Heavenlynotice.com

Right After Church- When I was a kid growing up we would all go to church on Sunday and then head straight over to my Grandma Smiths house and spend all afternoon eating lunch, playing outside, watching football and fellowshipping with family and friends.  When I say family and friends, I mean the entire extended family of at least 20-30 people.  My grandparents were not rich so I do not know how they fed all of us every week like that.  We did have some great fresh garden veggies, potatoes and corn that was grown on the property.  It was the coolest place to go and spend time growing up.  We had all the outdoor activity a child or teenager needed.   Summertime Fun And Sports- Summer time was my favorite season as the grass was nice and green and much softer to land on when your cousins and brothers piled on top of you playing tackle football.  Of course, we played with no pads and you got busted up good on most Sundays.  We played every sport you can think of, football, soccer, softba

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,

  Today I am writing about having a winning mindset in life.  The definition of winning is to gain victory, overcome an opponent, gain status or conquer something or someone.  As a career football, wrestling and softball coach I have spent the better part of my adult life trying to win sporting events.  I have had my fair share of victories along the way and accomplished some pretty amazing goals.   However, I have had tough losses along the way and learned as much, maybe more from those defeats about dealing with life and its shortcomings.  As a player I had the opportunity to be on some really good teams one in particular in college that was undefeated and a championship program.  As a high school coach I have been part of state caliber programs, coached on conference and regional title teams.   On goal I have as a head coach is to win the ultimate prize, and that is a team state title in football or wrestling.  I have won conference titles and had numerous conference, regional and a

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

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