A Trip to Springfield ILLinois

I realize now that I fortunately got selected as a chaperone for my son’s trip to Springfield Illinois the state capitol with his fifth grade class. How many times have I perceived an event as a chore only to be completely blown away by the opportunity to experience sometime that was by all standards totally awesome? I had no idea I would be so impressed by the sights in Springfield. We stated with a tour of the state museum that has built the exhibit around the changes of the world from the beginning to now and how some change is gradual while others like volcanoes, earthquakes and glaciers may result in significant changes in a short period of time. The museum has done a fantastic job of looking back millions of years, and what changes have resulted in the world as we know it. I believe the kids with me were most impressed by the visuals of humans that evolved from a life style of having little and making most of their everyday needs by hand that we take for granted and  run over to Wal-Mart and buy today. We left there to go visit the state capital to see where the government for the state resides and makes the laws that formulate the environment we experience as citizen of the state of Illinois and the United States. There was quite a bit of excitement since there was a demonstration taking place by union members that had decided to take their issues to the law makers. Even with all that we were able to have a short tour of the building and found out impressive things like it was actually taller than the Capitol in Washington DC and the beauty and history was fascinating considering it took 20 years to build from start to finish. The house was actually in session but due to our schedule we were not able to say and hear it called to order to begin addressing the agenda of business they were to cover. We had to leave before they recognized the students so we could have lunch before our next stop at the tomb of Lincoln. The structure was incredible with a pinnacle pointing to the heavens, a stature of President Abraham Lincoln in the center with statues of the four branches of the military of that time surrounding the upper base of the tomb. There was a great deal of instruction prior to us entering so that the tomb and our past president were given the upmost respect. The entrance of the tomb had a large bronze head of the president that over the years had acquire a reputation of being those who rubbed its nose good luck. We were not allowed to do this until after the tour of the tomb but you can be sure almost everyone in our group rubbed the nose before getting on the bus. As we entered the tomb we were greeted with the many more impressive statues and other items that gave you a feeling of pride of our county and the influence of one very special man of courage and honor that held it together at a time that it could have easily slipped away. We learned of the construction of the tomb and that clearly no expense was spared to honor this man for his dedication and sacrifice to this county. The tour shared that he had four children during his life and three out of four died at very young ages. It was with a sense of awe that I toured the tomb and then after leaving there touring the World War II, Vietnam and Korea war memorials. If all of this was not enough our next stop was the Lincoln Museum that covered every area of his life from the log cabin self learning to read to becoming the 16^th President of the United States and moving into the white when the United States was being destroyed by civil war whereas over 1.3 million American died to ultimately end slavery and keep this as the United States of American. We finished up the day before heading home to Schaumburg, Illinois with a feast at a buffet restaurant and comfortable tour bus movies included ride home. All I can say is thank God for men like Lincoln who were willing to put everything on the line to keep the country United, Strong and free…God Bless

New Business Opportunity

I started a new business venture in January of this year and to date I have nothing but good things to say about the potential of this to grow into something big. My wife actually discovered it last year mid 2011 and made the initial investment to determine if it might be a good fit. I was pretty occupied at the time with several other business ventures we were investigating. So I really didn’t really understand it until after a series of conversation between my wife and our deacon at our church that resulted in a plan to sign up our church as the first client for the new business. As I got involved in the discussions a few things became apparent to me about the business opportunity. It was a (MLM) multi-level marketing business structure with residual income and a focus exclusively on commercial business. So you could say it was also a B2B (Business to Business) venture. What does this all mean well in short it had very compelling attributes that attracted me to it. I saw an opportunity to build a business utilizing a product and service that everyone must use. I also saw a true win-win in the nature of a business where in the process of building an ongoing income I would help people to reduce their business expense. I immediately became a consultant without having to enroll in 12 -18 months of training and certification. I realized that there was no limit to my potential growth or clients that depended on this product to operate their business and satisfy their customers. I appreciated a business that didn’t require a significant capital investment to get off the ground. So with all these elements of appeal how could you possibly make any money? Let me introduce you to Avion Energy Group that serves the newly deregulated energy marketplace by methodically researching the lowest electric and natural gas rates available from retail energy providers. Plainly speaking – their research translates into reduced commercial sector energy costs for their clients. They understand the energy markets and how fluctuations in the markets affect energy prices and your business's bottom line. It has the expertise, resources and tools that allows our representatives to efficiently initiate a Free No Cost - No Obligation energy rate analysis for our clients saving them time, effort and money. So here I am four months later and still feeling really good about the potential of this business. I have closed on ten contracts and have about that many in the process of quote/review and acceptance. I have had some learning along the way and a few challenges but without a doubt I believe it is a model that can and will work! The interesting thing about this business is that even the business opportunity video was inviting to me in that it called out the fact that there are millions of opportunities out there but the true magic is finding the one that is a fit for you. I have set a goal to achieve a120 contracts this year so I truly have my work cut out for me but a journey without a goal is like leaving your map at home and searching for a new destination.

Powerful Messages In The Word

What each of us needs knowingly or un-knowingly is to be inspired to a greater good or purpose by the word and the word is the word of God. This has been a weekend of inspiring words for me and I believe in the sharing of these words hopefully others will be touched as I have been. The first was a lesson based in understanding that what we speak can and is very powerful and that we need to be caution of what we speak into the world. The scripture is very clear on the power of the tongue to kill and while we think of it in the literary term of someone lying dead before us we need to consider the death of the spirit. When Adam and Eve were told that if the ate the fruit of the forbidden tree that they would truly die, Eve clearly didn’t understand the concept and indeed after that wrong decision of all wrong decisions they did die in the spirit as the result of bringing sin into the world. By the will of God this is a concept that goes far beyond the idea of positive thinking, thoughts and deeds and borders on the power of God in that Jesus said after his death and resurrection that we would have the power to do even greater things than he had done with the coming of the Holy Spirit his truth began to manifest itself into the world. This being said we can speak positive things into our lives and we can if not careful keep negative things alive. The other learning was the power of God to move things ahead in our lives if we just ask him to do so. The power of God to accelerate whatever thing that is before us to happen in a shorter amount of time. It may be in our jobs in the way of promotion, it may be in our desire to have a family, improve our health, reduce our debt or improve a marriage. It's all possible with God, and he has said in His word that all things work together for our good. There are times we will not understand how it is coming to pass and how God ultimately wants to bless us and enable us to bless others. When God is at the wheel years can become days, hours can become minutes and minutes can become seconds to God surprising you with his grace. I can’t say enough about the power of believing God's word, and the benefits of just saying thank you for his goodness.  You want to see what God has in store for you don’t let another minute past without acknowledging what he has already done for you. The second of many messages that touched me was the idea of God taking care of ever problem we might bring to his door and knowing that God does love and care for us like know one can imagine. It was proven time and time again in his word that when God is involved miracles abound. In the turning of water to wine, the feeding of the 5000 plus, the calming of the sea were illustrations of God’s power to bring about change in the blink of an eye. However the message I heard and understood today provided a totally new reflection of these stories. These stories were selected to be examples of situation where there was a shortage that needed to be filled, as we all have had or are now experiencing in our lives, the circumstance of being short of something that we might be leaning on God's promise to fill. What some of us may have missed in each of these stories, where Jesus filled a shortage being the underline messages, while less obvious yet ever so important is us understand the true clarity of purpose and power of God. The man of God who delivered this message in this case said while many may have thought the one and only shortage was food there were actually at least five more shortages critical to Jesus word and purpose in being able to resolve the issue at hand. Those was a shortage of time given the lateness of the day, the shortage of comfort due to them being in a barren land, shortage of compassion considering the disciples just wanted to send them away to find food to eat, the shortage of financials to go and just purchase enough food and the shortage of charity on the part of the disciples since they were tried and really just didn’t want to deal with the crowd any further. So the take away of the message being God can take care of every shortage we might have in our lives if we are born again and just ask him to take control of the situation. May God bless you with divine acceleration in the areas of your life that may not be moving at the rate you desire and may it be your portion that God fills every shortage you might have in your health, marriage, family, career, financials, relationship and most of all in your walk with him in Jesus Name Amen.