What A Weekend!

It was a great weekend with great people!  So very Blessed to have a great family and a great group of friends!  God is GREAT!  Got to smoke some ribs, pork butt, and my first run on mac n cheese... it was a hit!

 

Remember - Keep your mind and thoughts positive.  Only you control the outcome of any situation.  Don't let negativity consume you.  YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT!

God Bless,
Justin

TEAMwork!

Make it a GREAT week!  Stay positive!

WE MUST UNITE!

What a sad day for our community.  Why can't we stop this violence?  Why can't we unite?  Racial tensions are boiling over.  I have seen many people on social media say, you reap what you sow... Why are people in today's generation being held responsible for something that happened 400 years ago?  Fighting violence with violence will never solve any issues.  Sadly, this is only going to get worse unless we can break the racial divide.  God is my leader, and He does not see color, he sees the HUMAN race.  I am just a small voice, but if small voices band together, that message becomes more powerful.  STOP THE HATRED!  STOP THE VIOLENCE!  Love your fellow human.  The HUMAN race is the only race that matters to me.  There won't be a human race if we continue to fight violence with violence.

I challenge anyone reading this to make someone smile today.  Make someone laugh.  Today is a rough day after the actions of a senseless coward last night.  It will be tough, but you HAVE to keep pushing positivity and peace.  Spread love for the HUMAN race.  Rid your heats of anger and resentment.  Try talking and getting to know someone before you judge them. THE HATRED HAS TO STOP!

God Bless us all.

You Got This!

I hope everyone has a Blessed day!  Remember, keep your head up!  Your attitude, and how you approach any situation will help determine the outcome.  Stay positive!  It might be tough, but nothing great came from anything easy...

TGIF!!

Happy Friday!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day today!  Keep your head up!  Even in the darkest of times, you have to find that positivity to keep you going.  I challenge anyone who sees this to make someone smile today.  Give someone a good laugh.  You never know, that could be the difference in both them and you having a good, bad, or GREAT day!  A simple smile and "hello" goes farther than you think it does!

SPREAD THE POSITIVITY TODAY!!

God Bless!
Justin

What a Day!

Good morning world!  Today is going to be a great day!  I am so Blessed to have the people around me that I do - especially my wife!  Happy birthday honey!  You are a hard working, loving, caring, friend, wife, and mother.  We all love you very much!

I got to spend some time with the people that matter most to me over the weekend... My family!  It was a fantastic Father's Day, and I got to use the new smoker - Texas Original Pits 1/4" offset smoker.  What a beast this thing is!! Here is a link to their website - https://texasoriginalpits.com/

Keep your head up, and keep pushing forward!  Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it!

God Bless, and make it a GREAT day!

Spread Some Positivity Today!

Believe in yourself!  Life is not easy, and dishes many issues that we have to deal with on a daily basis.  But how you approach them will determine your outcome.  Stay positive, and always keep pushing forward.  The past is the past for a reason.  It's behind you.  Don't let things in the past bring you down.  Learn from them, and become better because of them.  Take a look in the mirror, and believe in yourself!

I enjoy watching basketball, especially the finals.  I am not a huge fan of the Cavs, but the way they sing the National Anthem is badass.  It's like you get a few breaths of fresh air when the person brought out to sing it stops after the first line, and the crowd takes over.  It's a feeling that shows we actually can come together for a common goal.  How do we spread that???  It starts with you.  What do you do each day?  Do you add to the chaos, or do you try to help the cause?  The cause of spreading some positivity to this world.  A "guys, we can do this if we work together" type of positivity.  There is so much anger and animosity, especially on social media, out there.  Why can't people understand that yes, we do have our differences, but should that make us hate each other?  I have different views from may people I interact with everyday.  It doesn't make me better than them, or them better than me.  It's okay.  Really, it is okay to have different views.  People get so worked up when others don't "agree" with them.  If people would simply talk, they might realize they actually have a lot in common.  The problem is, in our current society, everyone is too quick to judge our fellow human.  The old saying, "don't judge a book by it's cover"... we should all try it more often.

Attitude is Everything...

There are some people out there with some pretty bad attitudes.  Not sure about you, but attitude is hands down the #1 thing I look at when deciding whether or not someone will be a good fit at Agility 360.  It is the same method I used at Wingspan Portfolio Advisors.  At Wingspan, there were a TON of GREAT people with GREAT attitudes.  It was awesome!  Then.....  you have the bad apples that walked around blaming everyone else for their problems.  You can never please them, no matter how hard you try.  All they do is bring down an entire production floor with their crappy attitudes.  Their attitude SUCKED, and probably still SUCKS to this day!

Remember, only you can change you.  Don't be influenced by the breading ground of negativity, aka social media (or, I guess you could say every comment section on the internet).

This is one of the most truest statements I have ever read:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

― Charles R. Swindoll

At it again, but now it's not just me...

You know, it's one thing to attack a person with the most hateful and offensive things you can say... it's another to attack that guy's company.  This disgusting person has now included everyone that works for our company.  Their livelihood.  Their well-being.  Their source of income.  It's sad, and downright pathetic.

I would say grow up and move on, but that is obviously not going to happen.  I would say, you should try to find God, but someone with this much hate is very troubled and would probably laugh at me.  Like I stated in previous posts, there is enough hate on this planet... If you want to end it, don't add to it.  Unfortunately, it's probably safe to say you have no idea how to comprehend that idea...

You use a public forum, anonymously, to attack people - me, my wife, my co-workers, Lord knows who else, and yet you call me the bigot.  Sounds hypocritical to me...  Go ahead, look it up - http://www.merriam-webster.com/.

Maybe one day you will realize your fabrications, dishonesty, and slander are utterly ridiculous.  Only people with your degenerate thoughts will even pay attention to your nonsense.  People who have the ability to think will see through your lies and lack of integrity.

If you want something, go get it.  Stop pointing fingers and blaming everyone else for the crap you've  done wrong.  Use the link above and type in "entitlement", because you have way too much.   How much time and effort have you put into all your hate-filled posts?  You could have spent that time trying to fix the exact same thing you are doing with every post you publish.  Why?

Well, I will continue to pray for you because you are obviously a very disturbed soul.    I would love to help you get past all this, but regrettably, after 5+ years of tormenting, it is probably all that I will be able to do for you.

May God Bless you.

I remember hearing this for the first time... It is one of the best motivational pieces I have ever come across...

Dr. D.H. "Dee" Groberg
Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
    my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
    excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
    or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
    and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
    to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
    was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
    the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
    and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
    Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
    which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
    and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
    his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
    “I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
    with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
    “If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten...
    but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
    “There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
    But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
    for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
    You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
    and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
    still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
    Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
    head high and proud and happy -- no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
    the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
    you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
    “To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
    the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
    And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
    another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”

Why Not Try To Be Great?

It's all about you.  What are you going to do today?  Are you going to sit around and do nothing, or go out and do something great?

I don't know about you, but I wake up everyday wanting to do something great. Something great doesn't necessarily mean you are ending world hunger, or finding the cure for cancer.  To me, being great is all about you.  It's your character.  It's how you carry yourself.  It's your want to keep getting better.  It's that never quit attitude.  It's staying positive no matter the situation.  I will
never understand how negative people can actually be.  Everyone else is to blame for their problems, because a negative person never does anything wrong.  Why?  It's easier to point the finger at someone else, as opposed  to pointing it at yourself.  How can you ever better yourself when you don't ever do anything wrong?  Hmmm...  I make a lot of mistakes.  I know that, and I admit that.  However, what I also know is that I try to learn from my mistakes.  I try to better myself by understanding the mistakes.  I never quit trying to build off my mistakes.  You might see me struggle, but you will never EVER see me quit.  It's not in my DNA.

Take a look in a mirror.  Would you trust you?  Are you willing to admit to your mistakes?  Easy to answer yes, but tougher to actually think about it.  Only you can change you.  Unfortunately, in this social media driven world we live in, people's decisions are made for them.  Only you can decide if you are influenced one way or the other.  Don't do something because it's the "cool" thing to do.  Do something because it is the "right" thing to do.

Look, I know not many people will see this post, much less this blog.  However, I am doing this for the few that will, and maybe I can help lift their day.  Maybe I can help people see that they can be as great as they want to be.  I'm just trying to put some positivity in a very negative world...

I'll Never Understand...

I have had someone trying to destroy my name for many years now.  They have made blogs about me, stolen (from my Google Picasa account) and posted private pictures, and trashed my every move.  It's sad, and very unfortunate.

Initially, I was shocked.  I was hurt.  So many lies made up about me, and many of my ex co-workers. Why would someone say/do these awful and offensive things?  Why are they making things up about my previous company without knowing what really happened?  Apparently, they had a bad experience with me.  I can accept that.  With as many people as I [have] come in contact with, I know I cannot please everyone, even though I try to.  What I struggle with is not being able to find out what honestly happened so I can correct it.  I still, to this day, have no idea who this person is.  I wish I did, because I want to ask this person this question - why?  And then - What did I really do to make you trash me for over 5 years now?  Is it because I held you accountable for something?  I do that to everyone.  Because what I have read is simply untrue.  I have sat quiet about it for years now.  It's at the point where it is just ridiculous, and quite honestly, more annoying than anything.

Treat people the way you want to be treated.  Ah, yes... the Golden Rule.  I was taught this at a very young age.  I am very Blessed to have grown up in a family with values.  A family that strongly looked down upon treating anyone with disrespect.  Anyone.  Reading what this anonymous person has said about me, you wouldn't get that.

Well, all I can do is pray for this person, and I do, every night.  Every single night - I never miss a night that this person does not get mentioned in my prayers.  That God will overcome the hate in their heart and fill it with His love.

So, for the person attacking me, may God Bless you.  I am sorry for the experience that you had, no matter who was at fault.  This world is filled with enough hate.  Why not try to change it, instead of continuously adding to it?

“But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”
      - Luke 6: 27-28