Real Friends Don't Fool Us

John Archer is a former police officer turned comedy magician. Though he has had a sterling career, his biggest moment in the spotlight came on January 7^th, 2011. He appeared on 'Fool Us' a program where magicians from Great Britain and around the world attempted to trick the magic greats, Penn & Teller. If they do, their prize was to open the Penn and Teller show at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. Archer was the first magician on the program to ever fool Penn & Teller.

His presentation is humorous and clever. The trick consists of giving the audience members a chance to pick from a series of envelopes to try a get one the one that contains a money prize. It always seems that Archer is one step ahead and they never can pick the right one. What makes the trick is that each envelope has a word printed on them and that thru “Carrollian” language, Archer make each choice seem like he knows exactly what choice each person will make.

While the trick he did was amazing, the story behind it has an even better lesson. For Archer the routine was easy, it was how to pull it off that was trying. So he came up with a rather obvious and rather lame method. He was discussing the trick with a friend over the phone to get his feedback, and at the end of the conversation his friend replied, “Are you happy doing it that way?” Archer said he was but the more he thought about he wasn’t. So he went to work and came up with a simple but brilliant method that would fool some of the greatest minds in magic.

As Archer says, “Isn’t it good to have friends that will ask you the important questions?

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

His friend didn’t berate him. He didn’t laugh him off. He didn’t tell him “No, you’re wrong”. But he didn’t let him off either. He just asked a question that he knew would cause his friend to think. Good friends do that.

Real friends don’t just agree with you to make you happy, they are not just yes men, they don’t just let you be less than you should be. Real friends challenge you, they hold you accountable, and they make sure you are not selling yourself short. A good friend isn’t someone that just goes along with you, it is someone that helps you to get farther along.

Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals.”

1^st Corinthians 15:33

Friends can make or break you, so you better choose wisely.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

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