29 Reads from 2019

Over the last few years, I've become more and more enthusiastic about reading. It's been a generative space for connectivity, learning, and inspiration- the more I do it, the more I yearn... for knowledge, wisdom and understanding, for meaningful relationships, for creativity and innovation, for a celebration of truth and beauty and a lament of all things working to morph and disfigure them. Strip away the rigid religiosity of its antithetical counterpart, and reading becomes a field in which we can practice and play with curiosity and imagination, regardless of the quantity, genre, or difference of opinions of the books we read.

This year, I've been entranced by a good many of these books (the asterisks next to some of the titles connote my very favorites from the year), and I hope, at the end of 2020 and with each succeeding year, I will be able to continue to reflect back and say, "it just keeps getting better."

In no particular order, here are my books from 2019. Take a quick skim through and let me know if one or two catch your eye for your 2020 reading list (also, below each you'll find a couple quotes and ideas that stood out to me while reading... not exhaustive, of course):

(1) People Over Profit by Dale Partridge:

1. Companies default to a 4 “Era” Cycle: Honest Era (People over Profit), Efficient Era (People and Profit), Deceptive Era (Profit over People), Apologetic Era (Recovery) - What does it look like to establish cultures and systems that preserve the Honest Era despite growth?
2. Western capitalism gets a bad wrap... the issue is less to do with “Capitalism” (as a concept) and more to do with the irresponsible capitalists who do not value / exploit people. We need a capitalism that values collaboration over competition, and treats social and environmental responsibilities as non-negotiables.
3. Generally, our “What” must be “doing good,” and our “Why” must be “people matter.” This is difficult to measure as markets run far more off of productivity data than people data, and often the “people data” we present is still more grounded in a productivity-orientation.

* (2) Practicing the King’s Economy by Michael Rhodes:

1. Greed is among the most deceptive of sins. Upon interviewing, the author found many pastors having expressed never hearing anyone confess to the sin of greed, and yet “the love of money has led us to believe that standards of living that were normal just a generation ago are totally unfeasible today.” Our western idea of financial responsibility "often masquerades as a bastard form of “stewardship” that tricks us into thinking God honestly prefers that we ensure we are shores up against every possible financial disaster before opening wide our hands to the marginalized.” Referencing GK Chesterton, we start “considering how to manufacture ever larger needles and breed ever smaller camels.”
2. "The meal that makes a community a community, that creates the economy of the kingdom, is a meal that welcomes the poor and marginalized as full participants in ways that make no sense to the surrounding culture." In the words of Jean Vanier, “At the heart of celebration, there are the poor. If [they] are excluded, it is no longer a celebration.... A celebration must always be a festival of the poor.”
3. On the idea of Jubilee: "Don't miss how different the Jubilee was from either of our typical modern-day "conservative" or "liberal" options. The Jubilee wasn't conservative, because it radically restricted the invisible hand of the market and undermined the effectiveness of economic incentives (by restricting the sale of land and thus placing some limits on people's ability to capitalize on investments). Nor did it treat the endless acquisition of personal property as a right. But the Jubilee wasn't liberal either, because it didn't create equity by redistributing the results of the community's labor. It created equity by restoring the factors of production to Israel's equitable starting point, where each family had access to their own family farm. That such a complete reset occurred only every fifty years makes clear that individuals would have felt the effects of their decisions."

(3) Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura:

1. Generative Creativity is a reminder to not only bring static ideas to life but to focus on bringing forth reproductive ideas that in turn bring forth more life postpartum (ex: taking wheat to produce bread, taking bread to produce community, taking community to produce network of communities) 
2. “Mearcstapa” is a term from Beowulf that means “Boarder Stalker” - these are people who go between tribes promoting unity and collecting/delivering good news that can be shared as encouragement and catalyst for 
3. Beauty opposes modern utilitarian pragmatism; it is not always necessary or efficient but is what makes something last and worthwhile. It isn’t a practical good, but makes a person more whole. Often our exposure to beauty is what exposes us of our own error (injustice), compelling us into our need to respond (lamenting than creating).

* (4) Unwanted by Jay Stringer:

1. Honor with (not without) Honesty: "Jesus says that unless you leave your family - your mother, your father - you cannot follow him. We cannot walk with Jesus into healing if we remain loyal to protecting the people and communities that most contributed to our harm. As we proceed, I ask that you be attentive to what you are feeling. Where do you feel uneasy? When do you feel disloyal to your family? When do you feel self-contempt? When do you feel the need to universalize your struggle? Where are you deeply curious? This [process] is not about locating blame in others; it is about pondering the ways that the harm of others has influenced you toward behavior that has cornered you with shame"
2. The Six Core Experiences of Unwanted Sexual Behavior are: Deprivation, Dissociation, Unconscious Arousal, Futility, Lust, and Anger. "It is when these experiences link and reinforce one another that the stage is set for unwanted sexual behavior to appear."
3. "Many men are bound to compulsive behavior because they do not metabolize their futility without turning toward a sexualized anger. The madness of unwanted sexual behavior is that the very thing we develop to assuage a lack of power ends up becoming a powerful master over us. Futility is never content with running one aspect of someone's life; it wants to reproduce, infiltrating every aspect."..."If you want to know why you've resigned to unwanted sexual behavior, find out what life events convinced you that hope is pointless."

(5) Boundaries in Marriage by Henry Cloud:

1. The point of boundaries must always be to the end of fighting for the ultimate good of all involved. They must promote Freedom (you cannot be controlled by the other / they cannot be controlled by you), Persuasiveness without demand or exploitation, and Protection (guarding the “good” and discharging the “bad”). Overall, boundaries are only really a tool for us to set for ourselves, not something we set for others.
2. Learn to grieve what you can’t control. Do not rely on the affirmation of your spouse. Be an individual with your spouse.
3. A question we do not get the luxury of asking: “Why should I have to solve a problem that I did not cause?” No one is righteous; all have contributed to the problem. Jesus teaches us twice in Matthew that we are to go to our wrongdoer and take initiative towards reconciliation

* (6) Refugee Workforce by Chris Chancey:

1. In May 2019 (the time this book was written), there were 7.5 million job openings in the US with only 5.8 million individuals “hypothetically” looking for work. Should all of these spots be filled by the US’s unemployed (not all of whom are actively looking), there would still be a minimum of 1.7 million jobs in need of filling, debunking the xenophobic myth that refugees will “steal our jobs.” (A couple things to note: not all immigrants are refugees, but all refugees are immigrants; the US has capped refugee entry at 18,000 for fiscal year 2020, an all time low since Congress passed the refugee resettlement program in 1980).
2. “While Baby Boomers gravitated toward skilled trades and lifetime careers, Generations X, Y, and Z prefer more flexible and dynamic work. This growing divergence is becoming most noticeable within the manufacturing, construction, and healthcare industries, where thousands of positions are already unfilled.”
3. “Refugees are the single-most screened and vetted people group to enter the U.S. Many refugees are victims of terrorism themselves and desire to live in peace and safety. Contrary to common misconception, immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.” With this, “not a single American has been killed by a refugee in a terrorist attack since the refugee act of 1980.” Instead, refugees are high-value contributors to society and the US economy, with a growth mindset of resilience, adaptability, desire to prove self, willingness to take risks, tolerance of uncertainty, and eagerness to help others and learn.

(7) The New Trail of Tears by Naomi Shaefer Riley:

1. While not in any way advocating for segregation (specifically speaking of schools), Desegregation actually had an extremely negative affect on many minority students, particularly Indigenous peoples (difficulty relating to white professors and students, cultural appropriation and colonization, classroom prejudices, etc.). Today, some of the biggest changes in support of indigenous peoples could occur through education reform (Passing charter school laws and localize charter schools, further disconnection from government regulation, and better utilization of Teach for America).
2. There are ~3 million “American” Indigenous peoples living in the States, and ~1 million live on reservations. Statistically, they have the highest poverty rates in America, and their rates of suicide, rape victims, child abuse, and alcohol addiction are each almost (and in some cases more) than twice that of the general population.
3. In the 1850s, Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act, creating the Indian reservation system. This system allowed whites to remove indigenous peoples from “their” spaces and systemically keep them under control and supervision. Reservations only report to the federal government, but are independent from State taxes, allowing them a monopoly on tax exemption for addictive markets such as cigarettes, alcohol, gaming and marijuana. This becomes an incredibly dangerous market when functioning as the back bone for your local economy.

(8) Moving in the Apostolic by John Eckhardt:

1. Apostleship comes first among the gifts and is pivotal in foundation-laying. This often means they are the first in a geographic location, establish the first connections among communities and people groups, and are the first to cast vision and direction to those they are a part of. Apostles tend to be frontiersmen pioneering new terrain and expanding the church’s borders and breaking down past experiences/traditions/culture for the sake effective preservation and expansion (focus is less on growing more church units, but more “effective” church units).
2. The early church was in a time politically dominated by the Romans but culturally dominated by the Greeks (including the prevalence of sophism - fallacious arguments intended for deliberate deception). Apostles care about reformation and necessary change to keep the church in context, seeing when the church is not in its proper form and combatting cultural impositions of deceptive false-kingdoms.
3. Apostles are first known by their authority, typically viewed and found as leaders even when they are not “trying” to lead. When apostles eventually come into their full identity, they will receive both a commission and anointing. 

(9) Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry:

1. Agree or disagree with her conclusions, Jackie Hill Perry’s story is a compelling example of acknowledging that we have been bought with a price - mind, body, and spirit - and all we are is designed to be rendered back to the King and his desires for us, whatever that may be. 
2. “Could it be that God would not have me going about the rest of my life believing that these lesser forms of “love" were the real thing? Perhaps this love He, filled to the brim with, was pouring over into His dealings with me. And perhaps this love was compelling Him, on the basis of grace—an undeserved love—to help me see that every person, place or thing that I loved more than Him could not keep its promise to love me eternally.”
3. “When, as a new Christian, I was introduced to the typical nature in which some Christians speak of their lives in the loveliest terms, I refused to give in to the convenient misery of being ambiguous about the truth. If the truth is what sets us free, then why not walk in it at all times? With wisdom and love, of course, but also with the reality that truth is where freedom begins.” 

* (10) Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn:

1. White people dislike silence because they fear it, but silence is incredibly important - it’s where the true self is shown. A lesson we can learn from many indigenous tribes is the sacredness of waiting in silence and only speaking when there is something to be said (holy and substantial). What would it look like for we as a people to learn the gift of silence while sitting together?
2. The freedom of Whites is often chains and cages, giving definition of rights and possessions and protecting what is theirs, and using power (not honor) to determine the walls of freedom. 
3. Whites come to take possession of land, but Natives honor the land as the Creator’s and a gift to be shared (you can’t own land any more than you can own the seas or air or sky). Eventually, Whites form many acts and treatises, such as the Dawes Act, that allocate land (typically inferior land) to Natives, but this philosophically imposed the ideology of “land ownership” rather than stewardship onto Natives - an ideology they did not subscribe to. Such actions only reinforced the reality that this land was now conquered and submissive to White ideology. If you want to learn how to be more like indigenous peoples: be closer to the earth, give away some of your possessions, help each other, don’t blame others for your situations, don’t make other people into what you want them to be and make yourself into what you are not, and listen to the earth and not just build upon it.

(11) Reflections by Rosa Parks:

1. Mrs. Parks humorously debunks several myths around the famous “bus boycott” scene of her refusing to move to the back of the bus and eventually being escorted off by a security guard. She was not some frail, old lady with tired feet; what she was tired of was the injustice trying to strip her of her humanity.
2. In 1994 (at age 81), Mrs. Parks had her front door broken into. When she came around to see what happened at the door, she found a man standing at the entrance; he said he chased the person off who did it. He then continued on to ask Mrs. Parks for a small payment for his act of chivalry, to which she walked to her room to pull some money out of her purse. The man followed her to her bedroom, beat her, and stole the cash he could fine. 
3. Two of her final exhortations in this book were to always pursue children to mentor in the next generation and to always manifest hope by stepping across to the uncomfortable other side and learn from those different than you.

* (12) A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards:

1. “David was caught in a very uncomfortable position; however, he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, when men are wiser still, even fewer understand… God did not have - but wanted very much to have - men and women who would live in pain. God wanted a broken vessel.”
2. “You can easily tell when someone has been hit by a spear. he turns a deep shade of bitter. David never got hit. Gradually, he learned a very well-kept secret...One, never learn anything about the fashionable, easily mastered art of spear throwing. Two, stay out of the company of all spear throwers. And three, keep your mouth tightly closed. In this way, spears will never touch you, even when they pierce your heart.”
3. “Rules were invented by elders so they could get to bed early. Men who speak endlessly on authority only prove they have none. And kings who make speeches about submission only betray twin fears in their hearts: they are not certain they are really true leaders, sent by God. And they live in mortal fear of a rebellion...No... authority from God is not afraid of challenges, makes no defense, and cares not one whit if it must be dethroned.” 

(13) Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch:

1. The true measure of a community’s flourishing is how well the powerful care for the weakest and most vulnerable.
2. Authority is meant to characterize all people, and only in the context where Vulnerability is present (vulnerability being the exposure to meaningful risk where something could be lost or wounded). Having Dominion is the embodiment of both Authority and Vulnerability while acting on behalf of and in consideration of the flourishing of the surrounding creation.
3. Real Authority requires thousands of hours of seemingly unrewarding and unstimulating Vulnerability that no amount of simulation can produce. Unfortunately, there are vast amounts of artificial simulations available (video games, porn, etc.) that are dangerously addictive because of their limitless accessibility, convenience, and reward, without the requirement of any type of authentic Vulnerability. Anything done without Vulnerability tends to lead either to Exploitation or Apathy and Withdrawal.

(14) Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch:

1. The point of families is to develop whole human beings. This consists of the instillment of both Wisdom and Courage- Wisdom being the knowledge that contains understanding which points towards the conviction to act; Courage being the actual strength and conviction that brings about our action. Neither of these comes without vulnerable relationship, which is the expression of need and ability to receive from others. While technology is an extraordinary expression of human creativity, at best technology is neutral in the stewarding of human beings towards wholeness, but at worst it numbs us from the ability to ever grow in either Wisdom or Courage. (Only 7-10% of people say that technology has actually benefited the closeness and growth of their family)
2. Sit in your living space and see what you notice as the focus of the room. Are they things of necessity or not, things that promotes convenience or creativity, things that generate life? Spend some time removing the things in each room that ask little of you and develop little in you.
3. The 10 Basic Principles for being a Tech-Wise Family: Develop wisdom and character together as a family; Create more than you consume; Live according to the rhythm of work and rest; Devices “go to bed” before we do and they “get up” after we do; No screens before double digits (age); Use screens together for a purpose, not aimlessly and alone; Car time is conversation time; Spouses have one another’s passwords and parents have full access to children’s devices; Sing together (create music) rather than consume the music of others; Show up (physically) for the big events of life

* (15) Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby:

1. “The failure of many Christians in the South and across the nation to decisively oppose the racism in their families, communities, and even in their own churches provided fertile soil for the seeds of hatred to grow. The refusal to act in the midst of injustice is itself an act of injustice. Indifference to oppression perpetuates oppression”... “Jumping ahead to the victories means skipping the hard but necessary work of examining what went wrong with race and the church”
2. “The decades after the Civil War proved that racism never goes away, it just adapts. Although the Union had won the military victory, the ideology of the Confederate South battled on. Attorney Bryan Stevenson put it this way: “The North won the Civil War, but the South won the narrative war.”
3. “Christian complicity with racism in the twenty-first century looks different than complicity with racism in the past. It looks like Christians responding to 'black lives matter' with the phrase 'all lives matter.' It looks like Christians consistently supporting a president whose racism has been on display for decades. It looks like Christians telling black people and their allies that their attempts to bring up racial concerns are 'divisive.' It looks conversations on race that focus on individual relationships and are unwilling to discuss systemic solutions. Perhaps Christian complicity in racism has not changed after all. Although the characters and the specifics are new, many of the same rationalizations for racism remain.” 

(16) Traction by Gino Wickham:

1. On average, people lose sight of and begin to drift from the organization’s vision, mission, and values within 90 days. It’s important to review, reflect on, and maintain this consistent language via Quarterly Meetings to stay on track with where you want to go, why you want to go there, and how you plan to get there.
2. Have a running list of prioritized “Issues” that you bring to your weekly team meeting. Not all will be hit on in the meeting so continue to update weekly based on urgency and importance.
3. G.W.C. is a necessary “People Metric” for every team - Each team member must: Get it, Want it, and have Capacity for it. The three questions to ask regarding each team member: Does this person fully understand the Vision and Core Values of the company? Are they fully bought in and desire to embody the Mission themselves? Do they have enough time, skill, and mental/emotional reserve to be able to do the job well?

(17) 100X Leader by Jeremie Kubicek & Steve Cockram:

1. Leadership always starts with self, but it never ends with self. This is the journey of a 100X Leader realizing they can’t give away what they don’t first possess. You have to engage with your own leadership - the process towards 100% healthiness - before you attempt to lead and multiply yourself into others - 100X influence.
2. One of the epitomizing examples of maximizing your performance, doing your best, etc. is the image of peaking Mount Everest. Typically, when we think of this depiction, we envision the individual that’s been training for years and preparing themselves for the feat of a lifetime; rarely, if ever, do we consider that peaking has never been done for “that guy” without a Sherpa. The goal of a 100X Leader is not to be a leader reaching their full potential, but a leader who knows their full potential and helps others arise to theirs.
3. Self-preservation often leads people to losing what they are afraid of losing faster. If people are responsive and trust their leader, they will tend to modify their behavior and change, but if they are not known by and in turn do not trust their leader, then their self-preservation will be like a wall preventing engagement.

* (18) The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois:

1. The Purpose of Education: "Teach workers to work,--a wise saying; wise when applied to German boys and American girls; wiser when said of Negro boys, for they have less knowledge of working and none to teach them. Teach thinkers to think,--a needed knowledge in a day of loose and careless logic; and they whose lot is gravest must have the carefulest training to think aright. If these things are so, how foolish to ask what is the best education for one or seven or sixty million souls! shall we teach them trades, or train them in liberal arts? Neither and both: teach the workers to work and the thinkers to think; make carpenters of carpenters, and philosophers of philosophers, and fops of fools. Nor can we pause here. We are training not isolated men but a living group of men,--nay, a group within a group. And the final product of our training must be neither a psychologist nor a brickmason, but a man. And to make men, we must have ideals, broad, pure, and inspiring ends of living,--not sordid money-getting, not apples of gold. The worker must work for the glory of his handiwork, not simply for pay; the thinker must think for truth, not for fame. And all this is gained only by human strife and longing; by ceaseless training and education; by founding Right on righteousness and Truth on the unhampered search for Truth"... “We shall hardly induce black men to believe that if their stomachs be full, it matters little about their brains”
2. A Lament for Greed: “In the Black World, the Preacher and Teacher embodied once the ideals of this people--the strife for another and a juster world, the vague dream of righteousness, the mystery of knowing; but to-day the danger is that these ideals, with their simple beauty and weird inspiration, will suddenly sink to a question of cash and a lust for gold. Here stands this black young Atalanta, girding herself for the race that must be run; and if her eyes be still toward the hills and sky as in the days of old, then we may look for noble running; but what if some ruthless or wily or even thoughtless Hippomenes lay golden apples before her? What if the Negro people be wooed from a strife for righteousness, from a love of know- ing, to regard dollars as the be-all and end-all of life? What if to the Mammonism of America be added the rising Mam- monism of the re-born South, and the Mammonism of this South be reinforced by the budding Mammonism of its half- wakened black millions? Whither, then, is the new-world quest of Goodness and Beauty and Truth gone glimmering? Must this, and that fair flower of Freedom which, despite the jeers of latter-day striplings, sprung from our fathers' blood, must that too degenerate into a dusty quest of gold,--into lawless lust with Hippomenes?”
3. Dehumanization Lingers After Trauma: "Captivity doesn't teach you how to be free"... “So flagrant became the political scandals that reputable men began to leave politics alone. Politics became a private matter for disreputable gain… Daily the Negro is coming more and more to look upon law and justice, not as protecting safeguards, but as sources of humiliation and oppression. That to leave the Negro helpless and without a ballot today is to leave him, not to the guidance of the best, but rather to the exploitation and debauchment of the worst... in any land, in any country under modern free competition, to lay any class of weak and despised people, be they black, or white, or blue, at the political mercy of their stronger, richer, and more resourceful fellows, is a temptation which human nature seldom has withstood and seldom will withstand. In explaining this unfortunate development (black on black crime), we must note two things: 1) that the inevitable result of emancipation was to increase crime and criminals, and 2) that the police system of the south was primarily designed to control slaves.”

* (19) Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni:

1. The more mature & established a company is (along with growing employment), the more it will be prone to developing silos that drift from a shared vision to competing visions
2. Overcoming silo wars requires a Thematic Goal calling for each department leader to take off their functional and departmental hats and put on a more general executive hat. Thematic Goals are not SMART, but instead far more qualitative, have a start and end point, and stretch across the entire organization for the sake of entire team buy-in.
3. Defining Objectives are the action items attached to the Thematic Goal that are scattered across all departments, drawing each back in via the ownership of action. 

(20) Rebel Talent by Francesca Gino:

1. There are 5 Core elements to being a “talented rebel” in business: Novelty, Curiosity, Perspective, Diversity, Authenticity
2. Many studies reveal that individuals that choose non-conformist behaviors are perceived as being more intelligent, competent, having higher credentials, greater authority, and a more open mind (i.e. non-conforming behaviors must have inherent push back and repercussions, making this or that person capable of withstanding opposition and substantively resilient). 
3. You are seen as more competent/credible (and actually gain more influence) when you acknowledge your failures (“I messed up, I’m sorry”) and ignorances (“I don’t understand, please teach me”) rather than redirecting questions, deflecting blame, and becoming defensive (Gino shares multiple case studies of executives and professors either humbling themselves/acknowledging their shortcomings, and self-preserving image and ego (the prior were perceived as more competent.

(21) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero:

1. God heals our image of who He is, and healing our image of God is pivotal in healing our image of self
2. Henri Nouwen once said, “Without solitude, it’s almost impossible to practice spirituality,” and yet the average group can only stand about ~15 seconds of silence
3. We all physiologically experience positive and negative emotions and desires (like it or not). We aren’t meant to hide from or stifle them, but take inventory of them and learn from them (where did they come from?).

(22) Blink by Malcolm Gladwell:

1. Focusing on and filling our minds with certain concepts actually predisposes us towards certain behaviors and prejudices us against others. When this happens, it is the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex that is flagging and prioritizing certain information above other information, and damage to this portion of the brain causes divisions between what we think (beliefs) and what we actually do (actions).
2. When we act quickly, our minds become narrow and fall back to the more primitive and known narratives in our mind. When we find ways to slow down, we are inviting our minds to unlock other portions of our brain that can be more observational and attentive to detail and nuance.
3. The average conversation takes ~7 minutes to get past the menial fluff and cordiality and into a depth of content where we are able to know and feel known. Often, however, due to our failure to thoughtfully self-introspect and understand our own personalities and operating systems, others fail to fully know us because we fail to fully know ourselves. Gladwell references one psychologist who would go into peoples rooms and make observations off of the layout, cleanliness, items around the room, etc. (without meeting the individual) and was able to describe the individuals personality more accurately than some of their closest friends/family members. 

(23) Underground Church by Brian Sanders:

1. The 21st century church must learn the concept of Networks (and functioning as a network of networks). This necessitates the embracing of diversity, decentralization, and a loss of vision rigidity for the sake of movement. This requires a passion from all within the Body, which comes more through an empowerment mindset than an instructive mindset. Passion, through empowerment, brings ownership, which calls for personal creativity and autonomy while interdependent among the Body.
2. The Kingdom is characterized by its poetic irony and paradox. 6 active and paradoxical tensions that exist (and the subsequent cultures they produce) are: Knowing and Not Knowing - A Culture of Experimentation; Humility and Confidence - A Culture of Submission; Prophetic and Personal - A Culture of Embodied Protest; Unity and Diversity - A Culture of Respect and Mission; Life and death - A Culture of Passion and Suffering Love; Clouds and fire- A Culture of Practical Dreamers.
3. We have an involuntary habit, like looking for dolphins, to continue looking for their appearance in the place we last saw them. But they won’t appear again from where they were; they will appear next en route to where they are going. We must have vision for the pace and trajectory of the movement of the Kingdom. Even the angels asked the disciples upon Yeshua’s ascension, “why do you still look up to the sky?” Similarly, another great paradox in terms of movement is that to capture the glory of previous generations we must refuse to be exactly like them.

(24) Collaborating with the Enemy by Adam Kahane:

1. In Stretch Collaboration, the goal is not negotiating down or setting action steps, nor is it holding the “other” to the expectation to change their beliefs; the goal is to find commonality from the place that “things need to change” without the initial need to impose particular views. In this, unlike more conventional (dare I say obsolete) forms of collaboration, we see the value of convergent stories, creating alternative shared narrative where both “sides” now function as the protagonist without the need to vilify one or the other.
2. There are 3 core pillars to Stretch Collaboration: Affirmation of the legitimacy and value of every stance; Joint Experimentation, pioneering experiential learning opportunities together; and Attentive Consciousness of self (notice your tendencies and triggers to demonize the other, default to postures of paternalism, shut down, react impulsively, etc.)
3. The process of creating (especially something that doesn’t already exist) requires a consistent process of destruction. We must find the form that serves the function and begin iterating over and over. Quoting (I believe) Hemingway, “You can only make a good text by rewriting a bad text 100 times,” so listen to possibility and not just certainty, and view progress as emergent more than binary.

(25) Enough by Buddy Gosey:

1. When we don’t know what we don’t know, and gain a hint of insight into the magnitude of our own unknowledge, we can either revert back to the comfort and arrogance of ignorance, or “repent for our prideful independence” and the belief that we could have ever seen and known in full.
2. Mordecai’s words to Esther: “if you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place…” Justice and vengeance belong to God, who are we to believe that such great works hinder on us? Esther is told it will come, whether she obeys or not. And yet, the Lord invites us into the outworking of his liberating work.
3. When your needs are not yet met, you have few resources to manufacture idols; once provision is made, it’s easy to turn gifts into entitlement and false gods. What good things have we brought into the world that didn’t first come from God?

(26) Smart Tribe by Christine Comaford:

1. Our brains establish their “Coding” around 7-9 years of age, and until intentionally engaged, reconfirm and build upon themselves as they run off of the now established “operating system”. This in mind, leadership development is most effective when it starts, not at inspiration or behavioral modification, but by actually engaging one’s story and, throughout the process (engaging trauma, pain points, etc.) recoding the beliefs connected to our emotions that drive our behaviors.
2. When it comes to maintaining focus, it’s important to clearly understand priority. If there are things (good, bad, or indifferent) that are not priority, what of the 3D’s do they fall into: Ditch, Delegate, or Defer?
3. Expectations + Ownership (Identifying with Purpose and Role) + Clear Rewards and Consequences = Accountability. Dopamine is triggered at Rewards, and Oxytocin is triggered at Purpose and Meaning. If accountability (and thus performance) is struggling, here are four steps to take, each a step deeper for each time addressing the issue: First Discussion, see if the person is OK (what’s going on? how are you doing?); Second Discussion, see if the person has too many tasks to handle (are you overloaded with responsibilities and action items?); Third Discussion, see if the person‘s role is too much for them to handle (is the position too much or not the right seat for you?); and Forth Discussion, see if the person actually wants to work in the organization (is this company and culture one in which you can own and within which you can flourish?).

(27) Anxiety as an Ally by Dan Ryckert:

1. Meditation takes practicing to get “good” at. Don’t get consumed with self condemnation if you get distracted and lose focus, but gradually draw your mind back and let the distractions drift away. Consciously remind yourself, “I’ll deal with that thought later when I’m not meditating.”
2. Panic attacks are often triggered by the unconscious fear of further panic attacks. A helpful reminder in the midst of a panic attack is to tell yourself, “it always ends,” especially when extreme thoughts start to run rampant.
3. Anxiety has no silver bullet. Find what is most effective for you, and retrace your history with panic and anxiety attacks to see if there are any trends/correlations that have led to them. If there are - typically spaces that invoke fear - consider a progressive plan in how to engage them head on.

(28) Reclaiming Hope by Michael Wear:

1. "For Christians, one inescapable conclusion of this extraordinary command is that we are obliged to work for the benefit and the flourishing of all people, whether or not they see the world as we do or agree with us in any way. Christians’ obligation is not to their “tribe,” but to their God - a God who cares deeply for all people."
2. "When I (Michael) became a Christian, I soon understood that throwing myself without reservation behind any party platform was impossible. My allegiances were elsewhere. Politics provided a choice between imperfect options."
3. Wear quoting pastor Thabiti Anyabwile, “Hope was beneath the respectable Sunday-best attire worn to civil rights marches. Hope was undergirding calls for respectable self-control among sit-in demonstrators while being inhumanely sprayed with condiments at lunch counters. Hope was resting in the weary hearts of respectable marchers and demonstrators packed in jail cells following protests. . . . Hope is not an abstraction or an escapist fantasy. Sometimes hope is the only real asset the oppressed have.”

(29) The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson:

1. Shame is fundamentally a self-hatred that flairs up when we are unable to control or change our reality. Because of this, shame can be both a cause and effect of our own false narrative, begetting and reinforcing itself. Not only do we feel shame for the object of shame that we cannot change, but we then begin to feel shame because we feel shame, reinforcing our shameful behaviors and producing a proverbial “downward spiral” of despair.
2. The concept of neuroplasticity teaches us that the earlier in our lives, the more malleable our brains are, and the older we get, the more linkages and converging neuropathways are developed. Implicit memory, then, is just as much about projecting the future as it is retelling the past, because we are predisposing ourselves to default to certain responses in certain situations, no matter how unwanted or shameful (“practice makes permanent”). The only way to bring about change requires the engagement of your story, and the rebuilding/redirecting of neuropathways.
3. By design, we are necessarily relational creatures, beginning at our need for attunement as a child. Shame, therefore, is rooted in the breakdown of our desire to be known and to know, and our desire to be desired. It’s extremely ironic, then, that Eve looked to meet her shameful desire with the only thing that did not stem from relationship. Because of this, fear followed her anticipation of shame, and hiding (i.e. isolation) followed her anticipation of fear. Shame always produces the resentment of narrative exposure and interpersonal vulnerability, the very thing that is needed to overcome it.