With Regard To Life

140 Years

My church is celebrating its 140th anniversary this weekend. Several former church members and pastors are attending the celebration. It will be a special weekend. It started Saturday night with a concert. One hundred forty years is a long time. Countless people have gone before us, and have left a wonderful legacy. I am studying Max Lucado's book Out Live Your Life. I was reading the introduction to the study guide and something struck me. The introduction ends with these words: "Here is a salute to a long life: goodness that outlives the grave, love that outlasts the final breath." I thought of my church, or more importantly, the people who make up our church. There has certainly been goodness over the years. And there has been a lot of love. There still is a lot of love. My family has been the recipient of much goodness and love. I saw that goodness and love and dedication in the faces of many people at the concert. And I remembered it as I thought of those who have moved on or are no longer living. But their legacy lives. Another line from the study booklet read, "God has given this generation, our generation, everything we need to alter the course of human suffering. He invites us to outlive our lives. Today's Winning Thought: We can learn from the passion and priorities of the people who have gone before us. And we can learn as we hear about and reflect on their stories.

Hello

Today was a long day. I did not get a lot of work done, but it was a good day nonetheless. Talked to a friend and learned that he was having a good day after several bad ones. Helped at a golf tournament. The funds from the tournament support a ministry I am involved with. Narrowly missed being struck by some equipment that fell from shelves above where I was standing. Hurried to watch my daughter at swim practice. Many people have been glued to their televisions watching coverage of a couple getting married Friday. I am glued to coverage of the tornadoes in Alabama and Mississippi. I am a news junkie and this is a story I just cannot stop watching. Today's Winning Thought: I hope you are well, and that you had a great day. I am counting my blessings today. I hope you are too.

Give More

Every morning, there is a short quote on my computer when I get to the office. It is from a friend. His name is Sam Parker. I have never met Sam, but he is still my friend. I want you to meet him. I first learned about Sam when I picked up his little book entitled 212 The Extra Degree. It is about the value of a small amount of extra effort. It is built upon the premise that at 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. With boiling water, comes steam. And with steam you can power a train. The e-mail I receive every day is entitled JUST SELL. It is a short sales-ralated note, which is part of Give More Media. Here is the one from Good Friday. "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart . . ." -- Paul the Apostle (Colossians 3:23) Sam also send another one. It is called GIVE MORE. You should really subscribe to this one. It is inspiration for your work and life. The message I received this week should be required reading for everyone. Here is the first sentence. "You will do well in your work by being valuable to someone else." A couple of paragraphs later, he added this gem. "We need to get tired of mediocrity and indifference and be positively surprising to our colleagues and the other people we serve (customers, students, clients, students). We need to encourage each other more." My friend Sam also wrote, "Be what it is you want to see more of." More enthusiasm, less cynicism. More approachable, less eggshells. More patience and kindness, less grumpiness. More encouragement, less withholding. More listening, less telling. More time, effort and care. Today's Winning Thought: There has NEVER been a better time than right now to start living at a higher level. Will you join me in being more connected and more engaged? We must. We live in the greatest country in the world, but parts of it are breaking down right before our eyes. You and I can make it better.

Grocery Store Privileges

I was visiting with my wife about what she wanted for dinner. We decided on something. She asked me to stop at the store on the way home and pick up a couple of things. Key word here is couple. That means two. Well, I decided I could add a few bananas to my list. We were out, and they are good for you. That surely would be acceptable. It always has been. I would have been fine had I stopped there. You are already ahead of me here, aren't you? Yes, it is true that I should be monitored at all times when I go to the supermarket. Invariably, stuff seems to find my shopping cart. They jump off the shelves, they sneak up from behind and into the cart when I am not looking. This trip to the store was like most others. An extra item or two found their way to my house. I will come clean with you. This time it was premeditated. I grabbed a coupon that came in the mail recently. It offered a nice discount to try a brand new premium ice cream. Knowing my wife would see and inventory each item I brought home, I crafted a story that I hoped she would accept. I did not try to hide my purchase, though I could have because I paid cash. Instead, I said, "Look dear, I bought you a treat." Knowing that we are trying to eat healthy at our house, I knew it was likely that the purchase would meet with some resistance. Sure enough, I was told that any future deviations from the list would result in a loss of grocery store privileges. To which I replied in a mocking tone, "Oh no, not my grocery store privileges." She is fine. She ate one of the ice cream bars. I am not in trouble. All is well. Today's Winning Thought: I think I will go draw up plans for my next trip to the grocery store.

Is A Handshake Still Enough

My Sunday school class was discussing truth telling in class the other day. When we spoke of speaking the truth in business, my wife spoke of her father, who is still working in his 70's. It used to be that you could conduct business with someone and shake hands on a deal. That is not the way most people do business today. But my father-in-law still does. Sometimes he is not even there to shake hands with his customers. His office is located right off our back door. His customers come to our back door, get the key to his office, take the products they need, lock the door and go on. They let him know what they took. He sends the customer an invoice and everybody is happy. You cannot conduct business that way if you do not have strong relationships. Building those takes many years of trust. The opposite of trust is suspicion. That is a place you do not want to be. You don't want to be the party that breaks an agreement. You can still do business today without contracts and without attorneys. It is rare, but people do it every week. People who have strong relationships built on trust. Today's Winning Thought: "Regard your personal integrity as one of your most important assets." -- William H. Swanson

The Welch Way

I spent a few minutes Easter night looking over my plans for the coming week. I also spent a few minutes looking at one of my business books. The book I glanced at was The Welch Way: 24 Lessons From The World's Greatest CEO. The book was about Jack Welch and his time as CEO of GE. There are some great thoughts in this short book. I wanted to share a few. Think about these this week when you go back to work. "Articulate a vision, and spark others to execute it." "The way to harness the power of these people is not to protect them, but to turn them loose, and get the management layers off their backs, the bureaucratic shackles off their feet and the functional barriers out of their way." "Leave yourself with several options." "How do you bring people into the change process? Start with reality . . . When everybody gets the same facts, they generally come to the same conclusion." "Simplify the workplace." "Eliminate complicated memos and letters." "Know that change is here to stay." Live urgency. Make decisions faster. Work harder." Today's Winning Thought: "Never take your eye off the ball. During quiet time, figure out exactly what it is you need to do in order to achieve your goals." -- Jack Welch

Happy Easter

"He is not here; He is risen, just as he said." Those words from Matthew 28:6 give us freedom for today, hope for the future and victory over death. Those words are power. Jesus'resurrection is the key to the Christian faith. In His resurrection, Jesus earned for all of us a new life just like his. In our spirit we are made alive with new resurrection power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will help us live renewed and regenerated lives. But we cannot know the victory of the resurrection without personally applying the crucifixion. This is spring, a time of rebirth and new life. Easter is a great time to reflect. If you are going through a difficult time, don't lose hope. Experience freedom in Christ and find victory in your life. Today's Winning Thought: The reality of the resurrection brings joy, not fear. The tomb was empty then and it is empty today. He is not dead, He is alive. Happy Easter!

Time

For all intent and purposes, you and I have spent one-third of 2011.  We have used 31 percent of this year.  That does not seem possible.

In a little more than three months I will turn 57.  I used to think that when you reached a number that high you were old.  I don't think that way any longer.

Time seems to be flying by.  Whatever its speed, it is causing me to look at life more intently.

I pulled a book off my bookshelf recently and I think it is one I will reread.  It is entitled How To Lead and Still Have a Life by H. Dale Burke.  In one chapter Burke writes about four types of time:  Rest Time, Results Times, Response Time and Refocus Time.  The point, Burke said, is to help you juggle the demands of your life more effectively.  I need a refresher course.

Today's Winning Thought:  "Concentrate on one kind of activity at a time.  You will be far more productive and much less stressed." -- Dale Burke 

How Full is Your Bucket

Tom Rath and his grandfather, Donald Clifton, wrote a book a few years ago entitled How Full is Your Bucket. Mr. Clifton taught psychology at the University of Nebraska. He found that our lives are shaped by our interactions with other people. And he said every interaction, regardless of how brief, makes a difference. The theory behind the bucket is that each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly being emptied or filled. Of course, when our bucket is full we feel great. We don't feel so great when it is empty. Each bucket also has an invisible dipper. With that dipper we can fill other people's buckets, or we can dip from them. We dip from other buckets when we say and do things which decrease their positive emotions. We can fill or we can steal. Each choice influences our relationships. This book was written in 2004. At that time, Rath and Clifton wrote that "rampant negativity is not only disheartening, it is expensive. It costs the U.S. economy between $250 and $300 billion every year in lost productivity." Today's Winning Thought: It would certainly seem like it is worth the effort to be more positive.

One of 160 Million

I read an article today that said there are 160 million blogs on the internet. I don't know how many you read but I want to thank you for reading this one. It is not hard to find blogs. The difficult part is deciding which ones you want to read. If you don't read blogs, try a few. Visit some and when you find a few you like, study them. Do you have something you want or need to say to the world? Start writing. Transfer your thoughts from your heart and mind to your keyboard. But don't stop there. Record your blog and put them on You Tube. And open a Twitter account. You could reconnect with family and friends. You could change someone's life forever. Today's Winning Thought: Writing this blog has been a rewarding experience. And it is free. Thanks for reading.