In October 2008, I filed paperwork with the US Patent and Trademark Office for my first book. It was a great moment in many ways. My best friend told me that he admired my courage to make public my thoughts, ideas, and opinions in a way that I could never take back. When I did that, and when it finally goes to print next year, I did something most people will never do. I left my ideas in permanent ink.
Samuel Adams would probably consider that foolish of me. We know less about what he thought and felt because he burned most of his paperwork in order to keep it out of the hands of the British government, which had branded him a traitor and set a death mark on him. By the same token, I think he would have been proud that I take a stand.
Not very many people are willing to address the hard things. It pricks the hearts of the wicked and makes the righteous squirm to talk of moral discrepancies. It upsets almost everyone when you discuss religion and politics if the people with whom you converse happen to disagree. A fair number of people have unfriended me on Facebook because of the ideas I publish, and I have had arguments with siblings, parents, and dear friends because we disagree at times.
Monday, a friend of mine told me an interesting anecdote. His wife thinks that they should not fight because she knows no other couples who do. I have long believed that couples who never fight either never talk or are liars. My friend said that if his wife is correct, then they are the only people who never talk, and they are not really that unique. In order to have a relationship, people have to relate, and you cannot relate if you cannot communicate. Sometimes, when you communicate, you will disagree. That's ok.
Address the hard things. I have held a series of Courageous Conversations since I moved to Vegas that have resulted in terminations of relationships with people for whom I really cared. I did it because "to sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men", and I would consider myself a poor friend to not to what is right for my friends.
I will not claim to always be right or have all the answers, but I will never back down from things that ought to be said and done. I really don't like it sometimes, because I know that if I do, I risk upsetting the waters and alienating myself. However, when I stand before God, I can honestly tell him I did the best I could to do what I should, and he rarely if ever intervenes to stop me.
We remember heroes because they were fighters. They got their hands dirty. They took on tough things against sometimes incredible odds. Chamberlain's 20th Maine led a bayonet charge with 250 men against 4000 rebels under General Hood. Balian kept Saladin from taking Jerusalem for almost a month. Leonidas's 1400 men held off Xerxes army of at least 70,000 for three days at Thermopylae. Gideon led 300 Israelites to victory against Midian. Jonas Parker threw his hat on the ground at Lexington, returned fire, and died pierced by a bayonet for his defiance. We know these names because they did things that were hard.
I will probably continue to address the hard things. I have nothing to lose thereby of which I lament being rid, and if you're not willing to stand with me, at least appreciate me for fighting in a cause for which you're not even willing to suit up.
Samuel Adams would probably consider that foolish of me. We know less about what he thought and felt because he burned most of his paperwork in order to keep it out of the hands of the British government, which had branded him a traitor and set a death mark on him. By the same token, I think he would have been proud that I take a stand.
Not very many people are willing to address the hard things. It pricks the hearts of the wicked and makes the righteous squirm to talk of moral discrepancies. It upsets almost everyone when you discuss religion and politics if the people with whom you converse happen to disagree. A fair number of people have unfriended me on Facebook because of the ideas I publish, and I have had arguments with siblings, parents, and dear friends because we disagree at times.
Monday, a friend of mine told me an interesting anecdote. His wife thinks that they should not fight because she knows no other couples who do. I have long believed that couples who never fight either never talk or are liars. My friend said that if his wife is correct, then they are the only people who never talk, and they are not really that unique. In order to have a relationship, people have to relate, and you cannot relate if you cannot communicate. Sometimes, when you communicate, you will disagree. That's ok.
Address the hard things. I have held a series of Courageous Conversations since I moved to Vegas that have resulted in terminations of relationships with people for whom I really cared. I did it because "to sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men", and I would consider myself a poor friend to not to what is right for my friends.
I will not claim to always be right or have all the answers, but I will never back down from things that ought to be said and done. I really don't like it sometimes, because I know that if I do, I risk upsetting the waters and alienating myself. However, when I stand before God, I can honestly tell him I did the best I could to do what I should, and he rarely if ever intervenes to stop me.
We remember heroes because they were fighters. They got their hands dirty. They took on tough things against sometimes incredible odds. Chamberlain's 20th Maine led a bayonet charge with 250 men against 4000 rebels under General Hood. Balian kept Saladin from taking Jerusalem for almost a month. Leonidas's 1400 men held off Xerxes army of at least 70,000 for three days at Thermopylae. Gideon led 300 Israelites to victory against Midian. Jonas Parker threw his hat on the ground at Lexington, returned fire, and died pierced by a bayonet for his defiance. We know these names because they did things that were hard.
I will probably continue to address the hard things. I have nothing to lose thereby of which I lament being rid, and if you're not willing to stand with me, at least appreciate me for fighting in a cause for which you're not even willing to suit up.
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