I just heard a report that something like 45 % or more of people who have jobs do not like them.  That too me just seems crazy.  Well, guess I am not so very surprised, I have been to a number of places where I have been around people who did not like their job.  I wonder why it is that so many people have or take jobs that they do not like?  I have had jobs that just  were not what I wanted, so I changed.  I had come across this quote several years ago and strangely enough I was reading it when I heard the report.

You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle. – George Lucas

I find too many people are afraid to take risks and stuck in fear to make the changes to improve their lives.  I have found the same to be true with people and their faith.  They know they need to make changes to  improve their relationship with Christ but yet they do not do it.  We come to that giant hurdle in life or faith and we stop.  Why?  Too many times we allow fear to be the driving force in our lives and it drives us right too jobs and places we do not want to be.  We need to not have fear as our driving force but we need to have Christ be the driving force.

Do you let fear drive you?  Any thoughts?

Hopefully I did not lose whatever little readership I had before taking the Christmas Break but I needed the time to refresh and get recharged as well as spend time with family.  I pray you had at least half of good as a Christmas and New Year as I did.

Now let us get on to the topic at hand which is the shortcut to success.  I am a guy who has read a lot about success over the years.  I have read countless articles and books.   I have gone to seminars.  I read success blogs and read success magazine online. In all this reading and in the seminar that I have done I have found the shortcut to success.  I shared in my Sunday morning message and now I will share it with you what this magical shortcut is. 

  What is this great shortcut?  Before I answer that, let me tell you that it is something that most people are unwilling to do. So again what is this magical shortcut to success? It is simple………..Hardwork!  I have seen so many people searching for the shortcut and try many different things, but the thing that works and that is work, hard work.  If you want to make a difference in the world for Christ, it will take hard work. 

I have found many people are afraid of hard work.  They want the rewards that come from it but do not want to put in the work.  They would rather search and search for the shortcut and waste time rather than do the hard work from the start and save time.

We are just beginning a New Year and I am recommitting myself to working hard to make a difference for Christ in my family, my community, and the church.  Are you committed to working hard in 2010 to make a difference?

Been spending time with family and enjoying the holidays.  I pray all had a Merry Christmas and that your New Years is awesome.  I will be back at it full-time next week.

Years ago I read the book No Opportunity Wasted and really enjoyed it.  Part of the book has to do with a Life List so that we are living life to its fullest and not allowing opportunities in our life go to waste.  Its idea is similar to that of the movie The Bucket List.  I was thinking through my life and very reflective about it a few weeks back.  I remembered the book and that I wrote out a Life List years ago.  I could not find the list so I was inspired and rewrote a list of things that I would love to do in my lifetime.  It was fun to think through and in doing it some of the things are just fun things and some of the things are a little more serious.  I have below my Life List (if you can help me with anything on the list let me know   )  Feel free to share yours.  It is a fun exercise and it could get you thinking forward into 2010 and beyond.

1.  Run a Marathon

2.  Visit London with Wendy

3.  Kill a trophy Buck (12 points or better)

4.   Speak to a group of over 5,000 people

5.   Do a stand up comedy routine in front of live audience

6.   Write a Book

 7.  Play a round of Golf with professional Golfer

 8.  Do NASCAR driving school

 9.  Catch a 10 pound Bass

 10. Take a Cruise with Wendy for 10 days

 11.  White Water Raft with Mckayla and Luke

 12.  Do a Chapel Service for a Professional Sports Team

 13.  Do a food challenge in a Restaurant

 14.  Take family to swim with the Dolphins

 15.  Be an Extra in a movie with at least 1 line

I am a fan of U2.  The other day I was listening to their new Cd which is called No line on the Horizon.  A lyric from the 4th track  which is called Unknown Caller ( which is based on  Jeremiah 33:3) really struck me.  The lyric says this:   

Restart and reboot yourself
You’re free to go
Oh, ohhh
Shout for joy if you get the chance
Password, you, enter here, right now

When I reboot my computer it gets it refocused back on start-up process.  It gets it running smooth again.  It takes a few minutes to get it restarted but when it does it is much easier to work with and is more efficient.  There are times that rebooting my computer is the best possible thing I can do because it saves in many areas. 

Have you ever just needed to reboot yourself?  I have thought about this for a few days.  I know that there are days where I need to stop and reboot myself.  I know days when I have restarted and rebooted that I have felt free for sure.

I am reminded of this when I am in the process of rebooting  myself :  Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Do you need to reboot today?  Remember His mercies are new!

I have had a boomerang that has been flying back to me over the past several months.  It started a while back when Ben Arment started talking about story and later he did the conference which I was unable to attend.  Ben got me thinking about story.  I started looking for it and to be honest I saw it.  I have seen it in movies, articles, and books.  Everywhere I go I see and hear stories.  I have been to the theater to see some movies and the ones I loved have been ones with good stories.

I read this in an article yesterday and got me thinking again: “I’ve always believed that when you start with great storytelling, then the format aside doesn’t mean anything,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

I, when I speak, focus in on making sure that the story is what comes out.  I want to challenge you to look for the good stories and find the thread of stories running throughout the Bible that are life changing.

What are you thoughts on stories?

You ever had a spiritual slump?  I have been going through one the last few weeks.  I think some of it is that the newness of being in my new church is wearing off.  It could be a number of different things to be honest, but the truth of the matter is that I have been going through one.  I have found myself not being myself.  I have found myself being easily frustrated.  The worst part is that I have faded away from doing some of the things that are spiritual connectors for me.  Today we got internet and a new phone system put in the church and they were coming between 8 and noon (gotta love that).  I went to the church at 7:45 and was there till about 4 today.  I normally come home for lunch but was unable to do so today because they came at 11:30.  I tell you all this because during this time I got to reconnect with God.  I got back to doing some of the things that I needed too and that connect me to God. I was able to read and pray and connect – it was a good day.  It was really good and I think getting the things in the church will help me out greatly. 

Have you ever been in a spiritual slump?  What did you do to get past it?

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. – Matthew 18:20

I was listening today to Jim Rohn who is a motivational speaker who passed away over the weekend.  He is interesting because his parents had him learn the Bible by the time he was 19.  I am not sure of what his spiritual state was but he has some good wisdom.

Today while I was listen (he was in the background because I was doing something else) he said something that caused me to think.  He quoted the verse about and said I learned something from this verse.  I learned the power of let’s.  If said that I am going to go out to conquer the world, it really would not mean much to people.  If I said Let’s go out and conquer the world it would grab people and they would be more willing than not to join you.  He stated Let’s is an invitation to have people join you.  For me it was a good reminder of this is a Let’s world and not an I world.

Any thoughts?

The other night I was watching television with my wife and kids.  They really wanted to watch the Shrek Christmas special and so I did not care and we watched.  It was funny but really lacked the true meaning of Christmas, it was a Christmas special that completely left out Christ but talked about Christmas being about family.  There was though a quoted that has keep running through my head since then.  Shrek who is an oger is having a hard time with Christmas and celebrating it and then says this:

“Ogres don’t celebrate Christmas. Ogres don’t celebrate anything”.

That quote I found to be powerful.  How many of us are Ogres when it comes to celebrating Christmas or anything?  How many times are we found not celebrating people’s victories and successes?  How many times are we not celebrating what God is doing?

The Message says this for Philippians 4:4 – Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!

Do you celebrate Christmas, God, people’s life events, whatever or are you an Ogre? 

I want to be one who celebrates!

Let me hear your thoughts.

We all have junk that we carry around – if you do not think that is the case then your junk could be lying or lack of perception.  How do we do it though?  How do we deal with the Junk that we carry around.  I know the good Pastoral and Christian answer is to give it to Jesus.  Even in that – how do we do it?

I think we talk about it to others.  We pray about it (which is talking to God about it).  We talk about it more and more but then we get to the point where we stop talking about it and deal with different Junk.  But there is still a missing piece and that is found in this verse.

1 Peter 5:7 tells us this: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 

For me the casting part is easier that the remembering that he cares for me part.  Some days can be a little bit harder than others but if I cast and keep in perspective that He cares then I might get rid of some more of this Junk!

What about you – how do you deal with Junk?