This post goes out (mostly) to you guys who download True North’s podcasts and message content during the week.

Last fall, when our church went portable, we had to discontinue something that was near and dear to our hearts and to some of yours as well – the Live Stream of our Sunday night ‘Elevate’ service.

Up until we moved, we had people joining us live on Sundays to watch our services on the internet from several states throughout the country and several countries throughout the world.

Seriously!! We had people tuning in regularly from places as far away as Brazil, Tokyo, Austria, South Africa, New Zealand, England, Uganda, and Russia. This never ceased to blow my mind.

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Ok. I know I’m expressing a pretty common sentiment here, but I am really sick of Winter.

Tired. Tired of 30 degree mornings and 40 degree afternoons. Sick of not being able to be outside for more than a few minutes without feeling like a popsicle and tired of having the occasional 50 degree day ruined by the fact that whenever it actually gets to be 50 or above, it becomes windy enough to blow Godzilla back to Tokyo.

For readers of the Right Thing from other, warmer parts of the country, shut up and enjoy yourselves. Some of us are still shivering.

Yes, I’m aware that technically, it’s still Winter, but I think it’s high time we started feeling like it was Spring. And when I say ‘feeling,’ I don’t mean physically feeling warmer, I mean thinking differently about the approach of the coming season.

Dig it: In theory, we have four seasons of three months apiece. Duh. I know.

So, roughly speaking, Summer is June, July and August. Fall is September, October and November. Winter is December, January and February and Spring, in theory, is March, April and May.

In truth (according to the calendar), the transition points lie somewhere towards the end of the latest month in the above grid. That is, Spring actually starts this year on March 20th. But that doesn’t really matter, does it? No one cares what the calendar says. Perception is the key. Our attitude is really the deciding factor. The new seasons arrive when we perceive them to be here.

For example, Fall doesn’t start until late in September. But that’s garbage. After Labor Day, it just starts to FEEL like the Fall, even if it’s still in the 80′s. Winter doesn’t ‘officially’ begin until the end of December. But this too is garbage. Everybody knows that after Thanksgiving, people are thinking about Christmas and it just FEELS like Winter, even if it really isn’t.

But with Spring, we get hosed. Because of Easter falling at a different time each year (something pastors the world over would love to change, by the way), there is no set point when we start ‘feeling’ like Spring is here. The mental shift happens only when the mercury climbs and the winds die down a bit.

But to the calendar and to the mercury, I say pooh. If I say goodbye to the Summer after August and goodbye to the Fall after November, I’m saying goodbye to Winter after February.

Am I aware that sometimes it still snows in March? Sure. Just like it sometimes hits 90 in September. But it’s a parting shot. Winter’s pretty much dead. It just doesn’t know it yet.

So, I am officially making the shift. In my mind, it is Springtime. Not quite ready to break out the Coppertone, but my shorts and flip flops will be making an appearance soon. And I will revel in all the warm summery goodness to come, without spending another ounce of my energy wishing that winter would hurry up and leave.

Why? Because as cheesy as it may sound, your attitude really does determine your altitude. Or at least greatly affect it.

So how’s your attitide been lately? Down in the dumps? Mopey? Complaing? List your blessings and start to thank God one at a time for each of them. Even the ones that are not yet felt but are still, at this point, a promise. God will deliver, as surely as Spring will follow Winter.

Thanks for reading peeps.

Talk to you soon.

Bert

So I’ve observed on my journey through life that Valentines day seems to be a pretty polarizing event in our culture.

To offset the love sick and lovestruck around us who throw themselves into Valentines Day like a 12 year old girl at a Bieber concert, we have a growing counter-Valentines Day movement who are not satisfied to simple ignore the day, but snarl and wish doom upon all who do. These, not coincidentally, are usually people who are not currently in a romantic relationship.

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I wonder if someday I’ll learn to stop and breathe. That is, to learn the art of being fully present wherever I am an whomever I’m with.

There are times when I get there, or at least when I come close. These are the times when I like myself best. When I most feel like I am the man God created me to be. Not just a human. A human BEING. I am be-ing something. Present. Aware. Intentional. Grateful and full of joy.

Other times, I seem hopeless. Busy. Rushed. Harried and hurried. Wishing I didn’t have to answer any more emails or take any more phone calls. Selfish. Weak. Ever consuming and ever empty.

Sad how this childish tendency has pursued me into my adult years. Yeah. Adult. I’m turning 40 this year so I probably need to come to terms with that word. 40 is a number that sets my childish ways in sharp relief.

My personal mission statement is: To glorify God with my life and to influence others to do the same.

That part is easy for me to remember. I’ve committed that sentence to memory and I recite it to myself often.

What’s maddeningly difficult to remember is that I glorify God best when I’m most satisfied in Him. I have this infuriating habit of slipping back into thinking that God is most pleased with me when I’m getting a lot done. All caught up on my reading. Inbox at zero. Do-list owned and dominated. When the truth is, I glorify Him better when I embrace that irritating interruption. Give extra time to that person who asks for my attention. And listen more than I speak.

Today I walked through our new building and I stood on the stage in our phase 1 auditorium for the first time. I was in a hurry. Lots to do. Busy, busy, busy. But I sensed that this was a moment I needed to pay attention to. I stood there for a full 4 or 5 minutes. Long enough to make the construction workers there wonder if something was wrong with me. And I looked out into that room. Standing in a spot where, God willing, I’ll deliver hundreds of messages.

Of course, right now, it looks like a war zone in there. It’s unfinished. Under construction. In process. But if you don’t take time to breathe and be still, that’s all you’ll ever see.

Don’t make that mistake. Much that is ugly now has great potential to become beautiful. Much that distracts you now has great potential to teach you some important stuff.

Am I starting to sound a little too much like Confusicous?

Breathe, grasshopper. Just breathe.

Out.