flex time

is ten minutes of fun as long as ten minutes in a dental chair? today is my birthday. it sure feels like the years get faster as i get older. is it possible that time stretches or shrinks depending on its usage? sometimes, a minute can be an eternity and at others times it flies by.

i'm presently planning a vacation. the days are dragging by, due to the great anticipation...but sure enough, when the vacation begins, its a good as over! some speculate that years seem to go faster as you get older because they are a smaller portion of your overall life. for instance, if you live to be 100 years old, the individual years have less of impact than if you lived only twenty years. i think this may be true. years may lose their measured value over a lifetime, but correspondingly increase in their importance. the years of aging bring wisdom and understanding. this wisdom assist you in properly using your alotted time. it should get easier to say "no" and "yes" to opportunities. Our lives should be more meaningful as we grow older. you've matured from "shotgunning" life to become a sophisticated laser, narrowing in on only the important things.

i've learned over the years that a planned vacation is the best. you can always abandon certain plans and customize it to the spontaneous opportunities that arise. it suits me much better than showing up and seeing what happens...time is wasted and memories are lost. i've also learned that planned vacations seem to move faster, but they last longer in your memory. is that a good thing? i think so.

i'm planning my vacation. i find that the planning stage is sometimes as fulfilling as the actual event itself. its about anticipation. its about growing excitement. its about dreaming about life. some choose to be carefully educated, follow a career path and strategically serve in a given life purpose. others float through life wondering where it will lead. i suppose i do both. i live a planned life yet anticipate the invasion of wonder. wonder slows the clock down. wonder adjust your life plan. commitment to either without flexibility builds a life of drudgery.

go ahead...do your day...fulfill your plans, but i wonder what might happen? spend your time wisely, for its value fluctuates, and in the end, your memories are your inheritance.

location, location, location

i recently read in a book that claims that "geography" is the most important decision in life. really...geography? the author unfolded the premise that most of what we do and become is due to location. your life mate, career, income, mood, hobbies and more are usually determined by this one choice...where will i live?

i believe in part that this is true. there are decisions that supersede this rule. for instance, if you marry someone in another city, this could determine your life, and often people move to a place that their spouse lives or was raised. a career could also force you to pack up and relocate. but in the end, where you are will in great part determine your outcome.

why do we live in the places we live? one reason could be familiarity. we were raised there and its becomes like a favorite pair of shoes or an old blanket. it brings us an immeasurable security that is not easily cast away.

We also choose certain places because of "calling." we feel that some greater force has a superior destiny for us in that land. even though we may suffer, it feels that it is for a greater good. this makes the difficult days easier to sustain.

There are many reasons why we may choose the place we live, but i'm convinced that most of it is by default. life has dealt us a particular hand and we are playing it. living in default lacks adventure. it is safe. it is less customized.

our computers go to default settings which sometimes saves us from potential disaster. "default" is the recommended route...most traveled, less thinking, the uniform of choice. wear this, you won't have to go through the decision of what my closet holds that might brighten my day. uniformity, conformity, are ways that society is held together....but what makes a culture great, are the designers of new paths. they are the ones that have taken the side road, colored outside of the lines and chosen a risky path.

i suppose in the end, you look at the colors handed to you and decide...should i face potential disappointment and rejection and yield a new life or pick up the pencil and stay in the zone? its your decision...topple the first domino and see where it leads you! a life of color may await you.

nature speaks

God is green. he's actually the original green. after spending days in the creation of all we know, he declared over it, "it is good." he likes his stuff. he should.

he placed man in an idyllic environment and said, "tend and keep." the word "tend" is the same word used to describe the priests roles in caring for the tabernacle in the old testament. it's as if he considers the nature around us as a holy sanctuary. we are custodians in his house. the trees and the animals of nature are our god given responsibility.

this is where the law of reciprocity kicks in. if i care for his stuff, it will minister back to me in a time of need. the bible says that creation declares the invisible attributes of god...even his godhead. the psalms says that creation speaks a language understood by all nations. creation groans. it calls for us to be true men and women of god. its the artwork of god that speaks to his quality. it points to his attributes.

several years ago, friends in england treated me to theatre in london. we had third row seats in "miss saigon." it was captivating. lights were dimmed, the orchestra was ascending the moment, and a helicopter landed on stage. at that moment, i wasn't in a london theatre, but instead was translated in time and geography to the airlift in saigon, 1975. the music, the backdrop, the actors captured my imagination and took me to another place. they commandeered my focus.

nature is god's stagecraft. it tells the story of god. its fragrance, backdrop and creatures all declare his glory. the message is clear. god is near.

this is why film theaters instruct us to turn off our cell phones and not talk. it breaks the focus. it pulls you back to reality. it minimizes the content. when i see someone throwing garbage out the window of their car, it unsettles me. they are disturbing the story. they are interrupting the flow. pollution is a hellish attempt to silence the voice that has spoken through nature since the beginning. robbery and destruction are the job description of the devil himself.

protect his sanctuary...it may be wanting to communicate with you.

fear beyond snakes

there is a fear that has been proven to be beyond snakes and spiders...its public speaking. dale carnegie used to say that you would always have butterflies, you just need to get the butterflies "flying in formation!"

i recently took 20 people through a brief 4 week public speaking course. this was not my first time doing this. i had formerly taught at an internationally known course for nine years. i saw the deep fear and pain of hundreds of people attempting to silence the beast of terror. i've chased people out into the hallways to encourage them back in. i've publicly coached through the idiosyncrasies of speakers to a successful presentation. i've hung by a thread as i watched choice speeches filled with emotions come to a robust end in an explosion of applause. You learn a lot from people as they conquer their greatest fears.

of all of the people i've coached, i remember jeremy the most. he was in a class of 44 business people in the late 1980's. he was unmatched and outclassed by the other professionals in the room. he didn't realize that his boss had sent him to the class as a last resort. he was to pass or be fired!

his awkward style and downcast countenance added to the nervousness of the listeners. week after week, he fumbled through the speeches until week seven. my assignment as an instructor in week seven was to train the class in encouraging one another. encouragement is a powerful tool in the workplace.

as usual, i had to demonstrate what i was asking them to attempt. i looked down and saw jeremy sitting in the front row and began to encourage him. i said, "jeremy, you are a man of courage! Last week, you stood before this class and completed your speech...that...jeremy was courageous!" A strange thing happened at that point. my encouragement automatically went deeper. i spoke to his past, which i had no knowledge of. i said, "jeremy, the rejections of the past will not hold you back any longer...not mother, nor father, nor coach, nor teacher...for today you have become a man of courage!" he began to weep. the class exploded in applause and there was one of those moments where a unique bond happens among a group of people. for that minute, we were one.

The class settled down and a vice president of a bank in the back had his hand up. i called on him and he meekly responded, "could you do that to me?" hands began to rise all over the room. i responded, "better yet, i'll teach you all to do it to each other."

it was a turning point. it was the point where a class becomes a family and true compassion flows among its ranks. we are brothers and sisters together fighting this common fear of public speaking. jeremy graduated and to my knowledge did not lose his job. More importantly, i discovered in front of me, the heart opening power of encouragement in the foxhole of fear.

words of encouragement lift, comfort, and empower.

who's your foxhole buddy? go ahead...rock their world!

hope antidote

i parked the car on the street....double checking to make sure it was locked by pushing my remote lock button. the distant beep of my horn brought a momentary peace to my heart. my possessions were guarded. we were in a neighborhood that has been reported in national newspapers for its poverty and foreclosures. multitudes of houses are boarded up. 100 feet down the road, a drug deal is taking place and threatening faces glare at me. local newspapers have reported that a katrina like financial disaster has hit this area, yet the help will not come like a hurricane. i made my way to a place of refuge.

refuge in this case is a franciscan catholic church. it towers above everything in the neighborhood serving as a diamond set against a black background. all of the doors are locked. permission is granted to enter, only for serious seekers. we knock on the quarters of the priests and are greeted with warm, godly feeling individuals. these front line warriors will be the last to turn the lights out on the neighborhood. in fact, they will refuse to turn the lights out...for they are the guardians of a flickering hope.

permission was granted to enter the sanctuary. i was amazed at the architecture and trappings of an ethnic crafted paradise to the glory of god. my english friend, stewart and i strolled slowly with eyes upward, feeling a sense of great reverance toward the century old piece of art. prayers began to bubble up, which we vocalized intermittenly. deep prayers of a call for restoration sprung forth from our inner most being. this is a spiritual picture of what the church can be...in a dark place. 50 feet of seperation from the street has thrust us into a deep place of solace and contemplation. if only this could spread through the surrounding neighborhood. within a stones throw, homes are being lost, dreams are crumbling, violence is raging in hearts and minds...yet here lie peace.

the church is truly the greatest hope...not the building, but what it represents. it contains the potential to be a carrier of a life giving virus called the kingdom of god. jesus being personified through humans can change the darkest abyss into a valley of life. dry bones awaiting a word of prophecy. water waiting to blush at the sight of jesus.

how petty our differences are. every concern that is breathed out of fustration rather than desperation seems pointless, void. this is a place of need. hope is the antidote. infectious spirits are needed to bring life. stage four warriors are being summoned by the spirit. those that have been infected to the bone....they know that life is truly fleeting...time is of the essence...they are compelled. these are the ones that will reap a reward.