Starfish and the Spider: The language of Touched Twice United

Since 1996 I have had a difficult time talking to people about the methodology or philosophy that Touched Twice United was organized around. Recently I was recommended the book, Starfish and the Spider; The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. This book has given me the common language to engage people in another system that doesn't require a heavy, top down controlling bureaucracy. This system instead requires release and trust to allow it to grow. It is easily duplicated and is extremely resilient. The authors contrast and compare the creatures starfish and spiders. At fist glance they look similar. However if you cut the head off a spider it dies, cut a starfish and you tend to get another starfish.

It seems that the current health care system needs some work and our country can no longer afford to sustain the current escalating costs. Without some major change in thinking things look bleak. Either costs will continue to rise or people will be cut off from care.

I believe that this starfish way of organizing offers the hope we all are looking for. Helping more people at less costs while continuing the progressive research and development America know for. Over the next several blogs, I will see if I can effectively convey this idea using the language of The Starfish and Spider over the next few blog spots. This is a collaborative work in progress and it will require your help.

How much grace is too much and who gets to decide?

We have been wrestling through the freedom and grace that comes from following after Jesus. There are more than two-thousand years of documented attempts. It seems to me that the church of today is way to focused on the back of the pack than the front runner.

It may be that I am just so far behind the front that it seems easier for me to look ahead than to look behind. With so many people more godly, more loving, and less mistake ridden, ahead of me it seems foolish to keep looking back.

Paul seems to be a man like me in this regard. He said that he was to forget what was behind and press on toward the mark. I know that what I have left behind is nothing that I want to get caught up in again. I feel that the more I focus on the darkest of people it leads me to compete with them and then become complacent with my own progress.

When I press on towards the mark that Jesus has set for us. It leads me into appreciation of the gift of grace that I have received. It gives me an immense amount of gratitude for the price paid for my freedom.

Let gratitude and appreciation abound in the same lavish amounts that God's grace has been poured out for us.

Cultivate the enviornment.

In the beginning God created man and woman in His image then placed them in the garden. Not in the wild, but in a garden a cultivated place; a place where order was established from the beginning.

Why is it when we attempt something creative and new in the name of Jesus, people who regard themselves as Jesus fans are put off or threatened?

When did we get so familiar with the wild around us that forgot the possibility of what could be? If we as individuals resemble our Creator, could our creativity be one of those things?

My wife Andrea and her brothers look very much like their mother and father, and the brothers and sister favor each other as well. Why is it that as members of God’s family, we experience such a hard time seeing in each other a resemblance to Jesus? Simply talking about being related seems shallow.

After 10 years of marriage, Andrea and I are starting to look like each other. I think it has to do with behaving in a similar manor, picking up on the same likes and dislikes, and finding humor together. I believe that if we are given a long life here together, we will grow more and more alike as time passes.

The world and all things in it resulted from someone’s thinking, and I believe that we’ve not yet completed our part of the assignment. I feel that if we who follow Jesus would appreciate creativity as much as we do familiarity, we may grow a bit, coming closer to the heaven on earth we dream about.

Wisdom of Solomon

Just this morning I was I woke up to a report on gay marriage. I started thinking about what I believe on this divisive subject. I feel that community and relationships are foundational to my understanding of God. For me the Trinity: Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit is the ultimate form of community. Jesus uses this 'one' language when describing His relationship to the Father as does the apostle Paul when he talks about the relationship between a husband and wife. A complete new entity is formed by these unions and it seems that they are by design not to be divided.

In the old testament, there was a king Solomon who the Bible says was the wisest man that ever lived or will live. (Sorry Dr Hawkings) In the text is a story of two woman fighting over a child. Both mothers claimed it was theirs. To solve the conflict Solomon declared that the baby be cut in two. Once hearing his verdict the birth mother disavowed any claim to the baby. Solomon understood that because of this idea of oneness, who the mother was.

Is it possible that this baby gives the understanding to why marriage was designed to produce one flesh and can not be duplicated by same sex couples? Simply accepting this does not produce any sort of solution. If nothing else it divides us even further from each other and gives more force into the argument. If only Solomon was here now to help us diffuse the situation and bring order to this chaos.

In this world with a fallen humanity, and regarding our relationships with our same sex brothers and sisters, what represents the baby and how can it be spared?

If you had a vision...

If you had a vision clear enough that you knew where you were supposed to go, wouldn't you look for that man in your vision? I have been studying the apostle Paul. In the 16th chapter of the book of Acts, Paul is flopping about looking for direction and then has this vision. Then as you see him immediately get up and go, you never see him identify the man again.

As I have been looking for the answer it seems that no one in history seemed bothered by this. Is this just more evidence of my lack of faith? Paul knew he was from Macedonia, and that it was a man. He also knew that he was supposed to go. Do you suppose it was the man's voice? Earlier in the text it said he was first stopped by the "Holy Spirit" and then later, "the Spirit of Jesus". Do you suppose that he recognized the voice because he had heard it before?

Who's voice are you listening to? If the living Lord spoke to you would recognize his voice and then would you obey?

40 Days of Easter

This Easter I wanted to not only prepare for Easter through Lent, but to give the resurrection the same kind of 40 day attention. I have challenged our Fellowship to think about what kinds of things can they pick up for the King and Kingdom. It has been more of a challenge than I thought. It is difficult to know what things would be meaningful and not gimmicky.

So far I have decide to focus on the people I would say I love and yet seem to be the people who get the least of me. I am attempting to tell my wife and children I love then in different ways every day.
My wife Andrea seemed stunned that I wanted to know how I could be more Christ like to her. After 24 hours and several requests she told me to take a day off. Ouch...

So far what I have discovered is that by picking up just any old thing, its possible to do more harm than good. Who are the people you would say you love and what would being more Christ like look like for them?

40 Days of Easter

I am on the journey to become the man of my imagination. I can imagine a man of character and integrity. A man who's yes is yes and no is no. A man people can count on. A man I can count on. 

This Easter I want to commit to becoming that man. The first thing I want to do is make certain that my wife and children know that in spite of my real time stumbling and bumbling, I love them. 

In my imagination, a very scary place, I could continue to try and fail. I commitment for these next 40 days is to keep on trying. What are you going to do to extend the Kingdom?