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This week was sales conference week at Thomas Nelson.  We have sales conference every quarter, and it is always long.  We listen to hours of presentations about hundreds of upcoming titles.  It can be tedious and, frankly, boring at times. The publishers do their best to make it as interesting as possible, but it gets difficult. Sometimes they will try and bring the authors themselves in to talk about their books. That can be very “hit and miss”, but this week was nothing short of a home run.

This week, I had the privilege of listening to some amazing people.  On Monday we heard from Mike Flynt. You may remember Mike from making headlines last year as being the oldest player ever to play college football.  At 59 years of age, he went back and played the final year of football that he missed because he was kicked out of school.  Because of his age, and the fact that he was going back to play his last year, his book is called The Senior.  It is an incredible story of overcoming obstacles, never giving up on your dreams, never letting anyone tell you that you can’t do something, and, in a lot of ways, a story of redemption.  Look for this inspirational story to hit bookshelves this fall.

On Tuesday Marcus Buckingham spoke.  Marcus is best known for writing the book Now Discover Your Strengths.  This book has helped countless people put into words what they have known all along – I am really good in this area, I just don’t know how to express it.  Once your strengths are known, you can then work from those strengths rather than buying into the misconception that the only way to succeed is to focus on improving your weaknesses.  Marcus’ new book is called The Truth About You and will be just as revolutionary. Simply, it’s about finding out what you really like to do, not just what you are good at, and excelling in that area.  For example, at work you may be given a task to do over and over again because you happen to be good at that task. However, for you that task is a horrible, draining experience.  You can’t stand to do it, although you are good at it.  According to Marcus that is a weakness, not a strength.  Anything that makes you feel horrible is a weakness.  He will help readers identify the things they love, and show them how to work in that sweet spot.  For more on this, check out Oprah Winfrey’s show on Friday April 18th.  Marcus will be on the show with the results of five months of coaching several women in this concept.  Should be interesting!

Wednesday I had the chance to listen to someone that for most needs no introduction – Dr. John MacArthur. John has a new book out called A Tale Of Two Sons, and is basically a commentary on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-32.  Dr. MacArthur challenges the way we think about this oft-told parable.  He examines the original language closely and based on the evidence found in the text feels this parable isn’t all that it seems to be, and the way it is usually taught isn’t quite right.  It’s a fascinating take, and I can’t wait to read it.  This book is out now.

At the end of sales conference, Thomas Nelson did something unique and hosted an Open House for Christian retailers.  They brought retailers to Nashville and held special events, concerts, and seminars – all to help them with their business.  Like many other things Thomas Nelson is trying to do right now, this event wasn’t Thomas Nelson-centric.  It was all about the retailers and all about encouraging them and helping them re-think their business in an ever-increasing hostile economy.

I wish I could have attended the seminars on Friday, but Melinda and I did get to go to the kick-off event on Thursday night where we got to worship with people like Travis Cottrell, Jaci Velasquez, and Sandi Patty among others.  The highlight of the evening was listening to Max Lucado speak on 3:16, his latest book.  I’ve read the book, and heard Max speak on this before, but it is always a thrill to hear someone as eloquent as Max tell me how much God loves me, and the lengths He went to to save me from hell.  I must admit, though, that one of the best parts of the night was the date I had with Melinda – sans kids!  The night was inspirational, and an excellent way to cap off the week.

Once again, I am floored that I can describe all of the above to you and it be a work week!  I love where God has placed me, and I love the career I have with Thomas Nelson.  I just passed five years of “official” employment with them.  I’ve actually worked there, freelance and employment, for almost six years.  I count each day I have with them a blessing.

Social networking is all the rage, and I must admit that I got into MySpace for a little while.  I burned out pretty quick, though.  Too many advertisers (to describe most of them as “inappropriate” would be a grand understatement), too loose moderation, and the fact that it was really hard to update it left me feeling like it was more work to keep up than it was worth.

Then I got onto Facebook and social networking became fun again.  I know you still have to be careful in cyberspace, but Facebook does an excellent job at keeping most of the bad stuff hidden.  The applications are fun and, for the most part, easy to use, and the pages are clean and inviting.  It’s been great to find and keep up with people you haven’t seen in a while, at same time getting a glimpse into the daily life of the people you talk to almost every day.  Melinda and I both have Facebook pages and have a ball with it.  We haven’t let Jessica get on it yet, but she is still learning about cyberspace and we don’t want to throw her in too soon.

So where is the line?

I just started using a service called Twitter.  I had seen it around, but had a few minutes and decided to check it out.  Twitter allows you to let your friends (and the whole world) know what you are doing at any given moment.  You can update Twitter on the web, via instant message, or through a text message from your phone.  You can Twitter as much or as little as you like.  If want to let everyone know your every last move, send it to Twitter.  Update it a couple times a day and let people know what a typical day looks like for you.  Random thoughts, activities, schedule, Twitter is your stage and the world is watching your every move.  They even have a public timeline that will show you everybody’s Twitter updates all in a row.  You can follow the lives of people you know, don’t know, and may not want to know.

I took it one step further and connected Twitter to my Facebook page and now every time I update Twitter, it updates my status on Facebook.  It will probably get really old for me (and for my Facebook friends), but I at least wanted to experiment with it.  I want to see how ridiculous it can really get.  For example, I just updated Twitter (and therefore Facebook) with an entry that I was writing this blog post.  And that brings me to my point…

How much is too much?  First, does anyone really care what I am doing at any given moment of the day?  If so, what do people care about?  Do they want to know activities, thoughts, actions, or all of it?  Or none of it?  How often?  How detailed?  Do they want to know who I called, or just that I am making a call?  Where does it end?

And then there’s the work factor.  Much has been written recently about social networking and its impact on productivity.  For example, I am writing this blog entry at work.  Since I updated Twitter and Facebook with the entry that that is what I am doing, could that be used against me to say I’m not “doing my job”?  There has been a lot of press lately too about potential job seekers being denied jobs because of what they have on their MySpace or Facebook pages.  Should that be considered “private” although it’s out there on the web for all to see?  You heard it here first, expect a lawsuit over that issue soon.  Don’t believe me?  Remember the Duke lacrosse players, and the swift judgement America made on them because of pictures of them partying on their MySpace profiles?

Of course, the absolute best policy is 1 Thessalonians 5:22 where we are exhorted to not even give the appearance of evil.  However, most people have different standards of what evil is, and therefore I could take just about any picture or statement from some of my most conservative Facebook friends out of context and make them out to be a villain.  Should that be used against them, or change your opinion of who they are?

I certainly don’t have answers, and I do enjoy social networking, especially as a way to keep up with long lost, and/or far away friends, but the book isn’t closed on social networking and it’s effect on the world.  New technology will continue to emerge, and people will continue to expose their lives for all to see.  Some will be responsible and others won’t.  In the meantime, like an ice cold Coke, know that while water is the better alternative, no one will judge you for enjoying the Coke unless you chug the whole 2 liter down in front of everyone…

Yesterday, Melinda and I received all of our race info (starting position, number, etc.) for the Half Marathon. It was timely because we had gone to the Y Monday night and we both walked and neither of us felt like we were behind at all after our relapse. That made us feel pretty good, and we are more and more excited about the big day!

We are both still able to maintain 15 minute miles or better, so we have all confidence that we will finish in under four hours. The other participants at Thomas Nelson are all abuzz and everyone is comparing workouts, times, and overall progress. It has been a lot of fun preparing with a group. I’m not sure it would be as fulfilling going at it alone.

Of course the best part is how we look and feel! I forgot to weigh myself at the Y Monday, but I have had several people comment that I look like I’ve lost weight. And we both feel so much better! I’m sure a lot of that is healthier eating, but the exercise alone has been great. Here’s hoping we have developed some good habits that will carry us past race day.

We’ll keep you posted as we round the training corner and, of course, will have the full story and pictures of the big day on the 26th!

After not walking for a couple of weeks, we finally made it out yesterday. It was a sunny day, although slightly chilly, but we decided to head to the park and walk there while the girls played. A half-mile in, Melinda started having a lot of trouble with her asthma and had to stop, but she graciously let me continue. Melinda ended up doing a couple of miles, but I had my longest walk so far at 5 miles. I was supposed to be up to 8 yesterday, but didn’t want to push it after being off for so long. Here are my splits:

• 15:04.234
• 14:43.640
• 14:55.603
• 15:00.804
• 14:54.913

The best part? I felt GREAT! I think I experienced a “runner’s high”. I was a little winded until about mile 3.5. After that, I just kind of zoned out and didn’t even realize I was walking. I looked at the frisbee players, the trees, the path, and listened to the iPod. I felt good, and the next couple of miles went by fast. The one drawback was that mile 4 was my slowest time, a by-product of the “zoning” I’m sure, but I picked it up in the end.

I am very pleased with my time, and the five miles. I am more excited now than I have been in a while about my ability to finish and finish well.

We had the official Marathon kick-off meeting at Thomas Nelson yesterday. As you can see from Mike Hyatt’s blog, the company reached its goal of have 25% of the work force participating in either the Dallas or Nashville races. It was a great meeting with a lot of great information for first-timers like me. I learned more about rashes, chafing, and other potential problems than I care to admit! Melinda and I both are still WAY behind on our training. When I last posted we hadn’t walked in a week or so, and then the whole family (except Anna) got sick, then I was busy at the NRB convention. So, here it is Friday and we still haven’t walked! I was supposed to have walked 7 miles this past Sunday, but I have only done 3.5. We plan to get back on track this weekend and hit it hard over the next month. I am still confident that we can fisnish, since our goal it still to “just finish” and not push ourselves too hard the day of the race.

All in all, we are excited about the actual race. We still need to work out someone to watch the girls for us, and hopefully bring them down to the finish line (we would love to see them at the end!). We also still need to get shoes and socks. Otherwise, we can’t wait to complete this monumental undertaking and feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing!

I had a boss at Thomas Nelson that once observed that all of the Thomas Nelson emails were first initial, last name, and that some of them made for cool names. Mine, for instance, was “Swinter” (said all at once). He talked about it all the time, even joking at our quarterly sales conferences and the nickname stuck. There was a woman who worked at Nelson whose name is Pam Stein (pronounced “stane”). So, her email was pstein. Think about it for a sec and you will get it. Anyway…

A co-worker familiar with the joke just sent me this YouTube video and I had to share it. Who would have thought that out of a little office joke I would end up with my own theme song! Enjoy!

Ok, I totally slacked off last week and only walked once. What’s worse is the one time I did walk I really didn’t want to, but when I started I felt really good so I kicked it up a notch (BAM!) and felt horrible at the end of the 3+ miles that I half jogged/half walked. I was out of town Thursday-Saturday and even brought workout clothes, but didn’t make it to the treadmill at the hotel. What has surprised me the most is how much my legs have stiffened up and hurt so bad! You could play the bongos on my hamstrings right now.

Melinda and I are planning on hitting the Y tonight. I’m supposed to do six miles, but I’m not sure if I should. I’ll see how it goes, but if I do six I will do it flat (no incline) and just maintain the 4 mph pace rather than trying to jog any of it. Hopefully this will get my legs stretched out without hurting anything.

The lesson I learned? Wow this is really hard. I still know that I can finish the Half, but the reality of the difficulty is setting in. Rather than discouraging me though, it has steeled my resolve. I am looking forward to the challenge of getting back into training and the challenge of the actual race. This little set-back will only make finishing that much sweeter!

We walked three miles today. It was a beautiful, sunny, dark blue sky out with mild temps, so we decided to head to the park. Jessica and Anna played on the playground while Melinda and I walked the track. It was great! As we completed the first mile, I remembered that the iPod had a stopwatch feature, so I switched it on. I’m pretty sure our first mile was around fourteen minutes (based on my watch), and the next two miles went like this:

• Mile 2 – 14:18.192
• Mile 3 – 14:18.143

So, our pace is pretty consistent, and right where we need it to be to finish the half in under four hours. I could have gone one more mile at least, but Melinda was a little winded. I told her that this shows we can do it! We went three today, and all we have to do is do the same thing for ten more miles!

Training has started slow, but we are encourged. We have both been able to maintain a 15 minute/mile pace for the duration of 30 minute sessions, which is well ahead of the four hour time limit to complete the 1/2 marathon. As we continue our training the walks will get longer, so we’ll see if we can keep up the pace! Otherwise it has been great! We have walked outside, but the last couple of times have gone to the Y to use the treadmill. It’s nice to have all your stats in front of you on the treadmill. Another bonus is the humidity indoors so you sweat more. I love a good sweat! I also like being around other people. There just seems to be an energy in there with everyone else on treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, etc.

We are still taking it easy to start off with. Since we feel better than we thought we would, we have had a tendency to step it up a little, but have tried to keep things just under the level of extreme for us. We don’t want to burn out, or worse, injure anything before we really even get started.

The best part? Other than some mild soreness, we feel great! Our energy levels are up and overall we just feel better. I can only imagine that this will get better as we go along. nothing noticiable on the weight side, but I’m sure that will come as we get more consistent with our walks. We’ll keep you posted!

Rick Burgess and Bill “Bubba” Bussey are hosts of the nationally syndicated radio show Rick and Bubba, based out of Birmingham, Alabama. They also happen to be best-selling Thomas Nelson authors. Melinda and I used to listen to their program a lot until they went off the air in Nashville. They got back on an AM station a while ago, but we never picked it up again. I can remember Melinda singing their annoying theme song and I swore I would never listen. I started and was instantly hooked. Not only were they really funny, but they were unabashed about their faith on secular radio. I respect them as artists, as authors, and as Christian men. A lot of their stories center around their families, so you could instantly relate. As a matter of fact Melinda and I remember a few years ago when Rick’s wife became pregnant with their fifth child, Bronner. Unfortunately Bronner died tragically this past weekend, drowning in the family swimming pool. No parent should ever have to experience what they have experienced and it’s hard not to feel a tremendous amount of sorrow even when you don’t know the people personally.

Rick did an amazing thing yesterday and spoke at the memorial service for his son. It was not a typical memorial service message. I would ask that you take some time to listen to the message before reading on, as it will help put my comments in context.

Assuming you listened, what you just heard is a call to action. Don’t miss it. I was incredibly convicted as I listened to Rick. Melinda and I have heard many times that receiving an autism diagnosis for a child is similar to the process of losing a child. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to take anything away from the grief of this family, but there is a parallel – lost dreams, dashed hopes, and missed experiences. What I was convicted of was that I have had many opportunities over the years to talk with many people, a lot of them strangers, about autism. About how it affects our life, about how it affects mine and Melinda’s relationship, about how difficult it is in general. You know what I don’t talk about? The other person’s soul. Sure, God will inevitably come up in the conversation, but I can’t remember one time that I took to time to fulfill the Great Commission with the opportunity I had to talk about autism.

For Rick Burgess to stand up in that service, just days after losing his baby boy, and not talk about Bronner, but show genuine concern over the souls of men astounded me. It is not what I expected. Because of what I know of Rick and Bubba, I expected the gospel, but I didn’t expect to hear Rick ask that people use his son’s death as an opportunity to preach Christ.

At our church we are wrapping up a long study in the book of Acts. As our pastor has taught us, the theme of Acts is to preach Christ. At all times, in all circumstances. I must admit that I have a lot of head knowledge from this series, but nothing motivated me more to preach Christ than Rick’s heart-felt message from yesterday. Why? Because I know as a Christian I am supposed to preach Christ, but what I have been missing is that I have been given a unique opportunity to have discussions with people that I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to talk to because God put Anna in our life – opportunities I have missed. No longer. I covenant from this day forward that no person I talk to about autism will walk away and not know that Jesus died for them.

Another thing that convicted me was Rick’s passionate plea on behalf of his other kids. His observation that the only concern that we need to have for our kids is to raise them up to be warriors of Christ, and let God take care of the rest floored me. How many times have I chided Jessica for missed opportunities in school, but haven’t sat down and prayed for and over her? How many times have I told Jessica to learn her Bible verses so that she can get a good grade, but not so that she be hiding God’s Word in her heart? How many times have I shown her the wrong path, not by what I say, but by what I do, or don’t do? My job with Jessica is to raise a Godly woman, not a straight A student. To raise a warrior for the kingdom, not an artist, or doctor, or teacher, or whatever else she might do as a job. God will take care of that. I need to be about the business of instilling Godly principles in Jessica, not teaching her to crave more things in this sinful world.

Rick Burgess never imagined that he only had two years with his son. I bet if he did, the last two years would have been different. But that is what the Bible means when it says to be ready (Matthew 25-1-13). We don’t know when the hour will come, so we need to always be diligent, to always preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2). So, let’s live from this day forward like it was our last, taking as many people with us as we can into heaven.