And of course churches throughout our community are celebrating big, as they should. And it's one of the best days in the year to invite a friend to check out God with you, so churches are opening up the invitations wide.

And all around I see bumper stickers. And there's nothing wrong with that! Seriously. More power to the sticker.

But, I just think baskets are better.

Follow me on this: We want as many as our friends as is humanly possible to discover the grace and vitality that comes from a life of constant surrender, connection, and willingness with God. And Easter is a great time to expose a few friends to just that. So somebody came up with this idea -- based on a popular Halloween / neighborhood thing -- to give away baskets. A basket is dropped off at someone's door anonymously, and it's full of goodies, and it brings a little more happiness to their day. And then they're encouraged to do it to somebody else, which brings even more happiness to their day. And with it comes an invitation to join us on Easter.

And maybe it's me -- cuz bumper stickers are fine -- but don't you think that's better? The basket is funner, more personal, and it brings love! It helps make love just a little more famous, don't you agree?

And don't you want to bring a little love and happiness to your neighborhood? Really now. Grab a basket this weekend, fill it with cool goodies, and drop it at a neighbor's door. Let's help some of our friends and neighbors connect with God this Easter.

So ... who you gonna egg?

This YOU is creative & productive — does good things that you were created to do, that were planned for you before the world was born. Advances good and beauty in the world. This YOU exercises leadership & influence without ego or self-consciousness. Speaks up freely, acts strongly.

This YOU loves so well — connects freely with people … laughs easily, serves joyfully. This YOU does not hold yourself back because of fear or shame; it is not consumed or concerned with what will come back to you once  you give yourself away.

And above all, this YOU is humbly & willingly connected with God — the Source of your Life — moment-by-moment. And so life is an adventure … a moment-by-moment adventure into the next opportunity to be you together with the God who made you YOU.

It is the YOU you were created to be. It is the "real" you. And YOU … you are a masterpiece.

But you are not yourself.

— From "The Mud & The Masterpiece" part 2



So here's a a question for you: What are you getting out of the "Relational Intelligence" series? Which topic or idea has stood out to you? Why? What has been a key point? What have you tried to "do" as a result of this series? Is there anything you've tried to implement? What was it? How'd it go?

Take a second, hit "comment" and interact! I'll start it out with one of my learnings ... (hit "comment" to see).

That's a question we've been asking often in this new year.  We've been able to use it a bunch as people have walked into our community wanting to check out us out.  Some have come to Terra Nova after meeting us at a local Albertson's back in the holiday season, as we leaned into feeding needy families.  A few have gotten to know us through this website.   Others were invited by a friend at work.  Still others saw  our sign out in front.  Lot's of different factors play into checking out a church like Terra Nova for the first time, but if you come a second time, and continue to come and explore, well...there's probably a reason for that.

So...what's your reason?  What attracts you to Terra Nova?  I'd love to give a few days for you all to post, and then I'll give you what John and I continue to hear as we ask the question...

And we're adding a 3rd – 5th class and a 6th – 8th class. (Woo HOOO!)

And then we're just taking everything up a notch -- from the treats and crafts to the personal attention. Plus, for our older classes, regular off-site trips to Starbucks and "Snow-on-the-Go" (the new local shave-ice place!).

We really want Saturday Nights to be a great place to bring the family, especially for families involved in sports, but also for those who perahps just want a "family day" on Sunday.

And it all kicks off this Saturday night (the 20th) with a PIZZA PARTY for the kids! So come on out this Saturday night and give the NEW SuperNova Saturday Nights a try!

The Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self-Deception.

Steven Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee, Primal Leadership.

Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence.

Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, Emotional Intelligence 2.0.

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart.

Paul Meier, Don't Let Jerks Get the Best of You.

John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them.

Henry Cloud, Changes That Heal.

Steve Sacccone, Relational Intelligence.

Peter Senge, et al. The 5th Disclipline and The 5th Discipline Fieldbook.

But for me, the high point of this TV/sports/consummerism/America event was it's bookends.  It began for me with a commercial featuring  Tim Tebow and his mom.  Tim is a Heisman trophy winner, maybe the greatest college player of the modern era, and a serious, serious follower of Jesus.  His mom, we find, is even more courageous than Tim.  The commercial briefly tells her story of her pregnancy:  how she was informed that little Tim had serious problems in her womb, and that bringing this baby to term would be...unwise.  But it seems there was another wisdom (the wisdom that comes from above,  as told in James 3:17) that she was tapping into.  Fast forward, 21 years or so, and see the joy that is captured on both faces;  mother and son, celebrating each other, celebrating victory,  celebrating life.

And then, in the end, the whole experience is concluded with Saints QB Drew Brees,  holding his toddler son (complete with headphones to protect his little ears from the crowd noise) and crying while kissing him on the cheek over and again.  The cameras lock on to this moment, and stay there.  The producer in a production trailer  somewhere outside that staduim allowes us to watch this scene for what seems like...hours.  Perhaps because, when you cut through all the hype and selling and noise and over indulgence that puts the "super" in Super Bowl, our hearts connect with this moment:  father and son celebrating each other, celebrating victory, celebrating life.

Our hearts can lock onto many things during four hours of TV viewing:  funny things and absurd things and raunchy things and inane things.  But then "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable (from Phil 4:5)"  comes rushing in like a mountain stream.  These are the moments we live for, the moments where we connected deeply in relationship with the ones around us, the ones we love.

Do you thirst for moments like these?  In the weeks to come at Terra Nova, we'll continue to explore God's book, the Bible, for Relational Intelligence.  For it's one thing to watch and marvel as we see people caught up in the wholeness of relationships--the power and beauty of it all--but it's another things to experience it for yourself.  And why would God want any less for you?

For the past few weeks, I've had a frequently repeated question in my Facebook status: "What is relational intelligence? What does it look like? Or, for that matter, what does relational UNintelligence look like?" I've had a bunch of responses, and I'm posting some of them as the first "comment" to this entry. Click the green link below this that says "comments" to see what my Facebook friends have been saying.

But I'd love to hear your thoughts, too. So enter a comment yourself and weigh-in: "What is Relational Intelligence? What does it look like in a person?"

As we performed this ritual after this past weekend--Mug a Friend weekend, it seemed as though we had way more trash than normal.  Now please know that we seek to be responsible with our trash:  washing, re-using, and recycling things.  But whoa--that dumpster was full at the end of the day.  Which to me was another clear sign that something really cool happened here at Terra Nova over the weekend. You see where I'm going with this:  some churches measure or "keep score" by the number of people who showed up or the number of dollars given in offering or the number of cards handed in.  But the story--the real story--is in the dumpster!  The more trash I see, the more I know that real life happened together at our gatherings.  It meant kids were crafting, adults were hanging, there was drink and food and spills and accidents.  All evidences that our friends came and enjoyed life with us.  All in our  effort to connect our friends to the friendship we have found with God.

Trash is the stuff we throw away, of course.  People are not trash to God, but treasure.  God has always had this thing about people!  Out of all his creation, people are by far his chief concern.  He loves people. He loved people enough to send His only Son to bring spiritual life to us.

  He also loves it when we love people.  And he loves it when we treat people as treasure and not trash.

I'm convinced this Relational Intelligence teaching series we've begun will help is to do that a whole lot better:  to treasure people as we understand them more keenly and treat them well.  There's value in discovering God's word on how we build wonderfully intelligent relationships.  You can count on that wisdom from God, you can take it to the bank.  Or even to the dumpster...

And then that story is followed up by 3 stories that Jesus tells about "lost things" and the all-out search that happens when somebody loses something they really want (Luke 15). And the direct correllation seems to be that God really wants people. There are people who are "lost" to him -- they're not connecting with him, their not enjoying moment-by-moment connection to the Source of all Life. And God's just not ok with that. That's unacceptable to Him.

This weekend we're kicking off a new series called, "Relational Intelligence." It'll be a great series, packed full of things we could all learn. And it will in particular be a great series to invite a friend to. And we'll be giving away these "Making God's Love Famous" TerraNova mugs. Yep ... we know ... kinda' gimmicky. Already thought of that. Already over it. We don't care. If it's an excuse to bring one more person to God's table, it's worth it, I think. Plus, the mugs are cool.

So ... who are you gonna mug?