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 Memorial Day Sunday!

The Necessity of War

This morning, I’m praying for my fellow Americans: specifically, I’m concerned about our fading patriotism. Especially over the past several years, I see more and more Americans failing to comprehend the necessity of military force.

Cowards Always Downplay The Heroes

I’m very sad for our loving soldiers who leave EVERYTHING to fight for us, sacrificing their legs and arms and minds and lives, so that the rest of us can keep on living our blessed and peaceful lives in this beautiful land… and their war stories are never PROPERLY memorialized in this cowardiced (my new word), modern American society. Sure, we hear about the death tolls every now and then, only to rouse the flag burners and fuel the rapidly growing anti-war sentiment.

What About Diplomacy?

As a Christian, I want peace without war whenever this is possible. I’m all about diplomacy, fully understanding that diplomacy only works between two HUMANE parties.

Todays America has NO IDEA how inhumane so many people groups have become in this 21st century civilization. Many Americans reason that if we will just withdraw our troops from every international conflict and mind our own business, then these evil terrorists will eventually develop a conscious and they will stop destroying innocent lives… and we’ll all live together in love and harmony.

Todays America has NO IDEA how fundamentally CONSUMED WITH HATE these people are. Radical Islam, which is the ONE and ONLY religious system behind every terrorists organization… their hate is not built upon a few series of negotiable disagreements. They thirst for the blood of Jews and Americans, just because we are! They believe their God commands them to kill innocent civilians… that they are supposed to take over the world.

How Does God Feel About War?

If we do not employ military force to execute strong punishment on these terrorist organizations, the time will come when they capture us within our own borders! Yet, some people in todays world, ignorant of the scriptures, claim that using military force as a means of punishing our domestic and foreign enemies is an unbiblical thing. How does God really feel about this?

Romans 13:2-5 “So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment, but also to keep a clear conscience.”

Reclaim the Bravery!

I support our military! I believe in the causes for which they sacrifice! I applaud their NOBLE actions! I THINK ABOUT THEM every day, wondering how they are doing and how they families are doing… PRAYING for their success and for their safe return home!

Without war, there would be no peace! Without war, there would be no safety! Without war, evil would prevail over good! Without war, there would be NO America!

God help America to reclaim the BRAVERY that once burned brightly in the hearts and lives of our founding fathers! On this Memorial Day Weekend, let us CONCENTRATE on the meaning of this very important holiday! Let us never defer the challenges of our generation to our children and grandchildren, just because we are too cowardly to KEEP ON PAYING THE PRICE OF FREEDOM!

So, today… I am a GRATEFUL man! I’m thanking God for the sacrifices upon which I’ve built my life! God bless every family who’s given one of their own for all of mine!

Unfortunately, I’m out of time for today… realizing this blog could have be written so much better. I do hope that it inspires you… to HONOR our fallen HEROS… and pray for our living ones… and ALWAYS PASSIONATELY support the BEAUTIFUL men and women of our armed forces… even when it’s unpopular to do so!

I just finished praying for you… hope you have 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 Friday!

Here’s something I read this morning in the FREE ebook, What Matters Now! I’m sharing with you, my friends!

It’s the 19 E’s of Excellence according to Tom Peters! Tom blogs at tompeters.com. His new book, The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence!

.

The 19 E’s of Excellence!

1. Enthusiasm: Be an irresistible force of nature!

2. Exuberance: Vibrate—cause earthquakes!

3. Execution: Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney! Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine: “Blame no one! Expect nothing! Do something!”

4. Empowerment: Respect and appreciation RULE! Always ask, “What do you think?” Then listen! Then let go and liberate! Then celebrate!

5. Edginess: Perpetually dancing at the frontier, and a little or a lot beyond.

6. Enraged: Determined to challenge and change the status quo! Motto: “If it ain’t broke, break it!”

7. Engaged: Addicted to MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around. In touch. Always.

8. Electronic: Partners with the world 60/60/24/7 via electronic community building of every sort.

9. Encompassing: Relentlessly pursue diverse opinions—the more diversity the merrier! Diversity per se “works”!

10. Emotion: The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales. The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.

11. Empathy: Connect, connect, connect with others’ reality and aspirations! “Walk in the other person’s shoes”— until the soles have holes! 

12. Ears: Effective listening: Strategic Advantage Number 1!

13. Experience: Life is theater! Make every activ-ity-contact memorable! Standard: “Insanely Great”/Steve Jobs; “Radically Thrilling”/BMW.

14. Eliminate: Keep it simple!

15. Error-Prone: Ready! Fire! Aim! Try a lot of stuff and make a lot of booboos and then try some more stuff and make some more booboos—all of it at the speed of light! 

16. Evenhanded: Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe! 

17. Expectations: Michelangelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Amen!

18. Eudaimonia: Pursue the highest of human moral purpose—the core of Aristotle’s philosophy. Be of service. Always.

19. Excellence: Never an exception! If not Excellence, what?

You may have to read these 19 E’s of excellence 5 or 6 times before some of them make sense, you may even have to ask a friend! Trust, it’s worth the analysis!

I just prayed for you all… have a most triumphant day!

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

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