31Mar, 2011

Five Reasons to Register for Storyline

Posted by Don
14

Today is the last day to get the pre-registration price for the Storyline Conference. If you’re needing a bit of clarity in your life, or wanting to jump-start the story you are living, come visit Portland in June with hundreds of other people who will be mapping out their personal storyline at our two-day conference. How long has it been since you’ve performed a life evaluation? Here are five reasons to attend Storyline:   1. Because you can walk out of the Storyline conference better understanding what you want to do with the rest of your life.   2. Because you’ll come to understand why some roles in life don’t work for you and others seem to work great. You’ll understand the “kind of character” you play in life’s story and be able to shape your story around that role. 3. You’ll have a broad map showing you where you currently are in your story and be able to list the priorities you can focus on now so the story is as impacting as you hope it can be. 4. You’ll meet people from all over the country who are interested in the kind of life you are interested in [...]

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30Mar, 2011

The Thing About Choices

Posted by Don
43

So I’ve been working on the new book for a long time now. I’ve got pages and pages of outlines and notes but it’s time to write it. So I sent three versions of the first chapter to my publisher and had a conference call to talk through the pros and cons of each “voice.” We all agreed that one was better than the other two so that’s good news. Sometimes your mind can get a little Jekyl and Hydeish and you feel like you’re dealing with multiple personalities. It’s all about choices. Because we’re a ridiculous dualistic society (don’t study the roots of dualism because it will mess up your theology for a year or more) and we start thinking there’s a right choice and a wrong choice, or because we didn’t get something we wanted there’s “nothing” else out there. It’s ridiculous. Basically, there are just paths. Or maybe there’s just woods, and you have to cut your way through the woods. One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies is from Wonderboys, when Katie Holmes character reminds Professor Tripp that “writers have to make decisions.” What she meant was a book only starts taking [...]

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24Mar, 2011

Grappling with Control and the Fear of Dying

Posted by Don
59

Every so often I get a healthy perspective about the temporal nature of life. I’m reading a book now by a man in his 80′s who states in his introduction the first 80 years pass like a flash. His exact words are “Eighty years sounds like a long time until they are behind you.” I have a love/hate relationship with death. I like life. I enjoy getting up every morning. I like my job and my friends and the city where I live. I have bad days but not many. And I like building things in this life. I like building books and launching others into their careers. And yet every once in a while I realize this whole thing is going to be taken away. It’s enough to make me quit, honestly. It’s enough to make me wonder whether I’d not be better to get married and run a small shop and spend more time walking my dog along the river (I already spend plenty, so maybe that’s overdoing it) because what’s the point of building something when you just have to let it go? I was with my friend Jim Chaffee recently for a rare speaking gig in [...]

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23Mar, 2011

The Sheep who Did Not Hear Jesus’ Voice

Posted by Don
33

On Yesterdays blog I talked about John chapter ten, in which Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd and the sheep will hear his voice. It’s an exciting and comforting chapter if you consider yourself drawn to Christ and want to follow Him. In the same chapter, though, He talks to a group of people who do not hear His voice, even though they are sitting right in front of Him talking to Him. It’s sobering. Here’s the exchange: “So the Jews gathered around him and said to him “how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they fllow me. I give them eternal life and they wull never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s [...]

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22Mar, 2011

What Does the Voice of Jesus Sound Like?

Posted by Don
41

In John chapter ten Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd. To those listening, His language is vague. They want to know who is right and who is wrong, who gets into heaven and who doesn’t, and they want to be able to measure the metrics. Jesus doesn’t give them anything they can use to judge that sort of thing, at least not in this chapter (elsewhere, He says if you love me you will obey me). But here, Jesus simply says that He is the Good Shepherd, and the sheep will know His voice. Not only does Jesus say the sheep will know His voice, but He says He knows them, too. He even says He knows their names. The picture is intimate, guiding, loving and protective. Jesus talks about the enemy of the sheep, the previous guys who didn’t own the sheep but were put in charge of them, and how somebody who doesn’t own the sheep will flee whenever a wolf comes around. But Jesus implies He will not flee, because He loves the sheep. So how do we know if we are the sheep, if we are hearing Jesus’ voice? Well, at this point we can only [...]

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