How to Turn a Bad Day Around

Are you having a bad day? If so, hang on...I'll be right back. If not, hang on...it will be here shortly.

We all have bad days. I know that because you're reading this post. I once heard that the only people who don't have bad days are in the graveyard. And even then, for some of them, it only got worse...

I was recently listening to Michael Hyatt talk about handling setbacks and he referenced the notion that how we respond to challenges will set us up for future success or immediate defeat. The best indicator for how that will turn out are the questions we ask ourselves and maybe to others.

Deflect and Reflect in Real Life

Did you read these posts on using the life God gives you to elevate His name before a world?

• Are You Leveraging Your Life?

• Reflect and Deflect

Here's another great example from Trevor Bayne...LOVE this!

Note: If you like this and want to share, highlight the link below, copy and paste in an email or on Facebook...


http://dwaynes--world.blogspot.com/2012/04/deflect-and-reflect-in-real-life.html

Leaders are Learners

Can you teach a old dog new tricks? I'm not sure, but I have a fascination in trying as best I can to learn as much as I can.  Especially when it comes to learning leadership from God's Word.


I just returned from a two-day quasi-leadership-training event with Chuck Allen. Chuck is the pastor at Sugar Hill Church, outside of Atlanta. He's a great leader and loves to teach it. In fact, he's written the best "Leadership 101" book I've ever read. It's called Extraordinary Leadership for Everyday People.

This was a rare opportunity to spend about 5 hours with a guy who travels the world teaching leadership to thousands of people, especially teenagers. Every summer he teaches at Student Leadership University and really connects with the students. I'm excited that my youngest daughter gets to hear him this summer at SLU 101.

I wanted to share my notes from this experience.

It's Hummingbird Time

I just created a new label for my posts: Random. This is totally inconsistent with everything I've posted before now.


One of my kids asked me when it was time to put our Hummingbird feeder back up. Not being the expert on the migration patterns of the Southeastern Hummingbird, I decided to do a little research. Turns out, now is the time. So dust off the feeders...


I'm just posting information relative to those who like to hang feeders, watch them zig-zag around, fight over the food and appreciate God's creativity and attention to the smallest of details.


And...

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.

What Are You Missing?

"The person who has everything is missing something."

That phrase came to my mind while working on a lesson about Abraham. Here you have a man who has wealth, power and a "hotty" for a wife and yet he was consumed by the fact that he had no son. In his own words to God, "You have given me no offspring;"

No matter what we have, there is always something missing. I've heard it said that our appetite for more is never fully and finally satisfied. We always desire more. How we manage that desire is an indicator of our the kind of person we are. Check this out...[VIDEO, approx1:30] * It starts with just audio...

How can we manage the desire to acquire? 

1. Settle that EVERYTHING comes from God.
2. Understand the concept of managing versus owning. We're managers...
3. Ask yourself, "Is there anything that I would have a hard time letting someone borrow?" If the answer is "Yes," then, for that object, you are an "owner."
4. When was the last time you reached out to someone who had a need?

Do you have any suggestions on how to keep from "missing" something in life?

Photo credit: http://songsofthesalamander.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html

Are You Blessed for Success?

Have you ever found yourself needing to make a decision, but not sure what to do? You're not alone.  This is not a success strategy for making right decisions. Rather a reminder as to how to tap into a resource that will help you make those decisions.


In Genesis 24, Abraham commissions one of his servants with the task of finding a bride for Isaac. But there are criteria that must be met. Not so strict that it was "Mission Impossible," and yet not so broad that a simple "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe" would suffice. There had to be some discernment. And after all, he wanted to do Abraham proud.  


The main stipulation was where to go find the young lady. Other than that, he was on his own as to how to select the future bride for Isaac.  As he settled into the region where Abraham sent him, he found himself with no clear way of deciding who to pick. What would you do? Pray?

I Don't Change Oil, I Change People

[This post was inspired by my pastor, Mike Hamlet, as he recently reminded me of someone we both know and how this person leverages his life for God's glory.]


Like most people, I make my tri-monthly trip to a local "quick-serve" garage to get my oil changed. Actually, it's more frequent than that as I have three vehicles to maintain. None-the-less, I have become a familiar face to the guy who works in the oil bay. His name is Joey.

Are You a Dream Maker or Dream Breaker?

Back in the Garden of Eden, when God created Adam, He recognized that "it was not good for man to be alone." He knew the value of relationships and having other people in our lives.  His solution was what the Bible calls "a helper" also known as Eve. Eve's task was to help Adam fulfill the responsibilities that God had placed on him...in essence she was to help Adam be successful.


In our world today, most everything we do involves relationships with people. People we know, people we don't; people we see everyday, people we see once and never again; people we love, and people with the capacity to be loved although we don't pursue it. There's not much that we do in our daily routines that does not involve people.


In your "world," how do you engage with those people? When they see you coming, do they walk toward you or away? Do you add value to their lives or suck the life out of them? Are you a Dream Maker or a Dream Breaker?