Little Photography for ya today.  My son’s Cross Country team.

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If you like these, my flickr account is here and my photoblog is here.  (Same pics at both places.)

Tulsa Metro Baptist Network (formerly Association) has prioritized planting churches, which has brought a number of church planters our way.  I thought this 3 minute video might be helpful to them.

If you don’t get dry wit, don’t bother.

HT:  Ed Stetzer

I had someone tell me last week that they didn’t believe in “constructive criticism.”  They went on to say that criticism is just that, criticism.  I took his point to mean that encouragement to change or grow shouldn’t be “critical” or negative, but, well, an encouragement.

That sounds good.  Too bad it doesn’t happen that way very often.

Even within the body of Christ, negativity toward something or someone that we want to see change or grow often comes with an edge.  While there is never an excuse for wounding one another, it would be naive of us to expect one another to be in complete adherence to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Dealing with that hurtful brother or sister is a subject for another day, but let us agree that, from time to time, we will have to deal with someone who desires some changes in our behavior.

Our natural reaction to this is always to push back.  No one enjoys being pushed on and we are particularly repulsed by unkind or insensitive words. However…

The wise man or woman will listen to all that is said, try to understand what the person wants and, more importantly, why they want it.

Then you are able to evaluate the challenge for what it really is and not for what you initially may take it to be as influenced by your emotional reaction.  More often than not, you will find some kernel of truth that might help you as a person.  Sometimes, you find they are just being selfish.  I’ve noticed that talking the “criticisms” over with others who are more neutral to be helpful in discerning the nature of these “suggestions.”

Bottom line:  When it comes to criticism, best not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.