You know it is often a struggle for me to stay focused. With so much of going on in life, I get overwhelmed by things and end up loosing focus. I would suspect that this kind of things happens to others as well.

I don’t have a “sure-fire” solution or a “five step plan” to stay focused when life gets away from you. However, I do have some advice. The advice is simply to not be afraid to stop!

1. Stop and smell the roses – there is no dress rehearsal in life. Every day you live is the only day you are assured of. The past cannot be changed and the future is not guaranteed.
2. Stop and get rested – the world moves at such a fast pace, if you don’t stay rested you can loose yourself in the traffic.
3. Stop and pray, think, and plan – God has a plan for your life, but you need to be constantly looking for the daily direction to fulfill that plan. This takes time and energy, but is absolutely necessary to keep you on track and on time!

I know I have to stop and when I do these are the things I try to do. If you are out of focus, maybe these thoughts will work for you.

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There is this story in the Bible about building. The story speaks to the idea that if a man was going to build a tower, he would certainly need to count the cost of the building so that he would not get half way through and not have enough to finish it. He would be seen as a foolish man for doing such a thing.

For the longest time, as I thought about that story, I thought only of the price of the tower as the “cost” he was to count. While I understand that this is absolutely the primary interpretation of this passage (Luke 14:25-35, by the way) the bigger consideration might well be if he has the passion to fulfill his purpose for the tower.

No one builds things for no reason and the reason for building the tower has to be powerful enough to get the builder through all of the difficult times that will surly come through the course of the project. Even with plenty of money, the stress of building without purpose (or a half-hearted purpose) would never withstand the whole process.

In the end, building with purpose (created by your passion) is the key ingredient in helping you become successful in anything God leads you to do. So, take time to think things through and make sure that God has directed you and filled you with passion and purpose. Otherwise, when you quit halfway through, your testimony will be damaged and people’s confidence in you will be hard to repair.

Talk more later ….

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As I said in yesterday’s post, I have been reading a book called “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs.” (Affiliate Link) While it has been a great read, there is another book that I read and re-read that explains (at least for me) where my passion comes from and how I can use that passion to be successful in life, faith, and business.

That book, as you may have guessed, is God’s word. Now don’t panic, if you don’t have the same faith in God’s word that I do, just read on and see if what I have found makes sense. In the book of Psalms, the 37th Psalm, the Bible says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of the heart.” (v. 4)

The key to this verse is the phrase, “… and he shall give thee …” which means to appoint, ascribe, assign. In other words, for the Christian, God will appoint, ascribe, and/or assign us with certain heart desires (passions) as we delight ourselves in him. Now think about this. God is the Lord and Saviour of every Christian. He always has our best interests at heart. He wants his best for us. So, if we delight ourselves in him, it makes perfect sense that he would provide us with the passion of our lives (the desires of the heart).

When God gives us our passion, he will bring it to pass IF we are willing to commit our way unto him. The whole key here is that this commitment is that it must be one based in our trust of our God. As I read about Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Strickland, James Dyson, or Rachel Ray, they all have lived at the junction of passion and personal skills. I don’t know anything about their relationship with God, but I do know that God promises to make my (your) dreams come true if you will live them with passion and follow his directions as you do (Proverbs 3:5-10).

Take some time this weekend to think about you, your life, your work, your purpose, and your passion. You can make your life worth much more than cash and things. God will help, if you will let him!

Talk more later ….

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I spent the past few days on the road. I traveled this week to Salt Lake City to preach in a Bible Conference for a good friend of mine. While the trip was quick and the pace was furious, the “air” time allowed for a good amount of thinking and planning. What I came up with is going to define my life, ministry, and business for years to come.

When I got back home and back to work yesterday, I found myself at Borders Bookstore between meetings. I was looking at business books and found one entitled “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs.”(Affiliate Link) As I looked at the table of contents I was drawn to the second chapter which spoke about passion. The more I read the more excited I became and the more I realized how easy it is to get caught up in the moment and “sell out” your passion for what makes money.

Combining these thoughts with those I gained during my time at 35,000 feet, I realized again the need to follow your passion rather than the money. Life is too short to wake up everyday and not enjoy and rejoice in the day. Without passion for what you are doing, you are never going to know that joy and rejoicing.

Take some time this weekend and consider what you are doing in/with your life. Does what you do everyday reflect your passion or does it just make you money? All the money in the world cannot buy quiet/peace. It can give you all the excitement you could ever imagine, but it can’t take away the yearnings that we all have for our passions.

Steve Jobs left college after one semester because he did not know what he wanted in life and because he didn’t feel like he could find his passion in the classroom. His success came through times of searching for and finding his passion. I have found mine and I want you to find yours. If the world were full of people living their passions, much more would get done and the world would be a much better, much more productive, and much more innovative place.

Talk more later ….

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Remember your first roller coaster ride. You sat down in the car, the safety bar locked down and you were off to experience reckless abandon for the first time. With every bend and turn, every climb and decent you were sure the car was going to fly off the track, yet as soon as it was over, you ran to get back in line and do it all over again!

Have you ever wanted to just let go and live life with reckless abandon? Have you ever wondered what such a life would look like and how you would look in it? I know that I have and the older I get the more it want to just let go and see what happens.

Maybe you are there too. You catch yourself with that “spirit” of reckless abandon when you are driving down the street and see yourself as a very small cog in a very large wheel. You are not sure that the world would be much different with or without you. You wonder to yourself if life isn’t supposed to be more than the goings and comings that make up your day to day. Just as you start to get excited about what might be, you pull into the parking spot at work and come back to reality.

Yet, that nagging desire to live for something more can’t be shoved to the back, it is always right there just under the surface, with its siren call to more. More of life, more giving, more going, more doing, more reckless abandon. The thought of such a life thrills you, but reality seems to never let you get there. You may even remember the words of Jesus who said that he had come that we might have life and that more abundantly. (John 10:10) While that sounds good, and you would like to experience that life, it just doesn’t seem possible.

Ah, but you see my friend, it is possible! God has designed us to live just such a life and has made a way for all of us to count in our own way. All we have to do is to listen to his voice, follow his leadership, and yield to his power to bring it to pass. The formula is clearly taught in the words of Psalm 37, where it says:

1. “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” In other words, don’t worry about the bad guys!
2. “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Learn to focus on the one that can/will meet your every need.
3. “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” This means that when you are pliable in the hands of the LORD that he will place within you the passions of life. (Passion is the key to living with reckless abandon.)
4. “Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” You must choose to live in a state of yieldedness to the LORD for him to bring those passions to bear in your life.
5. Beyond these basics you must also: “Rest in the Lord,” and “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.”  You must let God control your actions as well as your attitude.

When these things are accomplished, you will be free in Him to live life with passion and a reckless abandon that will make everyday a wondrous day and one in which God is glorified.

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You know one of the craziest things that I have done in a long time was to begin to cut back on all my “social networking” stuff. I get new “follow” notices from Twitter everyday, new “friend” requests from Facebook everyday, and many other similar requests on a regular basis. Yet, like so many of them, these folks always seem to have something that they want me to buy, buy into, or otherwise spend my money on.

I am a capitalist and understand the power of the internet to provide the “average person” with  a worldwide audience, but I guess I am getting tired of feeling like the only reason someone “likes” me is because they have something to sell.

I love invention, innovation, creative thinking, and want to encourage people with thoughts like that to express themselves in every way. So here is what I have decided to do:

1. I am going to give away my thoughts, knowledge, and any wisdom I encounter for FREE!
2. If I happen to come across a product or service that I like AND use I will put it on my blog and IF you want to know about it, I will share my experiences. If after you hear about what I have experienced, you decide to order it, I will make an affiliate commission.
3. I am going to live by the advice I got reading the book Rework. Two things really stuck out to me: (1) I am going to scratch my own itch. That means I am going to follow my passions and then let you in on what I learn along the way. (2) I am going to be small by choice. I have come to the conclusion in my life that being truly free means that I cannot be “big.” So, if you are looking for a guy who “has it all” you will need to look elsewhere. I will only have what I need/want and that will be purposefully less than most.

I love being online and talking with all my friends around the world, but what intrigues me most is having a close-knit group (that could number in the 100′s) who love to spend time with each other and share life’s important truths. If you are tired of all the noise and want a quiet place to think, talk, and even rest … this might just be the place!

Talk more later ….

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