I think I need to smell some pine trees!

I really think that in the midst of a change of life, it might just be good to go out and do something you like doing, and see if it still works to change your attitude! In my case it would be to go smell some pine trees, take a walk in a forest and just wonder what ever happened to the rest of the world! I think that is the reason for a Sabbath, no working, it seems that the problem has been around for thousands of years, human beings have been so obsessed with existing, making sure they leave some kind of significant mark on the world or just survive,that they have forgot to appreciate the world or it's beauty! We are always so apt to feel guilty for not having done something significant, that we punish ourselves, by doing too much of the mundane. If life is important, than we should stop and appreciate it! It is one of the reasons peak bagging got old, it is great to get to the top of the mountain, but often, the race to see how fast you go up, and come down, setting a record, kind of misses the point of seeing and experiencing the mountain. Exercise in it's self will clear the mind, but what you see, smell, touch, these reconnect you with your soul, refresh your spirit, make your mind think in new ways! So, when you start to get stale, when the only thing in your heart and your mind make you want to scream, stop, remember what makes you happy, and just do it! Whatever day you do a Sabbath, do it, don't feel guilty, don't count the productive things you could have done, just remember, it is not about work, if you exercise when you Sabbath, the exercise should not be (for your good), it is should be because it takes you where you want to be, it should ultimately relax and help re-create you, re-center yourself, to appreciate... God, the world, and the people around you! Here are some pictures to take your mind off of things that you see everyday!

The Set of the Sail!

It is not the storm we are weathering but the set of the sail that determines our success! That is a phrase that was said to me in a training on personal development, it was about being successful with anything!
But here it is coming out of my pastor's teaching, a completely unexpected question was posed, what storm has blown into your life and how will you react to it? You can sit at the foot of the master and learn and practice and learn and practice and grow in your spiritual life or let the storm come into your life and the Lord will use that to force your training, force your change, and setting the sail will allow you to not founder, but start to move upward toward the high call you are to move to! We are encouraged to move from where we are in reality to where we should be ideally! All of this come from our bible, our Lord teaches us that the all the solution is accomplished, he has been their ahead of us, he has purchased everything for us that work is accomplished, our salvation is complete in him. But the reality is he meets us where we are at, but does not want us to stay there, imagine that, when God meets you as a drug addict, a thief, a murderer, a pervert, he does not want you to stay there! While that seems like a no brain for those obviously broken people, but sometimes when you are just a person, who was seeking to fill that empty spot, to mend a broken heart to find a relationship with God, maybe you grew up in or around the church, you don't see the need for the radical transformation, but nothing could be further from the truth! God has a plan for everyone, it is a process called sanctification. It is called the process of finishing you into the Man or Woman of God that he knows you will be, not where he found you! " Focus on the process you get the goal, Focus on the goal and you will get frustrated."  This is true for everything in life, it is the principle taught in the Slight Edge philosophy. And of interesting note, lots and lots of personal development (personal growth) arena is ripped straight out of the Gospel, and old testament scriptures! We need to concentrate in our spiritual life,to pray, study and share!
We also need to give the Lord the chance to change not our personality, he gave it to us, but to make us into loving, kind, giving people. People who bring others into the boat of a saved life, one that has a future on the other side of this boot camp, we call life, but is only the door to the real life, ready to graduate and have the Lord say, "Well done, enter into my rest!"

So here is the takeaway, if your business has a proven model, with a process that works, do it, over and over again until you are perfect, if you are working at weight loss, it is not the doughnut you avoid but the process if you keep on, that will work to your goal! Whatever you do, focus on your guided development and you will change! Move incrementally each day forward doing the small things everyday that add up to huge change over the long haul!

Build your spiritual life!
Build a Business!

Sunrise on Whitney!



Sunrise on the way to Mt. Whitney!

When you hit the trail at 4:00 am or was it 3:30?, and you walk in predawn darkness with nothing but the sights and sounds you can perceive with a headlamp and the closeness of companions as you head up, up, up, the only thing that is really on your mind, is your pace, will altitude take you out and will it be this dark when you return? Then as the day progresses and the nights starts disintegrating into day you pick up your little camera, and what your eye perceives, you hope it catches! It was there in the dark, and the flash spoils it, so you turn off the flash, fiddle with gloved thumbs and catch something to take home. You can't take the experience back, but when you reach out and capture a moment of God's gesture of beauty it brings back the moment, the emotion, the knowing life is important; it can save you later on! I trained for months, I was in the best physical shape of my life and Christ helped me that day to do something some people can never accomplish. Am I a mountain climber?, in the broadest sense yes, because I have been on the top of mountains, not in the narrow sense though, no ropes, chalks or desire to tackle sheer walls and I do not enjoy precipice's or dangling my legs over the edge, but I do enjoy the view! Hiking through mountains, over mountains and the smell of  pine forest is a joy for me, which challenges and draws me closer to my maker, it inspires confidence and reminds you of your vulnerability. It is something you can do solo and enjoy but it seems to be enjoyed even more when shared with others, because you just can't convey to those who were not with you, the same thing, even though I am sure that each person has a different perception, a different message with each passing step. It is important to know, that when I am alone on a walk, I am not really alone, I have a companion who sticks close, he never outpaces me, and when I tire, he sits with me and waits while I recover, and when my feet bleed, and yes, they have bled, he understands my pain and keeps me going. So while friends may fail you, he never will. Show me the path home, I am very weary, I am not sure if I will make it to the next rise, bring me through the pass over the trail summit and then to the peak as you have done before!

Whitney trail summit!

Whitney summit!