When the preacher’s car broke down on a country road, he walked to the nearest roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck, he spotted his old friend, Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the bar. “What happened to you, Frank?” asked the good reverend. “You used to be rich.”

Frank told a sad tale of bad investments that had led to his downfall. “Go home,” the preacher said. “Open your Bible at random, stick our finger on the page and there will be God’s answer.”

Some time later, the preacher bumped into Frank, who was wearing a Gucci suit, sporting a Rolex watch and had just stepped out of a Mercedes. “Frank,” said the preacher, “I am glad to see things really turned around for you.”

“Yes, preacher, and I owe it all to you,” said Frank. “I opened my Bible, put my finger down on the page and there was the answer – Chapter 11.”

Your answer is not in doing things the world’s way. Your answer will be doing things God’s way. One verse at random won’t do it, you’ve got to take the whole armor of God if you want to succeed in God’s kingdom.

Tags: Bible, direction, success

Steve Jobs said in a 2005 Commencement address: “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

We only get one go around in life. Just one chance to make our world a better place. Just one chance to connect with God and make a difference. The years are rolling on and we only have a little time left in this one chance.

Remembering that you’ll be dead soon ought to motivate you to take more risks, stand up bolder and speak a little louder. Its your one chance. What will you do with your chance?

Tags: death, Steve Jobs, success

I’m sure you would agree with me that Macy’s Department Stores are a great success. But did you know that the founder, R. H. Macy, failed at five different professions before he finally succeeded? Mr. Macy tried his hand as a whaler, retail clerk, gold-miner, stockbroker, and real estate broker, and failed at each of these professions. Like Thomas Edison trying to discover what filament burned brightest and longest in a light bulb, Mr. Macy failed his way to success.

What sustained Mr. Macy through failure after failure? Two things: purpose and persistence. That’s what separates those who achieve from those who merely dream!

Find someone who you consider successful and ask them how they got there. I’m sure you’ll find an interesting journey of failures along the way. That’s the way God keeps us humble when we’re finally blessed.

Tags: failure, persistence, success, trouble

Allen Grey says, “The common denominator of all success lies in forming the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.” He’s got a good point. To be successful in business, you’ve either got to be first, best, closest, quickest, or somehow unique.

Cutting corners is a sign of impatience and poor self-esteem. The way to any breakthrough is to follow through! the best method is to set standards for yourself that require accountability. Suffering a consequence for not following through will keep you on track like nothing else. Once your new standards are in place, work according to them, not your moods; that’ll get you going in the right direction.

“If you follow your feelings, your life will be a failure.” (Mark Gungor)

Tags: success

Everyone loves to laugh. Really funny comedians are hard to come by. Most of the jokes they use are so canned they’re really not funny. And, up until recently, comedy in church was an absolute no-no. Christians considered God too serious a subject to take lightly. Its more godly to fight than laugh.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld stepped into this cultural stigma and made it big. He once said that the downfall of every comedian was success. Success makes you hide behind ivory gates, he said, and separates comedians from the real world real people live in. His advice to comedians is that they must remain connected to the everyday world to find humor in their own lives.

Could it be that the same is true of Christians? Are we hiding behind ivory gates (stained glass windows)? Are we so separated from the world around us that we can no longer understand its pain and have lost the ability to speak truth into lost lives? That would not be a laughing matter.

Tags: hiding, humor, laughter, Seinfeld, success

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fellow replied, “Only a little while.” The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman replied that he had enough to support his family’s needs. The business man then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?” The fisherman replied, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, enjoy my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I play guitar with my friends. I have a full and busy life.”

The businessman scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA, and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. From the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The fisherman asked, “But how long will this all take?” To which the American replied, “15-20 years”. “But what then?”, the fisherman asked.

The businessman laughed and said, “When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions. Then what?” The American replied, “Then you would retire. Move to a small fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, enjoy your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could play your guitar with your friends.”

Do we really know what success looks like when we’re staring it in the eye?

Tags: business, money, success