SOJOURNER

2011-05-14T13:41:00.001-05:00

What is your favorite Android Tablet?

2011-05-14T13:40:00.001-05:00

zoom

2011-05-11T17:11:00.000-05:00

The OS is just a thing to make applications access files so that the business can make money. Someday the Linux desktop folks will figure this out and get some applications; then we may actually be in trouble here. http://ping.fm/fu7PO

2011-04-23T17:24:00.001-05:00

Must Read !! A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by dictatorship. http://ping.fm/mpcq3

2011-03-10T23:03:00.001-06:00

DropBox - The Best Way to Share Files Online http://ping.fm/ci7pD

2011-02-03T13:43:00.001-06:00

If God is love, then Love has come for us all and someday Love will return for us all.

2011-02-03T10:26:00.001-06:00

when i think about peoples who are in distress like Egypt, I wonder if I would still love God if He took everything from me like He allowed it to happen to Job?

2011-01-20T09:30:00.001-06:00

"Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life have been the consequence of action without thought." ~ Bernard Baruch

2011-01-17T20:35:00.001-06:00

listening in on a 2011 IT budget planning meeting downtown

2010-11-26T12:06:00.001-06:00

My father had a small heart-attack this morning. Please pray for him. They are taking him by ambulance to Tupelo, MS now.

2010-11-24T18:45:00.001-06:00

RAVE NEEDS YOU... Tonight! only small bit away from the goal. Will you helps us get there? http://goo.gl/3TF3L

2010-11-16T00:14:00.001-06:00

Nothing is Impossible http://ping.fm/fk28P

2010-11-16T00:04:00.001-06:00

Season of Thanks! by RAVE Ministries http://ping.fm/JVKlO

2010-10-23T19:34:00.001-05:00

Donate to RAVE Ministries - this is an awesome ministry for teenage girls that my wife helps with http://ping.fm/eBoDl

2010-10-21T09:20:00.001-05:00

if you have a moment, please pray for my grandfather. my family took him to the hospital this morning. not sure what is going on.

2010-10-03T16:25:00.001-05:00

Favortism... a new Devo on the RAVE Ministries website http://ping.fm/rlYwM

2010-09-19T19:02:00.001-05:00

is this a good deal on a Apple MacBook Pro? http://ping.fm/DBqJA(MB471LL/A)/product_info.html?osCsid=k3k0srv5enfof5i7mhhiv6lg17

2010-09-17T16:41:00.001-05:00

45 of 436 pages of a document on EMC Replication Manager... going to be a while :) http://is.gd/ffCkn

2010-09-17T13:23:00.001-05:00

Nancy Pelosi's Bold Prediction // entertainment :) http://ping.fm/kDPIx

2010-09-17T11:21:00.001-05:00

Expiring Tax Cuts Hit Taxpayers at Every Level http://ping.fm/g31Tu

2010-09-17T08:56:00.001-05:00

Flush Them! http://is.gd/ff5nk

2010-09-16T08:31:00.001-05:00

RT @LifeWayGirls: RT @RAVEministries: **New Post** Silly band CRAZE!! http://ping.fm/siybM

2010-09-13T09:04:00.001-05:00

feet, feet, FEET! http://ping.fm/yWNi8

2010-09-12T15:37:00.001-05:00

Luke 6:46 - ...if we dare call Him Lord, then He expect us to do what He says. from "The Hole in our Gospel"

2010-09-10T10:25:00.001-05:00

Rave Calendar of Events - has been updated with the latest events for @raveministries http://ping.fm/Tbxlm

2010-09-08T12:52:00.001-05:00

The Pursuit of Happiness - newest devo on the @raveministries website http://ping.fm/52wnb

2010-09-08T12:50:00.001-05:00

God Loves YOU - a resent devo on the @raveministries website by my wife @jannabethhunt http://ping.fm/9rYl3

2010-09-03T14:33:00.001-05:00

Will Mint do bill reminders? http://ping.fm/Od1n0

2010-09-03T13:24:00.001-05:00

OCYG Lip Dub - When You're Gone on Vimeo - let's ping this one more time. I re-watched the video and actually notice that I was in the background working on the iPad checkin - mostly unaware of what was going on, but now so famous, but not really. http://ping.fm/XIsHF

2010-09-03T13:21:00.001-05:00

OCYG Lip Dub - When You're Gone - So awesome! http://ping.fm/EuTu5

2010-08-31T08:21:00.001-05:00

What is MY Purpose? - great new thought on the RAVE Website / Check it out and let others know. -Peace http://ping.fm/JC3NY

2010-08-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

Check out this awesome article written about a teenage ministry that my wife working with:Raving for Jesus: A ministry for teenage girls http://ping.fm/IPC3I

2010-08-16T21:39:00.001-05:00

The @raveministries website, http://ping.fm/xIn7V , a Ministry for teenage girls, just topped 400 members! Congratulations RAVE!

2010-08-09T22:54:00.001-05:00

setting up the hosting account for ocyg.org - the future site of @ottercreek 's youth group site and the later the church website too!

2010-08-05T06:51:00.001-05:00

5 years ago I married my best friend. She's still my best friend and the love of my life! Janna Beth, thank you for letting God wrap you into the perfect gift for me! http://ping.fm/PJMeg

2010-08-04T00:31:00.001-05:00

We often attempt to live the spiritual life in the power of the flesh. We urge people to rededicate their lives and redouble their efforts, but we fail to remind them that our only strength is that which God supplies. http://ping.fm/mbRi6

2010-08-03T17:33:00.001-05:00

http://ping.fm/LdMJL Mighty to Save is on of my favorite praise and worship songs ever. Thanks Hillsong!

Ryan Hunt has invited you to Dropbox

2010-05-16T21:30:00.001-05:00

We're excited to let you know that Ryan Hunt has invited you to Dropbox!

Ryan Hunt has been using Dropbox to sync and share files online and across computers, and thought you might want it too.

Visit www.dropbox.com to get started.

- The Dropbox Team

To stop receiving invites from Dropbox, click here

Bryan's Blog: Simultaneously Charging the Novatel MiFi 2200 via USB and using Wifi, and Other MiFi Thoughts

2010-04-23T09:02:00.000-05:00

Bryan's Blog: Simultaneously Charging the Novatel MiFi 2200 via USB and using Wifi, and Other MiFi Thoughts

Ryan (solutions@6saturdays.net) personally selected you to receive a Shop It To Me invite

2010-03-15T10:20:00.001-05:00

I know you like good deals on clothing/fashion so I got you a private invitation for Shop It To Me:

Go here:
http://shopittome.com/expiring_invitation/abvba3b9593

-Ryan

This private invitation will expire in 24 hours.

Ryan (solutions@6saturdays.net) has sent you a private invitation for Shop It To Me. If you do not want to receive these messages click here.
Shop It To Me, Inc. 340 Brannan Street #201 San Francisco, CA 94107, USA.
http://shopittome.com

Best Internet Speed Test Site

2010-02-10T10:10:00.001-06:00

this is the best internet speed testing site on the internet. Than you speedtest.net. I have even installed the speed test mini on my website here: http://huntscomputer.com/internet-speed-test

Happy testing!
Sincerely,
RBH

in reference to: http://speedtest.net/ (view on Google Sidewiki)

Thank you

2010-01-20T17:21:00.001-06:00

I'd like to thank FOX news for providing the world with quality new reporting and opinion.

in reference to: Breaking News | Latest News | Current News - FOXNews.com (view on Google Sidewiki)

Davis Hunt

2010-01-11T16:57:00.000-06:00

This is my nephew Davis getting his hair did at Christmas.

Our OCYG Scavenger Hunt Team

2010-01-11T16:52:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Rave Ministries

2010-01-09T15:35:00.001-06:00

Thanks for coming by our site. I hope it is a blessing to you as you are to us. Leave a comment here about what you like about this site, or what you don't like about this site. What are we doing well? What could we do better?
Thank you,
Website Management
http://huntscomputer.com/

in reference to: RAVE Events (view on Google Sidewiki)

Community Builder - Direct access to this location not allowed.

2010-01-02T12:30:00.001-06:00

I get this message above in joomla when i'm in the back end trying to ad a new field to community builder for user profiles. this did not always happen. and i can figure out what changed to make this error start to occur.
Thanks,
Ryan

in reference to: Direct Access to this location is not allowed.?????? (view on Google Sidewiki)

Side Wiki on Twitter

2010-01-01T13:52:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure what's the point... a posting side bar on a posting site. Ha. The social web is getting very complicated.

in reference to: Twitter / Home (view on Google Sidewiki)

Team Viewer vs. Go to Assist

2010-01-01T13:40:00.001-06:00

Hey, anyone prefer either Team Viewer or Go to Assist over the other. I'm deciding which to go with for my company and I'd like someone input. Thanks!

in reference to: TeamViewer - Free Remote Access and Remote Desktop Sharing over the Internet (view on Google Sidewiki)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T16:26:00.001-06:00

and a happy new year!

in reference to: Official NORAD Santa Tracker (view on Google Sidewiki)

looking for IMAP for the Pearl Flip 8230

2009-12-23T12:14:00.001-06:00

does anyone know of a piece of software or natively, how to download IMAP email to a Blackberry Pearl Flip 8230? Tweet or email me. twitter name @huntscomputer

My Website, Hunts Computer Solutions

2009-12-23T11:37:00.001-06:00

This is my first Google Sidewiki post to my own website. I'm interested to see how this might help website owners like myself drive "interested" traffic to our websites. Come check it out.
-Ryan

in reference to: Welcome to Hunt's Computer Solutions, LLC (view on Google Sidewiki)

for website developers?

2009-12-23T11:34:00.001-06:00

I'm wondering how this might help direct "good" website traffic to the websites that I help develop like: http://huntscomputer.com and http://raveministries.com/ . It's going to have limitations as not everyone will have Google Sidewiki. I'm excited to explore the possibilities however.
-Ryan Hunt, just a guy trying to make it in a cyber world.

in reference to: Google Sidewiki (view on Google Sidewiki)

Status

2009-03-25T11:11:00.001-05:00

Trying to get Windows 7 to look nice. I think my graphic card dosen't support the fancy stuff :( -rbh

Thomas Jefferson was so right!

2009-02-27T12:46:00.001-06:00

The wisdom of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, in many regards could be called a prophet, for he
foresaw our age in his quotes:

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we
shall become as corrupt as Europe ."
Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who
are willing to work and give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A
principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of
taking care of them."
Thomas Jefferson

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results
from too much government."
Thomas Jefferson

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and
bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny
in government."
Thomas Jefferson

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the
blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas
which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."
Thomas Jefferson

Finally:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our
liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow
private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by
inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will
grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until
their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers
conquered.'
Thomas Jefferson

Spread the Irony

2009-02-26T12:58:00.001-06:00

Spread the Irony

Only in America ......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to
the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people
can buy cigarettes at the front.

________________________________

Only in America ......do people order double cheeseburgers, large
fries, and a diet coke.

________________________________

Only in America ......do banks leave both doors open and then chain
the pens to the counters.

________________________________

Only in America .....do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in
the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

________________________________

Only in America.......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns
in packages of eight.

________________________________

Only in America ......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

________________________________

EVER WONDER ...

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

________________________________

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

________________________________

It's the Network - GiANTImpact.com

2009-02-25T09:21:00.001-06:00

I read this great article on GiANTImpact.com that I thought you'd enjoy...

It's the Network

There's no denying that we've fallen into precarious economic times. The United States shed 2.6 million jobs in 2008. More of the same continued in January 2009, a month during which corporations announced 65,000 layoffs in a single day.

No matter how penniless you feel right now, there's one investment you can't afford to overlook. At a time when no one's buying, there's something you must build. In a world where budgets are tight, you can't skimp on this line item. What is it, you ask?

As the Verizon slogan says, It's the network.

In his book, Never Eat Alone, Keith …

You can read the full article here:
http://www.giantimpact.com/articles/read/article_its_the_network/

Check out this great article from GiANT Impact!

2009-02-25T09:20:00.001-06:00

I read this great article on GiANTImpact.com that I thought you'd enjoy...

Failing Forward
By Dr. John C. Maxwell

Vincent Van Gogh failed as an art dealer, flunked his entrance exam to theology school, and was fired by the church after an ill-fated attempt at missionary work. In fact, during his life, he seldom experienced anything other than failure as an artist. Although a single painting by Van Gogh would fetch in excess of $100 million today, in his lifetime Van Gogh sold only one painting, four months prior to his death.

Before developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein encountered academic failure. One headmaster expelled Einstein from school and another teacher predicted that he would never amount to anything. …

You can read the full article here:
http://www.giantimpact.com/articles/read/article_failing_forward/

Check out this great article from GiANT Impact!

2009-02-25T09:16:00.001-06:00

I read this great article on GiANTImpact.com that I thought you'd enjoy...

Personal Note from John C. Maxwell

Dear Friend,

Developing yourself as a leader is essential to make a great and lasting impact. A leader sees the big picture, but he or she needs other leaders to help make their mental picture a reality.

The nightly newscasts are broadcasting messages that stir emotions of fear, doubt, and uncertainly. Let me encourage you to maintain a positive and realistic perspective. Choose to be a catalyst for hope. This season more than any in recent history calls for leadership and people of influence.

The time you spend with this material will prove to be a worthy investment. Your organization will …

You can read the full article here:
http://www.giantimpact.com/articles/read/article_5_levels_note_from_john_maxwell/

Cycle of Democracy

2008-11-06T09:45:00.000-06:00

This is a great article by Orrin Woodward.

The following quote is from Alexander Fraser Tyler - (in his 1770 book, Cycle of Democracy). I have been thinking about this quote and the state of our union for many months. I do not write this article in an attacking spirit, but in a spirit of searching for the right path in a world wandering down blind alleys.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a louse fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship. The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence:"

Here is the sequence with my thoughts of where America is in the cycle.

From bondage to spiritual faith;

The Great Awakening of the 1730’s in the American Colonies was a time of revival and spiritual longing. Jonathon Edwards, considered by many to be America’s greatest mind, led the revival with Biblical sermons and a fire for truth. Edwards taught the unvarnished truth about sinful man and our accountability to an Almighty God. Not surprisingly, he is mocked and laughed at today, but that is more of an indictment of our society than Edwards preaching. Pastor Edward’s magnum opus, Freedom of the Will has never been refuted by any scholar. This was a critical step in developing the conviction to fear God and not man. Even if man happened to be the largest empire in the world in which the sun never set – British Empire.

From spiritual faith to great courage;

Spiritual faith leads to great courage based upon convictions worth sacrificing for. A person who will does not stand for something, will fall for anything. Think of the true heroes throughout history. One of the uniting principles that all heroes have is a willingness to stand for truth and convictions in a world of untruth and apathy. The Founding Families had great courage to stand for the truth of against tyranny and oppression. They did this because they knew the Bible said, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.” The British were moving in the direction of excessive taxation (1 %) and the Colonist would not sit back and allow an offsite government to tax local colonist.

From courage to liberty;

The Colonist defeat of the British Empire was not a defeat of British military forces as much as a victory over British will. The Colonists were fighting for their deeply held principles that they were willing to give their life, wealth and sacred honor for. The British were fighting for some extra taxation in one of their many colonies. The American will defeated the British will because of an imbalance in the convictions involved. With the defeat of Cornwallis and the subsequent genius of our American Constitution, liberty reigned in the United States under rule of law.

From liberty to abundance;

The abundance generated by free enterprise and limited government was one of America’s biggest blessings, but also one of our biggest challenges. One of the few standing economies after WWII was America’s. Our products flowed to nearly all foreign markets creating the wealthiest society in the world’s history. It takes incredible discipline to remember where our blessings come from with abundance heaped upon further abundance. Over time, people forget the principles that created the liberty and the fruit of that liberty. Seeing the inequalities in the blessing of individual citizens, an envy of our fellow Americans germinates. The fruit of this unholy thinking is a desire to take our brothers and sisters abundance and give to those less abounding. Government would have to intervene and right this wrong according to the envious.

From abundance to selfishness;

The 1960’s were a decade of self masquerading as a care for those less fortunate. Free love, destruction of society’s norms, and a drug culture prevailed in the youth. The 1960’s were a rebellion against the plastic society of abundance without the belief in the principles that created that abundance. The Church, having lost conviction of the truths of the Bible, ossified into ghetto culture within America. With little truth in the Church, the youth were left on their own to search for answers to the hypocrisy that engulfed them. Instead of returning to the Biblical principles and the God that created the blessings, society entered into the worship of self and self-actualization. The youth of the 60’s saw the hypocrisy, but in their endless faith in their own holiness marched America even further from its Biblical roots.

From selfishness to complacency;

Without a Biblical foundation, the rebellion was bound to produce worse fruits than the plastic culture it attempted to replace. With no firm convictions to stand upon, the rebellion dissolved into peace and personal affluence. The loss of Biblical absolutes is bound to lead from convictions to surrender to complacency as no one is sure what the truth is. What is the use of standing for anything, if we are not sure that what we are standing for is truth? The 1970’s saw this complacency as the youth joined the “system” and pursued peace and affluence with little understanding of original principles that America was founded upon.

From complacency to apathy;

1980’s were a brief respite in the cycle. Thanks to the leadership and convictions of Ronald Reagan, America stood its ground against Communism and found that Communism was a paper tiger. The respite was short lived because the President, even with his bully pulpit, cannot consistently educate Americans on Biblical truths. This must be a function of the church, which has abdicated their responsibility in an effort to be relative to a lost generation.

The 1990’s saw a near complete surrender to apathy and personal fulfillment. With a near complete rejection of absolute values, people defined their own values and pursued fulfillment in the myriad of choices available to them. People did not care who was running the government as long as they were left alone to pursue the own personal agenda. Government performed by doing focus groups to ascertain what the people wanted and giving it to them, surrendering all leadership responsibilities to the disparate wishes of the people. Government, instead of playing the role of umpire and defender of our freedoms began to play the role of a benevolent dictator. The dictator studied to learn what we wanted and offered that to us with only a token price of submission to their plan.

From apathy to dependency;

The 2000’s will be remembered as the decade of complete submission to the government’s largesse. The American citizen’s depend upon government for their welfare, health care, social security, etc. It would be unthinkable for most Americans to live without the direct involvement of our beneficent Big Brother. The price of dependency is submission of our freedoms to the dictates of Big Brother. The old saying that you boil a frog one degree at a time aptly fits here. If you take a frog and throw him into boiling water, the frog will have enough sense to jump out. But if you turn up the temperature slowly, the frog will open up its pores and will literally be boiled without an attempted escape. Americans are now boiling in our dependency on our government.

From dependency back again to bondage.

Eventually in our dependence, we see our status falling in the free world as slaves can never perform the functions of free men and women. Although the government still mouths the words of our founding fathers, the words have new meanings. The citizens cannot put a finger on the malady, but they know something is not right. In their desperation, they look for a messiah to save them. Because the Churches are not sharing the message of the true messiah and the true way to liberty, the citizens look for a worldly messiah. A perceptive leader, with words that tickle the ears promises to be the searched for messiah. With the republican form of government torn asunder and transformed into a nascent democracy – the powerful words and promises of deliverance speak directly to the masses. A savior is born unto the people and salvation is just around the corner.

A shocking truth is learned too late that man cannot save man and only Jesus Christ can liberate the soul in bondage. A people held in bondage to sin can never be responsible to run a free government. The people in bondage will look to the government the way Christians look to their Savior. Government cannot be the savior to the people and was never intended to be so when created by our Founding Families. America’s national debt is now over $10 trillion and to service the debt on the interest is over $450 billion per year. This makes interest on debt the 3rd biggest item on our governments budget! We are bankrupting our children's inheritance on the altar of self indulgence! Ben Franklin said after the creation of our Constitution when asked what type of government was created, “A republic, if you can keep it.” A republic was formed to keep the masses from directly running the government and voting the government into bankruptcy. How far have we traveled from our founding principles and roots?

I did not write this to scare people into inactivity, but to awaken our consciences to the choices that face us. We do not have to complete this cycle and just as Ronald Reagan interrupted the cycle, we can too! Will it take convictions and guts? Yes, but a Godly people that have studied the truth of our founding principles will not be swayed by the promises of an almighty government. Examine yourself. Where do you stand at this historic time?

Let me close with one of my brothers favorite authors. The science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein called this issue "Bread and Circuses" - a reference to Roman Emperors providing food and entertainment to distract the masses. In "To Sail beyond the Sunset" the character Lazarus Long discusses this problem:

"A perfect democracy, a 'warm body' democracy in which every adult may vote and all votes count equally has no internal feedback for self correction. It depends solely on the wisdom and self-restraint of citizens...which is opposed by the folly and lack of self-restraint of other citizens. What is supposed to happen in a democracy is that each sovereign citizen will always vote in the public interest for the safety and welfare of all. But what does happen is that he votes his own self-interest as he sees it...which for the majority translates as 'Bread and Circuses'

"Bread and Circuses is the cancer of democracy, the fatal disease for which there is no cure. Democracy often works beautifully at first. But once a state extends the franchise to every warm body, be he producer or parasite, that day marks the beginning of the end of the state. For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death or in its weakened condition the state succumbs to an invader--the barbarians enter Rome."

Where do you think America is on the cycle and what do you think we must do to address and fix? I will end this article here, but will address my proposed cures in future articles. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

1999 Tahoe For Sale!

2008-11-06T07:53:00.002-06:00

Please only interested buyers in the Nashville, TN area call 662-312-5139 and ask for Ryan Hunt.

There is some good news

2008-11-06T07:21:00.002-06:00

Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire e-mail list of family and friends.

There is some good news

November 5, 2008

Dear Ryan,

No doubt, it was a disappointing night with overwhelmingly bad news. But there was some good news for those who support traditional marriage. In the states of Arizona, Florida and California voters said no to homosexual "marriage." In fact, in the Sunshine State, 60% of the vote was needed to keep marriage only between a man and a woman, and our side was able to garner 62% of the vote.

We won in Arizona, too! This is significant because a couple of years ago the marriage amendment was defeated when the pro-homosexual marriage advocates played the fear card with senior citizens.

Finally, in California, our country's largest and most liberal state, the citizens voted 52% to 48% to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision to allow same-sex marriage. This is BIG news! Radical homosexual groups, Hollywood celebrities and the liberal media came together to try and defeat Proposition 8, yet the pro-family and pro-marriage citizens of California won a huge victory and, if I might add, put the arrogant California Supreme Court in its place.

Your American Family Association was deeply involved in all three challenges. We kept the people of those states informed and encouraged. In fact, AFA contributed $500,000 to help achieve the victory in California. We had been saving the money over a period of years because we knew that one day it would be needed for a fight like the one we had in California. Of course, these funds came from people like you.

So despite some discouraging news on the national front, 30 states have adopted a state constitutional amendment preserving traditional marriage since the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in Massachusetts. That is due to the hard work of people like you.

Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution to help us continue?

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon,
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

Donate with confidence to AFA
(gifts are tax-deductible)

Please take a few minutes and invite your friends to AFA ActionAlert.

In keeping with our privacy policy, AFA may periodically contact you regarding issues of concern to the family. Rest assured that your e-mail address will be kept in the strictest confidence.

You are subscribed as sojourner@6saturdays.net. Update E-mail Address

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Copyright ©2008 All Rights Reserved

If I am not the Problem, then there is no Solution

2008-11-05T14:35:00.002-06:00

Tip: If I am not the problem, then there is no solution!

This Tip requires a lot of concentration for all who hear it. It is one of the most difficult concepts I have ever learned in my life. The first time I heard it, I began to feel defensive. I tried to think of all the reasons why it was wrong. I thought, "That cannot be right! I am not the problem in every difficult situation in which I find myself and I know that there are some problems that I have absolutely not brought upon myself!" But over the years, I have come to see the power of this deep, unusual truth.

You see, you have a powerful influence that you bring to the table in every situation in which you find yourself. If there is something taking place in your life right now that you feel is not going well, then the question to ask is, "What can I do about it?" In other words, what role could YOU play in order to make things better? Until you realize that if you are not the problem (even a small part of it), then there can be no solution. This kind of thinking takes the matter of personal responsibility and turns it squarely around so you can look it right in the face.

When I finally began to process this, I realized that this concept is actually one of the healthiest ways of thinking that I have ever experienced. In any difficult situation in which I find myself, I begin to ask myself a series of questions. "What role do I play in this problem?" "How am I participating in this particular situation?" "What have I done or said to make this situation better or worse?" "What can I do to make things a little more pleasant?" It causes personal responsibility to fall squarely on my shoulders so that I can begin to make a difference in the situation.

Perhaps you are in a relationship with a family member or with someone at work where you have done everything in your power to make things right and you are still not satisfied with the current state of affairs. Well, let me say once again, if you are not part of the problem, then there can be no solution. I told you this was a difficult concept!

It is human nature to want to straighten out other people and other situations. (If you find a good methodology for doing that, please let me know! I would love to know how to correct other situations and other people to make them all turn out exactly as I would like. Unfortunately, that is not possible.) The longer I live, the more I see that the only person I have any power over on this entire planet is myself! I believe I should be a strong influence on others, but I cannot control anyone. Nor do I want to. I simply want to control myself and influence others.

I refuse to live my life based on the decisions of other people or the circumstances that come my way! If I can do anything to make the situation better, then I will do it, because I recognize that I am part of problem. When I recognize that, it immediately, helps me to become part of the solution.

Recently at work someone made a mistake. I told them not to worry about it, but to learn from the mistake. I said, "Actually all of this is my fault for starting this company. If I had not started this business none of us would even be here at work today and none of this would ever have happened! So, as far as I am concerned, I am the problem!"

I know you are thinking, "That is crazy!" But, let me remind you that I am the one watching people work harder and harder and doing a better job each day. Casting blame has no place in a healthy business, or in a healthy life! Have you found it to work successfully for you?

Let me encourage you to begin to look at yourself in any situation as the chief problem. I know this is irritating, like rubbing the fur of a cat in the wrong direction. However, it will free you to no longer have a VICTIM mentality, but begin to have a VICTOR mentality.

I have shared this concept many times with other people and I have seen that it often takes a while for it to sink in. It is a big pill to swallow, but it brings smooth digestion to your stomach once it becomes part of your daily life. Trust me on this one! It is a powerful concept to make part of your life and your daily experience.

Tip: If I am not the problem, then there is no solution!

Have a great week! God bless you!

Robert Rohm Ph.D.

Personality Insights, Inc.

email: insights@personalityinsights.com

Abraham Lincoln - Quote of the Day

2008-10-31T11:41:00.001-05:00

Feed: Orrin Woodward Leadership Team
Posted on: Friday, October 31, 2008 10:45 AM
Author: Orrin Woodward
Subject: Abraham Lincoln - Quote of the Day

Here is an excellent quote from Abraham Lincoln for today's student of history. George Santayana said, "Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it." Ponder the principles that President Lincoln is teaching and ask yourself if anything has changed today. No matter how much technology changes, human nature has not changed. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

--Abraham Lincoln

View article...

Obamma's 95% Illusion

2008-10-29T12:36:00.002-05:00

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· REVIEW & OUTLOOK

· OCTOBER 13, 2008

Obama's 95% Illusion

It depends on what the meaning of 'tax cut' is.

One of Barack Obama's most potent campaign claims is that he'll cut taxes for no less than 95% of "working families." He's even promising to cut taxes enough that the government's tax share of GDP will be no more than 18.2% -- which is lower than it is today.

It's a clever pitch, because it lets him pose as a middle-class tax cutter while disguising that he's also proposing one of the largest tax increases ever on the other 5%. But how does he conjure this miracle, especially since more than a third of all Americans already pay no income taxes at all? There are several sleights of hand, but the most creative is to redefine the meaning of "tax cut."

For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase "tax credit." Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand no fewer than seven such credits for individuals:

- A $500 tax credit ($1,000 a couple) to "make work pay" that phases out at income of $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 per couple.

- A $4,000 tax credit for college tuition.

- A 10% mortgage interest tax credit (on top of the existing mortgage interest deduction and other housing subsidies).

- A "savings" tax credit of 50% up to $1,000.

- An expansion of the earned-income tax credit that would allow single workers to receive as much as $555 a year, up from $175 now, and give these workers up to $1,110 if they are paying child support.

- A child care credit of 50% up to $6,000 of expenses a year.

- A "clean car" tax credit of up to $7,000 on the purchase of certain vehicles.

Here's the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be "refundable," which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer -- a federal check -- from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.

The total annual expenditures on refundable "tax credits" would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as "tax credits," the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.

The political left defends "refundability" on grounds that these payments help to offset the payroll tax. And that was at least plausible when the only major refundable credit was the earned-income tax credit. Taken together, however, these tax credit payments would exceed payroll levies for most low-income workers.

It is also true that John McCain proposes a refundable tax credit -- his $5,000 to help individuals buy health insurance. We've written before that we prefer a tax deduction for individual health care, rather than a credit. But the big difference with Mr. Obama is that Mr. McCain's proposal replaces the tax subsidy for employer-sponsored health insurance that individuals don't now receive if they buy on their own. It merely changes the nature of the tax subsidy; it doesn't create a new one.

There's another catch: Because Mr. Obama's tax credits are phased out as incomes rise, they impose a huge "marginal" tax rate increase on low-income workers. The marginal tax rate refers to the rate on the next dollar of income earned. As the nearby chart illustrates, the marginal rate for millions of low- and middle-income workers would spike as they earn more income.

Some families with an income of $40,000 could lose up to 40 cents in vanishing credits for every additional dollar earned from working overtime or taking a new job. As public policy, this is contradictory. The tax credits are sold in the name of "making work pay," but in practice they can be a disincentive to working harder, especially if you're a lower-income couple getting raises of $1,000 or $2,000 a year. One mystery -- among many -- of the McCain campaign is why it has allowed Mr. Obama's 95% illusion to go unanswered.

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Execution - The Discipline of Getting Things Done

2008-05-07T10:13:00.002-05:00

“Execution” The Discipline of Getting Things Done By Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

“Execution is the systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, questioning, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability. It includes making assumptions about the business environment, assessing the organization’s capabilities, linking strategy to operations and the people who are going to implement the strategy, synchronizing those people and their various disciplines, and linking rewards to outcomes.”

These thoughts are from a great book read lately…

Introduction:

“We talk to many leaders who fall victim to the gap between promises they’ve made and results their organizations delivered. They frequently tell us they have a problem with accountability—people aren’t doing the things they’re supposed to do to implement a plan.”

“Execution-oriented companies change faster than others because they’re closer to the situation.”

“…the leader’s most important job—selecting and appraising people.”

“…no strategy delivers results unless it’s converted into specific actions.”

Chapter 1:

“Strategies most often fail because they aren’t executed well.”

“The gap nobody knows is the gap between what a company’s leaders want to achieve and the ability of their organization to achieve it.”

“…unless you translate big thoughts into concrete steps for action, they’re pointless.”

“No worthwhile strategy can be planned without taking into account the organization’s ability to execute it.”

“You need accountability for results…you need follow-through to ensure the plans are on track”

“An organization can execute only if the leader’s heart and soul are immersed in the company.”

“A coach is effective because he’s constantly observing players individual and collectively on the field and in the locker-room. That’s how he gets to know his players and their capabilities, and how they get firsthand the benefits of his experience, wisdom, and expert feedback.”

“…leaders energize everyone by the example they set.”

Chapter 2:

“You show me an organization that’s wringing its hands, listening to rumors, anxious about the future, and I will show you leadership that behaves the same way.”

Chapter 3:

· “Know your people and your business.”

o “…good people like to be quizzed, because they know more about the business than the leader.”

o “Customers help decide whether or not a plant stays open.”

o “You’ve got to bring in some other people once in a while to get fresh thoughts.”

o Meetings are to develop action plans.

o Be consistent.

o “…after I do a business review, I write the leader a formal letter summarizing the things he agreed to do.”

o “All you’ve got to prove is that you care for the people who are working for you.”

· “Insist on realism.”

· “Set clear goals and priorities.”

· “Follow through.”

o “The failure to follow trough is widespread in business, and a major cause of poor execution. How many meetings have you attended where people left without firm conclusions about who would do what and when? Everybody may have agreed the idea was good, but since nobody was named accountable for results, it doesn’t get done.”

· “Reward the doers.”

o “If you want people to produce specific results, you reward them accordingly.”

o “When I see companies that don’t execute, the chances are that they don’t measure, don’t reward, and don’t promote people who know how to get things done.”

· “Expand people’s capabilities through coaching.”

o “Coaching is the difference between giving orders an teaching people how to get things done.”

· “Know yourself.”

o “Without what we call emotional fortitude, you can’t be honest with yourself, deal honestly with business and organizational realities, or give people forthright assessments.”

o “Failure to deal with underperformers is an extremely common problem in corporations, and it’s usually the result of the leader’s emotional blockages.”

o Authenticity: “If you’re cutting corners, the best will lose faith in you. The worst will follow in your footsteps. The rest will do what they must to survive in a muddy ethical environment.”

o Humility: “The more you can contain your ego, the more realistic you are about your problems.”

o “The behavior of a business’s leaders is, ultimately, the behavior of the organization.”

Chapter 4

· “First you tell people clearly what results you’re looking for. The you discuss how to get those results, as a key element of the coaching process. Then you reward people for producing the results. If they come up short, you provide additional coaching, withdraw rewards, give them other jobs, or let them go.”

· “We don’t think ourselves into a new way of acting, we act ourselves into a new way of thinking.”

· “Behavior are beliefs turned into action.”

· “Truth over harmony.”

· “The culture of a company is the behavior of its leaders. Leaders get the behavior they exhibit and tolerate. You change the culture of a company by changing the behavior of its leaders.”

Chapter 5

· “You can easily spot the doers by observing their working habits. They’re the ones who energize people, are decisive on tough issues, get things done through others, and follow through as second nature.”

To be continued….

A Christian Story to Make You Think

2008-05-04T16:47:00.002-05:00

Ryan B. Hunt

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Your life performance will correlate with your passion of purpose. What is the point? Why am I doing this? Have a great answer. It will make all the difference in the world. Two men working were each asked, "What are you doing?" One man responded, "Cutting stone." The other man responded, "Building a cathedral." Whose work do you suppose will be more fruitful? Who will get more satisfaction from what they are doing? Who will wake up with more energy to get back to their work?" –from Chuck Goetschel's blog post

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ryan Hunt, manager

Keith Hunt Pest Control, Inc.

281 Pittman RD

Ackerman, MS 39735

662-387-4735 office

662-312-5139 cell

Ryan.Hunt@huntpest.com

http://www.huntpest.com

Feed: Orrin Woodward MonaVie Leadership Team
Posted on: Sunday, May 04, 2008 12_11 PM
Author: Orrin Woodward
Subject: A Christian Story to Make You Think

Here is a great story to make you think. On this Sunday afternoon, take some time to reflect on your life and what aim or purpose is driving you. Is life about the amount of money you can make? Is life about the amount of power you can accumulate? Is life about the amount of recognition you can receive? Is life about having all you desires satisfied immediately? Or is your life about sacrificial giving of yourself to others? Don't give a quick answer – analyze yourself and your true motives. What you find may change your life forever. Enjoy the story.

I Chose You

One Sunday morning during service, a 2,000 member congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black and carrying submachine guns. One of the men proclaimed, "Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ remain where you are."

Immediately, the choir fled, the deacons fled, and most of the congregation fled. Out of the 2,000 there only remained around 20.

The man who had spoken took off his hood, looked at the preacher and said "Okay Pastor, I got rid of all the hypocrites. Now you may begin your service. Have a nice day!" And the two men turned and walked out.

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God... and then wonder why the world is in the condition it is today.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, say, or do anything the Bible says!

Funny or is it scary?

Funny how someone can say "I believe in God" but still follow Satan (who, by the way, also "believes" in God).

Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Jesus is suppressed in the school and work place.

Funny, isn't it? Funny how someone can be so fired up for Christ on Sunday, but be an invisible Christian the rest of the week.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.

Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what God thinks of me.

Are you thinking?

Will you share this with other people? Or not?

I picked you.

My instructions were to send this to people that I wanted God to bless and I picked you. Please pass this to people you want to bless.

View article...

Presidential Candidates 2008 - Ronald Reagan Test

2008-03-28T20:34:00.002-05:00

Sent to you by Ryan via Google Reader:

Presidential Candidates 2008 - Ronald Reagan Test

via Orrin Woodward Leadership Team by Orrin Woodward on 2/4/08

Let’s follow up Ronald Reagan’s leadership post with another on how his thoughts produced actions. My basic thesis is that how a person thinks in their own mind will flow into their actions in their life. As a leader, it will flow into the culture they create in everything that they lead. Reagan believed strongly in the power of the individual to govern their life better than any third party. This belief propelled him from a small town Illinois kid to a Hollywood star, Governor of California, and President of the United States. Not only must we give people freedom, but we must teach people how to think about their freedoms and corresponding responsibilities. This is why the free enterprise system cannot just be transplanted into the former communist countries without some world-view changes.

Reagan made America freer after years of less freedom, but he also cast a vision for America. He made Americans proud to be Americans again. One of the most important things the President does is cast a vision from their world-view. This is why I believe understanding how a person views themselves and the individual will tell us what they feel government's role is. Because Reagan believed in himself, America, and the individual—he felt his main role in government was to reduce its pervasiveness in our lives. I will allow Reagan to speak for himself, but notice how his thoughts led to his words which led to his style of government. In my opinion, Reagan’s views of government and the success of his administration prove that a modern president can lead with the same principles that guided our founding fathers. This is a huge point for Americans to understand as they listen to the candidates to understand their world-view. Here is Reagan in his own words from his autobiography, An American Life.

“The first rule of bureaucracy is to protect the bureaucracy. If the people running the welfare program had let their clientele find other ways of making a living, that would have reduced their importance and their budget.”

“I didn’t think much of the inefficiency, empire building, and business-as-usual attitude that existed in wartime under the civil service system. If I suggested that an employee might be expendable, his supervisor would look at me as if I were crazy. He didn’t want to reduce the size of his department; his salary was based to a large extent on the number of people he supervised. He wanted to increase it, not decrease it.”

“There probably isn’t any undertaking on earth short of assuring the national security that can’t be handled more efficiently by the forces of private enterprise than by the federal government.”

“I became convince that some of our fundamental freedoms were in jeopardy because of the emergence of a permanent government never envisioned by the framers of the Constitution: a federal bureaucracy that was becoming so powerful it was able to set policy and thwart the desires not only of ordinary citizens, but heir elected representatives in Congress. . . For example, I learned the government had six programs to help poultry growers increase egg production. It also had a seventh program costing almost as much as all six others to buy up surplus eggs.”

“No government has ever voluntarily reduced itself in size.”

“No nation in history has ever survived a tax burden that reached a third of its national income.”

“Usually with the best of intentions, Congress passed a new program, appropriated the money for it, then assigned bureaucrats in Washington to disperse the money; almost always, the bureaucrats responded by telling states, cities, counties, and schools how to spend this money. In Madison’s words, Washington was usurping power form the states by the “gradual and silent encroachment of those in power. . . . Over time, they became so dependent on the money that, like junkies, they found it all but impossible to break the habit, and only after they were well addicted to it did they learn how pervasive the federal regulations were that came with the money.”

“In return for federal grants, state and local governments surrendered control of their destiny to a faceless bureaucracy in Washington that claimed to know better how to solve the problems of a city or town than the people who lived there. . . . Once started, a federal program benefitting any group or special interest is virtually impossible to end and the costs go on forever.”

“We had strayed a great distance from our founding father’s vision of America: They regarded the central government’s responsibility as that of providing a national security, protecting our democratic freedoms, and limiting the government’s intrusion into our lives—in sum, the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They never envisioned vast agencies in Washington telling our farmers what to plant, our teachers what to teach, or industries what to build. The Constitution they wrote established sovereign states, not administrative districts of the federal government.”

“The waste in dollars and cents was small compared with the waste of human potential. It was squandered by the narcotic of giveaway programs that sapped the human spirit, diminished the incentive of people to work, destroyed families, and produced an increase in female and child poverty, deteriorating schools, and disintegrating neighborhoods.”

“My theme on the campaign stump was familiar to anyone who had heard me speak over the years: It was time to scale back the size of the federal government, reduce taxes and government intrusion in our lives, balance the budget, and return to the people the freedoms usurped from them by the bureaucrats.”

“If no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?”

“The same principle that affected my thinking applied to people in all tax brackets: The more government takes in taxes, the less incentive people have to work. What coal miner or assembly-line worker jumps at the offer of overtime when he knows Uncle Sam is going to take sixty percent or more of his extra pay?”

“I don’t think we will solve the problem of the deficit until three things happen: We need more discipline on spending in Congress. We need a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget. And we need to give our president’s a line-item veto.”

“As I have often said, governments don’t produce economic growth, people do. What government can do is encourage Americans to tap their well of ingenuity and unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, then get out of the way.”

“Every year that I was president, I asked Congress for a constitutional amendment that would require the federal government—like any well-run household or business—to balance its budget. But Congress (and I concede there was opposition to it on both sides of the political aisle) wouldn’t sit still for this infringement on its spendthrift ways. There was some important progress: . . . . But never underestimate the willingness of congressman to circumvent their own rules, or the public will, in the pursuit of their enthusiasm to spend other people’s money.”

“It is a fact of life that running for political office in this country is very expensive; once in office, few incumbents want to surrender their seats in Congress, so they often trun to the special interest, who want special consideration from them, for the money to finance their campaigns. Then, after the election, they repay the favors—with the taxpayers’ money.”

“Until presidents have a line-item veto and there is a constitutional amendment mandating a balanced budget, I think the country is likely to face never-ending deficits piled up by a profligate Congress unable or unwilling to make the hard-nosed decisions necessary to bring down spending to a level the country can afford.”

“As I have often said, governments don’t produce economic growth, people do. What governments can do is encourage Americans to tap their well of ingenuity and unleash their entrepreneurial spirit, then get out of the way.”

“For the free market to work, everyone has to compete on an equal footing. That way, prices and demand go up or down based on free choices of people; there are winners and losers under the system of free competition, but consumers are ultimately benefactors.
Free competition produces better products and lower prices. However, when governments fix or control the price, impose quotas, subsidize manufacturers or farmers, or otherwise intervene in the free market with artificial restrictions, it isn’t free and it won’t work as it is supposed to work."

“The explorers of the modern era are the entrepreneurs, men with vision, with the courage to take risks and faith enough to brave the unknown. These entrepreneurs and their small enterprises are responsible for almost all the economic growth in the United States. They are the prime movers of the technological revolution. In fact, one of the largest personal computer firms in the United states was started by two college students, no older than you, in the garage behind their home. Some people, even in my own country, look at the riot of experiment that is the free market and see only waste. What of all the entrepreneurs that fail? Well, many do, particularly the successful ones. Often several times. And if you ask them the secret of their success, they'll tell you, it's all that they learned in their struggles along the way - yes, it's what they learned from failing. Like an athlete in competition, or a scholar in pursuit of the truth, experience is the greatest teacher.”

There is Reagan in his own words. Can you see how Reagan’s worldview led to a specific style of government based on the freedom of the people to learn, grow, fail and try again until they get it right? This is what we desire for our children and grandchildren—the opportunity to grow and lead by their own merits. I encourage everyone to study the candidates and give them the Reagan test for their thoughts on the role of government. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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Liberty

2008-03-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” - Samuel Adams, August 1, 1776 at the Philadelphia State House

7 Steps to Sharper Networking

2008-03-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

7 Steps to Sharper Networking
---Renea Myers, president of Renea Myers Marketing

Networking isn’t as easy as just showing up to an event and handing out business cards. Networking is an art. Here are seven ideas to get you started on a master plan.

1. Wait for the right window of opportunity to share your information.
Show an interest in others first and then when the focus turns to you, share your business card and business goals. When someone walks in handing out business cards indiscriminately, it’s tantamount to “network spamming.”

2. Networking is about looking for opportunities to give.
Anyone is capable of great networking through good listening and caring about others’ success. Furthermore, everyone has a wealth of resources to offer. If your first goal is to be a valuable resource to others, the networking karma will be returned many times over.

3. Become adept at gathering information.
After you have built relationships with your contacts, it’s time to share your business needs. Be as specific as possible when asking for leads, referrals or information. Specific requests glean the best results. It’s also helpful to provide examples of how you have helped a client. Always acknowledge any kind of help you receive and ask how you can return the favor.

4. Find your comfort zone.
If you’re uncomfortable in a new group situation, it’s helpful to have a job. Volunteer to work registration or serve as a greeter. You will meet the attendees, but you’ll also be positioning yourself as one of the “inner circle.” You can also mitigate the fear of rejection by getting into the habit of talking about your business goals in a conversational manner, avoiding “yes or no” questions. You can also ask for “advice” instead of business leads. People like to be asked for their opinion.

5. Identify your sphere of influence.
Make a list of people you know who are considered “connectors” to your customers, prospects, or industry. Identify which ones are in your sphere of influence. These are people who consider you visible, credible, resourceful and knowledgeable. Look for opportunities to build relationships with connectors and grow that sphere.

6. Strategic organizational involvement.
Consider getting involved in select organizations such as your industry group or your best customer’s trade association. Be willing to take on a leadership role, but if you’re not willing to commit the necessary time, don’t add your name to the list. Additionally, finding creative ways to contribute will differentiate you within the organization. Remember, having your picture taken is a good thing, so don’t get shy!

7. Develop some stealth marketing strategies.
• Be willing to give away something to build visibility
• Attend industry trade shows to evaluate the competition
• Teach a class
• Write an article or a column
• “Own” a restaurant or coffee shop. If the owners/servers know you, they will readily honor special requests and your guests will feel more comfortable
• Prepare for networking events as if it were a sales call

---Source: Renea Myers is the President of Renea Myers Marketing. Visit her web site at
Http://www.rmyersmarketing.com

Counter-Productive Compassion

2008-03-10T22:08:00.002-05:00

Feed: Author Chris Brady's Leadership Blog
Posted on: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 11_31 PM
Author: Chris Brady
Subject: Counter-Productive Compassion

According to Ronald Reagan, some of the most dangerous words anyone could ever hear were, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." With his characteristic home-spun, Reagan in that one little quip summed up what plagues much of the United State's current condition.

Author W. Cleon Skousen coined the term "Counter-Productive Compassion" to describe what I see displayed across nearly the entire landscape of national candidates for President. Somewhere, somehow, the American populace got it into their head that "the government" is responsible for solving the people's problems. Even most of those on the "conservative" side barely represent a conservative platform. It seems as though the citizenry has realized that they can vote "benefit providers" into office to serve their individual needs.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that we shouldn't care for the poor. It's not that we shouldn't provide cushion to displaced workers caught in industry shifts. It's not that we shouldn't get involved in addressing a whole host of human needs across our country. Of course we should. To do less would be cold, uncaring, and the farthest thing from compassionate. What I am suggesting is that we merely consider who the "we" is in these sentences. Exactly who should care for the poor? Exactly who should help the displaced worker? Our compassion is correct, our implementation is flawed.

Why?

Because, just as Reagan indicated, governments are notoriously bad at executing (unless we are speaking of despotic governments, of course, in which case executions are some of their most efficient work). Have you ever had to work with or inside of a bureaucracy? If you have (and who among you hasn't invested

hours inside a DMV or Secretary of State's Office?), you know exactly what I'm talking about. And the U.S. government, although founded upon some of the soundest political theory and documents the world has ever produced, is the world's largest bereaucracy. Worse, it has a nagging little tendency to continue to grow. With each new "program," no matter how well intentioned, the pig just gets fatter and bigger and slower and less effective. What began in compassion ends in a pile of paperwork and waste, with very little, if any, of the intended benefit actually finding its way to the proper recipient. If that benefit does reach the right place, often times the compassion then breeds entitlement instead of its original purpose. This is because most government programs, being so bureaucratic, are cold and impersonal, and therefore are not very caring, specific, or good at holding people accountable. Instead of a hand up, which is what most well-intentioned compassionate people hope to enable the government to provide, it turns into a hand-out.

Let's look at the principles involved, which I borrow from Benjamin Franklin:

1. Compassion which gives a drunk the means to increase his drunkenness is counter-productive.

2. Compassion which breeds debilitating dependency and weakness is counter-productive.

3. Compassion which blunts the desire or necessity to work for a living is counter-productive.

4. Compassion which smothers the instinct to strive and excel is counter-productive.

So we see that compassion impropery applied leads to bad results. And we further see that the government is especially gifted at "improperly applying" its compassionate funds.

So if compassion is a dangerous weapon that must be yielded properly so it doesn't backfire, and if government has continually demonstrated its inability to properly implement compassion, how then should it be handled?

The founding fathers had an answer for this, and it comes from a principle called "fixed responsibility." The principle works much the same as the structure of government they instituted at the birth of the United States, in which local governemnts controlled everything except what belonged to the states and national government, and in turn the states handled everything the local governments could not, and finally, the federal government handled only what was beyond the local and state governments. "Fixed Responsibility," according to Skousen, works like this:

"The first and foremost level of responsibility is with the individual himself; the second level is the family; then the church; next the community; finally the country, and, in disaster or emergency, the state. Under no circumstances is the federal government to become involved in public welfare. The Founders felt it would corrupt the government and also the poor. No Constitutional authority exists for the federal government to participate in charity or welfare. By excluding the national government from intervening in the local affairs of the people, the Founders felt they were protecting the unalienable rights of the people from abuse by an over-aggressive government."

In relation to this, where do you think we are today? And how did we get there? Was it because politicians learned that they could get elected by promising benefits to special interest supporters, thereby "selling votes," or was it because the government must handle these things because individuals, families, churches, and communities will not?

Is our counter-productive governmental compassion a result of power hungry politicians (the kind that can't really solve the problem they crusade for because then they would be without their base of power), or is it due the selfishness and indifference of individuals, families, and churches in our society?

What do you think?

Which candidates align in what positions in relation to these questions?

View article...

FW: Life is Too Short to Be Little

2008-03-10T21:56:00.002-05:00

Feed: Author Chris Brady's Leadership Blog
Posted on: Sunday, January 20, 2008 5_55 PM
Author: Chris Brady
Subject: Life is Too Short to Be Little

"It's not what happens, it's how you respond." These are easy words to hear, but hard ones to live out. For most of us, it is easy to let people "hi-jack" us emotionally, to "blow our lid," or "get ticked off," or "blow our stack," or "lose our temper, " or "come un-glued," or "let them have it," or "lose control," or "boil over," or "erupt," or "fly off the handle," or "throw a tantrum," or "pitch a fit," or "get our knickers in a knot," or "get our tailfeathers in a knot," or "get jacked sideways," or "spout off," or any number of expressions (in fact, if anybody out there knows any more, perhaps you could contribute them here in the comments section!). Perhaps there are so many expressions for this because there are so many instances of this in our lives. It would make sense that we would need a lot of names for something that happens a lot!

But what a shame, really. How many pharases are there for the opposite? "Keep one's cool," or "stay calm," or "keep control," or "maintain composure," or "turn the other cheek," or "blow it off," or "let it lie," or "leave it alone," or "take it with a grain of salt," or "keep things in perspective," or "let sleeping dogs lie," or "don't rock the apple cart," or "leave well enough alone," or "keep the peace," or take it all in stride." (again, we would welcome your inputs on this blog if you can think of more!)

For both cases, when we lose our temper or when we maintain control, our language is full of expressions to describe the event. It must be that this is a big deal. And in the art of human relations, I can assure you that how we respond to the things that happen to us in life IS A BIG DEAL.

Many, many times the things that happen to us are with, through, about, or because of other people. The interesting thing about life is that we, as humans, are free to choose our response. We are different from the animals which have no choice but simply react by instinct. Sure, we have instincts, but we also have overriding intelligence that offers us a choice of our response in any situation. It is how we choose our responses that matters.

Do we choose our responses because they make us feel better in the moment, riding the emotional wave that wells up in us and forgetting to engage our intelligence? Or do we stop and think for a moment, making a concious choice about what our response will be? HOW we choose our response is important.

Addtionally, WHAT response we choose matters, too. We should gain enough control over ourselves to choose the appropriate response. And which response is the appropriate one? Would it be the response of expediency, meaning the choice that serves our personal needs the best? Or would it be better to choose a response that serves the other person? Should our response be in line with the highest purpose we have for our life? Should our response have anything to do with God and His glory?

You see, asking these kinds of questions of ourselves (and what is thinking, if not the attempt at answering questions we ask ourselves?) produces the environment for us to CHOOSE our response, and to CHOOSE appropriately. Remember, we are the happiest when our actions are in line with the highest picture we have of ourselves, and when that picture is as accurate as it can be - meaning: the closest in line with how God would have us live.

People who are given to emotional flights of fancy, getting angry and battling with the people in their lives for whom they are supposed to love, are the least likely to produce lasting relationships. They may have great "people skills" on the front end, but over time, their lack of emotional self-control will deliver misery and regret by the truckload. Many of the wounds resulting from a lack of emotional control are very painful and heal slowly. Trust is destroyed and is rebuilt painfully and slowly, if at all.

Work hard to grow emotionally. Experts agree that your "emotional quotient" is more important than your "intelligence quotient." Get control of yourself by getting clear on who you are and what your purpose is. Don't lose perspective on the big picture in your life. Get in touch with the fact that your life is finite. Keep in mind that the most important aspects of your life are how you touch and influence the lives of God's children around you. You will be remembered more for your contributions or subtractions from people's lives than anything else you will accomplish. And finally, it may be helpful to keep in mind two of my favorite quotes:

"Life is too short to be little,"

and

"A man is only as big as the smallest thing that makes him lose his temper."

So grow big.

Life is too short to live otherwise.

View article...

Too busy to change the world?

2008-03-10T21:52:00.001-05:00

Dear Sponsor,

You may be too busy to change the world, but you can do ONE thing — you can share your story.

We're looking for thousands of sponsors to create awareness in their churches or small groups for the millions of children living in poverty. And we need you to speak on their behalf.

Sharing the story of a child whose life has been changed is easy! It's the story of YOUR sponsored child!

Nervous about speaking in church? Show a video, and let the images tell the story!

Not sure who to talk with? Start with your pastor, who may surprise you with his or her support of World Vision!

Concerned about the cost? No worries — it's free!

How do you get started? Order a Planning Kit today, which includes:

A step-by-step guide about how to plan an event
A guide for church leaders to give to your pastor
Posters
Videos
Suggested bulletin text, and more!

Can you make a difference? YES! Whether you find one sponsor or a thousand, every child is valuable, and we want each one to know the hope that comes from being sponsored.

Read about Nichole, who has blessed others by sharing sponsorship at her church through the A Child is Waiting program:

"I prayerfully considered 'A Child is Waiting' after looking on the World Vision Web site for ways to serve locally. I am so impressed and pleased that World Vision has found a way for ordinary and busy people to help with your effort.

I have always wanted to go into the mission field, but being a mother of three small kids, have found it to be quite difficult. This felt like a great way to help serve God's purpose, so thank you for the opportunity."
– Nichole Patterson, A Child is Waiting volunteer

There are thousands of children waiting for a sponsor. Let God use you in this way. Whether you connect one child or 100 with a new sponsor, imagine the blessing you will feel knowing that another child's life will be changed.

Grateful for your partnership,

Rich Stearns
President, World Vision U.S.

P.S. If you host an event during the month of May and you find sponsors for 10 children, we'll send you the Faith In Action Study Bible — FREE! Order your Planning Kit today.

Order a Planning Kit

A Child is Waiting

www.worldvision.org

Home | Sponsor a Child | Ways to Give | Get Involved | About Us


	World Vision United States — Building a Better World for Children World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. Last year, 86 percent of World Vision's total revenue was designated for programs that benefit children, families, and communities in need.		World Vision Donor Services 34834 Weyerhaeuser Way S. P.O. Box 9716, Mail Stop 110 Federal Way, WA 98063-9716 Phone: 1.888.511.6514 Web: www.worldvision.org Email: info@worldvision.org


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Isaiah 40:29-31

2008-03-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

This is my one of my wife's favorite verses from the Holy Scriptures. It can give hope to those who grow tired of the fight. -rbh

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

The B-I Triangle

2008-03-06T11:25:00.000-06:00

In my book Before You Quit Your Job, written for entrepreneurs, I write extensively about the B-I Triangle. The B-I Triangle is the diagram my rich dad used to focus my thinking and to teach me about the eight parts that make up a business.

Many entrepreneurs fail simply because one or more of the eight pieces of the B-I Triangle is weak or nonexistent. Whenever I look at a struggling business, I use the B-I Triangle as an analytical reference

Notice that the word product is used to label the smallest section, and the word mission is one of the largest sections--as well as the foundation for the Triangle. This is because the product is the least important item in the B-I Triangle, and the mission is the most important. The mission is the spirit of the business; it is the heart of the business. Without spirit and heart, most entrepreneurs will not make it.

The world is filled with great products that fail. The products fail simply because they do not have the power of the B-I Triangle behind them.

When you study most successful businesses, you will most likely find a complete and vibrant B-I Triangle in action. A great business will have a strong mission, great leadership, a competent team of people who work well together, excellent cash flow and financing, clear and effective sales and marketing communications, systems that work efficiently, clear and tight legal documents and agreements, and of course last, a great product.

Robert Kiyosaki

A Great Leader Is A Great Follower

2008-03-06T10:54:00.000-06:00

Below are a few excerpts written by Carol Giannanto - a Life and Executive coach
To go strait to the original article click here.

"What does it really take to be a great leader? As an Executive and Business Coach, I find myself asking this exact question to my clients when they set leadership goals. As a coach, my role is to guide individuals to insights and answers by asking them questions that really make them think rather than telling them what to do. Coaching involves lifting a person's vision to higher sights, raising their performance to a higher standard, and building a personality beyond its normal limitations to its full potential."

...
1. "Double vision"...

2. The ability to be a great follower...

"In Launching a Leadership Revolution, Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward, stress the importance of becoming a Performer in leadership development-the need to create a record of performance. You need to become a great follower, a great contributor.

According to Brady and Woodward, the quickest way of gaining a track record of performance is to master the patterns of success already established in your organization. Thus, the goal of every leader is to become a "Performer" who successfully works with and master the existing patterns of success within the organization.

As a successful "Performer" you have the knowledge and expertise to help others accomplish similar results. You gain recognition, respect and power in the organization. You have influence, another key ingredient to successful leadership."

View original article here.

FW: Over 100,000 Copies

2008-03-05T13:55:00.002-06:00

Feed: Author Chris Brady's Leadership Blog
Posted on: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10_57 AM
Author: Chris Brady
Subject: Over 100,000 Copies

I just wanted to put out a great big "Thank You" to all the readers of the Launching a Leadership Revolution book out there. We just received word from our publisher that we have surpassed the 100,000 copies mark! Incredible. We are excited about the amount of funds this project is raising for All Grace Outreach. Thanks for being a part of something special!

View article...

FW: Some Great Quotes

2008-03-05T13:52:00.002-06:00

Feed: Author Chris Brady's Leadership Blog
Posted on: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 8_39 AM
Author: Chris Brady
Subject: Some Great Quotes

Discipline reminds the body that it is the servant of the mind

A leader's first calling is to grow

Leadership is all about maturity

Followers want to change only when they aren't happy and usually when it doesn't require much risk or sacrifice on their part

Care: the fruit of an honest community

A leader is always expected to be on duty

Most real learning comes through stories

The problem with today's formal education is that it ignores the development of character

(Source: Author Dan B. Allender)

View article...

The Best Investment You'll Ever Make

2008-02-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

I found this great article here:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2008/02/19/the-best-investment-youll-ever-make.aspx
you can part of it here click through to the original post at the end....

By Austin Edwards February 19, 2008

One afternoon when I was 14, my father did something crazy.

Right in the middle of an episode of Saved by the Bell, he unplugged our TV, dumped a pile of books in my lap, and dropped this bombshell: If I wanted to go to college, I'd have to start learning about investing right then and there.

Let's just say reading a bunch of investment guides didn't hold a candle to watching the lovely Kelly Kapowski strut her stuff. But the TV wasn't going back on until I finished them, so I did -- without paying the least bit of attention to anything I read.

Hindsight is a cruel 20/20
Thankfully, even though I blew off the idea of investing, dear old Dad didn't. I ended up with a college degree and without any student loans. But imagine if I'd actually started investing on my own ...

I could've amassed a small fortune by simply paying attention to what was happening around me, doing some research on companies I knew and loved, and buying those companies' stocks instead of their products.

The most depressing part
Back then, I wouldn't have thought twice about blowing money on sneakers, a computer, the latest fad in clothing, or trendy junk food, but it never occurred to me to buy stock in my favorite companies. Big mistake.

When I Was 14, If I Had Invested $1,000 In ...	Right Now I'd Be Sitting On ...
Nike (NYSE: NKE)	$4,371
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL)	$21,043
American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO)	$59,111
Hansen Natural (Nasdaq: HANS)	$400,900

It's never too late to start investing, but the longer you wait, the less money you'll be able to earn. That's why it's incredibly important to introduce your kids to investing while they're still young.... read the rest of the article here.

The Dumbing of America

2008-02-19T20:21:00.001-06:00

I Took this post from Orrin Woodward's Blog. I thought it needed to be in as many places on the web as it could....

Want more evidence of why a Team of leaders must step up and pursue excellence? I was sent this article written by Susan Jacoby that captures the love affair with mediocrity in America. If I were to begin personally mentoring every one of the blog readers—I would start by encouraging you to read Magic of Thinking Big. No single book describes the importance of having a big dream to create hunger, as well as this book. David Schwarz wrote this book in the 1950’s, but its lesson is so relevant today. Read the book and take notes on the key points to focus on now. I love the readers of this blog, because they represent a group of men and women prepared to make a difference. If you want to make a difference in this world, then you need to be different from the world. The world may shout out a message of hate, mediocrity and situational ethics, but inside of you is a voice that whispers of your God-given destiny. A life filled with love, honor, courage, and perseverance. Every day that passes, the voice grows weaker. Reading and listening to other leaders revives the faint voice inside of you! God’s gives us the gift of life—what a shame to return it unopened. The Team training teaches people to read, listen and think again. We can and will make a difference because we are different! Enjoy the article. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

"The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself." Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.

This is the last subject that any candidate would dare raise on the long and winding road to the White House. It is almost impossible to talk about the manner in which public ignorance contributes to grave national problems without being labeled an "elitist," one of the most powerful pejoratives that can be applied to anyone aspiring to high office. Instead, our politicians repeatedly assure Americans that they are just "folks," a patronizing term that you will search for in vain in important presidential speeches before 1980. (Just imagine: "We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain . . . and that government of the folks, by the folks, for the folks, shall not perish from the earth.") Such exaltations of ordinariness are among the distinguishing traits of anti-intellectualism in any era.

The classic work on this subject by Columbia University historian Richard Hofstadter, "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life," was published in early 1963, between the anti-communist crusades of the McCarthy era and the social convulsions of the late 1960s. Hofstadter saw American anti-intellectualism as a basically cyclical phenomenon that often manifested itself as the dark side of the country's democratic impulses in religion and education. But today's brand of anti-intellectualism is less a cycle than a flood. If Hofstadter (who died of leukemia in 1970 at age 54) had lived long enough to write a modern-day sequel, he would have found that our era of 24/7 infotainment has outstripped his most apocalyptic predictions about the future of American culture.

Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.

First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.

Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report last year by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games.

Does all this matter? Technophiles pooh-pooh jeremiads about the end of print culture as the navel-gazing of (what else?) elitists. In his book "Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter," the science writer Steven Johnson assures us that we have nothing to worry about. Sure, parents may see their "vibrant and active children gazing silently, mouths agape, at the screen." But these zombie-like characteristics "are not signs of mental atrophy. They're signs of focus." Balderdash. The real question is what toddlers are screening out, not what they are focusing on, while they sit mesmerized by videos they have seen dozens of times.

Despite an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at encouraging babies as young as 6 months to watch videos, there is no evidence that focusing on a screen is anything but bad for infants and toddlers. In a study released last August, University of Washington researchers found that babies between 8 and 16 months recognized an average of six to eight fewer words for every hour spent watching videos.

I cannot prove that reading for hours in a treehouse (which is what I was doing when I was 13) creates more informed citizens than hammering away at a Microsoft Xbox or obsessing about Facebook profiles. But the inability to concentrate for long periods of time -- as distinct from brief reading hits for information on the Web -- seems to me intimately related to the inability of the public to remember even recent news events. It is not surprising, for example, that less has been heard from the presidential candidates about the Iraq war in the later stages of the primary campaign than in the earlier ones, simply because there have been fewer video reports of violence in Iraq. Candidates, like voters, emphasize the latest news, not necessarily the most important news.

No wonder negative political ads work. "With text, it is even easy to keep track of differing levels of authority behind different pieces of information," the cultural critic Caleb Crain noted recently in the New Yorker. "A comparison of two video reports, on the other hand, is cumbersome. Forced to choose between conflicting stories on television, the viewer falls back on hunches, or on what he believed before he started watching."

As video consumers become progressively more impatient with the process of acquiring information through written language, all politicians find themselves under great pressure to deliver their messages as quickly as possible -- and quickness today is much quicker than it used to be. Harvard University's Kiku Adatto found that between 1968 and 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate -- featuring the candidate's own voice -- dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds. By 2000, according to another Harvard study, the daily candidate bite was down to just 7.8 seconds.

The shrinking public attention span fostered by video is closely tied to the second important anti-intellectual force in American culture: the erosion of general knowledge.

People accustomed to hearing their president explain complicated policy choices by snapping "I'm the decider" may find it almost impossible to imagine the pains that Franklin D. Roosevelt took, in the grim months after Pearl Harbor, to explain why U.S. armed forces were suffering one defeat after another in the Pacific. In February 1942, Roosevelt urged Americans to spread out a map during his radio "fireside chat" so that they might better understand the geography of battle. In stores throughout the country, maps sold out; about 80 percent of American adults tuned in to hear the president. FDR had told his speechwriters that he was certain that if Americans understood the immensity of the distances over which supplies had to travel to the armed forces, "they can take any kind of bad news right on the chin."

This is a portrait not only of a different presidency and president but also of a different country and citizenry, one that lacked access to satellite-enhanced Google maps but was far more receptive to learning and complexity than today's public. According to a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 do not think it necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. More than a third consider it "not at all important" to know a foreign language, and only 14 percent consider it "very important."

That leads us to the third and final factor behind the new American dumbness: not lack of knowledge per se but arrogance about that lack of knowledge. The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it's the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism -- a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism. The toxic brew of anti-rationalism and ignorance hurts discussions of U.S. public policy on topics from health care to taxation.

There is no quick cure for this epidemic of arrogant anti-rationalism and anti-intellectualism; rote efforts to raise standardized test scores by stuffing students with specific answers to specific questions on specific tests will not do the job. Moreover, the people who exemplify the problem are usually oblivious to it. ("Hardly anyone believes himself to be against thought and culture," Hofstadter noted.) It is past time for a serious national discussion about whether, as a nation, we truly value intellect and rationality. If this indeed turns out to be a "change election," the low level of discourse in a country with a mind taught to aim at low objects ought to be the first item on the change agenda.

The Opposite of Success...

2007-08-22T16:08:00.001-05:00

The opposite of success is not failure... It is quitting. Failure is a part of success. Anyone who has had success, has failed their way there.

Tip: Little things mean a lot!

2007-07-07T16:15:00.001-05:00

Tip: Little things mean a lot!

About 30 years ago, I was teaching an adult Sunday school class on the subject of home life. Rather than teaching the class I probably should have been taking the class, but that is another story.

I talked about the fact that it is the little things we do in life (or in business) that make a huge difference in whether we succeed or fail in what we do. These thirty years later, I believe that concept more than ever.

I am constantly amazed at how paying attention to little things can make or break a family, a business or even a nation. Prior to 9/11 very little attention was paid to the items people took on an airplane with them. Now, however, much more attention is paid to that one aspect of air travel.

But, back to the Sunday school class story! In preparing to teach the class, I came across a poem that I shared with them. An older couple came to me after the class and told me that the poem I had read was actually a popular song back in the 1940's and '50's. They had danced to it when they courted and fell in love.

Listen to the words and see how touching they still are over half a century later:

Blow me a kiss across the room
Say I look nice when I'm not
Touch my hair as you pass my chair
Little things mean a lot

Give me your arm as we cross the street
Call me at six on the dot
A line a day when you're far away
Little things mean a lot

Give me your hand when I've lost my way
Give me your shoulder to cry on
Whether the day is bright or gray
Give me your heart to rely on

Send me the warmth of a secret smile
To show me your haven't forgot
For always and ever, now and forever
Little things mean a lot

Edith Linderman/Carl Stutz

Now I am not trying to get all "mushy" on you, but I do believe one thing to be true more than ever - if you pay attention to the little things in the lives of your family, friends and business associates you cannot help but make a positive impression on all of them.

When was the last time you got a thank you note from someone? Did that "little thing" mean a lot to you? Sure it did! When was the last time you received an unexpected phone call from someone who told you how much you had meant to his or her life? Did that "little thing" mean a lot to you? Again, the answer is obvious.

Do you see how important "little things" really are? When all is said and done I actually believe that the "little things", in reality, turn out to be the "big things".

I am practicing this in my personal and professional life and it is paying with rewards. It will for you, too!

Tip: Little things mean a lot!

Have a great week! God bless you!

Robert Rohm Ph.D.
Personality Insights, Inc.
email: insights@personalityinsights.com

How Close Are We?

2007-07-07T11:04:00.000-05:00

How Close Are We?
by Danny Sims

How close do we even want to be?

Wedgwood Baptist, Ft. Worth, Texas.

How tragic when once unfamiliar words have horrible and heartbreaking images identified with them. Not too many knew of Wedgwood Baptist until this past week. But the church that was our quiet, friendly neighbor is now another place for flower memorials, lovingly heaped along the roadside. Police and paramedics, red lights bouncing off the houses of our neighborhood, bright lights and cameras penetrating a dark Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, teenagers in shock weeping and holding each other, frantic adults racing across the lawn... These are the pictures we all have seen of Wedgwood Baptist

The Altamesa Church of Christ, where I preach in southwest Fort Worth, is a growing Wedgwood neighborhood church of 1200. We are just blocks from the other growing Wedgwood neighborhood Church of 1200, Wedgwood Baptist. Much of our membership lives in the Wedgwood section of Fort Worth. My home is in Wedgwood.

How close are we?

Our teenagers were invited, but decided not to go to last Wednesday’s See You At The Pole youth rally where Larry Gene Ashbrook killed seven, critically wounded two more, and victimized a community.

My schedule this week could easily have been filled with funerals.

How close are we?

Ashbrook might just as easily have driven another dozen blocks to our sanctuary. The night the rampage took place, our own Praise Assembly had just begun when he began his carnage. Not knowing all that had transpired, we dismissed quickly yet calmly when news of the shooting was phoned in by police. Just minutes later, news and police helicopters droned overhead.

How close are we?

News and police helicopters droned overhead.

We hosted a community wide prayer service just 24 hours after the shooting. 800 people came, including two members of the House of Representatives and many families of Wedgwood Baptist, who wept in our pews. A deacon from Wedgwood Baptist spoke. Media from all the local Fort Worth —Dallas outlets were here. A church from Littleton, Colorado sent flowers, as did the Jewish Community Centers of Los Angeles, both of whom have also been targets of recent violent crimes.

I remarked Thursday night that our community is larger than this corner of Fort Worth. We flashed across Nightline, 48 Hours, on prime time network television. Reporters called me to get a viewpoint from a nearby preacher.

How close are we?

Our Youth Ministers Raymond Schultz and Hai Cao spent much of Thursday at a local high school where one of the victims had been a student, consoling teens. Our Counselor Russ Bartee was on the radio and coordinating with the Red Cross. Small Groups Minister Scott Strother was at the hospital. Outreach Minister Wade Weaver was talking to local media. College and Singles Minister Mark Aldridge was on the phone with area churches. Our team was on call.

How close are we?

At the prayer service, our Children’s Education Minister Patty Weaver sang Amazing Grace, dedicating it to Sydney Browning, Wedgwood Children’s Choir Director. Sydney was the first one Ashbrook murdered. One of their little girls was described on television as lamenting out loud, “They killed my choir teacher! They killed my choir teacher!” I was overcome with emotion realizing, could have just as easily have been Patty. What would our little boys and girls have said?

How close are we?

My son, a first grader, came home Thursday telling us one of his tiny classmates was at the church when it happened. Our children go to school together. Members of Altamesa are neighbors of members of Wedgwood.

How close are we?

In another twist, some of our members know and long ago attended church with the Ashbrook family. In his childhood, one of our deacons knew the man who unloaded his two handguns into the crowd.

How close are we?

That may be the most important question asked in the aftermath.

How close are we to one another?

How close are we to tragedy?

How close are we to our community?

How close are we to our friends and fellow believers in other churches?

How close are we to God?

How close are we to the end?

How close are we to reaching those, like Ashbrook, who reportedly grew up in the church but regrettably not in the Lord?

How close do we even want to be?

At our Thursday evening community wide prayer service we offered folks the opportunity to write a note to the families of the martyred, the injured, or write whatever was on their heart. Scores of pages were left behind for those who grieve, poems for the injured, prayers for the families devastated by that senseless deed. Saturday I delivered the book of original copies to Associate Pastor of Wedgwood Baptist, Mike Holton. Mike was deeply moved. In appreciation he tearfully said, “Thank you. All of us here love you over at the Altamesa Church of Christ. Thanks for what you did.”

How close do we even want to be?

As we visited, a young man came in. He immediately thanked me for our prayer service, saying his parents had come. Apologizing to Mike for his unavailability at 2:00 that afternoon, he explained his plan to attend the funerals (three were held that day for victims of the shooting). Mike assured him it would all be fine. Somehow God will provide.

When I asked what was happening at 2:00, Mike explained that chairs needed to be arranged for Sunday’s service, and since most of their church was involved with the funerals, he had no one to help. Thirty members of the Altamesa Church showered Mike with supportive hearts and willing hands at two o' clock. We carried flowers and set up chairs. We quietly stepped inside the sanctuary. We prayed and sang a song. “O God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You...”

I believe God did provide, as much for us as for Wedgwood Baptist.

Then Mike asked us to help carry out several of their pews. Pews to be repaired by the manufacturer, who had traveled to be on site. Pews with cushions and fabric removed. Pews riddled with bullets. Pews heavy with sorrow. Pews where, as one of my Church Elders said, “Soldiers died.” Thursday night the Wedgwood Baptist Church had come to cry in the pews of the Altamesa Church of Christ. Saturday afternoon the Altamesa Church carried out the pews at Wedgwood Baptist. Tears and service, service and tears.

We are close enough to do for a church that’s experienced loss exactly what we do for our friends who experience loss. We were just there.

How often have we heard it said, “Just be there” for someone grieving, someone in shock. Don’t say anything. Just be there.

How close are we?

Close enough to bear one another’s burdens and practice the love commands of Christ:

Love your neighbor as yourself, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.

Close enough to emphasize for a rare moment all we have in common, rather than practice the pattern of highlighting our differences.

How close are we?

Close enough to love. Close enough to care, to be there, to do something instead of talk. Close enough to do, we’re convinced, the very thing Jesus would do, and died for His Church to do. Close enough to do what Jesus lives through us, His Body, to do.

So how close are we?

How close should we be? That’s how close I want to be!

(article taken from www.Heartlight.com)

Successful People do...

2007-07-02T17:56:00.001-05:00

"When you do the things that aught to do when you aught to do them, the day will come when you can do the things that you want to do when you want to do them."
-Dr. John C. Maxwell

Here are 10 Keys to Cultivate a Can-Do Attitude

2007-06-26T23:18:00.001-05:00

Here are 10 Keys to Cultivate a Can-Do Attitude:

Key #1: Disown Your Helplessness

Can-do people aggressively pursue solutions, and, in the process, uncover creative solutions others never even try to find. Can-do leaders take responsibility for the future, whereas lesser leaders blame circumstances or other people when facing roadblocks. Rather than wallowing in helplessness, can-do leaders search diligently to overcome the obstacles in front of them.

Key #2: Take the Bull By the Horns.

Can-do people are fearless. They go straight to the source of their solution. Their very effort commands attention as they wrestle a problem to the ground with expediency. I have discovered that people with a can-do attitude have an aggressiveness about them. They take the bull by the horns. When they enter into the arena of action, they don’t wait, they initiate.

Key #3: Enter the No Whining Zone.

Can-do people abstain from complaining. They recognize its futility and guard their minds and mouths against indulging in this time-wasting activity. As George Washington Carver observed, “Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”

Key #4: Put On Another’s Pair of Shoes.

Can-do people empathize with others. They attempt to see any predicament from the other person’s perspective in order to make the best decisions. In my book Winning with People, one the 25 People Principles is the Exchange Principle, which says that instead of putting others in their place, we must put ourselves in their place.

Leaders see the world from their perspective and others’ perspectives. They use their own perspective to give direction, and they use others’ perspectives to forge relational connection. Both direction and connection are indispensable to taking the team on a successful journey.

Key #5: Nurture Your Passion.

Can-do people are immune to burnout. They love what they do because they’ve learned how to fuel the fire that keeps them moving. In leadership, the prize is not given to the person who’s the smartest, nor to the person with the advantages in resources and position, but the prize goes to the person with passion.

Key #6: Walk the Second Mile.

Can-do people exceed expectations. While others settle for an acceptable solution, they aren’t satisfied until they have achieved the unimagined. They set expectations for themselves higher than what is dictated by the people or situations around them.

Key #7: Quit Stewing and Start Doing.

Can-do people take action. While others are crippled by worry, fear, and anxiety, they have the fortitude to press forward. The perfect moment when all is safe and assured may never arrive, so why wait for it? Can-do leaders take risks.

Key #8: Go With the Flow.

Can-do people can adjust to change. They don’t get caught griping about an unexpected curve in the road. They accept transition with an optimistic outlook. They realize it’s less important what happens TO them, than it is what happens IN them.

Key #9: Follow Through to the End.

Can-do people not only initiate, they finish. They are self-starters with the capacity to close the deal.

Key #10: Expect a Return as a Result of Your Commitment.

If you make an all out commitment with a can-do attitude, expect a return. Passionate commitment is contagious, and resources follow resolve. Committed leaders will reap rewards and find open doors as others are drawn to the excitement and energy emanating from them.

By: Dr. John C. Maxwell

Discouragement, Quotes

2007-06-22T15:06:00.001-05:00

Leadership Wired - July 2007

“What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to the rescue of those who fight on in the face of discouragement.”

~ Napoleon Hill

“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.”

~ Dale Carnegie

"Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional."

~ Roger Crawford

Tip: If I am not the Problem, Then there is no Solution!

2007-06-06T11:15:00.001-05:00

This Tip requires a lot of concentration for all who hear it. It is one of the

most difficult concepts I have ever learned in my life. The first time I heard

it, I began to feel defensive. I tried to think of all the reasons why it was

wrong. I thought, "That cannot be right! I am not the problem in every difficult

situation in which I find myself and I know that there are some problems

that I have absolutely not brought upon myself!" But over the years, I have come

to see the power of this deep, unusual truth.

You see, you have a

powerful influence that you bring to the table in every situation in which you

find yourself. If there is something taking place in your life right now that

you feel is not going well, then the question to ask is, "What can I do

about it?" In other words, what role could YOU play in order to make

things better? Until you realize that if you are not the problem (even a small

part of it), then there can be no solution. This kind of thinking takes the

matter of personal responsibility and turns it squarely around so you can look

it right in the face.

When I finally began to process this, I realized

that this concept is actually one of the healthiest ways of thinking that I have

ever experienced. In any difficult situation in which I find myself, I begin to

ask myself a series of questions. "What role do I play in this problem?" "How am

I participating in this particular situation?" "What have I done or said to make

this situation better or worse?" "What can I do to make things a little more

pleasant?" It causes personal responsibility to fall squarely on my shoulders so

that I can begin to make a difference in the situation.

Perhaps you are

in a relationship with a family member or with someone at work where you have

done everything in your power to make things right and you are still not

satisfied with the current state of affairs. Well, let me say once again, if you

are not part of the problem, then there can be no solution. I told you this was

a difficult concept!

It is human nature to want to straighten out other

people and other situations. (If you find a good methodology for doing that,

please let me know! I would love to know how to correct other situations and

other people to make them all turn out exactly as I would like. Unfortunately,

that is not possible.) The longer I live, the more I see that the only person I

have any power over on this entire planet is myself! I believe I should be a

strong influence on others, but I cannot control anyone. Nor do I want

to. I simply want to control myself and influence others.

I refuse

to live my life based on the decisions of other people or the circumstances that

come my way! If I can do anything to make the situation better, then I will do

it, because I recognize that I am part of problem. When I recognize that, it

immediately, helps me to become part of the solution.

Recently at work

someone made a mistake. I told them not to worry about it, but to learn from the

mistake. I said, "Actually all of this is my fault for starting this company. If

I had not started this business none of us would even be here at work today and

none of this would ever have happened! So, as far as I am concerned, I am the

problem!"

I know you are thinking, "That is crazy!" But, let me remind

you that I am the one watching people work harder and harder and doing a better

job each day. Casting blame has no place in a healthy business, or in a healthy

life! Have you found it to work successfully for you?

Let me encourage

you to begin to look at yourself in any situation as the chief problem. I know

this is irritating, like rubbing the fur of a cat in the wrong direction.

However, it will free you to no longer have a VICTIM mentality, but begin to

have a VICTOR mentality.

I have shared this concept many times with other

people and I have seen that it often takes a while for it to sink in. It is a

big pill to swallow, but it brings smooth digestion to your stomach once it

becomes part of your daily life. Trust me on this one! It is a powerful concept

to make part of your life and your daily experience.

Robert Rohm Ph.D.

Personality Insights, Inc.

email: insights@personalityinsights.com

Choice, Quotes

2007-06-06T11:14:00.001-05:00

Leadership Wired - June 2007

CHOICE

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
~ Kahlil Gibran

 

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
~ Viktor Frankl

 

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
~ J.K. Rowling

Legacy

2007-06-03T22:39:00.001-05:00

"A legacy is a gift given back to your family name and something that future generations of your family will look to in times of hardship." ~Orrin Woodward

Nothing is more disgraceful...

2007-06-02T22:46:00.001-05:00

"Nothing is more disgraceful than that an old man should have nothing to show to prove that he has lived long, except his years." ~Seneca

Effort, Quotes

2007-05-18T11:07:00.001-05:00

"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work." ~Oprah Winfrey
"The major difference between the big shot and the little shot is the big shot is just a little shot who kept on shooting." ~Zig Ziglar
"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." ~Robert Louis Stevenson
"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." ~Roger Staubach

Sacrifice

2007-04-12T11:30:00.001-05:00

"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be to great for me to make for Him." C.T.Studd

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

2007-04-11T13:54:00.001-05:00

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
Appeal to the nobler motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.

These are highlights from Dale Carnegie's book: "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

Six Ways to Make People Like You

2007-04-11T13:48:00.001-05:00

Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile
Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

These are highlights from Dale Carnegie's book: "How to Win Friends and Influence People".

10 Success Laws

2007-04-09T21:09:00.001-05:00

Always make your future bigger thank your past

"Imagination is more important than knowledge"

Always make your learning greater than your experience
Always make your contribution greater than your reward
Always make your cause greater than your applause
Always make your gratitude greater than your success
Always make your enjoyment greater than your effort
Always make your cooperation greater than your status
Always make your confidence greater than your comfort
Always make your purpose greater than your money
Always make your questions bigger than your answers

This came from a talk done on a TEAM stage by Orrin Woodward. He got it out of a book of which i did not catch the name.

"Success never goes on sale. Success is always full-price. Go pay it." -Orrin Woodward

A Prayer Series III

2007-04-08T21:51:00.001-05:00

Father, Please help me to focus on what it is that You want us to do. I believe that I have a dream worth fighting for, but I keep second-guessing myself and the team. Help me to get what I need to push through my fear that is keeping me from being the person that You have made me to be. Dream, Struggle, Victory! Help me to get the focus off of myself and onto others. When I'm ready, put the people in my group that will run with us toward the goal. You are an awesome God. Thank You for hearing my prayer.

Love,

Your son,

Ryan

My Beautiful Wife and I

2007-04-03T00:18:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of my beautiful wife and I. She helps me every day to be all that I can be. I love her very much.

A Prayer Series II

2007-03-31T14:32:00.001-05:00

Abba Father,

You are a Holy and righteous God. I thank you so much for sending Your Son Jesus to save us from our fallen nature. Father, I hope that I will allow you to mold me into being just like Him every day. Lead and direct my steps. I want to be going in the right direction. I have fears in my life. Help me to push through those fears and be the son that you would have me to be. I know, Father, that you have made me to bring great glory to Your name. I pray that I am becoming the man that can do just that. I only want to serve You and to be in Your presence. We are coming up on a mission trip to Honduras. I pray that You would open doors of opportunity so that souls will be won for Your kingdom.

I Love You,

Ryan

A Prayer Series

2007-03-30T08:10:00.001-05:00

Abba Father,

Today I ask that you would come into my daily routine and make me something greater than I could be on my own. I have many things that are needing to be done in my work, and I just can't seem to focus long enough to get them all done. Help me to choose what to do and also what not to do. Give me the wisdom to choose right from wrong and to make success decisions instead of failure decisions. Father, you are my God and I thank You for hearing my prayer.

Love,

Your son,

Ryan

10 Ways to Deal With Stress

2007-03-29T20:07:00.001-05:00

learn to prioritize - what to do and what not to do
maintain control of your schedule -learn to say no
establish a support system - those to encourage you
don't procrastinate
don't try to please everyone
schedule breaks
exercise
reward yourself, pay now and play later
don't try to fix everything
find ways to relieve stress that work for you - hit things, play, etc.

-John C. Maxwell

12 Ways to be Creative

2007-03-29T20:00:00.001-05:00

give yourself time
find creative places
force yourself to think (focus)
have creative meetings & bring creative people
see problems as possibilities
have fun and be spontaneous
challenge rules and assumptions
think outside the box
explore all the options
be persistent
surround yourself with creative starters (they jump-start you toward being creative.)
never be anyone without a legal pad. capture your ideas, don't rely on your memory

-John C. Maxwell