For my 40th birthday, Piper got me two runs on the 1976 Innsbruck track with current Austrian #1 pilot Wolfgang Stempson. It was amazing. We hit speeds of 112kph (70 mph) and the G’s were incredible. This has been a lifelong dream. Everytime I watched the Winter Olympics I dreamed of experiencing a run. Now I know a bit of what it feels like. I will be pulling for Wolfgang this year! (That is me in the first pic second in the sled; he said I had good form and stayed out of his way. I said if he needs a spare for Vancouver, call me. He said, “You’ll have to ride with Hays b/c you don’t have Austrian papers in time.”).

In case you missed the debate last year. A very good discussion!!!

Great new greenscreen annoucements Chris is doing.

Announcements from Chris Johns on Vimeo.

• completely off the grid and the cloud in the splendor of the Alps of Austria. God is great Creator. Back to the real world on Jul2 #

• Weeds grow of themselves, flowers must be planted. So it is with godliness, a celestial plant that comes from above. T. Watson #
• A man (in his own strength) has no more power to change himself than create himself. T. Watson #
• Where is the man whose heart is dilated in love to God? Many court him, but few love him. T. Watson #
• A sinner is a slave when he sins with the most freedom. T. Watson The Godly Man’s Picture #

• How often do I delay repentance until an Everest stands behind to summit? Why don’t I always run to the fields of grace more quickly? #
• Repentance is the vomiting of the soul. #
• And we dread repentance just as we do vomiting, but why? God always meets us with the cool sweat of grace….ahhhh. #

• There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is proof of this. -Tozer #
• “God would by things that are not bring to nothing things that are.” Oliver Cromwell to New Model Army win against more powerful Royalists. #

• No man who knows his depths wickedness would dare appear before the ineffable Presence with nothing to recommend him but his own character. #

Use this on Firefox to kill all those goofy quizzes people take and then share publically. HALLELUJAH.

• To compare other things to God is to debase deity, as if you should compare a sparkler to the the sun. #
• Amen, let’s broaden and deepen. http://www.musicademy.com/2009/01/26/bored-with-contemporary-worship/ #
• True knowledge not only improves a Christian’s sight, but improves his pace. Puritan T. Watson What have I learned that is transforming me? #
• The man who received the Gospel w/o power has trimmed his hedge, but it is a thorn hedge still never bringing forth the fruit of new life. #
• God has not bowed to our nervous haste nor embraced the methods of our machine age. The man who would know God must give time to Him. Tozer #

Little tweak to my email is allowing me much less stress and keeping the inbox flow to zero.

Create three folders and archived topical folders.

1. __crucial action
2. __semi-crucial action
3. __peruse
4. my other series of topical folders (graphics-comm, personal, worship design, sermonater, staff ,event coordination, tech, web, sans “__”etc. ad naseum. I have tons of these).

You’ll need the “__”  on 1-3 to make them sit at the top.

Each email gets quickly assessed and flown into one of the folders based upon its crucial nature .

1. Things that need action in the next 48 hours. (ex. Sr Pastor stuff and Exec Pastor stuff) almost always go into __crucial. Stuff that is important but not vital within the next 48 goes into semi-crucia
2. __Peruse is for things to ponder in moments of stillness. The “check this out” other people send me at times (ex. articles, try this, etc.)
3. If something is “handled” or “FYI” it gets moved for reference into a topical folder. (example emails re: Vietnamese art exhibit that I might to recall at next years exhibit.

Sometimes I send myself a to-do email and throw it into __crucial, __semi-crucial, __peruse, etc.

As this has become my to-do list, it has the side benefit of keepin my inbox at zero. It also keeps the main things the main thing as I work in __crucial the most. I am in email more than any other program and with one click I can see what is most crucial that I be about. Vitalist is still our tool of choice for delegation, but this is easier for my personal to-do. Feel free to ask me questions.

Taking a blog psuedo/quasi-sabbatical for the month of July and trying a twitter only experiment. Instead of posting what I am doing (the useless “knee deep in cheese pizza” posts), I am posting on what is resonating and provoking my thoughts. You can still read a daily digest of the goodness here and I’ll break in with an occassional blog only post to make sure you all stay reading. A lot of questions, quotes, and quips to ask of your own life. Follow the experiment here.

Note: The Quasi is because of Ben Roberts who cried like a baby when he heard I was going on sabbatical. Thanks Ben for allowing me NO rest…ha! The Psuedo is because of Brent who showed me web-trickery on how to interconnect twitter, facebook  and worshiptrench thus you will have something to peruse.

In the Thomas Watson Doctrine of Repentance book he makes the quote…

Any jailer is a fool who upon reacquiring a prisoner does not place him in stronger shackles to prevent future escape.

So it is with us when we repent and then willfully walk back to drink up our vomit.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly Proverbs 2:1

^{Luke 11:24}“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”