I read good piece recently on a blog posted by Seth Godin. The post spoke about the things that motivate us to do what we do and what the best motivation is.  The conclusion is that Self-Motivation is the best motivation. Read the post below and enjoy:

The rear view mirror is one of the most effective motivational tools ever created.

In August of 1953, Eight American climbers had been trying to scale the perilous Himalayan peak K2 when on of them Art Gilkey, developed a blood clot in his leg. Unless they get him down to the bottom quickly he was going to die. Saving this incapacitated climber meant terrible risks for the other climbers. The conditions of this particular climb were treacherous for skilled climbers carrying nothing, but their own pack. As they worked there way down one man, whose frostbitten fingers were too stiff to maintain his grip, slipped. He seemed to cartwheel down the slick 45-degree slope, his gloves flying off his hands, his shredded pack tearing loose. Until he was over the cliff and gone. That would have been the end of this unluck

y climber had it not been for nylon rope that connected him to the men above — A rope that nearly killed all of them. As the first man plummeted, he pulled another climber over with him. The weight of those two yanked a third, fourth, and fifth off the side of the mountain, sending them careening in a mad jumble down the icy slope.

Up above holding on to Gilkey, was Schoening. His end of the rope was tied to an ice axe jammed behind a boulder. As those men were sliding off that mountain and that nylon line whipping past Schoening – He could have let the ice axe bear the violent yank that was coming when the rope got tight. It may have even held.But in an instant he got under the rope and wrapped it over his shoulders and under is arms. Anchored his feet, stopping their fall. Without letting go of Gilkey, Schoening bore the weight of all five men, the farthest of whom was 150 feet below. In a blinding snowstorm, he held on until those battered men came to their senses and realized that they werenʼt dead – and scrambled up that line to safety. The technique is known as: Belaying

Some forty-three years later in 1996, journalist Jon Krakauer was one of dozens of tourist paying to make a Himalayan climb, this one up Mount Everest. Not only were they not a team, they barely new each other. Each one of them had paid $65,000 to attempt the summit, and each was focused on his or her personal quest. Krakauer wrote: “I felt disconnected from the climbers around me – emotionally, spiritually, physically – to a degree I hadnʼt experienced on any previous expedition.” He said, “Although we broke as group, we would ascend as individuals, linked to one another by neither rope nor any deep sense of loyalty.”

There have been many theories attempting to explain why eight people died on the mountain that next day – The clouds settling over the summit, the pelting snow, which reduced visibility to just a few feet; a freak weather pattern, climbers were amateurs – but any and all of those causes could have been overcome if they had just stuck together.

Loyalty is more than just a matter of working together, more than just the obvious observation that we can do more together than apart – but itʼs about being reliable. Each of us doing our part for the good of team and church. Itʼs not about us doing what feels good to us. Itʼs about being a team player. Somebody people can count own.

When our pioneering forefathers first came to America they credited the Indians with phenomenal eyesight.  While the white man only saw the leaves of a tree, an Indian could see a squirrel’s eye.  While the white man could only spot the branches of a tree, it was the red man that could spot the antlers of a deer in a thicket.

But as the white men started hunting like the Red Men they discovered that their eyesight was as good as that of Indians.  Indians eyes had never been physically better than the colonists’ eyes; Indians just simply knew what they were looking for and how to look.  They were intent on finding a squirrel and not leaves, deer and not branches, and they weren’t going to let leaves and branches distract them.  It was basically the Indian’s interest rather than his visual aptitude that made his eyesight so keen.  When the white man developed the same interest, they found they had the same capacity for seeing.

In matters of religion, as everywhere else in life, the secret of success is attentiveness based upon interest. It’s this attentiveness that saves us from the poverty of unawareness.  We go about the world unconscious of the goodness and glory that is all around us and unaware of the God who is so near us.  Perhaps it is because God is always near that we miss noticing Him until we are desperate for Him.

Living in water, a fish might miss the meaning of water, while seeking its food and escaping its enemies. Living in God, we miss God while making a living, seeking our comforts and our pleasures.  Let your prayer today be, God make us aware of you!

In certain early American Indian tribes, when a princes came of age she was given a basket and instructed to pick the best ears of corn in a given row. There was one condition she must abide by: she must choose the ears as she went along.  She couldn’t turn back, retrace her steps, and select ears she had passed by. Many a princess failed this test of judgment.  She marveled as the high quality of the corn, and as she felt of the firm ears on the stalks she was tempted to pick them. But perhaps there were better ears on the stalks just ahead. She would wait and see.  Then suddenly, to her surprise and bitter disappointment, she found herself at the end of the corn row, and her basket was empty. While looking for perfection, she missed gathering any ears at all.

Life is so much like this.  We move through our days constantly looking for the golden opportunity, the next big break, the perfect situation.  I guess one of life’s most deceptive illusions is that the present moment is unimportant, the present opportunities aren’t all that imperative.

Sorry to sound so melancholy today, but today’s energy is all we can count on; it is here.  Yesterday is depleted, and there is no guarantee of tomorrow.  What you say, let’s make this day count!

In 1 Samuel 10:5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God. where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place a psaltry, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

Now anytime that we start moving forward toward the things of God there is always some sort of an attack. In fact, anytime we begin going toward anything that God has desired for us we’ll probably experience an onslaught of opposition in the area that we’re trying give to God.  It’s been my experience that the enemy desire is to keep us out of high places.  It’s in the high places of life that change comes and battles are won.

The scripture lets us know that Saul was commanded to go to a high place.  If you read the beginning portion of this particular chapter you’ll find that Saul met some people in a low place and was instructed to salute them and keep traveling.  It’s God’s desire to keep us from connecting with people in low places.  When I think of low place people, I think of people who are negative and never have anything good to say.

One of the ways to identify high place people is the sound of praise and worship precedes them.  It doesn’t take long for us to recognize where people are coming from.  You can locate their position, because their speech gives them away. When we’re moving toward the things of God we must be ever mindful of low place people and high place people.  People from the high place have seen things from God’s vantage point.

We become what we hang with!  Be careful today and identify the relationships that will elevate you!

A Sunday school teacher was proud of her lesson for the day. She thought she had presented the material quite nicely. Summing up, she asked the class, “And what do we learn form the story of Jonah and the big fish?”  Eight-year-old Suzy thought for a moment and answered, “Always travel by air.”

Well, I hope that’s not the only thing we learn from the story of Jonah.

People that are antagonistic against the scriptures usually have a few main targets that they like to attack to discredit the Word of God.  One of their targets is usually the creation narrative of of the book of Genesis.  The reason for this is that if they can remove an all wise and all power creator then a whole lot of theories, philosophies and alternative answers come into play.  It’s after the Genesis account that they begin to target the story of Jonah.  If they can discredit this story then all the other stories in the Bible have to be brought into question.

I personally believe that the story of Jonah and creation are tied together, because if there is a creator then certainly he could have created a fish big enough to swallow a man.  So the question always has been, is this story real or is it a fable or myth and maybe even a legend.  I possess the firm belief that it is real!  If you’ll notice in the scriptures that anytime the Lord told a parable or metaphor He never used proper names.  He would say things like, “A man had two sons…..”  ”There was a certain woman….”, but when proper names were give this meant that this was a real individual.  In fact Jonah is mentioned in other books in the Bible and even the Lord Himself referred to him.

Jonah is placed into an awkward position when he’s ask to go and preach to the people of Nineveh, because he’s a Jew and he’s use to prophesying to his own people and preaching to his own people. It’s now that God is sending him to a group of people that he doesn’t care for, nor does he like.  If you’d like to know why he doesn’t wish to go and preach to these people you can find it in Jonah 4:2…”Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” Jonah knew that God would forgive these people.

I’ve found that its easy to prophesy expansion and blessing to your own people and those that you like. The struggle is with people you don’t care about.  If Jonah goes and preaches to Nineveh and they repent they may become stronger than Israel. God just might make them a bigger deal, than his own people.

It’s one thing to walk with God when we’re the big deal, but our love for God and obedience is tested when He wants to use us to make somebody else a bigger deal than we are.  Our praise and obedience isn’t tested when we’re always the king of the hill and we’re always the one being blessed and in charge.  How willing are we to help some people succeed that we really don’t care about.

You see this story just isn’t about Jonah, it’s about all of us.  Check your motives today and ask yourself, “Am I willing?”

Over the next few months a lot will be heard and spoken of by political candidates.  I guess the question I hear the most may be, “Who are you voting for?”  as if my vote would actually sway the opinion and the belief of the individual asking.  Sometimes I think it’s just a point of conversation or possibly argument.  I read a cute Charlie Brown story recently that I’d like to share in this months blog post.

Charlie Brown said to little Lucy: “My dad said that someday I might be able to run for President.”   “Really, Charlie Brown?” Lucy answers. “He certainly must think highly of you!”

“I don’t know,” Charlie replies.  ”He also said he didn’t think he’d vote for me.”

More than just an assessment of who God is and who we are, more than anything in life, we need to know that God would vote for us. We need to know that God is on our side,  that God is with us and God loves us. The truth today is God is love and God love you and I. This little post is to let you know that God would vote for you!

Have a blessed day!

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Things Nobody Tells You About Getting Results

1.    THERE’S ALWAYS A PRICE TAG.

The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Success is one thing you can’t pay cash for.  You’ve got to put it on the installment plan and make payments every day.

2.    SUCCESS WON’T SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS

Walt Disney was once asked, How does it feel to be a celebrity? He answered, It feels fine when it helps me to get a good seat for a football game.  But it never help me to make a good film, or a good shot in a polo game, or command the obedience of my daughter.  It doesn’t even seem to keep fleas off my dogs and if being a celebrity won’t give one an advantage over a couple of fleas then I guess there can’t be much in being a celebrity after all.

3.    RESULTS CREATE HIGHER EXPECTATION

When you have success, people expect you to perform at this new level all the time. One wise football coach said to a young new coach whose team experienced a early defeat, The best thing that can happen is a early defeat in the season.  That takes all the pressure off you trying to have a perfect season. Now you can focus on winning football games not protecting your record.

The greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is today’s success.

4.   HARDSHIPS FOSTERS THE BLUEPRINT FOR RESULTS.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles that one has overcome while trying to success. Booker T. Washington

The founder of Honda motors once said, Success is 99% failure.

5.    RESULTS CREATE BOTH CRITICS AND FANS

Don’t be distracted by critics.  Remember the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you. To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

When you get criticized do the following:
A. Learn from it.  Is there any truth to the criticism?
B. Use it to motivate you to great action. Criticism can be great fuel.
C. Trust God for vindication. Don’t try to make it happen yourself.

Hope each one of you are blessed today and take a little something special from this great lesson on getting results.

I can’t remember exactly where I read the illustration of the African impala, but it bears repenting entering into this new year. These impala’s of southern and eastern Africa are amazing leapers. They can jump to a height of over 10 feet. One leap can cover a distance greater than 30 feet. Yet these incredible animals can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3‑foot high wall. You see, impalas will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall.

This is a wise and conservative approach to life. Do not jump if you cannot see where your feet will fall. We have the old saying, “Look before you leap.”

However in contrast to the life of faith described in Hebrews chapter 11 is pretty incredible: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” How’s that for a working definition of faith? “Sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” That’s the very opposite of “look before you leap.”

Faith is jumping without being able to see where our feet will fall.

Remember the story of the little boy on the second floor of a burning building. “Jump!” his father calls out to him. “I will catch you.” The little boy cries out timidly, “But, father, I can’t see you.”

And his father says, “Yes, but I can see you.”

That is the kind of faith that the writer of Hebrews is commending. And beginning with the eighth verse he gives examples of such faith: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

As we leap into 2011, we can be confident that God is going catch us!