Shortcuts

Shortcuts like McDonald's may seem like the best decision in the moment but almost always are fraught with disapointment (and diarrhea) afterwards. My own life has often been an exercise in one shortcut after another leading me further away from my intended destination. The times that my short cuts have seemed to "work" were because I had arrived but not at the place I intended. I could write a book (Close Cuts: Random House, 2012) on the shortcuts I have taken in my life and what I learned from them but for today I'll just leave it at acknowledgement along with this quote from The Dalai Lama:

"When we approach probelms with compassion, sincerity and good motivation our solututions will take longer but ultimately, they are better."

This principle should be applied to the hundreds of situations and scenarios both large and small that each of us experience and avoid each day. The point is, the quickest, easiest most pain free options we are all so fond of take longer, are more difficult and usually cause more pain than we can imagine.

Here's to long cuts, life change and healing our world. And here's to Team Canada taking the long cut to gold.... :)

John

Olympic Controversy

There is no doubt a lot of money goes into the Olympics. For instance, 25 million dollars was spent on the opening ceremony alone. You would have thought another $50,000 could have been spent to "inspire" Bryan Adams to actually sing or even convince Ms. Furtado to not wear that. Critics of these games claim - the money should be given to the poor instead. Although noble in nature, this re-occuring comment is eerily similar to one made by Judas right before he betrayed Jesus Christ. There is a difference between what's righteous and self righteous.

Besides advertising, money has very little to do with the Olympics and certainly is not its point. The point is what it represents and even more, what it means. And after watching our mogul hero Bilodeau win our country's first gold on Canadian soil and then later embrace his family in studio, its meaning is evident. We play these games because at their core exists the elements that make us truly human - passion, drive, determination, commitment, discipline, unity, success, love. And perhaps most importantly, belief in oneself.

Well done Athletes, you have set the bar high.

John

It's our business

You may have noticed we haven't blogged in awhile. My apologies. Believe it or not, spring is on it's way here so we've been hard at work on our spring programs, marketing campaign, etc. If you don't believe me, about the spring I mean, you'll have to come over and check out our herb garden, and blueberries/strawberries and lilacs and all the other nature we just planted last week. That's right Easterners, we've been planting. Score.

Nature. I work with it. This is my new life focus. For years I worked with people in church settings, now I work with plants in nature settings. Bill Hart laughed out loud when my parents told him "John started his own Organic Lawn Care Business. No seriously Bill, he did." Growing up in Dauphin, Bill had the greenest thumb I had ever seen. Entering his backyard was like being reborn. The way he arranged his plants and knew them by name, it was boring, to be honest. But now, I get it. I see. Nature is a civilization given to us by God to care for. That's a tall order, one that I resented for years as I pushed our old electric mower across our tree happy property. Bill reminded my parents of this "I remember driving by your house and seeing John out there on the lawn fighting the cord and scowling." I remember too. I suppose until you approach nature on your own terms, it'll feel like a sentence.

Last week I was sitting in my minister's office talking to him about the ebbs and flows of my life. He suggested I must miss the ministry. My answer was muddled as I said yes and no and well, hmm, I guess there are parts I miss. The truth is, there are things I miss like trips and events and causes and classes, and community. Especially the community. I miss our dear friends, like you the readers. I don't miss the boxes. Theological and Professional. Still, ministry was good to me and my family and I will cherish those years for the rest of my life.

In some ways, old ministry habits die hard. I still meet with people one on one to discuss things precious to them. The discussian now favors what's underfoot instead of what's inside yet its amazing how often the two come together. I've already officiated the wedding of one of my client's daughters for instance. I still give speeches. I joined the local BNI (Business Networking International) and each Thursday I meet with 40 other business owners to share. Included in the sharing time is a 60 second infomercial where we stand up and promote our business. It's good still being able to use my gifts. Later this Spring I will be facilitating 5 workshops on how to care for your lawn naturally, chemical free, and why it makes sense. That's the neat thing about owning your own business, you can structure it to support your strengths (and subcontract all your weaknesses :)

Yikes, its 7:35am and the house is still asleep. That's not good when kids are supposed to be in school. Better run.

See you sooner next time.

John

Agent of Hope

If you're like me, you've probably found the Haiti tragedy difficult to comprehend. So you haven't. You've distracted yourself with Facebook, listening to music, sports, sleep -anything really. With numbers of the dead closing in on 100,00 men, women and yes, children, I don't blame you. That's half of Regina. Dead. 10% of Calgary. Dead. 20 Duncans. Dead. It boggles the mind and breaks the heart. Especially THIS story. You may wonder what you can do, if anything? Giving money is probably the most popular and easy option - and for good reason, without it, relief, supplies etc. would not be available. If you have money, you need to give. Period. If you don't have money, and with an economic year like this last one it is highly likely, you need to get creative. One lady in our church stayed up all weekend and made 80 beautiful cards. She will use the money from the cards for relief and the sold cards will be used for encouragement. What skills do you have? Who do you know? What are you passionate about? What great ideas do you have? It's time we pulled ourselves out of the rubble and became agents of hope. In times like these, it's the only certain thing we possess.

Haiti

Prayers are with the people of Haiti today and indefinitely after they experienced their worst earthquake in 200 years. Tens of thousands are feared dead. Millions are displaced.
We can help.

John

Words of Wisdom?

Here's some things I overheard in my house today.

Alexa - "It doesn't matter cause all old people look the same." (I told the kids that the actors from the first 3 Spiderman movies wouldn't be returning for the 4th movie. Ethan asked "But what about the old grandma?" - to which Alexa responded....

Maddison -"We can't use it, the batteries are out on the light bulb." (The reason why we couldn't hang up her lamp)

Angie - "Yeah, but can you use it to make phone calls?" (My wife questioning the wisdom of acquiring a Blackberry for our business)

Ethan: - "Hey Dad, an actual Olympian who plays Olympics is coming to our school." (No word yet on what specifically he plays)

John - "I think the Oilers might win tonight" (Immediately after saying this John woke up)

Father

Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a business/marketing guru with the unique gift of saying things plainly and poignantly. There is a link to his blog on the right and you can actually sign up to recieve his free wisdom each morning. If you're thinking "I'm not a business dude and marketing is only for blood sucking leeches", his words often transend business, touching the core of what makes us human. His "Tale of two Lemonade Stands" was especially good today. Besides blogging, Seth has authored more than 3o books, many of which are free here.

John