Today I’ll launch a three-part series about the movie Toy Story 3. Yes, the movie was that good. It’s rare a story comes along in which the elements are as perfectly clear as they are in this film. The movie is graphically impressive, to be sure, but what really shines is the story itself, and in this movie, the story has been chiseled down to the basic foundational elements, elements that, amazingly, too many screenwriters ignore. The reason I’m excited about this series is because the elements of a great story are also the elements of a great life. And when those elements are clearly defined, it’s hard for a story to go wrong. If you’re leading or managing a team, I’m betting you can learn more from the movie Toy Story 3 than you can from a dozen books on business. If you’ve seen the movie, you know the story. Andy is heading off to college, and the toys are trying to navigate a difficult transition. They might get stored in the attic, or they might get donated to a local daycare center, but what they really want is to be reunited with Andy and to be played with, [...]

I saw a news story recently about a Hindu guru named Mata Amritanandamayi. She’s gaining a considerable following worldwide, even filling enormous stadiums with travelers who’ve come to see her. Her theological schtick is fairly simple, she chants to the Hindu deity Krishna and people sit in front of  her chanting to whatever God they choose. She’s referred to as Amma by her followers, which means mother, and she has a motherly aspect, a kind smile, kind eyes and a soft voice. She does not make theological stands, and she does not offer advice that helps people succeed in their families or businesses, at least not with that specific intent. Her message is the same wish wash of a thousand other gurus before her. So why does she have such a following? And why is her following growing? The reason may surprise you. Amma is gaining an enormous following because she gives hugs. Seriously, she’s the hugging guru. Her handlers estimate she has given more than thirty-million hugs. And these hugs are not unlike blessings, in which people receive a kind of enlightenment about the importance of loving one another. Now to the critical Christian mind, this sounds like hogwash [...]

For the past few years, I’ve been considered a leader in the emerging church. I’ve read as much in articles, mostly attacking the theology of the emerging church. I’ve even sat in a room where they talked about me being a leader in this church. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to embarrass them. There were only about ten people at the panel discussion, in a room without more than 500 chairs. I’ve normally laughed, because whoever wrote these articles clearly didn’t do their research (and by the way, they have never called to verify their facts) because I don’t attend an emerging church, and for that matter have never used the phrase in any of my books. So I am not sure how you lead something without talking about it, but this doesn’t seem to matter to the critics! But my question is this: Why don’t these people go after the Pope? Whatever the emerging church is (and I’m not pretending not to know. I really don’t know, because conversations about it bore me and I’ve never read a single book on the subject). Do they agree with the theology of the Catholic church? If not, why don’t [...]

This past week I visited a friends ranch where he’d invited some guys to go fishing. It’s a sprawling, 65-thousand acre ranch in Central Oregon with several lakes stocked with trout and one lake stocked with Bass. There are elk, deer, and we even saw a couple black bear. My friend is very successful, and attributes his success to the consistent reading of the book of Proverbs. He says the wisdom he’s gleaned from the book has helped him decide who to invest with, who to hire, and how to make general decisions. And not unlike Solomon, he is always looking for wisdom. It happened to be only men on the trip because we were looking for some good guy time. All of the men on the trip had succeeded in business to some degree (I was there because of my charm, I’m supposing) and at the end of our stay we rode horses up to a lookout over the ranch, got off our horses (In case this is sounding like my normal routine, I should clarify I hadn’t ridden a horse in thirty years) and grouped up for a glass of wine (one of the businessmen had operated a [...]

Last week I got to appear on Fox News, just before Fathers Day. I had a great visit with the folks at The Strategy Room and I’m thankful for them being willing to talk openly about both God and the Fatherless Crisis. They put a clip online, but it’s just a short sample of the hour. We ended up having a great conversation. I’ll be out of commission today and most of tomorrow, so I won’t be able to moderate comments. Here’s a clip of the Fox program for now. I’ll be back soon! Watch the latest video at FOXNews.com

When we begin believing there are simple explanations for the happenings of the universe, we are in dangerous territory. Physics is not simple. The complex nature and enormity of the universe is not simple, the ecosystem is not simple and so forth. So when I hear a theologian or philosopher talk about how simple reality is, I know He’s not talking about anything God made. When you analyze God’s art, it is not simple, it is extremely complex. In fact, the more we know about our reality, the more we understand it’s infinite intricacy. We like simple explanations of reality because we like control. We want to stuff the complexity of the world into our little minds because if we can hold it all in our minds, there is no mystery. But God did not give us control over the complexity of the cosmos. He gave us limited control over ourselves, and those whom it is appropriate we care for, children and so forth. We get to choose where we pee, for instance. And to some degree we get to choose where our children pee. What we don’t get to control is who goes to heaven and who doesn’t. In my [...]

This past week I stopped by the White House to hear about the initiatives the President will be rolling out during a White House celebration of Fathers Day on Monday and I left encouraged and excited. I remember when I first started talking about mentoring and fatherhood a few short years ago how little discussion there was about the issue of fatherlessness. It was a dark subject that brought up thoughts of weakness. Now, it seems, a positive spotlight is being shone on the power and importance of fathers. If you’re dad is around, would you do me a favor? Would you make a really big deal out of him this weekend? Would you take him to a baseball game, shower him with corny (or perhaps thoughtful!) gifts, and tell him how important he is to you? It’ll mean the world. I’m hoping in the next decade Fathers Day becomes a huge deal, a day of celebrating positive masculinity, a day of celebrating the amazing gift that strong men bring to families and communities. We can start by making an enormous deal out of Fathers Day. On Monday the President will make a few major announcements, including an explanation of [...]

If you’re like me, you’re kind of loving the world cup. The drama of nation pitted against nation and the modern-day gladiator feel of each match is too much to ignore. And it’s also hard to argue that the players competing this month in South Africa aren’t the greatest all-around athletes in the world. Anybody who has kicked a ball around for a few minutes knows how fit you have to be to even play, much less compete. That said, many here in America (read white-twenty-somethings who once backpacked through Europe) praise soccer a bit too much as a unifying sport. While it’s true soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and it’s also true it has unifying qualities in the sense that it hilights the common ground interest in a common sport, it’s hardly a total unifier. In fact, an argument that soccer does more to polarize continents, nations, countries and even towns would be fairly easy to make. Entire riots take place after wins and losses. In the end, soccer is just a sport, and it does what every other sport does, it illustrates what is in the heart of man: the desire to compete, to [...]

This past weekend I read a sermon by Ray Stedman regarding Romans 6. Ray focussed, in part, on the idea we can either be enslaved by sin or enslaved by righteousness. It’s a passage I am familiar with but he talked about it in a way that was new to me, new and helpful. The paradigm shift involved Stedman’s argument that human beings are designed to be mastered. He says God designed us to live in relationship with Him as our King, and we work best, most healthily and emotionally stable when we submit to him as our master. As Stedman said this, I realized he was right. We aren’t independent creatures, capable of “finding our own way.” We were designed to have a master. We were designed to be ruled over. As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully wiser, I’ve realized my views of authority are skewed. Earthly authorities, all of them including Kings and teachers and pastors and priests are corrupt. And they aren’t just a little corrupt. The best of us are extremely corrupt, acting in our own self interests. The most trustworthy leaders are the ones who know this and press on in honesty and humility. I’d [...]

Last week I opened a discussion about being judgmental, and how a good listener can listen without judging the person he is listening to. I asked us to pay attention to when we think less of people and asked us to ponder our motives… Now to clarify, I am not talking about judging actions, I am talking about judging people, that is, thinking less of them, that they are less valuable, somehow, because of what they are doing or saying or even wearing. In that same experiment, I found I judge people for two main reaons: 1. I think less of people in order to disassociate. In other words, my emotions want to distance my identity from whatever they are doing or saying. Essentially, I’m feeling a strong sense of “I am not like this person. This person is not okay, but I am not like them.” I’m not given to judgment very easily, in fact I’d say I flaw on the “live and let live” attitude more than I do judgment (welcome to life in Portland) but when I do judge, this is often one of my motives. 2. I judge in order to manipulate. What I mean by [...]