The World is Good

The world is a good place because we make it a good place.

Start by Jon Acuff

Remember that guy who writes Stuff Christians Like? He's the same guy that wrote a book called Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job. Now he he has another book. Instead of quitting, it's time to Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average and Do Work that Matters.

Jon Acuff asked me to make this post and I am happy to do so because he's a talented guy with a lot of good things to say. However, he's more than talk. I watched him do everything he teaches in these books over the last few years. If you will read what he has to say and work as hard as he has, you'll make things happen too.

To get started, you need to buy the book, then read it. If you still need convincing, here's a video of Jon Acuff telling you more about the book.

Second Person Confessions

Some of my posts address me in first person. Other posts address you, in second person. I'm not sure if this is intentional, but as I look back on past posts I recognize that those written toward second person might indicate need for confession. Where I speak to second person, I should be speaking to first person.

• First Person example - Fear what is greatest
• Second Person example - Gossip in the gap

I'm not sure what posts directed to third person indicates.

Fear what is greatest

Fear is relative. I can choose to be afraid of things that are not actually a threat. I am responsible for much of my own worry and anxiety.

However, when I choose to worry about something that is an even greater threat, I become less concerned with what I once feared. Over time, I learn to fear new things and each time the fear is from a greater threat.

I must eventually get to a point where my choice is to fear God or fear man and the things associated with a fallen world. My fear of God is a measure of my belief in him.

So, to fear God is to have hope. To fear there is no God, is to live in bondage.

Gossip in the gap

A lot of the gossip that starts about you starts because you started it. It started because you didn't tell a good story in the first place. Maybe there's no back story, no emotion, no purpose, no conflict and resolution. Maybe you just told the ending without the beginning. Maybe there are no relationships in your story.

Fewer gaps in the story will make you a better leader. If you leave too many gaps in your communication, others will rob you of your influence by filling in those gaps for you.

Gossip is usually the fastest way people fill in the gaps. It's done by drawing conclusions from connecting unrelated things based on limited information from recent events and plugging them into the story you started.

If you don't want people to rewrite your story or squelch your influence, learn to tell a better story by closing the gaps in your communication. Don't blame others for gossiping about you. It's partly your fault.

Toy Relocation Device

I just created a device that you can place on a child's toy that will relocate the toy back to its proper place when a child attempts to take the toy out of the room the toy belongs in.

Here is how it works.

When a child picks up, say, a toy car from his play room and runs out of his room with it, the car disappears from his hand as soon as he crosses the thresh hold of the room. The toy car then magically reappears in the toy car bin.

That's right. It's super expensive. You could never afford it. 

So, I won't tell you how much it costs.