Who Are You Doing Life With Today?

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day! It is beautiful in Arizona as Fall has finally arrived! This morning it was a cool 57 degrees...before those of you in the Midwest and East laugh, please understand that is a 50 degree swing in the last two weeks for us in the "dry heat" of Arizona! Besides, you all are wimps with your 85 and 90 degree highs in the summer (let's pretend for a minute there is no humidity, o.k.?!?!).

On Tuesday I had one of those days where my heart was heavy, my spirit felt dark, everything just seemed so...gloomy. Ever had one of those days? God has blessed me with a great Godly man in my life whose son is on my 15-year olds football team. LeeDell is a firefighter and I knew he was not working that day - it is pathetic, I know "C" shifts schedule better than he does! - and there was a great chance he would be at football practice that day watching his son. It was funny; I just had this sense, this feeling, that I needed to make sure that I was there on time to spend some time with LeeDell...no agenda, no plan, just spend time with a great man. Well, by the time practice was over we had discussed faith, family, our failures, our hopes, he had challenged me and I him and we had encouraged one another. Oh yeah, and we laughed a lot! We always laugh a lot...mostly at ourselves! By the time we left practice - I think the team practiced though I am not sure as all of my focus and attention was on our conversation! - everything in life seemed so much clearer, life made sense again and as hard as I tried I could not figure out why my heart had been heavy, why my spirit had felt dark in the first place.

Who is the person, or maybe people if you are very blessed as I am, that you are doing life with? The bible tells us that "iron sharpens iron" and that we should not be "unequally yoked." It has also been said that if you want to know who you will be in 5 years, look at the people you are spending time with today. And so I ask you, who are those people in your life? Do they speak truth to you? Do they love you and care enough about you to tell you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear even if it isn't what you wanted to hear? Do they challenge and inspire you to be all that you were created to become? Yes, YOU were created to do great things!! Can you lean against them when you are so tired, so weary from the trials and tribulations of life, until your feet are again steadied on the path and you can stand on your own again? The questions can go on and on.

I want to challenge each of us today to thoughtfully, intentionally choose who those people will be who we do life with today. Please be careful with whose counsel you will seek, with what words you will allow to be spoken into your heart today...for those words are little seeds that get planted in your heart, they grow, roots get sunk deep and the fruit that comes from you - your words, your actions, your thoughts - will be born from those seeds. Just as easily as I intentionally sought out LeeDell on Tuesday - and he had no clue that I intentionally sought him out! - I could have called an acquaintance who I know is negative, likes to gossip, does not value faith & family as I do, etc. and that person also would have influenced my heart, my spirit. You, your great value, your purpose in life are way to valuable, way to important to leave who you will do life with to chance or worse, to choose to allow darkness, negativity, etc. to be a part of who you are.

And please, please don't forget to tell these blessings - these people that you do life with - that you love them, that you value them and that you cherish them. Men sometimes feel funny saying these things to other men as they think this makes them less "manly." I could not disagree more strongly!! A man knows who he is. A man is not afraid to speak truth. A man recognizes, values and appreciates his blessings. A man doesn't try to "look good" or "look tough"...he is more concerned with violating his own heart and spirit. To Mark, AJ, Kelly, Jason and LeeDell; I love you, I value you, I cherish you and I thank God every single day for you and for allowing us to do life together!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for any of you. I would truly be honored and blessed to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, enjoy & cherish those precious families and please choose wisely who you will do life with today!

Kev