It's Football Season!!!

On a wall in my office hangs a print of a small, blond haired boy in blue jeans and a long sleeve, red and white striped shirt looking out over the ocean. Below the photo, the word PRIORITIES leaps off the page in all caps. And then at the bottom you find these words:

"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."

As I read that, I'm reminded of Steven Covey's Habit #3 that says, "Put First Things First." As he develops that point, he makes a great statement: "The things that matter most must never come at the mercy of things that matter least." It would appear that many people have forsaken what matters most in their lives in order to obtain things that really don't matter much at all. 

Priorities are the things we place in the center of our lives. It's what we revolve around from day to day. For some it's their job; for others, it's their stuff; and still for others it's personal success. But as I eluded to in the beginning, once they get to where they are going, there's a good chance they'll have no one to share it with because they neglected the people closest to them along the way. Not to mention that they may have never considered the One who helped their plans succeed in the first place.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."

Bobby Bentley was someone who was chasing a dream of being a successful football coach. Success as a high school coach at nationally ranked Byrnes High School led to an opportunity to coach a college football team at Presbyterian College. Then it all changed. Here's his story...

Back to School!!!

School is about to begin. Time for bookbags, notebooks, pencils and more. But as we kick off another 180 days of learning, I want to suggest that the most valuable component of a successful year might be something other than the typical items. It's something that varies among students, teachers and administrators. What is it? It's our perspective.

For some, the next 180 days are necessary evils. For others, they are opportunities to make a difference in themselves and others. It's like the old African adage that says...

Every morning, in Africa, the gazalle wakes up
Knowing if it runs slower than the fastest lion, it will be eaten.

Every morning, in Africa, the lion awakes,
Knowing if it runs slower than the fastest gazelle, it will starve.

Every morning when the sun comes up,
It doest't matter if your a lion or a gazelle,
You'd better be running.

Whether you are an educator or parent, we all play a part in helping our kids be successful in their education. I'm convinced that the parent's role in their child's learning is the most critical factor of their success. Don't neglect this responsibility.

Education is not simply reading, writing and arithmetic. It's becoming more about learning how to learn and how to make good choices. It's about getting up every morning knowing that you need to be moving forward. This video might help...Have a GREAT year and make it count!

eXtreme Kids Camp Wrap-Up Video

I'm working on a "Back to School" post. But before I get that up, I thought you'd like to see an overview of our week at camp. Thanks to "P-Diddy Pastor Doug" for allowing me to tag along and to "Super Ken" Mayfield for his work on the video each night and for this finale. Enjoy!

(* Note: If you happen to catch a guy in between two girls and they are all covered in "yuck," that's me and my girls...)

OMC = Organized Mass Chaos

It's Wednesday at the Extreme Kids Camp. We're learning what it means to be a "Worship Machine." This is a first-class event for children!

The purpose of this post is simply to share a quick video of faces from the morning event. It's called "OMC" and it lives up to its name. I'll save details for later (if you need to know more, let me know.) In the mean time, here is a video (without sound) of the typical end result:

The Birds and the Bees...

Thought that would get your attention...

This past weekend, my wife took our youngest daughter away for her "Big Girl" talk. I'm not sure how you might handle this, but it stressed my wife to no end. The stress wasn't so much due to the content as it was her desire to set the correct foundation for our daughter's understanding of the greatest expression of love between a husband and wife.

As much as we try to use our marriage to reflect God's love for His greatest and favorite creation, we can only show them so much ;o). Some things are best reserved for them to discover with thier future spouse.

You may be asking, "How did it go?" Answer: GREAT!

How can anyone say that talking to an eleven-year-old about sex is "Great!"? It's easy. She used a program called, "Passport to Purity" produced by Dennis and Barbara Rainey (link provided below.) It's a weekend get-a-way with five sessions covering everything from self-esteem, dating and yes, the intricate details of "the marriage bed." More importantly, it was all based on God's design for His creation, not pop-culture. Just you, your child, some props and a CD player.

I love my wife! She loves our girls enough to work to put this weekend together and plan all of the details to pull it off. It will be a memory for them that will last a lifetime! It's like this; as parents, we can be reactive TO our kids or we can be proactive FOR our kids. We just want to be ahead of them to help them learn to make good choices.

The choices they make now will determine the life they live later.

Link for Passport to Purity.

You've got two seconds...

Have you ever had a moment in your life when you felt as if you were playing a game of Musical Chairs, the music stops...and there's no more chairs?

In the context of the game, it's a simple rush of disappointment as you realize you're "out." In the context of life, it's not so simple. When you "run out of chairs" in life, everything stops. You feel as if all the oxygen has left the room. You are aware of nothing going on around you except the one thing that has stopped the music. I recently heard the story of family who had such an experience.

They had their second child over one year ago. A precious little girl, whom they knew before she was born would have a club foot. A "minor" challenge that would be corrected with surgery later in life. Nothing to be concerned about. But a few days after she was born, the music stopped. She had an extra chromosome. She had Down syndrome.

As her parents shared her story, her dad made this comment: "It's times like this that you have just two seconds...two seconds to decide how you will respond." He shared how he was speechless. Nothing to say. His wife, however, didn't flinch. With a hint of fear and a heap of faith, she asked, "OK, where do we go from here?"

While it may have felt as if the music had stopped, she knew it was just beginning. She knew the Creator makes no mistakes. She knew this precious little girl was just as she was created to be. She knew the Creator had a plan.

Psalm 139:14-16 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

The bottom line here is that there will always be events in our lives over which we have no control. At those moments, the only thing we can control is our response. Some choose to get angry and bitter, while others see the opportunity to experience God on a whole new level. They know that regardless of how "bad" the situation, He's even greater.

Get ready. Life is moving on but one day, the music might stop. Get ready. You've got two seconds.

This is a link to a video that features this family. They appear just over halfway...you will not miss them: http://vidego.316networks.com/player.php?p=u8y0g80d

Countdown to Extreme Kids Camp

It's almost that time of year...

The Extreme Kids Camp is quickly approaching and the Morris clan can't wait. The topic of camp comes up in our home all throughout the year. But this year, we're especially excited because the folks at Woodlands Camp have just complete a MAJOR overhaul of the lake. (I'll post photos below.) If you've been, don't panic...the "Blob" is still there.

Another reason we get excited about camp is it's a great week of getting away from our normal routine, TVs, Emails and everything else that demands our attention back home. We're with friends, creation and, of course, the Creator. I get to speak during our evening event (music, videos, skits, etc...) It's one of the highlights of our year.

If you're local to our area and want to know more, you can call 864.578.0509. It's open to anyone who wants to join us. Kids need to be rising 3rd - 6th grade.

As promised...here are some pictures of the new additions at camp.

(You can click on the photos to make them larger.)

New Bridge, Diving area and "The Blob."

New Slides (Cool!!!)

Brand new Lake Swing...

Tuesday: The Most Stressful Day of The Week

What’s the most stressful day of the week? Monday, right? After all, it’s the first day back to work after the weekend. WRONG! According to a new study, Tuesday is actually the most stressful day of the week, and to get really specific, your stress level will peak at 11:45 on Tuesday morning.

A study was done by a UK company – and they surveyed 3,000 workers and found that mid-morning on the second day of the week is when workers feel the most pressure. Of course conventional wisdom, and popular music, would say that Monday is the most “manic” day. However, according to the survey, a lot of employees coast through Monday, just sort of getting their brain back in gear and catching up with weekend gossip. A startling 53 percent of people polled admitted they don’t get much work done on Monday, and 10 percent of those folks admitted it’s because they’re spending a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter. Then on Tuesday, reality sets in. People suddenly realize how much work needs to get done by Friday and they get stressed out. It stands to reason, if you coast through Monday it makes Tuesday even worse, because your workload is bigger and your stress is greater.

Since everything comes to a head Tuesday right before lunch, the survey found that employees are more likely to work through their lunch break on Tuesday than on any other day. They’re also more likely to leave the office late on Tuesday. So what’s causing all the stress? 25 percent of workers say it’s the heavy workload, 12 percent blame their boss, and 9 percent say their colleagues are what stresses them out. If this sounds familiar to you, maybe you should try to get more work done on Monday, so Tuesday doesn’t hit you like a ton of bricks.

Source: John Tesh, Intelligence for Your Life (http://tesh.com/)

Monday Motivation

He's blind...what's your excuse?
(thanks to Darren Hardy @ SUCCESS.com for the tip)

I'm Speaking at Church Sunday

Here's a teaser for Sunday night's message...6pm at First Baptist North Spartanburg.