I AM THANKFUL FOR....

Having Christ in my life
My incredible wife
My two amazing daughters
My wonderful family (mom, dad, brothers and their families, my wife's family)
The amazing people that attend DCC
USA
Excellent health
The ability to give and receive
Food
COFFEEEEEEEE
My great neighbors
My great friends
My home
Automobiles that run
All of the people who have poured into my life the good things that have helped form who I am
And so many, many!!!!

INJUSTICE AND A TURKEY

I love to hunt!

Now for all of you that don't and you have PETA on your speed dial, just relax!!

One of my favorite things to hunt is wild turkeys. They are smart. Wary. And are a very beautiful bird.

Given this is the eve of Thanksgiving and most of us will be with family and friends eating a farm raised turkey, the mind obviously gravitates to the whole reason for the day and that is...........thankfulness. No, its not just another day off!

Two words have been rumbling in my head lately: thankfulness and injustice.

I get to celebrate and be with family and have a warm home and more food than should be legal and watch football and just enjoy.....everything!

What if that was all gone? Would I have a thankful disposition? What if I was in a place where injustice prevailed and I had no voice, no protection, no help, no governmental assistance? What if I was a child and there were no adults in my life I could trust and in a place where adults used me as chattel, would I be a thankful person?

'Injustice' is not just missing a meal or needing a winter jacket. Injustice is a dark and grievous thing that needs people everywhere to correct the wrong and make it right. It might be in Mexico or Asia or Africa...every continent is touched by it.

I am a very thankful person today....more so because of how injustice has made me focus and a huge need and the help of a turkey to make me pause long enough to really evaluate how blessed I am.

I am asking God what I can do to help destroy injustice.

MTC!

Mark

MANAGER OR LEADER?

Are you a manager or a leader?

Granted, there are aspects of each that a person utilizes when leading people, but there are some extreme differences as well.

I came across this topic the other day and it jarred me once again. The first time this question was posed to my brain was probably 15 years ago. It really challenged me.

I've never forgot about it.

So when I came upon this once again doing some reading, the query piqued my attention.

Managers- left brain

Leaders- right brain

Basically stated, managers organize and administrate and put systems together and make sure those systems are running and that people are following in them.

Leaders look to the future, the seek new challenges, they invent, they create, they ask tons of questions like 'why' or 'why not'...not to be antagonistic but to define an approach or direction to something or away from something.

Here is a huge difference: Leaders are focused on people. They realize that their greatest asset is not quarterly numbers, but the people that make the organization work!

So what are you?

MTC!
Mark

PRICELESS AND UNCONTAINABLE

I was checking out the Apple Cup special that was on last night on FSN. It really was pretty cool. The show highlighted the rivalry between UW and WSU on the football field. FSN even broadcasted the 1992, BLIZZARD BOWL. That game was a doozy....snowing sideways, shoveling the field just to see a few lines, snow piles in the end zones, and Mark Brunell and Drew Bledsoe going at it.

It was really cool seeing and listening to Don James (head coach for the University of Washington) and Mike Price (head coach for the Washington State University) talk about that game and their remembrance of the various details was quite vivid.

As I watched them, it struck me how fast 16 years has flown by. My oldest daughter was 3 months old. Now she is one year away from attending either UW or WSU!!

Time is priceless and you can't contain it. It's here and gone. You can't buy more of it and you can't sell any of it. If you try to grab it and store it, you can't. Ask any person who is moving through life and too busy and what would they like more of.....time. Money is good, but time is better. If you have time you can make money. If you have money, you can't buy time. I've known countless people who have much more money than others, but they seem to accomplish less with their time than those who have less dough.

I always end these blogs with MTC.....Make Today Count! We all have the same amount of time. Use it and do good or lose it forever.

MTC!
Mark

NAVIGATING THROUGH THE FOG

Up here in Washington state, the fog can get really thick! Even though you know exactly where you are and where you are going, when the fog rolls in, it becomes a challenge to find your driveway. For people who live on country roads, they go to great lengths to mark their driveway or lane. Reflectors, barrels with reflective tape, flags, goofy metal works of someone's mental machinations....all to find their way home.

We are all kind of doing that now with the economic fog we all find ourselves in. We know where we are at, but it is a bit tricky trying to get through it all. My heart goes out to the millions who are out of work and to those individuals who have just retired only to find their retirement severely depleted.

When I was a little boy, I couldn't say 'foggy' very well. One morning I was looking out the window and I said, "Momma....it's really hoggy outside." Well, it is a bit hoggy outside for all of us right now as we try to maneuver through these new and interesting times.

This I know for sure: tough times don't last, tough people do! Be strong. Put your hope in God and be tough.

We're going to make it just fine.

Make Today Count!

Mark