Holy Crap Book Info and Ways You Can Help!
The pic above is from the Celestial Seasonings tea tour with my mom and Yolanda. It’s in this post just for a laugh! Haha
We are only a few short days away from my book being available on my publisher’s website this coming Tuesday, June 7th. I wanted to make people aware of some things that they can do to help get the word out about my book and helping it get into the hands of people who I believe really need to be encouraged by my story.
If you can buy my book on the http://www.electiopublishing.com website the week of June 7th that would be AWESOME. I really want to show my publisher that there is a need for the book even before the full release on June 28th. I am not sure how long you would have to wait to get the book once you order it from them but you will be the first to get one before anyone else. If you are in town or at one of the book releases we are planning then you can bring it and I will sign it if you would like.
The FULL release of Holy Crap will be on June 28th and that is about the time I will have the author copies available that Yolanda and I are ordering. We are planning a probable book release here in Denver and a few other states possibly (think of states I have lived in…:) and will have books with me for you to buy. We are using the new Square credit card readers (that include the chip readers and apple pay, android pay, etc.) we will be able to process card payments as well as cash.
Once you read the book, even if you didn’t buy it on Amazon.com, if you could go to Amazon and leave a review once it is up after June 28th that would be stupendous (and I don’t just throw those kinds of words around 🙂 The interesting thing is that the “normal” book world looks at Amazon reviews to see how a book is doing and also can encourage big box bookstores, like Barnes & Noble, to carry a book if it is popular enough.
If you have ANY connections at all to people who could help get the book into areas of your town or state (radio, TV, bookstores, etc.) please notify me so we can chat (Facebook also works to connect) about how to maybe get the book into your area.
I will have window decals available (cut out 3M lettering that will look sweet and not goofy looking) of my website HolyCrapBook.com that I want to encourage people to put on their car windows to help us promote the book over the summer. I will have these decals in the next couple of weeks and can get them to people in Denver but will also be willing to ship them to you if you would like one.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, please be praying for the next few months of my life and the things that we believe God wants to do with the book. As I have said to many people and from the beginning, we are not thinking of this as a moneymaker as much as a ministry to people hurting and ready to give up. I am especially trying to get the book into people’s hands who do not go to church.
Thanks everyone!! Â I am sure excited for the future and using such a crappy and painful time in my life to have greater meaning than, “Hey! I made it!”
#NepalOrphanage Trip – A Wonderful Trip to Nepal
Well, Yolanda and I believe that it was the best trip we have taken to Nepal to go see the kids, our orphanage manager and his family. Everyone is doing well and we even got to see the kids that are fully transitioning out of the home and into real life as young adults. It is a strange and wonderful thing to see our kids growing up into men and ladies to be productive members of society.
I definitely saw the fruit of our decision to college educate all our kids. Some are becoming chefs, some are getting business management degrees and others are working in the travel industry as hotel management staff. I also spoke with one of our kids who is getting ready to enter his last year of college in business management. He said that he wants to be able to run a business and then do ministry around the area, which is awesome and proves the point that you don’t have to be in full time ministry to be able to minister to hurting people who need to hear about Jesus.
Yolanda and I were able to bring a suitcase of supplies as well as some fun things and luxuries for the kids to enjoy. There were many people who got involved in giving and we appreciate everyone’s gifts!
We were able to go shopping for basic supplies the homes needed as well as spend time hanging out with the kids and it was great. We had a worship night with other kids from the area and I was able to share a word about the importance of not just being a worship “performer” but living a lifestyle of worship. We also had a BBQ with the kids and played some games and got to just catch up talking. I loved this trip as well because the kids are getting older and easier to talk to because they trust that we are going to take care of them and want to be involved in their lives. Yolanda and I presented 10 study Bibles to kids who have graduated from High School (a gift that Yolanda and I have committed to each kid).
We were also able to go and look at land that is available in the area to possibly purchase and build our own compound with buildings for the boys, girls, our manager and a dorm area for people who would like to come and visit with us and work with the kids on trips. Please pray with us about this as it would involve quite a bit of money but we know that the home is God’s and He is going to take care of the kids as we listen and are obedient to do what He directs.
Yolanda and I want to bring a group of people back with us in October of 2017 so we made a site visit to the Chitwan National Park and stayed at a wonderful resort while there, Landmark Forest Park. Everything was wonderful and we got to see many things with walks into the local village an elephant safari and jeep safari! We made great new friends and a possible place to bring people so they can enjoy the culture and get to see a part of the world that many people from America never get to see.
At the end of the trip we spent a few days in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which was a great time of relaxing and winding down before heading home to the USA. Yolanda and I feel it is SUPER important to not just do ministry in life and miss the wonderful world that God has created and all of the interesting and amazing people in it.
Thanks to everyone who prayed while we were gone and will continue to pray for our kids. We have a great burden to see them all succeed and with the kids growing older they can present new challenges as teenagers and not little kids anymore. We also have some newer young kids that have come into the home and want the older ones to be a good influence on them and not bad ones.
Please pray also about possibly supporting the Children’s Home of Love. We never want to share only about need because we are about giving people vision for what we want to see happen and motivate people to team up with us. We know that God will bring in what is needed at the right time. He has been with us from the beginning and will continue to lead us to help change our little corner of the world, seven thousand seven hundred and twenty four miles away, one child at a time.
Be a Part of God’s Pursuit!
Consider how much the world makes everything about self with no regard to others. It is all about what we can do for ourselves, build for ourselves or get for ourselves.Â
When it comes to God and his love for everyone, I don’t think we really understand that the directive to love others and tell them how much Jesus loves them is God letting us be part of his pursuit of the hearts and minds of people.Â
Growing up in church, it is taught that followers of Christ should reach out to people and be a witness because that is what Jesus did. As I have grown older, I now understand that sharing about Jesus is more about the privilege of being a part of God’s plan in the lives of people rather than just a rule of a relationship with him.
Today, be encouraged and recognize that if you know Jesus as the director, guide and friend of your life you are important to God’s plan of love and redemption for people that you come in contact with every day. It’s the REAL reason why we should love ALL people in life; to help be a door that Jesus can walk thru and into those who are desperate for something more than they could ever find on their own.
Two Things to STOP and Two Things to START This New Year
1. Stop worrying about defending Jesus and Bible.
The Bible and Jesus have been around for far longer than you and I have even existed. The Word of God has been staving off attacks of all kinds for many many years. The Word has stood the test of time and continues to bring life and direction to all who heed its words. Jesus is in the business of defending YOU and not you worrying about how you are going to defend Him. He is not up in heaven nervous and biting his nails to the quick…so you shouldn’t either. It’s all about asking God for wisdom and to follow the verse in Matthew 10:16 for this new year; “…being wise as serpents and gentle as doves.”
2. Stop worrying about how to evangelize people and just start loving them!
There are so many things that are happening in today’s society contrary to the Word of God and its principles. The hard thing to realize is that many, if not all, of the things happening in our culture today were happening back in Bible times as well. Our CENTRAL focus in life should be how do we “out-LOVE” people around us who are screaming by their actions that they need someone to listen and show them Jesus. The key is when the opportunity comes and someone asks you “why are you being so nice to be?” or “why do you love me even when I can’t seem to love myself?” that you don’t say something like, “well, just because I am trying to make the world a better place.” You can say, “I follow Jesus in my life and he was the GREATEST example of love there ever was or will be. I am just trying to show the world what that love looks like through me in a healthy nonjudgmental way.” Just because you love someone doesn’t mean that you accept everything they do. Jesus loves YOU and he doesn’t always like the things You do either. People giving Jesus control of their lives will happen when you start SHOWING others what a healthy belief in God looks like coupled with loving others.
3. Start praying and asking God for opportunities to show true Christlike love in 2015.
It’s the age old adage; you don’t get what you don’t ask for. We need to realize that God is always speaking but sometimes we are not truly listening to what He has to say. When we ask God for his will to be done “on earth as it is in heaven” we are saying, “God, use me today to bring your love to a lost, hurt and dying world that is falling slowly out of love with itself and doesn’t even know it.”
4. Start believing for the impossible in your life.
When we go through problems in life, we can program ourselves to start believing or looking for the negative in situations. When we start believing for the impossible we open a door of opportunity for God to show up and show off to encourage our faith and lift the life of someone else. We need to start getting worse at unbelief and professionals at seeing the impossible and believing for something GREAT! I truly believe that 2015 will be a year where faith in the unseen will be needed more than ever and that God is looking for those who would see the “possible” in the “impossible.”
Have a great New Years and wonderful start to 2015!! See you next year!
Good Riddance to Moderate Christianity!
The days of “moderate Christianity” are coming to close, and I say good riddance! I was talking with a couple of different people this past week about all of the “anti-Christmas” situations that have come up in the news. My favorite so far was a Fire Station in some town that had a “Merry Christmas” sign on it. An atheist group filed a complaint with the city so the fire department took their sign down, in compliance, and put up a new sign that read, “Happy Birthday Jesus, We Love You.” Each of these people I was talking to said that it was amazing to see the attack on Christ and Christianity in society and I said, “I think it’s great!” I said, “I think the opposition to Christ that is happening in America is good because it’s weeding out moderate Christians who only have a familiarity with Christ and not a real relationship.”
Never forget that your belief in anything will only have its personal value tested when it is opposed, and this includes being a follower of Christ. Jesus even mentions opposition in the Bible in Matthew 10:22 and also in Mark 13:13 where it says believers in Christ would not just be opposed but hated but that those who endured to the end would be saved. This was not only a forewarning of attacks but even a CONFIRMATION that they were living properly! It was also a word given for followers to make sure and count the cost of following after Jesus. I am not sure in today’s world of consumer Christianity that much cost counting is done before deciding to follow Christ, which makes me very sad. I am not saying this as a judgment but more of an observation of the society we live in and what people are willing to give up for Christ versus giving things up for self. If this wave of challenges concerning Christ and people who follow Jesus will help people get off the fence with their beliefs, I think it could actually be something amazing and good for the church. It can also be a good lesson for Christians to learn to lead with the love of Christ (shocker) instead of conjuring up a lecture ABOUT the love of Christ. Jesus’ words were ALWAYS followed up with action so if I say I am following Him, then my actions better line up in the same way. Have a wonderful holiday and Merry Christmas!
A 6.5 Millon Dollar Lesson on “Value”
The image above is what a 6.5 MILLION dollar black and white photograph looks like. When I read the title of the news article about this picture from Peter Lik, I thought it was a misprint. I couldn’t believe that someone would pay that much money for a photo. Not even something that someone took years to create with their hands but just found that perfect moment to take a picture and made more money than most people could make in a lifetime. Even as I type this blog it’s still hard to register in my head.
Then I thought about God sending Jesus to die for mankind and the price that was paid on a cross. This is also something that completely dumbfounds me. God looked at the “picture” of our lives and decided that it had an incredible value and worth paying “top dollar” for, with the death of His son. As you celebrate Christmas this season, please realize that God sees value in you even when you feel like a “plain old black and white photo of a deserted dusty canyon.” His love for us is so boundless and his belief in our ability to withstand the pressures of life with Him at the helm is limitless.
Enjoy these few days leading up to Christmas and know that you have value in God’s eyes. It’s one of the reasons why I asked God many years ago to be the driving force behind everything I do. I encourage you to take a few moments today and think about how you see yourself and what you are motivated and driven by. If it is not a relationship with God, I encourage you to give Him a chance this Christmas season. Praying for you all.
The Time it takes to Compliment Someone
I went running this morning and was thinking about ways to show the love of Jesus to people that I meet. One idea that I had was to make a running shirt that says “Stop me if you need prayer” on the front so that people will see it and I can interact if they want. Then I was thinking about the amount of time it takes to compliment someone about anything. I tried out my little “mental experiment” with a lady who was walking her dog and told her she had a pretty dog. Her eyes lit up and she said, “thank you!” I also saw a lady who lived in a beautiful house right off of the trail and told her that she had a beautiful house and she said, “thanks!” Those two smiles and compliments took less that two seconds each!
Now there is something you need to understand if you don’t live in or are from Colorado. People are not so friendly when it comes to being on their property or at their house. But when you meet or greet them outside on trails hiking or running, skiing at any one of many ski hills or just walking out in the sun, people are just different and much more friendly. I knew this from living here for almost fourteen years and understanding the culture.
The point I’m trying to make is to always remember one simple fact when considering your ability to be like Christ on this earth; we are all just part of the process. This sounds like a “duh” statement but it is really profound if you think about what it means. I truly believe that we get so caught up in the last step of someone giving his or her life over to Jesus. We forget we are part of a greater plan and need to realize that even small acts of kindness can lead to a person’s life being forever changed by giving God control of how they live their life. We never know how being kind to someone or something as simple as a compliment is going to be a catalyst to put them in a better mood and for the next person being obedient to God being able to talk about what Jesus did for them and planting another positive seed in their life.
So basically those two simple compliments were, quite possibly, the two most important interactions I had all day and took less that two seconds each! What an incredible shift from looking only at the result of the actions we take on this earth with our walks with God to just being obedient in the moment and trusting God for the results and letting Him get the glory.
Have a great rest of the week and know that I am praying for God’s love and Holy Spirit to guide and direct what you do in the moment and that you will learn to leave the rest up to Him.
Holy Crap 