Check out the video of this exceptional Christmas lights display choreographed to the music of Amazing Grace.

Perhaps the best part is that we can enjoy the beautiful lights and music without having to spend hundreds of hours or thousands of dollars to set it up.’

It can be a struggle to navigate through busyness of the season and maintain an attitude of peace, joy and anticipation. To help with that, I’m referring back to a post I wrote last year

12 Tips to Reduce Stress and Live Intentionally During the Christmas Season

Today we’re reviewing, discussing, and giving away a copy of Mary’s Son by Darryl Nyznyk. Keep reading to learn how you can win a free copy.

Mary’s Son is a modern-day Christmas tale first told by author Darryl Nyznyk in front of the fireplace during his daughter’s sleep-over birthday party. It’s the story of two angry young people bent on their own destruction, who are visited by a mysterious old man just before Christmas. He tries in vain to help them until, in desperation, he whisks them back in time to witness the first Christmas. They learn the real meaning of both Christmas and their own lives.

It’s a heart-warming, family friendly story along the lines of Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life and Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. It’s no stretch to imagine it being made into a movie some day.

Get a Free Book

If you’d like a free copy of Mary’s Son, all you have to do is

1. Retweet this post or share it on Facebook, and
2. Post a comment answering the question: what’s your favorite Christmas story of all time? (If it’s the original story of Christmas found in chapter 2 of Luke in the bible, let us know your second favorite story as well,) Be sure to include in your comment the Facebook or Twitter profile where you shared the link, too.

One person who has shared and commented will be selected around 5 PM Eastern time Wed. 12/7 to receive a free copy.

Of course, you can also buy a copy of Mary’s Son on Amazon. And for a limited time the Kindle edition is only $0.99!

I was a reluctant to post this because it puts the focus on food, football, parades and shopping, when I’d rather the focus of Thanksgiving be on giving thanks to God for his goodness and provision.  So, have some fun with these Thanksgiving facts and figures. Then give thanks for what really matters today.

Check out this video by Taylor Mali.  Not only does he do a hilarious job of describing and demonstrating the way a lot of people speak today, but he makes a great point about the importance of speaking with authority.

I could not stop laughing! But upon further reflection, I also felt a bit convicted because I’ve let some of these patterns fall into my speech as well in an effort not to offend people and give them permission to disagree with me.

In an effort to help Live Intentionally readers reach their dreams and inspire others, I’ve invited you to share your dreams. On Fridays I feature a reader & their dream. Today’s post is by Mindy Hirst…

Ideas and dreams are synonymous in my world. I bet you can identify. So many thoughts fly through my head in a night and I wake up wishing I could remember what went on all those hours. Ideas come to me in the night more vividly than in the day. Once, I had a fitful sleep about a topic I was wrestling with only to have an “a-ha” moment in the morning. So when I thought about the opportunity to tell the story of our dream in a guest blog post, I thought that our Generous Mind idea would fit quite nicely.

The idea or dream of generous mind came during a spring time almost 10 years ago. Jon and I walked through large trees in a small town in Illinois that bordered the Mississippi River. We were celebrating our anniversary, taking a much needed break from early parenting—and talking. We talked a great deal that weekend about many things. But the thing on my mind that day was ideas.

Ideas seemed to float into my mind and then escape at the same speed and urgency as they arrived. It seemed that if I didn’t capture them immediately, they got away, never to be thought of again. This reality disturbed me. How many world-changing ideas had done just that because people were too busy to care for their ideas? What if my life slipped away, day by day, so that one day I came to the end of my life and I had not contributed anything that would last?

That’s when I said in frustration that we have to be generous minds…and our dream was born. Generous Mind as an organization is all about capturing ideas, cultivating those ideas and turning them into something that other people can benefit from. It’s about coming alongside others to help them contribute to the world by taking from what God has given them and allowing others to grow and learn as a result.

It’s not an easy dream. There are so many reasons to squelch an idea—busyness, lack of confidence, not knowing where to start. But it’s so important to the world that these ideas are not lost. Every person and their ideas are unique. Though there is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9), the sun has never shone down on today. An idea or concept conceived in another time and another place is going to look different when thought about in the context of the here and now. People need to hear truth cast in the light of their own language and culture.

So what idea do you have today that needs to be shared? How can you be a generous mind? For more thoughts on how you can be generous with your ideas, visit our blog, follow us on twitter or join our facebook fan page. But whatever you do, don’t let today go by without sharing something that God has put on your heart!

I’m excited to announce that I’m one of 60+ contributors to a new book that’s being released today – Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communications! The book covers all facets of church communications and in my opinion is a must-read for pastors, church communicators, and church web developers. Tim Schraeder did an awesome job leading this project, getting a diverse group of top-notch contributors, and editing the book.

Outspoken is available on Amazon in paperback right now and will be available for Kindle later today.  You can also download part of the book here.

We are giving away 3 copies over on my company’s blog, Christian Web Trends. So, if this is a topic that interests you click on over there and find out how you can get a free copy!

There’s a middle-age Hispanic-looking woman who I see standing at the bus stop outside my neighborhood most mornings when I run. I usually waive and say, “Good morning!” She usually smiles back.

Yesterday morning as I was running past she started talking to me, so I stopped and strained to listen. I picked up a few words but after several sentences I realized I had no idea what she was saying.

“No comprendo,” I said. “No hablo Espanol.”

“You speak Spanish?” she replied.

Straining to remember something from my 2 years of high school Spanish I replied, “Muy poco.” (“very little,” I think)

She replied, “I don’t speak Spanish. Romania is my country.”

LOL! I don’t know if there’s a lesson in that – maybe something about the assumptions we make. If you see one let me know.  I just thought it was funny.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to remember to say, “Buna dimineata” which is good morning in Romanian.

Live Intentionally is all about inspiring each of us to make the most of every situation, which includes a trip to Disney World. That’s my best attempt to make this book review sound relevant to this blog.

The truth is, I had the opportunity to get a free copy of The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World by Susan Veness from Thomas Nelson’s in exchange for a review, and since I only live 90 miles from Disney, I jumped on it. Since this is not really on topic for Live Intentionally, I’ll keep it short.

The book has the sub-title, “Over 600 secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.” I expected those “secrets” to include way to save time or experience special opportunities the average Disney visitor isn’t aware of. A handful of the secrets are along those lines. But the majority of the “secrets” are how many of the names and numbers on various attractions are tributes to the imagineers who created them.

For example, on Splash Mountain, just as you begin the final climb before the big drop at the end, there’s a gopher who pops his head out and yells “F S U!” the alma mater of one of the imagineers who worked on the ride.

So, I was a little disappointed with the book, but if you’re going to drop $100 for a day at one of the Disney parks or $1600 for a family of 4 to visit all for Orlando area parks, the enjoyment you’ll get out of seeing all the little “secrets” the author points out is probably worth the $10 you spend on this book.

As long as we’re talking about Disney… are you a Disney fan? Got any secrets to getting the most out of the theme parks?

As parents we all want our children to obey us, be respectful, stop whining, and stay out of trouble. But below the surface, there are three different motivations for parenting decisions. These motives lead to three different levels of parenting.

1) Parent-Centered Parenting

The goal of parent-centered parenting is the comfort and convenience of the parent. Parent-centered parents want their children to behave and stay out of trouble, so their children’s behavior doesn’t get in the way of their own interests and reputation.

2) Child-Centered Parenting

The goal of child-centered parenting is the comfort and success of the child. Child-centered parents want their child to do well in school, sports, the arts and stay out of trouble so the child will have a good life.

Child-centered parenting may look like parent-centered parenting at times because child-centered parents also want their children to stay out of trouble, but their motivation is different. Their primary motive is what’s in their children’s best interest rather than self-interest. When their interests conflict with what’s in their children’s best interest, child-centered parents will often sacrifice their own comfort and convenience for the success of their children

3) Others-Centered Parenting

The goal of others-centered parenting is to develop children into a people who makes the world a better place. Others-centered parents develop values in their children like honesty, service, and perseverance.

Others-centered parenting may look like parent-centered parenting at times because others-centered parents also wants their child to stay out of trouble, but again the motive is different – it’s for the impact their behavior has on others rather than its impact on the parent or child.

Others-centered parenting may also look like child-centered parenting at times because others-centered parents want their children to be successful, but once again the motive is different.  They want their children to be successful in ways that benefit those around them. Others-centered parents are not only willing to sacrifice their own comfort and convenience but also their children’s comfort and convenience for the sake of others.

What kind of parent do you want to be?

While it’s not always easy in the short term, I contend that long term others-centered parenting will not only make the world a better place, but make for a richer, happier life for us and our children.

What motives are driving your parenting these days? What kind of parent do you want to be? Can you give an example where you’ve made sacrificed your own interests and the interests of your children for others?

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I wrote about Empire Avenue in a Christian Web Trends blog post today. They require you include that a code like the one above to connect a blog to your account there. So, I’m experimenting with that here.

You can Check out Empire Avenue here.

Have you tried Empire Avenue? If so, what do you think?