Smiling Helps Everyone (Especially Single Guys)

19 Nov ’11 By 20 Comments

PHOTO BY: JENNIFERHOPPERPHOTO.COM

I figured out the key to Levi’s success with getting women to flock to him. For all my men out there, listen up.

First off, smiling is good for your health. And science proves it.

From lowering your blood pressure, increasing endorphin levels, lowering stress levels, boosting your immune system, and simply making you more attractive to the rest of the human race (come on, who doesn’t need a little of that?), smiling has a tremendous effect on your body and your mood.

Smiling is also good for the health of those who see you.

People who smile more often have a positive effect on their environment, and are better received by others (Abel, MH, Hester, R. (2002).

Dr. Nigel Carter, CEO of the British Dental Health Foundation, stated “We have long been drawing attention to the fact that smiling increases happiness both in yourself and those around you, so it is good to receive the backing of this scientific research. A healthy smile can improve your confidence, help you make friends and help you to succeed in your career.”

Yet why do so few of us smile?

While it may not be terribly surprising that women smile an average of 62 times per day, men only smile an average of 8 times per day. If spread over 16 hours of wake time, that’s 1 smile every 2 hours for us guys.

Bros, think we can step it up a little?

And yet 99.7% of adults (*which includes women) say an attractive smile is an important personal asset.

*FREE TIP OF THE DAY – To my single male readers out there: this research suggests that maybe the key to landing a bride is stepping up the amount you smile. She apparently not only likes to smile, but likes seeing others smile.

It’s this simple fact that has lead me to conclude precisely why Levi has so many women flock to him: he’s a professional smiler at the age of 7 weeks.

Lord, help me. ch:

SOURCES:

http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongbeauty/tp/smiling.htm

http://www.livestrong.com/article/18859-health-benefits-smiling/

http://health.ezinemark.com/smile-statistics-318ad3a9997.html

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The F- Word

5 Oct ’11 By 4 Comments

Somalia headlines from September 5th 2011:

Last night I was scraping the unused portion of a can of refried beans into the trash.

The trash.

Which leads me to One.

I’m a subscriber. Because I think there are certain efforts – regardless of your politics – that deserve our attention and our money.

I was first assaulted by the pictures coming out of Somalia a few weeks ago. I even made a file on my desktop of them. Just to berate myself. Intentionally.

Today’s letter from Bono via the one.org mailing list was especially moving. As was the video on the “F- word.”

“Famine is man-made.”

Certainly one of the more powerful branding lines.

Watch the video. Sign the petition.

It’s it worth it for the 30,000 children we can never get back. ch:


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Gospart Church

19 Jan ’10 By 4 Comments

Gospart Worship

The thing I think Jennifer likes the most about Spain? 11:30am Sunday morning church services.

Our old friends Fabio & Yael Fernandez have teamed up with their brother and sister-in-law to start a brand new church in the outskirts of Madrid (Brunete), named Gospart. The focus of the church? Reaching the lost through practical love and using their gifts of artistic expression to be glorious for Jesus! And at only 6-months old, they are off to an incredible start.

Jenny and I had the honor of not only joining them in worship, but preaching as well. Jesus spoke more about “the Kingdom” than any other subject in scripture, yet it tends to be the thing we know least about as Christians, imagining it to be some mystical parable rather than a way of life. I spoke on three manifestations of a true Kingdom lifestyle: transformation of thought, health, and resources. The Holy Spirit gave me words of knowledge for all the new people (if you’re not freaked out now, then you probably will be just fine here at Gospart), and the church as a whole said they were deeply encouraged.

Monday was spent at the home of one of the families in the church, the mother having been healed right out of her wheel chair four years ago! And today, we are heading to probably my favorite city anywhere on the planet, home of the greatest sword-smiths ever known: Toldeo. ch:

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SOW Day 2

12 Jan ’10 By 5 Comments

ethan the studious

First off, thank you for all your prayers for Jennifer. While she has been extremely weak all day, she seems to be in better spirits. She stayed in bed most of the day resting, and her temperature fluctuations have been much less dramatic. I believe the antibiotics she’s on are kicking some butt, and hope tomorrow brings even more signs of health. I was just sharing with the staff here how grateful I am for technology and the ability to inform thousands of people around the world of a prayer need in only a few seconds.

On to the rest of the day…

To sit in a class and receive teaching is, for the most part comfortable, if not challenging. But when the teacher suddenly changes gears and makes the students act on their knowledge, things can get rather exiting (for the teacher), and nerve wracking (for the student, especially when it involves standing in front of people).

Among all the other material, one of today’s exercises was making the students write a song to the Lord, in 20-minutes, and then sing it in front of the class. For some it was normal, for others is was their first time writing a song and, even more, standing in front of people.

Ethan, shown crafting his song above, had a joyful call-answer clapping song that you might hear around a playground, while Abby had a sweet, lofty melody of adoration. Not everyone had to share, but those that did really blessed the rest of the class.

After lunch, the entire school put on a mini-concert for the elderly residents that live in the apartment building of the church (what an awesome ministry to have right inside your church!). They were really touched, and expressed their appreciation of having so many young people around.

After a quick siesta, I did a workshop with the students on team-building in a worship setting, audio basics 101, service layout, song selection, sound check, and ran a basic practice with them (in preparation for a service they’re leading Thursday night). And at the end, we had a rather spontaneous class on prayer as they laid hands on one of the French students who is deaf in his left ear. While he wasn’t healed right there, we’re believing for it this week! Belief for miracles seems to be a theme as Kevin (one of the staff) and I prayed for a Muslim soldier in a Moroccan restaurant last night. He had lost his eye in the war, was so open to Jesus, and was really touched, as were the restaurant owners (who gave us free food afterward!). ch:

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