Last week College Football season began, and I am typing to admit that I was out right addicted to watching/learning everything I could for the start of the season.  I hadn't had it for 8 months and I needed it, I wanted it back in my life, it is/(was) a part of me.

Coming to the realization that this was the case lead me to tweet this out...

"I have told MORE people in the last year that I LOVE college football more than I have told people that I LOVE JESUS!"

CONVICTED!  I don't want that above tweet to be true!!!

This quote has stuck out to me:
"The true God in your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when their is nothing else demanding your attention." - Tim Calhoun

So with that quote I simply want to ask you to think about who/what in your life do you make YOUR GOD?
What is "IT" that you think about majority of the time?
What is "IT" that if you didn't have it in this life you would really miss it?
What is "IT" that would make you disappointed if you didn't get to be a part of it for years on end?
When their is an awkward silence in a conversation or to start a conversation with a friend what is "IT" that your mind goes to to talk about?

IS YOUR "IT" MORE IMPORTANT THAN GOD?

I am so thankful for the forgiveness of an awesome God, His mercy, and His grace!!!

Also would love for you to watch this amazing video that I am including in this post of Chris Norman, a starting linebacker for Michigan State who chose not to do what the world wanted him to do (pursue his career in the NFL) but to stand up and stand out for Christ and go into ministry... CHRIS NORMAN - NFL OR MINISTRY?


 

It's Not That Easy

About 6 months ago I came to the realization that when I workout, sometimes I don't really perform an exercise with correct form when I don't enjoy doing the exercise.  I have also come to the realization that it stems from not wanting to do that particular exercise at all really.  (I think most people would be lying if they say they have never had this feeling)  But then I asked myself, why not do it correctly, do it slower, do it not as many times as I have been able to do it.  It is not as if a coach is going to make me do more for not finishing in a certain time or I am trying to stay with a team and not look like "that guy" that is behind everyone else.  So why?  Why go faster or not use the right technical form, and not do the exercise correctly?

So I created a workout which incorporates every exercise I hate to do, because every exercise I hate to do is more than likely one that I really need to be doing.  (AKA Squats of some sort)  Whoa...wait a second. 

 "Life Lesson" Time - are there things in your life you are just trying to "get it over with", "rushing it", "saving it for later", so you can move on in life?  Why?  Why not do it better, and do it right?  Who is stopping you, maybe you had something in the past that was holding you down from accomplishing this "thing" in your life, but now, why not now?  Time to make ourselves uncomfortable, step out, and do what may be holding us back of accomplishing more of a God given talent, or God given opportunity, or something you didn't have time to do in the past!  Do it with a greater PURPOSE - NOW!

Back to the exercises... So I created a workout in which I do 10 exercises that I hate to do, but I do them correctly! Doing them the right way!  (Old Coach saying - "Do it Right, do it Light" - meaning do it right the first time and you won't have to do the task for too long) I don't do them in a circuit, I just perform them until I can't perform them perfectly anymore (to fatigue) then I move on to the next exercise.

If you are wondering what the exercises are that were put in my 10 then maybe I need to make a separate post for that (or email me and I will let you know)... but a little teaser...
BURPEES  If you are unsure of what a burpee is then here is THE BURPEE in a video.
GOBLET SQUATS If you are unsure of what a Goblet Squat is then here is a GOBLET SQUAT (Please don't watch that whole video)

Both exercises I am not a big fan of but I do them incorrectly all the time and just move on, so what is it that you need to stop doing, sit back, and ask yourself can I perform this task better than I am right now because really I am just going through the motions but if I slowed down and put thought into it I could excel like I never have before?  Choosing to do it the right way now, will only help you become better in the future!  

But time to step back and ask yourself what would your top 10 look like?  (And they definitely don't have to be exercises)

July Book Review

Instead of doing a blog for each book I have read, every time I read one (I couldn't handle the pressure...haha).  With four read in July I will just post them all together!  Read on for quick reviews and recommendations!

Unbroken - By Laura Hillenbrand

For this one you get my suggestion first - YES!  I would suggest this book to everyone, if you love Fiction or Non-Fiction books you will fall in love with it.  I honestly had a little trouble getting past the first 100 pages and then after that it was smooth sailing because this book became gripping and every minute I had free in a day I was picking it up to read.  It is a true story of an Air Force Bomber (Louis Zamperini) during World War 2 and his days of running in the Olympics.  He has so many things happen to him that you will not be able to stop reading this book once you start, so I suggest buying it up if you need an awesome story to read.  (Do not read anything about Louis before or while reading this book because you might ruin it for yourself)



Seven - By Jen Hatmaker

A book suggested to me by my wife, for months as she read what felt like one page a night because she never wanted it to end.  (Morgann and Jen have this connection, Jen's humor is Morgann's humor so every page of Jen's witty-ness Morgann was laughing, and then she would put it down and say I don't want it to end so I am going to stop reading it for awhile)  So with that said, when she finally finished it, I had to pick it up and see what it was all about.  I can describe this book any better than they have online so here it is so you can really understand...
"7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.  Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence."
Do I suggest this book? - You will love this book if you fall into this criteria - Christian, Woman, and Love to recycle.  That was mostly a joke but I do suggest if you feel a calling to have a challenge in your own life of finding out what really matters in life!

One Heartbeat - By Mack Brown

I usually try to read several coaching books leading up to football season so this was one of my first of the fall.  I found this book to be a little outdated, and not really well written.  I did find out several things that I obviously didn't know about Mack Brown (his time at UNC, App. State, and growing up in Cookeville, TN) but honestly I wouldn't pick this book up.  I would assume there has been other books written about Mack Brown since this book was written in 2001 that would be much better.  




Top of the Morning (Inside the World of Cut Throat Morning TV) - By Brian Stelter

You may be wondering why I would have any desire to read this book.  But in the past three years I have had Morning TV on for at least 15 minutes before leaving for work to catch some quick news.  With switching from watching TODAY show to Good Morning America in the last year, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could read any information that goes on behind the scenes.  In essence this is what I found out - the first 100 pages is how TODAY Show came to fire Ann Curry from the main chair, the next hundred pages talk about the past of ABC and CBS morning shows and how they try to catch TODAY Show in viewer ratings.  And the book ended by talking about Good Morning America taking over TODAY for the most viewers and how they have done.  (By having more fun...and they all actually get along).  All in all not a bad read, would I suggest it?  Maybe if you are more than a little bit interested in background info, as it is a quick read but definitely not worth a buy, just get it from the library as I did!

As I have read these books pretty quick, the book I am reading right now is not going to fall in that boat - "What is the What - By Dave Eggers" (it is the longest book I have ever read...haha...obviously not counting when I fake read Little Women to get Accelerated Reader points in 5th grade, just wanted that personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut so bad!)

Beach Blue Print #1

I would say when I go to the beach  80% of the time that I am reading, standing/trying to swim in the ocean, putting up/taking down the umbrella, getting beat by Morgann in paddle ball, and sleeping.  The other 20% of the time I am literally just looking out at the water, thinking about important and unimportant things of life.  "Things" at which I will call a "Beach Blueprint"! 


BEACH BLUEPRINT #1  

Several weeks ago, sitting on the beach and thinking about what are a couple happenings in my life that have had a big impact.  The first thing that came to mind was football.  Going to my first ever college football game.  This lead to; me playing football in high school, going to a college that had a high importance on their football program, getting my Masters degree while working for a college football program, and building relationships along the way by attending games with friends, working with a team, and wanting to become a football coach, ALL of which were a huge POSITIVE IMPACT!

So with that said, I started thinking about how can I have an impact on kids in this way.

So this is my Beach Blueprint:
-  Working with the Boys and Girls club in the area I will take 10 kids each weekend to a high profile college football game 8 to 10 Saturdays in the Fall.
-  I will rent a 10 to 12 passenger van.  (Once this grows bigger (in my mind I think I will just buy a van)
-  College football teams to choose from - USC, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, UNC, ECU,  and Virginia Tech
-  Getting tickets?  Well, to this I think I would try different avenues, coaches, boys and girls clubs, other non-profit organizations, alumni, and message boards to get the word out of what I was doing.
-  Paying for it?  (Gas/Food/Etc)  I think for the first year of it I would just pay for it out of my own pocket and see how the idea was working, then for the future I would begin to raise money for each fall.

Points of thought:
-  I will not be doing a lower division football games (no offense to these games/teams) I just feel that I was impacted by the "big time" college football scene so that is what I would want the kids to see.  (Also not going to NFL games in the area for the same reason)
-  I will only take kids that have never been to a Division 1 college football game

So, with that said, please leave comments below of how you would change my Beach Blueprint, recommendations you have, or anything you would like to say, I look forward to reading any other ideas!

More Blueprints will be on the way throughout the year as I love when I get lost in ideas while sitting at the beach!

Just Doesn't Work in my Mind

With Football season fast approaching, I felt it appropriate to post this "thought" I can't seem to fathom.

A basketball goal laid down is only about THREE yards on a football field? 
THREE YARDS

For any of you that have ever laid foot on a football field that was marked, please explain how this works.  Or the next time you are on a football field, please think about it!  It is crazy to think about these numbers;

• Every time a team gets a first down they have just gone over the length of 3 basketball goals (ground to rim)
• Every time a QB completes a pass for 20 yards he just threw it the length of six basketball  goals (ground to rim)

These lengths are really just hard for my mind to process, my only conclusion is that gravity and looking up have a greater impact on my judgment of distances than I think.

If you were to ask me to throw a football 40 yards I would say, "ok!"  But if you were to ask me to throw a football the length of 12 basketball goals laid down, on after the other, the response - head tilted down, eyebrows raised, saying "say what, are you serious"?

Makes me really think about what goals or ambitions in life do I feel like I am looking up to, thinking it is so unreachable!  But if I were to put that high unreachable goal on the same playing field, standing face to face to it, is it really that difficult?  

Time to stand on top of everything and get that different, face to face look, so we can achieve more every day!!! 

Really?

Once again, I go another month and half without a post?  Really?  Yes… what are the excuses this time. 

In the past month and half these things have happened in no particular order:

-          I received my first ever pocket knife

-          I was offered and accepted a new job

-          I stayed up for an entire 24 hour period for the first time since I was in 3^rd grade

-          I ate my very last box of FUEL cereal (I had literally been saving it for a year and half because they don’t                                                                 make it anymore)

-          I started the devotional book “Experiencing God”!

-          Was in a wedding

-          Went to the dentist

-          Went on a weekend beach trip with friends

-          And the biggest - My wife and I have moved to South Carolina (for the new job)!!!

      So this post is not about my excuses/reasons for not being on my blog action.  Well, actually I guess it is.  But the month of August WILL be different, I can feel it!  I am not moving anywhere, not in any weddings, and I don't plan on receiving awesome gifts like pocket knifes.

Pocket Knife

I received a pocket knife for being part of a wedding, one of those types of gifts I felt I needed to write all the uses I have used for so far as it is awesome because:

1.  It is a gift of something I have always wanted but never wanted to buy
2.  It is something to play with, I would compare it to the first time that I bought rope at Lowes, I simply "just played" with it for an afternoon.

So this blog is devoted to ways that I have already used my new pocket knife and it has only been about a month:

1.  To cut a piece of string off my shirt on my way to work
2.  To cut out a brown spot on my apple that I was eating late afternoon
3.  To put screws in a wall to mount a a fram at work (screwdriver tool)
4.  Cut the tape off the edge of a box I was opening
5.  Most unique use of the week; sink drain stopper was broken and I used the knife to prior it open (hard to explain in words but just believe me I used the knife)
6.  Open a letter I received in the mail
7.  Tried to make my sunglasses tighter with but it wouldn't fit the screw but I tried so it counts as a use

With it only being a month I can already tell the possibilities are endless with this thing!
Thank you Mr. Iroler for the gift!
Next on the list of things that I would more than likely never buy but have always wanted is an umbrella hat!

Lack of Blogging

Wow...the last two months have flown by!

1.  April - one of the best sports months of the year helps with that.  (the Masters, Virginia Tech Spring Football Game, NFL Draft)
2.  May - Did not sleep in my own bed one single Friday and Saturday night one weekend in this month!  (aka busy)

One great thing about a blog website is that it keeps tabs on how often you blog by date, and archiving this information for you.  One of the worst things for me the past two months is that a blog keeps tabs on how often you blog, for the fact that I haven't been blogging/writing on what God has been doing in my life, been reading, been doing, or anything for that matter.  After going through Proverbs in March I have literally not been on top of my blogging, so it is time to get rolling again now that I have no excuses.

Waking With Purpose Update:  I have officially been waking up at 3:45 for eight months.  The growth through this experience is still creating amazing growth in my spiritual life and still having an amazing impact on each day.

What books have I read the last two months:

Inside Out Coaching - By Joe Ehrmann

If there was a single book that I would tell any coach in the world to read it would be this one.  It truly puts into perspective how much impact a coach truly has on his players.  Once again another book recommended Johnny Shelton (Football Chaplain of VT Football).  Joe spends the first half of the book really explaining his life and how he truly developed the whole inside out coaching program.  Then the second half of the book shows how any coach can incorporate this into there program, no matter the sport, no matter age group.  It is all about being other centered and creating a true team community!  (I suggest reading The Season of Life by Jeff Marx as well, the book is based on Joe Ehrmann, a great book)

Life Together - By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This is a book that my wife Morgann had been reading during 2012 and kept telling me to read it.  So in April when our group Bible study decided to do this book as our study, the timing could not be better!  This book was awesome, it truly explains how God intended our relationships to be with each other.  This is a quick read and highly recommended.  This book even lead out small group to take communion together in a house of one of the couples in the group.  One unique experience that I will never forget.  Great growth moment in my life!

The Big Miss - By Hank Haney

 I am not sure if I am allowed to say that I read this book in the last two months, but I can say that I finished it in May.  I honestly started reading this book at Barnes and Noble last year, never wanted to by it (frugal guy here) so every now and then when I would return to Barnes and Noble I would just pick it up off the shelf and read where I last left off.  (I would put the page where I left off in my phone)  To me this book was pretty insightful into the life of Tiger Woods and the relationship he had with Hank Haney his coach for several years.  Reading this book I really just wanted to get an inside look into a pro golfers life and it did that for me, but really wouldn't recommend this read for anyone unless you want to know about the relationship of Tiger and his coach.


The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - By Patrick Lencioni

 Honestly, this book is good, but just not great to me.  The only reason I say this is that I had to high expectations for it.  It is also the first "help" book I have read that diagrams the negative of running a business or team.  For example the whole book is laid out to show what not to do and not how/what to do anything right.  So that was surprising for me, but all in all if you want to pick this book up, just do it from the library and copy the last 20 pages as it explains everything you need to know from the book.  Lets just say I am looking forward to reading Lencioni's The Advantage as I have that on the bookshelf right now.



So I never want to get this backed up again on blog post!  So bring on June and restart to the year!
CK