Random Stuff

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day dawns! It is been one heck of a wet, soggy week here on the Gulf Coast. It is extremely warm & humid early this morning and we are supposed to be getting more rain over the next few days. Your thoughts & prayers are greatly needed & appreciated for those in the path of these storms.

Every day I read leadership thoughts, quotes, etc. I will write down and save many of these...to ponder them, to gain knowledge & wisdom from them through out the coming days and weeks. This morning I want to share with you several of the things I have saved over the past few weeks. I thought you might enjoy them and perhaps you too can gain knowledge & wisdom from them. In some cases I will add my thoughts/ideas...please don't let my thoughts get in the way of how something might speak to you.

My friend and colleague Frank Bucarra says that, "values are what we believe but that ethics are what we do." - Mark Sanborn

Kev's 2 Cents - Integrity is the alignment of these two.

21 Qualities of a Great Leader

Straightforward & Transparent

Honest & Trustworthy

Ethical & Principled

Authentic

Focused

Determined

Realistic

Decisive & Action-Oriented

Accountable

Fair & Open-Minded

Knowledgeable & Experienced

Consistent & Dependable

Confident & Optimistic

Insightful

Discerning

Passionate

Empathetic & Selfless

Flexible

Humble

Courageous

Hardworking - Unknown (Shared by Wright Thurston)

Kev's 2 Cents - I need to keep these things before me continually...to review, reflect, assess.

"The prime role of a leader is to offer an example of courage and sacrifice." - Regis Debray

Kev's 2 Cents - It is not about me...it is about those I am privileged to serve. What Will Your Influence Be...Kevin?

Focus on your dreams, not your fear.

Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

Focus on your character, not your reputation.

Focus on your blessings, not your misfortunes. - Harvey Stone

Kev's 2 Cents - What are you going to focus on? Choices, choices! Our focus determines our thoughts, our thoughts our words, our words our actions, our actions our legacies. Our focus is CRITICALLY important...and it is a choice.

A Godly Husband

- knows you

- trusts you

- loves you

- respects you

- honors you

- supports you

- wants you

- appreciates you - Unknown (Shared by Wright Thurston)

Kev's 2 Cents - This is my greatest aspiration! I want to be that husband. I must allow God to lead my life every day and die to self if this will ever happen. I can't just make this choice/decision today...I must make it tomorrow and then the next day and then the next day...

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, its always your choice." - Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Kev's 2 Cents - Doggone choices!!! :) Always is measurable!!! Dang it! Better choose wisely!

"Trust that even in the twists and turns of life, God's in control. That is what faith is all about." - Joel Osteen

Kev's 2 Cents - Lord please lead my life. Please fill me with the Holy Spirit. Please give me the strength, courage, knowledge & wisdom to have faith, to walk by faith.

"You don't have to tell people what they're doing wrong. They already know. Let your life be the sermon." - Joel Osteen

Kev's 2 Cents - Your life IS preaching a sermon...

"There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you'll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment." - Nick Saban

Kev's 2 Cents - I love coaches...direct, to the point! Comes back to choices. Which pain do you want to deal with?

 

You don't have to tell your kids what you believe. They can see it by the decisions you make and the life that you live. - Unknown

Kev's 2 Cents - Oh boy! This both causes fear and inspires. Yes, our lives are preaching a sermon...always!

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it...Autograph your work with excellence." - Vince Lombardi

Kev's 2 Cents - How will you autograph your work? Your signature is on everything you do...everything!

 

"Leadership's not a title. It's a behavior. Live it." - Robin Sharma

Kev's 2 Cents - Any questions?! Wow! What sermon is your life preaching???

10 Ways To Be An All Pro Dad

1. Love Your Wife

2. Spend Time With Your Kids

3. Be a Role Model

4. Understand and Enjoy Your Children

5. Show Affection

6. Secure Your Family's Financial Future

7. Eat Together as a Family

8. Discipline with a Gentle Spirit

9. Pray and Worship Together

10. Realize You're a Father Forever - Unknown (Shared by Wright Thurston)

Kev's 2 Cents - My 2nd greatest aspiration! I want to be an All Pro Dad! I want to be everything that my Tender Warriors need me to be! I want to be all that God created me to be!

"We don't always see the impact we make because we leave it behind. Be mindful of your actions as they affect someone." - Marala Scott

Kev's 2 Cents - What Will Your Influence Be...?

 

"There's nothing more powerful than a humble person with a warrior spirit who is driven by a bigger purpose." - Coach Jeff Osterman

Kev's 2 Cents - My 3rd greatest aspiration! I want to be that Warrior...a true Tender Warrior! Lord, please lead me. Please make me the man, husband & father you created me to become!

 

"Faith doesn't exempt you from problems. It gives you the strength to get through them." - Helena Plumber

Kev's 2 Cents - We live in a fallen, broken world. We are all going to experience challenges, problems. Where will you find your strength, courage, knowledge & wisdom? You are going to put your faith in someone or something...Who? What?

I could do this all day! I sincerely hope something in all of this spoke to your heart...I am all fired up and ready to go now!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families!

Kev

The In Between

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day on this beautiful Friday morning! Additionally, I hope you have had a great week - personally & professionally.

So what do you do when life is just the "status quo?" You are in neither a valley nor on a peak. There is neither nothing big coming up that you are looking forward to nor something big that you are dreading. It is just life...it is just another day. What do you do then?

When we are in valley's, when there is something that we dread, we tend to read our Bible's, pray, seek God's guidance...really strain for our faith, to walk with hope. When we are on a peak, or when there is something that we are really looking forward to, we tend to live on the high, we overlook offenses & struggles because, hey, things are going really good or we are looking forward to something special to us. I realize these are generalizations and, as the case with EVERY generalization, there are times when you are going to be wrong. As I have walked my life journey however I have found these things to be true more often than not.

The space I am talking about today is the space in between the peak & the valley. Your daily life, your daily living, what are you doing on those days? This morning I would like to share a couple of thoughts about those days.

1. Please thoughtfully consider where you turn for your strength, courage, knowledge & wisdom. You see Friends, for all of us the tests are coming. It might happen in 5 minutes, 5 days, 5 weeks, 5 months or 5 years but be sure of this, it is coming. At that moment, when the test arrives, what you have inside of you will be revealed. What you have done in the quiet - Who & Where you went for your strength, courage, knowledge & wisdom - will be all that you have. As Pastor Ken Whitten once said, "What's in the well will always comes up in the bucket." We all want to be great in the moment, we all want to "ace" the test however the only one's who will are the one's who have prepared for it. There are so many great analogies & metaphors for this life truth. Please cherish & carefully guard this time - the in between - and use it wisely. There will be days that you will wish you were again there. For me I have chosen to pursue God daily - through the reading of my Bible, through prayer, through listening to gospel music. I have chosen to strive to grow as a leader every day - to become a better man, husband, father through reading books, reading articles & watching videos. Do I "feel" like doing these things every single day? No, honestly I don't. There are days I have to fight for my relationship with God, for my personal growth & development. I will tell you however, I have never once regretted one of those days.

I can't tell you what to do or what you should do in your life daily. I can only testify to what I have found to be true in my life. I respectfully ask you to thoughtfully consider your source. It will be too late once the test arrives...prepare now, in the in between.

2. If you are privileged to have anyone in your life who you are doing life with - spouse, child, friend, co-workers, friends - you can't just check out, especially husbands & fathers (I am blessed to be each so I can pick on us!). We have to "show up" every day...there is no off day. We are going to influence every single life we encounter every single day...even on the in between days. While you or I may be in the in between others are fighting fierce battles or standing on glorious peaks...we need to be there with them and for them. Indifference is a terrible thing! Let us not be indifferent. Let us be passionately alive, living fully in each and every moment. Let us choose carefully the influence we will have and I pray it will be intentional & positive.

Again, I can't tell you what your influence should be, how you should be influencing, etc. - though I can & will pray for intentional, positive influence! :) This is your choice and your choice alone...a choice you will make, even if it is indifference (Yuck!). Please know this also Friends, while we are free to choose the type of influence we will have we are not free from the consequences of our influence. You and I are building & crafting our relationships, our legacies, each and every day...even on days in the in between. The relationship you have with your spouse, your children, your friends, co-workers, etc. will be a direct result of what you have done. If you don't like the direction that this is headed, you are free to choose to do things differently...it is a new day, a new opportunity.

As this Memorial Day weekend approaches I want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the service men & women - past & present - as well as their families, for the lives you live, for the sacrifices you make. It is so hard to comprehend - the selfless service, the sacrifice - and "thank you" seems so shallow & hollow. How do you adequately thank people who lay down their lives for you, who fight for your freedom every single day? Perhaps the answer is to pure heartedly honor them every day - in words & actions - and by living our lives to the fullest, pursuing the greatness that is within each one of us. They after all sacrifice so much so we can.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

One Size Doesn't Fit All

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day - full of hope, opportunity & promise...they are there if you will only look for them! - dawns!

Oh my goodness, Little League baseball is kicking my rear end. I am struggling with the games that end at 9:00 p.m., home to bed between 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. and trying to get up and do all my stuff on Friday morning. Keep this up and I am going to start calling it "Sleepy Friday!" :)

Last Sunday our Pastor preached one of the best sermons I have ever heard on the roles & responsibilities in marriage. Now there are a thousand different directions we could go at this point however there was one statement made that was profound to be:

Lead as God has wired you to lead.

Pause for a second Friends and let that sink in. Perhaps you want to read it again. Lead as God has wired you to lead...

We are all different. There is not another person walking the face of the earth who is exactly like you. This does not make you any better or worse than another, just different. For you to try to be me or for me to try to be you just wouldn't work...we weren't created the same. We were both created lovingly, perfectly, lacking nothing, equipped to fulfill our individual purposes however we are not the same and therefore we cannot do things exactly the same, including leading.

Without this rather simple, yet incredibly profound understanding two things, at least two things, happen:

1. We compare ourselves to others. Pointless, completely pointless! How silly would it be to hold an apple in one hand, an orange in the other and then to look at the apple and tell it what a terrible orange it is...laughable right? How is it any different when you look at your leadership/life and then compare it to someone else's? You weren't created to be the same as anyone else, you were created uniquely for your own unique purpose & path...pursue that - YOUR greatness. You want to compare something? Compare yourself today, at the end of the day, against yourself yesterday, at the end of the day. Be better than that person...the you of yesterday!

2. We want to listen to the thoughts/advice of another and try to do exactly what they do. Again, this is an impossible task, it will only lead to failure. You and I would have to be exactly who and what that person is to do exactly what they do. There is wisdom in this understanding for both the mentor as well as the mentee. We are here to encourage, empower & equip each other, to inspire by the lives we live - which is another way of saying we are here to inspire by the sermon(s) we preach - however we are not here to tell anyone how they should live their lives or to try to perfectly replicate someone else's. Share your testimony, by all means be willing to share your knowledge & wisdom with another however it is then your responsibility to encourage them to pursue their greatness, with the benefit of your inspiration, of your knowledge & wisdom, and not to try to become your clone. And on the other side of the equation, please don't try to be someone else...this would rob the world of something incredible, talented & beautiful - you. Just go on about your business of being the best you that you can be...that is what God created you to be & do.

There is one point that I believe is in fact is the same for all of us - the heart. We all need to search it, prepare it, etc. While it doesn't matter how we lead - Lead as God wired you to lead - it matters greatly why we do it, the condition of our hearts. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." It is not a matter of what you do as a spouse, a parent, a leader, etc. It is a matter of unconditionally loving, of genuinely caring, of wanting to be the best spouse, parent, leader, etc. that you can be, of being willing to sacrifice for those you are privileged to serve. These are the things that truly matter.

I also came across a nugget of wisdom this week in reading an article titled There's Enough Time in Your Life for Everything Important. I will share the entire paragraph and let it speak to your heart:

"My mother was a towering example of the joys of slowing down. Until her death in 2000, she and I had an unspoken deal: Hers would be the rhythm of a timeless world, a child's rhythm; mine was the rhythm of the modern world. While I had the sense every time I looked at my watch that it was later than I thought, she lived in a world where there were no impersonal encounters, and never a need to rush. She believed that rushing through life was a sure way to miss the gifts that come only when you give 100 percent of yourself to a task, a conversation, a dinner, a relationship, a moment. Which is why she despised multitasking."

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your families. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

Preparing for The Test

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as this beautiful new day/opportunity dawns!

How has your day started? Are you feeling good? Or bad? Are you excited for this day? Or are you dreading it? Are you filled with hope? Or fear? What have you said to yourself this morning? Are you speaking life & victory into your own heart? Or death & defeat? Have you determined that today you will help others? That you will lift them up? Or are you going to just leave it all to chance? Or worse, not even care about anyone but yourself?

The moment our alarms go off, or we wake up before it does, the thoughts start coming. The thoughts we have, often based on unreliable feelings, begin ordering the day we will in fact have. We all want to be great when "the moment" arrives however what are we doing to prepare for "the moment"? Are we determining each and every day the type of day it will be? Before anything - good or bad - has happened? 

I cherish the early morning. It is my time to seek the Lord, to learn about leadership, to think about how I can serve my Beautiful Bride & Tender Warriors based on their needs, challenges, struggles, etc. that day, to get a workout in. I have noticed that when I don't do these things the days just don't seem to go quite as well. And I can also prioritize the things listed. I will be o.k. without the workout though I don't want to do that very often. I can miss a day here and there of reading the leadership stuff. Two things, I have found for me, are critical - no, make it three: 1) reading my Bible, 2) praying - even if it is a short, quick prayer and 3) writing Kath and the boys a note - even if it is super short - to let them know that I love them & I am thinking about them. It is the establishment I guess, each and every day, of my priorities.

I wish I could tell you that every day I bounce out of bed like Superman, mind sharp, heart soft & caring, ready to conquer the world fearlessly with the most positive, upbeat attitude anyone has ever had. That would be dishonest. I will say that 9 out of 10 days I am excited to get up...I love life. The rest of it however gets shaky. It is only through seeking God, His transforming of my heart daily and the choice to walk by faith, hope & love that the rest follows. It is then that I can look past the faults/failures in my Bride & sons and serve them as I have been called to serve them. It is then that I can search for the good in others, that I can seek to meet them where they are at and help them any way I can. It is then that I can determine - before the day ever starts - that this in fact is going to be a great day, regardless of the situations & circumstances.

Friends, your life is far too valuable to leave to feelings or chance. You are in control of your thoughts. Before this day, and every single day that follows, even starts determine in your mind who you will serve, what you will believe, how you will act, how you will serve, etc. Don't wait until the test comes...it will be too late. Prepare for the tests and then you don't have to fear the test. This doesn't mean that you will "ace" every test...life is a journey filled with peaks & valleys. However determining these things will enable you to go through every test with your faith, hope & love intact, without compromising your values & beliefs and these things will ultimately lead to a peace in your spirit that goes beyond all understanding. 

To wrap this up I wanted to share a few quotes/thoughts with you.

"Nothing so conclusively proves a man's ability to lead others, as what he does from day to day to lead himself." - Thomas J. Watson

"I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk." - Anthony Robbins

"Never separate the life you live from the words you speak." - Paul Wellstone

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.

Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior.

Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits.

Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.

Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Speak with honesty.

Think with sincerity.

Act with integrity." - Unknown

12 Steps for Self Care

1. If it feels wrong, don't do it.

2. Say "exactly" what you mean.

3. Don't be a people pleaser.

4. Trust your instincts.

5. Never speak bad about yourself.

6. Never give up on your dreams.

7. Don't be afraid to say "No"

8. Don't be afraid to say "Yes"

9. Be KIND to yourself.

10. Let go of what you can't control.

11. Stay away from drama & negativity.

12. Love

- Unknown

"A man can only rise, conquer, and achieve by lifting up his thoughts." - James Allen

"Desire the praise of God more than the praise of people. You have an assignment, a purpose, a destiny." - Helena Plumber

"Expect challenges, criticism, rejection and failure but have an even greater expectation that you will overcome them." - Jon Gordon

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

Two Weeks of Stuff

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this beautiful, absolutely glorious Sunday morning.

I realize I am writing this Happy Friday on a Sunday morning and it has been two weeks since my last post. It has been an exceedingly busy last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago I worked until Thursday (4/23) at Noon and then I came home to begin the journey with my amazing  family to New Mexico to celebrate my precious Mom's life. Last Friday was filled with getting Mom's affairs in order & spending time with family & friends. Saturday we celebrated Mom's life with a beautiful service, a cookout and wiffle ball games...Mom spent hours sitting on her porch watching us play wiffle ball. Sunday I drove Mom's car back from New Mexico to Texas while Kath & the boys flew home...nice little 12 hour drive. I was in the office Monday and Tuesday until Noon and then flew to Denver for work on Tuesday afternoon. Had 2 great days of work in Denver on Wednesday & Thursday and then flew home Thursday night...my flight landed at 11:30 p.m. and I got home around 12:45 a.m. I visited for a while with my Beautiful Bride - her love & sacrifice for me never ceases to amaze, finally went to bed around 2:00 a.m. and then got up at 6:45 a.m. to spend time with my two littlest Tender Warriors and then took them to school. After dropping them off at school I ran home, mowed the lawn - it had been 2 weeks! Yikes! - and then Payton and I got ready to spend a day together. We checked Gehrig out of school early, ran to get lunch for all of us plus Landry and then ran to have lunch with Landry at his school. It was then off to La Porte, TX and Sylvan Beach where the 3 of us fed fish in the Gulf for the next 4 hours...can't call it fishing as we didn't catch anything but successfully fed a whole bunch of fish off our hooks! They were biting for sure, and the lady no more than 15 yards away from us who reeled in Flounder & Trout, was very kind & gracious not to laugh at us. We ran home, grilled some kabobs - no fish for this family! - and then ran to Landry's baseball game. Yesterday was filled with playing football with Payton, a killer 2+ hour nap (guess I was a little tired!), trimming all the bushes in the yard, family pictures (Kath will tell you she waited 19 years for this moment...we were very patient, for the most part!) and then off on a date with my Beautiful Bride.  And now, after church, here I am. :)

This is a very special Happy Friday for two reasons:
1. The love, support, encouragement, etc. shown for me by my Beautiful Bride is truly amazing. This is the first Happy Friday I am typing from the desk she set up for me while I was in Denver. It is perfectly positioned between two windows so I can look out into our beautiful yard when in thought, searching for the right words. I don't know why it was so important to Kath for this to be done for me however it was. Her selfless service inspires me.

2. This is the first Happy Friday I am typing on my Mom's computer. My sweet sister wanted me to have it. Kath determined it would be my computer and that it would be used for Happy Friday's, writing books...anything done to encourage, empower & equip others. Pretty appropriate in that my Mom was my encourager, empowerer, equipper and she taught me to love, value & appreciation everyone and to always do anything I can to help anyone I can any time I can. Yes Friends, I am feeling abundantly blessed this morning.

This morning I want to share several different things with you. I trust that some part of all of this will speak to you.

1. The Thursday night my family & I got to New Mexico we, along with my sister & brother-in-law, were looking through some of Mom's stuff. My Mom cherished her Mothers Bible. Written in the front was the following - I am sorry, we don't know who wrote it though it was written in beautiful cursive. I thought you might all enjoy it:

The Bible contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the travelers map, the pilgrims staff, the pilot's compass, the soldiers sword, and the Christian's charter.

Here Paradise is restored, Heaven is opened, and the gates of hell disclosed...

2. Talk about touching a boys heart; amongst the things we found at Mom's house was a 3 ring binder. On the cover is 3 cut out pictures; one of me, Payton & Gehrig; one of Mom & my 3 Tender Warriors; and one of Mom & my Beautiful Bride. Inside, carefully hole punched and place in order are Happy Friday's with the first one being placed in the binder on August 12, 2011 and the last one being placed in the binder on July 4, 2014...about the time Mom started not feeling well. Something I will cherish for the rest of my life.

3. As I sit here, at the top right corner of the desk Kath set up for me, there is a big frame with a document inside titled "Haslam Family Values & Beliefs." This document is critically important to Kath & I. I developed this document, inspired by the Holy Spirit and in consultation with my Beautiful Bride, in 2011. We really searched our hearts for what we truly value & believe, what we wanted to share with our boys...to provide us all with a compass. I am going to share with you what we have written. I would like to encourage you to do the same thing - determine your family values & beliefs - and place them somewhere where you & your family will see them continually. Please feel free to use ours to help get you started however the most important part of the whole process is to determine what you and your family really value & believe. The way we did ours is to make the statement, provide a definition and then a scripture. Here are the Haslam Family Values & Beliefs:

Purpose

We believe that every person has a God-ordained purpose for their life. We further believe that it is each person's responsibility to seek God's counsel in determining that purpose and to pursue it with everything that is within them.

the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc.

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." - Jeremiah 29:11

Honesty

We believe that honesty, complete truth without deception, is the foundation of every relationship and therefore is never to be compromised.

a: fairness and straightforwardness of conduct. b: adherence to the facts.

"God can't stomach liars; He loves the company of those who keep their word." - Proverbs 12:22

Integrity

We will always do what we say we will do - no matter the personal cost.

firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values: an unimpaired condition: the quality or state of being complete or undivided

"Honesty lives confident and carefree, but shifty is sure to be exposed." - Proverbs 10: 9

Pure-Hearted

We will always listen to our hearts and never violate our own Spirits.

(of a person) without malice, treachery, or evil intent: honest: sincere: guileless

"Keep vigilant watch over your heart, that's where life starts. Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth; avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip. Keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right or left; leave evil in the dust." Proverbs 4: 23 - 27

Genuinely Care About Others

We will always genuinely care about others, search for the greatness in them and do everything possible to help them become the best they are capable of becoming.

a cause or object of worry, anxiety, concern, etc.: serious attention: solicitude: heed: caution: protection: charge

"Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup - where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?" - James 2: 14 - 17

Excellence

We will always do the very best we can.

the fact or state of excelling; superiority; eminence; an excellent quality or feature

"So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you - you're eating to God's glory, after all, not to please them. As a matter of fact, do everything that way, heartily and freely to God's glory." - 1 Corinthians 10: 31

Family Declaration

As for me and my family, we'll worship God. - Joshua 24: 15

Family Motto

Do your best, be your own person and bless a life today.

Family Quote

"Nothing is easier than saying words; nothing is harder then living them day after day. What you decide today and commit to today, you must re-decide and recommit to tomorrow and each day that stretches out before you." - Arthur Gordon

4. I read this today and thought it was really profound...had to share with ya'll. This is taken from The Exceptional Leader: A Parable of Leadership Development by Stan Toler:

Leaders understand  that their primary enemy is disunity, not differences. Effective leaders neither welcome nor run from conflict, but they respond to it appropriately as the need arises. Conflict is a celebration of the human spirit - the diversity of perceptions, experiences, gifts, and free will. So long as conflict can add to better understanding, heightened commitment, greater communication, thus problem solving, it should be embraced. Avoiding conflict in order to muffle any communication that isn't in complete agreement with you and ostracizing messengers bearing bad news are signs of unhealthy leadership. To enjoy conflict is neurotic. To hate it to the point of avoiding it at all costs is pathological in the other direction. Good leaders know the balance.

5. Finally, I want to share something with you that is very special to me. When Mom's husband Dennis passed away in January I was blessed to spend a week with my Mom. We talked about many, many things that week. At one point I shared with her that it had been on my heart to be ordained as a minister. We talked a lot about it and Mom encouraged me to get this done. I told her I would do it. Well, I hadn't gotten it done. The week after Mom passed away it was really on my heart again. I did a lot of research and found a group through whom I could get ordained, there are accountability measures in place (this is something that is important to me), etc. I completed all the forms and waited to hear an answer. I checked our email regularly, hoping that I would receive a response prior to speaking at Mom's service...nothing came. The Saturday night after Mom's service I was exhausted, ready to fall asleep, speaking with my Beautiful Bride about all that had happened that day. Suddenly I remembered my ordination and asked her about any emails. Her eyes got really big and she exclaimed, "It came!" She said she had received an email about an hour earlier. I scrambled out of bed and she got me the email. It is a long email however I want to share this part with you for it touched my heart deeply:

By the love of our Father, the blood of our Brother Jesus, and the unity set in our hearts by His Holy Spirit; we declare the mark of Christian ministry upon Kevin Robert Haslam, as a testimony before the hosts of Heaven, and everything underneath. On this Saturday, April 25, in the year of our Lord 2015 - AMEN.

With this, I received ordination as a minister on the day we celebrated the life of my first minister, my mentor, my teacher, my Mom. Everything in God's perfect timing Friends.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, enjoy the rest of your weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev