Don't Follow the Crowd!

     What do you stand for? What do you believe? Do you have a set of core values that you don't compromise regardless of the pressures to conform? Do you ever change them to suit a certain situation? When your with a crowd of people who do or say something that you don't agree with, do you speak your mind about it? Or do you just stand on the sidelines and say nothing? One of the things I've noticed all too often is that people say they stand for something, but when it gets time to actually make a stand for it, cop out and sit on the sidelines as people take advantage of this. It happens in politics all the time. A set of people are scared to come out in opposition of a cause they don't believe in because society has told them that you are not suppose to believe that. Or that your not suppose to side with a certain group because society has placed you already in this group. What do you do?

      Let's take another example. Football. Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow grew up with Missionary parents. Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world. They stood for something. You've heard the story of his mother's decision. Abort or possibly die. She stuck by her core beliefs and neither of them happened. Now I'm not saying that because she did this is why she is alive. Only God knows. But the implications of her standing up for her beliefs even in the midst of what I would imagine, tremendous pressure to conform, has had an even greater impact. Tim Tebow's life has been one huge impact, that those in the "system" mindset have already labeled him. All his life, he's been told he can't play football. He's too slow. Can't throw. Never make it. All Tim Tebow wanted to do is play football. He broke High School records. He broke College records. And we've all seen what he can do in the what, 4 games he has played in the NFL? He took his team 2 games away from the Super Bowl! Tim Tebow is a linchpin. He stands for something. What he does, he does with passion and commitment and is not afraid to stand up for that. If he would have listened to everybody, he probably wouldn't be playing football! Who knows? 

      So again, I ask you. What do you stand for? Are you working for something you don't believe in? Are you letting others dictate your life? Don't settle for what life gives you. Find your calling and seek it with passion and commitment!  Trust me, you'll feel better. In closing, I want to share with you something my favorite English Teacher in High School wrote in my yearbook upon graduation that I cherish & have never forgotten. She wrote, "The most important thing I can tell you is to believe in yourself. There will always be people who try to tell you how & when to do things, but you carry within you your own best understanding of how to lead your life."

Linchpin

International Acumen Excerpt

Birth Pains

   

      The World Economic collapse.  Lawlessness everywhere.  Anti- Christian philosophies being uplifted.  Strange Astronomical occurrences.   Earthquakes.  Floods.  Famines.  Apostasy of the church.  War.  The alignment of the Nations against Israel.  The forming of the Ecumenical Movement.   Everyone's talking about it.  Some make fun of it. Some are scared.   But one cannot help but sense that things are spiraling out of control.  If you are a true Christian, you have nothing to fear.  Your destiny is secured.  But to those who deny the Good-News of Christ, I challenge you to examine the evidence before its too late.   


   Signs of the End of the Age

     "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.  You will hear of war and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains."
    " Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."  - Mathew 24: 4-14
    

Godlessness in the Last Days

    But mark this:  There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying its power.  Have nothing to do with them.  They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. - 2 Timothy 3:1-7

Are Mormons Christians?

     After having several discussions on this topic, and hearing the media, commentators and even some professing Christians defend Mormonism as Christian,  I believe its time to set the record straight.  Below is a recent segment that was aired on The John Ankerberg Show  that I believe exposes the inadequacies of people who claim to be Christian, yet attend a Mormon temple.  For further reading of comparative Religions, cults and Christian sects, I highly recommend the book, The Kingdom of the Cults by Dr. Walter Martin

 

 

 

Follow your Dreams

     When I was younger, I always dreamed of working as a writer in New York for a big newspaper or magazine and having my own penthouse suite somewhere in Manhattan.  I always thought that was my calling in life.  As the years went by, I've had a calling to be a Truck Driver, a Photojournalist, a Mad Scientist,  a Caterer, a professional Athlete, a Physical Therapist, and  even a Missionary in some remote place no one has ever been to.  I've always liked the idea of the social, high paced life that a city like New York brings.  Something about the challenge of  deadlines and being an underdog, just gets my blood pumping with excitement!  It makes me come alive!  I think better. Unfortunately, life has a way of screwing with your dreams if you don't pay attention.  Years ago, I swore that the last place you would find me in was Corporate America.  I hated the idea of going to a job for 50 years and doing the same thing!  That to me was, and still is, craziness to me!  If I did the same exact thing for 50 years, I would be a zombie!  All the life I had would have been sucked out a long, long time ago.  I can't imagine staying at a place for that long and not do anything to change it.
     Meanwhile, 13 years later, I'm still at the same company.  Doing the same thing, and going nuts because of it.  Ever since I read the Book, "No More Mondays" by Dan Miller, in October of last year, I have felt like my old self, coming alive again. Dreaming of what it's going to be like when I don't have to go to that place anymore. Not that the place I work at now is a bad place.  It's not.  I have my own office, I'm pretty much left alone, and most of the people are friendly.  It's not a bad place to work at.  The problem I have with it is me.  I don't belong there!  That's not my calling.  It's not what I'm suppose to be doing in life.   That book woke me up from my dreary sleep that I have been in for the last 13 years and  It showed me that life doesn't have to be this way.  The work force is changing.  Now's a perfect time to start implementing those dreams that you thought were impossible at one time.  I'm glad I've finally started to put the wheels in motions to attain the work that I want to have, instead of settling for something that is not me. Just like  Jon Accuf mentions in his book, "Quitter", I have to do the best I can at my job in order to supplement my dream job.  Funny how having something to look forward to brings about a whole new perspective in attitude.  One day I'll have the job I was called to do, and then I can say as the late Andrew Brietbart once said, "I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it."