Burnout…

This flame is cool. I like fire. Watching something burn is fascinating and it’s neat to see the constant changing of a fire as it burns. The colors are awesome and bright, and the flame flickering is mesmerizing. Fire is just one of those things that I could watch for a long time…the little kid comes out in me, for sure!

We all need fire to keep ourselves going, in whatever role, we're in - parent, employer, employee, child, student, etc.

The problem is…the flame goes out…

I wish I was a bird...really

Wait - should that be "I wish I were a bird?" 


When I go through a day that has challenges beyond what I like or a time where I have a lot on my mind or my heart, I look at the birds.

I know I talked about birds before, but I couldn't get this thought out of my mind…

Stopping on Main street…

What’s the main thing you stop for?

I’m not talking about traffic, but life. What causes you to pause and pay attention for a moment? What makes you change direction in life? What decides the next step for you? What’s the main thing in your life?

This sign is likely in every small town in America, but when I saw it the other day, I stopped to take a picture and had a flood of thoughts come to me.

Snowflakes and Differences…

A couple different edits of the same view...

This picture shows hundreds, maybe thousands of different little snowflakes. I took it with my iPhone to see how clearly it would turn out, and was amazed at all the different shapes that it shows. I then began to look closer, and realized that many had similarities but were also very different…

I'm positive...too...

You've probably seen this picture before...I want to be the optimist. 

Some that know me, realize that I’m a half glass full to full glass kind of guy. I most always look at the positive side of life and realize that the bad side of life is for a purpose. Life is not fair and I don’t like it sometimes, but I really believe that there is a purpose for the tough times and bad things that occur in life, even if they are my fault.

I’ve had a lot of things running around in my head lately, so here are some things that I’m positive about…

Failure stinks…

Don't know where this picture came from, but it was a fail! 

Who loves to fail? 

No-one does. 

It’s not fun! It often hurts and often causes great challenges from the failure. If I truly had a choice, I would never fail again and be perfect in every way, but the reality is, we fail!

People fail at marriage, at parenting, in a job, in ministry, in friendship, at sports, in their finances, during pressure, etc…

Failure isn't something we look forward to, but it’s something that’s going to happen…

Security Notice...

I saw this sign a while back and then I looked at the building. It had at least 6 or 7 of this same sign posted at each door and along the main outside walls.

My immediate reaction?

Where are the cameras?

Did they have a camera at each door? On each corner of the building? On a pole?

I looked around and didn’t see a single camera, anywhere.

What’s the message?

Ouch - 3 lessons from a bee sting...

I got stung again…

I know, stop complaining about a little bee sting, it’s no big deal. I get it, but if you read my blog, you know that I seem to learn crazy lessons from just about every little thing that happens to me, including a bee sting.

In the last 4 months, I have now been stung twice, and I don’t remember getting stung since I was a kid, and I was likely tougher then...

If you read my first post about my bee sting on the head, you know that I learned a few important things.

In this case I learned some more…

Jumpy leaders…

Have you ever had someone frighten you, as you walked by a doorway or empty room. They jump out or make a big noise and you stand there in terror with your tonsils in your hands. It’s a heart-racing event that my children love to do, and it’s highly uncomfortable. It’s not the position you expect to be in, nor do you want to be in it. 

It’s way out of your comfort zone…

3 lessons from a blade of grass...

You see that bit of grass (almost directly in the center of the picture). Little blades of grass and weeds grow anywhere.

I see this all the time. Mostly, I think it’s a nuisance, or about how in the world did grass grow in the middle of a street, parking lot or patio - it’s amazing that they get there.

Today is different - a friend of mine saw a blade of grass like this one and he said “Never give up!”

Let the scars come…

Really, I hate to get a cut. I’m a big wuss and have to show everyone in my family, that there is a gallon of blood flowing out of me, every second. Even a paper cut hurts, in fact, they may be worse that a broken leg - so glad I do everything electronically now - hard to get cut by my Mac keyboard. 

Well, there is a point to this one - sorry about the rabbit trail…Scars are very valuable…look at this old violin - it’s pretty beat up, but is still worth $325.

Are you like this match?

This match is awesome. I thought it might be a cool picture, but after I took it, I realized just how amazing it really is. Look at the flame. Look at the brightness of the red hot end. Look at the way it's burning down.

Are you like this match?

I see several important ways we should be line this match...

Rub-a-dub-dub thanks for the grub. Yeah God…surely there's more...

The title of this post was the meal prayer prior to a business lunch with a group of about 50 business professionals that I attended.

The man that was scheduled to pray is not religious and not a Christian, per his own introduction prior to his prayer.

His intent was to accomplish the task he was asked to do and to be humorous, so I think, since I can’t judge his motives completely.

I’m not offended, hurt or angered, but I’m disappointed, not in him, but in the overall direction of our country to make God a casual being with causal references.

Should this be the case in our society?

Broken Turtles...round 2

This is a re-post from two years ago, but it has been one of the most viewed of all I have written - I'm not sure why...hope you enjoy it...

The picture that you see is one that I took a while ago, when I was taking a walk in my neighborhood. This is not photo-shopped or edited in anyway. It’s what I saw and I had to stop and watch for awhile. I had a bunch of considerations come to my mind when I saw Mr. Turtle:

Joy class...

This is a great name for a Sunday school class...

I hope your Sunday is full of joy and that you don't have to go to class to learn how to be joyful. Let the Lord give you the joy you need today!

Sunday verse...

Today I'm just sharing a verse...

One of my favorites...

"This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes." Psalm 118:23

So many times, we have excitement and happiness, when we see God answer a prayer, or we have some good go on in our lives, but that's not the only time to marvel at God's greatness and what He is doing.

We have bad times and bad things occur during our lives, and we need to marvel at who God is during those times too. 

He is the one who provides...

Strength

Wisdom

Grace

Encouragement

...and everything else we need during a tough time.

Don't forget to marvel at what God does for you during a trial.

Tourist Tuesday...#8

Enjoy...

Encourage...

Strangely together…

I saw this at my office.

I couldn't make sense of the mix, but somebody ate this for lunch that day.

To me it seemed strange…

Honestly, it didn’t matter what I thought. Someone likely enjoyed this lunch and obviously didn’t ask me or care about what I thought. I wouldn't necessarily enjoy it, but I wasn’t the one eating it.

It made me think about the strange things that come together in life.

We’ve all seen that couple that didn’t match, yet had great joy together.

We’ve seen partnerships with the entrepreneur and the accountant, that had success.

We’ve seen the crazy friends that seem to get along, even though their personalities are completely different.

It reminds me that we are not the same.  

We are different and differences are good. We get the opportunity to grow, and change, and learn, all because we’re different. 

I work on a team, and none of us are the same. We all have strengths and weaknesses, but we make a great team, because some do things that others cannot and visa versa. If we were all the same, we wouldn't be able to get anything done. We would sit with the same strengths and the same weaknesses, frustrated about our tasks.

It’s so important to admire the differences in life, even if you don’t like them, because those differences are often a help to you, when your weakness needs filling with their strengths.

Lessons Learned: Don’t mock the differences, learn from them.

Thoughts: Are you enjoying the differences, in life?

#failalot

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Smiling Sunday…

This boys life is being changed...

I can’t help but to be smiling on Sundays.

It’s one of my favorite days of the week, because I love to go to my church and be involved in helping with the teens. 

I don’t go to church to sit and hang out. I go to have a blast with the teens while I teach Sunday school...

Tourist Tuesday...#6

My son left the seat tight up to the steering wheel for me...

Being a good Dad (or Mom) is important...some good thoughts, from Michael Hyatt...

Good Dad