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(inspired by Psalm 84)

God is living … God is not dead.
God is living and active and moving in and through this world and through the lives of His children. He is alive.

God gives the small and the mighty a place of refuge and helps them find a place to belong. God does not show favoritism and He has a place for all who believe in Him.

Those who dwell (live and stay with God as a permanent resident) will be blessed by the most High God.

Those who yield their little, tiny, puny strength in their own abilities to the God who has the strength to do anything He wants to do will always be blessed and find a strength that will never grow tired.

God will turn our crying into joy and He makes the deserted places full of life. He turns our weeping into laughter. God does great things!

It is better to be with God in His courts than anywhere in the world. There is beauty, rest, joy, peace, and abundance in God’s courts and no where else. Nothing is as great as the presence of God!

God is a sun – He brings life!
God is a shield – He protects us from harm!

God gives favor and honor for those who follow Him and are faithful to have a blameless walk with Him.

People who trust in Him are blessed beyond measure!

Prayer
Oh Lord … you are great. You are so unbelievably great! Your love is so beautiful and I pray we will take you at your Word and choose to follow you today. Help us to dwell in your presence and to never abandon you with our unfaithfulness. You are all that truly matters and how great is your love!

I Hope …
I hope these words have been as much a help to you as they have been to me.
I hope to see this generation turn their face to God and let God have control of their little lives full of small dreams that will soon pass away.
I hope to see a move of God like we have never seen before in the history of the world.

I hope in God … the One True God we can experience through the Life of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit!

(What you’re hoping for) – (What you get)

This might be the simplest possible explanation of customer satisfaction.

Dissatisfaction occurs when salespeople and marketers tend to try to amplify the first part (what you’re promised) while neglecting the second.

The ability to delight and surprise is at the core of every beloved brand (product, politician, teenager…). Overhype and shady promises will undercut that before it even has a chance to get started. Yes, of course you have to make promises to earn attention and trial. The mistake is when you put more effort into the promises and less into what you deliver. Promise a lot but deliver even more.

[One really important amplification: Research shows us that what people remember is far more important than what they experience. What's remembered:

--the peak of the experience (bad or good) and,

--the last part of the experience.

The easiest way to amplify customer satisfaction, then, is to underpromise, then increase the positive peak and make sure it happens near the end of the experience you provide. Easy to say, but rarely done.]

Seth Godin

“Today I rise above flattery and frowns. I know who and whose I am” Charlie Hall
I read these words today in my twitter feed and they were exactly what I needed to read. Thanks Charlie Hall!

It’s time. I am a Child of the Creator … I have the God of all living things living inside of me … The King of Kings chose me to be His … the One who started it all and the One who will bring it all to an end is my Lord … Wow!

Today is a new day! With Charlie Hall, I will rise above flattery and frown. I will rise above the temporary things of this world and sing a new song! He is alive! He is my Lord! He knows my name and HE IS FOR ME!

Praise the Lord! I belong to God!

Check this out.

Steve Jobs learned from and at times followed Bill Gates.
Bill Hybels was mentored by professor Gilbert Bilezikian.
Shuan White developed some of his best moves after watching Tony Hawk.
Billy Graham learned from mentor Henrietta Mears.
Jaromir Jagr learned much about hockey from Mario Lemieux.
Michael Jordan was mentored by Phil Jackson.

Seth Godin says, “I find heroes everywhere I look.”

George Steinbrenner once said about mentors, “surround yourself with people who were smarter than you are.”

So … who are you following? Who are you leading? Who are your heroes?

Don’t waste your life. Follow someone you can learn from and become better as a result of his/her influence.

Great leaders lead.
Great leaders follow.

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

The whole world is worshipping today . . . Join in!

Those of us who stand before a crowd and hope to communicate some sort of concept know how hard that really is. People are busy, easily distracted, and recognize weak content from a mile away. Communicating in this culture is tough.

Try the following next time you are getting ready to teach.

Start early.
It takes great communicators several weeks to prepare an effective message. Those who regularly stand in front of crowds with something to say have been thinking about, meditating on, studying, and examining their content for days. It is part of them and it flows like something they know, they believe, and are passionate about.

Don’t wing it.
You may get by with it a few times, but if you really think you can deliver a diet of half-baked talks that you really don’t know or maybe even don’t believe, then . . . well . . . I think you are most likely mistaken. One could even argue that people who wing it :: trust in themselves, don’t truly value their position, and aren’t honoring the audience. This is harsh, but it is borderline disrespect to stand in front of them and make it up as you go. You can do so much better than that.

Get help.
Get help as you prepare your next talk. Teams make things great. Inventions with impact are created by groups of people. Ideas that move a generation rarely flow out of individuals. The same is true for a great talk. Get together with a few people you have chemistry with and build the talk together. Get input, do research, brainstorm, create, craft, and form the message. It’s fun. You’ll grow. The group will feel empowered. Your audience will love it.

Hope this helps.

There are people who make an impact on a few, but only a few who make an impact on the world. Steve Jobs made an impact on the world.

Today Steve Jobs passed on. His physical life on earth is done but his contribution to the world lives on. It’s hard to believe he’s really gone.

I have a poster in my office that says Think Different. It was an awesome campaign created by the marketers of Apple and a fantastic phrase I heard a long time ago. It serves as a great reminder for me every single day of my life.

Think Different.
It’s what I do and I learned it from Steve Jobs.

We all have one life to live. What are we going to do with it?
Maybe we should Think Different . . . Could be a great concept for us all.

Check the following statistics out before you speak to your youth group this week . . .

About 20 percent of teens will experience teen depression before they reach adulthood.
Between 10 to 15 percent of teenagers have some symptoms of teen depression at any one time.

About 5 percent of teens are suffering from major depression at any one time
As many as 8.3 percent of teens suffer from depression for at least a year at a time, compared to about 5.3 percent of the general population.
Most teens with depression will suffer from more than one episode. 20 to 40 percent will have more than one episode within two years, and 70 percent will have more than one episode before adulthood. Episodes of teen depression generally last about 8 months.

Dysthymia, a type of mild, long-lasting depression, affects about 2 percent of teens, and about the same percentage of teens develop bipolar disorder in their late teenage years. 15 percent of teens with depression eventually develop bipolar disorder.
A small percent of teens also suffer from seasonal depression, usually during the winter months in higher latitudes.

www.teendepression.org

Hoping those of us who really care about the lives teenagers live will be willing to be a catalyst and help a teenager that is struggling with a difficult time in their lives right now.