In the Zone

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by magic and magicians.  I remember buying toy magic kits and checking out magic trick books from the library.  Occasionally, I would try to show off the tricks I learned to my parents and friends. I'm a youth pastor now, so you can rightly assume I never got very good at magic.  Outside of a few easy tricks, I never could pull if off enough to fool people with my sleight of hand. And that's the thing about magic:  it's not real.  It's all a series of illusions made to focus your attention AWAY from what is really happening.  We marvel at how trained magicians pull off tricks we can't understand.  Yet, all they are doing is simply getting us to look, think or concentrate on one particular thing while they do the trick somewhere else. It's all about fooling our mind (or eyes).  Often, the trick itself is quite easy, once it's explained.  Yet, it looks so amazing that we often spend hours trying to figu...

Our society is all about self.  Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Vine and YouTube is all about promoting ourselves.  We want more followers, frequent re-tweets, lots of web hits and tons of friends to join the conversation.  Our thoughts and phrases and pictures are so important that we put everything out there for everyone to see.  We even created a new word about pictures of ourselves.  Selfies are all the rage. We are all about ourselves. We seek good self-images.  We want healthy self-esteem.  We're looking for self-worth.  We engage in self-promotion.  We talk about the need for self-respect. Are you starting to notice a pattern here? In all this self-glorification, we sometimes go too far.  Sometimes our desire to please us goes to the need for others to praise us.  We become self-important and self-conscious and we value our worth by what others say about us. We become more about pleasing people than pleasi...

Last week, I performed a funeral for my aunt Karen, who passed away suddenly. As I prepared the message, I talked with family about their memories and stories of Karen's life.  Each person I talked to have a positive word, a funny anecdote or a pleasant recollection of their departed loved one.  I incorporated those stories into the message.  You see, it's important that we are reminded of the good times and great memories we have of lost loved ones.  Instead of regret or shame, it's best to remember laughter and joy.  It makes the tough times easier to get through. Yet, it also reminds us of a simple truth:  God is good.  Even when we don't understand tragedy or heartache or death, we must recognize that ultimately God is good.  He provides joy and laughter and camaraderie.  He gives us love and light and peace.  Remembering the good amidst the bad gives a glimpse of our heavenly father, who longs to give us good gifts and ...

When I was younger, I used to hold grudges.  If you wronged me, I simply stopped talking to you while secretly plotting my revenge. Well, I never got my revenge.  In the end, I wasted a lot of effort in keeping silent.  The other person didn't care.  I spent a lot of energy being mad at someone who could care less. As I've gotten older, I realize the futility of grudges.  Life is simply too short to hold on to anger, resentment and even hate.  Do I still get mad?  You bet.  Do I still have conflict?  Sure.  But once the conflict is over, so is the dispute.  I don't have time to hold onto it for days, weeks or even years.  My energy is best spent elsewhere. Joseph found himself facing the very same dilemma.  His brothers sold him into slavery, which spiraled toward years of servitude, a false accusation and prison time.  Eventually, he got out and was made second-in-command of all of Egypt.  He has almo...

This week, I’m publishing my first novel, Sheep Among Wolves (You can purchase it here:   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IRTQ1FE ).   I co-wrote it with my friend Tony Harmon.   It has literally been a labor of love. However, this week, it becomes more than that.   As I place it on sale, I want people to purchase it and read it and like it.   As I’ve looked at various marketing strategies on how to effectively sell the book, one thing kept coming up over and over and over again:   Reputation matters. If the book is filled with errors, people will tell you so and you will earn a poor reputation.   If the book is boring or too long or underwhelming, people will write bad reviews and you will earn a poor reputation.   A poor reputation often equals poor sales.   There is a reason Stephen King, J. K. Rowling, and Tom Clancy sell a lot of books.   They have a good reputation.   A bad reputation, even at the start, can ruin a ...

When I was in college, I got a job freelance writing for a local newspaper.  It wasn't much money, but it was my first paid writing gig.  I was excited. Each week I would call the editor to get my assignment.  Shortly thereafter, I'd call the person or the lead, set up an interview and start researching.  A few days later, I'd submit my story for publication. In the midst of all that, I was taking introductory journalism classes in college.  I learned the importance of hard leads and reverse pyramid structuring and capturing relevant details first.  While those are great for hard new stories--like crime, government and tragedy--they don't work so well for feature stories, which is what I was mostly assigned. I wrote a for a few months, applying all that I was learning in school.  As the weeks went by, I noticed less and less of my stories making the cut.  Then one day I called asking for another assignment.  The response was stern:...

I love snowstorms. Yes, I'm the guy you revels in a good, snowy forecast.  I love to look out at the landscape and see nothing but pristine white powder covering everything and anything in sight.  I love snow. Here's why.  Snow brings us together.  We don't rush off to a movie or the store or a soccer game.  We aren't in a hurry to get out on the roads.  We, as families, are trapped inside our homes for an indefinite period of time. Snow has a way to force us to spend time together as a family - talking, watching TV or playing games.  It's God's way of focusing us on each other and taking some of the frantic hustle and bustle out of life.  I was reminded of that on Monday.  After a big storm hit my town, my wife, a teacher, didn't have school.  My daughter's day care was closed.  I had no good reason to brave the roads to head into the office.  For once, as a family, we sat at home.  We played and talked and enjo...