Thanks YMGW listeners

Thanks for visiting my blog after listening to Money God's Way.

Please leave me a question or comment. I want to interact with those who relate to my experiences.

At this point, writing the book has cost me more money than it's made me, and I am okay with that. The big change was my how I define success. Still being on a short leash financially doesn't overwhelm me like it once did. I'm heading in the right direction.

I welcome you to join me in enjoying the insane success of God's abundant life. It may look like failure to most people, but it sure beats chasing after something that doesn't satisfy, even if you do attain it.

May is mental health awareness month

In honor of mental health awareness month, I am lowering the price of Insane Success: From Losing The American Dream To Finding God's Abundant Life from 8.88 to 6.79. Please consider taking advantage of this special pricing to give hope to a friend, family member, or yourself. 

Shaken, Shattered, Serving

Reading Shaken by Tim Tebow, which recounts his fall from the NFL, reminded me that life knocks everyone down somewhere along the way. Life doesn't care who you are or how much success you've had. Those who've had the most success probably get more shaken up when things go wrong. That was the case for Tim and me, anyway. So much has gone right that you don't know how to respond when things go wrong.

I thought a bit more about the similarities of our experiences. Not surprisingly there weren't many. We both lost hard earned dream jobs and went through the process of figuring out what to do next. That's about the extent of any similarities. Then I got to thinking about the differences. Not surprisingly there were many. Far too many to even begin to list.

One difference that really stood out in my mind was that Tim's life was only shaken - sort of like a Central Illinois earthquake; rare and unremarkable. My life was shattered. I'm talking 1989 San Francisco earthquake devastation. It's easy for me to say "only shaken" when I didn't invest my life into having a long career as an NFL quarterback.

Another huge difference was the way we responded. Tim immediately reached out to friends and family. I kept far too much of what was going on, especially mentally, to myself. With the help of others, Tim was able to put his loss in perspective and move on relatively quickly. And before thinking of course he did he's Tim Tebow. He just moved on to a different type of success. What loss is that? think about other successful people who have responded to loss, or success for that matter, improperly. There are a lot of celebrities who self-destruct by responding improperly to success or the loss of it.

The same thing happens to all us non-celebrities too. Only, the whole world doesn't know about it. My downward spiral began slowly, but the longer I tried to right my life on my own the worse I made it. As the spiral sped up, I went from disgruntled to discouraged to depressed to despaired without really recognizing it as I moved from one to the other. Then came my suicide attempt. It was the worst and best day of my life. This act broke through my pride. I got help. I got on the road to recovery with friends and family. Hmm . . . maybe I should have started there. Uh, yeah!

One last similarity. Tim and I are both using our stories to serve those who are still in the struggle to get back up. You probably won't get the chance to chat with Tim Tebow about how frustrating life is. But if you want to talk to someone who can really relate to the common Joe, I am here to serve. YOU.

Talk to me

While my website and other author sites are under construction please private message me at https://www.facebook.com/lomelino28. I want my book, Insane Success, to speak to you. But I also want you to talk to me.

Toxic Pride

This blog is the companion to my book - Success Redefined: Abundant Life After Loss. I thought I was done only to have my editor tell me; while I had the makings of a quality book I was only about half done. With her guidance and God's leading I still hope to complete it (again - ha ha) this year. Part of my editors advice was to include spiritual application at the end of each chapter. I am going to use those as my blog post to keep both from going stagnant.                 

Chapter One 

Toxic Pride

Why is pride so toxic? Pride tells us we can handle it. It says we have it all under control; that we are the masters of our own destiny. God tells us He, and only He, is in control of all things. He created the universe and everything in it. He created everything, including us, on purpose and for a purpose. God has a purpose, a plan, a will, for every man, woman, boy, and girl. But most will never live out the life God has planned for them, because that requires surrendering their life plan to him and pride keeps them from doing that. If you are trying to find success, as defined by man, you are engaged in an exercise of futility. Giving up is typically not the advice given to find success, but in this case it is the first step that every other step builds on. Give up all attempts to live this life in your own strength and wisdom. Surrender your life fully to God. Accept His son Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Give Him control and a new life will begin. It may not look like a successful life to others, but I know finding God’s will and, with His help and guidance, living it out is a far more fulfilling, exciting, and joyful life than anything I could possibly accomplish on my own. 

The loss of Thanksgiving

If the Thanksgiving holiday were a person it would surely have an inferiority complex.

A couple days ago my wife and I watched the Christmas classic Holiday Inn. As the Thanksgiving scene opens, the poor holiday doesn't even have a permanent home on the calendar. Then the holiday itself doesn't get any attention at all. Instead of dancing there is depression. Instead of singing there is a recording of I've got plenty to be thankful for being refuted by the very man who wrote it. Every other holiday in the movie is celebrated in some way, and Thanksgiving's greatest competition for attention gets double billing.

Not only is the Thanksgiving scene sad, it's sad that were already giving Christmas attention on November 6th. When my wife and I were shopping for Holiday Inn, the same day we watched it, there was no problem finding the displays of Christmas movies. I'm sure there are Thanksgiving movies, it's going to take a little more effort to find them though; the same goes for songs and Christmas albums. How many Christmas songs can you name? Now, how many Thanksgiving songs can you name? How many recording artist have a Christmas album? Now, how many recording artists have a Thanksgiving album? And, how many Thanksgiving songs have multiple versions? White Christmas, the feature song of Holiday Inn, has more than 500 recorded versions.

Christmas vies for our attention for two months and gets it, a lot, during those 60 or so days -- list making, card writing, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, meals, parties, decorating, movies, music, commercials, church services, black Friday, cyber Monday, Santa Claus, baby Jesus, mangers, live nativities, trees, stars, lights, cameras, action, action, action. It's no wonder we have trouble pausing half way through to give Thanksgiving our attention. Does Thanksgiving, real thanksgiving, ever get our undivided attention? If, so for how long? Does anyone make a Thanksgiving list that isn't a shopping list for Thanksgiving dinner? Has Thanksgiving become little more than a food and football gorged halftime break for Christmas? Has it become I have plenty to be thankful for, here's my Christmas list for more?

Our go, go, go culture has left us precious little time to stop and be thankful; and Thanksgiving is now right in the middle of the busiest season of the year. I'm not yet 50 years old, but can remember when Thanksgiving wasn't overshadowed by Christmas.

Christmas is front and center from the day after Halloween and lasts until the tree comes down. That's a long time for people that Christmas is a reminder of loss for. For those people, myself included, it is crucial to go counter to the culture and give Thanksgiving and thanksgiving the double billing. Maybe your depressed because job loss has left you with no means to give as you would like. Maybe your sad because a loved one has died. Maybe you can't find any Christmas spirit within yourself. Don't let the overblown Christmas season monster our culture has created steal two months of your life. Focus on the plenty that all of us have to be thankful for. Focus on the first Christmas. Focus on Jesus all year round.

It's not recorded so it won't add to the total but here's my version of White Christmas:


I'm thankful for a while, Christmas
You can wait your turn I know
Let the treetops glisten
after Thanksgivin'
Wait until December snow

I'm thankful for a while, Christmas
With every thank you card I write
May Christmas be merry and bright
After we're all thankful for a while

Forgiveness and other F words

 

No, I am not going to use the F bomb in this post for obvious reasons. Let's take off our tinsel halos for just a moment though, and admit that when it come to forgiving a major injustice the F bomb has crossed our mind, or even our lips (gasp), before we get around to forgiving it. Whew. With that out of the way, and tinsel halos back in place, what are the other F words?

The first one that comes to mind is, say it all together now, forget. Forgive and forget fans please forgive me, and forget my sarcasm, when I say forget forgive and forget; it's a fantasy.

The word beginning with the letter F that comes to my mind is fear. Both fear of needing to forgive and needing forgiveness myself. Is either side ready? When is the right time? Where is the right place? Is it worth addressing? Why can't we just forget about the whole thing? Will it make matters worse? Are they going through the same emotional turmoil I am? Maybe I can just avoid them until it blows over. *&%$! I don't know what to do, how to do it if I do decide to forgive, or even if I can genuinely forgive this. (Okay, so I lied a little. Hope you can forgive me.) The word frustration come to anyone's mind?

If you want to know how to forgive go to scripture. If you want to know how we typically forgive turn on the radio. "We bury the hatchet but leave the handle stickin' out" says it really well. This Garth Brooks song was released in 1991 and I still remember it. And I'm not a country music fan. Anyone still think you can forget a major injustice?

There are so many questions when it comes to forgiveness. There are divisions among godly christian leaders regarding the who, what, where, when, why, and how of if all. I'm not going to claim to have all the answer by any stretch of the imagination. There are a few more words I'd like to add to the discussion though.

Who - From easiest to hardest: friends, family, and foes. Or should foes come before family? Hmmm.

What - Others failures and our own. Again, forgiving ourselves being the harder of the two.

Where - Fair territory (AKA neutral ground)

When - ASAP but feel out the facts and follow the leading of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on this one.

Why - The fortification of the relationship or simply the future of it. Lack of forgiveness could end it.

How - Fully and fairly; easier said than done.

One last word - Fend (AKA defend or protect) Put one of these in place of forget in the old forgive and forget adage and it becomes much easier to do. Oh, and don't forget the forgiveness and protection is for them as much as it is for yourself.