So, by the grace of God go I. These coming months will be an adventure in patience and perseverance.

Maybe as someone who’s becoming more and more aware of the power of colors to cause and create emotion…it’s the explosion of colors that I’m attracted to. It’s new and fresh…vibrant yellows, oranges and everything in between. For someone who loves change – maybe this just fits my nature.

So now we begin the foray into Fall colors and soon thereafter we delve into the world of Christmas and the relative harshness of winter. The coming months are a bit of a “hold on, here we go” time of the year and these coming months will be all that and then some. It’s going to be quite a ride.

Where to go and how to get there? That’s the prime question that I’m in the midst of answering and, to be completely honest, I’m not sure where that is or what it looks like. I have glimpses at times but nothing specific enough to be able to state something like… “it is x with a little bit of y and a dash of z”.

So, I will begin where I left off – talking about things that matter to me that I find have at least some chance of being relevant to others (people like you, for instance). Whether a book review or a glimpse into things I encounter on a daily basis. I must warn you…I’m a bit of a scatter-brain so there’s a chance in my ongoing shotgun approach, that you’ve landed here by some freak Google-searching accident. My apologies.

It won’t be a journal, per se…even though this present entry reads an awful lot like one. I’ll avoid using too many I’s because that would be a little too narcissistic and I might end up boring myself. That would be a horrible thing, especially if I’m the only one reading at all.

Things move so fast that it’s easy to lose perspective on the advancing time. If you’re anything like me, my life is so connected to my iPhone that if you were to talk about a time in history called “Pre-iPhone”, I may just give you a raised eye-brow look of “are you crazy? The iPhone has always been.”

Believe it or not – when I entered college…the cellphone was a big brick that was super expensive and, according to many, indestructible. My freshman year in college? It was 14.4K dial-up access for the lucky few who had one of those cool modem “thingies”, let alone the cash to shell out for a big heavy desktop. In fact, while most entering college freshmen these days have to choose between Apple or Dell laptops – my great choice was between a word processor (purchased by mua) or frequent trips to the library to type up my papers. I splurged on the word processor but “lucked” out with a car accident that ended up helping me buy another car, pay off some school…and buy a not-so-sweet IBM PS2 desktop.

Man…just writing that previous paragraph makes me feel old…

But that was only “mumble-mumble” years ago…seemingly a time from the dark ages when we actually hand-wrote our letters (true story) and still had rotary phones lying around. Lion and tigers and bears…oh my!

I hear the sound of “Memories” from Cats going through my head now…which reminds me. I need to check on the great Twitter race…the world is waiting with baited breath. Who will win?!

UPDATE: Ashton crossed the line in first place! Now we’re that much closer to world peace.

Speaking of Twitter – you can follow my daily ramblings and not-so-insightful insights at: http://twitter.com/jonhaarstad

This is a great view at our federal deficit – the root causes, the pitfalls…and what we need to change to divert the coming disaster.  I was especially struck by the discussion of savings and how much Americans have bought into the same mentality our government has become used to – spending more than we bring in (both sides of the political aisle share the blame).  The numbers and graphs are quite revealing.

Revealing information…and this problem is a-political.  We have a serious problem and we all need to recognize the bingeing elephant in the room and make the tough choices to avoid the coming implosion.  We must stop spending what we don’t have.

Well, now Kindle 2 is out (or will be February 24th for those with the money to snatch them up before they run out of stock) – and from my initial preview, these machines are radically different and have me singing a much different tune…as in, “I’d love one, thank you!”.

The sticker price is a little high for my budget so I’ll have to start saving my spare nickels and dimes.

The book presents some valuable information that looks at the underlying causes and motivations of the people that make up our churches. While some of the conclusions are nothing revolutionary, there are plenty of insightful conclusions that run a bit counter to what many churches perceive their purposes and directives are and how well they are meeting those needs and concerns.

BUY NOW: “Follow Me (REVEAL)” (Greg Hawkins, Cally Parkinson)

The book itself was a loaner from my father who is always passing along books he’s read. During my last visit – he was in the middle of reading it and as soon as he finished – it was a pretty adamant…”read this”.

Within the pages, Andy Stanley looks at what makes a good leader and what he talks about comes from his own journey. One of Andy’s strengths – whether speaking or writing – is his ability to humanize things and the book is no exception. He draws much of his wisdom from his own successes and failures.

The book is broken up into five parts which he refers to the as the “Five Essentials for Those Who Will Shape The Future”. These five essentials are:

1. Competence – Do Less, Accomplish More
2. Courage – Courage Establishes Leadership
3. Clarity – Uncertainty Demands Clarity
4. Coaching – Coaching Enables a Leader to go Farther, Faster
5. Character – Character Determines the Leader’s Legacy

It’s been an enlightening read and with a new year quickly approaching, I couldn’t help but review my own life, find the wisdom that requires application…and begin to map out how I’ll make those values and traits, realities.

One of my favorite quotes from the book was a quote from Dr. Howard Hendricks:

“The secret of concentration is elimination.”

…how simple and true that is.

While this book is written by a pastor and has a lot of ministerial references, the crux of the book revolved around the nature, practice and enhancement of LEADERSHIP. With that, if you are or aspire to be a leader in any capacity, this would be a great resource for you.

BUY NOW: “Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future” (Andy Stanley)

Daily Routines is a blog that does nice work of compiling accounts of how famous minds—great, inspired, slothful, procrastination-prone, and otherwise—set about their tasks. All the quotes and anecdotes come from linked interviews, biographies, or other accounts, and while the workers covered tend toward the creative side, there’s a few mathematicians, architects, and other left-brainers. Definitely worth a read if you feel like your own work routine could use a reboot, or you just need reassurance that even Kafka—okay, especially Kafka—found it hard to just sit down and write.

Daily Routines

[From Daily Routines Details the Productivity Habits of Famous Folks [Habits]]