We have a way about us.
We have a way around us.
We have a way throughout us.
We, in all our humanity, have figured out how to take something so small, so tiny, so non essential, and turn it into the singular thing that takes us down.
It’s our greatest gift and our strongest curse.
Our ability to process.

Yesterday I tweeted this…
Our ability as humans to make an uncrossable valley out of a crack in the sidewalk is one of a kind. Step Back. Look Again. Step Over. Walk.

Today you are facing what seems like a giant.
It may actually be a giant.
It probably is not.

But if it is a giant follow this procedure…
When you are standing at the foot of a giant, and looking straight up, you can not see the entire situation correctly.
Turn around. Walk back away from the giant, turn back and face the giant, and now you can see the whole giant.
Not just his shoe.
When you do this you will find things you could not see from below him.
Like he’s blind.
He is asleep.
He is friendly.
The truth of this giant is far different seeing him from a distance than seeing him from up close.

Now if you turned around after your walk away, and you can’t see anything, it’s because it wasn’t a giant.
It was a lego man that your 3 year old left in the hallway.
You probably stepped on it in the middle of the night and cussed because it hurt for a second.
But it’s not a giant.
It’s a toy.
Now continue on your way and always stop, breathe, step back, and walk.

The giants will morph back into the toys they really are.
Los

OMG.

Electric fences. Guard dogs. Snipers.
Yea. No.

I get it. Who wants to be crushed.
But I think that we are going about it the wrong way.
The time to guard your heart is BEFORE you get into a relationship.
Cause let me tell you, the books may say that he or she is gonna wait for the guard to take a vacation, but it’s probably not gonna happen.
In order to experience the truth of relational bliss you actually have to GIVE your heart.
Not guard it.

You have to open your chest wide, expose all the nerve endings inside of you, and be ready to either find the fullness of the satisfaction of true love or the burial of utter and total rejection.
And let me tell you, both of those make you truly alive as opposed to existing.

So open up your chest, past any aspect of self, close your eyes, sprint, feel the wind rushing past your heart, and when you finally find him or her…
You will curse me for the heartache before them…
But you will thank me for the truth of the fullness you have found.
And you will never find it with guard dogs and snipers.
You may find a safe existing love, but you really don’t want that.

Be Alive In Your Search.
Feel It All.
It’s better that way.
I’d love your thoughts…
Fire The Guard Dog.
Los

Gibraltar is the only major airport where the runway actually intersects with a major highway. When a plane has to take off or land,car traffic is shut down.
I feel like this is a perfect example of how sometimes, although maybe with good intentions, our churches literally plow people over in order to take off.
When we start new churches and focus so hard on the business of the church, instead of the purpose of the church, we end up building airport runways across the major center of our communities and somehow feel like the people in the community wanted our new airstrip.

Build INTO your community as opposed to ONTO your community.
Thoughts?
Los

The Elephant Room Is TOMORROW!
Here is the deal.
You can STILL make it to one of the satellite locations and you can find out one of the locations here!
The names on this years list of conversations are Mark Driscoll, TD Jakes, Steven Furtick, and others.
I PROMISE you that you will not want to miss this conversation.
So yea.
This is a last second yell out to the Ragamuffin Soul community to take a few hours tomorrow and see some grown men, have conversations out loud, that most people are having in private.
Carlos

1. Realize that you are not going to convince anyone of anything they don’t already believe through online banter.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t know of anyone who had a twitter conversation and suddenly accepted Jesus or became a Buddhist. It is what it is. You are not smart enough, wise enough, or witty enough to change the world with a single tweet.

2. Everyone except you knows your online persona is way sexier than your offline truth.

If you come correct with this at jump street, people will take their capes and breastplates off faster than if they think you think you are all that.
Admitting your faults while rejoicing in His strength will get you a lot farther in conversation than you imagine.
And my abs online look WAY better than they do offline.

3. Remember that people probably only see 25% of what you blog/tweet/say.

We all think that we are the center of the universe. It revolves around us.
So I say things all the time like…”Why is that guy going off on my because of that one Instagram with a beer in it? I Instagram pictures of beer all the time?”
Um. Earth to Carlos. He is not holding his phone waiting with baited breath for the next unoriginal sunset picture you Instagram.
Newbies to my blog may read something without getting the holistic view of me and suddenly think I’m a stuck up shock jock.
Little do they know I cower in the face of conflict and fear confrontation.
But I can’t place this expectation on my readers.
So I have to be consistent in my inconsistency.

4. Don’t just have conversation in your own space. Have it in other spaces.

When people see you stepping out of your space and entering theirs for conversation they feel safer to be genuine with you in yours.
I regularly visit conversations with opposing views as I and comment in direct opposition to their view without being filled with venom in order to make my place safe for them.
The post below on Elevation is a perfect example.
There are plenty who disagree with me, but the venom filled commentators won’t be gaining conversation from here. The authentically concerned who commented in love will.
It’s not rocket science.
Be an idiot and eat alone.
Be kind and eat with me.

5. Be willing to be wrong.
You will want to take the post down.
You were wrong.
You don’t want to look like an idiot.
You will want to take it down.
Don’t.
Bask in your idiotness for a good while.
And think harder before hitting “publish” next time.

These are some things I do to keep my authentic conversations sharp online.
What are some practices you use to keep it real online?
Los

Critics.
They are actually valuable.
To the ones that say just ignore the critics and only listen to the supporters, I say you will become stale and irrelevant in no time.
But for every truth from a critic there is truth from a supporter.
It is how you see the truth in the critics that will move you towards greatness.
If everyone is agreeing with what you are doing then you are probably not doing it right.
Elevation Church has their share of critics.
When a church grows at the pace that they do jealousy begins to peek out of the most secure.

When The Code Orange Revival began the critics came out in droves.
And I would read their “reviews” (because you can review when God moves?) and see jealousy seeping out of all of them.
I would watch the revival online and watch what God was doing from afar.
Then this weekend I got to lead worship at Elevation, which I do every other month or so, and see what God was doing first hand in the life of that church on the final weekend of the revival.
A few observations.
1. The people calling Elevation shallow would DROWN in the shallowness.
2. The lives I saw changed directly in front of me will be with me forever.
3. It is when a church sits in the confidence of God that they walk as confident as Elevation.
4. The city of Charlotte is literally changed because of the hands and feet of Elevation Church.
5. When we begin to focus on how God is using US as opposed to how God is using another church, the beginning of revival can take place in our lives and in our cities.

No church is perfect.
And the second you find it and show up, you have screwed up the perfection.
God isn’t calling us to all do it the same.
He’s just calling us to do it.
Lets glorify what God is doing in EACH OTHER and try to repair OURSELVES as opposed to glorifying OURSELVES and pointing out flaws in EACH OTHER.
Thank you Elevation for growing in healthy ways and growing people’s lives in even healthier ways.
It’s better that way.
Los

I honestly would never watch a 9 minute video on YouTube. You don’t have to watch the video to get the point…

…But every 45 seconds, when I would try to close the window, I simply couldn’t.
I want to know what would come after your I’m or I statement…

The broadcasting squad at Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama produced this video. It was entirely shot on iPads and mixed with music by Sigur Rós.

You’re Turn…
I or I’m _________________

Los

The only reason I can’t completely mock this picture is because I definitely rock a mild to mini sag.
How about you?
Do you rock a sag?
Or do you pull them boys up to where you are singing soprano?
What do you prefer?
Sag or no sag?

Los

And let me tell you something.
No one can get up from being hit, until they have been hit.
Resolve doesn’t come from an easy life.
It comes from those moments above.
And I’m here to tell you, those moments I listed above…
As true as they will be in the moment…
They will pale to the moment you realize that you did not cower, run, or hide.
They will pale to the moment you realize that there is more inside of you that you ever dreamed.

They will pale to the moment, you stand.

So bring on those truths.
They will be true in their moment.
But they will not be true for a lifetime.
Be Brave And Stand
Los

You’re Welcome,
Los