Serious About This Life

Leaders Who make a Difference by Paul Chappell

2011-11-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

Leaders Who Make a Difference: Leadership Lessons from Three Great Bible Leaders by Paul Chappell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Paul has written a very concise introduction to three leaders of Old-Testament leadership. I really enjoyed the afternoon read.

Compacted within this short read are some very inspiring nuggets that I will add to my collection of inspiring thoughts.

"If you are struggling to maintain consistent Bible reading, make a commitment that will help you with your priorities - determine that you will not eat until you have spent time in God's Word that day."

A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted"

Leadership is influence, and God has given all of us a measure of influence. Fathers, mothers, ... church leaders ... - everyone has been entrusted with an influence that is uniquely his. Leaders who make a difference are wise stewards of that influence."

I will be recommending this book to my friends!

Thanks Paul Chappell

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Room of Marvels, A Novel by James Bryan Smith

2011-11-13T14:38:00.001-08:00

Room of Marvels: A Novel by Smith, James Bryan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am speechless!

James Bryan Smith has written the best book on grief! His understanding after living beyond multiple intimate friends and loved ones crossing over is marvelous. I did not know what the synopsis of this book was when I downloaded from "Inspired Reads'" website. I just knew that it had a high rating. Mr. Smith has taken the time to fully develop a believable circumstance based loosely on his experiences and weaved together a tale that helps one through the grieving process.

After loosing my own mother earlier this year, I did not realize just how to grieve for a Christian loved one whom I will see again some day. Mr Smith's has written a book outlining a process by which I can be joyous in knowing that I will spend an eternity celebrating with my loved ones who have gone on before.

Thank You James Bryan, for writing this tale. I am going to buy copies to give to several friends who are facing the unknown right now.

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Leading at a Higher Level

2011-10-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on Leadership and Creating High Performing Organizations by Kenneth H. Blanchard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just started reading yesterday and can already say without a doubt that this book will be changing my style, delivery, and motivation in everyday situation.

Thanks Ken Blanchard for continuing to produce solid material!

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The Eighth Scroll by Dr Laurence B Brown

2011-09-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Eighth Scroll by Laurence B. Brown

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From Bear to Bierstadt

2011-07-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

Last week Karen & I decided it was time to to hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was supposed to be an easy hike with lots of scenery and beautiful views.

It was all that and more!

The view driving into Estes Park was spectacular!

Our normal picture spot on Bear Lake was breathtaking.

Even with all the Dung Beetle trees the lake is a popular tourist attraction every day of the year.

This is usually photographed covered in snow and with friends climbing atop the cliffs.

The signs says it is 1.7 miles to Bierstadt. We'll see about that!

More to come stay tuned.

The Shack; William P Young

2011-07-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

The Shack by William P. Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

William P Young has written an amazing adventure in discovering what you really believe about God. Take a walk through this mysterious garden and find yourself and your beliefs while discussing God and His relationship to man in this great fiction novel. Young has captured a generation by making people really question their beliefs!

Thanks Mr Young!

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Ken Blanchard; Leading At a Higher Level

2011-07-10T05:10:00.000-07:00

Author Lynn Austin is Genius

2011-07-10T05:03:00.000-07:00

The Strength of His Hand by Lynn Austin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Only half way through I have been inspired, motivated , and refreshed by this third novel about the reign of King Hezikiah and his family.

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el camino de santiago

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Way of St. James, the believed travels of the brother of Christ is a journey that Karen and I want to someday complete.

United Kingdom link

Spanish link

They Call Me Coach, by John Wooden

2011-06-29T07:20:00.001-07:00

They Call Me Coach by John Wooden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Wooden, the winning-est coach in NCAA history gives the secrets to his success and gives the glory to his Creator in the process.

A great non-fiction read about leading in today's socio-economic times of upheaval. If more leaders today would be, "out front with a banner than behind with a whip" then we wouldn't be in the financial mess this country finds itself today.

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The Secret, by Blanchard, Miller, Hybels

2011-06-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

The Secret by Ken Blanchard
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great leadership HOW-TO book.

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Soul Intent, by Dennis Batchelder

2011-06-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Soul Intent by Dennis Batchelder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Better than the original!

Dennis improved his standing with me upon writing this prequel to Soul Identity. This novel was more enjoyable, believable, and encouraging in every detail. I will continue reading this authors materials.

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Soul Identity: by Dennis Batchelder

2011-06-29T06:10:00.001-07:00

Soul Identity by Dennis Batchelder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dennis Batchelder is way out there with this re-incarnationist novel. This is a far cry from my normal readings, but I thoroughly enjoyed every minute spent following the Soul team. Reading this book cause me to really sit down adn determine how my beliefs are, have been, and will be in the future.

This author was so intriguing I went to the Kindle store and purchased the follow-up novel, which tells the pre-cursor to this novel, not a prequel but an entirely different novel that gives insight into many of the main characters in this novel.

I will read this author in the future.

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RIVEN: by Jerry B. Jenkins

2011-06-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Riven: A Novel by Jerry B. Jenkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fabulous!

I was tearfully reminded of the reason we are called to HIS purposes. In Riven, Jerry B Jenkins solidifies his place among my all-time favorite authors; including Dekker, Peretti, Lucado, and Maxwell!

In the first several chapters I was left pondering how this story was coming together but by page so I was hooked and could not stop reading. Jerry's masterful ability to connect the reader to the story-line is one-of-a-kind!

You will be refreshed and ready to face the challenges of life after reading this novel.

Christ is Glorified in this spectacular novel.

Thank You Jerry!

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Elisha's Bones; a novel by Don Hoesel

2011-06-29T05:52:00.000-07:00

Elisha's Bones by Don Hoesel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this fast-paced, continent-hopping, Biblical thriller.

Although this novel is a bit more mythological than my normal genre, I enjoyed the story-line. Mr. Hoesel spent a lot of time building up each character, even those who would die in a few short pages. I believed that each character was of vital importance because of the background detail he put into their lines. The author is to be commended for his writing.

I will look for other novels by Don Hoesel.

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God's Lions: The Secret Chapel

2011-06-29T05:45:00.001-07:00

God's Lions: The Secret Chapel by John Lyman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Lyman has hit a home run. His research into name and their meanings, along with historical data weaves this tale into a great weekend read.

I'll read more novels by this author.

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The Scientific Death of JESUS

2011-04-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst
criminals condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus,
unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to
be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.

The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe. Both of His feet were nailed together.Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.

Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breathe.

Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage. Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours!

Can you imagine this kind of suffering?

A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From common images, we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side...

But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.

A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.

But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.

The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.

Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed). Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.

So that your sins could be "washed" away.

All of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this situation.

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!

American's Courage and Sacrifice

2011-04-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

1. The American Cemetery at Aisne-Marne, France... A total of 2289

2. The American Cemetery at Ardennes, Belgium... A total of 5329

3. The American Cemetery at Brittany, France... A total of 4410

4. Brookwood, England - American Cemetery... A total of 468

5. Cambridge, England... A total of 3812

6. Epinal, France - American Cemetery... A total of 5525

7. Flanders Field, Belgium... A total of 368

8. Florence, Italy... A total of 4402

9. Henri-Chapelle, Belgium... A total of 7992

10. Lorraine , France... A total of 10,489

11. Luxembourg, Luxembourg... A total of 5076

12. Meuse-Argonne... A total of 14246

13. Netherlands, Netherlands... A total of 8301

14. Normandy, France... A total of 9387

15. Oise-Aisne, France... A total of 6012

16. Rhone, France... A total of 861

17. Sicily, Italy... A total of 7861

18. Somme, France... A total of 1844

19. St. Mihiel, France... A total of 4153

20. Suresnes, France... A total of 1541

Apologize to no one. Remind those of our sacrifice and don't
confuse arrogance with leadership.
The count is 104,366
dead, brave Americans.

And we have to watch an American elected leader who apologizes to Europe and the Middle East that our country is "arrogant"!

HOW MANY FRENCH, DUTCH, ITALIANS, BELGIANS AND BRITS ARE BURIED ON OUR SOIL... AFTER DEFENDING US
AGAINST OUR ENEMIES?

The unChurch: Seven Shifts

2010-03-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

Just found a new blog to follow. This article was the deal sealer.

The unChurch: Seven Shifts

ByteLine: Pull My Finger

2010-02-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

Wow! I thought this kinda stuff only happened to me.

ByteLine: Pull My Finger

Validation

2008-11-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

You've got to spend the next 16 minutes of your life watching this video.

VALIDATION

This next 16 minutes may change your outlook on life. Thanks for watching and then practicing what you learned.

Learning to Trust

2008-10-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

My sons, Ryan and Ben decided to climb to the falls at Estes park, last weekend. Ryan is visiting from Texas, where he still lives, and we wanted to show him a part of God's great creation in Estes Park.

While the boys were climbing and acting like teenagers, another family with two small boys came to the falls area. They were from Lincoln, NE and they take a trip every year to a different part of the Rockies. They said there was not much in Lincoln to explore and they enjoyed hiking and showing their sons the outdoors.

Anyway, when they first came up the trail, it was just the two young sons, ages 8 and 4, their parents were about 50 feet behind(go figure). I saw Bob then come running to the edge and telling his boys to go no closer to the edge. It was then that I heard the mother scream, "don't go another foot!"

As one can imagine, the mother was terrified that her children might fall and break something. It had not occurred to her that someone else was around yet. I was leaning back on a rock after just taking this photo, of my own sons, daring nature to hurt them.

I just chuckled and then excused myself as the mom stared at me in disbelief.

I informed the young mother that the two young ones just wanted to be like my sons, on the other side of the falls. She was not immediately impressed with their courage.

After speaking for some time we became friends. I shared with them Psalm 37:3 , "Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture."

They are young parents and needed to hear that boys will be daring and test the limits of patience as time goes by, the trust will be increased.

As the afternoon progressed we walked back to our cars and shared many fun stories and encouraged them to continue the family outings. Someday we will meet our friends from Nebraska again and have a great time hearing of the adventures their sons got them into.

Selling the Homestead, Thanks Dave

2008-10-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

If you've ever sold a home you'll be able to relate to today's blog.

We received our first offer on the home Karen and I believed to be our retirement home. The home we spent months fretting over every last detail in its construction just four short years ago.

Today it hit me that all the time and energy we had invested in the material things of this world have now come to mean almost nothing as someone else is going to enjoy the fruit of our labor.

It reminded me of King Solomon's wisdom, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun" Ecclesiastes 1:9

I can only hope that this process is not one that will tax my very little patience. I trust that God will not let me be fooled by the folly of unwise people during this vital transaction. I know that there are persons who are looking to cash in at this tumultuous time of our economic crisis.

Many of my friends are facing tough financial times. But each of them have been through Dave Ramsey's course, at our former church in Texas. Last year was an amazing preparation time for this year's economic crisis. God had prepared several of our churches members to face the hard times ahead but teaches us to "Live like no one else now, so we can LIVE like no else later."

Thank you Dave for showing me, "I am doing better than I deserve"

Cruise (part 2)

2008-10-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Whoa, the Earth is still moving even though I am on dry land.

What a week!

The Carnival Cruise ship Ecstasy is a wonderful vessel for sailing. We sailed out of the Port of Houston (since Galveston's Carnival port was destroyed by IKE) on Monday afternoon. The port is not 100% finished but the fabulous employees of Carnival have done a a great job of improvising until construction is complete.

The Houston Bayport was scheduled to be opened in Late October and they began using the facility the day after IKE pummeled Galveston. When we boarded the ship at 4:00pm we were already two hours behind schedule and the crew was even further behind because the US Coast Guard has chosen that day to perform the annual ship readiness exam.

When we finally pushed off we were excited because we were experiencing the first of many wonderful meals aboard ship. Our head waiter was named Aslam, he was from India and only sees his wife and kids for 2 months after a six month tour of duty on the Ecstasy. I will tell more of his story as the week progresses.

The photo of the ship is from when we were in port at Progresso, Mexico.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Gulf of Mexico and thank my lucky stars to have been with such great friends and my beautiful bride (wait till I post her photo).

Cruise of a Lifetime (part 1)

2008-10-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, Here I sit in a motel room in muggy Houston. The second stage in a week long adventure planned by my beautiful bride, Karen.

Let me tell you how great she is, she is more wonderful to me today than anytime in the last twenty-two years. I love her with all my heart, mind and soul.

You see, she has wanted to go on a cruise for as long as I can remember. All we had to do was get the money and she would take care of all the details, and that she did.

This morning we awoke at a friend's house (a story for another time), and left for the Denver International Airport. Our youngest son, Ben, drove us there and then went back to Loveland for the week. He will come get us from the airport on Saturday after this wonderful excursion.

We are awaiting our lifelong friends Mark and Noelle, who are driving from Dallas to Houston as I type this out. They, along with other friends; Don & Cindy, and Odie & Kathy are all on the same Carnival Cruise as us.

We weigh anchor tomorrow, Monday, Oct 13th @ 3:30 PM CST. We will sail into the Gulf of Mexico, where will will dock at Yucatan on Tuesday, then Cozumel on Thursday, returning to Houston's Bayport on Saturday.

Did I tell you how much I love my wife. She is the "apple of my eye", and I hope to never loose her affection.

Stay tuned as I post pictures from each day of the trip. But remember this men...

Fathers can give their sons an inheritance of houses and wealth,but only the Lord can give an understanding wife. Proverbs 19:14