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The most amazing thing about books is their versatility. They have been used to record history, communicate new ideas, spark controversy, and promote peace. They have the ability to teach you a new line of thinking or to transport you to an entirely new realm. They are fundamental to human communication. And yet, only roughly 4% of the world’s population actually takes the time to read a physical book consistently. Even though that’s an astonishingly low statistic, that doesn’t stop Craig Cunningham from writing; and from writing prolifically. He believes in telling stories that matter and has written for tv, film, music, and literature. He has directed films and commercials, worked as the editor-in-chief of a magazine, led creative teams for brands, served on a church staff, and worked as a pure freelancer. This week, Craig joins John to talk through his book One Night in a Thousand Years, the meaning of the title, his creative process, and why he believes telling stories is important.
Purchase One Night In A Thousand Years:
Amazon
Check out more of Craig's work:
https://www.craigscunningham.com/
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Purchase One Night In A Thousand Years:
Amazon
Check out more of Craig's work:
https://www.craigscunningham.com/
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey, mentors. Just a reminder about the You Can Mentor book. It's titled You Can Mentor, How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses. The whole point of this book is to equip and encourage mentors with new tools and ideas on how to make the most of their mentor mentee relationship. If you're a mentor, hey, go pick it up.
Speaker 2:And if you're a mentoring organization, pick some up for all of your mentors. If you would like to order mass copies, like more than 20, send an email to me, zach@youcanmentor.com, and we will get you guys a special price. But go and pick up that book. It's good. You can mentor.
Speaker 3:Welcome, You Can Mentor listeners. This is John. Today, we have a really special episode. As I sit down with my friend Craig Cunningham author Craig Cunningham. Hello, Craig.
Speaker 4:Hey. How's it going?
Speaker 3:It is good. I'm going to move this microphone over just a little bit, and it might creak, so don't run off. Alright. Well, listen. We're sitting here in Waco where we both live, and this is exciting.
Speaker 3:You're here in the middleman shop, and I'm just looking forward to talking to you about this book.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I'm excited to talk about it.
Speaker 3:1 night in a 1000 years. Yes. Now this is your latest book. It's not your only book. Right?
Speaker 4:It's not my only book. So it's It's the book that I'm most willing to talk about because I feel like it's the most it's the most commercial and the most accessible book that I've done. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:A lot
Speaker 4:of the stuff I do is kind of I don't wanna say weird. It's not weird, but it's not it's not it's not meant for a broad commercial audience.
Speaker 3:Are you saying that this is your mainstream titles? This is my mainstream title. How long have you been working on this book?
Speaker 4:I think I probably wrote the first words of that book. I would say probably 7 years ago.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:No. That doesn't mean I've been working on it for 7 years.
Speaker 3:You've been living it, though.
Speaker 4:A little bit. I mean, it's been in my head for a long time. I've wanted to tell the story for a really long time. And and and part of the question part of those 7 years was, like, how do I how do I want to tell the story? I've done a lot of creative projects over the years, so it was thinking through, like, okay.
Speaker 4:Is this does does this story work best as a script? And I try to raise money and try to make it into a movie, like an indie thing. Does it work best as a nonfiction kind of overview of what this what this year was? Or where I finally landed is like, no. I think my my sweet spot is fiction.
Speaker 4:That's what I do bet. That's where I'm most comfortable, and so I decided to tell the story in that way as a fiction coming of age novel.
Speaker 3:I'm really glad that you did. Okay. For you to say that coming of age is really the term I was looking for, so that's that's good. I listen. I didn't wanna call it that.
Speaker 3:Really? Yeah. I I want but I wanted you to call it that. And then for me to be saying, okay. Good.
Speaker 3:I can
Speaker 4:No. That's it. That's that's what it is. It's it's about a 17 year old kid who's I mean, it it's a lot about that transition from boyhood to manhood, you know, what what that means and and what that year means. That's that's at the core of the book.
Speaker 4:So in a true sense, it's a coming of age novel.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Mhmm. We're gonna go in a little bit more detail. There's a lot of just really good stuff to pull from this. I've gotten the chance to read the manuscript of this book.
Speaker 3:Okay?
Speaker 4:You were one of the first.
Speaker 3:See, that's it was like a humble brag when I was able to say that.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I mean, truly, you were one of the I I probably when I finished it in a in a way that I felt like, okay. This is this is what the book is, and it's done. You and I would say probably 3 to 4 other people at that point had read that version of the manuscript. That was that was, I don't know, a while back.
Speaker 4:But
Speaker 3:And because I don't remember anything Yeah. Barely my kids' names sometimes. When you handed me this when I when I came home to find this book in my in my mailbox
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:I was like, oh, man, bound and, you know, complete with cover art and everything. I got so excited because rereading it now is like reading it for the first time in many ways. And so halfway through it, I'm excited to continue to to read through it, of course. But, you know, even before we get into this 1 night in a 1000 years, Craig, let's just kind of take a step back. So Craig Cunningham from Waco, Baylor University.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah. Graduate. And then, you know, career wise, was working for Baylor really kind of how you started this thing? Is that most notable?
Speaker 4:No. I mean, when I was at Baylor, I and we can talk about the kind of what started this story Mhmm. In the book itself. But when I was at Baylor, I was I was a 100% into writing. I mean, I wanted to be a writer.
Speaker 4:My my dream was to write the great American novel, to walk into Barnes and Noble and see my book on the octagon in the front, you know, with the with the best sellers. Like, that was that was what I was working towards and what I thought I could it sounds like a dumb dream now to say that. Like, I don't have that dream anymore, but but back then, that was my dream. And so even when I was at Baylor, I was like, I didn't do fraternity. I wasn't I wasn't involved in a ton of extracurricular stuff.
Speaker 4:I was truly writing the whole time I was there. So I wrote, you know, stuff that is really bad. You know, look, in in retrospect, it's like, wow. That's that was pretty terrible. But I was writing the whole time.
Speaker 4:And so I wanted to make a living as a writer coming out of beta. That was my whole dream. It was like, if I can make a living as a writer, I feel like I've made it, whatever that is. And so I was my plan was to teach, be a teacher, an English teacher, and then write all summer and create projects and just have that cycle. But I got I wound up getting a job as a writer coming out, and so that kinda kick started this whole deal.
Speaker 4:I was freelancing. I was writing. I was in a in a just snowball from there. So Okay. Got started started writing scripts for commercials, things like that, moved to Austin, did the true freelance life for a really long time.
Speaker 4:And in that whole process, I'm writing creative projects as
Speaker 3:well. Okay. So starting starving artist stuff. Yeah. Before you kinda kinda landed back came back home at at Baylor.
Speaker 3:Correct?
Speaker 4:Yes. So lived in Austin for a long time. Yeah. Got into the film industry down there. Worked a lot in film.
Speaker 4:Still still writing books on the side that no one's reading or and I'm not really publishing. I'm just kind of building these projects out. And then came back to a job as the editor in chief of the Beta Line Magazine. And then that was around the time when I really started taking this book seriously and and deciding that I'm gonna finish this thing.
Speaker 3:Gotcha. Okay. And then got to work for a local organization, got some cool success there. And now you're you're actually working in the local church. You're you're doing you're a director of media.
Speaker 3:And you told me this earlier with the title, and yet
Speaker 4:I gotta remember it's important. I gotta remember it too. I think it's I think it's creative in communications or communications and creative. Yeah. 1 of the 2.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. So it's it's written stuff. It's it's video. It's it's really communicating so many in so many different ways. So many different things.
Speaker 4:It's story. It's half story, which is a lot of a lot of the video side of it is a lot of the story part. And then the other half is communication. So kind of traditional ways of of talking to people, websites, text messages, emails, everything.
Speaker 3:I think about the the the artist that works at a church, and their title is just storyteller. Uh-huh. And, man, that can look like a whole lot of different things. Right? I mean, there's a guy who may who who may not even wear shoes to the office.
Speaker 3:Right? Yeah. A free spirit. Hey, man. What what story have you got for me today, Jimmy?
Speaker 4:Yeah. I'm not really that I mean, as a I think I'm I think I am slightly unique as a creative because you think of a creative person, and it's that image. It's like free spirit. They're they're you know, you can't keep them in a box. They're out there.
Speaker 4:Like, that's not me. I have I have got a I've got a very sort of ordered. I want to say an ordered life, but my brain doesn't work like that. I mean, I like I like order. I like creating on schedules.
Speaker 4:I like I like the box. I like being really creative within the box that I have for myself.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you can mentor a listener. This is where I say it was important for me to have Craig on this podcast so that we can kind of pull some truth and, and get some inspiration from his example. But I need to also warn you guys. Craig is the most prolific writer that I've ever known in my life. So so whenever I say, hey.
Speaker 3:You can do this. You know, you you I mean, obviously, this thing is called you can mentor. And and the last thing I'm gonna say into this microphone today, Craig, is you can mentor because we're constantly reminding these wonderful people that that they've got the they've got the drive and the and the tools and the Lord is with them. And so what I also say is, hey, you can write, you can do this, but again, not everybody, not everybody is has the has the, you know, cut their teeth so many years ago on and and really has has been as prolific really as you are. But tell me now, because I I think I remember how how you you get up pretty early in the morning and
Speaker 4:and you get up at the end of the day. I I have 2 kids. And so for a long before kids, writing was kind of easy. You could do it whenever you wanted. You know, you where it comes to an end, and it's like, tell your wife, I'm gonna write this evening, and and you can kinda find time here and there.
Speaker 4:And what I was finding was with kids and just family and and the commitment that I had and that I wanted to make to them, it just wasn't work. I couldn't I couldn't reach the level of writing I wanted to do and be a really good dad and a really good husband and be present. And so I I was like, I look I had to look at my day and think, where is margin? And the only margin is before everyone wakes up. And so, you know, this is probably, at this point, 4 to 5 years ago, I just built a habit where I get up at I get up at if I'm on a project, which I typically am, 5:30, I'm in my office, and I work until about 7:15 and then kinda jump in and help kids fed and out the door for school and all that stuff.
Speaker 4:But in that, I don't I'd I'd take I typically take one day off. So I work 6 days a week like that, an hour and 45 minutes of writing a day. And the, yeah, the the volume that has come out of that is actually becoming a problem for me. Like, truly like, because it because that much time compounded over, you know, all these years, you, like, you wind up with a lot of material.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:And so that has that has been the case for me where I wind up with all this stuff, and it's like, well, now what do I do with this? You know? So that's that's kind of where I'm at. That's like the maybe it's a good problem to solve, but that that is my kinda daily habit.
Speaker 3:But you've published. I mean, you've you've self published.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:And that is another thing that I really want our listener to to grab hold of to say, hey. You know, gosh. The breakdown is going to be, well, yeah, I feel inspired to write, and and, yeah, I'm practicing writing. I'm I'm I'm benefiting from that whether it's my time with the Lord or whether it's just being able to be creative and put words on the page. If it's fiction, I mean, goodness, if it's if it's history or if it's resources for for mentees, whatever it might be, then I think often as I did, I just kinda thought, well, gosh.
Speaker 3:What am I gonna do? Am I gonna have to go to some vanity publisher who it's gonna be too expensive, or I'm not gonna know how this thing should kinda look aesthetically or or what? You, my friend, I mean, you never let any of that get in your way from
Speaker 4:Neil to So I have I have a com I have a company called Canowon. It's the earliest form of my name, Cunningham Okay. That I could find. And so I saw that word at one point. I was like, that's kind of a cool word to that'll be my company name, Canowon.
Speaker 4:And so I found that, built that out. And so when I was in Austin, that was our company. We did a lot of production through that. I just kept it with me. And so now I just use that as a creative company.
Speaker 4:So any any kind of creative project I do or want to do, I just have this kind of long term vision that it's gonna work out somehow. You know? So I I publish everything through Canowon. If I do if I make a short film, it would be through Cana 1. If I if I wanted to make a clothing line, which I don't, but if I did, it would be through Cana 1.
Speaker 4:I just do all my creative work through that. And so the and and with books specifically, I kind of I kind of draw a line between projects like this, 1 90,000 years, which is which I have I believe is a broad audience and could and it's nice to hold in your hands. Like, I I separated that as something different than a collection of short stories that I don't think warrants the same amount of kind of a long term vision. And so I'll do that just as an ebook. And that has that has freed my mind a lot where it's like, okay.
Speaker 4:I wanna do this creative I wanna do a 30 page story, and I don't wanna I don't wanna have to make it into a a published book. I can make it into an ebook, though, and it's pretty easy to kinda just go. And so, you know, for your listeners that want to create resources, and it's like, well, it's a 50 page document, but I but that that's not big enough to be an actual book. It was like, you can make an ebook tomorrow. Like, you can turn that into you can create a a cover or hire someone fairly cheaply to do it and have that up on Amazon literally in 24 hours.
Speaker 3:No kidding.
Speaker 4:So, like, that that that has been a big shift too. It's like these tools have changed over the last obviously, they've changed a lot over the last 15 years since I've been writing really seriously. And so I've I've, like, embraced it. And and I'm thinking long term, build these digital products or these digital projects, I should say, and just let it play out. Like, we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 4:I can I can manipulate them later? I can redo them later. I can multiply the content within them later. You know, I'm I'm trying to think
Speaker 3:big picture long term. For sure. Well, let's talk to some about this book. This book, I don't wanna compare. You know, again, you already coined a phrase that I thought was good, that we needed to hear that a coming a coming of age story.
Speaker 3:This book to me is is Dazed and Confused, and it's like dead poet society. And it's like John Hughes script. Is that is that okay to be saying that?
Speaker 4:It's really funny because at one point, I wanted to publish this book traditionally. So get an agent, sell it to a publisher. In my query letter, which I which there's a whole story behind that that I'm I won't bore everyone with, but it it it basically, I got a great agent, and it was too secular for the Christian market and too Christian for the secular market. And so there was never a real home for it. But in my query letter, those were the 2 projects that I mentioned.
Speaker 4:It's like this book is is is like if dead pod society and Dazed and Confused Yeah. Were mixed together.
Speaker 3:Totally. 100%. And that's what's cool about that too is that that's not the stretch. You know? It's not like, well, okay.
Speaker 3:I kinda see it. I mean, you just do. Like, the things that are and also I think what's good about it, the things that are kinda charming about those projects or that make you, you know, get excited about them. I I hear that in the language of these characters. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so that's a really interesting thing to say. Like, hey. It's just too far in the other direction for for both camps. It's it reminds me of Rich Mullins.
Speaker 4:It's like the switch foot of books. Yeah. It's like, I think they're talking about this, but they but maybe they're not. And, you know, but then I hear this song, and I'm pretty sure that they are. It's it's kinda like that.
Speaker 3:Exactly like that. Yeah. So Rich would say, you know, for my for my church friends, they always feel like I'm too secular. And then for my secular friends, I'm too churchy. Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I think that's kind of a good place to live, actually, kind of in the middle of everybody. This book, Colt, is our is our protagonist. Right? Narrator.
Speaker 4:Main character.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:1st person narrator.
Speaker 3:We've got Colt. We've got we've got Noah. We've got the the mentor, Lucas. Yeah. Is that fair to say Yeah.
Speaker 4:That he's a mentor? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay. And like I said, being halfway through it, I haven't really gone far. There's some there's some talk about Lucas' kind of mysterious life. And Lucas well, I'll tell you what. Why don't why don't you just kind of give us paint us a picture or at least maybe give us an introduction into this book, if you would, Craig, just so that the listener, because obviously my hope would be that this listener today would say, I'm gonna go check that out.
Speaker 3:Like, I wanna I wanna read this book.
Speaker 4:So Yeah. So the book is about a a high school guy starting it it goes through the full year of of senior year. It's about this guy who's kind of living a traditional high school life, parties, girls, football, that kinda thing. But once more, you know, something inside of him is kind of stirring for a a more meaningful life. And he he winds up crossing paths with this guy, Lucas, who is older, very mysterious, but but builds this kind of group of young guys and begins to lead them really through a series of these rites of passage.
Speaker 4:And I don't call them that in the book, but I would call them that outside of the book where he essentially and and the phrase that I like to think of is he's inviting them into the adventure of life. And so it's these guys who are kind of normal in in in in some ways, they're they're just looking down at what is right in front of them, which a lot of people do and, like but sometimes you need someone to say, hey. Look up. Like like, there's a lot of life out there on the horizon, and I believe that you have what's in you have the capacity and the ability to chase it, to to make something meaningful with your to spend your time in a meaningful way and and do something great with your life. And so that's really what the book is.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's it's not it's not an issue book, so I didn't write it with that driving the narrative. It's a story. It's a fun story.
Speaker 3:Meaning it's not kind of like an after school special kind
Speaker 4:of thing. I didn't I didn't write it to say to tell that message, but that that that idea of an older man leading this group of guys into a a vision for their for their own lives is very present throughout the whole story.
Speaker 3:Awesome. I wanna read a chapter because this is this is Lucas kind of addressing the group, speaking even to Colt. Correct?
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 3:One day you'll have a dream. He said it will start as a small campfire in your heart. And over time, that fire will grow and grow and grow until it consumes your thoughts. When you go to sleep, you will dream of that fire. When you awake, you will do whatever you can to feed the flame.
Speaker 3:Your life will take shape around the dream, the choices you make, the people who come in and out of your orbit. The fire determines everything. Maybe you'll wanna climb Mount Everest or find a cure for cancer or build a cabin in the woods with your bare hands. Each of you will be called into your own journey, a sacred calling, and you must choose whether or not you will accept the invitation. And the only way to know with certainty the dream is worth chasing is that the others in your life will tell you it's too risky, too irresponsible.
Speaker 3:They'll guide you on a safer path and say, look, this is easier. They'll busy you with meaningless tasks and obligations. They'll encourage you to pursue the dream in your free time. Or when you get older, they'll point at others who have set sail in stormy seas and never come home. But as we know, time waits for no one.
Speaker 3:Tomorrow, we're already dead. And the next line, Malik ripped the fart.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. You know what's funny about that passage? I went back and forth on whether to cut to drastically cut that passage. I wrote that.
Speaker 4:That was one of the earliest things I wrote in the book. Mhmm. And I went back and forth in the edit. I was like, is this too long of a a monologue? Because it is a monologue.
Speaker 4:And it's like, is this is this believable that someone would say this whole thing? But I left it. I'm glad you read that because I think it's actually an imp it's the insight into his motivation for why he's leading this group. So I left it against against some readers who said, I think you should turn this down. Interesting.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm I'm in the camp that says, I'm glad that you kept it because Yeah. Oh, okay. For fear of being melodramatic or whatever, you know, the music's swelling in
Speaker 4:the background. But,
Speaker 3:honestly, I needed to kinda get the heart of of this man who has made a decision to go to this church's Sunday night, you know, age divided time and spend time with with these young men, you know, to hand out leather bound notebooks to them and say, this is what you need to begin recording. This is what you need to begin sharing. You know? And and so I wanna share another scene, and that is going to be, I believe it's chapter 11 when Lucas takes the boys over to the overpass. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And This
Speaker 4:is one this is one of the rights of passage.
Speaker 3:Right. Okay. That
Speaker 4:I would that I would classify as one of the rights of
Speaker 3:passage throughout the year. So in this scene, Lucas, you know, and I think that's his priority to really kinda make a profound impact, to really get these guys to think. Mhmm. Not so much spoon feeding them his ideology, theology, just whatever way of life, but instead just like living his life out in front of them to be as quirky as he's going to be. Right?
Speaker 3:And to be as natural as he's going to be. And I think that there's a point when Colt says, you know, for all of this that I'm trying to process and get and understand, he said, I don't know why I'm attracted to this, but he said, oh, it's it's because it's authentic. Yeah. Like, he so he connects with Lucas because of that authenticity. So there's, I mean, there's a mentor just stake a flag in it right there of like, oh, yeah.
Speaker 3:That's that needs to happen because I often talk about even, like, with ministering to skateboarders. And I just feel like, you know, kids like that sarcastic and and and not kind of driven by the group, they're individuals. They can just kinda smell inauthenticity, you know, a mile away so that that's important. So we kinda get that sense from Colt as well. Colt's the kind of kid who even I believe is the book begins.
Speaker 3:He he really has an epiphany where he makes a mistake in his life Mhmm. And he realizes in that moment that it could have been a lot worse. And that's what kinda wakes him up Yeah. To even be ready for. Right?
Speaker 3:Like, that kinda sets the the tone. That kinda sets the table. I can think in my own life, you know, when did I really strive to be authentic even my faith? It was after making a huge mistake
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And realizing, woah. This could have been something that I could, you know, that could have killed me and that I couldn't have bounced back from. So when we think about what it means to mentor and to invest in the life of a young person, we kinda think, goodness. We kinda wish they would all have that moment where it wouldn't be something so bad that they would make, you know, something that's irreparable as far as a mistake or injury, but that they're just brought to the point of understanding like, hey, man. This is this is real, and this is serious.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And what's and and what's interesting about that is you don't know you're not gonna know that that moment is happening in someone's life either. And so he he what what happens in this story is he almost he basically almost dies in a drunk driving accident or he doesn't doesn't almost die, but he he makes a mistake in that in that way. And he never shares that story with anybody else, but Lucas encounters him in the in the in the weeks after this this thing happens. He he never shares that with Lucas.
Speaker 4:But, you know, in your in your example or with your listeners, the kids you might engage with or the people you might engage with, like, you don't know what just happened a week ago or 2 weeks ago or a month ago that led them to that place. And you may never know, but it could like, something significant could have happened in their lives really recently. And you're that and you're kind of filling that gap that you don't even know exists.
Speaker 3:For sure. Yeah. Absolutely. That's how we remember that God is sovereign, and so he's he's working out the story of his of his people.
Speaker 4:And so
Speaker 3:if we're called to kinda just be an investor into this young person for a semester or for a year, just knowing that there's a lot of backstory there. Yeah.
Speaker 4:For sure.
Speaker 3:So this account of Lucas taking the guys to the overpass Mhmm. Share with us kind of what what that's about, what happens there, if you would.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So he he there's a few places that Lucas takes them throughout the book to sort of share they each have a different meaning, the the different places that he takes them. But one of the places that he takes them is to this overpass, and they they kind of go underneath the bridge, and there are these stoops that are beneath the bridge. And, basically, he kinda shines a light on the concrete rafters that are around him, and there is this writing that was done when he was when he was their age. So when he was 18, he would go down to that that stupid sit there and write scripture or write quotes or write ideas, things that meant a lot to him at the time.
Speaker 4:And so what he does is he takes them down there. He shows them that space, and he says, now this is your space. You know? Now you come back here. It's your mission to come back here over the next week or 2 weeks and write what's on your heart or write write the scripture that means a lot to you or write the whatever it is.
Speaker 4:You know? Fill these walls with the things that that fill your heart. And so that becomes a place where throughout the year, the guys return to 1 by 1. And even as they even as our main character processes things as the book goes on, he'll he'll return to that spot and kind of be surrounded by the by the words of one of his friends and his mentor and just have a place to go and and think and be reminded of of these truths that are that he's been learning throughout the year.
Speaker 3:So I I really liked this scene. And I think again because it probably to a credit for you as a storyteller that you kind of you're able to share something that almost has a cinematic quality to it. Right? Yeah. Some of our favorite, you know, scenes in books just kind of we're we're thinking about them in terms of how they would play out in film.
Speaker 3:This for me is is kind of that scene, but I thought, man, this is textbook. This is textbook mentoring right here. For 1, Lucas takes the the guys to a place that was special to him. So that mean that's like accessibility. Like, hey.
Speaker 3:You guys are welcome. And he he actually says, this is your sanctuary. Yeah. So this place is sacred. This is important.
Speaker 3:And so that that level of of accessibility, I think, is really important. And then the identifying to say, hey. This is you know, when I was your age, I was here. And I'm I'm welcoming you into that space as well. So that just speaks a lot just in its in itself.
Speaker 3:Like, that's a really, really important quality. But then as you mentioned, man, I wrote this down as well. He said, now your mission is to bring, you know, what you see and what you hear and and what what is out there in media, and I want you guys to to make those words eternal by by writing them on this concrete. Like, man, that is also what I'm really all about, and I think our our mentors are all about as well. And that is understanding that, you know, there's there's 2 ways that we can do this relationship when it comes to investing in someone else.
Speaker 3:1 is 1 is really just kinda entertaining our mentee at all times, making sure that their needs are met and that they're having a blast and just, you know, letting letting them have fun all the time. But then there's something deeper, and there's something that's more like a family, which is to say, hey. You know what? You guys have a job to do, and, like, this is what you need to be doing and that, you know, your mission saying that this is your homework. This is this is what I need you guys to be mindful of and and practicing.
Speaker 3:I think that that's a whole lot more. You know? And that's kind of what we would hope of our of our children, right, of our mentees even as well, is that they would understand because that speaks into their purpose to say because what what Colt is dealing with is, hey. Who am I? I'm trying to figure out who I am, and then I'm also trying to figure out what I'm here for.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And that's that's really what speaks into that. That's what a mentor gets to do is say, well, if I have a keen sense and awareness of who I am and what my life is is meant to be, then my hope would be that you'd be able to kinda watch me live my life and and figure some things out along the way as well.
Speaker 4:So I've been thinking and and I've been thinking about that concept a lot, just responsibility and how that that brings a lot of joy. And the the the image that has been in my mind is is this when you hand somebody something and you say, hey. I need you to carry this. And and them taking that, that that buys them into the whole the whole vision of what you're trying to do. They're bought in.
Speaker 4:They're in it. They have something to do. And so, like, here, carry this. Here, I need you to carry this. Like, those those words have been in my mind a lot as I think about young men, especially.
Speaker 4:They need to be told that, hey. I need you to carry this. And you hand it to them, and they take it. And now they have something that they have to do.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Yeah. Absolutely right. So, again, young parents out there understand, like, the the meaningfulness of that. Right?
Speaker 3:Because I know that I've kind of it dawned on me. It clicked with my kids, which it was to say, like, hey. I need you to know that you're an important member of this family. And I can do that again by meeting your every need or by saying, hey. Do this job because when you don't do this job, we all suffer from you not doing that job.
Speaker 3:And that that is just an you know, again, not to add too much pressure to them, but instead, just to say, like, hey. You're you're valuable, and also you're purposeful, and so you can do this. You know, you can carry this you can carry this load. There's just a lot of really great a lot of really good stuff there. So I was really kind of happy to to read Lucas sharing in that way and, again, with these journeys that are happening with these young people as they're trying to figure some things out and having some of that.
Speaker 3:Well, we're not gonna go really any more into that, Craig, because I really want people I really want them to pick this book up Yeah.
Speaker 4:And to enjoy it
Speaker 3:as much as I am as well, realizing that, you know, it doesn't always have to be the most literal. We shouldn't just read books about this is how to mentor, but instead just drawing from the beauty of of good storytelling. And I think that's what you what you allow us to have here. 1 night in a 1000 years. Tell us about where that title came from.
Speaker 4:Yes. So it's from an Emerson. It's pulled out of an Emerson quote, a Ralph Walden Emerson quote. And in in the story, the the main character has this book. It's an Emerson book.
Speaker 4:It's a beat up copy. There's handwritten notes in the margins, and that's and that's part of the that becomes a big part of the story. But, you know, the the quotes throughout the book are underlined and highlighted, and it's a beat up thing. And one of the quotes that stands out is is this quote, and I would butcher it exactly, but it basically says, if the if the stars came out 1 night in a 1000 years, how would men look up and adore the city of God that had been unveiled? Some something along those lines.
Speaker 4:And it it basically is saying it's about gratitude, I think. It's about recognizing that you're in that moment right now. Like, we're in our 1 night in a 1000 years in this moment. The stars are out. Like, look up and enjoy them.
Speaker 4:Mhmm. And so as the as the book unfolds, that quote begins to mean that for the the narrator. He realizes that this year has been there 1 night in a 1000 years. And so he's he looks back on it with that kind of with that kind of view, but also that kind of gratitude for what it's been.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. It's awesome. So, listener, please pick up this book. You'll enjoy it. It's a quick read.
Speaker 3:It is. You know? And and and I love that. I love something that just kinda is a real page turner and just keeps going. Short chapters that give you a real good sense of like, man, I'm getting through this thing.
Speaker 3:You know? Yeah. It's so good. Where am I gonna be able to find this book, Craig?
Speaker 4:You your best bet's Amazon. I mean, your easiest bet is Amazon. You go to Amazon, type Craig Cunningham 1 9 in a 1000 years. You will find it for sure. You can go to my website craigscunningham.com.
Speaker 4:But I think the the quickest route to buying it and having it is is Amazon.
Speaker 3:Awesome. Awesome. And I can read this book. I can leave a a review.
Speaker 4:Yeah. That would be really helpful.
Speaker 3:I've I've been trying okay. Listen. I wrote a book. You know, as you know and because you graciously purchased my book.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 3:And I'm so thankful for that. I've I've had 4 people leave a review.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It's tough. It's actually tough. I'm I'm glad you said it. It's really tough because I gave away I gave away a lot of the books to friends and family and then it's I sold a lot by hand.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And you asked me, it's like, hey. Give me a review. And then you'll get a text message. Hey.
Speaker 4:I love the book. I love this part. It's like, could you leave a review? And it's like, well, you can't make people leave a review.
Speaker 3:Isn't that funny? I I discovered it was so interesting. I just thought it was so interesting to say, like, okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna write a book, and it's gonna be on paper. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And so there's only 4% of the world's population reads books on paper anyway. Yeah. So I'm gonna do that, and then I'm gonna take out of that 4% of the world the the world's readers. I'm gonna ask those people to go back and and write. So not only am I gonna ask them to read a thing, but then I'm gonna ask them to write a thing based on what they read Yeah.
Speaker 3:And and give me 4 or 5 stars or whatever. And I just thought, well, okay. And then so that's gonna be 2% of 4%. And I'm so what it's gonna mean is I'm gonna have 4 people, and it will and one of them is gonna be my own goal. You know?
Speaker 3:And the other is my mom.
Speaker 4:You know what's well, I won't get into that, but it's the review game is a funny game too.
Speaker 3:Okay. That sounds like something we can have a podcast for. Slide. That's not common. I'm not really.
Speaker 3:Well, Craig, thank you for sitting down with me today. This has been a real gift. I can't stress enough how enjoyable this book is and how good it really is for the mentor to read. So that was that was the express reason why I wanted to have you share about it. And looking forward to your next book.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Me too. Let's see what it is.
Speaker 3:So pick up that book, everybody, and thank you for sitting down with us and having a chat as we talk about these things that matter. We wanna remind you, you can mentor.