|| Focus ||

I am currently reading a book titled, "Thinking for a Change" by John Maxwell. As lame and corny as it sounds this book will change your thinking. While I enjoy thinking and solving problems at lot of times I am not very focused in my thinking. As I was reading the skill on focus I came across the following excerpt. Dr. Maxwell quoted from Al Ries' Focus: The future of your company depends on it. 

"The sun is a powerful source of energy. Every hour the sun washes the earth with billions of kilowatts of energy. Yet with a hat and some sun-screen, you can bathe in the light of the sun for hours at a time with few ill effects. A laser is a weak source of energy. A laser takes a few watts of energy and focuses them in a coherent stream of light. but with a laser you can drill a hole in a diamond, cut steel several inches thick, or wipe our cancer."

So what kind of light and focus will I have? Do I really want to make a difference? I had better start thinking that way.


I have been blessed to be apart of a reading discussion group where we are breaking this book down and working through it skill by skill. If you are near 20 years young or older and know me personally shoot me an email and I can give you the details of the group I am apart of. the group meets via conference call every Thursday mornings at 7am.

|| Quote ||

"Duty is OURS, Results are God's"

-John Quincy Adams.

|| Tongue ||

Below is an excerpt from a devotional email I wrote last week for a Bible Reading and Scripture Memorization team I am apart of.

This past week I have been thinking and meditating on a verse from our memorization in James. As I was running last week I was listening to the entire book on my phone and there was a verse that really stood out to me. It hit me like a tone of bricks right between the eyes. James 3:9 "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;..." What o what could this be talking about? Our mouth! Elsewhere in scripture we are warned about the power of the tongue and it damaging effects. But that is not really what  struck me. What struck me was the fact that our mouth that we are praying, praising God, and sharing His gospel with others is the same mouth that is tearing others down, issuing cutting remarks, and uttering unclean language. We use that same mouth to Praise God? What grace we have been shown! In the Old Testament we are preparing to read about some of the laws with which the Israelite's were to govern their lives by. Including such simple things so that if a lowly item like a clay pot was even to touch something unclean it was to be broken and cast out. As I was thinking on this and evaluating my own mouth and heart I was driven to me knees because of God's unconditional mercy and grace for me. What a humbling reminder to "Let NO unwholesome word proceed from my mouth". Blessings in the fight!Richard

The Status Quo

This Sunday I was specifically impacted by the message at church. The Message was titled, "Is This It? One of the points Eric brought out was, "Do I love myself to much"? Do I love my own comfort? Pleasure? Easy life? Fun Friends? My time is a pretty good indicator of what I love. But how do I know what is appropriate? Do I look at what everyone else is doing? Do I measure it by the actions of the church? Absolutely not. I must lay aside EVERY encumbrance and press on to the goal. We have to step out of the "norm", away from what we are comfortable with, and go against the status quo. The only measuring stick is God's Word. Eric shared the audio of the following song with us. Take a listen and contemplate the message.

So long status quo

I think I just let go

You make me want to be brave

The way it always was 

Is no longer good enough

You make me want to be brave

Brave, brave

Eric's Message: .mp3, notes, & slides

Reverse Thinking

Reverse

Sermonspice.com

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When was the last time you reversed your thinking?


Hat tip to Kathy Allman for the link.