Sociologist Ray Oldenburg developed a theory about the different “places” that you and I interact with the world, to varying degrees. And I’m fairly certain the church could learn a lot from these ideas.

Oldenburg described the places we spend our lives using three categories:
– First Places: Our home, where we are most “ourselves” and least “with the world”
– Second Places: Our work, where we are somewhat “ourselves” but most connected to “the world”.
– Third Places: Places where we are both “ourselves” and connected to “the world”

“Third places” are places like the barbershop or salon, restaurants, bars, and coffeeshops. They’re places where we as people drop our guard and relax, but still come in contact with the world at large. These are places where extroverts recharge and introverts people watch.

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I hate jumping from heights. The most memorable time I did it, I jumped from a 30ft platform screaming what job I wanted in the Army, and I ran out of breath mid fall, which terrified me even more. “Just how high up am I?” I thought. I was powerless to change the outcome of my decision to jump from the platform. I was stuck in free fall.

For a lot of people, they’ll find themselves in this awkward stage. They’ve made a decision (or someone else made one for them), and now they’re just waiting on the outcome. The die has been cast, the dominoes are falling, they’re floating in free fall – whatever image you want. They’re waiting on the consequences, good or bad.

And waiting sucks. Especially in our spiritual lives.

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When I worked in an operating room, there was only one kind of patient we didn’t require a consent form from – medical emergencies. If they were unresponsive, we did all that we could to save their lives (and if they wanted to yell at us for something later, we would take solace in the fact that they were alive to be unhappy with us). Every other patient had to have a consent form on file, and was asked by no less than 3 people what procedure they were there for.

And it’s because we were about to inflict a measure of pain on them in order to heal them. Surgery is inflicting harm on someone for the purpose of healing someone overall. But there is an initial period of pain as the patient recovers.

There is a story in the gospel of John that involves Christ getting the man’s consent to perform a miracle on them (I’m going to call him Tim). Tim had been paralyzed for 38 years when Jesus walks by one day and pauses to ask him one of the most (seemingly) out of touch questions possible:

“Do you want to get well?” 

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Have you ever found yourself overwhelmed with small projects and tasks? Too many irons in the fire, so to speak? This happens to me all the time. I get an idea (‘I should start a blog’, ‘We should change our worship service’, ‘I need to organize something around the house’). And it’s possible that everything you’ve thought is a good idea. Two problems though:

1. It’s possible to have too many good ideas.
2. They might be good ideas, for someone else. Just not you.

One of the trickiest things that any of us struggle with is saying ‘No’, especially to good ideas. This can be particularly true for leaders, who want the best ideas they can get. The danger in having too many ideas is that you can’t accomplish ANY of them, no matter how good they are. And some ideas are great, for other people. Just not you.

Goals (or dreams, ambitions, etc.) provide a clear vision and plan for discerning and sorting out your best ideas. Here’s why:

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