Setting the Tone

This morning it hit me, well I lie, I have been thinking this over the past several weeks.  Every morning of every day I set the tone for that day!  I wake up, and... SET THE TONE!

What ever attitude that is, it usually stays with me through the day!

All throughout high school I always had coaches that would say before we began a game... "set the tone"

I left off something important from that... it always ended with "early" SET THE TONE EARLY

Setting the tone, by definition to me:  Going out and trying to show the other opponent or ourselves that we are here and ready, prepared, and are planning on dominating, it is our way or the highway type of mentality.

Why don't we live with a "set the tone" mentality? Wanting to dominate the day that we have been blessed with?

So now more than ever I think it is so important in our everyday lives to wake up and "set the tone"!
I think everyone can look back to the days that we are pretty groggy all day, where you feel like you were just going through the motions?  No doubt the tone we started with that morning of that day was not as positive as other early morning starts we have had.

So this post is more so of a challenge - tomorrow when you wake up and every morning after that 
SET THE TONE FOR THE DAY!  DOMINATE THE DAY!

With that said I will end this with a writing from Charles Swindoll that is awesome to wake up to - to help you "set the tone early" everyday!

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstance, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.  It will make or break a company...a home...or ruin (one's) spirituality.  

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace that day.  We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...

I am conviced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.  And so it is with you...we are in charge of Attitudes!"  - Charles Swindoll

February 2014 Book Review

February 2014 Book Review

Some good books this month, but it may have been more quantity over quality?  See which ones I actually recommend...

The Circle Maker - Mark Batterson

This one highly recommended by several people.  The book starts out strong, with great insights into prayer life!  With my monthly challenge this month to be praying on my knees I don't think I could have started with a better book.  The best thought from the book for me was that "God starts with IMPOSSIBLE".  As I left church listening to Christine Caine speak (Seacoast Church - Christine Caine) on this same subject it was awesome to open this book on that Sunday afternoon and see Mark speaking on the same topic.  As the book went on I felt it became a little redundant but have rated it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.com.




David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell

If you have ever read any Malcolm Gladwell books in the past you will find this one just as enjoyable.  Just like his books in the past some of the chapters I would say are Awesome, and some the topic just didn't interest me.  But overall if you enjoy the psychological aspect of things you would love this.  My favorite topics in the book are when he talks about using a full court press in little league basketball, classroom size, and admissions into college.  Once again I love reading Malcolm and rated this book 4 of 5 stars on Goodreads.com.  Would recommend this book!  (also tells the story of David and Goliath in the Bible in a way I have never heard so that was AWESOME)


The Advantage - Patrick Lencioni


This is the second book I have read of his.  (the first being The Five Dysfunctions of a Team)  I would put this book in the same category as that one, many items I can relate it to my life and job but if I were in a business leader position I would find it even more beneficial.  I actually enjoyed this one more than the first book I read of his and found it to be very insightful on building a GREAT leadership team.  At this time I am not building a great leadership team, but will definitely use the notes from this book if I am ever in that position.  Rated this 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads.com and would highly recommend this to any business leader, church/youth pastor, or entrepreneur.




The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, Minnesota Vikings - Steve Silverman

This book was given to me by a friend Tommy Rapier when I worked at Virginia Tech.  I had skimmed it before and never really set down to read it.  Well, very glad I did, as a long time Vikings fan it was definitely time for me to really sit down and read the history of "my team".  Definitely learned things of the past I wasn't aware of so a great read of the super bowl less Minnesota Vikings and would recommend to any Vikings fan.  Rated it 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads.com.






Should We Fire God? - Jim Pace

This book intrigued me for three different reasons, the title, I use to attend the writers church in Blacksburg, VA while in college, and he wrote this based off of the events of the April 16th shootings at Virginia Tech.  First I would say there are some good insights in the book, but at the same time I find Jim all over the place, sorta jumping around.  I would enjoy one section and the next I would be asking myself what is he talking about right now.  All in all I probably wouldn't recommend this book but a book to read if you are intrigued by the three things I listed that intrigued me.  Rated it 2 of 5 stars on Goodreads.com.

To check out my Goodreads.com page please go to - Chris King's Goodreads Homepage  (Sign up for your own account, it is awesome!)

2014 Monthly Challenge - February Complete

2014 Monthly Challenge

As you all know I am doing a monthly challenge for every month throughout the year!  January was flossing everyday, you can read about that post here - January Challenge - Flossing!

Did flossing continue into February, or shall I ask does the rule of habit actually work in the scenario?  (habits are created after 21 days of consecutively doing an activity?)  I flossed every day in the month of January, in February I flossed once.  I was so tired of it after January I wore myself out of it.  So at this point I would say the "habit" theory didn't work for me.  But the monthly challenge isn't to continue doing the challenge so really no foul done!

February's challenge was to begin praying on my knees.  As I stated last month, I really hadn't done this at all since I was a kid beside my bed.

So how did the month go?  Awesome!!!  Sometimes my heart was in it and sometimes I felt like I was just doing it to complete the task of the month and I really could tell in my conversation through prayer which one was which!  So yes, I would highly recommend to do this challenge to everyone, it is a true growing experience that I will continue to do when my heart is open for it at the time!

On to the challenge of March...

100 hundred push-ups every day!

So let me say this, I started this challenge on Saturday, so three days in now.  After doing it for two days I am actually upping the challenge to 200 push-ups a day.  The reason, well, doing 100 just seemed like I could just bust it out and be done with it to easily every day during the month... and well, that really isn't  a "challenge" in my book.  So I am upping it to 200 every day!  Maybe by the end of the month I will have upped even more, I don't know, but we will see!

(Morgann wanted me to add stretching every day to this month, but I might have to wait on that if I am upping the push-up count?)

The Bible Part 2 - Reading the Bible

Last year at the end of November I had post about the Bible, you can read that here - Bible Blog Part 1
So today, the second Part -
Reading the Bible

No matter what the Bible might have meant to you in the past, it is always helpful to take a step back and look at the the Bible actually is about and means to us.  Have you ever thought about what "the word of God" actually means?

Why does this concept not blow your mind - God decided to write to us!
An all powerful and all knowing God decided to speak to us through word - if you heard God speaking directly to us, should we not look at the Bible with the same reverence?

For a Christian nothing should be more natural than reading the Bible.  If you don't really love the Bible, it is time to start praying that you would.

If we really believe the Bible is the word of God it should be much more than just a book we are familiar with, it ought to shape every aspect of our existence and guide every decision we make in life.  If God is the designer and creator of this world, if He made us and placed us on this earth, and if He has taken the time to tell us who He is, who we are, and how this world operates, then what could be more important to us than the Bible?

"the Bible isn't merely an inanimate object that we study and pull information from.  It has a life of its own.  It acts.  It reads us; it pierces to the deepest part of the being and discerns our motivations.  Since our God is a living God, His Word is alive, and he works through His Word to actively transform every part of our being." - Franscis Chan

But as a Christian, what approach do you take when reading the Bible, why are you studying it in the first place?  In Francis Chan's book Multiply he explores three motivations that we use most of the time to study the Bible, and what we need to do to move beyond them.
Guilt - As Christians we know we "should" be reading the Bible - no one would want to admit to this, but guilt can be a powerful motivator.  (But I will admit in this blog, I have absolutely used this as a motivator to read my Bible!!!)
Status - God is pleased when we treasure his Word, but do we really think is pleased with your desire to appear intelligent?
Teaching Material - It's not wrong to use the Bible in preparation to teach others, it is necessary.  The problem arises when we begin to approach the Bible only as a source for teaching material.

Just like the mirror, the Bible has the ability to reveal to you the truth of your condition.  

What is the value of Truth if it doesn't change us?

I would say that Bible study is incomplete and illegitimate until it turns into obedience and transforms us.  There have been times in my reading of the Bible where I have fallen into all the the poor motivators from above.  So this year I have decided to focus on several of these essentials below a bit more when opening the word and would hope you may consider them as well.

Essentials to reading the Bible:
Prayer - we can't understand the Bible without the help of the Holy Spirit and listening to God.
Know the difference in Application and Interpretation (Refer to Below)
Consider the Context (Refer to Below)
Let Go Of the Past - "Our experiences have an impact on our desires, which in turn affect our interpretations"
Taking yourself back to English Class -
-  Find the Subject (What action is taking place)
-  Find the Verb (What action is the actor performing)
-  Find the Adjectives and Adverbs (How are the actor and action described)
-  Find the Direct or Indirect Objects (Who or What is being acted upon)

Knowing the difference in application and interpretation when reading the Bible.
The "what it means to me" vs what it actually means.  Application depends on specific life situation you may be going through at the time and a verse could mean something to you when you read it at the age of 22 and mean something totally different when you read it at the age of 35.  Interpretation, on the other hand, is all about discovering what God has actually said and what He intended to communicate.  I will be the first to admit when being in a Bible study group it is very easy to fall under the "lets all go around and say what we "think" this passage means to all of us" which often leads to us assuming that the Bible has a personalized meaning for each and every Christian.  I am not saying it has been a bad thing in the past to "go around the room with what we get out of the passage" but I think it is always a great reminder to keep in mind the importance of actually understanding what God intended for each and every passage to mean.

Considering Context 
(Multiply - Francis Chan)

"Consider the simple word ship.  We all know what the word means (even if we didn't, we could easily find its definition in a dictionary).  But ship means different things in different contexts.  How do you decide whether ship is referring to a large boat or to the process of sending something?  You look at the context.  This isn't a complicated process, but it is absolutely essential in determining the meaning of the word.  We don't usually think about this because reading words in their context is second nature to us - it probably hasn't even occurred to you that you're thinking in terms of context right now, as you read these sentences.  As you read, you are deciding what these words mean based on the words around them.  When you run into an ambiguous word (like the word "read" in the last two sentences, which could be taken as past or present tense, depending on the context), you automatically choose the appropriate definition or tense based on the context.

The point of using these simple examples is to highlight an essential aspect of studying the Bible: in order to understand a particular word, verse, chapter, or book , we need to consider it in light of its context.  Too often, verses are read and quoted in isolation.  While this is not necessarily wrong, it greatly increases the chances of misinterpretation.

Here's a helpful way to get the point across: when studying Scripture, think apple rather than orange.  Typically, when eat an orange, you break it into isolated pieces and then eat the pieces individually.  Whenever we read a verse, we should be mindful that we are taking a thought (a "bite) from a larger story.  Always keep in mind that every verse is connected to a chapter, a book, and the entire Bible."   

(Reference: Multiply, Francis Chan, 2012)

January 2014 Book Review

This years book goal - read at least 40 books, we will see.  But I have definitely started out on good track!

January 2014 Book Review

Meat Market - By Bruce Feldman

Great inside knowledge on the ins and outs of college football recruiting.  Was great to read nearing signing day (Feb. 5th) for 2014.  His focus is on Ole Miss, during the reighn of Ed Ogeron.  Book could have almost been a biography of Coach O, as a couple of chapters are devoted just to him and his story.  It was interesting to here names of players and coaches that you hear about now.  For example when they were recruiting Stephen Garcia out of Florida and they were afraid he might be going to South Carolina.  Good quick read for most college football fans. 

Jesus > Religion - By Jefferson Bethke

What made me want to read this book and if you haven't seen it yet is the poem by Jefferson Bethke - "Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus".  Here is the link to the poem, the video and the lyrics - Bethke Video of Poem and actual Lyrics  I enjoyed his honesty in the poem and also enjoyed it in the book.  This would have been a great read for me freshmen to junior year of college when Christ was definitely not at the center of it.  (and highly recommend for a college athlete as he was on a sports team in college and talks about that influence)  One line from his poem that intrigues me the most is - "if Jesus was here today would your church let him in"?  Go read the poem and it may intrigue you to pick up this book.

Live Your Dreams - By Les Brown

I have actually been wanting to read this for awhile, my dad actually introduced me to Les Brown back in the day but didn't think anything of it.  But I started watching his motivational speeches on YouTube and that is what made me want to pick this up.  This book is good and motivational, if you need a pick me up then this would be a good one to go get, I would say your heart has to be open to it though.  By that I mean it would be easy to read and say "well, of course, duh you have to do that".  But if you are needing some motivation in life then not a bad read.   

The Giver - By Lois Lowry

Morgann had actually got this from the library and I told her not to return it because I wanted to read it.  Pretty much the only reason why was this - this was a required reading back in grade school, and I don't say "grade school" to sound old but I say that because I don't really remember what grade.  But one the one thing I do remember is that I didn't read, I definitely acted like I read it, read some cliff notes, and thought it would be ridiculous to read.  Looking back now I can see how immature I was, as this book took hardly anytime to read.  Not that I loved it or anything or would even recommend anyone to read it, but it is a pretty short book if you want to check it out.  But about the book - well written, pretty good story, you know I am a non-fiction guy so really all in all this didn't do it for me. 

Month Challenge - Every Month 2014

I have goals written down for the year...
Faith Goals
Personal Goals
Family Goals
Financial Goals
Being able to dunk Goals
You name it I am pretty sure my goals covered it!

I have these written down and ready to go just like I have been doing for the last 3 years!  Morgann and I have even posted "our" goals in our bathroom so we can see them every single day!

But apart from these goals a couple years ago I started this "activity/challenges" for each month that I would do everyday during that month.  Which lead to me doing pushups everyday for a month, or not eating anything that has sugar in it for a month, or not eating "out" for an entire month.  I did most of these on a whim, just on the first of the month thinking to myself "what am I going to do this month".

Well, the year 2014 I decided to actually put some thought in to these monthly challenges.  These are separate from my other "goals".  This year I actually have a plan and know what I am already doing for every month and have already written them all down.

So I am taking this blog post to announce what this past month of January's challenge was and if I completed it.

January Challenge - FLOSSING

I challenged myself to floss every single day.  For some of you this may come as, well that is just too easy, who doesn't do that?  Well, I will tell you this, I didn't grow up flossing, never have liked flossing, and always thought it to be a waste of time.

So to me - this was a challenge!

I figured I would start this at the beginning of the year and make it month one just in case it became a habit then I could continue to do it throughout the year... for fun?

So just to let you know - I did it!!! I have gone every single day and flossed between every tooth!  Pretty pumped about it!  (Well I obviously didn't floss in between my two front tooth as that is where my Michael Strahan gap is)

Will I floss tomorrow?  More than likely not because that is going to be my day of celebration of not flossing!

February's Challenge - Praying on my knees everyday!
I haven't done this since I was a child, and to be child like (which I love) I figured this would help grow my relationship with the man up above.  So here we go... bring it on February!

Perseverance -> Confidence -> Faith

Things I have learned from my wife Morgann over the last 6 to 7 months:

During Morgann's three years of teaching she would always wonder/ask herself if that really is her purpose?  Is that really what God wanted her to be doing?  Asking these questions to herself everyday for three years.  Then God decided to send Morgann and I on a new journey.  One in which I would be accepting another job and we would be moving, which lead to Morgann saying "I am going to try something new, I don't know what it is but I am going to put my Faith in God to find out what that is for me"

So over the last 6 months, Morgann has been searching, digging, and ultimately giving her life to finding out what God may want to her to do to work for Him.

It has been hard.

But these three things are in Morgann's heart and I had the pleasure of witnessing these over the last 6 months.

Each one lead to the other!

Perseverance - "steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success"
This isn't something I believe everyone has in them.  The will/drive inside them to make it through the bad days, knowing in the back of your head you could just take the easy way out.  Knowing she could just go teach and didn't. Knowing she needed to take a part time job at a grocery store to help us make ends meet.

Confidence - "the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust"
She knew that it was all going to work out.  She would even begin to not talk to friends because of not wanting to tell them she still wasn't able to find a job.  So, Yes, some days were harder than others, but deep down with confidence she pushed through this, knowing God was on her side with a plan.

Faith - "complete trust in something or someone"
That is what she had.  True Faith.  Trust.  Knowing that God was going to work it out.  Knowing that if she put her confidence in Him.  Knowing if she persevered that He would work it out for the better.

During this time we lived by this scripture verse:

... we will walk by FAITH, and NOT by SIGHT... 2 Corinthians 5:7

Morgann turned down 3 jobs during this 6 month span, jobs in which we needed the money.  But we gave this opportunity to God as a teaching lesson for us, knowing that His plan would ultimately succeed in the end.  Walking by Faith in Him and not by what looks good in the moment for "us".

Last week Morgann started her first day for "Blackbaud", a company that is helping over 17,000 non-profit organizations excel in fundraising.  We are super pumped!!!

Do we know if it is a great fit?  Do we know if it will be where she works for more than 3 years?  Do we know if the people will be great to work with?  Do we know if she will enjoy most days?

No!

But what I do know is that during this process of looking for a job, God helped Morgann:
-  Build more Trust in Him
-  Gain confidence to know she can do immeasurably more (Ephesians 3:20)
-  Persevere through a hard time in life and not lose sight of our real purpose here on earth, to live for His glory

 And to show me what REAL FAITH looks like!!!

2014 Goals - Happy New Year

I was planning on posting my 2014 goals on here to give myself a little more accountability, but God had some different plans.  Yesterday during my devotion time I was lead to end my year by reading Philippians, which I realized had every single goal for the year that I truly need to keep in my heart all year so I figured I would share what they were/are to help you out with any goals you might be setting.

Top 10 Goals for the year from Paul in Philippians:
1)  Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (1:27)
2)  Do nothing out of conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourself.  (2:3)
3)  Make your ATTITUDE that of Christ Jesus (2:5)
4)  Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you.  (2:13)
5)  Do EVERYTHING without grumbling and argument (2:14)
6)  Rejoice and SHARE YOUR JOY  (2:18)
7)  BOAST in Christ Jesus, do not put confidence in flesh/man (3:3)
8)  FORGET WHAT IS BEHIND AND REACH FORWARD TO WHAT IS AHEAD (3:13)
9)  Don't worry about ANYTHING, but in everything through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God.  (4:6)
10)  Do ALL things through Him, He will give you the strength to do so.  (4:13)

Happy New Year!!!  Lets make 2014 AWESOME!!!