Disney Customer Service Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
“Happy New Year” !
Have you ever worked on an important project and found yourself looking for creative ways to do things better and faster?
The Church looks for creative ways to do things better and faster. Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Are you feeding your spirit? Feeding the spirit of others?
All we can do as humans is to attempt to put others first, attempt to serve.
And constantly look for better and faster ways to do it.
Fear is a survival instinct. (think caveman) A gift, to keep us alive.
You get that, right? Fight or flight?
Fear is also an excuse.
“I’m afraid if I talk about it at work, socially, at the gym, with my neighbors, on the Internet, that I might ruin my chances for **insert** promotion, opportunity, relationship, readers, followers, advocates, etc.”
What the?
Exactly. An excuse.
I do not go around telling everyone I’m a Christian. In fact, I don’t tell anyone.
But I also don’t keep it a secret. In fact, I don’t keep it a secret from anyone.
I wonder if anyone else thinks like this. Actually, it really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of me being a Christian.
That’s when you know you are no longer afraid.
Throw your heart into it, and the rest of you will follow.
Tomorrow, New Year’s Eve. The next day, 2010.
Are ya ready for it? Here’s my plan:
I’m throwing my heart into it, knowing full well that the rest of me will follow.
I think this is often referred to as Faith.
Got Faith?
We’ve been talking about a beloved Family pet, our Yellow Lab, Carter.
Virtually all pet owners understand the remarkable bond humans forge with their pets. And it’s especially strong in a pet relationship where there are no children.
Here’s the gift we received from what we thought was our very last weekend with Carter. We were staying at Mitchell’s Sand Castles, which is pet-friendly and on a quiet end of Sanibel Island. It was our 22 visit.
After a nice day on the Sanibel beach, with Carter at our side all day, we had a nice dinner in our cottage. I was walking contemplatively through the dark and tropical setting, taking the trash up to the road.
When around one dark corner, I was mildly startled by another man, standing by the road. Unusual, and a little freaky.
We said casual greetings and then he asked me, “Were you the guy with the Yellow Lab on the beach this afternoon?”
“Yeah, that was me.”
He said, and I will never forget this, “I’ve never seen a dog wag it’s tail so much. You must have the happiest dog on earth.”
There was a reason we went to Sanibel for Carter’s last weekend (so we thought) on earth.
It was so I could meet the total stranger out by the road, waiting for his pizza delivery guy.
Imminent. Looming. Threatening.
This is what we thought October 2008, just over a year ago.
Our beloved Canine Son, Carter, a nine-year old Yellow Lab, was very sick.
Our Vet spotted an unusual sore in the roof of Carter’s mouth during his routine annual exam two months prior.
The sore ate a hole in the roof of his mouth at an alarming rate – what seemed literally overnight. In hindsight, maybe we panicked.
We honestly thought that Carter may not see another weekend and we quickly made arrangements for “one last trip” to our favorite Family vacation spot, Sanibel Island.
We talked with our son (eight) about death. We talked about our favorite Carter memories. We talked about what we’d miss the most about Carter.
We said goodbye to Carter.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Carter is still with us. He still struggles with the complications from the hole when he drinks and eats, but overall, it’s a miracle he’s still here.
Tomorrow, the gift that visit brought us.