"As A Man Thinketh...In His Heart"

I hope you have a few minutes because this could very well be one of my longest posts. (Sorry James - I know you're busy.)

On Monday I received an email from my very favorite author, James Michael Pratt, asking me if I would endorse his new book - As A Man Thinketh...In His Heart. I've been a fan of James since reading "The Lighthouse Keeper", and writing to tell him how much I enjoyed the story. Surprisingly, James responded to my email and later sent me an autographed copy of "The Last Valentine" which I gave to my fiance who was then dying from cancer. Since then we've written occasionally; but I was both surprised and honored that James would ask me to endorse his new book.

I received the manuscript and printed it out to take home with me on Monday night. Despite having to work two jobs, I finished the book in 24 hours. Let me say up front that this book came into my life at just the right moment, and I suspect that it will do the same for you wherever you are. The timing is just one of the serendipities I've experienced over the past several months. For a long time I've been in a rut, but now I'm at least walking on the slope so that I can see a better, brighter future ahead.

Anyway, normally I work as an usher cleaning theaters at night (http://www.dirtymoviecritic.blogspot.com/), but Monday night I worked in the box office. Traffic was predictably slow on a week night so I went to the car for the manuscript and began reading between customers. I read a little after getting home but fell asleep because I'm too old to be working two jobs. I read some more on my lunch break yesterday and then committed to finish the book last night.

Arriving home I went straight to my bedroom, kicked off my shoes, and sat in the chair next to the bed. I pulled the throw my darling Pam had made for me over my lap, propped my feet on the bed and made myself comfortable. In his book James talks about returning to a simple, less stressful lifestyle. This is the mood I wanted to be in to finish the manuscript. By now I was captivated by the story and how James so skillfully combined fact and fantasy so that the reader doesn't know what is real and what is imagined. His story-telling ability draws the reader into the story and one can smell the salty ocean air and taste the ham sandwich.

I finished the book after midnight, crawled into bed, and dreamed of living in a cottage and doing heroic things. I awoke early this morning, recalling the manscript and the purpose of the story. I won't divulge much of it here because you need to read it for yourself. I'll just say that wrapped into the story within the story is a truth about the triune nature of man who was created by a Triune God. It was the underlying truth in the story that I thought about on the way to work this morning and which prompted me to record my thoughts here before they're lost in the busyness of my work day.

This is my take on James' new book, "As A Man Thinketh...In His Heart": We function in life on three levels. The first is physical - our bodies. Our bodies make demands on us - safety, provisions, pleasure. These primal 'needs' control much of what we do with our bodies. We eat to live, we live in houses to protect us from the environment, we procreate as often as possible. These needs are so great that we create lifestyles to fulfill them: bigger homes, we eat far more than we need to, we find new ways to enjoy sex; we work jobs we don't enjoy to provide for a lifestyle that doesn't satisfy. This is where our second nature comes in.

Our mind is the next highest level. With our minds we create things that will meet our physical needs. We diversify: we go to college to get an education to get a better paying job to provide us more shelter, more sustinance, more pleasure. But more than that, our minds seek to know something more than our own selves. We want to know how we got here, why we're here, where we're going and what, if anything lies on the other side of life. Sometimes our minds can overcome the primal needs of our bodies - but not often. We're so busy today that our most precious possession isn't physical possessions or even relationships - it's time. The more technology does to create more time for us, the more we feel we have to pack something into that time. But eventually our need for rest overcomes our desire to learn or work or even enjoy sex.

It's like the law of gravity can be temporarily overcome by the law of aerodynamics. Gravity still exists no matter how high we fly. Once the law of aerodynamics fails, gravity takes over. Our bodies will shut themselves down in spite of our attempts to pack as much life into the time we have. I know from personal experience that working 16 hour days leaves one exhausted and less efficient at either job.

When we are able to use our mind to overcome our bodies - we consider those moments heroic. We admire Olympic athletes who finish a race a half second before the competition, or soldiers who fight on afer being wounded, Holocaust victims who survived Nazi death-camps or pilots like John McCain who was shot down over VietNam and survived years in a POW camp; or fire-fighters who risk being burned alive to save a life - even the life of a pet. We make heroes of people who put their bodies in harm's way for a cause: Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, Ghandi, Mother Teresa. But most of us are dominated by our physical nature and seldom rise to the heroic level.

Then there is the third level - the one that James wants us to understand in his book - the heart level. Certainly we think of someone who wins a race or a boxing match as having "heart", but in fact those things were really determination - or mental decisions to overcome their physical bodies. The heart, on the other hand, can be likened to our soul. Where our physical selves are the body, and our intellect is our minds, so the heart is our soul: Body, mind (intellect), soul (spirit) - just the way that God created us.

In James' book, he wants us to make decisions for our lives not only with our reason, but with our instincts. We must learn to trust our hearts if we're going to live a purposeful life; and by combining our heart instincts with our rational minds we can script the path our life should take to realize that purpose. If we say we want to be a writer, for instance, but we spend most of our time being president of the PTA, chances are we're going to be good at leading the PTA, but be a lousy writer.

As James explains, we're where we're at in life because we followed either our minds or our hearts. But if we're going to live a life of significance and change this world into which we were born, we must learn to use the heart to rule our brain, which is the part of us most closely connected to our Creator.

That's as far as I feel comfortable going with James' material - if you want to really understand you're going to have to get his new book. I will only say that this manscript coming into my hands at this point in my life is not coincidental. For the past six months, God has been opening my eyes to His plan for my life. There have been too many experiences to chalk them up to coincidences. I've been blessed with a new love - something that has drawn me out of the pit I dug for myself. I've seen my daughter, her body eaten up with cancer, deliver a baby boy who survived almost nine months of toxic chemicals, cigarrettes, rap music, his mother's daily bouts of nausea and drug induced sleep. My finances have begun to turn to the positive after decades of life-draining debt. I've begun to dream of owning a bed and breakfast so that I can spend as much time as possible with my soon-to-be wife, and I've considered enrolling in a culinary course at the local community college so that I can handle the 'breakfast' part of the business. On top of that, my novel 'Sea Tree' won't let go of my mind. It's a story that needs to be told.

I've procrastinated for two years over this novel - which finds it's origins in a dream, much like James' "As A Man Thinketh...In His Heart" does. There have been three hang-ups I've struggled with: First, will writing this novel be more work than it will be fun? I'm already burned out on work. If Sea Tree isn't going to be fun for me to write, it won't be fun for you to read. Second - what if I find out I can't write and I've been deluding myself all this time with romantic notions that writing is my calling in life? And third - do I really have anything to say in this novel that will touch the readers? It's not so much about whether the book becomes a best seller, but gaining recognition as being a published author does lend a legitimacy to my life and a legacy to my heirs.

My prayers have been that I will lead a life of significance. Like many, success comes most often in our latter years. Maybe this is my time to shine. Maybe there is no coincidence that James Michael Pratt is my favorite author and it certainly is no coincidence that he entrusted his manuscript to me. Perhaps my endorsement of 'As A Man Thinketh' isn't as important as the message that God has for me, that indeed I have a divine plan and purpose for my life and this book is His way of helping me come to that realization.

I hope that you will all read "As A Man Thinketh...In His Heart", not because I want James to earn more money so he can write more great books; but because it can be the catalyst to change in your own life. I know that I am not alone among my friends who are looking for significance and purpose in life. Guided by my heart, in touch with my Creator, I believe that the best is yet to come.

You can find out more about James' new book and all of his other fine novels and non-fiction at this website: http://www.jmpratt.com/ or at http://www.powerthink.com/. Thank you, James, for sharing this life-changing work with me.

Bathrooms

Yesterday at church my pastor talked about public bathrooms in Greece during the time of Paul. Jimmy said that public restrooms were elaborate affairs, many providing entertainment by way of musicians who played from a stage in the center while being surrounded by patrons sitting on toilets. One could imagine a higher rate of constipation when trying to do your business with someone looking on - especially if there's a stand-up comedian on stage that day. And it must truly suck to only be able to book public toilets to showcase your talent.

Today we've got security auditors in the office. Totally by chance, our fire alarms went off as soon as the auditors arrived. The fire marshals donned their red baseball caps and herded people downstairs even though it was raining outside and employees were reluctant to leave their desks. My job is to check the men's room on the way out to make sure no one is trapped in there in the event of a fire. Sure enough, someone had decided to use the bathroom while we were supposed to be exiting the building. I stood in the hallway outside the restroom waiting for the jerk to finish and vacate my area of responsibility. It sucks to have to check bathrooms for malingerers. Nevertheless I put in my after-action report a note to tell employees that when the fire alarm goes off, you don't stop at the bathroom on the way downstairs.

One more thought on bathrooms. Yesterday after church I went to the mall to play video games and had to use the bathroom. Normally I like to take a book with me so that I can exercise both mind and bowels at the same time; but this wasn't a planned trip so I was empty-handed. However, the mall was playing some pretty good music so I sat there enjoying the music, adding my own percussions and laughing when I was off the beat. I sat there so long my legs fell asleep, which is what happens when I take a book to the bathroom. Once I can't feel my legs any longer I know when it's time to stop reading.

Bathrooms can be wonderful places, unless you have to clean the women's restrooms at the theater I work at. Our female customers have yet to learn to sit all the way down so they don't soil the toilet seats and the floor. Then then come to me to complain about how filthy the women's bathrooms are - as though I'm responsible for making them that way. What a load of crap!

Distractions Along the Journey

I've had this novel in my mind for over a couple years now...even have the first couple chapters already typed. The problem is, I don't know how it's going to end. I suspect it will turn into a trilogy or maybe even a Never Ending Story. The characters are there and I'm always coming up with scenes and rabbit trails to chase, but lack the discipline to just sit down, start typing and see where it all goes.

The last year has been nothing but distractions: a daughter with cancer; a son who's been laid off from work; another daughter who is a couple years away from college and a life that may take her far from her dad; a grandson who needs a father; debts to be paid; transportation problems; even hiccups in my walk of faith. Along the way, I've begun to wonder if I really have something worth saying. But the dream's still there so I guess it will eventually come to pass. I can only do what I can control.

I wish I could take credit for this, but Allen Asbury said this in a performance when he started his professional music career: "A basketball in my hands is worth about $20. A basketball in the hands of Michael Jordan is worth about $33 million. A tennis racket in my hand is worthless, but in the hands of Pete Sampras, it's worth plenty. Five loaves and two fishes in my hands will make a couple of fish sandwiches; in God's hands they will feed thousands. A rod in my hand may hold off wild animals; a rod in the hand of Moses can part a mighty sea. A few nails in my hand might make a nice birdhouse; nails in Jesus' hands provide salvation for everyone." It all depends on who's hands the instrument is in. All my hopes, dreams, fears, plans and goals are fragile in my own hands, but in the Lord's hands they produce peace, joy, and patience in an otherwise chaotic life.

I've assessed my talents and my pitiful strength lies in the tips of my fingers poised over a computer keyboard. I hope to use them to produce something that will move people somehow, whether it's to laughter, or to tears, from hopelessness to faith. I don't know where the story is going, but I'm blessed to have friends and family who pray for me, who loan me cars when mine is dead; feed me healthy meals when I'm subsisting on chips and dip; who take my grandson to school because his mom is sick and I'm late for work; who allow my youngest daughter to stay over on teacher workdays so I don't have to take off work. You know who you are - and I thank God for you.