Book Review

Judge Andrew P. Napolitano’s book, Lies the Government Told You, is not one I would ordinarily pick up and read. I’m not into politics as heavily as I ought to be. His perspective is unique to me in that he sits on the bench and has a different perspective than the typical politician.

It is an interesting read for a person who wants to join the political discussion, but didn’t receive much information in the American educational system. I know (ashamedly) little about the inner workings of our government and politics – that is, until I read Napolitano’s work.

It would also be important to follow this read up with someone from a different perspective that does not lean to the right. Overall, the deep content and scholarly work is a good read. Students in American government classes ought to add this to their reading list… and then carry the discussion to the classroom.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

We've Moved!

OK... so I only have three followers (very loyal followers), but I am moving my blog to WordPress. The address for that blog is: http://ramblingrhinos.wordpress.com/

The formatting and editing are soother and easier for me to use. Keep following and reading on my new page. Let me know what you think about the new format and blog name: Rambling Rhino's Blog. Thanks!

Put People On Notice

I was sitting in the airport today and thought, “I want to be a pilot...” Except, I don’t want to spend a lot of time in flight school... and I don’t want to spend all of those hours logging in miles flying... and I don’t want to pay all of the fees that go along with getting a license...

Um... I guess when I say “be a pilot,” I mean wear the cool suit and get noticed.

Ever notice how those guys get noticed in an airport? They stride with such confidence across the airport terminal. Everyone turns their head and stares at the cool stripes on their coats as we wonder, “What cool place they’re going today?”

Yep, it would be cool to be a pilot and get noticed.

And then I boarded the plane and started reading another Donald Miller book (this makes two in as many months). In his book, In Search for God Knows What, he writes about a game most of us play in psychology class in High School. The game is called Lifeboat. On the Lifeboat are a group of 10 people, and the group has to decide which two get thrown overboard to the sharks because only 8 can survive.

The “ethical dilemma” is trying to determine who is more worthy of life... which race deserves to survive... which age group... and so on. I bet if a flight crew were on the Lifeboat... they would get the nod to live...

Miller writes, “I get this feeling sometimes that after this world ends... we will wish we had seen everybody as equal, that we had eaten dinner with prostitutes, held them in our arms, opened spare rooms and loved them and learned from them... I didn’t know that cool was just a myth and that one person was just as beautiful and meaningful as another.”

What’s weird is that I noticed that group of pilots from across the room... but I barely noticed the person sitting next to me. My problem is that I want to get noticed by others, and I don’t do enough noticing people who don’t get noticed. Something has to change.

Everyone deserves to be noticed. It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day either. A smile... a nod... a hug... Maybe we don’t think it’s really worth the effort. Think again.

“Nobel Prize-winning Toni Morrison was asked why she had become a great writer, what books she had read, what method she used to structure practice. She laughed and said, ‘Oh, no, that is not why I am a great writer. I am a great writer because when I was a little girl and walked into a room where my father was sitting, his eyes would light up. That is why I am a great writer (Miller).’”

That sounds so simple... and it got me thinking something while I boarded the plane. I wondered if the pilot who was flying the plane received the same kind of encouragement from his dad, like Morrison did when she was a little girl. I decided to poke my head in the cockpit and find out... I slid into the co-pilot seat (because it was open) and started quizzing him about model airplanes and struggling with using all of the parts (I always had some left over). In time, I took over the controls and actually flew he plane -- ok... none of that last part was true, but I’ll bet you noticed!

I think I’ll go buy a pilot suit -- nah, maybe I’ll work harder at noticing the people in my life more.

** Did you get noticed by someone? How did it change your life? Who is the one person you want to notice to help “turn their life around?” Let me know (send an email to jshanselman@gmail.com)!

Just Wondering

Ever wonder where kids come up with ideas? In my house, there are three distinct little “voices”, and they all clamor for attention. No, I’m not schizophrenic (at least, that’s what the voice in my head keeps telling me anyway!).

My three kids vie for attention. Car rides can be the most entertaining... and exhausting experiences. Each of my children has something to say, and they want their contribution to be acknowledged.

I can’t recall the number of times I’ve said, “Will you please let (fill in the name of a child here) have a turn now?!” Of course, that child will maximize that introduction with a long pause (for dramatic effect) and then say something like, “Um... I forgot what i was going to say.”

This week, I’ve been really reflecting on the things my kids ask as we do life together.

My youngest, Solomon, comes up with some of the funniest things... and he knows it (he’s destined for an acting career). Lately, he’s been trying to say things that are profound. Two days ago he said, “Hey Pop... when I grow up I wanna be just like you.” When I got over the sheer flattery... I was a little scared that he really meant it.

My second oldest child, Gracie, is beginning to notice the world around her. Most second graders are happy to go to school and try and just fit in with the other kids. As we drove to pick up her mom after school she said, “Hey Dad... there’s this kid named (I’ll call him Mike) in my class... he’s kind of different...” As a protective father I thought, “That rotten little Mike... he better stay away form my little Angel...” I was thinking about the “crushes” boys cultivate in Elementary school and how evil all little boys are.... Good thing Gracie derailed that train when she said, “I mean... he doesn’t have any friends, and he looked really sad the other day in PE when we were running laps...”

I knew Gracie understood how to love God and love people because she really felt empathy for Mike... and I silently asked God for forgiveness...

My oldest child Naomi asks questions all the time. She might pass the Idaho bar exam by the age of 15. I kissed her good night and she asked, “Papa... are you going to leave?” What?! “I know mom is going to the store in a few minutes.. I was just wondering if you’ll be staying home with us when she does?” That might seem silly, but in the heart of every little girl is need to feel safe and protected. I said, "Of course not Naomi... we won’t leave you alone.”

Those three questions are HUGE...and most people will ask them as long as they are on this planet:

1. Who is my example?
2. Who is worthy of love?
3. Who is going to protect me?

This was my reality check: I can’t fill that role in my kids lives forever. Here is how I’m forced to eventually answer their questions (even though I will do my best):

1. I will fail.
2. I won’t be always be lovely.
3. I can’t be everywhere.

I have to trust that those questions will be answered like this: God won’t (fail), God will (always love), and God can (protect).

Lost?

Inside of every guy is a need to explore. The Discovery Channel takes exploration to the extreme in the series Man vs Wild (by the way, if you haven’t seen the Canyon Ridge Church version of this, check out this link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q8jxE1tHzU). Every man who has ever seen Man vs. Wild is confident that he could eat elephant dung or the eye of a yak to survive.

The original Man vs. Wild was Teddy Roosevelt (my personal hero). I just finished a book about his exploration of the River of Doubt in the Amazon jungle. Bear (from Discovery’s show) doesn’t have anything on Teddy! Roosevelt and his crew of 30 plus men survived malaria, starvation, 500 pound snakes, and flesh eating Indians... all for the sake of exploring uncharted waters.

Roosevelt knew his life was at stake... but he made the journey anyway.

The book (The River if Doubt by Candice Millard) inspired me to get out and explore the wild unchartered territory of (wait for it) Emmett, ID! I know... I know... Emmett doesn’t come to mind when people think danger and exploration, but I needed to see some place I’d never been before.

Last Sunday, I jumped on my motorcycle to have a closer look at the hills I can see 20 miles north of my home in Boise. On my journey, I “discovered” something unexpected. Just before you get into Emmett is a September, 11 memorial overlooking the valley where Emmett rests (you should take a drive to see it if you haven’t yet).

My need to explore was satisfied... but not everyone is as fortunate.

I know people who think God is hiding from them. Usually in painful times, the question, “Where is God in all of this?” surfaces. When everything in life seems to be falling apart, we want God to show up.

Should we keep looking for God when things don’t make sense?

Sometimes, life doesn’t work out the way we want it to... and not all endings are happy. However, the Bible encourages us to keep looking... because God promises to reveal Himself. He may not make every problem in your life disappear... He may not give you a million dollars.... He might not make an illness go away... or He might.

The point in searching for God is the journey. He is good. He does have more for us than this life. In the end, your discovery of God will be worth it all.

Dreaming is fun -- daydreaming especially. It energizes me to think about possibilities and life changing ideas. People like me are always looking for the next “big thing.” Some people are scared to leave the status quo, but dreamers are eager to find something new and adventurous.

Maybe I’m the product of too many Disney movies (a thought that gives me the cold sweats!). He said, “All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them.” No offense Walt... I think you need to step away from the Pixie Dust for just a moment...

I’m going to take a sharp turn in another direction. Let the next statement soak in before you go any farther...

Dreams can kill you.

Go back and read that again.

Wait... what about all that stuff we’ve heard about the importance of dreams and “wishing upon a star”? In fact, lots of Christian authors like to quote a famous proverb, “Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).” No arguments here about trying to catch a vision from God, unless...

I came across an interesting thought in a book by Mark Batterson that caught me off guard:

“If God gives you a dream, and the dream comes to life and God shows up in it, and then the dream dies, it may be that God wants to see what is more important to you -- the dream or him.”

At first glance, everyone will say, “Of course God is more important to me!” Really? Think about the shattered dreams in your life. The first person I turn my back on when my dreams fall apart is God. Some never recover and leave Him completely.

I don’t happen to believe God maliciously robs us of our dreams and says -- “There... now be happy!” I don’t pretend to know all of the reasons why God does things, but I trust that God is good. He has my best interest at heart.

If you ever want to gain more of a handle on finding meaning in suffering, read one of the all-time best selling books on the subject, Man’s Search for Meaning. Viktor Frankl wrote it AFTER enduring three years in a Nazi concentration camp in World War II.

Even after all of his dreams were stripped away (along with his dignity and humanity), Frankl discovered that God is really all we have... and He is enough.

Blank Pages

The hardest thing about blogging is staring at a blank page...

I’ve gotten sidetracked several times to leave this blank screen and watch the Olympics... it just seems that the stories from Vancouver are more compelling than the ones I want to write. Seriously, some of the stories on the Olympics are captivating... like the story of the Canadian figure skater who went on to medal after learning that her mother died suddenly... or the US hockey team beating Canada for the first time in a million years (at least it seemed like a million)... or Apollo Ohno’s push for eight medals in his career...

Those stories hold my attention...

Life is like a blank page (not a box of chocolates). It’s a blank page waiting for a story. Some people will write a grocery list on their blank page... others will write a story about climbing a mountain, or savings lives.. or something courageous.

What do you want your story to be about? That question comes from a book I recently finished by Donald Miller entitled, A Million MIles in a Thousand Years. Get a copy. It will change the way you look at what you’re doing with your life.

"Every life is a story. Whether it is a story worth telling and talking about, though, is up to you. People set out with grand dreams of changing the world, falling in love, doing something amazing. But the drift toward the merely acceptable happens almost without notice (D. Miller)."

Will your story hold the attention of people around you? Will it hold your attention? Will you drift toward amazing... or acceptable?

I’m convinced that most of us would rather sit in a movie theater to see a compelling story than live one. We want God to make things easy for us. Stories worth living are never easy. Maybe we picture God sitting at a blank computer screen... and we’re waiting for him to write more money, more comfort, and more fun into our story.

“I believe there is a writer outside ourselves plotting a better story for us, interacting with us even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness (Miller).” His name is Jesus. His story is compelling enough to include all of us.

It’s time I put down the remote and turn off the Olympics (well... maybe after the gold medal round in hockey!)... and live a compelling story. The great thing about a good story is you can’t tell exactly how it will end -- and you can’t pull yourself away from it until the tension is resolved. Let me know if you read Miller’s book, and then if you want to help create a compelling story (to be continued)...