Curtains II...

I think it's time to take a break.

I'm going to stay offline for a while.

In the meantime you can find me at...

THE WELL.

Sailing home...

Pretty dark times over here.

In fact, there's nothing much I can say. I've started a few posts or blogs recently and deleted them, one, 'cause I know my wife doesn't like me 'sharing' online at the best of times which means she's probably doubly reluctant for me to share at the worst of times and, two, because I hear my Mom's voice in my head (tormented by these women I tell you...) reminding me that if I don't have anything positive to say I shouldn't say anything at all.

This means a protracted silence should be in order from yours truly.

Yet, I see the many of you each day who pop by to check out this here blog. I dunno' what you're looking for, but I've always assumed (due to the tenor of this here blog and the reason I started it in the first place) that it's to find some kind of encouragement as certain aspects of my life and story intersect with yours in ways that bring life (in whatever small way) into your journey.

So, lacking anything really good to say, I figured I'd post the above video of me sailing my boat home this past week. That was a good day, a nice moment, a positive experience.

I'm hoping for more of that, in more ways than one.

I can say, regarding the dark place we're in, that it's either going to break open or shut down. At least we're in the position where it's gotta' turn, for the better or for the worse.

The wife and I were saying last week that, while we're hoping for good things, any kind of closure would be welcome at this point.

Hoping to find hope.

T

Wishful thinking...

Sometimes you just gotta' put it on paper.

The wife sent me out on a last-minute grocery run yesterday. I asked her to make a list. Once she finished I added a few points. See if you can spot where the handwriting changes above...

That's right, at 'shreddies'.

I added my favorite cereal, milk (which no family can do without) and then two more items that I'm desperately hoping to pick up in the very near future.

'Hope' and a cool million bucks.

Now, it'd be normal to think I'm smokin' something, that--looking at my life--there's no reason for me to believe that 'hope' or any kind of financial payoff for the work we've been doing for the past 12 years or so are likely to appear anytime soon, if ever.

Yet, I persist in belief.

Seems to me, that if you stop believing then you must stop doing. I mean, why else would you being doing what you're doing unless you believed it was 1) what you were supposed to be doing and that 2) it was *actually* leading you somewhere.

So, yes, the main point of writing those last two down was to get a laugh out of my wife and my sister who were both in the kitchen (while 7 kids ran roughshod through our house) and both in need of some encouragement; and, yes, I got a laugh.

But I also meant it.

For me.

T

Uniquely you...

This coming Sunday at THE WELL I'll be preaching one of my favorite passages of scripture. Ephesians chapter 2 is probably top five for me in terms of favorite chapters in the Bible and the first ten verses of chapter two (this weeks text) are glorious.

Best part?

You are HIS workmanship.

The idea imbedded in the language is that God is a craftsman, a Master-builder, and YOU are His creation, one that He labored over in crafting, not that it was HARD for Him, but that He took immense care.

This is very encouraging stuff.

God knows we need all we can get of that these days.

Encouragement...

T

Passages...

Interesting moment last week.

We were shooting some inserts for a pilot we've been working on for a couple months and planned the day so that--all going well--we'd be able to tack on a quick shoot at the end for me to do some 'stand up' segments for a re-release of one of our old series (one that I 'host') that might be getting some traction here at home and abroad.

I had spent a couple days the week before prepping. I watched the old episode, figured out what I was 'writing from' and 'writing to' then wrote the segments to time, matching what was happening thematically in the episode.

Then we shot it.

What was cool was that I did it all in one take (which is typical for me when I'm firing on all cylinders) and that I felt right at home doing it.

'Hosting' and interviewing are really the things I'm 'best' at on the showbiz side of things. I'm an average writer, an average producer but it's hosting/interviewing where I get the strongest reaction.

These standups were no different. When I finished, our key grip, a very experienced industry veteran, grabbed me and took a minute to express how 'great' this new show seemed and asked me when he could watch it.

When your grip becomes a 'fan' of your non-existent (as yet) show based on watching you shoot the standups it's a pretty good sign you might be 'on' to something.

Anyway, I was very encouraged.

I felt like I'd reconnected to my 'destiny'.

I've been mentioning this a bit lately, the idea of trying to figure out what you're really good at, the thing that you have at least a chance of being 'great' at, the thing that you can do better than almost anyone you know.

Inspired by this BOOK.

I've been trying over the past half-year to really knuckle down and do what it takes to get back to the place where I'm really working (as much as possible) in my sweet spot. This means trying to do less of the many 'other things' that I 'can' do to allow for the space to do what I 'must' do, what I'm 'called' to.

This can be tough when your 'calling' isn't exactly cash-flow positive just yet. So, I get it, a 'day job' is crucial during the transition time and, for me, being well into my 30's with 4 kids and a wife means my 'day job' has to be of the serious kind and one that I really devote myself to, but the trick I've been trying to learn is to do that work while bending myself more and more towards what I 'should' be doing, hoping all the while (believing) that funds will follow vision.

"Funds will follow vision..."

So, to stand up there and do those 'stand ups' felt like putting a stake in the ground. Felt like preaching has felt at my church plant. Felt like me saying 'THIS is what I'm supposed to do so, by God, this is what I'm GOING to do..."

Come what may.

I'll keep you posted on how things go.

We're hoping and praying and working hard over here.

T

Red vs Blue...

So I'm not much for politics.

Red vs Blue vs Orange vs Green vs Light Blue...

I can't keep track.

For those of you stopping by from outside Canada, we just had an election. What was interesting about this one was that our Conservative party won its third election in a row but this time managed to secure a majority government which will mean no more elections for at least four years to say nothing of the fact that the Conservatives should be able to implement their platform with less interference.

What was even more interesting was that Canada's traditional first (or second) party, the Liberal party of Canada, was handed a resounding defeat, dropping to their lowest number of Parliamentary seats ever. Connected to that, Canada's traditionally third party, the New Democrats, surged to their best result ever, becoming the 'Official Opposition' for their first time in their history. This was effected primarily as a result of the Province of Quebec (Canada's 'strange cousin' among the provinces) turning their back en masse on the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party that has held Quebec in its grip for 20 years.

Both the Liberal and Bloc leaders failed to get elected in their ridings and have since resigned.

Here's where I get interested.

The New Democrats are quite a bit more to the 'left' (more liberal) than the Liberals. Quebec is traditionally the most left-leaning of Canada's provinces followed by British Columbia. When the election night results started coming in, one of the commentators suggested that maybe what we were seeing was the result of an increasing gap between left and right in Canada. It's almost like you have 'two' Canada's now; British Columbia and Quebec on the left, and Alberta and Ontario on the right.

What's changed with this election is that Ontario has moved from the middle to the right creating a new and strange alignment between Canada's most populous province (Ontario) and its most prosperous (Alberta).

What seems (to me) to be happening is that hip, loose, highly-secularized, urbanites (a very 'blanket statement' comment to try and describe Quebec and British Columbia) and straight-laced, family-oriented, less-secularized, suburbanites (again 'blanketing' Ontario and Alberta) have decided to entrench themselves in their worldview and practice.

I've felt like that separation has been happening for a long time.

See, Canadians have traditionally prided themselves on their 'moderation', we (supposedly) don't like to swing too far in either direction (to left or right) and the Liberal party has been the 'home' of centrist-thinking Canadians.

What struck me about this election was that the Liberal party didn't seem to be taking a 'stand' for anything. In all their communication I felt hard pressed to really zone in on what they were 'about' what they 'stood for'.

I think if you were to do a real 'laypersons' analysis of the five main parties in Canada, like, just asked a dude on the street...

What do the Conservatives stand for?

"Lower taxes, big business, law and order, family values..."

What do the NDP stand for?

"Social justice, fighting poverty, unions..."

What does the Bloc stand for?

"They want to separate..."

What do the Greens stand for?

"Legalizing marijuana and protecting the environment..."

What do the Liberals stand for?

And I've got to tell you, this time around, I don't think you'd have gotten a straight answer.

Now, mind you, I realize that all of the above statements are 'blanket statements' and that I might be missing the mark. I'm just speaking as a layperson here.

But here's what I 'got' out of all this.

1) You need to know what you stand for.

Because...

2) Canadian culture is polarizing (much like the rest of the West) and I don't think it's ever going to swing back to 'middling'.

More than ever before this election has reminded me that I have to be able to think, say, and act like "THIS is what we're about..."

I have to know the mission, know the bias, know the reason and execute.

So do you, no?

Yeah, thought so.

T

In motion...

Good moment, that.

We uncovered the boat Saturday after a long winter hibernation.

This means spring is coming which means summer is coming which means we're going to be out on the water soaking in some sunshine and jumping into the water and sipping a drink and eating a sandwich while the water swishes past on our way to the Island where we'll sit in the cockpit under the stars with dearest friends, red wine at our elbow, before curling up on ridiculously small but surprisingly comfortable berths to sleep the sleep of the just.

I can picture it all.

How 'bout the rest of my life and mission? Can I picture it just as clearly? Does one image equate a thousand others in the realm of what I've been put on the Earth to 'do'?

Sobering, and inspiring all at the same time.

Tough, rough, scary week this one for me kids.

I've been thinking all day, "The GREAT thing about being in a position where no one but Jesus can help is that only JESUS can help, which means that--if I get through this--on the other side I'm going to be possessed of a faith that's been immeasurably built in this harrowing time."

Yes yes.

I believe it. I have this strange sense of calm in the midst of the storm.

Yes, it's possible I'm crazy. It's possible I'm deluded.

It's possible I'm inspired.

T