Skip to main content

This One Document Raised My Spirits

Today I had one of those really productive days where I sat down for several hours and wrote.  As my fingers danced over the keyboard on my laptop I remember a short note from my 10th grade English teacher - Mrs. Agnew.  She was one of the most encouraging people I ever met, and she and I clicked on so many levels.  She was the first teacher to explain what a thesis was, and gave us an assignment to write a position paper with a clear thesis.  Mine was a commentary on Beavis and Butthead and their cultural impact.  She loved it and gave me 100% on the paper.  At the end of the year she signed my yearbook, told me to have great adventures, and to write about them.

So today I heeded Mrs. Agnew's advice and finished a short paper I had been working on for the past month.  Aside from this blog and the social media posts it's going to be my first public offering of my storytelling framework.  I am really excited and apprehensive at the same time.  Since I'm still unemployed I have the time to do things like this, and I want to make a contribution to the Church.  It's weird not serving in a parish since that was my typical outlet for service.  Now I don't have that and I still want to do some good - so I write.

About an hour ago I put the finishing touches on my first draft.  I'm now envisioning some graphics for the different sections, posting it online and promoting it.  The promotion part is still a problem since my new Facebook Page still only has 35 followers or so.  But I'm working hard on engaging other Facebook arenas, and I'm hoping to entice some traffic from over there.  Russel Brunson has some great advice in Traffic Secrets that I'm following to a t.

And now I'm saying to myself, "What's next?"  I've been at this project for less than a month and have already started to make some strides.  I plan to expand the guide into a full book, which would mean 3-10X as much content.  But I think I'm up to the challenge.  I want to design a course that people can use in their parishes, and a whole parish program to make storytelling a part of a congregation's culture.  All of these projects will no doubt keep me busy for a while.

But right now I feel good.  I feel good that I accomplished something and that my project is moving farther along.  Maybe that's why I'm having this season right now.  We'll see.  But for right now I'm going to keep up with my stories.  I hope you will too.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Setbacks, Disappointments, and New Opportunities

Yesterday I received a phone call I had been waiting anxiously for. It was about a job I had put in for - and I didn’t get it. The person delivering the news was kind, and even encouraged me to apply for another position that, in her opinion, was a better fit for me. It is a different kind of job, would require a decent commute, and I’m not sure I have it in me to enter another process right now.  This morning I got myself showered and dressed and put on my clericals. Even though I was home all day I wanted to shoot a video and hence the outfit. Somehow just dressing up had me feeling less dejected - like I still could do something I was proud of. I remember years ago when my dad was looking for work. Each day he put on a shirt and tie before filling out job applications.  After the video I scheduled some more content, opened up my notebook, and started working on my plan. The ideas began to flow, time seemed to flow by, and before I knew it I had a pretty great outline for a ...
1 comment
Read more

What’s In Store For The Future

I have some supply work this coming Sunday, and I’m excited to be in a pulpit again. The OT text is God’s promise to Abraham - how he was to become the father of many nations - that his descendants would be more numerous than the sands on the seashore or the stars in the heavens. That’s a lot of people.  God made this promise so that Abraham’s offspring would be a blessing to the world. Because of the Jewish people we have a great deal of Scripture, and a moral consciousness that raised the world to new levels.  What strikes me about this promise is how many people are involved. God counted on Abraham having so many descendents that they couldn’t be counted. This many people created a critical mass that influenced the rest of the world.  Today in the Church we need another another critical mass. We need a critical mass of people willing to tell their faith stories. We need so many faith stories out there in the public space, to influence people in a positive, respectful w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus Christmas What A Celebration

We stepped out of the cold into the foyer of my grandparent's raised-ranch on 104 Washburn Drive.  Kicking the snow off our boots we lined them up while hanging our coats in the front closet with the sliding natural wood doors.  There was a little hole in each of the doors where you could grab onto to start it moving, and I swear on more than one occasion if I looked closely I could see a penny in there.  On the side table my grandmother's small Church figurine sat proudly, lit up from the single bulb inside.  Every year it was the same, and we wouldn't have had it any other way.  We were first greeted by smell of tobacco lined walls, and the sound of Nat King Cole's Christmas album scratching away on the record player upstairs.  "Hey come on up!" my grandfather bellowed from his easy chair in the living room.  Even though it was a mere 15 minute drive from our house to his, his face always lit up when he saw us as if he hadn't seen us for years. My fa...
1 comment
Read more