Mad props to Jesse Anderson for his design skills. Video bumper to come later in the week!

The tenuous middle is training camp. You’re on the team but you haven’t played a game in a very long time. It’s where you’re broken. Torn down. Stripped. Humbled.

It’s where you ask, “Was this dream really from God in the first place?”

It was.

“At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” – Galatians 6:9a

Here’s the Marriage Manifesto:

Marriage isn’t for the faint of heart; it’s full contact…the original extreme sport!

Ladies, the romantic you married will go into hibernation only to emerge and sweep you off your tired feet. That’s when it really counts! Forgive him…he doesn’t understand you. He never will. But he loves you in all your mystery. Let him know everyday that he’s still the most capable human being you’ve ever known.

Men, the pressures of life will weigh your spontaneous bride down. But if you hang in there sexy returns with a level of class only time can perfect. Treasure her. She’s worth it. Show her how much you care. Be the only voice that causes her heart to skip.

The fights about money, sex and not enough of either will seem silly when there’s bigger fears that come lurking. Through the ups and downs life brings…hang in there…growing old with the one you face every trial of life with is what refines two into one.

Create memories this week. Touch. Listen. Date. Tease. Cherish. Love. Do this week what you will have wished you would have done when your 87 and “today” is in the rearview mirror.

We have about 300-400 extra bookmarks. If you’d like them, let me know.

The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

BTW: Francis will be at Calibrate NW this November.

Others that I know process externally. It’s like they need to hear their voice in order to come to a decision. Admittedly I talk to myself sometimes too but never in front of someone else!

Put the two together and it makes for some very confusing collaboration. Learning how each person processes and appreciating the others way has hugely helped.

Do you talk to yourself in order to make decisions? When you say something are you hearing for the first time or have you been saying it to yourself, inside your head, for sometime?

I love people! I really do! And I love being with them!

But as a introvert, I give more than I get when I’m in a group. To make it more complicated, as a leader you’re never really “off the clock”. I used to fight against this reality but it’s an effort in futility. So what is an introverted leader to do?

Give to yourself through solitude and whatever fuels your soul. I read in one of Bill Hybels books that a leader should invest at least 50% of his/her time in their own development. You owe it to your team and the organization you lead to take care of yourself. The most important thing you can give to your team is your energy (again, Bill Hybels said that somewhere).

Schedule it and protect it!

However over the weekend, my wife and I had an interesting and candid conversation about how I can sometimes be perceived by others. Because I’m a introvert I sometimes give the impression that I’m uncaring or uninterested. This is the last thing I want people to think but they sometimes do.

This week I’ll be processing some thoughts as it relates to how we introverted leaders can guard against the false perception that we don’t care for those we lead.

“God is In the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is in the silence of a mother who has infected
her child with a virus that will end both their lives.

God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war.

God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives,
and God is with us if we are with them.”

-Bono

Fifty People, One Question: New Orleans from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.

Credit: thedeltree.org