Getting the bug or just getting bugged?

Every now and then I get the bug to renew my old habit of doing magic. 
The problem is that I would have to re-invent myself as a magician since I would no longer be doing church programs and I really have no idea how to go about getting regular stand-up gigs.

Close up magic as always been my favorite genre to watch, but I never really practiced it much because that wasn't the magic I performed and it takes a great deal of practice to make it look -- well, magical.

The process is:
Practice until what is difficult becomes easy
              until what is easy becomes second nature (natural)
              until what is natural becomes magical

Done right, it is so much more than doing tricks. It's performing an art, exhibiting a craft, providing entertainment and escape for an audience. Being a good magician isn't something you do. It is someone you are. And while I love the wonder and enjoyment that magic creates, I'm really not certain that I want to spend the time and energy (and money $$) to work on something that few people would ever get to see or appreciate. 

Work on the old stuff and find new gigs?
Work on new stuff and find new gigs?
Work on stuff for personal enjoyment until the itch is satisfied and move on?
Find another shiny thing to distract me from the pull of an old habit?

Magus, mage (plural magi)  -- Priests of the ancient Persians.

Today we would call them magicians, sorcerers, or wise men. 
Maybe I should skip the magic stuff and just work on the part of being a wise man. 

John

Monday Morning Contemplations

June is the time of year when Facebook reminds me of all of the summer church camps that are a part of my past. I have had inquiries about doing magic since then, but I really haven't done any practice for a very long time. I may have done a little more preaching/teaching since those long ago days, but not too much more and not for a couple of years now.

Yesterday I was asked if I am still religious.
It's interesting when you have to examine who you are and how you have grown over the years to answer such a question. 
In truth, I have never really considered myself to be religious.

Side story:
Maybe 20 yrs ago
I remember walking in DC with members of NATCA's National Constitution Committee. One member that was a pretty vocal atheist prefaced a question by saying, "Hey, you're a religious guy..."
I interrupted by saying, "I am not!"
He paused, looked at me for a moment, and said, "Yeah, I get that, but..." and then went on to ask his question.

I'm actually more anti-religion than I have ever been.
That is not to say that I think churches or church camps are bad things.
I don't.
There are even parts of that previous life that I miss and think were beneficial -- both for me and for the kids that got to experience those weeks at summer camp. Sometimes I wonder what it would look like today if I were to step into a reconstructed Pastor John role. 
What would an anti-church camp be like?

I believe there is so much good stuff found in the teaching of Jesus that I don't ever see myself setting it aside and turning away from it. 
I also believe that there has been so much harm and destruction caused by churches (and religion) of all kinds that I find embracing a regular practice of religion to be a bit repulsive.

So -- 
No, I don't consider myself to be religious.
I do believe that I have become more spiritual. If I were going to assume a role similar to that of my past I might strive for something more like a modern day mystic than that of a preacher. 
Mystic, sage, mage...
Mage! Magic! Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!

No.
Not really.
I am happy in my quiet, isolated life.
No shows.
No stage.
No platform for preaching or teaching other than this little read blog.
I'll occasionally toss a few insignificant words into the cyber world and be happy if anybody reads or comments on them. And I'll be okay if nobody does.

Today (like most days) I will connect to God and nature by doing a little yard work and trying to coax a few flowers to bloom.

John 

Who Am I (2024 version)

So I've been thinking...

I know most of my current readers come from my Facebook friends. I don't think many come from my Twitter (does anyone really call it X?) followers. And I doubt that I have any that just follow my blog.

If you are one of the most from Facebook you know that I have been struggling to put together a bio for a collective that will launch in a couple of weeks. It is a group of people that are flipping the tables on traditional religion that has hurt, disenfranchised, and abandoned so many people. For many years I was a part of such a religious organization.
Damn, I hope that I didn't hurt too many people. I know that I led some in a different direction than I now travel and hope that they can find their way out without too much trauma. The few years that have past since then seem like an entirely different life.

In fact, one friend recently mentioned to me that he had been talking to people in our current church community and not many people know that I used to do magic. 
That's probably not a bad thing.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this bio thing and this is what I've come up with.
There are few (if any) people from my previous evangelical life that will read this. For those of you that know me well or have known me for a long time -- your comments are welcome.

My name is John Hill.

I spent my career as a full-time air traffic controller and a part-time Southern Baptist Evangelist. I spent more than twenty years preaching revivals, crusades, or filling pulpits throughout Missouri. I used magic to share the gospel at camps, schools, and family events. I served as Camp Pastor for kids’ camps, youth camps, and a couple of college retreats.
I also preached or performed in Illinois, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Indiana, South Dakota, and Florida.
I served as an officer and a deacon in a local Southern Baptist church and on the Associational Executive Committee.
I was a member and officer of the Fellowship of Missouri Baptists Evangelists, even serving as Vice President and President, and I spoke at many evangelism conferences around the state.

When my beliefs of God loving all people began to clash with the evangelical belief of God condemning everyone that didn’t see things exactly their way, I was forced to part ways.

To be clear -- I am still a follower of Jesus and a believer in what he taught.
I unashamedly believe in God, but that doesn’t mean I have all of the answers.
I struggle to be a good guy. I struggle to make good choices. And I struggle to love all of the people that God has created -- some more so than others.

Although I still attend a church occasionally, I am much less religious than I once was. I no longer feel the need to convert anyone to think like I do. In fact, I am more interested in hearing others' life guiding thoughts and philosophies than sharing my own.

Perhaps there is still value in sharing my past experiences and perspectives on life, religion, the bible, etc. With all of my heart I believe that this collective of people and perspectives will help others that have been hurt by churches or religious people, or are just trying to navigate our God given spiritual desire to connect with our Creator. John

P.S. The Who Am I (2024 version) title comes from having two previous posts Who Am I and Who Am I (again), as well as other posts that gave a glimpse into my being. Here is a more recent (4yrs ago) version of a past John.

Friday Morning at Mudhouse

I decided to venture out to the local (Ozark) Mudhouse coffee shop for this morning's coffee. I have a library book and a half charged Chromebook that is connected to my phone's hotspot. The local wifi wasn't connecting well and it's probably better using my own hotspot anyway.

It would appear (as in magically) that I've let myself be talked into a magic gig for the kids at church. The date is yet to be set, but I'm pretty sure it's happening. Time to dig out the old stuff and work on a kids' show.
Sacrebleu!

Magic has been a fun hobby in the past. After leaving the evangelical world I haven't really had a venue for performing and so I have let those skills and my fondness for performing fade away. It's time to start practicing again, at least for this one gig. I am not up to the marketing and promoting that would be necessary to get the paying gigs again. If I were to re-enter the field in any way, it would likely be through doing school programs around science and math stuff, or using some of the making good choices stuff I've used in the past.

For now it is still a couple of months away and I can plan something simple and entertaining without having to do the whole evangelical thing. 
(heavy sigh)

I'm not sure if this qualifies as something good or not, but that is what is going on in my world this morning. Tell me something good that is going on in your world.
Let's make it a Good Friday!

John 

Inspired (but still working on motivated)

On our recent travels to Mexico we met an inspiring young friend of our daughter-in-law. 
This brilliant young woman apparently regularly takes on new hobbies or interests, pours herself into learning them, and then moves on to learning something else. At the time we were together she was learning to play the piano. She had purchased a small portable keyboard and would practice playing as she made time for it.

I'm thinking that I should do something like that with the abundance of time that retirement affords me. 
There are three things that come to mind that I should work on:

1)  A few different friends have been on me to re-engage in magic. It is an incredibly fun hobby, but requires a good amount of time and practice if one is going to perform for audiences. Maybe I need to adjust my mindset from the past standard of a semi-professional performer to sharing some simple and amazing entertainment with a few friends. That simple kind of change in perspective might help me work on performing at a slightly different level.
    It would also force me to work on a different genre of magic than I have done in the past -- close up magic vs parlor or stand-up magic.

2)  Learning Spanish. It's just something I need to do.

3)  Last summer I bought a ukulele with the idea of learning to play it. I worked on it for a few weeks and set it aside. I'd probably prefer to take up guitar playing again, but the uke was affordable and I really don't see a reason not to go ahead and learn it.

I plan to make some regular time for each of these activities/learning experiences. 
I have a local friend that will encourage me in the magic department, and may have a person or two that I can converse with in Spanish. I don't know of anyone that can help me with the ukulele so I may be on my own with only YouTube to help me with that.

How are you growing your mind?
What are you learning?

John

No Monday Meditation

I'm not posting a Monday Meditation today. I'll make time for some meditative thoughts later in the day, but this morning I am really thinking about and being concerned with the number of people that are still supporting the former president in his campaign for re-election to the nation's highest office.

My mind is completely boggled by the number of people that have been taken in by this con man.
As a (former) magician, I have learned some of the street cons -- Three Card Monte, Fast and Loose, The Shell Game. Maybe I need to brush up on them and take them on the road as a money maker rather than as entertainment. It appears that there are a great many gullible people out there that are more than willing to give lots of their hard earned money to a talented con man. 

I do understand that the different parties seem to have very different ideologies and political goals, but surely the GOP can find someone that is more qualified to serve as the leader of our country. I am completely baffled by the all-in to the extreme stance the national party has taken and how all-in also encompasses each level of politics right down to local city councils and school boards. I just can't wrap my head around it. 

I'm not going to put a lot of thought or energy into it this morning (maybe a little thought into practicing those street cons again), but it has distracted me from my usual quiet time. I'll give it some distance and be back for quiet time later.

John 

PS: an interesting combination of labels today -- magic, meditation, and politics

Magic again?

I am feeling pretty good today -- feeling human again.
After the weird sleep week and zero sleep day, I got a good night's sleep last night and will be taking it easy today. This weekend's UFC fights are in London so the prelims are on already and the main card is relatively early tonight.

I have recently started looking at some of my old instructional magic DVDs and following some magicians on social media. I'm interested in relearning some stuff and adding new things, but not super motivated to put in the necessary practice without a venue for performing. One of the things that I've really noticed is the difference that aging makes. Hands and fingertips don't have the natural moisture that they once had and lotions don't really help a lot -- more than the natural level of moisture early and it doesn't last very long. 
The drier hands make handling cards and coins much more difficult. Add a little arthritis into it and I have to make some adaptations to many techniques or find an alternate method. I may have to find something that uses less dexterity of the fingers, maybe some rope, rings, or mentalism stuff. 
Or maybe not.
Whether I pick it up again or not, I am enjoying the time watching magic again. It seems like it was a long ago, previous life when I enjoyed practicing and performing magic. My gut tells me that the renewed interest in magic will be short-lived, but we will have to see.

John

Tech Challenged

It is a good thing that I can live well without all of today's technology because I really suck at it.
Admittedly, part of sucking at it is being too cheap to invest a lot of money into newer stuff.

Here's where I am:
I've been going through some of my old magic stuff. I've got hundreds (more like a couple thousand) of dollars tied up in books, VHS tapes (yes, they are that old), and DVDs. I do have an old player that I can connect to a TV to watch the DVDs, but would rather have something more portable. I was going to look for a portable DVD player (they still make those, right?) but thought that I have a couple of old laptops with DVD players (remember those) and I could probably use one of those.

Holy crap! Those old machines are heavy enough to anchor a barge!
Anyway, the ten year old technology is as slow as a slug, takes forever to boot up, and is more than a little frustrating to work with. I eventually did get the DVD player to work, but will probably end up just buying a portable player. 
However, there were a number of old video files stored on the hard drive that I want to retrieve and save. I found a thumb drive, eventually got the old computer to recognize it and was able to transfer the files to the external drive.
BUT...those old files are in a format not recognized by the technology of my current Chromebook! Ugh!
I don't know if the files would be recognized by any other current technology or a contempory laptop, but I guess I'll do a little research (with my limited knowledge and skills) and see what I can come up with.

If it turns out that I can't figure it out - maybe I'll just fire up another cigar, pour another drink, read a real paper and ink book, and learn magic the old fashioned, tech-free way.

heavy sigh

John

To magic or not to magic?

As a part of cleaning up and organizing our basement storage area, I started going through my stuff to determine what to keep and store and what to get rid of. Admittedly, the magic is tough. It's a pretty limited market when it comes to selling the stuff and I really don't have any contacts in the field any more. I'm sure that I can do a little research and find an internet market for magic stuff, if that's what I decide to do.

Performing again would be fun, but it would have to be a whole new act and new audiences since my previous show was geared toward church groups and I've pretty much burned those bridges. Also, performing magic takes a lot of practice, not just in performing the effects, but also in the flow of the show. It's way too much to undertake if you don't have the gigs lined up and I've never really worked on marketing magic since I had a lock on that market in evangelical churches. Between preaching and magic I stayed as busy as I wanted to be with holding down the full-time ATC gig.

That said, it was fun going through stuff today and I really only made it through a small portion of my stuff. Maybe I could begin with working on a few pocket effects that I've used in small walk-around gigs. It might be nice just to have a few things to perform--just for fun. Maybe I could build towards a stand-up show or look for walk-around gigs. I could book a two-fer - Marrying and Magic! You get a preacher to perform the ceremony and a magician to entertain the guests while waiting for the couple to arrive at the reception!

Or I could book resort shows and work during future trips to Mexico.
Maybe I can sell some of it, keep some of it that I might be able to use, and either play for free or book a few shows every now and then.
What will probably happen is I'll get it somewhat organized and safely stored so the kids can throw it all out when I finally kick the proverbial bucket.

sigh

John

Just another day

 It's weird that we are away from home, but it doesn't really feel like we're on vacation. Our days aren't a great deal different than usual--just in a different place. Maybe it has something to do with being pretty adaptable to life as it happens, or maybe I'm just a boring, content kind of guy.

Living in the city is much more noisy than our typical rural setting and we don't usually eat out for every meal so I am having much more people interaction than I usually do, but I am still getting plenty of good pool time with a book. I've managed to enjoy a couple of cigars, sampled some product from the local craft breweries, and am enjoying the food and flavors of Mexico.

I'm getting some exercise from walking. The uphill walk back to the kids' place is work and I'm usually a sweaty mess from the exertion and humidity. At least the pool is here to cool off in when I make it back.

We met up with some of Aaron and Jenny's friends when we were out last night. One guy says, "Oh! You're the magician!"
Thanks, Aaron.
It's been a couple of years since I've worked on any magic, much less performed any. Maybe it would be fun to renew the old hobby/side hustle--even if it's just for fun. Hmmm...
While magic is fun to do, it is a lot of work and practice to do just for fun. Without the occasional gig, there just isn't the motivation to practice and keep up the skill level to perform well. Maybe I can keep up on a few coin tricks, card tricks, or something that can appear to be impromptu. 

Time to enjoy the day.

John

Are You Happy?

This morning I've moved from my usual morning spot on the deck at the back of our house to the covered front porch. Although there is more to see here, the neighborhood is pretty peaceful and so it is still a fine place for my morning coffee and quiet time.

Having spotted a couple of hummingbirds at the petunias right in front of me and at the hibiscus tree in the yard, I'm thinking I really need to get on building those flower beds for the back of the house, as well as expanding the landscaping and flowers in the front.

I'm not to the point where I would call working in the yard enjoyable. I would say that I don't really mind it and I find it somewhat satisfying. I do enjoy looking at the flowers and at the birds, bees and butterflies that they draw. We've been able to eat some produce from my small, pathetic garden and that has also been satisfying.
It would be easy to look at the work that needs to be done and be overwhelmed. However, there is no pressing timeline and I can work on it as time, money, and desire allow. It's all good.

The message at last night's Venues at 425 gathering was the first in a series on happiness. With that in mind, it is difficult not to consider: Am I happy?
You can check it out on the Facebook page here. (As of this time, it hasn't been uploaded to the church website. I'm sure that will happen later today.) Pastor Jodi's Happiness message begins around the 30 minute mark, but do yourself a favor and listen to the music of my friend John first. 

How would you define happiness?
And are you happy?

It occurs to me that one could be generally happy (or unhappy) but have areas of life where they are the opposite. You could be happy with where you live, but unhappy with your current job. You could love your job, but be unhappy in your current relationship, etc., etc.
Is being content the same thing as being happy?
Is being happy a choice? 

Hmmm...?
What do you think?
And are you happy?

John

Twofer Tuesday

Just a quick little note for this afternoon.
I had my first magic show since about this time last year. The program was booked last fall/winter for a senior adult group at a local Church of the Nazarene. Due to the pandemic, this was the first time the group met since last March. 

Instead of their normal potluck style luncheon, they had catered box lunches with ham, turkey, or roast beef sandwiches, fruit, chips, and bottled water. Tables were well spaced and only sat four people to round tables that would normally seat twice that. Everyone wore masks except while seated at their tables.

Senior adults are a great magic audience. They are as easily entertained as kids and generally better behaved! I had a good time -- and I think they did, too!

Now to prepare for Thursday night's barchurch message!

John 

A Preacher, a Magician, and an Air Traffic Controller Walk Into a Bar...

Years ago, a coworker of mine said I sounded like the beginning of a joke --
A preacher, a magician, and an air traffic controller walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hello, John Hill!"

At that time, it was true. Today, not so much.
In fact, none of those descriptions fit me any more. It's been months since I've preached, longer than that since I've performed any magic, and more than five years since I retired as an air traffic controller. And I'm okay with that.
I'm not sure how I would describe myself these days. I'm not sure that I need to.

If pushed, I think I'd say I'm finally growing up.
I'm learning that life is far simpler than we tend to make it and the things that I once thought of as important mean little to me now. I don't feel like I need to impress anyone and won't waste my time trying to convince you that I'm better than you think I am.
Truthfully, I still have a lot to learn. I think recognizing that is the first step in growing up.

Although I have never really felt like a people person, most people tend see me that way. I've been called on to lead, teach, or take charge in many situations over the years, even though I have often felt ill equipped to do so.
It might just be that I read people well. That gift can be used to facilitate understanding or push people to react in either positive or negative ways. I've done both -- successfully. I quit being a union rep because I didn't like the person I felt I needed to be as a good rep. I later played the role of bad guy for my replacement so that he could be the calm voice of reason when I became unreasonable. I'm more comfortable as the reasonable one, but that wasn't my place at that time.

Perhaps it has been my time away from people that has helped me to better understand myself, my place in life, and my relationship to others. I think I've always been a contemplative soul, but much of my contemplation over the past decade or so has been turned inward.
I enjoy my solitude.

My time alone and away from people -- church people in particular, has helped me to become much less religious and at the same time much more spiritual. Freed from the constraints of judgmental people and their equally judgmental god, I have found the God of Jesus. His God is God and is full of grace, mercy, and love for all!
I am no longer compelled to preach a gospel of turn or burn. I am no longer compelled to share that God will condemn you to hell or you can choose what's behind Door #1.
A NEW CAR! Just as God drove Adam out of the garden in a Fury, you'll be driving down that Highway to Hell in style.
You should have picked what Jay had in the box in the aisle. (Walking the aisle during an altar call is a big deal in evangelical churches.)

I often said that so many evangelists sounded like carnival barkers or medicine men peddling their magic elixirs. Dear God, I hope I never came across that way!
Today I'm just trying to live and love more like Jesus. I try not to dwell on the past too much. I can't change it. I am also not dwelling on the future with fear or anxiety. It is enough to be present in the moment.
My alone time with God has also changed. Some would call it their prayer time, but it is so different from my prayer time of the past that I don't feel right using the same name for it. These days I rarely ask God to do anything for me (I'm still working on that in public prayer). I do ask for wisdom that I might better understand my role in the events of the day.

In a few months it will be fourteen years that I've been writing at Out of My Hat. If you are one of the few that have been with me since the beginning, you know that I am not the same as I was those many years ago. I hope that you continue to evolve and grow, as well.
Sometimes I enjoy looking back at the things I've written. Sometimes I'm a little embarrassed and wonder what I was thinking at the time.

For better or worse, this is post #2000 and I am who I am.
But I am not stuck with who I am today, and neither are you.
Tomorrow I hope to be a little bit better at traveling this road called life.
I hope to be better at understanding my place on the journey, better at living with the people I encounter along the way, but mostly better at loving and showing the grand love of God.

A simple and solitary traveler walked into a bar.
The bartender said, " Hi, John. Bourbon neat?"

John

Magic; What now?

We've been packing up to move and I have boxed up a bunch of magic books, DVDs, and a whole lot of VHS tapes. I have also packed away lots of magic effects -- some that I use often, and others that I have rarely (if ever) used in a show.

With the coming out of my previous post, it occurs to me that I really no longer have a familiar venue where I can perform magic. With only an occasional exception, all of the magic shows over the past two decades or so have been at churches, church camps, or church sponsored programs.
I few years ago I bought a school program, but have only used it once. Some of that program's props and set-ups were lost when I lost my show traveling on my bike a couple of summers ago. I could still rework the show and use it; I'm just not sure that's what I want to do now.

So...
What do I do with all of this stuff?
Do I work on some close up stuff and look for a walk around gig at local restaurants?
Do I rework my stand-up show and find gigs for corporate parties?
Do I start over with kids' birthday parties and low paying gigs?
Or do I just sell it all and hang up the old top hat and magic wand?

I suppose I have plenty of time to figure something out. All of that stuff will be in storage for the next several months while our home is being built. I suppose that I can access some of the DVDs if I want to work on some new stuff, but probably won't. I had kept out the props I usually use in my typical church show, but won't be needing that now.
In any case, it will be spring before I have my stuff and can work on a new magic me or sell it off and become a new me sans the magic.

It may just be the wave of the wand, a final *poof* and the Magicianary vanishes for good!
We shall see.

John <><

Packing and Pitching

Ugh!
We have greatly neglected our trend to move every few years so that we can pitch out all of the accumulated junk. We lived in our last home for something like six years. That might have been the longest we had stayed in one home. We have been in this house for three times that long!

Holy crap!
We have definitely accumulated stuff to fill the available space. And we still have some stuff from the kids' childhood days. I am amazed at the number of books we (I) have. Between magic books, religious study books, health books, and just plain old books -- there are a lot of boxes of books being packed.
I'm sure that just in magic books, DVDs, and VHS tapes (yes, I still have some of those) I have well over $10,000 dollars invested. I don't even want to think of how much I have in gimmicks and apparatus. (I checked -- the plural of apparatus is apparatus or apparatuses.)

I have a lot of small effects that I bought because I liked them and not because I have a venue to use them. It's been a long while since I've spent much on magic. I now try to make sure that it is something I can use in a show before spending the money. It took me a long time to learn that lesson, so I have a LOT of stuff!

I did take pictures of much of what I have as I packed it away. I need to find a forum for selling magic stuff.
I should probably familiarize myself with Craig's List, Facebook Marketplace, and other more contemporary alternatives to the old school garage sale. Although I have purchased items off eBay, Craig's List, and Facebook Marketplace, I have never listed nor sold anything.

The plan is to downsize and build according to what we (and by we, I mean Chris) want.
In truth, it won't be downsizing by much, but it will be a new home, built for us. We are hopeful that the slight difference in size and relocating to a more rural setting will leave us in a pretty much cash neutral or slightly favorable situation.
The process kind of sucks, but I'm hopeful that the end result will be worth the hassle.

It's probably a good idea to do a little packing and pitching in other areas of life, as well. I think we have a tendency to hold onto a lot of ideas and beliefs that seemed right at the time. Maybe some life and personal experience has given us a different perspective and it's time to jettison a few old (and now irrelevant) ideas or once firmly held beliefs.
Just a thought.

John <><

Using Magic to Understand Following Jesus

There's a saying in magic --
Practice what is hard until it becomes easy.
When it becomes easy, practice until it becomes second nature (natural).
When it becomes natural, practice until it becomes magical!

Following Jesus is not easy.
It isn't natural for us to love our enemies or care for those that are different than we are.
It isn't natural for us to put others ahead of ourselves or our family and friends (our community).
It isn't natural for us set aside our desire for more material things and for greater status and success in order to make others our priority.
And yet, that is what Jesus instructs us to do.

What if we took a magician's approach?
What if we "practiced" our Christianity by making the focused effort to work on loving others until it becomes easier? We can start with those closer to us and work our way up to the people we don't like and eventually, to the people that don't like us.
What if we quit seeing people from the perspective of us vs. them, and saw each person as a being created in the image of God?
What if we stop viewing people through the filter of nationalism and remember that the Kingdom of God has no borders?

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he said that in Jesus there are no Jews and Gentiles (national borders), neither slave nor free (class divisions or status), nor is there male and female (Are you listening SBC?). He says that we are all one (equal) in Christ Jesus.

What if we begin to work on seeing people the way God sees them?
I know it is difficult and will take some practice. But it should get easier along the way. If we can see God's image in them, it should become natural to love them.
Once it becomes natural for us to see them as God sees them, and love them as God loves them, we will be well on our way to being more like Jesus.

Too often, we see God through human eyes.
It should be our goal that we would see humans through God's eyes.
This is going to take some practice.

John <><

Retirement Mondays

Yeah, retirement still has its own kind of Mondays.
Sundays are different than other days because of church and other weekend stuff, so Mondays are still the first real days of the week and then there are all of the other days that are pretty much just other days.

This week's Monday gets a late start since it was after 1am when we got to bed last night. It wasn't a big deal; just a lazy Sunday that was in no hurry to end. It was almost 9 o'clock when I finished sleeping this morning and got up to make coffee.
This will be a little more purposeful week than most as I prepare for next week's Revival in Richland MO. I spent a few hours Saturday and Sunday doing some background reading. More reading and notes today and tomorrow and then the rest of the week will be putting things together.

I'll be preaching three services (Sunday morning, Monday and Tuesday evenings), doing a mix of magic and message on Sunday night, and a predominately magic night on Wednesday evening. I am looking forward to it.

While preaching opportunities offer the opportunity to be a venue for God, they come far too seldom to be the only time to serve as such a meeting place. Last week I had an additional meeting with a man from a church where I recently preached. He wanted to get together and share some thoughts on how he can teach the things of God to others. I was honored to talk to him about that.

Could it be that we (followers of Jesus) have given up on personal ministry and delegated sharing the Good News to the professional clergy?
Even when we do decide to personally engage others with the gospel, do we hang on to the idea of militant evangelism rather than going out as sheep among wolves?
Didn't Jesus send his disciples out as sheep among wolves?
Didn't he instruct them to preach where they were welcomed and to leave when they were not?
I don't recall Jesus ever telling us to threaten people with eternal damnation; only to love them and show them God's love, to tell them the Good News.

I'm going to need another pot of coffee to get through this retirement Monday and the reading that is ahead of me.

Here is my encouragement for you:
Plan to be a venue this week -- a place where God meets with somebody. Prepare your heart so that you can meet with God and then invite a friend to join you. Introduce them to the joy and the love that you have found in meeting with your Creator.
Be a venue!

John <><

Recess Time!

Tonight is another night of rEcess at The Venues!
It is a night for parents of kids with special needs to be able to have some much needed time for themselves.

I was pretty impressed last month at my first rEcess event.
The kids with special needs get one on one or even two on one attention for the entire night. There is an area and activities for siblings, as well.

It's a challenge to do magic for young children as many of them are really too young to appreciate magic.
Think about it:
Everything is new and amazing to a young child. A ball that vanishes from one hand and appears in the other is unexpected, but it isn't magical because they don't know that it isn't supposed to be possible. And because young kids are very tactile, the want to touch everything. It's how they learn.
One on one that isn't so bad. In a group (even a small group) it isn't very practical.

I'm working on a few things for the individual kind of magic and also a little show for the siblings. I'll see how it goes tonight. In any case, every day I am more impressed by the love and service shown by the people of The Venues. I think they are making me into a better person.

John <><

Nov 26: Magic

I've decided to start relearning some magic effects. Because I've never really had a venue for performing close up magic, I've never really worked on it. I still don't have the venue for it, but it has always fascinated me, so I think I'll start to try some new stuff.

I know that my hands are less conditioned for close up than they once were. A little arthritis in the thumbs and the drier skin that comes naturally with aging will present some challenges. Cards and coins are good places to start for close up stuff. A little mentalism also works in some situations. I have hundreds (probably thousands) of dollars in books and videos to work with. The real challenge will be to get good enough at each effect or discipline before moving on to something else.
I may have to work up a schedule of so much time for cards, some time for coins, time for reading, time for viewing, etc.

If you know me, give me some time. Eventually, I hope to always have something at hand. Perhaps that is unrealistic. I don't really know since I've never done much in the way of close up magic.
For now it's just something to do. Maybe it's something that I'll eventually be able to market, although I'm not starting out with that as a goal.

Play time!

John <><

Nov 11: What do you know?

Not long ago I subscribed to TED Talks.
Most people have listened to one or two TED Talks on varying topics. I find most short posts to by fascinating and am often intrigued by the science behind the topics.

At some point, it occurred to me that I probably don't possess enough knowledge on any subject to be able to pull off a twelve to eighteen minute TED Talk. TED Talks are a way of sharing ideas and were birthed out of a conference where Technology, Entertainment, and Design converge to share ideas and to make the world a better place.

Yes, I can preach, teach, or entertain for that period of time, but I don't think that qualifies me to share on any given topic. In fact, aging has taught me that I don't know near as much stuff as I once believed I did. I'm learning that much of what I once "knew" as truth, was not, and what I believed to be false has some credibility.

I'm beginning to get comfortable with the idea that I'm a pretty ignorant guy.

What about you?
What do you know?
What information would you pass along in a fifteen minute speech that would be of benefit to a small segment of society?

Just for kicks -- here's one of my all-time favorite TED Talks.

John <><