In the World

For some odd reason, I get the impression that Sony is getting a bit desperate with the Playstation 3.

Many, many moons ago I was quite a gamer. Now, not so much. But I still have a PS3, a Wii, and a GBA. I also have a PSP, but I managed to brick it while trying to get FFVII to run (in the days before its availability in the Playstation Store…read what you will into that).

These days I buy maybe one or two games each year. I just don’t have the time for that kind of solo time commitment.

Yet, somehow in spite of my lack of gaming expenditures, I still get invited to PS3 betas. Not that I’m complaining. I just find it funny that I get invited to test videogames when the chances of me actually purchasing them when they come out is just about zero.

Maybe once the NDA is lifted I’ll post about the latest PS3 beta I’m involved in. Assuming I’ve figured out what kind of game it is.

Some advice to Sony: The PS3 is a pretty spectacular piece of equipment. Release a public dev kit and open it up for development. Oh, and PLEASE get around to supporting Netflix sometime in the next year. If I have to get a 360 for this I might just have to pass on FFXIII.

There is a disturbing trend taking shape: In an age where information is at our fingertips, literacy is at an all-time high, knowledge is everywhere, and the expertise of untold millions is freely available, the peoples of the developed world seem to be thinking even less and less.

Knowledge has replaced critical thinking. Page 1 of Google’s search results has replaced true research. Sound bites and pithy quotes have replaced original thought.

What does this mean?

It means that we aren’t quite as smart as we like to think we are.

We have been conditioned to trust the written word. It doesn’t change, it’s meaning is fixed. School textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries. These tools of education have ingrained within us the idea that what we read is the untarnished, unadulterated, truth. This is one of the very first things we learn in school: Trust the written word.

So we are preprogrammed to believe what we read. And by human nature, we are more likely to read (and believe) something that agrees with our views. We don’t take challenge well.

What happens, then, when we couple bad information, deep-rooted beliefs, and an inability to think critically?

We get people who are always right, can’t listen to an opposing argument, and who only know how to repeat sound bites and talking points. We’ve made the mistake of believing that literacy equals knowledge; that information equals wisdom.

Where are the true debaters? The real thinkers? Those individuals who, without resorting to name-calling and vitriol, can make their argument heard and believed, and can be trusted to make a well thought-out decision? The ones who truly have their hearts in the spirit, and who can actually answer the question: What Would Jesus Do?

According to the powers-that-be (whom I apparently made the exceptionally bad judgment call of putting in charge) have informed me that I must vacate the premises.

At least on this server.

Fear not, I shall continue to post, although you will likely need to update your bookmarks sometime soon.

I was just reminded tonight of my love for sarcasm and condescension as I read through some of the old comics archive here.

I especially love the little circular stories that, time after time, weave their through your heart and build a tapestry of places, people, and events that you simply can’t help but be fascinated by.

Oh, and then there’s this, which I hadn’t read in so long I forgot about it.

I must once again embrace the power present in these words. Maybe I’ll use it the next time somebody asks me a question using those obscenely ridiculous religious terms.

In a previous column I wrote about how I’ve been lately inspired—okay, pushed—into looking at just what my dreams and aspirations are.

I’ve taken this seriously.

I have read books; made lists; written a journal; and spent many, many hours just thinking about what this means to me. And I think I’m finally starting to get a picture.

Yesterday I flew to Red Deer, Canada, to teach a seminar on Spirit-led writing with my father. The week before, I had borrowed John Maxwell’s Put Your Dream to the Test from Nathan. A day of flights and airports seemed to me a perfect opportunity to sit down read it.

I’m not sure I can recommend this book highly enough. For me, it ranks right up with 9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back, The Storehouse Principle, and Who Moved My Cheese?.

Now, I read the book in a way it’s not supposed to be read: I read the first half of the book in one sitting. You really should read this book one chapter at a time, and stew on each chapter, and take action on it, and really let it sink in,

At first, I had trouble just making it through the Introduction. Not because it was boring, mind you, but because it was so inspiring. I had to hold myself back from just putting the book down and jumping into my dreams and visions of what I wanted to accomplish. But discipline is one of my many foibles, so I resisted the urge to jump and kept on reading.

And again, I can’t recommend this book enough. If you have a dream, or you want a dream, or you think you have a dream, or you think you want to have a dream, or if at some point in your life you think you might want to accomplish more than what you have become, you owe it to yourself to read Put Your Dream to the Test.

Throughout this book, there is a common thread that can best be summed up by James Earl Jones’ Mufasa in The Lion King, speaking to his son, Simba: “You are more than you have become.”

It took me until the end of chapter 3 to realize why I was having so much trouble putting a finger on what I want to accomplish. And it wasn’t so much something that was in the book, but a realization that my entire method of discovery was part of my problem.

And that is where I’m going to stop for now.

I know, I know. By now you want me to talk about my dreams. That’s for another column. I have to sort some things out first. But I’ve gotten it now, and I know what I need to do, if not necessarily how to do it. The how can come later. I’m just thrilled to have the what.

Every once in a while I end up answering an incoming sales call at Destiny Image. It’s not that I can’t, or that I don’t like to, it’s just not normally part of what I do anymore. (I say anymore, because my first “desk job” was learning customer service and answering front desk phone calls when I was very young, at least when I wasn’t working in the warehouse shipping books. I got so good at it that callers thought I was a voice mail greeting, and I had to learn to engage them in conversation before they hung up.)

So to set the scene: I had gone ot the office suite down the hall to check on the details of a particularly complex order for a customer. I ended up waiting, because one of the people I needed to talk to was going over some procedures or whatnot with another member of the sales team. So I sat down in their chair to wait for them to get finished.

While waiting, the sales line rang. Then it rang again. At the third ring, I checked the call queue and realized that all the incoming call reps were already on calls. So, I picked up the phone.

“Destiny Image, Jesus loves you!.” You always answer the phone with a smile on your face, because your facial expression can translate through your tone, and has an effect on the caller on the other end.

Instead of someone looking to place an order, what I encountered was something far more interesting: I heard a small voice on the other end of the line ask “Do you mean what you say in your catalog? That if there’s anything I need, I can just call and ask?”

How do you respond to something like that? A call from someone who is obviously looking for more than just a life-changing book? You talk to them, of course!

I won’t relate the entire story here, but this was the kind of phone call that makes my day. It was a call from someone who needed help and guidance, and who truly did not know where else to turn. I didn’t sell her a book, but I may have just changed her life.

Charmaine, if you ever read this, I hope you were able to find a strong, spirit-led Church. I’m still praying for you.

As all 3 of you who actually read my blog know, I’ve started keeping an idea notebook again.

It’s a pretty excellent exercise, but I’m just now starting to realize that just because something I’ve written down turns out to have already been done doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t (or can’t) simply do it better.

I’m reading through an interesting little business book that I’ll post more about later this week, but the very first chapter is about knowing what you want, and wanting it badly enough that you make it happen.

It’s a business concept that mirrors our Christian walk in a big way. When we truly and deeply want God, we can’t help but find Him. When we truly want anything, we make the sacrifices and put forth the effort that desire requires.

For me, this is a difficult concept. The idea of a servant heart precludes any kind of want with the question how can I serve? And in general, it’s servanthood that is rewarding to me. But I’m starting to see a bigger picture: My serving nature has always been geared towards how I, personally, can serve others. There’s a larger world of servanthood out there, and I can better serve what I want to do by seeing the bigger picture. If I’m always dedicated to the small servanthood, I will never be able to serve beyond where I am. I have more of a calling than that.

The idea of want is also rife with connotations of greed and self-centeredness. We’re taught that Jesus laid down His life, despite His want to find another way, in order to save humanity. I think we’re in for a bit of revelation on this subject. Jesus wanted to avoid the pain of torture and crucifixion (naturally, as would any of us), but He wanted to save mankind more. The Garden of Gethsemane wasn’t just Jesus trying to get out of what He had come to Earth to do. Jesus’ prayers in Gethsemane was about Him making sure He had His priorities straight. He didn’t need to save humanity. He could have wiped us out and started over. Easy. Instead, He chose the hard road, because He wanted to.

Jesus wanted to make the world a better place. I want to make the world a better place. And I can, and will.

I’m already looking forward to a year from today.

Shyamalan, please please PLEASE don’t disappoint me. Avatar was the best animated TV show in the United States of the last decade.