Ashleigh's Epiphany

As Ashleigh and I were driving around her little town. She came to the conclusion that I needed to know where she got her jeans. I needed to know this for a few reasons:

1. Ashleigh Loves Me

2. I love Jeans

3. Ashleigh knows Jeans and where to find them

Then as Ashleigh was thinking more about it, she started to rant! That she knew where great Jeans were. KOHL'S she says, has great jeans. Taking this conversation to a new place Ashleigh then proceeds to say, "It's just that easy! When you love something or someone you share your knowledge!" Ashleigh then asks, "Are you looking for Happiness? I know where I found happiness." I'm completely lost but went with it. I ask, "Where'd you get that Happiness, Ash?" 

"The Gospel!" She screams....and then repeats, "It's just that easy!" 

Because: 

1. Ashleigh Loves Me

2. I love Happiness

3. Ashleigh knows Happiness and where to find it.

My Two Cents:

If you love someone and aren't afraid to tell them where you got your jeans,  why not tell them where you got your Happiness? Because it's just THAT easy! So go share your knowledge!

Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?

I get daily quotes sent to my phone and this was the quote sent to me this morning.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what others think, say, and do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home." - Charles R. Swindoll, an American writer.

For some reason my world has lately recieved several motivational influences. Last week, Joe and his brother John played football with a bunch of friends and I tagged along bringing with me one of those self help books to help with the inevitable boredom. The week before I came upon some motivational videos. There are two that stand out the most to me. One is a clip from the movie Facing the Giants . In this clip Brock, if asked to do the death crawl. The death crawl is a sport exercise in which one person carries another person on his back using only his arms(the knees are not allowed to touch the ground). Even 50 yards of this is very very hard. Brock promises to give the coach his very best. As hes making his way across the field, Brock is yelling out in pain, telling the coach "it hurts! it burns! its too hard!" And the coach is yelling at Brock, "don't quit, give me your best, you can do it, you promised your best, dont give up on me!" Finally, Brock cant give anymore and collapses, as he trys to apologize for collapsing and the coach says, "Look up Brock, youre in the end zone."

The other is a video of Nick Vujicic, known as the man with no limbs.

In the video Nick says, "So what do you do when you fall down? You get back up...But there are times in life when you fall down and you feel like you don't have the strength to get back up. Do you think you have hope? I will try 100 times to get up and if I fail 100 times, if I fail and I give up, do you think I'm ever going to get up? No. If I fail, I try again and again and again. Its not the length of the journey that matters, its the finish. Are you going to finish strong? You will find that strength to get back up."


Now my two cents.....

Our attitudes effect every aspect of our lives. Everyday we have a choice to make. We can have a positive attitude, or we can have rotten attitudes. It is said that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% of how we react to it. Some things we have no control over. So do we blame people, hold grudges, throw fits like little children or do we move on and embrace life. We have the opportunity to make each day better. So why not do it?

I have fallen many many times and there have been times when I didn't feel like I had the strength to get up. I don't think I would have gotten up if I didn't have family, friends, and my savior standing above me telling me I can do it. Life is tough and I'm not even 20 yet. Ive fallen off the beaten path, I've had my heart crushed, and I've been hurt but I'm still pushing through. I rejoice in the knowledge that it doesn't matter how many times I fall. All that matters to the Lord is how many times I try to get back up, and if I try, he will help me succeed. Some times life does hurt, some times it burns and we want to give up, but we promised God our best. He is always at our side begging us not to quit, to push through the pain, and if we do it, we will end up in the end zone.

We all made that promise and I plan on keeping mine. Do you?

Introduction

For the last two weeks I have been job hunting. Everyday I get up, get dressed, and sit at the computer. I'm there for 5 or 6 hours a day. Occasionally I get up to perform necessary human functions, but for the most part I just sit, stare, and type. So, as I sat down this morning, dreading the boring and repetitious week ahead I thought, I want to start a blog. I was thinking of the blogs that I enjoy reading and of those that create them. Why do I spend my time reading the thoughts of others? It's because their thoughts and their lives are profound, inspirational, and heartwarming. I learn from them. If the thoughts and experiences of others can help and benefit me, then mine can help someone else. See, if I were to blog, then my thoughts and the thoughts of people smarter than me would be much better heard.

My two cents....

I've been thinking about lying and what it does to our spirits when we lie and are lied to. The philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that lying corrupts the most important quality of my being human: my ability to make free, rational choices. Each lie I tell contradicts the part of me that gives me moral worth. Second, my lies rob others of their freedom to choose rationally. When my lie leads people to decide other than they would had they known the truth, I have harmed their human dignity and autonomy. Kant believed that to value ourselves and others as ends instead of means, we have duties to avoid damaging, interfering with, or misusing the ability to make free decisions; in other words - no lying. Lying is not worth it. It never was and it never will be.

On a slightly more positive note, have you ever heard of a Nor'easter? Well, I experienced my first one this weekend. A nor'easter is nothing more than a very long, wet storm. They can last up to 3 days, often causing floods and hurricane like winds. Compared to Kennewick, a city that receives on average 7 inches of precipitation in an entire year, getting 7 inches in 3 days is a bit mind boggling. But the rain and the leaves are coming down and fall is here. It is quickly becoming my new favorite season. I have never experienced the colors like this before.