Check out my previous posts.

Enjoy!

by @donswinford

I’m blessed to have the BEST family in the world! They ROCK!

by Rocky VanBrimmer

Seriously, I love @Jason_WCMH for many reasons.  He has allowed me to sit in the “Big Boy Chair,”  humored me late at nights with his “Beat Calls,”  allowed me to guest co-host his podcast “Mind Bleach” and shared many a conversations in the late of the night.

I love Jason even MORE since he removed the pesky little underscore “_”  from his Twitter handle to JasonNBC4.  Ahhhhhhh that is BEAUTIFUL!

So what is the “big deal” about having an “_” in your ID one may ask?  Many things,  first things first:

1. People are lazy (myself included): It must be admitted, I am not a “hunt and peck” typer, I actually took typing classes (on a typewriter) back in high school (and did FANTASTICAL!) so I know where the “_ ” is.  Being one of these “lazy” people,  I hate reaching  over with my right pinkie finger to hit the shift key, while I reach up to hit the “_” button with my left pinkie finger.  I can only imagine what the “hunt & pecker” goes through when typing!

2. Mobile Tweeter: Another reason to drop the underscore from your Twitter handle is for mobile tweeters.  I use an HTC Touch Diamond cell phone by Sprint.  This phone does not have a keypad but a screen. I use a stylus to hit numbers and letters, which turns me in to a “hunt & pecker.”  Once again, because I am lazy… I am now forced to hit a “shift” button and hunt for the “_.” If you can not walk and chew gum at the same time, imagine the difficulty doing this while tweeting. Running in to someone can be most embarrassing, even worse the pole.

3. The Retweet: Dropping the “_”  makes great practice for those going for the coveted retweet. There have been times I have not been able to forward a good tweet from where it has been chopped, slashed, and mangled to get it in the space.

4. Aesthetics: The last reason to drop the “_” (this is my opinion only), it looks T-A-C-K-Y.  Seriously, what looks better as a Twitter ID: @MyTwitterID or @My_Twitter_ID?  I will let the examples speak for itself. Personally I like the former vs. the latter.

To quote the Pioneering Godfather of Columbus news using social media Ryan Squire “Please for the love of God, @WSYX_abc6 and @wtte_fox28 lose the underscore… Please. Pls???”

For some reason, this just makes sense!

What are your thoughts do you have to make Twitter a better place?
Rocky VanBrimmer CO Net Founder

Guest Blogger: Felicia H. Swinford

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (Emphasis mine)

–I Corinthians 13:1-3–

Now I don’t know about you but to:

Speak with the tongues of men and angels

Have the gift of prophecy

Know all mysteries and all knowledge

Have all faith so as to remove mountains

Give all I possess to feed the poor

Deliver my body to be burned,

And then realize I’m:

A noisy gong or clanging cymbal

Nothing

Profiting nothing.

These are some of the most sobering words that I can read. You mean to tell me that God is serious about all of this? I can do ALL of those things and yet be essentially nothing without love? Why don’t any of these things mean anything without love? Why is love the ingredient that puts value into all of these wonderful abilities, giftings and offerings? I wrote in last week’s blog that David Stern writes in The Jewish New Testament Commentary:

* “The word for “love” is “agape,” defined in the New Testament as giving of and from oneself; love expresses itself in acts of benevolence, kindness and mercy in which heart, mind and will are united because they are motivated and empowered by God. Such love goes beyond what one can generate of oneself, because it has its origin in God. When such love is experienced by one person from another, the experience is of God’s love channeled through that other.” (Emphasis mine.)

While the abilities, giftings and offerings seem powerful and even supernatural, if the motive behind it is not love (expressing itself with heart, mind and will and empowered by God) it doesn’t profit one thing. Nothing. In fact, it drives the knife deeper and says that I’m just a clanging cymbal or a noisy gong. I am nothing. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada.

I’m thankful for this. Really. God, in His infinite wisdom, knows exactly what we’re made of. He knows that if we, on our own, sacrificed our bodies, had giftings, great faith, etc., we would be so full of pride no one could stand us! Our pride would get in the way of anything we would try to accomplish. With the love of God as our motivator our eyes are not looking at ourselves but at Him – Love Himself. He doesn’t just love; He IS love

(I John 4:8). Love isn’t just an attribute of God; it is His very essence. We need this kind of love to operate and make the things we do useful.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Most of us will be covered up in preparations for the day. Can we take some time out to use this season of thanksgiving to thank God for giving us Himself in the form of love? By knowing Him we can know what love is and what it looks like. By knowing Him we can exhibit true love.

I’m thankful that He loves me and never gives up on me.

November 24, 2009

by Don Swinford @ 5:50 pm Edit This

 

One of my favorite coaches is now retired NFL Head Coach Tony Dungy.  Coach Dungy’s life has been well documented over the years.  Here’s a great video of Coach Dungy sharing what is really important in life.  I AM SECOND

 

Remember the original dancing baby on Ally McBeal?

Well, the most recent ones have just entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the most watched online advertisement in history.

RT from Tim Stevens http://www.leadingsmart.com

By Michael Hyatt

I have met very few people who have a plan for their lives. Most are passive spectators, watching their lives unfold a day at a time. They may plan their careers, the building of a new home, or even a vacation. But it never occurs to them to plan their life. As a result, many end up discouraged and disillusioned, wondering where they went wrong.

Read the rest of this post at: http://bit.ly/5isWxH

By Guest Blogger: Felicia Swinford

Just as Hebrews 11 is the “faith chapter” and I Corinthians 15 is the “resurrection chapter” so I Corinthians 13 is the “love chapter.” I want to give a definition of love because we might not be aware of the intensity of this word when it’s used in this context in the scriptures. Here is what David Stern writes in The Jewish New Testament Commentary: “The word for “love” is “agape,” defined in the New Testament as giving of and from oneself; love expresses itself in acts of benevolence, kindness and mercy in which heart, mind and will are united because they are motivated and empowered by God. Such love goes beyond what one can generate of oneself, because it has its origin in God. When such love is experienced by one person from another, the experience is of God’s love channeled through that other.” (Emphasis mine.)

Is that the way you love? This is not your typical “warm fuzzy!” It’s a love that “goes beyond what one can generate of oneself, because it has its origin in God.” This is what it looks like.

“Love is patient,

love is kind and

is not jealous;

love does not brag and

is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly;

it does not seek its own,

is not provoked,

does not take into account a wrong suffered,

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails . . .”

–I Corinthians 13:4-8–

I want to crawl under a rock when I read this! There is no way humanly possible to love like this. And that is precisely the point. We so need God’s power. How do you measure up? I want to encourage you to keep on trying to love the way God says it should be. As soon as you come to the end of your striving you’ll see just how desperate we are for the life and power of God to accomplish this in us. Or you could just believe what He says and yield to His life and love and power. It sure beats the futility of striving.

The Divine Measurement. How are you doing?

Post by Michael Hyatt from his blog

In How the Mighty Fall, author Jim Collins answers the question, “How can large successful companies fail after decades of growth and stability?” Tim Irwin asks a similar question about leaders in his new book, Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership (Thomas Nelson, 2009). In a moment, I will tell you how to get a free copy.

In his Preface (p. xiii), Patrick Lencioni, author or The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, writes,

In my work as a consultant, I can honestly say I have never discovered a company I thought was just too dumb to succeed. Nor have I yet found a CEO whom I felt would have been great if only he or she were smarter.”

Irwin goes on to develop the case that the real issue is character, the lack of which is why otherwise talented leaders ultimately fail.

As I mentioned in my post, “Five Characteristics of Weak Leaders,” you often learn more from negative examples that positive ones. This is certainly true here.

This is a sobering, often disturbing, book. I found it thoroughly compelling—so much so that I read it through in two sittings. It led me to ask some very tough questions about my own leadership.

Irwin begins by profiling six leaders of well-known, public companies. These leaders were all smart, tough, and accomplished. Nevertheless, they all succumbed to serious character flaws, which ultimately resulted in them either stepping down or being ousted by their boards. These leaders include:

* Bob Nardelli, former CEO of Home Depot
* Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard
* Durk Jager, former CEO of Proctor & Gamble
* Steven Heyer, former CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
* Frank Raines, former CEO of Fannie Mae
* Dick Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers

“Though expressed in a variety of behaviors,” Irwin writes, “they are all tied to a lack of failure of one of these four critical qualities” (p. 17):

1. Authenticity
2. Self-management
3. Humility
4. Courage

Irwin’s goal in profiling these leaders is to show how derailment occurs. If that were all that he did, this book would be incredibly instructive and helpful. However, he doesn’t stop there. The second half of the book is designed to help leaders avoid a cataclysmic train wreck in their our own lives.

In this section of the book, Irwin explains that derailment doesn’t happen overnight. It is a long process. He argues that “derailed leaders progress through five stages as they head toward their demise.” Each of these become the subject of a single chapter:

1. Stage One: A Failure of Self/Other-Awareness
2. Stage Two: Hubris: Pride Before the Fall
3. Stage Three: Missed Early Warning Signals
4. Stage Four: Rationalizing
5. Stage Five: Derailment

The good news is that if you can detect these attitudes and behaviors in your own life, you have a fighting chance of staying on track and leaving a positive leadership legacy. If you want to know how vulnerable you are to the behaviors that lead to derailment, take the free Derailed Online Assessment.

This is not just a book for CEOs. It is for anyone who serves in a leadership capacity—pastors, teachers, government officials, and even mid-level managers in corporations. Not only is this a book you should read; in my opinion, it’s a book you can’t afford not to read. There is simply too much at stake.

Although I loved the whole book, my favorite chapter is the next to the last, where Irwin summarizes the “lessons learned.” These hit me the hardest. The chapter summarizes the succinct yet gritty realities that make us fail or thrive as leaders. I know I will refer to these often.

In order to “seed the market for this book,” I am going to give away 100 copies free. To get a chance at snagging one, you must take the following three actions:

1. Leave a comment below. Tell me why you want this book. Be creative. I really do read these comments and base my decisions on them.
2. Fill out the special form. I have set up a separate contact form to make it convenient for you to provide your mailing address. Please do not put your shipping address in your comment. This will automatically disqualify you.
3. Twitter a link to this post. You can do so automatically by clicking here. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can use Facebook.

On Friday, November 13, I will select 100 people, based solely on my arbitrary and subjective evaluation of their comments. If you are one of those selected, Lindsey Nobles on my team will notify you via email. If you don’t hear from her, you can assume you didn’t make the cut.

Also, we are making this book available as a NelsonFree title. This means that if you buy the book—or even get one free—you can also download all three electronic versions of the book: a PDF of the book, the Amazon Kindle version, and the audio version. There is no additional charge for these.
Question: Why do you want a copy of this book?

Getting an agent or publisher interested in your book idea is easier if you have the inside scoop. In Writing a Winning Book Proposal I share what I have learned in more than 25 years in the book publishing industry. Click here now to find out more!

Love

November 11th, 2009 | Author: Felicia

Image via Wikipedia

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind . . .”

–Luke 10:27–

Do I love Him?  I would quickly say, “Yes” but then I read,

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; . . .He who does not love Me does not keep My words; . . .”

–John 14:23a, 24a

Obedience to His word is an indication of my love for Him.  This isn’t the legalistic, rule-keeping obedience but obedience because I can’t help it!  Obedience because my heart, soul, mind, and strength are involved in loving Him.  If my life shows up attitudes and actions that are contrary to His word then Jesus clearly says that I don’t love Him.  There is some area in my heart that isn’t His; isn’t devoted to loving Him and it shows.

What we love is always exposed.  Just be around anyone long enough and it will come through.  Everyone might see it – except me.  If I’m the one that isn’t loving God I’m also the one who is involved in some pretty amazing self-delusion and justification for my lack of obedience and love.  And I can do a great job of justifying my sin/lack of love.  All kinds of mental gymnastics to rationalize it.  All for who/what else we love.

Ask yourself the question, “What do I love?” and “Who do I love?”  Really.  Now be humble and honest enough with yourself to answer truthfully.  If you really want to get serious about this ask God to show you what/who you love.  Be ready though because He will answer and you will probably be shocked.  Then simply say, “Yes.”  Yes, Lord, You’re right, now help me to walk in Your ways and not mine.

That’s all.  No one needs a theological degree to have relationship with God.  Deep and sustaining relationship.  We just need spiritual integrity to see ourselves as we really are and agree with God when He sends His light.  “Yes, Lord, I see that area where I don’t love you.”    Now go and walk in His ways.

In honor of Veterans Day 2009, here’s a list of 25 quotes to live by:

1. We make war that we may live in peace. -Aristotle

2. Nobody ever drowned in sweat. -US Marines

3. Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers. -Aristotle

4. More powerful than the will to win is the courage to begin. -Unknown

5. Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. -Dwight D. Eisenhower

6. Many become brave when brought to bay. -Norwegian proverb

7. Courage is fear holding on a minute longer. -George S. Patton

8. It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. -Unknown

9. Either war is obsolete or men are. -Buckminster Fuller

10. There never was a good war or a bad peace. -Benjamin Franklin

11. Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself. -Jean Dubuffet

12. This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. -Elmer Davis

13. Freedom is never free. -Author Unknown

14. Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. -Michel de Montaigne

15. The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war. -Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

16. In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. -Mark Twain

17. Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous. -George Bernard Shaw

18. It is not only the living who are killed in war. -Isaac Asimov

19. Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it. -Irving Berlin

20. History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap. -Ronald Reagan

21. Soldiers generally win battles; generals get credit for them. -Napoleon Bonaparte

22. “Where there are too many policemen, there is no liberty. Where there are too many soldiers, there is no peace. Where there are too many lawyers, there is no justice.” -Lyn Yutang

23. Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men. -George Patton

24. I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot. -Gary Hart

25. Have the courage to act instead of react. -Earlene Larson Jenks

After displaying her collection of prosthetic legs at this year’s TED conference, bionic actress, athlete and model Aimee Mullins recently announced that she will speak at the TEDMED convention this fall.

Mullins has been instrumental in changing the public perception of prosthetics. After setting multiple world records at the 1996 Paralympic games, she has used her modeling, athletic and film careers to end the idea that prosthetics are a mark of disability. Instead, she’s shown the world that bionic limbs can enable some amazing things. As a guy who’s barely 5’8″ on a good day, listening to Mullins talk about how easy and fun it is to change her height on a whim does sound like a pretty incredible ability to have.

TEDMED annually explores a wide range of issues in health care. Topics this year range from ethical questions in the face of medical advancement to the theoretical capabilities of medicine. The fifth TEDMED conference will be held October 27-30 in San Diego. Be sure to keep an eye on the conference come fall. [TEDMED, image via Women's Sports Foundation]

Read  the rest of this post at dogwoodradiance.com

To grow money, you have to know money. And to know money, you need to study it: Its movements, who’s making it (and why), who takes it away, how to keep it, and how to grow your personal stash.

Unless you’re a child prodigy like Warren Buffett, or you have a trust fund, this stuff doesn’t come on its own. It takes years of learning and experience. And what better way to learn than to throw on a podcast in the car, at the gym, or in another convenient setting?

We compiled this list of audio resources to make you richer. Even a weekly listen will boost your moneymaking IQ. See which of these valuable podcasts suits you best:

http://www.businesspundit.com/15-podcasts-that-will-make-you-richer/

by Don Swinford

If you know me, you know that I hate Marriage Retreats – with a passion! Marriage Retreats sole purpose is to destroy men. As you sit in a circle or around a camp fire the retreat leader will ask the guys, “Tell the group how you feel?”, “Share with the group how you have failed your wife (family)”, “Why do you put your job ahead of your wife (family)”, and on and on.

The leader will not stop badgering until at least one man cries. There are always tears and then some of the weaker men will begin hugging each other. The retreat will end with the men saying their wedding vows again to their wives. They make commitments they will never keep. And finally, the criers and huggers are so embarrassed and ashamed of their wimpy behavior that they go undercover until the memory of that dreaded weekend dies.

Not this guy and not his wife – we won’t fall into the Marriage Retreat trap. She’s so cool. She hates them too! Thank you Lord!

My wife (@feliciaswinford) is so innovative and creative; she designed the perfect Marriage Retreat for us. We tried it out his past weekend. It’s called A Marriage Retreat that ROCK! (aka The Five Commandments of a Marriage Retreat).

Read The Five Commandments of Marriage Retreats

Share your love of running with us as we share our city with you! City Running Tours offers guided running tours of New York City, Chicago, Washington, DC and Charleston and soon many more. Whether you are a recreational runner continuing your daily routine or training for a marathon and need to get your miles in, City Running Tours is here to accommodate your needs as a runner and a tourist. Choose your distance and the sights you want to see, then let us share the history, urban myths and the unofficial landmarks that make these cities unique.