Amazing response when people are against you!

The Apostle Paul wrote the following words from Prison (Philippians)

Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly.
 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice. 

I highlighted "stir up trouble for me" because that phrase stopped me in my tracks. Paul was so focused on preaching Christ that even those who would preach Christ and it would hurt Paul, that was good? Even if their motive was poor, Paul rejoiced!

Wow! Not sure I could respond the way he did in the face of direct opposition.

Learning the basics

Jordan is my 5 year old son. He is playing Tee Ball and I am coaching the team. It is hilarious to watch these 13 little guys figure out how to play baseball.

Baseball is one of those games that requires hard work and attention to the basics. There is a great deal of skill, but the foundation is clear. ALL baseball players start out learning how to catch and throw the baseball. They also learn how to swing a bat! Fielding will always be fielding and batting will always be batting.

Sure, things change but when we lay a foundation it allows for greater success at the next level. Today, I am reminded that just reading my Bible (foundational for me) gives God a chance to speak to me. After all, reading my Bible is just that...reading my Bible. It's a "basic" part of my life.

What about you today? Have you forgotten some of your basics? Perhaps it's time to go back to the beginning! Enjoy the journey and the good foundations that you building.

Immigration issues

Not sure where you stand on the issue of Immigration, but it seems to me that if you want people here legally that you have to establish why people come here in the first place.

If being in the USA is better than their home country, then people will figure out HOW to get here. If being in the USA illegally is "costly" to the individual then they will more likely come through legal channels.

So, what does it take to cause enough pain to ensure proper immigration? That's the question our National leaders should be working on.

If we offer FREE healthcare at any emergency room then why not risk coming ove the border? I want to share this Country with others, but I don't want to "GIVE IT AWAY FOR FREE".

Once again, let's get to the bottom of why people come here. After that, let's figure out the pain threshold (financial or otherwise) that makes becoming a citizen of the USA a better choice than being her illegally. Then, let's act! Got it National Leaders? I get it, but do you?

Come to Prescott

I live in Prescott, AZ. It's a mountain community with a downtown area that's second to none. The old Courthouse on the square could be easily found in small towns like Carthage, Missouri, but it's right here where we live.

I am not paid by the city to promote Prescott, but I love our city and most of all I love the interface of outdoor adventure and small town living. From my home, I can be on a mountain bike trail, at 2 miles. You will love the weather and the 5,500 foot elevation helps beat the heat in the summer.

I challenge you to find a better place to bring your family to vacation and have some fun. Hope to see you here someday. Love trails? Check out this map.

Family extended

Last weekend my family drove over to Hemet, CA (about 5 hours away) to meet up with my wife's family. The purpose was to celebrate Aunt Nancy's "unnamed" birthday. It was just two years ago that we met for a family reunion at UCYC! Well, instead of getting together at funerals only, they decided to meet for any occasion they could. So, Nancy's birthday was next and here we go.

Enough with the details, here is what occurred to me. Sometimes we love being related to our family (by blood or by marriage) and then there are "those other times"! You know, family can push each others buttons in amazing ways. No family is exempt all the time so why not try and make the best of it!

After all, we celebrate a common purpose and name! In this case, I am part of the LeGros family because I married Lori LeGros almost nineteen years ago! Now, they (the LeGros family) has a choice to make. They can either love me and accept me or not, either way I am in the family. We are only negotiating how welcome the environment is. Does this sound familiar? Is there tension in your family at times? Sure there is!

What will you do about it? Are you willing to be honest and accepting? Are you willing to offer forgiveness if necessary? All these skills and more are vital if your family is going to healthy.

So, to my other family, Andrew, Sunshine, Jennifer, Dean, Debbie, Todd, Ashley, Chad, Dick, Carol, Jim, Charlotte, Scott, Shelly, Kaitlyn and Ben. I love you all and thank you for making this "outsider," feel like and "insider". Knowing all of you makes a huge difference in my life.

Two options that WE have, what about our leaders?

Budgets are managed in my household, likely yours as well in two ways. 1) Make more money, 2) Reduce our spending. If you are having trouble in this area, my family went through a Dave Ramsey seminar a few years ago and it changed everything.

Since most us are on a "fixed" income, meaning that we are not in jobs that have incentives, we are forced to work on item number 2- Reducing our spending. One of the the best parts of going through the Ramsey Financial Peace University was how we learned to live on less.

In Arizona, we are facing huge losses in our educational system unless a 3 year sales tax is passed. I hate more taxes, but I can't imagine loosing so many parts of my children's education. So, it might need to happen. However, I am more passionate about REDUCING OUR SPENDING. That's my frustration with our Government leaders who are not really making hard cuts in spending.

In my family, we made hard choices and gave away some things we enjoyed in order to get out of debt. It's time for our National leaders to do the same.

Marketing, Rhetoric and General Motors

The GM CEO was announcing that they have repaid the 5 Billion dollar loan w/ interest back to the US. Sounded very good. Wow, they are back or are they? Look at the following....

The U.S. government still owns 61 percent of GM. The automaker is counting on a public stock offering to allow the U.S. government to begin recouping its remaining $45.3 billion investment. The Canadian government's $8.1 billion stake, which equals a 12 percent ownership interest, also could also be unlocked if GM sells shares to the public. From Yahoo.com

I like GM. I loved my Chevy truck (used to own) and we love our old Suburban. I want the company to do well, but I was a little bummed out that the message from the commercial indicated that they were all paid up and it's just not true!

Rhetoric is powerful, especially when put on television. If I had not checked, I would have assumed that GM was completely out of debt! Good progress...YES! But paying back $5 billion when you still owe $53 Billion to US & Canada is only a step in the right direction!

For me, it's a reminder to accurately as I can represent myself and the camp. How about you? Is your yes really yes? is your no really no?

A little help from my spouse

This is hilarious picture of Lori and I. I had skin cancer in my left eyebrow and lost most of the hair of that same eyebrow. This picture is Lori's attempt to "loan" me some hair. Just writing it down makes me laugh!

The point of showing you this pic is that it illustrates a deep truth found in Ephesians 5:21-33. The whole section is a discussion about the relationships of husbands and wives. The best work I have seen on this topic comes from "Love and Respect" by Emerson Eggerichs. (Great book and seminar).

Verse 21 is the story behind this picture. It says that husbands and wives should SUBMIT to each other. Another way of stating is, "I will give or give up whatever I should to benefit my spouse". In this case, it's a humorous look at Lori giving me some extra hair to cover up my imperfections.

Perhaps we, as married people, would do better if we sought the benefit of our spouse first! Enjoy your day and I hope the picture makes you laugh...It does for me.

I went to Bagdad yesterday

It was a beautiful cloudless sunny day in AZ yesterday. We left about 1pm and rode 70 miles over to Bagdad, AZ and returned. The desert is so green this year with all the winter rains and snow! It was spectacular.

I was riding a Honda Shadow 1100, similar to this one.

Once we arrived in Bagdad and stopped at a grocery store for a drink then began the ride home. Many times, you travel to get TO THE DESTINATION. We were more excited about the TRAVEL and the destination was secondary. Literally it was just a place to rest and turn around.

What about you? Are you so focused on the destination that you are missing the travel. I hope you open your eyes and enjoy life as it passes.

Do you like the President?

Interesting question. Do you like the President? Well, I have never met him so I cannot comment. Some would say "he is great" others might say, "he is aweful". Funny, because most people taking sides have acutally never met the man.

I have a huge amount of respect for the Office; President of the United States and this is true if I like or don't like the person sitting in that position. Before President Obama, it was President Bush and again people were making assessments of the person but doing it by means other than personal/direct knowledge.

Most of this information used as a basis for opinion is based on BEHAVIOR. We see the actions of people and figure backwards to determine motive or heart. Difficult at best since none of us can know what makes people tick. Yet, that's what we do. We do it with our children, we do it with co-workers and we make the same judgements on politicians.

What is teachable is ACTIONS speak the loudest! I am going to remind my kids that just because you say something, doesn't mean anything if your actions undo your words!

So, do you like the President? Wrong question. Do like the Presidents Actions? Right question. Behavior matters, especially in our leaders!

Frustrated with taxes or not...look at this

I found a tax calculator at the FairTax website. You should take it...You will likely be blown away by what it reveals.

For years I have thought FairTax was a great concept because it's a "built-in" tax on every good/service purchased in America. If you are an American citizen then you receive rebates based on the size of family on necessities purchased.

Here are a few benefits of this legislation
1. Visitors to America pay into our Social Security system when they purchase anything
2. Anyone here illegally pays a larger portion and would then be encouraged to actually become citizens. (there is "cost" to sneaking across the border).
3. Any money earned through illegal means is now taxable. (drug dealers, etc)
4. You control the amount of tax you pay by what you purchase. (if someone is poor, they can purchase resale items at NO TAX). If you are poor and practice bad money habits then that's your choice and you have no one to blame for paying higher taxes.

Do some research on FairTax. By the way, you keep all your paycheck. There is NO IRS or tax day (April 15) any longer. 

Hopefully, this will spur some good thinking. Enjoy your day!

I just took this quiz

I have heard the term "Libertarian" many times lately and I did not know that much about it. On the Libertarian Party website I found this link. Take the quiz, it's interesting.

Not sure how I will vote in AZ yet, but I am paying attention to what is going on in my state and Nation.

On a side note: IT IS TIME for our National leaders to "sack up" and make a budget that actually works. I have to live on my income, so do you, let's demand that our national and state leaders do the same!

Put it to death

^"Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live" 

 Scott spoke last Saturday night at Heights Church. This was the text he spoke from. He talked about when Christians want to change something that is not pleasing to God in their life that they say to that sin, "would you die please?" He used a volunteer in the front row to demonstrate as he asked, "would you hurry up and die".

It is funny to think that a bad habit that we might have would die because we ask. NO, Paul writes that we need to "put to death"...and Scott jumped off the stage and choked a volunteer attending that night.

It was a great picture of the ACTIVE role we should take when attempting change in our lives! Doesn't matter if your change is spiritual or not. Loosing weight is an ACTIVE choice, you don't simply say, "weight please go away", neither should we in our spiritual lives if we want to act as God has called!

The Spirit of God plays a role and so do we! Both are present in the verses and both are necessary to see something changed! I just loved the picture of the pastor jumping down and choking this unsuspecting volunteer...it really drove the point home!

This one made me laugh

In the latest issue of Fortune Magazine there is an article called, "25 Truths about Green". Item #4 deals with Greenhouse gas emissions. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, vehicles account for 13% of the emissions while 18% come from Cows!

That's right, Cow farts cause 18% of the greenhouse gas...no pun intended. It made me laugh and reminded me that it's okay to laugh at some of the issues we face on our planet.

Hope you enjoy the thought of trying to reduce cattle emissions (hmmm? is there a muffler for that?).

Capable of much more

On Wednesday our entire staff rented Jeeps in Sedona, AZ. My group of 4 was in four-door Wrangler called "Clara" and aside from Chris Holohan, none of us had driven off-road like this!

Seems like this was the scene over and over. One of us would be driving up to a large boulder and slow down. As the wheels rolled forward and touched the rocks, a little "throttle" and Clara would climb straight up and over without any trouble. As we talked, we became aware that our fear was unfounded because the Jeep was capable of so much more than we knew. That same concept reminds me of my Faith.

Jesus said our faith is capable of much more, listen to His words in John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

Perhaps we need to take our Faith out and try something larger or more daring? Jesus said our Faith is very powerful, yet we use it like many people who drive their Jeeps only on pavement. It's time to go big with our Faith!

Brand "YOU"

I took my 5 year old to Sonic for popcorn Chicken the other day. On the way home he was asking what this word was, "S...O...N..." I replied, "Sonic". He was asking why the word Sonic was on this toy that came with his Whacky Pack? I explained that Sonic wants you to think about them, their food and come purchase again.

Later I was thinking about my brand or our brand as people. What do we "advertise" on ourselves? As a Christian I believe the name of Jesus is stamped on my life, but I wonder if people see it? What kind of person am I really? Is what I claim to be about really what I am about?

My words (which I use a lot) may say one thing, but my actions can prove otherwise. So as I explore more about Brand "ME", will you think about Brand "YOU"?

Hopefully at the end of this life, people will say with certainty that David Coyne was about following Jesus Christ, loving his wife and children, trying to make a difference in the lives of people. He loved to serve, play and sing. He loved the outdoors (running & biking) and most of all, he WAS who he proclaimed to be!

Trololo Man - EDWARD KHILL

Saw video of this man singing. He clearly has an amazing voice, I hope you enjoy it!

Oh it's just the 2nd Ammendment

U.S.reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and Said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as Long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every Nation a veto.


The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush 'S Administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national Controls were better.


Having discussed this possibility with a friend a few months ago, it seems like someone is being TOLD A LIE and there are only two options; 1) The International Community or 2) the American people.

Because of how Health-Care reform was pushed through while 55% of the American public was against it, I think we Americans are in line to get shafted again! Perhaps the Constitution and the Bill of Rights don't matter anymore to some, but they matter to me!

Seems like this Administration really has an Agenda and I for one don't like it...Good thing there are millions more Americans who agree with me! It will be interesting to see how this plays out!

On a side note: President Obama is in favor of Nuclear Power or is he? Look at this article from the Los Angeles Times regarding the closing Yucca Mtn. (the place where nuclear material is stored). I don't know how you can promote Nuclear power and close the only storage location for it's fuel. Hmmmm?? Something is fishy here!!!!

I want to be "The Batman"

We rented Lego Batman for Wii for the past week. Austin and Jordan have been playing a lot during that time. When they play together, Austin (11 years) ends up being Batman and Jordan is forced to play as Robin or someone else.

It was Saturday morning and Jordan declares, "I want to the Batman". I laughed because Batman is the cool character in the game, he is the #1 player and at 5 years old my son already desires to be in charge or #1 over others. No one taught him this it comes to all people naturally. Unfortunately not everyone can be in first chair, the leader or #1 player. We each must play the role that we are made to play.

Consider your gifts and passions, your strengths and weaknesses and play the role you are created to play. In the end, you may be "Batman", but mostly likely you will be "Robin" just like me and play a unique role in your family, organization or life. Have fun!!!!

Take it all in

There are times in life where we have this rare chance to do something really BIG.

For me I had a chance to visit Grand Canyon with my son's 5th grade class. The Nat'l Parks department has a school curriculum based on the theories of how Grand Canyon formed. We looked at fossils, hiked around the South Rim and discovered the layers of rock formations on the mile of exposed vertical rock.

Now, back to the BIG thing. While the Grand Canyon is hard to describe, that was not the really BIG event I am speaking about. For me, it was this once in a lifetime chance to be with my son. Later in life I can go back to Grand Canyon, but I can never have Austin as a 5th grader again.

My encouragement today is to grab these moments in life because they are gone too quickly...Drink them all in!

Young people and "work ethic"

In my circle of friends, it is very common for the topic of young people and poor work ethic to be discussed. Perhaps I am trapped in a time warp where I have become an old fogy and compare how I worked to the kids I see today. Perhaps it's just me, but I think there is more here.

As a dad I wonder if parents are just protecting their children by supplying all their needs and teaching them to not try hard to achieve something. Actually the reason is not that important, what is important is to influence the areas we can control.

In a blog a few days ago I wrote about Stephen Covey's 7 habits. Well, it is useful here as well. I want all three of my kids to know how to work hard and have success. So, we train them to clean up after themselves, they will learn to do laundry, budget and spend the money they earn. They will try hard in school, get jobs and work, they will learn to communicate well with others, and much more.

Lori and I alone are responsible for helping to aim these kids and prepare them to be successful participants in our American culture. It's not a perfect plan and we know each child must CHOOSE to follow the plan, but it's where we are going. If you are looking to hire a hard working young person, I hope you will consider our kids.

Working together

Well, the trip to Kansas was amazing and productive. Here is a quick review of my last few days away! Monday 5am, drive to Phoenix (2 hours), fly to Denver, drive to KS (5 more hours) and work till midnight on demolition of a kitchen.

The group of 7 I was traveling with proceeded to work 40 hours in 2 1/4 days producing nearly 300 man/hours of labor. 300 hours is equivalent to 8 - 10 weeks for the camp director working by himself.

You know that when we partner together the accomplishments are AMAZING. Perhaps we should work harder on getting WITH other people instead of working harder FOR other people. Greater results and relationships because we work together.