This is My Little Princess. Her name is Grace and she is my favourite friend. For the last 3 and a half years she has filled me with joy as I watch this precious gift from God grow to love herself and all those around her. She is smart, playful, funny and confident. And I do mean confident. She will go up to kids 2 to 3 times her age and try to make friends. I always have a little giggle when she goes up to an older kid and says “Hi, what’s your name” and they don’t know what to do.

Grace makes me laugh in her unique special way. She likes to laugh out loud and will not hesitate to get me to repeat what I just did over and over again while she giggles. Her and I have more personal jokes than I have with anyone else, and we love to remind each other of them. Recently we watched The Jungle Book and we have been singing “The Bear Necessities” to each other ever since, acting out the parts and laughing. She is just the best.

Over the last 5 months she has been having random pains in her tummy. She is a trooper, sometimes she will just let us know it is sore but other times she is brought to tears with the pain. We got her checked out and after a series of appointments it is confirmed that she has gallstones. WHAT??? I know, totally random, uncommon in kids compared to adults; but they are there causing trouble. We asked what may have caused it, and in children the usual causes don’t really fit a 3yr old (e.g. fatty and unhealthy diet).

Regardless it means surgery. Not to be confused with kidney stones that can be passed out; the only way out is to remove the gallbladder completely. We are told it is a fairly routine keyhole surgery and she would only need 2-3 days in hospital. So it is booked in for the 28th May and that is that. Or is it?

Well, it is not. I am not sure if you realise but my daughter is a child of The King of Kings; she is fearfully and wonderfully made and sickness does not have a single right to be in her body. Jesus died for her salvation, not only from death but from sickness as well. So these fricken stones should never have set foot in My Little Princess and they are going to go and I believe they can go without surgery. Sure it is only a small surgery, but if I have the option of avoiding that completely why wouldn’t we go for it?

So we are keeping the surgery booking but we are booking in other ultrasound for next week and we are believing that sometime from here to there she will be healed and it will be confirmed on the ultrasound.

So will you join with us, attach your faith to ours and believe for a miracle. Below are some scriptures that we are using to keep us in faith and to see God work in our situation. Read them, speak them out and believe them to be true in your life, your families and for My Little Princess. Your prayers are so powerful and I know they will greatly assist us.

So we are believing for supernatural healing so no surgery has to take place; but even if it does we will believe for a quick recovery and know that we fought the good fight of faith and made a stand that sickness is not welcome in our family or any believers’ life.

Thanks

Dan.

Psalm 30:2
LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.

Mark 5:34
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Jeremiah 33:6
Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.

Joel 3:10
Let the weak say, “I am strong”.

Romans 8:11
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

Matthew 21:21
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done”.

Luke 4:40
As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one.

Matthew 7:7
Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.

Romans 8:11
The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

Matthew 8:2-3
A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

Isaiah 40:31
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I do apologise for it being six weeks since my last episode. I don’t know why but it has been really hard to do this and each week I miss it I feel more guilty so I miss it again. That is exactly why most people quit the one year bible, so I just had to be brave, suck up my pride, admit there is no excuse and just jump back on the horse. If you have stopped reading the bible in the last 6 weeks just jump back on. Don’t try and reason it; just do it.

Gosh we have covered a lot over the last 6 weeks but the story I want to pick is the story of Moses when he was a little child.

As we read, Pharaoh was killing all the newborn sons because he was scared of God’s people. So to save Moses his sister took him to the river and floated him in a basket down the river. The daughter of Pharaoh saw him and adopted him. But there is one part of the story that I kind of glossed over right up until a few years back and it is now my favourite part of the story. What is it? Well let me tell you another story that has something similar and then have a guess.

There is an amazing preacher from America called Jerry Savelel and he had a story that knocked my socks off. Just when he first started as a travelling preacher he met a man who worked for an airplane company. There will be a lot of facts from this story that will be taken out like I have no idea what airplane company so let’s roll with it. The man took Jerry to see that company’s very first private executive jet they had ever made. It was the only one made at the time, then they rolled them out as they were quite successful. Jerry was amazed at the plane and as as he was walking away from it God spoke to him and said “Claim that plane into your ministry”. At the time he didn’t even have a ministry but he did it anyway.

Now this is a long story about faith and sowing as he believed for it and sowed for it including giving away his own plane that he got for his now huge ministry, but that is not what I love about the story and what I love about the Moses and Miriam story.

In Jerry’s story at the end due to a miraculous set of circumstances that couldn’t of been planned, a friend of his had the same type of plane that he had believed for for 30 years. He had just bought it, and got it fixed up, but it wasn’t the right fit for him so he sold it to Jerry. But get this, it turned out that plane was of course, the original executive plane, the first one the company ever made. Jerry had gotten the exact plane he prayed for. Isn’t that amazing.

This is what I love to call God’s icing on the cake, doing things that are so impossible on top of things that are so impossible just because He can and He loves us.

So my favourite part is not that Moses happened to be miraculously discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, and that she loved him and adopted him (so the very person that was trying to kill him, his daughter is now protecting him). That is impossible and is a miracle. But get this, the Princess says out loud “I need a maid to raise this child” (because that is not what princess’ do back then I guess) and Miriam spoke up and suggested……. Moses’ Mum.

So Moses’ Mum was able to bring up Moses completely safe from the danger everyone else had to deal with and get this…. SHE GOT PAID TO DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you imagine how Miriam’s head would of been spinning on the way to tell her mum! “Hi Mum, you know that child of yours who you spent the last three days crying over as you had to hide him and you were never going to see him again and you can’t see how he would survive? Yeah, he is fine, he is a Prince now and you have a full time job looking after him for full pay. I think that worked out ok”.

God is amazing, never forget that.

Have Fun.

Dan

Next weeks reading can be found here

Jan:

10 Genesis 23:1-24:51
Matthew 8:1-17
Psalm 9:13-20
Proverbs 3:1-6

11 Genesis 24:52-26:16
Matthew 8:18-34
Psalm 10:1-15
Proverbs 3:7-8

12 Genesis 26:17-27:46
Matthew 9:1-17
Psalm 10:16-18
Proverbs 3:9-10

13 Genesis 28:1-29:35
Matthew 9:18-38
Psalm 11:1-7
Proverbs 3:11-12

14 Genesis 30:1-31:16
Matthew 10:1-23
Psalm 12:1-8
Proverbs 3:13-15

15 Genesis 31:17-32:12
Matthew 10:24-11:6
Psalm 13:1-6
Proverbs 3:16-18

16 Genesis 32:13-34:31
Matthew 11:7-30
Psalm 14:1-7
Proverbs 3:19-20

17 Genesis 35:1-36:43
Matthew 12:1-21
Psalm 15:1-5
Proverbs 3:21-26

What a great week, every day spending time in the Word not missing a single passage and living free from guilt and shame that you missed a few days, and you are supposed to be the leader on this and if you can’t read it everyday then you don’t deserve to be here and might as well call the whole thing off.

Can you tell I missed a few days?

It is funny that even though I knew the advice that if you miss a day just pick yourself back up straight away and move on. If you catch up great, if you don’t who cares. Read the bible in one year and one day – you are still reading your bible. But the guilt got to me. I missed a day, I have to read two, now is not a good time to read two so I will do it later. Oh dear it is the next day and now I have to read three, but who has time for that!!! It is a vicious cycle.

But the good news is I woke up to myself and before I missed another day I just picked that day’s reading and read it. Problem solved, back on square footing. Sure there are two days I am behind but I may catch up slowly over time. I could do one verse extra a day for all I care. Or I could wait until I am on holidays like Easter and I could take the time to catch up. At the end of the day no one is keeping score but everyone is looking around to see who is running and if you don’t stop running this adventure continues.

You see time changes everything and we see that in the story of Jacob who was running away from his brother. It had been many many years since he had seen his brother and the last time they hung out his brother was waiting for their dad to die so he could kill him. The kind of sibling rivalry that is taking it a little too far. So years later when he catches up to him he thinks he is a dead man but time has worked it’s magic and all has been smoothed out.

We can use this to our advantage when it comes to our bible reading. It may not be making sense, but give it time. It may not feel like it is impacting your life, but give it time. It may feel that there is not much point to the whole exercise, but give it time. If time can make a murderous brother into a loving sibling, I know it can take any situation and with a little bit of faith turn it into what you really need it to be.

Have Fun.

Dan

Next Week’s Readings

JAN:

18 Genesis 37:1-38:30
Matthew 12:22-45
Psalm 16:1-11
Proverbs 3:27-32
19 Genesis 39:1-41:16
Matthew 12:46-13:23
Psalm 17:1-15
Proverbs 3:33-35

20 Genesis 41:17-42:17
Matthew 13:24-46
Psalm 18:1-15
Proverbs 4:1-6

21 Genesis 42:18-43:34
Matthew 13:47-14:12
Psalm 18:16-36
Proverbs 4:7-10

22 Genesis 44:1-45:28
Matthew 14:13-36
Psalm 18:37-50
Proverbs 4:11-13

23 Genesis 46:1-47:31
Matthew 15:1-28
Psalm 19:1-14
Proverbs 4:14-19

24 Genesis 48:1-49:33
Matthew 15:29-16:12
Psalm 20:1-9
Proverbs 4:20-27

JAN:

04 Genesis 8:1-10:32
Matthew 4:12-25
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs 1:20-23

05 Genesis 11:1-13:4
Matthew 5:1-26
Psalm 5:1-12
Proverbs 1:24-28

06 Genesis 13:5-15:21
Matthew 5:27-48
Psalm 6:1-10
Proverbs 1:29-33

07 Genesis 16:1-18:15
Matthew 6:1-24
Psalm 7:1-17
Proverbs 2:1-5

08 Genesis 18:16-19:38
Matthew 6:25-7:14
Psalm 8:1-9
Proverbs 2:6-15

09 Genesis 20:1-22:24
Matthew 7:15-29
Psalm 9:1-12
Proverbs 2:16-22

10 Genesis 23:1-24:51
Matthew 8:1-17
Psalm 9:13-20
Proverbs 3:1-6

Hi there.

How are you going with your readings. I am going well though I have had a few ‘oh my, it is almost 12am and i haven’t read it’ like tonight. In fact tonight was ‘oh my, i haven’t read it and I haven’t written my blog about it and it is 5 mins to 12am’. So why havn’t I read it today, the answer is I am very very very sore. Let me explain.

Yesterday i did something that now feels very stupid. I signed up for an 8 week challenge personal training group sessions. Basically it means I will want to cry and throw up 5 times a week. So I have had two sessions, i have only thrown up in one…… but cried in both. Now after only 2 hours of exercise I am feeling the worst I have in a long time. I am constantly in pain, i can hardly move, i can’t pick thing off the ground, put my arms above my head and getting in and out of chairs is the worst.

Probably the worst thing about these training is I have been encouraged to push my body to it’s limits and I got there a few times. It is a strange feeling getting to a point where you can’t go any further. Not because I am lazy or my mind is playing tricks on me pleading with me to stop, but I actually can’t do something anymore. I am simply not strong enough.

I think about our readings this week where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his beloved son Issac and he chose to do it by faith. For those who have just joined us, don’t worry God stopped him, he was just testing how much faith he had. If that happened to me I would find myself in the same boat I was with not being able to do the exercise. I most likely couldn’t do it no matter how hard I tried.

But this doesn’t sound like Abraham the guy who told everyone his wife was his sister and let the Pharoh take her to marry her because he was afraid. What has happened? Well i beleive as I need to build my fitness and muscle over time Abhram built his faith. And the cool thing is it looks like God would only test him to how much he could handle at the time.

So Abraham is the guy with muscles apon muscles in the corner lifting weights the size of a small hatchback and we might not get to that but it is encouraging to see what can be done but choosing to trust God and build your faith.

I have faith I will live through this 8 week challenge, put pray for me when you get a chance.

Have Fun

Dan.

Next Week’s Readings

JAN:

11 Genesis 24:52-26:16
Matthew 8:18-34
Psalm 10:1-15
Proverbs 3:7-8

12 Genesis 26:17-27:46
Matthew 9:1-17
Psalm 10:16-18
Proverbs 3:9-10

13 Genesis 28:1-29:35
Matthew 9:18-38
Psalm 11:1-7
Proverbs 3:11-12

14 Genesis 30:1-31:16
Matthew 10:1-23
Psalm 12:1-8
Proverbs 3:13-15

15 Genesis 31:17-32:12
Matthew 10:24-11:6
Psalm 13:1-6
Proverbs 3:16-18

16 Genesis 32:13-34:31
Matthew 11:7-30
Psalm 14:1-7
Proverbs 3:19-20

17 Genesis 35:1-36:43
Matthew 12:1-21
Psalm 15:1-5
Proverbs 3:21-26

Verses read

Jan:

01 Genesis 1:1-2:25
Matthew 1:1-2:12
Psalm 1:1-6
Proverbs 1:1-6

02 Genesis 3:1-4:26
Matthew 2:13-3:6
Psalm 2:1-12
Proverbs 1:7-9

03 Genesis 5:1-7:24
Matthew 3:7-4:11
Psalm 3:1-8
Proverbs 1:10-19

Happy New Year and welcome to this weeks reading. It has been a bit of an intresting start for me as I have been in New York for New Years Eve, then jumped on a plane at 6pm new years day and got to Sydney at 10am on Jan 3rd, that is a lot of flying

But I have still managed to read the daily readings. The tough part is to work out what to write about. I have put on a pressure on myself all of a sudden to now be an inspirational writer that gets revelations from the bible and shares it in a contemporary and impacting way. This is a lot of pressure and I am not sure if I am ready for it.

In fact I don’t think I am ready for this whole adventure. I should have told a lot more people about it before we started, I should have make the instructions more clear. In fact the link I put for the plan wasn’t complete and I am worried of the people that are doing it they have missed a few days and are going get disheartened and stop before they have started. Btw the new link is here

But it is funny how a lot of the time God doesn’t really care if you are ready but more if you are willing. The bible is full of those stories and we started with one of the classics on the first day with Matthew 1 with Mary and Joseph. They were not even married, totally not ready to have kids. Then when Mary became pregnant Joseph was not ready for the pressure, judgment and responsibility of having a child out of wedlock. He may not was ready to be married, they were only engaged. But both him and Mary were simply willing and have played a part in shaping history.

So this week don’t worry about if you are ready hear from God as you read his word each day, just be willing.

Have Fun

Dan.

Next week’s readings

Jan:

04 Genesis 8:1-10:32
Matthew 4:12-25
Psalm 4:1-8
Proverbs 1:20-23

05 Genesis 11:1-13:4
Matthew 5:1-26
Psalm 5:1-12
Proverbs 1:24-28

06 Genesis 13:5-15:21
Matthew 5:27-48
Psalm 6:1-10
Proverbs 1:29-33

07 Genesis 16:1-18:15
Matthew 6:1-24
Psalm 7:1-17
Proverbs 2:1-5

08 Genesis 18:16-19:38
Matthew 6:25-7:14
Psalm 8:1-9
Proverbs 2:6-15

09 Genesis 20:1-22:24
Matthew 7:15-29
Psalm 9:1-12
Proverbs 2:16-22

10 Genesis 23:1-24:51
Matthew 8:1-17
Psalm 9:13-20
Proverbs 3:1-6

It is almost the new year and I would like you to join me in reading the whole bible in a year.

So are you in? Great, here are the guidelines:

1. Don’t read ahead – See previous episode.

2. Remember the aim of the game is to read a little bit each day. Try to the best of your ability to read the daily reading, even if you only do a little bit of the reading it is better than nothing. But it is ok if you miss a day, just use guideline three.

3. If you miss, move on. A big trap is when you miss a day you feel like you need to read two full days the next day. But that is a 100% increase and hard to do, especially if it is late at night and you forgot to read it again. So I suggest just move on. Make a note of what you have missed and either skip that day or be a day behind. On the bible app you can click a button that says ‘Catch me up’ and this will bring you up to date and just push out the finish date by a day. Now if you get a chance later and you feel up to reading more then catch up but no stress. Worst case you will read the bible in one year and one day. Who cares – remember guideline 2.

4. Don’t make it harder than it is. Sometimes the bible is not the easiest thing to read and understand. Remember simply reading God’s word is good for you, even if you don’t fully understand it at the time. Don’t force yourself to go over and over it if you don’t want to. It is 15 mins a day reading, it doesn’t have to be 2 hours (unless you want it to be).

5. Keep yourself accountable. Now this doesn’t have to be a buddy but that is always a good one. What I did recently was post on twitter when I finished. This time I am blogging weekly about it so I know I am going to read it. Anything that helps remind you – hopefully before bed.

So those are the guidelines, here are the instructions:

1. For iphone and android users download for free the app ‘The Bible’ by ‘YouVersion’. Then go to browse plans, full year bible plans, then ‘One Year Bible’. The one year bible is great because it has a bit of everything each day, some old testament, some new testament, a psalm and a proverb.

2. For those who are bringing paper back and using an actual bible go to here and it has the full years readings.

3. Check out www.thethursdayblog.com each thursday for a thought on the weeks’ readings. Feel free to comment and let us know what you got out of it.

4. Read the thing.

5. Invite others to join. They can join anything during the year and come along. You may start in the middle and read on and then finish the bible in 2014….. which would be awesome!!!

What I believe is that this year is going to be such a great year to sow and plant and this time you devote to God and studying His word will be extremely beneificial.

So there is nothing left to say except for -

Have Fun and Happy New Year

Dan.

It has been a few weeks but I have been travelling. I find myself just arrived in San Francisco, sitting down after a big day’s driving.

Lots to tell you but instead there is something more important to talk about and that is next year’s bible reading club. So here is …

Tip 1 – Never Read Ahead

We are about to embark on a journey that a lot of people have set upon before but may not have made it to revelation. We are going to read the bible from cover to cover in a year. I feel like I am qualified to lead this group as I have not only completed 5 different full bible plans; but I have also failed about 8 other times. And each time I have learnt something different that has helped me the next time. I am going to share these over:

1. Never read ahead!!!

Now most would think the rule would be never miss a day but we are all human and we will miss a day or two but the trap nearly everyone makes is that they get so excited at the start of the plan that they read ahead and they really read ahead. I knew a youth pastor who told me how excited she was with her one year bible plan that she was at Numbers by the end of January. That is an amazing amount of reading in a month, but come March she had given up. Why? It was because she gotten so far ahead she thought it was ok to miss days when it was a little tough to read that day. One day turned into another and another and before long she was behind and had given up.

When we start on Jan 1 you may be pumped that you are finally doing this so you will be tempted to start strong and read 2 or three days but this plan is flawed because the aim of the game is not to read the whole bible, but to read the bible every day! People make the same mistake when getting into exercise. They go for a 5km run on their first day and then are too sore to go again during the week. Exercise is more effective when it is done regularly. You can’t just exercise for 3.5 hours once a week and think that is the same as 30 mins a day. It doesn’t work that way (though we wish it did).

At the end of 2013 when we all have read the entire bible from cover to cover I pray that you will have a new sense of hunger for the bible that can only be satisfied on a daily basis. We want it to become our daily bread and committing to this plan will make it just that.

If you are interested in joining us in this reading plan subscribe to this blog and all the info will come out shortly.

Have Fun.

Dan

I have been on a journey for the last 80 something days and it is due to come to an end soon. But I want to set out on another adventure and I want as many as you to come with me. Let me explain in today’s episode called:

Let’s do it – The One Year Life-Changing Challenge

This year has been crazy and a part of me has just survived through it. I have been riding the wave of circumstance and even though the waves were big, what has happened this year has been both awesome and sad (separate events), still I was simply riding. What would happen when the waves stopped?

In fact a lot of things in my life that I had previously done to make traction in my life were being forgotten about or left to the side. This could be seen in my devotion to reading the bible.

I wasn’t doing much of it, not enough to call myself an apostle and sit at the high seats at the synagogue. Now obviously it was a hard time in my life as I turned to crime, drugs, rock n roll, and even fake hair extensions. But here is the thing, none of what I said in the last two sentences was true. I was growing close to God as I was going through one of the biggest faith journeys of my life.

Now hold on, I am not saying don’t read your bible as you don’t need it to have a relationship with God; but when it comes down to it you don’t. God loves you regardless whether you read the bible or not. But it helps so much in so many ways when you do.

I have read the bible from cover to cover 4 times and have been reading it for over 10 years. It is amazing how much of it helped me during my time of challenge even when I wasn’t reading it that day or week or on occasion month. We all go through seasons and what often kept me in that season is simply guilt. I felt guilty that I didn’t read it, didn’t put God first and didn’t love Him, so I chose not to do it again the next day. How stupid is that? But if I took away the guilt then I am free to choose and I choose life.

So 82 days ago I said stuff this “feeling bad I didn’t read it again” feeling, I am just going to do it and get an overload. So I started the bible in 90 days. It is crazy quick. I finished Genesis by day 4, Psalms took over a week. The distribution is a little funny as on the first day of Psalms I had 24 to read, but on day 6 I had 28 to read including Psalm 119. I did a lot of listening to the audio reading and usually a chapter was 3-5 mins, a Psalm 1-3 mins; but Psalm 119 took 19 whole minutes. It was awesome.

So I am so glad 82 days ago I said – Stuff it – Let’s do it, and I am. So come the first of January I want to do it all again but embark on a one year adventure as we read the whole bible in a year. We are going to do the One Year Bible that is available on “you version” on your smart phone for free, also I will be posting the year’s plan on this blog so you can read in a paper bible if you have heard of them. In fact you can buy this bible from most Christian bookshops with this plan integrated in it. The One Year Bible is the most popular one-year reading plan ever. It gives you a bit of Old testament, a bit of New, a bit of a Psalm and a Proverb everyday. This makes it much easier especially when you get to the building instructions to the tabernacle you can read on and hear what Jesus is up to as well as get inspired by a Psalm and get some wisdom as well.

More details will come but for now, will you join me and my friends (I am telling everybody I know to join with me) and read the bible in a year. If you have never done it before then 2013 is your year. If you have done it many times then why don’t you join with others around the world who are giving it a go. Now if you have never read the bible in your life then this will be one interesting ride that I hope you come on. I am sure there will be plenty of reasons not to but Stuff it – Let’s do it.

Have Fun.

Dan

Wow!!!! Two blogs in two weeks. What is this world coming to???

Well today’s blog has a video so it is cheating a bit. This episode, as well as the video is called:

Conversations in Kids Ministry

Hi

As you would recall a few months back we had an episode on waiting on creativity. Well this performance below was what we waited for and we are so glad we did.

We tried to do something new and completely out of our comfort zones. I don’t know why but Kidshaper is always the place where we are challenged to take it to the next level. That means you should register and come next year. It is such a great few days and Sam Luce will be there which I am so very excited for. Anyway back to the performance.

We decided to write a song all about kids ministry. We worked out that there are a lot of interesting conversations that happen when you are in kids ministry; a lot of which don’t make sense. Whether it is with an over zealous intern or a mother who thinks their child is a bit more talented that the world gives them credit for. These are the conversations that happen time and time again in our kids ministry so we decided to have some fun with them.

So with my captain oh captain Dave Wakerley at the keyboard, and modesty dividers armed with 4 changes of clothes, we set about the nerve-racking task of acting and singing this little song called “Conversations in Kids Ministry”.

Enjoy and Have Fun.

Things have been things recently. I don’t want to say busy, hectic, out of control, challenging; so instead I will say that things have just been things.  Sometimes it helps not to box everything and let it just be.

Speaking of just being, that is exactly what I will do by launching into today’s episode called:

Be there in 5

I have been trying to organise something lately and everything is on hold whilst I wait. As much as I am a cool customer I have checked my email every 1 – 3 …….minutes for the last 3 days. They said it could take up to two weeks for it to be ready but part of me thinks that 1 to 2 days is more likely and therefore I should receive a call or email any minute. Talk about disappointment.

Now here is the funny thing if I didn’t have this silly belief that I am going to be really lucky and have it ready way early, then I would be in a much better frame of mind. In fact if I told myself that it would be 3-4 weeks then when it does arrive in 2 weeks I will be ecstatic rather than worn out from waiting. It just goes to show how our expectations can change everything.

I was once hanging out with a friend of mine who had a communal work car and was supposed to be back at 12pm so someone else could use it. 12pm came and we were stuck in traffic and his phone rang. My friend apologised and then said something baffling: “I will be there in 10 mins”. Now I knew the area quite well and I knew that it was only physically possible to get back in 10 mins if it was 2am on a school night! With traffic it would be at least 15-20 mins and it turned out to be the latter. By the time my friend got back the other person was furious as they had been waiting so long. Since that day I made a decision to be clever when setting expectations.

So this is what I would do in that same situation. I would apologise and say “I am going to be 25 mins”. Now the person will be upset with me and rightly so as I am late, but he has 25 mins to calm down. Now when I get there after 20 mins, he has calmed down and I am now early!!! But in my friend’s case after 10 mins he was late for a second time and the person had another 10 mins for their rage to build.  So in both cases we were late and he was upset, but in my case I was early and it is funny how those two things cancel each other out.

There has to be reason to this method. I am sure it is not wise to say to My Princess “I am off to the cornerstore to get eggs, I will be back in 7 hours” just in case there is traffic…. whilst walking. But it is interesting to catch yourself saying things like “I will be there in 5” or “I can do that straight away” or “sure I can tame a lion, give me 30 mins”. What is it that makes us tell people what they want to hear then not deliver?

In the business world we call it “managing expectations” and I think it is something we should try more often.

Now if you will excuse me I need to check my email.

Have Fun.

Dan