Are you going to finish strong?

The Buzzard, the Bat and the Bumblebee

If you put a BUZZARD in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to flu but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary BAT that flies around at night, a remarkably nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A BUMBLEBEE, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways, there are lots of people like the BUZZARD, the BAT, and the BEE. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them.

Randy Pausch Interview - Part 2

Randy Pausch Interview - Part 1

Knowledge vs Wisdom

Steph loaned me her book "the five secrets you must discover before you die" by John Izzo, Ph.D. I loved this quote in the first chapter.

"Knowing how to use this one life to its fullest requires wisdom more than knowledge. Wisdom is different and fundamentally more important than knowledge. We live in a time when knowledge (the number of facts) doubles every six months, but wisdom is in short supply. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts, whereas wisdom is the ability to discern what matters and what does not matter. Unless we can discover what really matters, we cannot find true meaning in life."

Spreading Light

There are two ways of spreading light —
to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

-Edith Wharton

"Many" Who Belive In You!

While I can't fully appreciate all of your challenges, I do know that our Heavenly Father loves you both so much, and that He, and so many others, believe in you!

Kindness

You can't do a kindness too soon,
for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Purpose Driven Life

This is a short interview with Rick Warren, author of 'The Purpose Driven Life' and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:

People ask me, What is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity... We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.
One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me.
I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people. You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease. So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.
Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.
Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?
Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do. That's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD...
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.

Changed for Good

Dedicated to Jason & Steph -- I'm a better person for knowing both of you!

Living for Eden Concert

Our Deepest Fear

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson
A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

Hey God by Richie McDonald (Lonestar)

A New Day

This is the beginning of a new day.

You have been given this day to use as you will.

You can waste it or use it for good.

What you do today is important because

you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever;

in its place is something that you have left behind...

let it be something good.

Author unknown

"I can do something."

"I am only one; but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;

I will not refuse to do the something I can do."

Helen Keller

Helen Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She had two half brothers, a sister and a dog. Her father was a storyteller, who loved his family very much. Helen was close to her mother and needed her for almost everything. As a small child, she started running a very high fever. She became very sick leaving her blind and deaf.

When she was six years old, her father took her to Washington D.C., where she was examined by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell who helped the deaf communicate. Bell told Keller's father to write to Perkins Institution for the Blind, so that they could send a teacher who would teach his daughter. The school sent a teacher named Ann Sullivan. Miss Sullivan was very patient and taught her to read Braille. She took Keller to the Horace Mann School for the deaf and there Helen learned to speak English, French, and German. She also went to Wright-Hunason School and Cambridge for Young Ladies. In addition, she went to Radcliff College, and graduated with honors.

Miss Sullivan helped Helen throughout most of her life, and they remained good friends.
Helen was important because she helped the blind and deaf people all over the world. She raised money for the American foundation for the blind. She visited many countries and wrote many books. Helen Keller died at the age of eighty-eight, at her home in Connecticut.
Helen Keller was an inspiration to all the blind and deaf people over the world. Her writings showed her interest in the beauty of things, taken for granted by those who can see and hear.

LDS Family Services

Jason just received this thank you note from the adoption agency. It is so amazing to see how these gifts of hope and comfort are truely helping. - Steph

Dear Jason,

We just received some beautiful blankets and cute stuffed animals at our adoption agency. These will be given to birth mothers who choose to place their babies for adoption.

As you can imagine, placing a child is a very emotional and difficult decision to make. Hopefully these blankets will give some comfort to mothers who are mourning.

Thank you again,

Elizabeth Howell
Adoption Secretary, LDS Family Services

Service

Everyone can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Friends

In prosperity our friends know us;
in adversity we know our friends.

-John Churton Collins