1. I recently received the following in an email from one of my nephews:

RESIGNATION

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple, when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again. I want to live simple again.

I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow. So . . . here's my checkbook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause ......"Tag! You're it."

2. Jack Exum at Roseville:

A. Even the best of God’s people can fall prey to this problem

(Luke 10:38-42) Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. {39} And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word. {40} But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." {41} And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. {42} "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

B. Ken’s story of the mail with the big rocks in it.

C. Tonight let’s look at three passages that put the big rocks in the pail first.

(Mat 6:33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

A. Your part

1. Seek first God’s kingdom –

2. Seek first God’s righteousness –

B. God’s Part.

1. Add to you All these things

(Matthew 22:33-40) And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. {34} But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. {35} Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, {36} "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" {37} Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' {38} "This is the first and great commandment. {39} "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' {40} "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

A. Exegete and notice the "But" in verse 34.

A. Excegete.

B. Note esp. (Col 1:18) And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

C. The Way of Joy

J-esus 1^st

O-thers 2nd

Y-ourself 3rd

3. My misunderstanding of the 80 – 20 principle.

80/20 Principle

Also referred to as the Pareto Law, the 80/20 principle recognizes that it is the minority (20%) of the effort that yields the majority (80%) of results. Though counter-intuitive, time and time again this proves to be the case.

By understanding and applying the 80/20 principle you can achieve astonishing results with the minimum of effort. However it is not always clear what are the critically important factors that have the disproportionately large impact on the results. This is what makes applying the 80/20 principle so challenging.

There are a number of examples that help to understand the 80/20 principle. 80% of a site's visitors view 20% of the site's content. 80% of a companies profits come from 20% of its customers. 20% of a software package's functionality accounts for 80% of the usage. Of course it is not always 80/20 - it may be any proportion but it is virtually always heavily unbalanced.

We work with our clients to look for the 20% in all aspects of the Internet deployment. We also apply the principle within Media Paradigm to ensure that we are focused on improving the critical factors that allow us to develop more effective