Here are the most popular blog posts from the month of October 2010:

From today’s second reading: “We ask you, brothers and sisters, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling with him, not to be shaken out of your minds suddenly, or to be alarmed either by a ‘spirit.’" HAPPY HALLOWEEN. <image from woot.>

(this is a risk as a funsie post, because it might only be funny for me)

Was walking down the street to a ballgame in August…

Saw this…

Snapped a picture on my cell phone (click on picture to enlarge( and thought to myself,

“Must be a vampire convention in town!”

Happy All Hollows Eve!

h/t to Presentation Zen, This link offers analysis on an excellent 10-min video clip from a presentation by John Cleese expressing a few of his ideas on creativity

Attitude is everything.

My son’s army buddies have a no pouting policy placing a ban on “boo-boo lips.”  They know that one constant complainer or wimpy whiner can be hazardous to morale.

John Maxwell shared these insights about those with infectious attitudes recently:

Polluters are like smokestacks, belching out dirty smoke all the time. They hate clear skies, and no matter how clear the air is, they can find a way to poison it with gloom. When the people around them “breathe” their toxins, they feel sicker and sicker.

Purifiers, on the other hand, make everything around them better. It doesn’t matter what kind of rotten atmosphere they encounter. They take in the toxic words of polluters in the organization just as everyone else does, but they filter the words before passing them on. What goes in may be gloomy and negative, but when it comes back out, it’s fresh and clear.

Yesterday, we saw Benjamin Zander as a Purifier. Didn’t you just feel bettere having watched that? As bearers of the Good News, should we not lean towards being Purifiers?

William Cardinal Keeler, the fourteenth Archbishop of Baltimore, close as his motto, Opus Fac Evangelistae. "Do The Work of an Evangelist."   Well, PLEASE, give yourself the gift of twenty minutes and watch an evangelist at work.

Here’s my own notes from the video:

We need to be transformed into one-buttock players.

I not going to go one until <everyone> will come to love and understand … That’s what we’re going to do.

That’s one of the characteristics of a leader – not to doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming.

This is about vision, this is about the long line – like the bird who flies over the field and doesn’t care about the fences underneath.

Why am i clapping? “’cause we were listening.”

How would you walk, how would you talk, how would you be if you wanted to move in increments? How would you walk, how would you talk, how would you be if you wanted everyone to fall in love with your vision?

The conductor of an orchestra does not make a sound.  He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful. My job was to awaken possibility in other people.

If their eyes are shiny, you know you are doing it. If their eyes are not shiny, you get to ask a question: Who am I being that my players eyes are not shiny? I have a definition of success: it is about how many shiny eyes I have about me.

Remember, St. Paul encouraged Timothy: “But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry.” (h/t Marcel)

The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry recently released the names of this year’s honorees of the National Youth Ministry Awards which recognize significant and outstanding contributions made by women and men to the field of Catholic youth ministry.

The 2010 National Youth Ministry Awards will be presented on Friday, December 10, during the afternoon general session, 4:30-6:00 pm at the National Conference on Catholic Youth Ministry. Here is the list of recipients along with my own commentary:

> Athletics/Camping/Special Populations — Bill Ford (Athletics, Diocese of Oakland) I don’t know Bill well, but will pay attention when the award is read because there is always a great story attached to this award.
> Diocesan Youth Ministry — Susan Dorfmeister (Diocese of Dallas) Susan has been around for  a good while and is one of the great “salt of the earth” folks of youth ministry. In a podcast of this site, Susan discussed legacy.

(more…)

Getting personal for a moment…

I’m moving to a new apartment at week’s end… which is, for me, may be bringing a end to the transitions that have been in abundance all around me…  If feel as if everything has been packed or stacked around me, physically and emotionally; that change was swirling, and yet, I had not changed.

It’s probably a guy thing (I don’t presently have a woman in my life who would generously point this out to me) but I have fooled myself into thinking that I wasn’t overwhelmed at times, did not have moments of anger, or was stuck while life was moving.

So, living my own story, I’m moving.  And, regarding my own sense of direction regarding ministry, you should have been able to detect that as well.

And, I have recognized in the move that, while I live alone, I am not just packing for me but others.  My Army son is stationed in Iraq (I’m moving his possessions as well.) I’m moving family Christmas decorations (stuffed bears for the tree that each have a name) that the daughters will be seeking for a sense of “home” in the new place.

And, further still, as I continue to move in life and ministry, I hope to share the journey of ministry with you as well, too.  Thank you for your continued and expanding readership.

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed,

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

Today’s readings speak of competing well and finishing the race; all to keep the faith. (something we Catholic Youth Ministers should take as encouragement on this World Youth Sunday in the U.S.)

And this all occurs in the middle of major league baseball’s championship season, which is commemorated throughout the land (except in the land of the Orioles.)

and so, a reflection on the soul as home plate.

h/t for video to Outside da Box

from The Far Side