I love to watch skilled communicators work a room.

Comedians, late night hosts, politicians, and preachers are all fun for me to study.

One of my favorites of all time is Steve Martin. He is a comedic genius as far as I’m concerned. Even the slightest non-verbal gesture by him can make me laugh.

I recently read (actually I listened to Steve read) his autobiography, Born Standing Up.

In his book, Martin writes about his life and the development of his act. Steve’s act took him from the Magic Shop at Disneyland to packed stadiums and eventually international fame and notoriety.

I loved this particular observation he made about, “Killing It.” That’s comedian speak for having a great show and being really funny. He wrote:

“I learned a lesson: It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.” –Steve Martin, Born Standing Up

Consistently good.

What a great concept.

Not just for people that communicate for a living, but for everyone really.

It’s easy to get in the zone in your job every now and then. What’s tricky, according to Steve, is being consistently better than average.

There have been times when I get done speaking or teaching and I think, ‘Yes, I nailed that! I am God’s gift to communication.’

Unfortunately there have been many other times when I finished speaking when I was looking for a hole to crawl into.

Consistently good.

That’s something I’m aiming for.

I want to be a consistently good dad, husband, leader, friend, neighbor, co-worker, pastor, son, brother, mentor and more.

I’m not interested in being excellent one day and terrible the next.

Anyone can be great if the stars are aligned just right.

I’d like to grow and become consistently good.

____________

Ms. Booth

Today I remember and thank Ms. Booth, my third grade teacher.

For years I considered her my favorite teacher (and she’s still in my top five).

She really had a positive impact on me.

She was kind and gentle.

She was calm and smart.

Perhaps, most importantly, was the fact that she believed in me.

She was a stickler for proper English. I do my best, but I’m quite certain she would have a field day if she checked my website posts.

She taught me how to say heigh(t) properly, not heigh(th).

It wasn’t until recently that I checked and learned that both are deemed acceptable.

The biggest single impact she had on me is something I’m sure she doesn’t even remember.

After coming in from recess, I correctly asked, “May I please go to the restroom?”

She looked at me, kindly smiled and said, “You may.”

If I would have asked, “Can I?” She would have said, “I’m pretty sure you can, but would you like to?”

I grabbed the hall pass and she said in front of the whole class, “…And Andy, quit yelling at that Eric kid.”

I nodded and went on my way to the restroom. I was absolutely mortified. I was caught.

I’d been yelling at Eric all recess to go blow his nose because he was getting boogers on us. I didn’t think anyone had seen me.

I realized that everyone deserved to be treated kindly. Everyone deserved to be treated the way Ms. Booth treated all the kids in our class.

It embarrassed me and changed me. I set out to show Ms. Booth that I could do that.

I’ve heard Ms. Booth is still at my old elementary school, Lake Youngs.

I’m sure she’s still kind and gentle.

I’m sure she’s still a stickler for proper English.

And most importantly, I’m sure she still believes in her students.

Thank you Ms. Booth.

Towel hung up. (4 seconds)

Birthday suit on & hop in. (10 seconds)

Hair and whole body rinse. (30 seconds)

Shampoo hair. (25 seconds)

With extra lather from shampoo, clean shoulders and arms. (30 seconds)

Rinse out shampoo and excess suds. (10 seconds)

Condition hair. (25 seconds)

Dove body wash whole body while conditioner does it’s magic (grows back my hair). (1 minute)

Turn up water temperature and soak. (*1 minute)

Full body rinse. (30 seconds)

Conditioner rinse. (25 seconds)

Water off. (1 second)

Towel dry. (1 minute)

Shower Routine Complete. (Total time *6:01)

*Total shower routine time is subject to additional soak time, depending on depth of grogginess. (additional 30 seconds to 3 minutes may be required)

____________

So there you have it. I’ve been getting lots of emails about my morning shower routine and I finally decided to write about it. Haha.

Routines are important. They’re helpful. We need routine in our lives. They’re good.

On the flipside, routines left for too long can box us in. They can keep creativity bottled up.

Poet Henry Van Dyke wrote, “As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.”

Just for the record though, if any of you reading this are not in the routine of showering, brushing your teeth or any other personal hygiene practice, please do us a favor and start one!

We are a product of our routines. Who we are as individuals flows out of what we do repeatedly.

People who are in the routine of brushing and flossing daily have good-looking teeth.

People who don’t, insert punch line here _____. (Have death breath, are single for life, etc).

People who routinely read box scores and the sports section have more knowledge of sports than those who routinely read the business section.

Your routines reveal a lot about you.

What are your routines saying about you?

Which routines are healthy ones? Keep ‘em going.

Which routines aren’t working and moving you forward? Change ‘em up.

Two years after Stacey and I bought our first house we were in discussions with real estate agents and loan officers looking for ways to maximize our investment.

We were told, “You can bank on the fact that real estate property values will double every ten years.”

Obviously this was from someone who really wanted our business, but it was the prevailing opinion as the housing market soared.

Warp ahead nine and half years later. We still own our first home (as a rental) and as far as its value? Let’s just say the real estate market is far from certain.

The economy is uncertain. It’s fickle. One day, investors seem confident, next thing you know, fear and panic seems to rule the day.

The job market is uncertain.

Your health is uncertain.

The weather is uncertain. If you live in the Seattle area you are acutely aware of this fact. I am convinced that if the “weather people” or excuse me, meteorologists were employed solely based on accuracy there would be an ever revolving door at all the local TV stations.

Life is uncertain. Your next year, month, week, day, or breath is not guaranteed. You only need to pick up the newspaper to read about another terrible tragedy in which someone loses a loved one in a senseless accident.

Here’s the point. Yes, life is uncertain. That’s why we do our best to find and surround ourselves with some perceived certainties. Having that perfect job that you’ll love every single day. Finding that reliable friend who will always be there for you. A loving partner to navigate the rest of your life with.

Although many of us try, we simply can’t control everything. Really besides how you respond to the uncertainty that surrounds you is about all you can control.

It’s as if humanity is on a never-ending search for certainty. For those of you who are fans of 80’s Romantic Comedies, humanity is searching for, “The Sure Thing.”

I’m not trying to be dramatic or anything. Not trying to write something super deep, I’m merely making some observations.

What if there really was a “Sure Thing” out there? What if there was something we could be certain of?

I truly believe there is.

God is certain. In fact, he’s, “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13.8)

His love for you and me is certain.

His mercy and grace are certain.

His desire to have relationship with us is certain.

And yet, the mind-bending part of all His certainty is that it takes faith to receive it.

Hebrews 11.1 describes it this way: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

I’m not smart enough to even pretend to know how all of this works, but I know since I put my full faith and trust in Jesus; there is at least one part of my life that’s certain.

No matter what uncertainties life throws my way, I choose to trust in a certain God.

I have a certain Savior in Jesus.

I have a certain advocate in the Holy Spirit.

“We have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline.” (Hebrews 6.18, MSG)

They’ve invested in me. They are tremendous examples to Stacey and I; I am blessed to be under their leadership.

No matter how you feel about those in authority over you, it’s important you realize that God has put them there. How you respond and interact with those in authority over you reveals your character.

Here are a few things I never want to say to my leaders:

 1.     “I’m just really tired.”

Welcome to real life. You’re not always going to be feeling fantastic when you’re asked to do something by your leader. This statement also creates questions / doubt in your leader’s mind. Why are they tired? Have I given them too much? Is this person going to give up on me?

You may be tired, but your leader needs your best effort today. You can rest later. Besides, wouldn’t you rather be busy as opposed to being bored.

 2.     “Where is everybody?”

I can remember youth events we’ve done where we simply missed it. The students didn’t show in the numbers we had hoped or something like that. Inevitably a volunteer would approach and state the obvious, “Hey, where is everyone?”

I don’t want to be the person that constantly feels the need to state the obvious to my leader. Your leader already knows the situation. What your leader really needs is a solution to the problem not a summation of it.

 3.     “I could do it, but…”

But talk is lame.

I’d like to but…

It’s possible but…

I hear what you’re saying but…

No more but talk. If my leader asks something of me I’ll do it. Simple.

Even the things I haven’t thought that I could do, if they say so I’ll do my absolute best to make it happen.

 4.     “Sorry I was late.”

Something my dad said constantly while I was growing up in regards to coaches, teachers and those in authority over me was, “Don’t waste their time.”

When it comes to your leaders, you must value their time more than your own. If they ask you to be somewhere, be there five minutes early minimum. No matter how many kids you have to get ready in the morning (writing to myself).

 5.     …nothing

There are times when your leader is really looking for input. This is completely the wrong time to get quiet.

If your leader sends you an email, respond.

If they send a text, send one back. Even a, “K” is acceptable.

For you old fashioned types… If they leave you a voicemail, call them back.

When things aren’t going right in your department, the wrong thing to do is say nothing…

What about you? Have a few of your own? I’d love to read them. Leave me a comment below.

If you don’t want to read any further I completely understand.

Alright, for those of you still with me…

Not to long ago at a party with our youth staff I was called into the nursery to console Andrea after yet another barfing episode.

When I walked into the room I saw her sitting head in hands at the miniature preschool sized table.

I pulled up next to her and asked her how she was feeling.

She was upset. Her hair was wet and messy. It was a combination of a water fight gone bad and vomit (again you don’t have to keep reading).

She was embarrassed, upset and wanted her dad.

Her shirt was too messy so Andrea wore her winter coat with nothing underneath.

She wouldn’t even look at me. She just sniffled and stared at the floor.

I asked what happened and she started crying louder and more intensely.

My heart went out to my sweet little mess of a daughter.

Yes. She was less than adorable in that moment, but I didn’t really care. I love her. She’s my kid.

I realized all I really wanted to do was hold her. I wanted to show my daughter that no matter what (no matter how gross, nasty, and messy she was) dad loved her and wanted to hug and kiss her.

After I reassured her of my love for her I asked if I could hug, kiss and hold her.

I wasn’t prepared for her answer.

I was expecting a great big yes. I would then encourage her give her a squeeze and I would move up a couple spots on the father of the year list.

“No.” Andrea uttered.

No?! Here I am, willing to hug, kiss and console this sweet girl and all I get is a flat, “No.”

Ridiculous!

I asked her how come and her answer made much more sense.

She said, “I’m dirty, stinky, and yucky… I need a bath.”

I let her know that I understood and that I really just wanted to hug her anyway. “Would that be okay?” I asked.

“No. Not till I get home and get cleaned up.” She answered.

I felt so bad for her. Not wanting to break her already fragile heart any further I said okay and reminded her of how much I loved her.

When we got home we got her in the bath, got her all cleaned up and sent her to bed.

As I look back on this whole thing it reminds me of how humanity (you and me) interact with God.

He loves us. Thinks the world of us. Sent His only Son to die for us. He wants to swoop us up in his arms and hug and kiss us.

Yet, how often is our response similar to Andrea’s?

No God. I’m dirty. I’m too messy. I’m not ready. Let me take care of some stuff first.

We wrongly think that we’re too _____ for God.

We think things like:

He doesn’t want to deal with my ______.

The fact of the matter is God is not intimidated by your _____.

He went to the cross for your _____.

He’s ready to embrace you, all of you. Your flaws and all.

All we have to do is reach out by faith and trust our good father in Heaven.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5.8)

I won’t bore you with the details of my highly technical podcast; nonetheless, I was getting very frustrated as I struggled to make everything work correctly.

You’ve been there haven’t you?

Everything is in the right spot and it’s just not working.

You go back and double, even triple check your work and… nothing.

I called in one of our college students to help. Not just any college student mind you, Grant, the guy who works with lights, sound and all sorts of stuff.

Surely Grant could figure it out.

After checking my work (why did he even bother) he came to the same conclusion. “Everything looks right,” he said, “It should be working.”

I felt vindicated on some level. I wasn’t crazy! Or worse, incompetent.

But the question remained; why isn’t it working?!

After 10 minutes worth of tinkering, computer restarts, and plenty of thoughtful “hmmmms” Grant blurted out, “Oh! Haha.”

Not what I wanted to hear.

“Check your mains.” He said assuredly.

Everything was seemingly in its proper place with one little exception. The microphones we were using were not in the main spot, they were in the auxiliary.

After that slight adjustment everything went perfectly and we were ready to go.

Embarrassed and only slightly thankful I muttered, “Thanks Grant, nobody will hear about this, right?”

Grant laughed and was on his way.

As I think back on that whole thing I can’t help but laugh a little.

We had everything we needed. All the equipment, all the tools, everything was assembled and in good working order.

The big problem was we were not plugged to the proper source.

How often does that happen in life?

We have all that we need, the right tools, the right people and we’re ready to go to work. But for some strange reason things aren’t working.

What’s going wrong?

May I kindly suggest you learn from my mistake? Take a moment and “Check Your Mains.”

Jesus talked about lots of important and worthwhile things, but the thing He kept coming back to was love.

Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 13 when he writes:

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Great teaching, worship, hospitality, excellent services, great videos, and all that stuff only matters if the we’re plugged into and doing the MAIN THING.

Great sales, slick advertising and real know-how doesn’t matter if your customer service stinks.

Knowing the right people, being seen at the right places and saying all the right things is flat out wrong if it’s for an ulterior motive.

So, when you sense your frustration mounting. When everything seems right but your not getting the right results.

Take a moment and check your mains.

I love communicating the gospel with people. It’s fun. I really love it.

When I came down off the platform after the 9:30 service I wanted to get on my computer and send an apology email to everyone who had just listened to the message.

I’m serious.

Before reading any further please understand a few things:

1. This is not a “fishing” post – I don’t need an extra pat on the back or any, “No, you did great,” comments. That’s not why I’m writing this.

2. I don’t struggle with feelings of self-worth and I’m not depressed.

3. I write to myself as much as I write to others.

Okay, we good?

After speaking I wanted to run to my office and hide.

I’m pretty sure there was no heresy (false teaching about God) in the message, I just really didn’t like the way it came out.

I was frustrated. As a communicator, I like successful communication. After my first attempt I felt like my communication was only so-so.

Despite my wife and others encouraging words, I went to my office to stew.

As I sat in my office consumed with me.

My performance.

My message.

My perceived failure.

Two pieces of wisdom came to mind.

The first was from my first ever pastor, Wes Lindseth.

One time, after a youth service, I had described similar feelings of, “I just didn’t like the way it went…”

He responded calmly and confidently, “Andy, the word of God never returns void.”

He was quoting a passage from the book of Isaiah which guarantees that whenever God’s word, the good news is shared, it WILL produce fruit.

The second piece of wisdom I recalled was from my second ever pastor (and current) Brian Dolleman.

Just before I was going to speak on a Sunday for the first time with him as my boss, he said, “Just remember to relax, have fun, and smile.”

That was such a relief to hear from him.

I wanted to impress him, I wanted to make sure I did well.

Hearing those words from him, helped calm me down and keep things in the right perspective.

Both of my pastors had the benefit of many years of speaking experience to their credit. They probably had plenty of times in which they felt as if they could have done better and yet they lived to tell about it.

As I sat in my office waiting for the next service to begin I realized something important:

It wasn’t about my performance. It wasn’t about how well I did.

I needed to shift the emphasis.

The emphasis of any gospel message is Christ!

Here I was, supposedly sharing the good news, and I was consumed with self-centered critiques.

The very thing I was preaching about, Grace, has everything to do with Jesus and His completed work for us.

All I could think of was me.

What a dork!

It was time for me to shift my emphasis.

It was time to relax, have fun, and smile.

Why?

God’s word ALWAYS produces fruit.

Very inquisitive.

They want to know about everything. Nothing is off limits. No question is taboo. There isn’t a filter or guard on children when it comes to acquiring useful facts and information.

Lately, my daughter Andrea has been very interested in authority.

You know the who’s in charge of who kinda stuff?

“Is Pastor Brian (our lead pastor) your boss?” She asks, confident she already knows the answer.

“Yes ma’am.” I respond with ease.

“Dad, are you the boss of the youth kids?” She asks, again demonstrating she has been paying attention.

“Yep, you got it.” I reply.

I nearly drive off the road after this doozy of a question.

“Dad, who’s the boss of our family, you or mom?”

Wow. I feel like how I answer this one is crucial… This is a worldview shaping type of question and response…

So I pause, take a deep breath and say, “Your mom is, I do whatever she says.”

Pheew. Crisis averted.

________

A couple weeks ago our church hosted our annual Halloween Kid’s Carnival.

A free event that is for our community. Something we’ve done for 22+ years.

It’s a great event.

Every year, thousands of people from our community come and are blessed with fun, games, and CANDY.

Over the years I’ve helped in lots of different areas:

Booth operator, greeter, shuttle driver, prize-giver-outer, and more.

This particular year I tried something new.

I helped out on our parking lot crew. A tricky job. Our lot is not big enough for the crowds and we often have to divert traffic to a nearby school.

As I was parking cars (and having a lot of fun) I noticed a familiar looking vehicle show up.

The driver was a striking blonde and I almost felt bad for staring… Then I realized, oh, that’s my car and my wife driving it. And I went back to staring.

I led them to a spot and continued parking the vehicles that followed them in. All the while, keeping an eye towards my family’s car. I wanted to see what costumes the kids had chosen.

Andrea, a beautiful bumble bee, was the first one out of the car.

The first words out of her mouth when she saw me in my costume (a florescent construction vest and flashlight) will stick with me for sure.

She yelled across the parking lot, “DAD! Are you SERVING?!”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I answered her, “Yep, I am.”

She continued, “I knew it. You’re helping park cars aren’t you?”

“You got it.” I said with a smile.

She finished with, “Dad, I’m proud of you for serving.” Then she turned and went inside to enjoy the carnival.

I’m so glad my daughter saw me serving.

Please understand me.

I wasn’t doing it to get noticed by her or anything. I’m simply glad she saw me serving. She had been learning in her Sunday school class about serving and now she had a concrete example to remember.

Jesus probably said it best when He said:

“You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”

(Matthew 20.25-28, The Message)

I want my daughter, my kids, and anyone else I influence to know that to be a great boss you must be willing to serve.

Ask yourself:

What can I do to put others first today?

Who is someone (be specific) I can serve today?

In what areas of my life am I expecting service instead of looking for opportunities to serve?