The Big Hitter Club

Don’t Be Fooled, The Bible is Clear!

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 12:45:04 +0000

What do you base your life on?

If you are going to have a solid life, you have to have something solid to base it on. Something that can stand up to all the trials, challenges and pressures of life. You need something reliable that you can go to and get answers.

Without that resource your life will be rudderless.
You will have to make it up as you go. What are your values, what is right and what is wrong. You won’t have a real standard to compare your value judgements to, other than what SEEMS right at the moment. That’s like deciding what the temperature is based on how you feel. That’s like spending money without knowing what’s really in your bank account, spending if your feel you have plenty of money left. Its like starting out on a trip without knowing how much gas you have in your car. I promise you that the state patrol won’t be amused if they pull you over for speeding and you tell them you don’t have a speedometer, but not to worry, you’re SURE you were not speeding because it just felt right.

I recommend the Bible because if the Bible says it, it’s true
You may be hesitant because you wonder how you can be sure what the Bible says? Since everyone has an opinion on interpretation, how can you tell what’s true? How can you know what the Bible means?

Well, it’s pretty easy. Trust the literal translation.
When you start straying from that there’s no coming back. There’s no way to get agreement because everyone has an opinion about how to “interpret” what’s written. People get too complicated because they don’t like what they read so they decide it MUST mean something else. It must be an allegory, etc. NO it doesn’t, unless it specifically says it’s an allegory.

Keep it simple and accept what’s written
If you take the approach of going with the translation of what was written in the context of the times, and what those words meant to the people they were written to, you will find things start to become clear. The Bible is not only true, it’s clear.

Disputing the literal meaning of what’s stated in the Bible, while possibly done with good intent by some, only serves to undermine, weaken and obscure what is clearly written down. Once you stray away from the literal translation to “opinions” of what’s being said, you are lost because there is no limit to how many opinions are out there.

Those who find things that they don’t want to accept are especially motivated to explain things away. It’s easier for them to take the approach of “here’s what it really means” and twist things around than to state the truth which is they don’t believe and won’t accept what they are reading. But if you read it and accept what is being said the meaning is clear.

Here’s an example from the beginning of the Bible….

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. (Genesis 1:1)

That’s the summary statement to kick off the Book. God did it. If you have a problem with that, stop reading

From there the text goes into HOW he created it, what were the steps. That’s where immediately the arguments begin. Surely he didn’t mean a 24 hour day! All kinds of apologists show up to try and make this seem more palatable to the evolutionists. Unfortunately none of these satisfy the evolutionists. It’s wasted effort.

The Bible doesn’t allow wiggle room
The Hebrew word used is yom. The Bible is very structured in how this word is used throughout the Bible. Whenever it is used with a numeral it ALWAYS refers to a 24 hour day. It has been said that no Hebrew scholar of World wide reputation places any credence to the idea that the word day in the first 11 Chapters of Genesis refers to anything but a 24 hour day. To further clarify the issue, in Genesis 1:8, it adds the phrase …And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

The meaning could not be clearer.
You may not believe it, but the meaning is clear. It said day, it meant day. How you react to that is up to you. That’s just one example of how the Bible says what it means. The Bible wasn’t written by a collection of ivory tower eggheads. It wasn’t written by professors for professors. It was written by real people living real lives who were moved by God. It was written for real people living real lives. It was written to be understood. It was written to give you a foundation for your life.

You CAN understand the Bible and you can TRUST the Bible. It’s been the foundation of millions of outstanding and influential people’e lives for 2000 years and it was written for you as much as any of them!

Stuff from My InBox: Then and Now

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 14:09:04 +0000

These are wonderful portraits by the photographer Irina Werning of Buenos Aires. Her projects re-creating childhood photographs with the same people in the present are wonderful and her attention to detail is borderline obsessive. See more at her site. [Editor's note: there is some tasteful semi-nudity at her site but most will not find it offensive.]

It has inspired a spinoff project and you can submit your own pictures to Young Me / Now Me if you're inspired. See one below...

See Last Week's Favorite Tweet, Quote and Verse

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:39:00 +0000

What Lesson Did Jeremy Lin Learn?

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:20:33 +0000

A "nobody" becomes a world wide sensation!

Last year he bounced around the league, getting cut twice and playing in the Development League.
In December he got picked up by the Knicks who also rarely played him and twice came close to cutting him themselves.
Eight games ago they were forced to start him because they had run out of players.

The rest is history. In two weeks his play has captured the imagination of the world. He’s scored an NBA All time record for first time starters, 200 points and had the second most All time record assists with 78! And more importantly the previously lifeless Knicks have sprung to life under his leadership at the point guard position, winning an incredible 7 of 8 games!

He’s the talk of the basketball world! He’s the talk of the sports world! All in two sensational weeks.

What is he doing different from last year?
It’s only one year. He couldn’t have improved THAT much, so “what is the difference”? That’s the exact question a reporter asked him last Sunday immediately after their last game. Here’s his answer…

“Last year I tried to fit in, I wanted to do exactly what they wanted me to do. I didn’t want to make any mistakes. I played too careful, too cautious. I didn’t feel comfortable. I didn’t feel relaxed.”

One thing he learned about that, it didn’t work.

What’s he doing this year?

“This year I decided I was going to play my way. I was going to be aggressive. I was going to do what the coach wanted but I wasn’t going to hold back. I didn’t know if I would get another chance.

I didn’t know if I was good enough to have a career in this league but if I didn’t make it, it wasn’t going to be because I didn’t give myself a chance. No matter what happened, I decided I wouldn’t back down, I would stay aggressive and on the attack. I was going to give it everything I had. I decided I wouldn’t back down for any reason and that’s what I have been doing.”

One thing we’ve all learned from observing this, that approach works!

The BIG lessons on Winning for us?

When you get your chance to prove yourself, your chance to shine, give it everything you have. Be aggressive, don’t hold back. If you played scared, cautious, timid…you have no chance.
The same person who has the potential to be a sensational star can turn into a nobody by being too careful and tentative. When you get your chance to perform in the spotlight, that’s not the time to start thinking about fitting in or to start worrying about what happens if you fail.
When your moment comes, focus hard on winning and doing everything in your power to make it happen. You do everything in your power to put yourself in a position to win. Give it everything you have and if that’s not good enough, at least you won’t have any regrets

Learn the lesson Jeremy Lin learned…the biggest rewards only go to those with the COURAGE to lay it all on the line when they get their opportunity!

A Pig With A Pink Ribbon Is Still A Pig

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:49:00 +0000

It's what they are.

You can wash a pig and spray him with perfume and he's still a pig. You can put a pink ribbon around it and dress it in a pretty pig dress. They look good. They smell good. They look transformed! But let them outside and they will happily run straight to the nearest mud puddle they can find. Why? It’s their NATURE.

People with character issues will always disappoint you.

Never put them in a position of responsibility unless you can keep a close eye on them. People can change but they really have want to and it won’t happen all at once. It’s great to give people a second chance but you better keep your eye on them.

Don’t put them in a position where their weakness can drag them and you down. You may think they are grateful and appreciative. They may even tell you they are, but what they are thinking is that they got away with it. They are thinking you are someone they can control and manipulate with excuses.

Don’t try to analyze or reason with them like you would a person you can trust.

The reason is, they don’t think like you do. You can’t really understand how they think and they aren’t even trying to understand how you think. They have their own agenda. They don’t understand give and take. They aren’t interested in fairness. They aren’t capable of considering what’s best for you. They’ll always cut any corners they can to give themselves and advantage. Trying to reason with them is futile. They don’t need you, they need professional help. But guess what? They don’t want help.

If you doubt that, think about this.

One of the characteristics of people with character issues is that they live in denial. They don't take responsibility. They don't feel like they need to change. They are looking for ways to get ahead without working, without earning it. They see things you have and decide they need to have them. Why not? You have plenty.

If you catch them in a lie they will, on the spot, come up with another plausible sounding lie to cover up the first. I’ve always been amazed at the ability of people like this to effortlessly spin another bigger lie or rationalization whenever they are challenged. It’s at moments like this you realize you are dealing with someone who is not like you…AT ALL. Not only can they make up one lie after another, they seem to have the ability to believe it as truth as soon as they say it.

That’s why if you insist on keeping them around you must keep your eye on them.
Don't let their weakness hurt you. Sure it's great to give people a chance, but why put them in a position where they likely to fail? It's not fair to them, it's not fair to you.

Pay attention to character. You can’t let yourself be lulled to sleep by appearances. They may make an effort to look, talk and act better. They may make a great effort to act like they have changed. But stay alert. Any change will take a long, long time and they will probably have many relapses along the way. They may look pretty on the outside, but it’s what’s inside, their character that controls their actions.

If they are rotten inside, they’ll act rotten because they can’t help it, it’s their nature. A pig is a pig is a pig - whether it's wearing a pink ribbon or not.

How to handle Problems Like a Pro

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:43:00 +0000

The 90/10 Rule

Since nothing is perfect in life, it helps to have a philosophy about how to look at problems. You aren’t going to be able to get away from problems so why not get a philosophy that allows you to absorb them and keep moving, staying in a happy, balanced and positive frame of mind. Let’s analyze the issue.

Perspective - 90% goes well

If you think about things in life you'll find that nine times out of ten or 90 percent of the time most things turn out okay, but 10 percent of the time things go haywire. It’s important to realize you don’t have to fall apart when they do and you don’t have to let it ruin your day.

The problem 10%

I’m sure you’ve had experiences like this. A particular situation goes bad, then for some reason it seems like everything you do to fix it just makes it worse. Nothing seems to help, everything you do makes it worse and it soon becomes obvious that there's going to be no way of fixing it. Life isn’t perfect. Not everything turns out well and some problems just seem to refuse to be fixed. Of course you should do everything you can to correct it but if you can't fix it, you can't fix it.

Breaking down the 10% - Half of it’s your fault

If you analyze the 10% you'll usually discover that about 5% or half of the time what goes wrong is your fault. You can’t escape the blame. You messed up, but on the other hand it’s only 1 out 20 that comes back on you. Apologize or do whatever else you can to make it better. Then move on.

The other 5% is somebody else's fault.

It might be caused by some institution, some situation outside of your control or another person. That 5% is it's somebody else's fault but the result is the same, it’s still a problem that impacts you. They messed up, you get hurt. If you are expecting perfection, justice and fairness out of life you have a real opportunity to get really upset. It’s not fair! You’re outraged! So what. It doesn’t help the situation.

Your choice

It’s a matter of what is more profitable for you to focus on, the 90% that goes well or the 10% problems.

It’s a simple choice. If something's gone wrong and it's not going to turn out right, you can either make yourself miserable spending your life focusing on it or instead focus on the other 9 things that went well.

Consider air travel...

If you fly a lot, one time out of ten you're probably going to have a bad flight, it’s unavoidable. Nine times out of ten it will probably go smoothly but eventually you’ll get one that goes bad. There will be a delay, bad weather, mechanical problem, or something else. You’ll be late, sit on the runway or even have a cancelled flight. It’s infuriating, it ruins your plans and sets off a domino effect of other problems. So what are you going to do? You can rant and rave all you want but it won’t change anything except increase your stress levels. However, if you step back and look on it with perspective, you’ll realize this was only once out of 10 flights and just decide it’s basically a price you pay for flying and shrug the annoyance off. Of course, sometimes you can have problems with several bad flights in a row, but over the long haul it evens out.

When problems come, remember the 90/10 Rule, it will save you a lot of stress!

7 Keys to Avoiding the Winner’s Trap

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:23:00 +0000

Mediocrity sneaks up on the unsuspecting winner by flooding them with new opportunities.

The unaware winners get distracted just enough, just slightly, from doing the things that got them to the top. They lose what would seem to others an imperceptible amount of their intensity and focus. But the line between winning and losing is very fine. Before they realize it, they have lost their winning edge and they slump.

Here are 7 tips that can help you avoid the deadly trap:

1. Realize that your life has changed now. It will be more complicated from a time standpoint. Before you focused primarily on budgeting your MONEY. Now you will need to focus on budgeting your TIME. So limit distractions. Of course you want to enjoy your success but you can’t do it all.

2. Make a definite choice to put a priority on preparation. Keep your work time a top priority so you have a chance to stay on top. That’s the goose that lays the golden egg! That’s what will keep you in a position to continuing enjoying things. Make sure NOTHING interferes with your ability to continue to WORK HARD.

3. Ramp up your planning. Eliminate the time wasters so you can absorb many of the new opportunities without disrupting your schedule. Everyone has fat in their schedule. Take charge of it like never before. Not every activity is critical. Work to find ways to get the most out of your schedule. Things that take an hour can probably get done in 30 or 45 minutes. Many of the things that you always did in the past can probably delegated to others.

4. Get better at saying NO. Realize you can’t do it all. Life is all about choices. Think about what is really important and weed out the unimportant. Don’t just keep doing the same things because you have always done them. Move on so you can move up.

5. Be disciplined like never before. Realize the penalty for getting off track is losing your focus is that you will get beat and your victory will be short lived. Don’t allow yourself to get sloppy with your time. Your success has given you the chance to add a bunch of things you want to do to your already large number of things you HAVE to do to keep winning. Don’t apologize for being disciplined and organized and don’t let others tempt you into relaxing your commitment. They are not your friends.

6. Work SMARTER. Use the lessons you learned on the way up to fine tune your training. By winning you learned for yourself what things worked best for you and what things were not as profitable. This way you can get even more results from the time you put in. You may have even moved up to be able to get access to other people—coaches who can give you inside information on life at the top. How to prepare, how to keep your edge, how to continue to improve and how to get things done in less time.

7. Most Important - Raise your sights and get BIGGER GOALS. Don’t take a chance on losing your hunger. Give yourself a real solid reason to continue driving yourself hard. It’s great to win once but when you continue to win you put yourself much higher category. Realize that its as hard to KEEP winning as it is to win the first time. Accept the challenge to stay on top.

Choose to go after making winning an ALL the time thing and not just a ONE time thing.

Peace In Your Life - Have you Found It?

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:42:00 +0000

It’s a yes or no question.
Either you have or have not found peace.

Only you know and there is no way you can fool yourself forever. The sooner you get settled on what you are looking for in your life, the sooner you can begin to really live - at peace and energized.

It's been said there’s a God-shaped hole inside everyone.
You can try to fill it with many things to satisfy yourself and bring you happiness and peace.

Some try MATERIAL THINGS
They race around collecting cars, houses, boats, clothes and that old faithful—good old cash. They keep a close eye on their stocks. They always know how the market is doing. They love showing their things off to others. You can tell from their conversation that they never stop thinking about what they just bought or are getting ready to buy.

Others go in the direction of RELATIONSHIPS
They put their focus on family and friends - the more the merrier! They have their entire lives built around doing things for and with their family and friends. They can even get self-righteous about it, telling others over and over that nothing is more important than family with the emphasis on how great their’s is.

Another approach is ACTIVITIES
They love going places, doing things - chasing their “bucket list.” The idea being that the more things they have done, the wider the variety, the more unique they are the greater the enjoyment and satisfaction they will have in life. It’s easy to feel like you have never been anywhere or done anything in your life when you talk to them. Anything you mention, they have been there or done that. Super Bowl, World Series, Hawaii, Europe, cruises, skydiving, bungee jumping…there’s no end.

Another widely popular approach is SELF-DEVELOPMENT.
People furiously chase physical fitness. They pursue education. They are always seeking new knowledge, new levels of personal achievement and new challenges. If you get one degree, then go get another. The idea behind this is that the more you develop yourself the more you will be at peace with yourself. Education is the answer to everything.

I’m not criticizing at all! All of these things are valid activities.
They all can add qualities to your life you would not have any other way. They all add value and enjoyment. They keep you active, stimulated and involved with other people in positive ways. In fact, if you have the interest and ability, these are all things you should do. They’ll expand your life and give you a lot enjoyment and satisfaction.

But many realize the satisfaction from these things is only temporary
If you have pursued many of these and are still unsettled inside, still looking for real peace, maybe its time to look in another direction. Maybe it’s that God shaped vacuum that hasn’t been filled yet.

There is another long standing choice.
It's one you should not ignore. Its one you need to evaluate for yourself because this is one area that’s too important to trust to other’s judgement. If you do you’ll understand why for over 2000 years millions of people from all over the world have found that their answer for peace has been found in the Prince of Peace. He’s the one who said…

I'm leaving you well and whole. That's my parting gift to you. Peace. I don't leave you the way you're used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don't be upset. Don't be distraught. (John 14:27)

If you haven’t found peace yet, find out about the Lord Jesus Christ. When you do you’ll learn why only he offers the “peace that passes all understanding."

Stuff From My InBox: Amazing Clouds

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:42:00 +0000

Below "Cloud Tsunami" by facebook user JR Hott, Panhadale Helicopters. [See full article]

Last Week's Favorite TWEET, QUOTE and VERSE!

weideloffice@me.com (Larry Weidel) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:28:00 +0000