I was reminded of this truth recently when I was listening to my dad tell stories to my son.  Mesmerized, my son relived episodes from my father’s boyhood – laughing when my dad told of how he broke up with an old girlfriend in a not so traditional way – entranced when my dad told of a difficult time in our families history.

Stories.

Whether you work in ministry, business or teaching, it is imperative that when you communicate, you do so through story.  Tom’s Shoe’s CEO, Blake Mycoskie said,

“I realized the importance of having a story today is what really separates companies. People don’t just wear our shoes, they tell our story. ”

Here are some key questions to ask that will help you to add life to dull information through stories:

• What has happened in my past that applies to this situation?
• How does this apply to what I’m working on today?  
• How will I be changed because of it?
• What person or people group can I tell a story about that help illustrate a point?

Stories are a powerful way to influence the next generation for the better so TELL YOUR STORY!

Peace!

Four years ago this evening, Makenzie finished her last pirouette, landed her last leap, and smiled one last time for the camera that loved her.  Four years ago this evening, she headed home as a passenger in a car that drove the last 2.1 miles of her life to the intersection that I now mostly avoid.  Four years ago this evening, God lifted my beautiful daughter from a horrible wreckage and said, “Welcome Home.”

It is a funny thing how my human experience is now interwoven with concrete and traffic lights.  I ponder how my mind continues to bring up joyful memories and grieving feelings.  But I also praise God’s way of death for Makenzie. Instant. Unaware. Painless.  I am so very thankful that her location – where she rests – is free from all that is ugly.

So today, I choose to celebrate in the location.  Later, I will walk the lake shore that provided a beautiful backdrop for her last photo shoot.  I will sit on the dock in the place where she sat and I will venture to that intersection in which everything changed.  But I will not grieve.  I will only thank God because she is in my future and not in my past.  She is home; safe and sound in the protection and grace of her Savior, Jesus.  What more could a parent ask for.

Peace!

While we, who have never donned a uniform, admire their bravery, courage and effort, not one of my veteran friends see what they did as a brave thing.  They don’t call themselves heroes.  They don’t beat their breast in self acknowledgement.  For them, it was simply what they felt called to do.

“It was much like a job description,” said one. “Everyday, we simply reminded ourselves of our mission and what needed to be accomplished.  Then we went out and did it.  It was our duty.”

Today, I remember the duty that ensures freedom.  I remember the millions who did what they did to help make our country great. I remember that they gave their best so that I could strive for mine.  Praise God for men and women who continue to do what they do for the safety of the multitudes.

Peace!

(By the way, a Prayer Labyrinth is a mazed pathway leading to a center point on which you offer prayers and spend time with God.)

As I strolled through the brick-lined gravel path, noticing the tall quiet trees that bordered the Labyrinth, I sensed that I was learning what it meant to trust.  You see, occasionally the path would turn to the left and head in a new direction.  Simply follow I thought. On the other side of the large circle-maze it would turn to the right and guide me elsewhere.  Simply follow.  Sometimes it even moved me back and away from where I thought it should go. Simply follow and trust rang in my mind.

But that’s how God wants us to walk with Him. He has us going to the left and sometimes to the right. He has us going forward and sometimes moving back. But ultimately we end where He would want us to end. Jeremiah 29:11‘s original language says that He brings us to an expected end – an end that He has determined and one that fulfills His purpose for our lives.

Ultimately, I emptied out in the middle, sat on the bench and thanked God for the lesson.  The lesson from the Labyrinth is to just walk with Him.  One foot forward.  Simply following.  Authentically trusting.  And praying all the way.

Peace!

Birthday Cake Nose

I don’t remember where I read it and I don’t remember why.  But somewhere in my scanning of some random article, a mom was talking about her children – of which she bore three.  What caught my attention was how she listed the names and ages of her kids.  “Alex – 22, Molly – 24, Andrew – forever 18.”

Reading Andrew’s listing stirred up in me a Makenzie moment.  I paused.  Knowing what she meant and wondering the details of the back-story.  I wondered how he died and if he led a full life.

Today, ‘forever 18’ strikes me especially hard.  My Makenzie’s birthday.  She would have been 22 but is ‘forever 18’.  She would have been in college, maybe had a boyfriend and maybe would have come home to celebrate with us.  Lot’s of maybe’s, silenced by reality.  She doesn’t have any more birthday’s.  She is ‘forever 18.’

What I wouldn’t give to bake her a cake today.  What I wouldn’t do to see her play along with my old joke of putting re-lighting candles on it.  (She would always pretend to be surprised that the candles wouldn’t blow out – but she knew).  What I wouldn’t give to hug her bear-like, kiss her forehead and whisper “Happy Birthday, Kenz”  only to hear back “Thanks daddy.  I love you.”

Today as I sit in the quiet of my writing room, look up to see her pictured face and finger a bobby-pin found underneath my coffee mug, I am simply grateful that the “forever” in her “forever 18” is spent at the side of God.  He knows what He’s doing.  He has granted her a “forever” that is filled with joy. He has given her a life that is above any she experienced while with me.  He has graced her with a fullness that I too will know.  My Makenzie’s “forever” is with her Savior Jesus and I cannot be more grateful.

Happy Birthday, button-nose.  Forever-18.

Peace!

Everyone has “God”.  Many have many.  Some have few.  I have one.  He is a God that informs my life decisions in ways that stun me.  He is a God that shapes, crafts and weaves the seams of my day.  He is a God who is real, alive and lovingly holds me accountable as a good Father would his son.  And I enjoy my walk, holding onto the hand of the God who has told me who He is in the script of a 66 book letter.  The message of that letter to me is, “Todd, even though you followed yourself and denied me, I still love you and have given you life!”

And he signed it with the blood of his son, Jesus.

What god are you following?

Peace!

The buffalo sees the same storm.  However, instead of trying to avoid it like the cow, the buffalo turns toward the storm, lowers its head and runs straight at it.  In doing so, he engages the difficulty, plows through the pain and emerges out on the other side thereby decreasing the time spent suffering.

From what storm are you trying to run?  What hard conversation have you been putting off?  What tough decision have you been delaying?

Be a buffalo.  Put your head down and plow through it.  You’ll be glad you did!

Peace!

In the hours following, the suspects Dzhorkar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were identified.  Chechnyan Brothers who had a big faith.

Heresy you cry!  Blasphemy you accuse!  But wait.  Supposedly, the pair held a deep conviction in what they believed.  As misplaced and evil as it was, they had a deep faith in what they believed they wanted to do.

Now, before you send the militia to pay me a visit, read slowly these next thoughts.  Faith defined – in the non-biblical sense – is a deep conviction in something or someone. Unfortunately, what they believed was that evil was a way toward personal gain.  They believed that “outsiders” needed to be eliminated in order to bring forward a better world.  They believed reward awaited for those on a killers mission.  Frankly, these may be speculations but if even a speck of it is true, that takes Big Faith.

THE POINT:  You see, you can have a strong faith, but the deeper question is, what is the object of your faith?

Too bad that kind of faith wasn’t directed toward good.  I mean, what if the amount of energy that these brothers expelled was directed at doing something of positive value?  What if their focus was to do something that would enhance the lives of the Boston marathon runners not take their lives instead.  What if the pair spent the days and months planning a cacophony of love and not a conspiracy of hate?  Horrific for them and the hundreds that suffered under their evil.  Their faith was placed in a false god who directed them toward demolition and destruction.

My faith is given and directed toward a living God who says to love others and serve where I can.  My faith is embolden on the risen-ness of His sacrifice so that I too can rise to the occasions of compassion and avoid the addiction of violence.  My faith is embedded in the Grace of Jesus that informs all of life and give me hope today and into eternity.

In whom do you place your faith?

Peace!

Here it is.  As I’m walking out the door, I normally have my briefcase, a travel mug of Jo and my phone.  Usually, that’s about all I can handle but my bad habit is to try and add more and more to my already full arms as I leave.  This time, I was gripping my mug and balancing Tupperware containers of salad on the bottom, Broccoli in the middle and a smaller portion of rice.  With each step, the rice container bobbled back and forth until it finally fell, spilling all over the dirty garage floor.  I didn’t have an extra arm to steady it.  I didn’t have an extra hand to catch it.  And I lost my lunch to the concrete below.

Isn’t that the same thing I do during my day?  I have my basic events and time blocks but I try and cram as much in as I can leaving somethings unfinished and others that simply fail – all because of my habit of over-carrying.

You and I do this in relationships – wanting more and more from someone.  We do when we eat – stuffing ourselves full when contentment should do.  We even do this in our concern for others – giving and pouring our lives out and becoming exhausted because there was no “self-care.”

How do you manage the urge to take on too much.

1. Learn to say no.  Children say no in defiance.  Adults should say no in balance.  If you are presented with another request, ask a few basic questions:
   Is this something that is required?  (e.g. By your boss or authority figure).
   Is this something I have enough time to accomplish?
   Is this something that can be delegated?
2. Make two trips.  I am still learning to be ok with taking two trips.  Using the example above, I should have taken by normal items to my car first and then the extras.  It takes a little extra time upfront, but would’ve saved me more time later as I had to clean up the rice and prepare something else.
3. Ask others to help.  My wife and daughter are masters at this.  They have no problem asking me to get something for them while they are busy with something else.

Question:  When have you taken on too much?

Peace!

Makenzie on Easter Day!

(Several years ago, my oldest daughter, Makenzie was killed in a traffic accident.  Below is a re-post from our first Easter without her):

We have been comforted by many people over these last months after Makenzie’s death.  This week has provided countless opportunities for people to send their well wishes as we walked through Holy Week without Makenzie.  (Another of the “firsts” that we, who have lost loved ones, must endure).

One sentiment has repeated itself from several people.  “Just think.  This is Makenzie’s first Easter in Heaven.”  Truthfully, that was my thought as well because my human experience is the template through which I process life in heaven.  I have no choice but to think that my daughter, Makenzie lives there but follows the time table of here.

I know better.  It is not her first Easter in Heaven.  She has not been counting the minutes to have an Easter Egg hunt or eat egg-bake before the sunrise service.  She has not been fiddling with her Easter dress in the pew, waiting for the Heavenly choir master to raise his arms and cue the first chord of the hymn “Jesus Christ is Risen Today!”

The truth is EVERY DAY IS EASTER IN HEAVEN!  All the joy and laughter is a 24-7 deal.  The pomp and circumstance is multiplied a million-fold as Makenzie, along with so many others, celebrate what Jesus has done for the entire world!  The partying does not end!  The dancing does not slow!  The music does not wane!  Makenzie is whooping it up, praising her Savior and never wanting to stop! (And we are there too but that’s another post for another day).

I can’t tell you how happy and hopeful that makes me this Easter.  Yes, it is another “first-without-her.”  Yes, I wish I could see her crack open a hard-boiled Easter egg and fish out the yoke.  Yes, I would love to give her an Easter hug and hear her whisper “Happy Easter, Daddy.”    But how can I not be deeply, profoundly grateful to my risen Savior for letting Makenzie in on the party?  How can I not worship Jesus for giving His life so that she can have hers?  If He hadn’t done what He did, I would never see Makenzie again.  But this Easter I celebrate because Makenzie is in my future and not in my past.  And I celebrate because EVERY DAY IS EASTER IN HEAVEN!

Peace!