Everyone has been given gifts. I’m not talking about boxes wrapped in pretty paper with ribbons around them. I mean gifts as a contributing member of the human race. Each person on the planet was created with gifts within them that are waiting to be utilized for the benefit of others. Let me give you some examples. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers has a gift; can you guess what it is? How about Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings? Having a unique ability that allows you to perform a specific purpose well is what I call a gift. Have you ever thought about what your gifts are? If you don’t know what they are, then how can you focus on using them? Read the rest of this entry »
I woke up this morning from a dream I was having. It was a dream that made me feel frustrated, unprepared and nervous. I dreamt that I had been drafted into the Marines and was commanded to prepare for a several day long march and I didn’t know what to take with me. We were leaving shortly and the seasoned soldiers around me were ready to go, packs on their backs full of what they were going to need, and they weren’t being very helpful in providing me with some assistance. Read the rest of this entry »
Can you remember that saying from cartoon characters of times past? It was usually uttered by a vampire or villain who was trying to put his victim into a trance, simply by having them look into his eyes. It was usually followed by the victim succumbing to the villain’s commands, and then committing something dastardly that they wouldn’t have done if they hadn’t looked into the villain’s eyes and fallen into his trance. Watching the cartoons as a kid, I often yelled out loud at times like those knowing what would happen, “No, don’t look into his eyes!” Read the rest of this entry »
I wish I had a nickel or even better, a quarter for every time I have heard someone using those words with me. I’d be richer than Bill Gates! Sometimes when I hear this phrase though, I can’t help but ponder the following question. How can someone express thanks and appreciation with their lips but at the same time have their actions demonstrate exactly the opposite? It’s hypocritical, a juxtaposition, a conundrum, fake, plastic, insincere, a lie and yes, it is hurtful to my heart when it happens. Actually, when people use this expression to secretly justify their actions, it seems to cheapen what I did and I guess I’d rather they not say anything at all. Read the rest of this entry »
My days at work are filled most of the time talking with people about their financial circumstances. Day to day I receive inquiries, and we talk. The details of their finances over the last 32 years have taken on a familiarity. Circumstances are similar, the biggest difference being their names and places they live. This morning I set out on my first call of the day. It was an area code for the less populated areas of the state, perhaps a rural community I thought. As I chatted with the woman, listening to her numbers, I began to hear background noise coming from outside her home. It was a large dog barking. Her attention to the details we were discussing became diverted as the doorbell to her home rang. I could hear her walking towards the door as she thought out loud, “who could be at my door?” Read the rest of this entry »
My legs are weak with disbelief; I feel as if I could collapse on the ground and weep uncontrollably. No, not from the rebuke I just received from the master of the banquet, but being redeemed from my greatest fear just moments ago; embarrassing and humiliating my master - the bridegroom, on his wedding day, due to my irresponsibility. Read the rest of this entry »
My water soaked clothes still drip from the waves that broke over the bow of our boat just minutes ago. The muscles in my arms and hands ache from straining at the oars against the mightiest wind I have ever seen on this lake. But I am uncomfortably amazed once again; the water and the wind are now calm. All thirteen of us sit in the boat which now rests on perfectly calm water. Not a cloud appears in the night sky and the brightness of the shining moon makes the water sparkle and glisten as we hear only the water gently lapping up against the sides of the boat. We are all silent but my mind is a wreck as I contemplate the piercing words of the teacher asking us all “why did you doubt?” Read the rest of this entry »
No doubt you have heard of the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve step program. The concept of the program is that a person progresses through twelve steps over time in an effort to make positive changes in their life while reaching and maintaining sobriety. Many drug rehabilitation centers across the country promote a code similar to the AA twelve step program. All of these programs are designed to bring people from a place of desperation and despair to a better place of positive living. They are quite successful at accomplishing their goal, and they seem to help bring people back to living a more fruitful life, as long as they continue walking the walk. Read the rest of this entry »
The day had been a warm one as the bright sun began to set in the sky. Long shadows began to form amongst the large crowd, as late afternoon was upon them. The journey they had taken with the sick was a torturous one. Many stops along the way to rest and there was nothing to eat along the dirt road route. All were hungry. The size of the crowd made travel painfully slow. The delay caused concern for the young crippled boy and his father. Were they too late? Would he miss the healer’s touch? Would he even see him up close enough to witness the healing this man was rumored to be doing? The boy worried he would miss it all; too late for the hope that he too might be touched by the great healer and walk. Read the rest of this entry »
I am getting older. My face and body are changing. If I compare my high school picture to the mirror right now, my face looks fatter. How do you lose face fat, anyway? I watched a TV program depicting comparison pictures of celebrities when they were in high school versus today. Uncanny, how some of them still look exactly the same. Also, I was “forced” to watch an infomercial on TV at the gym the other day. Cindy Crawford was advertising anti-aging face cream. It showed her face at age 28 and now at age 43. Amazing! No change at all. I told my wife she looks like Cindy Crawford; seriously, a very close resemblance except for the mole. Read the rest of this entry »
