Today Daddy went to a conference in Atlanta called Catalyst, which is where he learned to be a synergistic leader that purposely curates dynamic transformation, radiating bold and effective change.
Or something like that. I had to look up synergy.
We were kind poking fun at the mission statements of many of these leadership conferences. Your first thought upon reading these is, "Is that in English?" Honestly, when was the last time you used the word "synergy" in a sentence?
TED: "Say, Calvin! Love what you did in the board meeting. Lots of synergy behind that idea!"
CALVIN: "You don't even know what synergy means, Ted."
TED: "Yeah, you're right. I'll just leave now."
Fortunately, I only heard the word synergy once today. And yes, it was used in a sentence. We saw about three or four different speakers today - Daddy was initially really excited because he got to wear a lanyard. This is an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reference that made Mommy giggle when he sent her a quick message: Got my lanyard!
The speakers were good, like I said. The dB range on the praise and worship, though, was seriously close to the 110 dB range, if not slightly higher. Having just measured our own services, I have a pretty good idea about how loud something is. For example, things are probably on the loud side when your entire body is vibrating.
But Daddy took lots of notes, and learned a bit from the various speakers in what are called "labs." That's what you call a class or a session or a meeting now. We went from lab to lab to lab today, and each time Daddy was looking for the chemistry equipment. Clearly, I have to rise up with my vocabulary!
Anyway, I was glad I got to the conference. There was a lot of stuff for sale there, of course. And even more exciting: there were food trucks outside. Sadly, these were all there just before the labs started, and NOT there when people were actually hungry. So my quest for a food truck meal goes on. God will arrange the perfect food truck experience for us some day in the near future. That's the definition of faith, friends.
Tennis class at 4:00 was lots of fun for Madison. She was the top of the pyramid now, the most experienced person in her class. She jumped from the 5:00 time to the 4:00 time. Her classmates from last year were in the 5:00 time, but that time was just not working so well for our schedule. This new time is better, but she's surrounded by newbies. Madison loves to help though, and she spent a lot of time assisting the teacher and even showing other kids the proper way to swing a tennis racket.
Madison did homework today, and did some playing with LEGO bricks too. She's suddenly into building things with her LEGO bricks, and just about every day. After yesterday's block party, she has new mini-figures that she's into keeping around upstairs at bedtime, and downstairs the rest of the day. Rise and shine, gang!
Tonight we had our last service for Under the Sea. It may have been noted before, but we're ready to move on now. It has been a full and wonderful run, and after tonight, we've felt we've told nearly all there was to tell. Tonight's message had to do with the recycled stuff that washes ashore, all of it used to make sea sculptures. God recycles people too - in fact, we wrote a poem based on those four lepers in the Old Testament. It was written in less than fifteen minutes, so don't expect the world. Anyway, these four went to the enemy's camp, and of course, the enemy was gone because the enemy heard the sound of a much greater army. So four guys drove off a huge army. Talk about a bit of synergistic leadership!
Or something like that. I had to look up synergy.
We were kind poking fun at the mission statements of many of these leadership conferences. Your first thought upon reading these is, "Is that in English?" Honestly, when was the last time you used the word "synergy" in a sentence?
TED: "Say, Calvin! Love what you did in the board meeting. Lots of synergy behind that idea!"
CALVIN: "You don't even know what synergy means, Ted."
TED: "Yeah, you're right. I'll just leave now."
Fortunately, I only heard the word synergy once today. And yes, it was used in a sentence. We saw about three or four different speakers today - Daddy was initially really excited because he got to wear a lanyard. This is an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reference that made Mommy giggle when he sent her a quick message: Got my lanyard!
The speakers were good, like I said. The dB range on the praise and worship, though, was seriously close to the 110 dB range, if not slightly higher. Having just measured our own services, I have a pretty good idea about how loud something is. For example, things are probably on the loud side when your entire body is vibrating.
But Daddy took lots of notes, and learned a bit from the various speakers in what are called "labs." That's what you call a class or a session or a meeting now. We went from lab to lab to lab today, and each time Daddy was looking for the chemistry equipment. Clearly, I have to rise up with my vocabulary!
Anyway, I was glad I got to the conference. There was a lot of stuff for sale there, of course. And even more exciting: there were food trucks outside. Sadly, these were all there just before the labs started, and NOT there when people were actually hungry. So my quest for a food truck meal goes on. God will arrange the perfect food truck experience for us some day in the near future. That's the definition of faith, friends.
Tennis class at 4:00 was lots of fun for Madison. She was the top of the pyramid now, the most experienced person in her class. She jumped from the 5:00 time to the 4:00 time. Her classmates from last year were in the 5:00 time, but that time was just not working so well for our schedule. This new time is better, but she's surrounded by newbies. Madison loves to help though, and she spent a lot of time assisting the teacher and even showing other kids the proper way to swing a tennis racket.
Madison did homework today, and did some playing with LEGO bricks too. She's suddenly into building things with her LEGO bricks, and just about every day. After yesterday's block party, she has new mini-figures that she's into keeping around upstairs at bedtime, and downstairs the rest of the day. Rise and shine, gang!
Tonight we had our last service for Under the Sea. It may have been noted before, but we're ready to move on now. It has been a full and wonderful run, and after tonight, we've felt we've told nearly all there was to tell. Tonight's message had to do with the recycled stuff that washes ashore, all of it used to make sea sculptures. God recycles people too - in fact, we wrote a poem based on those four lepers in the Old Testament. It was written in less than fifteen minutes, so don't expect the world. Anyway, these four went to the enemy's camp, and of course, the enemy was gone because the enemy heard the sound of a much greater army. So four guys drove off a huge army. Talk about a bit of synergistic leadership!
Once upon a time, there were four
men with a disease
They
scratched at their skin as if they had fleas
They
were thrown out! Discarded outside the
city wall
Because
they had leprosy. Ew. Get away from me y’all.
Now
the city was surrounded by an army of men
A
whole bunch of bad guys against Jerusalem
Nobody
could go in, and nobody go out
And
the city’s food supply was about to run out
So
these four thrown-out men, got together to talk
And
one had suggested, “Let’s go for a walk!”
The
others looked at him like he was a fool
Walk
to the enemy’s camp? Dude, that is not
cool.
At
once the first leper came up with a reply
He
said, if we stay here, we’ll certainly die!
So
they walked on a path, towards the enemy’s place
And
the camp was deserted. There was no
trace!
What
happened was this – the army was here
And
they heard the four coming, and were filled with fear!
Now
why would an army so large it was busting
Be
scared of four men, with skin so disgusting?
Here’s
the secret: an angel went on ahead
And
filled all those soldiers with nothing but dread
Instead
of four lepers, the bad guys heard a roar
Of
an approaching army larger than anything before
The
bad guys fled, and to leave it was rude:
It
would just go bad, right? So they ate
all their food.
Quite
full and quite happy, the lepers returned to the city
Where
the people were suffering. It sure
wasn’t pretty.
And
the four came back heroes, and told of their quest
And
everyone was shocked – who would have guessed
That
these four discarded men, would in turn save the day
The
answer is simple, and we’ll tell you today.
That
God likes to recycle. What we throw away
God
never lets go of – His love finds a way.
And that
is our moral. To Him be the glory!
And
that my dear friends, is the end of our story.
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