The Ultimate Competitive Threat

What is your greatest
personal competitive
threat?

A threat to your job, or
threats to your company?
Threats to your well-being,
or a threat to your lifestyle?
Threats to your health?
The threat of losing
someone’s affection? 

 What is the ultimate personal
threat or challenge you will
encounter in your life?
Think very hard,
it is important

I think our ultimate
competitive challenge
is “death”

Why?

Death is the ultimate
formidable challenger
A fearsome competitor who
clearly understands the game
A competitor so overly prepared,
death has our number

So, no matter how good I am
No matter how good you are
We will always lose this
competitive race
Always!

We will never beat death,
unless we receive
outside help 

My corporate advice?
Accept guidance from the greatest
competitive coach of all time
The only competitor to
ever defeat death
Jesus
the competitor
who died but lived again 

 How can we defeat death?
All we need to do is to
accept God’s offer of
help into our hearts

Only God tells us
How we can win
How to live forever
How to defeat death 

How to achieve salvation
and live-in eternity

05/21/00 Church, Believe, WA
(Revised 2021)

Corporately Speaking

Corporately speaking
I was once like you.
Success focused instead of family focused
Achievement driven instead of purpose driven
Business minded instead of minding my life’s business 

Personally speaking
I am still like you.
Career attentive
Success oriented
Competitively active
But profoundly changed as well. 

Personally speaking
My life has never been more successful
Both work and home a source of joy.
I am focused and fulfilled
as a dad, a friend, a husband
and as a servant of the Lord 

Faithfully speaking
The moment that Jesus entered my life
I served a different master.
My success grew to heights unknown
With knowledge of wealth
In realms untraveled.  

Personally speaking 
I was like you
A man very good at work
A man successful on the job
But a man knowing that
work is a blessed event  

You can be like me
Faithfully speaking

05/19/03
(Revised 2021)

Planning Your Life

If planning your life is a good idea
Why don’t we do it more?

I think
We are always too busy
We have places to go
work to do
tasks to finish
goals to reach
the busyness animal
to feed  

Thus, there is absolutely no
time for a life plan
But there is time for
Sales plans
Travel plans
Budget plans
Account plans
Vacation plans
Avoidance plans
Get together plans
And plans for plans 

Why don’t I make more time?
I wish I knew the answer.
I consider myself an excellent planner
undaunted by the most difficult tasks. 

But for me
an uncomfortable question lingers
If I am so good at planning,
how did I screw up my life? 

Why so many speed bumps
Why such rocky roads to travel?
Why so much pain along the way? 
Why, why didn’t I plan my life better? 

I think because planning involves
Thinking about the future
Thinking about what may
happen in the future
We realize quickly,
we don’t know
what will occur
in the future 

The effort to plan
Exposes our humanity
Exposes our ignorance
about the future
Exposes our human fears 
including our mortality  

But I continue to live
my life as if I am in control.
If I am really in control, then: 

Why not plan more joy?
More personal pleasure?
More peace in my life?
More time for family?
More time for friends?
More time for myself?
More time for Him?

We may not believe in God
but by default,
we know something,
someone is out there
above us 

Why do we continue to act this way?
Because many of us have finally realized
we can’t control our lives.

We can’t successfully plan peace,
or even plan to avoid pain.

This is what I have learned,
have you?

03/29/2000 IBM Meeting, 
Schaumburg, IL
(Revised 2021)

The Perfect Job

What is the perfect job?
Only the heart knows where satisfaction lies
Only the heart knows where challenges abound
Only the heart knows where rewards flow freely 

The perfect job
Only the journey reveals the value of our work
Only the journey reveals the rewards of our tolls
Only the journey reveals the pleasure of contributing 

Finding the perfect job
How do we move forward satisfying our dreams?
How do we move forward fulfilling our individual promise?
How do we move forward meeting our personal expectations?

The perfect job exists only
for an instant moment
in time! 

An instant moment of self-satisfaction
An instant moment of personal realization
An instant moment to accept we contributed
An instant moment to grasp we made a difference
An instant moment to prepare for our next
search to find, the perfect job

How do we discover our perfect job?
How do we discover our purpose on earth?
How do we discover the true purpose of our toll?
What is the perfect job that fulfills
our purpose on earth?  

The perfect job
Only God can provide the answer
Only God’s guiding hands can uncover
the job that is perfect

For His purpose

11/29/98. For son Mike,
before leaving for Scottsdale
(Revised 2021)

Greatest Paradigm Shift

My corporate friends
My business comrades
We understand the full
power of paradigm shifts
We have studied and experienced
them in the business arena 

A change or shift
drastically altering the rules
of the corporate game

Have you heard of the
ultimate paradigm shift,
highest of them all?
An upheaval so vast,
life transforms instantly,
rewriting the rules of
living, loving, and loss 

A paradigm shift so encompassing
if applied to the business world,
all products and services
are instantly obsolete
Profits lost or won instantly
Customers vanishing or multiplying like rabbits
Markets diminished to nothing or
expanding across the globe. 

This supreme paradigm shift
defies the disciplined mind,
evades logical human intellect
and circumvents analytical
corporate reason 

This paradigm shift is genuine
I know, I was there in person
It rewrites the script for life
I know, it did mine
It reframes power and success
I know, I lived it
I will never forget
The instant paradigm shift of my body and soul
It is melded in my mind,
and cemented in my soul
for eternity. 

I will never forget that day,
October 21, 1995
“Help” was all I said and instantly
God was there. 

He had been waiting a very long time
waiting patiently for
a sign of weakness
a sign of need
for Him 

Instantly,
I was transformed,
my life’s history re-set and
re-written at the same time  

My transformation was crafted by our
architect (originator) Himself 

The original paradigm shift,
for all time and
for all mankind 

Thank God 

05/19/00, Flight Memphis to Seattle
 (Revised 2021)

Job Unhappiness

Why am I so unhappy at work? 
Why so discouraged sometimes?
Why depressed and frustrated?

Have searched but,
no answers forthcoming
Have questioned,
receiving no response
Have asked but,
have received no answers
I am tired of asking
Actually a little tired of living

Wished upon a star,
must have been a starfish
Gazed in a glass ball, 
seeing reflections of tinsel
Palms read
Tea leaves examined
Farmer’s Almanac consulted
All to no avail

Why so unhappy in my job?
Why no revelations?

Maybe I will pray

12/01/1998 Evening Thoughts

Traveling Man 

Always on the road traveling
Where are they traveling to?
Why do they travel?
Their answer
Why not? 

Always traveling
Continually on the road
Constantly moving somewhere
Continuously in a state of anxiety
Frazzled
Nervous
On edge
Strained
Stressed
Worried 

A traveling man
Coming or going?
Arriving or departing?
Appearing or disappearing?
Does not make a difference 

A traveling man
cares not his destination
Staying in motion
is his earth-bound salvation 

Where are these travelers going?
Only the devil knows
their final station!

03/07/00, Restaurant in Memphis
(Revised 2021)