Freebie Friday

A few months ago I somehow stumbled upon a blog by Steven Pressfield. In one of his posts, he talked about "Giving it away." His post was about a guy you may have heard of before named Seth Godin. Godin has written several popular books like "The Purple Cow" and "Tribes." He now has a free e-book out called What Matters Now. The gist of the book is an attempt by writers, businessmen and entrepreneurs of today to answer the question "In today's tough economic times, what really matters?"

It is a fun read - and some of the submissions are pretty interesting. You can follow the link above to get your free copy of the e-book.

Enjoy!

The Warmth of a Fire

There is nothing quite like the warmth of a fire in the winter. I grew up with a wood burning stove in our home and have always loved the heat it provides. I believe it is one of the best, most economical and (can be) efficient ways to heat the home.

Just like any other source of heat, burning wood has its drawbacks. The danger of having a large 300+ degree metal box sitting in the middle of the living room where someone can touch it and be burned, or the open flame of a hearth where sparks can fly out and burn the floor or worse, catch the house on fire. (With the proper precautionary measures, these things can successfully be avoided.) Many complain of how dirty they are -  tracking sawdust, dirt and wood debris into the house from the door to the stove. As a boy, I often complained of how much work it was to cut the wood, split it, stack it, and carry it into the house.

Nowadays, I burn wood in my shop to keep warm while building cabinets and various other woodworking projects for my business. The one thing I cannot complain about is it's cost. As trees are abundant around here, the only expense I incur is the gas for the equipment, and my time one or two weekends out of every year. It is very rigorous work, the older one gets, the more taxing it becomes, but I know some who consider splitting wood to be rather therapeutic.

In my opinion, there is no greater heat source for a home. Sure, a central heat and air system can heat quicker and more evenly, but it cannot compare to the comfort a wood burning stove can create. Maybe, in a perfect world, we would have a wood burning stove with the heat circulated by a central heating system.

A wood burning stove may not be for everyone, but it is my first choice in home heating.

This is Hilarious!

Of course, I would NEVER do anything even remotely close to this.

The 21 Day Difference

New years resolutions have long been the focus of late December - early January. It is interesting, that for so many of us, the resolutions we make rarely have enough impact on our lives to be any more than a fleeting thought by the month of March. In less than three months we so easily forget the promises that we make to ourselves to lose the weight, get organized, get out of debt, or learn something new.

This may be due to the habits we embrace. Poor habits are hard to break, and good ones, although not so hard to begin, are extremely difficult to maintain. Last night while I was in bed thinking of the "new year," of course I began thinking about resolutions. I remembered hearing over and over again as a child "it takes three weeks (21 days) to form a habit." For some, good habits come easily; yet for others it seems nearly impossible. Often it is not so cut and dry as just starting a good habit - we usually have to break the bad habit first, then replace it with a good one.

And why is it that we never hear of it taking three weeks to establish a bad habit? I think it is probably because the habits we would call "bad" are usually our habits of laziness and procrastination. How often do we find ourselves looking for the easy way out of something? And as one of my good friends used to always say, "why do it now when you can wait and do it later?" We as humans have such a propensity for indolence.

 

New years resolutions are so often nothing more than promises of a change in our habits - a difference in routine that may take some getting used to. I personally have made it a practice not to make new years resolutions; not because I don't want to change, but because I am the type of person who would prefer not to be disappointed, even though by myself, than to make a promise I probably would not keep. I still attempt to form good habits and make the changes in my life necessary to grow and become a better man. I just try to not let it all hinge on the first day of January every year.

So here is the challenge. For many, the new year marks a fresh start. I challenge you to make a "21 day difference" and use the first day of every month this year to break a "bad" habit and form a "good" one.

And remember this little mantra:

Three weeks to form a good habit - one day to break it.

Three weeks to break a bad habit - one day to form it.

A Few Good Blogs

Here is the beginning of my list of blogs that I enjoy following and reading. I am leaving a link to each of these blogs here in this post, but you can also find the same links to these blogs in the sidebar to the right.

The first blog is about fly fishing called Grits-N-Flies, by Matthew French. No, I am not a fly fisherman - matter of fact, I have never been fly fishing, but Matthew is married to my cousin and I enjoy reading his posts because he keeps it real and simple.

The next blog I will share with you is The Troell Family. Stephen Troell is a good friend of mine and in my opinion is extraordinary in photography and design. Here he is chronicling the lives of his two beautiful little girls using his talent for photography to tell the story.

How can I make a list of favorite blogs without mentioning The Henschen Family blog. My wife does her best to keep up with this to share the story of our two little girls and the things we as a family are currently doing.

And finally for now, I enjoy reading posts from Michelle Macphearson. She is what some would call a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Guru. She provides helpful, relevant information that is down to earth and pretty easy to understand for those of us who are not computer programmers.

The New Family Pic

We are visiting family in Illinois for the holidays. Yesterday evening (Christmas Day) it started snowing and hasn't stopped yet. So this afternoon we went outside to play in the snow for a little while. Before we got started we took this quick snapshot.

Christmas

Well, it's Christmas Eve and I wonder, what does Christmas mean to you? Is it just a time to get together with family, eat until you can hardly breathe, and exchange gifts that you hope everyone will be happy to receive? Is it the one time of the year you actually think to be a blessing to others. Do you send out hundreds of Christmas cards, go caroling, and make every effort to spread Christmas cheer. Or are you the person who tosses spare change into the Salvation Army buckets for just a brief moment of peace as the bell ringers stop their incessant ringing to thank you for your generosity.

Christmas to many is just another holiday. It is a time to miss the family they are away from, a time to be charitable and feed the hungry and allow their emotions to govern their actions as they do their good deeds. Though the Christmas season may have begun as a celebration of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, it has been adopted by the world as a revenue generating holiday; open season for retailers to return their books to the black.

I find it interesting that so many Christians get upset that the world doesn't know, believe, or celebrate the true Christmas story. They go off on their tangents about Santa Clause and Rudolph, Frosty, and all the other fairy tale stories that have permeated the season - foaming at the mouth about how these stories mislead people from the truth of the birth of Christ. But I must ask, whose responsibility is it to tell the world of the true Christmas story?

Then there are many who call themselves Christians who dually become outraged about the consumerism of Christmas, yet they will proactively celebrate Halloween. I believe that one of the things in which Satan has been successful is the deception of the saints. II Timothy 3:13 says that in the last days, "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." And in James 1:22 Christians are admonished to "be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." It is sad that not only have many been deceived, but that so many more are deceiving themselves. This deception usually comes not in the form of an outright lie, but in a form of a partial truth that is just close enough to the truth to sound like the truth and yet it is a lie.

It is the responsibility of true believers to tell others and to share with others the true Christmas story. In this day and age, Christians must commit to become a people of Truth. They must tell the world who it was that left his throne in Heaven to be born of a virgin and laid in a manger in the humble town of Bethlehem. But that is just part of the story. They must also share why he came; to live a sinless life, and die a shameful death on a cross. An attempt of the masses to purge themselves of their conscience; an act of sacrifice acceptable before an Almighty God for the atonement of the sins of the world. If the Christmas story were to stop there, it would pale in its magnificence and remain just a story. Only when we learn of His resurrection from the dead does the story have power and become alive and dynamic.

This is why I believe the world celebrates Christmas as a Santa Clause-reindeer-snowman-feel good party rather than acknowledging the birth of the Son of God. The world does not believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and without the power of the gospel, the Christmas story is nothing more than a story of a baby being born in a stable where you can add or take away any details to tell it to your liking.

I will tell others the truth. Will you?

The true Christmas story may be dead to this world, but it is alive and well in my home.