Introduction to Blog

Intruder Alert! Danger Will Robinson!If that reference eludes you then you've stumbled into a quirky crevice on the internet.

If you are NOT one of my two children …

then either, 1) you have randomly stumbled onto this blog, and are an intruder, or, 2) someone has told you to check it out. If it’s #1, then, heads up … you’re reading someone else’s mail and you will likely get bored. If it’s #2, then you can blame the person who sent you here if you get bored. Just don’t blame me.

Regardless of which you are, you probably should know five things. This blog is:

1. written for my adult children, Christian and Faith;
2. my first blog; I don’t have a Facebook page and I don’t tweet, so I’m new to this stuff … it won’t be sophisticated, technologically speaking;
3. going to be written over a period of one year … the first post on my 60^th birthday (Feb.28, 2015) and the last post on the day before I turn 61;
4. about lessons learned that I want to pass along; the success test will be if my grandkids (if I ever have any) hear any of this;
5. either going to offend you (because you haven't yet learned how to manage your emotional state when you hear opinions that differ wildly from what you have always held to be true) or it is going to consume a lot of your time as you come back each week to learn something new (heads up again ... there will be things here you have never heard before).

Happy Birthday Kids … This Year I’m Giving the Gift for My Birthday

I have never been the same since the two storms. I decided that the time has come for me to explain exactly how and why I am different than the Dad who raised you (at least up to 2001). Over the coming year, each Saturday I will post something for you that represents a significant lesson that I’ve learned and that has changed me. Some of these lessons will be pre-storm, but most will be afterwards. Each month will be a different theme.

Remember my PowerPoint talk in the pub that one day? Well, hopefully this won’t be quite that dorky … but you’ll be the judge of that. Truth be told, I’m comfortable in my dorkyness because I just don’t take myself all that seriously. But I do take life VERY seriously … and I hope that you do too.

I don’t have a fortress of solitude or a bag of crystal sticks for you to summon all my life lessons for you. But I do have a blog and a few dozen things I really want to share (I know, I know … I can’t believe that I have a blog either).

This blog is my birthday present to myself … to give to you.

I call it, The PIE Project. It's about my search for the path to full engagement in life and what I learned along the way about self-sabotage, maturity, and a few of life's most important things (the most important habit - the most important skill - the most important mindset - etc.)  I will have fun writing this. 

As it is being written, and once it is done, it will be yours to do with as you please. Share it. Don’t share it. It’s up to you. But I hope that you find the time to read it. (OK, so let's squeeze a lil' learnin' in right here; time is not an asset that grows or shrinks, it is fixed ... so you will never find time for anything, you have to make time ... it's always a decision).

Dedication

Christian and Faith … as you just read, I’m writing this for you. BUT … I’m dedicating it to your Mom, my wife, my partner, and absolutely my very best friend. She has experienced me when I have soared on high like an eagle, and when I have barely crawled through the day.

More than tolerating me into our 4^th decade together, she, more than any other soul, has witnessed and understood the depth and intensity of my calling from God and the passionate way I have pursued it. At times, she has possessed an even clearer vision of why I do what I do than I have, and she has made sacrifices with Godly patience while I served others. She prays every day for those whom I might influence through my service. She is, in the truest sense, a prayer-warrior, and she has taught me of the folly of attempting significant ministry without such support. Any growth that God has given through my ministry has come from our tandem efforts; mine alone would have been ineffective.

Therefore, it is impossible for me to honestly say this is from just me, because she is fused to all that I do.

Acknowledgements

While I have not had an in-my-face coach or mentor, my mentors have still been too numerous to count. In the last decade I have read more books on substantial life issues, and listened to more inspiring (and inspired) speeches and presentations, than in all the previous five decades. A handful of these writers and speakers have mentored me. As you read my offerings over the coming year, I’ll introduce you to them as I give due credit.

GULP - here goes - posting this at 12:05 a.m. AST, Saturday January 10, 2015. I have no idea if this will make it to the blog site and in what formatted condition that it will arrive.

7 hours 15 minutes later and I just made some edits ... just to see if I can.