Everyone starts somewhere. Every book has a beginning; every movie an opening scene; every adventure a first step.

I started my day at six this morning to the horrible beeping of the alarm clock.

I started work by clocking in via an excel spreadsheet.

I started this website on November 6^th by purchasing hosting and a domain name from InMotion Hosting.

I started my engage­ment on September 25^th when Rachel said yes to the question, “Will you marry me?”

I started my life in a hospital room in Dallas, Texas late into the night on July 24^th, 1986. (more…)

This baby followed my steps

Do you want four proven steps to becoming rich? Do you want to be able to buy things others only dream of? Can one blogger hold the secret to a life of riches?

He can and he does.

By the end of this blog, you will be rich!

That is not a joke.

If you think I am a liar, that this is a get rich quick scheme, you are wrong! I honestly mean it when I say:

It is possible to go from mediocre to filthy rich in four simple steps.

Don’t believe me? Then leave now and miss out on the four steps that will make your rich.

What Is Rich

What does it mean to be rich? Dictionary.com defines rich this way:

having wealth or great posses­sions; abun­dantly supplied with resources, means or funds; wealthy.

Don’t forget that definition.

Using this defi­n­i­tion I will show you 4 SIMPLE steps to become rich.

It is easy and you can start right now! (more…)

Today is moving day! I will not have internet (except at work) until Monday. Not much else to say except this has been a crazy week! There was a lot to do besides packing…

Making Progress…Slowly — Libby is an adorable little girl who is suffering with an unknown stomach/intestine issue. For years this girls has been tested and checked out with no diagnosis and no hope. Recently, this has received some notice and may finally be getting the help she needs. Please pray for her. You can read the first part of her story here

The Fray — The Fray just announced they are working on a new album! I really like them, so this is kind of a big deal.

Libya’s Female Special Forces Body­guards — The headline says it better than I could, “With Moammar Gadhafi in hiding as coalition aircraft bomb his country, he’s counting on protec­tion from a unique bodyguard corps he’s been training for decades — an all-female, gun-toting posse of virgins.”

Who Are The Libyan Rebels, Anyway? — Speaking of Libya, it seems no one is exactly sure who the Libyan rebels are or what they stand for.

Traffic Waves — this video shows you how you can break up traffic jams by driving a little more purpose­fully. His site has a more in depth explanation.

Embrace Life — who knew Public Service Announce­ments could be so awesome?

Does money equal success?

Have you ever seen the movie Office Space?

My favorite scene is where Peter (the main character) and Lawrence (his neighbor) are talking about the question, “What would you do if you had a million dollars?” Peter brings it up because he cannot decide what to do with his life. Is he living his dream? Is his 9-to-5 job slowly killing him? Should he do something else?

Peter hopes to answer the question and finally achieve happiness.

The whole movie could probably be summed up in Lawrence’s response, “If everyone listened to [that question] there would be no janitors.” It’s a funny scene in a hilarious movie that is worth checking out (warning: movie is rated R).

I think Lawrence is right, the question is bogus. But it leads me to a deeper question that needs consid­er­a­tion: “What does success look like?”

The point of asking “What would you do if you had a million dollars” is to find out what a person’s perfect job is.

But assuming you answer the question and live out your life as a pilot, CEO, painter, or whatever, you are still stuck with the nagging question, “When am I successful?” (more…)

I was recently reminded of a conver­sa­tion I had in 2007.

A friend’s dad was killing time and it came up that he had been sober from alcohol for 30 years. I congrat­u­lated him (because that is epic) and asked, “how long before you got over the desire for alcohol?”

The question seemed innocent to me. He looked at me with a strange expres­sion on his face and responded,

“I am not over it. Every morning when I wake up I have to remind myself I will not drink. I say it every day. It is my first thought, ‘I will not drink today.’”

I will never forget that moment; in it all my ideas about addiction were shattered.

Addiction

Addiction is every­thing we despise about ourselves, and yet exactly what we yearn for. In it we hope to control the world around us; but in submit­ting to it we lose what little control we have.

Whether it’s alcohol, porn, success, food, anger, or something else — everyone is addicted to something. You have something inside of you that is begging to take over. And from time to time it does.

Since my conver­sa­tion I have been reminded constantly that addiction never goes away. Even when I have good days, weeks, months, or even years I can be assured my addic­tions are waiting patiently for the right time to spring up and attack me. Sometimes they win.

Most of the time they win.

And no matter how much you adjust your behavior, the addiction will never go away. It is part of who you are.

My friend’s father knows he is an alcoholic. He is an addict. And so are you.

And that’s where most people would leave it. But I can’t. There is more to the story than that.

This story includes God.

As much as a go-getting entre­pre­neur like me wants to take the credit for my victories over addiction, it is never me. The only hope I or anyone has is Jesus Christ.

Over­coming addiction requires so much more than changing behavior and staying away from certain things, it needs that piece deep down inside of us to be trans­formed into something new. And only God can do that.

This side of eternity you and I will struggle with our addic­tions. We will work our lives around trying to overcome them. But at the end of the day we only have one option: to wake up every morning and remind ourselves, “I will not do it today” And then put our hope in God to get us through.

How do you deal with addic­tions in your life? Let me know in the comments.

It was a crazy week. I got sick Sunday night and have just started to recover this morning. Busy weekend, so not much time to rest. Should be fun though; my fiancee and I are combining incomes today and signing the lease for our apartment!

Tsunami Video — This is video of the tsunami tearing through Japan. Absolutely horrible. Be praying for these people as the death toll rises and the country tries to figure out where to go from here. Well worth six minutes of your time.

Tsunami Photos — Pictures of the deves­ta­tions and aftermath of the Tsunami in Japan. Please take a moment to see the pictures.

Hidden Camera Catches Animals — A few motion sensor cameras were set up in jungles throughout the world. They caught some amazing photos the inhabitants!

Jump — Julian Smith is my favorite YouTuber. He’s funny, creative, and great at what he does. His short videos always have me laughing. This week he teaches us to, “think twice before giving a stranger a jump”

Do you stay up dreaming about leaving your job?

Matt Rawlings over at Pastor Matt’s Blog wrote a great article, Faith or Stupidity , that asks, “When is it okay to give up your day job and go into ministry full time?”

He explains it well:

Should a [church] planter “step out on faith” or make sure that his bills are paid before commit­ting to a young church full-time? When is it faith and when is it jumping off of the top of the Temple hoping the angels will catch you? It may be all in the name of our Lord but, as my friend Jeff Ventrella is fond of saying, “Stupid for Jesus is still stupid.”

This is an issue that comes up a lot in the blogos­phere. Not just for church planters, but also for entrepreneurs.

Daily Blog Tips hit this topic in their article When Should I Quit My Day Job To Work Full Time Online. In the article they are asked, “What should be the [income] level when I decide that I should leave my current job and work on the blog only and grow that?”

I think these are different ways of asking the same question. (more…)

In February I announced some major changes to the blog. Astute readers will have noticed a few minor writing changes and some new cate­gories. Very little change, really.

Every time someone asks me how the change is going my heart sinks just a little.

I feel like I let you down.

I built this blog as way to express two of my greatest passions: writing and encour­age­ment. My hope from day one has been to write in such a way that it encour­ages you to do the things you thought were impossible.

And yet, with all my good inten­tions I have not moved any closer to where I hoped to be than the last time I brought this up. At least not in any obvious ways.

I promised big changes to the blog and over a month later nothing has changed.

There are two reasons for that:

1. Change is much harder than I thought
2. I hadn’t really figured out my new direction

(more…)

Happy Pi Day everyone!

For those that don’t know, the first three digits in pi are 3.14 which is the same as 3/14 (March 14^th).

This is a big deal amongst nerds.

One nerd made a video called “What Pi sounds like.” It’s really cool so I thought I’d share.

As a side note, to be extra nerdy I posted this entry at 3:14am.

If the video does not show up in your email or rss click here

This is the first Saturday in about a month that I’ve had to myself. My list already has 9 “to do’s” on it. Most are blog related. Expect a big update on the future of the blog this week!

Also, I wanted to let you know that my fiancee and I were approved for our apartment! The next several saturdays will probably be spent signing papers and moving in, so High­lights may be a little sparse.

But enough about that; let’s look at some high­lights from the week:

Justin Beiber’s Girl­friend Video — How does a 14-year-old signer market herself to millions of tweeners? She writes a song about wanting to be Justin Beiber’s Girl­friend. This is one of the greatest marketing tactics I’ve ever seen. Check out the video. Her biggest win is her instance that she doesn’t actually want to date Justin Beiber. This makes her someone young girls can relate to without being a threat. It’s greatness!

Parents of Million­aires: 89% Not Divorced — Thomas Stanley is the leading expert on million­aires. “Not only are [million­aires] part of a loving family today, they are four times more likely than not to agree with the following statement: I was raised in an atmos­phere filled with love and harmony.”

Honest Tress­passer Calls 911 on Himself — This has to be seen to be believed!

Dallas is the 7^th Angriest City in the US — Not much here, but as a resident of Dallas I thought it was interesting.

The Bare Bones Guide to Twitter — If you’ve spent any time at all on Twitter you should know most of this stuff. Even so, there is some great stuff on there for a beginner twitter like me. (thank to Moe for posting this)

7 Billion: Are You Typical — What does the average person look like?