Ah, Charades.  Whether you are playing or not, it is a blast to watch people make a complete fool of themselves while trying to convince you of something.  Sounds a lot like life.  Sometimes we talk ourselves into playing games that make us look like idiots.  We try to convince those around us that we are something else or feel something else.  We tell people that we are great but inside we are dying.  We tell people we love them but our lives don’t show it.

Going through the motions doesn’t please you, a flawless performance is nothing to you.

Psalm 51:16

Some go through the motions of their marriage.  Others their work.  Maybe it’s with your kids.  Or with yourself.  But at some point in time we all find ourselves just going through the motions with something.  The key is realizing that’s what is going on and getting out of it.

See the funny thing about charades is that everyone knows you are playing a game.  The same is true for going through the motions.  You might have a flawless performance and get me to guess whatever it is you are trying to convince me of, but in the end the timer goes off and everyone sees you for who you really are again.

In life, though, we tell ourselves that no one else knows that we are playing the game.  We believe that we are smart enough and good enough actors to trick everyone.  But that’s where we are wrong.  Your boss can tell when you are just going through the motions.  Your readers can tell when you are just blogging to blog.  Your kids can tell when you don’t really care about what is important to them.  Stop trying to fool everyone else.  Know that you are only fooling yourself.

In what ways are you just going through the motions?

It’s pretty easy to get your own space on the internet.  You can say what you want.  Promote what you want.  When you want.  How you want.  But creating or fostering community is much more difficult.  That is a big part of what this new web site is all about.  I’m not looking to have just another place where I spill my guts.  My dream is for something bigger.

What if we created instead of me?  What if there was collaboration instead of one opinion?  What if we discussed instead of told?  That’s the kind of place that I dream about.  So that’s what I’m aiming for.  And I would love to have you join in, too!  Write a post, ask a question, express a thought, share your story.  Plus, it works in your favor because you are opening up yourself to a new group of readers!

So, this is a special invitation intended specifically for you.  Yes, you.  I want to invite you to join me in doing something different here.

I’m back! After a year straight, taking a week off from blogging was nice.  But, now we have a new place and a new name and a new outlook!

Welcome to the brand new biggerthanme.com!  This is something I have been thinking and dreaming about for a while now.  I’m excited to see this new journey start!

For a long time now, I have been bothered by the fact that my web site was based on my name.  Whether I intended it or not it was all still revolving around my name.  I’m not saying that this is always the case, but it felt like it for me.  So I wanted to make a change and here we are!  I wanted to make sure that my name wasn’t getting in the way.

I want to be able to get out of the way and let God use this for something bigger than I can accomplish.  I have big dreams that I know I am incapable of pulling off myself.  I want to see a community that benefits everyone.  A place to pool some common resources and cut down on work for others.  A place for discussions and not just what I think.

So, now it’s your turn.

Subscribe.

Update your links.

Join discussions!

Write posts!

It’s official!  Back on October 12, 2009, I made a goal for myself to blog every day for a year.  Well, October 11, 2010 came and went.  Yup.  That was a couple days ago.  Did I remember?  Nope.  I even blogged at 7 days remaining.  I still forgot.  Oops.  I never said my goal was to be smart for a whole year!

So, yeah!  365 straight days (or 367 actually since I can’t seem to remember the major milestones)!  Turned out to be a little more difficult towards the end than I thought.  But now that my goal has been reached, it’s time for a new goal.  Fortunately I already have that goal and will be filling you all in very soon!  But for now, I’m gonna take a break!  I mean, it’s been forever since I didn’t write a blog post.  So, as of midnight tonight, I will be going into Maintenance Mode and brookjames.com will be under construction until next Monday.

Make sure you come back next week because I will be back with full steam ahead for something bigger AND you will not want to miss our next big thing!

But until then, as always, if you need me, I’m sure you can find me.  Thank you so much for all your thoughts and input and support for the past year!

Stayed tuned!  We are officially…

A while back I set a goal for myself.  As a relatively frequent blogger (4 or 5 times a week usually) there  were plenty of weeks that went by that I struggled with whether or not I wanted to keep spending time here or if it was just a phase.  So I thought I would put myself to the test to see if I had it in me or if I was just forcing it.  I set a goal to post every day for 30 days.

I reached that goal no problem.  But it was too easy.  I wasn’t really pushing myself.  Just setting my mind to it.  So I decided to set a real goal.  Instead of 30 days, the aim was for 365.  Well, that was 359 days ago.  The final countdown has started.  This is post is the first of the remaining 7.  51 weeks down.  One to go.  I’m pretty sure I can make it.  It has definitely been a struggle at times, but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It is absolutely a marathon.

But now I have to decide what to do once I cross the finish line.  There are plenty of options and I think have some good ones, but I’m not sure which I want to go with yet.  So I need your help here.

Which option is your pick?

1. Set a new goal and keep blogging for another straight year.
2. Take a week + off and rest my weary fingers and keyboard.
3. Rush the launch of my newest project (not sure I can really get it done in time)
4. _________________________________ (fill in the blank)

If you come here often you know I love to talk about my wife.  I try not to do it all the time so I am not THAT pastor that is always talking about his smokin’ hott wife (yes, hott with 2 t’s).  Don’t get me wrong.  She absolutely is.  SMOKIN’ hott.  But I try to broaden my horizons and blog subjects.

As you may also know we just had a major change in our calm, couple, married, do-what-we-want-when-we-want lives.  5 months ago a perfect little present wrapped in slobber, spit up and giggles joined us.  Well, my wife has really embraced her new role and is loving it!  She is officially a stay at home mom.  She now has the most important job she will ever have.  Being in ministry with me, she knows that we go through hard times and experiences in live for more than the “just because” reasoning.  So she has relaunched her blog as a full time mommy blogger!

For you guys out there, (apparently) mommy blogging is a big deal.  When we didn’t know what to do with our newborn issues, I would google and she would search mommy blogs.  Her answers were always better than what I came up with.  But now that she has refocused her efforts and is poised to take the mommy world by storm, I wanted to let you all know before you get swept up in it!

Go check out the all new The Mom Diggity.

Tell your mom.
Tell your wife.
Tell your friend’s wife.
Tell your maternity patients.

Trust me.  It’s the bomb diggity.  (Yeah, I said it.)

After a 13 hour work day and level 3 of the 30 Day Shred, my blogging mind is shot.  I literally couldn’t even get that sentence out to my wife without stumbling through it.  I feel like the little kid below trying to push the eyelids open!  So, the blog will be the expendability for now!

Don’t worry.  I’ll put AT LEAST this much work into tomorrow’s post.  So come back then!

I really meant to blog.

We have had a crazy busy week!  So much is going on and as I sit here trying to crank out my nightly blog post, my brain is no longer working.  We have VBS for the kids all week which has provided mornings starting before 5:30 for 4 days in a row with one more to go, KK and I started doing the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels, and to top it all off Jessi Girl hasn’t wanted to sleep all week!  Fortunately this next week is going to provide a wonderful break!

So as I sit here staring at this poorly forming blog post while being frustrated with an annoying lady trying to find a condo in LA on HGTV, I decided I’m not going to blog.  Forcing myself to try to come up with something when nothing specific has been dropped on me today and none of my drafts are hitting the spot just didn’t seem like a good idea.  So, this is me not blogging.  Pray for sanity and sleep!

How’s your week?

Everything you do is motivated by something.  You set a goal for yourself, whether big or small, and then go for it.  Motivation is what drives us to get There.  But just because you are motivated to do something doesn’t mean you have the right motivation.  The right motivations push us harder toward our goals.  The wrong motivations just prove to be weak and many times we give up on the goal.

No matter what the goal is, you must examine your motivation for reaching it.  Lose weight. Break/make a habit. Write a blog. Learn to surf. All these choices are motivated by something.

• Will more successful weight loss come because the magazines you see in line at the checkout counter say you should or because you want to stay healthy and keep your body in shape?
• Will you be more likely to stop looking at other women because you don’t wanna get caught and sleep on the couch or because you love your girl and want to respect, honor and build her up?

If we are being honest, we would always choose the second motivation to answer the question.  But just because we know that doesn’t mean we always choose that.  You want to be an actor because they make lots of money, not because you love acting.  I buy things because I want people to see me with them, not because I need them.  You write books because everyone else in your profession is a published author, not because you love to write and have something to say.

But the same is true for relationships with Christ. I’m gonna read the whole Bible this year.  Why?  Is it because true Christians have read the whole thing all the way through or is it because I want to know more about Christ and can’t bear to leave anything out?  You are gonna have a “quiet time” with God first thing every morning.  Are you trying to improve your Christian status in your church group or get to know Him better?

Knowing the true motivation behind our decisions and goals is a must.  If the motivation is weak, our effort will be, too.  Examine your motivations.

Are you aiming for your goals because that’s what you are supposed to do or because reaching your goal is something you can’t miss out on?