Super Bowl vs. First Born

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Richard Sherman finds himself in a potentially difficult spot this weekend.

He is about to experience the greatest feeling one could ever have. Becoming a father for the very first time. Yet he is also 48 hours from playing in his 2nd Super Bowl. The biggest game of his professional life.

What should he do if his wife goes into labor before the game. Leave? Stay and come after the game? There seems to be no right answer.

If he leaves… He lets down the team he’s worked hard to help build and could potentially lose the big game.

If he stays… He could miss his first child coming into the world!

That’s a crazy situation!

What would you do? Stay or leave?

I said never again… I lied!

I said I would never again allow another dog in my house. The ones that Tiff brought home over the past years were just little things. Im not sure you could even call them dogs. I hated them. I hate the way they pee on things. I hate taking them outside in the cold. I hate the way they think they own everything in the house.

Never again… I lied!

Here is the video of the girls getting the puppy!

Just a few days ago I gave in to months of pleading from my girls. I don’t know how it happened… But it did!

Meet Piper!

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Apostle Paul, Bill Belichick, and You!

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I’ve spent the better part of 14 years reading different leadership books, blogs, and magazines. I’ve heard 21 Irrefutable Laws and 7 habits all geared to make me a better leader and person.

They have all been very helpful. I continue to plow threw many books a year and listen to many podcasts on my way to and from work everyday. But I’ve learned more about leadership sitting on the beach in Outer Banks NC from former CNO of the US Navy, Admiral Vern Clark, then I’ve learned in all the other years combined.

The most valuable thing you have as a leader is your?????

CREDIBILITY.

If I’ve heard him say it once… I’ve heard him say it a million times. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge, wisdom, money, or power you have… If you do not have credibility with people, they will never really follow you.

This isn’t anything new…

Look at the Apostle Paul. After an incredible conversion on a dirt road to Demascus, it was three years before he began to preach. Why… Credibility! He had a reputation as a Christian Murderer. People didn’t know if they could trust him. He had to go through a process to show that he was committed to Christ. To rebuild his credibility.

Bill Belichick now 6 days out from his 6th Super Bowl isn’t answering questions about the game… But if his team cheated in the previous game. It isn’t his first time being accused either. He was previously found guilty of spying on other teams. Now Bill says he had no idea about the issue… But nobody really believes him! Why… He lost his credibility! Any time his name comes up with cheating… Everyone just assumes he did.

And then there’s you… And me… Where do we stand with the people we lead? With our family? And friends? Do we over commit and under deliver? Sure we all have good intentions. We truly do want to meet with everyone. We want to be at every baseball game. So we say YES… To everything. Only to have to go back and cancel. Or reschedule.

And there is so much more at stake them a rescheduled meeting… It’s our credibility.

So if you say yes, you’ll be there… Go!

If you commit to doing something… Do it!

If you don’t have credibility with the people in you life… If they can’t take you at your word… It’s going to be hard to accomplish anything.

Be credible!

My Journey of Becoming ME!

At the end of every year I take the last two weeks and go through a process. I pull all of my journals off shelf and read through them all. Its a fun walk down memory lane, but it’s much more than that. It’s reminder after reminder of God’s faithfulness in my life. I am able to read through my prayers and see how God answered them. I am also able to see how I make such big deals out of things that in reality just aren’t. Im a big fan of journaling for this reason alone.

I also spend much time in prayer asking God for my ONE WORD for the upcoming year. I have found that if I try to focus on a long list of things to change, I typically fail. But if I can focus on just one word I can stay focused on the things that fit within that category.

This year my word is BECOMING!

I have spent my entire adult life serving people. Its my passion! Its what I was created to do. But in doing so, its really easy to lose yourself. You try your best to fit the expectations of people. And that expectation changes from person to person. By the end of the day you’ve had 17 cups of coffee with 17 different people who all need 17 different needs. And because I love them all so much… I try to give them all what they need. I go home wide awake from all the coffee. Can’t sleep because Im wired and stressing about how to meet everyones needs. And repeat the same process the next day.

I get months in to this and realize I have only been home to eat dinner with my girls once a week at best, haven’t had a date night in way to long, and completely stressed out of my mind. But I have convinced myself that it’s ok because Im doing it in the name of Christ. I love people. I want to serve them. So I try to be all they need me to be at the expense of myself.

Not anymore!

Not because I don’t love people or want to meet their needs. Thats what drives me…  It’s simply not sustainable. There is no way I can keep up that pace. If I try, it will come with a price. I simply can’t keep sacrificing my family or my health for the sake of meeting needs. Now that doesn’t mean that Im no longer going to try and care for people. I always will. It does mean that I’m going to begin to take care of myself and my family first. I will then care for others out of the overflow of that.

In all of the serving I have come to the realization that I have lost me! And thats not good.

So this year I am in pursuit of becoming me. Not just Pastor me. I’m going to take time to do things I enjoy. Im going be home more during the week than not. I’m going to tuck my girls in bed at night. I’m going to take on less meetings and spend more time in the gym.

And this will be a process for me. It will require discipline because my instinct is not to focus on me but everyone else. But I want to be able to serve people for a long time. So its time to live a life that I can sustain.

My name is Brandon… And I am becoming me!

What about you? What’s your word? What are you working on?

Leadership Lessons from Lunch with a Senior VP of Columbia Pictures!

I had the incredible opportunity to have lunch with Devon Franklin, Senior VP of Production, for Columbia Pictures. His story will blow you away. How a guy could still be so grounded in his faith, yet run one of the biggest movies production companies on the planet is beyond me. It was fun to hear about the making of Annie as well as his days as Will Smith’s assistant.

The lunch was full of amazing one liners. So I thought I would share them with you tonight…

-When you operate in fear, you aren’t your best self!

-Life happens to all of us. How do you stay focused?

-You must play the scene in your mind where you want to go.

-Leadership is all about being in seasons of un-comfortablility.

-WHy do you want to lead? You must know why.

-Always monitor the labels you put on people. They may not be a bad person, but in a bad season.

-Create an environment where gifts can be fostered.

-It’s not just the door opening, but how it opens. Can you be yourself?

-When you own who you are, the calling will operate with you. You don’t have to compromise.

-Let your work speak for you and bring the increase.

-Success is not an elevator. It’s a staircase. Take the steps. If you go to fast, you will not be prepared for the top.

-Model where the company is going by the way you dress and arrive.

-As the leader, morn losses, but have the courage to keep going. Moses and Joshua are a great illustration.

-Owning your identity is rare. Have the courage to be who you are.

-Faith isn’t an obstacle to your dreams, but the catalyst.

-The greater the challenge… the greater the victory!

It truly was on of the greatest lunches I have been a part of. Take some of these and think on them. Let them challenge you to keep going. To be yourself along the way. And make your faith the top priority of all.

More than a Dream!

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August 28th 1963 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech that would echo through the halls of History for eternity. “I have a dream” is a speech we all hear early on in life. We are taught about the powers of dreaming big…that the possibilities are endless if we only dream. But I think we have put the wrong emphasis on the story of MLK… I have been awake for a few hours now and I have read the “I have a dream” speech four times already.

Dr. King had much more then a dream.

The had the nerve and audacity to try and make his dream a reality. He sacrificed and gave his life for his dream. He was on a mission to make this world a better place.

I’m sure many before Dr. King had the same dream. What they lacked was the courage to step out and make that dream a reality.

The same holds true with all of us today. We tell our kids to dream big, that they can be anything they want to be. Yet we never push them to action!

Our sons want to be pro baseball players… Yet they hate practice.

Our daughters want to be on Broadway… Yet they hate singing in front of people.

And instead of challenging them and teaching them the sacrifice that come with dreams….We just leave them there at the dream.

We celebrate Dr. King today, not because he had a dream of equality… But because he acted on it and gave himself to it.

We are truly better people because of Dr. King. Thanks for teaching us there’s more to just dreaming… There’s action.

There are those in life who live in a dream world. There are those in life who live in reality. Then there are those who try and turn one into the other.

Dr. King… We are forever grateful.

“Courage is an inner resolution to go forward despite obstacles;
Cowardice is submissive surrender to circumstances.
Courage breeds creativity; Cowardice represses fear and is mastered by it.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe?
Expediency ask the question, is it politic?
Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

But conscience ask the question, is it right? And there comes a time when we must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.”
-MLK

You could go blind if you don’t stop!

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At the age of 14 I felt God calling me to be a Pastor. The only problem was… I didn’t want to be one. So for a few years I fought it as hard as I could. I went on the run. I really wanted nothing to do with God. I truly hated church. I mean, I was there every Sunday and Wednesday, but I didn’t want to go. I remember having the conversation with my father every Sunday.

“Do I HAVE to go to church?” I would yell.  “NO!” Dad would say… “You GET to go to church!” So I would go count the tiles on the ceiling every Sunday. 783 to be exact.

I would however always sign up to go on the Youth Trips. I loved to travel wherever I could and do things. On this particular trip to Gatlinburg TN little did I know that my life would begin the process of changing for good.

On Dec. 31st 1998 God became real to me. He was no longer just the God of my parents, but mine as well! That night in the Red Oak Lodge I gave my life over to Christ. I still however did NOT want anything to do with the ministry. I thought I could just go into civil service and that would do the trick. So I took a job out of College with the State of Georgia working in Therapeutic Foster Care. I was miserable. My passion was misplaced. I took care of many children, but I was never able to give them what they really needed. A huge… I was never allowed to pray with them about any situation. It was all business…

Sitting in my office one day I remember coming to a place of surrender. I knew what I was supposed to do with my life and it was time to stop running. I remember calling Tiff and telling her I was done running from my calling and it was time to step in to what God truly had for me.  She was elated! She knew it the entire time and stood by my side patiently while I tried to do everything but Pastor.

God truly has a plan for all of our lives. It’s his best for us. And he puts a passion inside of us that we can’t escape. We can try our best to run from it and even try to dance around it… But he really is constant pursuit of us and wants to use us for his glory.

Paul was very religious man. God had actually placed that inside of him. He knew the OT law like the back of his hand and held people to it. God created Paul for amazing things. But instead of embracing the person of Jesus… All he knew to do was uphold the law that was already in place. He actually persecuted those who did believe in Christ according to the law. It was misplaced passion.

Until one day on his way to Damascus, Paul had in encounter with God. One that would change him forever. One that left him blind for days. It was time for Paul to step in to what God had created him to do. And this guy who once was responsible for killing Christians… Now is responsible for writing 2/3rds of the New Testament. He only had to stop running and embrace God’s call!

So the question is…  What has God called you to do that you are running from? Starting a business? Starting a Bible Study with your neighbors?

What are you passionate about? What keeps you up at night? What do you have a burden for?

Chances are… Thats where you’ll find your God give purpose. And YES… it’s scary. And YES… it will cost you something. But not stepping in to what Gods best for us is will ultimately cost us much more.

Today is the day! Start now! It’s never to late to be who you might have been! YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS!

Stop running or you could potentially go blind!

I Now Pronounce You Man and LIFE

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I love that through this blog you guys are getting a deeper glimpse of my favorite person on the planet.  His inner thoughts.  His processes.  His passions.  And when he asked me to give you a peek into my heart, I was happy to share.  So here I am! 🙂

I love when God uses simple, every day moments to check our hearts…when he uses the familiar to get our attention.  I recently had one of those moments…

The other day Brandon, the girls and I were all having a relaxing evening at the house: Karsyn and Dylan playing upstairs and Brandon and I channel surfing on the couch.  Suddenly Dylan burst into the living room and declared that it was time to play!  Here’s how the conversation went…

“Are you ready to play with me?” Dylan asked, bursting with excitement and expectation.
“Well, what are we playing?,” Brandon asked with skepticism.  He was clearly remembering their recent hour spent playing “beauty shop.”
“Daddy, you can be the husband, Mommy, you can be the baby, and I want to be the life!” she exclaimed very proudly.
Brandon and I both looked at each other, trying to make sense of what she was saying.
“Dyl, what do you mean you want to be the life?” I asked, grasping for an actual explanation…which, if you know Dylan, is like asking for a unicorn.  But she continued…
“You know, like Daddy’s the husband, and I’m being you.”  After seeing my puzzled look, she continued, ”Mommy, Daddy’s the HUSBAND, and I am the LIFE!  Don’t you know what I mean?” she asked, clearly exasperated.
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And then it dawned on me – she meant WIFE!!  And as cute as this may be, it was really a wake-up call on my position in my household and my family.  Although, for her, it was just a mix up of consonants,  it caused me to ask myself – am I truly the “life” in my house?

When my husband comes home after a long day at work, , do I provide “life” by greeting him with a smile and asking him how his day was?  How HE is?  Or do I provide “death” by nagging him with my “honey-do” list or complaining that he was gone way too long the minute he steps through the door?  He spends his life giving – of himself, his time, his talents –  to others.  Do I spend my time with him lifting him up and replenishing his tank?  Or do I become part of the burden?

When my sweet little girls want to have some mommy play time/talk time/ask 15 million questions time, am I willing to put all my “stuff” aside to spend a few minutes with them – providing “life” – or am I too quick to push them off, claiming to be too busy?  When really I’m just being too selfish?

Because whether I realize it or not, it’s in these moments I am either building up my husband or inadvertently tearing him down.  It’s in these moments I am teaching my girls how to expect me to respond to them…will that response encourage them to come to me?  Because even though today it’s about sidewalk chalk requests and just ONE more snack, before I know it it will be about much greater issues that I will desperately want to have the opportunity to speak life into.

Now believe me, this is not one of those “you never do enough, feel guilty, be selfless, blah blah blah” talks.  Nobody needs or benefits from another one of those.  This is simply an opportunity to take a step back and assess whether or not we are giving our families our best.  Whether we are taking advantage of the huge opportunity to build confidence.  To encourage.  To give life.