Do you worry ALL the time? Here is a question you can ask yourself that will release yourself from the black hole of worrying endlessly:

A year from now, will what I am worrying about make much of a difference? In five years, will I even remember what it is that I am spending so much mental and emotional energy focusing on?

Chances are, the answer to both will be no!

What keeps you from worrying? Your faith, prayer? Please share!

You are looking for the perfect spouse. You want her to think about you, serve you and center her life around you. She doesn’t exist.

You are looking for the perfect spouse. He cleans, he cooks, he listens and he smells good all the time. He doesn’t exist.

You are looking for the perfect relationship. No arguments. No trials. No dwelling in the past. It does not exist.

So go ahead and get over the fact that the perfect wife is not out there. Love and serve the one you promised your life to. Pray for her. She is who you need to love.

And go ahead and get over the reality that the perfect husband is not out there. Forgive the one you promised to forgive. Pray for him. He is who you need to love.

And while you are at it, go ahead and get past the fact that your marriage is not and will not ever be perfect. Work through your differences. Persevere through your trials. Let go of the past. Today you have a gift.

Mediocre seems to be common place these days in our world. There are million of mediocre blogs out there, decent companies, mediocre organizations. For the consumer, there are often dozens and dozens of GOOD choices. But how often to we see something GREAT?

You could ask a similar question about churches. In my city, there is a church on every corner and sometimes two! There are lots of GOOD churches, but not a lot of GREAT ones. We recognize that churches are different in that they are not in competition with one another. We all know that ALL churches are needed. Still, what makes one church a GOOD church and what makes some churches GREAT? Here are four differences:

1. GOOD churches care about the community. They will reach out to cross the bridge between church and culture, and have a heart to make a difference. Still, GOOD churches aren’t willing to sacrifice tradition in order to innovate and impact culture.

GREAT churches will do anything to reach people for Jesus, even if it means stepping out of tradition and comfort levels. GREAT churches put walk to their talk and take risks to reach this generation and culture.

2. GOOD churches serve God and want to please him, but at the end of the day they are ultimately more concerned with pleasing man. GOOD churches have GOOD leaders with GOOD intentions. These GOOD leaders listen too much to the naysayers, the complainers and they eventually back off of the vision that God has given them.

GREAT churches, in the end, care more about what God has called them to do than about what is important to man. GREAT churches respect the 10-20% of all people who are the eternally unhappy, the complainers. Still, GREAT churches don’t allow these voices to reign over the voice that matters most.

3. GOOD churches do every GOOD thing, just because it is a GOOD thing and someone should probably be doing it. GOOD churches even do these GOOD things even if they are not really any GOOD at that GOOD thing.

GREAT churches know that just because a thing is a GOOD thing, that is not necessarily a GREAT thing. GREAT churches know that not all GOOD things are GOD things. They know when to say, “You know, we are no GOOD at that thing, so we will say no.” Because of this wisdom, this discipline to say “no” to the GOOD things, these GREAT churches are able to say “YES” to the things at which they are GREAT.

4. GOOD churches have GOOD messages that help a lot of people. They have GOOD programs that make GOOD sense and give them a GOOD name to many. GOOD churches, all too often though, rely on GOOD men and women, and GOOD human sense more than they rely on the GREAT things God wants to do through them.

GREAT churches have GOOD messages too, but their focus and intent is GREAT in that remains locked in on goal of restoring broken and hurting people through the power of the living Jesus Christ and his message of redemption and restoration for the world. GREAT churches often confound GOOD human wisdom, GOOD common sense and don’t limit themselves by their own GOOD programs. As a result, These churches have GREAT kingdom impact, GREAT eternal change and make GREAT difference in their communities and beyond.

What else makes a church GREAT?

Saw this pic online today. Are you ready for some football??

Ok, let the captions fly!

Every so often, I’ll drop a personal video on the blog here of the Missildine family, just to keep you all updated. Family is SUPER important to me & our two girls amaze us every day.

So this one sort of took me by surprise. Meg is 4 now and Molly is 1. Here you go…

Thoughts? Not sure if I’m ready for this yet!

Rewind- Well, here is a vid and some pics of our new home (To get the full effect, watch the “before” vid first, then the “after” vid). We spent two and a half months renovating it, taking it down to the studs in certain rooms. More pics soon! We’ve done seven renovations now and over a hundred new homes in the last 7 years.

My wife and I have moved 8 times in 8 years (Here are 88 Reasons) & it’s time to settle down! I love my church, my family & my calling in life. If you are interested in seeing the progression of our recent home renovation, here is Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6 & Week 7.

Here was the first video I posted back in the spring of 2010:

Here is a walk through video of the “almost” final product. Check it:

Well, what do you think? Love to hear feedback in the comments! More before and after pics below:

For more posts on creativity, leadership, social media or faith, subscribe to receive free email updates out to the right. Thanks for visiting TheWayItCouldBe.com, a blog about personal & spiritual tranformation that leads to cultural impact.

If you like Back to the Future, the 80′s, Kevin Durant or Nike shoes, you’ll love this new video featuring the “Marty McFly Shoe” from Nike. Thanks Mashable.

To see the Nike Site go HERE. Thoughts? What was your fav Back to the Future Movie? Quotes?

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

Where were you on 9/11? I remember it like is was yesterday. I was in class at seminary, learning how the church can make difference in this broken world. I remember watching that second plane crash and seeing the smoke spiral up through the sky. I remember being confused like the rest of the world. I remember praying. I was certainly not among those who lost friends or family, but I did hurt along with them. I truly can’t imagine what it would have been like to have family involved in the attacks.

So where were you? What do you remember? What do you think about today as we approach 10 years after that horrific event?

New to TheWayItCouldBe.com? This is a site promoting cultural impact through personal and spiritual transformation. Post topics include creativity, family, faith, culture, social media and leadership. Feel free to browse around by category. If you dig the site, you can subscribe for free email updates by simply entering your email address in the sidebar out to the right.

Somewhere, someone told you that you couldn’t change the world. Even a part of it.
Somewhere, someone convinced you that you didn’t have enough brains, smarts, influence to make much of a difference.
Someone told you that you were no good.
Somewhere deep inside of you lies asleep a monster ready to be unleashed and have all kinds of crazy impact on this planet.
Somehow, deep inside, you’ve got to silence the naysayers, the haters and the “no-men” by stepping out and pursuing that thing that is burning inside of you.
Somehow, you’ve got to tell yourself that you have been put here for a purpose, for a time such as this, for a reason.
Someday you don’t want to look back and say I wish I would have… or you know I really should have… or I wonder what would have happened if I would have…
So make today the day you step out in faith… Prove Them Wrong. Not for them. Not for you. But because this is why you were created.

So will you?

Rewind. This week, I’ll be speaking to over 12,000 people. Crazy right?  I know, it’s wild when I think about it.  I’m not even nervous!

Where am I speaking, you ask? Not in a building with four walls. Not in one location or even one country.  Through three main social media avenues- Facebook, Twitter and this blog- TheWayItCouldBe.com.

It sort of hit me tonight that I had over 2,000 friends on Facebook, over 8,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 2,000 unique monthly readers at TheWayItCouldBe.com for a total of over 12,000 people.  No, not all will read what I write or think about what I post, but many will.

The real question is: Am I being responsible with what I’ve been given? For the people that see my thoughts, actions and posts each day- am I being faithful?  I’m always asking the question: Am I being responsible with what I’ve been given?

So I ask the question to you: Are you being responsible with what you’ve been given? If your gift is connecting with others via social media, you have a responsibility.  If your thing is writing, you have been entrusted with a gift!  If you have 20 people following you online, you’ve been entrusted with much!  Are you being responsible with what you’ve been given?

Whether it’s with a few or several thousand, you have a responsibility, a Social Media Responsibility! For practical tips on this topic, check out Taking the ME Out Of Social MEdia

What does it mean to have social media responsibility?  What does this look like in your mind?  Love to hear your thoughts in the comments!