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Influence Can be Good or Bad

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It’s Up to You to Decide Which it’s Going to Be

As we continue our journey through the Old Testament this week, we look at Jacob and Rachel leaving Laban and the continued disfunction within this family.

Previously we talked about Jacob, with the help of their mother, cheating his brother Esau out of Esau’s inheritance. (Genesis 27:41-46) Jacob then escaped and went to his uncle Labon’s home and fell in love with Rachel, agreeing to work seven years so he could marry her. (Genesis 29:16-20)

Labon tricked Jacob and gave him Leah instead. Then Laban agreed to give Rachel to Jacob to marry, if he would work another seven years. (Genesis 29:21-30)

In an ironic twist, Jacob the deceiver had been deceived.

It seems that conniving runs in the family. In addition to Laban’s deception, a rivalry developed between the sisters. I don’t know about you, but being married to sisters sounds like a recipe for disaster. This is a big enough issue that in Leviticus 18:18, there’s a law that says as much.

Jacob had worked for a total of twenty years for Labon (Genesis 31:38-41) before he decided it was time to go back home to his family. So, he gathered his wives, children, and belongings and left without telling Laban. (Genesis 31:17-23)

Being true to her family heritage, Rachel stole her father’s idols and took them with her when they left. I’m not sure if this family drama was blood-line related or just influenced by association. 

We don’t have to be related to someone by blood to be influenced…either bad or good.

We can’t control who our family is, but we can control who and what we let influence us.

Too often we don’t take control of things that we have control over. Andy Andrews points this out in the “Guided Decision” of his Seven Decisions, ”I will seek wisdom”. He points out that what we put into our minds and who we associate with influences us, so we should choose these things wisely.

Knowing that wisdom waits to be gathered, I will actively search her out. My past can never be changed, but I can change the future by changing my actions today. I will change my actions today! I will train my eyes and ears to read and listen to books and recordings that bring about positive changes in my personal relationships and a greater understanding of my fellowman. No longer will I bombard my mind with materials that feed my doubts and fears. I will read and listen only to what increases my belief in myself and my future.

I will seek wisdom. I will choose my friends with care. I am who my friends are. I speak their language, and I wear their clothes. I share their opinions and their habits. From this moment forward, I will choose to associate with people whose lives and lifestyles I admire. If I associate with chickens, I will learn to scratch at the ground and squabble over crumbs. If I associate with eagles, I will learn to soar to great heights. I am an eagle. It is my destiny to fly.

I will seek wisdom. I will listen to the counsel of wise men. The words of a wise man are like raindrops on dry ground. They are precious and can be quickly used for immediate results. Only the blade of grass that catches a raindrop will prosper and grow. The person who ignores wise counsel is like the blade of grass untouched by the rain—soon to wither and die. When I counsel with just myself, I can make decisions only according to what I already know. By counseling with a wise man, I add his knowledge and experience to my own and dramatically increase my success.

I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others. A wise man will cultivate a servant’s spirit, for that particular attribute attracts people like no other. As I humbly serve others, their wisdom will be freely shared with me. Often, the person who develops a servant’s spirit becomes wealthy beyond measure. Many times, a servant has the ear of the king, and a humble servant often becomes a king, for he is the popular choice of the people. He who serves the most grows the fastest.

I will become a humble servant. I will not look for someone to open my door—I will look to open the door for someone. I will not be distressed when no one is available to help me—I will be excited when I am available to help.

I will be a servant to others. I will listen to the counsel of wise men. I will choose my friends with care. I will seek wisdom. (2nd Decision)

Not only are we influenced by what we put into our minds and who we associate with, but our actions can have an influence on others.

We need to remember that the things we do can affect those around us, so we should act in a way that will have a positive influence rather than negative.

Procrastination is Not a Good Plan for Making Changes

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If Not, Why Do So Many Do It?

This is the million-dollar question. And it actually may be. The amount of dollars lost by procrastinating is costing money and a lot of it.

Decisions have consequences.

Every decision we make every day comes with consequences. Some of those consequences may be good, some may not.

Every day of our lives is full of decisions. It’s like playing a non-stop game of “would you rather”.

Most everyone is familiar with this game in which the players are asked questions that compare two different scenarios and asked to choose which of the two they would rather do. These questions can vary from simple to complicated.

Would you rather…

  • Spend a day in the Sahara Desert or Spend a day at the North Pole
  • Have the ability to fly or Be invisible
  • End hunger or End hatred

This game isn’t any different than everyday life. We are faced with choices every minute of every day. Some of these choices are small and simple, some are important and carry major consequences.

Would I rather…

  • Eat this or Eat that
  • Wear this or Wear that
  • Drive this route or Drive that route
  • Go in debt to buy a new car or Save money and drive something older
  • Take this job that pays well but requires me to sacrifice my morals or Take that job that pays considerably less but allows me to be true to my principles
  • Take the scary step to implement tools in my business that have the potential for success or Continue doing the comfortable things the way I always have with the potential for failure

This week I listened to a Ray Edwards podcast that asked the question, Why People Don’t Change. This comes back around to the question…

Why do people put off doing something that they know would help them be more successful?

Here are a few of the points that Ray makes:

  • Change happens when the pain of not changing is greater than the difficulty of making the change.
  • The fear of not changing is often overshadowed by immediate gratification, making it difficult for people to prioritize long-term consequences over short-term pleasure.
  • To change, you need to make the future pain of not changing more real than the current pleasure.
  • People don’t change unless they associate significant pain with not changing and take ownership of their ability to change.
  • Enjoy the process of pushing yourself to achieve your goals, not just the end result.

Resistance to change is a real problem.

Just consider the situation of someone in an abusive relationship and their unwillingness or inability to make changes when they know that they need to. I’ve never been in a relationship like this, so I’m not claiming to understand this emotionally.

When it comes to business decisions though, I understand them and agree completely with Ray’s points.

Ultimately your business decisions are up to you.

You can continue to procrastinate until you either garner the courage to change…or until you go out of business. It’s up to you.

If you would like to change, we can help you with that. We have tools for the construction industry available in our Business BUILDing Toolbox. You can learn more about the tools and training here or you can schedule a free 30-minute construction company consultation to get your questions answered.

How Can I be Sure That I’m Doing What I’m Supposed to?

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Wouldn’t it be Great if Everything Was Simple and Easy?

It can be hard to figure out if what we’re doing is what we’re supposed to do. Is this the job I’m supposed to have? Is this the direction in life I’m supposed to head? Is this the business I’m supposed to start?

These questions and ones like them can be hard to answer. We struggle with questions like these and many more.

We often second guess ourselves whether we’re making the right decisions.

As we’ve been going through the Book of Acts, there have been multiple times that Jesus’ followers have been questioned, tried, beaten and more. This could be enough to cause them to question if what they were doing is what they were supposed to be doing.

In Acts 18:5-6, the people Paul had been preaching to, turned against him. Then again in verses 12-13, some of the church leaders grab Paul, take him before the governor of Achaia, and accuse him of “trying to make people worship God in a way against our Law!”

If you were in Paul’s shoes, you’d probably be questioning your decisions. But in verses 9-10, Paul receives a message from God in a dream. God tells him to “keep preaching and don’t stop.”

We need clarity of direction like Paul.

Currently our book club is reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. As I’m reading it, I’m amazed at his search for his purpose and willingness to stay the course. This isn’t to say that it was crystal clear or without detours and corrections.

Like Paul, the one thing that Bonhoeffer did was to continually focus on God’s calling in his life. This clarity came through reading and studying the Scripture and prayer.

Both men received pressure from friends and people around them to take different and less dangerous paths. Both may have veered but would recenter.

How do we know if what we’re doing is what we’re supposed to be doing?

I received an email recently from Christian business coach, speaker, and author Niccie Kliegl that I think does a great job of explaining how to determine clarity of direction. She shares Matthew 12:22-32 where Jesus heals a blind man by casting out a demon. The Pharisees start accusing Him of using the power of Beelzebul to do this.

Jesus responded by saying, “Any kingdom where people fight each other will end up ruined. And a town or family that fights will soon destroy itself. So, if Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last?… If you are not on my side, you are against me.” 

The two points she makes are…

  1. The Devil won’t attack his own work. If you’re doing what he wants he won’t be attacking what you’re doing. He won’t be working against himself. So, if you’re facing difficulties and struggles…this should tell you that what you’re doing is God inspired.
  2. The Enemy always attacks God’s work. When you’re doing what God has called you to do you will face opposition. If everything is going smoothly it’s a sure sign that you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

On the surface it can seem a little backward. Shouldn’t things be simple and easy if we’re doing the right thing? We need to remember that we live in a fallen world and that’s what Satan wants us to think.

Embrace the difficulties and keep pushing forward.

Goal Achieving is a Better Plan Than Goal Setting

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Too Often Once the Goals Are Planned…We Forget the Achieving Part

This is like having plans to build a building and once you get the blueprint drawn…you stop. You have a picture you can hang on the wall, but the building never gets built.

Having a plan before you start is good, but it’s not enough. If you don’t dig some dirt and drive some nails, nothing is accomplished.

Accomplishing anything requires action and action requires decisions.

This book gives us Seven Decisions shared with David Ponder while on his travels bout how we should live our lives. I review and contemplate these decisions daily.

We’re nearing the end of another year. The closer we get, the more we beat ourselves up because of the things we didn’t get done. It’s easy to get caught up in the things that we didn’t accomplish and overlook the things that we did. We all have visions of what our dream life will look like. This can be frustrating and depressing when things don’t turn out like we planned.

We need to remember that we can’t change the past, only the future. The key is to not give up.

Giving up is like dying while you’re still alive. Don’t give up!

Last week I wrote about how we can use urgency to accomplish more. Urgent things become a higher priority. This moves them up higher on the list. As an example of how this works, let me tell you a story that happened just this morning.

As Katie (my awesome assistant) and I were working on some website things, I realized that I couldn’t log in to the Solution Building site because I had waited too long in setting up my two-factor authentication. This is something that Stacey (my amazing IT person) told me to do a month ago.

This meant that I wasn’t going to be able to publish this week’s solution until I got this taken care of.

As it is with busy people…I kept putting it off to do other things. The level of urgency ramped up though when I couldn’t get into the website. I had to decide what I was going to do. At that point, it became the highest priority.

We all deal with these kinds of choices. The key to accomplishing more is to decide early on what is important and what isn’t. No matter how clear we are on our life and business plans, things are going to happen. Some are within our control, and some aren’t.

The more answers we have to big life question, the easier the smaller questions are to deal with.

Ultimately achieving goals comes down to decisions and deciding is up to us.

As I think about life and decisions, once again, I’m brought back to Andy Andrew’s book, The Traveler’s Gift. I know, I refer to this book a lot. As I was thinking about goals and decisions, I was reminded about the profound impact this book had on my life as I recovered from my concussion.

  • The Responsible Decision

I accept responsibility for my past. I control my thoughts. I control my emotions. I am responsible for my success.

“THE BUCK STOPS HERE.”

“If decisions are choices…and our thinking dictates our decisions – then we are where we are because of our thinking.”

President Harry S. Truman

  • The Guided Decision

I will be a servant to others. I will listen to the council of wise men. I will choose my friends with care.

“I WILL SEEK WISDOM.”

“God moves mountains to create the opportunity of His choosing. It is up to you to be ready to move yourself.”

King Solomon

  • The Active Decision

I am courageous. I am a leader. I seize this moment. I choose now.

“I AM A PERSON OF ACTION.”

“My future is immediate. I will grasp it with both hands and carry it with running feet. When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!”

Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

  • The Certain Decision

I will not wait. I am passionate about my vision for the future. My course has been charted. My destiny is assured.

“I HAVE A DECIDED HEART.”

“Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow a gaggle of silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”

Christopher Columbus

  • The Joyful Decision

I will greet each day with laughter. I will smile at every person I meet. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.

“TODAY I WILL CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY.”

“Our very lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make choices. Then our choices make us.”

Anne Frank

  • The Compassionate Decision

I will forgive even those who do not ask for forgiveness. I will forgive those who criticize me unjustly. I will forgive myself.

“I WILL GREET THIS DAY WITH A FORGIVING SPIRIT.”

“Forgiveness is a secret that is hidden in plain sight. It costs nothing and is worth millions. It is available to everyone and used by few. If you harness the power of forgiveness, you will be sought after and regarded highly. And not coincidentally, you will also be forgiven by others!”

Abraham Lincoln

  • The Persistent Decision

I will continue despite exhaustion. I focus on results. I am a person of great faith.

“I WILL PERSIT WITHOUT EXCEPTION.”

“Great leaders – great achievers – are rarely realistic by other people’s standards. Somehow, these successful people, often considered strange, pick their way through life ignoring or not hearing negative expectations and emotions. Consequently, they accomplish one great thing after another, never having heard that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing!”

Archangel Gabriel

Achieving our goals comes down to decisions.

Starting by deciding what our priorities are.

Deciding to be responsible. Deciding to be wise. Deciding to take action. Deciding to believe in ourselves. Deciding to be happy. Deciding to forgive. Deciding to persist.

Urgency Can Be Good or Bad, Depending on How You Use It

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I Find That Intentionally Creating a Sense of Urgency Can Increase Productivity

How you view and handle urgency is a choice. You can choose to use urgency to your benefit, or you can let urgency be a negative thing.

When something has urgency, it requires speedy action. If you’re standing in your front yard and a tornado is coming straight toward you…there would be some urgency to take cover from the storm.

Urgency is a pressing importance requiring speedy action.

Some people view urgency as positive…others not so much. The perspective with which you view urgency is the choice.

I have a relatively extensive and structured morning and evening routine. It might feel a little daunting to some people. 😊

As a part of that routine, I review my…

As I was going through the goal portion of my morning routine a few days ago, I realized we are rapidly approaching the end of 2022 and we are not where we need to be to accomplish our goals.

As I thought about this, my sense of urgency became elevated. We are going to need to start pushing extra hard to even get close to those goals.

This is where urgency, as a negative, begins to set in. One of the things that often happens in a situation like this is, you start running around like a chicken with its head cut off and no clear direction.

Or you can take control of the situation, choose to make the decisions needed and start moving forward.

Another part of my routine is to narrow the overwhelming number of things that need to be done down to the first next thing. This is a part of how I prioritize. What is the first next thing that needs to be done? One of the ways I do this is by reading through this list of eleven actions.

FIRST NEXT THING

  1. Start with prayer
  2. Get off my “BUT”, stop making excuses
  3. Put it on the calendar
  4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help (delegation / accountability)
  5. Take goals seriously (create a sense of urgency early)
  6. Maintain positive forward momentum
  7. Celebrate wins
  8. Don’t overthink it
  9. Break the goals down into brick size pieces
  10. Make goals about giving and not about getting
  11. Review progress regularly, and be accountable

#5 Take goals seriously (create a sense of urgency early)

As I read through this list I was thinking about moving forward with our goals. When I got to #5, take goals seriously (create a sense urgency early) I remembered where this came from.

Before I started Timber Creek Construction, I was a partner in another construction company. My role in this partnership was production management.

One of the things that seemed to happen constantly is that as we got nearer and nearer the completion date, the sense of urgency picked up. And with that, productivity picked up. I was amazed at how much more got done as the deadline approached.

That’s when I realized that if we would create that sense of urgency early, it would increase productivity throughout the entire project and the company. Now that was easier said than done.

The tricky thing is how to consistently create that sense of urgency early.  

Just like our company is behind on our goals and the sense of urgency is ramping up…

I should have created the sense of urgency EARLIER.

I can’t go back and change the past, but I can learn from it and change the future.

We All Need Grace, and Getting It Comes Down to a Choice

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This Is True for All Life’s Important Decisions

Our whole life is made up of decisions. It’s up to us to make the right choices.

Too often we don’t.

Sometimes it’s because our life situation is all we’ve ever known.

This was the case for Johnny Lee Clary. He grew up in a family full of hate and fear. His family was racist and full of aggression.

“There was a lot of alcoholism in our home and fighting all the time. My mother was constantly cheating on my father. My mother drove my father into bankruptcy, and then my father was faced with losing everything he had worked hard for.

I watched my father, one night, take a pistol and put it to his head and blow his brains out.”

Johnny was only 11 years old when his father died. Immediately after the funeral, his mother put him on a bus and sent me out to California to go live with his sister.

“That just made me hate that much more. So, I was hating everyone. At 14 years old, I felt like committing suicide myself.  I was thinking seriously about ending my life so I could go be with my dad.”

Then he saw David Duke, head of the Ku Lux Klan on television telling everybody that the White people needed to stick together. This made him feel some kind of a weird connection to his dad.

Johnny wrote Duke a letter telling him his life story. Before long, there was a knock on the door.

“I opened up the door, he shook my hand and said, ‘I’m a friend of David Duke’s.  We’re here to protect you, son.  What you need is a family.’”

The Klansmen taught Johnny the ways of the KKK. When he was 18, he returned to Oklahoma to start his own Klan chapter. Eventually he rose to the rank of Imperial Wizard, the Klan’s top leadership position.

“I finally felt like I’d found something that I could amount to in life.

The FBI opened an investigation on Johnny. He knew it was just a matter of time before he was going to end up getting arrested.

Johnny decided his only shot of staying out of prison was to step down as Imperial Wizard. But when he did, the Klan turned on him, fearing that he was an FBI informant.

Once again, he became a person without any friends. He started drinking, and the fear and hate consumed him.

“I thought of my daddy and I thought Daddy had the right idea. I sat down and was looking at the gun and there was a Bible sitting there. I thought that there is no possible way that the good Lord can forgive somebody like me, because I had been so full of hate. I had all the violence and lived such a bad life.”

He flipped open the Bible and it opened to Luke 15, the story of the prodigal son.

Johnny read Jesus’ parable of the young man who demanded his inheritance from his father, then squandered it all. He returned home to the father remorseful. His father did not chastise him, instead he celebrated his return.

“I finally got on my knees and said, ‘God, my life is screwed up.  God, I’m in a mess.  I need Your help.’”

He went to a nearby church. What he saw there amazed him: Blacks and Whites sitting together.  This moved Johnny’s heart, and at the end of the service, he gave his life to Christ.

“I felt like a new person, brand new creation.  I felt like I had had a weight lifted off my shoulders.”

Johnny wanted to share this with others but didn’t know how to get started, so he called on the Rev. Wade Watts, Minister of an African-American church that the Klan harassed.

“The Klan had set fire to his church and did everything under the sun to harass this man. I remember he debated me at a radio station one time. He looked right at me, and he goes, ‘You can’t do enough to me to make me hate you.  I’m going to love you. I’m going to pray for you whether you like it or not.’”

Johnny went to Rev. Wade Watts and they became good friends.

Johnny learned how to love and live in unity with all people.

“Not only has He given me a good wife to stand by my side, but He’s given me good friends. He’s given me a good life here on earth.  He’s given me hope, gave me the gift of love. Taught me what love’s all about. Isn’t that what God is? 

God is love. 

I’m not that mixed up kid looking for a family anymore.  I’ve got a family. I’ve got a relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

More of Johnny’s story

Most of our have not experienced or done the things that Johnny did, but we all need grace. If he can receive it, so can you.

Receiving grace is a choice and available to anyone who asks for it.

Disruptions To My Routine Can Really Upset the Apple Cart

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After This Past Week…I’m Trying to Get the Apples Gathered Back Up

Something happened this past week that has never happened before.

Since I started writing weekly blog posts in October of 2015…I’ve never missed a week.

When I started, I committed to myself that I would write and post weekly.

The question is…should I still be committed to this?

Commitment is a good thing. We just need to be careful what we’re committed to. Why did I make this commitment? Is it still a valid commitment? Is it worth the time it takes? All questions that need to be answered.

This past week was spent moving some furniture from Salem, Missouri to Spearfish South Dakota for my mother-in-law. This was done to help my wife and her family, who are dealing with a difficult situation.

Life is full of difficult decisions. The question is…what is the highest priority?

This past week it was helping family over posting.

Being a routine motivated person, disruption to my routines spilled apples everywhere. Routine gives me a since of control and I don’t like it when things are out of control. I like things organized.

As I’m gathering the apples back up, I’m asking myself how I can better deal with disruptions in the future? Because I know who I am and how I operate, it’s up to me to decide.

I may need to replace some bad apples with some new ones.

We need to be careful that routines don’t become the reason that we’re doing things. It’s important to periodically step back, review what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.

A cart full of organized apples is no good if we don’t enjoy an apple pie once and a while.

Construction Projects (Like Life) Don’t Have to Be Overwhelming and Daunting

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Both Are Within Our Control, But It’s Up to Us to Exercise the Superpower of Choice

Overwhelming and daunting is one thing that construction projects and life have in common. Both are big and full of opportunities to make mistakes. This fear of mistakes causes us to drag our feet and not make decisions.

Hesitance to make decisions is the stumbling block that prevent people from doing great things.

I had a conversation with a friend from a mastermind that is struggling with working through both a construction project and life change. We discussed how to figure out how best to move forward.

Every big decision we’re faced with in life is made up of little pieces.

Our responsibility is to sort through those little pieces and make a decision. The difficult part is when the decisions that need to be made are in an area of life that is out of our comfort zone.

This is when we have to decide if we’re going to explore, learn and implement this new knowledge or employ the help of an expert. This is one of the hardest decisions.

In Andy Andrews book, The Traveler’s Gift, David Ponder is given the Responsible Decision from President Harry Truman. In this decision President Truman writes, “When faced with the opportunity to make a decision, I will make one. I understand that God did not put in me the ability to always make right decisions. He did, however, put in me the ability to make a decision and then make it right.

The rise and fall of my emotional tide will not deter me from my course. When I make a decision, I will stand behind it. My energy will go into making the decision. I will waste none on second thoughts. My life will not be an apology. It will be a statement.

The buck stops here. I control my thoughts. I control my emotions. In the future when I am tempted to ask the question “Why me?” I will immediately counter with the answer: “Why not me?”

Challenges are gifts, opportunities to learn. Problems are the common thread running through the lives of great men and women. In times of adversity, I will not have a problem to deal with; I will have a choice to make. My thoughts will be clear. I will make the right choice. Adversity is preparation for greatness. I will accept this preparation.

Why me? Why not me? I will be prepared for something great!

I accept responsibility for my past. I control my thoughts. I control my emotions. I am responsible for my success.

Andrews, Andy. The Traveler’s Gift (pp. 33-34). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

I will not have a problem to deal with; I will have a choice to make.

Choosing to look at situations as problems it’s more likely that procrastination will set in. Making a choice and moving forward is a more productive way to deal with things.

The main thing to remember is that we have control. We can choose…but choosing requires action.

One of Life’s Biggest Tragedies is Not That We Lose, But That We ALMOST Win

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FAITH or FEAR…Which is the Driving Force in Your Decision Making?

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about stepping out of my comfort zone. This was me doing something that was new and different from construction. I was afraid that it might not work, but I had faith that it was what I was supposed to do.

We all like operating in that place of comfort, after all, it’s well…comfortable.

As I’ve been working to do this thing that is out of my comfort zone, it seems that everywhere I turn this topic has been showing up. It’s been in things I read, discussions I’ve had, podcasts, blogposts, etc.

We can always find ways to delay or subvert the thing that we’re supposed to do. This shows up in all sorts of ways. Ultimately, it’s because we’re afraid. We’re afraid that it’s not good enough, or that no one wants what we have to offer.

One of the places that this topic of fear vs. faith was prevalent was in my re-reading of the 7th Decision in Andy Andrews book, The Traveler’s Gift.

In this chapter David Ponder meets the Archangel Gabriel in a huge place full of a wide variety of things that seem to have no connection to each other.

One of the things is a picture of a familiar looking boy and girl. Gabriel said, “The boy’s name is Jason and the girl’s is Julia.”

David looking at the photo, remarked, “I’ve always liked those names. My grandfather’s name was Jason. In fact, if Jenny had been a boy, Ellen and I were going to name the baby Jason. We always said we would name our second girl Julia. We wanted several children, but we never were able to afford . . .” A cold wave of nausea swept over David. Lowering the picture slowly, he gripped the side of the large basket with his other hand to steady himself. Breathing heavily, he said, “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Gabriel answered.

David, asks, “Why is this being done to me? Why am I seeing this now?

Turning to face Gabriel, David said, “What is this place?”

Gabriel spreads his arms and said…

“This, my friend, is the place that never was.”

This is where things that were about to be delivered just as a person stopped working and praying for them. It’s full of dreams and goals of the less courageous.

David asked if he can keep the picture, but Gabriel said, “I’m sorry, but Jason and Julia don’t exist”.

“The tragedy of life is not that man loses, but that he almost wins.”

Why do we quit?

We quit because we lack faith.

Are you a person of faith or fear?

Which of these guide your everyday actions and decisions?

We’re driven by faith or fear—one or the other—both are the same. “Faith or fear is the expectation of an event that hasn’t come to pass or the belief in something that cannot be seen or touched.”

“Great achievers—are rarely realistic by other people’s standards. Somehow, these successful people, often considered strange, pick their way through life ignoring or not hearing negative expectations and emotions. Consequently, they accomplish one great thing after another, never having heard what cannot be done.”

If our plans are in alignment with God’s plan for us and we believe in our purpose anything is possible. In Mark 11:23-24 we’re told that if you believe, what you say will happen. If we ask for what we want in prayer and we believe, we will receive those things. Because…

“Nothing is impossible for God”

Have faith, don’t quite and you will win.

Oh, by the way…not only are we moving forward with the VB Homes project, we’re also moving forward with the customer consulting project.

So Now We’ve Determined It’s More About the Action Than the Question

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It’s Time to Do the ONE THING that is the Most Important

Doing the “One Thing” sounds great, but how do we do it?

This would be so much easier if somebody else would just tell us what to do. Not to mention, it would give us someone to blame if it was the wrong thing. The problem with letting someone else tells you what you should do is that it will be more about fulfilling their dreams…not yours.

We make determining the “One Thing” more difficult than it needs to be.

Making things more difficult is something I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember. What if I do the wrong thing, was a question that I asked a lot. This would keep me from doing anything.

We need to do something…even if it’s not the perfect thing.

I will explain this with something I heard Dave Ramsey say referring to the Debt Snowball process. People often are scared about making paying small payments to debtors, but may be necessary to get out of debt. To put it in perspective he said, “What’s the worst thing that can happen…because they can’t kill you.” (This is assuming you don’t owe money to the mob)

The same thing is true for making a wrong decision when trying to determine what to do first.

Doing something is better than doing nothing!

I’ve referred to the book, The One Thing, over the past several weeks as I’ve been implementing its suggestions into my life plan. The main point of this book is that you can only do one thing at a time. So, it becomes imperative that you get clear on what’s most important for you to accomplish and take actions that will move you toward that.

I’ve determined that my one thing is –

Build God’s Kingdom by helping people find solutions for building their dreams through better business systems, quality construction projects and life lessons.

I do this by having core values that align with this purpose. Next, I need to make sure that the different areas of my life and my big someday dreams support it. Lastly, I need to decide…

Which one of the millions of bricks that it’s going to take to build this Kingdom I’m going to lay now?

Last week I shared my big long-term dreams and told you that this week we would go deeper.

To do this let’s take one of my big someday dreams and use it as an example.

Big someday dream (6-year goal – 2027) –

  • Remodel and renovate our existing home that was built my Great grandfather in 1916 and has been our family through three generations. This project will consist of a two-story addition with a basement added to the existing home and remodeling the existing home to the level of new, giving us more space to live and entertain while honoring and building a family legacy.

One year goal (end of 2022) –

  • Have preliminary floor plan and design agreed upon including rough sketched drawings and preliminary budget

Monthly goal (end of February) –

  • Have two preliminary lists of things to be included in the project, one from me and one from Debby

Weekly goal (by Sat. 2/5/22) –

  • Have lists started

Daily goal (1/29/22) –

  • Explain to Debby what is needed from her list and give her a deadline
  • Start my list

Right now –

  • Make a note on my to do list so that I don’t forget

Now go through this process for all your big someday dreams. In my case this is seventeen dreams. Some of the dreams will be a higher priority as they relate to your “one thing” or your present situation.

Once all my dreams have gone through this process, I can look at the RIGHT NOWs for each one and decide which is the highest priority RIGHT NOW and do that thing RIGHT NOW.

After that thing is done, I do the next most important one…always determined by what is most important RIGHT NOW to accomplish my ONE THING.

None of your dreams will ever be fulfilled if you don’t make a DECISION and take ACTION.