Free Hugs

"Hope Doesn't Come From Calculating Whether The Good News Is Winning Out Over The Bad. It's Simply A Choice To Take Action."
Anna Lappe

Taking action. One of my favorite pastors, Casey Treat www.caseytreat.com who is pastor to the northwest in Seattle, Washington spoke at Eagles Nest one Sunday here in San Antonio. He spoke about will power. He made a simple analogy that has soaked into my mind for a long time now. He said most people break their own word the first thing right away, every morning. You ask how. Well, before we go to sleep we generally set an alarm clock. The intention of that alarm is to wake up. Not to snooze and get more rest before we feel awake. So you set your alarm and then break your own word by snoozing. That is just the downward start of you not having confidence in believing in your ability. Pretty simple concept but I realized that day it is not that easy to set an alarm and wake up. So as you lose that will power and as one thing after another does not occur the way you planned it due to your own lack of self belief it continues to beat on your belief in one self. And that is where you lose hope. Start with something small like forcing yourself to not snooze. It is a great start to success and finding hope.

I included this video because this man had a dream. An amazing, power thought and decided to put it into action. Now this campaign has taken root and people all over the world are doing what this man set his mind out to do. The power of thought...till then.

I Have A Dream

You See Things; And You Say, 'Why?' But I Dream Things That Never Were And Say, 'Why Not?'
George Bernard Shaw

I have always talked about speaking things into existence, be careful what you wish for kind of stuff. It is all throughout the bible but for some reason people think it is a crazy concept. Habakuk 2 speaks about it. You pray and depending on God's timing will you receive it. This whole "The Secret" craze has certainly taken a frenzy lately. It is mostly all summed up in the book Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. But there is one thing that I always speak about that I decided to write on once again. There are 3 steps in the secrets "thoughts are things that manifest concept". Step 1, Declare it. Step 2 How (this step is not done by you) and Step 3, receive it. Also in the movie, Jack Canfield says when you have inspired thought, act on it. Otherwise you will be telling yourself subconciously that you do not deserve it and the thing you desire will not manifest.

Well I included this cute video to say that you dont have to die for your dreams. But you do have to work for them to happen. "Nothing worthwhile comes easy." Thats what Griswald said...so watch this clip and know if you want your dream bad enough, it will take constant, consistent effort. But you have the strength through God and ability to do everything you desire if you desire it.

Fail Forward To Success

"If At First You Don't Succeed, Find Out If the Loser Gets Anything."
Bill Lyon

Hmmm....does the loser get anything? Lets ask the expert on failure. Watch this short video and find out what he thinks.




I find it amazing that as humans we tend to give up just before we are about to have a break through. We fail countlessly through our lives. As we fail and learn to become successful, we as losers if we can replace failing with losing do gain much. Knowledge to change for the better.

Can A Single Not Have A Date And Still Feel Love?

"Just because you love someone doesn't mean you have to be involved with them. Love is not a bandage to cover wounds."
Hugh Elliott

For in Christ Jesus...the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians 5:6

I heard an awesome story the other day about a story in John C. Maxwell’s book- The 21 Indisputable Qualities of a Leader. It goes like this.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, two strong view for leadership of Great Britain’s government: William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. The two politicians were intense rivals. You can detect how they felt about each other, based on a comment made by Disraeli: “The difference between a calamity and a misfortune? If Gladstone fell into the Thames River, it would be a misfortune. But if someone dragged him out again, it would be a calamity.”
Many people believe Gladstone, leader of the Liberal Party for three decades, personified the best qualities of Victorian England. A career public servant, he was a great orator, a master of finance, and a staunchly moral man. He was prime minister of the United Kingdom four different times, the only person in the nation’s history to achieve that honor. Under his leadership, Great Britain established a national education system, instituted parliamentary reform, and saw the vote given to a significant number of people in the working classes.
Benjamin Disraeli, who served twice as prime minister, had a different kind of background. In his thirties, he entered into politics and built a reputation as a diplomat and social reformer. But his greatest accomplishment was masterminding Great Britain’s purchase of shares in the Suez Canal.
Though both men accomplished much for Britain, what really separated them as leaders was their approach to people. The difference can be best illustrated by a story told by a young woman who dined with the two rival statesmen on consecutive nights. When asked her impression of them, she said “When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in all of England. After sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England.” Disraeli possessed a quality that drew people to him and made them want to follow him. He had charisma.
Maxwell explains that the key to charisma is other-centeredness, putting the other person first. That’s also the chief characteristic of agape, God’s kind of love.

This is a passage a senior pastor at my church wrote for his Valentine’ Day Sermon entitled Can A Single Not Have A Date And Still Feel Love?

I have tried judgment and I’ve tried forgiveness. Forgiveness is better but there’s a problem. I don’t get to decide what the other person’s penalty is. I don’t get to decide how long they suffer. I have to be open to loving them and spending time with them. They get a better deal than they deserve and sometimes that irritates me. It requires that I trust God with the outcome. I have to let go to do that and letting go puts my selfishness to death. I don’t like the personal pain.
There are advantages. God really is a better judge than me. He sees the big picture clearer than I do. When I forgive, He forgives me. When I release the judgment, I am released. But my selfishness has to die for me to do it and I don’t like the pain.
I have tried lust and I have tried purity. Purity is better but lust has its advantages. Doing something secret has a strong pull. If I could fly and there was a rule against flying, I would still be sorely tempted to fly. Ah, the thrill of flying. There’s a similar thrill to doing something and not getting caught. The high of secrecy.
Beyond that, lust involves theft. I take someone else’s beauty or privacy or intimacy even though it is not mine or it’s not God’s time. I justify it because it makes me feel good or it satisfies my curiosity or it makes me feel like a little God, writing my own rules, determining my own time table, doing my own thing! Sure, it’s selfish; it’s all about me. I if I can find another selfish, secretive person who’s willing to share the crime with me, it seems totally okay, at least for the moment.
The downside is guilt and stress and the fear of being caught or exposed. But purity tells me to wait and I don’t want to wait.
Purity is best. It’s honest. It’s “Walking in the light.” It’s guilt free. It develops my character. It builds a firm foundation. It pleases god. It produces fruit. It leaves a great heritage. And, it leads to the favor of God. In the end I find out that His timing is better than mine even though I didn’t believe that on the front end.
Jeremiah 2:13 says “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug cisterns, broken cisterns that can not hold water.”
The enemy says, “You know what you want. You know what you need. You have every right to go for it. Dig your own cistern, your own storage facility. Judge whoever you choose. Lust after whoever you please. Eat whatever satisfies you. Do it as often as you can get by with it. If you get caught, it was worth it. You only go around once; grab for all the gusto you can get!”
The Lord says, “I created you. I have a destiny for you. I will give you the wisdom and grace to fulfill it. I have sent the Holy Spirit to intercede for you. I will test you but only to develop your character and maturity. I will lead you through dark places. Remember, I will go with you. Your enemies will surround you but I will serve a lunch for you right in the middle of them.”
The Greeks called the two types of love Eros, sensual attraction, and agape, other-centered love. Eros offers guilt pleasure, short term satisfaction; yes, the bill comes due and it’s at a very high price. In addition, God resists us. We seek our own picture of destiny and it is characterized by one night stands, an alcoholic buzz, followed by a hangover, stolen pleasures, followed by painful consequences, life that hopefully ends on Earth we won’t be prepared for eternity.
Agape offers joy when I don’t feel happy, guilt-free living, eternal reward, and God’s favor. He unfolds our destiny. It is characterized by life long commitment, healthy living, walking in the light, and God’s blessing. That life does not end on Earth because it prepares you for eternity.
However, agape is tough love. It requires that I trust God, that I seek His wisdom, that I rely on the Holy Spirit, that I seek healing, that I forgive and be forgiven, and I develop patience.
What about the question, “Can a single feel love and not have a date?” It all depends. If your goal is selfish satisfaction, you probably need someone, a certain someone, to respond to what gives you pleasure, to speak your love language-gifts, quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation, or acts of service-or possibly, all five. Your strategy may be co-dependant, a willingness to satisfy the other person’s self-centered desires. It may be fantasy, a willingness to believe that whatever brings you pleasure is therefore okay.
If your goal is agape, you’ll ask God to direct you to love in ways that please Him and that fulfill your destiny on Earth. You will do this out of faith, a belief that He will reward you in His way and on His timetable. This is God’s promise. “Don’t grow weary in doing well. You will reap in due season if you don’t faint!” The harvest He promises might be gifts, quality time, intimacy, words of affirmation, or acts of service. It might be His smile of approval. It might be enrolling you in a curriculum that will develop your character. And all of this will sometimes feel good right away and sometimes later.

Life or Death?

"Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life."
Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956)


They were there for breakfast, and they were there to cheer New York Jets running back Curtis Martin. And it was Martin who received the Athletes in Action Barr Starr Award Saturday morning. But the hundreds of people who gathered in the fourth floor ballroom at the Marriott Renaissance in Detroit, Michigan on the morning before Super Bowl XL were clearly touched by the featured speaker.

That speaker was the Colts Head Coach, Tony Dungy.

Two hours in to the breakfast, emcee Brent Jones introduced Dungy, who was welcomed with a lengthy standing ovation. Dungy thanked the crowd, then adding with a laugh, “I just wish I wasn’t here in this capacity so many times of being just that close to being in the game and just being invited as a speaker. My goal is to have our team here one day and have a couple of tables with all of our guys here. Because we have a special group of young men, a great group of Christian guys. It would be wonderful to have them here so you could see their hearts and what they are all about.”

“It hasn’t quite happened yet. But we are still hoping one day it will.” He told them he was going to talk about lessons he had learned from his 3 sons. The crowd fell silent. Then Dungy spoke.

Although this was a breakfast-and although at many such events speakers speak over the clinking of glasses and murmurs from semi-interested listeners, for most of 15 minutes the room was silent except for Dungy’s voice.

He spoke of his middle son, Eric, who he said shares his competitiveness and who is focused on sports “To where it is almost a problem.” He spoke of his youngest son, Jordan, who has a rare congenital condition which causes him not to feel pain. “He feels things, but he does not get the sensation of pain.”

The lessons learned from Jordan, Tony Dungy said, are in many. “That sounds like it’s good at the beginning, but I promise you its not, we have learned a lot about pain in the last five years we have had Jordan. We have learned some hurts are really necessary for kids. Pain is necessary for kids to find out the difference between what is good and what’s harmful.”

Jordan, Dungy said, loves cookies. “Cookies are good, but in Jordan’s mind, if they are not good out on the plate, they are even better in the oven. He will go right to the oven when my wife’s not looking, reach right in, take the rack out, take the pan off the rack, burn his hands and eat the cookies and burn his tongue and never feel it. He does not know it is bad for him.”

“Jordan has no fear of anything, so we constantly have to watch him,” Dungy said, “The lesson learned is simple. You get the question all the time., ‘Why does the Lord allow pain in your life? Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is a God of love, why does he allow these hurtful things to happen?’

“We’ve learned that a lot of times because of pain, that little temporary pain, you learn what’s harmful. You learn to fear the right things. Pain sometimes lets us know we have a condition that needs to be healed. Pain inside sometimes lets us know that spiritually we are not quite right and we need to be healed and that God will send that healing agent right to the spot. Sometimes, pain is the only way that will turn us kids back to the Father.”

Finally…he spoke of his son James.

James Dungy, Tony Dungy’s oldest son, committed suicide three days before Christmas of 2005. As he did while delivering James’ eulogy in December, Dungy spoke of him eloquently and steadily, speaking of lessons learned and of the positives taken from the experience.

“It was tough, and it was very painful, but as painful as it was, there were some good things that came out of it.”

Dungy spoke at the funeral of regretting not hugging James the last time he saw him, on Thanksgiving of last year. “I met a guy the next day after the funeral,” Dungy said. “He said, ‘I was there. I heard you talking. I took off work today. I called my son. I told him I was taking him to the movies. We’re going to spend some time and go to dinner.’ That was a real, real blessing to me.”

Dungy said he has gotten many letters since James’ death relaying similar messages. “People heard what I said and said, ‘hey, you brought me a little close to my son,’ or, ‘you brought me a little closer to my daughter.’ “What a tremendous blessing.”

Dungy also said some of the James’ organs were donated through donor programs. “We got a letter back two weeks ago that two people had received his corneas, and now they can see, that’s been a tremendous blessing.”

Tony spoke of a letter he received from a girl that attends the family’s church in Tampa. She had known of James for many years. She went to the funeral because she knew James.

“When I saw what happened at the funeral, and your family and the celebration and how it was handled, that was the first time I realized there had to be a God. I accepted Christ into my life and my life’s been different since that day.” Dungy said “That was an awesome blessing, so all of those things kind of made me realize what God’s love is all about.”

Dungy was asked often how he was able to return to the Colts so quickly after a James’ death. James died on December 22nd, and Dungy returned to the team one week later. Dungy said the answer was simple. “People asked me, ‘How did you recover so quickly? I told them I am not totally recovered. I don’t know that I will ever be. It is still very, very painful, but I was able to come because of something one of my good Christian friends said to me after the funeral.” “He said, ‘You know James accepted Christ into his heart, so you know he’s in heaven, right?’ I said, ‘Right, I know that’ He said, ‘So, with all you know about heaven, if you had the power to bring him back now, would you?’ When I thought about it, I said, ‘No, I wouldn’t. I would not want him back with what I know about heaven.’

That’s what helped me through the grieving process. Because of Christ’s spirit in me, I had that confidence that James is there, at peace with the Lord, and I have the peace of mind in the midst of something that is very, very painful. That’s my prayer today, that everyone in this room would know the same.”

Written by John Oeshner. “NFL Insider”-Feb. 2006 at www.colts.com


This is a powerful message I received about the ex-football coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and current Super Bowl Champion head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy. He is an amazing man and a wonderful inspiration for our society. His view on death is very similar to mine. I have never been totally devastated by someone dying. I always ask myself, “Why am I sad? I am truly a believer, I should be rejoicing.” Now don’t get me wrong. Death is difficult but it is only difficult for selfish reasons. You will miss that person in your life because of how they are not there any longer. You are not rejoicing because they are finally free and home. It still hurts though because you know they are gone from your life forever. Bitter sweet.

You deserve the ring Tony! You are an
inspiration and icon for masculinity!!!

10 characteristics of a poverty mindset

"You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live."
George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

"It is not the rich man you should properly call happy, but him who knows how to use with wisdom the blessings of the gods, to endure hard poverty, and who fears dishonor worse than death, and is not afraid to die for cherished friends or fatherland."
Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes

You have a deep rooted sense of inferiority
God created you to be a wonderful and amazing person. Sometimes through past failures or terrible upbringing we lose our belief and the ability to succeed. As Christians we are to be “Hope Merchants” to people. This is an abundant God who blessed you with an amazing ability. You are amazing! You are no less than anyone else.

Perceived Inadequacy
This characteristic does so much harm. It causes you to slow and limit your abilities in things like communication.

Lack of Money
Have you ever met someone who no matter what risk they take or chance they pursue just can’t get ahead and they always use the excuse I don’t have enough money to do that? If you always put limitations on yourself you are seeking problems and resistance instead of solutions. There are people in the world with money. Use your creative ability and tap into the infinite knowledge in spirit and find those people who can help you.

Hoarding Mentality
This can be both wealthy and poor people, someone who accumulates stuff. Random stuff that is not necessary for anything. And the reason they always say is, “I might need this one day, just in case such and such happens.” knowing that it will more than likely not even ever happen. Give it away. Don’t sell it. Just give it away. You don’t need to hoard things. The more you hoard the less faith you have in God’s ability to provide for you in time on need. All you are doing is cluttering your life. Like women who gain 40 pounds and keep dresses 15 sizes smaller than them, oh one day I might need this again. No! You are fat! Get rid of it and when you lose the weight buy a new dress.

Insecurity Regarding the Future
Don’t misunderstand me here. You should always be prepared for the future but you don’t have to worry about it. I find it funny that people no matter how good things are going for them at the moment, they can’t enjoy it because they are too freaking worried about the future. Stop and enjoy the moments you have now.

Hopelessness
This one is hard. It is not mentioned one single time in the bible that you should be hopeless. You have to know things go in cycles. Life has ups and downs. My pastor always says that Paul said “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” It did not say, “I am going to camp here in the valley.” You have to understand circumstances won’t last. If you have no optimism, you are drowning yourself and don’t need to read this to know that. I love James 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Look at Lazarus. The dude was dead for 4 days and God said, Laz, Come forward. Crazy things can happen in life. God can work miracles. There is hope and as Christians we should be the message of good news for hopeless people.

Victim Mentality
I wrote a blog earlier about being a victim or a victor. If you haven’t read it, find it…its pretty good I think. I heard a story about Dr. Phil from my pastor that this lady was saying, “Oh, I’m a victim! My husband has beaten me for 13 years!” Dr. Phil replies, “Lady, let me assure you, you are not a victim, after 13 years you are a volunteer.” If you have a victim mentality again you lose the ability to come up with solutions because all you are focusing on is the fact that it’s not your fault, it is someone else’s fault. Again, this keeps you from figuring a way out of it and sucks you into the trap. It’s not my fault I stabbed someone and I am in prison cause he’s dead now, because my daddy beat me as a child and I learned that violence handles problems. I’m a victim. That’s crap! Period.

Self-Centeredness
This is something most people are affected by. With this affliction it becomes very difficult to give, almost impossible to give without the thought of something in return. I just read a devotional that dealt with this. Jesus gave us authority to minister to people in Matt. 10:8. God sent an epileptic boy for healing to his disciples but they failed miserably due to them being self-centered and losing their belief because they thought they had no position to heal. All they cared about was moving up the ladder and gaining that new higher position (Matt. 9:32-35). Jesus responded to them with his hardest words calling them “unbelieving” and “perverse” and questioned how much longer He had to endure them. You have a mission on this earth to minister to those in need. Don’t lose sight of the ultimate calling, to bring people into the love of God. Church is not about believers, it is for unbelievers. It is not “My will be done.” It is “Thy will be done.”

Generational Transfer of Attitude
Yes, I believe some things are hereditary, but it has become an inexcusable amount of people relying on the fact that their parents were alcoholics that make them that way. I am fat because it’s genetic. No you are fat because you don’t exercise and you eat too much crap. The best one I think is how parents tell their kids they hope their children turn out just like them. Yes, kids can be tough, but what a demeaning thing to say to a child. Even jokingly. In (Exodus 34:7) “maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation." But with the new covenant and sacrifice of Jesus we break this curse. Be the first in your family to break the cycle.

Rationalism for Inappropriate Behavior
Always finding an excuse for why you did something that was wrong. “It’s not my fault I turned out to be a mean, naggy witch. My momma was one too, so I learned it from her.” I used to do this a lot. Blaming others for the hurt I caused them. Well, if you had not had done this or that, I would not have done it to you. How poor minded is that. Accept responsibility for your actions and change you, don’t do it so that others will change to, although it would be nice, but that should not be the purpose of you bettering yourself cause chances are they wont.

In summary, God will provide for you in down times. Look at Elijah. He prayed earnestly and knew God would come through. Sometimes he only brought a meesly crow for him to eat, but he provided him with what he needed at that moment. Don’t be lazy and think you are better than people to not work. My pastor says, “If you don’t work, you should not eat.” God doesn’t perform unbelievable miracles in your life every time you need him to. He is not going to split the Red Sea at your demand or send Angels to protect you all the time. If it is what you need and in His purpose for you He will. Sometimes he provided you will a crusty, old, dirty bird like a crow to eat. Don’t think you are too good for that. You aren’t. You are no better than anyone else on this Earth. In fact, God loves choosing unbelievers and what we think are terrible people to do miraculous things. He touched the hearts of clean and unclean. Rich and poor. Don’t look at wealthy people as bad people. Money is just a commodity. Some people say, “That money is sinner money and I don’t want any bit of it because of how you made it.” Who cares how someone made the money, the question is can you use the money to do good will with it now that you have it? Yes! The devil uses godly raised money to do terrible things and God can use ungodly raised money to do righteous things too. He is an unlimited resourceful being. He will supply you in ways that you may not be open to receive. That is you, not God nor the bible. You may never know how God uses his means to move you. It could be fire that sets you free. Burns your house down or maybe he sends Katrina, the vicious hurricane women to flood your neighborhood to bring you to do his will. Have faith in Him and His will and learn to cast your nets elsewhere. Learn to focus on what you do have and stop worrying and focusing on what you don’t. You read this right? You have eyes and a computer so you are richer than 98 percent of the world. Just a start. It is amazing to me that this is just the beginning. Poverty can either keep you down or raise you up. I love this quote by Aristotle.

"Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime."
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

There is more crime in poverty. Yes crime occurs in wealthy neighborhoods, but not as frequent. There is also huge transformation and change that occurs from poverty due to peoples drive and desire to make this world a better place. You can either make a change in the world or become a slave to it.

7 Basic Fears

"Courage is fear that has said its prayers."
Dorothy Bernard

"7 Basic Fears" by Napoleon Hill

Fear can be both a blessing and a curse, depending upon how and when one yields to it or rejects it. The fear of failure can attract the causes of failure, and the fear of defeat is an open invitation for defeat. Fear is so powerful that it can do as much damage as its opposite faith can do good. As a matter of fact fear is nothing but faith in reverse gear.
There are seven basic fears which hold many people in bondage throughout their lives. No great and enduring success can be achieved by anyone until he has mastered all seven.


Fear of poverty: This fear is harbored by people who allow their minds to dwell on the circumstances and things they do not want. All thoughts have the habit of attracting to one the things one thinks about. This explains why one must condition his mind with a "success consciousness" before he can attract success. The emotions of faith and fear have equal pulling power-one attracts failure and the other attracts success as surely as water runs down hill in response to the law of gravitation.

Fear of criticism: The fear of what "they will say" of one’s ideas or plans keeps millions of people from using their initiative in bringing forth ideas that could make them rich. And fear of criticism causes some minds to close up like clams, thereby depriving individuals of priceless opportunities to improve themselves by discovery of their weaknesses, mistakes, and poor judgment. The successful person invites criticism because he knows that it may reveal to him some advantage he had overlooked, or bring him some opportunity he had not expected.

Fear of ill health: Doctors have a sixty-four dollar word for this fear. It is hypochondria (imaginary illness). Here, the same as in connection with material things of a financial nature, the mind attracts that which it believes in, whether the belief is expressed through fear or by faith. Talking, thinking, and believing one is sick will bring about the effects of illness, and strangely enough, the symptoms appear to be the same as those which accompany real illness.

Fear of the loss of love: This is the fear which causes jealousy. Not infrequently it leads to both temporary and permanent insanity. Whether it is justified or not, jealousy destroys homes, breaks up business and professional relationships, and leads to physical ailments on a scale scarcely equaled by any of the other fears. It has been said that women are more susceptible to the fear of jealousy than men are, due perhaps to their knowledge of the polygamous nature of the male.

Fear of the loss of liberty: Every human being has a deeply seated and inborn desire for freedom, a gift perhaps by the Creator who gave man complete rights to use his mind-power as a means of providing himself with freedom to work out his own earthly destiny. This is the only one of the seven basic fears which is founded upon circumstances over which the individual does not have the power of control. With the world in the state of chaos and frustration existing today there is ample reason to justify one’s fear of losing his liberty.

Fear of old age: Just why men and women should curtail their usefulness because of their fear of old age is difficult to define. For it’s obvious that the Creator has so wisely provided man with everything he needs, with which to work out his earthly existence, that nothing can be taken away from him without something of equal or greater value becoming available to take its place. As one gives up his youth, its place is filled by wisdom. And history proves that man’s greatest achievements take place after he passes the half-century mark. Moreover, age is not accurately measured by the years one has lived, but it is determined by the nature of the thinking he does and his reactions to his experiences.

Fear of death: This is the grandfather of all of the seven basic fears, and the most unnecessary of them all because it is something over which no one has enduring control. One man who mastered this fear explained how he did it this way: "I believed" said he, "that death brings one or the other of two conditions. Either it results in one long, eternal sleep, or it carries us to another world far superior to the one we leave behind, and neither of these possibilities is terrifying."
Source: Success Unlimited. May, 1965, pgs. 8 - 10.

I find it interesting that when you are born you only had 2 fears. The fear of going down the drain in the bathtub with the water and the fear of loud noises. You learned to be afraid of the dark, you learned to be afraid of monsters, some love dogs and some are afraid of them due to the loud barking. The point is we learned to be afraid. We can also learn to not be afraid. You choose your method, I chose to have faith in my God to protect me.

Choose Wisely

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

It is amazing how wise people are sometimes. I recently started a new job working for an awesome company that handles peoples' financial livelihood and security through a mulitiude of ways. One of the companies is called Financial Advice Center and what is funny about this is that they are giving advice to people that are in the same situations they are in themselves. Just because you have a license or hold a particular series does not mean you know how to invest properly. In fact, you are strictly limited to the different things you can invest in due to that license. All JPMorgan, Raymond James, Smith Barney, Edward Jones and so on teach their financial advisers is exactly what mutual fund they are selling for the moment. It is strictly sales people! WHY CANT WE UNDERSTAND THIS!? It is not meant for you to become financially free. It is meant for you to become financially safe. The more safe you are, the less free you are. Let me put it this way. If you were locked in prison and had the ability to shower, eat, sleep, use the restroom, even read as many books as you want without the being rapped, murdered, harmed in any way would this be a free life or a safe life? You do not have the ability to do what you want, when you want without any limitations. But for some reason people continue to follow the financial advice of "Financial Experts" who set them up to be financially secure. You are secure alright in that prison. All I am saying is check the fruit on the tree. It is not a coincidence according to the U.S Census Bureau that 95 percent of people age 65 years or older can not write a check for $200 and have it clear. If you want to end up like the majority of people I suggest you do exactly what they do, but how naivete is it to think you are going to do the same things as everyone and get something different?

I read this recent article and maybe you might find it interesting as well...from my main man Robert Kiyosaki.

Wall Street recently paid out billions in bonuses to its employees. Those bonuses came from investors who believe investing is risky. In other words, there's a giant industry built around investor fears. The more fear, the bigger the bonuses.
A recent Time magazine article called "How Americans Are Living Dangerously" makes a number of good points on this reality. I'll look at a few of them.

Illusory Control

We misjudge risk if we feel we have some control over it, even if it's an illusory sense of control. The article uses the example of people who drive rather than fly.
Even though the risks of death are higher driving than flying, many people would rather drive simply because they feel they have more control driving. The facts are that only a few hundred people die a year flying and 44,000 are killed a year driving. After Sept. 11, 2001, many people took to the roads rather than the skies. Not surprisingly, between October and December 2001, there were a 1,000 more deaths.
Today, many people feel they have more control if they have money in savings. Thus the saying, "Safe as money in the bank." But the fact is that savers are the biggest losers of all.
Between 1996 and 2006, the purchasing power of the dollar dropped by 50 percent compared to gold. In 1996, gold was approximately $275 an ounce; by 2006 it was over $600 an ounce. In 1996, oil was approximately $10 a barrel ; in 2006 it was over $60 dollars a barrel. Compare the price of real estate in your area between the same 10 years and you'll notice that the purchasing power of your dollar has slipped.
The point is, in spite of the facts, many people feel safer with money in the bank because they feel they have more control over it. They don't have control over the price of gold, oil, or real estate, so they think investing in these assets is risky.

The Biggest Risks of All

The second point the Time article makes is that when we're afraid, we tend to ignore the statistics and listen to our emotions. As I mentioned above, you're over 500 times more likely to die in a car than in an airplane. Yet cars are not the biggest of all killers.
Of the 2.5 million deaths annually in the United States, the No. 1 killer is heart disease. In 2003, there were 685,089 deaths due to heart attack. Auto accidents caused 44,000 deaths. Only 17,732 deaths by murder and 1 death by shark attack occurred in the same year.
Despite these statistics, more people are afraid of sharks and murderers than driving up to a fast food restaurant and saying, "Super-size it." French fries kill more people than guns and sharks, yet nobody is afraid of french fries.
The same is true in the investment world. Since many people believe investing is risky, they go for the second-riskiest investment, mutual funds. As my rich dad used to say, "Mutual funds are like french fries. They may fill you up, but they aren't good for you in the long run."
John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Funds, states in his book The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism, "When we have strong managers, weak directors, and passive owners, it's only a matter of time until the looting begins." Bogle has spoken out this way because the mutual funds industry is legally looting money from investors.
To put it another way, since most people think investing is risky and full of sharks, they've turned their money over to some of the biggest sharks in the world -- the managers of mutual funds.

True Expertise Counts

One of the reasons people think investing is risky is because there's an entire industry that wants you to believe so. Trading on your fears is very profitable.
This leads to point number three in the Time piece. The magazine quotes the findings of a study in which a panel of 20 communications and finance experts were asked about the risk of human-to-human transmission of avian (bird) flu. These experts said the risk was 60 percent. When the same question was asked of medical experts, their answer was 10 percent.
The point is that you need to be critical of experts. Is the person you seek advice from able to give you a credible answer?

Qualified and Unqualified Advice

There are three experts who are often not qualified to give you sound investment advice. They are:

Non-investors-
I'm always surprised by the number of people who take investment advice from non-investors -- people such as friends, family, and co-workers. A few years ago, I found a spectacular little condominium for sale for $50,000 in Phoenix, Ariz. All I had to do was put down $6,000 and assume the loan.
At the time, it was worth about $95,000. Today the units in the same complex sell for $195,000. Best of all, the monthly rent at the time was approximately $1,000 a month and today rents are around $1,500.
A friend from Portland, Ore., asked if I would let her purchase it. My wife, Kim, and I agreed, thinking at the time that this unit would be a great start for our friend. A few months went by and we asked her how the purchase was coming along. She said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. I didn't buy the unit." When we asked her why, she said, "My neighbor Marge said it was too risky."
"How many investment properties does Marge own?"
"None."
Clearly, taking advice from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about is the real risk.

Perceived experts-
Like financial planners, stock or real estate brokers
Most people take financial advice from salespeople, not rich people. Most stockbrokers are not rich nor do they invest in what they sell. The numbers are even worse for real estate brokers.

Investors themselves-
I've shown several great investments to an investor friend of mine. To this date, he hasn't purchased anything I've recommended. That's because he can always find something wrong with the investment. Instead of looking at what's good about them, he looks for what's wrong and then talks himself out of taking action.
This is one reason why I invest as part of a team, so that I can consult with other investors rather than talk myself out of great deals.
The Time article made it clear that fear is normal. We all experience fear; I admit that I've let it hold me back. I probably would've been a lot richer a lot sooner if I flew more and drove less.
The important thing to remember is to pay attention to what we worry about -- and what we should be worrying about.

One More Degree Makes The Difference

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."
William James (1842-1910)


From The Napoleon Hill Foundation Website-www.naphill.org
Someone once said that no one can really motivate anyone else; all we can do is motivate ourselves and hope it catches on. You will probably never know how much you influence others with your behavior. When you always go the extra mile, you will influence those in your circle of friends and acquaintances, your family, your co-workers, and even your bosses to do more and better than they have done before. Your value to yourself and others is greatly enhanced by your ability to influence others to be happier, more productive people. There are no salary caps or career limits for those who lead others to great heights of success. Such people are simply too valuable.

Make sure you take the time to watch this video. It is an incredible one.

2:26:18

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

We did it! My God and I completed our first marathon together this Sunday, February 18th, 2007. It was an awesome experiment in my strength in will and faith in God. As you read, 2 months ago I was asked to run a half marathon. Now I have been running on and off for the past 9 months. But in those 9 months I ran only 2 miles maybe once per week…and that is stretching it a little, and never 3 miles at one time. So, I was asked to run the 2 months ago and started training for the half marathon which is 13.1 miles. I started running maybe 3 times per week on average 3 to 4 miles per run for training. On the weekends I would run every week a little further. I started with a 5 mile run, then the next week I went to a 6 mile run, and then I ran for an hour and a half with 3 minute walk breaks every 20 minutes, finally ending my long runs with a 10 mile run 2 weeks before the half. Well, yesterday I did the Austin Half Marathon in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 18 seconds. A thing I am very proud of donig with only 2 months of preparation.
Around the 9 mile mark the pain kicked in. It was very tough and my pastor is absolutely right, you really don’t pray that much until you are stretching yourself to the point where you have to rely on faith alone. It is amazing the amount of prayer time I got to have yesterday with God from mile 9 to 12.5. It is also amazing the things you start to think about and remember after awhile. How your mind wanders on those long runs. Things that pissed you off come up and give you extra strength to push thru the pain. How He uses everything is amazing to me.

Forgive to Be Forgiven-Daily Devotional

“And forgive us our Debts,
As we forgive our debtors.”
Matthew 6:12

"Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness makes you grow beyond what you were."
Cherie Carter-Scott

"Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives."

Lawana Blackwell

Few things are more precious to receive than forgiveness. After carrying the burden of our sin, it is wonderfully freeing that the one we have wronged has completely forgiven us. Jesus told His disciples to ask God for forgiveness every time they prayed. Jesus knew that we would daily incur debts against God, as we inevitably fall short of God’s standard. A day does not go by that we do not need to ask God to remove our debts against him.

Jesus warned that we should expect forgiveness from God as we forgive those who sin against us, for God will forgive us in the same way we forgive others (Matthew 6:15). God’s nature is forgiveness (Exodus 34:6-7). If we are to be His disciples, we must follow his example. If God will forgive our most relentless enemy, we can do nothing less. Jesus did not say that certain offenses are unworthy of forgiveness. We have no biblical excuses for allowing unforgiveness in our hearts.
If you chose to withhold forgiveness from someone, your worship and prayers are futile (Matthew 5:23-24). Ask God to make you aware of those dark corners in your life where you are harboring resentment. A keen awareness of your own need for forgiveness will put the offenses of others in their proper light. Ask God to make you like Christ so that, even when you are being persecuted, you can pray, “Father Forgive Them.”

Are you Ready, Willing, and Able?

A minute’s success pays the failure of years
Robert Browning

Are you Ready, Willing, and Able?That is the ultimate question. Most people have heard this cliché sometime in their life. If you break it down to its most basic form of the three sections you may come to this conclusion too. But be sure to be the judge of yourself, not by what most others do.
Are you Ready? When people are asked if they are ready for more money, more free time, more love, more relationships, more friends, less weight, more weight, more anything, everyone will emphatically state they ARE ready. And I believe with everything in my heart that people are ready for more.
Skip the second part; we will talk about that in a second. Are you Able? Yes! You always have the ability to do just a little bit more. Even just a little teeny bit. But what most don’t understand is just how dramatic of an effect a little effort could make over a long period of time. I use for example the idea of a bullet shot from a gun. If you the shooter are aiming at a target 5 feet in front of you and you move the barrel just one inch to the left, you will more than likely still hit your target. But, if you are aiming at a target over 500 yards away and you move the barrel one inch again, you will miss the target by a long distance. So the image I am trying to portray is that small efforts no matter how big will have a dramatic effect in the long term. What more can you do? Can you spend 5 minutes a night reading a book that will develop you as a person? Will you spend 5 minutes reading the bible per day? Will you talk to your children and love them for 5 minutes before bed? Will you walk up and down the block a couple of times for exercise? Will you do the little things that add up over time? Will you tell your wife you cherish and love her wholeheartedly before bed every night? The little things make the difference. Can you do more? Even just a little more? Absolutely!The problem is in the second part.
Are you Willing?Most are not willing, because we come up with endless excuses of why we are too tired, frustrated, broke, annoyed, aggravated, lazy, busy, bored, hungry, whiny, weak, stupid, ignorant, I came from a broke family, my mother never did that for me, he wont let me do that, or the thousands of excuses we conjure up when the devil is testing us to rely on the infinite strength of our God. You see, people think the world is made up of have and have-not’s, but in fact it is made up of will and will-not’s. You see how simple it is? It is not that we do not want more, it is that we will not do what it takes to have more. Well I hear already, “That doesn’t sound fair.” Of course it does. It is perfectly fair. Your life is the way it is because you are not willing to do what it takes to make it different. Sadly, you can want to be rich and become poorer, lose weight and become fatter or so on…but want only matters if you want it enough to be willing to do what it takes to achieve the desired result. Are you willing to do the little or huge things that determine the outlook and outcome of your once in a lifetime life? You have all the necessary means available.

My Pastor, Rick Godwin always asks us, “When you die, and answer to God, do you want him to say "Job well done good and faithful servant?" or, "Well, you're done."” It is your decision.

To The Advancement of Mankind

"Engineering is the professional art of applying science to the optimum conversion of natural resources to the benefit of man."

Ralph J. Smith

This video will blow you away. It is absolutely incredible the amount of brain power we have in this world.

Keep In Mind That Neither Success Nor Failure Is Ever Final.

"Only if you reach the boundary will the boundary recede before you. And if you don't, if you confine your efforts, the boundary will shrink to accommodate itself to your efforts. And you can only expand your capacities by working to the very limit."
Hugh Nibley

Well, I officially did it this time. Last month I was asked to participate in a half marathon and I immediately responded as arrogantly as usual, “I can do that, sure!” Well little thought went into this decision and I have embarked on a challenge I am mentally prepared for. But, that is not what worries me. You see…the half marathon is Feb. 18th, 2007 in Austin and I have less than one month to prepare. …

if you want to see the website go here on the marathon click here

http://www.attaustinmarathon.com/

Or, if you want to see an animated view of the course go here and click animate...

http://www.mapmyrace.com/races/ATTAustinHalfMarathon2007/

I have already increased my running abilities farther than I ever truly desired to but I have much more to do in this short period of time if I am to succeed. Like I said, I am mentally prepared because I truly believe in my minds abilities to overcome many things but I am not so sure my legs are prepared. They will be though. I will be ready and I will conquer. It will be a huge accomplishment to decide and train for a fairly long run that generally takes more than only 2 months to prepare...which is what I am doing. I am excited though. Very excited to challenge myself and see where I stand! Only if you recede the boundary will it recede before you. Once this achievement is conquered I will strive for another challenge in riding my bicycle for the American Diabetes Association in May. I originally wanted to ride a short 20 miles, but was talked into riding 50 miles. I am super excited about this challenge for many reasons. It is an incredible chance to raise awareness of diabetes and funds for a cure. What an awesome cause. The ADA asked me specifically to put together a team to represent the military in this venture due to the lack of military participatoin last year. We have our own websites and a small team established already. I need to put some more efforts in raising funds and get more riders on our team though. I set a team goal of $5,000 and we are a far reach from that goal. But I am confident in doing so. If you would like to donate please go to this web page.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?px=3132033&pg=personal&fr_id=4392&s_tafId=89487

Thanks for your support and God Bless!

No Legacy So Rich As Honesty

"Honesty Is The Best Image"
Tom Wilson


From MountainWings:
Last Friday I stopped by a convenience store for a Mountain Dewand a Little Debbie zebra cake.The check-out person tried to scan the items, but they wouldn't scan so she manually entered the prices. I noticed that she only charged me 25 cents for the cake when it was 50 cents forthe larger size. For a second I thought, "It's only a quarter; what's the big deal?" But I couldn't do that, so I pointed out that she undercharged me.She looked shocked that I spoke up; I guess because the error was to the store's disadvantage. She smiled and said, "Thank you for being honest." I walked out feeling a little lighter.When I got outside, a man approached me and stopped me. He said that he had had a bad day and felt that the world was full of bad and dishonest people. But he was behind me in line and heard me correct the lady and that because of my actions he knew that there were honest people in this world. He blessed me and walked to his car. Now 25 cents is not much, it will no longer even buy a phone call; but last Friday, 25 cents bought something that was priceless.

A small act of honesty is such a fulfilling emotion. To know you say what is true. It makes life so much easier. Mark Twain said, “Tell the truth that way you will never have to remember what you said.” You never know who is going through what and what stage of life they are at so live by your consciousness that way you can be an inspiration to others…at the same time feel good about yourself. When you wake in the morning you have two choices. You have the power to either lift people up or break people down. You decide and it is in your own power to. Live honorably and honestly and you will be rewarded with a quality of life that is unmatched.

Turntable of Life

“Nothing Is A Waste Of Time If You Use The Experience Wisely.”
Rodin (1840-1917)


Well. It has been one year since the day I first began this page of restless thoughts. Time has been flying by. Ticking away at my brain as if I am a prisoner tormented with Chinese water torture. Time. Time has so much impact on your emotions. You either are a master to it or a slave to it. Nothing is a waste of time...if you use the experience wisely. If. I have learned countless lessons in life over the past 4 years of what may seem to most as a wasted relationship. Some look at time as a turntable that is continuously turning steadily. But, one day the music will stop. Queen Elizabeth I who was regarded in her day as the wealthiest person alive said on her deathbed that she would give all of her possessions for one moment of time.
So why do we place the urgent over the important? So often what is important is not urgent therefore always gets shoved to the back of the line or swept under the rug for what is urgent….which generally is not important at all. So you are either a slave to time or a master of it. It has the ability to stress you endlessly if your “To Do List” seems to take more time than your life can handle. The waves of times are going to continue. So it is important to take the time for yourself and reflect on who you are, where you are heading and what lessons you have learned from your past in order to not make those mistakes again.

Snipits from "The End of Time" by D. Horowitz

Over 350 years ago in Paris a great scientist lived named Blaise Pascal. He was a brilliant man but became deathly ill at a young age. Wracked with pain due to his illness he busily began taking notes on scraps of paper. The scraps were cut with scissors and sewn with needles without any order. When he died they found this work and of course nobody knew how it was supposed to be put together. Their order was left in Pascal’s mind. The little notes he had been unable to complete before the end scattered everywhere. When they found these scraps they decided to organize them with numbers and created his final work. They called it Pascal’s Pensees: “The Thoughts of Monsieur Pascal about Religion and Other Matters, Which Were Discovered among His Papers after He Died.” The number 205 captured me and thought it would be perfect for my anniversary blog.
“When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the space which I fill, and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I fill I am ignorant and which know me not, I am frightened and astonished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather than there, why now rather than then. Who has put me here?”
Time will continue on even when you are gone. There is no getting it back. This prayer will not be answered. The question is, do you believe in God or not…should you or should you not? Pascal was torn between this due to his scientific background and decided to weigh the options and crunch the numbers of either or…He proposed a mathematical solution to this problem or “gamble” in the game of life and death. The players in this gamble must calculate the risks of believing that there is a God and that He will provide us with what we so pitifully desire. They must weigh the risks against the chance that there is no God and that we are alone. Then they must make their choice. Pascal summed it all up in Fragment #233. “A game is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn up. God is, or He is not…What will you wager? Weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is…If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is!” This riddle is now infamously known as Pascal’s Wager and the bottom line is this; Since you cannot know, it is better for you to believe than not. So pray all you want, believe in God but know Time will not stop ticking for you so cherish this day and reflect on your past often.

"Regret For Wasted Time Is More Wasted Time.”
-Mason Cooley

Can't Blame White People!

Can't Blame White People
by: Bill Cosby

They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: Why you ain't, Where you is, What he drive, Where he stay, Where he work, Who you be... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. Everybody knows it's important to speak English... except these knuckleheads. You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. In fact you will never get any kind of job making a decent living. People marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education, and now we've got these knuckleheads walking around. The lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids. $500 sneakers for what? And they won't spend $200 for Hooked on Phonics. I am talking about these people who cry... when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was 2? Where were you when he was 12? Where were you when he was 18? And, how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is the father? Or who is his father? People putting their clothes on backward: Isn't that a sign of something gone wrong? People with their hats on backward, pants down around the crack, isn't that a sign of something? Or are you waiting for Jesus to pull his pants up? Isn't it a sign of something when she has her dress all the way up and got all type of needles piercing going through her body? What part of Africa did this come from? We are not Africans. Those people are not Africans; they don't know a thing about Africa. With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all of that crap, and all of them are in jail. Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' -- or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids saying... you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. We cannot blame the white people any longer. It is not for media or anyone of this time anymore to say whether I'm right or wrong. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to look at the numbers. Fifty percent of our children are dropping out of high school. Sixty percent of the incarcerated males happen to be illiterate. There's a correlation. Tell the media to stop asking me what I think about people who don't believe what I'm saying or feel that I'm too harsh or feel that I'm just running my mouth because I'm old. Seventy percent of the teenagers pregnant happen to be African American girls. Don't ask me to soften my message.

Hmmmmm, Good Question

If you were going to die soon
and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say?
And why are you waiting?
~Stephen Levine~

Life is a long lesson in humility.

"The secret of a good life is to have the right loyalties and hold them in the right scale of values."
Norman Thomas (1884 - 1968)

From Mountain Wings-

Big muscles don't come from light loads. They come from carrying a lot of weight. Weight can build you up or bend you over.It depends on how you use it...and how you see it.

Do I Sing Because I am Happy or Am I Happy Because I Sing?

"If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years."

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Be careful of how you let people speak to you. Your sub-conscious mind does not have a filter and it will let anything inside. Some people around you are cancerous. Not that they are bad people but they have the tendency to be able to affect your happiness scale which will determine your outlook on life. So, if you are constantly around negative people you will in turn become one too.

I love being happy now! For so long I have been a mellow, unenthusiastic person to be around. My mentality had the ability to push the people I wanted to be around away and drew in the negative people who I disliked being around. It is the simple law of attraction. I changed my views and the way I looked at things and now I am beginning to draw in the people who influence me in positive ways. All I did was read some simple books, listen to some awesome audio tapes, go to an inspiring, uplifting church and pray.

Take some time to watch this clip. It is Amanda Gore's marketing tool but has some great things in it. My personal favorite. "Build A Bridge and Get Over It."

Gabriel, Time To Move Over To Second Trumpet

"As A Well-Spent Day Brings Happy Sleep, So Life Well Used Brings Happy Death."
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)


One of the most influential jazz trumpeters passed away last evening. He was a childhood idol for me whom I got to meet on 2 occasions, Maynard Ferguson. He was commercially famous for the Rocky theme song. "I knew it was going to be a hit," he once said of the Bill Conti composition. "Sylvester Stallone was in the studio when we recorded it," punching a speed bag to the rhythm of the song. "If you listen very close to the original recording, you can hear in the mix the sound of him hitting the small bag" said Ferguson.
He was born in Montreal 78 years ago. He has been performing for packed houses for decades now. Maynard’s face is one of the most recognizable faces to people who know nothing of jazz. His puffy cheeks and scrunched, bright red face. A truly great man who loved playing music with all of his heart. He had the privilege of playing with the greats such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Barnett, Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and many more. A friend/role model of mine that I used to jam with in St.Pete, Rich Willey had the privilege of playing with him for 4 years.

http://maynard.ferguson.net/willey.htm

It is hard to age sometimes and lose those people who you look up to as heroes, idols, icons. Yet you find something in death that makes you realize life is real. You have to go out there and live it like Maynard did every single freakin' day. He was someone who found his calling and pursued it with the force of a locomotive.

Ferguson started his proffesional music career at age 11 with the Canadian Broadcasting Company. He then dropped out of school at 15 to pursue his music career later becoming the leader of his own big band in 1945 at age 17, and went on to record more than 60 albums, receiving numerous honors including 3 Grammy nominations...DownBeats Trumpeter of the year 3 times
In 2005, Ferguson was awarded Canada's highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada.

There will be a memorial concert in St. Louis, MO.

God Rest His Soul
05/04/1928-08/23/2006

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?

"He Who Desires Is Always Poor"
-Cicero(106BC-43BC)
"Let Your Desires Be Ruled By Reason"
-Cicero(106BC-43BC)

From Mountain Wings-
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, the world would look something like the following: There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans--
52 would be female48 would be male-
70 would be non-white30 would be white-
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian-
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual-
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth.
All 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education1 would own a computer. You own a computer or at the very least have consistent access to one. You are among the world's wealthiest 1%
With all of the bills and the stress, life doesn't feel that way does it? Maybe that's just because you don't know how blessed you are.
Wake Up!

Now please don’t misconstrue this for what it is not. The problem with dreams is the reality that you’ll never get what you dream for without a reason.
There is a story of an incredible golfer Tom Watson. The final morning while at the U.S. Open he was approached by one of his admiring fans. He had shot an awful game this tournament and was extremely frustrated with himself because of it. When the spectator approached Tom the guy said, “I would do anything to be able to hit a golf ball like you.” Well Tom turned to him and just lashed out by saying “You would, would you? Would you wake up every morning at the crack of dawn and hit 500 golf balls until your hands bleed, then go hit 18 holes then return to range to hit 500 more? Everyday for 10 years?”
Of course we all would like to do nothing and become skilled and talented and wealthy. The reality is without hard dedication, determination, discipline, and a reason to, whatever desire you have for more will never happen. That is why Cicero says “He who desires is ALWAYS poor” I included the story from mountain wings to show you that you are very fortunate already just by being born in the great country as it is. If you want more than what you are already blessed with then you have to get out there and do it. Figure out what deep down burning desire motivates you to change something about this world.

Only I Can Change My Life, No One Can Do It For Me

“I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.”

-Bethania McKenstry

A man observed a sign in the window of a restaurant that read "Unique Breakfast" so he walked in and sat down. The waitress brought him his coffee and asked him what he wanted. "What's your Unique Breakfast?" he asked inquisitively. "Baked tongue of chicken!" she proudly replied. "Baked tongue of chicken? Baked tongue of chicken!? Do you have any idea how disgusting that is? I would never even consider eating anything that came out of a chicken's mouth!" he fumed. Undaunted, the waitress asked, "What would you like then?"
"Just bring me some scrambled eggs," the man replied.

If the world is ever going to change, it relies on those who don’t do as everyone does. I like the way George Bernard Shaw put it. “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
So why did I include the chicken story? It was because people have ideas all the time that get shot down. Everyday there are new ideas sprouting up and some dream stealers as we call it tries to shoot down your vision. These are generally the people you are really close to and in most cases your family. It is understandable because they want to see you safe and not get yourself into trouble, but, what that does is makes you never step outside of your shell and really see what the hell you have to offer. After a while you stop believing in yourself and never do anything much of worth discussing further than a boring 3 minute conversation about your job…maybe it turns into a 10 minute bitching fest about how you hate your boss and this bitch who works in the next cubby. Well, I am looking forward to reading Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life by Larry Winget. That title just grabs me. People today have more to complain about than ever before. But it is your decision to do something about it. So, not that I don’t care, cause I care more than anybody you probably know, but if you are not willing to do anything about it…then you get one chance to lean on my shoulder. Then the next time we talk about it, we are going to decide to make a change and do it. The problem is this. It is called the 80/20 factor. Now I am not making this stuff up…so bare with me. There are two types of people. People that live by letting the problem be 80 percent of their discussions and 20 percent solution, or 80 percent of the solution and 20 percent of the problems. I promise you once you stop letting yourself get focused on the problems and start thinking of the solution things become a lot easier. Period.

Some Things Have To Be Believed To Be Seen

"They Can Conquer Who Believe They Can"

Virgil (70BC-19BC)

Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear. I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks. Masks that I'm afraid to take off; and none of them is me.
Pretending is an art that is second nature to me, but don't be fooled. I give the impression that I am secure, that all is sunny and unruffled. Within me as well as without; that confidence is my name and coolness is my game. That the water is calm and I am in command; and that I need no one. But don't believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is a mask., my ever-varying and ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no complacence. Beneath dwells the real me in confusion and aloneness. But I hide that. I don't want anybody to know it. I panic at the thought of my weakness being exposed.
That is why I frantically create a mask to hide behind-a nonchalant, sophisticated facade-to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only salvation, and I know it. That is, if it's followed by acceptance, if it's followed by love.
It is the only thing that can liberate me from myself, from my own self-built prison wall, from the barriers I so painstakingly erect. It's the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself-that I AM really something.
Who am I, you may wonder. I am someone you know very well. I am every man you meet. I am every woman you encounter. I am every child as well. I am right in front of you. Please...love me!

-Seeds of Greatness, Dennis Waitley

My Bike and Me

"Why do strong arms fatigue themselves with frivolous dumbbells? To dig a vineyard is worthier exercise for men."
Marcus Valerius Martialis(40AD-103AD)


Well, I purchased my first mountain bike finally! I am having a blast riding aroung the trails and stuff in San Antonio. I never thought it could be so much fun. So about 3 or 4 times a week my roomie/life partner and I go riding. It is incredible exercise. Phew it can be tough going up those hiills and down huge trails avoiding all of the trees/boulders in the way. One false move will put you in checkmate. The scenery is incredible not to mention all of the wildlife we are seeing along the way. It is an incredible experience as well as the benefits of exerciing. I don't know if I'll ever run again! We are planning several camping trips out in Texas to just have a blast. I haven't had such a blast since I ate my first ice cream cone. I have some pics from our adventures...enjoy


My first mountain bike. The Giant.




























How could anyone want to shoot these adorable animals?































Ouch!

Mind Your Mind

“Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”
Edith Sitwell (1887 – 1964)

“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.”
Martha Washington (1732 - 1802)

“A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug.”
Patricia Neal

“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”
William James (1842 - 1910)

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind.”
William James (1842 - 1910)

Attitude determines altitude. It is vital to your success and happiness in life. A positive outlook will always bring a better ending. It may not be the desired ending but it will definitely be a better one. And if all else fails know this quote...

"A Positive attitude may not solve all of your problems but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
Herm Albright((1876-1944)

There was once a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today," so she did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she had only two hairs on her head. "HMM," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today," and she did and she had a grand day. The next morning she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she had only one hair left on her head. "Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a ponytail." So she did and it was a fun, fun day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head. "YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"

Remember you may not be able to control what someone says or does or some of the situations that life throws at you, but you can sure control the way you react.

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

"The First Step To Getting What You Want Out Of Life Is: Decide What You Want."
-Ben Stein

So many people these days get stuck in the struggle for less. They sell themselves far shorter than they are worth. I don’t know were it happens, well I sorta have a couple ideas but that is a blog to itself altogether…but somewhere along the way they decided to be more realistic and lost their aspirations and beliefs that they can do ANYTHING. A friend of mine gave me a good visualization once. He said that as a young boy he would hang pictures of super expensive cars on his walls like every boy does...such as Lamborghini's, Ferrari's etc. But once he reached 15 he realized that those cars were far too unreachable by his means so down they came and up went the Civics souped up with ghini doors. So is it reality that settles in or is it the belief that we can not get what we truly desire because of the belief in ourselves? Someone owns those cars...why not me? What makes them different? What makes them better? It is only in your mind, they believe in their worth and value themselves so much that they become succesfully driven people. Most people lose their dreams and become broken and settled. My Pastor at Eagles Nest, Rick Godwin did a sermon called “Quitters, Campers, and Climbers”. Quitters are people who quit and never see things through. Campers are the majority of people who make it to a nice plot in life and decide that they could do better but remain camped out for the remainder of their lives. Climbers are people who stop to camp and rejuvenate, replenish, and then continue the pursuit for more. I have learned these following things in my climb that might be of some value to you.

-Simplify our lives. Stop collecting. Start celebrating, for no apparent reason.
-Gather memories instead of memorabilia.
-Do some genealogy about your family ancestry. What were they like? What soul-deep legacy, if any, did they pass on to us? What did we learn and love most about our grandparents and parents?
-What will we gladly give up to improve the quality of our lives?
-Dream as if we had forever. Live as if this was the last day to live.
-Think globally, act locally.
-Don’t just treat everyone the way we want to be treated. Treat everyone the way they should be treated to believe they can reach their full potential, based upon their own beliefs and heritage.
-Never judge a person by their belongings. They may be healthier, wealthier, wiser and happier than us, and probably is.
-It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature.
-Love what you have, even if you don’t have all that you’d love.
-We are All different, on a life path heading the same way.

Since we are all different we have developed our own beliefs and values but we are all moving forward to death and we are all going to get their eventually. So lets make this life a great blessing and be joyful for the time we have.

Get Bitter or Get Better

"Accept The Pains, Cherish The Joys, Resolves The Regrets; Then Can Come The Best Of Benedictions 'If I Had My Life To Live Over, I'd Do It All The Same"
Joan McIntosh



Sometimes God works in ways that hurt. Success is based on being able to look at those hard situations and know there is a purpose for them. In order to be successful you have to accept His fate and will and act on it. So you can either get bitter or get better.

Success is determined by growing. You can be the most talented person in the world but never grow to use your God given abilities. We can make bad decisions and mistakes along our journey. In fact, it is pertinent. I wish we didn’t but we are fallible human beings. A lot of people fail in life because of 2 reasons. They succumb to it through discouragement and the inability to pick their selves up after something tragic in their life throws a curve ball or they don’t have the ability to commit. Some of the most talented individuals never make it to the top because they cannot stay committed to hanging in their during the seemingly monotonous daily routines. That is what makes you a champion. Too often they look for the shortcut, or the easy way. Champion is a word that can be used in any situation for success. I was not a champion in Angie and my relationship because I was not able to stay for the arguments that were necessary to get us through all of our stuff. Therefore it fell apart. I always looked for what was easiest for me, not for us because all I say was the things that caused me harm and my way of dealing with it caused her harm. It all comes down to this. “In life, you get what you pay for.” This means that you have got to put in the effort, the hours, or even the years that are required to master a certain skill that make up the mindset of a champion. These special skills need to be branded into your subconscious so they will become habit-knit patterns of behavior like driving your car or brushing your teeth.

The most successful champions in every arena in life don’t press, push, or struggle their way to the top, conscious of every move and mistake. On the contrary, they function in the zone: a quiet place where there is no past or future, only the present moment. They have internalized the skills through hours of coaching and practice to set them free for victory.

Winners don’t force themselves to win. They allow themselves the freedom to win by depending on their reflex actions of the body, spirit and mind that they have learned over a period of time. If it takes an astronaut, gifted musician, or Olympian many years of daily training why do we expect to be able to do it by eating a magic pill or with immediate gratification?

The problem that most people have in becoming a winner in life is that they spend most of their time practicing their mistakes and errors, rather than practicing the correct moves and reinforces success. For example, every time high handicap golfers go out on the driving range to hit a few buckets of balls, what happens? Much of the session is spent reinforcing an incorrect swing.

What we all need are role models and mentors to talk us through and demonstrate the winning techniques and swings in our lives. In addition to accepting the fact that winning and losing are learned habits, I believe there are three fundamental habits of a champion.

A long-term vision of success, A short-term view of failure, Laser focus on near-term goals

A Long-Term Vision Of Success
Success is a lifelong process, not a status. To help you reach your goals, break them down into sub-goals and priorities.

A Short-Term View Of Failure
Failure is delay, not defeat. So when you fail, get more information and insight then try again.

Laser Focus On Near-Term GoalsIt has been discovered that the main reason individuals fail to reach their goals is that they never really set them in the first place. Have you set a date for moving down a size in those jeans…or securing your financial future…Think of your own dreams and goals as previews of coming attractions in your life, you are the producer, scriptwriter, and star performer in an exciting documentary. Remember, focus always precedes success.