The power of writing is amazing. There is a book that contains the personal diaries of Victor Klemperer - who was a German Patriot who served during the first World War. He married a gentile and converted to Protestantism. His diaries were kept in secret during the 12 years he suffered under the Nazi regime, from 1942 to 1945.

The book begins with a quote by Victor, "I shall go on writing. That is my heroism. I will bear witness, precise witness!" May 27, 1942.

I think that writing must have some sort of sanity "magic" to it. If you stop and think about all of the writings that have evolved out of someone's personal struggles and/or times of persecution, it is rather amazing to see how it was their act of writing (in many cases) which kept them from going crazy. Think of John - from the Bible - who wrote the last book of the Bible, Revelation, from the Isle of Patmos - completely removed from society, his friends, etc...

I've not done a study on this, but I would imagine that if you or I were stranded on an island all alone, one of the things that would help us keep our sanity would be finding a way to write and record daily happenings. It's interesting, I did a google search tonight and typed in the words, "therapeutic writing" and interestingly enough found an article written about a year ago in The Observer - a UK publication on this topic. You can check it out here. Interesting article...

So anyway - don't worry, I'm not depressed or sad or going crazy, but I think we could all value from the therapeutic power of writing. Even if no one else sees it, it's a good thing.

Good night...

SH

Busy, busy Saturday! Study day for me (teaching tomorrow) - but with a nice break! Getting ready to shoot over to Naperville for lunch - BD's Mongolian Barbecue click here.

It's this type of stuff that worries me. "SECRET SERVICE BUSTS STOWAWAY ON BUSH PRESS PLANE "


Check it out: Click Here

Get this... Jerry Springer running for Senator in Ohio. (Read story here) The problem with all of this is that he may just very well have a good support base. From the article: "Springer says if people concentrate on his message, rather than his controversial show, he believes he will win." Yeah, ok no problem. We'll just forget about the "I Married a Transsexual" or "I'm Here to Dump You" or the "My Sister Stole My Husband" and the exciting "I'm 12 and I Take Care of My 680 Lb. Mom" episodes.

Campaign slogan: "Former talk show hosts who wish they were senators and if they DO by chance win, Scott Hodge will move to Canada."


SH

Ok - definitely time to go to bed... 1:49am here in the Windy/Rainy/Hot/Sunny/Schizophrinic city of Chicago. What a day it was. It's hard to believe that we are already approaching the middle of July. It's amazing how different summer feels when you're all grown up.

By the way - anyone want to take a quick trip with me to FL? It looks like we are buying a car down there so I need to go pick it up. I'm thinking of making a couple of stops on my drive back - Atlanta and Cincincatti. I've always wanted to visit the studios of WKRP. No - seriously....

Also, if anyone is interested in purchasing a 2002 Ford Focus I might know of someone who is selling one.

Ok, for real. Goodnight.

SH

Good thought -

3 C's of Hiring:

Character
Competence
Chemistry - Probably one of the most important ones... A person can have great character and tremendous competence, but if there isn't good chemistry you and your team will end up in trouble.

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm addicted to caffeine. I guess that is what happens after daily visits to Starbucks. I'm pretty sure it's an "age" thing. I began drinking coffee in college, but would only drink the "fru-fru" drinks from Caribou Coffee or Starbucks - Mint Mocha's, Caramel Machiatto's, etc... Since then I've graduated to just the "regular" coffee - which I must say seemingly contains more caffeine than the "fru-fru" variety. The problem now is that my teeth are not wanting to stay white (coffee stains) and I get headaches when I don't have my coffee. I guess I could sip coffee through a straw to avoid the teeth coloring alterations, but then I'm afraid that my throat would become scorched and I'm sure I would deeply regret that. And in regards to the headaches... The only solution to that is to quit drinking coffee altogether. But the problem with that solution is that I would probably be found curled up under my desk fast asleep (can you say George Costanza??).

Anyway - There is absolutely no benefit to you in reading my post and for that I'm sorry. But I just needed to think aloud for a few minutes.

Later...

SH

PS - Check this quote out. LOL...

This is the reason why mothers are more devoted to their children than fathers: it is that they suffer more in giving them birth and are more certain that they are their own. Aristotle

"Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started."
David Allen, Productivity Guru

I've had a few people recently ask me what books I've been reading this summer so I thought I would list a couple of them... I have tried to remain "balanced" in my reading - meaning that I try to read different type of books (history, political, Bible-based, leadership/business, travel, etc...).

While on vacation to Florida, I read a fantastic book entitled, More Ready Than You Realize by Brian McLaren. Check it out by clicking here.

This is a "breath of fresh air" book on the subject of evangelism. It really speaks to us about how to effectively develop "spiritual friendships" with the unchurched. It gives great insight on how to present God's love in a very authentic and relevant way to our postmodern culture. Our staff has been reading this book and we all got so excited about it that we are teaching a class by the same name at our Tuesday night Real Life Classes. Great, great stuff!

A couple of other books I've been reading:

The Change Monster: The Human Forces that Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and Change by Jeanie Daniel Duck. Check it out here.

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. Go here to check it out.

More later...

SH