I'm a fan of April Fools Day pranks. The fake product launches out of Silicon Valley, baby announcements from friends (usually twins), and the like--I enjoy a good "shucks, ya got me!"
And I've pulled a few myself. I launched a fake performance dashboard at Geneva Global, assigned impossible projects to staff on 4/1, and I've peddled fake news amongst family each Spring.
This year was going to be no different.
But how to pull something off on Easter? Easy, I thought, build up to it over the course of a week so nobody sees it coming.
Yes folks, if you're catching on, the book cover announcement isn't real. The problem is, I got confronted with something uncomfortable while doing this.
Maybe it had to do with today being Easter, and the fact that I've been enamored all week that Jesus actually rose from the dead just like he said he would. I'm stunned God would do that for us and I'm "getting" more and more the magnitude of forgiveness that's played out in Jesus.
And my little joke started to feel more and more...lame.
I also had a major oversight in my scheme. Whitney. She was perplexed as to why she didn't know about this book cover, publisher, and all kinds of other details.
Eventually I had to tell her it was all a joke. She smiled, then 24 hours later she told me she'd prayed and felt the Holy Spirit nudging her to nudge me to pray about this too.
Long story short, this trick I was going to pull isn't honoring to God, and so I'm calling it off.
First, I confess to y'all that it was a big lie. There is no book cover, no publisher, barely even conversations around publishing. I'm sorry for lying.
I'm also sorry that once in awhile I find it humorous to mislead people. It's a heart issue and something I'll be watching and asking God to help fix.
In conclusion, I'm going to share the fake book cover anyway since you've taken the time to read all of this (see below).
And, well, my joke book cover alluded to the fact that if you think there's anything good about me the truth is there is someone behind me kicking my butt who rarely get's any visibility or credit.
Case in point.
Love you guys, and when the book cover REALLY is done, I won't play any games about it, I promise.
Happy Easter, God bless you, and may the spirit of the risen Christ move in, around, and through you mightily.
Ryan
