Taun17

When someone trusts you in a negotiation (you're always negotiating), they're more likely to believe what you tell them. Thus, there's hidden value in trust when negotiating from a long-term perspective. Once trust is broken it's difficult to regain it. Therefore, broken trust sets off negative ripples that can have unintended and unexpected consequences in the future. Let's look at the trust factor with DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) as an example. The kids in the DACA program were brought to the US by their parents. In most cases, they had no input as to whether they would stay where they were, or travel to the US. They instinctively trusted their parents with that decision. Then, there's the US government. The US government basically said, if you register for the DACA program and abide by our requirements (i.e. check in every 2 years and make payment to stay in the program, go to college, serve in the military, stay employed, pay taxes), you...

In 1978 two significant things happened to me. One certainly more significant in eternal value but both caused a major change in my life. The first I prayed the sinner's prayer and gave my life to Jesus Christ and became a born-again Believer, more on that later. The second is I met Zig Ziglar through his book "See You at the Top". Several years later I went to work for The Zig Ziglar Corporation and remained there for over five years. One on the many things I learned from Zig was the whole concept of "life balance". At that point, I was in my second marriage and perusing the brass ring. It was all about work and getting to the next level. Zig helped me understand the importance of balancing faith, family, health, finances as well as career. We even had an exercise called the wheel of life that looked like an old-time wagon wheel, you've probably seen in old westerns. Imagine if you will, five spokes on this wheel each with a different label at the end of th...

It's always a fear held irrationally, that if God has called you yet then ceases in using you, what does that mean? Will He no longer use you? There are times in all our ministries for God when the brakes are put on, and we're called into a silence - so much worse when we're not ready for such a moratorium - when the identity crisis we suffer is so fundamentally necessary, for it calls us to our dependence on ourselves and not God. Pride increases friction at the pivot point when God's use of us diminishes and we fear God's call is over. Notice the coalescence between pride and fear. The latter is the manifestation of the former. Yet, fear is plainly pride's revelation. When God calls us, He uses us. He Who calls us never goes back on His Word. Nobody used once is then put on the scrap heap. If He used you once, He will use you again. And even in the time of abeyance, watch, for that time of silence He is still speaking. But there is still fear, perhaps. This is...