It’s not the first time you skip the burger and fries. It’s not the first cigarette you start to light, but toss in the trash. It’s not the first walk around the block or the first time you turn off the TV to read.

That’s not what makes the difference.

It’s not the second time, the third time, or the fourth time that counts.

Those times don’t really make the difference either.

What makes the difference is the one time that it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do.

The time that you find yourself debating yourself on why it’s ok to take the step backwards. Why it’s ok to eat fries this one time. To take that one drag. Skip the nightly run, or leave the book on the table because that show you’ve been wanting to watch is on.

That’s the time that makes the difference.

And no matter what your goal is, or what you’re trying to accomplish, your success is riding on that one time that makes the difference.

Normally, this wouldn’t have stood out to me. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But this particular vehicle had a huge sicker on the back window – a picture of children’s smiling faces, a phone number, and the words “Precious Cargo On Board”.

I certainly hoped not!

I wasn’t familiar with this particular child taxi service before today. But now, I’m fully aware of who they are, what they do, and why I’ll never use them.

Posted via email from themooring’s posterous

You may manufacture the most incredibly useful widgets known to man.

You may know more about your area of expertise than 99% of everyone else in your field.

Your skills may help save lives, educate children, feed the poor, spread hope, train leaders, or heal the sick.

But, if you don’t tell people…

If you don’t spread the word…

If you don’t market that business, product, knowledge, or skill… you may as well just stay in bed tomorrow.

Posted via email from themooring’s posterous

I’m always struck by the number of poor free throw shooters there are on most teams. Some shoot as low as 50-60%.

When games are often decided by less than 5 points, free throws can easily determine the winner.

And if that’s the case, I wonder why more players don’t do what’s necessary to excel at free throws.

Players know they’re going to have to shoot them in almost every game. They know exactly what the conditions will be – where they’ll stand, where the goal will be, what ball they’ll be using.

In other words, free throws are gimmies, they should be made 90% of the time. Games shouldn’t be lost because of missed free throws.

What’s your “free throw”?

Posted via email from themooring’s posterous

Approximately 75% of Americans consider themselves Christians.

I doubt that 75% of households are Christian, so let’s cut that down to 50% for arguments sake. 50% of 111 million equals 55.5 million Christian households.

If the average Christian household’s income is also $50,000, and each of those gave 10%, a tithe, to their local church, they’d each give $5,000/year.

Still with me?

If all 55.5 million households gave $5,000 to their local church, the Church as a whole would have $277.5 billion annually.

Let’s assume there are 40 million Americans without insurance. If that’s true, the Church could buy them each a health insurance policy at $7,000 per year.

Posted via email from themooring’s posterous