one of those days…

Some days take less, but most days take moreSome slip through your fingers and on to the floor
Some days are sulky, some days have a grin
And some days have bouncers and won’t let you in
Some days you’re thankful for what you’ve got
Lookin’ for Jesus and his mother
Some days are better than others

Did you see what I did right there? I totally mashed up the lyrics to "Some Days Are Better Than Others." Just smooshed them right up, I did.

The last several months have been:___________________ That’s about all I have to say about that. I mean, really. We had some time off around the holidays which was very nice, but WOW.
I’m not trying to phrase this like a complaint because we do truly have so much to be thankful for – TONS. At the same time I have to acknowledge that this song comes into my mind almost every day since like September or something. Not literally every single day, but more often than not. In fact, it comes to mind even when I realize that it was a great day and hey, that song didn’t even pop into my mind…whooomp. There it is. In my head again. Gump’s mama used to talk to him about boxes of chocolate. His life seemed to be one big surprise. Except I like chocolate. Some of this bologna that’s been going on is…you know what bologna is right? Yeah, I’m going there. Left over odds and ends get ground up into bologna. Some days it feels like you’re handed a bunch of junk and instead of bologna they expect steak. You can put whoever or whatever you want in the "they" category.

I’m just saying that some days are better than others. And that’s ok.That’s the season I seem to be in right now from the time I step out my front door in the morning until the key hits the lock at night. That could change tomorrow though. You never know…

Some days I hear a voice taking me to another place.

What season are you in right now?

Why I’m Still Reading: “Love Leadership” by John Hope Bryant

I’ve been reading and rereading this book for over two years.

After reading it cover to cover it has become one of those books that I pull out and flip through periodically – and I always leave with more!

If you lead people in any capacity, and if you want to lead them well, then I highly recommend reading this book.

Rags to riches.

Creating a movement, a revolution, out of chaos and disorder.

Sleeping in Jeeps.

Building a massive organization helping people help themselves.

Examples on how to truly lead with love: for your clients, your employees, your company…your fellow man.

This book expressed things I felt and believed about leadership but couldn’t find the words for. It taught me lessons and helped me see how I could have done some things different and helped me change on a dime – and do things differently now. Over and over the message gets through: “better a hand up than a hand out.” The setting and industry don’t matter. When you give, you get…and everyone wins.

“A saint is a sinner that got up.”

Go read the book.

Here’s he cover…

You’re just 3 clicks away from awesome.

Everybody wants to be awesome, right? I have it broken down into three simple steps and for $19.95…

Or: I read a lot of stuff this week. Here are 3 fantastic articles that I’ve kept returning to throughout the week. Enjoy!

For courage and strength read “Be Brave And Stand” by Carlos Whittaker.

For inspiration and encouragement read “The Difference A Little Extra Effort Makes” by Michael Hyatt.

And for a straight up laugh read “Solomon invented Twitter” by Jon Acuff.

What are some of your reading recommendations from the past week?

Grace & Caterpillars

“Grace means we don’t need to memorize all the excuses anymore.”

- Bob Goff

I’ve lived both sides of this statement. I’ve experienced grace and I’ve memorized excuses. My life is proof that “grace makes beauty out of ugly things”.

They say that the DNA of a caterpillar does not say, “hey, I’m a caterpillar.” The DNA of a caterpillar says, “I am a butterfly.” It’s DNA does not talk about the past or the present – it talks about the future. What it is becoming.

Let’s all stop memorizing the excuses. Let’s apply grace liberally and move into what we are becoming.

To do that we need to each answer this question:

What are you becoming?

Just downloaded from BOOKsneeze…

I just downloaded the epub version of this to review as part of Thomas Nelson’s BOOKsneeze program. Curious about the program? Click here: BOOKsneeze

What are you reading right now?

BOOKsneeze Review | Surviving Your Serengeti by Stefan Swanepoel

Seven lessons from seven animals that apply to all areas of life? Yes please.

This easy to read story leads you through a journey to the Serengeti with several couples from all walks of life. While there the lessons/skills are presented conversationally via trips into the wild to observe wildlife as it naturally occurs.

Endurance, strategy, enterprise, efficiency, grace, risk-taking, and communication – all very valuable life skills are all covered. On a practical level one of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the summary of the skill at the end of each "lesson". Each summary included several bullet points explaining the skill on a deeper level as well as some suggestions on how to maximize the skill. It was possible to put these skills into better practice and take them to the next level almost immediately after reading each section.

Seven words to describe the book?
Empowering
Engaging
Clarifying
Powerful
Enlightening
Entertaining
Thought-provoking

If you have a chance to read it, I hope you do and I hope you get as much out of it as I did.

How To Eat A Donut

If you don’t live your life the way this kid eats donuts…you aren’t living.

This is Ryan and this is how he eats his donuts. Every time. If he doesn’t want the donut bad enough to eat it like this, he just won’t eat it.

No half way.
No pause button.
All in.
All the time.

Every time I see him enjoy a donut I have to ask myself if I am living like that. He enjoys completely. I think he enjoys it the way we were designed to enjoy things.

Free
Open
Focused
Uncontrolled
All at once

I’ll ask you the same two questions I’m asking myself:

How do you eat your donuts?

More important: how are you living your life?

That. Was. NASTY!

I just got back from a run where something very, very nasty happened. This particular event hasn’t happened to me personally since sometime in the mid-80′s. I know this because I distinctly remember the mullet I had. It happened at a community soccer league practice. I remember that little tidbit because my coach’s name was "Slick". None of this is a joke. Trust and believe.

So what happened?

It wasn’t that gooberish stuff that you cough up and have to spit out.
It wasn’t the excessive running of the nose that has to be dealt with.
Oh no.
It was worse.
Let’s just say stay off the grass and on the sidewalk near the school, people.
Follow the yellow brick road.

I barfed. While running.

Michelle’s response upon hearing my tale: "There ya go! Now you’re a runner! Have you peed yourself yet? No? Well, you’re half way there!"
I love that woman.

Alright. Let’s have it.

What’s the grossest thing to happen to you during a run (or whatever form of exercise you choose)?

The Early Riser

It’s cold outside
The winds are howling ferociously
They scream sometimes
The scent of uncertainty is pungent
Nobody knows anything
All you know is wrong
Or not
It’s dark enough only the blind can truly see
Scratching and clawing
Biting
Kicking
Gnawing
The effort
Always the effort
And yet sometimes
On certain special days
Someone gets up before you
Even if you never slept
And as the last 24 hours is washed off your face
As the last meal is washed off your hands
That early riser leaves a note in crayon and spray paint and sidewalk chalk All it says:
“I got this”

On The Road Again

The week before Christmas I started running again after 2 years off. It’s a long story but I’m hitting the streets again so here we go.

The first step was actually putting on the shoes and running. Rumors of earthquakes and shifts in the mantle of the planet can be ignored. All is well.
Then I had to go after Stupid. I name hills. It’s a trick I do. Stupid is at a perfect turn around and it’s stupid so that’s what I call it. The next monster was cracking a mental issue I had with the distance of 3 miles. After that I had to beat Big Ugly. Done. Done. Aaaand done! I was so excited about beating Big Ugly that I dug up an old video I took a couple years ago while I was training for my first (and so far only) half marathon. Here’s a glimpse: Big Ugly

I just registered for the Kelly St. Patrick’s Day Shamrock 5k! That should help with some additional motivation!

I’m enjoying getting back into something that I really enjoy.

What are you up to? And if you run, are you planning on running any events coming up?