Show Up and Do It Anyways

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday afternoon in my Sweet Home Alabama! 😊

What do you do when you don’t feel like doing something? I am not talking about not feeling like going to a movie or going out to eat? No, I am talking about when you don’t feel like doing something that is a commitment you have made, a core value or principle in your life. What do you do then? I want to encourage us today to honor our commitments, values, and principles, regardless of how we feel! To take the next step in faith regardless of how we feel in the moment or even the day, month or year, honoring who we are and the decisions we have made!

I remind myself, and tell my family regularly, it is the things that we consistently do that will determine the lives we live. Any of us can get caught up in the moment and do something a time or two, however this will not affect change – good or bad. If I want to learn and grow, to become all I am capable of becoming, I must consistently show up and do the things that will lead me to become the best I am capable of becoming. Here is the deal; we all want to be great when our greatness is needed, however are we preparing every day for those moments?

I want to talk specifically about three areas.

First, our spirituality. I am starting here because I have found, and I believe, that this is the key to the joy and peace we all seek, regardless of how we feel or the circumstances we are experiencing in life. I can’t only read the Bible or pray when things are tough, or I want something and expect that I am going to experience a peace that goes beyond all understanding or to live a joyful life. It is through the consistent reading of the Word that I learn, and it is through consistent prayer that I develop a personal relationship with Jesus, where the Holy Spirit can convict, mold and shape me. Do I always feel like reading the Bible or praying? Not necessarily. However, I always want joy and peace. With this, regardless of how I feel, I read my Bible and pray.

How about our families? Do I always feel like sacrificing for my family? Pouring into them? Doing things for them? No, not always. However, I do want what is best for them. I do love them with all of my heart, and I want them to flourish and become all that they are capable of becoming. I want to do everything I can to help them accomplish their goals and dreams. With this, regardless of how I feel, I show up every day and love, care for, and serve them to the very best of my ability.

And how about ourselves? Do I always feel like doing the things I need to do to enable me to become the man, husband, father, leader, and friend that I was created to be? Again, not always. I am blessed, or perhaps it is the stage of life I am in, but most days I do feel like doing those things. But on the days I don’t, I still do them because I know that as I become a better man, husband, father, leader, and friend, everyone and everything around me becomes better too.

One more thing I feel I should tell you; I have found on the days that I don’t feel like doing something and I do them anyways, these are usually the best days. When I read my Bible when I don’t feel like doing so, I read and understand a scripture in a way that I never understood it before. That when I pray on days that I don’t feel like praying, the Holy Spirit convicts me powerfully about something. That when I show up for my family on the days I don’t feel it, we have the best time together or I am there in a moment when someone really needed me. And when I do the things for myself to grow as a man, husband, father, leader, and friend, even on the days that I don’t feel like it, I like the man that looks back at me in the mirror before I go to bed at night.

Yes, life can be exhausting. There are times we don’t feel like doing things. I want to encourage us all to show up and do it anyways. Our future selves, and those we love the most, will be grateful we did!

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 family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

You Are A Masterpiece

 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 am currently reading Warrior: Equipping Men for Spiritual Victory by Lance Ingram. Earlier this week I was reading Chapter 4, Confronting The Heart: Winning the spiritual war requires keeping our hearts and habits pure. The section I was reading is titled, Insecurity – Be confident in God’s unique design and flee comparison. I want to start off by sharing some things I underlined and then I will wrap this up by sharing a few thoughts.

“Remember – Satan’s greatest tactic is deception, and he’ll whisper lies to us to get us down in the dumps, temporarily paralyzing us and preventing us from operating in the role God has placed us.”

“True significance comes from knowing that we were uniquely woven together by the Master Tailor, and that His perfect plan involves us doing a job that no one else can do, in a way that no one else can do it. God made me like me for a job no one else can do like me.”

“And the areas where I’m not in line with the world’s prototype were calculated choices by the Creator to keep me from doing something other than my job! How liberating that even what the world calls weakness was a premeditated decision by God to keep us from doing something He didn’t intend for us to do!”

“Theodore Roosevelt said it best: “Comparison is the thief of joy.” And when we compare ourselves to others, we not only lose our joy, but we insult our Creator.”

“The truth is when we don’t feel good enough, our perspective isn’t Biblical enough!”

I want to briefly comment on a few of these excerpts.

The first is really a link between the first and the last excerpt; realize that Satan’s greatest tactic is deception. Please remember Friends, Satan started as an Angel in Heaven however he was cast out because he wanted the glory for himself (Isaiah 14: 12 – 17). He knows the scriptures very, very well. I have found that when Satan wants to get me off track, he doesn’t tell me some grand lie that I will easily detect. No, he speaks with bits of truth, but incomplete truth. He often will try to word-smith what God has said or try to make us doubt the character of God. I challenge you, Friends; when a thought of inadequacy or a forecast of doom floods your mind, please simply measure it against what the scriptures actually say. If what you are thinking lines up with what the word of God says, then be confident in knowing that God is leading you. If, however, your thinking does not line up with the word of God, recognize the deception of Satan and immediately dismiss it. The battle is absolutely real however the Bible promises that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 4:7).

“God made me for a job that no else can do like me.” Please let those words, and the truth that prompted them, wash over you. You are not a mistake. The Bible actually says that you are a masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). All of you that makes you who you are – your passion, your intelligence, your abilities…. all of you! – are perfect for the work that God has for you to do! Nobody can be you, but you and you can’t replace anyone else, either. Sure, we could step into one another’s roles, perhaps even fulfill them adequately. But in terms of reaching our true potential and fulfilling the purpose for which we were created…that can only happen by you and I being the best version of who God created us to become.

This statement was profound to me; “How liberating that even what the world calls weakness was a premeditated decision by God to keep us from doing something He didn’t intend for us to do!” That really spoke to my heart. Have you ever looked at your shortcomings or failures that way? I hadn’t. Like many college football players, I dreamed of playing in the NFL. After my senior year I had a scout come and see me. He had watched me play a couple of times throughout the season. He stated that he really liked me, he thought that perhaps I could play in the NFL, but the only question was my speed. He told me, “If you can run this 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds or less, we will give you an opportunity. If you can’t, we won’t.” I didn’t run it that fast and my dream of playing in the NFL died that day. For years I thought of that event as a failure – not one that I have begrudged as I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be today, doing exactly what God placed me on this earth to do. At the same time, I never looked at it like my lack of speed was an intentional decision by God to keep me from doing something that He did not design me to do. And in this very moment, I understand the heart behind the Garth Brooks song, “Unanswered Prayers.”

And finally, we are at comparison. Lance says it very well when he said, “And when we compare ourselves to others, we not only lose our joy, but we insult our Creator.” My personal favorite about comparison comes from Pastor Craig Groeschel. He said, “Comparison will make you feel inferior or superior; neither honors God.” I am not here to run your race and you are not here to run mine. Each one of us is created and called by God to run our race. Mine is not about you and yours is not about mine. There is no comparison, Friend. We are simply called to run our race and run it to win (1 Corinthians 9; 24 – 26)!

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 family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev

Becoming a Notable Winner

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 day is going to be a great day – I believe and declare it to be true! How do I know? My Bible tells me:

Psalm 118:24

24 This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

2 Corinthians 4:16

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Psalm 30:5

For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

THIS is the day the Lord has made! His mercies are new THIS morning! We are being renewed DAY BY DAY! Joy comes WITH THE MORNING! Let those sweet words wash over you, Friend! Let’s not drag yesterday into this day! Let’s empty the hope, promises, and opportunities of THIS day of their potential!

The cry of my heart this morning is to offer us a few words of encouragement.

B.C. Forbes once said, “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”

The sayings, “Your mess becomes your message” and, “Your test becomes your testimony” make a little more sense in light of this quote, don’t they? There are two things I know/believe to be true about each and every one of us.

First, our lives have value, meaning, and a purpose. We have the talents and abilities within us to fulfill this purpose. We were not meant to slog through life aimlessly, barely getting by, just surviving. No, we were created to thrive, to live an abundant life, and to fulfill the purpose that God has for us in our lives. Plain and simple, we were created to be winners!

Second, life has taught me that we are all going to experience disappointment and setbacks. It is what we do after the disappointment, after the failure, that will determine whether we become all that we were created to become or if we will settle for being alive and no longer truly living. What if we truly looked at each disappointment or set back and instead of saying, “Why is this happening to me?” we flipped the script and said, “What is this teaching me?” What if the disappointment or setback actually helped us realize our potential instead of stunting our growth?

Please don’t give up, Friend! Please don’t stop pursuing that passion, that purpose, which calls out to you from the deepest recesses of your heart. I know it hurts, I know it’s hard, and I know it is challenging. I also know that there is greatness within you! I know that you are stronger than the disappointment or setback! There is a great story to tell on the other side of your struggle, however you must live through the struggle first. Please, take one more step today! Get a little bit better today! Strengthen your resolve today! Learn the lesson that the disappointment or setback has within it, apply what you have learned, and start anew today! You were created to be a notable winner! Live your destiny!

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 family, and please stay well!

Kev 😊

Grandpa

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! 😊

On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at approximately 12:39 p.m. CST our family suffered a great loss and Heaven gained another precious soul. My Beautiful Brides Dad, Savino Anthony Marracino, passed away. I am writing this Happy Friday to honor him.

Grandpa was a special man. He loved his family, the Phoenix Suns, and playing poker. He was a very quiet, private man which made it hard to get close to him.

As I have thought so much about Grandpa over the last few days it finally hit me, we kinda grew up together. You see, I first met Grandpa 40 years ago when I was 16 and he was 47-years old, 9 years younger than I am as I type this message. He was in the thick of his career and trying to raise his family. I was a totally lost kid, parents currently going through a divorce, and beyond crazy about his daughter. He always went to bed early because he got up super early…something I did not understand or appreciate until I had my own career and family. If I stopped by their house around lunch time, he would often be taking a nap before rushing back to work. I truly don’t recall any meaningful conversations at that time and our communication was pretty much limited to “hi” and “bye.”

Most of the lack of communication and depth of relationship I would blame on me. I was so, so lost. I had not yet taken my faith seriously, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, I had no relationship with my dad, I was incredibly irresponsible…just absolutely lost.

There is one vivid memory from this season that is profound to me. Grandpa had been promoted at work to a senior leadership position and he was miserable. I no longer remember all the details, however something got hold of my spirit, and I put together this whole presentation for Grandpa based largely on John Wooden’s pyramid of success. This is the first truly meaningful conversation I remember us having. He listened carefully and ultimately decided to resign from his leadership position and return to his previous position where he thrived for the remainder of his career.

A sweet memory I have from somewhere in this season, I think I was in junior college at the time, was going to a baseball game with Grandpa at what I believe was then Bank One Ballpark. I truly don’t remember anything that was said that night, however I remember Grandpa when we saw Ken Griffey, Jr. hit one of the most majestic home runs I had ever seen. We looked at each other with these huge smiles on our faces. To this day I will point out to anyone who will listen where that ball landed when Grandpa and I went to the game together.

In the very early years, Grandpa was Sal to me – he was Sal to everyone. Later on, he became “Boss” however everything changed when we had our first son. From that time on he was Grandpa. The name fit him perfectly.

I can’t share 40 years’ worth of stories here, however I want to share a few that are very special to me.

The first one was when I was working at Arizona State University (ASU). We have fast-forwarded 17 to 20 years now and I have grown tremendously – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. My faith had become incredibly important to me, I was reading my Bible and praying daily, I was reading everything on leadership I could find, and I was doing everything I could do to be the man, husband, father, leader, and friend that God created me to become. In this season of life my spirit really began to convict me. When I asked Kathy to marry me and we got married, I never asked Grandpa for permission to do so. While I was ashamed of how irresponsible and disrespectful I had been, I wasn’t willing to let the story end that way. I called Grandpa and asked if we could meet for lunch. We met for lunch at the golf course right by ASU. At that lunch I apologized to Grandpa for not having asked for permission and I asked him if it would be o.k. for me to marry his beautiful daughter. He kinda started laughing and said, “Yes, of course.” At that time, we had been married for about 17 years.

If you have seen me in the last, say 20 years or so, you know my watches are pretty big. Let me tell you how that happened. One time Kath and I went home for a visit…I can’t remember where we were living at that time. Grandpa hands me a box and I open it. Inside was the biggest, most beautiful Invicta watch I had ever seen. I asked Grandpa what this was for, and he said, “I saw it, thought you would like it, and I got it for you.” Still touches my heart to this day! And that began the collection of watches I now have…

In 2022, my family and I went to Arizona to have Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa. They were getting ready to move into assisted living, much of the house was packed, and they didn’t have any Christmas decorations up. I was out to lunch with my Beautiful Bride, and I felt compelled to do something for Grandma & Grandpa about the Christmas decorations, or lack thereof! After lunch we went to Hobby Lobby and bought them a little Christmas tree and little ornaments to match. You know how little kids’ faces light up as they decorate a Christmas tree? That was Grandpa’s face as he decorated that tree! I can still see that sweet face full of joy…a memory I will cherish forever.

Whenever Grandpa and I would say goodbye, we would always shake hands. When I went to shake his hand when we were leaving after that Christmas visit, he pulled me in and gave me a huge hug. It was the first time he had ever hugged me…it wouldn’t be the last however it will always be my favorite.

A few weeks ago, Kathy, Payton, and I took a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa. There were some things we needed to visit with Grandpa about. On that Saturday morning, I listened to a podcast that was the perfect message that Grandpa needed to hear. I couldn’t wait to get to him and share the message with him. He, Kath, and I sat and listened to that message. And he was funny, he really wanted to listen to it. Kath would say something, and he would wave at her to be quiet. This might not seem profound to you however if you really knew Grandpa, you would know how significant that was. After the podcast ended, we talked for a few minutes, I told Grandpa what a great man he is, and we all held hands and prayed together. All of this was, without question, God-ordained and I will cherish that trip and that conversation forever!

Grandpa was in hospice and on Monday morning he asked Kathy to call me. He told her he wanted to say goodbye. When we got on the phone he said, “Thank you for taking such good care of Kathy.” I said, “Thank you for letting me.” He said, “I love you,” and I said, “I love you.” Grandpa then began to cry. I told him it was all o.k. and I promised we would take care of everything. Those are the last words we spoke to one another.

How do you end a message you don’t want to end? I am truly cherishing this time sitting here thinking about Grandpa. I think I will end it by sharing a few lessons that Grandpa and I learned together.

You don’t have to see everything the same to love one another.

It is never too late – to apologize, forgive, and love – yourself and others.

We all have faults, failures, and mistakes…it is what you do next that matters most.

Family time, even if someone chooses not to be actively involved, is a cherished time.

Invicta watches really are very cool! 😊

I love you, Grandpa, I am so very thankful for you, and I promise we will take care of everything!

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 family, and please stay well!

Kev

Trying or Training?

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! As Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins once said, “You know what today is? An opportunity!” What will we do with this great gift?!?!

Earlier this week I listened to a Pastor Craig Groeschel sermon from January 24, 2021. It was so good that I listened to it again, and again, and again! I took notes so I could share them with you. The message was titled, Why Can’t I Change? – Greater Reward Part 2.

Pastor Craig opens by asking, “Why aren’t we winning?” He then offers that the reason we are not winning is that we have been “trying” for too long. He joked that it is the Theology of Trying – I am trying to serve God. I am doing the best I can.

He then challenges the listeners with this; Stop trying and start training! Trying never achieves consistent results, training does!

He then breaks down the difference between trying and training.

Trying – attempt to change with minimal commitment; almost implies you are planning to fail.

Training – wholehearted commitment to achieve a specific result.

He then hammers away a little bit more at the differences between trying and training.

Trying – show up hoping for a better result.

Training – game plan, strategy, show up with the eye of the tiger; intentionality; focus.

Trying – you give up when it gets hard; quit when you don’t feel like it.

Training – you don’t act according to your feelings, you act according to your commitment; takes all the power you have and some you don’t.

He then offers several other great points:

Not trying to compete, training to win.

When you have a vision, a God-ordained purpose, you train to win.

He then points out in 1 Timothy 4:7 that Paul implores Timothy to train to be godly.

“Have nothing to do with godliness myths and old wives’ tales; rather train yourself to be godly.”

I am not trying; I am in training – it is a different mindset.

So, what is training? Pastor Craig offers this definition of training:

“Consistently doing what I can do today to enable me to do what I need to do tomorrow.” God is giving us His power one step at a time.

And he closes with these critically important points:

It starts with identity – not just what you want to do, but who you want to become.

When you are trying, you are hoping to become something that you are not; when you are training, you are becoming more of what you already are!

Training is not a hopeful experiment; it is a devoted commitment driven by a deeper why.

Training is driven by who you are! We are a great marriage in training. I am a godly Dad in training.

I hope this message is 10% as powerful to you as it is to me! I am ready to fly out of my chair right now!

Friends, let’s give up the trying and let’s get to training! Let’s make the commitment to be who we were created to be! Let’s be intentional, with a strategic plan! Let’s identify the areas in our lives where we want to learn, grow, and become all that we are capable of becoming! No more, “I’ll try.” Come on, you know what I am talking about. You and I have said it knowing full well that not much was going to change. Let’s train and let’s speak words of life over our training. I am a godly man in training! I am a godly husband in training! I am a godly dad in training! I have a godly marriage and godly relationships in training! Whatever the declarations are in your life, speak them! Nothing will change by trying; everything – including eternity – will change by training!

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 family, please stay well, and let’s get to training!

Kev