Its Christmas Eve and we are home on the mountain for the next week. I woke up this morning feeling the presence of God very strong in our cabin and it made me think about what I really want for Christmas. Besides a replacement for my Starsky and Hutch leather jacket that is now come and gone from being is style 5 times in the past few decades; and a GPS so Linda can find her way to the coffee shop in N Wilkesboro; and a new pair of Dr Martin shoes that I have worn on every outreach for the past seven years; an iPod Nano and a new Dell Laptop to write the three books that I am currently working on…besides world peace and a puppy dog for every lonely child and reliable high speed internet connections for me and all my friends in Moravian Falls… besides all that what I really want for Christmas is to feel God’s presence like this all the time. Hope you get what you want.

I just returned from an intensive training on transforming your destiny. I feel like I made 10 years worth of growth in 6 days. The biggest thing I learned was that you can turn any situation around by simply changing the way you respond to it. It may sound elementary but when practiced it is very powerful. Of course I was tested right away on it. I went to New Jersey this past weekend to do a workshop and everything went wrong. My flight was canceled, the next one was delayed, they lost my bag and I never got until I returned, I was late getting to the workshop…. Etc. In the past I would have been upset. I decided to change my view point – wow, I now have 5 extra hours in the airport to check email and get ready. No luggage? Just yesterday I said that I had wanted to shop in a big city so I got the chance to buy some more stylish clothes than I would get in Wilkesboro, NC. It all worked out and let me tell you how freeing it was to not allow external things and other people to take my peace and happiness. Pain and problems will never go away. Not allowing them to contol us can. So when I got to the airport to come home I was mysteriously upgraded to first class. That was so cool.

Linda and I celebrated our 11^th wedding anniversary this past weekend. Wow, time flies when you are having fun. We spent a quiet weekend in Asheville, NC. Just 11 years ago I was working as a computer network engineer in the San Francisco bay area and doing ministry in the evenings and weekends. My favorite food was Lasagna, I drank espresso like a fish, and had an 80’s disco hair cut. A lot has changed in such a short time. As I reflect back to my goals 11 years ago, I wanted to start a church that would reach people who would not normally go to church. I was so excited to move forward on things but my pastor made me take a year off of ministry to build my new marriage first. Since I am a high-strung entrepreneur, I was so bored that I grew my computer business which we later sold used the revenue to start that rocking church which was able to reach the outcasts like I had in mind. As I look back, I now realize that my goals were all relatively small and most of what has happened to me has been more surprising than planned – though it has been a tough row to hoe. There were things that I could have done to make it easier and speed my growth process up. As I now look to the next 11 years ahead I am going to be much more intentional and design my life as opposed to reacting to it. What would I do it I only had 11 years to do it? Hmmm…