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Today I was reading and the focus of todays message is living an abundant life. Lets look at what abundance means and the best definition I liked is to live a life that is exceedingly high, beyond measure, and to attain more than typical results. The bible tells us that abundance is something God wants us to have in our life here on earth and in heaven.  Jesus said,  “I have come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly”  (John 10:10).  I believe that this message is stating that he wants you to fulfill your God-given purpose and walk with him as you go through life.  Many people confuse this abundance as having things and living a lifestyle with fancy cars, big houses, dream vacations and having lots of money in the bank.  Those "things" are an abundance that many people have on earth.  However, the bible tells us that prioritizing these things (1st Corinthians 1:26-29) are not Gods priority.   Our abundance is the love, grace, mercy and forgiveness of Jesus in

 Today I am writing about toxic relationships that people have and how they destroy families, friendships, marriages and cause chaos.  I have been fortunate in my life to find a loving and wonderful wife that seeks a great relationship with me.  We get along mostly, disagree at times, but in the end we are together and strong.  I see this in many of my friends and family as well.  Positive, supporting and loving relationships that are far from perfect, but in the scheme of things are solid.  Then comes the reason I am writing this today as I see so many toxic relationships, people unhappy, angry, upset and constantly fighting. These are very unhealthy and will eventually destroy the relationship, create hostility and resentment which leads to divorce, breaking up or worse (possible abuse).  I put together a quick list of five warning signs you should avoid once you see them come to light.  As soon as one of these pops up, you best get out now or eventually face chaos, fighting, anger a

** Please Read All of this top to bottom and try what I have given you.  I promise it will help you (if you are open to cleansing) and really focus on it.  I would appreciate any feedback on the process and any comments that you would like to leave for me and my readers **.  Today I am giving you a relaxation activity designed to help you cleanse your mind, body and soul of open wounds from our past. These inhibitors of your future are sitting behind open doors constantly reminding you of your past, pestering you about your current situation and holding you back from a bright future.  These doors are open and flowing negative energy into your life and are holding you back from being the wonderful person God created you to be.  To get rid of these bad memories, negative thoughts, relationship issues, anger, fear, envy, self-loathing, pride fullness, disappointments and anything else standing in your future you must put them behind you.   Most of these events, emotions, and internalized

  Recently I had a friend ask me if I thought that dogs and cats went to heaven.  Before I could answer the question another man sitting near told her that the bible makes no mention of animals going to heaven. My personal opinion is that dogs and cats have souls and they are special in Gods eyes as animals are mentioned all throughout the bible.  If you do some research you will find a very long list of animals if listed A-Z are too numerous for me to put on this posting.  I will highlight several of them and where they are located in the bible if you would like to reference and read about it. We love our critters, dogs, cats, hamsters, cows, pigs, and all those other things people call pets.  I have never had anything other than dogs, a few cats, some fish and a hamster or two.   My favorite are dogs, yes I am a dog lover and we currently have three grand dogs that we enjoy greatly.  We all come to love them and enjoy spending time watching them gallop, play, fight, roll around with

Today I was thinking about some recent changes in my life that are spiritual, mental and emotional.  These changes are all positive and something that cannot be seen by the eye.  Sure, people may be able to sense or see a difference in a persons attitude or behavior.  However, changes like these are internal and occur within ourselves in the heart, mind and soul.  These are not tangible things one can touch and therefore hard to describe to people at times.   I have had a spiritual awakening of sorts is the best way to describe what is occurring within me and to me.  As a good friend described her similar changes to me as "Shedding my old skin".  That made perfect sense to me and got me to thinking about belief and how it guides our lives, actions, behaviors and reactions to events. I started thinking about Christmas and the gifts we all receive during the Holidays and celebrations.   I am not talking about the gifts under the tree as those are tangible things we can see, fee

This weekend my wife and I went to Myrtle Beach to buy an ornament at our favorite Christmas store.  The store is at Barefoot Landing as is called the Christmas Mouse.  It has every kind of decoration and ornament a person would want.  About every kind of interest from traditional, country, city, sports, hobbies and about anything one would want.  We have been going to this store for twenty years or more to get ornaments for our family tree.  Ornaments are a tradition in our family and we have filled the family tree up with them at this point. The store brings back memories of traveling to the beach with my family, mom and dad and friends.  We always find time to go by the Christmas Mouse and grab some ornaments.  The store smells so good with all the wonderful greenery, candles, and traditional Christmas smells that reminds us that the Holiday is upon us.  Even if you go in the summer time when most people head to the beach, it makes you feel Christmas in July and those special memori

I was coaching at my old high school in 2009 and in the middle of the season I suddenly lost my dad. My dad was a 30 year retired police officer who also served over 30 years volunteering at the local high school as president, vice president and secretary of the boosters club.  My mom and dad along with several great parents had helped raise millions of dollars and build most of the very nice athletic facilities the school has today.  They loved to go to football games home or away.  For over thirty years on Friday night if they were not rotating in the concession stand they sat in the same seats at home games every Friday night.  My dad sat on the top row, on the brick at the corner.  I can see him now sitting there watching me, my brothers, cousins, and nephews playing football on Fridays.   Dad and mom were road warriors and followed the football team wherever they played.  They went to every game home or away for a minimum of 30 seasons. Even when their health started to fail them,

 Today I am continuing my series of stories about my family and today I am focusing on a true and hopefully funny story about my Dad.  Please enjoy and share! Lady Speeding, Rookie Cop, Got to Go Right Now Dad told us a story about a woman that was speeding one day. He was new to the police force and had just been let loose as a patrol officer.  He was patrolling a major road in town and a lady drove by him going 55 in a 35.  He instantly turned his car around and turned on his blue lights in hot pursuit of the speed demon flying down the road.  He got behind this lady and flashed his lights in an attempt to stop her.  She kept going and actually sped up so he wasn't quite sure what to do as a new cop, so he called it in.  They told him to continue pursuit and follow her, stay in radio contact and help was on the way to assist him. He stayed in pursuit for several blocks and the woman suddenly pulled over slamming on her brakes to stop making him almost hit her car.  He swerved to

Sisterly Love- My mom and her older sister, my Aunt Beona were two of the most wonderful people one could ever know.  My family, immediate friends and so many others were touched by these ladies in so many ways.  Both of these wonderful ladies have went on to be with God and I know they are now watching over their kids, families and others.  They talked everyday on the phone, regardless of what happened or may have come up they spoke everyday.  My mom would call over and ask to speak to Beona and of course, my Uncle Robert would answer the phone and proceed to give her a hard time about calling and pick at her.  Mom loved to talk to Robert and looked forward to giving him a little of his quick wit right back to him on those phone calls.  Robert didn't hear very well so the television would be turned up to about maximum volume if you called or stopped by to visit with them.  You would have to knock on the door several times for him to hear you.  One thing is the door was cracked abo

  Coaching, Mentoring and Guiding  Think about the people that have taught, coached, guided, mentored and helped shape who you are through their leadership in your life.  I have been fortunate to have some of the best mentors, coaches and peers anyone could ask for throughout my career in the business world, teaching and coaching.  I learned so much from these special people that helped shape who I am as a coach, mentor and guide for others.  As I have gotten older and closer to retirement age my priorities have changed quite a bit and my goals are a bit different. I can also say on the reverse side that I have learned how not to coach, mentor and guide people from some peers, coaches, friends, relatives and others along the way.  I am not saying they were particularly bad overall at what they did, in fact, most of them were solid people with good intentions.  They just had some weaknesses in their planning, implementation or process of leading people.  I have strived to be the best I

  This week I have been working with my students in class on social emotional skills to help them grow their ability to get along better with peers at school, online and at home.  As a veteran teacher I have seen my fair share of conflicts between students, staff and their peers.  Most of the conflicts are honestly teenage drama that revolves around he said, she said stuff.  In today's world of the instant messaging on the thousands of applications things can escalate quickly.  It is not just teenagers though, I see here and there husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends going back and forth arguing their points or posting stuff in an attempt to start trouble or fuel the fire.  By the way, my students refer to Facebook as the application for (older people).  I guess I am old because I have a Facebook page. Anyways, back to the drama and how to resolve it.  My students have found out that as soon as they tell me what is happening, the first thing I ask them is did you see it,

  Serving Others Above Yourself Serving others is something many people do.  I grew up watching my parents serve the community in various capacities for the majority of their adult lives.  I watched the impact they had on people and saw the joy they got out of living a servant based life.  My dad was a police officer and he served the people diligently.  My mom was a school custodian and cafeteria worker and she worked so hard to prepare the food and serve it to the kids.  She always spoke so kindly to every kid, every day and they loved her for that.  We all have the opportunity to serve others and put them above us. Christ called us to serve others and he lived a life of service in his short time on earth.   Jesus prioritized us over his own needs and wants.  He was the most powerful man to ever walk the earth.  He could have walked right away from the cross and did what he wanted to do.  Instead he gave the ultimate example of having a servants heart.  He gave his life so we could h

Do Not Hide Your Light Today we are talking about standing for right and not hiding your light.  What light am I talking about, you may ask?  I am referring to the light of Jesus Christ which is in all of us and only shows if we have chosen him over darkness.  I remember growing up and singing the song "This Little Light of Mine, I'm Going to Let it Shine" in Sunday school and during youth concerts.  Last night I was listening to the bible on audio and it was talking about being a light for good and fighting darkness in our lives.  The challenge in today's world is to try and hide your light for fear that you may be tagged as a Christian or a believer.  America has become so comfortable with sin that millions are refusing to do the right thing and show their light. Matthew 5:16, states that " In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven". We are called to be warriors

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: