Most Popular 2012 Posts

In case you missed them, here's my top 5 most popular posts from 2012:

• Communication Styles
• If it's broke, tell us!
• The Me I Want to Be
• The End of Pastor Guru?
• Don't Judge a Good Decision

The Season of Giving

Christmas can be a bittersweet season.  For all of the joy and magic and wonder that's connected to the season, there's also pain and grief and discouragement that's connected to it as well.  One of the reasons why I love Christmas is because of all of the giving- a lot of it anonymously- that people do this time of year.  Obviously my role as a pastor makes me more privy to  this kind of thing, but when people give to others it restores my faith in humanity.  This season, I've witnessed numerous stories of people giving to others- many anonymously- in such meaningful and personal ways, not only am I reminded of the reason for the season, but I am reminded that the reason for the season was the ultimate giver.

More Bell-Ringing Observations

I've blogged on bell-ringing before, but as I did it again last night I came across a couple more observations:

• I had no idea that many people shopped at Shopko!  Seriously, I don't think I've ever intentionally gone to Shopko for anything, and yet lots of people did last night.  Who knew?!
• It was pretty cold and snowing last night, so at least 8 out of 10 cars driven by a guy with a gal passenger dropped off the gal at the front door.  Fellas, if you're not dropping off your gal at the front door, you're in the minority and you're perhaps a bit of a pile!
• Only one person all night left their shopping cart in the parking lot (as in didn't return it the places where you're supposed to).  Only one.  Remarkable.
• More people need to wear winter clothing.  Seriously, there's no need to make a fashion statement in December when it's cold and snowing.  And you're at Shopko.  Put some clothes on.
• One person asked if I liked coffee or hot chocolate.  I said yep!  Didn't know if that was going to score me a hot chocolate or a coffee, but as the night grew on, it became apparent it was simply a philosophical question!  

Butter Nut Coffee

People become coffee drinkers in different ways:  

• Lifers- Some, like my wife, practically grew up liking coffee and was drinking real, black coffee in high school and college.
• Evolutionaries- some, like me, take an evolutionary approach.  We start on the Starbucks track.  Well, actually, growing up Fargo didn't have a Starbucks, but it have a Moxie Java which was sorta the same thing.  And so in high school, I'd get the Milkyway and think I was a real coffee drinker, but in fact my drink was more flavored hot cocoa then coffee.  Over time, though, my tastes evolved and now I prefer black coffee over other drinks.
• I'll try anything once- these folks will, well, try anything once, and after trying coffee are hooked.

I'm sure there are other categories to add.  The point, though, is that early in our marriage, I was in coffee flavored cocoa stage and married to a lifer.  So when I'd do the grocery shopping, I'd buy a huge tin of Butter Nut coffee.  It was cheap, there was a lot of it, and it satisfied (or so I thought!) my spouse's affection for coffee.  Little did I know, as I evolved in my own coffee journey, that Butter Rum was not a good coffee for a lifer (Folgers, perhaps, but not Butter Nut).  And now, since I've come to enjoy black coffee, we buy a fair trade version that's sold at our church.  

Some would say I'm hypocritical seeing as how now that I have a taste for coffee, I've changed my opinion on Butter Nut.  And perhaps, there's some truth to it.  And sometimes, whether it's coffee, marriage, work, or countless other areas in life, solving a problem (or meeting a lifer's need for coffee) is going to require more than just a Butter Nut approach.  

Bell Ringing

As the fam and I were ringing bells last night, I was reminded of some earlier posts I've done on the subject.

You can find them here and here.

Everyone is in Marketing

Used to be marketing was something only done by professionals or seen in a TV advertisement.

Now, though, if you are alive, you're in marketing.  Doesn't matter if you don't have a job, you're still in marketing.

Our words, actions, tweets, status updates, emails and text messages all help to communicate our lives and what we think.

How you answer the phone?  Marketing.
How quickly you respond to an email  (or consequently, don't respond to an email)?  Marketing.
Your recent facebook post or tweet?  Marketing.
Your words?  Marketing.
Your body language?  Marketing.

Granted, we're not perfect.  We will all continue to say things, do things, and post things that we shouldn't.   We'll obviously make (lots of!) mistakes in our communication and consequently our marketing.

But we can no longer say that we're not in marketing or that what we say and do doesn't have an impact on people.

Because it does.  It all does.