Over Christmas break, I was watching an interview on CNN with Kelsey Grammar. He was talking about how he is on his fourth marriage and how he had overcome a cocaine addiction.

In talking about his addiction, he said, “Cocaine is amazing. It’s so much fun. I loved doing it.” The interviewer then asked, “Then how did you overcome the addiction?”

He said that he went through therapy and his therapist asked him one question that changed everything.

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His therapist  asked, “How’s that working out for you?”

He said that’s when everything changed. He realized that the addiction was ruining his relationships, his career, and ultimately his life. That was the moment he decided to change.

How’s that working out for you? What a great question! I think it’s one that we need to ask about everything we do!

Think about where you want to be in life. How’s your current job working out for you in light of what you want? How is your current relationship working out for you? Your current friends? Your current salary? Your current beliefs? How you use your time?

A lot of times what we are doing is not working out for us and that’s ok, as long as you can recognize that and are willing to change.

Evaluate your life, your pursuits, your job, your relationships, your eating habits, your financial habits, and any other area of your life and ask the question, “How’s that working out for me?”

If somethings not working out, develop a plan to change it!

Thoughts?

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Yesterday I talked about the power of single decisions and their ability to change our lives forever. The greatest decision I’ve ever made that has changed my life forever is the decision to have a relationship with God. It’s changed everything.

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One thing I like to do often is reflect on what I have missed out on a result of going after God and what I would have missed out on had I not gone after God. It helps me remain grateful for everything God’s done in my life and it fires me up to tell others about making the same decision. Here is a short list that I’ve come up with that I reflect on often:

Things I am missing out on as a result of going after God:

• Addiction
• Divorce
• Marrying the Wrong Purpose
• Having no purpose in life
• Having friends that drag me down
• Having a life I hate! 
• Living a mediocre life

Things I would have Missed out on had I not gone After God:

• Marrying Laura
• Doing what I love
• Being a leader
• Traveling to Africa, Peru, and Costa Rica
• Having a life I absolutely love living
• Making a difference in the lives of others

If you’re a Christian, spend some time and reflect on your life:

What have you missed out on as a result of your walk with God?

What would have you missed out on had you not gone after God?

If you’re not a Christian, send me an e-mail, a message, or leave me a comment. I’d love to talk to you about the decision that changed everything for me.

Thoughts?

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please “like” and share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!

I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail updates”.

For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live]. ~Ephesians 2:10 

It is amazing to me how God can use one decision we make to change everything! If we are honest, we often don’t know what we’re supposed to do or what decision we are supposed to make. For the first 18 years of my life, I made my own decisions. I was horrible at making decisions. My decisions led me to do things that I wish I would have never done.

When I was 18 I started pursuing God! That single decision changed everything! From that moment on, while my decision-making wasn’t perfect, the decisions I did make were ones I believe God was leading me to make. All of a sudden, every decision I made seemed to be taking me somewhere! I can point to tons of individual decisions that I made as a result of pursuing God and how those decisions changed my life forever.

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• The decision to attend a Bible study after my mom passed away led to me meeting the girl I would one day marry and brought me to a church that I would one day end up on staff at.

• The decision to intern for free at a church when I didn’t even know what an internship was, led to me being on staff at my church one day.

• The decision to leave the church to help plant a church led to me being a youth pastor and working at Light of Life.

Ephesians 2:10 says that we can take the paths that God prepared ahead of time. God has a plan for our life, but it’s up to us to find out what it is and to carry it out! In my experience, what God leads you to do won’t always make sense. In fact, it often seems insignificant. Do it anyway. I have never obeyed God and been dissapointed with the end result!

One Decision Can Change Everything!

We don’t always know what we’re supposed to do, but God does. If we’re seeking Him, He’ll lead us to do things that we may think are insignificant, but they end up changing our life forever.

What are some of the decisions that you have made that have changed everything?

Are there any decisions in your life right now you believe God is leading you to make? What are you waiting for? What’s holding you back? If it doesn’t make sense, do it anyway! You never know what God has planned on the other side of your obedience!

Thoughts?

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please “like” and share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!

I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail updates”.

Here are the Top 10 Blog Posts You Read in January 2012:

1.) Idolatry, Ministry, and Being a Friend to Your Spouse

2.) Your Choices and God

3.) My Favorite Tony Horton Quotes

4.) The Best of 2011

5.) High Five and a Smile

6.) 25 Years of Life and My Conclusion so Far

7.) Don’t Forget Who You Are

8.) Don’t Put God First

9.) P90X2 Phase 1 Review

10.) Walking Through Walls by Dan Herod

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As you may know, I am a huge fan of Beachbody. They are the company that are responsible for P90X, Insanity, Turbo Fire, and so much more! As I started researching Beachbody, I fell in love with their company! I started following as many of their staff as I could! That is how I found Chalene Johnson, creator of Turbo Fire and Turbo Jam!

When I start following Chalene on Twitter, I really liked what she had to say. She shared a lot about motivation, productivity, marketing, branding, leadership, and more. Over time, I became a huge fan of Chalene.

Her book “Push” came out in December. It’s one of the best books that I have found that will help you set priorities, goals, and action items to accomplish everything you want to accomplish. It combines Chalene’s love for fitness with her passion for goal-setting, achievement, and success.

The book is broken into 30 day Challenges! Every day you read 1 chapter or challenge and Chalene gives you action steps for each day. Her goal is that by the end of the 30 days, you’ll have developed habits that will increase your ability to set and accomplish your goals. I’ve gone through the book twice already and I plan on going through it again.

If you’re looking for help setting goals, prioritizing, making the best use of your time, getting into the best shape of your life, and ultimately living a better life, you need to read this book! I would also encourage you to go through Chalene’s 30-Day Challenge on her website. You’ll get a daily e-mail for 30 days with Chalene challenging you. It was extremely beneficial to go through!

Some of the big things I learned and applied are:

• Set 10 Goals Every Week for the Year
• Prioritize those goals by discovering your “Push” Goal
• Reverse Engineer all of your goals
• Make your goals public!
• How to eat right!
• Get around successful people!
• Use your smart phone for everything!
• Establish a to-do system using your phone!
• The best workout is the one you’ll do!

Buy the Hard Copy:

Buy the Kindle Version:

No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.  ~Alfred North Whitehead

You are the result of a lot of people influencing your life for better or worse. We can all look back on our lives and remember the people who made a difference in our lives. Maybe it was a parent, an aunt or an uncle, a grandparent, a teacher, a coach, a friend, a pastor, or a business man or woman. Perhaps it was a book we read, a sermon we listened to, or a talk at a conference we went to.

My question to you is: Do the people who have made a difference in your life know that they made a difference in your life?

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There isn’t a person on the planet that doesn’t want to make a difference in the lives of others. There isn’t a person on the planet that doesn’t want to hear the words, “What you do matters and it made a difference in my life.”

Recently, I reached out to a professor I had in college in 2004 who made an incredible impact on my life. In one conversation we had together, he said something that changed my life forever. I e-mailed him and told him that he made a difference in my life and that I would love to connect sometime.

He called me last night. We talked on the phone for 15 minutes and it was one of the best conversations I’ve had in a long time! I was able to express my gratitude for the impact he had in my life. I was specific about what he did to make a difference in my life and I encouraged him. I said, “I just want you to know that what you do matters. I’m sure there are days where it feels like you’re making no difference at all, but you are. Thank you.” He was extremely grateful for the call and he said some things to me that encouraged me and fired me up for my future!

Gratitude matters. A lot.

One act of gratitude can encourage and motivate someone to keep going for years!

Make it a practice to continually show intentional gratitude to those who have made a difference in your life. Write them a letter, send them a message, call them, take them out to coffee, get them a gift, and anything else you can think of to show how grateful you are for what they do. Make sure they know that they matter.

Who are 3 people that have made an impact in your life that you could reach out to and thank this month?

What are you waiting for? Go!

Silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone. ~G. B. Stern

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please “like” and share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!

I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail updates”.

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?” ~ Romans 6:1-2

In this message, Mark Driscoll said that when him and his wife first starting dating, they started sleeping together. They didn’t know any better.He said once they found out that was wrong, they stopped until they got married. Now when he talks about sex, he always teaches abstinence. People will come up to him and say, “Yea, but you did it and it worked out fine.”

He said, “Yea, well I know people that have driven through a school zone while they were drunk and they didn’t kill anybody, but I am never going to tell anyone to do that either. We got a grace card from God on that one. (referring to sleeping with his wife before they were married)”

Photo Courtesy of GraceWalkMinsitries

Have you ever tried to use someone’s story to justify doing what you shouldn’t be doing? “They did it and nothing bad happened to them. They did drugs but never got into the heavy stuff. They slept together or lived together before they got married and nothing happened. They drink all the time and their life is fine.”

So much of pain in life is a result of us doing whatever we want, even when we know it is wrong. We think we’re invincible. We either believe that our actions don’t have consequences or that we are immune to them, even if we’ve seen others face the consequences.

That’s not true. The reality is, if you’re sinning, and haven’t faced the consequences yet, it’s for one reason: the grace of God! But, just because you haven’t faced consequences yet, doesn’t mean there won’t be any if you keep going down the path you’re going down.

I’ve seen too many people start doing “lighter” drugs, never thinking they’ll end up doing the hard stuff. Too many people sleeping around because it’s fun, and end up marrying someone they shouldn’t have married. Too many people making little compromises that later down the road end up costing them a lot of pain, regret, sorrow, and bitterness…or more. 

Sin is real. It has consequences.

If you’re doing things right now that you know are not right, stop! If God tells us not to do something in His Word, it’s for a reason. He loves you! He wants the best for you!

If you’ve messed up or you’re in the middle of a mess, go after God! Get to church! Read the Bible! Get around some Christian friends! God loves you!

Fact: The more you pursue God, the less you’ll sin, and the better your life will be. You’ll make better decisions, you’ll be happier, and you’ll find yourself living a life you never dreamed of living before!

Thoughts?

What areas of your life have you been compromising in that you need to stop?

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!

I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail updates”.

I love the iPhone! It’s changed everything! With smart phones, we can have a personal assistant, a calorie tracker, a calendar, a to-do list, a scanner, a camera, the internet, a gps, and so much more!

I have posted my favorite apps a few years ago in this post, but since so many new apps have come out since then, I thought I should share the new once I can’t live without, with you!

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My Net Diary - I use this app to track all of my calories, water in take, workouts, supplements, weight, and ultimately my results! It’s worth the $3.99 for the pro version!

Starbucks - I have a Starbucks addiction! My favorite part of the app is you can pay using your iPhone with this app! It’s so awesome! If you’re a Starbucks junkie, download this now!

Evernote - Evernote has changed my life. If you don’t know what Evernote is, watch this! It’s enabled me to go paperless! I don’t know how I ever lived without Evernote!

Instagram - Instagram was the app of the year in 2011! If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a social network for photography. It allows you to post photos in a timeline for others to see, like, and comment on. It also gives you the ability to edit your photos with some really cool filters!

Diptic -Another photo app. This allows you to make collage of photos! It’s really cool!

Photo 365 -If you like making memories, you’ll love this app! It allows you to pick any number of photos and post them daily on a calendar. If you do it daily, you’ll have entire calendars filled with pictures that will allow you go back and see what you did on any given day!

John Maxwell’s App -A free leadership resource app? I’m in! If you like leadership, get this app now!

Waze -Waze is a social network GPS! 

Downcast - This is one of the greatest apps ever invented! If you listen to a lot of podcasts, buy this app now! It lets you subscribe and stream and endless amount of podcasts. Say goodbye to the days where you had to download a podcast in iTunes and then transfer it to your iPhone or iPod!

Sleep Cycle -I just got this one recently and have been trying it for a week! I like it so far! It’s an alarm clock app that tracks your sleep patterns and wakes you up within 30 minutes of when you set you alarm. It wakes you up based on how deep of a sleep you’re in! Theoretically, when you wake up when you’re not in a deep sleep, you feel refreshed, energized, and ready to go! This app works!

Fooducate -This app is for you fitness nerds! It allows you to scan any food item and then it evaluates how good or bad the item is for you. This app has caused me to stop buying a lot of food I thought was good for me and start buying a lot of food that actually is good for me! You may look like a nerd scanning food in the aisles, but this app can really help you improve your overall health!

Reeder -The best app I’ve found for reading my Google Reader feed!

Mailchimp - If you use Mailchimp (an e-mail service) this app is great! It allows you to build your list and view reports without having to go to their website. I love it!

TED - If you watch TED talks a lot, this app is for you! If you don’t know what TED is, check it out!

What apps am I missing? What apps do you have that you can’t live without?

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Leave a comment below! Thank you!

I would also encourage you to subscribe to this blog via RSS feed or e-mail! You can sign-up for e-mail by typing your e-mail address in the box on the left hand side of this site that says “E-mail updates”.

Last week I listened to this message by Mark Driscoll from the 2011 Newspring Leadership Conference. It is one of the most important messages I have ever listened to. I will be listening to this over and over again.

If you’re married or plan to be one day, if you’re in ministry, or if you find yourself chasing success and idolizing people, you need to watch this message!

Thoughts?

Reflection Questions:

Who or what are you worsshipping?

Who are you idolizing?

Are you being a friend to your spouse or significant other?

If this post helped you and you believe it could help others, please share it on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble Upon, and the other social media sites listed below. Also, I would love to hear your thoughts on this post. Consider leaving a comment below! Thank you!

It’s been a while since I’ve done an Ask Me Anything Friday! If you are new to this, ask me any question by filling out the form below, asking me a question on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ and I will answer it in an upcoming video blog.