May, 2009
05/26/2009

Book Review – The Noticer

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thenoticer“Come here son…come into the light”

Every once in a while (actually probably more often than that) I need a swift kick in the pants. I often live a life without the right perspective. I see only the things that I want to see without noticing more about the people around. After reading the Noticer, I felt like my eyes had been opened again to the world around me.

In The Noticer, Andy Andrews, paints a picture of an old man, Jones, who wanders in and out of a small, southern, beach town. The story begins with Jones meeting Andy, an orphaned twenty-three year old that is homeless, living under a local pier. Jones shares words with Andy about perspective that changes the course of Andy’s life forever. That begins one tale of many of how Jones changes his perspective for many people. Jones helps busienss people, married couples, young people and everyone in between.

This encouraging book brings home the importance of every moment of life, small things, big things, and everything in between. Jones crafts stories that bring great life. Jones is kind, gentle, tells the truth and isn’t afraid of stepping into peoples lives.

For any work I ask my self so what when I am done reading it. As I finished reading The Noticer, I was encouraged to do three things:

1. Make sure the people that I care about in life know it.
2. Make sure I am noticing the people in the world around me.
3. Encourage the people whose live I have influence in to care about those in their lives.

My only caution would be great ready to read for a while. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down again.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

05/25/2009

Childhood, Adulthood, and Everything in Between

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kayakers1

I’m sitting on the dock at the lake. My nine year old daughter, Riley, and my 6 year old son, Seth, are kayaking in front of me in the high grass where the earth and water meet each other. They splash each other and their cousin, Emmet, who paddles next to them. Its an idyllic moment.

In the meantime, at the end of the dock, there are another dozen kids readying to go on an adventure in a boat. They banter back and forth as they wait for another cousin to run down from the house and get on board.

On the south side of the dock, there are 6 kids dipping in the cool lake while the warm sun shines on them. They play king of the mountain on a tube and see who can push the others off. They splash incessantly and let out yelps of joy each time one of them falls in. They are innocent and uninhibited.

Time stands still.

The boat engine breaks the sound of the waves lapping against the dock. The teenage kids pull away from the dock slowly. They turn the boat with skill and disappear around the bend. With no adults to hold them back their adventure is underway.

Five minutes later the kayakers are in the water swimming off the end of the dock. They do cannonballs and belly flops laughing at the sheer joy of jumping into the water. Their friends are here with them and they could swim and play for hours without a care in the world. Every once in a while a shivering kid runs by on his way to or from the shore.

Time stands still.

The adults meander down to the dock and back. Sitting for a while and talking. Reading and soaking in rays of sun. Drinking tea or coke or sipping a glass of wine or beer. They stop for a light lunch of sandwiches and chips. Then return to the the dock or sit on a boat or relax in chairs by the shore.

We share smalltalk with our neighbors and enjoy the peaceful setting together. We are just being.

Earth, sun, water, clouds. People. All together for this moment. It’s just a moment.

Time stands still.

I flash back to first time my oldest child, Caleb, ever swam in this lake. It seems strangely like a lifetime ago and yet also like a blink of an eye. I remember my own first days swimming in the lake and exploring it’s depths. Wading in shallow water looking for fish or casting a rod toward a promising hole.

That does seem like a lifetime ago.

Time doesn’t stand still. It marches on and we march on with it. Maybe Elise and I will be sitting on this dock in 10 years watching our grandchildren tiptoe into the water.

But for now we just enjoy this moment without expectation. We have no hurry and no worry. We just let the moment be.

I finish writing and slip into the water myself. I swim well out into the lake. When I turn around. From the lake looking back I see all of the faces and bodies. Some have shaped my life, some lives I shape. Children, adults, and everything in between.

05/22/2009

@grshortstop’s personal blog and why I like it

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shortfamily

There are a lot of people who think that blogging is a self-absorbed, trendy fad that is going away soon. It might be. But here is why I like the trend: I get to still keep in touch with people that otherwise I would never know anything about.

For example check out this blog. Sarah was a kid in a youth group that I helped to lead back in the early ’90′s. I haven’t seen Sarah in probably at least 7 years. That is until last year. Then I saw Sara all the time. I didn’t see her in person. I saw her on Facebook. Then I saw her on Twitter. Then I saw her blog. As a result I have gotten to reconnect with Sarah and get to know about some of her life even though she lives halfway across the country with her husband and kids.

Here are just a few of the things that I know now:

  • Sarah is a great writer and blogs more consistently than anyone I know who has a personal blog. In fact she has written 575 posts in the last 2 years. That’s a lot of writing and she is good at it.
  • Sarah is a great cook and shares her talent with lots of people through her blog. I haven’t tried her recipes yet, but I have 3-4 that I am going to soon (the chicken piccata looks awesome).
  • Sarah has a great family and cares a ton about her kids and husband.
  • Sarah is real and authentic and writes about stuff that is really cool to read about.
  • Sarah has a deep and inspirational faith – that encourages me to think about my own faith and ask questions. I really appreciate that.

I could go on, but you get the point. Now get out there and find out about someone you care about, or share with people who care about you. It’s the new way the world works – if you want it to.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

p.s. I forgot a bullet that I should have included – she is a great photographer also!

05/15/2009

If Jesus Twittered…

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if-jesus-twittered

05/11/2009

Time, glass gems, and kids

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Jars on TableIn my consulting work, I often encourage visual people (you know who you are) to create images, symbols, or objects that represent something important to them and place them somewhere that they will clearly be on their mind often.

I was practicing a little preaching last week.

My oldest son, Caleb, will be driving on his own in just under a month. Teaching my oldest to drive and anticipating how quickly my time with him day to day is fading, I set up a tangible reminder of the time I have left with my kids. I bought 4 glass jars and filled each jar with a different color glass gem (Caleb – blue, Josh – orange, Riley – pink, and Seth – green). Each glass gem represents one week in their lives before they go to college. [yes I am assuming they will go to college...]caleb-with-jar2

Each week I take a gem out of each jar and throw it away in the trashcan. I was looking for a clear reminder for me about how short the time was that we have as a family.

The funny thing is that I am not afraid of the passage of time. I don’t sit around wishing that it would slow. I am happy for my children to move on to new and exciting areas of responsibility and ownership of their own lives. I don’t look at people with younger children and think, “I miss those days.”josh-and-gems3

At the same time I do like markers, placeholders, and things that force me to count things. In this, my one and only life, I won’t get time with my children back. I know on the other side of eternity I will have countless hours. On this side, my time is limited and finite. I want to make the most of every week.

Someday, Elise and I will be home alone wondering where days, weeks, months, and years went. I want to look back and realize we used the time as best we could. I am sure we will be thrown some loops and things that we won’t enjoy or expect. But I hope we will look back contented that we used the time well.riley-and-seth

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