I love the way Dr. Richard Dobbins helps us look at how real good communication can be difficult sometimes.

The next time you speak to your spouse or a friend, Remember the six laws of communication.

These laws will help us develop healthy communication skills.

The six interpretations of spoken communication are:

1. What the speaker intended to say.

2. What the speaker actually said.

3. What the speaker thought he or she said.

4. What the hearer needed to hear.

5. What the hearer actually heard.

6. What the hearer thought he or she heard.

Now we understand why we sometimes have a hard time communicating to each other.

Starting to work on a series of messages called  “The Tipping Point”: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference … tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.”

In his book the Tipping Point  defines Malcolm Gladwell a tipping point as a sociological term: “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.”

1. What is The Tipping Point about?

It’s a book about change. In particular, it’s a book that presents a new way of understanding why change so often happens as quickly and as unexpectedly as it does. For example, why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990’s? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read? I think the answer to all those questions is the same. It’s that ideas and behavior and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics. The Tipping Point is an examination of the social epidemics that surround us.

Can’t wait to see how the sermon series plays out.

I am not sure when I will deliver it but it sure is fun to work on.

“The impact God has planned for us doesn’t occur when we’re pursuing impact. It occurs when we’re pursuing God.” Phil Vischer.

Just thought I would share a great book I’m reading right now.

Denzel Washington tapped into an impressive collection of contributors for this book, including Presidents Clinton and Carter, Baseball Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Yogi Berra, NBA Coach Phil Jackson, American Idol Ruben Studdard, Muhammad Ali, to name a few. The idea behind the book was to have each person share a refection about a mentor who meant a lot to them.

“That’s the underlying message in these pages, that you can draw a line from every great success back to some rock-solid foundation. A parent. A teacher. A coach. A role model. It all starts somewhere.

If you have ever felt you didn’t have many options or were in a difficult spot, you have got to read this book.

Ralston’s story is beyond amazing. I’m still shaking my head. Could I–could you–cut off your own arm to save your life? It’s hard to say isn’t it? I’ve been in some pretty sticky situations in the backcountry, but nothing–nothing–even remotely approached what Ralston experienced. Six days in a remote canyon with your right armed pinned by an immovable boulder, with enough supplies to last only for a day hike, and with hope dwindling even more as each hour, each day passed. But finally, with a do-or-die determination, Ralston summoned the courage to do the unthinkable–to free himself and live–by sawing off his arm with a dull knife. And after that incredible act, to have the strength to get himself out to help. Unbelievable!

If you don’t believe it, go buy the book for yourself.

I used to love report card time when I knew I worked hard and was going to receive good grades.

However, when I slacked off during a quarter or semester I really would dread the impending doom written in black and white for all to see.

This week my parents sent me one of my report cards they had kept from my elementary school years.

The date of the card is 1966-1967 and it is from my 3rd grade year.

Mrs. Miller writes at the bottom of the report card something that really got my attention some 40 years later.

She wrote that I have trouble “daydreaming” and that I struggle with my “reading habits”.

Interesting, how somethings change and somethings don’t. today, I love reading and have way too many books on a variety of subjects and have spent too much money on books.

But what hasn’t changed is the “day dreaming” part. I still love dreaming while I am wide awake and visioneering a life that God dreamed up for me.

Erwin Mcmannus puts it this way in his book Wide Awake;

“Dream big. Dream God-sized dreams and have the courage to live them…. Never again surrender to the thought, Well, I’m only human. There is no ‘only’ before human. You are human—created in the image of God…. It is a gift to be human.”

We all have God sized dreams in us to live up to, and we have a lifetime to become all He created us to become.

I am A BEMA SEAT BELIEVER that keeps dreaming. After all these years that has not changed.. 

2 Corinthians 5:10

Besides the awesome Orvis 5 wt. fly rod my son got me on my 50th birthday this year, I also received from him a book I am devouring in the mornings called; Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by Dr. Richard Carlson.

I really love this quote from him out of chapter 5 on developing compassion.

Dr. Carlson says that “Compassion is something you can develop with practice. It involves two things: intention and action. Intention simply means you remember to open your heart to others; you expand what and who matters, from yourself to other people. Action is simply the what you do about it.”

I am really liking this book because even though it is simple it is far from simplistic.