2009 | CadillacZak

Archive - 2009

Trappstr 28 – Part 10 (Screech, Steve Urkel & Rick Warren)

December 2, 2009 in Blogging, GOD, Leadership, Revolution Church with Comments Off

My new blog buddy Brett Trapp wrote this post on 28 things he’s learned in his 20’s. Since I am so much older and wiser than Brett (3 whopping months) and since I loved it so much, I thought I’d take each of those things and elaborate on them over the next several days.

22. Saved by the Bell? Still a great show. -Trappstr

Not when your name is Zak. All through school I had to hear crud like “Zak Attack!” and “hey, just like saved by the bell!” or “where’s Screech?” C’mon people. Really.

I have to admit though, I was a lot like Zach from Saved By the Bell when I was in high school. I ran my high school the last two years that I was there.

23. Cultivate perseverance. You’ll need it someday. -Trappstr

Speaking of stupid TV shows we grew up with, do you remember “Family Matters?” The one with Steve Urkel?

I’ll never forget a quote from that show: “You can’t go through life quitting everything. If you’re going to achieve anything, you’ve got to stick with something.”

Learning to stick with it has paid off many times in my life. The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places. Don’t park.

If you want to experience what I believe is the greatest breeding ground for perseverance in your life, run a marathon.

24. Learning isn’t confined to your schooling. It is a daily pursuit. -Trappstr

A few years back I was at a conference and I heard Rick Warren say something that has stuck with me. He said, “Leaders are learners. The minute you stop learning, you’ll stop leading.”

There is always something that you can learn from any situation, any book you read and any individual you spend time with. You just have to be willing to learn and ditch your pride.

Brett, I’d love to know who you are learning from, reading, etc…write a post on that!

Trappstr Part 9 – (we all should stink, battle life & domination)

November 30, 2009 in Blogging, Confessional, GOD, Revolution Church with Comments Off

My new blog buddy Brett Trapp wrote this post on 28 things he’s learned in his 20’s. Since I am so much older and wiser than Brett (3 whopping months) and since I loved it so much, I thought I’d take each of those things and elaborate on them over the next several days.

I had to put these three together because they just flow…

19. There are things I’m just not good at and the sooner I can accept that fact, the better. -Trappstr

I still wrestle with this. I need to do what only I can do so that others can do what only they can do. When that happens everyone wins and the best results are produced. Many of us have seen Rudy too many times.

Nobody wants to stink at anything but we all need to stink at much so we can be great at what we were created to do.

20. Humility is a lifelong battle. -Trappstr

Battle is the perfect word. If we understood #19 better we might not have to battle quite as much. I often forget that pride is one of the seven deadly sins. WOW!

21. 90% of people are absolutely dominated by their insecurities. -Trappstr

Back to #19 again. If we focused on what we are great at and quit worrying about what we stink so bad at our insecurities wouldn’t dominate us because we could release them!

Trappstr 28 – Part 8 (Chills down my spine)

November 29, 2009 in Confessional, Goals, Revolution Church with Comments Off

My new blog buddy Brett Trapp wrote this post on 28 things he’s learned in his 20’s. Since I am so much older and wiser than Brett (3 whopping months) and since I loved it so much, I thought I’d take each of those things and elaborate on them over the next several days.

18. In general, people live unintentional lives–coasting and reacting to whatever happens around them. This is a recipe for mediocrity. -Trappstr

“Mediocrity.” Buawwwwhaaauuaaaa…few words send such a chill down my spine…

I don’t want to be a reactor. I want to be an intentional activator! Hence all of this goal setting stuff I am always rambling about.

I am big on goal setting. I just refuse to drift through life. Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life out. I think that’s a tragedy.

On a completely random yet related note, I also believe that unintentional living is one of the main reasons for so much divorce. Men we have to intentionally PURSUE our wives!

Trappstr 28 – Part 7 (Burt Bacharach, reading and true friendship)

November 28, 2009 in Blogging, Books, Family, GOD, Revolution Church with 2 Comments

My new blog buddy Brett Trapp wrote this post on 28 things he’s learned in his 20’s. Since I am so much older and wiser than Brett (3 whopping months) and since I loved it so much, I thought I’d take each of those things and elaborate on them over the next several days.

15. People who love people are the most powerful people in the world. -Trappstr

Wow! Never thought of it that way…probably because of all the thoughts that cross my mind when I hear the word power.

We live in a time of war, terrorism, immorality, and death; a time where violence, sex, drugs, hate, lust and greed have become normal fanfare. It almost seems like wrong is the new cool at times.

Burt Bacharach that, “what the world needs now, is love, sweet love! Its the only thing there’s just too little of…” Since my sophomore year in high school I’ve always had this deep sense that my life is to be all about people. So I asked God to break my heart for what breaks His…people! I’ll never forget the first time I read Mark 12: 28-31 which says, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him “Of all the commandments, which is the most important? ‘The most important one,’ Jesus answered, ‘is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.’

Dang. Burt Bacharach had a lot of wisdom when he wrote that song. We need a love revolution. We need desperately to be more powerful as the church because of our LOVE.

16. The number 1 thing holding most people back is their dislike for reading. -Trappstr

YES YES YES! Why do kids leave our public schools hating reading so much? Something has to change. As a parent I think much of it is my responsibility.

I will admit that I have to set goals and sometimes MAKE myself read. This year I set a goal to read 40 books. I have actually read 728 books so far this year (yes, I’ve counted.) I won’t lie; 706 of those books have been library books that I read to Couper. We read 2 or 3 per night. Each one takes about 5-10 minutes. I guess those don’t count.

Of my 40 book goal, I think I’ll knock out 30 by the end of the year. Not too shabby, but not my goal.

Bottom line is this: I read a lot with my son, Couper because I want him to love to read and I read a lot for myself because I never want to stop growing in my leadership.

17. You only have a hand-full of truly good friends in this life. -Trappstr

Why is this? I think because of two things: trust and forgiveness. Both are essential to true friendship. And both can be incredibly difficult for us to muster up these days.

We all need someone that we can trust and share our lives, thoughts, feelings, and frustrations with. We all need a place to share our deepest secrets and struggles without worrying that those secrets will end up being spewed into the public.

Real friends also forgive one another where there has been an offense. We live in a culture often unwilling to forgive. Its hard for us to forgive someone. The true friends I have are those who I’ve had to forgive (or be forgiven) from the worst offenses in my life.

Want some true friends? Spend lots of time with them, build trust and return grace the grace that Jesus Christ gave us all by forgiving!