Giselle's Blog

Leaders should lead not hold groups back

Giselle Aguiar — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:03:38 +0000

With all the networking I’ve been doing to jumpstart my social media consulting business, I’ve attended several group meetings to see which ones are worth joining, which ones give me the best bang for my buck.

I’ve been a member of a certain group (which will remain nameless) for a year. I’ve decided not to renew my membership because this group is stuck in the 90s. And it’s partly the fault of the leader. She doesn’t have time or the will to learn and get into modern technology and social media. Their newsletter system is outdated. They don’t have any online groups and no way to share information between members. Even their website is passe and not optimized. It uses too many graphics that search engines don’t see.

I tried to nudge them into the 21st century and all I got was resistance. Only 4 members were interested. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

Another group I visited over 2 years ago and then again last month. It hasn’t grown in 2 years. It’s a business group and the leader is a teacher. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s no incentive to network to grow a business.

A good group leader is a visionary who leads the group forward

Here are the characteristics of a good group leader:

A good leader must be a visionary
A good leader must embrace new technology
A good leader must evolve with changing times and not live on tradition for tradition’s sake

“But we’ve always done it that way!” – No!

A good leader must have an open mind to accept ideas from other visionaries in the group
A good leader must accept constructive criticism and change accordingly
A good leader must not be afraid of change
A good leader doesn’t take the position because no one else will
A good leader is not just there to run meetings
A good leader recognizes when to step aside and let someone else take the reigns

A group that doesn’t change with the times will die off. They’ll get visitors, but no one will join. If they do join, they’ll leave after a little while.

Not everyone is born or meant to be a leader and it’s ok if you’re not meant to be a leader, but don’t take the group down because of pride or selfishness.

What do you think? Please comment below.

Related reading:
6 Traits of a Leader

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

Check out Giselle’s award-winning Christian novel: Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century a historical novel about the early church check it out! $1 from the sale of each book – no matter what format, benefits StreetLight Phoenix to help eradicate child sex slavery. www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1

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Movie Review: Red Tails, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen

Giselle Aguiar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:03:42 +0000

Red Tails Movie Poster from LucasFilm

I grew up watching TV shows like “Twelve O’Clock High,” “Combat” and “Ba, Ba, Black Sheep.” So when I saw the preview for “Red Tails” I knew I had to go see it.

I’m a history buff. (I guess that’s why I chose to write a historical novel.) And I liked that “Red Tails” portrayed the Tuskegee Airmen authentically.

Producer George Lucas, who invested his own money to make the film, doesn’t disappoint with excellent, heart-pumping air-fighter action that puts you in the planes with the pilots with super special effects.

The story is about the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-African-American squadron in World War II who battled not just the Germans, but discrimination and bigotry to its fullest. It’s 1944 Italy. At first they are given “throw-away” planes to fly on non-vital missions and they slowly proved themselves to be selected as the pilots to accompany the big fighter bombers into Italy and Berlin.

Good cast of 90% African American actors – which was nice to see them portraying African American heros not hoodlums or criminals.

One of the best quotes is by Terrance Howard’s character, Col. A.J. Bullard who basically told off one of his commanding officers. The man had said something like, “I still don’t think coloreds belong in the Army.” Bullard replies, “I don’t care what you think.” Then he says, “Respect the uniform.” To that Bullard replies, “The uniform is the only thing I respect.” Yeah!

Another great quote was after they had gained the respect of the white pilots, one of the white pilots asks one of the Tuskegee guys, “You don’t like to be called ‘colored,’ right? What do you prefer?” To which a bunch replied, “Negros.” Then one of the Tuskegee pilots says (paraphrased), “You whites turn red when you’re embarrassed, green when you’re jealous, blue when you’re sad, and yellow when you’re a coward. And you call us ‘colored’?”

The movie portrays each of the pilots’ humanity as they faced every fight with courage and distinction.

Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s character, Major Emanuelle Stance, says to the squadron, “So you thought what? That you’d sign up and that would be the end of 100 years of bigotry. Get your head up, son. We’re fighter pilots.”

It is rated PG-13 because of the air combat scenes, but I encourage you to take your teens to see this. It was part of our history and a part that we could be proud of. I give it 5 stars!

To learn more about the movie and cast, visit IMDB

To read more about the Tuskegee Airmen, visit WikiPedia.

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

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Movie Review: The Iron Lady

Giselle Aguiar — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 03:34:56 +0000

Meryl Streep does it again with an outstanding, Oscar-worthy performance as Margaret Thatcher, the first lady Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Her performance alone is worth watching. The movie itself leaves something to be desired. I was drowsing at one point then their home exploded with the depiction of the assassination attempt by the IRA. That woke me up.

As a Conservative leader, today’s U.S. Republican candidates should watch the movie and be reminded of what a great leader does for their country. “Let’s put the GREAT back in Great Britain.” (The U.S. should put the UNITED back in United States. But enough of politics.)

Incredible makeup makes Streep into an aged Thatcher

The movie opens with an aged Lady Thatcher preparing breakfast for her dead husband. Apparently she’s had a hard time accepting his death. That was a big portion of the movie and I found it a bit degrading and just plain sad.

I enjoyed her rise to power, shown in flashbacks, with the younger Thatcher played by Alexandra Roach. Thatcher, the daughter of a grocer, got into Oxford and afterward fought to enter the male-dominated world of the British politics and Parliament in 1959.

Showing snippets of Thatcher addressing the Parliament, I understand that when the camera pans the assembly, there are no women and there were actually 19 women in Parliament in 1979 when she became Prime Minister.*

Many of the issues she dealt with back then the U.S. is going through now – including dealing with labor unions, high unemployment, terrorist attacks and a foreign war (The Falklands). She was good friends with Ronald Reagan and stood beside him through and to the end of the Cold War.

Go to watch Meryl Streep at her best, but have a few cups of coffee beforehand. I give it 3 stars.

*IMDB

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

Movie Review: Joyful Noise

Giselle Aguiar — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:51:12 +0000

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD… ~ Psalm 100:1 KJV

We are encouraged to praise the Lord with song and music and the movie “Joyful Noise” delivers!

What voices! Well, you can’t go wrong with leading ladies like Queen Latifah (Vi Rose Hill) and Dolly Parton (G.G. Sparrow). Then add the young talents of Keke Palmer (Olivia Hill) and Jeremy Jordan (Randy Garrity) and you have a high-spirited, rousing musical-comedy.

When the choir director, Bernard Sparrow, (played by Kris Kristofferson) suddenly dies of a heart attack during the regional finals of the “Joyful Noise” competition and Vi Rose is selected to replace him over G.G. (who’s also the main financial supporter of the church), there’s a clashing of opinions.

G.G.’s grandson, Randy comes to visit and is encouraged to join the choir by Vi Rose’s daughter, Olivia, and he tries to modernize the song selections and arrangements to the disapproval of Vi Rose and the pastor (Courtney B. Vance).

Jesse L. Martin plays Vi Rose’s husband who’s serving in the Army leaving Vi Rose to raise Olivia and autistic son (Dexter Darden) by herself. I would have like to seen him join the choir at least for one number since Martin has a great voice (as seen in the film version of “Rent”).

Dolly Parton & Queen Latifah in Joyful Noise from Warner Bros.

It delivers messages of trust, love, faith, hope and perseverance with great toe-tapping music.

It’s got a PG-13 rating which at first makes you wonder why that rating on a seemingly Christian movie, but there’s a one-night stand scene that I’d have written differently. And way too much cleavage, but, then again, it’s Dolly Parton. She wears a fitted choir robe and it’s obvious she’s had a few face lifts and a few botox shots to her lips and all that is made fun of in the movie. (A fitted choir robe – that’s a first!)

A note of trivia: This is Dolly Parton’s first big-screen role in 20 years!

Because of the one-night stand scene I have to give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

Calling #TeamJesus & all #JesusTweeters!

Giselle Aguiar — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:00:31 +0000

The Great Commission: Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus calls us Christians to be His light in this dark world. It’s imperative that we shine that light everywhere. We have today the power of social media to reach out to the lost, to the agnostics and the atheists who are using social media to knock Christianity.

Last night I got into a discussion with @GodlessAtheist on Twitter. His regular post (I’ve seen it more than once) is:

To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license. Don’t read it, just scroll to the bottom and click “I agree. #teamjesus #atheism

He posts with the #teamejesus tag to get us mad, but we must respond with Love. We need to prove him wrong. We have Truth on our side.

The challenge is that they don’t think that they are lost.

Don’t be afraid to quote scripture. Remember the Word is our sword which is the only part of the armor of God that is an offensive weapon rather than defensive like the shield & helment. We also have the Holy Spirit in us to tell us what to say.

Here are two devotionals that convinced me to use the tools I have to reach the lost for Jesus. We may not win them right away, but if we plant that seed….

Seek out the Lost from Rick Warren & Attracting the Lost from Our Daily Bread.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:20-21

These #atheists are crying out for attention. We must respond with the love and light of Jesus Christ. It’s What Jesus Would Do.

And don’t forget to pray for these folks.

To quote the last phrase in today’s Our Daily Bread:

To lead others out of the darkness of sin, let them see your light.

Then don’t forget Jesus’ words:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 5:13-16

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

To Your Benefit

Giselle Aguiar — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:09:33 +0000

I just looked at my bank account balance and I mumbled a prayer, “God, I’m running out of money. Please let my classes sell.”

Then I read today’s devotional from Family Life Radio:

Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:33 (NIV)

To Your Benefit

Mountainous seas bore down, and the ship rose and plunged. Yet the boat carrying famed missionary William Carey and his family rode out the storm until they finally reached India. Carey wrote, “I have learned the necessity of bearing up in the things of God, as we have done in our voyage. We often have to work against wind and tide; but, we must if we expect ever to make port.”

Not only did God save William Carey’s life, He taught him an incredible life lesson. The storms we face as believers in Jesus are actually to our benefit. It’s only through the storms of circumstance that we truly recognize the Son of God and learn to worship Him as we experience His protection and deliverance.

As you experience difficult financial challenges, even reduced working hours or unemployment:

Serve Christ through these hardships. Praise Him along the way.
Trust that He will supply your need and see you through.

Today’s One Thing

Spend 15 minutes taking your specific financial need to God in prayer.

Great Blessings in the New Year!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

Movie Review: What If…

Giselle Aguiar — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:15:14 +0000

What if you had the chance to see what your life would have been like had you made a different decision? You know, that major fork-in-the-road point in your life when you had to decide between path A or path B? You took B, but what would your life had been like had you taken A?

In “What If,” Kevin Sorbo, plays Ben, a wealthy, successful, corporate big-wig who gets to experience what his life would have been like had he not left his girlfriend, Wendy (played by Kristy Swanson), and pursued his “Godly” calling to be a pastor.

It reminded me of the Nicolas Cage movie “The Family Man” with a “Touched By An Angel” feel.

The “angel” (played by John Ratzenberger) is Ben’s guide through his ride through the other dimension – orchestrated by God, of course.

Good acting, good story, great message.

It’s a PureFlix creation and they’ve got Christmas with a Capital C out now (haven’t seen that one yet) and coming soon, Apostle Peter and the Last Supper:

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author

O Holy Night

Giselle Aguiar — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 20:31:39 +0000

O, Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas carols and I wondered who wrote it and what was the story behind it. I saw Wintley Phipps on CBN recently and he said it was a negro spiritual. That caught my attention since it doesn’t sound like the typical gospel song.

Enter Wikipedia. O Holy Night was written in 1847 by Adolph Adam to the French poem “Minuit, chrétiens” (Midnight, Christians) by Placide Chappeau.

Everyone knows the first verse and chorus:

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

But look closely at the second & third verses and the 2^nd chorus, which is frequently skipped, and you’ll see why it was adopted by the negro slaves as a Christmas spiritual. Note the text highlight by me in red:

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here come the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
His power and glory evermore proclaim.

It is a song of hope and hope is what the negro slaves in 1847 needed. Slavery wasn’t abolished in America until 1865 with the 13^th Amendment.

He Knows Our Need

Even today, He knows our need. He knows YOUR need.

As we go into 2012 with uncertainty, remember this promise from God:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ~Jeremiah 29:11-13

May you have a very prosperous New Year!

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love Giselle’s award-winning Christian novel: Deo Volente! (God Willing): Love in the First Century a historical novel about the early church check it out! $1 from the sale of each book – no matter what format, benefits StreetLight Phoenix to help eradicate child sex slavery. www.giselleaguiar.com/novel1

Great Blessings!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Giselle Aguiar
Award-Winning Christian Author
Follow Giselle on Twitter
https://twitter.com/giselleaguiar

December 21, 2012 – Why it Doesn’t Matter

Giselle Aguiar — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:22:07 +0000

Next Year: December 21, 2012 – will it be the end of the world?

You can believe the Mayan prophecies, look at the scientific predictions of solar flares and planetary alignments, supervolcanos, earthquakes, etc.

So what do I think?

It doesn’t matter!

The world on 12/22/12 will be different. Either there would have been major destruction or just a change in attitudes and the way we relate to the earth. Will that trigger the rise of the Antichrist into power and the battle of Armageddon? God only knows when “The Day of the Lord” will come.

If the world as we know it ends in catastrophe on 12/21/12 or if that date signifies a significant change in humanity, I believe that the Jesus will come sometime before that to collect his believers so they will not have to suffer through the destruction. This is called the Rapture of the Christians. Lawrence E. Joseph describes it thus (and I couldn’t have said it better myself):

“Evangelical Christians are the group most eager to precipitate Armageddon, looking forward to the Rapture, the exalted moment when, before the battle begins, true and faithful Christians are literally lifted up into the air, into the heavens, to join God. No doubt this would be exhilarating. From the safety and comfort of Heaven, one would have the opportunity to look down upon the Earth and watch the battle between two warring groups: Christians who, due to imperfections in their faith, or because of special warrior destiny, were not subsumed in Rapture; and followers of the Antichrist, a charismatic false Messiah, whose followers include secular humanists, pagans, Hindus and Buddhists, as well as Muslims, Jews, and insufficiently committed Christians. [emphasis mine] A large population of Jews are expected, in Evangelical theology, to convert to Christianity and thus fight on the righteous side of the Armageddon battle. Those who decline Jesus will, along with all other naysayers, explode.”¹

I don’t know about you, but like Jack Kelly, the writer of the Grace through Faith article on 2012 wrote,

“You and I will view all of this from the mezzanine during our time of repose with the Lord.”

I’m there.

Don’t you want to know that you’ll be saved from all the mess and watch it from the gallery? Only God knows the day and the time of the end.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be burned up. ~2 Peter 3:10

In many Biblical passages, the end of days is described coming like a “thief in the night”. In other words, no one, not even Jesus knows when it will be. Only God, the Father.

So what do we mere mortals do?

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” ~Acts 2:38-39

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ~John 3:16-17

God loves you and he doesn’t want you to perish. If the end is in 2012 or your end is before then, don’t you want to know that you won’t perish?

Click here if you want to guarantee a seat in the mezzanine. It starts with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

If it’s all bunk, then fine. But if it’s not, do you want to take that chance?

This world is a mess – I think most of you will agree with me on that – so if 12/21/12 is the end of the world, I’m ready. I say, Bring it!

See you in the mezzanine!

References:

¹ Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation into Civilization’s End by Lawrence E. Joseph, 2007 Morgan Road Books
² The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012, by Synthia Andrews and Colin Andrews, 2008 Alpha Books.

December 21, 2012 – Yellowstone’s Supervolcano

Giselle Aguiar — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 23:25:40 +0000

2012 The Movie got this right.

The bubbling hot caldera that causes Old Faithful to erupt and fascinate audiences is a supervolcano. It’s conical shape goes down into the earth rather than up like volcanoes we are familiar with like Vesuvius, Mt. Etna, Stromboli, Mt. St. Helens, Kilauea, etc.

This puppy’s ready to blow any day now. What can ignite it? Oh, increased solar activity, earthquakes, a change in the energy we get from the center of the solar system? When it does blow it will send a cloud of ash miles into the sky and that will blow east affecting the mid-western states first, then the East Coast of the U.S., Canada and eventually the whole world.

Pole Shifts and Pole Reversals

By the end of the 2012 Movie, the South Pole was located in Wisconsin. (Makes me stop and think what the weather would be like in Phoenix if that happens.) We’ve got all this molten lava moving around and exploding in Yellowstone – which will probably affect other volcanoes and cause more earthquakes. All this movement in the center of the earth could cause the poles to shift.

A pole reversal is the reversal of the magnetic field.¹ This will cause compasses to point south instead of north.

There’s more. Lot’s more. I could go on and on.

Then we have Nostradamus

He had something to say about the end of the world but his prediction involves a comet and according to NASA, there aren’t any near us now or in the near future.

Then there’s Edgar Cayce, I Ching, Planet X and the Photon Belt.

“Mr. Worf, arm photon torpedoes!” A photon is the smallest unit of light or electromagnetic radiation that we can measure. There’s supposedly a nebula around the Pleiades constellation that is actually a photon belt which is moving towards Earth and we will encounter it in 2012. However, we currently do not have the technology to prove that it exist or to monitor it.²

In 2012, the stars will be in the same position as when Atlantis disappeared. Africa is cracking. The Cherokee calendar also ends on 12/21/12 and the Maori people of New Zealand also have 2012 prophesies.

Lawrence E. Joseph, author of “Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation into Civilization’s End” concludes:

“Those who prophesy doom usually claim to fear and loathe it and to pray that they are wrong. But I think doomsday has a profound if unspeakable allure for those who are unhappy with themselves, their society, their Maker. Accepting that doomsday is imminent provides the believer with immense satisfaction—that he or she possesses the most important knowledge in the world and that all other pursuits are trivial or misguided. It’s a form of vicarious revenge that anyone can take on life’s unfairness.”¹

Next: What I think about all this….

References: