Please Pursue YOUR Purpose!

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day has dawned in my Sweet Home Alabama! Additionally, I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 😊

What has been on my heart since I wrote my 500^th Happy Friday last week is that you, the one reading this right now, would discover and pursue your life purpose. You see, that is all I am doing in writing Happy Friday…fulfilling my purpose by encouraging, empowering, and equipping others to become all they were created to become! Simple as that! 😊 And, when my life is 100% in alignment, it drives everything else I do as well. This is the point behind writing notes to my family every day, carving wood, and in the numerous small actions I take every day. And when my life is not in alignment? Well, I spend way too much time thinking about myself, I become self-absorbed, and I become prideful. I have found that living my life for my purpose brings joy, peace, and inspiration while living it for myself brings discouragement, sadness, and a deep feeling of inadequacy. With this, I want to live every day of my life fulfilling my purpose and my hope for you is the same…😊

When speaking about purpose I am not talking about a job, position, or title…we so often get this confused in our world today. Our jobs, positions, and titles do not define us. Done well, they are simply an extension of who we are and what we were created to become. This is why you can find the person with the most mundane job doing it with great joy…it is simply an opportunity for them to express who they are and what they were created to be. When not done well we see control, selfishness, and pride. One lifts the doer of the deeds as well as the one’s they serve, and one is never satisfied, harming both the doer and receiver….

No, when speaking of purpose, I am talking about something much greater! I am talking about our core purposes. To give you an idea of what I am talking about let’s take a look at 1 Corinthians 12: 4 – 11:

4 Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. 6 There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. 7 The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.

8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit. 9 He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. 10 He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying. 11 It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have.

So, Sweet Friend, what is your purpose? What gift or ability have you been given that you can use to love, care for, and serve others? Are you? I can testify that when walking in your purpose you become alive. Things that were once burdens become blessings! Where we were once tired, we now have boundless energy as we simply strive to serve those we are privileged to have in our lives! Purpose ignites a fire deep in our souls as we strive to become all that we were created to become! 😊

One of the great challenges I have seen, and felt, is the comparing of our purposes to those of another. We don’t like, or want, the gift or ability we have been given and instead look longingly at those of another. I have found that this is a surefire sign that my focus is on the wrong thing – it is on me, my wants, my desires, etc. This however is not what we were called to do or be! We were created to be more and our lives could be so much more, if only we would choose to live it!

There are two things I know about each one of us:

1. We were created for a purpose for which we are perfectly equipped, lacking nothing…my Bible tells me this is true. You are not just adequate; you are more than enough. I pray each one of us will walk boldly and confidently in this truth!
2. We are all burdened for some cause that is much greater than ourselves. What is it that drives you? What breaks your heart? What difference do you want to make in this world? What life do you want to touch? If we will do the hard work of answering these questions, and then bring our lives into alignment with these purposes, we will become fully alive and we will have a greater impact in this world than we could ever have imagined, hoped, or dreamed.

From the bottom of my heart I beg, hope, and pray that you will relentlessly pursue YOUR purpose every day of your life! You are uniquely created, perfectly so, and this world needs the YOU that YOU were created to be! 😊

I want to close by sharing a few quotes. I want to respectfully ask you to think about them and the message they have to speak to your heart.

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” – Viktor Frankl

“Life is a promise; fulfill it.” – Mother Teresa

“Everyone has a purpose in life…a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit…” – Deepak Chopra

“Be brave enough to live the life of your dreams according to your vision and purpose instead of the expectations and opinions of others.” – Roy T. Bennett

“Your purpose becomes your inner motivator, turning on the ignition switch in your brain to transcend the noise in your life and focus on what matters most.” – Victor Strecher

“The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.” – Rick Warren

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” – Nietzsche

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, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

The 500th

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

This is the 500^th Happy Friday!!! So much has changed since I wrote my first Happy Friday on September 16, 2011. My mind is racing as I think back to some of the Happy Friday’s I have written – the day my Mom went to Heaven, as a hurricane raged outside my house, so many inspired by the beautiful things I have seen in my family, friends, complete strangers, and once, even a dog!😊 I have learned from them all and I have simply wanted to share with you in hope that it might somehow encourage, empower, and equip you as you walk your path. This morning I simply want to go back to the beginning, explain what this is and why, to never forget my purpose, to always remember who I am accountable to, and who I have the privilege of serving…😊

What Will Your Influence Be…?

What Will Your Influence Be…? was born out of a conversation I was having with God as I was driving from Phoenix to Tucson to meet with the baseball staff at the University of Arizona. As I was driving along, pouring out my heart to God about all of the challenges that coaches and student-athletes face, I got this deep conviction in my spirit – “what will your influence be, Kevin?” Are you going to simply complain about it or are you going to actually do something about it? Instead of running from this conviction, I chose to lean into it. I started studying influence, how it works, what it means, etc. And from all that, and a whole lot of prayer, was born What Will Your Influence Be…? The reason it is written as it is, with three dots and a question mark at the end, is it has two meanings:

1. What Will Your Influence Be…in your life? What are the things that you are going to pour into your heart, mind, soul, and spirit? This is a critical choice each one of us will make as it will determine, in large part, the thoughts we have, the words we speak, the actions we take and, as a result, the lives we live. One of my favorite quotes and one of my favorite scriptures affirms this truth:
1. “What’s in the well always comes up in the bucket.” – Pastor Ken Whitten
2. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” – Proverbs 4:23 
2. What Will Your Influence Be…in the life of others? You and I are literally influencing every single person we come into contact with every single day…go ahead, read that again! 😊 Research has shown that the most introverted person will influence more than 10,000 people in their lifetime and that the average person will influence more than 80,000. You and I are so powerful! So, the question is not whether we will or won’t, research proves we will. The real question is will it be positive or negative, intentional or left to chance, breathing life into or bringing about death and destruction.

My “Why?”

To the depths of my soul I believe that every person has value, meaning, and a purpose. And I have an equal conviction that I was created to encourage, empower, and equip others to become the best they are capable of becoming. That is it, this sums up the purpose of my life – to use my gifts, abilities, and resources, to encourage, empower, and equip others. I came across a quote just last week that inspires me greatly: “You will never look into the eyes of someone that God does not love.” 😊

Happy Friday and Quotes on Twitter and Facebook

A couple of things that will help frame up this section:

1. For pretty much as long as I can remember, quotes have really moved me. I can read some thought or idea and it really speaks to my heart. Accordingly, as with anything we find valuable, I have always wanted to share them with my family, friends, co-workers, etc. in case they may help them.
2. Before I started a blog, I had actually started writing an email each Friday that I sent to a whole bunch of friends and I always titled the email, “Happy Friday!!!” As is the case to this day, it was always based on a thought, idea, something I had seen or heard, etc. that I found profound and thought might help someone else on their life journey.

So it was not long after that trip to Tucson that I am sitting in Sun Devil Stadium with my Beautiful Bride and a dear friend pouring out my heart about all of this stuff. I wanted to make a difference, to do what I could to love, care for, and serve others. I made a vow to them that the next morning I would begin doing several things:

• Create a website
• Create a twitter account and start putting at least one positive quote/thought/idea on it every day…while I can’t make people look at positive and encouraging messages, I can give them the opportunity to do so.
• Create a Facebook account and start purring at least one positive quote/thought/idea on it every day…see above! 😊
• Create a blog and instead of sending emails every Friday, I would start writing a blog that I would call Happy Friday.

And here we are!!! 😊

So a few things I want to say to you….

• Your life has great value, meaning, and purpose. When God created you, He created something very special! You matter, your life has meaning, and you have a great purpose!
• Please answer that call of your spirit, the conviction I referred to as I drove to Tucson. This world needs you to step up and be all that you were created to be! I don’t know what it is however I do know it is there. I promise you, if you will choose to pursue it you will become alive in a way that is impossible to describe!
• Please, intentionally choose what your influence will be, in your own life as well as in the lives of others, every day! Everything from the quality, depth, and breadth of your life, as well as the relationship you have with others, depends on it…please don’t leave it to chance!
• It doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to move. Look, I know I am not some world class writer, I am not the best wood worker, I am not the best husband, Dad, leader, or friend, etc. I am flawed and broken…and I have found these to be blessings! Because of them, I know that I need God’s love, mercy, and grace. I know I need to pursue Him every day, in His word and prayer. I can pure-heartedly say that I give the very best I have to every thing I do and then I simply trust the One who called me to take care of the rest. The same is true for you, Sweet Friend. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to answer the call, give your very best, and trust Him with the rest.

Finally, I simply want to say thank you for taking the time to read “Happy Friday.” It truly is an honor and privilege for me to serve you each Friday with these messages! 😊

Here is to 500 more!!! 😊

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, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well!

Kev

The Noble Things

 Happy Friday, Friends! 

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day – full of so much hope, opportunity, and promise! – prepares to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! This day is going to be a special one…😊

This weeks Happy Friday is going to be a simple challenge, aimed mostly at men. The root of this challenge is found in Philippians 4:8 which says:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.”

*The emphasis on noble is mine! 😊

Now, before diving in, you will note that this scripture starts off with exhorting “brothers and sisters” and I stated that this challenge is going to be aimed mostly at men. The reason I state this is that women are much better at this challenge than men. You will understand in just a moment….

Last week I was listening to a podcast…I believe it was Robert Lewis. Regardless, the speaker was talking about men and how we talk to, and encourage, each other. He pointed out that men typically talk about things like their jobs, sports teams, their golf game, etc. Shallow and mostly insignificant.

What the speaker challenged the listeners to do, what I am challenging us to do, is to encourage each other in the noble things. What does this look like? I am glad you asked! 😊

Instead of talking about the job title or the next opportunity, let’s let the man know that we see him staying and fighting for his marriage and that we admire him becoming the best husband he can be.

Instead of talking about how the Cubs, Dodgers, or Cowboys are doing, let’s let the man know that we see him showing up every day striving to be the best Dad that he can be. Let’s let him know that we notice, and admire, the sacrifices he makes, the words of encouragement he speaks to his children.

Instead of talking about their golf game, let’s let him know that we appreciate and admire him standing for those who can’t stand and speaking for those who cannot speak.

The noble things…

And as I type these words, Hebrews 10:24 comes to mind:

“And let us continue to consider how to motivate one another to love and good deeds.” 

Friends, especially the men, let’s live differently! Let’s be real and authentic! Let’s go below the surface stuff and talk about, and encourage one another, about the things that really matter…like becoming all we were created to become as men, husbands, fathers, leaders, and friends! So much hangs in the balance! The things we say and do really do matter! Your life has great value, meaning, and purpose! You matter! Let’s lift one another up and encourage one another in the things that will literally impact eternity…the noble things! 😊

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, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

Your Environment Matters

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! :)

I hope you all enjoy this great message by my son, Payton! He absolutely crushed this message!

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! :)

Kev 

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this message finds each of you off to a great start on your Friday morning! I am pumped for this day – my mom and dad are currently on their way to visit me here in Springfield, MO for what should undoubtedly be a memorable weekend!

Recently, I joined a book study group at my church, and the book we are reading is titled, “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth,” by John Maxwell. As the title suggests, the book contains 15 different laws that John outlines as areas we all need to look at in order to grow. Even if you are not a strong reader, I would highly recommend this very quick, easy-to-follow, 200-page book. So far I have completed 11/15 laws and I cannot adequately express how much my life has changed in the short two months that I have been reading this book.

Out of all the areas of my life that I have been challenged thus far, the most notable, and now rewarding, came from chapter 6, “The Law of Environment.” There are two small excerpts from this chapter that I would like to share with you and then describe how I have put them into action and hopefully encourage you to do the same.

Ø  Harvard researchers have found that “the people with whom you habitually associate are called your ‘reference group,’ and these people determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.”

Ø  “We become the combined average of the five people we hang around the most.”

As I reflected on this, I thought about who I was spending my time and energy on and how the person I want to be was reflective of these relationships. Sadly, I could not honestly say that I was surrounding myself with the people who were best going to help me grow and challenge me to be the person I wanted. So, I decided to make changes and intentionally reach out to people in my life, some who until recently I hadn’t spoken to much, and others whom I just exchange messages with weekly, but all people who I value for different areas of my life and see the value in what they have to offer by challenging me, holding me accountable, and ultimately growing together. To all of those people in my life, thank you – you have been such an integral part of my growth and I thank you for challenging me and providing such value to my life, I know that because of ya’ll I try to be intentional every day and find lessons that hopefully bring value to you as well. I cannot express how much I have learned, how meaningful some of my relationships have become, and how much I appreciate all of the people who pour into my life on a daily basis.

To all of you reading this message, I would encourage you to identify different people in your life to help challenge you mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. It doesn’t have to take much time – send some meaningful text messages each week to people who inspire you and thank them for what they mean to you, find someone to have weekly accountability calls with, write someone a handwritten note, literally anything. Communication is easier than ever with technology today, and so I would encourage you to take the leap of faith. If you are scared to reach out to someone, I would encourage you to either say in your mind or profess out loud why you are too afraid, and if it sounds silly when you speak it, it probably is. There is no value in remaining the same; you are either getting better or getting worse every day, and I would encourage you to surround yourself with people who will make you better.

Lastly, I have two quotes to share with you and one question to ask:

Ø  This quote came from a dear friend of mine: “You aren’t valuable to yourself or others unless you are present.”

Ø  This quote comes from the book I referenced earlier:

“I’m not where I’m supposed to be,

I’m not what I want to be,

But I’m not what I used to be.

I haven’t learned how to arrive;

I’ve just learned how to keep going.”

 

Ø  What do you have to lose if you just reach out to the people you look up to?

    I hope ya’ll have a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend. Go make lasting memories!

Payton