Okay, this was quite an event. Those of you who have read my book (Me, Myself & Bob), know that it starts with the somewhat cryptic sentence, “Evelyn Schauland was a fancy woman.” I then go on to tell the story of my father giving Evelyn Schauland, the very stylish mayor of my childhood town of Muscatine, IA, a ride in a hot air balloon as a publicity stunt, and accidentally dropping her into the muddy bank of the Mississippi river. It’s a fun story, and a good way to start a book.
I only remember meeting Mayor Schauland once in my childhood, probably 35 or 36 years ago. As I wrote the book, I assumed Mayor Schauland had probably passed away by then. So you can imagine my surprise when I got a letter in the mail with the return address “Evelyn Schauland, Muscatine, IA.”
At first I thought someone was playing a little joke on me, but upon further investigation I discovered the letter was, in fact, from Evelyn Schauland, still very much alive in her 90s, and inviting me to speak at the annual Salvation Army dinner in Muscatine. Well. How could you say ‘no’ to that? So last Friday I drove back to Muscatine, IA to speak at the local country club, to a crowd filled with faces from my childhood, including one very fancy former mayor. The event was great. Reconnecting with people I literally haven’t seen in 30 years was amazing. To prove it really happened, here is a picture of me with Evelyn Schauland. And, yes, she is STILL fancy, after all these years…
yeah, nice that she doesn’t hold anything against you for her drink in the Mississippi river.
that’s awesome! 🙂
Just recently found out about the rollercoaster stuck in a blender ride Big Idea and Phil has gone through in the past 10 years …. wow Anyway I was on the fence about picking up a copy of Me Myself and Bob. But the promise of reading about a Fancy Lady in aerial peril…… Time to update my Amazon Wish List!
Really liked your book. Reminds me a lot of my business that crashed on me about a year ago. I guess I’m in that “wait” mode for now. I still have some of the baggage of the business with the debt and the negative cash-flow. Anyway, thanks for the great book.
A few more thoughts and questions.
1. You never really wrapped up the story about the Gaylord offer. Why didn’t you accept it?
2. I really, really admire your dedication to your employees – trying not to have to let them go. But as I was reading the book and you got into your cash-flow problems, everything inside of me was yelling “cut man, cut – cut deeper, cancel the movie, save the ship!”.
3. You talked about the lady who emailed you and warned about pride. I think it’s obvious that you realized there was a problem in that area, but you never came out and admitted it, and never mentioned it in your lessons learned. Looking back on my failed business, I can now see how prideful and arrogant I was. It’s sad that the Lord has needed to bust more pride on multiple occasions.
4. OK, so what if the Jonah release had been a HUGE success and the lawsuit turned out differently. Big Idea probably would have survived and maybe thrived. Would you have given God the credit and glory? Would you have grown on your spiritual walk to where you are now? Do you think God would have eventually brought you to this point somehow?
5. It amazes me in both your story and mine as to how hard and fast things can change in a business.
I’m 13, just read your book and it has really helped me understand how only God can satisfy us, and that he is enough.
Thankyou!
I just read Me, Myself, & Bob, and really enjoyed it. I reviewed it on my blog at caspianrex.posterous.com. I was extremely impressed by the things you learned from your experiences with Big Idea. I get a bit tired of all these “Christian” books that purport to have discovered how God can give us everything we want in our lives, if we’ll just claim them. Your book, on the other hand, showed how God can teach us even more valuable lessons through the things we don’t get, through the ways in which we don’t succeed, at least by the world’s definition of success. Thanks for the book. Great work. P.S. What’s in the Bible? is great stuff!
I just finished reading Me, Myself, & Bob. I wanted to send you an e-mail and tell you you how much this book has touched me. I couldn’t find an address, so I will say it here. I am a youth director and at one time a pastor as well. Last December I lost a job, due to budget cuts. I was at a job where I was a very good pastor and youth director. I knew a cut was coming, but assumed I was doing such great work for God that I would not be cut. Though I was doing good work for God, I hated my job…well a lot of elements in my job. I loved the youth and the teaching. I hated the lack of leadership, lack of spiritual guidance, and other things. I knew God wanted me to be in ministry, but I was becoming miserable. I was doing good and making great money. The great money was why I was cut. They could not afford my job. I even told them I would work for less, but they just cut me three weeks before Christmas. Merry Christmas to me. So in December of 2010 I was jobless and about to get married in May 2011. I felt hurt, wronged, like a bum (not having a job and getting married), and I felt like I didn’t want to go back into ministry at all. So I did the only thing I thought of and it was what you talked about at the end of the book. I went to God and waited. I refused to move, until He wanted me to move. I thought about starting my dream to be a writer or speaker, since it was a call God had planted me in long ago. I thought about being a teacher. I then thought about just being a youth director. I had enough of the pastor thing and I loved kids and youth. I loved teaching and sharing Christ with others. So I went in search of a youth director job and got a lot of interested people who just did not think I was what their ministries needed. I even did the thing I swore I would never do, I put my resume on the web. I am an introvert by personality. God forces me to be an extrovert. I hate making people mad and I worry about failing people and what people think of me. So there was me on the web…ha kind of like now. After three months of no job and a wedding coming close, I was running out of money, but not hope. I prayed to God to show me what to do and I got an offer. I was offered a job to be a youth director. It was in another state at half the pay. After some obvious God moments, I got the job. I am so happy where I am. I think I may have felt like you did when you walked through Disney that last time. Like I am “riding on Jesus’ shoulders” and it is an awesome ride indeed. I honestly picked up the book when I had first lost my job, because of you talking about dreams and what happens when they fall apart. I had and have a dream to be a writer and speaker. I wanted to be a great pastor and leader. I thought I was. Then it all fell down. Now I have been at my new job for five months and I am getting ideas for all kinds of things faster than I can write them down. As I finished reading the book I was reminded yet again, “God is all that matters.”. I needed that reminder and I needed that healing to help me understand why I am where I am now. God tore me from a great dream that was making me miserable, so that He could bring me to His dream that makes me joyful and happy. So now I wait on God more and less on what I think He wants me to. I have several devotionals written, kids stories, sermons, plays and song…all waiting on God. I am teaching a small youth group and loving every minute of it. I know God wants me to be a speaker and writer, maybe even a pastor again…but as to when and how…after reading your book, I don’t care. God is what matters and that is all. Your book truly helped me to see why I lost my job and now have the current one I have. Thank you and I pray God continues to do what He is doing with you.
It seems so unfair to come along and give an autopsy report on Big Idea. The support of the Christian community just didn’t come through for Big Idea the way it did for Mel Gibson’s The Passion. And God has a pretty good gig here if all of the responsibility is dropped in his lap. If it succeeds, it’s God’s vision. If it fails, all the blame goes to the folks at Big Idea and any place we can nit pick their spiritual journey. Did Phil Vischer or any one else really have so much more to learn than Mel Gibson spiritually? I’m not knocking Mel Gibson, I’m a big fan of his work and respect him as a person. I’m just saying that to put anyone at Big Idea under the spiritual microscope because of how market trends played out is a little harsh. Actions that look like strategic mistakes would have been matters of loyalty and faith if the markets had been kinder. I look at supermarket shelves and Netflix etc. and see Veggie Tales having captured a large audience that will continue to grow. It’s too bad what happened, but if it is any comfort, God is certainly glorified in these works, as is fitting and proper.
For Mr. Vischer: What a wonderful story and follow up on your spiritual journey with the Lord! Continuing to pray for His leading “day to day” along with you and your dear family…just saw your Huntley St. interview and so agree with the jellyfish approach to our walk in Christ. (Actually, we just saw our first jellyfish a few years ago in PEI quite close to shore. It was so lovely and luminescent in the water; my husband decided to reach down and touch it, and wonder of wonders; it did not sting him…)
From a sister in Christ,
Kathleen