God's Man

So I asked a question today on Facebook, “Why did you marry your spouse?” I have the best Facebook friends on the planet and those that responded delivered. Positive or not I was glad to read their thoughts. The reason why I asked that question was, during my move over the weekend, I heard a pastor say that married couples spend, on average, a little more than 30 minutes in conversation each day. This lead me to ask the question, which caught my wife’s attention, “Why get married?” I knew someone would eventually ask what my reason were so I thought I better gather my thoughts. See I am not as eloquent as most so I needed to think this through. On one of our early dates, second or third, we were watching the movie, “The Man In The Iron Mask”. During that time we talked and laughed, while sitting on opposite ends of her ridiculously long couch. Time was forgotten and before we knew it it was 3:32 in the morning. That was when she said it was time to go. ;) Since I am not capa...

I was sitting here NOT SLEEPING and into my mind pops this quote from the Matrix, I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing... why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did. During the last Men of Zebulun meeting, my churches men's group, I shared about how powerful questions are. They can either build up a belief system or tear it down. Early in the Bible Satan used questions to challenge the belief system of Adam and Eve ( Genesis 3:1-5 Message ), The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in...

Reflections on Fathers on Father's Day Happy Father's Day out there to all of my brothers. Today is a day to be reminded of the call that we have, hopefully, embrace. I have been trying to find my place today. I have two beautiful and amazing daughters who show me love each and every day. I have a beautiful and amazing wife who honors me and shows me love every day. So when a holiday like Father's Day rolls around I don't expect lots of fanfare. I am actually put off but that kind of thing. My morning started with breakfast in bed with all of us crammed into our Queen size with trays. The baby stealing pieces of food from my plate before taking from her own. My oldest chattering about her upcoming birthday. My wife and I listening and trying not to rush to get ready for church. This was a moment to listen. A time to pull back from the whirlwind and embrace the present moment. I wonder when we stopped doing that? We used to cling desperately to each moment. ...

"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon... must inevitably come to pass!"   - Paul J. Meyer

Five Minute Drill - What Are You Capable Of? When I was teaching I used give my students what I called the 5 minute Drill. No matter the discipline I used this technique to draw out the creativity in them. By starting off the class with this I "hopefully" prepared them to use their creative muscles for problem solving. So since I have 5 minutes until my hamburgers are done here is my 5 minute drill. "Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing." ~ John Andrew Holmes I made a habit with my oldest daughter was small to tell her that she is capable of anything. That there is nothing that she cannot do. I caught a lot of flack for that because it made her into a bit of a daredevil. She is a super climber and a fierce jumper. When she was just learning to walk she would climb onto the couch and then walk across to the coffee table and then onto my ch...

Changing Your Thinking So I got this in my email today. I get so many different messages a day I barely ever read them all. This one however caught my attention and I have been processing it ever since. Take a look Dear Carlton, "If you want to become wealthy, let go of your middle-class beliefs that say money is about ego or greed. World-class wealth gives you control of your time and the luxury of doing what you want, when you want. Middle-class earners are slaves to money and are forced to undersell their time. Rich people have options and choices. It's not about ego or greed. It's about hating the idea of spending your life as a slave subservient to the demands of others, and subsequently finding a way to exchange a product or service for the exact amount of wealth you need to buy your freedom." -Steve Siebold The first time I experienced Steve Siebold was through his book, 101 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class . I love this book and I recommend that...

Welcome to Day 30 - Finishing Strong Congratulations To all of you who have run this race with me. I am so glad to see so many of you at the finish line. Everyone of you has shown tremendous strength getting this far and now it is time to evaluate how you are did. I mentioned yesterday about the retrospective process. This is something that I do with my coaching clients as well as in my corporate life. The beauty of this comes in its simplicity. The Retro asks three simple questions. I want each of you to ask yourself these in regards to your 30 Day Trial. What do I want to keep? What went well during this 30 Day Trial that I want to hold on to? What changes, feelings, ideas, do I want to incorporate into my life? For me this challenge has taught me that I can write 30 days worth of content for this site or any new site that I plan to create. I want to keep the creativity that I gained trying to come up with useful content each day. I also want to keep responding to feedback...

Welcome to Day 29 - Uncommon Excellence Finally got some internet going here on my vacation. I plan to go back and fill out yesterday's post. The photo, at least for me, speaks for itself. Now that it is day 29 I want to ask you how you are doing? How do you feel about your goal now that you are one day away for completing? Has it become a habit that you intend to continue or is it something that you now know isn't sustainable? Tomorrow I am going to walk you through a process called a Retrospective. This process is simple. Note that I did not say it was easy. It will hopefully help to clarify what you have learned through this challenge. Today I want to share with you the last of the Seven Decision from The Travelers Gift. There is a reason why this one is the final one. When you get this one you understand what it takes to complete any endeavor. I Will Persist Without Exception. Knowing that I have already made changes in my life that will last forever, today I inse...

Welcome to Day 28 - Hold on Tight... You are almost there. Keep it up.l Go Go Go

Welcome to Day 27 - Let Nothing Get In Your Way Hey Challengers. I am sending this from my mobile phone. It is a Samsung Instinct which, in my opinion, is a pretty decent phone. Anyway back to the challenge. I was thinking about skipping out on my post today when my first attempt at a post went into the bit bucket at the airport. As I was sitting here I contemplated ending my streak and I remembered when Miki encouraged me earlier. I remembered when Dawn was going to let the sun go down on her goal then changed her mind. I thought about all the updates you have all made and I knew I needed to make this happen. So now with too little ones climbing all over and my God daughters texting me I am posting this for all of us. That is what the challenge is all about. Getting it done no matter what. Twenty Seven days and you guys have inspired me. Run your race to win! Go Go Go P.S. The picture is the finished product from the Ice Cream Cake Maker photos from yesterday.

Welcome To Day 26 - How Many Words do I Get For Pretty Pictures Well they say that a picture is worth a 1000 words than this should cover today's word count. I present "Adventures in Cake Making." This illustrates an point that I was making a few days back. Enjoy what you are doing. I had no desire to make this ice cream cake but I enjoyed watching Isana enjoy herself. Yes it was messy. Yes it didn't turn out as expected. Yes it was worth every bit of the frustration to see the fun she had working it. We are planning to finish this tonight. I doubt that it will taste good but we are going to have fun eating it. Enthusiasm Enthusiasm is a state of mind. It inspires actions and is the most contagious of all emotions. Enthusiasm is a combination of mental and physical energy which is seldom found in an ailing body. It thrives best where sound physical health abounds. Sound health begins with the development and maintenance of health consciousness, just as economic su...

Welcome to Day 25 - The Home Stretch So here we are in the home stretch. One more week to go and you will have conquered your goal over the last 30 days. I am proud of all of you. Since it is Monday that means that I must once more give into my Not Me Addiction. McMama hosts this great blog carnival. I have found this helpful to me to get some of the stuff out of my mind. Thanks to Marlen(Momo) for getting me hooked on all of the Not Me fun. So here is what I didn't do last week. I didn't get frustrated with my beautiful bride when she made the awesome decision to override me on the Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Cake Maker. Since this never happens I couldn't have gotten frustrated. It also didn't result in a complete meltdown by Fish Stick. That would never happen becuase she handles disappointment with poise and grace. Just like every other 5 year old. I didn't try to conduct my personality and spirtual gifts test class without all of my printouts. This d...