Monthly Summary for August

On the last day of August, I though I'd try something new and offer  a summary page of the post from August. I appreciate the many readers who tell me they enjoy my content. I encourage you to share the stuff that you feel is "sharable." All it takes is a "Copy and Paste" routine with the URL (website address) in an email, Facebook or Twitter. If you are a SUBSCRIBER (you get the email when I post...if you want to join them, find the big arrow on the right) all you need to do is forward the email. I would love to connect with new readers.


Guest Post: Logan Morris, "Swallow the Big Frog First"
While I was in Nicaragua, I asked my daughter Logan to post in my place. She did a great job. She actually garnered more comments that I usually do...

Smiles From the Trash Dump
This is my summary from my visit to Chosen Children Ministries in Nicaragua.

Get Out of the Way
Sometimes God wants to do great things, but we tend to get in the way.

No - I'm not on Facebook and Twitter all day!
Due to some tactical procedures, I give the impression of being on Social Media sites "all day." Here are my secrets...

How to Answer Your Kids' Questions
A simple strategy to slowing down in your parenting and engaging with your children.

What is Success?
My response to how a Christian defines success.

What Is Success?

Photo credit: http://7toolstosuccess.com/

Someone recently asked me, "What does success look like for a Christian?" 


"Success is a journey, not a destination." - John Maxwell [Tweet This Now]

Before I offer my answer, let's look at how most people answer that question.

Smiles From the Trash Dump

I just returned from a week in Nicaragua serving with Chosen Children Ministries. This was my second trip. One thing I've learned about trips like this is that the operative word is "flexibility." That's not a reflection of CCM ability to plan. It's just the nature of planting yourself in a foreign country with an entirely different understanding of time, objectives and deadlines. And yet, being flexible creates opportunities that you seldom expect. That's what happened to us...

Wrecked - Getting Messed Up In a Good Way

I was privileged to get a pre-release of Jeff Goin's new book Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. In exchange for the sneak peek, I was asked to write a review. 


Very Good Stuff
I'll go ahead and confess, I'm not sure if I can do that effectively. The book has so much great content, that to attempt to whittle it down into a summary may not do it justice. I have a different approach that I want to use. Before I do share, let me set the stage with this simple overview.


Wrecked will make you pause and look back over your life at the moments when your life collided with the world and in those moments, your eyes were opened to a new perspective. More than likely, those experiences altered the direction of your life. Jeff attempts to help us understand those experiences and how the people around us respond to their own Wrecked moments.

Phyllis Crain: It's About Living, Not Dying

I'll go ahead and tell you...this is a video that last for nine minutes. But if you need encouragement, it will be worth those nine minutes. Thus why I'm posting it on a Friday. I hope you can carve out some time over the weekend to watch.


This is a story about Phyllis Crain. She was my 6th grade teacher at O.P. Earle Elementary School in Landrum, SC. She had a huge impact on my life. I'm sure we all can point to a teacher or two who influenced us a little differently than the other teachers in our lives. Mrs. Crain launched me onto a journey that would play a big part of shaping me into the person I am today.

How to Give Something When You Have Nothing

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

What if your phone rang and the person on the other end was asking you to give them something? Something you didn't have. Nothing elaborate or expensive, just a mattress.


This is a true story about a need, a desire to help and a computer. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. (I've always wanted to say that.)

Valerie is a friend of mine who has a big heart and loves to help people. I've learned that if you ever have something you want prayed over, she's the person to call. When Valerie prays, you almost feel like breaking the rules and peeping to see where Jesus is standing because she talks to Him as if He's right in front of her...well He is, you know.

One afternoon, Valerie's phone rang and a stranger was on the other end of the call. Not a complete stranger, but a lady she had recently met. We'll call her Sue. Sue was in a bind. Turns out one of Sue's children needed a place to sleep other than the floor. Sue was asking Valerie if she had an extra mattress or knew of someone who did. Sue figured if she could just get a mattress it would be better than sleeping on the floor. Valerie loves to help people, but she was very limited in what she could do. She was unemployed. A victim of a recession-driven downsize, Valerie found herself barely able to keep the power on and food on the table.

How does a person who has almost nothing give something?

Stop Giving People the Finger

Yep, you've done it. You've given people the finger but I don't mean that one.

If you've read Michael Hyatt's book, Platform, or listened to his recent podcast, you should recognize the phrase, "The How of Wow". I love his use of the lobby experience to illustrate how some companies create the “Wow” experience and others come just short of asking you to leave. There's a company local to me that has actually removed the receptionist completely from their lobby. When you enter the lobby, there's a sign on the wall next to a phone that reads, "If you need assistance, use the phone and the extension list."

Listening to Michael paint a picture of the “Wow” experience, I was reminded of something we teach the Host Team at church: Don’t give people the finger. 

Leadership begins at 2:00am

Dave McGillivray

Lessons I learned from Boston Marathon Race Director, Dave McGillivray. His day begins with a 2:00am wake-up call and concludes at 7:30pm when he crosses the finish line of his own individual marathon. 

(Source: Runner's World, May 2012, The Boston Wrangler)

• "If I've done my job right, I should be the least busy person on race day."

This is the essence of leadership. Take a team of people, find their strengths, hopes and desires and position them for THEIR success.  Unfortunately, some see leadership as positioning their people for the leader's success. 

• "I'm proud to finish last every year."

When the last runner crosses the finish line, Dave loads up and heads back to the start line. Not to begin cleaning up, but to put on his running shoes. He allows all 27,000 runners to cross the line ahead of him and then completes his own marathon. Servant leaders tend to shine a little brighter than selfish leaders.

• "At the end of my life, I hope I have used everything I had until I simply...ran out of time."

How often do you hear someone talk about just working hard? Most people I know are keeping something in the tank for later. They have a grandiose plan of saving a little energy for themselves; a little reward for having put in the time for others. 

When I think about the successful people I know, I see a clear trend of hard work, sacrifice and commitment. Sure, skill has something to do with it, but you just can't overlook good old "elbow grease." 

Reflect and Deflect

Just a quick word to get the week going...


I'm SOAPing through Genesis and reading the account of Joseph's experience in Egypt. In today's passage, I read where he was pulled from the dungeon to interpret Pharaoh's dream.  Notice the exchange...

Pharaoh: "I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it."

Joseph: "It is not me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace."

Joseph pulls a move that I have begun to teach my kids. It's the "Reflect and Deflect" move.

Sometimes You Have to Pick Up the Broom

I went to my local McDonalds recently and was encouraged by an unexpected site. I saw the owner (not the manager) out in the parking lot with a broom, sweeping up trash. I commented, "Now that's leadership at its finest." She just chuckled.


She's a real neat lady. I met her a few years ago as I happened to be there one day eating and she was out in the dining area, get this, wiping down tables. (I think she has a handle on Servant Leadership.) In that exchange, I commented on how hard her team was always working. She wasted no time letting me know what she thought about her team.

How to Run a Half-Marathon without Training, Part 2

My wife recently ran a Half-Marathon without one mile of training. It wasn't that she set out to show how this could be done. It was more about a spur of the moment decision to do attempt something she has wanted to do for a while.


This is the second installment of "How to Run a Half-Marathon without Training." I am sharing the components of her story as they unfolded during our weekend trip to Myrtle Beach. If you would like to backtrack to the beginning, here's a link to How to Run a Half-Marathon without Training, Part 1.


5) Encouragement that matters...

When she announced that she was going to run, immediately, the others in the group began to say, "You can do it." I must confess. I wasn't as optimistic. It wasn't that I thought she could not do it. It was simply I did not think anyone could do it. Seriously, how many people just up and decide to run 13.1 miles without any adverse consequences? In years past, I had seen countless runners walking back to the Starting Line after just a few miles of race under their feet. I had seen numerous people receive medical care, even airlifted to hospitals. And these were people who had trained for the race.

I soon recognized Angela's resolve. I also sensed that the encouragement she wanted the most was mine. Keep in mind that just a few hours earlier she had been challenged to create change in her life. Who was I to disrupt that notion? I relinquished my hold to common sense and said, "You should do this and I'm going to do it with you."

 6) You never leave your partner in a fire...

How to Run a Half-Marathon Without Training, Part 1

Half-Marathon T-shirt at the Expo

I just returned from one of the annual highlights of my calendar year. Angela and I traveled down to Myrtle Beach, SC for the Myrtle Beach Marathon/Half-Marathon Weekend. We look forward to this trip as we join three other couples close to our age for food, fellowship and fun. Preparations begin in late October as we all begin our training regiment to prepare for the long and taxing 13.1 mile run along the coastline of South Carolina. Angela has never joined the running aspect of the trip. While running a 5K (3.1 miles) is on her "Bucket List," finding the time to train for a race while tending to our family is nearly impossible.


So you can imagine the thoughts dashing through my mind when she announced on Friday afternoon, the day before the race, that she thought she just might sign up to run the Half-Marathon. That's right, the 13.1 mile race...without ONE mile of training. She didn't even have running apparel. (She did happen to have her shoes.) Let me go ahead and give you the punch line in case you need to move on to something else: She did it! She got up on Saturday morning, put on her shirt, shorts and shoes and ran 13.1 miles in less than 3 hours (2 hours, 45 mins).

You're AWESOME!

Question: How does a kid who is 5'8" tall, growing up in an abusive home, surrounded by poverty make it into the NBA?


Answer: He has a dream and he has someone who believes in him.


Meet Melvin Adams. He's a former NBA player and Harlem Globetrotter who travels the nation encouraging kids and adults to embrace the challenges in their lives as opportunities to grow and move toward success. He says it all started when a guidance counselor at his school began to tell him he was "Awesome!" He shares that she said it every day and soon, he started to believe it. That simple act of reaching out to a kid to create value in him made all the difference in the world to Melvin. It actually changed the course of his life.

Are You Leveraging Your Life?

Like many people, I began 2012 looking ahead to what I wanted to accomplish this year. Not so much drafting resolutions, but more about what I wanted my life to look like in December. As any good planner would do, I sat down with a pen and paper to compose my master plan.  Then I just stared at the paper.

I had some objectives that I wanted to accomplish, but that wasn't what I was going for in this particular composition. I wanted something I could use as a filter for decision-making, planning and ambitions. A mantra to guide me toward a desired outcome. I still stared at the paper.

A few days later I was in my car listening to a talk by Gabe Lyons who wrote the book, "The Next Christians." I listened as he painted a picture of a generation of Christ-followers who want to engage culture and leverage the life God gave them to create change. The more I listened, the more the word "leverage" loomed in my mind.

Leverage. How could I leverage my life for good? But as a follower of Jesus Christ, my life is not my own, so leveraging it for MY good is really not the point. All that I do needs to be for His glory.

When the talk finished, I played it again. As I listened, and pondered the leverage angle, I grabbed a pen and scratch piece of paper and began crafting a sentence that would describe what I wanted my life to look like. After many different drafts and edits, this is where I landed:

Leveraging Your Influence [Video: Tebow]

If you're at all connected to the sports world, you are aware of the buzz surrounding Tim Tebow. This is a young man who knows his purpose in life and leverages his influence to bring honor to God. He's a gifted athlete and as he mentions here, to be given such talent and not use it off the field would be a shame.


This is good...







[I invite and want your feedback. Use the "Comment" box below and where it asks to "Comment As", select "Name/URL" and provide that information if you like. You can also post your comment as an "Anonymous" guest.]

Christmas Cards Around the World

For the past 10 years, the Morris family has collected Christmas cards for missionaries around the world.  Thanks to many of you, we have collected over 24,000 cards (5,000 collected in 2011).  The missionaries use the cards for crafts with children in poverty-stricken countries.  A lot of the families use the cards as wall art in their homes.  This is a great example of one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure.  What’s even better is that every card given represents a child or adult who is hearing the message of the God who loves them and wants to know them personally.  So much so that He sent His Son to pay the penalty for their sin.

One missionary in Nigeria wrote:  "I greatly appreciate the large amount of cards you sent me.  We (missionaries) are so encouraged when we receive the packages of cards.  The cards are so colorful and the children like that."

Our part of this is project is collecting the cards, cutting them and keeping the fronts to be given out as gifts. 

If you would like to help, just send me any old cards (Christmas, Birthday, Thank You, etc).  If you have the time to cut them, that always helps, but it’s not required to participate.  Feel free to let others know about this project.  We collect cards throughout the year but our huge emphasis is obviously December - February.  Thanks in advance for your help.  It’s a simple and great way to make an impact on children and families around the world! 

Send an email to contact.dmorris@gmail.com if you want to know where to send your cards.

What Would You Do?

Watch this (it's NOT gory)...





What inhibits us from coming to the assistance of people in need? Having experienced this first hand recently, I have learned that when I rely on my REACTION to something like this, I will fail...just like the people in the video.

A month ago, I came upon a fatal automobile accident. Both vehicles were grossly mangled; one was even upside down. As I exited my vehicle I saw others running to the assistance of two individuals who were ejected from their vehicle. I approached the vehicle that was upside down and saw a hand reaching out a broken window. I got down to assess their condition. Both the driver and passenger, husband and wife, were alert with only minor injuries, just hanging upside down (no one had a knife to cut the seat belt.) Since they were "OK," I defaulted to "Good Samaritan" mode and gave my attention to cleaning debris out of the road and gathering some valuables that were scattered across the road. Once the emergency personnel arrived and I had given them the valuables I had gathered, I left. Then it hit me...

Not once had I made an attempt to comfort this couple. I didn't ask their name. I didn't stay with them until help arrived. I didn't offer to call anyone. I just left...

Why?

I have concluded that I failed in this instance because I wasn't prepared. I relied solely on my REACTION and not a RESPONSE. What's the difference? A response is premeditated. It is planned out in advance. It is having a plan.

This event was a defining moment in my life.  I seriously doubt that I'll find myself in a similar situation and react the way I did that afternoon.  And if you find yourself in a such a scenario, I hope you'll learn from my mistake and be better prepared than I was.