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Posted on June 17, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

Insert Foot into Mouth.

My church’s most recent series covered the topic of–

“When we place words in God’s mouth…”

Pretty scary concept, huh?

Our pastor, Mark Love, went on to point out that we are “all in danger of letting our ability to reason overshadow God’s wisdom.”

Unnerved yet?

The topic of true wisdom is just getting started.
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1 Corinthians 1:25 (ESV) states, “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Then, Mark asked a question I’ve wondered a million times and tried to force myself into an answer that is contrary to scripture: “Does God want us to be happy?” He states it better than I can, in our church’s blog.
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I mean, our forefathers wrote this (below) into our country’s beginning so it has to be true right? Our end goal = our happiness?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

But truthfully…what if it looked more like this?
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–> God doesn’t just want you to be happy, he wants much more for you.

Mayo Clinic’s Study on Happiness (It took a Mayo Clinic to tell us this?)
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1. To be focused on the right things, the right thoughts. 2. To be resilient to life’s curve balls – creating healthy boundaries. 3. Biggest hindrance to happiness – Thinking too much about yourself. (NO WAY!! Not in our country, right? How could that be possible? The land of Instagram.) 4. Happiness is a decision.

Bigger question: Why does the pursuit of happiness fail every time? (#3 in study above)
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[We believe that if it makes us happy, it must be good. If it makes us unhappy, it must be bad. If something doesn’t make us feel good, it must not be what God wants.]

What if? (Bear with the notes here…)

What if the enemy is at work in the world (our day-to-day lives) tarnishing our ideas of what happiness is?

(BINGO! At no point in history has the notion of happiness-as-a-right dictated the citizen like it does in 2015.)

But truthfully, God doesn’t want us happy when…1.) it is due to something that is unhealthy, unwise, or wrong in His eyes, 2.) it is only based on what the world has to offer instead of what He created us for.

In essence, we are worshiping the creature instead of Creator.
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Romans 1:22-25 (ESV) sums up this predicament from erroneous human behavior prior to our 2015 pitfalls.
—————
“Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”
Don’t love the things of this world. (This one is tough for me.)
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1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
—————
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Synopsis: The Godly are Happy.
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Psalms 97:12 (NLT)
—————
May all who are godly rejoice in the lord and praise his holy name!
God wants you to be blessed.
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blessed: makarios (mak-ar’-ee-os); supremely blessed, more than happy.

Blessed… (9 examples from Jesus himself)
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Matthew 5:2-12 (ESV)
—————
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
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And quite possibly the most difficult to adhere to but the most all-encompassing…

James 1:2-4 (ESV)
—————
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Max Lucado said…
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You weren’t made for earth. Moments of happiness and joy cannot compare to what’s ahead. Lower your expectations of earth. Not heaven. No new car, new wife, new baby, new boat will give you the joy your heart craves.

Put simply, again, The Godly are Happy. They don’t need to be manipulated or goaded by Instagram (sorry for the app-bashing). 🙂
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Psalm 97:12 (ESV)
—————
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Enjoy Wednesday and Thank God for the wisdom and peace this offers!

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

4 Ingredients for Writing.

Tap into your inner Emiril Lagasse for a second. Think about the kitchen as a workspace. Big chef’s hat and all. Emeril (or, any chef) takes his/her cooking space seriously and might involuntarily throw out phrases like “BAM!” and “Kick it up a notch!”

Now, think about your favorite recipe.

Got one in mind?

Mine is always the same, always delicious: Blackberry Cobbler.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup 2% milk
1 pint blackberries

Now, Think about the steps required to make something that delicious. And, then transfer that kitchen-etiquette onto YOUR process for doing something else you love (mine’s writing).

For example:

There are steps to follow at your writing desk, equipment that must be used, and documents to prepare in a certain order that (believe it or not) are very similar to what it takes to make the almighty cobbler.

Here are 4 of my “Go-To” Writing ingredients (followed in this order below):

1. Be intentional in setting aside a “quiet” space (Not like this one, it’s clickable and complete with strobe lights.)

2. Don’t let obstacles stop you from picking up the pen!

3. Set a goal (word count, 500 words+) before you can quit!

(love this one, click it!)

4. Get consumed by the endeavor!

(Maybe not this much)

5. Return to “life” only after the goal is met!

(Picture says it all.)

**These 4 items give me direction in giving my labor of love the proper amount of discipline it deserves. I hope it helps you in yours this week.

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

Loving others, quirks and all.

When the clock hits 11:09am/pm each day, I think of my birthday. Is it just me or do you do something similar that you find odd, slightly disturbing?

I’m trying to decide what is normal behavior and what is pushing the limits of neurosis.

(I should probably reserve more than just 1 week to ascertain this.)

But, quirkiness is sometimes just that…a quirk you possess.

Side note: I’m not trying to belittle neurosis and Jung’s theory at all here. So please don’t misread this post and its intentions. Here’s a great article to read concerning mental health struggles.

Rather, I’d like to focus on actions that are more ‘quirk’ than disorder and not to be confused with: obsessive-compulsive, impulsivity, anxiety, phobias, and hysteria.

Things like seeing my birth date on a clock display. Make a wish. Kind of stuff.
Counting steps involuntarily as you climb/descend them at work.
Remembering fragments (or whole passages) of material on specific pages of a book.
Are these nervous ticks? Maybe. But, sometimes they’re gifts as well.

God gives us uniqueness all the way down to our finger prints.

My name is anything but unique, but I’m learning to be okay with that–finally. My height is average. But, there are so many gifts just below the surface, and it might just mean taking a little extra time to look for them in your life.

For you–maybe you have a knack for telling jokes. Or, you can condense large bits of information down into relatable doses for those of us less inclined to remember a dictionary. Whatever it is–it’s uniqueness that only you have.

Picture yourself like Wolverine in X-Men recognizing (for the first time) that he has adamantium coursing through his veins.

That is you. Anything but average.

Your name, your height, your eye color might be like billions of others, and that is a good thing, too. It can make your connection to others even stronger. It, too, makes you relatable.

“Loving God, Loving people” is a phrase you might hear a lot. Your quirkiness makes that even easier. Believe it or not.

As I typed this, I just recognized that I haven’t been letting this be (in my life) what it is: a gift. Here’s to a week of letting that resonate with you. Here’s my church’s most recent podcast regarding ‘Biblical Blunders’ and uniqueness of those being used by God (failures and all). Listen here . Part 3 should be added this week, and it includes even more people to study and note their quirks. Hope it helps strengthen your view (of yourself) this week.

Feel free to share quirks you may have.

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

Flannery O’ Connor – God’s story through her fiction.

Last night’s, “My Dear God:” A Conversation on the Faith of Flannery O’ Connor event at The Camp House went swimmingly.

There were so many great topics addressed and quotes given that I couldn’t possibly get them all down.

But, I’ll try to re-cap some of the highlights.

For starters:

It’s nice to know Flannery O’ Connor was human after all. She worried like anyone else. When admitted to the University of Iowa, she worried about being smart enough to attend a mid-western graduate school.
She also had a thick Southern accent. For anyone who has one of those, apparently O’ Connor’s was so thick, the writing program director couldn’t understand her when she asked to be admitted into the Iowa Writer’s Workshop program (she didn’t like journalism and wanted to switch gears). So, he eventually wanted her to write it down to make it easier for both of them. She simply wrote on paper, “Want in,” and it helped her leave a career in reporting behind and fiction straight ahead.
O’ Connor created a prayer journal around her early 20s and only wrote in it for about 1.5 years. The journal is reflective of her closeness to God and changes (as she does in her relationship) in that time frame. From the way she addresses the Creator to the subject matter of the prayers themselves, there is a nice lens in which to see her grapple with her Catholic faith and her daily trips to Mass.
O’ Connor wrestled with authenticity (like most of us do). She didn’t want to be a phony. She didn’t want to be a fraud. But, she also didn’t want to leave God out of her life’s work. Her prayers are representative of this. (The journal was released in 2013 by her peer, William Sessions.)
And what I find the neatest portion of her short 39-year legacy on this earth is her progress from writing down her prayers to God inside this journal to her writing itself becoming her prayer to God.

Here are some amazing quotes she offered while alive about the topic of prayer (and writing for God). Notice her approach:

“I do not mean to deny the traditional prayers I have said all my life, but I have been saying them and not feeling them.”
“My attention is always very fugitive. This way I have it every instant. I can feel a warmth of love heating me when I think & write this to You.”
“My dear God, how stupid we people are until You give us something. Even in praying it is You who have to pray in us.”
“There is a whole sensible world around me that I should be able to turn to Your Praise; but I cannot do it. Yet at some insipid moment when I may possibly be thinking of floor wax or pigeon eggs, the opening of a beautiful prayer may come up from my subconscious and lead me to write something exalted.”
“Don’t let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything but the instrument for Your story–just like the typewriter was mine.”
“I want so to love God all the way. At the same time I want all the things that seem opposed to it–I want to be a fine writer.”
“Please let Christian principles permeate my writing, and please let there be enough of my writing (published) for Christian principles to permeate.”
“Please help me dear God to be a good writer and to get something else accepted.”
“If I ever do get to be a fine writer, it will not be because I am a fine writer but because God has given me credit for a few of the things He kindly wrote for me.”
“Give me the grace, dear God, to adore You, for even this I cannot do for myself.”

O’ Connor developed lupus and only lived to age 39, but, her words still resonate with writers and readers alike today.

One article by Casep Cep in The New Yorker states how she personally utilizes a prayer journal like O’ Connor. She says, “For years, when I was starting to write, I prayed, “God let my words lead them to yours; let me lead them to you.” I wrote that prayer in the margins of pages and on the inside covers of my notebooks, hoping that I would produce something that might serve the Lord.” And goes on to add, “Her (O’ Connor’s) journal ended when her prayers became fully integrated in her writing; the literature itself was a prayer, an offering to God.”

I love that message. So whatever your gift is…Maybe you’re still finding it. Maybe you have more than one. Try to fine tune it and use it for Him. Writing. Cooking. Basketball. Parenting. All of the above. Start broad and narrow your scope over time.

O’ Connor’s cry to God started as a prayer journal that functioned alongside the fiction she created. And when she had listened (and prayed) to God intently to understand her direction in life, she was able to grow and fulfill her purpose strictly through that one medium: her writing to God–His story through her fiction.

What’s your offering?

Posted on May 22, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

Friends.

Friends.

Tell them that you love them.

“Love. Amour. Liebe. Amore. Amor. Ljubezen.”

There are so many ways to say it. (The last one was Slovenian. You’re welcome, honey.)

Why tell them?

Maybe because they let you do the ‘Cluck Hunt’ one Halloween, while dressed as Johnny Appleseed:

https://www.facebook.com/dani.pintopyles/videos/vob.12919627/518518643203/?type=2&theater

(If this link doesn’t work, add Dani Pinto Pyles on Facebook. The video is a good one. You’ll want to see it. Maybe for your next party?)

Game rules: “Two teams – 2 Roosters, 13 Hens, and hidden candy corn. The hens can only CLUCK to get the roosters attention when they find a candy corn. Only the rooster can put it in the hen’s cup. Collect the most candy corn for your team to win.”

Maybe because this friend didn’t desert you when you danced like this:

VIDEO0016

Or looked like this:

Or this:

Maybe because they swam in lake water with you that was so murky you couldn’t see the water moccasins. Just feel them.

Maybe they rescued you from yourself more than once.

Whatever they do/have done for you. They’ve gained the label ‘friend’ for no uncertain reason in your life.

Celebrate that today. Tell them, “Thanks for not letting me die that one time!” Or, whatever you feel led to thank them for.

God put them there in that space for a reason.

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Brian Tucker — 2 Comments

Ever Felt Heaven?

Weird question to ask, I know. In the context of being on Earth and all.

Maybe I should ask, Have you ever felt heaven on Earth?

A moment that seemed frozen in time. A glimpse of an after-life?

These are usually just blips when they’ve happened for me. God reveals them in the slightest ways. Simple nuances. Usually found in nature. Not at a computer screen.

A smell that takes you to a time, place. Seeing a friend you haven’t laid eyes on in decades. Going to your favorite spot for lunch.

Heaven on Earth.

For me, it happened not too far from where the last odd tale occurred (see yesterday’s blog, Best Road Trip Ever). Only, instead of Orange Beach, AL, this was due east along the Gulf Coast in Pensacola, FL. We were there for Spring Break, and I was a sophomore at the University of Kentucky.

No. This wasn’t that kind of Spring Break. Haha.

It was a mission trip compliments of Hurricane Ivan’s destruction (and aftermath), Spring 2005. I’d only ever known mission work to be about recovery in terms of re-building an area struck by disaster. This one, we were informed, was going to be demolition.

DEMOLITION.

Never has a word been so sweet on my lips before or since.

Our mission: Demolish an Air Force base in a week’s time.

Sledgehammers to break toilet basins: check.

Leather gloves to rip gutters from houses: check.

It was a beautiful task!

The operation had been called: Rebuild Northwest Florida.

So, there was reconstruction taking place. But, something that often gets overlooked is that things have to be demolished sometimes in order to be rebuilt.

We were that crew.

The heaven on Earth moment happened, as we tore these abandoned Air Force homes apart. Each day the temperature climbed “higher and higher” (cue up 80s tune). Those working to remove shingles, nails, roofing supplies were getting cooked.

Guess who landed up there?

You know it. But, that’s the only way to demolish a house. From the outside in. You can’t get to the frame and the interior without first removing the exterior. So, we did. Me and several buddies. Man, that alone almost had the heaven on Earth quality. The temperature. The sweat. The work. Seeing friends get overzealous and accidentally falling through the exposed rafters to the ground below.

TIMBER!

(For the record: I only met gravity’s temperament once.)

But, the heaven on Earth moment happened, as we paused one day in our labors. We heard a noise…We looked up…There were angels above us.

Blue Angels. Flying overhead. Putting on an aerial display. They were located in Pensacola.

We made a point to pause. Drink some water. Look at the majesty of their aerodynamics. All while holding onto the rafters so as not to fall through again.

I remember looking over at a buddy of mine, Josh Field, and saying “It don’t get much better than this!”

He shielded his eyes as the Angels flew up, up even higher. We watched them spiral and turn and maneuver like Angels (for lack of a better comparison). It was a moment of recognizing that in the midst of storms, wrecks, and things being demolished to be re-built, God was there.

The world seemed to stop spinning, and we watched the planes spin instead, and all from those busted rooftops on the coast. I imagine heaven to be that sort of thing non-stop. Except God’s orchestrating EVERYTHING, and there isn’t any risk of hurricane or death.

It’s all like that one moment but even better! Somehow.

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Brian Tucker — 4 Comments

Best Road Trip Ever!

Think of your favorite road trip.

Do you have yours?

What’s the best *spontaneous* trip you’ve ever taken?

Not a vacation. Not a pre-set engagement. Just a “get-in-the-car-and-go” moment.

—

Mine happened in the Spring 2007. March. (I remember, because it was 2 months before I got engaged to my beautiful wife.)

My buddy, JT says: “We should go somewhere.”

My pal, Danielle confirms, “Somewhere with a beach.”

This was the extent of our plan.

1._ We should go somewhere. & 2._ We should find a beach.

So, we embarked South on I-65. No beach criteria other than it’s warmer than Kentucky, in March, and there were some good times ahead.

Pedal down.

JT’s Mercury Sable shook intermittently, as we drove sometimes above and sometimes below the speed limit.

We made the coast in record time.

What coast? Gulf.

What beach? We’d thought Gulf Shores, but discovered Orange Beach was, in fact, this one.

We were ecstatic to hit water!

The skies were dreary, but our moods wouldn’t be controlled by some foul weather.

We RAN to the water. Our plan looked to be a success. We figured 3-4 days at non-Gulf Shores would be just the trick for our poor, post-Winter, pre-Spring blues.

The skies…did I mention they were dark? Well, they were.

The water was FRIGID!

I remember Danielle had a really awesome camera. She thought JT & I were crazy for risking our necks in barely above freezing water.

Not only was the water almost frozen, but the coastline was empty. It was JUST us. The 3 amigos. (Adam and Lindsey had been too cool to join us in no-man’s land, this time.)

The coast looked like the set from the Cormac McCarthy novel-to-movie adaptation of “The Road.” There was nothing but rough waves, and we yelled to try to hear one another.

JT did something I’d never seen him do. He swam farther out…(Jo Carol, if you’re reading this, please know that I would’ve done my best to save him, had he drowned.)

Yes. JT, the doctor, swam farther out to sea in 40 degree-Farenheit water. I did the only thing a best friend should do: I followed. Plus, I had an ego the size of Texas and had been growing a Jesus beard and couldn’t be out-done. So, out we went.

Danielle snapped pictures and watched from an ever-increasing distance. Our ill-planned trip was all right, if you didn’t count the hypothermia, and “water-so-cold-it-burned” component. But…

The waves pulled us out farther. JT didn’t seem to mind. I noticed the swift current and started to resist. (Again, my Texan complex should not go unnoticed.) Well, the waves were winning, and I couldn’t just LET them. So, I resisted.

JT seemed to wait for the waves to crest at just the right moments and eventually, he decided to “tuck-tail-and-surf” back into the mainland. I tried to follow, but the rip current caught me and pulled me out farther. The timing was off. I was only about 3 feet behind JT, but it resulted in a constant drag outward to sea. I fought mother nature, and she won. I was so tired, I started to think I wasn’t going to make it back. I began to think “Great. I don’t think I even told Mom where I was going,” and started to panic at the turbulence.

When I looked up and saw JT almost back to Danielle on the beach, I decided I couldn’t let THIS be the end (ego rejoined). This was life or death. Orange Beach couldn’t be the end.

I swam as hard as I could with each swell, and even kicked through the rip currents, until finally I was pushed onto shore with a burst that drove me into sand. JT and Dani looked down and hadn’t noticed how much I’d worked to not die. They hadn’t been able to see my panic. (Truth be told: it’s the closest…2nd closest…I’ve ever come to dying.)

But, we survived our first rendezvous with Spring Break.

Fast forward to dinner that evening. (We’d placed our bags in some hotel that had availability. Actually they all had availability. Apparently, Gulf Shores, Panama City, and Pensacola were the Spring Break hot spots. Not Orange Beach. So lodging had been no problem.) At dinner, we found a nice seafood restaurant and JT ordered gumbo.

I remember the gumbo, because Danielle and I had commented on New Orleans and made small talk with the waitress. She’d gone on to tell us that Orange Beach wasn’t usually too popular during this time of the year. We added bits and pieces to the conversation about where we were from (small-town USA, Kentucky). She admitted that Kentucky was a place she’d always wanted to visit. The rain kept falling HARD against the metal roof of this establishment.

Her comment about this not being a touristy destination didn’t register right away with us.

Danielle had said, “With this being so close to Gulf Shores, AL, I figured there’d be more people over here.”

The girl had re-filled our waters and nodded. “You’d think that, but I meant because of the storms, and the weather.”

“It’s March.” JT added, “You’d think it’s kinda understood that bad weather happens.”

The girl nodded again. “Of course. It rains a ton. Thunderstorms when there’s not hurricanes. But, I didn’t mean just the weather. I meant what the weather brings with it…” she trailed off.

We just stared at her. Waited for her to continue.

“The sharks,” she said matter-of-factly.

None of us spoke. JT finally piped up, “Sharks? C’mon.”

“Seriously. The bull sharks. They come up close during these thunderstorms and feed close to the shoreline.”

Danielle looked at me. “But, they’re not that dangerous are they?”

The waitress went on, “Only the most. They’ve attacked a few people just a few weeks back. That’s why they’ve asked people to stay away from the water. Until…it clears up anyways.”

JT swalled a big gulp of now colder gumbo.

“You’d have to be insane to be out there in the water. If the waves didn’t get you, the sharks would.”

“That’s why the beach was empty,” I said out loud. “That makes sense,” I tried to laugh, now in a cold sweat.

“You all weren’t in it were you?” she asked.

JT shook his head yes and told her we had.

She called us N-U-T-S and told us we were lucky to be alive.

The remainder of that impromptu road trip was spent watching it rain, singing random songs the 3 of us knew, and playing frisbee against some tropical winds.

Safe to say, none of us swam the rest of that trip. We were alone on a beach without any traffic, any commitments, and plenty of bull sharks watching us.

JT looked for the fins poking out of the water. I worked on my Jesus beard. Danielle (camera amateur-turned-pro) took phenomenal pictures of the storms raging power.

It was a road trip unlike any I’ve ever had. Do I miss Orange Beach? Not at all. But, would I delete that memory and the dangerous elements of that trip? Not in a million years.

It was a season I’ll not soon forget. Thank you for the adventurous camaraderie guys!

Share your story today!

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

3 Ways to Make 2015 Memorable.

3 Ways to Make 2015 Memorable–

1. Be in the PRESENT.

Simply put: Instead of looking back at 2014, 2013, and on, or, 2016-forward, STOP and take in what’s right here in May 2015 for us. It’s Tuesday. This weekend is Memorial Day. For some, there’s an extra day to bask in the sunshine. For Leah & me, we get to see my father-in-law and show him around the city! There’s plenty to relish in the here-and-now. It’s the first (and most essential) way to get one’s thoughts in-order. Today is today and won’t be tomorrow until…well, tomorrow.

2. Make INTENTIONAL strides.

Remember grade school? Walking with one foot in front of the other. Following others in the line. The teacher being sure to state over and over again that we must use a “hallway” voice. Mine did. I still recall the sounds of sneakers squeaking down the long tiled hallway of our elementary school. But, there’s something here as well. (Not the hallway voice. I recommend shouting when you feel like it.) No. The strides we took down the hallways in grade school were INTENTIONAL. We walked single-file, and we had a destination each time. LUNCH. To the auditorium for a PLAY. To RECESS for exercise. It all mattered. I recommend installing this same intentionality in your day today (and the rest of the week). See where it takes you.

3. SHOCK even yourself.

I love the phrase: Dare to be great. Don’t know who said it. And the few words in this phrase are self explanatory. You (and I) have the choice to be great. Do something great. Go somewhere with our lives that’s great. We just have to dare ourselves. Sometimes we can’t wait on others to do this. God gives us an open door, window, or just a sliver of light, but the chance is there. We can SHOCK others, and if we go all in, even ourselves. Today is as good of a time to start as any.

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

3 Amazing Summer Reads

These are “lesser known” reads and I hope this makes the Summer that much better for you. There’s something fun about reading books off-the-beaten-literary-trail, and these fit into that description. If you’ve never met me before and are wondering why you should take some stranger’s advice on this trio of books, just do it. I promise I wouldn’t lead you astray, because I know how precious time is and how little there is to go around. Especially during the SUMMER!

So….

Here is the list of 3 Summer Reads you must find and set to take with you to 1.)the beach, 2.)the pool, 3.)Disney World, 4.)Disney Land, 5.)Any and all airports, 6.)cruise boats, and 7.)other places you spend quality time from May-August.

3 Amazing Summer Reads (lesser-known):

1.) “Dog on the Cross: Stories” Aaron Gwyn –

* Stories that stick with you. The cover is lauded with Tom Franklin praise. I picked this one up randomly and found the stories to be sophisticated and true. It’s the best collection I read yesteryear! And now I wanted to share it with you.

2.) “Broken” Travis Thrasher –

* This one broke all of the rules for me. Do I read split narratives much? No. Mysteries told from the female point-of-view? Sometimes. Stories that read like screenplays? Nope. Novels likened to Stephen King? Not recently. This little book held all of these elements and still rang true at the end. Last week I was able to speak with the author, Travis Thrasher, and he was kind enough to discuss the formation of this read. It’s subject matter isn’t light, but the author sets a strong example in his style and God-like witness. He’s an author I’ll revisit. (Plus, I’ve been told “Broken” was an earlier work of his. Tight. Tight. Prose.)

3.) “Anna in the Tropics” Nilo Cruz –

* You might be thinking: Didn’t this win a Pulitzer Prize? Yes. But, it’s for drama. And, I didn’t know if many people read dramas. So, I wanted to share it with you. It’s cigar factories, Cuban heritage, and American immersion all at once. Perfect for you at the beach or wherever. This is amazing!

Here’s to a great Summer 2015 for you. Hope these 3 find their way into your reading satchel this vacation season!

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Brian Tucker — Leave a comment

7 Phrases That Will Make Your Life Easier

1. God bless you –

As I write this blog, I realize how much of a role God plays in EVERY thing. Having food, friends, a job, etc. are all results of God’s provision. Family to share life with. There are an infinite amount of reasons this phrase should be uttered more (and, yes, I mean beyond the usage after a person sneezes…although, that IS kind and thoughtful.)

2. Have a great day –

Not like the McDonald’s send-off from the drive-thru window. (Although, I’ve issued quite a few of those myself. And…I don’t miss that green viser at all.) I mean the really genuine use of it. Smile when you see a person, talk with them, and especially when they depart. To care about another person’s day shows them (and yourself) that you really do CARE about the life they’re living.

3. Thank you –

Oh, where has this kind sentiment gone? May it be restored beyond the fake transactions we’ve grown accustomed to. Whether it be at the checkout lane (with a real person) or simply expressing an everyday gratitude via email, be sure to say this one from deep down. It’s overused but never means more than when it’s used with conviction.

4. You’re welcome –

Like ‘Thank you,’ the sentiment of essentially saying ‘You’re worth it’ goes a long way. Chik-fil-A has re-instilled kindness in the fast food industry. They say ‘My pleasure’ when you say ‘Thanks’ to them. It could be an example to all of us. Serving others makes us realize everyone matters.

5. I love you –

Try saying that to people that are closest to you. (Yesterday was Mother’s Day. That’s a good starting point. Mom.) Work out from there to extend to people that you find it a little more taxing to say these words to. (I promise I’m not trying to get anyone arrested here!) But, if you (and I) can say that to our friends on the “fringe,” imagine what we can mean/do/say when we can extend to complete strangers.

6. I forgive you –

We could all write a book about this one. To love someone and say ‘I love you’ essentially trumps (or, goes hand-in-hand) with forgiveness. It’s hard to love someone when you haven’t truly forgiven them. To let the past GO makes loving someone that much easier. (I wrestle a lot with this one.) But, in the moments where I’ve been able to say “it’s forgiven”, I’ve been able to exhale and live life a lot better. Try it. (Hope my ‘let the past go’ comment didn’t send you in the way of FROZEN.)

7. See you soon –

A great way, again, to say you love someone. Thinking of just yesterday, and my mom departing from Chattanooga made me realize how great this common phrase can be, when we really put our heart behind our words. “See you soon” can be “I love you” and “God bless you” all at once, if it’s said from deep, deep, down.

7 Phrases That Will Make Your Life Easier