Excel Still More

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Is anybody else sporting a terrible memory?  Oh man, I'm probably the worst I've ever met, but I can't remember.  Seriously, forgetting names, ideas, points, tasks, the names of my children... it's a big deal.  But, the work still needs to be done, you know?  Names still need to be recalled.  Duties still...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all have things in life we'd like to do, experiences we want to have, places to see, skills to learn, and horizons to behold.  But there comes a time in life when it hits you: "I'm not going to be able to do all of that."   How does it feel to realize that there are experiences and accomplishments beyon...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Okay, you may not agree with me on this one, but hear me out.  We traditionally view comparing ourselves in a negative light.  And, to be fair, comparing yourself with people you view as "better than you" can cause some serious deeds of the flesh outcomes, like jealousy and strife.  Also, comparing your self to peop...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Are you a 90 or a 52?  The difference is huge!  The difference is not 38.  The difference is more like 32,800!  The difference is generational lethargy (vs) changing your life in less than two months.  What's it gonna be?  Let's examine the story of Nehemiah.  What the people of God had failed to do for generations,...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Please and Thank You are the magic words!  We all learned that as kids, but do you know it still stands? Maybe we will look at Please in a future episode.  Today our focus is on that second term.  The truth is, in nearly EVERY situation, there is room for a Thank You.  It is often a much better choice than what might awkwardl...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Where is Jesus?  With reference to where you are right now, where is He?  Is He in heaven?  Is He far away? Is He right there with you?  How we see Jesus and where we see Jesus will have a huge impact on His imprint on our everyday lives. The Bible helps us see His presence, and asks us to acknowledge that He is always in the...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Solomon writes a lot about how unfair things are in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Things don't always work out and there are always a million things we don't know and/or cannot control.  However, he ultimately prescribes daily optimism and a willingness to cast your bread on the waters, even if you don't know what...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! This is our Back to School special episode!  Even if school is not a part of your life, consider this a Back to Reality message for all of us transitioning from Summer into the Fall.  We have travelled, enjoyed the season, loosened up on bed time and morning alarm time.  In some ways it may mean a bit of a fall off in the exc...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all have to deal with negative thoughts and potentially dangerous little lusts that pop up in our head.  If you are waiting on those to go away in order to build a better life... well, it just will never work out like you plan.  It's not about eliminating negative internal injury or temptations.  It's about HOW y...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! 50 Episodes ago we talked about "Eat That Frog." Well, let's catch up on that 25 weeks later.  Are you still knocking out annoying things, one per day, as early in the day as possible?  I've been at it since February.  I want to share how that has gone, some of the specific things accomplished, and it&apos...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Guess how many holes it takes to sink a boat?  Yep.  Just one.  More importantly, one hole left unfixed will do the damage.  It would be nice in life if there were never any holes in our boat. If we could just float along excelling still more and have no issues.  Such is just not to be.  The question is - are you willing to g...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! In C.S. Lewis's famous book, The Screwtape Letters, demons discuss how to win a Christian back to sin.  A major point of emphasis is the need to get him dwelling on the unchangeable past and the uncontrollable future!  These will keep his attention from the two things that are real, certain, guaranteed:  Eternity and Tod...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! In 1992, Gary Chapman wrote the book, "The Five Love Languages." Do you remember what they are?  What would you say are your top two love languages?  What about your spouse?  This episode explores what is possible when we identify what pleases the other person, how they comprehend and acknowledge love, and then shar...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Let's talk about a story from the 1800's, where a tragic crisis arose.  A man tried to fix it:  he changed everything and everyone around him, to no avail.  Finally, one day, he asked the fateful question: "Is it me?"  It was.  And with just a small personal adjustment, many lives were saved!  How many of...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Seven billion dollars is a whole lot of money!  For most of us, it is next level inconceivable really.  Could you imagine what it would be like to have that much money ... in debt? What if you owed it to someone.  Would you just give up on life?  Would you beg for mercy?  Let's talk about how that connects to Jesus.  And...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! It is great to set your course and stay on it.  Deciding on goals and pursuing them, no matter what, can really bring great results!  There are lots of cool Olympian stories of athletes who were big winners, because they wouldn't give up.  Some were losers, but they never took their eye off the finish line.  However, som...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all love to be appreciated.  Most of us enjoy accolades and cheers for what we do.  But really life isn't fueled by that, or is it?  If we feed off of support as a means to carry on, what will we do when the crowds stop cheering?  Are you equipped to have a deeper purpose than recognition by others?  And if this is so...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! This year I have become convinced of two things, beyond a doubt.  Firstly, Christians are to be Givers.  We ought to be the most generous, helpful, service-filled people on this earth!  Secondly, habits take wisdom to put into place.  You can't just get good at something.  You have to lay out a course of action in order...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all have issues in our lives.  You know, things we don't like, troubles, problems, stress producers.  However, we do not have to let bad situations rob us of our peace as children of God.  Prayers are helpful. But they won't be enough.  Life will push itself back in between you and God.  If you want to see things...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! In June of 1924, George Mallory ascended to the top of Mount Everest.  He and his friend Andrew Irving were the very first to do so! At least, that's what I believe.  It was a true mountain top experience.  Unfortunately the story does not end well, teaching us that the climb down is always the hardest, and that the moun...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! I sometimes get annoyed at things other people do... even though I do them myself.  This is part of life.  The real revelation is when I discover that it was my influence that led to their behavior!  Yes, we all cast a shadow.  It is inevitable and powerful.  You have an impact, an influence, on every person you are around. ...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Most of us struggle with overuse of electronic devices.  They are so convenient and address so many issues all in one place.  But most of us also know that such things can become addictive and keep us locked in to them and away from the walk God has planned for us.  But we can't just put the cell phone in the drawer for...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! We all make mistakes.  We do things we wish we did not do.  We say things we wish we had not said.  But do we understand where those issues begin?  It is not about the moment the thing is said or done, it goes back to the very first concession.  Sometime earlier a mental allowance gave the tiniest of inner green lights, leadi...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Did you know that the word "priorities" was rarely known or used before 1940?  It doesn't really makes sense when you think about it.  How can you have most important things?  How can there be multiple things that come first.  By definition, they wouldn't be most important. Instead, people used the word &q...

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! No matter who you are, there will be stretches when things don't come together.  Streaks get broken.  Outside influences distract.  We don't get the frog eaten.  We don't fulfill our daily highlight.  There is no one great hour.  For some, this means the end.  Great progress is abandoned by "setbacks.&quot...