Merry Christmas Everyone! … A Savior Is Born!!!

The Shepherds and the Angels; Luke 2:8-18

… And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. Just then an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord! This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

… Suddenly there appeared with the angel a great multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”

… When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

… So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger. After they had seen the Child, they spread the message they had received about Him. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

In the immortal words of Dr. Billy Graham, “Christmas is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It is a glorious reality. It is a time of joy. Bethlehem’s manger crib became the link that bound a lost world to a loving God.”

Wishing you and your loved ones the joy of the season and a very, Merry Christmas!

John

 

Play Above the Rim …

Don’t lower your expectations … lower the rim!

Yes, there is a story behind the message. I grew up in a basketball crazy area of Kansas City, Kansas and attended Wyandotte High School. During the glory days Wyandotte was State Champions in basketball ten out of fourteen years. And I had the real pleasure of playing on the school grounds with many outstanding players including Lucius Allen and Pierre Russell, who went on to have great college and professional basketball careers.

Although I didn’t play in high school, I absolutely loved the sport and always dreamed of growing up to be 6’2” or taller so I could dunk a basketball. Well, I didn’t quite get there. I’m barely 5’8” in shoes, on a good day, with a mediocre vertical leap no less. However, I have dunked a basketball roughly 100-150 times in my lifetime.

How was I able to overcome these physical limitations and achieve my goal of dunking a basketball? Continue reading…

8 Ways to Rise Above the Noise

I don’t know about you, but I have grown weary and resentful of all the negative news I read and hear these days. The steady drone of articles about the Clinton’s, President Trump and his campaign advisers, the Russian dossier, Uranium One scandal, the NFL player protests, and so forth. It’s exhausting!

What’s the solution? We can turn-off the TV, cancel our subscription to the newspaper, or our social media accounts, boycott the NFL, etc. However, being an isolationist is not a solution, its creative avoidance. The very real challenges we must overcome to ‘Make America Great Again’ are still present and unabated.

How can we rise above the noise and turn our attention to solving real-world problems? Continue reading…

Time Is Running Out!! Register NOW!!!

M3 Power Network Breakfast

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21st at 8:30 AM

JOIN US AT …

THE REC OF GRAPEVINE, GRAPEVINE, TX

Leave a Legacy of HOPE. Make happiness, joy and purpose a part of your life.

Do you want to grow personally, professionally and spiritually, while making those great new personal connections? If you want to GROW, then you have to GO!

Our GOAL is to get YOU connected. So, join us for GREAT FOOD, NETWORKING and INSPIRATION at the M3 Power Network breakfast on Saturday, October 21st at the Rec of Grapevine.

M3 Power Network is DFW’s faith-based Premier Networking Group engaging dedicated professionals like YOU to focus on Missions, Marketplace, and Motivation. Our purpose is to Encourage, Educate and Empower You.

Our good friend, Tom Ziglar is back with us, and will be the Keynote Speaker for our October 21st event. Tom is the current CEO of Ziglar, Inc. and is a highly recognized motivational speaker, author and trainer. He not only shares a last name with his father, Zig Ziglar, but he also carries on his philosophy, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Come, learn and be inspired!!

The next M3 Power Network Breakfast event is only 3 days away! REGISTER NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT!!!

Meetup Link to RSVP

Facebook Link

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 21st!!!

John

REGISTER NOW

#1 Question That Gets Overlooked

What is the #1 question that most often gets overlooked?

You will have to wait a bit for the answer. However, I will give you a hint. The answer is shown in the image below.

As we begin to wind down the 2022 fiscal year, most business owners are thinking about or already beginning their planning cycle for the new calendar year ahead. They’re going through the early stages of the goal-setting process, reviewing the quarterly performance, and putting together annual budgets, forecasts, staffing plans and financial projections for the coming year.

It’s an exciting time of the year and right now, looking through those rose colored lenses, the future looks exceedingly bright. But what is missing? What’s missing is a reality check. Have we done our due diligence? Have we asked the most basic, fundamental question that should be answered before we charge ahead? Probably not. Continue reading…

Don’t Miss It! Register TODAY and Invite a Friend!!

M3 Power Network Breakfast

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21st at 8:30 AM

JOIN US AT …

THE REC OF GRAPEVINE, GRAPEVINE, TX

Leave a Legacy of HOPE. Make happiness, joy and purpose a part of your life.

Do you want to grow personally, professionally and spiritually, while making those great new personal connections? If you want to GROW, then you have to GO!

Our GOAL is to get YOU connected. So, join us for GREAT FOOD, NETWORKING and INSPIRATION at the M3 Power Network breakfast on Saturday, October 21st at the Rec of Grapevine.

M3 Power Network is DFW’s faith-based Premier Networking Group engaging dedicated professionals like YOU to focus on Missions, Marketplace, and Motivation. Our purpose is to Encourage, Educate and Empower You.

Our good friend, Tom Ziglar is back with us, and will be the Keynote Speaker for our October 21st event. Tom is the current CEO of Ziglar, Inc. and is a highly recognized motivational speaker, author and trainer. He not only shares a last name with his father, Zig Ziglar, but he also carries on his philosophy, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Come, learn and be inspired!!

You can register TODAY at the M3 Power Network Events site on Facebook or on Meetup to reserve your seat.

Meetup Link to RSVP

Facebook Link

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 21st!!!

John

REGISTER NOW

Is Today the Day?

From the day we are born, our lives move us toward what will be an inevitable ending. It’s part of the circle of life. We are born, we die, but everything in between is where life truly happens. Each day we are given is a blessing to be celebrated. The most extraordinary thing is that our lives can be forever changed in the blink of an eye, by a single event or a single step.

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24

Our lives move in ebbs and flows, much like our breathing. Some movement occurs as a result of outside forces beyond our control. For the most part, however, our choices are what ultimately determine the direction our lives will take.

Is today the day? The day you finally take the first step toward making those life changes required to make your goals and dreams a reality? Is this day one, or just another day in the life? The choice is yours and yours alone. You decide. Continue reading…

Accountability Is Over-Rated

Ha, ha … gotcha! I know what you were thinking when you read the title of this article. The old guy has lost it! He has flown over the cuckoo’s nest. The Texas summer heat must have finally done him in.

For years I have been extolling the virtues of focus, accountability, consistency and execution in achieving world-class results. Why then the sudden change of heart? Why do I now believe that accountability is over-rated? To be clear, I don’t. In fact, quite the opposite is true.

Have you ever stopped to think about why the word “accountability” carries such a negative connotation in our modern society? Even the very definition of accountability is punitive and makes it sound like one of those bad four-letter words we were told not to say when we were children.

“Accountability is not a bad four-letter word.” Continue reading…

Don’t Give Away Your Power

“If you think you have power, you have power. If you don’t think you have power, you have no power.” – Michael Korda

Our brains are vast neural networks comprised of knowledge, experiences and thoughts, both good and bad. It has been scientifically proven that negative thinking and chronic complaining, can rewire the brain. Likewise, 12 minutes of daily prayer over an 8-week period can change the brain to such an extent that it can be measured on a brain scan.

Let go of ‘stinking thinking’.

When I consider how negative thinking and chronic complaining can affect our lives, and infect the lives of others, I’m reminded of the Israelites. According to Scripture, they were enslaved by their Egyptian rulers for 430 years. When they were finally able to obtain their freedom, it took them 40 years to travel from Egypt to the Land of Canaan (the Promised Land).  A journey that should have only taken approximately 30 days.

Why did it take the Israelites 40 years to travel 250 miles to reach the Promised Land? Continue reading…

What’s Your Wild Rabbit?

Five years ago, Hennessy first launched its $70 million award-winning Wild Rabbit advertising campaign about the drive and determination needed to accomplish goals. The commercial featured Boxer, Manny Pacquiao. His Wild Rabbit was to “Fight the fights that really matter”.

More recently, Hennessy’s “Wild Rabbit” campaign has featured father and son, Auguste and Jacques Piccard. In 1931, physicist Auguste Piccard became the first man in history to reach the stratosphere (in a pressurized capsule and balloon). Nearly three decades later, in 1960, his son, Jacques, became the first person to reach the deepest part of the ocean. Truly extraordinary accomplishments.

“What’s your Wild Rabbit?”

In your drive to accomplish your goals and achieve success, what is it that you are reaching for? While it may not be to fight the fights that really matter, or to conquer the outer reaches of space or the depths of the oceans, we all have that one BIG THING we are chasing. What is yours? And more importantly, what is your plan to reach it? Continue reading…