Echoes and Stars

1. What you give your attention to forms you.

2. Last night we sat outside at a restaurant with friends and ate and talked and laughed and hurt together for the pain in the world and in us and it was a reminder that some of the most simple things are the best things.

3. My wife and I have a joke about the books she reads and when the gay character will show up. Usually it’s within the first fifty pages but it’s inevitable. It’s as ridiculous as the Christian romance novels in which someone has to get saved before the book has ended. For each, that is what legitimizes the book.

4. Surround yourself with reminders that the unseen realities are the highest realities.

5. I am pretty adept at finding reasons to not do things that are good for me.

6. You cannot coast into wisdom.

7. Listening to the birds sing in my front yard at 6 am is free.

8. For nearly a month I have only listened to music by those who follow Jesus. It was an experiment and has proved to be very good for me and I assume good for those around me. I assumed it would have some benefits, but I also assumed I would crave the music I loved and sat on the beach and listened to for hours the day before I started. Nope.

9. Don’t underestimate the power of gratitude.

10. Sometimes I give my clients a social scenario I know, that if real, will cause them a good deal of anxiety. And then I add to the scenario – they have just come into a great deal of money. I then ask them if they walk into that same situation with the knowledge they are now very wealthy, would it be easier? Without fail, they say “yes.” I then tell them I am about to get real spiritual on them…and ask them if they would rather have that money or Jesus. This is why Jesus talked about money so much. He did not talk about it so that your pastor could get you to give your money to the church. He talked about money because we are far more likely to feel safe in the world with money than with the King.