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See How Easily You Can Read The Bible This Way

At 25 years old I was a young entrepreneur with my own company . At 36 I, thought I’d arrived at the pinnacle of success. After all, the company had won lots of awards locally, provincially and eventually we even won Americas best Builder in the U.S.

 

Pinnacles have a way of bringing you to a perspective that can make or break you – giving you perspective on life and reality! The truth was I was spiritually empty. I started searching for something bigger than success, more important than money and more lasting than homes. I’d vowed never to argue over money like my alcoholic parents so success in business was my life’s pursuit. But achievement was a lonely companion.

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In my heart I knew there was a gap. A gap between what fulfillment I expected and what I was experiencing. At 36 years old, I had not accepted responsibility for my own personal and spiritual development. My commitment to Jesus as a teenager hadn’t matured. We started attending church, which certainly helped but I knew there was more.

 

I was afraid of my next step: reading the Bible. Falling into the trap of thinking…..

 

“You can’t read the Bible. It’s like a marathon. It’s too big. It’s for pastors and intellectuals, or retired people with too much time on their hands. It’s intimidating. It’s too challenging. You’ll never understand it.”

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Teaching Kids About Money

How many of us look back on our childhood and wish we’d been taught more about money? More than two thirds of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Many parents are not doing a great job themselves. Many find it an easy subject to avoid.

Sadly, most people leave home and graduate from university without any idea how to manage money never having been taught personal finance. It doesn’t have to be that way!

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For me, it starts at home. I believe in leaving my kids a rich inheritance. However, it has nothing to do with money. Instead, it means teaching my children to be financially literate; to be Balanced financially.

 

Many have encouraged me; it’s better to build boys than mend men. Solve the problem before there is one. Help children avoid the pain of following a consumer driven lifestyle. Instead follow God’s plan.

 

God wants us to make a difference, financially, in our family tree. If we don’t teach children these most basic, critical life skills, they’re going to struggle with this problem their whole lives. Money problems are the leading cause of kids dropping out of post secondary education and the leading cause of divorce.

 

The Bible’s says more about money than any other subject. God inspired the apostle Paul to write theses illuminating words.

 

It is required of a steward that he be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:2

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How To Find A Mentor To Help You Achieve Success

If you are growing in any area of your life you are learning. The question is; who are you learning from? To learn anything important, I look for someone to model my life on. I look for someone who has been a success in a particular arena of life, so I can stand on their shoulders and go further faster.

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Truth is we all want to make good decisions and identify with success. Having a mentor helps. The problem is how do you find a mentor?

 

Formal mentoring relationships are often found in the workplace, school or sports. Then there are informal ones; people who have mentored me but have no clue who I am. Through the books they’ve written, through the talks they’ve given, and through the lives they’ve led I have been changed.

 

Meet the greatest mentor who ever lived; the apostle Paul. He mentored a younger man named Timothy. He has some amazing, God inspired insights about what others can see in you that you can’t see in yourself.

 

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.

1 Timothy 4:14-15

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You Be the Hero (Part 2)

Last week I gave you a glimpse of an opportunity to be a hero! Is it a hero’s task? When 2.6 billion people lack adequate drinking water and safe sanitation and 3.4 million die annually from unsafe water and water related diseases?

 

Yes –  hero’s take on an impossible task and give it everything they have!

 

As a businessman, when spending money, my #1 question is : What’s my Return On Investment, my ROI? Whether it’s making a purchase, an investment or donating money.

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I visited Kenya, three years ago, and helped provide clean drinking water solution for two villages. And, yes, undoubtedly, the clean water provided saved lives. But was it a good return on investment? The cost of providing clean water to two villages was over $100,000. To some, this may seem a crass and calculating – why am I telling you $ amounts? Isn’t every life worth saving regardless of cost?

 

Humbly, I want you to learn from my experiences and be a better hero! There is a much better solution to the clean drinking water problem with a much higher return on investment.

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You Be The Hero (Part 1)

Stop looking around, over your shoulder or to social media to find a hero. Look in the mirror instead. You were created for a purpose and your life has meaning. Do you consider doing something unimaginably courageous? You can make a world of difference.

 

Whether you’re a Christian or not, doing this one thing will make you a hero and make a difference to the lives of millions of people! If you’re a Christian, even better, because we’re called by God to make disciples in all nations.

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Three years ago, in a small rural Kenyan village, I saw a glorious thing. A dug well that provided water for thousands of villagers. But horror hit me when I took two steps and was introduced to the graves of the patriarchs of the village. Grandma and Grandpa were buried within feet of this precious water source were decomposing and turning this precious well into a contaminated water source that was killing villagers. The image continues to haunt me.

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The Power Of Positive Thinking

You’ve heard it before, but do you believe it? Think positively and life will be brighter. It’s the basis of starting the personal development industry.

 

But we’ve all been in a funk. Those positive thoughts have slipped our minds many times. Even though many of our problems can be traced back to the way we think. We seem to be able to find good reasons for our hostile thinking.

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Consider the way we approach problems, whether positively or negatively, affects their outcome.

 

It comes down to this: change your thinking, change your life.

King Solomon said it best:

For as a man thinks in his heart so is he.

Proverbs 23:7 NKJV

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5 Principles for Personal Success

Recently there has been a trend in my life, where people I meet have one basic problem – they think “the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”   Whether they are affluent or not, they feel trapped in their life and look with envy at those who are successful, fulfilled and inspired in their lives.

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Is there a gap for you? Between where you are and where you want to be? Is your income and personal success lacking?

The solution may not be in changing jobs, going back to school, or in winning the lottery, but simply in “seeing” with new eyes what you already have. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, don’t have a lot of post-secondary education nor have ever, or wish to, win the lottery. I saw opportunity all around me and went after it. Opportunities in business and in a supportive family that were unearned, unmerited favor; I attribute to gifts from God.

How does perspective on your side of the fence and the opportunities you have been given affect you?

 

A thought from the Bible on this:

 

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind

Romans 12:2

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5 Principles for Life Change

In Acres of Diamonds, you can read a well known principle…..sometimes the opportunities you are looking for are right under your nose.

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But it takes the right perspective. Are you brave enough to step out and look at your own opportunities in your own field? What will it take – it’s going to take planning and perspective.

 

One of my favorite quotes is;

 

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Benjamin Franklin

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Find Inspiration Meaning and Purpose At Work And In Life

Sit with a toddler for more than a few minutes and you will discover a repeated question – “Why?” Curiosity, persistence and observation are a toddler’s key strengths. Then we “grow up” and stop asking “why” and focus on “what”. Most of us get drawn into the motions of life without thinking or inspiration. Reactive and missing a framework for understanding THE Story of life we don’t see how life matters or WHY? Where do you turn for inspiration, meaning and purpose?

 

i have no idea

 

For me, God provides illumination. The purpose of my life as a believer in Christ is to obey Jesus when He said,

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel.”

Mark 16:15

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Productivity: The Secret To Achieving More And Working Less

Most people in the world operate with a 1 to 1 approach to life. One hour work equals one-hour pay. Productivity is limited by the number of hours in a week. Productivity isn’t always focused and without a life plan priorities are often missed.
Successful entrepreneurs are not like most people. Never content to settle for a 1 to 1 relationship between efforts and results they achieve far higher levels of productivity. We all know someone whose productivity is outstanding.

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The problem is if you’re already working as hard as you can, you’ve hit a limit on what you can produce. So how do they do it? How can you learn to increase your productivity?

 

Jesus provides the answer. In his first and most famous teaching metaphor, the Parable Of The Sower (Mathew 13:1-23) Jesus describes four different scenarios in which an investment, in this case seed, produced significantly different levels of productivity.