Thursday, August 28, 2008

Manage Yourself

I don't do this very often, but I thought it may be good to go back and pull some notes from the sermon this past Sunday. I have been in a series dealing with each persons struggle to become all that God intends for them to become. You can pick up the scripture basis from chapters 3 & 4 in the Gospel of Luke. I believe it is critical for a person to manage the life that they are given if they are going to reach their full potential. I'm sure that I picked all of these up from some of my reading, or listening to a sermon on my ipod. So hopefully this will help you Manage Yourself.

1)Manage your Emotions. Feelings will fool you. Stop allowing your emotions to dictate your life!

2)Manage your Time. Try to maintain some semblance of a schedule. You have 10,080 minutes in every week. Use them efficiently!

3)Manage your Priorities. Your priorities will determine how you spend your resources. Evaluate!

4)Manage your Energy. Make sure you are not spending your energy on things that are not a priority. You are not the Energizer Bunny!

5)Manage your Thinking. Don't allow clutter in your thought processes. Think on the good things!

6)Manage your Words. The power of death and life is bound up in your words. Be careful of what you say!

7)Manage your Personal Life. Take care of proper relationships. Value the people God has given you!

Managing your life is a full-time job. But if you will work at it, the progress you make will serve as a great reward. So get to it - "Mr. Manager!"

Thursday, August 21, 2008

44...

I had a birthday last week. I turned 44. I guess I fall into the middle-age category for sure now. I've never had a birthday bother me like this one. There's just something about those two 4's standing together that makes me feel like I'm supposed to be really "grown-up" now. I have maintained that I would love to always be a kid at heart. The reality is that as I think about 44, I recognize once again how fast life is passing by. You can't help but think about where you are in life, and all that you hope to still accomplish. I know it's not like I'm about to 'kick the bucket' or anything, but I do think about how near I am to receiving my invitation to be a part of AARP. Good Grief! Can you say midlife crisis?
My kids are growing up, my hair is getting grayer, and the letters are printed with poor quality in most everything I try to read(I am sure it is not a need for reading glasses; it is the poor job of printing nowadays.). Lots of things change as you move through life.
With the changes comes different challenges. Getting older is not nearly as bad as some people try to make it sound. Think about it. Baby sitters are not always required for me to have some time with my wonderful wife. With the gray, God seems to send more wisdom. And the bad printing thing, it just makes me more aware of our need to improve on the quality of American Made products(DON'T laugh at my denial). No, with age comes some of the finer things in life, and I hope to experience as many of those things as possible. 44 feels better already!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I'm Back!!!

I'm Back!! To all the regular readers, sorry for the absence. To all of you who show up periodically, Hello again. To all the newcomers, where have you been?
I hope all of you have had a great summer. As always our summer was pretty hectic with different events, mission trips, baseball, and everything else. Our family had a great vacation at Myrtle Beach. We are finally far enough along that we know how to go and relax. Maybe that has a lot to do with the kids being older, and not being so demanding. We usually take a couple of weeks to simply do nothing except play in the sand, swim, and my specialty, eat! It's a great time to recuperate from the grind of real life.
But with the end of the summer comes a return to the norm of a routine of daily living. That's something that really becomes more of a longing as the new school year begins. I'm not one that just wants to get the kids back in school so they will be "out of our hair," but it does allow for us to operate on more of a regular schedule.
Hopefully you are in a place that you are geared up and ready to roll into the last third of the year. You know as well as I do that we will be singing Christmas carols before we know it. So set your course for the next few months. Get ready to move forward into the opportunities of the coming days. Make sure you are not settling into a rut, but a progressive routine. We'll finish 2008 out with a bang together! Let's Go!