Ken Davis Blog

The Executioner's Song

Ken was still a teenager when he enlisted in the army. He was one of twelve children, and he recognized his chance to make something of himself. He couldn’t know the United States would be at war within a matter of months.

At eighteen, Ken found himself in the thick of battle defending the Philippines against the onslaught of Japanese attack. One day he lay behind a log and watched as enemy soldiers overran his position by the hundreds. Ken and a companion hid their rifles and surrendered. It marked the beginning of a three-and-a-half year nightmare. Ken became a prisoner of war.

The grim realities of prison camp quickly decimated Ken’s health. He’d survived the grueling Bataan death march only to be wracked with malaria and dysentery. In prison camp, the privilege of staying alive depended on a prisoner’s ability to work. Those gravely ill or incapable of labor were shot or perhaps buried alive. The young man’s weight dropped below one hundred pounds, but he struggled to make himself useful enough to avoid execution. It was no good; frail as he was, Ken fought a losing battle.

The war drew to a close and Japanese defeat became a looming certainty. As the captors’ prospects dwindled, their atrocities increased in number and intensity. The Japanese began executing prisoners at random.

One day, Ken found himself lying beneath a thatch roof hut with several other prisoners. As a Japanese officer shouted commands from the hut’s balcony, prisoners were dragged from the shelter in pairs to a nearby rice paddy. The bonds were cut from their hands, and they were summarily bayoneted to death or shot in the head.

Ken watched his friends dying two by two, knowing his time would come. As evening approached, the shrill voice of the Japanese officer shouted yet another command. Ken and his friend were wrenched from beneath the hut and dragged into the rice paddy. Kneeling in the mud, he waited in terror for the inevitable. There was another shout from the hut—then an explosion in his head. Ken fell forward into the filthy water.

Inescapable evidence

I spent the last couple of days gathering evidence to substantiate the existence of God........  I couldn't gather it.  There was too much.  So I just took pictures.  Here are just a few of hundreds of exhibits I found on a single fall weekend.

Evidence from the air! 

Evidence in God's driveway!

 

Evidence from my bedroom window at Round Cove!

 

Overlooking the evidence!

Evidence growing wild!

Evidence right by my side!

- OR - you can ignore the evidence and call it all an accident with no love, direction or purpose!  I think I have reached a verdict.

Begin with the end in mind.

The feedback from hundreds of our students over the years confirms that speaking with focus and purpose transforms their effectiveness as a communicator. According to Steven Covey, the second habit of highly effective people is "Begin with the end in mind."  As we begin our Dynamic Communicators Workshop in Glorieta NM this week we will be re-enforcing that truth over and over.  Many speakers never consider the "end,"  the ultimate purpose for which they are giving their talk.  Instead they agonize over a list of "things" they want to say and how to organize that list.  

Here is a short  list for preparing your next speech.  Following these procedures will give your speech more focus and power.  

1. Study and research your topic. 

Your audience deserves your best preparation. 

2. List all the things you want to say

Have fun dreaming of every possible creative technique you might use and all the illustrations and supportive material you might use.

3. Ask yourself WHY you want to say those things.

This is the most important part of the process. Answer the question,"why do you want to say all these things?"  So the audience will__________________?  Answering that question will lead you very close to the objective of the speech.

4. Eliminate anything that doesn't lead toward the objective of your speech.

5. Organize what remains into a logical progression that leads the listener to the objective.

6. Practice the speech out loud.

7. Deliver your speech with clarity, dynamics and power.  

This process helps you determine the end before you begin. Try it for your next talk.  It's takes some work, but it will make your talk more powerful. Let me know how it worked. 

Proof women are born that way!

Brush your dog's teeth???

Yesterday my friend Sheila Walsh twittered that she took her Scottish dogs in to have their teeth cleaned and the vet asked her why she doesn’t brush them herself.  Hellooo! She values her arm. 

Like Sheila said, "You don’t mess with a Scot." 

More likely she has smelled her dog's breath.

Wolves don’t go to the vet to have their teeth brushed.  Lions have nice big teeth and you don’t see them laying back in a dentist chair with that  suction thing hanging out of their mouth.  Perhaps we need to let dogs be dogs.  They survived for thousands of years without a dentist.  They can make it a couple more.

I can barely brush my own teeth without gagging, how could I brush my dog's teeth after seeing some of the cadavers they have dragged home. I might be able to do it if you put me under. 

Diane took our dogs to the vet for teeth cleaning and they had to be put under. The bill for the anesthesia was more than I paid for the dogs. Now that is a good reason for brushing your dog's teeth yourself.

We should take care of our pets, but people are always more important.  In Colorado a woman was killed by a mountain lion with cubs.  The momma lion had to be destroyed.  More money came in to care for the cubs than to help the family who lost a mom.  Something is wrong with that picture

I gotta go now.  I’m taking my two schnauzers in to have their nails manicured. 

2 essential skills of a great leader

Every great leader that walked the face of the earth  practiced two essential skills. Whether you lead a major corporation, are an author, a pastor, a teacher or a politician, it is essential that you develop both these skills. They are like oars in a boat.  If you use both of them you can get somewhere.  If you use only one you will go in circles.

These are the two essential skills of a great leader:

1.  The ability to formulate a crystal clear objective.
2.  The ability to communicate that objective in an engaging and persuasive manner.

These are also the specific skills we teach at our Dynamic Communicators Workshops. Leaders from around the world and from all walks of life have attended our workshop and their overwhelming response is that it transformed their effectiveness as a communicator and leader.

Here are two responses from recent students.

_______________________

I attended the DCW in May of this year, and just finished speaking to 50 missionary wives at a retreat in Arkansas.  What a difference the DCW made as I prepared my lessons and delivered them!  Preparing using the S.C.O.R.R.E. system made it easy to keep my points focused on exactly what I wanted to say, and I had the confidence to step out from behind the podium to make the presentation much more interesting using humor and gestures that I would never have been able to do before.  All I can say about DCW is --- GO!  It will make a difference in your speaking that you will not be able to believe!

I just wanted to share my good news with you.  I received a contract from a publisher for my book.  I am going to sign the contract and send it back on Monday.  I just wanted to thank you for the help you gave me with the conferences.  That was the beginning of the steps on the road that God has led me down.

______________________

Join us at our next Dynamic Communications Workshsop Glorietta Conference Center in Glorieta, NM  October 19 - 22  Click here to learn more see more pictures and register.

Forget it?

Today I read a Facebook entry regarding the 9/11 attack on America that lamented, "I don't want to be reminded of 9/11. Why don't we just forget it?  Am I the only one that doesn't get it" 

I only wish that this individual was the only one that didn't get it, but that is not true.  The smoke had barely cleared at ground zero before people forgot.   To forget is to denigrate the sacrifice of hundreds of firefighters, and police and everyday heroes that lost their lives saving others. 

To bury our heads in the ground, unwilling to recognize that there are those who will do anything to destroy us, is to invite them to totally bury us.

I will not forget.  I know where I was.  I know how the event changed our country forever.  To forget history is to forfeit the future. 

I choose to remember.

Snuggie Ingenuity!

Last night temperatures dipped to 40 degrees in the mountains.  In the terrifying chaos of Monday's events, I forgot to bring long pants.  What to do?  Someone said, "necessity is the mother of invention."  I say that anyone who wanted a Snuggie could save big bucks by turning their bathrobe backwards. 

Well, I have good news for you. Anyone who wants a warm Poncho/Pantsuit combo can have one by wearing their Snuggie upside down.

I have always wanted my blog to have the kind of quality, life changing information given by my friend, high tech leadership guru, Michael Hyatt.  The following information takes one step in that direction, except this not for high profile leaders.  This is for cash strapped, fashion challenged folks like me, caught at 10,000 feet without long pants. 

Steps to staying warm on a cold mountain night.

1.  Steal granddaughters Snuggie.
2.  Turn garment upside down.
3.  Step into the arm holes. (This may take more than one try)
4.  Tuck the neck of the Snuggie into the waistband of your shorts.
5.  Pull the back of the Snuggie up behind you and over your shoulders.
6.  Tie bottom corners of Snuggie to corners at Snuggie top.
6.  Brace yourself for gales of derisive laughter and a significant amount of discomfort.
7.  Do not allow your picture to be taken from directly in front or back.

Because of His grace yesterday.  I can laugh today. 

 

Three hours of terror in the mountains!

Our little camping trip started yesterday with a wonderful evening around the campfire.  Just Diane and I and three little girls that we adore.  Kialee age 9, Lexi age 7 and little JJ coming up on her fourth birthday.  I completely underestimated the love these girls have for a roaring campfire and ran out of wood the first night.  This morning we woke up to crisp, (bone chilling) 10,000 ft mountain air. The girls begged for a fire so I headed into the forest with three fairy lumberjacks in tow.  I knew that within a hundred yards we would find dry dead aspen that we could drag back to the camp for a fire.  We crossed the road, took maybe 10 steps into the woods, and there lay a dead limb perfect for little JJ to haul back to camp.  She picked it up and headed for the camper, parked just across the road, visible from where we were standing. 

That was the last we saw of her. 

It only took three or four minutes to find more dead wood and make our way back to camp.  Only a few minutes more to realize that she was gone. By God's grace a forest service truck came up the road and we got him to call search and rescue. Then we spent the next hour driving that road, yelling her name until our voices were almost gone.   Diane and I went into the forest with what voices we had left, shouting, crying, praying.  I stumbled into a swampy area went up to my knees in water and stayed right there to pray and weep.

By then she had been gone almost three hours. The feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. The mind begins to entertain the worst possible scenario.  The Chaffee County Search and Rescue Team arrived already briefed and prepared. They immediately activated their search plan and before they could even begin the initial sweep they found JJ in an open space.  She had walked almost a mile.

She had dropped her stick at the road and come back to look for us.  We came out 50 yards up the road and never knew that she had not gone back to camp.

They gave JJ a ride back to camp on an ATV.  I will never forget the sight of her smile, and her long blond hair flying behind her.  I held her close for a long time.   She told the rescuer she was a little scared, but was looking for her grandpa who was lost.

Thank you Lord for helping us find JJ.
Thank you Lord for the swift response of Chaffee County Search and Rescue people.

I have tasted the terror that accompanies searching for a lost little one. Please Lord, be with those who have not had the positive outcome we had today.

Thank you Lord for reminding me of the joy you must feel when one of your lost children finally come home. 

 

Morning Glory

Woke up this morning and was astounded by the work of the best artist ever.

All of these pictures are of WILD flowers.  All were taken within about ten yards of the cabin. Of course we all know that this is not the result of intelligent design. This is an accident, the result of random chaos. Yeah right!

What a God we serve!