Truth in Advertising

Driving through Boulder City, NV recently I passed this trailer. While it's diffiult to read, if you focus on the trailer door you will see this phrase. "Veteran needs beer, gas and ammo $". Truthful statement!

You will also notice the Wood Canes and Carvings for $1 so this is not panhandling. This veteran is working to support himself/herself. I just loved the sign.

Also, the trailer is actually a flatbed trailer that they have mounted this truck-bed camper on it and now it's Travel Trailer...AWESOME!

Keep your eyes open on the road, who knows what you will see!

We will do it ourselves

Reading in "Money" magazine November 2011 edition, I found an article regarding how the economy has changed people. It's a great read!

It covers surveys in 2009 and 2011 regarding how the economy has affected families. There is a glaring result that caught my attention. The data suggests that in most households 2011 is better than 2009 and the future looks better for them. HOWEVER, it's definetly not because of the actions of the government.

It seems clear that families have lowered their debt, began saving more money and live a simpler life enjoying time with family more than ever! The government solution and/or economy does not look better yet they are optimistic because THEY ARE DOING IT THEMSELVES.

Sounds like the Country that I know and love. Join the rest and take control, don't wait for someone else to help!

Taking time to listen and learn

I was reminded recently about the power of listening and learning. I was doing some welding at a friends house. I have done this many times before and always with a long sleeve shirt. On the day in question, I wore a sleeveless shirt.

My friend said "you are going to get burnt, you better put on a long sleeve shirt", I responded by saying that I would change if I got burnt. I was talking about slag from the welding landing on my skin and burning me, he was talking about "sunburn" from the welder.

Have you ever done something like this? He and I even used the same word: burnt, but we meant different things from it. 5 days later my arm is peeling like crazy because I fried it. All this could have been avoided if I would have taken a few extra moments to clarify what he meant vs. what I meant.

Next time I weld, it's long sleeves for me, but I had to pay a price when someone who knew better was helping me and I did not understand!

Social norms...shattered!

Just before church on Sunday morning last weekend, I ran to the bathroom. First, let me give some context. Men have this unwritten rule that you really don't speak to other men in the bathroom. Perhaps this goes back ages to our early ancestors, or perhaps just to modern America, but that's the RULE!

So, there I was standing at the urinal and this young man approached and said hello to gentlemen next to me and then said "Hello sir" to me! I would guess his age to be about mid 30's and he appears to have mild "Down Syndrome" or something similar. I responded back and then began to think about what just happened.

To be honest, I was moved by this young man who saw a friend and said hello, then not wanting to be unfriendly, he spoke to me. FORGET THE RULES, he was being better than the rules.

I hope I can grow up and ignore stupid societal rules in order to care for people. Don't you???

Juvenile Leadership

All this talk about Debt Talks, US economy and a lot more has me fired up these days!

It hit a peak this morning when I was hearing news reports of the White House making excuses! Now before you get mad at me for picking on the White House or the President, I am making a point of Leadership. The Administration is the best example today, but I have heard the same things from all parts of the political landscape.

So, back to the excuses. When I hear statements like, "there was massive spending before we took office" or "we are fighting 2 wars", I get frustrated because these facts were known before President Obama was elected or his staff selected to serve in the White House.

Jim Rome (Sports Radio Icon) used to say "Scoreboard". Like it or not President Obama and White House staff, you CANNOT make excuses any longer! The Scoreboard says that you are loosing and no amount of words will change that. It's time for different action and some ownership of your actions since you took office.

The task at hand is massive, but we Americans believe that it can and will be done. This economy will turn around. People will go back to work and you can be part of the solution or we will suffer through until you are done and elect someone else who has the courage to Lead America!

Unexpected

My friend Chris gave a short talk this morning during a meeting about how God has worked in the Bible. Typically, He used unexpected means or people to accomplish great things.

Do we like the unexpected? NO, most of the time we don't because we see the unexpected as "out of our control". So, here is the line that Chris used to sum it up.

If we know that God works in unexpected ways and we learn to expect that to be true, then the unexpected becomes expected! Chew on that for a while and good luck today looking for God to send you something unexpected...it's always good in the end!!!!

I love you all.

Long term friendships

My wife has a friend who came up to Prescott for a visit. There were nearly inseparable during their early years. They met in the church nursery and she has remained in our lives ever since. As we have moved around during our married life, Lori and Kari have not seen each other nearly as much, but regard each other like "best friends".

While they have not spoken as much as times past, it was fun to see them together this weekend. The amazing thing about friends like Lori and Kari, is they can pick up where they last left off. There is no drama or pretense. Neither holds the other responsible for the amount of communication they have before getting together.

Value those who play this role in your life. Soak in the times when you can be together and don't worry about the times that you are apart! Good friends are hard to find sometimes, so make the most of the time you have with them!

2012 Budget discussion

You may not be interested in the politics of budgets for America, but I want to suggest that you should become engaged in the conversation. I watched this interview with Chris Wallace and Rep. Paul Ryan. It's a good discussion about the direction we are headed in our American spending.

I, for one, am glad that the future is being discussed BEFORE it can become reality. Perhaps we can all agree to ask Washington to payoff the debt, just like we have to do in our homes, counties and states.

Watch the interview here.

Reading George W. Bush Book

I am a few chapters into the book Decision Points by George W. Bush.

It's a interesting look into the beginning's of Bush's life and it's fascinating. One thing stuck out to me, a few days after his father lost the White House to Clinton, "W" ran a marathon in 3:44. That's 28 minutes faster than I ran a marathon. That is a remarkable accomplishment.

You will enjoy his direct nature and honest assessment of his decisions. I have tons of respect for someone who has a standard and sticks by it, plus if they make a mistake, they admit it, apologize and move on!

Capable of much more

Last night I attended my 6 year-old's school program. He attends Washington School and it's a cool old brick school dating back over 100 years! This program was a patriotic celebration of our country. These kindergarten children learned the many famous songs and documents about our freedom as Americans. One little girl named all 50 states, another boy recited the preamble of the Declaration of Independence and my son spoke the preamble of the Constitution.

When he was assigned this difficult task, I didn't know what to think. "Domestic Tranquility" is not an easy phrase to pronounce or remember. I was amazed. All these children learned a tremendous amount, but why is that so amazing. CLEARLY THEY WERE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN I THOUGHT!

What about you and me? Has someone told us that "it can't be done" so we believe them? Do we just not try because we don't think it's possible? Perhaps we need to examine the messages we believe. Can a 40 year old run a marathon? Yes!!! It's hard work, but it can be done.

Be encouraged and rethink what you believe! Blessings today on you!

I work here because...

I have spent my entire adult life working with young people. 12 years I worked as a Youth Pastor and the last 9+ have been working at a youth camp. Why? That's a great question. Can you answer that for yourself?

Why do you work where you work? Sometimes, we work because we have commitments to keep and ANY job will do to meet those demands. This is a tough place because we sacrifice our passion at work to attain something we value more.

For me, I have chosen a long time ago to work in ministries with kids. This is not lucrative, but that's not the point. I want to see kids benefit as I did from my youth pastor, Don Kluttz. Currently I work at this amazing camp BECAUSE kids and adults make life-altering decisions at this camp and many like it across our world.

Today, I hope you take a few moments and consider the purpose of your work. Perhaps you reaffirm your commitment to care for your family and work outside of your passion area because you love others. Perhaps you reaffirm your work in you favorite area even though it does not pay what you would like.

Meeting people

I have been reading a great book on Marketing & Sales. It's called We: The Ideal Customer Relationship

There are many great parts to the book and it's a very pracitcal guide to Sales, etc, however, the best part for me was the section relating to "encounters". The author, Steve Yastrow, develops the idea about how we meet people. He goes to great length to discuss 1) preparing ourselves to meet and listen and talk with people. 2) He challenges me to "leave the moment" behind that I was just in, and take time to prepare for the next moment (meeting someone).

There is so much more, so read the book, but it begs this question for me. Do I take the time to PREPARE to meet people? Do I take time to PREPARE to listen to my spouse, children and those I contact everyday? Do I PREPARE for those I meet regarding work or is it just a job and they are just customers????

Hope we all learn to value people more!

Amazing Journey

I have been watching a documentary of two men riding motorcycles from London to New York the long way (20k miles). It's a fascinating look into life all across the world as they encounter people and landscape not often seen in America.

While it's just a movie, these actors are just men riding motorcycles and telling the real story as they go. It's full of up's and down's, triumph and defeat. It's a lot like life. They spent 4 1/2 months preparing and 3 1/2 months on the trip (105 days). I will warn you that's it's long film, but you will be captivated. Also, there is some language at times that my be offensive to some.

If you watch it, consider how their preparation could help you be more successful in your endeavors.

The life I live

It occurs to me often lately that much of my language is self-centered. "I will..." and "My..." blah blah! It comes because I have been trained to take responsibility for myself (I think we should be responsible), but that breeds a dependance on Self!

My simple challenge is to see my life as "on loan". Afterall this is the life I was given. I did not earn it, I don't desrve it anymore than someone else. These are simply the circumstances that I find myself in. With that in mind, I am going to strive to see this life not as MINE, but as a LIFE ON LOAN, and what am I doing with it! Perhaps a little less Self will be a good thing. I think Jesus likes it when we give away what is not ours to gain something we don't deserve.

Room at the Top

During church service yesterday I was mentally "derailed" by the lyrics to a song. It was a new song for me, so I don't know the lyrics exactly, but they were something like this, "you are the only thing..."

While I don't remember the lyrics, what I remember is thinking that God is NOT the only thing that I think of. During this time of the year people all over the world are evaluating their priorities for 2011. They are trying to make progress in many different areas so they accomplish their goals. Having goals like this are good, however, for me, I am going to try a different approach.

Since there is ONLY ROOM FOR ONE at the top of my life, I am going to try keeping that spot for Jesus and let all the other priorities find their way into the other spots. The way I see it, you really can serve ONE at the top. You may choose to reserve the spot at the top for Jesus, if not, who or what is at the top? There is only room for ONE!