The Church of No People

Last Saturday, I hit a milestone.

I celebrated my 30th birthday.

Now, it’s been a long time since I really got any major birthday presents.  And it’s not like I put off paying the credit card bill until I get some birthday cash.  So this year, I told my wife I wanted to donate my birthday to One Day’s Wages.  If you don’t know ODW or you don’t read the founder, Eugene Cho’s blog, you need to fix that right now.

What did that mean?  Simply that whatever gifts people were going to give me, I wanted them to donate instead.

Now, I share my birthday with one of my best friends, my college roommate, Tim.  So we always celebrate together.  But it was my wife who emailed me one of the best ideas I have ever heard.

She said, “Let’s throw a charity auction.”

So we did.  We threw a flipping charity auction.

How did it go?

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There’s no doubt in a lot of minds that the government spends more money than it should.

Like, waaaaay more than it should.

The numbers are big and scary.  The national debt topped $16 trillion last week.

But let’s not have a big political argument today about spending.  Because the fact is, we all overspend on something.  Admit it!  It doesn’t matter how holy you are, how good a steward you are of God’s money, or how much you tithe.  You have some money you’re throwing down the drain, indulging in some luxury you don’t need, and you know it.  I do it too.

For a little Friday fun, let’s confess what we’re overspending on today.

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Are you a big picture person, or a details person?

I’m a details person.  I’m meticulous.  It kind of drives me nuts sometimes.

I spent four solid days last month planning out the entire next school year.  I spent three solid weeks planning a new class curriculum.  Literally, from 7 am until 10 pm.  For three weeks.  I couldn’t stop until all the details were accounted for.

It kind of drives me crazy when I miss a detail, when I mess up something small.  

I think detail guys don’t get a lot of credit.  Details aren’t sexy.  They don’t excite people.  No one thinks accountants are great.  They like the handsome guy at the front of the room selling the vision, the big picture.  Let’s not get bogged down in the details.  Let’s chase a dream.  Every book and seminar is about having a big vision.  You just don’t see people getting excited about mastering details.

We need big picture people.  But today, just consider all the details that will determine your day.

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