1. I will live intentionally with purpose and meaning.
2. I will be disciplined; personally, spiritually, financially and professionally.
3. I will live in the present and be where my feet are planted.
4. I will face the difficult decisions first.

How will you “be” in 2010?

It’s my hope and prayer that with God’s help you and I can be more in 2010 than we were in 2009.

Happy New Year!

The older I get the more I value silence.  Unfortunately, it’s not really something that is available in abundance in our society.  Everywhere you go, there’s music playing or a TV on and if not, our iPods allow us to take it with us–anywhere, anytime.  It’s almost as if we are afraid of silence.

Because of that propensity to filling our lives with noise, we’re missing out.  We were created for times of stillness and silence.  Why?  In large part for communion with our creator.  You can’t hear a still small voice standing next to a jack hammer.

I believe that noise is also expressed in busy-ness, our full calendars & the myriad of activities which drown out any hope of peace.  A friend expressed it to me this way last week, “Doing is highly rewarded and that’s what keeps us from being.”

As my wife can agree, I’m certainly no silence or stillness expert, but I will share with you what I’m learning.

1. Silence is not easy.

Like everything else in life, I have to make time for silence.

2. Silence is not comfortable.

Often silence brings me face to face with my true self, which is never pretty.

3. Silence requires honesty.

I can not be silent and face my true self without complete transparency.

Gregory of Sinai, a 14th century Turk put it this way, ”Nothing is better for rendering the heart penitent and the soul humble than wise solitude and complete silence”.

Years ago Ben Benson wrote a book called He Speaking Softly, learning to hear God’s voice.  The point of the book is simple, “God has something to say to you!”  Bob goes on to say that if we really believed that, it would change everything about our lives.  I think he’s right.  I think we need stillness.  I think we need silence.  Bose had it right.  We need to cancel the noise.

What’s the noise that keeps you from silence?

You don’t have to read the headlines to know that life is full of distractions.  Everyday we hear about someone who got distracted, just for a moment.  Sometimes those distractions can be inconvenient and sometimes they can be life-changing.  My friend Michael Hyatt tells a story about how he and his wife Gail went snorkeling in Hawaii.  They got in the water early one morning and were immediately captivated by the beauty of the coral reef below them.  A few hours past before they looked up to realize that the rip current had pulled them far from the shore.  After almost an hour of “hard swimming” they made it back to the safety of the beach, exhausted.  Mike says they didn’t snorkel anymore that vacation!

The truth is, distractions can be as big and beautiful as a coral reef or as small and chewy as a Gummi bear.  But the consequences for both can cost us everything.

What’s distracting you?

I’ve often heard my parents’ generation talk about “where they were when JFK was assassinated”.  For my generation we will  always remember where we were the day the twin towers fell.  Much has been said about how that day changed our nation for the worse.  But we also came together as a nation.  We were more prayerful.  We attended church more frequently and we began to take the time to speak to one another with more care.

Tragic events like 9/11 make us face the hard reality that we don’t have as much control over our lives as we believe.  In the end, that’s not a bad place to be.  It’s a place where we realize that life is a gift and as such, it should be nurtured and treasured.  And just maybe in the process, we too are more willing to share our lives with our fellow man who have been created in the image and likeness of God.

At the conclusion of another national crisis, one of our greatest presidents had these words to say, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.”

One of the good things that can come out of 9/11 is the same thing that Abraham Lincoln came to understand so many years ago–the realization that our wisdom and understanding alone are “insufficient for that day”.

May God help us to be faithful, to realize the insufficiency of our own strength.

Earlier this week a friend reminded me that a spirit of thankfulness should characterize my life.  While I may not always feel like being thankful, I should none-the-less practice that spirit of thanksgiving in everything.  But the reality is that sometimes being thankful is a choice, an act of the will.  True thankfulness is not based on our circumstances.  If we wait until everything is “perfect”, we’ll never be thankful.

Years ago I had a pastor whose preached a series of sermons he called Positives from Philippians.  When I was reminded that I should be thankful, I remembered four of those verses that too often I have forgotten.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

In a world searching for circumstantial happiness, thanksgiving offers true peace.  Choose to focus on the positives of what you have and be thankful in all things.  Why?  Because the “Lord is near”.

For what do you have to be thankful?

The Hole in Our Gospel is the story of what God expects of us and how Stearns’ personally struggled to come to terms with his role in that story.  He begins by outlining the purpose of the book, “The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel is quiet simple.  It’s basically the belief that being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God.  It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.”

He spends some time dispelling myths that distort our view of the least of these including the ever popular, “prosperity gospel”.  He highlights the popular Prayer of Jabez book which is based on 1 Chronicles 4: “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!”  He points out that there are those who mistakenly understand that to mean God rewards “sincere Christians with success, good health, and material prosperity.”   He reminds us what happened when Paul’s territory got enlarged, John the Baptist, the disciples and countless other martyrs of the faith.  Each had their territory enlarged, but not in the materialistic way we would like.  “Christians get cancer, lose loved ones, and suffer financial setbacks just like everyone else.  But God can also use our tragedies to expand our territory in ways that show a skeptical world a different way of live.”  He goes on to say, “sometimes, in fact often, God’s blessings come through our sufferings, not through our bank accounts.”

If you turned on the news today to the headline, “One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500″, can you imagine how shocked you would be, how heads of state and government agencies would mobilize to understand what happened and make sure it would never happen again.  There would be no other news, this would completely consume us, as well it should.  Now imagine that tomorrow the same thing happened again, and the next day and the day after that.  Stearns points out that it is happening–every single day, but it’s not jetliners.  ”More than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that”.  Why does it not bother us?  He suggests that maybe it’s because it’s not our kids dying.  They are somebody else’s kids.

There is so much that has challenged me from The Hole in Our Gospel that I struggle with what to include here.  My plan is to write at least one more post. In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to get a copy for yourself.  But more than that, I encourage you to visit the World Vision website and do what we did, sponsor a couple of children.  You can also help drill a well, provide food and clothing, shelter, medical care, micro-finance, and care for the orphans and widows.  Life is too short, do something today.

“To whom much is given, from him much will be required.”  Luke 12:48.

I don’t know about you, but I have been given much.

How will you make your Gospel social?

Who is Premier Studios?

Premier Studios is a 20 year old integrated marketing firm with a focus on digital communications.  Integrated in the sense that we don’t just provide strategy OR technology OR creativity, we provide strategy AND technology AND creativity as a unified whole.

Solutions Neutral

Because of our approach and in-house capabilities, we can be solutions neutral.  In short, we let the problem determine the strategy and the strategy drive the solution.  Some of those solutions range from strategy, branding, interactive web to print, live events, as well as video and audio production.

Which office is better?

Okay, this is a trick question.  But in reality we only have 1 office with 2 locations.  Our Nashville location is an extension of KC.  Or as we like to say, “Nashville is just down the “digital hallway” from our KC team.

How long have you been in Nashville?

We launched our Nashville presence March 30th and moved into our new offices at Cummins Station in July.

Why did you open a Nashville location?

The short answer is, we opened the Nashville location to provide a higher level of service to our Nashville clients.

What’s New and Exciting at Premier Studios?

A few months ago we rolled out a new Premier Studios brand, Susie magazine. Author and speaker, Susie Shellenberger is the editor extraordinaire for this brand.  Susie is both a monthly print magazine and interactive web community for teenage girls with a Christian worldview.  We publish Susie in-house.  The exciting news is that Susie goes on sale nationwide at newsstands, Borders, Barns & Noble, and other retail location November 24.  If you know a teenage girl, Susie is worth a look.

What’s so unique about Premier Studios?

• Our integrated approach means we’re more of a “both/and” firm vs an “either/or” shop

• Our facilities and infrastructure allow us to provide most of the services we offer in-house

• We’re a 4A’s agency

• We’re just really nice, especially to our clients.

Thanks for dropping by our Virtual Open House.  We wish you could have made it by in person for the full experience, (complete with sausage balls).  If you would like to drop by sometime to see us, we’d love to say, “hello”.

Client Lounge

Entryway

Client Lounge 2

Talking with Jenna Slocum, CCA

Giveaways

Stephenie, Dianna & Katie

Guests

The last 45 years have been an adventure.  I have an incredible wife with whom I have shared 17 years, 2 great kids and a life full of some wonderful, and not so wonderful, experiences.  I have travelled around the world doing what I love and have had some pretty interesting jobs.  I’ve served as the Master of Ceremonies for the Mrs. Tennessee USA pageant, played the greatest hits as a country DJ, delivered “mud” to oil derricks in Oklahoma and unloaded manure in the garden center of Wal-Mart, just to name a few.

Though I would always choose the good, I’m starting to learn that all of life is a gift, the good and the bad.  I can’t always control my circumstances, but I can choose how I respond to those circumstances.  I can either see them as a means of grace to be embraced or a curse to be blamed.  But as the weeks quickly turn into years, the thing I value the most are the relationships.  I’ve certainly not always been the best friend, but the older I get the more these relationships mean to me and the more I treasure them.

So what am I going to do with the rest of my life?

I hope to:

• be a better husband
• be a more patient father
• be a caring son
• be a listening brother
• be an ardent friend
• be a conscientious employee
• be a faithful believer

I can’t believe how quickly 45 years has passed.  If the stats are right I only have 30.65 years left.  May God grant me the strength and courage to live them well.

There’s much in this scene that parallels reality.  And while it’s a very sobering thought, we too have already chosen a pill.  What’s even more difficult to grasp is that we may have actually swallowed the blue pill, not the red one we think we’ve taken.  Read this excerpt from The Matrix and tell us which pill you’ve swallowed and how you know.

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Morpheus: I imagine that right now you’re feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

Neo: You could say that.

Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he’s expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

Neo: No.

Morpheus: Why not?

Neo: ‘Cause I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind — driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Neo: The Matrix?

Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?

(Neo nods his head.)

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.

(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)

Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.

(Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)

written by Andy Wachowski & Larry Wachowski

As is par for the course at the beginning of the year, Wesley, my big 4th grader, came home from school yesterday with a lot of things that needed a parents signature.  But there was one in particular for him to sign that caught my eye.  It was titled, “Student Pledge” and read:

I am responsible for all my actions and behaviors

I will listen, do my work and learn

I will respect the feelings, property, and rights of others

I will be a good citizen by doing what is right, not because I am being watched by adults, but because it is the right thing to do for myself and others.

After reading this it occurred to me that us “big people” should claim this pledge for our own.  I think the line that stands out for me is the first one, “I am responsible for all my actions and behaviors”.  Wow!

What’s your favorite line?  How would your life change if you claimed the Student Pledge for your own?