When an athlete is asked to reflect upon his best performance, often times he will comment on his ability to slow the game down. The game did not change but his mind clicked in, discerning between the surrounding noise and what required his attention. In Seven Days in Utopia, David Cook writes that it is important for a golfer to “keep the game in front of him.” In other words, don’t just react to the situation. Slow down and think ahead. Like the athlete, my days go better when I am able to slow life down. Read more ...
THE EYES HAVE IT – We men are visual so where our eyes go, our mind is quick to follow. The pornography industry has keyed off this fact for decades. The self-help industry has as well by encouraging men to put a picture of the house or car desired on a wall where it will be seen several times a day to help keep the eyes focused on the goal. This fit right in with the commitment I made to live above the poverty line that I grew up below. At a relatively young age my eyes began to focus in on making money, the next step on the career ladder and collecting stuff – my eyes were fixed in the world. Some success was realized but the collateral damage on the relational front was costly – very limited friendships and a family about to give up on me. Read on ...
Vishal Mangalwadi, in his book, The Book That Made Your World writes of a family that let their little girl die because, in the clutches of poverty the child was too much a liability. They already had a girl. A second girl would require a second dowry for marriage and the burden would not stop there. Her family did not see another way out. Vishal goes on to explore the notions of human dignity and rights embraced by the West through the Bible and the Christian faith. Read more...
LEADING– Even in these days of group think and team projects, leadership in the corporate world, small business, the school system and even churches is still paramount to an organization’s effectiveness. General Norman Schwarzkopf, known as “Stormin’ Norman” for the Desert Storm campaign in the early ’90’s, once said “leadership is about stepping up when given the opportunity and taking charge. When tough decisions need to be made, a leader does what is right.” I think Stormin’ Norman had read the book of Joshua. Read more ...
July 4th, Independence Day – We are celebrating the birth of this one nation under God, independence from the British throne. The founding fathers in turn wrote a remarkable plan of government in 1787, the United States Constitution. The great work not only gave the United States status as a nation, it established the supreme law of the land. Interestingly, John Adams, the second president of these United States put that great work in perspective by saying, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” There is the supreme law of the land and then there is the Law that undergirds that law. Read more...
As a kid, I had a VISION in the form of a prayer for my life – that I would have a happy and healthful marriage & family I did not know growing up and I envisioned a family that would live above the poverty line that I grew up below. The Lord enabled that vision to be realized.
In Andre Agassi’s biography, OPEN, he shares that his father cast a vision for him from the time he was in the crib – to win Wimbledon and be the number one tennis player in the world. That vision was realized as well.
Vision is powerful in business and in life. Read more
We have NO EXCUSES - Hiking through the San Juan Wilderness in SW Colorado the past couple of weeks, first with fathers & daughters and second with fathers & sons, I experienced Romans 1:20. There are
NO EXCUSES for not recognizing the Almighty's Hand in the creation. The expectation that follows recognition of God is to also recognize His Son and walk under the influence of the Holy Spirit as godly, righteous men. As we do, a godly and righteous generation will follow. Read more...
1. Prioritize your physical presence in the home and with family. 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning ... The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.' - John 1:1-2, 14. Just as God provided a connection with Him through the physical presence of His Son, a father provides a connection to the Father by being present and accounted for in family. Read more
My PRIORITIES for a number of years were tied to financial security - getting a job that paid well, taking the next step on the career ladder, paying the bills, getting money set aside for the kids' college education and funding the retirement account. About 10 - 15 years into the journey of marriage and family, those priorities were creating a lot of stress and someone suggested the idea of balance - to balance work and family. Good concept but that did not work either. Then my heart was turned to relationship - a personal, passionate and growing relationship with Jesus the Christ. That got the wheels engaged. Today the priority is my relationship with Jesus the Christ. The second priority is learning to live that relationship in marriage. And the third is reflecting that relationship in family and beyond. Everything else follows those three.
Keeping up with the Joneses - The house, the neighborhood, the car, the friends, the job, the position at work, the church, the volunteer work and even the kids' accomplishments all play a part in who we are, our STATUS. None of this is necessarily bad in its own right but one of the devil's best schemes is to take these and twist in a bit of obsession. The focus quickly turns to self, who you are, versus a selfless focus on Whose you are....Read more
