Book Review The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews or better said choices and their enormous impact.

Andy Andrews’ latest book discusses the cause and effect that our choices have. It is a book in the vein of coffee table books, a gift or graduation book or one those little books with leadership quotes in it. It will not take long to read, but will have a significant impact on you, in my opinion.

I believe that Andy’s purpose in this book is to remind us that our lives, decisions, choices, actions (and even inactions) make a difference once way or another. He draws from the scientific theory that a butterfly’s wings flapping in the wind could set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to a hurricane on the other side of the world.

This book is also about what Andy does best, tell stories. He tells the story of the actions of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, a story that I have heard many times at many a motivational seminar. Joshua was a college professor who was enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War. The story focuses on his actions at the battle of Gettysburg. Joshua was told to shore up his end of a long line of troops. His platoon was able to hold off several Confederate attacks, but men started dying and they were low on ammunition. The Confederates were getting ready for their final attack. Chamberlain was down his commanding officers and realized that he was staring doom in the face if he did not do something. He ordered what soldiers he had left to fix bayonets to their rifles and charge. Confused and shocked by the offensive being launched at them, the Confederates started to retreat thinking that the Union had reinforcements. Chamberlin took action and he was able to get the Confederates to surrender while carrying out his orders to shore up the line and stand firm.

Chamberlin is a text book case of every choice or action that we make matters and can have a significant impact on what happens today and tomorrow. If Chamberlain had given up, we could be Confederation nation today. What would that have yielded?

This book is a great pick me up and reminder of the power of persistence and choices. It does focus on the positive side and leaves a little to desire in terms of reminding us that choices we make have consequences too, but I think that it will provide a logical way of thinking about good choices and perseverance.
The book is beautiful with attractive pictures along with a power story. It paints a picture though that some of the things we do could have impact, but in a way that we will never know now or even in this lifetime. This, I think, helps us to rest assured that even if we don’t see our lives making a difference that if we live it with purpose then our purpose will provide new meaning for others.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: Wild at Heart (revised and Expanded) Author John Eldredge

I had heard so much about this book that when I was able to get a copy of it to review, I was really excited. The book is unique in that it can be read by a man or a woman and they get different things out of it. At the same time, I encouraged my wife to read this to help understand me a little, but more importantly our son’s.

In essence what Eldredge is trying to do is remind men who they are and also allow women to understand why men are the way they are. He points out the proper design for men and their hearts. The author points out that boys and men have been emasculated and forced to be more feminine in their roles than they were designed for. This has lead to a decrease in man’s passion and has left many men and boys deeply wounded so much so that they cannot heal. This trend has left many men to feel insecure and to have what he calls a “false sense of self.”

What I appreciate is the way that Eldridge uses his own experiences and what the Bible has to say to help create a recovery plan to help men regain their passion and strive to be the man the God intended for them to be. He points out that a Godly man is one who is strong, secure, dependable, selfless and wild.

Eldridge also puts together a great recovery plan for men to go through to help them recapture who they are and provides resources to continue their efforts even after finishing the book. Having read this book it really made feel better about being a man and also provided me some food to think about in terms of who I am, but also some insight into how to deal with my son.

I whole heartily recommend this book.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Right to Lead by John Maxwell

Maxwell puts together another great book to motivate us in what we do day in and day out. Recognizing that almost all of us are leaders in one way or another, this book can provide insight and thought provoking ideas for all of us.

Maxwell’s book is written based on 7 areas of inspiration based on different character traits that leader’s posse. He provides us with inspiring stories based on taking action, having vision, sacrificing, taking risk, having determination, giving service and living with integrity. Each one of these seven areas has several inspiring stories, quotes and ideas that can provide each of us with motivation and to make us think about where we are in our lives and what we can do about it.

The great part about this book is that you can just about pick it up anywhere and start reading one of the stories and get something out of it. Pages are masterfully designed with inspiring pictures reminiscence of the motivational posters you would see at many people’s offices. The stories are short and do not take a long time to read so it is not time consuming especially for someone who is busy and has very little time. As a matter of fact, I sat down and read the whole book in about 40 minutes.

Maxwell also has a well-developed faith and Jesus and provides stories where folks get to share their personal testimony in Jesus as well as stories from well known historical figures as well as some that are not so well known. He also peppers the book with some things from prior works that he has done as well.

This is the type of book that would be a good Father’s Day gift, graduation gift or something for you boss on Boss’s Day. In essence it is one of those good gift books or even coffee table book that you would have lying around. However, if you are need of a real pick me up then you will enjoy this yourself and I suggest you pick up a copy and put it on your desk or table by your bed for instant motivation.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Hitting the Wall and Breaking Through It

Listen folks. We all do it. We all work hard and drive to reach results and go go go go gooooooo! But then we also get to points in our lives, where we hit the wall. It is almost a gut check situation because it feels like we have lost our passion; we are worn out and tired and it seems like we are powering down without a power booster in sight. I know this from personal experience, because it really hit me a couple of weeks ago, I was just worn down. Wanted to go back to sleep as soon as I woke up, could not concentrate and get stuff done. So I tried to do some things to help and it was a balance of these things that helped me to get through the wall and feel better.

1. First, I delegated. I did a quick review of my projects and pressing items on my plate. Anywhere I could, I delegated. I had a huge sense of release, just being about to take some things that were on my desk and moving them off. (By the way, I suggest that you have a good system in place for keeping track of who it was delegated to and when it is due. Check out David Allen’s Getting Things Done for more on this.)

2. Second, I reorganized. Since I have delegate quite a bit and was trying to get a hand on everything. I went through a mini-reorganizing event where I went through my planner and made sure everything was up to date and put in its right place. (This is all based on the GTD system by David Allen mixed with some 7 Habits. You could call it a breaking through the wall weekly review)

3. Third, I dropped the caffeine. I have been trying to supplement my body with caffeine in order to get energy. It had gotten to the point where it was not working. So I went to water (except for the occasional caffeine free tea). It was hard in the beginning and I kept longing for some taste, but after awhile I started to feel better and realized that I did not crash as much through the day like I did with caffeine.

4. Next, I broke up tasks. I was spending too much time working on things. I realized that I need to take a step away from my projects to get some refresh time. I found that I was much more refreshed and able to concentrate on what I was doing, plus given the fact that I was drinking a ton of water, I had a reason to get away. :-)

5. Finally, as much as I hate it, I started to do more exercises. I am not a very diligent person when it comes to this, but I realized that when I walked about the neighborhood or did my elliptical that I was more refreshed. It does me well, even if I do not want to do it.

These are some of the tips that I use to help me when I hit the wall to break through it. What are some things you do?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

What is the emergent church?

All across the spectrum we hear about the emergent church. I have struggled with trying to figure that out. Is it missional? Is it organic? Is it about small groups? Does it have to do with church at all? I have spent time looking into to this to formulate what it means to me.

Much of stuff that I have read comes from Brian McLaren as he seems to be one of the cutting edge writers on this subject. While the movement has been a polarizing one, I think that the key is that there is a shift that needs to occur in the church. In essence, the movement began as a look at what it means to be called to go and make disciples in a postmodern world. Things have changed in 2000 years. This is not the world of Jesus and we have to accept that. As McLaren put it “it had its genesis in a desire to share the Gospel in a changing social climate.”

Not only is the social climate changing, but with the advent of social media and things like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, the way we communicate and talk in today’s world is completely different that it was in the past. It is not about just making the church culturally relevant through updated buildings or new music and worship. Instead it is about looking at the tired old stale theologies that we have tried to use for 2000 years. We have to move towards updating the way we think theologically, issues around who we are as a culture in a postmodern world and also how we are going to deal with the social justice issues that we face. After all that is what Jesus did, he worked with the poor and the outcast to provide ways for them to have better lives.

Live is more diverse and church should be too. The emergent church has to focus on the fact that church life is much more diverse that it was today. Churches need to break down the walls that silos off groups that look alike coming together in church. I think that it is the silo mentality of our churches that make it difficult for us to really see the marginalized since we are so insulted with people who look like us and act like us that we are blinded to the real issues in society.

Dan Kimball is another person on the forefront of this emergent church idea. He also points out that “When the whole emerging church discussion began, it was primarily about evangelism and mission to emerging generations.” I think that the point here is that we need to make sure that if we are working on being emergent that we balance what started the movement and not forgot in an effort to address some of the very important theological issues that need to be redressed, renewed and reinvigorated.

So this is my look in to the emergent church. Regardless, we cannot do church like we always have and we need to consider what that means for us today and find ways to reach out to those who need it.
God bless.

Book Review: Mystically Wired by Ken Wilson

When I first got this book from Thomas Nelson through BookSneeze.com, I remember thinking to myself that this has to be interesting especially with something titled mystically. We do not general accept mystical in the realm of Christianity, so I was intrigued as to what the book would say in respects to this.

What I got out of this book is that the author, Ken Wilson, is trying to prove the point that we are “wired” for prayer. That is as beings created in the image of God, our human instinct is for prayer and something that we need as part of our survival. It is a vital part of who we are and a vital part of how to stay connected to the Creator.

If I am to be honest, the first half of the book is a little tedious. It is written to explain the science behind being hardwired for prayer. It was refreshing from the stance that the author was addressing this, which is generally not what Christians do, but I was ready for and looking for tips and ideas for having a better prayer life. I did get this in the second half of the book, which was basically the handbook to improving your prayer life. The author even proves some simple prayers to get you focused on increasing your prayer life.

This book is not a traditional self-help Christian book. It really focuses on the science behind it and is uncommon in the way that it presents ways for you to improve prayer. This is probably difficult for many Christians who have a hard time intermingling the science and the divine together, but Wilson does provide some solid research and understanding behind prayer. This type of approach could also be very upsetting to some Christians and make it difficult for them to want to read.

The good part about this book is that Wilson really tries to walk you through understanding prayer, his journey with prayer and he really tries to make you understand that it is not about just doing it, but why it is an important part of who we are as a created being. He pushes us to prayer as the importance of who we are and the relationship we have with God, not just because we are supposed to do it. The practical suggestions are also very helpful and I look forward to integrating a few of them in my life.

The negative part about it was that the scientific part could be a little difficult to wade through and hard to comprehend. Even as intriguing as the concept of praying having a physical impact on the brain is, it was still hard to get to that point of understanding it with all the information Wilson provides. I even found myself have to read some passages several times in order to get it.

All in all it was a good book, I might not have picked it up in the book store, but it is worth a read if you are interested in prayer, but if you are not interested in the science you might want to skip the first part.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their Book Review Blogger program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Do you have a mission statement?

Most companies whether for profit or not for profit have some type of corporate mission or vision statement. It is a document that provides and understanding of purpose and helps to provide direction for the company. In essence, it is something that answers the questions “What are we in business for?” It is the glue that holds the fabric of a company together and provides purpose for its employees.


So don’t you think that if it is this important for companies to have mission statements, that we should too. After all we are the CEO of ourselves. We are the employees that make ourselves go. We are the maintenance staff, support staff, and doings of company “Me.” So if we are serious about ourselves, then we need to be serious about putting together a mission statement to help define purpose for us, to provide direction and help us to harness out abilities to reach our goal.

For me, I started the process of developing my personal mission statement about 12 years ago. I did it at the behest of my FranklinCovey Planner, which had a section in it titled mission. I have spent most of the 12 years honing it, praying about it, refining it and changing it to get where it is today. I use it every day of my life. I read it each day before I look at the task that I need to do. I reflect on it each week when I plan for the following week and I spend time pouring over it and refining it once a year when I do long range planning for my life.

So how do you get started? There are some links to mission statement builders such as this one from FranklinCovey or this from Nightingale Conant. You can use these if you want, or you can consider the following steps to help you create your own person mission statement.

1. First, think about your passions in life. What is it that gets you up in the morning? What is it that makes you tick? What is it that when you do it time seems to fly by. Whatever it is that drives you, write that down because you will need it through the process of putting together your mission statement.

2. Also, Identify your Core Values. What is it that defines you? What are the core ideas or attributes that describe you? After you put your list together, consider talking to some close friends or a significant other or spouse and get their take on what values they see in you. You may come up with a lot, but I would try and keep it down to 5 to 7 values that are really important. When you get those, then consider writing a statement that expresses that value and how it functions in your life.

3. Next, consider the various roles that you play. What are the different hats you wear? For example, for me it is father, husband, disciple of Christ, worker, project leader, minister, me, family/friend and so forth. I suggest that you limit this to 7 at the most. Once we get past seven you start to get into analysis paralysis. When you have determined the roles, then put together a statement about what success looks like in the different roles.

4. Finally, what do you want said at your funeral? I know this sounds a little weird, but it is the best test to determine who you hope to achieve. Stephen Covey tells us that we have an innate desire to Live, Love, Learn and Leave a Legacy. The Leave a Legacy part is how we want people to remember us. So think about that and consider using that as part of the creation of your mission statement.

Take the answers to these four questions and started crafting your mission statement. It can be whatever format you want it to be because it is yours. It can be poetry, prose, bullet points, hymns, songs or paragraphs and just do it.

Consider these steps and put together your own personal mission statement. I believe that you will find that you will be more focused, it will be easier to say yes and no to request in your life and get more stuff done that you had before. A personal mission statement will provide clarity for your live. Couldn’t you use that?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”