AVOIDING OBLIVION!

There was a hunter who came into the possession of a special bird dog. The dog was the only one of its kind, because it can walk on water. One day he invited a friend to go hunting with him so that he could show off his prized possession. After some time, they shot a few ducks, which fell into the river. The man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. The dog ran on water to fetch the birds. The man was expecting a compliment about the amazing dog, but did not receive it. Being curious, he asked his friend if the friend had noticed anything unusual about the dog. The friend replied, “Yes, I did see something unusual about your dog. Your dog can’t swim!”

It's always easier to see the what can't be done or the obstacles in the way to accomplishing our goals.

"The majority see the obstacles; the few see the objectives; history records the successes of the latter, while oblivion is the reward of the former."— Alfred Armand

I don't know about you but "oblivion" has always been something to avoid!  So it is probably wise to figure out how to move toward the positive.

Experts say it's worthwhile—and possible—to learn how to think more positively though....researchers have found:

 
•People who were pessimistic had a nearly 20 percent higher risk of dying over a 30-year period than those who were optimistic 

•People who kept track of their gratitude once a week were more upbeat and had fewer physical complaints than others

 
•People who obsessively repeated negative thoughts and behaviors were able to change their unhealthy patterns by thinking positively—and their brain activity actually changed and their actual health improved

There is a great guideline given to us to live by for this in Philippians 4:8 (NIV)....and hey if the researchers are correct....we will live longer by following this advice:

Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things

HAPPY THINKING!

And the NOMINEES are.....

 

The nominees for the 41st Annual Dove Awards were announced on February 18, 2010 and we are excited  that our very own Travis Cottrell and his project "Jesus Saves Live" is nominated in 4 categories.

Praise & Worship Album of the Year:  

Jesus Saves Live
Inspirational Album of the Year:  Jesus Saves Live
Inspirational Song of the Year: Jesus Saves
Choral Collection of the Year: Jesus Saves Live

These honors don't happen by accident and there are a lot of people who worked on this incredible project!  A big CONGRATULATIONS! to Travis and his great team, our in:ciite/indelible team for always going the extra mile, our partners at Word distribution who have and are working tirelessly to get this project in all the right places, and the Brentwood-Benson team for a great choral collection. 

 

The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry House, where awards will be handed out in 43 categories. The ceremony will be televised on April 25, 2010 on the Gospel Music Channel.

Before I start.....

 

You say grace before meals.  All right.  But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.  ~G.K. Chesterton

A simple law of nature.

Just as darkness and light cannot occupy the same space in nature, neither can complaining and gratitude occupy the same space. While we are complaining all of our focus is on what is negative about our life. While we are expressing sincere gratitude our focus, for that moment, is on the positive in our life.

Today I choose to be grateful.

I will:

 
•step back from the obsessive negativity in our world and gain new perspective 

•tell others I am grateful for what they do for me 

•share compassion with those on my path
•thrive and be thankful for where I am  

•embrace creativity and find new ways to stimulate progress
•be still and thank God for all He has done

 

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."- Melodie Beattie

Your cleansed and grateful life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done." -Jesus
Matthew 8:3 (The Message)

Leaving Prideville

Pride diminishes wisdom- Arabian Proverb

We are all prone to pride and arrogance..... of course because of personality types some of us have more to deal with than others.  But it is still something we all have to face and how we deal with these "experiences" usually fuel our next success or failure.

It really doesn't matter who you are....arrogance/pride is not a respecter of position or persons.  I recently experienced an example of this last week at a John Mayer concert.  He had said some things recently in an interview he definitely should not have said and the reaction and backlash were measurable for him.

Here was a part of his "apology/confession" at the concert that evening:

"In the quest to be clever, I completely forgot about the people that I love and the people that love me. And I went, as I have begun to do, into a wormhole of selfishness and greediness and arrogance in thinking that if I could just continue to be speedy and witty and pull together as many fast words and phrases as I could, that I could be clever enough to buy myself another day." He went on to say...."So I decided to be as clever as possible all the time, and I did that at the expense of people that I love. That feels absolutely terrible. It feels worse than any headline I thought I could get my way out of"

This is where it all goes ultimately correct? Maybe not a public apology in front of 18,000 people in an arena with the worldwide "press" writing every word but the eventual consequences are hurting others and not feeling good about ourselves.  I definitely do not condone John Mayer's actions or lifestyle, but if we are honest, all of us can relate to our times of being prideful and sticking our foot in our mouth.

Is it our fear of the unknown or uncertainty or the fear of "what others think of us"?

This sparked the reading of a book called, Embracing uncertainty: the essence of leadership by Phillip G. Clampitt, Robert J. Dekoch.  In the book the authors addressed the simple act of humility:

Effective leaders freely acknowledge that there is a lot more they don't know than they do know.  But instead of being debilitated by this thought, they can use it as a platform for great achievements.  Perhaps the most influential scientist in history, Isaac Newton, made the point most eloquently:

I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy, playing on the sea shore....whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."-Sir Isaac Newton

Newton's humility stands in stark contrast to the French Generals of his time.  He is remembered as the quintessential scientist while the French military became symbolic of how arrogance led to colossal failure!

So where does that leave you and me?  Today we have another choice; learn from our and others previous bouts of failure with arrogance and pride and move toward success or continue our journey as John Mayer aptly put it, "down the wormhole of greediness, selfishness, and arrogance" toward yet another failure.

Here is what Proverbs 29:23 says in The Message:

Pride lands you flat on your face; humility prepares you for honors.

Here is to a journey of honor and not flat faces :-)

Staying SHARP!

A simple story. A sharp message.

A very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. His salary was really good and so were the working conditions. The woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to fell the trees.  The first day, the woodcutter brought 15 trees. “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Carry on with your work!” Highly motivated by the words of his boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring 10 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he was only able to bring 7 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.  “I must be losing my strength,” the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized saying that he could not understand what was going on.  “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”

It is a good reminder: don't forget and sharpen the tools you use in your career and life.

The #1 habit successful people share with me is this: They read books to learn. They do it often and with joy. It's cheap (or free, at the library or online) and portable and specific.

The #2 habit is they learn from others.  Either people they work with or "experts" in their field.

The #3 habit may be surprising: take a break and learn something that is outside your expertise.  You will become "sharper" at what you do by learning "new" things.

Is this profound?  Maybe not.....but I needed to remind myself that although recently I have been working hard, I haven't stopped to sharpen my axe lately!

Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights. Proverbs 18:15

The highway of MORE LIFE!

 

  

On our highway of life, it is natural to seek reassurance. Most of us want to believe that the choices we make will work out, that everything will be okay. But then there is change and change, by definition, changes things. It makes some things better and some things worse. When things don't turn out the way you planned and what seemed at the beginning a thrilling and exciting adventure is not the way you envisioned it, what do you do?

How do you react?

I think for most sane people the quick response is "how do I escape?" or "This is harder than I thought, I am going to quit now before it gets worse".

This is the easiest time to quit, but it’s also the worst. Halfway up the mountain — after the initial rush adrenaline has worn off and the challenges have become more obvious — it’s tempting to seize any opportunity to bail.

But here is the problem with quitting: quitting halfway up the mountain again and again means we spend more of our time starting over, less of our time doing great things. Our greatest achievements come with a cost.....that cost? perseverance!

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, 

“There are no victories at bargain prices.”

Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said:

“A man can be as great as he wants to be…If you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done.”

Paul talked about the price he paid: 

“I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:26)

His point is that long term success isn’t free and it’s never easy.

At some point everyone will face what seems to be an impossible, irreversible situation.

Here are three principles that I have seen consistently in people I admire who have dealt with challenges:

1. They have pre-determined that even in seemingly impossible situations they will not give up and lose sight of their goal.

2. Instead of focusing on the problem they start focusing on the solution.

3. These people are often separated from the crowd by their persistence in belief that God will do the impossible. Even if God does not do the impossible for them it is the belief and actions based on those beliefs that allow them to rise above the challenge.

Don't give up now.....have determination, focus, and belief that God can and will help you!  The reward?  LIFE!

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. James 1:12 (The Message)