Has anyone told you lately that you are truly amazing? Probably not unless you are one of the very blessed few who have at least one powerful encourager in your life that truly does care about you. I was 6 feet tall when I was in the 7th grade. I weighed all of 140 lbs. Skinny doesn’t begin to describe it. Toothpick would come a little closer. With the unruly and wiry hair that I tried to grow long and fight to keep straight, most of my friends called me ‘Q-tip.’ You can imagine how that did wonders for my self-esteem. Yeah, not much. I was reminded by my father that I wasn’t planned when I was born. I guess not. Three kids in LESS THAN three years. My brother was two years old, about to turn three. My sister was one year old, nine days before she turned two. My father suffered most of his life with what we now know as bipolar disorder. Major moods swings and a plethora of attitudes that did not serve in my best interest (or anyone else’s for that matter.) He constantly reminded me that I was an “accident” and with the constant psychological abuse that he put on me, I felt more like an intruder on this planet than a little boy.
I got up early this morning at 4:40 am to put the finishing touches on my son’s reading fair project and to give myself time to set up the project and still get to work by 7:30. I woke the boys up earlier than usual so that they too could be ready. My youngest, who was excited, got up and immediately got dressed. My oldest on the other hand took his time. When I finished ironing and went to take my bath, I saw him walking out of the house with no shirt on. He proceeds to ask me if I knew what time it was. I asked him to focus on getting himself ready because I was getting ready too. I also asked him to get the table out of the storage room for the display since he was walking out the door; he responded by lifting the trash that he was putting out as if to say, “I can’t my hands are full”. Once I got dressed, while preparing to leave the house I realized that he was not ready, nor had he gotten the table out of the storage. At that very moment, though angry and disappointed, I made an active decision not to engage him. I made one comment, “All I ask for Lord is a
The Best Way to Travel Once upon a time, a king had a great highway built for the people who lived in his kingdom. After it was completed, but before it was opened to the public, the king decided to have a contest. He invited as many of his subjects as desired to participate. The challenge was to see who could travel the highway the best, and the winner was to receive a box of gold. On the day of the contest, all the people came. Some of them had fine chariots, some had fine clothing and fancy food to make the trip a luxurious journey. Some wore their sturdiest shoes and ran along the highway on their feet to show their skill. All day they traveled the highway, and each one, when he arrived at the end, complained to the king about a large pile of rocks and debris that had been left almost blocking the road at one point, and that got in their way and hindered their travel. At the end of the day, a lone traveler crossed the finish line warily and walked over to the king. He was tired and dirty, but he addressed the king with great respect and handed him a small chest of gold. He said, “I stopped along the way to
Lessons Learned from My Dog It’s graduation time and commencement speakers will soon share words of wisdom with new grads. Some lessons shared will be profound, and others quite simple. What would I share, if invited? Things I learned in graduate school, principles proven in my consulting career, or tidbits picked up from my own mistakes? No, I think I’d share lessons I’ve learned from my dog. Here are a few: 1. Play the hand you’re dealt. Some of us are born into the lap of luxury; others are not. Some of us come programmed for joy, and others less so. Some of us are nurtured magnificently, and others are nearly ignored. Rocky was given up before he was two. You might think he’d be sullen, unable to trust, or stuck with a bit of a chip on his canine shoulder. Not so. He’s a happy little guy who seems to demonstrate that it’s not what you’ve been given that counts-it’s who you become and what you do with what you’ve got! 2. Be Your Self. When we adopted Rocky, I almost forgot to ask his name. The clerk rolled her eyes and said, “It’s Rocky, but I’d change it to Pierre, if I were you.” We soon learned that this miniature black poodle was anything but a Pierre. He’s
The Dark Spot One day, Professor John Morgan entered his class and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin. John handed out the exams with the text facing down, as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers. To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions – just a black dot in the center of the paper. The Professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following: “I want you to write about what you see there.” The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task. At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams and started reading each one of them out loud in front of all the students. All of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the centre of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom was silent. Professor John Morgan smiled and said, “I’m not going to grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think about. “I’m surprised that no one wrote about the white part of the paper which is bigger than the black dot. Everyone focused on the black dot; the same thing happens
Jesus Loves You Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the Pastor and his 11-year-old son would go out into their town and hand out gospel tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said “Okay Dad, I’m ready.” His Pastor Dad asked, “Ready for what?” “Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.” Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring down rain.” The boy gives his Dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?” Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.” Despondently the boy asks, “Dad, can I go — Please?” His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here are the tracts; be careful son.” “Thanks, Dad!” And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This 11-year-old boy walked the streets of the town going door-to-door and handing everybody he met in the street a gospel tract. After two hours of walking in the rain he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down
