Changing your chair at church isn't that big of a deal, or is it? As it turns out, it IS a big deal. Not so much for us, but for others. Now I will tell you that we normally sit in the same spot every week. Right side, second row, middle seats. Why? Well, our friends sit there, we like it there and we are comfortable there. All good reasons to keep sitting in the same spot.

However, for the last two weeks we mixed it up a bit, we changed our seats at church. We moved from the right side to the left side. We moved from the second row to the fourth row. We moved from middle seats to end seats. And, we created a mild form of chaos in the process. One of the band members even exited stage right to come by and make a funny comment to me about the “big move.” I learned a few things from moving seats that can apply to all of us in one way or another.

What Happened When We Changed Chairs?

It Caused Questions
“Why are you sitting over here?” “Why the change?” “Why did you move over here, did the ticket price go up over there?” Yes, I was asked all three

Did you know that your attitude will effect your altitude? If you aren’t sure about that then the next time you board an airplane take a look into the flight deck. Better yet, ask the pilot what attitude the plane is in at the moment!

No, you won’t get a laugh. You will most likely get a smile and kind response from the pilot. They may say something like, “right now the plane has a pretty level attitude.” If you have a clever and creative pilot they may say something like this. “Well, last time I checked the plane had a level attitude but, to be honest, the plane is a little unpredictable. Ask me in about 30 minutes and I bet the attitude will have changed.”

What? Are you telling me a plane has attitude? Yes, that's what I am telling you. If you look...

I like the emotion a great photograph can communicate. The right photo can express joy or sorrow, happiness or pain, success or struggle. A great photograph communicates. It tells a story without speaking, makes you laugh without telling a joke or gives you compassion without telling it’s plight.

Capturing a picture that shows energy, expression and emotion isn’t easy. It takes time, patience and yes, it takes skill. Time and patience are the easiest of the three to understand. Skill, that's the tough one. It's the practice of our knowledge and understanding that give us the skill we need to take better pictures and become better leaders.

There are 5 things we must understand if we want to be a good photographer or a good leader...

I was five years old and my mom and I were driving down the road near our home. Before I knew what happened my mom had stopped the car, jumped out and ran across the street to flag down a passing car. She appeared panicked but nothing appeared to be wrong.

Once the couple pulled over to help I noticed my mom breathing into a lunch sack the driver had given her. What just happened to my mom? Some would call it an anxiety or panic attack, either way the effect of stress took it’s toll on my mom that day. The doctors call it hyperventilation which is an abnormally fast or shallow breathing pattern that can be brought on by stress.

We all feel the pressure of stress. Meeting deadlines, trying to get more done, finishing a “to do” list, taking kids to practice, picking kids up from practice, paying bills...

There is a rule that I believe most of us are not familiar with, at least I wasn’t aware of it until about a year ago when I started writing the book “Faith and the Modern Family.” Let me explain.

It’s called The Rule of Three and it “Suggests things that come in threes are inherently funnier, more satisfying, or more effective than other numbers of things. The reader or audience of this form of text is also more likely to consume information if it is written in groups of threes.” When you stop and think about it we are taught from a young age about the number...