My new hobby

Ever since I started to write to get published it hasn't seemed as fun. So I decided I was to start a new hobby. What was this hobby? Magic.


So here is the story of my trek to magical mediocrity.


First off, I am not dabbling in witchcraft, just illusion. I am, and have been as far back as I can remember, interested in how people do magic. I remember watching David Copperfield on television, and thinking what he did was cool, yet not impressive.


Why? well... he was in a studio. He had hours to practise, thousands to spend, and an aura of impenetrability that set him above mere mortals such as myself. Then I saw David Blaine.


He preformed his own version of a trick called "King Rising". Not in a studio, only with a t-shirt and some jeans, and as a normal guy walking the streets. He approached a group of women who were shopping, and asked if they wanted to see some magic. When they replied yes, he walked a few feet away from them, turned his back to them, stretched out his arms by his sides, and then raised five inches off the ground. All of him. He levitated five inches off the ground. Half of my mind said it was illusion, the other half said it was Satan.


I later found out you can buy books, DVD's and gimmicks that will let you preform this same trick. That is when my new hobby started. I knew I was a beginner so I decided to start with card effects. After all, card tricks are easy! Right? Wrong.


I bought six decks of the coolest playing cards I could find. The Black Tiger deck, and the Ghost deck. Then I got two videos explaining two basic effects. Mercury, and The Axis Change. When I preformed Mercury for a friend of mine he started to grab my arms to see if I had anything up my sleeves. He was amazed and I was hooked.


I have since learned more. Not just little tricks but I have started to learn the art of slieght of hand. At this point things are not so easy. I have never purposely put myself in a situation before where I could look like such an idiot! In fact I often do, but it is the times when the person I am preforming for grabs my arms or flipps out because I switched the card in his or her hands with the card he or she had picked. Or when they watch thier bent and signed card jump from the middle of the deck to the top.


Now if I can only learn to make money, a wife, and sleep magically appear out of nowhere. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Decipiatur... ?

The quote you see in the title of this post is from a man named Petronius and translates as: The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived. A forger of satirical literature, what I have read leads me to imagine this statement as one of frustration.

You see petronius was in the court of Nero and hated his ways. When he killed himself he did it in the most insulting way possible, and left the emperor out of his will. Specifically to make Nero mad. He even destroyed his favorite vase so it would not fall into the emperors hands. From what I have read, petronius saw a world dominated and deceived by an evil emperor. This deception was so obvious to petronius he could not see why anyone would believe the enemy. Why was it so obvious to him?

Petronius was close to the problem. We are close to the things we know best. We can study them and explore their workings. In other words "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." What are the deceptions that you have that are right under your nose?

Maybe it is a lie about your relationship with God. You think you are close enough but you aren't even in the same world. Maybe it is the lie that closeness with God does not matter. Questions of worth open us to great deception. If we believe we are worth much we are believing a lie. In comparison to other things we are worth nothing. Conversely, we cannot believe that we are worth absolutely nothing. To God we are worth everything.

Deception is all around us. Some of us like deception for the simple reason that the lies take away our responsibilities. Many believe that the church as a whole is doing well. Few recognize that we are on a statistically steep slope. That if things continue on the path they are on there will be no church in ten years. So why do we believe the church is doing well? We are not close to it. We keep it for Sundays and special events. We like "playing church". We do not own it, but instead, let the clergy.

Take a step back from life for a second. What lies are you buying into? Use Christ's teaching as a light. in John 8:31, Jesus says ; ..."If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Following Christ is all about freedom. Do you have freedom? Or are you happy being deceived?

The windmills ARE giants!

Have you ever experienced a freeze in time? You stop what you are doing. The world melts around you. Sound fades. Your focus shifts and what you see as important changes. This is my tale of such an experience.

The church I work for was doing its annual Family Fall Festival on Tuesday. Last Thursday I stayed to help a good friend of mine drum up volunteer workers. I made about thirty calls and my mind was numb. After a Starbucks break (For those of you who know me I can't stand Starbucks coffee, so relax... I had a Carmel apple cider... it was amazing.), I went back to calling. My first call was to a couple who could not serve because a family member was on the brink of death and they were essentially waiting to bury her.

I was shocked. This is when time froze. There were others in the office working, but I didn't hear them. I am wondering why this hit me so hard. People die all the time, right? I remember thinking "What can I do to help these people?" So I prayed for them, got all of the vital info etc. Then hung up, feeling that wasn't enough. Next call... "I'm sorry I have to attend a funeral." the next... "I'm sorry you have her ex-husbands phone number would you like hers?" then... "Sorry, it's just me and the kids, so I have to work that night." Here I was volunteering to tackle the giant of the volunteer shortage, and i found out it was a windmill instead.

In his book "Don Quixote", Miguel de Cervantes tells the story of a crazy old war veteran who ends up jousting with windmills, claiming they are giants. Only to get smacked in the head with a blade from its fan. Fighting the wrong enemy can and will be our downfall.

So I ask you this. Which is the windmill and which is the giant? We focus on the event and call it a giant. After all it as the possibility of producing hundreds of converts. I, however, am willing to say otherwise. Even at the risk of being a Don Quixote.

You see, the modern church thinks filling a dome with tens of thousands and giving a watered down, half baked, and frankly cheap gospel is "at least spreading the good news." I don't buy it. You shouldn't either. If it doesn't cost you your life, it won't gain you a new one. It's a get what you paid for scenario.

Some may say the pains of people are the windmills detracting from the REAL giant, people in the pews. I say the windmills ARE giants. Not the other way around.