On golf and magic

Nearly 20 years ago I went to a driving range. The guys I worked with (in construction, believe it or not) were talking about golf and it sounded like fun. I'm a preacher, lots of preachers play golf, so it seemed a natural fit. I was advised to go to a driving range to take my first baby steps. If I remember right, I only went once. After that, I decided I would never learn to play golf.

Not because I couldn't. But because I only have so many years, so many days, so many hours to do the work my life is supposed to be about, and I was convinced in a very short time that the number of hours, days, years I would have to put into getting any good at golf was more than I was willing to give.

Now, I may have been right or wrong in my assessment of what golf would demand from me, but conceptually, I think that was one of the wisest decisions I have ever made. The problem is, I have to keep making it.

Not about golf. I've never looked back. But my personality is such that I tend to get too absorbed in things. For a while it was Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game. I spent countless hours sorting, analyzing, prioritizing, deckbuilding, playtesting... until I realized that this game was doing what I had feared golf would do: taking too much of my life. More recently it was the show 24 on Netflix. I don't even know how many different games, books, whatever have sucked me in, to the point that I had to intentionally step back.

Somewhere between last night and tonight I have had an epiphany about magic, not identical to the one about golf, but not entirely unrelated. I started watching a show (on Netflix, again) about a magician named Rick Jay. (Incidentally, before that I didn't know him as a magician, but I had seen him in the movie The Heist, with Gene Hackman. I'm not a big fan of movies where the heroes are really bad guys, but as those kind of movies go, this one was about my favorite. But I digress...)

The movie about him as a magician was listing all these wonderful magicians from the past that had mentored him over the years. Cardini, and Slydini, and others that I'm simply not versed enough in magic history to recognize yet. And I was thinking about all the knowledge that was shared with this guy, and all the hours, days, and years that he has poured into learning his craft, and I realized something.

I will never be a great magician. Or a famous magician. Or (especially) a great, famous magician. Like golf, it would take too much of my life. I had to chew on that for a moment. I hadn't ever consciously set a goal to be any of those things, but even the option to pursue those goals was taken away from me with such a crystalline clarity that it left me a little sad. Because unlike golf, I love magic.

Now I'm over the sadness and on to more of a thoughtful stage. Because (also unlike golf) magic is not something I have to give up altogether. Doing magic doesn't take up too much time--at least, not in my opinion--but becoming great in magic, I think that would. So now I'm left with the question: If becoming great and/or famous as a magician isn't my goal, then what should my magic goal(s) be?

Before I can answer that question, I need to answer another one: what is my magic for? (I sound like a character in a Xanth novel.) With just a moment of thought, I come up with four things my magic is for.

1. Ministry. I use my magic in church and evangelistic settings. This is occasional, as the opportunity arises, and with no great plan or strategy. Maybe that should change. Maybe I should spend an hour a week doing street magic evangelism, or children's floor hospital ministry. Maybe that will change this year. But for now, just as a general idea of ministry-facilitating magic, I have enough skill, knowledge and equipment (allowing for the need to restock consumable items) to last the rest of my life. I don't NEED to learn or buy any new stuff to do church gigs, because, at least for now, there aren't usually any repeat shows for the same audience.

2. Money. I sometimes get paid to do a birthday party, school event, etc. For this too, I'm pretty much set for life, except that some of my children's props are worn out and need replacing.

3. Me. I just like magic. I want to continue to learn it at some pace, just for my own personal satisfaction.

4. Thursdays. (It's a shame it's not Mondays. I could have kept up the alliteration.) At the school where I teach, I have established a pattern of sharing a magic trick on Thursday at the midmorning break. Certainly, I have collected enough books, DVDs, etc., to cover this for years to come, if only I will actually put the time into learning.

This discussion is certainly not comprehensive, but these thoughts, and others I haven't typed, point toward certain POSSIBLE goals.

1. To craft one or more shows. I usually get a gig and as it gets close to time for the performance I "raid" my magic supplies to see what I can pull together. I want to thoughtfully plan out a show. I want to nail down what the show will contain, rehearse the show AS a show, pack the show in a case, and have it ready to go! Maybe eventually have more than one--one for young children, one for older, one for churches, etc.

2. To add a new performance area to my repertoire each year to make myself more marketable for paying shows. I want to learn balloon animals in 2014. I have instructional DVDs...just haven't spent the time in doing the learning.

3. To learn or solidify one new trick each week for my Thursday students.

4. Eventually, I would like to create my own magic, and perhaps generate some income from it, but this is elusive, and I don't know if it can count as a goal...more like an aspiration.

5. I would like to create a website to help magicians evaluate tricks and plan shows. Sort of a cross between a wiki and a database...I'll need a website programmer's help for that...conacting my brother-in-law to see if he's interested. This, too, could eventually become a profitable endeavor, but I don't know how much time it will take.

6. I want to pray about becoming more intentional about using magic in ministry and evangelism...nothing specific here yet, but I really could see spending an hour a week at the hospital doing tricks for kids. Maybe even connecting with other Christian magicians to create a ministry team...

Well, if you've read this far and you're not married to me, I hope you weren't entirely disappointed at this glimpse into my own journey. Just in case you feel cheated, here's a little something to make it up to you...