I Believe You Can

Do you?

I know - you have to see it to believe it, that's what the masses say.

What do you think might happen if you change it to - If you believe it, you'll see it?

So here we are, a month into the new year and I woke up this morning reflecting on my goals or resolutions for 2013. I consider myself very fortunate to work with several organizations that believe in training and daily motivation. Their efforts combined with mine keep me focused and heading towards my goals.

The bottom line is that first, you really want to achieve what you say you do. Then you have to believe that you can do it and after that you have to do the work. Easy right?

I guess the next question then is how do you stay motivated? Its so easy to get caught up in your days routine and get off track. There are also a hundred outside influences that can slow you down too. The dog gets sick, oh its so cold out today, but my favorite TV show is on. You get the picture.

If you're not in a position where the people you're around on a daily basis are helping you along then you need to make a plan to keep yourself moving. After all, the time is going to go by and the last thing you want is to see another year go by without reaching those goals.

One of the things that has helped me the most over the years is to create what I call P.A.P. pages. Their short little notes that you can put everywhere that you read out loud to yourself several times a day. I know, sounds all twilight zoney, but  they do work.

These days I actually keep them in the notes section of my phone because lets face it, we're never far from it. I open them up two or three times a day and read them out loud. The out loud part is important because we learn quicker that way or to put it another way - we will believe it more. The idea is to tell yourself what you want to hear (not what other people want you to hear) enough times until you believe it to be true, then the effort part is easy.

Here's an example of one of mine, keep it short and to the point:

God is great
My family rocks
I love helping others
My business is growing every day
Etc
Etc

Keep it personal, I don't know your goals or what drives you, only you know what sets you on fire.

I couple other things I do are to make signs and hang them where I'll see them. Put slogans on them that move you. One of my favorites is a quote from Zig Ziglar that reads:

I'm happy, healthy, wealthy and wise. I'm in charge and energized.

How can you not stay moving after telling yourself that a few times a day?

I'll leave you with one more and this is scripture from the Bible. And please don't let it scare you if you're not a believer. The Bible is actually the greatest book on success ever written. It will motivate you and set you free, but it goes like this.

Seek and you will find (get out there and talk to people)

Knock and the door will be open (don't be afraid to try new things)

Ask and you shall receive (ask for the business or the date or whatever you're looking for and most times you'll get it)

If you remember these words of wisdom as you go through you're day you cannot fail.

Well, there you have it, my thoughts for the day. I certainly believe you can accomplish whatever you want to in life, do you?

What would you change?

You know I've been thinking a lot about time lately.  We wake up every day and we go through the motions we call our life and I stop and wonder - Is this really worth my time?

How about you, are the things you're doing with your time today, really what you want to be doing?

Don't get me wrong, God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and great kids and now a grand child and I wouldn't change any of that. It's all the other crap that I squeeze into a day that I'm talking about.

Like going to work, oh yeah now that's on the top of my priority list. And again, don't get me wrong. I'm thankful for the opportunities I have and for the most part I enjoy what I do but anytime you have to do something when you would rather be doing something else, well, you know.

And why do we do that, so we can turn around and just give it all away to someone else. Mortgage, car payments, cell phone bills, insurance, oh yeah TAXES. Sorry, I'm not writing this to depress you, I'm sharing my thoughts today to give you hope.

I know there are days when I can't even begin to see the end of the tunnel and I wonder why I'm spending my time doing what I'm doing. I used to call it "The Rut". You know the rut, once you get your wheels down in there its hard to get out. You keep trying to steer your way out of it but it keeps sucking you back in.

Many times we are stuck in that rut because we are victims of our own upbringings, We do what we've been taught to do and are sometimes afraid to venture out. Maybe we listen to outside influences who just love to tell you - "that will never work" and we let our own brain take over and guide us away from our true desires.

What would you change about your life today if you could? 

I know I rarely think about it either because I'm so busy doing what I'm doing, yet I am truly not happy doing it. Does anybody else feel this way or am I really just a wacko like I spoke about a few posts ago.

I dare you to stop today and think about what you would really like to do with your life rather than what you are.

Maybe a new job
More time with your family, heck maybe more time away from your family. (sometimes you can't pick them)
How about a vacation
Maybe some extra money to pay the bills
Maybe you would volunteer your time to help others

I don't know because its your life. I know I would love to have more time to spend with my family and have some time to help others. Anyway, I heard a story once about time and they related it to marbles in a jar. This guy figures out that the average life span is around 75 years so he goes and breaks that down into weeks. So you take 75 years x 52 weeks in a year and you get 3900. So off he goes to buy 3900 marbles that he wants to put in a jar so he can take one marble out a week to track how much time he has left in his life. (I think he was the wacko) But then he stops and realizes that he is already 40 years old so he's already lost a lot of his marbles. He does some more math and decides that he needs to buy 1820 marbles. Well this in itself was an eye opener because he was well on his way to being out of marbles. So each Saturday after that he began to remove 1 marble from his jar. But this guy was really busy working two jobs to try and support his family, then he had the yard to mow, bills to pay, he was a volunteer fireman, the cat was always sick and had to go to the vet, until one day the guy looked in his jar and there were only 100 marbles left. You see, time had slipped away on him and he was now facing the grim reality that his time was short but he had never really lived because he was so busy going through the motions that Life can demand.

I know you're still waiting on the Hope part. Trust me, its there if you want it. The first thing you have to do however is think about what you really want out of Life, then you need to decide if what you want is worth chasing after. You know, doing something more that you already do, to make a change.

Another quote I heard was ""that most of us work harder to fail, than we would have to, to succeed"

Think about that and if you really want more hope, let me know, I can point the way.

Life can be good

What They Said.....

From: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/prayer_and_bible_removed_schools.htm

 

On April 30, 1789, President George Washington said:

". . . it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. . . .

"Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall [370 U.S. 421, 447] take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend." 

On March 4, 1797, President John Adams said:

"And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence."

On March 4, 1805, President Thomas Jefferson said:

". . . I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations."

On March 4, 1809, President James Madison said:

"But the source to which I look . . . is in . . . my fellow-citizens, and in the counsels of those representing them in the other departments associated in the care of the national interests. In these my confidence will under every difficulty be best placed, next to that which we have all been encouraged to feel in the guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously dispensed to this rising Republic, and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past, as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future." [370 U.S. 421, 448]

On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln said:

". . . Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away? Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said `the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

On March 4, 1885, President Grover Cleveland said:

". . . And let us not trust to human effort alone, but humbly acknowledging the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over the destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in our country's history, let us invoke His aid and His blessing upon our labors."

On March 5, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson said:

". . . I pray God I may be given the wisdom and the prudence to do my duty in the true spirit of this great people."

On March 4, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said:

"In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come."

On January 21, 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said:

"Before all else, we seek, upon our common labor as a nation, the blessings of Almighty God. And the hopes in our hearts fashion the deepest prayers of our whole people."

On January 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy said:

"The world is very different now. . . . And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come [370 U.S. 421, 449] not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.. . . . .

"With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

Could all of these great men be wrong?

One year later the downfall began...

Goodbye God!

Prayer and the Bible Removed from Public Schools

     In the Engel v. Vitale case (1962), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-1 against New York's "Regents' prayer," a "non-denominational" prayer which state education officials had composed for public schoolchildren to recite.
The government-sponsored religious devotion was challenged in court by a group of parents from New Hyde Park (some atheists, some believers).  O'Hair was not involved in the case at all.
One year later, a case originated by a Philadelphia-area man named Ed Schempp challenging mandatory Bible reading in Pennsylvania schools reached the Supreme Court. At the same time, Murray O'Hair was challenging a similar practice as well as the recitation of the Lord's Prayer in Maryland public schools. The Supreme Court consolidated the cases and in 1963 ruled 8-1 that devotional Bible reading or other government-sponsored religious activities in public schools are unconstitutional.
Truly, these were two of the saddest days in America's history for God and His people.

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Time to talk about this... Freak.

I've been wanting to post now for a few weeks but just haven't found the words. Due to recent events in my life both public and private I have decided its time to speak up. I know, they are only my words, but I believe words that need to be heard. Do I know what I'm talking about? I say yes and so many ahead of me do too. Do you care, you better. Is that the real problem in America? Do enough care to make a difference, or do we wait only until it affects us directly?

I know - I'm losing a bunch of you here - he's talking about caring, I'm not reading any further. (I recommend you do)


Ever since the Connecticut shootings I've been seeing all the news about gun control. I see all the cute signs posted here and there and have heard many opinions on the subject. I hear the press and the politicians rant. Why now, because 30 people were killed? Why not at the end of any given day in America where over 3000 abortions take place, do those children's lives not matter? I hear my teenage daughter say there's no good out there to be found. Is that what its come too? No good to be found? Is she right?

Since the beginning of time, men have had the desire to be evil. Since the days in Rome where people were fed to live animals for sport and yes here in our history when men and women where beaten because they didn't milk the cow properly, maybe they were fed to the dogs for trying to run away. Maybe they just fought to the death so other men could bet on them. When it was normal to carry a gun and if someone angered you, you shot them dead in their tracks and no one blinked an eye. Are we getting worse or are there just more of us, with better ways to communicate, to promote the agendas of the evil ones.

Not once have I heard since the Connecticut shootings, we need to raise better kids, we need to have more responsible parents or we need to ban the violent movies and the video games.  Not once have I heard we need to ban cars because over 90 people die each day in America in vehicle accidents. Not once have I heard that we need to teach good in our schools, not Algebra. Not once have I heard anyone say, we need God back in our lives.

No one is willing to face the truth, no one is standing up and telling us the truth. Does not anyone want to hear the truth? Is it because we don't know the truth?

The truth is until we have God back in our Schools, back in our Governments and back in our everyday lives nothing will change for the better. I know, I'm just another religious wacko right? People our country was founded around God and the Christian religion. Somewhere along the way it turned into religious freedom and then into I don't need any religion, it infringes on my rights.

No, you know what it does? It takes everything good away. It lets us not have to be responsible for our actions. It takes away the worry of having to offend someone. I say crap, it takes away our foundation for life, our ability to know right from wrong, our ability to function in a normal and happy society.

Whats wrong with the 10 commandments? Is it crazy that you shouldn't steal from your neighbor or sleep with his wife. Is it wrong to be taught - thall shall not kill. What the heck is wrong with you people?

See I'm getting fired up here - yeah I'm a Jesus Freak and until we teach the world how to be Jesus Freaks we're gonna keep having what we're having. Is that what we want, a society where its not safe to send your kids to school. Where everyone now wants to carry a gun just to protect themselves from the people who were never even given the chance to learn about God, because we might offend someone.

I say - you are the wackos. Find a bible or someone who has a bible and ask them to teach you about it. Lets fight for our rights as citizens of a free country and get whats important back in our lives. Today, find your biggest enemy and tell them your sorry. It will be alright, even if they laugh at you, its ok. Talk to your kids, ask them what they're up to, oh - turn the TV off first. Better yet - throw it out the window.

Yeah, I'm a radical....

Actually not, I live a normal life, have fun and enjoy the best God has to offer every day. I recommend you do too because tomorrow may never come.

Stay tuned - you can bet there's more coming soon.

Jim Bull - Jesus Freak

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