Preparing

We are roughly 8 weeks out from baby. The weeks are clicking by faster than I ever would have thought possible. The pregnancy has gone very smoothly for Sandy- she never had morning sickness but she has developed some muscle soreness in her back and legs as of late. As we get closer and closer to our due date- May 27 we are desperately trying to wrap up all the loose ends.

The Nursery. We have the nursery put together. Sandy and her mother helped put the finishing touches on the paint and decorations during Spring Break. I put the crib together- which was a bit more of an ordeal than I anticipated. I managed to strip 2 screws with the stupid, ridiculously small alan wrench included in the box. No worries though. Simmons sent us 2 replacement screws and Sandy gingerly put them in place. Darn my fat fingers! Sandy’s coworkers are throwing us a shower this week. We are thrilled that we now have a place for the gifts and diapers and clothes.

Birthing Classes. We start parenting/birthing classes this week as well. Thankfully, the hospital is across the street from our house so we won’t have to worry about traveling. I am a bit nervous about the classes just because I don’t know what to expect- except I know that we will watch THE video. I’ll give you an update on the class on Friday and let you know how it goes.

Loose Ends. We are preparing the hospital bag. We have her hospital attire and essentials ready to go. I am creating a birth playlist for my iPod- Some soothing tracks from Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, David Crowder, Alison Krauss and, of course, U2. I am also packing DVDs for Sandy- Our room will have a DVD player and Sandy thinks (ha) that she will want to watch “King of the Hill.” I’m packing them but not holding my breath. We have a car seat for my car. I need to put the stroller together. Um…. We’re just getting everything we can think of ready for baby. Anything we’re missing?

At The Accordance Seminar

Today I’m at the Accordance Training Seminar at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have used the Accordance software on my Mac for the past 4 years and love it. The software has been an indispensable resource to me for personal study and for professional lesson preparation. I am very much looking forward to finding better and more useful ways to maximize my Accordance experience. Oh yeah… and this seminar is FREE! Woo-Hoo!

Check out the Accordance Software website for more information. If you have a Mac and are looking for the absolute best Bible program look no further.

Live Blog of the Seminar

9:12am: And… here… we… Go!
9:15am: Intro. from Mark Allison. Working with Accordance for 10 years.
9:17am: Latest version is 8.2.1. (I’m up-to-date!)
9:22am: In Accordance the Bible is central. Searching is also central.
9:32am: 4 seconds to search for every word in Bible (for given translation). Hit details and see a concordance for each translation.
9:37am: To amplify. Select/highlight a word in a given translation and choose a new translation or tool (Anchor/Eastons/Dictionary) to find the word in that selection. Super cool.
9:38am: This truly is Instant Access. Everything is linked to everything.
9:40am: Highlight “heavens.” Amplify it to the Hebrew dictionary to find the Hebrew word and definition
9:45am: Geek Out! Amplify “heaven” in a tagged text. Hold option key. Click search and perform an all out search for “shamayim”. Click details and see how “shamayim” is used throughout the text:heaven, sky, highest, etc.
9:50am: Just amplified search “phileo” with the NT range in my NASB. Includes love, kiss, loved. Interesting.
10:03am: Now… on to the Resource Pallette
10:10am: In Parallels you can add a Greek/Hebrew text to compare
10:20am: Each English tool has information under Browser and can be searched alphabetically… or you can just search.
10:21am: oooh… I can do this in my Greek/Hebrew dictionaries too.
10:30am: At break I updated my library to Premier 8 and added the ESV Study Bible. Sweet!
11:30am: Who would have thought I could use the search commands? I can search by Chapter, verse, sentence. I can search a word in one text and display it in another translation.
11:33am: COMPARE TEXTS!!! Wow!
11:37am: CMND Shift _____. Keyboard shortcuts for search commands.
11:45am: Fuzzy Search- you can kinda remember it but not really. Search FUZZY COMMAND and find phrase you were looking for. This will be great when I can’t remember anything but the MJFV- The Micheal J Felker Version.
11:50am: Inference Command. Look at things like similar or exact phrases found in different books. We searched for similar phrases in Micah and Isaiah. Example: compare Micah 4:2 to Isaiah 2:3.
12:15pm: That’s Lunch
1:45pm: Creating charts and graphs on the fly. Searching in 1Samuel of where Saul, David, and Jonathan overlap.
1:50pm: Creating a list of every word in a given translation. Search the entire text. Click details and then click analysis. Can display in alphabetical order or by frequency of use. Example: Inheritance is used 244 in the NASB.
1:59pm: Find all the Greek words you don’t want to memorize by searching in the Greek text by search range Count 1 to find all the words used only once in the Greek. Increase the Count # to see words that are used more frequently- those are the ones you want to memorize!
2:05pm: Ok, I don’t need to get this technical in the original languages. I set up my default windows. My TNIV and ESV are displayed with their respective notes. I have quick access to the Anchor Bible Dictionary. I also have some personal notes and commentaries opened and ready to go every time I launch.
3:20pm: Dozens of ways to search through my various resources. So much information.
3:40pm: I think I’m nearing my information saturation point for the day.
4:10pm: Alright. Great day. I got a ton of new resources and I learned how to use the ones I already had even more! Whew! I am going to be a teaching/learning machine!!! Thanks to the Accordance team for their help and insights today. I’m headed home to help my wife prepare for her dinner party tonight. Peace!

Top O’ The Mountain To Ya

Center Lift Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! We had a great day on the mountain although ski conditions started to get a little icy. I went back to tackle that jump again. I had a much better outcome today. I didn’t bite it. I didn’t fall. I stuck the landing and stayed on my feet. Major victory!!! We only skied for half the day because of the ice but we had fun. Today was a good day.

In celebration of St. Paddy’s I skied to an all U2 playlist today. Here is what helped me have a great day carving snow.

U2 Ski-tastic Playlist
1) Bad / 40/ Where the Streets Have No Name“Bad” and “40” make great songs to listen to as you ride the lift. Time your ascent so that “Streets” kicks in as you reach the top of the lift.
2) ElevationOriginal, I know.
3) Mofo
4) Electrical Storm
5) Magnificent
6) Fast Cars
7) Cry/Electric Co.I credit this song for helping me stick the landing on the jump today.
8) Get On Your Boots
9) Out Of Control
10) Breathe
11) All Because of You
12) I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight

So, there you go. Maybe you weren’t as fortunate as me and you didn’t get to spend your Spring Break on the slopes. Maybe you’re thinking, “Great Micheal! How can I use this playlist since I’m stuck behind my desk and nowhere near the mountains.” No worries my friend. This is really my U2 Workout Playlist so hit the treadmill, hit the trail, or rock out behind your desk. There is no reason to think that this playlist is limited to the mountain time zone. Enjoy!

Crossroads

Ski-tastic Playlist 2

Hello from snowy Colorado. We have been hitting the slopes this week at Monarch and I have been having a great time. The weather has cooperated and it has been beautiful! Today I even attempted a jump. Reports say that I caught about 3 feet of air! I landed successfully but… unfortunately I then fell… pretty hard.

No worries though. My hip broke the fall.

It has been the one and only time that I have fallen all week. Apparently I live by the creed of “anything worth doing is worth doing big.”

I’ve been listening to my iPod on the slopes. I know to some that sounds like sacrilege but I feel that the mountain experience is enhanced by a great soundtrack. Here are a handful of the tracks that have made for a Ski-tastic playlist this week.

No Line On The Horizon by U2
Hot Fun In The Summer Time by Sly and the Family Stone
Use Somebody by Kings of Leon
Limelight by Rush
Numb by Linkin Park
Best of You by Foo Fighters
Misery Business by Paramore
Stand Up Comedy by U2
Just Like Heaven by The Cure
Hysteria by MUSE
When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin
Good Life by Kanye West

I hope everyone has a great spring break. We head for home on Wednesday and would really appreciate your prayers. Take it easy and enjoy the playlist.

peace,
Felker

Stand Up 360

So the official tour announcement was released today for U2360. The STADIUM tour kicks off in Europe at the end of July and will make its way around these parts in September and October. Take a look at the stage configurations that U2.com revealed today.

U23601

U23602

Is this not SICK?!?! I can’t wait to see some live shots of what it looks like in the real world. I am intrigued and, needless to say, pretty stoked. The only question I’m wrestling with is whether I get tickets up close to this monster or do I hang out in the back and take everything in? I really want to get into the thick of the crowd though. I’ve spent my time in the back! I guess only time (and ticket prices) will tell what I do.

BTW, Word around my house is that my wife will actually try and join me for a U2 concert. Hey, fourth times the charm I guess.

I am also totally digging on the following song. It has a great hook and some really great lyrics. My favorite is “Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.” BOOM! That line is a great challenge to me. God doesn’t need my help. He is fully capable and thankfully he has invited me to follow him. It is more like He walks this blind man across the street which I must always remember and gladly comply with. I hope you enjoy the song.

Love love love love love
Love love love love love

I got to stand up and take a step
You and I have been asleep for hours

I got to stand up
The wire is stretched
In between our two towers
Stand up in this dizzy world
Where a lovesick eye can steal the view
I’m gonna fall down if I can’t stand up
For your love

Love love love love love

Stand up, this is comedy
The DNA lotto may have left you smart
But can you stand up to beauty
Dictator of the heart
I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while I’m getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady

Oh, oh
Out from under your beds
C’mon, ye people
Stand up for your love

Love love love love love
Love love love love love

I gotta stand up to ego but my ego’s not really the enemy
It’s like a small child crossing an eight lane highway

On a voyage of discovery

Stand up to rock stars
Napolean is in high heels
Josephine, be careful
Of small men with big ideas

Oh, oh
Out from under your beds
C’mon, ye people
Stand up for your love

Love love love love love
Love love love love love

God is love
And love is evolution’s very best day

Soul rockin’ people moving on
Soul rockin’ people on and on
C’mon, ye people
We’re made of stars
C’mon, ye people
Stand up then sit down for your love

Love love love love love
Love love love love love
Love love love love love
Love love love love love

Stand Up Comedy
U2
No Line On the Horizon

Apples and Oranges

I recently attended a seminar for medical professionals and chaplains (of which I am neither) which featured Len Sweet, one of my favorite authors.

Sweet is a futurist and a theologian. His ideas have had a profound effect on the way I see, approach, and carry out ministry. Sweet speaks in images and during his keynote he gave me two pictures for approaching and integrating God’s Word that I’ve been wrestling with since that afternoon. While Sweet took these images in a different direction I believe that he planted a seed of thought in me and here is what has grown.

We must approach God’s Word- the reading, studying, and following of the Bible- like apples and oranges.

When I worked at a school I saw the dark side of Bible study. Most want to study God’s Word like they approach dissecting in biology class. They want a clean environment where the subject is surgically and carefully cut open. They poke and prod around inside until something of note is found. Then thy pull is out, observe it, note it, weigh it and then either discard it or preserve it in glass jars put on display for all to see. The problem with an autopsy is that the subject your are studying must be dead.

But God’s Word is “living and active.”

What if we approach the reading and integration of God’s Word more like the way we eat an orange or an apple?

I love oranges. When I get a hold of one the anticipation is palpable. I gently open it up. The aroma and the essence of the orange is all around me. I take in piece by piece not to observe and discard but to savor. I receive nourishment and refreshment from each segment. My senses are awakened and I feel revived because I have found life and health inside this fruit. Eating an orange is also a messy experience. The juice gets all over your hands and you are left with citrus scented fingers for much of the afternoon.

So it is with Scripture. We have been promised that within the Bible we will find the words of life. Study should never be to pull out and discard. It should be taken in, savored, and used to nourish our lives and point us to Almighty God. This approach leads to life change. You are forever changed by the Word when you allow it to permeate your mind, heart, and hands. Sometimes this is messy. Dissection gives quick answers, observations, and results. Digestion takes a little longer and the process is largely out of our hands. Relying on God is always harder than relying on your own white-coat lab notes.

While I tend to enjoy the effects and experience if eating oranges I know that I also need to eat more apples.

You eat apples whole. You take it in your hand and you just give it a good bite. You dive in all the way and all the way to the end. An apple has a start and a finish.

God’s Word also must be experienced as a whole. God’s story- His-story- is the good news with a beginning and an end. It starts with creation and moves through the whole of God’s revelation giving us a glimpse of His ultimate victory and glory. It tells us who God is, who we are, who/where God wants us to be, and how He is getting us there. When was the last time you experienced God’s Word as a whole? My guess is most of us eat more oranges than apples. However a good, balanced diet will include both.

Same goes for your spiritual health. When you study don’t dissect- savor and enjoy. Be changed, nourished, and revived by what you find and experience. Also, don’t just take in the Word piece by piece. Go all in and experience the Word as a whole- from beginning to end.

What are you waiting for? Take a snack break and experience what I’m talking about. May you be forever changed by God’s goodness and favor. May you take in His fruit and may it lead to health and growth and life in ways that impact you and those around you.

Sweet & Felker

High Play Count

She’s a rainbow and she loves the peaceful life
Knows I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight
There’s a part of me in the chaos that’s quiet
And there’s a part of you that wants me to riot

Everybody needs to cry or needs to spit
Every sweet tooth needs just a little hit
Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot
How can you stand next to the truth and not see it
Oh, a change of heart comes slow

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain
As you start out the climb
Do you believe me or are you doubting
We’re gonna make it all the way to the light
But I know I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight

Every generation gets a chance to change the world
Pity the nation that won’t listen to your boys and girls
‘Cos the sweetest melody is the one we haven’t heard
Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear
The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear
Oh, but a change of heart comes slow

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain
As you start out the climb
Listen for me, I’ll be shouting
We’re gonna make it all the way to the light
But you now I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight

Baby, baby, baby
I know I’m not alone
Baby, baby, baby
I know I’m not alone

Oh oh oh

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain
As we start out the climb
Listen for me, I’ll be shouting
Shouting to the darkness
Squeeze out sparks of light

You know we’re gonna go crazy
You know we’ll go crazy
You know we’ll go crazy if we don’t go crazy tonight

I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
U2
No Line On The Horizon

Just another great song off of No Line On The Horizon. I would give you the play count number but… I’m not ready to admit that I have already listened to the album that much. It’s big and I’m a little shocked.

Avoid the Cockroaches

I’ve been reading Tony Morgan’s Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musing on Leadership and it has quickly become one of my favorite books. I can see this small collection of blog posts, lists, thoughts, and challenges as one of my “go to” books for a quick jolt or simple reminder of my calling.

Tony Morgan is the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church in South Carolina. He has a great blog filled with all kinds of goodness. Killing Cockroaches is Tony’s attempt to collect some of his “best of” posts into book form because some “don’t embrace the credibility of an idea unless it is contained writing the hardbound covers of a book.” It is Small is the New Big for ministry leaders.

Morgan defines Killing Cockroaches as “responding to the urgent stuff in our lives that keeps us from doing the important stuff in our lives.” He relays a story when he worked in the corporate world as a CEO. One day he was working and was called away from his desk by a screaming employee who needed him to kill a cockroach that was in her office. I’m positive that “exterminator” was not on his nor any CEO’s list of job responsibilities.

This emergency (and others like it) would be what Covey would call the “tyranny of the urgent” and as a leader you could spend the bulk of your time chasing down emergencies and putting out fires. For some they feed on this type of energy. They love feeling needed or swooping in like a caped superhero. Unfortunately these feeling move from a feeling of exhilaration to burnout in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes we have to meet oncoming deadlines. Sometimes we have to swoop in and save the day. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. Sometimes we do have to kill the cockroaches.

But how can you avoid the soul-crushing realization that you’ve moved from a full-time leader to full-time exterminator. Morgan has some ideas:

Blocking out time in my schedule. A little proactive planning will give you the time you need to work on the important things. This helps me balance home, work, and Micheal time. I’m actively working on this in my life so that when emergencies do arise I can shift things around and still come back to what is important. I have also found that by trying to control my own schedule I can anticipate emergencies a little better than before. Do you plan a head? What can you do this week to pro-actively schedule your time?

Empowering other competent leaders. I spent 27hrs last weekend traveling (14hrs) and teaching (13hrs) between Thursday AM and Saturday PM. I was beat and I was a bit wiped come Sunday morning. The great thing is that I have a great group of adults and support people to help me teach classes on Sunday mornings. I know that I can count on them to lead, teach, and coach. So instead of worrying about getting a teacher to cover or summoning some energy from within (which would have been an impossible task this past Sunday) I knew that everything would be taken care of because I am sharing leadership responsibilities with other competent leaders. Who are you working with? Do they know that you appreciate them? Are you unleashing them for ministry?

Identifying my strengths. I always try to play with my strengths. In high school I was stocky and quick. In football it would have been a colossal mistake for me to try and push over or run over some of those 6ft+ offensive linemen. Instead I played to my strengths- stay low, go under/through, get into the backfield and mess up the O’s play. It worked. Could I have tried other techniques? Yes but I would have ended most games black and blue with little to no glory. Play to your strengths and avoid living within your weaknesses. When you have to constantly work within your weaknesses that is a recipe for disaster. Plus, working and living in your strengths most of the time gives you the (ahem) strength to kill those cockroaches when you have too. What are your strengths? Do you get to play to your strengths everyday?

Morgan states plainly that it is my fault when my day is filled with killing cockroaches. “It is easy to blame the screaming person who runs into my office,” he says, “but oftentimes I’m the one who has allowed (and sometimes created) those urgent demands.”

Today I hope you don’t have to kill any cockroaches. I hope you get to do what you love and can avoid the tyranny of the urgent. If you do find yourself dealing with cockroaches I hope that these suggestions will help you. Good luck friends! Keep pressing on to “take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Killing Cockroaches in 4 Easy Parts (from the Introduction)
1) Mix equal parts powdered sugar and borax in a bowl.
2) Sprinkle in cracks along walls and under cupboards
3) Keep mixture away from children and pets
4) Repeat as necessary for one to two weeks until all roaches have died

Tony Morgan
Killing Cockroaches

Magnificent

I was born
I was born to be with you ?
In this space and time
After that and ever after
I haven’t had a clue

Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart
Black and blue??

Only love
Only love can leave such a mark?
But only love
Only love can heal such a scar

I was born
I was born to sing for you ?
I didn’t have a choice
But to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry
It was a joyful noise
Oh, oh

Only love
Only love can leave such a mark
?But only love
Only love can heal such a scar?

Justified till we die
You and I will magnify?
Oh, the magnificent?
Magnificent

Only love
Only love can leave such a mark?
But only love
Only love unites our hearts?

Justified till we die
You and I will magnify
Oh, the magnificent?
Magnificent?
Magnificent

Magnificent
U2
No Line On The Horizon