Happy Memorial Day!

I wrote a very powerful (Memorial Day weekend) blog yesterday, hope you get a chance to check it out if you haven’t already: The Necessity of War. Oh, and don’t miss out on the Saturday blog either: (Excerpt) Chapter 3: The Legend Begins! Heck of a blogging weekend!

Had an amazing Sunday: a-ma-ZING!

Another epic church service @ Destiny Family Center! Aaron Huffer led an unbelievable worship set with Greg Baker (drums), Robby Widener (guitar), Brian Law (bass guitar), Brittany Wade and Caroline Law (singers). My message felt like an international statement! People were BUZZING with smiles and laughter and spiritual excitement! Then, we had a HUGE picnic afterwards! Hung out with my beautiful wife and daughter for the evening… good times!

This morning, Emily had to work at Kohl’s (big frown), so I drove her to work and now I’m blogging from the Waynesboro McDonald’s! After this, I’m driving to the Blue Ridge Parkway to edit a chapter of my book, then I’ll pick her up at 11:30… and then we’ll do something FUN with Coree & Heaven later on!

I have a SOLUTION for the BP Oil Spill! You guys want to hear my idea? Emily laughed at me! Ok… so, here’s what I’m thinking:

They need to create a coupling that will fit over the top of the existing pipe–with an extended section of piping already connected to the coupling… and at the other end of the extra piping, they can have a SHUT OFF VALVE already connected. Are you guys following me?

With my proposed SOLUTION, the coupling will install without hesitation BECAUSE there will be NO INITIAL RESISTANCE to the oil flow. Then, once they get the coupling installed, they can TIGHTEN it to the existing pipe (because of my coupling SEAL). Then, once the coupling is attached, they can CLOSE THE VALVE!

As I’m writing this blog, Fox News is playing in the background… and I just heard that BP is taking IDEAS on their website!! Guess what I’m going to do right now? Take that Emily! I’m going to save the world despite your negative energy! LOL

Wshewww, I’m exhausted now you guys! Solving a world crisis really zaps the life out of a person! (chuckling out loud)

Humiliating Update: I just heard a Fox News interview with a few BP engineers, and this is pretty much what they are planning to do next! Oh well, just a few days earlier and I would have been a world hero! This is going to work!

Ok, don’t forget to read yesterdays blog… and take some time to REMEMBER the men and women who gave their lives for you and me! Have a very happy Memorial Day!

I just finished praying for you… wishing you a most triumphant day! Love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Happy Saturday!

Editing has to be one of the most difficult TRIALS I’ve ever gone through. (lol) Really, it’s painful! Even with a great editing team, there is still so much work required from the author. I have to admit, I figured I would just send the book to my editing team and they would wave their magic wand over the manuscript… and spit out a literary perfect version in a few weeks.

Here’s the way it REALLY happens:

1. Megan Doyle gets the book from me and performs a detailed grammar edit.
2. Then she sends it to Marcus Maranto for a literary edit, where he concentrates more on concept.
3. Then Marcus sends each chapter back to me with a few hundred notes for my consideration.
4. Then I have to go through EVERY note and decide if I want to accept or decline suggestions…
5. And I have to rework every sentence and paragraph accordingly, sometimes rewriting entire pages!
6. Then I have to send it back to Marcus for his final edit and he send it back to me for mine.
7. Then there is REFERENCING! The most grueling word in editing! Thank God, I only have two chapters heavy with references. The rest of the book is a splash of my wild theories, journals, confessions, adventures, visions, teachings, etc.!

Here’s a section I reworked from Chapter 3 yesterday. It still needs to go back to Marcus, so please don’t grade me yet!

Chapter 3: The Legend Begins

Seventh page: subtitle: The Desire To Inspire

I have an outrageous desire to inspire people! Every single morning I roll over, smack my gorgeous wife a great big kiss on her sexy little snout, and I parachute confidently from our high-rise bed. In the still dark hours of each new day, I speed into my prayer room with electrifying levels of creativity!

Without even a drop of caffeine in my hyped up body, my youthful fingers shake at the knuckles every time they charge onto the platform of this handsome aluminum MacBook Pro. As I splash my messages onto the pages of my daily blog and onto the paragraphs of this book, I see visions of all those restless persons scattered across the earth waiting to be stirred. I feel them grabbing for my ankles from the dark places, and so I press on vigorously against the revolving wheels of old father time to inspire them all!

Follow my lead! Borrow my eyes and live in my visions for just a day or two. Ah, if you could only see what I’m seeing, you would burst into flames with me. And the longer you and I continue on this epic quest together, the hotter you will burn. These kinds of writings are highly flammable! You may be tempted several times to turn away and run. Before you do this, please tell me, how many more of these promising years are you willing to let pass you by, waiting around for someone or something to wake you up? I’m positive that any reader can wake up now—right here, in this book!

Year ago, when I first started seeing my vision of tomorrows better world, I also saw there were not very many legends in the race yet. Have you noticed this yet? Maybe it’s because you and I are just now pioneering tomorrow’s better world! Think about this. You don’t really think we just happened into each other, do you? No way.

I’m guessing you have the heart and spirit of a forerunner on you, just as I do. This connection between us was destined to happen! All my prayer comrades and I commissioned this book to search for people just like you. It is the golden ticket to your greatest adventure. Make Me A Legend is a Legend-hood For Dummies manual. Not that I’m calling anyone a dummy. But we’re just a whole lot more needful of new information than we realize. We have so much to learn and so little time to learn it, so sit up straight (please) and keep on reading!

Varooom! I love writing! I love inspiring people! Every cell in my body yearns to make the difference! To think, we’re gonna end up with something like 280 book pages of THAT… people are going to have a BLAST reading this book! Something BIG is GOING to happen for people! I can’t even fathom it all from this lowly vantage point!

Please keep praying for us. Megan and Marcus are flying through the manuscript… and I’m moving at a pace of 4-6 hours per chapter! Multiply that by SEVENTEEN chapters, plus REFERENCING… and I want to cry out loud. But it’s an education, and God is going to give me patience EVENTUALLY!!! LOL

Still, the goal is to have the editing wrapped up by mid June, so Make Me A Legend can go to a TOP PUBLISHER… and make it to the world by fall! Please pray for us when you think about it! Love you all…

I have a charity golf tournament this morning, birthday party after that, graduation party after that… hopefully some editing in between and before I go to bed… then an AMAZING church service at DFC tomorrow at 10am… then our Memorial Day picnic @ DFC after the service! Happy memorial weekend everyone… hope you’re all having a BEAUTIFUL TIME!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Happy Thursday!

My Prayer Experiment!

Yesterday was kind of like an experiment for us. I asked for prayer requests, not really expecting too many people would respond. And to my absolute amazement, your heartfelt requests poured in all day long on facebook, twitter and on the blog site… and your requests were far more specific than I expected!

This made me so HAPPY! I loved praying for you guys… it was SO MUCH FUN! In fact, praying for you brought about a tremendous level of personal victory to me and my family! This is a scriptural concept: give and it shall be given, pressed down, shaken together, and running over!

God blesses the blesser!

Well, I gave my time and passion to pray for my friends… and God POURED His love into my heart like I haven’t felt in a long time. It always happens this way for me. In my time of biggest challenge, whenever I reach out to bless others, God ALWAYS reaches back and blesses me!

Your Faith Impresses Me!

Another thing I noticed about yesterday, is that this blog site hit a three-month-high in traffic! Meaning, that this tribe places a VERY HIGH value on the subject of PRAYER! I think this is a very strong indication of our FAITH in God to move mountains and make impossible things possible!

Faith Matters!

I want to believe in God more today than I did yesterday and more tomorrow than I do today. While so many people start out so spiritual and lose their confidence in God because of situations they cannot explain, I want to TRUST GOD EVEN WHEN I CANNOT TRACE HIM.

God is Always Working in Our Lives!

For every one thing going wrong, there are a hundred things going right in my life and in yours, too! We have to FOCUS on the things God is doing in our lives… we have to KEEP LOOKING and ALWAYS LOOK for HIS MIRACLES! Sometimes, God is not identified in the casual glance… and we have to LOOK again… until we SEE HIM at the very center of our lives moving heaven and earth to MAKE US everything we ought to be!

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Eternal vs. Temporary Paradigms!

God works in our lives with an ETERNAL PARADIGM. Because we are more in touch with this temporary physical world, we usually want him to work in our lives through our TEMPORARY PARADIGM. And what we need to understand is this: what’s happening IN US is far more valuable than ANYTHING happening TO US!

God IS Answering Prayer!

God does answer prayer! He is working all things out for our HIGHEST ETERNAL GOOD! When we pray to Him, he always HEARS us… and he works through people and the laws of nature and governments and societies… He’s doing more than we will ever know to BLESS US LIKE HE ALWAYS DOES!

So, let’s KEEP ON PRAYING! Let’s PRAY SO MUCH MORE! Our prayers are a mighty force to be reckoned with! We’re moving mountains… we’re shaping history… we’re saving the world!

I thank God that yesterday showed me how MUCH FAITH is still in the earth today! You guys BELIEVE IN GOD! You are the salt of the earth… a city of people set on a hill for all the world to see! Keep shining everyone… have a most triumphant day! I love you all…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

Happy Tuesday!

Had a terrific lead team meeting on my patio last night. I’m thanking God this morning for all of the QUALITY men and women I’m privileged to lead with! The law of magnetism says: what you are is who you attract! If the people I’m attracting these days are any indication of WHAT I AM, then I am becoming a BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING!

I know were making so many steps in the right direction… and our current momentum is a force to be reckoned with. Still, there are moments when I wonder if I personally have what it takes to finish the race.

I’ve been walking through a very dark emotional valley these past few weeks. I hate it when this happens. For me, there are 6 prime elements of burn out.

1. Dissonance: lack of agreement, consistency, or harmony; conflict. (Between my dreams and my realities!)
2. Chaos: a condition or place of great disorder or confusion. A disorderly mass; a jumble. (The lack of proper systems in place to handle the epic level of responsibility I’ve taken on.)
3. Pressure: the act of pressing, the condition of being pressed. An urgent claim or demand. An oppressive condition of physical, mental, social, or economic distress. (I’m double and triple booked without the realistic hope of relief.)
4. Condemnation: the act of condemning–the expression of strong disapproval, judged or declared to be unfit. (I wake up every day under the condemnations of unsatisfied “costumers.” No matter how dedicated I am. No matter how much of my life is sacrificed. There is always a line of people expressing strong disapproval, judging and declaring me unfit.)
5. Exhaustion: the state of being exhausted; extreme fatigue. (I’m never able to rest. Dissonance, chaos, pressure, and condemnation… they are always with me… even when I am praying, or running, or eating, or hanging out with my family… even when I am sleeping.)
6. Miserable Physicians: people who insult their suffering friends by lecturing instead of praying and encouraging. (I have found that sometimes, life gets so complex that there is not another person in all the world who is able to improve the situation with councel. Job was in such a situation… and his friends came to help with their spiritual lectures, and they told Job everything that Job had already been telling himself… and they acted like they could handle Jobs pressure so much better if they were in his shoes. Job called them his miserable physicians.)

In today’s world, I bet there are so many people walking through dark emotional valleys like I’ve mentioned. This is why we need to pray for each other and encourage each other, more often than we do. Most of the time, when people are suffering… they already have a very good idea about the steps they need to take to get back up on the mountain. We can REALLY HELP BEST by lending a smile, a prayer, and a heartfelt message of encouragement.

I hope today’s blog creates a huge awareness to the sufferings of your family and friends. I hope you’re all inspired to make the difference when you can! For those who are in the valley today… I’m praying for you with all my heart, confident that YOU WILL CLIMB OUT OF IT SOON… that God will reach down and PLACE YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP AGAIN! Thanks for reading… I love you all!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

Happy Sunday!

Had a very nice day with my family yesterday! Walked 6 miles through and around downtown Staunton, VA… the funnest walk of my life!

We started at the farmers market @ the Depot Parking lot… walked up to the Cranberry Market where we bought two oranges and ate them at the outside table. Walked through East Beverly Street dreaming over the million dollar houses, made a left on some main road, up to another main road, to another main road that took us to Gypsy Hill Park, we continued our adventure to Thornrose Cemetery, went through the cemetery, back out to West Beverly, back to the downtown area where there was a live concert happening… and we met up with Coree and Heaven Balsamo (our kids), had lunch at a really cool downtown sandwich cafe: the Pampered Palate Cafe!

We also shopped at Kristin Condra’s very amazing shop: Retro & Me! Everyone should check that place out! Kristin has a beautiful CREATIVE GIFT… and her prices are PERFECT! I bought a few colorful ties, and Heaven bought a 1970′s orange mushroom clock and a very cool metal flower necklace and a few other FUN things!

Happy Birthday Christian Churches!

Today, Christians all over the world celebrate the BIRTHDAY of the CHURCH. Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day when Gods Holy Spirit descended with mighty power into the lives of our earliest disciples. It FIRST happened 50 days after the resurrection of Christ, when the Jewish people were celebrating the Festival of Shavuot, or the Festival of “Pentecost” which simply means “FIFTY.”

The significance of FIFTY is this: this festival was celebrated FIFTY days after the festival of Passover… which was fifty days after the Jewish people were delivered from Egyptian slavery.

This festival of Shavuot has two major themes. First, it is a celebration of the exact day when Moses received the 1o commandments from God. Second, it is a celebration of the final gathering of the spring harvest, and an anticipation of the coming fall harvest. (if God could be counted faithful to bless the spring harvest, he could be trusted to bless the coming fall harvest)

The Bible says there were 120 disciples gathered in an upper room, in the city of Jerusalem. They were likely in the very same room where Jesus had shared his last supper with his 12 disciples… just 50 days before that festival of Shavuot. Jesus had told his disciples not to leave Jerusalem until they were “endued with power from on high.” In other words, they were not to go out and try to save the world until they were absolutely filled through and through… until they were “baptized” with His Holy Spirit.

I feel like it’s important to recognize how God chose the Festival of Shavuot to be the day He baptized those 120 disciples with His Holy Spirit. God chose the Festival of Shavuot as the BIRTHDAY OF HIS CHURCH!

The significance of Shavuot (or Pentectost) for the Christian church is this: Since Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world during the Jewish festival of Passover, and God sent His Holy Spirit FIFTY days later during the festival of Pentecost… AND as a result of that HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERMENT, the early church celebrated the EARLY HARVEST… then we also have the prediction of a latter harvest following a long summer season!

I believe God still desires for the modern Christian Church HIGHLY DEDICATED to the themes of Pentecost.

• The Word of God!
• Harvest!
• The Holy Spirit!

I pray that this Pentecost Sunday brings an awareness of Gods word (the Bible), a new dedication to the Great Commission (Harvest), and a new baptism of Gods Holy Spirit… on every church in America and throughout the whole world!

God bless you all!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck