Getting recharged

Hectic lives. Weighty responsibilities. Multiple roles. Work and family unending issues. The press of life can take it's toll on our lives as we negotiate it day after day, month after month.

Vacations are good and necessary if we are to recharge the battery of our life. Seen as an unnecessary expense and waste of time, most people running at a fast pace will eventually lose their sharp edge in living life to the max as it relates to overall success. Not only have I observed that in my peers who neglect vacations, but I observe that in our own family as well.

So here we are on vacation, away from most of the normal pressures of life in a different city, on the coast of Florida. The boat has had electrical issues, requiring the recharging of the battery and other issues requiring repair and maintenance -- alternators, fuel filters, etc. (Doesn't it seem like sometimes we exchange some of our normal pressures for other pressures while we are on vacation?)

Recharging our mental and emotional batteries by getting away from the norm is incredibly healthy. Reading a new book, living temporarily in a new place, seeing new sites, journaling fresh thoughts, and "feeling" relaxed is an amazing balm for healing the soul. That word "recharge" really is descriptive of how I feel right now.

Take time to vacation. Your body, your mind, your heart, your family and your co-workers will thank you!

When honors and awards come

Yesterday the Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce awarded me the Businessman of the Year award for community service and business leadership for our area in Northwest Orange County. What an honor, and certainly one that I feel both shocked and humbled by, when considering all the other worthy potential recipients.

At the annual banquet, a couple other awards were given to various community leaders, and then they started to read the bio of the one who would be named Businessman of the Year. Obviously after they gave some of my stats, I knew it was me that was about to be introduced.

So what do you feel when you are about to be singled out to receive an honor?

My thoughts went to our team at Reliance Media, Apopka Printing and New Book Publishing who work to help build the amazing businesses that I am privileged to lead. I thought of all the other great people in the Chamber who in my mind were more deserving to receive this award. I thought of my 87-year-old dad who built an amazing business over many years, and who was sitting at the banquet. And above all, I thought of my wife Sheila who has been with me through it all. Her intellect, determination, wisdom, motivation and skill has been right there with me in building our businesses and our life together. She certainly is more deserving of honor for putting up with me and for what she has accomplished on her own.

Unfortunately I wasn't given the microphone to comment or I would have expressed these thoughts to the large gathering. But I think what I need to take away from all of this is that God has been the one who deserves all the credit. He has supplied the gifts, talent, opportunities and work ethic to be the steward of all he has given me responsibility over. He alone is the one to be honored for the opportunities He brings our way.

Why don't you write?

I come in contact with people from all walks of life who really have an amazing story to tell, but they can’t seem to get it out of them, into a computer and share it with others in a book.

Why? There are many reasons or excuses, but one stands heads and shoulders above all others.

“I’m too busy!”

All of our modern conveniences have allowed us to do more with less time – and yet these very inventions have played a part in holding us captive. We have great transportation, so we can get places faster. We have microwave dinners so we can cook and eat faster. We have continually evolving computers which allow us to accomplish more than ever before in productivity. We have instruments and equipment that allow us to do things faster and better. We have healthcare procedures that make recovery faster so we can go back to work. Through the internet we can research more and faster, buy things from worldwide suppliers in an instant, and connect via online video, audio or text to make things happen which would otherwise take days or weeks. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Yet with all of these advances, we seem to cram more in a day without giving our brains any real downtime to think broadly, creatively or systematically. The urgent has taken the priority over the important. Priorities have taken a back seat to the almighty schedule.

And so the things that may have been erupting in your heart as important, never seem to emerge. Your ideas never gel. Your days turn into weeks, months and years, and the pace of life regularly leaves your writing desire by the side of the road. That desire to write a book looks smaller and smaller in your rearview mirror of living, as you speed down the road of daily life.

And the book never gets started.

…or it it was started, it doesn’t seem to have a hope of being finished.
My friend something has to change. Honestly, you have to decide to change, or your dream will never become a reality. More on this in coming blogs...

Do what you need to do, so that you can do what you need to do

Three days ago I went on my annual retreat. It is a personal audit time I have with God and myself each year. This year I got up early, packed my notebook, pen, Bible, journal, iPod, laptop and lawn chair, and drove to Cypress Grove Park in south Orlando.

While at the park, I saw a water skier on the lake – and it is cold (remember it was December 30)! It was in the low 40 degree range. The skier had a wet suit on, but the thought hit me that he was determined to do what is in his heart to do. He just made preparations with the wet suit and boots so that he could accomplish what he set out to do, which was become a great skier apparently.

There are so many obvious parallels in many areas of life. Unexpected circumstances arise; bad conditions of one type or another happen; life just doesn't play out like we hoped or expected. So what do you do if you want to succeed? Do whatever it takes!

Successful people in any realm of life, realize that success is not easy and that obstacles will arise. So they plan for situations, develop methods and resources to press through those circumstances, and then they press forward.

Do what you need to do, so that you can to do what you need to do.

Adventure or same old same old?

I am sitting in the Orlando International Airport about to take off on another mission's trip to Ecuador. I have been on adventures like this many times.

So what's going to make this opportunity different from others? Will I be alert to "see" the issues and opportunities from God's perspective as they present themselves? Will I get to see the hand of God move as in prior times? Have I prepared my heart adequately to hear Him and my will to respond to His promptings?

Many times in life, we are presented with opportunities to do things that appear similar to what we have done in the past. Do you have a method to keep alert? Sensitive? Expectant? Will I capture those events and opportunities in writing, or let them slide by?

I believe to the degree that we are observant to the God's movement around us, to that degree He exposes new opportunities to us. And, to the degree we respond and move upon what He exposes, to that degree God empowers us to participate with Him in the supernatural. God doesn't want us to live a life of same-old-same-old. He created life to be full -- and a great adventure.

When we step into a new day, do we approach it aggressively, expectant to be a participant in life or more of a spectator? Do we have a "been there, done that" attitude. If we have been simply going through the motions of life and not really alert to the activity of God all around us, maybe it's time to purposefully look for a change. Maybe it's time for our ordinary days to become an ADVENTURE...again!

Capturing Your Thoughts

Everyday great thoughts come and go – they escape, and we lose them.

Like a “traffic speed trap” set by police, we need to be on the alert for speeders (great thoughts) and stop and detain them, then arrest them and take them captive. These speeders are the thoughts and ideas that have great potential to help us and others, but they come and go at a time when we think we just don’t have time to do anything else but note they occurred and hope we can remember them later.

From now on, stop them! Step one is KNOW that they WILL be coming and probably at the most inopportune time to capture them.

Next develop a quick way to arrest them and “handcuff” them – meaning take them captive in a temporary fashion. Maybe it is carrying a small 2”x3” notepad in your pocket or purse. Merely jot down a quick note of the general idea, but enough to jog your memory later (temporary captivity). Maybe you have a memo section on your phone, or a small digital recorder, and you quickly make a small memory-jogging verbal notation. 95% of the people will not do this critical step for success, I have found.

Now probably 75% of the people who did take temporary custody of that wonderful idea don’t do step two – move the note from “temporary captivity” to “permanent incarceration.” Daily have a quick method of moving the note from the notepad or verbal message, to a computerized add-to list of GREAT THOUGHTS!

Once you have this computerized master list, you have made it to the elite few in life. From this list great ideas will come for, books, income generating, relational growth, child rearing, business development and so on. Now categorize and prioritize the list as to both importance and timetable for further development.

Last make an appointment with yourself to regularly review this list, asking yourself when is the time to commit to development of that idea – from concept to completion. Do this, and succeed in any avenue of your life!

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, can I..."

Yesterday, I was on a deserted barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Clearwater Florida with my Sheila and daughter Stacy's family. What a great day of vacation watching two of my four grandsons playing on the island. They ran on the beach searching for colorful shells, swam in the ocean with goggles looking for interesting things, and asking their dad Matt countless questions.

The questions never stopped. If Matt didn't answer their question right away, they kept asking...over and over again...until their dad would answer them.

"Daddy, can I run down the beach that way? Daddy, can I go? Daddy, watch me; can I go? Daddy, are you listening? Daddy, I'm going, OK? D-A-D-D-Y!" Noah's questions were constant and relentless...until his dad answered him.

It was almost comical. Noah and Logan kept asking their questions, until their dad gave them an answer. One time Matt said, "Watch this. Logan will probably ask me 100 times if I don't answer." Sure enough, Logan asked the same question three times within the first 60 seconds. It was hilarious!

Sometime during all this questioning, I was reminded about Jesus’ teaching on how we should effectively pray, found in Luke 11:1-13. In that setting with his disciples, He gave three ways for us to connect to God. The first is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. But it was the second parable that came to my mind. In verses 5-8, Luke notes:

Then He said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

Just like my grandsons Noah and Logan, God invites us to be relentless and bold in our pursuit of Him and His answers on the issues we face in life. It is not a lack of faith that we keep on asking on issues of our concern, but rather a true expression of our faith, that if we can merely hear from God in our hearts, then we can make the best choice in our living.

If we are observant, we can learn a lot from children and others around us in our daily life.