Friendship

Facebook as distorted friendship. Now the meaning of friendship is more base on the number of people you are linked to than the number of people you can talk and relate to.

I spoke to a young women today who on facebook has so many friends but advised that she felt lonely and her worlds "I feel as if I have no friends". This is not a new statement to me but this has been told a few times before.

The truth is if more people where honest they would also confess to the fact that they also are struggling with the same problem. There is a famous song by the Kings of Leon the words say it all

I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see
Painted faces fill the places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you and all you know and how you speak
Countless lovers under cover of the street
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you
Friendship take more effort than just sending out a friend request, you must put in the effort. It takes time to see a relationship (Friendship) grow. Without the investment you will not reap the rewards of a successful relationship and in the end you will be left with like many with 100's of Facebook friends but still in need of somebody to LOVE.

"Remember God gift to us is life and our gift to God is what we do with that life"

Charity

I was blown away today that even in these times the charity of so many people is still alive and kicking.

The word charity in the bible also means love.

Recently God has been challenging me about how much do I love people. The only way to gauge this is not by the words that I speak but by the actions that I take. I regularly pray for people (Family, poor, abused and friends) But then God would ask me what are you doing for them.

There is a verse in the bible that states, "I was naked and you clothed me, I was hungry and you feed me" and a person replies "when did I clothe you", God responds "when you feed one of my little ones you clothed me".

I am not here to tell you what I do because I think these things are to be done in secret, what I will say is that message moved me to be more active.

Going back to today I saw presents piled sky high for children in the Midlands that will not be getting any presents this Christmas. The church had over 400 requests to help children that are in need this year and the church will be able to provide. We as a church are meant to be a light to the world in our charity (LOVE) and show that God is a provider to the needs of the community even in a economic downturn.
For those that believe we all have a responsibility to pass on God love in a tangible way.

Remember "God gift to us is life, what we do with that life is our gift back to God"

Success begin where your at

I have always been a dreamer from a early age. Now in my thirties I have not stopped dreaming if any thing I dream even more than before.

It is OK to have dream but they can also be a hindrance because if you spend to much time in the cloud you never do any thing in reality. There is a saying in the church "to heavenly minded no earthly good"

Why am I sharing this? Because God over the last few weeks has really challenged me that my dreams begin today. What this meant to me was even though I have a dream for GenHope to reach thousands of people and change lives, I need to focus on changing one person life now. I realise to reach my dream I must begin living my dream now

If you dream of Financial freedom, you must learn NOW how to invest. If you want to be a CEO you must first learn to manage yourself NOW.

Dreams do come true but you must live them NOW. What you do today will determine your tomorrow.

I realise that God has blessed me with some great people to encourage, educate, motivate and love, how I deal with them will determine how great Gen Hope will be. If I cannot do it now I will not do it when 1000's require help.

Remember "God gift to you is life, what you do with that life is your gift back to God"

TIME TO TAKE ACTION

I at a point in my life that I have realised that it is so easy to say tomorrow I will fulfil my dreams, tomorrow I will take on the world, tomorrow I WILL. Then you realise that tomorrow never comes.

In my early thirties I have achieve moderate personal success but I know that I could have achieved so much more than what I have achieved to date.

Question I must ask is why have I not achieved my potential as of yet?
I could give a thousand excuses but that is all that they would be EXCUSES. If I am honest it is because of the following factors
LAZINESS: I never be know as a lazy person. But I have been busy in the wrong area and laziness in the areas I should be busy. Sounds crazy but reflect and ask yourself have I been busy? Most people I know have been busy! Now ask your self have you been busy doing the things you know you should be doing. UMMMMMMMM. This is when I must drop of the things that are sapping my time and become busy in building my life.
FEAR: It stops us all. Inside of me there is one side that is as brave a warrior and a other side that is as fearful as a mouse. The question is which one speaks the loudest and make themselves known the most. (I heard a great statement on the radio that a old man had two wolves living inside of him, one wolf was selfishness and the other was the wolf of love. The old man stated that only one can live in a person so the other one must die. A child ask the old man how do you know which one will live the old man replied the one that survives is the one that you FEED) I must continue to feed my warrior spirit (More than a conquer) I must build on my faith and my faith will produce works the bible states.

These two things are the reason I am lagging be hide where i should be. But I know my weakness and now it is time to destroy them.

Here is to the future people

Remember "God gift to man is life, what you do with that life is your gift back to God"

Daily humility

Me and my best friend have a challenge we have taken from the bible to confess our faults to one another daily.

This might seem quite negative but in truth it is very positive for the following reasons. You become conscious of your faults and you are are aware far quicker of the things that you have done wrong and need to change.

Secondly by confessing daily it stops things snowballing. This way you can catch it early enough before it becomes a problems with major consequences.

Thirdly it keeps you humble. Speaking about your weaknesses stops you from believing your own hype and thinking that we are better than others. Confession lets you realise that I am only human like every one else and be hide the stuff we are the same. All of us have strengths and all of us have weaknesses.

Fourthly it stops the habit of have skeletons in the closet. Speaking daily allows you to shine light of your areas of darkness. This stops also living a life of guilt and secrets.

The greatest thing is understanding that our weaknesses if we are honest about them can become our strengths for the above reasons.

My encouragement to you is to find some that you can be honest with to discuss your weakness and you will find as me and my friend have is your weaknesses become less and less. The severity of your weakness becomes less and less the more you begin to deal with them.

Remember "God gift to man is life, what we do with that life is our gift back to God"

It not what you know but who you know

This is a statement we hear time and time again by business people, entrepreneurs etc. Another saying is you "net worth is equated by your network".
Both statement mentioned hold some truth, but I feel that more important than this is the quality of your friendships.

In the bible we see great friendship David and Johnathan, Paul and Timothy, Jesus and Peter to name a few. In business Microsoft would not of grown with just Bill Gates he needed Paul Allen. Apple needed not only Steve Job but also Steve Wozniak to grow.  To really be successful in this world you need more than a NETWORK, because you can have a network and still feel lonely, still feel you have no one to turn to.

I recently spoken to two people who are popular have lots of friends on Face book, go to networking events but still they felt they had no one to turn to when the trouble arise. I am all for networking but friendship (solid, pure, open and honest friendships) are more important than any general network.

I been blessed to have some truly GREAT friendship, and it been in time of real struggles that I needed to call on them for support and a ear to listen and realised their worth to my life. (these people have been Thammi, Joseph and Kerry my wife) Also great friends will speak the truth in love in how you need to move forward and not just tell you what you want to hear. In NETWORKS people are trying to impress one another, are they going to be totally honest with you?

If your planning to obtain a purpose driven life, you will face mountains and valleys. Due to this you will need a hand to assist you along the way. Begin building those friendship that are worth more than gold and will help you achieve the life you desire.



Remember "God gift to you is life, what you do with that life is your gift back to God"

Bless people