Sharin' Some Nuggets

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day begins to dawn!

This week I took a business trip. For my trip I took along The Carpenter: A Story About the Greatest Success Strategies of All by Jon Gordon and re-read it. It is funny how one can re-read something and words can come alive in a way they did not the first time. This morning I want to share several nuggets that had my spirit soaring.

Before sharing the excerpts, I want to share a few thoughts that struck me when thinking about this Happy Friday.

1. What do you believe? I am not trying to get over-personal and the question, at this point, it is meant to be rhetorical. You see, what you & I believe is the pathway if you will to what we receive. We all function that way. We look for things, for words of affirmation and for things that line up with what we believe. With this, it is a good idea to take an inventory of what we believe...really believe to the depths of our soul. It prepares our hearts for what we are willing to receive.

2. What do you, or will you, receive? You see Friends, every time we hear or read a word, there is a decision that is made, either consciously or subconsciously, to receive it or not. This is the gardening of the heart. It is critically important that we intentionally spend time considering the words that we will allow into our minds and to settle in the deepest recesses of our hearts. The words we receive shape our thoughts, our thoughts shape our attitude and countenance, our attitude and countenance shape our actions and our actions shape our lives. Yes Friends, what we receive really is that big of a deal!

3. Finally, what will you & I act on? Wisdom gained without action taken is of no real value. Think about it. Have you ever hear of the Hot Stove Principal? It holds that once you have touched a hot stove you will never touch a hot or cold stove again because you don't want to get burned. Wouldn't it be stupid to touch a hot stove, get burned and then touch a hot stove again? This would be gaining knowledge without putting what we have learned into action. While this is a silly example, how is it different than gaining wisdom and not putting what we learn into action? The truth is the difference is the immediate physical pain we receive, or not. If we got the immediate physical pain from a failure to put into action things we learn intellectually that we did from touching a hot stove a whole lot of us would be walking around making better decisions! :)

Believe, receive, act... The process that orders & ordains the lives we live. Please thoughtfully, prayerfully, consider these things. Your life is to valuable, to precious and to great a cost has been paid for it for you & I to be unintentional. 

Alright Friends, let me share several excerpts now from The Carpenter. I hope & trust you will find value & meaning in them and please, consider getting the book...it is excellent!

"The way to success is the way of the craftsman, where you work really hard for years. You show up every day. You do the work. You see yourself as an artist dedicated to your craft with a desire to get better every day. You put your heart and soul into your work as you strive for excellence. You desire to create perfection, knowing you'll never truly achieve it but hoping to get close to it. You try new things. You fail. You improve. You grow. You face countless challenges and tons of rejection that make you doubt yourself and cause you to want to quit. But you don't. You keep working hard, stay positive, and persevere through it all with resilience, determination, and a lot of hope and faith."

"Anyone who attempts to build great things will face challenges. It's part of the building process. Without struggle there's no reward. Without obstacles there's no growth. Without setbacks there's no triumph. Without failure and defeat along the way there's no ultimate victory and feeling of accomplishment. As a builder of lives and people and teams, you must expect challenges, adversity, rejection and negativity but have an even greater expectation that you will overcome them."

"When you believe, the impossible becomes possible. What you believe will become what is true. Your optimism today will determine your level of success tomorrow. Don't look at your challenges; look up and look out into the future. Don't focus on your circumstances. Focus on the right beliefs that will help you build your success."

"If you say these words each morning when you wake up and throughout the day, you will create an amazing life and know boundless success:

I expect great things to happen today.

I trust in God's plan for my life.

I accept all of the love, joy, abundance, and success in my life.

I accept all the people who want to work with me and benefit from my gifts and love.

Every day I am getting stronger, healthier, and better."

"I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.

When I am surrounded by pessimism, I will choose optimism.

When I feel fear, I will choose faith.

When I want to hate, I will choose love.

When I want to be bitter, I will choose to get better.

When I experience a challenge, I will look for an opportunity to learn and grow.

When faced with adversity, I will find strength.

When I experience a setback, I will be resilient.

When I meet failure, I will fail forward, toward future success.

With vision, hope and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward toward my destiny.

I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me.

I believe I'm here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges.

I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it makes everyone around me better.

So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world."

"Do not fear failing. Do not fear losing clients. Do not fear that you won't be successful. Do not fear that things won't go your way. Instead do everything with love and you will cast out fear, you will flow instead of stress, and you will create more success than you could ever imagine."

"...true success isn't about money or possessions. It's about people, commitment, loyalty, and relationships. In the end we won't be measured by our bank accounts, sales numbers, wins and losses, or the size of the company that we built, but by the difference we made in people's lives - and we make a difference through relationships."

"When you love, you serve, and when you serve, you sacrifice. Service requires a sacrifice of something. Whether it's time, energy, money, love, effort, or focus, serving others always costs you something, but with service and sacrifice, you gain so much more."

"Always remember that your greatness as a leader will not be determined by how much power you accumulate. It will be determined by how much you serve and sacrifice for others to help them become great. Great leaders don't succeed because they are great. They succeed because they bring out the greatness in others."

"Anything worthwhile take time to build. We all want success now, but that's not how success works. After all, if we had immediate success, we wouldn't build the character we need to sustain true success. The struggle, adversity, triumphs, and victories are all part of the building process and we must embrace all of it."

"Whatever path failure guides you toward, it is always meant to give you a big serving of humble pie that builds your character, gives you perspective, grows your faith, and makes you appreciate your success later on. If you didn't fail, you wouldn't become the kind of person who ultimately succeeds."

"You will have moments when the last thing you want to do is to love, serve, and care. It is during these times that you need to remember your purpose. When you know your why, you will know the way and you'll find a way. Your purpose will inspire you to love those who are hard to love, serve when you don't feel like serving, and care more when you don't feel like caring."

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

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

Kev

It's Your Platform

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new day begins to dawn! Additionally, I sincerely hope you have all had a great week.

This morning I want to provide us with a little perspective shift. Have you ever heard, or have you ever said, something like this; "I have to go to work tomorrow" (dread dripping from your tongue)? Or how about, "Tomorrow's Monday" (dread not only dripping from your tongue but also oozing from every pour of your body as you contemplate going to work the next day)? Yeah, me neither!!! :)

It's funny, every morning when I go to work I grab a cup of coffee and then walk around the office and say good morning to every member of our team. I tell people all the time, and it is incredibly true, that you could drop me down in the offices without telling me the day and I would be able to tell you the day by people's countenance and attitude. On Monday it seems as though everyone got a root canal the day before, they did not get one wink of sleep the night before and they not only fought with their spouse that morning but also their kids and oh yeah, the dog peed on the floor as well!!! Friday? Well on Friday's there is not a care in the world, the biggest problem is a little bump in the road and the largest of offenses are very easily overlooked. How in the world did we get here Friends?!?!

I am sorry (not really) however I am going to provide a little perspective shift for all of us this morning. And please, before I start, let me share a quote that one of our Pastors used to always share...right before he hit us with a zinger; "It is the spirit that convicts, not me!" :)

Did you know/realize that work is actually God's idea? Yeah, it is right there in the Bible! Genesis 2:15 says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." It wasn't Adam, thinking of all the cool stuff he wanted to buy or places he wanted to go, who said to God, "Hey, I need a job so I can work myself into the ground so I can have some money to buy all kinds of stuff!" No, it was simply God putting Adam in the Garden with orders to work it and take care of it.

This concept of work hit me a few months ago, I may or may not have mentioned it in a Happy Friday, when I heard someone speak about the concept of work and, more specifically, retirement. The speaker pointed out that retirement is man's idea...there is no mention of it in the Bible. We were created on purpose for a purpose and nowhere within that purpose is for us to sit back for the last 20 - 30 years of our lives and do nothing. And let's be clear, we are not talking about what you do vocationally. As hard as we might try, our vocational jobs do not define us...they are simply what we do as we fulfill our purpose. This is in part why so many lives, and families, are so broken...men and women killing themselves at a job that will never define or validate them.

So back on point, our work is the platform we are given to fulfill our purpose! Think about that and please let it sink in for a moment... Wherever the place you will go today to earn a paycheck is your mission field. The people you are blessed to do life with in your workplace are the ones you are given during this season of life to love and serve. Your workplace is your Garden of Eden that God has placed you in to work and take care of.

There are several other verses in the Bible that address work and what it means to take care of...

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters," - Colossians 3: 23

"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them." - Hebrews 6: 10

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." - Mark 10: 45

"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." - 2 Chronicles 15: 7

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." - 1 Peter 4: 10

And don't forget, "It's the spirit that convicts..." :) Go out and be the amazing you that you were created to be today Friends! 

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

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

Kev

Reset

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as a beautiful new, steamy, day begins to dawn on the Texas Gulf Coast.

This time of year has always been a time of great reflection and re-purposing for me. As a football coach, this is the time of year the playbook is finalized - hopefully! - and you go on, or are wrapping up, vacation time. As a development professional, this is the time of year I look over my entire portfolio, analyze the goals & opportunities and chart my steps for the next 12 months. In essence, it is a time to hit the reset button - to get refocused, re-energized.

This morning I want to talk about two supplementary thoughts.

1. What matters most to you? If you & I are walking out the answer to that question in the lives we live every day there is most likely peace & contentment in our soul. And if we are not? Well, this usually leads to unhappiness & discontent.

Nobody can answer the question of what matters most to you but you. I can tell you what matters most to me - faith, family & serving others - however I cannot tell you what should matter most to you and neither can anyone else, including your spouse. The only thing the rest of us can do is witness what matters most to you by the life you live. And this is where the real rub comes in...when the words we speak to do not line up with the life we live. Not only does it cause great internal turmoil, it leaves those closest to us hurt & confused.

We, as humans, are really good at trying to give the "right" answer. The problem is there is not one universal, "right" answer. Each one of us is fearfully & wonderfully made, created on purpose for a purpose however those purpose are not exactly the same. The lives we have lived, the families we were born into, the experiences we have had, etc. are not exactly the same. All these things, the totality of what makes you you and me me, have shaped, molded & formed what matters most to each of us. So please Friends, stop trying to give the "right" answer and just give the real answer.

This leads to the 2nd point...

2. Discipline. I have been thinking a lot about this word over the course of the last week. Specifically, being disciplined in my thoughts, words & actions to line up with the things that matter most to me. I had a friend wisely tell me once that you have to fight for the things that matter most to you. This world, jobs, other people, are willing or will try, to get you off point, to lose your focus. It may not be intentional and I am not saying that it is mean-spirited...I am saying that there are so many things out there in this instant gratification world clamoring for our intention that if we don't intentionally determine on the front end what matters most to us and then fight relentlessly for these things every day, we will eventually find ourselves down a long path we never intended to walk.

In the deepest recesses of your heart you know what matters most to you...we all do. If there is not integrity between what matters most to us and the lives we are living every day there will be turmoil within our spirit. The path to this life giving integrity is found on the path of discipline. It is the discipline to think, say & do the things that line up with the things that matter most to us. It is the discipline to know what things to say yes to and what things to say no to. I am reminded of the expression, "You can do anything but you can't do everything."

At this point I am also reminded of the fact that with every "yes" there is a "no." That in walking out what matters most in your life there will be sacrifices. This doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad thing it just means you can't have and do everything. Let me give you a personal testimony. I decided a long time ago that, after my faith, my family matters most to me. I decided that, while acknowledging my weaknesses, I would fight every single day to be the best man, husband & father I could possibly be for my family. My Beautiful Bride and I decided that she would stay home with our boys until they went to school. In bringing what matters most to me in agreement with the life I live I decided that I wasn't going to be a workaholic. For the most part, by the grace of and with an inordinate amount of help from God, I have walked this out. Now, this has meant I have had to live in places further from my work because we couldn't afford the more expensive homes closer and thus, a longer commute. This has meant that I have not bought my "dream car" - that would be a Hummer! This has also meant that any day I don't have a work lunch I take my lunch to work instead of going out to eat. As a family we try to be really conscientious of the things we do and don't do, limiting when we will go out to eat, go to movies, etc. Poor Kev? Hardly!!!! I would argue I am one of the most blessed men, if not the most blessed, walking the face of this earth. While I have sacrificed many things in bringing what matters most to me into agreement with the life I have lived, the blessings from living this type of life are 1,000,000 times the sacrifices.

The first step Friends is the decision, or perhaps the recognition of the fact(s), of what matters most to you. The second step, which must be renewed and fought for every single day, is the discipline to walk it out. Always easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely! And the final thought/idea I will share with you is this; no matter what you say or do, until there is agreement between what really matters to you and the life you really live there will not be complete peace in you or your home.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not share this quote what has truly become my life mantra:

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

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you. I will will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

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

Kev

Vacation

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day on this absolutely gorgeous Friday morning on the Gulf Coast!

I need to ask for a little grace as I write this Happy Friday. The Haslam 5 are on vacation and I am writing this Happy Friday on my iPad as I sit out on the back porch overlooking the Gulf. There are sure to be typos and challenges with "auto-correct" as well as the mindless gazes into one of God's most beautiful creations as the waves crashing continually call out to me to look up...

This mornings Happy Friday is about our vacation. Not the "we did this" and "we did that" kinda message but rather something much more meaningful. During my prayer time in the days & weeks leading up to this vacation I prayed for our families safety, I prayed that we would have a good time, etc. It was during this prayer time that God pricked my spirit and challenged me to pray differently. To pray that I would have eyes, ears and a heart to see people where they are, to be a light to them, to instead of praying for "fun in the sun" that I would pray to be an intentional, positive influence. Very early in this vacation He reminded me of that prayer and as I have crossed paths with person after person I have been acutely aware that He was showing up. These are a few of the short stories I want to share with you.

I met Lonnie & Danny right away on the first day on the beach. They have boys around Landry's age and we would end up playing a lot of whiffle ball with them on the beach. As we talked I learned Danny is a youth football coach. We talked about philosophies, the purpose of sports. Danny recognizes that he is in a position to be a molder of young men and believes his successes, or failure, is measured by a more critical measuring stick than simply wins & losses. I thanked him for his heart and encouraged him to keep walking this path.

Sam was the server we had the first night we went out to dinner. A very sweet, kind girl she currently attends the local community college. She is working to save money so she can hopefully attend Central Florida where she hopes to major in biology. My one regret is that I did not ask her what she plans to do with that degree though I am highly confident, in watching her incredible work ethic and seeing her clear sense of purpose, that she will in fact accomplish whatever it is that has been placed upon her heart.

Nick was the mate on the fishing boat we went out on. You wanna talk about someone who works their rear end off?!?! Oh my! This guy was non-stop for the nearly 6 hours we were with him. He smiled and was jovial the entire time...his spirit glowed. When I asked him if he wanted to someday be a captain he smiled and told me he had a goal of becoming a captain by the time he turned 20. Well, he turned 20 in May and had become a captain in March or April. I then asked him what he hoped to do with all this. He then described for me, including the name, the charter fishing boat he was going to buy once he had saved up enough money. He hopes his now 13-year old brother, who spends too much time playing video games, will be his mate. Nick knows the size of the boat and exactly how he will run his charter fishing boat service. As we were leaving, after Nick had cleaned everyone's fish, we shook hands and I encouraged Nick to keep chasing that dream. 

Kaveca (not sure if I am spelling his name right though phonetically it is accurate) is one of the beach workers. These guys are amazing. At promptly 6:00 a.m. Every morning they get to work setting up umbrellas & chairs for all of the vacationers. The thing is, they run everywhere - literally. As I sat here and watched them, they would configure 6 chairs around themselves so the are standing within a box, pick it up, run 50 - 60 yards to the shoreline, set them up, run back to the she to get more and repeat. This goes on for an hour straight in the morning as they set up and an hour in the evening as they break it all down. After telling Kath & the boys a couple of different days how hard these guys worked and how impressed I was, I thought I probably should tell them. I walked up to their shed and told them how I had noticed how hard they worked, what a great job they did, etc. it was perfect a special their boss was there as well...he needed to know that others see what great workers they are. Later that day as I was walking up to our building, Kaveca came up to me and thanked me for the compliment that morning. We started talking and I learned that he had been a Division III football player but he had to leave that school because he didn't have enough money. He went on to tell me that his parents were not very involved in the recruitment process and at that point in his life he didn't have clear goals & dreams so it was easy to quit. He now attends the local community college, he is working to save money and he is getting ready to take a test to become a certified personal trainer. He stated he might train people right on the beach we are standing. I encouraged Kaveca to pursue his dreams and told him how proud I was of him for pulling himself up by the bootstraps.

The one I really have a heart for is Corey. I meet Corey standing our by our boats on Crab Island. When Corey tells me what he does he says, "I'm just a freshman football coach." Game on! I immediately cut Corey off and tell him there are no "just a's." I go on to tell him that God has him in that position for a reason and that the work he does is critical. By the time it is all said and done I have given him the "What Will Your Influence Be...?" bracelet I am wearing and explained the significance of it. We talk a few more times throughout the day and I learn that Corey really hasn't a heart for the kids he is privileged to serve. I get his full name and the name of the school where he coaches. I promise to send him a not and to stay in touch which I will do as soon as I get home.

As I was thinking about this Happy Friday this morning I was reminded of Matthew 9:37; "Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.'" There is no vacation when it comes to determining what our influence will be. Whether at home or hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of miles from home God will bring people into our lives if only we will have eyes, ears & hearts to see, hear & feel.

Please don't hesitate to contact me at any time if there is ever anything I can do for you our your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

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

Kev