One of my buddies posted this video to Facebook...




I have head this song before on the satellite radio, and to be honest, I had never really listened to the message that it tells. When you play it and really focus on it, there are many truths we can apply to our lives from this song. One that stood out the most was "Sometimes goodbye is a second chance."

If you think about that, in order for change to occur, you have to say "goodbye" to one way, and "hello" to another. An example I want to speak about real quick is a child. A child grown up and becomes a teenager. The clock is ticking before that teenager needs to get out and be his own person. In order to do that, he must say goodbye to family life at home and therefore say hello to his new life ahead of him. It is more than likely a major emotional step for both parties involved, but it is what is best for the teen and his future.

Is there something else that stood out to you in this song?

-Ken

Labels: change, Change in my Life, future, goodbye, growth, hello, maturity, music, music video, radio

So, it is getting to be that time of the year when hurricane's frequent here is in the sunshine state. There are a few "tropical storm" impressions that have developed, but nothing has hit here as of yet. But...the Florida showers come and go as a daily occurrence. Earlier this year, I made another post about the rain. In fact, I think we can look to the rain for many examples in our lives.

In fact, our lives can be like a hurricane. With that being said, we can be having a wonderful week then all of a sudden, a little bit of a mishap can happen which can bring us down and teach us some mighty fine lessons. After a time of storms, the "rain" clears and we continue on as we did before.

he best thing to do in this time is not get frustrated, but learn as much as you can. Life throws many storms our way, take the higher road and never take for granted the sunny days. What are your thoughts? What are you going through that might be encouraging to others?

Ken

Labels: 2009, actions, Bible, Change in my Life, christ, consequences, effects, experiences, future, history, maturity, observations, over reacting, stubborn, tomorrow, yesterday

"Gosh, it is so hot!"
"Ugh, this internet is SOO slow!"
"Man, these people can't drive!"

I will spare you from any more. But seriously, do people that complain irritate you? Why do people have to constantly state their discontentment with a specific situation?

I tend to think people that complain either are not aware that they are doing it or they are just miserable (or close too it) and would like to let everyone else know how miserable they are. Whichever the answer to the question may be, I believe complaints are very unnecessary. I welcome criticism any day (as long as it is in good taste); but there is a line between the two.

I will break it down into two "levels." A complaint is something a person states...that is not significant to any other human being, but it is a declaration of one's discontentment with a specific happening within their life. To be honest, complaints most of the time do nothing to help solve a problem.

Criticism is when a person makes an observation and offers helpful suggestions in order that one person become better at a specific task or situation. I am a big problem solver. I love brainstorming to find resolutions for a given scenario, but when someone comes over and is upset and starts rambling on about how discontent they are, that is unnecessary.

Come to me with a legitimate problem and your best solution for it, I will be more than happy to help you in solving that, come to me with an annoying complaint...I am sorry but that does not do anything for me.

You know yourself best. If you are forgetful, make reminders. If you are naturally cold, bring more clothes. For every problem there is a solution. People will respect you more if you are mature enough to learn from your own mistakes.

Complaints do not get you very far in this world. I am sure that what you find worthy of a complaint, does not compare to anything that someone within ten feet of you are going through. Thank you for reading. I tried to not "complain" too much. This is just an observation that I have made the last couple of weeks...and thought that someone could benefit from it.

Thanks for reading. I would like to hear your feedback on what you think!

-Ken

Labels: annoying, beliefs, Change in my Life, common sense, complaints, growth, immaturity, Jesus, maturity, observations, others, over reacting, politics, relationships, trends, tweet, twitter, YOU

I posted to Twitter the other day...Why are we as Americans still dealing with racial issues? Everywhere you go, you can see people smirking towards people of other races, other races appearing to be dominant over another, people being chosen over another because of their race...people disagreeing with one another because a conflict of race...and even the dreaded race card being pulled. Ex: "He said I was (insert race here.) I'm offended!" All of these and many others can commonly be found through websites, Twitter, blogs, media and any other form of communication that we as humans interact on.

I ask why?

In my opinion...generally speaking, think that we as humans are raised or programmed somehow to have out race or a specific race dominant over others. Why can we not just get over ourselves and realize that we are different, have one GOD and love others as Jesus would? Why do we have to place racial discrepancies on everything? Why are we still fighting something that should have been settled years ago? Let's forgive each other and move on. It is what God would desire us to do.

-Ken

Labels: arguments, error, forgiveness, growth, human, Jesus, love, maturity, politics, race, racism, relationships

Labels: 2009, change, Change in my Life, disciplined, forgiveness, maturity, word of the year

Forgiveness

Matthew 18:21-22
²¹ "Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

For those that that follow me on Twitter, may have seen this Scripture surface on one of my #worshipwednesday posts this last week. Forgiveness is something that I am dealing with...hardcore in my life. I think that if we are all honest, we all deal with it constantly in one form or another.

At best we are all human. When someone wrongs us, be can't help but get upset. Some deal with it better than others; and to be honest I am doing much better in this area than I was a few years back, but still I still struggle. I've noticed this year specifically, that I brush things off with much more ease. I am not sure as to why, maybe it is God's work in my life and him developing me to be more like him each and every day.

Thanks for reading and your support. Feel free to add to the discussion by adding comments below. You guys rock!

-Ken

Labels: 2009, change, Change in my Life, disciplined, forgiveness, maturity, word of the year

Thanks for reading. This will start a multi-part blog for me...organized my categories.

I look back upon my life in the last year or so. My "word of the year" for 2009 is "Change." Ironically, this has nothing to do with the political campaign of someone. I realized at the end of 2008 that 2009 would be the year for change in my life and probably others. Change is something that all of us go through in our lives, sometimes good . . . other times not so much.

Organization

As I grow up, I feel the need to live life organized. Nothing is more irritating than living life unorganized. I have put forth efforts to have a better schedule, which includes having a certain time that is consistent for going to sleep each night and waking up in the mornings.

I tend to go to bed earlier and wake up early. When I tell some people this, they tend to think it is odd. In reality, it is not. Maintaining a schedule, I believe, is part of a disciplined lifestyle. It aids in getting certain tasks done while allowing one to get enough rest for the day to follow.

I have always been a stickler for keeping things such as computers, files and movies organized . . . again, another aspect of what keeping with the disciplined lifestyle. I have begun living by a calendar and following that as best as I can. That has helped me to not forget about certain things, which had been an issue in the past.

It is for your best interest, if you do not already to live an organized life. I would really encourage you to do so if you are not already. Organization is key. People respect those who are organized. It makes you as a person look more professional than being unorganized Employers look for individuals that are organized. It makes you more and more dependable.

-Ken

Labels: 2009, change, Change in my Life, disciplined, maturity, Oragnization, word of the year

So...I remember a few years back the swarm of pagers and personal beepers. Some probably brought the concept of text messaging into the playing field. I remember one guy I knew that had one could send text-based messages out through his pager. So...are pagers technically a "lost technology?"

Obviously, modern cell phones today can do all that and more. But it just struck me as a thought earlier today. What is the next device to merge?

-Ken

Labels: beepers, cell phones, maturity, pagers, technology, test messaging