I am more of an outdoor exercise person, but in the winter, I frequent the gym. I belong to the gym on our local university campus, so I’m usually one of the old guys. It has made me more aware of my surroundings. I sometimes feel uncomfortable, like everyone is thinking “Who’s the old guy?”.

Recently I started observing the different type of people who come to the gym.

Here are 7 types of people I’ve found at the gym:

Stalkers – They scope out one person and always seem to use the equipment next to them. They are at the gym to make connections, for one reason or another.

Walkers – These people belong to the gym only to walk around a small track. It seems to work for them, but they could just as easily be mall walkers.

Gawkers – They are just here to stare and they do it well.

Talkers – The gym is their social place. They do more socializing the exercising.

Balkers – Balkers are still not sure they’re into this gym thing. They move from machine to machine quickly, never landing on one they actually want to use. They may or may not be back.

Clockers – These gym people are just doing their time. They may or may not want to, but they know they need the exercise. They do their business and they’re gone.

Bulkers – These are the ones who seem to be at the gym every time you go, regardless of the time of day. They are serious and they seem to look at their muscles a lot too.

Which are you? Any others you’d add to my list?

Recently I was in a store and heard a little boy yell, “Mom…or Dad” across the store. I was reminded how special those words are every time I hear them.

Then I started to reflect. I like words, but some words just have a more special ring to them. I have some favorite words. Whenever I hear them, I feel warmer inside.

Not necessarily in order of importance…

Here are my 50 favorite words:

God
Jesus
Mom
Dad
Thanks
Love
Wife
Golly
Friends
Family
Faithful
Grandchildren
Grace
Husband
Sunshine
Sister
Marriage
Rest
Food
Brother
Chocolate
Caring
Christmas
Easter
Cross
Bible
Health
Life
Heaven
Blessing
Victory
Beloved
Sunny
Smile
Laughter
Eternity
Security
Saved
Grandparent
Sorry
Vacation
Forgiveness
Giggle
Tickle
Home
Heart
Memories
Books
Music
Ocean

I’m sure I’ve missed one or two.

Which words come to mind as your favorite words?

Here’s a quick confession. I’ve told readers before that I’m an introvert. That’s not the confession. I’ve learned lots of pastors are introverted.

In fact, I can appear fairly extroverted at times.

When I have a definite purpose and responsibility, I can be the most extroverted person in the room. On Sunday, for example, I work the crowd, shake tons of hands, and talk non-stop. It’s hard for people to believe I’m really an introvert. I go home exhausted on Sunday and need hours to recuperate. When I’m speaking at a conference, I work the room well.

Unfortunately, my introverted personality kicks in when I’m simply attending a gathering, especially with people I may not know.

Here’s the confession:

I’ve missed a few social gatherings due to my introversion.

Not only that…it gets worse…

There have been times, if attendance is optional, and Cheryl isn’t with me, I’ve intended to go to a social gathering, driven to the event, pulled into the parking lot, sat in my car for a few minutes, decided to drive around a little while, never went in…and missed the party completely. I skipped the fun, the opportunity to connect, and only left disappointed in myself.

Don’t misunderstand. I love people. I love meeting new people. I’m always glad when I go. I simply can’t push through the introversion sometimes.

This time of year, it’s easy for me to allow my introversion to keep me from enjoying the season.

Here’s my advice…

This is to me and anyone else who will admit to being this introverted:

Push through the introversion. Put your party hat on and do the social gathering. You’ll be glad once you did. I always am.

Anyone else brave enough to admit being this introverted?

By the way, you may want to read these posts about my introversion:

7 Pitfalls of Being an Introverted Pastor

How an Introvert Handles Awkward Situations

7 Ways Extroverts Can Help Introverts

7 Ways I Work with Introversion to Protect My Ministry

I’m with Stanley:

How about you?

The title of this post may get me in trouble, but there’s a point behind it. In marriage conferences, I used to teach the difference in the way a man and a woman develop respect and love. Basically, for my purposes here, men can usually separate their respect for someone based on their abilities in a certain area.

So a man may be able to respect a businessman for his skills in business, even if that man is a lousy husband and father. For a woman, because she typically develops her respect as much from her heart as from what she knows about someone, if the businessman is a lousy husband, she will have a harder time respecting him professionally. (I realize that’s a generalized statement, but I’ve seen it many times. I may post more about that concept in the future.)

When it comes to football…I’m a girl…

• If a coach cheats on his wife…
• If a player is a poor role model…
• If a team is disrespectful to other teams…

I’m less likely to respect…and ultimately support…that team…

But…

• If a coach is a great man of character…
• If a player carries himself with class…
• If a team is professional even in losing…

That coach/player/team likely has me cheering for them when they play.

I know…it should just be about the game, my favorite team, etc., but I have a hard time separating the two. I see guys choose their “favorite” player who in my book is a poor role model for anyone, regardless of skills. My loyalty to a team usually fades if the coach has lousy character and grows if he is a man of good character, and likewise for a player. I may be able to admire the skills of the player, but I can not get behind them as a player if they can’t be a good role model. That’s why I’m such a Tim Tebow fan (watch THIS VIDEO I posted about him yesterday) and why I was always a Tony Dungy fan.

Go ahead. Make fun of me. Even call me a girl if you want. If your favorite coach or player is a jerk…like them…be loyal in spite of that fact…but I’ll be cheering on the other side.

Anyone else like me?

God’s ways are not my ways…I know that’s true, but still, some days I wish He took suggestions.

For example, I’d suggest:

It should never rain on Mondays…

In fact, can we do away with Monday’s altogether?

There should be some times where time really does stand still…

Eating should be an exercise and burn calories…

Love should never fade…

That “write God’s will in the sky” idea…I’d consider that…

Puppies shouldn’t grow up…

Snakes, ants, flies, and gnats could be done away with some weird, temporary climate change (You can do this!)

Everyone should have a sense of humor…

Could you make women (and some men) easier to understand…

Well, at least that’s a start to God’s suggestion box.

This is a satirical post. It’s in the “funny” category. If humor bothers you I understand. It’s one of my suggestions. Honestly, there are so many other (more serious) suggestions I would put in such a suggestion box and I’m glad God operates apart from my “suggestions”. I tend to mess things up when I’m in charge. God knows best. In fact, this whole sin problem the world suffers from started when a couple of people thought they could compete with God.

Scrap the suggestion box idea after all. Let’s simply (or not so simply) trust God.

But, just in fun, if God had a suggestion box, what would you suggest?

Have you ever had an awkward moment in leadership? I’ve had plenty. In fact, I’ve done all of these on this list.

Here are a dozen awkward moments in leadership:

• Selfishly holding out for your way only to be proven wrong
• Tweeting publicly what was supposed to be a private direct message
• Sticking your neck out for someone and they betray you behind your back
• Doing an introduction and mispronouncing the name
• Beginning a presentation before you realize you’re unzipped
• Speaking before you think and sticking your foot in your mouth
• Calling someone by the wrong name
• Replying to an email with confidential information rather than forwarding it
• Not realizing the microphone is on
• Placing the wrong month on the calendar and missing an important appointment
• Mistakenly walking into the wrong bathroom minutes before you stand up to speak
• Getting frustrated with the driver of a car you didn’t now was driving to meet with you

Which of these have you done?

What’s the most awkward moment you’ve had in leadership or have heard of another leading having?

I was thinking the other day about how many things have come along since I’ve been in the world. I’m 47 years old, so I guess that’s plenty of time to do some inventing, but the list really is amazing when I started to write them down…

I lived in a world before…

• Microwaves
• Cell phones
• Color television
• iPod/iPad/iPhone
• $10 movies
• Red Box
• CD’s
• DVD’s
• Blue Ray
• DVR
• Amazon.com
• Google
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Internet
• WWW.
• Cassettes
• Mp3
• Personal computers
• Men on the moon
• Kindle

What else? (Add to my list…)

There’s been a lot of changes in my life… How about yours? 

“You Can’t”

Oh yea?…we’ll see about that…

Cheryl and I hang out together on Saturdays. It’s our favorite time of the week. We do whatever we want to do…together. Many times that involves eating. Our boys say when they are old and boring, they want to be like us…often driving miles just to eat somewhere new or unique.

On a recent Saturday we found a new breakfast place. It was good…not as good as we hoped for…but not bad. We had plans that evening to drive an hour away to an Italian restaurant we had heard about, but never been. In the middle of the day, I told her I was going to eat something…I don’t remember what. She said, “You can’t eat that now. You won’t eat any supper.”

Oh yea?…we’ll see about that…

I didn’t want something to eat as much as I wanted to show her I could eat whatever it was and still eat a full supper.

That’s a simple illustration, but it’s repeated throughout my life. Tell me I can’t and I want to prove that I can.

What is it about me?

Am I alone in this desire to prove those two words wrong?

(BTW, You can’t comment on this post and tell me you’re like me…or that I’m weird. YOU CAN’T!)