No Thanks, I'll Do It Myslef!

Have you ever thought, No thanks I'll do it myself? I know I have gone there before and usually when I have been disappointed in the way something was being handled or I was just trying to control a situation that wasn't really worth trying to control.

I had coffee with a friend a couple of months ago and this wise man brought my attention to a fact about me that needs to be corrected and that is I try to do to much by my self. In my case it's not about not letting other people do things to help, although I can stand some improvement there as well, but it was about taking on the responsibility for everything going on in my life. My biggest problem is that during the day while trying to be a mover and shaker I forget that I have God on my side and that when I turn things over to Him not only does the outcome turn out better but it also takes the pressure off of me. I don't have to be perfect because He already is.

It's kind of funny about me. Over the years I have seen so many difficult situations that if I had handled them without God's help could have turned into disaster, yet, because I was able to let go and let God they turned out just the way they were supposed to. Being human I seem to forget how this whole thing works and then what happens is something gets messed up because I tend to mess them up.

Here is my hope not only for today but all days; that I will remember to turn everything over to God and then do what I am lead to do. Psalm 62 verse 5:

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him."

Have a hopeful day!

Hope To Hope!!!?????

Ever met anyone whose biggest hope was only to be able to hope again? I have.

I have a very close friend whose goal is to hope again. Life has beaten this guy into submission. He has lost wives, businesses, money, friends, etc. Basic he has lived life and somewhere along the way life won and he lost. I asked him recently what his biggest goal was and his response was, "to be able to pay my bills." When I questioned him again he insisted this was the most in life he could hope for. I just thought to myself, unbelievable!

Do you know someone whose life has taken a turn for the worse and they have given up on all of the things hoped for in past days? Is there anything you can do to help these poor lost souls?

To start with you can't do anything to make a shift in their thinking so please don't ever blame yourself for not getting them out of their funk. What you can do though is to suggest help in the form of something you have read, listened to or watched that help shape your thinking. Let them know you are there for them if they ever want help getting through whatever it is they need to heal. Be a good friend and listen.

You say you have done all of those things and they haven't changed? Then here is what you might consider doing. Maybe the best solution is taking care of yourself. If you are going to be around people that might not have their head on straight make sure you are taking your own advice. Read, listen to, and watch things that positively motivate you. You can't help anyone else if you can't take care of yourself. Be the best you can and just maybe it will be an inspiration to those negative people around you. Whatever you do, if you find an individual that continually brings your attitude to a low place minimize your contact with them. I'm guessing you do not want to be a brought into their spiral of wrong thinking.

Be hopeful, live hopeful, talk hopeful, and just maybe it will find it's was to someone that needs it most.

Where To Begin?

I really don't know where to start. Last Saturday I went to the Regional Meeting Mona-vie held in Anaheim and what I expected was information to help me grow my business, encouraging words to help me become even more enthusiastic than I already am about what I do for a living(Didn't think being more excited was possible.), and connecting with other people in the business. That's what I expected. What I got was something very different.

I am not going to tell you everything that happened or that touched me Saturday. First of all it wouldn't be the right thing to do as my goal here is not to turn this blog into a commercial, but to offer hope to everyone free of recruiting or any salesmanship and secondly, I don't think I can state the things that happened at that meeting and give them justice in the printed word. What I am going to offer you is hope from what I experienced.

I saw a 30 year old woman that should not be alive today, that has defied the odds not only to still be breathing but to have the courage to have given birth to a perfectly healthy son, beating all the odds against her. I saw normal people like you and me that mustered up enough belief in themselves to turn their financially crippled existence into unbelievable wealth. I saw a man receive a $2,000,000 bonus check and remains humble before the Lord and gives thanks instead of braging about what he is/does. I saw a 13 year old girl from Brazil that attends a school that we help pay for come to Anaheim and have the courage to seize her moment and fulfil one of her dreams by singing to a crowd with literally thousands of people.

This weekend I saw people with real hope and felt not only hopeful for me but for eveyone that attended this event, and for you. I watched amazing courage. I cried more tears than anytime that I can remember, and prayed and did all of things with my wife, close friends, acquaintances, and some folks I will never really get to know. This all came to pass in one building in a span of 8 hours and the subsequent bus ride back home and I can state to you unequivocally I am a better person for it. The Lord blessed me this weekend and helped me to learn more about myself than I knew and I am so grateful.

Out Of Pocket For A Few

Well friends I will be in Anaheim at the Mona-vie Regional Meeting for the next few days. My hope is that I will be able to meet some people this weekend that will broaden my view point and things shared at this meeting will in someway help me to make a difference in more peoples lives. I would also hope that by my words and actions in some small way I can make a difference for someone else.

I will return to my keyboard no later than Monday with something interesting (We Hope-lol) for you to read and reflect on. Have a fabulous weekend for of hope!

How Are You Doing With Your New Year Resolutions?

I have seen the studies that suggest that by the end of three weeks 90% of the folks that have made New Year resolutions have broken this pact with themselves and moved on to be the people they were before the ball dropped at midnight New Years. I'm wondering why that happens.

To me a resolution sounds like it's in concrete, it's a promise and once it has been broken there's no turning back, it's over, toast, stick a fork in it , done! So does that mean once we break this pact with ourselves we just revert back to who we were before, because we already broke our promise?

That's why I like goals so much better than resolutions. A goal is a commitment to work on yourself to improve over time and if we fail today that's ok because we have more opportunity to succeed tomorrow. With a goal we have hope, because, over time we can do anything we commit to. Once we make the decision to do something and believe that it can be done success is assured. If that doesn't muster up a little hope than what could?

Did you write out your 2010 goals? If you haven't done it now would be the time. This is serious stuff because once you take the time to write them down, look at them daily and start believing you can accomplish them, a power is unleashed and amazing things can happen in your life. Hope, believe, commit, and act on your goals this coming year and 2010 can be the most amazingly prosperous anf fulfilling year of your life. I hope this for you.

Does Noah Have An Ark In Northern California?

My list of things hoped for as of this writing is getting proportionately smaller with the additional rain that is being dumped in the community I live in; mainly safety for all and maybe higher ground-lol. In Sacramento we Aren't famous for wild weather but today we have outdone ourselves. High winds, rain coming down in sheets, power outages all over town are not the things we are know for. But ya know when you consider the 10's of thousands of lives lost in Haiti and the fact that they had an aftershock today of over 6, it is pretty easy to be grateful for us and hopeful for all of our friends and loved ones to come home tonight safe and sound.

Imagine what it would be like if so many people were being killed, or seriously injured and you couldn't find out if all of your family was OK and not in harms way. What would that feel like?

I hope and pray that none of my family, friends, and anyone reading this today will ever have to face that kind of situation. May God be with you and yours and may he continue to bless the USA with health and wealth beyond what most people on this planet ever know.

Thanks for reading this blog today and please feel free to enter any comments that you might have.

What Are We Talking About Here?

I've been wondering if anyone reading this questions what exactly hope is? I don't want to open a dictionary... that's too easy. So what are we talking about? To me hope isn't abstract, it's a concrete kinda thing. Let's take a look at dreams vs goals. To me a dream is something we really wish would happen or we can have whether there is any basis for this to actually come to pass is not required. A goal is something written, where we explain not only exactly what we want, but how we are going to achieve this, when, and where. In a sense we virtually will it into existence. We use faith.

Ah Ahhhh, we have gone all around the issue. Seems like we have considered everything but hope. We have discussed, dreams, wishes, goals, & faith just not hope.

When I consider hope I like to use it in conjunction with faith because I think they happen to work well together. If faith is the ability to will something into existence how does hope play into this? To me hope is the important sidekick to faith... without it faith wouldn't exist. You see in order to have strong faith to will/speak/work something like a goal into existence you must first have hope that the thing you want/expect will happen. A dream is just that, something that would be nice to have or do but hope is the grass roots believe that it the thing you want will eventually happen. Faith is the will we use to persevere, to plan, and act this desire into our lives.

I was talking with a friend last night that is having problems with hope. Circumstances are bad financially, they are looking for an additional income stream but things are so bad that they don't feel like they invest anything in themselves to get them out of this situation. They are hoping for something in their life to change but things are so bad that they don't want to be the ones that make a decision because they don't want things to get any worse. I bet some of you reading this can relate. My advice to my friend was to open their mind to the possibility that there is a solution to their problem. That if they will remain open to that possibility, dream about that happening, and then start imagining this actually taking place, in other words start hope process... hope that this thing will happen. Believe in themselves just one more time. Oh and one last thing... pray about it. God knows you are here and you are hurting and he wants you to come to Him with this. He will show you the way if you ask. This has always worked for me so hopefully it work for him too.

Well my sermon is over. Usually I leave the sermons to my son, Pastor Chris. Anyway, Hope you have a wonderful day full of the hope of good things coming your way and the faith to act on that hope.

I Have A Dream!

I am overwhelmed! I had 17 new visitors to this blog on it's first day. I am pretty tickled that I would have that many friends that would humor me that way. I guess now to have them return I will actually have to give them some substance. Oh my.

My goal is to bring a little hope each day for those brave enough to want to improve their lives. I don't really expect to say anything too profound but hopefully we can help each other by creating a positive belief system that fosters hope.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday. This man was someone that knew how to dream. He had hope for a better life for his family, race, and all peoples. He had such hope for his dreams that he died for them. Today we live in a better place because this man and people like him were willing to be vocal about what they believe in, dream about, and hope for.

Eighteen days into 2010 have you taken the time to actually sit down and write what you are hopeful for this coming year? Have you put together a Dream or Vision board that is a constant reminder of what you want out of life? Take time to get in touch with what you want. Only by doing this can you have hope, because without knowing where you are going can you hope to get there.

Every 3 months Joyce and I redo our goals and by doing this we have fresh in our minds what we are working towards and hoping for in our future. This works, really. Try it and I promise you won't be disappointed.

Until tomorrow have a hopeful and prosperous day!

This is my first blog!

Yikes! What am I doing & why am I doing it. What ever possessed me to start blogging? I'm not sure exactly.



Hope is a big thing with me so probably the one thing I would like to accomplish by doing this is to be a beacon of hope to anyone that needs it. If that's you than you can count on hearing about what's going on in my life and why I am hopeful about all aspects from family & friends and those relationships to our financial hopes as well.



I promise not to lie to you, so if things seem bleak I will let you know how they feel to me and tell you why I am hopefull that those things are going to change.

Let's have fun together and please send me your feedback. I want this to be usefull to you and me. I hope to get as much out of this as you do so please tell me what you think.