 6-10 weeks I’ll be down around a weight I think I should be at.

I see all of these things as God’s grace. I don’t deserve to keep commitments and appointments, I’m too disorganized. I don’t deserve to be out of debt, I’m a terrible money manager. I don’t deserve to be in shape, I’m a glutton. However, the common graces of budgets, schedules, and Weight Watchers (or other diet plans…) are helping me to be all these things.

My last post on inspiration needs some follow-up, I think. My intention was to speak to inspiration with regards to skill-sets and art. People I look to when I am trying to discover how better to do something (like make web sites, sing and lead a band, or preach). But there is one category that I don’t believe falls under art or skill, because none of these traits have anything to do with the skill or abilities of these men, but rather the Grace of God. But they are still an inspiration, and I wanted to give some honor where honor is due.

Godliness:

In no particular order:

• Dave Bovenmeyer (his emotional awareness, and manner with people are both something I aspire to, and am sorely lacking in)
• Tim Borseth (this man embodies the word faith and his boldness in evangelism is a model for me)
• Brad Barret (his example as a husband and father, and his obvious growth in humility give me hope)
• Gary Harris (A gentle giant of a man, his humble leadership as a husband, father, and leader of men give me good direction)
• Paul Johnson (his faithfulness and humility as a brother teach me)

Christianity Today has posted an interesting poll today asking: “Should churches teach Christians ‘cultural literacy’ as well as biblical literacy?”

The choices are as follows:

• Yes.
• No, Cultural literacy is not important to Christian life.
• No, Christians should learn about culture, but not necessarily from the church.

69% of people who have responded so far say “yes” 4% Say No, it’s not important 26% Say No, they should learn about it elsewhere

(out of 301 results so far as of 1:00PM EST)

My personal thought is that churches should teach biblical literacy and the teach people how not to box themselves into the christian ghetto such that they become culturally unaware, which is what we typically do, which is why this question is even important in the first place.

Christians need to be culturally aware, if only so that they know how to interact within the culture, how to “speak the language” of the culture, and thus, bring Christ’s message to the culture in a way the culture can understand.

“Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a theif. They all kill their inspiration and then sing about their grief.” U2 – The Fly

(The above quote has little to do with this article other than it’s by one of my inspirations, and it’s about art and inspiration :-D)

Every artist has their inspirations. Almost all (their are extremely few truly brilliant, original creatives out there. In fact, I’d argue that there is only one) emulate other people they esteem to be extremely good at what they do.

So here’s a question for those who consider themselves to have an art (of any shape or form) out there. Who are your inspirations? Who do you look to as a mentor-from-afar. Who do you hope to emulate in your art? Who inspires you, challenges you, and by virtue of their excellence, keeps you humble?

Of course the correct answer is Jesus, but other than that, who do you look to for instruction and inspiration? Here are a few of mine.

Web Design:

• Cameron Moll
• Dan Cedarholm
• Veerle Pieters
• Jon Hicks
• Jesse Bennet-Chamberlain
• Mark Priestap

Fronting a band / Leading Worship:

• Bono
• David Crowder
• Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters)
• Rich Mullins
• James Hetfield (Metallica)
• Derek Webb

Preaching:

• Mark Driscoll
• Steve Jobs
• Henry Rollins
• John Piper
• Mark Darling
• Noel Heikkinen
• Louie Giglio
• Rob Bell (* I’m not entirely comfortable with his theology, but his communication ability is phenomenal.)