Happy Day Everyone!

I’m in Atlanta today… left my laptop at home so I’m in the business center at 5am. My hair is WILD and there is a strange fellow at the computer beside me… but hey, my teeth are brushed!

I wasn’t able to upload photos from my iphone… so sorry. Since we arrived early enough for some free time, we went to the Coke Cola factory… had one of the most amazing experiences of our lives! I’m wondering if today’s conference is going to be able to teach us more than we learned during that tour! I just know there is a way to make ministry THAT FUN and THAT HAPPY… and our lead team is going to find a way to make it happen!

Ate at Hard Rock Cafe… this one in Atlanta is not near as fun as the others we have been to. Just a restaurant with a few guitars… pretty dull but still FUN.

Today, we’re attending the Catalyst ONE Day conference at one of the largest churches in America… Pastor Andy Stanley is a leadership master Jedi… so I’m pretty stoked about capturing some of his ministry innovation and mixing it with all the powerful strengths that God has given to me! I love to LEARN… EVERY DAY my spirit CRAVES LEARNING!

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Todays Inspiration Questions: Are you a teachable person? How teachable?

When I was in high school… I hated the classroom. I refused to read… I felt like I already knew it all and school was a waste of my precious time. Then I hit the real world and STRUGGLED! It didn’t take me long to realize how much easier life could become if I became a master STUDENT!

By the time I was 21, I had read the bible through from cover to cover SEVERAL times… I was reading a proverb of the day EVERY DAY and soaking up every drop of wisdom I could fathom at the time! By the grace of God, I’ve been able to maintain this very same commitment to the Bible for more than 18 years now… LIFE CHANGING!

At 24, my real estate coach Mike Ferry imparted to me his love for reading… and I began reading upwards of 4 books a month. A habit that stayed with me for the past 13 years!

Even before business, I began Bible College in my early 20’s and haven’t stopped studying theology and ministry since then! I’m now working on my Doctorate and I’m writing a book!

Sounds like a bunch of bragging and it almost makes me sick… until I affirm to myself that this blog is written to INSPIRE! Here’s a guy that barely made it out of High School… never read a book in his life before the age of 19… was a big know it all when he knew very little. And 18 years later EVERYTHING has changed!

Today, I awoken the dawn and headed to this business center to IMPART my passion for LEARNING to you guys! I pray that someone reading this blog will make the very same move towards LEARNING that I made in my early 20’s. Today… I can get enough! I love to sit at the feet of the Bible, other great books, and great people… I love to LEARN from their experiences, their wisdom, their passions…

Make it one of your life goals… to become on of the most teachable people you know! It’s never too late to start… and everyone has a craving to learn! It just needs to be uncaged… SET IT FREE! Because there is a great big world out there just waiting for those who SEEK WISDOM!

Proverbs 9:1-6 says this about LEARNING, “Wisdom has built her spacious house with seven pillars. She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city. ‘Come home with me,’ she urges the simple. To those without good judgment, she says, ‘Come eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your foolish ways behind, and begin to live; learn how to be wise!’”

Now this blog can change your life! I pray you all have another super day! Chat with everyone throughout the day!

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Good Friday Morning Everyone!

So I left the house early yesterday morning and got home at 8:30pm… Emily had painted the walls and ceiling in the family room and everything was put back as if nothing had been touched. Very cool experience I must say… just like I walked out the door and came back in with a different color behind the pictures. She got rid of the BRIGHT yellow and went with a lighter, softer yellow. I love the colors she’s chosen for our house over the past year. It’s so HAPPY in here!

This reminds me of something I was taught at a business conference about 12 years ago. If you want to change your life, start by changing your environment! Eliminate the clutter… get some happy paint… hang inspirational art… play inspirational music… invite inspirational people. 

In a world filled with negativity, mediocrity, and dreamlessness… we have to take BOLD steps at securing our personal space. Our personal environment includes: our home, our bedroom, our office, our cars, our yard, and anywhere else we spend OUR TIME. Even though we can’t control what others do with their personal space, we CAN and SHOULD exercise authority over what we do with ours. We should make our space happy and inspirational. We should make it clean and uncluttered. We should create an environment that causes us to DREAM BIG and ACHIEVE BIG! One that gives us PEACE on stormy days!

Renovating your environment is not expensive! It does take a determined effort and an up front investment of TIME. It may require you coaching some of your friends and family about how to act in your PERSONAL ENVIRONMENT. You may have to post a few NO SMOKING SIGNS… or NO GOSSIPING, NO COMPLAINING, NO MOCKING, NO DESTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION… and whatever else you deem to be an environmental contaminant. This process will most definitely have you taking a few trips to the land fill. You might even have to start inviting a different crowd of guests. But in the end… you will have a space that CAUSES YOU TO LIVE LIKE YOU SHOULD!

In Psalms 101, the writer describes his commitment to carefully police his own personal environment. It’s a very aggressive 8 verses with such sayings as:

“I will lead a life of integrity in MY OWN HOME.”

“I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar.”

“I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.”

“I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.”

“I will not endure conceit and pride.”

“I will not allow deceivers to serve me and liars will not be allowed to ENTER MY PRESENCE.”

Please don’t get confused my dear bloggers… I’m not calling on my readers to develop some kind of holier than thou disposition. Please don’t go about making the world feel like they are not clean enough merit your company. This blog is not meant to nullify love’s mandate to walk in humility and stoop down to serve the perishing. It is a call to build your very own PLACE of RETREAT… a place where you can REST and be REFRESHED every day of your life… an inner circle of prayerfully selected dear friends with similar standards and ambitions… so that you can go further, faster… and live and thrive to the utmost!

What a super blog this is today! Maybe you should consider reading it 3 or 4 times… until specific ideas come that bring about a glorious plan for your environmental renovation!

It’s my pleasure writing and interacting with each of you… I’m praying every morning that God will make this your season of blessings! Thanks for reading…

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