Daryl Strickland

Is there a fire in your gut? Are you passionate about something? Anything? That is my burden right now. I want to see people that are fanatical about what they do and who they are. When I see people go through the motions of life it makes me feel nauseous and angry.

Having said that, here are a few things that are burning in my gut right now:

• Helping Lifepoint prepare for what God has in store. I believe with all my heart that the only thing that will keep us from growing and pointing more people to life is us! I feel like we need to sure up our net in a few places and continue to strengthen the line in all areas and God will meet us there. However, if we bring a mediocre effort to the table, that’s all we give Him to work with. That’s BURNING IN ME.
• Helping others catch on fire. As I stated above, it upsets my stomach to see people with potential that are fine with mediocrity. I not only want to see them meet their potential and be on fire at what they do, I want to help them. This is BURNING IN ME and I have to be honest, sometimes I just want to throw up my hands on this one. I want so bad to encourage and inspire and sometimes I just want to lay into people (which is not a bad thing). I am seeking God in this area of leadership.
• Here is another thing that is burning in me. Since coming into ministry full time, I have done a poor job of protecting my family time. As TD Jakes says “I have loved His bride and fed mine” and God calls us to do the opposite. It is BURNING IN ME to be a better husband and father, to do a better job at leaving it at the office. I have told myself for years that it is just different in ministry and in certain areas it is but I am my wife’s only husband, my kids only dad and that’s got to come before ministry.
• Face time with God. Jeff inspires me with this one but it is BURNING IN ME to spend more and more time with God. I don’t ever want to lean on my abilities and strength. I have been there, done that and I ain’t that good. I need God more than ever in my life and daily routine. My goal is to spend and hour in the morning and an hour at night alone with God.

That’s what is BURNING IN ME right now.

This guy is in town for a week or so and he is cracking me up. I am hoping he will perform one of his hits at Lifepoint this Sunday. Tony, you are a funny man!

The 80’s called and they want their games back. My kids spent more time getting tokens back from broken games than playing the games. While I’m on the kick the 70’s called and they want Hardee’s back (the burgers are really good but the stores need an Extreme Makeover).

I am reading more an more blogs and articles online and MOST negative comments have no link to the author or a bogus address. Why is it that critics are usually cowards. I know this seems harsh, especially coming from me but it burns me up when people that don’t have the guts to attempt something have no problem ripping up people up that do. I have heard it said that there have been no monuments built to critics and it’s true.

I have personally resolved to throw away or delete any comments I receive that are anonymous. If you don’t have the guts to identify yourself, you will not receive any space in my head, on my blog or in my inbox.

Are there certain things that you are always attracted to and interested in? I have some really weird ones and here they are:

• Calculators – I know you are laughing but I cannot go down a calculator aisle without stopping and looking at everyone and all of their features. I literally have to talk myself out of buying a new one each time. I really have a thing for Scientific Calculators.
• Knives – Same thing as the calculators. It doesn’t matter if they are at a convenience store, Wal-Mart or Dick’s Sporting Goods, I want a new one every time I see one. I like the manly looking ones with the serrated blades.
• Shoes – I know I will hear it on this one but I like shoes (I just don’t own as many as some people I know).
• Televisions – I look at every TV at every store, even the small ones that I would never buy and yes the that big one at Circuit City that wouldn’t fit on any wall I own.
• Trucks – Last but not least is trucks. I am loyal to no brand here. I like Fords, Chevys, GMC’s, Dodges, and my favorite right now it the Toyota Tundra. (That thing Honda puts out is not a truck – sorry Paul, but anything you can drive backward and it looks better that frontward is not a truck).

Apparently this list comes out every year and somehow I have missed it until now. These are either under used, over used or useless words. Here they are:

1. perfect storm
2. Webinar
3. waterboarding
4. organic
5. wordsmith
6. author/authored
7. post 9/11
8. surge
9. give back
10. ‘blank’ is the new ‘blank’
11. Black Friday
12. back in the day
13. random
14. sweet
15. decimate
16. emotional
17. pop
18. It is what it is
19. under the bus

Sweet, guess I will not be saying much year.

I am excited about this year. There are a lot of cool things in the works and I think this is the year they come together. Here are the things that I am most excited about.

1. Lifepoint Church - I think this is the year that we see tremendous growth both numerically and spiritually.
2. Personal finances - There is more focus on healthy finances in our home than any other time over the last 12 years.
3. Health - Well, it can’t get worse (maybe but, we won’t go there). I plan on loosing 60 pounds this year. More on that later.
4. Enjoying life more. Even though last year was a little hectic, there was lots of great family time as well as the fun that I had at Hoggard. I think that God has given me some insight on how to relax and enjoy this year even more.
5. Direction. I think whether it’s at Lifepoint, at home or on a field somewhere, this year will be as strategic as any that I have lived.

I will post a few goals next for my record and so you can call me out on it if I get slack.

1. Personal
   • Loose 60 pounds
   • Wear a size 34 pants
   • Go to the gym 4 days a week
   • Do the Bible in a year
   • Go to bed by 9:30pm and wake up by 5:45am
2. Work
   • Be a better leader through encouragement and direction
   • Be more efficient through planning and systems
   • Be more relational
   • Clean my desk everyday before I leave
3. Random (I was inspired by Jeff post today)
   • Quit sniffing glue (and markers)
   • Lay off the whiskey
   • Only dress in drag on Thursday’s
   • Cut back on the Marlboro’s

That’s what I have been running since about May. Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. There have been some incredible things going on at Lifepoint and in my family so I will probably to a burst of really short post to catch up.

This has been a good week. Lots going on but lots of room for God to work. Here are some random thoughts that I want to get out of my head.

• As much as you want to you can’t rush relational evangelism.
• Respect and understanding of authority has been lost and we need to find it. I can’t believe how kids and young adults talk to and treat those in authority over them. I hear young people disrespecting their coaches, their teachers, their parents, their employers and it scares me. I know for a fact that if I talked to my high school coach like these kids do that I would not have been on the team and if I told my employer that these are the areas that they need to get better at, that my next check would be from the government. The scariest thing is that if we don’t teach this generation how to fall under authority they will never qualify to be in authority. If you can’t respect and honor those over you then don’t ever expect anyone to respect and honor you. Matt. 8:5-13 is one of my favorite scriptures on authority. The centurion qualified for authority because he humbly placed himself under authority.
• Planning is difficult but essential for success.
• Planning is only half of the work. Actually working the plan is the key.
• I am becoming more insensitive to delicate people and their feelings (hope I didn’t offend anyone). Pray for me on this one.
• My stomach still flips before football games and church on Sunday (and I love it).
• Spending time with God is THE most important thing you do.
• I just checked my blog stats and I have 260 comments, then I saw a link at the bottom that says 2645 comments have been caught by WordPress’ spam filter. I was bummed that they are hurting my stats so I decided to check a few of the comments. WOW. Thanks WordPress Spam Hooker Upper Guy! This Blogs for you.
• Everyone needs to take vacations (Wolf Lodge here we come. Only two more days!!)
• My wife is awesome.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

It’s Friday and all kind of good things are in my head, so here they are:

1. I would rather be kicked in the groin by a kangaroo or donkey than deal with the bulk mail office in Wilmington.
2. If you live in Wilmington, there is a pretty good chance that you will celebrate a birthday at the corner of Oleander and College.
3. Kids are cool (especially mine).
4. Jeff told me that Michelle’s drivers license had expired and I thought, how does that happen, then I looked at mine (oops!).
5. Details matter in everything.
6. Trying to save a buck usually cost you.
7. Starting a church is like having a baby, when it’s an infant, it is very vulnerable and you have to protect it and as it grows you have to teach it responsibility and trust it.
8. Friday’s are a lot like Thursday’s except that Saturday is tomorrow.