It’s all a matter of choice.  What do you choose?

I recently found this story on Kirk Weisler’s website and I wanted to share it.

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point. He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed my friend a laminated card and said:

‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest,
safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’

My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’

Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.’

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’

Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card. ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘have you always served customers like this?’   Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’

‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.

‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

Customers love riding in Walter’s cab. His cab ride hits their emotions, and emotions are something that no competitor can copy.

What does it cost the cab driver to offer such treats to his riders? Close to $5,000 a year. What does he get for his $5,000? He makes $12,000-$14,000 extra a year in tips.  Just for being courteous and offering a few snacks and the morning paper.

What makes him unique? This cabby thinks differently. He stopped thinking like every other cab driver in town, and discovered what it would take to turn his boring, mundane occupation into an experience customers would always remember.

Not with mirrors, magic or miracles. Just by thinking differently.  How do you think differently?

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Pushing the Envelope All the Way to the Top

With everything that has gone on in the world recently, a word that I can’t stop thinking about is Hope.

I think everyone could agree that a hopeful attitude is a good thing. But what exactly is hope? Can it be learned? Centuries of folk wisdom and religious teaching have taught the benefits of a hopeful attitude. Researchers believe that hope may be associated with good health and greater success, both personally and professionally.

But what exactly is hope?

Dictionary.com says that “hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.”  Hope can also be an attitude, a state of mind, or a goal.  We can hope for something, we can be hopeful, or we can create a sense of hope.

Actor Christopher Reeve had every intention of walking again, and had he lived, I would not have been surprised to see him do so. His determination was led by a strong sense of hope. He once said “Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.”  I believe he chose hope.

This past weekend we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. day.  In a speech called The Trumpet of Conscience, King said “If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”

We live in a time where hope seems fleeting every day.  We read stories in the paper, watch the nightly news or read blogs online that we live in times where there seems to be little hope.  100,000 innocent people die and we do not have reasons why, that for many people, takes away any existence of hope.

However, in all other things being equal – a hopeful attitude helps overcome obstacles.  I have seen people rise out of what seems like impossible situations. It is people like that who can express how important it was for them, to never give up hope.

So what gives you hope? My hope comes from a number of places.

First, I find myself hopeful because of my faith in God.  My faith drives my belief that through hope I have the ability for active participation in the world in order to help others live and experience a better world.  I know we live in a broken world and I am determined to help others find a sense of hope in their lives.  My faith tells me that I have a God who loves me and who cares for me in all areas of my life.  Even though I am broken, God is there to help me and to make me whole again, and that gives me hope.

I am also hopeful because of my family.  I love going home to my family every night.  When I see my family I am energized and hopeful again.  It is through them that I experience unfailing, never ending love.  It is through them that I am able to envision a future that is bright, and full of possibilities.  Being a parent and husband are the two most satisfying things in my life.

Lastly, I am hopeful because of my job.  I know I am called to be a pastor because of all the amazing things I have the opportunity to do every day.  I am able to spend time reading and reflecting on the Word of God, I am able to engaged in conversation about the word of God and see its impact in people’s lives.  I am able to walk with people through the most joyous times in their lives and saddest as well. And in every situation I see hope.  I see opportunities for new life, new birth and it is there that hope is present.

So where do you see hope in your life and the lives around you?

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Winter is a tough time for many people, especially people here in central New York.  We are surrounded by snow, and almost every day we are getting more snow.  The days are shorter and we spend more and more time inside.  Depression rates run high during the winter months.  It is a hard time.  So how do we dramatically increase the joy in our lives?

Everyone likes to feel good. However we tend to react to situations instead of taking control over our lives.  When things go wrong for us we tend to sit around waiting for it to pass, hoping that something or someone will come to rescue us, to help us feel better.

Instead of sitting around, what if we had a plan for pleasure?  I am sure that there are things in our lives that make us happy, things that put a smile upon our face every-time we encounter it.  For example, no matter how hard of a day I have, no matter what goes wrong in my life, when I walk through the door and see my wife and children I can’t help by smile.  Or when I have things on my mind, things that I need to think about, I will take out my guitar and start to play.  This helps clear the thoughts out of my mind and it helps me focus on the task at hand.  Not only does it give me time to think, but it allows me to pray as well.

The times that I have been hurt the most, or the times I have felt lost and alone, I turn to God .  I leave my worries and my cares in God’s hands and I feel much better about my life, I have a clearer pictures of what I need and who I am.

So have you ever thought about making a list of things that help you? Do you really enjoy listening to music? Cooking a delicious meal? Watching an inspirational movie?  Also have you thought about who do you turn too when you need help?  Do you have friends you trust? Can you turn to family?  Have you ever turned to God?

If you had a list of a couple of dozen things you could count on for a good time, you’d have plenty of options the next time you wanted to create a pleasure-producing experience.  If you had a list of people to turn too when you need a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen to you life might be a little easier.  I have been trying to add to my list every day.

What about you? How do you create you own happiness?  How does your faith play into it?

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The Wild Zone: A Novel

The closer that we are to Christmas the more stress I feel in my life.  There is so much to do, I don’t think I have enough hours in the day/week/month to get everything done!!
When I get stressed I have a pain in my lower back, it hurts me so much I can’t walk!  Therefore I am taking the time this Christmas season to releave some of the stress in my life.

However, not all stress is bad.  The more we are able to prepare ourselves for the stress in our lives the better we are at in handling it.  The cause of stress in people’s lives is stepping out of our comfort zones.

All of us have comfort zones. Now a comfort zone is just a term for the physical or psychological area in which we feel comfortable and at ease. When we move away from the familiar to the new and different, we are moving out of our comfort zone.
If the move is not something we choose to do or are not ready for, we feel anxiety and stress.

Most of us might be able to remember the stress that comes when experiencing something new — For example, the first time you went to school and you had the dreams of showing up to school with no pants on.  Or if you have ever walked into the wrong rest room, and you got out of there as fast as you could before anyone noticed what you did!

The more comfortable we are with who we are and what we believe the easier it is to step out of our comfort zone safely.  If you use techniques like affirmation and visualization to mentally take yourself out of your comfort zone safely, when it is time to deal with the real thing, instead of anxiety you will feel excitement – a good kind of stress – and you will be giving your self-esteem a boost.

This holiday season I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone.  If you are comfortable coming to church on a regular basis but not really comfortable inviting a friend or family member to church……I challenge you to  visualize yourself talking to a friend and inviting them to come to church with you.

If you are not comfortable coming to church….I challenge you to visualize yourself walking into church again, connecting or reconnecting with the church.

If you are comfortable coming to church, and inviting people to church…..I challenge you to think about something that might take you out of your comfort zone (preaching perhaps?)

Whatever it might be, I believe that the good stress that can come out of this can not only help you in your spiritual life but in all aspects of your life.

If you are going to a job interview, visualize yourself wowing the company and you will not only do better in the interview but you will be less stressed about it.

It may never help you walking into the wrong restroom, but you will be able to handle change more easily and deal with new situations without becoming anxious.

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On average I receive about 3-5 forward emails a day.  About once a week or so I will go through them and read them.  I will laugh at the jokes or think about the message that others try to portray.  The other day this one email caught my eye.  It was appropriate to read this time of the year when we are busy in the holiday season.

As we are in the midst of Advent let us prepare ourselves not only for the physical part of Christmas (presents, parties, and decorations) but let us slow down, look around and prepare ourselves for the spiritual aspect of Christmas.

I would like to share the email that I received that really opened my eyes to how much we can miss in our world if we do not stop and listen to the music.

“Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk..

6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously.  Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment aboutperception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:  If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…. How many other things are we missing?”

Josh Bell

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When I worked at Camp Calumet, I would host  youth weekends.  About 5-6 small youth groups would come to the camp to participate in Calumet run youth weekend.  I, as the retreat host would use Friday night and Saturday morning as an opportunity for group building….I would plan activities that enabled the kids to feel comfortable with one another, to strengthen their current relationships in their groups and establish new relationships with the other churches.

On Saturday morning I would take a big piece of chalk and draw a line on the floor.  I challenged the kids to cross that line and take a risk.  I would say “you are one of 80 teenagers at this retreat, you might know 10 others, I challenge you this morning to take a risk, cross this line and meet someone you don’t know.”  You know what?  Almost everyone of the kids did cross the line, they took a risk and it worked out well for them.

So my question for you today is…..Do you consider yourself a risk-taker?

In one of his books, Leo Buscaglia wrote that,”To laugh is to risk appearing a fool, to weep is to risk appearing too sentimental, to reach out for another is to risk involvement, and to expose feelings is to risk exposing one’s true self.  To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss, to love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, to try is to risk failure.  But all risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

So much in our life is based on risk.  I know that I have opted out of certain opportunities in my life because I did not want to take the risk of hurt, failure, embarrassment or despair.  But I have also taken risks and I have been successful, happy and satisfied.

I also agree with Leo Buscaglia.  If, out of our fears, we refuse to risk, we also forfeit our freedom because only a person who risks is truly free. And, only a person who risks can grow, because all personal growth involves risk.

Where in your personal life are you drawing lines?  How can you cross them and take a risk?

This week, take a risk…..see what happens……

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1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”

Do you pray? I have to admit I don’t always have the best prayer life. Everyday things seem to get in the way of my devotional time. Something may come up and I push off my devotional reading and time I spend with God.

So I sat down the other day to think about my prayer life and things that I could do to improve my prayer life. God lead me to the above verses in 1 Thessalonians….In this letter Paul is telling the Thessalonians (and us) what the will of God is, and that is to pray without ceasing. So how do we do that? This does not mean that we need to be talking with God 24/7 – but what we can do is to thank God for all the little things that happen in our daily life.

For example, if we get up in the morning, we can say “thank you God for another day” – if we are not feeling well we can pray for help “Oh God, help me through the day” If someone cuts us off while we are diving to work, the store, or to school we can pray “God please protect them as they drive today and give them what they need to be a safe driver.” These are short prayers to God that can happen a number of times throughout the day. These are Twitter prayers!!!

For those who might not know Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author’s profile page and delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers.

So our prayers could be like tweets to God – short, to the point and we can say a number of things: “Here I am send me” – “You are the potter, I am the clay” – “The Lord is my Shepherd” – Most of these prayers can be said in one breath and said over and over again. They can be there to help us with whatever we are going through – to focus our life and our energy on the one who created us and who loves us. Hopefully God then will tweet back.

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Good Monday Morning!!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! I hope that you are ready to take on whatever life may throw at you this week!!  I have a feeling it is going to be a great week.

Things are hoping around here with our Vacation Bible School program. We have around 50 kids signed up and a lot of volunteers. We are working hard to make this the best week possible for all of the young kids that are attending the program. To my surprise (and a good surprise) we have alot of 3-5th graders!!

On Sunday we announced in church that we wanted to have some reptiles come to the VBS program. After all it is Discovery Canyon!!! The problem was funding the event, as you know we do not charge for our VBS program. Well thanks to some generous people we were able to fully fund the visit.

“MaxMan Reptile Rescue” will be coming to St. Mark’s on Wednesday 10-11am, as a special treat. For more information please visit their website. http://www.maxmanreptilerescue.com/id34.html

The past few weeks I have seen many signs of Hope. I have seen it in the different activities that I have been involved with and in the church.

Last week I recieved an email from Lou Tice called “What is Hope?” I would like to share that with you today.

I think everyone would agree that a hopeful attitude is a good thing. But what exactly is hope? Can it be learned? Centuries of folk wisdom and religious teaching have taught the benefits of a hopeful attitude. These days, researchers believe that hope may be associated with good health and greater success, both personally and professionally. But what exactly is hope? Well, according to Dr. Rick Snyder while at the University of Kansas, hope is a practical, goal-oriented attitude – a stance people assume in the face of difficulty. It combines a goal-directed determination with the ability to generate the means of reaching the goals. Dr. Snyder developed a test to measure hopefulness, and he found that college students who scored high in hope also turn in the best academic performance, regardless of high school grades or SAT scores. Folks who are injured or seriously ill do better when they have high hopes, too. Actor Christopher Reeve had every intention of walking again, and had he lived, I would not have been surprised to see him do so. Hope was a very large part of his being. The research also suggested that – all other things being equal – a hopeful attitude helps people overcome obstacles like poverty, lack of education and even lack of social support. In this latest economic downturn, it is those people with hope, who can express that hope, who will best weather their circumstances. Can you learn to be hopeful? You bet you can! See failure as an opportunity to learn rather than a flaw in your character, and make a habit of remembering your past successes. Break down your long-term goals into short-term sub-goals, and reward yourself for reaching them. Visualize a positive outcome for every situation, affirm yourself for all your good qualities, and no matter what happens, hang on to your hope.

Lou Tice

The Pacific Institute

What give you hope? My hope rests on the one who came to save us – Jesus Christ. In Christ I know that all things are possible. I hope that you can find that assurance as well.

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Good Monday Morning!
It feels good to be someones personal hero. There are many kinds of hero’s out there both real and fictional.  What kind of hero are you?

I have been thinking about personal hero’s today and what it means to be one to someone, or to think about my personal hero’s.  I believe in some ways we are all personal hero’s to someone weather we know it or not.  But more importantly — who are our personal hero’s?  Who do we look up too in life?

There may be different people that we look up too in different areas of our lives.  For example, I would consider both of my parents personal hero’s especially when it comes to raising my children.  If I can be half the parent that my parents were for me I would be happy.  I have more personal hero’s or people that I look up too when it comes to music, writing, sports ect.

The question I would like to put before you today is who is your spiritual personal hero?  It might be easy to say Jesus – of course we would like to look to Jesus as our model for our Christian faith, but the reality is that no matter how much we might “try” to formulate our faith life like Jesus we will always fall short.  My question is, who can you go up too and say to someone “you are my spiritual personal hero” -  Who might we look toward to help us in our faith journey?

This question might be hard for some of us, including myself.  I have never really thought of a spiritual or faith journey personal hero but it might help me in my journey.  It might help me focus more on my faith and look at my faith in ways I never did before.

That is my challenge to you this week and my prayer for you this week.  To think about your faith in ways that you have not before, to in some ways find a personal hero for your faith life, your spiritual side and to let the personal hero’s in your life know that they are special in your life.

Prayer
Lord God, you are more of a hero to us than we could ever imagine.  Help us Lord to get to know the other hero’s here on Earth.  Guide us in our faith journey that we can find the spiritual hero’s among us.  Lead us in the directions that we need to go in.  Open our eyes to the world around us that we can see clearly the places that you are calling us too.  Amen.

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Good Monday Morning!!

Transitions….

I have had transitions on my mind the past few weeks.  This might not be a surprise to many of you – life is full of transitions, we experience them all the time.  Here are some of the transitions in my life right now…..

1. We are moving this upcoming weekend so once again we will pack up our lives in boxes and move into a new home, but it will be a home we hope   to be at for many, many years.
2. New ministry partner, as many of you know this upcoming Sunday is Allison Henry’s last Sunday at St. Mark’s.  We will begin a search for a new Minister of Music (a transition).
3. We have been making the transition for Logan from being a regular kid to becoming a School-Age kid as he beings kindergarten in the fall.

These are only a few of the transitions in my life right now – I am sure that you are experiencing your own transitions in your lives.

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Commanding Your Morning

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