All Year Long...

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day! It is such a special time of year...just love the lights, the wonder and excitement written across the faces of children - both young and old - and heck, we even got something that resembled winter weather in Arizona this week!

As I was driving to work earlier this week I was listening to a country music radio station. I had just turned the channel and they had a caller on the phone. Apparently the radio hosts had shared the story of a little girl who was in need - you know how newspapers, radio & TV stations like to run these type of stories this time of year. I didn't get to hear her story so I don't know the details. The caller was very emotional, he spoke of how this young girl was bringing glory to God and that he just knew in his Spirit he had to help her. As the announcers were thanking him for helping this little girl the man, through tears, said "we should help people at this time of year. In fact, this is what we are supposed to do all year long." All year long...something in those words really spoke to my heart. Feeling MY Spirit speaking to me, I prayed that God would give me His knowledge, His wisdom in those words. That I wouldn't go, "oh, that is nice" and start singing the next song (yes, the singing is ugly!). No, I wanted to camp there for a while, learn the lessons from this powerful statement and allow the knowledge and wisdom to be used to transform me.

I would like to share with you some things I have learned this week, some observations I have made in this little journey. Now, before I start I am going to tell you that I am going to use some generalizations - this is dangerous because anytime we generalize anything we are going to be wrong in some cases. I am simply going to ask on the front end for your grace and that you listen to the intent of the heart...I think you will get it.

• It has struck me this week how as Christmas approaches people are generally kinder to one another. Watch when you go to the mall, the store...people smile a little more, say "hi" with more frequency and of course you often here a cheery "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holiday's." It really is interesting. People who stare at the ground, won't hold the door for others, won't smile, etc. in June & July suddenly make eye contact, are a little more courteous of others (I am not talking about Black Friday!!!), smile, etc. What if we did this all year long?
• Family - all of the sudden, when Christmas approaches, family becomes the priority. We want to be with our families, travel great distances, go through extraordinary efforts to be with family, etc. We don't suddenly have more time...we make time. We are often busier than ever with the office parties, shopping, decorations, etc. and yet, we make time for family. What if our families were the priority all year long? What if we made time in our schedules as we do at Christmas instead of giving whatever time is left...which we can choose to never have any time left as there is always something that can be done, right?
• How about helping, taking care of or heck, even noticing those who are less fortunate than us? What, do we think all of the sudden people's lives are broken, they become homeless, they get abused, they lose their jobs, etc. at Christmas? I am fairly certain that lives are broken, homeless, abused, unemployed, etc. in the other 11 months as well. Maybe it's to clear our conscious as we gather in our warm, safe homes to open our gifts that suddenly we get real excited about helping in December...I don't know. What if we helped, took care of and noticed others all year long? What difference would this make in the world? Would there be such a great need in December? I tend to doubt it...
• This one real got to me; people talk about not having faith, lacking faith, etc. Interestingly nearly everyone under the age of say 4 or 5 years old has complete faith - in thought, word and action - that there is a Santa Claus. Please let that sink in for a moment. Yes, there is complete faith - dictionary.com says faith is confidence or trust. We are people of faith - we do believe in, place or confidence and trust in something. Some put their faith in God, some in the world...there really isn't a middle ground. Is it interesting that Santa Claus represents someone who is kind, loving, wants what is best for us, wants to bless our lives and encourages us to be good (don't get all religious, or should I say legalistic on me...hear my heart, you get the point)? I know Someone just like Santa Claus! I am not here to tell you what to think or believe; I simply want you to know that you do have faith and to thoughtfully consider where you are going to place it...there are eternal ramifications!
• You know, some bemoan Christmas for all the gifts, they complain that it is not really a religious holiday...it is a time for stores to make money. I think there is a great lesson in Christmas and any gift we might receive...and how we perceive what a gift really is. You know the bible talks about being thankful for what you do have, what you do receive. We get conflicted because what we want is not always what we receive and yet ironically, what we do receive is usually what is best for us. I will let that speak to you however it will. Here is what got to me; let's go back to the very first Christmas celebration. See, the kids didn't know that it was coming because it was the first one right? So I have to think that whatever they received they were thankful for...I mean they couldn't have asked for something specifically because they didn't even know that they were going to get gifts the next day. What if we were truly thankful, truly grateful for whatever we received all year long?

I don't know if any of this resonates with you or not. I know that this has spoken powerfully to my heart. I want to invite you to join me this year in being kind, making my family a priority, noticing and helping those in need, carefully choosing daily where I will place my faith and being truly thankful for any blessing I receive all year long - in thought, word and action!

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

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and cherish your family & friends.

Kev

A Week of Lessons

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and an incredible week coming to a close for you.

I'll tell you what, it has been a week of incredible learning for me. There were several moments of "wow, that is profound" and, as I was pondering the lesson I just learned, a new revelation came flying at me. I love it and of course, I have to share with all of you.

Lesson(s) 1 - A club baseball coach called last week and asked if our 12-year old could play in a baseball tournament with his team last weekend. To paint the full picture for you, my son has not been practicing with the team and has played baseball exactly once since baseball ended in July. My Beautiful Bride and I discussed it and I ultimately decided that we would let him play (Kath left this up to me as I was the one who would run him back and forth and sit out in the cold - by Arizona standards! - and watch him play last Friday night...one wise woman!). Fast forward to the game on Saturday morning. They are in the elimination game. Bases loaded. My son is playing catcher. The ball is hit to right field. The right fielder picks it up and throws a perfect strike to home plate - a pretty remarkable accomplishment for a 12-year old! Now the lesson begins. My son slightly misses judges the flight of the ball and it ricochets right off the top of his glove and hits the backstop. One run scores. He sprints back, picks up the ball and guns it toward (key word!) 3rd to get the runner who is advancing. However instead of going to 3rd it ends up somewhere in left-center field. Runs 2, 3 and 4 - run 4 will eventually cost his team the game - score. My son instantly looked at me with this perplexed, "what in the world just happened?", look on his face. You see, he is a very gifted baseball player. He has been able to catch anything you throw at him since he was 2 and in every league he has played in coach's won't steal bases because he always throws the runners out. As I gave him an affirming look of "I love you and I believe in you" and verbally said, "it's o.k., just focus on the next play" the lesson(s) came like a flood.

• Lesson 1A - My sons are a gift, a treasure, I am given the honor, privilege and responsibility of loving, guiding and protecting. They are counting on me to make good decisions for them - until and as they learn to make good, responsible decisions for themselves - and I had failed. What was I thinking? Was it my selfishness in enjoying watching him play? Was it pride in knowing that he is gifted as a baseball player? Whatever it was, I had failed my son. I had not put him in a position to be successful. He trusted my judgement as to whether or not he should play in the tournament and I showed very poor judgement...inexplicably! I coached for more than 15 years...I know that no matter how good someone is, they won't perform well without practice. So the clear lesson - reminder if you will - is my sons are counting on me to make good, responsible decisions for them. While this was only a baseball game, it applies to every aspect of life. I can't make rash decisions...I must think them through. While the consequence here was simply losing a game, the consequences will be far greater as they grow. If you have the honor, privilege and responsibility of being a Mom or Dad, please thoughtfully consider the decisions you make for your kids...they are counting on you!
• Lesson 1B - No matter how talented and gifted we are, if we do not practice, we will not be able to perform to the very best of our ability. Our talents and abilities are a gift from God. We have done nothing to earn or deserve them. Us working to grow and develop them brings glory and honor to Him and, I would argue, an obligation we have.
• Lesson 2 - A lady at the office and I were talking over lunch this week. We were discussing how everyone wants to be loved, valued and recognized. She shared with me a work experience she had. She worked at a homeless shelter. She asked me if I knew, after she had spoken to hundreds, possibly thousands, of homeless men and women, what they said bothered them most. I told her I did not know. She said that person after person explained that what bothered them most about being homeless was that they became invisible. Think about it, what do we tend to do when we see a homeless person? Do you look away? Don't make eye contact because they might ask you for money or food or whatever, right? In that moment we render them invisible. As though they do not exist...there life has no meaning. Friends, let's not let anyone be invisible today! Making eye contact, smiling, maybe saying hello all communicate "I see you", "you are a valuable person" and "your life matters." Please thoughtfully consider your disposition when you encounter anyone today!
• Lesson 3 - Our 6-year old is writing love letters in his class. His teacher is using these love letters to help the students learn to read and write. They write a love letter to a family member and then we write back to him so he can read it the next day in class. The first love letter went to my Beautiful Bride...smart boy! The second love letter went to me. The interesting thing was all of us - including our 12 & 15-year old sons - were excited to see the love letters...and the boys were arguing - hoping in a manly way - who would receive the next love letter. The power of a handwritten, thoughtful note - even if it contains a whole bunch of "so"s as in "I love you so, so, so, so, so much" - cannot be understated. We all like to get them and often re-read them. So my question, my challenge to us today is "who needs to receive a love letter from you today?" It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be all mushy...it just has to be pure and from your heart. Whatever you write it will communicate loud and clear that I love you, I care about you and I thought about you. Wow!

Yes Friends, this was a great week indeed! I truly hope and pray that we never stop learning!

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

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

Kev

Character

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and a wonderful week coming to a close for you. My heart is genuinely excited for this day today - I don't know if it is because of the 2 or 3 days of winter-like weather we get in Arizona each year, the keen awareness of my countless blessings, seeing the wonder and excitement in my boys' eyes as Christmas approaches, feeling God's presence or what. Just know it's awesome!

I am reading "Wooden on Leadership" by John Wooden and Steve Jamison. This week I have been reading a chapter titled, "Good Values Attract Good People." Over and over again I have found myself pondering bits and pieces from this chapter as I have gone about my
day(s). Instead of me trying to get all philosophical on you this morning (you can thank me later!) I thought I would just share excerpts with you and let them speak to your heart as they may.

• "The force of character is cumulative." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Character - doing the right thing - is fundamental to successful leadership.
• The last thing you want is people in your organization who had to be talked into being there, who needed convincing that your team is worthy of them. When hiring, be diligent in discerning what the individuals motives are
• Good values are like a magnet - they attract good people.
• A good leader creates belief - in the leader's philosophy, in the organization, in the mission.
• A person who values winning above anything will do anything to win. And such people are threats to your organization.
• Character counts, and without it even the most talented individual is hamstrung.
• ...make your values visible, to let the outside world know what you stand for and who you are.
• "Never lie; never cheat; never steal. Don't whine; don't complain; don't make excuses." - John Wooden's Dad's "two sets of three". Advice he repeatedly gave his sons...there is a Happy Friday in that!
• Deeds count more than words, but words count too.
• Character is what you do.
• Taking what isn't yours is wrong.
• Aristotle said: "We are what we repeatedly do."
• Character - the values and habits of our daily behavior that reveal who and what we are.
• A good explanation of character is simple: respect for yourself, respect for others, respect for the game, whether it's basketball, business, or anything else.
• The player [person] who has done his best has done everything, while the player [person] who has done less than his best is a failure.
• A leader with character attracts talent with the same.
• Who you are inside - what you believe - is important, but what you do means more, much more.
• ...values must be visible if they are to have an impact on those you lead or hope to attract as part of your team.
• When it comes to character and values, you don't need to be become a preacher, just an effective teacher who understands the power of setting a good example, especially when it comes to standards and values.
• Your behavior as leader - what you do - creates the environment in which the team functions.
• If you don't care about the code of conduct held by those you lead, you're not a good leader.
• Character counts and values matter. And you, the leader, set the standard for both in your organization.
• It's Tough to Coach Character. Have the courage to make character count among the qualities you seek in others.
• Character Starts with Little Things. The important thing is to let people know what you expect of them and to inform individuals when they violate your code, values or standards.
• Character Is More Than Honesty. There's more to character than just telling the truth - for both leaders and those on the team.
• Beware Those Who'll Do Whatever It Takes to Win. Find those who love the battle and play by the rules.

A whole bunch of incredibly powerful statements! Thank you for allowing me the privilege of preparing "Happy Friday"...just typing this up has my spirit jumping up and down again -  affirming, challenging, exhorting, etc. Yes, this is going to be a great day indeed!

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can ever do for you or your families.

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

Kev