Recently I had a talk with my two daughters, Jill 26 and Lisa 19. My son Joe, 28 was not around at the time, but I’ve learned over the years that if I don’t seize the moment to say things that I deem important, they sometimes never get said. For 26 years I worked for a printing company in Baltimore for a corporation that was sold multiple times during my tenure. In late 2003 the company decided to close the plant and redirect the work to a few of their other printing plants.
Before working in the corporate world I played drums (and sang) for a living in a Top 40/disco band. We’re talking the 1970′s folks. I’ve always loved music and to this day singing karaoke is one of my favorite things to do. I gave up my music career when I decided that I wanted to settle down and share my life with my loving wife of over 31 years now. My love for her created a desire to find a 9 to 5, so that we could spend our evenings and weekends together and raise a family.
I’ve never regretted this decision but I will admit when I hear a really good band, I often wonder what could have been?
I believe that my experience in the corporate world was much the same as everyone else’s. I suppose that is why I felt compelled to initiate this conversation with my daughters. Now that they are out in the corporate world, coming home with stories of mistreatment and office politics, I decided it was time to let them know unequivocally how I feel about it.
Working for someone else sucks (excuse my french). Although I’m sure there are exceptions to this, more often than not, this is the truth. I understand how it works and why it works, but I encouraged them to search their hearts because there are better ways to live our lives. Each of us are unique individuals, never to be repeated again and we all have desires in our hearts. The problem is… we get distracted (for lack of a better term).
Everyday our minds are bombarded with things to do, advertisements, responsibilities, people, pets, news, bills and on and on and on. How can we see the forest through the trees? If we don’t know where we’re going, someone else will tell us where to go and we’ll end up making someone else’s desires come true.
Who owns the company YOU work for? Do you know why he or she started the company? Because he or she had a desire in their heart… that’s why! Who is this person to you? Would you rather help that person accomplish their desires… or would you rather wake up each day and work toward accomplishing your’s?
I understand that working for someone else has its place and everyone should experience it, but come on! What happens is when the paychecks start coming in we begin to buy more things… and eventually we begin to buy things that we are required to pay back over time… making payments, month after month after month. And when this happens we become more and more locked into working for Mr. Corporate. And pretty soon we NEED our J-O-B.
This post is getting rather long. I may need to continue this on future posts, but for now I want you to pay close attention to this video. Here is a man who will prove that you don’t need a college education in order to be successful. Here is a man who recognized the value in following HIS heart. Here is a man who knows that you MUST Love What You Do.
Enjoy!
Note! All copy in Red are the words of Jesus
Philippians 4: 6-7
6: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God;
7: and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Matthew 18: 19-20
19: “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning
anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
20: For where two or three are gathered in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Proverbs 4: 20-22
20: Attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings.
21: Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart;
22: For they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.
Proverbs 18: 21
21: Death and Life are in the power of the tongue,
And they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Matthew 12: 34-37
34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things,
and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak,
they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your WORDS you will be justified,
and by your WORDS you will be condemned.
Matthew 13:43
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
He who has ears, let him hear.
Mark 11 : 22-26
22 So Jesus answered, and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart,
but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have
whatever he says.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray,
believe that you receive them and you will have them.
25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone,
forgive them, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But, if you do not forgive,
neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
1 John 4:4
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them,
because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Romans 8:28
And we know all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:37
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Matthew 25:40
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you,
inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Matthew 18: 21-22
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to
seventy times seven.
Mark 12:29-31
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel,
the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.
31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
John 8:7
7 “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her.”
Psalms 8:5
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Malachi 3:10 (Amplified Bible)
10 Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse,
that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of
hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a
blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Malachi 3:10 (New International Version)
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the
floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room
enough for it.
Proverbs 22:6
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Psalms 27:14
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart;
wait, I say, on the LORD!
James 1:2-3
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage;
do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God
is with you wherever you go.”
Romans 4:17
(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”)
in the presence of Him whom he believed-God, who gives life to
the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Matthew 7: 8-11
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who,
if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish,
will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things
to those who ask Him!
Psalms 37: 4
4: Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 5: 38-42
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek,
turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let
him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Matthew 5: 43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who
hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be
sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you,
what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet
your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors
do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Psalm 84:11
No good thing will the LORD withhold from those who do what is right.
Isaiah 55:9
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts”.
Psalm 35:27
Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause;
And let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified Who has pleasure
in the prosperity of His children.”
Hebrews 10:23 NKJ
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful”.
On the front page of this site I suggested that we choose to begin each day with a verse from psalm 118, which I consider to be an excellent thought to begin each day. It is a way to program or re-program our minds.
You know… that thing that makes you one of the superior beings on this planet. That thing that is not only capable of, but has created your world!
And you own it free and clear!
It is the most fantastic computer ever imagined. It can store incredible amounts of information, and it can do it in technicolor. It records everything… sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch.
Can Bill Gates (or anyone else for that matter) make a computer that can do that? NOPE! Not a chance.
Just to make this point, I’d like you to read this excerpt from a book called “The Greatest Miracle in the World” by Og Mandino.
To set the scene so you can better understand, the name of the chapter this excerpt is taken from is called “The God Memorandum”.
Now don’t go getting all bent out of shape if you don’t believe in God. That’s your prerogative, but I’m sure you know plenty of people who do. We’ve all got to live together and if you don’t mind, I’m just going to go ahead and love you anyhow. 
The chapter begins with this :
To: You
From: God
So keep in mind as you read this that this is God speaking directly to YOU!
Here is the excerpt:
Are you of feeble mind? Can you no longer think for yourself?
No. Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe.
I know.
Within its three pounds are thirteen billion nerve cells, more than three times as many cells as there are people on your earth.
To help you file away every perception, every sound, every taste, every smell, every action you have experienced since the day of yourbirth, I haveimplanted, within your cells, more than one thousand billion billion protein molecules.
Every incident in your life is there waiting only your recall.
And, to assist your brain in the control of your body I have dispersed, throughout your form, four million pain-sensitive structures, five hundred thousand touch detectors, and more than two hundred thousand temperature detectors.
No nation’s gold is better protected than you.
None of your ancient wonders are greater than you.
You are my finest creation.
Within you is enough atomic energy to destroy any of the world’s great cities… and rebuild it.
*******************************************
Are you beginning to understand how magnificent you are?
Can there be any problem that you cannot overcome?
Is it so far fetched to believe that you have the ability to do something magnificent? And that excerpt was just describing your magnificent Mind/Brain.
You are much more than that!
Here are a few more sentences from the chapter describing YOU, that I bet you never thought about.
Within your five quarts of blood are twenty two trillion blood cells and within each cell are millions of molecules and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than ten million times each second. Each second, two million of your blood cells die to be replaced by two million more in a resurrection that has continued since your birth.
Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating, hour after hour, day and night, thirty-six million beats each year, year after year, asleep or awake, pumping your blood through more than sixty thousand miles of veins, arteries, and tubing… pumping more than six hundred thousand gallons each year. Man has never created such a machine.
Count another blessing.
Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. In time all steels will tarnish and rust, but not your skin. Eventually the strongest of metals will wear, with use, but not that layer that I have constructed aroundyou. Constantly it renews itself, old cells replaced by new, just as the old you is now replaced by the new.
Count another blessing.
Hopefully by now you have figured out that in Og Mandino’s book,
The Greatest Miracle in the World is
YOU!
I think it’s pretty clear that YOU are “Magnificent!”
You are Magnificence in Human Form – A Gift to You from The Secret
Things to Say/Pray When You First Wake Up
Here are a few of my morning prayers. I thought perhaps some of you
might like to make them your own. Feel free to select the ones that
you like and adopt them. I’ll be posting some of my favorite scriptures
in the next few days, so if you like my prayers you may also like my
favorite scriptures.
Here goes:
This is a day the Lord has made!
I shall rejoice and be glad in it!
~
God, whether I get anything else done today,
I want to make sure that I spend time loving You and loving other people –
Because that’s what life is all about.
~
This is going to be a great day!
Thank you Lord, for guiding and directing my steps.
Thank you Lord, for bestowing your favor upon me.
Thank you Lord, for having your goodness and mercy follow me.
I am excited about today!
Because of You, circumstances are changing in my favor.
Because of You, I am at the right place at the right time.
Because of You, doors of opportunity are opening for me.
Because of You, I am rising above life’s challenges.
Good things are coming my way.
I am a good person and I deserve the desires of my heart!
~
Divine Father, Holy Mother, move me.
Take me this day to my highest good.
Make me aware of all that will guide me
Toward my Heart’s Desires. Amen
~
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Good morning Lord.
I love You. I need You. And I believe in You.
I know that You are with me always.
Please help me with each and every situation that confronts me,
to always see your light and to always choose to follow it.
I’m sorry for what I have ever done wrong to hurt You or any others.
Please help me to do better.
Thank You for the many blessings that You have bestowed upon me and my loved ones.
Many of which we take for granted everyday.
Please help us all to recognize and appreciate them.
I would especially like to thank You for my health, my wealth, my wife, my children, all
other family members and all other relationships.
I’d also like to thank You for the health and wealth of my wife, my children and all other
family members and all others who use them wisely. Please help us all to do so.
Please surround me and all of my loved ones with your protection.
Keep us all safe from harm. I ask all this in the name of Your Son Jesus. Amen
~
I believe
I believe that this is going to be a wonderful day.
And that I can successfully handle all problems that will arise today.
I feel good physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
It is wonderful to be alive.
I am grateful for all that I have had…
for all that I now have…
and for all that I shall have.
Things are NOT going to fall apart.
God is here and He is with me and He will see me through.
I thank God for every good thing.
Through God I can do all good things
but without Him I am lost.
~
This post is about morning prayers.
I first heard this poem years ago on an audio tape by Denis Waitley.
My children were very young at the time and I’ve always tried to keep
its wisdom in mind as I raised them.
Perhaps you may want to do the same, realizing that we all
are examples for others.
***************************
I’d Rather Watch a Winner
I’d Rather Watch a Winner
Than Hear One Any Day
I’d Rather Have One Walk With Me
Than Merely Tell the Way
The Eye is a Better Student
And More Willing Than the Ear
Great Counsel is Confusing
But Example is Always Clearer
The Best of All the Preachers
Are the Ones Who Live Their Deeds
To See the Good in Action
Is What Every Person Needs.
I Can Soon Learn How to Do It
If You’ll Just Let Me See It Done
I Can Watch Your Hands in Action
But Your Tongue Too Fast May Run
And the Lectures You Deliver
May Be Very Wise And True
But I’d Rather Get My Lesson
By Observing What YOU Do… (Dad)
For I May Misunderstand you
And the High Advice You Give
But There’s No Misunderstanding
How You Act And How YOU Live
I’d Rather Watch a Winner
Than Hear One Any Day.
Do you talk to yourself?
Go ahead… admit it!
You’re not crazy. We all do it.
I do it. You do it. And so does everyone else.
That little voice has been called many things. You can’t shut
it off. Believe me when I tell you I’ve tried many times.
Years ago I had heard of the many benefits of learning to
meditate. So day after day I would sit in my favorite chair,
wearing comfortable clothing and I would pay attention to my
breath.
I could hear the inhale, I could hear the exhale and the
little space in between the two that was like complete silence.
I had already been forewarned that my mind would wander.
It did. Over and over and over and over and over.
When that happens I was told (through whatever instructions
I was following) to just remain calm and redirect my focus
back to my breath.
It sounds simple, doesn’t it.
Simple, yes.
Easy, no.
I realize that to get good at something… to get good at
anything one has to do it repeatly.
Take golfers for example.
Golfers, in an effort to improve their swing will practice
by hitting hundreds of drives daily. You may have heard of
the term “driving range”.
It’s a place that golfers go to do just that.
They can’t play a round of golf there, but they can practice
this one aspect of their game.
It’s the same reason why baseball players take batting practice
and catch ground balls.
It’s same for musicians, dancers, actors and a bazillion
other professions.
Perhaps I didn’t stay with the meditation ritual long enough
to get really good at it. Although I will admit that I still
do it occasionally and feel I do get some benfits from it.
The difference is that I now take a slightly different
approach. I no longer place the pressure on myself of not
noticing that little voice in my mind.
Now I find myself listening to it and saying to myself
“Isn’t that interesting?”
… a technique I learned from Louise Hay (another one of
my favorite authors).
Many of the things we say to ourselves today are the same
things we said to ourself yesterday and the day before.
Some of those things may stem from things our parents told
us when we were very young. Start to pay attention to that
little voice and see if there might be a few things that you’d
like to change.
Do you make encouraging statements to yourself?
Do you make discouraging statements to yourself?
Are you hard on yourself? Do you call yourself names and criticize
your performance. Or…
Do you appreciate yourself, and recognize progress and effort.
The greatest conversation you will ever have is with yourself.
Think about it.
CD – 18 Ways to Re-Program Your Brain in Thirty Seconds or Less
Do you remember when you were a kid and someone would either
read or tell you a good story?
Do you still remember some of those stories?
I’m sure you do.
I have no idea where this story originated or I would certainly
disclose the source.
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Charlie.
And everyday Charlie would walk to school in a big hurry.
He always seemed to be running behind…
And one of the things that Charlie would do on his way to
school is stop off at the church that was right beside the school.
He was only in there for about 10 seconds.
He would kneel down in the very last pew,
and he only said 5 words.
The 5 words Charlie would say were:
Hello Jesus, this is Charlie.
And off to school he went.
Well, because of this little habit, many times
Charlie would be late for school and would have
to stay after as a punishment for being tardy.
Charlie never seemed to mind.
Charlie did this even on days when he would
have been on time, had he not stopped at the church.
Yep, everyday… rain or shine Charlie insisted
on stopping in the church to say his 5 words…
Hello Jesus, this is Charlie.
Well one day when Charlie was again rushing to school
he made a bad decision when crossing the street and there
was a terrible accident.
The driver of the car didn’t mean to hit Charlie and
did everything he could to stop.
An ambulance was called but by the time they arrived Charlie
had already drawn his last breath.
And what do you suppose were the first words Charlie heard
after he passed away?
?
?
?
?
?
Hello Charlie, this is Jesus.
**********************************************************
I hope you enjoyed that story.
I know I was just a young boy when someone told it to me,
and I’ve never forgotten it.
