we have already begun locked some details down for the new year as we re-define, re-thnk and re-dream wednesday nights at the gathering.
shane and shane will be here at the REALM leading us in a night of worship at the gathering on september 10th...
$10 @ the door (bring someone, everyone with you)
(... if you need some help with money, please let us know)
exciting year ahead of us...
F
how are we supposed to handle the mornings after incredible moments and experiences and conversations and stories?
i mean seriously... do you not feel like a depression or something the next morning after experiencing something that was way beyond and bigger than who we are?
it seems like lately that the less i say the more i experience... what a thought! last night i pretty much had nothing to do with the night at large... but when i sit back and watch teenagers use their lives to begin to understand influence and put their reputation on the line and their integrity on the line to invite their friends into a community that is seriously trying to BE a community... its sweet!
i am so proud to be a part of this movement... as small as it may seem... its the depth and the deep wells that have begun to be dug with every push of the head of the shovel into the dirt of life that puts smiles on my face and my heart.
i don't mind the morning after hangover after drinking from deep wells dug by people pursuing what it looks like to follow christ...
its not an idea...
its a way of life!
F
it is amazing to me what companies and corporations will do to keep us as their customer but what they will neglect to do while we ARE their customers...
i changed my cell phone carrier and a terminated my old one today... i spent probably about 30 min on the phone as the person who worked in the accounts/retention area of the company tried to shower me with incentives that one would want to "be happy" again with their service and product... but the reality of the conversation proved nothing more than perceived value to and for me. now, were the incentives good... sure! appealing... yes!
BUT...
what about the last nine years?
this makes me think about our relationships... why are we most readily willing to put our best foot forward when when we want/need to keep people in our lives and miss it the rest of the time.
so maybe instead of trying to put a retention plan in place, companies/people can put a value system in place for people to never need nor want to look someplace else.
i wonder what some churches would look like?
F
within the course of 1 hour today i had the opportunity to encourage 3 people who really needed a big dose of encouragement that i was in the position to provide...
i wonder how many times and opportunities i miss a day to encourage someone that i am in position to add value to them?
may we be aware enough to see, recognize, hear, notice, the people around us that need a pinch, pint, liter, gallon of encouragement!
F
this is a question that bounced around my head all night... what does it take to (fill in the blank)
in my certain context and situation today... thru several tough and difficult conversations filled with messiness and tension, i had to bang this out today...
what does it take to LOVE?
what WILL it take to love him?
what are you willing to do to love?
there is an overwhelming number of people who need "someone" to go and get them and invite them into community... into relationship... into a place to belong... into a home. until we, us... the church... the community called the REALM is willing to go and get them, they will stay in the peripheral, off on the fringe looking in and wondering if anyone is looking for them. it will probably be inconvenient, take time and energy... but i will promise you that IT WILL COST YOU SOMETHING!
one of the great myths is that when i am right and i get my healing... then i will go and get them... the reality is that we get our healing in the process of learning how to invite people into our lives...
its just us being us... and you know what?
that's enough!
what will it take...?
F
so what makes some ideas "sticky" while other ideas never had a shot at seeing some life? there are entire studies and books and philosophies based on what makes some ideas stick and others ideas fail... all of which is incredibly interesting and intriguing to me.
all that to say this...
i am here in buffalo, ny (ruff buff or b-low... whichever you prefer) over on the east coast, on the entire other side of the country from TOMS shoes and 12 hours away from where we held the first ever TOMS event at the REALM and i saw a guy wearing a pair of TOMS today in a pizzeria. now besides the fact that he has good taste not only in pizza and footwear (i promise i wasn't checking him out) and i get TOMS shoes updates all the time in my inbox i still couldn't shake the spreading of an idea that becomes viral and creates a culture, a new brand, a new opportunity.
at the end of the day... yes you need a good product, good marketing, a good team, good vision... you need to capture people thru emotions and then deliver.
BUT:
you still need PEOPLE!
without people you, me, we have NOTHING!
i love watching ideas spread like a virus... good ideas are hard to come by, but i love watching people grab onto a idea and cultivate and create a new culture. people push ideas... people push communities... this is a great picture of influence.
that is being a part of something bigger than we are!
Q: what are your DREAMS?
F
time is a constant... consistent... an always here dynamic that we cannot shut off, shut down, ignore. so the question that begs, although ridiculously obvious, what do we do with our time?
i am at home in buffalo with my family, I haven't been here for over a year... if I am not careful I run the risk of missing the moments and the opportunities... Essentially wasting my TIME here and now. Look back the year that was or even the summer months that were... How much time was wasted? it's so easy... remember the easiest things to forget are the most obvious and closest to us.
if remembering is linked to our ability to be successful... so is our our ability to recoginize the moments of TIME that are being wasted and have been wasted.
some things can wait... TIME cannot... It won't.
for those of us who can, enjoy time with your family... One day you might live 800 miles away from them.
F
... this my first post written from my iphone... Ridiculous!
alright so it seems that something happened at twitter today and if you were following me you NO LONGER ARE! you need to re-do everything.
i will repost the instructions from my last twitter post.
if you want up to date info on mexico and/or whatever we have and want the ability to have this info sent right to your phone via text messaging sign up to follow me at twitter.com or just send "follow freddywilliams" to 40404 on your cell phone and follow the instructions to activate your phone to get all the updates that i will be sending out. its FREE, well your standard text messaging rates apply.
F
its so easy to forget...
i recorded the espy awards the other night and watched it tonight... the award show opened with a video of the best moments in sports in the last year... i remembered them all... the games, the plays, the come-backs, the upsets, the inspiration but only after i saw them again on the video. its so easy to forget the amazing moments in life that we have experienced, why is this?
we ALL have been a part of some amazing conversations, seen the faces, visited the places, felt the emotions, let the wisdom soak in...
how do you remember?
is it possible that our ability to live has something to do with our ability to remember or least is directly connected somehow?
its pays to remember... don't forget that!
vision leaks... keep it in front of you.
F
ran across this site on http://www.jeffshinabarger.com/ blog and wanted to spread the word... good stuff! i love ideas... not just any idea but big, huge, audacious ideas... ones that talk about changing the course of humanity... pretty sweet. the girleffect.org is an investment into the world of girls in third world countries. check 'em out!
F
"consistency wins" seems like the motto that has kept coming to my mind and heart all year. three years of consistency in attempting to build people rather than just a program that people attend seems to be taking root in the lives that have attached and call the REALM community HOME.
makes me dream of what will happen next year?
builds anticipation for curiosity and wonder... like a child the on the eve of christmas. i pray that my heart will continue to pursue what life looks like through the heart and eyes of a child.
have you asked any childish questions lately?
i want to be like the kids we lived life with in mexico... the things that create the currency by which we will live here didn't matter there. all that mattered was genuine love. white people from st. louis loving people we couldn't understand in mexico perhaps was the closest thing to genuine love that we have ever experienced... allow that to marinate awhile!
F
as i sit and reflect on the week that was and the experiences that i accumulated i remember something that a mentor of mine taught me in college... he said that the best gift that you can give someone would be a better you.
i can't help but think that st. charles just received 49 better "you's". i know that right now i am a better me tonight, my first night back home than i was my last night home before we left.
there are VIVID pictures that have been burned on my heart like a brand that will be permanent fixtures for life. its trips like this, opportunities to extend life further and farther than before that shapes and nudges lives... all the lives involved in every side. we had the incredible privilege to feed the less fortunate, but who got the bigger blessing? who witnessed the bigger miracle?
the best gift you can give is a better you...
are you a better you today than you were yesterday?
F
if you only had one day left with someone that you have grown to love...
what would you do?
what would you say?
this is the reality that we will be faced with tomorrow... to have to leave the faces, the places, the stories, the hunger, the depression, the opportunities, the lives, the hugs, the smiles, the mission...
it seems funny to me that a place with NOTHING gives so much to people that seem to have EVERYTHING!
F
i have debated and actually re-wrote this post 3 times now trying to describe what i experienced tonight... i can't!
to date in my life this is the closest thing to PURE, AUTHENTIC community that i have ever experienced! the best picture of UNITY that i have ever seen. the willingness, the desire, to EXPLORE depth and not be afraid of it. tonight was a glimpse of what happens when one seeks... ONE WILL FIND!
it really can happen... it really does happen... it really IS happening!
F
the faces tell the stories of the lives...
there are few experiences one will remember for the rest of their lives... today will be a day full of experiences not only that one will remember, but will shape lives. lives, people were shaped and molded into what will they will be... into who they will be.
we had the privilege, and i don't use that word lightly, to be a part of bringing food, toiletries, bibles and womans package to people, families that needed it the most. several months ago on a wednesday night we talked about the great banquet feast in luke where the poor, crippled, blind and lame were placed at the table of the king... today we experienced that! the marginalized, the down and out, the people that we have shoved into the gutters of society were elevated and raised to a position of honor... they were the served.
perhaps were the most like jesus when we serve... is it that serving is the most clear expression of love?
this i know... today 49 teenagers were a living expression of the gospel... not the watered down gospel, an eikon, an image of jesus. this is what jesus was talking about when he was describing not an idea of life, but an existence...
F
it was a pretty early morning after getting in late last night... we crossed the border at about 8:30 and got to the three churches that we are partnering with. it is an amazing opportunity to be able to have the relationships here that we have and the credibility that we have built year after year.
after the vbs clubs in the morning we met up with the mayor from diaz ordaz and started in on painting, cleaning and picking up trash in one of the local city parks. this new mayor that is in office loves what the local pastors that we are partnering here with are doing and wants to support their efforts. great contact and connection.
over 100 kids in the clubs today... great day one... incredible day tomorrow. we are feeding 135 families tomorrow and more work in the city. should be one of the most brilliant days in our lives tomorrow.
F
just outside waco and yep... here you go!
if you want up to date info on mexico and/or whatever we have and want the ability to have this info sent right to your phone via text messaging sign up to follow me at twitter.com or just send "follow freddywilliams" to 40404 on your cell phone and follow the instructions to activate your phone to get all the updates that i will be sending out. its FREE, well your standard text messaging rates apply.
check this out... this is a great way to keep in touch with us while we are in mexico.
F
well first off... bryce who is our tech guru is amazing... he just turned our USB modem into a wifi hub so we all can be online at the same time in the bus... unbelievable... brilliant.
yes... i am on the bus right now typing updating my blog... that is amazing to me.
so we definitely have internet and will be updating all week.
F
tonight i officially have the "internet" in my condo... i know, it has only been 3 years since our condo was built...
how have we survived for 3+ years without the ability to be online? seriously, who does that anymore? they have internet in the most remote places in the world and i am just now getting it. well, late to party but at the party nonetheless.
holla
F
it is not everyday that you walk around the corner and standing there is one of your mentors... one of the guys that has poured into, invested life into, someone you have sweat with, cried with, experienced unbelievable things with...
great surprise for me today...
great encouragement...
F
i was awaken this morning at 5:02 am by a twitter (i will tell you more what twitter is later) message from perry noble that read...
"it's going to be an awesome day! i can't believe i get to do what i get to do! jesus is so good to me!"
so... last night was another long night and this morning was another early morning with tons to do, if i were being honest with you i was not feeling like jesus was so good to me this morning or that its so awesome that i get to do what i do. i was not anticipating anything, in fact i think i was numb, i know my right arm was numb from skyzone last night.
what are you anticipating god is going to do today?
F
i love reading peoples comments on the thoughts that people read on my blog.
this comment comes from my last blog...
"I'm not afraid anymore.
I love the deep end."
i love that...
what are you afraid of that is keeping you from the deep end?
F
i have said now for several years that for me, for us, the best way to measure our health is by the stories that we tell, hear and share from the experiences that we engage in. we could measure with numbers and again i think numbers show something and are worthy or reflection, but i just know what they show for sure. i think if we are not careful the numbers create a mirage and leave everything on the surface, but the stories dig deep wells in experience for us.
i just received an email from a girl who has not come around for awhile but she decided to share with me about a conversation that she had over the weekend and how god used the things that we had discussed and dug into at the gathering on wednesday nights to shape and create that conversation. she was quoting things from months and months ago verbatim...
teenagers can and will engage in DEEP waters if we take them there. they will never learn to swim if we keep them in the shallow end.
F
what significance do words have in our daily lives? are they just mere words or is there something deeper beyond their surface disguise?
the words we use reflect our inner reality.
the words we use describes, defines, articulates, and negotiates our relationships to the things and the people that we are surrounded with. in essence, our words reflect our reality.
just mere words?
this is why it is so important that the words that come forth from (seriously, who says forth anymore... my bad) our mouths reflect that which can be seen on the outside. there is no hiding the heart. disguise, yes... hiding, no. eventually, the mask will wear off, fall off, become transparent... because our words are a mirror to what is happening on the inside.
i dream of the authentic community... the mask-less people.
are you one of them?
F
it saddens me to see and to feel the competitive nature that seems to come so "natural" (but really is unnatural) between people in and a part of everyday life. i used to be one of them. where does the competition flow from? where is its source?
obviously, as with anything else... what is on the inside WILL eventually come out to the outside world to say hello to everyone. regardless of how well we try to hide these things, they will eventually loose their chains at the opportunity to see daylight. that is why the bible is clear about guarding our hearts... for that is where life begins.
so where is the source... maybe it comes from us thinking that we are right... or that we do it better. is that not PRIDE? the source is and will always be our hearts.
its like we need AA for competition... hi my name is freddy and i am a person full of pride and a competition addict.
i pray that competition moves further and further from my heart and my reality.
i pray that competition and pride be purged from the church culture and in its stead will be authentic followers of christ with nothing to prove but he is our source.
so... i don't know what is more beautiful, our unity or our diversity... or how about just knowing the answer is YEP.
F
