Apparently a lot of people are pretty upset about the CBS miniseries about the life of Ronald Reagan. According to his adopted son, Michael Reagan, the movie is full of fallacies and does not at all represent the "true" Ronald Reagan. If this is true, this is a very distasteful move on the part of CBS. But is this a surprise to any of us?

Well here's what I think:

You don't have to defend integrity.

Ronald Reagan's life speaks for itself. Was he perfect? 100% healthy? Apparently not. But he was a good man who did a lot of good for this nation. I say let CBS do what they want. In the end, integrity will have the last word.

FLYBOYS



I began reading an interesting book tonight entitled, Flyboys by author James Bradley. A couple of years ago, I read a book he wrote entitled, The Flags of Our Fathers, which was about the five soldiers who raised the flag on Iwo Jima - one of who was author Bradley's father.

Flyboys is about the heroic attemps made by the "flyboys" of WW2 over a tiny island in the Pacific named Chichi Jima to knock out the Japanese communication towers located on the island.

Bradley begins this book by giving a brief history lesson about the "ethnic cleansing" of the Native Americans by the early Americans and then goes into the history of Japan (which I'm finding are very curious subjects for me and believe it or not, Bradley ties it all together in a very significant way...). As the United State's "pioneers" ventured west, they eventually ended up on a tiny little island which sits in the middle of the Pacific Ocean - Chichi Jima. Chichi Jima sits just south of Iwo Jima.

During World War 2, Iwo Jima was known as the best place for landing strips in that area of the Pacific and Chichi Jima was known for its communication capabilities. Chichi Jima was to become a stopping station for US ships to stock back up on oil, etc... Well, this didn't make Japan very happy and as history tells us, they ended up (many years later) paying the US back very aggressively and then in turn got paid back themselves by the US VERY, VERY aggressively. All so interesting, sad, appalling and exciting. So far a good read...

BEEEEEEEEEAUTIFUL DAY HERE IN CHICAGO



There is nothing in this world that satisfies my mid-day palette than a 3 shot, extra hot, skim mocha - finished off with a sprinkle of cinnamon. From Starbucks of course...

Today is a beautiful day in Chicagoland. Sun is shining - in fact, check out my "2nd office" view by clicking here.

That's all I have time for now - I owe some good writing to my blog one of these days soon. Stay tuned...

WEIRD...

Have you ever wanted to pretend that you are an eye doctor? If so, click here to try it out.

SPEAKING GORILLA-ISH TO DOGS

Author, blogger, idea person, Seth Godin, posted something worth reading on his site today. He is quoting a guy named Howie Jacobson who said in regards to marketing (you can find Howie's original article here):

"When I start marketing a product, I naturally start by talking to myself. I write sales copy that appeals to my values. I argue the price/value question in ways that I find convincing. I use layouts and pictures that affect me.

Bad Howie.

Unless my market is very much like me (which rarely happens, believe me), I'm going to fail.

I'm speaking Gorilla-ish to Dogs. To me, I'm saying "Buy my stuff," but they hear, "Run away! I'm a Dork."

I'm not going to succeed in teaching my prospects Howie-lish. If I want to communicate with them, I have to learn their language. "

What a great point. How many of us, as pastors/church leaders, in our attempt of reaching "outsiders" spend too much time thinking about what might appeal to you or me as "insiders". We need to step out of our shoes and ask, "How will this be seen by my the people I'm trying to reach." Seems like a basic marketing "rule" to me, but then I think about how many times I've "marketed" from an "insiders" viewpoint.

Good article - thanks Seth for pointing me to Howie's article!

SUNDAY REVIEW & QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY

Oh man...what a day. This is about the time every Sunday night when I am about midway through my "Sunday Hangover". Not an alcoholic hangover - but just the Sunday church hangover (those of you who are deeply involved with a church on the weekends know what I'm talking about...).

But it was a great day today. I spoke today in our series "More Ready Than You Realize" about evangelism and the 3 "I's": Invest, Invite & Include. For an audio copy of this message, send $14.95 to PO Box 88811.... Totally kidding...

After the service, we had our first ever Orchard 101 - which is basically the first step in our POP process (Pathway of Purpose) - our spiritual "growth" path - the goal being to get folks from the "front door" to becoming "full court" followers of Christ. Today was our "intro to the orchard" and we had over 40 people attend the class. The best part about it was going through the "Getting to Know You" forms and seeing how many of these people were previously unchurched before connecting @ The Orchard. That is more fulfilling than almost anything I can think of...

Watched some TV tonight, which I rarely get to do... I've heard a lot about this show called, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on Bravo, but had never seen it before - until tonight. It's a show where 5 gay (or in their words, "queer") guys help makeover a "straight" guy. And I've got to tell you - it was a fun show! I enjoyed it! These guys were having a blast helping to make this nerdy, NYC transplant transform his "look". And at the end of the show they sat down and watched him try to function without their help and it was absolutely HORRIBLE! All they did for this guy was put a bandaid over his situation. Poor guy...

Well I'm falling asleep at my computer which means I should probably go to bed. Glad tomorrow is Monday - sleeping in, laundry, laundry, and more laundry. Maybe a trip over to Starbucks in the morning to start my day right. Great day w/ the Fam.

Ciao.