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Today I am writing about character and the positive and negative traits that can emerge in people over the period of years of training and practice.  You may ask, how does training and practice evolve into positive character traits or create negative character flaws?  Well, just like preparing for a sports event, a singing competition, a career in medicine and all the other things we want to master and win at.   We must also prepare for being a person of great character so we carry ourselves in a positive manner when dealing with family, business and personal relationships.  We train ourselves through habits and those habits will eventually bring forth a positive or negative character in us.  Today in class I gave a presentation to my high school students about character and how it can play a major role in the development of their family, work and personal lives. I went to my main source of knowledge to see what the bible said about character and its role in our lives.  In Proverbs 6:

Today I am writing about the random acts of kindness that people show one another and how they can make a huge impact on that persons day.  Being kind is something we all like to see in people and it shows that one has a love for their family, friends, neighbors and strangers.  I can think of some examples of random acts of kindness where people have done something that seemed small to them, but was a huge boost to me at the time.  Examples of  this are below: 1- A good friend had someone come mow my yard while I was at home recovering from a heart procedure. 2- A random person (more than once) has let me turn into traffic on a packed road risking someone honking the horn at him or her for doing it. 3- People saying hello, smiling, and asking how you are today. 4- Kind words on face book, emails, and text messages that lift my spirit. I did some research so I will not lay claim to being a guru on random acts of kindness and built a simple list of ways we can all be kinder to one anothe

As I sat down to write today after eating a really yummy breakfast with my wonderful wife.  I was finishing up my third cup of coffee (shhh, don't tell my doctor) and talking to my wife about all the things we are blessed by and with.  We talked about our family, our daughters, in-laws and all the people that bless and pray for us daily.  So I decided to veer off of my typical posting today to write about these wonderful blessings.   I looked up the definition of blessing and it is to have Gods favor and protection in your life.  That hit home for me because without that we can wander through life, fighting things, having troubles and not knowing why those things happen to us.  As my wonderful mother used to say to me as a child "son, count your blessings" everyday.  I take that serious and do my best to count them so I stay grounded and never forget where I came from and most importantly, where I want to go.  I will not get there without the list below and Gods grace, me

  Finding Your Heart Losing heart is defined as feeling overcome by doubt and other feelings that you cannot accomplish something you set out to do.  I often write about sports and use them as an analogy because I have spent three fourths of my adult life as a football and wrestling coach.  I have seen so many young people lose heart as they prepared, practiced and competed.  Most of the time people lose heart because it gets hard, things are not going the way they were envisioned and that will  make someone quit. Adults often lose heart in relationships, jobs, family obligations and other activities.  A job gets tough so they quit because the boss is a jerk.  A marriage gets rocky so they quit and walk away.  Life gets tough and deals hard blows such as cancer, sickness, health issues and personal problems.  Have you ever quit on something or watched a person quit.  Did you give a true effort or did you just walk away because it felt like too much was at risk to overcome it.   I had a

Dealing With Anxiety and Depression Let us begin this topic by stating how real and aggressive anxiety and depression are in the lives of millions of people of all ages.  Anxiety and depression often go unnoticed by people close to those that are suffering until it is too late.  These are two leading causes of death and health risk in the world.  Being anxious and depressed can go hand in hand and are a double whammy that is hard to overcome in life.  Let's look at a few of the many symptoms of anxiety and depression before talking about dealing with it. 1- Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and pessimism 2- Mood swings, not sleeping, shutting down mentally 3- Difficulty with decisions, lack of confidence, and irritability 4- Mental, physical and spiritual health issues These are just some of the major symptoms and signs that I could find as I made my list. At some point, I think we all have faced depression and anxiety in life. Major causes of anxiety and depression are life

  The Lighthouse A lighthouse is a refuge for weary travelers.  It is a light that shows the way to ships and boats on the ocean.  My wife loves a lighthouse and one of her favorite activities when we travel is to go and look at lighthouses.  For many years we would travel to the coast and go seek out a lighthouse.  The bible talks about a lighthouse also and the light is always Jesus.  I love the old gospel song that talks about the lighthouse and my mom loved it also.  It told us that Jesus is the lighthouse and just has a way to lift the spirit. Without a lighthouse ships would wreck, sailors would perish and the precious cargo would sink to the bottom of the ocean.  A lighthouse is significant to ships just as Jesus is significant to mankind.  He lights the way for us to keep from getting lost.  He shows us through his grace and mercy that salvation for our souls can be attained by seeking his light.  Just as a lighthouse is built strong on a firm foundation to withstand storms, t

  Living Out Your Dreams One of my wife's favorite movies, Pretty Woman has a line in it where the guy yells out, “welcome to Hollywood, what's your dream”.  That line has stuck with me all of my adult life as I have pursued my dreams one at a time.  How do you live out your dreams?  Do you have dreams and what are they?  We all have something we want to accomplish and they can be really big or really small.  Some want to be a movie star, be rich, be successful and have money.  Some want to achieve a certain career like a teacher, lawyer, accountant, business owner, etc.   I had a dream growing up of being a professional football player.  Most young boys have imagined themselves catching a touchdown in the super bowl, making a free throw to win the national championship, kicking the winning goal in a major league soccer game or hitting a grand slam in the baseball world series.  I talk about sports because for over 45 years of my life sports has been my thing.  Your dream may b

The Lions Today will be a quick write about my continued spiritual growth as I get closer to God everyday.  I prayed last night for God to give me direction, grace and mercy all the days of my life and as I ended, I asked if he had a specific message for me to send it.  Well, let me tell you that God is good, he is the greatest, he is the undefeated champion of all time.  I had been struggling with some health issues lately and have been really seeking God's word by reading the bible, researching, reading other blogs and praying.  All this as a way to gain a more direct connection to God and move forward with his plans in our lives. After asking for God to send me a message I dreamed about the Lion and a Shepard.  In the lion dream I saw two lions walking with each other like a pack would do. They kept their distance and walked near each other growling and grumbling as if they were seeking a meal.  I was watching them in the lion's den when suddenly someone threw a large piece

  Facing Your Demons This entry is very personal to me as I have recently been involved in a spiritual awakening due to a near death experience that opened me up to a much higher level and understanding of God’s power, grace and mercy.  I also have gained a higher understanding of evil and demonic activity in our life.  When we get closer to God by reading his word, praying and submitting to his plan.  The devil will dispatch demons to try and defeat us.  He will assign one of his many dark spirits to attack you, your family and friends. Please be advised and acknowledge that the devil and evil are very real and will attack your life and destroy it if they can. After my near death experience, I started to have visions, dreams, and spiritual activity that was a gift from God.  God had chosen to save me and gave me a gift of spiritual enlightenment.  With this opening of my heart, soul and mind I became a target of evil.  I was attacked twice by demonic entities in my bed as a result.  Y

  Do Not Fear, God is Near Fear is one of the biggest enemies we face daily and it can overwhelm you really fast.  Fear is defined as a feeling of an impending danger, anxiety and worry about a perceived threat to our physical, mental or spiritual well being.  Fear is a weapon that the Devil uses against humans to cast doubt, anxiety and worry in our lives.  Fear can come on really quick or begin slowly and build up to eventually overcome us emotionally.  I can think of many times when fear struck me in my life.  I once had to go to the 30th floor of a building and put furniture on a tiny little deck about six feet wide and that scared me to death.   I am not a fan of heights and have a philosophy of why leave a good solid piece of ground.  Many of you have been to a haunted house and remember how that sudden fear of someone jumping out at you, grabbing you in the dark or just scaring the “you know what” out of someone happens.  You know it is going to happen and just anticipate it and

  Financial Management God Style The Bible teaches us about every facet of life including how to be financially smart.  God owns everything we possess and gifts it to us.  We work hard to gain earthly things and should give praise to God for allowing us to have such things as homes, cars, money, personal belongings and other wants.  He also supplies our needs and has warned us against the love of money and putting idols before him.  Below I have written five principles listed in the bible that we can apply to our financial planning, budgeting and goals we desire to meet. 1- We  must acknowledge that God is the source of all things we own and possess . Philippians 4:19, states that “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”.  Giving it all to God allows us to be blessed tenfold, hundred fold and even higher.  He delivers our needs and gives us the support to work towards our wants.  We must keep in mind that as quickly as we achieved all these

  Traveling The Windy Roads With God In our life we have traveled down many winding roads not knowing exactly what lies ahead.  Most of these roads were paved, smooth and relatively straight.  Then there are the dirt roads, rocky roads, hilly roads, curvy roads and others that are exciting to travel on, but also make  you nervous as to just where you will end up and how long it will take you to get there.  We have traveled the mountain roads of Western North Carolina for many years and one of those we prefer is the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is a beautiful windy road with awesome views, nature at its finest and so relaxing to the mind, body and soul.   My wife and I go up every October and ride the parkway to see the tree foliage change colors, look for waterfalls and spend time in Price Park (one of our favorites).  This October we decided to come back down the mountain on highway 221 and man it was a windy, curvy road with great views.  We discovered some new waterfalls, rock formations