Sad But True...

Washington Enchantments - Devin Graham

How Do You Relax?

Matthew 6:26 NIV
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

It is that time of the year again when there begins to be a small break in the oppressive heat of Summer. It almost seems that I can "smell" Fall in the air, especially in the dim blue light of pre-dawn. I cannot wait for that first day when the thermometer breaks that magical threshold and shows 59 degrees.

Part of the reason I like Fall is that it harbors my favorite pastime, hunting. While in my younger days it was all about the harvest, these days it seems it is becoming more about the reconnection with the countryside. Just looking down this country road towards the treeline seems to ease me back from the precipice of self induced stress.

As I step into nature, and move away from the ever increasing speed of daily life, I begin to understand that God has everything under control. His plan just seems so much more complete and logical. Where we place importance these days is fleeting. Take some time to remove yourself from the hurry. Find a place deep in the woods, in the back forty of a pasture somewhere, or on top of a mountain... and just stop to listen to the deafening silence of the perfection He has created for us. Relax.

Billy Graham on Technology

Why I Write

In order to teach you must first learn. In order to lead you must first follow. - Brad

I can remember the very first time I felt inspired to write. I was in my College Freshman English class and we were offered the opportunity to write about anything we wanted. I had not even considered that in the past. Writing was done to complete an assignment as quickly and concisely as possible, and then padded to reach the minimum acceptable word or page count assigned. Why would I "want" to write about anything?

What I wrote about was my childhood frustration of being compared to the local (in the opinion of my mother) golden child of the neighborhood. As I began to compose my thoughts I found that they easily flowed to the page and quickly outstripped the required length, yet I could not stop. The story seemed to have control of my hand and was refusing to be edited to fit within defined boundaries. Somehow I was able to come skidding into a furious conclusion some five pages and 30 minutes later, just as our allocated time drew to a close. I can still remember the confounded feeling I had as I meekly asked the teacher if she had a stapler I might use before I dropped my paper onto the pile of single paged compositions already in her basket.

When I walked into class the following week the teacher pulled me aside and asked if she could read my paper to the class. She said I had a unique talent in sharing my feelings in an authentic and honest manner. To this day it is one of the watershed moments of my life. It is a point in time where I can honestly say that I moved from being a child, programmed for compliance, to an adult with something to share. We are talking about writing here, but in reality that moment was a paradigm shift in self confidence for me. To the teacher it was another discussion, on another day, just doing her job. To me the world changed. Remember that when you deal with young people. Your words of encouragement may be the ones that set them on the path towards fulfillment... or they could do permanent harm. Be careful, show grace and share optimism. You might be the difference in someones life, TODAY.


Shelia Mullican On Writing
Oz Hillman on getting started

If you were meant to cure cancer or write a symphony or crack cold fusion and you don’t do it, you not only hurt yourself, even destroy yourself. You hurt your children. You hurt me…Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It’s a gift to the world and every being in it. Don’t cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you’ve got. - Stephen Pressfield

Close, But No Cigar

Romans 5:3-4 ...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Have you ever noticed how we tend to reward bad behavior these days? I don't know about you but that really bothers me, at least it has. This weekend at Church I was confronted with a realization that may be at least a small explanation. Many of the words we use to define a positive trait or behavior have corollaries that differ in some small degree of interpretation, but change the overall effect dramatically.

Take the tag line in my blog as an example. The word Confidence is a generally admirable description of a persons state of being. Without confidence it becomes almost impossible to reach any sort of achievement, or peace, or happiness. However, the evil step brother to confidence is arrogance. Arrogance is abusive, self centered and seeks to destroy others for the benefit of self. The two words I held in contrast this weekend were Perseverance and Defiance. Perseverance is the singlemindedness needed to achieve a desired result despite extreme resistance. It develops an inner strength that allows us to reach that seemingly impossible goal. And here is the AH HA! moment I realized... If you add self-centeredness to almost any positive word you can take it to the negative quite abruptly. The self-centered result of perseverance becomes defiance.

Seek every day to find those occasions where you can extract your need for attention, and dedicate yourself to the quiet, confident, persistent pursuit of truth and right and good. Be honorable and live with Grace. At the end of the day I believe you will find your reward to be more fulfilling happiness.

Word of the day... Selflessness.