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Anatomy of a journey

finishing well journey May 16, 2018

I compiled the following as an introduction to the faculty community of Regents Park College - the "Senior Commons Room", or SCR - about my journey and professional interests, and as groundwork for my intended research on Learning Communities. Thought it might be good to share here - as context for my time at Oxford, and also seeing as how many of you figure prominently in the narrative :-).)

Anatomy of a journey

From an early age, I've observed and been drawn to reflect on the life trajectory of leaders – in society in general, and within the Christian community in particular.  Why do some leaders “finish well”, while others crash and burn, or simply plateau?  My upbringing in a pastor/missionary/renewal leadership family provided a front-row seat to the vicissitudes of ministry, and to the enigmas as well as the rewards of leadership.  

Why is the body count so high among those most committed and courageous in God's Kingdom – those who...

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Relational recalibration: family

A substantial pert of my wiring is relational, and much of my call involves relational engagement of various kinds, so this has been an area of significant and ongoing processing throughout my lifetime. Some of my earliest memories of “being parented” clearly involved attempts by my folks to channel, steer, temper, work with the ways I energetically engaged the human beings around me, for good or for ill.

So it is unsurprising that, at its core, my recent sabbatical involved yet another round of relational recalibration - both internally and in terms of adjustments within my “core relational sphere” and beyond. My Heavenly Parent continues to shape and transform, channel and direct, temper and bless in this area - starting, during the sabbatical, with my marriage and family.

The internal work with regard to Charlene and our journey together through life was so … profound … that I’m going to share about that in a stand-alone post. Suffice...

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That bounded open space thread II

journey open space Dec 13, 2017

After many good years on "the hill", we sensed a major change coming.  While we understood that our next life-phase would contain much of the same grace and life-flow of previous eras - and continue to reflect the bounded open space theme in various ways - it needed to become geographically untethered, and also less dependent on our own personal presence or leadership. The Lord used my 2009 sabbatical to go deep on some of this, working in me to freshly lay things down and letting Him orchestrate the process of refocusing and re-engagement.  

He worked in both Charlene and myself, enabling us to embrace a number of shifts - including the fact that in the season to come the two of us would be less “joined at the hip”, focused more independently of one another, still supporting and resourcing each other as needed but less structurally and strategically engaged in each others’ spheres.

For me that sabbatical space also accelerated the shift, already in...

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That bounded open space thread I

journey open space Nov 28, 2017

From the beginning of our marriage there’s been a particular grace on our lives in the realm of hospitality and hosting, with an eye toward healing, empowering, and unleashing people, particularly leaders. We’ve attempted to steward this by creating what we’ve come to understand as “bounded open spaces” into which we invite people and where we (and increasingly others) commit to be with them, in the expectation that God will meet us there.

Our part has been to create and help define the space, invite people into it, and enter it expectantly, alert to the script that will emerge but is not ours to write. We do what we can to encourage people to fully embrace His invitation to meet with Him there, believing that our loving Father will write that script and good will come of it. Within such spaces we humans do of course make choices that affect outcomes (including the occasional choice to opt out!), but through the years we have only become more confident...

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The serendipity effect

journey travel Oct 01, 2017

While in Spain exploring Sevilla and following the warm genealogical trail of Charlene’s maternal grandmother, we stumbled into some cool serendipity. It’s a fun story, worth telling ... with a worthwhile takeaway.  For now I’ll call it the “Serendipity Effect."

While researching things to do in Sevilla, Charlene and I heard that "the international festival of the [Spanish] guitar" was taking place around the city during the month of October. That week, several of the world’s leading guitar masters were in town for a special event - to pay homage to Paco Lucia, a mentor to many and pioneering artist of the genre, who passed away earlier this year.

Remarkably, we were able to secure $12 tickets to the commemorative concert at an intimate little venue buried in a maze of back streets. To be clear, this is the kind localized event you wouldn’t even hear about if you weren’t already in town … and even then, you had to...

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Reflections on falling in love again: first love, nearing 60

Years ago Charlene navigated an important “upgrade” in her relationship with Jesus. She had been wrestling with what it might mean, for *her*, to regain her “first love” - and experiencing a visceral reaction to some popular takes on how one goes about solving the Ephesian church dilemma described in Rev 2. True to her fiercely honest self, she simply wasn’t going to fake it, or follow some easy-peasy formula. But something needed to give.

Somewhere along the way she sensed Jesus’ invitation to fall in love, again … but as a 40-something. Not to circle back and attempt to rekindle the passion of her twenties, to somehow get “back there” - but to discover Him anew, now twice her former age, embracing all she had become and been through along the way. To fall in love with Him all over again, discovering afresh who He was to her, then.

That simple insight proved revolutionary, both for her and for many she has shared with from that...

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What Am I Doing At Oxford?

Uncategorized May 30, 2017

A growing chorus of voices is understandably wondering, “What in the world you doing at Oxford University?” As part of my re-engagement in the L3C space, I’ll try to begin to answer that question.

I’ve recently begun sharing what will turn out to be an ongoing series of posts reflecting on my recent sabbatical, and the season that has opened up on the other side of that time. My natural tendency would be to wait until I can tidily, sequentially share about the term at Oxford once I’ve caught everyone up on what preceded it …

… however long that will take! You can ask my dear wife about this; it does drive her a bit nuts sometimes. “Just cut to the chase, get to the point of what *we* want to hear!” :-)  

I of course am inclined to believe that what may appear to others to be a rabbit trail often really does matter, filling in details that are an important part of the story! And some of you know that I decided a long time...

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Trans Minimum Labore, this week

principle Apr 05, 2017

A couple of weeks ago our Go There Group call focused on seasons in our marriages, and we backed into the theme of “individuation”.  The guys asked if I would post some thoughts on the topic, as fodder for our second round of conversation.  “Sure,” I said, envisioning the kind of quick, simple process that has been my norm for oh so long.

However, in this season of Trans Minimum Labore, the request turned out to be an unexpected but timely catalyst for a fresh new round of research, discovery, and reflection on my part.  I decided that, before I shared what I already think (yet once again, lol), I should finally do that round of research and further reflection that I have thought about doing for many, many years ….  Perhaps there is material “out there” that might push and expand (or challenge!) my thinking on this topic, and be useful for all of us on our journey toward ongoing personal growth and also, of course,...

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Implementing the Trans Minimum Labore principle

principle Mar 28, 2017

For the past two or three years I’ve been working into a new posture - embracing the Trans Minimum Labore principle in practical terms.  A couple of years ago when asked to bring some input to the annual Growth Resourcing Group annual gathering, I put some extra time and effort into developing some things I’d been working on into a useful chart - handy for future reference.  I even researched and then learned to use Prezi, a new presentation tool to share content in a more visually engaging fashion (easier to absorb and take notes on; I confess I have for years resisted the “faddish” pressure to use PowerPoint presentations).

Last year I attempted to build on this when incorporating some of the same material into sessions at the Asia Connect conference, with mixed results.  The chart developed earlier was very timely, and well received.  But it turns out my presentation platform requires a good internet connection in the preparation...

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Introducing the Trans Minimum Labore principle

principle Feb 17, 2017

First in a three-part series introducing a principle I've been musing on, and sharing recent and current experiences that illustrate it.  Such fun!

 

How we spend our time ultimately has more to do with what we value and prioritize than the amount of time we actually have available.  Perhaps a bit late in the game, I’m coming to more deeply value the time and effort it takes to do something in such a way that - each time we do it - we make in investment into future fruitfulness and effectiveness, not just getting the immediate job done.

These days I’m in a season where I’m placing a high priority on study/reflection/writing, and have been attempting to incorporate a principle that I’ll name here as the Trans Minimum Labore (“beyond minimum effort”) principle.  

When asked to speak or write or consult in a variety of situations over the years, I’ve tended to focus on addressing the task at hand - pray, study, prepare as...

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