We went blueberry picking early this morning.  It was my first official “blueberry pick” – which started out around 8 AM on a nearby farm.  Keith and I picked until our hearts content.  It was super warm and continued heating up the two hours we were out there.  It was such a peaceful and fresh morning.  There was such an abundant harvest of these berries that our 20 pounds of picking did not even make a dent in those berry bushes.  We could probably go back every morning for the next two week and still have more left.

God really revealed himself to us this early morning.  Keith kept having revelations about finances and the principles of sowing and reaping.  I kept thinking about  the God of the harvest – the Lord of the Breakthrough.  As I reached my hand up to the vine to grap a bunch, one or two would often slip to the ground before I could get my hand back to the bucket.  I kept hearing him whisper, “I am willing that none should perish.”  I kept thinking about the parallels of harvesting souls, capturing them before they fall to the ground.  Also when I came home they had to be washed, weeded of bugs and plucked of the stems that held them to the vine.  Then laid out to dry, and stored…quite the process.  But just like Christians, there are several processes we must go through post salvation – or lest we may fall.  Thank you Jesus for keeping me always in the palm of your hand and teaching me something new and beautiful today on the blueberry farm.

Shipwrecked, nearly dead, alone, floating on remnants of the boats carnage. It’s all that remains from the storms furry. Confused, thirsty and waterlogged, there is still something inside that remains in tact…Hope. Hope to survive, a belief that there must be a reason for you to still be alive. So you fight.

A few months ago, several NFL players went out on a seemingly normal boating trip. A storm rolled into the chilly Gulf waters and against all odds, caused their boat to capsize. The relentless waves were closing in on them and the story ended tragically with only ONE survivor. The media has reported that the three other very strong, enduring athletic men allegedly gave up the fight, was overcome by the hysteria related to hypothermia, took off their life-giving vests and simply “floated off.” Whatever the case, that truly happened with the three other NFL players who lost their life that day, I want to focus on an image that is forever burned in my memory.

It was all over the news that day, the videos of Nick Schuyler sitting on the bow of the boat, clinging to life. I keep seeing him out there all alone, curled up in the midst of the open sea…floating there, in his yellow jacket and life vest all alone, clinging…

Many give up and emotionally and physically cast off every shred of life giving hope and simply float off. I could go on for days on the SCORES of films out there, that we all rush out to experience where the “castaway” finds his way to a lonely island, remains there all by himself, and beyond all hope, returns home someday, now a man of fame, wealth, success and triumph. All because he Survived!

Success is an Island. It’s a very lonely island. It’s found by going from tragedy to triumph. It’s clinging to hope, passion and the enduring belief in the plans God has placed in your heart. Very few go there. Very few survive. But the few that do, have on thing in common…BELIEF.

No matter what tragedy or shipwreck you may be going through or may have gone though in the past…No matter if everyone or every voice around you is screaming for to give up…DON’T!

If you are still in the place where you are still floating alone, waiting, just frozen in the sea of time, lonely, confused over what lies ahead…CLING!! Cling to HOPE. Do not give up. Be warned that your next encounter may just be on an island, a new adventure, a new discovery that will require you to PRESS. (but we will talk about that one in the next journey!)

If you need a personal prayer or word of encouragement….email me – your friend who cares.

Sometimes, painting picture says a thousand words. Sometimes saying a thousand words can paint a picture. Today I’m painting my WORD-PICTURE through my favorite online word-cloud “toy” through wordle.net.

It’s super easy and so much fun! Most of all this word-picture can speak volumes about your life, your blog or just your random thoughts by producing this cool little “word cloud” image. Just go to wordle, type in your site, or any string of words that pop into your mind, and Voila! – your very own graphically designed word picture. Change the colors, the font, the layout – it’s all super easy!

Check it out for your self, I dare you! www.wordle.net

In the midst of all my new found change-revolution I have also made a commitment to put lets to prayers as mom says to walk by faith and not just “talk my faith.” I am launching a new business, with “No money down” – which is completely against everything logical and every normal grain possible. I’m doing this with everything I have within me so that I can teach others, just like myself how to build a business, enjoy the products for free, get out of debt, build lifetime relationships, drive a free car and earn a life changing income – with NO money UPFRONT. Everyone says it’s impossible. And they may be right, but I have one HUGE thing going for me right now: BELIEF. Nothing is stopping me from conquering our own big ugly walls.

I’ve been told that we can’t really start a business or ” do anything” until we get a business card. So we started looking for sites to purchase our card. With $16 in our banking account – that was a bit overwhelming! We found some cheap cards online for $39, some for $20, then some for free through vista print, paying just a few bucks for shipping…but I said, NO we are NOT even going to PAY $5.00! We are doing this God’s way…supernaturally…creating something out of nothing. So I used my design skills and my MacBook Pro and created our own business cards, used 3 sheets of card stock paper (we already had) – printed out our 30 new biz cards, and cut them all out by hand (and I actually had fun in the process). And when we need more…I’ll just print more. And if someone wants to bring me an excuse, like, Well, I don’t even have a computer or I don’t own a printer…then I’m going to say, sit down and listen up. USE WHAT YOU HAVE. Even if you have to write out your name & phone number on toilet paper roll that you snagged from the gas station (that’s if you don’t own toilet paper) — you’ll still be using your creative ability to promote your business and further more…people will remember you, the infamous toilet paper guy.

We will also sit down and talk about the notorious excuse of having too much pride. But I’ll save that for a later post…for when we are ready to start eating the big boy meat.

I know this all sounds really ridiculous…trust me, I’ve been rediculed! But i’m so ridiculously sold out for God and for change right now, it’s not even funny.