Keep Pressing On

A famous mountain climbing resort in the Swiss Alps caters to businesses that encourage their employees to hike up the mountain trails together. The goal is to build camaraderie and to teach teamwork. Although it is about an eight hour trek to the summit, anyone in reasonably good shape can ascend to the top. In the morning, the hikers gather at the base of the mountain for a pep talk before starting the climb. Usually the group is so excited, they can hardly wait to head up the slopes, have a group picture taken, and celebrate the excitement of the journey they are embarking upon.
They hike for several hours before taking a break. Approximately halfway up the mountain stands a quaint alpine restaurant. About noon, the weary hikers trudge into the restaurant, peel off their hiking gear, and plop down by the fireplace to have a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and eat their lunch. With the mountain as their backdrop, the hikers savor the warm, cozy, picturesque setting.
Interestingly, after they are full and comfortable, fewer than half the hikers choose to continue climbing to the top of the mountain. It isn't because they aren't able; it isn't because the climb suddenly appears too difficult. Their reluctance to continue is simply because they are satisfied with where they are. They've lost their drive to excel, to explore a new horizon, and to experience vistas they'd never previously imagined possible. They have tasted a bit of success, and they think it is good enough.
Many times, we approach life a lot like those full and comfortable hikers sitting in the restaurant enjoying the view. We have a goal to break a bad habit, to lose some weight, or to pay off our credit cards. At first, we're so excited. We're fired up and we go after it! The first leg of the climb up the mountain is powered by enthusiasm for our new goal. But over time, we get lazy and complacent. Maybe we see a little improvement, but then we get comfortable right where we are. This might not be a bad place, but we know it's not where we're supposed to be. Like those hikers sitting in that quaint restaurant, we are still perfectly capable of craning our necks and looking up the mountain. We're not stretching our faith or our potential and we know it. Maybe you own a business, and you've experienced a bit of success. Lately, however, you've been coasting. Or maybe you set out to lose 20 pounds, you lose 10, and feel like all is good and you get complacent. Don 't stop halfway just because it's easy! Instead, remember what it is that you really, really want. Put out the effort and go the whole way. to the top of the mountain.
Step out of your comfort zone today! Keep pursuing and keep believing. It doesn't take any more effort to believe and stay filled with hope and faith than it does to develop a negative and defeated attitude. Get up every day and say, "This is going to be a great day! I believe my dreams are coming to pass. There are great things in store for me and everyone around me." When you have that kind of attitude you are releasing God's goodness. But it doesn't come easily.
People who see their dreams come to pass are people who have resolve and backbone. They are the ones who refuse to settle for the little victories along the way and see themselves at the finish line, instead continuing on, pushing on toward the ultimate goal. No one wants to be mediocre. You are made for so much more. Realize that what your mind focuses on, it can achieve. It is up to you. Pay attention only to those silent whispers within that say "You can do it!"
Linda McLean

Winning Choices

(excerpt from an incredible new book "Flying High" by Calvin LeHew & Stowe Dailey Shockey)
I wanted a miracle. Now. Where was it? The truth was becoming painfully clear. I was not getting better. In fact, I was in bed for most of every day. The only times I left the house anymore were Monday mornings to meet with Calvin. My daily two-mile walks, a twenty-year routine, were no more. No more aerobics. No more weight lifting. Now I struggled just to sit in a chair. Lying down wasn't much better. And to top it all off, I had-under much protest-begun taking pain medicine.
Not surprisingly, I was also dealing with depression. I had tried everything, short of surgery, to bring about my healing. Yet here I was, getting worse by the day. Prayer, special diets, vibrational medicine, a plethora of pills, healers, hypnosis, flower essences, chemo, radiation, and positive thinking. Where had all of this gotten me?
I was losing hope. Who was I to think I could co-author a book on positive thinking? I was losing sight of everything, slipping into an abyss of pain. Up until recently, writing this book had been inspirational to me. Now, it was a burden. What was I going to do?
I stared down at Calvin's cassette tape on the coffee table in my sunroom. Winning Choices. It seemed to be mocking me. But since it was easier for me to transcribe a seminar than to write something new, I pushed the old cassette into the player. I needed some words of encouragement.
"I want to talk about conscious awareness," he began. "The definition of awareness is, 'The degree of clarity to which we perceive both consciously and unconsciously all the things that affect our lives.' "I used to ask myself, why aren't more people trying to get ahead and achieve more things? I think the answer is because they aren't consciously aware of the many things that affect their lives, and the many choices they have under their own control. They would rather stay in their familiar comfort zone.
"I've come to believe that it's okay for people to stay in their comfort zone . . . if they want to. Those people are either happy where they are, or they don't know or believe these principles about conscious choices.
"Here's something else that bothered me for a long time: Why didn't God build us with total conscious awareness to begin with? The answer is: We had to have total freedom to discover these things on our own, or we wouldn't be free. It couldn't have happened if we weren't free to fall down and be hurt. To be bored enough to learn new things. Or to take risks by faith and then succeed. What is faith without freedom to choose? The answer is in the Bible. And, by the way, the principles I live by are all in the Bible.
"Making choices is the key after becoming aware. Being aware of our choices. The choices you make-either consciously or unconsciously-are affecting your life. You are responsible for the choices you make. From the clothes you wear, to the dollars in your bank account, to your job, to where you live-these are all the result of choices you've made. You are either happy or sad because you choose to be.
"I chose the name Choices for our restaurant because of this, not because of the variety of foods . . . it was because of the importance of this concept. We have literally hundreds and thousands of choices every day, and most people don't even realize it.
"Most of us are content to stay in our comfort zones . . . we get stuck there. Part of the reason for this has to do with fear. It's scary to get out of your comfort zone. You've probably heard of people who stay in abusive marriages because they're afraid to change their situation-even though they don't like it, it's familiar.
"I understand this. I get comfortable too. But when I become aware of it, I try to pioneer out so I can experience something new.
"So many folks are unconscious of the fact they are stuck in habits, customs, old beliefs . . . How much of what we do is based on these routines? I'm not saying traditions are bad . . . Rituals are great, if we don't forget the meaning behind them. Christmas is great, as long as we don't forget why we celebrate it. But the routine of worrying-that's a destructive habit. Think about people you've known-maybe even yourself-unaware that doubt and worry control your life. Most of the time we're not even aware that we're unaware! We're oblivious to the fact that we have choices. But as your awareness increases, you become conscious that you are choosing where you are going.
"As I increase my awareness I begin to see, 'Gosh, I did allow that to happen to me. I did create that problem.' And I realize I am responsible for my situation . . . responsible for my actions. Responsible for the opportunities I didn't take advantage of. Responsible for the things I did and said.
I stared at the tape player and shifted in my chair.
"There was a time at Carter's Court when I almost lost everything. I got into alcohol-Jack Daniels. I started drinking around 5 o'clock in the evening. And it was all because I had fear. I almost gave up. Over the years I survived several plane crashes; I nearly cut my leg off with a chain saw. And I don't think these were accidents. I believe, on some level, that when we start giving up, we self-destruct. That's what I was doing. In many ways we create our own sickness . . .
"But, thank God, we have choices. And with that knowledge we can create the life we want. As children, our parents and teachers-the adults in our lives-make most decisions for us. We don't have much to say about what happens. When we grow up though, we become responsible for our own lives. Yet many of us still continue to let other people or circumstances make decisions for us, either consciously or unconsciously.
"Hopefully, what you'll get out of this message today is to start consciously choosing your life the way you want it. No doubt, most of us are in a comfort zone, but it's a great day to begin consciously making choices."
I clicked off the tape. I needed that reminder-I'm in control of my own choices. I'd made so many about my health over the last year and a half. Some good. Some not so good. Some were made from a place of love. Some from a place of fear. I could see that the choices made from fear-fear of surgery, for instance-were the reason for the shape I was in now.
Maybe, on some level, I was-like Calvin suggested-"giving up." He talked about "self-destructing." That made sense. But that thing he said about "creating our own sicknesses" had me puzzled.
I could understand how a person might choose to abuse their body by drinking too much alcohol or overeating. That kind of lifestyle could eventually lead to sickness or even death. And a person engaging in risky activities is also upping the ante that they'll be injured or killed. And those high-stress jobs some people have? Yes, they could certainly cause a heart attack.
I've known financially strapped men who made comments about having a heart attack, saying their families would be better off with the money from their life insurance policy. Maybe they were, on some level, either consciously or unconsciously, bringing that fate on themselves.
But did I really choose to have cancer? That was a hard one for me to buy into. Perhaps it was the result of past choices . . . who can say? But one thing was becoming clear: It was entirely up to me to decide how I would choose to-or not to-treat the cancer growing in me.
Calvin LeHew and Stowe Dailey Shockey
To get the full story you will want to read all of this incredible new book. Take a moment and click here to get your copy and get more information on these two authors.
Naomi Judd - Five time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter had this to say about Flying High: A True Story of Shared Inspiration. "If you are struggling with adversity of any kind, whether sickness, financial, or just trying to figure out your purpose in this world, there's something precious in this story for you - a powerful dose of inspiration that will encourage you along your own journey... Flying High will put a song in your heart and take you soaring."

The True Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Here is your Friday story,
The True Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A guy named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old daughter, Barbara, sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bobs wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dads eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob. Being small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember.
From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938. Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined a make one - a storybook!
Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose.
Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there. The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter.
But the story doesn't end there either. Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas." The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing!