Why I Think You Should Read My Book.

I wrote a novella called Conexus because I had a story idea and I wanted to see where it went.

What if artificial intelligence had us all figured out and did the right thing, even when we wouldn't?

The cast of characters includes a guy named, Lance. He's a guy who would rather talk to machines. He finds human contact tedious and slow. He has a big part to play in the story because it's his attitude that a lot of us have. We would rather text or message before actually speaking and making eye contact. Sound familiar? The more we bury our faces in devices, the more handicapped we become in relationships. In my story, artificial intelligence knows this too and takes steps to correct it!

How does it end?

No spoilers!

Get a copy today and find out the ending! Conexus is now available in the LIFE 100.3 Online Superstore. Shipping is a bit cheaper that way! Click HERE!

Enjoy!

Conexus

After months of sitting at the computer keyboard and working through my idea for an adventure story involving robots and relationships, it's finally in print! "Conexus" is done! My first book is complete and it's out there now!

I joke that one day, artificial intelligence will try and take over the world. It's what we want. We design programs and robots to do the things we don't want to do. So where does that leave us? We should have all the time in the world to get to know one another and connect like never before! With robots running things, humans should thrive! But all evidence to the contrary! We are more disconnected than ever!

Imagine a day when artificial intelligence will offer us what we need the most, a chance to remember what life is really all about, relationships!

For some of us, relationships come easy, others have difficulty forming and maintaining good connections. Selfishness, greed, narcissism, and religiousness are obstacles to true connections. Can we overcome them? Yes! Is it hard? Yes! Is it worth it? Yes!

The main character in the story is confronted with making a choice between being alone and risking his heart, not just to others but to a Higher Power! He and a group of spiritually hungry seekers board a plane to a place they never thought they would go!

I hope you love this story as much as I do!

You can grab the E-Book HERE.

You can get a softcover copy HERE.

Leave a comment with your thoughts about the story!

Wow Enough!

I love this clip from Jurassic World. Particularly the quote "They're dinosaurs, wow enough!"

It highlights a danger we can all fall into, HYPE! Some thing in and of themselves need little to no embellishment to be awesome, they just are! Like the dinosaurs who inspire awe and wonder, we don't need to build up excitement in order to appreciate these massive killer lizards.

In spiritual things we can also become victim to hype.

Here are a few titles to articles in a popular Christian online magazine...

• Why God Is Highlighting Gatekeepers in This Hour - This biblical intercessory ministry has Holy Spirit wind on it.
• How You Can Root Out Strongholds Through Accelerated Discernment.
• How This Supernatural Anointing Can Set You Ablaze With Holy Ghost Fire
• Why the Enemy Cowers From This Powerful Holy Spirit Punch

Wow! Those all sound intense don't they? 

When did the message of the gospel suddenly need to be punched-up with such big terms?

The God who created the universe and all its wonders, came to our world and related to us out of PURE love.

Wow enough!

Are You Screwed? A Spiritual Lesson From the Deep End.

I recently did a project that required some demolition.  I had to dismantle and remove an above ground pool from my daughters house in Sudbury.  
For the most part, things went well, except for a screw that was stubborn!  There was rust that caused the pieces of hardware to hold together despite our best efforts to separate them.  It seemed that the two metals had become one!  My friend and I worked at it for a good little while, twisting and grabbing, but the thing would not come loose.
It was then that I was struck with something spiritual!  
It happens in the oddest places!  
What if that was like us?
Sometimes, there are things, like that pool, that just need to go.  We have made a decision to clean out our lives, and we start the demolition!  "This needs to go, that needs to leave, I need to change this behavior!" is what we say, then we come up against something stubborn!
It's at this point that we can wonder if that particular stubborn thing is really just part of who we are now.  Us and the issue seem to be one, just like that screw on the pool.  I asked myself the question, "Is there a point where we can't change?  Is it impossible after a certain degree of time and familiarity with the elements?"  It was a valid question.  I have seen people that, it seems, will always be the way they are.  
I also read in the scriptures, the words of the apostle Paul, "...if you are in Christ, you are a new creature.  Old things have passed away and all things are made new.".  Does that mean we can change in every area?  Even the ones where we think "it's just who I am"?
The question seemed to linger and then my buddy said "I'm going to get my angle grinder!  We'll take care of that in no time!"  And that's what happened.  In a couple of seconds, that screw was off and the pieces of the pool were free of one another!  I was left wondering if major surgery was the way to go with those things in our live we need to get rid of!  A violent and decisive action!
Maybe.
What do you think?

Getting Things Done

If I could recommend a book to you about getting things done, it would be "Getting Things Done".

The title explains itself!  So often, the internet or TV or fishing, whatever, steals our time away and we don't get the things done that we want to.  If a day goes by and you just put off the important tasks, well you missed another opportunity to make a difference in the world.

I have to be very organized in my job so that the radio show goes smoothly, is entertaining and runs on time.

I have read this book and there are a few things that I want to share with you, that I hope will help you out, assuming this is something you want to improve in your life.

#1

The things you need to do will not always be the most enjoyable.  Do them anyway.
I work out about an hour a day and I work different areas of my body on separate days.  I hate "Leg Day" just as much as anyone, but it's gotta be done!  I won't like it the whole time I'm doing it, but I feel so accomplished afterward!  I don't like sitting down and writing out comedy bits or story ideas, but the only way I get fresh ideas and new directions is by sitting down and doing it!  It does not happen any other way!

#2

Clear out your brain.  Like open up your head and dump it onto a piece of paper.  I call it a mind dump.  It's fun.  My wife and I did it together.  We took a note pad and wrote down all the goals we wanted to achieve, things around the house we wanted to get done, ways we wanted to improve our relationship with each other and our kids, goals for money...etc.  Then we looked at it on paper.  It was very satisfying to see it all!  We then made a plan to do the things we could.  We wrote down dates, time frames and action steps!  Wow!  No more "wishing"!  It was mostly mapped out!

#3

Take care of the little things right away.  If you read the book, one of the rules to getting things done is, if it will take less than two minutes or less, do it immediately.  Answer that e-mail, file that paper, make that call or go confirm your plans with that person.  BOOM!  Done.

Spend more time living, less time stressing about what you gotta do!

Go See A Movie - Change a Life!

I am cutting and pasting this article from another site.

It's from Christian Headlines, if you want, you can look it up for yourself.

I think it's worth a read because it shows the effect of going to see a faith-based film when it's released in the theater as opposed to seeing it on BluRay.


The faith-based hit film I Can Only Imagine grossed more than $83 million in the United States, but its impact around the world may have been even greater.

Director Jon Erwin says more than 100 countries – including China – have paid to distribute and in some cases translate the films made by him and his filmmaking brother, Andrew.

“When a movie is a hit in America… it goes on global autopilot,” Jon Erwin told an audience at the National Religious Broadcasters convention March 27. “So all these countries around the world begin to pay you for the right to translate and distribute your movie. So it's the gospel on for-profit autopilot.”

Even China, which has shut down churches, torn down crosses, and threatened to eliminate Christianity, wanted to show I Can Only Imagine – simply because it was a hit.

“I find it very interesting that in the same year that China actually restricted... Christianity, they paid for I Can Only Imagine,” Jon Erwin said. “They paid for the right to translate it and distribute it to their people. That's happened in over 100 countries around the world with our films.

“What happens is, when you watch a movie in America, and you buy your ticket, and that movie becomes a hit, you're pretty much guaranteed 10 people around the world are going to see it on your behalf because of these incredible things called output deals. And, in fact, there's a lot of places around the world where you can do more in a movie theater than you can openly on the streets. It's incredible how far the message gets.”

Erwin was at NRB to announce four new movies as part of a new faith-based studio, Kingdom.

He called entertainment America’s “second largest export,” behind agriculture.

Based on a true story, I Can Only Imagine tells how the father of MercyMe’s Bart Millard came to Christ late in life. Dennis Quaid plays the father.

Erwin relayed an anecdote of the movie having an impact in Australia. A Christian woman named Sharon, he said, watched it with her son in the theater. She was crying after the film.

“And a stranger behind her said, 'Do you know Jesus?' And she said, 'Do you?' And the stranger said, 'No, but I need this in my life. ... What happened to [actor] Dennis Quaid, I need to happen to me. And I need someone to explain it to me.' And they had this conversation right in the theater,” Erwin said.

“What we found is that a movie is an incredible tool of emotional instigation, that if you can tell the right story in the right way, it really does have the power to change people’s lives.”

Time Travel

I hate when movies or TV shows use time travel to tell a story. 

I understand why writers use it, it's a way to tell a "What if..." story.  What if we could stop someone from becoming a terrorist?  What if we could prevent two people from meeting?  What if we could hit the guy who put pineapple on pizza over the head with one of those cardboard tube used for gift wrap and shout "No you fool!"  It would be a very different world indeed.

But we do NOT have a time machine, nor will we.  Sorry, Cher will just have to keep singing that song. 

It's all fantasy.

I hate time travel stuff because it indulges our tendency to allow ourselves to feel really bad for our former choices.  We dream about how we could change things if we had the chance.  Plus, if you COULD go back, you would be constantly paranoid about what you were doing, because your actions will affect countless other lives!  Imagine a scenario where just ordering a pizza could cause a world wide apocalypse!  It could happen, just sayin'.

If you read any studies about the mind and how it affects the body, you will begin to see that dwelling on the past, lamenting our actions (or lack thereof) is a key contributor to poor health.  Certain chemicals are released that can cause high blood pressure and even obesity.  You don't want those things!

Not many of us worry about Terminator assassins hunting us down from the future, but we do worry ABOUT the future.  The same scenarios play out in our brains.  What if I win the lottery?  What if I buy a Hyundai instead of a KIA?  What if the Leafs win the cup?  You can see how stress can build over time!  Pun intended!

Leave time alone!  I think time is an illusion.  We have now.  That's it.  "Now" decisions affect the future.  If you want a different future, have a different "now".  If you make a decision today that will give you the future you want, in a way, you are a time traveler!

It would be cool to buy a DeLorean and trick it out with a Mr. Fusion reactor and get it up to 88 miles per hour and head to any era we so desire, but that sort of thing only happens in the movies.

Take today.  Enjoy today.  Plan for tomorrow.  Make it a good future!