What A Small World We Live In

I just returned from Fairfield; a semi-small town located in southeast Iowa. I had been invited to go there this past weekend to train many other fellow laborers. We share in a common mission to effectively spread our personally experienced, compassionate message about how ionized, alkaline water can be truly health enabling for everyone. But what a delightful surprise was waiting for me!

When it came time for me to present, I began by sharing with my audience a thumbnail sketch of my story. About how I was initially very skeptical about ionized water, but fortunately remained open-minded. After witnessing what the water was doing for the health of several folks whom I personally knew, I had decided to take a closer look. When it came time for me to briefly mention to my listeners the personal impact that Dr. Ray Kurzweil's article about this water had on me, I heard a voice from the back of the room saying "this man personally knows Dr. Kurzweil". That surprised me, how could someone from this rural area be connected to a computer science "giant" like Dr. Kurzwel? Fortunately for me and everyone else in the audience, my presentation was followed up by this gentleman sitting in the back of the room coming forward - Dr. Jim Van Pelt.

So Dr. Jim, a wiry man in his early 70's, also shared his story with us. It turns out that my friend Phil, who hosted this meeting, first introduced the water to Dr. Jim; but frankly Jim didn't want to have anything to do with the water nor Phil for that matter. So as soon as Phil left, Jim poured the water out. Then Dr. Jim quickly found a website that justified his terse reaction, labelling folks like Phil as "scammers", pushing their quackery "pseudo-science" on unsuspecting others.

Thinking that this was all behind him, several months later Jim was surprised to greet Dennis at his home's front door. Dennis had something he wanted to share with Jim - yeah, you guess right, this water! But Dennis' attractive "genuineness" caught Jim and his wife's attention. Dennis shared with them his story, about how he was losing his battle with cancer until, after several rebuffs, he consented to try Phil's water and amazingly witnessed his body positively respond and restore itself to health. So this time when Dennis shared water with Jim, he did not pour it out because his wife insisted on trying it herself. But Dr. Jim was still reluctant to drink it himself.

After a few weeks went by, Jim's wife was very much enjoying the affects the water was having on her health. Dennis faithfully kept supplying her with fresh water twice weekly. Dr. Jim could not deny what was happening to his wife, so he went back to the internet to see if he could understand more about this water. Just like me, although quite skeptical, he opened his mind just enough to take a second look. And also just like me, he came across this very same Dr. Ray Kurzweil's article touting the legitimacy of the science behind this water. But, unlike me, Dr. Jim had an ace up his sleeve that he could play.

For you see, Dr. Jim personally knew Dr. Ray. In fact, Dr. Jim was Ray's first boss and mentor! Can you believe that? As a freshly minted PHD from MIT, Dr. Ray came to work at the National Science Foundation, where Dr. Jim, a dual PHD himself, was a managing director. Dr. Jim was launching a new research study at that time, exploring how computer technology could be harnessed to positively impact the deaf. Finding Dr. Ray both eager and available to join his team, their lifetime friendship and co-admiration was birthed.

So Dr. Jim picked up his phone and called Dr. Ray. "So this water is legitimate?" Jim asked. "Yes Jim, the science behind it is both sound and verifiable. I have personally verified all of it's properties, including it's molecular restructured property (micro-clustering) with an electron microscope. But Jim I know you well. Just trying and physically experiencing the benefits of this water for yourself will not fully satisfy your intellectually curiosity; so here are some scientific studies you can study".

Dr. Jim then proceeded to tell us how he joined his wife in drinking the water. Not only that, but how he then joined all of us over a year ago in "sharing" this water with others. Wow! At the conclusion of his talk, after praising what this water can do for everyone's health, he declared while waving his arms over his head and with a big grin on his face, that he felt 50 years old once again!

I must admit, this unexpected encounter was very refreshing for me. For you see, even veterans like myself in our quest to share the message about this water to everyone around us, get weary at times of others rolling their eyes at us upon hearing our message. But now having the image of Dr. Jim waving his arms in glee permanently imprinted in my mind along with so many experiences I have accumulated these past four years, gives me more fuel to press on in this mission to let others know how vital water is to our heath and that not all waters are created equal! I thank my God, my Provider for this encouraging "gift" from above.

Dr. Ray Kurzweil is one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, and futurists. He’s been awarded 19 honorary doctorates, honored by 3 US Presidents and is recipient of many of the nations highest awards for excellence. He has been called “the restless genius” by the Wall Street Journal and “the ultimate thinking machine” by Forbes magazine and PBS included him as one of 16 “revolutionaries who made America,” along with other inventors of the past two centuries. Time magazine writes, “Kurzweil’s eclectic career and propensity of combining science with practical—often humanitarian—applications have inspired comparisons with Thomas Edison”. Among Kurzweil’s many honors, he is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the world’s largest for innovation. In 1999, he received the National Medal of Technology, the nation’s highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. And in 2002, he was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, established by the US Patent Office. Author of several books Dr. Kurzweil second book in 1993, The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life, How to Eliminate Virtually All Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer, was published by Crown Publishers. The book stemmed from Ray’s successfully curing himself of type II Diabetes through a nutritional program he had researched himself.

A Prayer For When Life Gets Heavy

Heavenly Father, I release to You the burdens that I have been carrying,

burdens that You never intended for me to carry.

I cast all my cares upon You—all my worries, all my fears.

You have told me not be anxious about anything,

but rather to bring everything to You in prayer with thankfulness.

Father, calm my restless spirit, quiet my anxious heart,

still my troubling thoughts with the assurance that You are in control.

I let go of my grip upon the things I have been hanging onto,

with opened hands I come to You.

I release to Your will all that I am trying to manipulate;
I release to Your authority all that I am trying to control;

I release to Your timing all that I have been striving to make happen.

I thank You for Your promise to sustain me, preserve me,

and guard all that I have entrusted to Your keeping.
Protect my heart and mind with Your peace,

the peace that passes all understanding.
Father, may Your will be done in my life, in Your time, and in Your way.

Enthusiasm ~ The "Special Sauce" For Living Life Abundantly!

Just finished reading Norman Vincent Peale's classic book "Enthusiasm Makes The Difference".

If you haven't read this book or its been a while since you did, do yourself a favor - read it soon! I believe you will be blessed and encouraged by it as I was. This book features great stories about real, enthusiastic people overcoming life's challenges. And Peale makes a compelling case for everyone lacking enthusiasm for life, for their work, etc.; that they can find and grow enthusiasm within themselves through simple, daily physical and mental exercises, such as meditating on God's word; thinking and speaking positive, affirming thoughts and words to others and one's self; brisk walking to exercise and clear out one's mind; focusing on other's welfare instead of excessively on one's own interest; starting each day asking for and expecting God's direction & favor, etc.; ending each day prayerfully reflecting on that day's activities with gratitude and repentance, leaving tomorrow's problems in His hands until then.

According to Peale enthusiasm is no pollyannish, sweet, fortuitous concept. Instead, it is a rugged, mental attitude that is hard to achieve, difficult to maintain, but so very powerful when exhibited 24-7. The word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greek word enthos, meaning "God in you, full of God". So to be enthusiastic means that one is actually living out life by:

~ dreaming God's dreams for oneself;

~ envisioning & pursuing God's plans, one's life's purpose;

~ harnessing God's wisdom, courage, hope & faith to overcome life's obstacles;

~ relying upon God's strength to persevere, stay the course;

~ finding God's peace & rest to rise above the stresses of life;

~ receiving God's blessings of achieving success and fulfillment of one's needs;

~ returning God's gift of gratitude back to Him with praise and thanksgiving; and

~ living and loving life abundantly through and in Him.

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10

Success Is Just A Thought Away

Here's something we can all agree upon ~ now days the word "derivative" has most definitely taken on a very negative connotation. But I say that's not fair! After all, mankind has been "deriving" since the days of Adam & Eve by occasionally having a transformational thought; forming an idea about how to turn (evolve) something into something else thereby creating even greater worth.

For example, starting with God's personally created (i.e. derived) grape (Genesis 1 - which He thought and spoke into existence), an idea was later formed by man to turn that grape into grape juice, then into fermented wine, then into a vineyard business operation, and ultimately into a publicly-traded wine production & distribution company. Each derivation improved upon the overall value of what the grape offered for mankind's enjoyment. So just as God thought into creation our universe's raw materials, man in His created image can envision something new (e.g., products, services, systems, etc) by transforming from what already exists.

So the next time you feel "lacking", just stop and think - you're just a thought away from finding your success. The key is to rely on what He has already given you ~ an ability to ask for His blessing and then think and act yourself into a "state of plenty". He truly can give you that transforming idea to act upon in lieu of looking to others like employers and government officials to find your success. Just confidently ask and be expectantly ready to recieve!

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO ACHIEVE 100%???

"Let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!" (Ps. 90:17)

CAUTION: One of the biggest threats to our faith in God is the idea that He is sure to lead us to success.

A Coincidence Is God Just Remaining Anonymous

Early this past week, I found myself asking my Father in Heaven to bring me another Merv, a business builder eager to go building with me as their partner. Why? Because I'm feeling ready to pour myself into such a new partnership. If you do not know about Merv yet, I told his story earlier in a previous post (Aug 18, 2009); about how he was an incredible gift to me as I became for him, perfectly orchestrated from on High!

A few days later, I learned about how one can search Twitter for tweets mentioning a specific word or phrase originating from within a specified mileage radius from where I live. But at that time, I did not attempt to try out what I just learned. Instead, it was the next day that I found myself thinking that I should search for the word "water", which I immediately did and discovered Greg.

It turns out, Greg who lives about 45 minutes from me, tweeted a few minutes before my search took place: "Drinking Plenty Of Water & Good Deep Breathing Will Give You Better Health, Concentration, & Confidence. It's Not Rocket Science!!" So here I go (as a complete stranger to Greg) taking the plunge and tweeting him back: "Especially when its the "right" water" to which he fortunately replied: "Ah yes! Good Water Is Essential! What Kind Of Water Do You Like?" So I'm now thinking "Thank you Lord, is this You orchestrating another Divine appointment for me? Naturally, I returned Greg's latest tweeted question with my tweeted answer "Alkaline, ionized water loaded with anti-oxidants". "So where do I find this water?" he tweets me back, giving me the opportunity to direct him to my "info" website and express my willingness to freely share my water with him.

Not sure where this will end up. Perhaps Greg is the answer to my prayer. I'm expectantly hoping he finds time this weekend to look over what I sent him and take me up on my offer soon. In the meantime, I found his website; learning that he's a real estate investor, really into health and having a positive outlook on life. When I noticed his Chuck Swindoll quote about "Attitude", I thought to myself that he might really be someone I could easily relate to.

It's really all about enjoying the journey when we go about doing this "work-stuff" we have been called to do. Isn't it? It's sooo much more enjoyable when we go about it like being on a treasure hunt, looking for God's special nuggets just for us to find; knowing that there are really no such things as coincidences when we have our eyes on and hopes in Him.

PS: It seemed so easy finding Greg's original tweet, so naturally I'm thinking there must be many more just like his to find. I'm so greedy sometimes! But to my surprise, nada. I mean ZILCH; nothing 24 hours prior to Greg's tweet, nor any since then (past 48 hours) which would be appropriate for me to respond to. I guess I really shouldn't be surprised by this discovery. Realizing now that it looks like God's fingerprints are all over this one-of-a-kind tweeted nugget, hidden so only I would find; just like a mother hiding an Easter egg and then carefully directing her child to gleefully discover.

"I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health." John 3:2

Triumph Over Tribulation

"God is able to make grace abound toward you, so that you may always have an abundance of His grace for every good work" ~2 Corinthians 9:8

Just finished listening to Keith's amazing testimony.

You just got to take time to also listen to this incredible story of redemption, of persevering in the most trying of circumstances; about Keith launching his severely curtailed marketing business activities against all odds, yet once again proving that our God's love for us has no limits and that there really are "no excuses" for us to just give in or give up! All we have to do, just like Keith did, is to turn back to Him by giving it all to Him before giving it our "all" through Him.

[You may encounter a brief startup delay as the podcast is downloaded]

When Life Gives You 100 Reasons To Cry ...

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

Then a man came walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were going for the boy. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man answered, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. I wrote "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."

Now both signs told others that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second one told others that they were so fortunate that they were not blind. Should we really be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

So the moral of this story is ...

... whenever life gives you a 100 reasons to cry,

remind yourself that you have 1000 other reasons to smile!

Footnote: This story's author is unknown.

We're Just Wired To NEED A Constant Reminder ...

.. to just stay humble, honoring God rather than ourselves in all we do, including how we go about conducting our daily business activities.

Let me suggest you seriously consider contemplating a God-honoring Business Mission Statement like I have done recently for myself. Write it down and place it anywhere and everywhere to grab your constant attention (e.g., your bathroom mirror, your computer's desktop wallpaper, your car's dashboard, etc.).

Here's my Mission Statement:

"Enjoying my journey loving my Lord by serving others, persevering with gratitude; holding expectations loosely, while making needs known to my trusted heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior."

I really need to read and meditate on this statement throughout every day; otherwise, I'm prone to:

~ going alone, forgetting Who is really in charge;

~ being self-centered in both my thoughts and actions, not serving others;

~ taking sole credit for my successes, getting easily discouraged by my failures;

~ focusing too much on gaining the "prize" over and over again; while ...

~ missing out on enjoying my journey day by day.

Proverbs 3:9-10 implores us to honor God with one's wealth. So why not extrapolate this injunction by also honoring God with one's wealth producing activities? But even if extrapolating scripture is not your thing, then I think Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" settles this for us. Proverbs 16:3

So how about it? If without a Mission Statement like I was, are you ready to get contemplating and meditating and living out your own personalized God-inspired and honoring Mission Statement? I hope so ...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

The Difference Maker Is ...

Your ATTITUDE

"The last of the human freedoms is to choose your attitude in any given set of circumstances." ~Victor Frankl

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." ~William James

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."
~Chuck Swindoll

Talent Alone Cannot Guarantee Greatness...

Reinforcing that there is no such thing as "a-free-lunch" when it comes to achieving success, there is vast evidence that even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule.

Read this awesome article "What it takes to be great" by Geoffrey Colvin

"Plan Purposefully ~ Prepare Prayerfully ~

Proceed Positively ~ Pursue Persistently"

William A. Howard's Formula for Successful Living