Monthly Archives: August 2008

Breaking Out of Your Ruts

The Swerve blog, from Lifechurch.tv, has a piece on “The Numbness of Frequency,” by staffer Sam Roberts. Robert says that when you continually xpose people to the same thing in the same way, they become numb to it.

At work, I send email updates to our constituency on an as-needed basis–that is, whenever there’s somethign to tell them. I know that if I sent an email every Tuesday, week after week, they would become numb to it. “Oh, another email from Steve. Must be Tuesday.” I’ve sent emails on consecutive days, and I’ve gone three or four weeks without sending one. I don’t want to send emails just to send them. I want people to know that if I send something, it’s because there’s something worth reading.

Church services often follow the same predictable pattern. We do minor tweaks at Anchor, nothing drastic–just rearrange the same ol’ elements. But I think of some liturgical churches where the service order is firmly institutionalized. “Time for our second hymn. It must be 11:15.” I imagine it’s very easy to become numb in churches like that.

On the worship team, we can become numb to our own songs, doing them the same way every time. With one song this week, we tried changing the ending. In practice, we experimented with a progression of solos, but clearly saw a train wreck in the making, so we simplified it to a mere drumb solo. At least it was something different. People noticed.

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Three Novels

3novels_July08_300.jpgI need to get caught up on some novels I’ve read during the past couple weeks. Here are three.

Under the Skin, by James Carlos Blake. I stumbled across this book in Hyde Brothers used bookstore here in Fort Wayne. It was excellent. The book is in the roman noir genre, where the “good guys” are part of, or at least on the fringes of, the criminal element. This was a fabulous book. I’ll gobble up any other books I find by Blake (got one more on my shelf right now).

Severance Package, by Duane Swierczynski. This was an unusual book, the whole thing occurring within a period of a couple hours. The employees of a shadowy firm are gathered for a special Saturday morning meeting. The boss tells them that they are being shut down immediately, the building is in lockdown with no escape, and everyone needs to die. They can take a poison, or he’ll shoot them in the head–their choice. It’s a bit high-concept and artsy, but entertaining and unpredictable. I’ll definitely read more by this guy with the funny name.

Flinch, by Robert Ferrigno. Another good-author find at Hyde Brothers. Ferrigno’s written three books for the Black Lizard imprint, and I’ve now read all three. Ferrigno is terrific. The protagonist in “Flinch” and “Scavenger Hunt” is an entertainment writer trying to solve a serial murder case.

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Good Attitude

Dwayne Wade played on the 2004 Olympic basketball team, which went 5-3. Since 1936, Americans had lost a total of only two basketball games, so the 2004 Olympic squad more than doubled the loss number.

Wade says the 2008 team is totally different–that it’s a team, not a collection of all-stars. He’s not starting. Is that a problem?

“Not at all, I’m happy with my role on the team. It’s not about me. I’m a starter with the Miami Heat. I’m a franchise player there. This is the USA Olympic team. This is bigger. I’m enjoying my role on this team. I’m not trying to play 40 minutes. I’ll be happy with whatever the game calls for. One game, you might play 15, 20 minutes, the next, you might play five minutes. It’s just about us winning.”

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