I’ve been trying to read 30 to 60 minutes of fiction or autobiography every night before falling asleep. I find that it’s a good mind decompressor.

Last night I wrapped up The Alchemist by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho (which, by my best guess, is pronounced “quel-yo”.. like Ronaldinho). I’ve run across Coelho’s name a lot lately & I know he has some rabid fans, so I had to see if all the buzz was warranted.

I’d say it certainly is.

Coelho is a pretty enchanting storyteller who has a rare ability to say a lot about life - to even change lives - without wasting a single page on meaningless narrative. This particular book is an effortless read with a deep message about following your dreams.

Like Santiago, who leaves the simple comfort of a shepherd’s life in Spain to seek buried treasure abroad, we all have something we were meant to do. A passion that is rooted in the deepest fabric of our being.

The question: Are you living the fullest extent of your passion at this moment?

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Can we all collectively agree to behave like civil, peaceful adults when it comes to dealing in the marketplace?

I’ll explain.

First some background. I send regular emails to the Teamwork Lead System community and everyone who has opted to receive information from us. These emails typically highlight a great new product, service, or news feature that I believe will benefit our community of real estate investors.

On the sidebar I usually post ads for our Teamwork Lead System and Teamwork Comps products. These ads have been there on every email I’ve sent for months.

Today we received a profanity-laced, CAPS-LOCK-heavy email from a guy, who was apparently completely incensed that we advertised he could “try Teamwork Comps 30 days for free” and when he went to the site it was actually $9.95.

It was a mistake on my part. For a short promotional period we offered it free, but then we raised the price to $9.95 and I had simply forgotten to change the ad in my email.

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My wife & I have been married for 14 months now & the reality of kids is still beyond the foreseeable future.

In fact, we JUST added a third member to the house… a scrappy Hawaiian mixed-martial arts kitten named Cooper. This is step #1a in preparing me for diapers & other related obligations.

Solomon gave me some serious wisdom in Proverbs 24:27 that I’ve taken to heart:

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.

I’ve still got some serious field work to do before I get busy on the house! But this doesn’t mean I haven’t thought about child-rearing strategy.

There’s a pervasive attitude in America that children “must be taught the value of hard work.” Having taken the proverbial red pill (comprised of equal parts Rich Dad Poor Dad & 4-Hour Workweek), I am fairly convinced it’s immeasurably more important to teach the value of “smart work” as a parent.

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It’s been a month since Hope Chapel Mana`olana, my church body here on O`ahu, made the change to the house/garage/beach church model. Enough time to begin to measure some results.

First of all, what has this looked like?

It’s been meeting with some friends for BBQ, surfing, worship & hanging out at Kakaako Park. It’s been early morning coffee & catching up with a friend. It’s been late night Wii Tiger Woods Golf & accountability with another friend.

It’s been creating an environment at my house where some family members - who would never “go to church” - have felt comfortable discussing God. It’s been not feeling the obligation to rush out the door on Sunday morning.

It’s been an evolving picture, but it’s all a move toward eliminating this church-as-a-destination way of thought that’s become THE model for modern Christianity. A model that personally changed my life and has been given years of opportunity to be effective, but has achieved generally mixed results and has alienated countless numbers to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This new model is an attempt to return to our roots as an interconnected, interdependent network of believers passionately pursuing Jesus Christ together.

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I didn’t catch this live, but enough people told me about it that I had to YouTube it.

I’m not going to lie, I had a nice manly tear fest over the fact that 100 billion American Idol viewers saw this…

There are 4 shows I still make time for:

1) American Idol… I’m secure in saying this - they’ve raised like $80 million to support kids in the US & Africa

2) Conan O’Brien… Try it, you’ll like it

3) LOST… Somehow I run into Hurley all the time… including the magazine section at Borders yesterday

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“Underpromise and Overdeliver” is a common business mantra, but it’s certainly a wise approach to live by in general.

How many times have you talked up a comedian as “the funniest,” or a movie as “the best,” or a restaurant as “the most incredible food you’ve ever had.” And how many times does that object actually live up to its high billing?

If you’re experience has been like mine, I’ve let a lot of people down! If you set the bar at a height that’s so difficult to attain, you’re bound to disappoint.

I had this experience in my business this past week. I OVERpromised & UNDERdelivered, and it’s resulted in a lot of damage control & public relations efforts.

However, much of my “underdelivery” is the result of a strategic partner who has grossly underperformed what we contracted with them to do. When they didn’t deliver to me, the burden fell on me as I couldn’t deliver to my customers.

The result has been a uncharacteristically high level of stress, which I absolutely hate with all my limited capacity to hate.

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One final thing I caught in Paul’s letter to Philemon. Verse 6 says “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

Did you catch that??

Be active in sharing your faith SO THAT you will have understanding!

Simply sharing our faith.. with each other & with those who don’t have it… gives us understanding of Jesus Christ. Knowing Him more isn’t a solo effort between you & your Bible. Hanging out with each other, just talking about the TRUTH, gives us knowledge of our Savior!

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I’m not even sure what to call what I’m currently experiencing. It’s more than jet lag. Maybe premium jet lag plus.

I’ve literally gotten 3 hours of sleep in the past 2 days. I’m in toasty Tampa, Florida for Mike Collins’s Pitch-Free Wholesaling Seminar. On Friday, the Rehablist boys found out that a speaker couldn’t make it on Saturday, so they asked me to speak for an hour.

Less than 24 hours notice, but you can’t turn that down.  A ton of real estate educators would pay to be on that stage.  So I ran with it.  It was my biggest audience to date (120+), but the response was pretty solid.

They made me feel a little more at home with a lei, some coconuts, & torches, and I opened up with my version of the Maori haka.

Mines is on tape, so I’ll try to get it up here. It was nothing like the real thing, but it definitely got the crowd in the game.

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I’m doing a quick study of Philemon with some brothers & sisters this week. I’m not even sure how to pronounce that name, but when my wife says it it comes out a lot like “Filet Mignon”.

I got a laugh out of that, but for years one botchery has stood alone as the funniest biblical mispronunciation of my lifetime.

My college roommate was convinced that HABABCOCK was a book of the Old Testament.

Hababcock.

No joke.

Anyway… Paul writes this letter “to Philemon… and the church that meets in your home.”

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I think a lot of believers have the wrong idea about money.

We read verses like Matthew 19:24…

… it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

and 1 Timothy 6:7-9…

For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.

and we condition ourselves to not think unnecessarily about money.

It’s understandable… money definitely has a lot of worldly connotations - greed, jealously, hedonism - but I think having an aversion toward it because of those things is the exact opposite of how we’re supposed to think.

In viewing it this way, we’re letting the enemy take this one. We’re like a decathlete who doesn’t participate in the shotput because it’s uncomfortable for his arm, and he thinks he can still win by working hard in the other nine events.

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