Growing your tribe

I don't know if he intended this, but Seth Godin's post today is a great description of how our Christian faith has grown.

As we attempt to lead our tribe, it is a great reminder of the example we need to follow.

Twitter time out

I’m in Twitter time out. Evidently, the number of people you follow can’t be much larger than the number of people who follow you. Now, I can't follow others until my followers grow. 

The geeky side of me understands. I probably initiated a few similar rules in my IT life. 

Even so, I keeping thinking of a hot afternoon in eighth grade, standing alone on the black top waiting for the lunch period to end, and thinking, I ‘like’  more people than ‘like’ me. 

Help me out and check out my new header at @lyndieb. 

Everything, Mary DeMuth's new book

Mary DeMuth invited her followers to be a part of the trailer for her new book, Everything.  This is my submission. It is hard for me to identified the exact moment Jesus became everything to me, because every time I think I know everything Jesus is, He whispers but there is more. This moment was my first realization after my conversion. What about you? When did you know Jesus was everything? 

Click Everything to learn more about the book and how you can pre-order it.
Read Mary's invitation here.  I love Mary's writing. You will too.

Today is not a history highlight

This isn’t a highlight of history. Lord, forgive us for the things we have done and the positions we have been put in to do them. Let us always believe there is another way. 

AP Highlight in History: 

On Aug. 9, 1945, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, Japan, instantly killing an estimated 39,000 people. The explosion came three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

How I reached 1000+ Twitter followers

This week my Twitter followers top the 1,000 mark. I’m pumped! In Twitter world, this is a drop in the bucket, but in my world, ‘oh my.’  I still learning, but here is how I got this far. To grow your follower base you need to be intentional in your twitter life, both in ‘tweeting’ and gaining followers. 

1. I set my Twitter policy and goals. I want to connect with as many people as possible sharing the message of Jesus. 

2. I intentionally seek followers. When someone follows me, I check out their Twitter profile and bio. Profile photos are helpful, but if there is no picture, I definitely check their Twitter bio. I may check their website. I follow back unless: the photo, bio or website has sexual overtones, then I block the person. The bio and or the tweets are in a foreign language; I don’t follow the person back. I don’t feel comfortable about the person; I don’t follow or I block them.

3. I send a thank you tweet to the new follower with a message like “have a great mid-week” to show I’m responding and I’m not Lyndie-bot.

4. I follow Twitter’s suggestions. Twitter makes recommendations, which I follow using the same criteria as above. These users are most often in the publishing business.

Following begets followers. 

5. I intentionally Tweet. I’m tweeting at least 5 times a day most days. I use the free plan from Buffer (www.bufferapp.com) to schedule my tweets. They go out at 9 am, noon, 5 PM, and 8 pm. 

6. I started a quotes database for content, collecting over 800 quotes. I use FIle Maker 12 for the data base (www.filemaker.com.) This is pricey software, but a good data base system. You can achieve the same results with Excel or Numbers. I capture date, quote, author, topic, title of book, page number, twitter information field, URL and comments. I collect sentences from anything I read: devotions, online articles and books. After I finished Mary DeMuth’s recent book, Beautiful Battle, I asked her if there was a hashtag to use to tweet from the book. She eagerly sent back the hashtag #beautifulbattle. This is the format of tweet from Mary’s book: ‘quote’ @MaryDeMuth #beautifulbattle. Mary’s quotes create retweets for me. 

  In Twitter world, following protocols like @username and #hashtags help your Twitter presence. 

Authors are including ready made tweets and hashtags for their books on their website to communicate to their tribe. Michael Hyatt included tweets for his new book, Platform, on his media kit page.

7. I add my Twitter contact information everywhere. 

Join the fun tweeting! Find me in Twitter world at @lyndieb. I have no connections to the products listed other than as user. 

 

Only Jesus

Today, August 6,  the church celebrates the Transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah joined Jesus on the mountain to talk about Jesus last days. There is so much beauty in this story for every character, but mostly because Jesus, for  a brief, shining moment glorified on earth. I wrote Only Jesus in honor of this day.

Only Jesus 

They climbed a mountain just to watch Him pray, 

Peter, James and John fell asleep along the way, 

Little did they know it would be a gospel day, 

For the glory of the Savior was revealed that very day, 

A flash of light awoke them, and to their great surprise

Moses and Elijah were standing by His side

While talking of days ahead, His journey to the cross

He changed into a glory that made the world seem lost. 

Peter was excited, started building plans,

But the kingdom he was seeing wasn’t built by human hands,

Yet love started building in Peter’s heart that day, 

For God’s law and His prophets merged into the Way

Before their very eyes, God’s kingdom had appeared

And even God the Father, joined in with His cheer

“Listen to My Son, for His Life I have ordained”

And when the Glory lifted, only one could still remain. 

It was Jesus, only Jesus,

The vision of the prophets and the answer to the law.

Jesus, Only Jesus

Is the very face of God. 

So thank you Lord, for Moses and Elijah, too. 

But most of all for knowing they would never do.

Their laws and their visions showed us how to live

but to save a soul as lost as mine, it took all You had to give. 

It was Jesus, only Jesus, 

The vision of the prophet and the answer to the law

Jesus, only Jesus

Is the very face of God. 

American Bandstand - My MTV

August 5, 1957"American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark, made its network TV debut on ABC.

In the late ‘50s, afternoon TV shows helped me go from elementary student to big sis to my younger siblings. 

Howdy Doody brought us together watching a program we all enjoyed. Can you say ‘Howdy Doody’ without smiling?

We hung out for a while in the magical world of  The Mickey Mouse Club where anything was possible. 

After the end of big kid school, the sounds of Les Elgart playing Bandstand Boogie took us to   American Bandstand. In real life, those teenagers would have never let us so close. We watched what they wore, listened to what they said, paid attention to what they liked. We dreamed of one day ‘hopping over to Philadelphia’ and being on band stand with them. We identified Philadelphia with  American Bandstand before we knew about the Declaration of Independence. 

I found this video of the original theme music. I’m not able to verify it’s legality, but the photos are great. I love the photo of the saddle oxfords. My socks always looked like those.  

Howdy Doody, Mickey Mouse and American Bandstand. Could life had been any better?  

Looking for a cool spot?

Last week, the outside air conditioning unit servicing my bedroom froze. I slept in the living room with a fan. The temperature inside hovered around 80. I have little tolerance of heat in this menopause phase of life. Oh, how I longed for a cool place.

Yesterday the repairman came and did a little maintenance. The house is normal again. 

God promises a cool place when its hot. A promise we take to heart in North Texas.  More often than usual this week I called on Jesus to take to control of my thoughts. What a Savior!

Isaiah 25:4 (You) provide a warm, dry place in bad weather, provide a cool place when it’s hot. The Message

Looking for a leader

I loved Jotham’s story of the trees looking for a leader in Judges. I took away two different thoughts. 

God has created each of us for a single purpose, to bring Him glory. All we have to be is what God created us to be, nothing more. 

When we allow other things to distract us from being God glory, we become like the tumbleweed which doesn’t provide any shade and burns away. 

Trees in New Mexico

Where did you find yourself in the story? What did you learn? 

Life after death - lightness or darkness?

Criminal Minds - Epilogue shown on July 25, 2012

Last night on Criminal Minds was a beautiful scene about the possibility of life and death. Reid surprised the group by saying he saw light and felt warmth. As a man of science, he can’t explain what he experienced. Prentiss shared in her experience she felt cold and darkness, but she hopes for a different outcome for herself. 

When Reid, the genius we know who can explain anything, says he can’t explain what happened to him, oh, how I longed to reassure him what he experienced was real. 

What about you? What are you expecting, lightness or darkness? 

It is not a mystery. It is Jesus. He is someone you can choose for yourself. 

Watch the full show at Criminal Minds Episode - Epilogue 

Penn State Fans - hold on to Something for Joey

NFL Collector's Football

As a Division I fan for 40 years, Penn State was often tied into my more important memories. For instance, the 1972 Cotton Bowl.  Watching the program and the results from Texas, I came to trust and respect Joe Paterno. When a scandal would flare in  college sports, I would think, at least there is Joe Paterno. As a Longhorn, this was especially true in the 70’s when our archenemy was a coach in Oklahoma. 

If these allegations were from his program, it would be easier to take. But Joe Paterno? I watched most of the coverage of the trial on TruTV in dismay. The Freeh Report must be very conclusive. Perhaps, what we know is only the tip of the iceberg.  are harsh, yet not unwarranted.

I feel like I was sitting on the table when the magician yanked off the tablecloth. The truth of what happened at Penn State reminds us of the evil in the world and causes us to question everything. 

My heart is breaking for Penn State fans and for the Paterno family. 

Responsibility for what happens on your watch is one of the great burdens of leadership. And vigilance to stand for the correct behavior towards others, especially in regards to sexual behavior falls on all of us. 

As a sport fan, I’m looking for something safe to believe in for a few moments. I should know better. Paul said it best in Philippians 3:3 (NLT),

We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort. 

The announcements from both Penn State and the NCAA speak for themselves. Yet in the midst of evil, there is always something redeemable. 

When I think of Penn State, I’m choosing to remember John Cappelletti’s ’73 Heisman Speech. He honored his brother Joey who was dying from leukemia (Something for Joey.) Our true heroes aren’t on a football field. 

Today, let's honor all of our astronauts by remembering the 1969 Moon landing. I originally posted this last year, but I have added some extra's. I still remember the day, how about you?

Today is a great day in Ammerican history


What are you doing that will make a difference today and in the future?

Anything can happen here

AP Highlight in History: 

On July 12, 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale named New York Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro his running mate, making her the first woman to run on a major party ticket.

One of those events in American History which made you believe that in America anything is possible. audio of announcement 

What was a time for you when you believed your dreams were possible? 

What I learned building Nehemiah’s wall in First Grade Sunday School.

While I was teaching first grade Sunday School, we studied Nehemiah. I wanted the children to experience working together to build the wall brick by brick. I also wanted them to experience their part in building the wall. 

My plan was to give each student a different color of construction paper and had them fold it in half and then half again.  They would either tear or cut the paper into 4 bricks. 

Then one by one, we would paste our bricks on a piece of butcher paper hanging in the room to create a wall. 

I was very excited about this lesson. I thought for once  I had a fool-proof plan my first graders would be able to accomplish without any problems or adjustments.

And for the most part it worked. 

The girls got busy at making their bricks.  

And then there was Anthony. He was our only boy 

who regularly attended that year, giving him a

 sense of entitlement to be different. He tore his bricks in half.  

I breathed deeply, something I did often with this group. I let of of my  preconceived ideas of what our wall would look like.

We built our wall, brick by brick, including Anthony’sbricks. About halfway through, one of the girls became a little anxious, and encouraged by Anthony’s half blocks, pasted hers perpendicular to the other bricks. 

Once again, I took a deep breath. 

We were all surprised when we stood back to look at our finished wall. We had all played a part in building it, and the finished wall was even better than the original plan. Now we had windows and doors. This is what happens when we work in community and allow individuals to express themselves, the original plan improves.  

The drawings were done on my iPad in Stylus Sketchapp. 

Book Review - Walking on Water

Walking on Water

Reflections on Faith and Art

Madeleine L’Engle

1980, 240 pages

ISBN 978-0-87788-918-2

This book sits at the top of my list of all time favorite writing books. Even though I owe  Stephen King’s On Writing a re-read, he is now firmly on line two. I connect with her writing in ways that influence my life. It was true when I was a child, it is still true today. In three areas I found new inspiration from these pages.  

She was asked to write a book on writing as a Christian. This is a powerful examination of what being a Christian artist and producing Christian art means. We like to think theses questions belong to our generation. Madeleine states strongly - all art is inspired by God and your Christian beliefs will show through your work. 

She answers the question of why one writes. You write because you must. You become better at writing when you let go of yourself and listen and obey the work. 

One of her thesis is Christian art should be life affirming. For me, the life affirmation I found in these pages was powerful. After a spell of depression, her beautiful words of God, art, writing, and the meaning of life in the everyday world, as well as the world on the other side (of reason, silence, time and space) lifted me to an engaging level. 

Her advice is 1) be obedient to God’s call and to the work you hear, 2) listen and learn from the work and 3) to write every day. 

As a writer you are a co-creator with God and your reader, such an empowering thought. 

This book is for you if you are looking for answers to what is Christian fiction, am I a Christian writer, should I be a writer, or what is my calling. Or maybe you just want to be reminded to embrace life with child like faith so you too, can walk on water. 

Walking on Water

Paul and John met today in 1957

AP Highlight in History: 

On July 6, 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time as teenagers at a church in their native Liverpool, England, following a performance by Lennon's band, the Quarrymen.

Paul and John met in a church. Think about it. 

Summer in North Texas

In North Texas, the cicada’s fill the trees and sing all day long. The hotter it gets the louder they sing. From my office, I can hear them. I’ve always thought the triple digit heat made the trees creak. It sounds like all of creation is chanting over and over ‘Itsssssss Soooooo HHHHH-OOOO-TTTT!.‘l

Listen for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjn-5v6dcA0

The heat and singing make me think about summer camp. It makes me feel safe and peaceful. I went to camp before air conditioning. Our worship center had only a roof, no walls. It was so hot. In the afternoons, at the height of the heat, we would gather at the canteen and get an ice cold coke and a bag of peanuts to pour in our cokes. Camp was the only place I ever put peanuts in my coke, but it was the best treat ever. 

It is strange to have such great memories of triple digit heat, noisy insects, scorpions,  mosquitoes and all four North American poisonous snakes. It was an answer to pray that I never saw one of them.  There was someone special who I got to be better friends  with at camp each other, Jesus.

Entering the property there was a sign with Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” From that moment on, Jesus was the center of everything. Some of my most important spiritual decisions were made at camp. 

The cicadas song takes me back there. 

Ich bin ein Berliner June 26, 1963

In 1963, President Kennedy connected with his Berlin audience by saying “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

It still sends shivers through me and inspires me to join with all people of the world who seek freedom.

Presindent Kennedy June 26, 1963

Writing Tips - What I have implemented from the NTCW Conference

Frank Ball of NTCW always encourages us to come home from a writing event with a list of things we’ve learned and want to incorporate into our writing experience. 

This morning I updated my ‘quotes’ data base with 2 new fields. 

Earlier this year, when I decided to start tweeting regularly, I created a ‘quote’ data base. I used Filemaker Pro 12 to create the database. This is a price software package, but I learned in my corporate IT life to get the best database software. My quotes database contained the following fields: date created, date modified, The Quote, Quote Author, and Quote Topics. This was adequate for my uses in twitter. 

This weekend we were reminded of the importance of being able to properly document information. I’m reading, Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle in which she admits she often jots down a quote she likes in her journal without the information and the problems it causes when she wants to use the information. 

I added two fields to my database to help with this problem: Book and page number. Since most of my initial collection has come from a couple of sources it has been easy to update the Book fields, pages will be a little harder.  

Writing tips - North Texas Christian Writers Conference June 22-23, 2012

North Texas Christian Writers held their ninth conference this weekend. Frank Ball and his staff, especially Linda Franklin, did their normal excellent work in planning and executing the conference. 

This is not a conference for someone who is looking to promote their work. Writing is the   heart of this conference. Agents and editors are not part of the conference facility. It was agony choosing the class for each session. Knowing the mp3s were available for an affordable price made the choices  acceptable. The faculty was outstanding. I almost hate to say anything about one or staff members, because it would sound like I was outing some. This is absolute not true. 

So let me list the faculty: Frank Ball, LaWanda Bailey, Lori Freeland, Dennis Hensley, Kathy Ide, Curt Iles, Lissa Halls Johnson, Henry McLaughlin, Steve Miller, DiAnn Mills, Marty Norman, John Savell, Vonda Skleton, Thomas Umstattd Jr., and Rusty Wright. 

What a group, you could not make a wrong decision for any hour.

A couple of quick notes - When I grow up I want to be just like Doc Hensley. I will go hear him speak any time I can. Rusty Wright open for me a path to how and the why of writing for secular publications. DiAnn Mills offers an intense Fiction workshop, which I have attended in the past and is an excellent time for fiction writers. 

I was very encouraged. As a regional event, it is a great time for Christian writers in the North Texas area to gather.