Another day closer to retirement...

"Another day closer to retirement..." That's a statement I used to make when I would go to work... I would say "Another day closer to retirement, Yep, only 35 more years and I'm outta here..." As I have gotten older I realized that if retirement is the only thing I am looking forward to, I'm looking a little to far forward, missing what's right in front of me... To many times we dream, look forward to, or dread what's in the future... And there's nothing wrong with that... But we need to recognize what's in front of us... Too many times we miss out on GREAT opportunities that are starring us right in the face... 

My Point: BE WHERE YOU ARE!!!

Pardon the French...

I was sitting in a restaurant with a good friend of mine for my Birthday lunch that HE bought me (with a buy one get one coupon)... when a young professional looking young man sat at a table close by and answered his phone and began talking to a colleague... he talked for several minutes and the said these words (minus the expletives) "All there going to do is *?!$ people off, pardon the french!!!" As I was sitting there, my first thought was "If you have to ask people to pardon what you say, you probably shouldn't say it" my second thought was "That word isn't even french"...

My Point: I just found it funny....

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth...

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
For those who don't know, this means to basically be thankful for a gift, and not look down on its value. Now, if you don't know what a gift horse is, this can be confusing. Adding to that would be the question of why someone would 'look him' in the mouth to begin with.

In the times that the phrase was coined, horses were quite the commodity, as their uses were many. One of the ways to possibly determine a horse's age is to look at its teeth, surely the younger the better. So it was probably rude to go digging around the mouth if someone gave you a horse as a gift, at least while they were still standing there.

I just returned tonight from a trip to a VERY nice golf resort weekend... Friday, Saturday & Sunday... Friday, as soon as we got there, It started to rain...rain, rain and more rain... at that moment, I could've started looking the "Gift Horse" in the mouth... I could've started complaining and looking at the negative stuff..

What happens when you get close to something? (say, maybe a horse?) you begin to notice the "Flaws"... the flaws that you didn't see when you were farther away...

My Point: just because you have flaws, doesn't mean you shouldn't let people get close... We weren't designed to do life alone... get over yourself and love God, love people, and love life!!!

If this is the worst thing...

"If this is the worst thing that ever happened, it been a good life..." I heard this from a very good friend of mine... He said this to me when one of my kids decided to grow there hair really long. (and it was one of my boys...) It really got me to look at the things that happen in my life... If I tell myself "If this is the worst thing that ever happened, it been a good life..." then those things are put into perspective... Begin to look at your circumstances in the light of "If this is the worst thing that ever happened, it been a good life..." A lot of times, we look at our circumstances and we only see the WHAT'S GOING ON NOW!!!

cliché...

cliché

n cliché [ˈkliːʃei, (American ) kli:ˈʃei]

a phrase which has been used too often, and has become meaningless.

As many of you know, I am a person who probably uses WAY TOO MANY OF THESE... And, if by definition, these cliche's are "used too often, and have become meaningless", then how do you still be you and yet communicate it in such a way that what you say doesn't "become meaningless?" well, I've heard it said that Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it's the only one you have. Are "cliche's" the only thing you have to say?

I think that one way you can still be you (use A Lot of cliche's) and still be heard is to make sure the other things you say have merit... Don't just talk to talk... A phrase I use with my kids and wife goes like this, "Say what you mean, and mean what you say..." The words we use are very important, they have the power to lift someone up, or tear someone down...

NOW, go and use the right words... (even if they ARE cliche's)

a chain is only as strong as its weakest link...

"a chain is only as strong as its weakest link..." describes a circumstance where one weak person or a small part of a greater whole causes the whole project or object to fail...

A Chain - a series of things linked together... When we think of a chain, we might think of a Bike Chain, or a Chain link fence, or a chain necklace... The one thing they have in common? Is that they are all made of links... It's one thing to have your bike chain break because of a weak link, or even a chain link fence, but a chain necklace? You could loose something very valuable depending on the material that the links are made of... 

I am the link, am I made of a strong material? am I the weakest in my chain?

I never want to be the weakest... and I also never want to surround myself with the weakest... Surround yourself with strong links, and BE a strong link...

"If they jumped off a bridge would you jump too?..."

"If they jumped off a bridge would you jump too?..." It meant that a person shouldn't do something just because someone else did it. They shouldn't follow the crowd; they should only do something if they truly want to do it. 

How many times do we "Follow the Crowd?" Is it wrong? I guess it depends on who's leading the crowd and where they are going... I have just become part of an AMAZING team of people in Pickerington Ohio and I have decided to "Follow the Crowd", Why you ask? Because they are all moving in a direction that I not only like, but It's where I wanna go, what I wanna do!!! They are all moving towards leading people to LifeChange... Isn't that what it's all about?

I can't speak for you, but I sure am glad that someone cared enough about me to help direct me towards LifeChange...

My Point: If your going to "Jump of the Bridge because they are", Make sure it's the right Bridge, and make sure that you jump in the right direction...

Gotta pull out all the stops...

"Gotta pull out all the stops..." This phrase comes from the pipe organs in churches and classical music. Each pipe has a "stop" that acts as a baffle that controls the amount of airflow. The volume of the organ can be adjusted by adding or removing the stops. By pulling out all the stops, all pipes are playing at their loudest. 

The things about those pipes, with the stops in, they sound good, but are NOT doing everything they can... "Restrictions have been put place...!!!!" 

There are times when we have to Pull Out ALL the Stops in our lives and live up to our FULL POTENTIAL... we have to get rid of all the restrictions that are keeping us from doing all we can do... What ever it is you are doing, pull out the restrictions and see what happens!!! Let me know how it goes... 

The grass is always greener on the other side..

illustration: It comes from the idea of looking at a neighbors lawn and seeing it as better looking, healthier and overall greener then your own, when in reality you’re just ignoring anything negative about theirs and downplaying everything positive about your own. WOW... That says A LOT... How many times do we look at what everyone else does good and tell them how good they are doing and look at what we're doing and find the negative... in other words, "They're grass is greener than mine..." What we tend to ignore, refuse to look at, or just plain not recognize is that in order to have greener grass, you have to use more fertilizer!!!(J/K) 

My Point: You and I were created to do our best, and we can't look at what others are doing and say they did a better job if we are doing our best... Do your best at everything you do and your grass will ALWAYS look better than what it would have...

You gotta be in it, to win it...

There are things in our lives that we all need to do better, for me, it's to not say these words after each time I finish saying something... "You know what I mean?" I have to admit, I do say that A LOT.... Why do I say that? If I can't say what I mean, then WHY AM I SAYING ANYTHING? I have to ask people if they know what I mean....  So, we have started a Staff Competition here at C3 (you can always depend on a competition going on). Gary, Dawn, Konan and myself are holding each other accountable for those things in our lives that we want to change... Each time we are caught doing that "Thing" that we want to change, we have to throw in a quarter in the jar... Then at a given time, we will take the money out and go to lunch. (spilt just gary's portion and go to Red Lobster...)

My Point: Having someone else help hold you accountable to do what you say you want to do is not a bad thing... Maybe if we had more people in our lives to help us "Say what we mean, and mean what we say", this world might just be a different place... But you gotta be in it, to win it... (the competition that is)

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch...

This phrase is thought to have originated because many saloons in the U.S. used to provide free lunches to their patrons, but required them to purchase drinks in order to get them. My Friend, Gary wrote a blog "Free Lunch?" he said "Next week I will be enjoying a free lunch with a great friend." WELL, let me tell you, it's true... "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch...",  It cost me money, and it cost him time... Yeah I know, he was going to eat lunch anyways... SOOOO WHAT!!! He paid for lunch with his time, HIS time investing TIME with me... We both had an investment.... So what is free about that lunch??? NOTHING... He chose to invest just as much if not more than I did... He chose to invest of himself... That has SOOOOO much more value than me buying him something to eat...

My point, take time to invest in someone this week, even if it costs you money!!!

Wipe the slate clean...

"Wipe the slate clean.." WHAT??? def. to forget all past problems or mistakes and start something again; to start a new and better way of behaving, forgetting about any bad experiences in the past... There comes a time in our lives when we have to decide if we are going to face the stuff in our lives or "Wipe the slate Clean" Do we allow others in our lives to bring stuff up from our past and "Throw it in our face?" or does there come a point when we have to "draw the line in the sand", Move on with our lives and start living differently... as followers of Christ, aren't you glad that we can look back and see the proverbial "line in the sand"!! that point in our lives that we can say that we had an opportunity to "Forget all past problems or mistakes and start something again"!! I sure am glad that I had that opportunity!!! If you haven't had that opportunity, let me know, I would love to help you draw that line...