Where Am I?

Today's blog will discuss three things.  Where do I want to be?  Where am I?  Where was I?

So let's get started with the first question.  Where do I want to be?  I think we should all have clear goals in life.  It's very important to have direction.  After all, if you don't know where you are going, you won't know when you get there.  So if you don't have direction in life, that's definitely something to work on.  However, I think many of us know are goals.  How about losing weight?  I want to lose about 30 pounds.  Many of you know my story and know that I lost a lot of weight once upon a time.  Unfortunately, I have found a few of those pounds in the last year and I need to lose them again.  Our how about getting better grades in school?  Many of you are still in school and I will bet many of you would like to bring your grades up right?  Where you want to be can cover such a wide range of topics from grades to money to relationships and just about anything else.

Now the problem with where I want to be is that it can really screw up where I am.  How?  Let me explain.    Most of us have some area of life that isn't the way we want it.  That's why we have goals of where we want to be.  If we had already achieved that goal, it would be where I am, not where I want to go.  Confused?  Let me illustrate.  My goal is to lose 30 pounds.  I am not where I want to be in that area.  I want to weigh a little less.  Where I am is 30 pounds heaver than where I want to be.  So here's where the problem comes in.  If I am not getting to my goal fast enough or if I am having struggles making progress, it can cause me to feel defeated.  It can cause me to feel like I am never going to reach my goals in life.  It might even be the driving force that causes me to give up altogether.  That's a very bad place to be.  Don't let your present circumstances discourage you from accomplishing your goals.

Let's look for a minute at the last place, where we were.  Now many times we feel that where we are and where we were are the same place meaning sometimes it seems like we struggle a lot and don't make much progress getting to where we want to go.  Sometimes that's true.  Sometimes we can even look at all our past failures and that can be discouraging.  But I want you to take a closer look in your past for a minute.  Find someplace where your life is better than it was.  Are you in the 8th grade instead of the 7th?  Are you living in a nicer house or driving a nicer car than you once did?  Maybe you have a better job than you used to have.  For me, I used to weigh 350 pounds.  I have definitely come a long way in that area of my life.  Use the successful area of your life for a minute.  You succeeded in moving forward in that area.  Now if you can succeed there, you can succeed in your next goal right?  Come on now, don't give me excuses.  If you did it once, you can do it again.  You can achieve your next goal.

Now that we have looked at where we want to be, where we are and where we were, I want to leave you with one thought by one of my favorite preachers.  I'm not where I want to be but thank God I'm not where I used to be.

And thats' another Opinion of the Minion.

Changing You

As I sit here working on a project that the Lord has placed in my heart, I believe he gave me something for this blog.  Today I want to talk about change.

As many of you know, I used to weigh 350 pounds.  I lost a lot of weight and am certainly a different man today.  I am so thankful to God that he got me from where I was to where I am.  But there was a part of that journey that really hit home to me this morning.

See, I was like most people who have weight issues.  I tried every diet that I could think of and most more than once trying to loose weight but I couldn't do it.  I tried Atkins (more than once before it actually worked).  I tried counting calories.  I even tried some 30 year old three day diet that my boss had.  None of them worked.  Here is the hardest part.  Every time I started one of those diets, I would make it a point to tell everyone that I was going on the diet.  I would start all of them with good intentions.  When we went out to eat, I would eat whatever was on the diet of the day.  I could normally stick with it for at least a few days.  Occasionally I would make it a week or two before I fell off the wagon.

I was also the king of starting a diet "tomorrow" or "next week."  I would even tell my friends this.  Several times I would decide right before Thanksgiving that I was going on a diet.  I was married then and my ex-wife's family had a massive gathering at our house.  Now they always brought that good Paula Dean kind of food.  I recently heard someone say that she wasn't a chef because of what she cooked.  Well if you are from the south, you know that her food will put a smile on your face that Ajax won't take off.  Lynn's family always had the best turkey and dressing with all the trimmings plus the best homemade desserts in the world.  Now obviously I couldn't really start a diet on that day so it was always going to start the day after Thanksgiving.  It never did.

Eventually, I think my friends and family refused to believe me when I said I was starting a diet.  They had good reason not to believe based on what they were seeing from me.  After all, I never kept my word about the diet.  Not once.  So most people didn't believe me.

One day, I told my trainer JC (no not Jesus Christ - but maybe I should start more training with Him) I was going on a diet.  He told me something that still resonates with me today.  Now I pay my trainer to train me and I am certainly not used to people I pay talking to me in this manner but he was right.  He said, "Tommy, you are full of sh*&.  Don't ever lie to my face again about dieting.  When you get tired of being fat, you won't be fat anymore and you won't have to tell anyone.  They will know."  He was exactly right.

I never told anyone I was going on a diet again.  As I started losing weight, people would notice and say something to me.  See, I didn't have to work to get someone to see what I wanted them to.  I just did it and they saw the result.

I said all that to say this.  When you get tired of whatever issue you are facing, go to God and ask for his help overcoming it.  The two of you will beat anything that you want to get rid of.  But many times when you make that decision, people won't get excited about it.  That's OK.  It's your vision for your life not theirs.  Don't worry about it.  Once you decide to change something, just cling to your decision with all your might.  I don't even think you need to tell anyone that you decided to change.  Just make the change and everyone else around you will see it.  And remember, God is right there to help you through any problem or area of life you want to change.  He won't do everything for you but he will supply what you need to change your life.

I want to encourage you today.  What area are you facing that you want to change?  Take it to God and get his direction.  Then just go about changing.  Don't tell anyone - just do it.  When the results are shown, people will see it.  But know this - You and God can overcome any challenge you face.  Well, once again, I have blogged myself happy.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Don't Quit Minion

Through this journey called The Opinion of the Minion, I have had the privilege of putting my opinions out there for people to read.  I continue to be baffled by the support you, the reader, have shown.  Again, I can't say thank you enough.  Today, my opinion is only two words but they are extremely powerful.

Don't Quit!

Don't quit what you ask.  Well I can't answer that question.  Only you know what you are going through.  But I know this.  Tough times don't last, tough people do.  Whatever you are facing in life, you can make it through.  Even if no one believes in you and even though I don't know most of you personally, I do believe in you.  How can you believe in someone you don't really know?  Well that's an interesting question.  I believed in God and His son Jesus before I knew them and my life has never been the same.  Also, sometimes it's easier for me to believe in someone I can't see than it is to believe in someone I know.  So from the bottom of my heart, that I do believe in you.

I want to tell you two stories.  The first is about my friend Al.  Al and I have known each other since middle school (for almost 30 years).  Now Al is one of those guys.  You know the type.  He's the guy that everyone likes.  He would literally give you the shirt off his back if you needed it.  I know because once I asked for a car (we called it the Tank) and he practically gave it to me.  He was a much better friend to me than I was to him growing up.

Now if you are in the mood to run someone into the ground verbally or when you get that real urge to gossip about someone, we all know the people who will pitch in and run others into the ground with us.  Al is NOT one of those people.  I think he would find something nice to say about the devil.  It's just the way he is.  So it shook me to the core several months ago when I found out that he had throat cancer.  We were only 39 at the time he found out and we are both only 40 now.  So Al went through the treatments and we hoped it was over.  But unfortunately, it wasn't.  We recently found out that there was more cancer to deal with and this stuff is really serious.  I won't share the details to protect his privacy but I will tell you that he has a beautiful wife and two great kids.

So last Saturday, I called Al.  After all, I write the Minion and the Lord uses to cheer other people up sometimes.  He uses me to help people feel better and if there was anyone I wanted to feel better, it was Al. When I finally got him on the phone, I was totally shocked at what happened.  I called to tell him to hang in there and try to encourage him but I never got the chance.  He was encouraging me and blessing me.  That's not the way it was supposed to go but Al's attitude floored me.  He said he had too much to live for and that he was planning on seeing his grand kids, etc.  I wanted to tell him, don't quit.  But that thought never entered his mind.  He started telling me stories about the other people he had helped.  Can you believe that!  Here this man is facing a very serious cancer situation and he is more concerned about helping others than what was going on with him.  It was a truly humbling experience.  I hope my heart is as big as Al's one day.

I posted on FaceBook about this a couple of days ago and the response astounded me.  Many of you are praying for Al.  I saw people from literally all over the world who were and I have no way to express my gratitude to you all.

So if you are in a hard place, don't quit.  God can see you through.

But maybe you aren't having it real tough right now.  So you look at this post and say, it really doesn't apply to you.  Not so fast.  Look around you.  There are people who need your encouragement.  If you are emotionally full, find someone to encourage.  Don't be discouraged if they don't receive it immediately.  Just keep at it.

I have a very special friend who is writing a book.  Now I have went so far as to day dream about the time when I will go to this person's book signing.  I can see this person's book published and this person receiving royalties for the book (no it's not my book).  I went as far as telling this person about what I say for them.  Now at first, I don't think this person could see what I saw and I got push back about thinking too big.  But then something amazing started happening.  This person is starting to believe that this will happen.  It's baby steps but it's going forward.  Watching confidence grow in this person is so rewarding.

So take a look around you.  Who needs your help?  Find some way to encourage them.  One day, you will be on the other side of this and need some encouragement yourself.  If you are on the other side, DON'T QUIT.  You can make it through the struggle.  God believes in you and I believe in you.  If you will decide to believe in you that makes three of us!  You can accomplish what you set out to do.

I have said it before and it's true again.  I have blogged myself happy.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

The Greatest Men I Ever Knew

Hi Everyone,

Today I want to talk to you about someone who was very special to me.  He was one of the greatest men I ever knew.  His name was Thelbert Sanford Rawle and he was/is my grandfather.  I say was/is because he was my grandfather while he was here on earth and he is still my grandfather.  He is in both my future and my past but not my present.  Confusing?  Well that's a different opinion altogether.  Let me tell you a few things about my grandfather.  He left us a few years ago and while he was here, I really didn't understand how great he was.

Well let's start with what he was not.  He never owned a large company, never wrote a best selling novel, never went to law school and never had a lot of money.  See, when most of us consider what success looks like - fame, power, money, etc., Sanford Rawle would not have been considered all that great.  Notice I didn't call him Thelbert.  No one did that I know of.  He didn't like his first name.  So why is he the greatest man I have ever knew?

Well, its funny that the older I get the more I realize why.  While Granddad didn't do things that would put his name in the paper, he did something that most people don't do enough.  He impacted other people's lives.

This Labor Day, we had a gathering at my cousin AB's house.  They were so gracious to have us and I really enjoyed it.  But while we were sitting around telling stories and laughing and getting extremely loud (that's what Rawle's do), I could see him there.  He would have been telling stores and laughing harder than the rest of us.  If you looked closely into his eyes, there was always a sparkle but more importantly, there was always love.  He was the image of what I think love should look like.  He wasn't flashy, he wasn't always trying to get attention, he just went about living life and loving his family.  He was married to one woman, my grandmother, Margie, for 68 years.  I can't even imagine that.

When I look at what he was able to accomplish, I am astounded.  See I have a lot of formal education, he had a lot of informal smarts.  He didn't have people to teach him how to do stuff, so he taught himself.  If something needed to be fixed, they didn't have the money to get it repaired so he figured out how to fix it himself.  I never in all my life saw him ask for a handout but he always had hand out to help someone else.

I remember one time my house needed a new front door.  Granddad heard about it and came over to help me put one on.  Now I didn't just need a new front door, I needed a new door frame and the whole works. Granddad was in his seventies at the time and he just showed up for work one Saturday ready to help his grandson.  Well, we got the door jam and all out and it was laying in the front yard.  Since I had never seen him fail at fixing something, I just knew he would be able to help me fix this.  So I asked him, how many of these he had done before.  After all, he had 70+ years experience at fixing things.  This shouldn't be any big deal.  I was shocked to hear him say that this was his first time.  True to Sanford Rawle form, we got the door put in right.

Here are some things I learned from him.
1.  Laugh often and laugh a lot - It didn't take much to get him started and once you did, he would laugh for ever.  If you look at pictures, he almost always had a smile on his face.  I learned something about that smile.  It was contagious.  You didn't get around him for very long before you were smiling too.  As a matter of fact, if you were around him for a very long time, your jaws would hurt from laughing so hard.

2.  Love isn't a language or words, its a life.  Granddad loved his family and almost everyone he came in contact with.  He didn't just say I love you, he lived I love you.  He was the type of man who was there for you when you needed him.  We all know people who say, call if you need anything and then always have an excuse why they can't help.  He wasn't that man.

3.  Your family is important.  This is something that most of my generation has lost.  His brothers, sisters, and wife were his best friends.  They went on vacation together, the spent holidays together, they played games together.  Not only that but he loved his kids and grand kids.  He was always patient with us.  I only hope and pray that one day I can be more like him, especially in the area of patience.  He was always giving to his family.  While he didn't spend large amounts of money on us that I remember, he gave me things that are far more valuable.  He gave me a joker (this is a card and marble game) board that he made by hand.  He gave all of his children wagon replicas of the one he used as a kid to all of his children.  Mom, Unc and Unc, how much money would it take to buy that wagon from you? They may not read this so but I feel pretty confident I can answer - The wagon isn't for sale at any price.  I still have a tool box that we built together when I was probably six or seven.



3.  Granddad taught me a lot about gossip.  He didn't ever that I remember.  Enough said.

4.  Mind your own business.  My granddad never got into my personal business unless I asked him.  Because of this, when I did ask, I was much more apt to listen to what he said.

5.  Don't eat your own.  Too many times in a family we have a tendency to talk badly about each other.  We think we know what everyone else should do and how they should do it and we aren't afraid to tell them exactly what we think regardless of whether or not it helps or hurts.  My grandfather wasn't like that.

6.  THIS ONE IS HUGE - Have a tender heart.  I often saw my grandfather's heart touched.  He hurt when his loved ones hurt and he was happy for them when they succeeded.  It didn't take much to touch him and I desperately want to be more like that.  As he got older, he knew that his time here was running out and I can remember many times that he would tear up while praying over a meal.  Those tears were almost always for the family that he loved so dearly.

I could go on for many pages but I will finish with one that is very close to his family.

7.  "Make us ever mindful that there are people in this world who have need and have less than we." - When Granddad said the blessing, he finished each prayer that I ever remember with those words.  The funny thing is, he meant them every time he said them.  Now he meant this when it came to material things - ask anyone who didn't finish their meal about those Ethiopians.  But he also knew something that it took me 40 years of life to understand.  True riches aren't measured in what you have, they are measured in who you know.  While he will not go down in history as a man with much material wealth, he will go down as one of the most wealthy people ever because he knew how to love and realized early on what the real treasures of life were - people.

Granddad, I don't know if you can read this in Heaven or not but I want you to know that you are one of the greatest men I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  I can only hope to measure up to the standard you left.  I love you very much and hope to make you proud one day by being more like you.

To everyone else, I want to leave you with the lyrics of a song -

I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed

So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel

Cause if tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her

So tell that someone that you love
Just what your thinking of
If tomorrow never comes

The Opinion of the Minion

A Minion's Test

Today, I want to talk to you about something many people want but can't seem to figure out how to get.  It's a testimony or a success story about their life.

Before we get very far, let me say that you cannot have a testimony or a success story without first having a test or trial.  Now I don't know about you but I like the testimony part of things.  I can tell many areas where God has touched my life and I do have several cool testimonies.  I can tell you how God changed my finances, weight, personal fitness level, or how his love is in the process of totally consuming my life.  All of these areas are good stories to tell and several people say I should write a book about them.  I do like to tell the story and I really enjoy watching people's faces as I tell my weight loss story and while much of it is painful, there are some really funny things that happened while I was losing all the weight (Ask me sometime about the Spanks story).  I have a gift that came from my dad.  I can tell a story and generally make people laugh.  Most of the time, they laugh at me but I don't really mind, especially when it comes to my weight loss.

Even when I weighed 350 pounds, I would tell stories that made people laugh at me.  Back then, I did it because I figured that if I was making them laugh, it was somehow better than them laughing at the fat guy behind my back.  I guess that's a little twisted but that's where I was.  Obviously I am not anywhere near that weight and it doesn't bother me at all for people to tell me I was really fat because it's true.  That's part of my testimony.

But why doesn't it bother me anymore if people say I was fat when it would really hurt my feelings back then?  Well that's where the test comes in.  If I wasn't tested where my weight is concerned, I would never have had a testimony.  The test for me was many month's long and required me to totally change my life when it came to what I ate and how much I exercised.  During that test, there were many days that I failed but obviously more than not, I succeeded but every day for 14 long months was a test.  Was I going to eat carbohydrates or not?  Was I going to exercise or not?  How was my attitude going to be?

All these things tested my will and strength of mind.  And food was a regular test.  At one point, I walked into my office and my office manager had been to Krispy Kream donuts.  He brought one dozen of those hot fresh morsels from heaven into my office and you could smell them from one end of the office to the other.  That was a two fold test.  The first part was do I eat the donuts or not.  The second part was harder and it was do I kill him for bringing them into my office (I wanted to be just like Cain and Able.  I was going to just kill him and tell my aunt he died).  OK, obviously I am joking on the second point but the first test was very real.  Guess how many I ate that day?  0 - Not one single donut.  I passed that test and now I have a testimony.

Let me ask you this.  What areas of life are you struggling in?  Where to you want to have a testimony?  What success would you like to be able to tell people you have conquered.  Is it weigh, finances, relationships, grades?  Maybe it's something more serious like drugs, pornography, or some other very strong addiction.  Maybe it's just being able to get out of bed ten minutes earlier every day.  Regardless of what you want your testimony to be, know that you have to pass the test first.  If you don't pass the test today, you get to try again tomorrow.  So if you want to create your testimony, you have to pass your test.  If you have struggled with something in your life you want to change, don't quit.  That's part of your testimony.  If you fail 100 times but try 101 times, you will succeed.  So don't quit.  Keep taking the test until you have written the testimony you want.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

A Midsummer Minion's Dream

Today, I want to talk to you about dreams.  How often do you sit and dream?  I do it all the time.  I day dream about all kinds of situations in my life.  I have visions of what a right relationship would look like and see myself there.  I think dreaming is something important that we have missed in our lives.  I was in church on Sunday and heard this message.  Then I went back to a totally different church and heard the same message about vision and dreams on Sunday night.  Do you think God was trying to tell me something?  In the last couple of weeks I have had two very strong revelations from the bible about dreams.  So here we go.

We all have dreams.  As I have said before, when I was in high school, I dreamed of going to Annapolis and then on to fly F-14s for the US Navy.  Well that one didn't come to pass but that's OK.  Top Gun is still one of my favorite movies of all time.  I love the end because Tom Cruise overcomes tragedy and saves the day.  It's my kind of movie. 

I also dreamed about going to law school one day and becoming Perry Mason.  I was going to argue cases and be the greatest lawyer ever to walk the planet.  Well that partly happened.  I did graduate law school and technically I am a lawyer but I don't practice much.  If you have ever had me as your lawyer, you know I am no Perry Mason.  ;)  But I am happy with me and I am glad I went to school.  When I told people about my dream some of them said I would never make it.  Some said it to my face and some said it behind my back but that's OK.  That dream was working inside me and guess what, I made it.

Now here is a dream that I am going to share with you that I have never made public.  Only a few people know about this one but I want to share it with you now.  For years I dreamed of being the President of the United States.  I could see myself in the Oval Office.  I could see myself making right decisions and governing wisely.  I read scriptures about how when the righteous rule the people rejoice.  Many people say they wouldn't want the job but I wanted to be the go to guy.  I wanted to see if I had what it took.  If you come into my office you will find many books about presidents, the white house and being president.  It was definitely one of my long term goals.  Today, I don't really want to be President anymore.  Why you ask, because it isn't my calling.  I am beginning to wake up to what the Lord has called me to do and I know that isn't it.

So what I have been doing the last couple of days is working on my dreams.  I am writing them down and beginning to think about them.  Many studies show that when we write down our dreams and think about them regularly, this process acts like a magnet drawing us closer and closer to our dreams and goals.  That's pretty cool stuff huh.

See, I think it is important to dream big.  When I dreamed about losing weight, I would see myself skinny.  I would see myself doing all kinds of things.  One thing that really embarrassed me about being big was I couldn't water ski which was big with my family.  But I would see myself being skinny and attractive.  I started confessing everyday that I weighed 205 pounds.  I did this for over a year without dropping a single pound but that dream was resonating inside my spirit every day.  That dream was working inside me and pointing me the right direction.  Then one day, that dream popped in my spirit and the transformation began.  But guess what, I didn't stop at 205.  I went all the way down to 185.  See when we dare to dream and then keep those dreams in front of us, amazing things can happen.

Now let me tie this to a place you may not really understand.  God.  Guess what, he has dreams.  He has dreams about you.  The bible says that He has plans for you.  Plans for your good.  It says in another place that he knew you before the foundation of the world.  Since before the world was founded he was dreaming about you.  That's pretty far out there stuff huh.

Well I want you to get a picture of this.  Think for a minute about that perfect guy or that perfect girl or maybe a car, etc.  Picture him/her/it in your mind.  Think for a second about whatever your goal is.  See yourself in a right relationship (See the Box).  See yourself succeeding.  How does that feel?  Does it touch a nerve in the core of your being?  Does it release a warm feeling inside you?  This might blow your mind but the Lord sits around dreaming of you the same way.  He pictures you in his mind successful.  He pictures you in his mind with the right person.  He sees you enjoying yourself and it brings great pleasure to His soul.  He gets excited about His dreams for your life.  He has a good life planned for you.  He sees you and He spending time together doing things that you love.



And that's another Opinion of the Minion.

A Minion's Hope

Today I want to talk to you about hope.  I belive the single most devistating thing that can happen in your life is to loose hope.  Hope is one of the most important parts of our lives but how often do we hear someone say, "Don't get your hopes up."  That is one the of the dumbest things I have ever heard.  I want you to get your hope sky high.  OK, I can immediately hear people saying, "He has flipped out.  I hoped that this would happen or that would happen and it didn't.  When I hoped for that situation to work out in my life and it didn't, that hurt me deeply and I would have been better of not to have gotten my hopes up at all." 

Let me say, I certainly understand your point.  I have done the same thing.  I got my hopes up that a certain area of my life would change and it didn't.  A few months ago, I got my hopes up about a certain relationship and that didn't work.  I used to get my hopes up all the time that I could go on a diet and loose weight.  I used to get my hopes up that I would be in a great relationship with a woman and that didn't work.  Even recently, I got my hopes up about a situation that didn't work out like I wanted.  So I should have just let it go.  I should have not hoped at all.  Think about it.  Wouldn't it have been better if I hadn't hoped.  If I had just expected failure.  That way I wouldn't have felt the disappointment and in some cases pain of the failure.  I can see what you mean by your question above.  Maybe you were even right.

Well, not so fast.  The critical question about hope is in what or where do I place it?  If I place my hope in you that you will do something or you place your hope in me that I will do something, at some point we will both be disappointed.  Why?  Because we aren't perfect.  Also, sometimes we put our hope in a person who isn't capable of doing what we want anyway.  Think of it this way, if you put your hope in me that I will be able to dunk a basketball.  I can 100% gaurantee you that you will be disappointed.  I am 5'7" tall and my verticle jump won't get me there.  That's not really important in the grand scheme of life but what if you put your hope in a friend or relationship to make you happy?

What if you looked to a girl or guy as the thing that was going to make you happy in life?  That other person is going to make a mistake somewhere and disappoint you.  It will probably hurt when they do.  See, they weren't made perfect so they are not capable of being perfect.  Everyone is going to make mistakes and when the mistake involves you, it is going to hurt.  "OK," you say, "if you want me to have hope and hope is so critical to my life, who or what do I put my hope in?"

Some of you who read this are ahead of me and know exactly where I am going.  That makes me smile.  I will tell you where I put my hope.  I put my hope in God.  He isn't just a train ticket to Heaven.  He is what keeps me going here.  I know that he cannot fail.  If I put my trust in him, there is no area we cannot conquer.  I desire with all my heart to have a godly mate.  I want a woman I can cherish, protect, care for, and grow with.  I want one that I can talk to.  You know my personal feelings from reading the Box.  So when I get around someone who I think is a good candidate, do I put my hope in her that she will be what I am seeking?  Nope, I put my trust in God.  He said He would provide all my needs so I put my hope in Him that He will provide what I need.  I don't hope in the woman, I hope in God.  When I do this, there is such great peace because no matter what comes up, my hope is in God.  If I have a good night or bad, it doesn't matter because my hope stays where it belongs.  Guess what, as I have done this, I have seen deliverance and help from God in every area where I put this to work. 

Recently on Facebook there was a person who stated that they were Wiccan (sp?).  My response was, Why?  I certainly respect their right to be Wiccan.  That wasn't really what I was asking.  Then someone else posted that this person was Wiccan because they chose their religion just like I did.  Well I appreciate their response as I do believe they were honestly trying to help me out but what I wanted to know is why did you chose to be Wiccan?  I can tell you why I choose to be a Christian.  It's because God still helps me everyday.  It's because when I call on Him, He answers.  It's because when things seem like they are coming apart, I can go to Him and He makes me to be at peace even though it looks like I am in deep trouble.  When I place my hope in Him, it centers and grounds me.  All of the sudden, my world turns right side up and things look good again.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

Run Minion Run

Today, I want to talk to you about running.  "Well Tommy," you say, "That doesn't sound all that challenging.  How are you going to have an opinion at the end of this?"  Give me a little space and I will explain.  I hope this challenges you.

As most of you know, I used to weigh 350 pounds.  I never met a buffet I didn't like though most of the buffet type restaurants didn't like me.  :-)  See I took a buffet as a personal challenge.  The words on the front door said, "All You Can Eat".  They didn't say, "All You Want to Eat," or "All You Should Eat," or "Eat Enough to Get Full."  They said, "All You Can Eat".  I was never one to back down from a challenge so I went at each one with determination.  I would eat so much pizza, mexican food and even chinese food that I would have a stomach ache when I left the restaurant.  But I ate all I could.  My friends and I even had personal records when we were young.  They weren't ones to be proud of though.  And when I stepped on a scale to weigh myself, it would flash the words, "One person on the scale at a time please."  OK I am just kidding about the last sentence but I hope it made someone laugh.

Back then I had trouble climbing up a flight of stairs.  When I got to the top of the staircase at our office building, I was winded a little.  Back then, the idea of walking a mile was impossible.  I just couldn't do it.  But life is all about perspective.

Today, I run six miles a day, five days a week.  Is that a lot?  For some yes; for some no but it doesn't matter, it's good for me.  But my perspective is much different today than it was seven and a half years ago.  At that time, I would never have even dreamed of being able to run six miles.  I wouldn't have dreamed of running six feet.  It was just not something I planned to do.  Today, things are much different.  If you had asked me then, I would have told you that six miles was impossible.   And guess what, back then it was. 

But I started running.  At first, I just walked on the treadmill.  Then I decided I would walk for 5 or 6 minutes and trot for a minute.  Pretty soon, it progressed to walking 4 minutes and jogging a minute.  It just kept progressing until I was running.  The next thing I knew I decided to run the Cowtown Marathon (It's In Fort Worth).  Imagine that.  From 350 pounds to running a marathon in a little less than two years.  That's a miracle from God.  God is able to do more than we can ask or think because not only did I finish my first marathon but I finished in the top 30% of all the runners.  I have ran two marathons and I used the training manual from the Boston marathon to get ready for both.  At the end of my training, I was running about 75 miles a week.  My long run day was over 20 miles.  Am I saying this to brag?  Of course not.  I am saying this because life is all about perspective.  When I was 350 pounds, I could never have seen myself running even 6 miles at one time.  Then at the end of my marathon training, six miles was only a good warm up.  At that point, I thought only running six miles was like a vacation day.

Now think about your own life for a few minutes.  What was the six mile situation in your life?  Was it a relationship, money, grades, where to go to college, weight?  Are there things that once looked impossible that are not really any big deal today?  Remember what it was like when you first faced that impossible situation.  Remember how you saw no way out of it and how it looked like it was going to do real damage to your life.  Now look back at it after you have come through.  It doesn't seem like that big a deal does it?  All the worry and fear and for what?  You came through!  That six mile situation in your life wasn't so big after all?

By now, most of you probably know where I am headed.  Let me ask you another question that is equally important.  What six mile situation are you facing right now?  What looks impossible?  What has you laying awake at night worrying about it?  OK now that you know what I am talking about, how do you handle it?  The answer is one step at a time.  Do what you can do and learn to let go of what you can't.  I am certainly not perfect at it but I want to get better.  Remember this six mile situation that you are facing can turn into just another success in your life and you will come through it!

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

A 350 Pound Minion

One thing I believe in doing is being honest with yourself.  In one of my blogs, I talked about my greatest failure.  Today, I want to share something that I hope will inspire someone who needs it.  While, I guess I would have to say that this is a success in my life, I respectfully submit this not as bragging but in the hope that someone else will be inspired to make themselves better.  I have a very dear friend who told me that this story inspired her and I cannot tell you how much that touched my heart.

It's funny because it seems easier to talk about the things that I have done wrong and I am almost ashamed to talk about the things I have done right.  Why is that?  I think it is because I have been taught that pride is a bad thing.  There are some forms of pride that are very bad but I think it is OK to talk about things that go right in your life.  That's part of being honest with you.  See we all know all of our faults.  I can catalog mine and cross reference them.  And when we are feeling down, then we want to spend a lot of time working our self over about them which isn't good.  But what about the other side of the coin?  What about our strenghts?

Well, as you may have guessed the picture above is of my dad, my son and me.  Doesn't look much like the picture to the right of the blog does it.  Well it's really me.  At my heaviest, I was 350 pounds.  I am 67" tall and I was 58" around.  I used to tell people that I was in shape because round is a shape!  Nobody bought.  I wore a 5X shirt.  I made jokes about my weight all the time but the reality of it was that it hurt to be this big.  It hurt physically but it also hurt emotionally.  If you are big, I understand completely where you are because I was there myself.

Have you ever ridden on an airplane?  Well you know when you sit down the flight attendant does a demonstration showing you how to work the seat belt?  That thing she holds up can be used as a seat extension for people who cannot fit the seat belt around their waist.  I was one of those people and always had to ask for it.  It was embarrassing and I was ashamed of myself.  I tried to play it off with jokes but it always hurt.

Finally, the Lord instructed me to get a personal trainer.  Now at the time, I didn't want one because I didn't want to spend the money but I believed I had heard the voice of the Lord so I decided to hire him.  After several months, I kept telling him I was going on a diet and I would (for at least a day or two at a time).  But then life would happen and I would quit.  One day, I told my trainer that I was starting another diet and he called me a liar.  He told me not to insult him by saying that.  He said that when I was tired of being the way I was, I would change.  Until then, I wouldn't.  Well, I am not used to people who I pay money talking to me like that but he was absolutely right.  It's funny because today he is definitely a friend of mine and not just my personal trainer.

So I started journaling everything I wrote.  I did this for about six months.  Then one day, I had to face what I was doing.  See, I wrote down everything on paper that I was eating but mentally, I didn't write it all down.  After I admitted the problem I had, I asked the Lord to deliver me from my addiction to carbohydrates.  Guess what happened.  He did.  I got sick for a couple of days but I came out of it a changed man.  All the sudden, eating the right things and exercising was easy.  I didn't tell people I was going on a diet but I didn't have to.  They could see it.  There is a life lesson in that point - Don't go around telling people what your are going to do.  Just let your actions speak for themselves.  They do anyway.

Then my trainer told me that I was going to be a runner.  I knew that it was from the Lord but I told my trainer it would never happen.  Long story short, within two years of being 350 pounds I had ran my first marathon.  I have ran two.  So here are the stats.  I lost two feet (24 inches) in my waist.  I went from a 58 to a 34.  I lost 160 pounds in 14 months and it was one of the easiest things I have ever done because the Lord was helping me do it.  I went from a 5X shirt to a medium/large depending on the shirt.  Pretty cool huh.

Well, you might say, that was easy for you but I can't do that.  Wrong.  I am nothing special.  If God can do that through me, He can certainly do that in your life.  What areas are you weighing 350 pounds?  Is it in relationships, your actual weight, friendships, finances, or school?  Well dare to believe that you can change any area of your life.  Because with God's help you can.  It's never too late.  He always has a plan.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

The Minion Lawyer

Today, I hope to challenge you.  What do you dream about?  What have you always wanted to try but have always invented reasons not to do?  What would you like to accomplish?  Well, you say, I gave up on my goals a long time ago.  I can't, couldn't, shouldn't, wouldn't, am not talented enough, not smart enough, not good enough....  I guess you get my point.  We all have things like that.  When I was in high school, I saw the movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise and I was convinced I wanted to be an F14 pilot.  I wanted to go to the US Naval Academy and fly jets for the Navy.  Well guess what, it never happened.  Why not?  Because I didn't want it bad enough.  If I had really wanted it, I would have tried harder.  So I went to TCU to study business I wanted a college degree but I was more concerned about chasing girls than studying.  Which resulted in terrible results.  See I wasn't good with girls and my grades suffered to boot.  I was just plain lazy.

Now, I am really a fairly intelligent guy (please no comments from my friends or family!).  If I put my mind to something, I am capable of learning just about anything.  So why didn't I graduate Magna Cum Laude from TCU?  Well there were some pretty smart people at TCU and I just plain didn't want it bad enough.  Oh sure, if it came super easy I would have made straight As but since it required reading and studying, I didn't.  Plain and simple right?   Well are there areas of your life where you could have done better and didn't?  Sure there are.  Does that make you a bad person or a failure?  Of course not.  Don't be ridiculous.  All it means is you didn't want it bad enough.

Now let's get back to the mental list you made from our first paragraph.  What things are on that list that you want to do but don't?  Why?  Are you going to go through the whole could have, should have, and would have list again like we just did?  I know there are areas in my life now where I need to work on this.

Let me tell you one area of my life where I decided to try something no one really thought I could do.  Remember there will always be people telling you that you can't.  They will aways have something negative to say to talk you out of trying.  If you aren't careful, you might actually believe those people.  But one of my favorite sayings is, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."  Now I don't believe in dog fighting or cruelty to animals in any shape.  It's absolutely wrong but I like the saying.  What it means is that the person who looks the best on paper with the most talent and ability isn't always the person who succeeds.  It's the person who tries his hardest and believes he can that normally does. You can do anything that you put your mind to.

OK, so let's get back to my little story.  I graduated in the top 10% of the bottom 1/3 of my class at TCU.  Like I said, my grades were terrible.  I think I had a 2.25.  Now another of my life dreams was to go to law school.  So one day, I decided to try.  I decided to apply and just see if I got in.  Well I did pretty good on the LSAT and was accepted to a law school here in Fort Worth.  Then I did something remarkable that set the tone for my whole law school experience.

I went out to dinner with my then wife, my cousin and his wife.  I remember we went to a comedy club downtown and then we went back to my cousin's wife's house.  As we were all sitting around talking and having a good time the subject of me going back to school came up and this is what came out of my mouth.  I said, "I'm going to go to law school and give it my best shot.  I am going to do my very best and see what happens.  I don't want to look back 20 years from now and say I could have, would have or should have.  If I flunk out after the first semester, I will do it knowing I tried my very hardest."  See I had the right attitude now.  I was going to try with everything I had.  Notice where my focus was.  It wasn't on doing this well or doing that well.  It wasn't on being the best student or making the best grades.  My focus was on being the best I could be.  I didn't look at anyone else but me.  If I gave it my all and failed I could live content knowing I gave it may all.

Where do you face challenges like that in life?  I still face many of those same things today.  There are times when I don't want to work that hard or I want to quit trying something.  I believe if you give life your very best and the key is to make sure you know you are doing all you can, then you can hold your head up high no matter what the outcome.  Because you know that no matter what, you did your best.

And I guess, that's another Opinion .... Oh wait a minute.  Would you like to know what happened to me when I made the decision to try my hardest?  Well, God was able to bless all that I did in school.  Not only did I finish law school, but I graduated Cum Laude

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

The Minion Who Wasn't Good Enough

Today, I want to deal with something we all feel from time to time.  What to do when I don't feel good enough.  Have you ever felt that way?  I normally don't.  If you have read many of my blogs, I don't want you to get the wrong impression.  I am a very confident guy.  I really like myself and in a good way, I am proud of who I am.  I am a good guy.  I help my friends and family when I can and I have accomplished some pretty cool stuff.  I went law school and graduated high in my class, passed the bar, lost 160 pounds one time, etc.  Now I am not saying that to brag but I want you to know that I think well of me.

That said, there are times when I just don't feel like I am good enough.  Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever felt like no matter what you did, it just wasn't enough.  Have you ever wondered why people only notice the bad stuff you do and not the good stuff?  I mean we all know those people.  You know the ones.  When you tell them you made a 95 on a test, they want to know why you didn't make a 100.  Or how about the ones who always tell you what you should do to better yourself and never tell you the good things that you already do?  If we aren't careful, this can cause us to feel inadequate.  I know.  I have felt that many times and even here recently.  Now the good thing for me is that these feelings don't stay long.  I know what I am worth because the Bible tells me so.  I know that God thinks I am good enough.  He sees the good things I do and he tells me how proud he is of me.  Don't misunderstand this.  I don't think God loves me because of what I do or don't do.  He loves me because He is love.  I can never earn God's love.  That's why there is grace.  He loves me just because.

In a similar way, I can never earn any one's love.  If you are trying to earn some one's love or affection, quit.  It won't work.  They either love you for you or they don't.  And if they don't, then stop wasting time trying to make them.  See today, more and more, people are becoming lovers of themselves.  That's a shame but it was bound to happen.  What do I mean by that?  More and more people are only concerned about themselves and what they want.  When you find someone who actually cares about others, treasure them.  They are becoming more and more rare.  I have a friend like that.  She is always doing nice things for me.  Do you know what that makes me want to do?  It makes me want to do nice things back.  It's not because I want to "even the score."  It's because her kindness makes me want to be kind.

So the question is am I good enough?  Before I can answer that, let me ask another question - Good enough for what?

Am I good enough for people to respect, love and treat me right.  The answer to that is absolutely, positively, unequivocally, without a doubt, YES.  You are good enough just because you are.  You deserve love and respect just because you are you.  There is nothing that can increase or diminish that.

Are there times when I am not good enough to accomplish all that I want to?  Sure.  Remember I told you I wasn't a good football player.  I wasn't good enough to start on the football team.  What should you do if you try something and fail?  Try again and again and again.  Remember, if you get knocked down, get back up.  Keep going.  Sooner or later, you will accomplish your goals if you keep trying.  I have always believed that I can do anything.  Well, except maybe dunk a basketball. ;)

And that's the Opinion of the Minion

My Greatest Failure

Today, I want to talk about failure.  Now, most of the time I try to write positive and upbeat blogs.  When I read what I write, it challenges me to be a better person.  I have always said that if what you see from me is the best you ever see then that is a tragedy because I should get better every day.  But failure is inevitable in life.  We all go through it at some point.  So how do we deal with it?  Does it hurt?  Absolutely.  Do I wish I hadn't failed?  Sure.  Did I fail?  Yes.  Let me use one of my favorite lines from the movie Dirty Dancing, "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong."  You have to own your failures and successes.

See, I am recently divorced.  I made a commitment before God to stay married to a woman for the rest of my life.  It was a covenant that I couldn't keep.  Now I won't go into all the reasons behind the divorce itself because they aren't important.  Some of my readers know me personally and thus will know my now, ex-wife.  Let me say something about her before I go forward.  I wish her only the best and most happy days in life.  I have done my best to walk through this divorce with integrity and honor.  Have I always been successful?  No.  But this lady, deserves to be happy.  She is a wonderful mother to our three kids and I am very sorry things didn't work out between us.  I want to publicly forgive her for any wrong doing toward me and I ask the same from her.  This is my greatest failure in life.

Do you want to hear all the juicy details of what happened?  Would you like me to blame my wife for our marriage falling apart?  Well, I won't tell you because those things are personal.  Let me just use an old saying, "It takes two to Tango."  We both made mistakes and here we are.

So now let's deal with how it made me feel.  Last Friday was one of the hardest and most rewarding days of my life.  Although we have been separated for over a year and I knew the final divorce decree was coming, I still didn't really believe it.  So when the pressure of the week was over, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  I realized that I gave my word to my God and to that lady and I didn't keep it.  I hope you cannot imagine the deep pain I felt.  For a little while, I felt like a complete failure.  What things in your life have caused you to feel this way?  Was it a relationship that ended badly?  Was it a failure at your job or at school?  Regardless of where it comes from, it still really hurts.

When you get that sinking feeling in your gut because of something like this, doesn't it make you just want to run away and hide from everyone?  I mean who would want to be around someone that was a total failure like me?  I told myself that I was the biggest loser ever.  That I had wrecked my life, the life of my kids and my ex-wife.  I was well on my way to beating myself senseless because of my failure.  I threw a world class guilt party.  I was the guest of honor, the entire guest list, the guy who trashes the guest of honor and the guy who throws him in the dumpster at the end of the party.  I invited a very special guest to this party and He wouldn't come.  Can you imagine the audacity of being invited to the Destroy the Minion party and not coming?  That was certainly rude don't you think?  Do you know who the only guest that I actually invited was?  It was God.  I wanted him to condemn me just like I was doing to myself.  I wanted him to tell me that I was worthless and no good just like I was telling myself.

Now, I asked him to forgive me and I knew that he would at some point maybe a few months from now after I really got a thrashing.

When I finally listened to his still small voice, all I could feel was his love for me.  It is a love that I will never, ever deserve but it's there.  I can't escape it.  Do you know when he actually forgave me for my greatest failure?  When did He finally forgive me for breaking a covenant that I made in front of Him?  The instant I asked for it.  I didn't have to wait three weeks.  It was instantaneous.  He knew before the foundation of the world that I would make mistakes and he forgave me as soon as I asked.  That is the reason Jesus shed his blood on the cross.  It was to erase my sin.  If I asked God to forgive me now, he wouldn't know what I was talking about because He is a forgive and forget God.  He doesn't hold these things against me.  Guess what, when you ask Him for forgiveness, He does the same thing toward you.  He loves you unconditionally, no matter what, all the time, forever and ever with every fibre of His being.  He only wants good things for your life and He can take our bad mistakes and turn them into something good.  He doesn't want the bad mistakes because He hates to see us in the pain that they cause but He has a million ways to make things OK.

Back to the Guilt Party - It's fine that God forgave me but I am still at this party.  After all, if he won't have the decency to show up, I will do his job for him.  I will beat myself silly.  I can call myself all kinds of ugly names.  I mean I know all my deepest, darkest secrets and who better than me to dredge them all up and use them against me now.  Here is my major problem with this.  If God won't condemn me and trash me out, what right do I have to do it.  If he is willing to extend forgiveness to me what right do I have to keep holding the grudge against myself?  So here's what I did.  At 4:24 on Friday, July 29, 2011, I forgave myself.  When it happened, it was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders.  I felt so light and good.  I felt like it was OK for me to be happy again.  All of the sudden the world turned right side up.  God totally wrecked my party and I am so glad He did.

Have you ever felt this way?  I have watched many people do this to themselves so I know that I am not alone.  I think most of us have.  What are you refusing to forgive yourself for?  If someone who did you wrong came to you with an honest and sincere repentance on their face and asked you to forgive them for something they did wrong, would you do it?  I think probably you would.  So why can't you forgive yourself?  If you ask God for forgiveness he gives it to you instantly.  All I am asking is for you to extend the same grace to yourself that he did.  I know this is a process and I want to encourage you to keep at it.

Well friends, I intended this blog to talk about my greatest failure which it did but I can honestly say that I have blogged myself happy again.

And that's another Opinion of His Minion

What is Strength

At the request of a friend of mine, below please find my latest opinion.

Have you ever wondered why girls are attracted to "bad boys" and boys are attracted to "bad girls"?

I think the answer is because of a perceived strength of boys and girls.  When we find a "significant other," it should be someone who has strengths to compliment our weaknesses and vice versa.  But the real question is what is strength?  Girls want to feel secure so they are attracted to the guy who has a little attitude appears strong.  He treats them badly but he is macho and "tough."  Unfortunately for them, most girls don't really understand strength.  See the fact that the guy can walk around puffing out his chest, "protecting" you from threats, being a smart mouth and wearing an affliction tee shirt doesn't make him strong.  This makes no sense.  Ladies, how often does someone threaten you with physical bodily harm?  How often do you need emotional support vs. physical support?

Ladies, let me give you some examples of a true "strong" man who can protect you:
1.  A man who is not afraid to have emotions of his own and is not afraid to show you them.
2.  A man who has a job.  Now men, in this economy if you just lost your job, I am not saying anything negative about you but if you haven't looked for a job in three years and just sit around waiting for your chance to be on UFC, let me help you - get a real job.
3.  A man who is OK with you showing your emotions and knows how to empathize with you.  A strong man knows how to protect your emotions when they need to be protected.
4.  A strong man knows who is God and knows it isn't him.
5.  A strong man isn't afraid of your relationship with God.  He knows that if you put God first and he is second, that he will be much better off than if he was first.
6.  A strong man knows how to do right because it is right whether or not it is in his personal best interest to do so.
7.  A strong man really cares how you feel and looks out for your best interest.
8.  A strong man wants to see you achieve all your dreams and shows genuine interest in them.
9.  How does he treat the wait staff when you are at a restaurant?  If he treats them disrespectfully, one day he will treat you the same way.
10.  Is he really there for you when you need him?  Does he listen to you?  Does he value your opinion?

Ladies, the problem is that you will not know if a man is strong merely because he looks good or because you went out with him once.  When you were in school, you had several grades that made up your final semester grade.  There was daily work, quizes, tests and final exams.  You can't know what type of man he is until he has been through all of these life tests.  Also, notice that it takes all semester to accumulate the grades.  You won't know how strong he is by outward appearance, you have to see all the work.  Ladies if you are dating a man who is tough guy strong but not strong past that you are dating a child who's body is old.  I am not saying that I have completely matured by any means but I am certainly working on it.

Now men, lets talk about us.  We are always concerned first and foremost about looks.  If a woman doesn't look pretty, we immediately aren't interested.  Is this bad?  Not necessarily because physical chemistry is definitely important.  We are drawn to someone who helps us with our self esteem.  If we are with a really pretty girl then that tells other people that we "have what it takes" to catch the really hot girl.  That self esteem boost can be very temporary.  Let me give you a few thoughts about finding a good girl instead of a bad one.

1.  Does she show genuine interest in you and what you are doing?
2.  Is that interest positive or negative.  If she is interested in you but always in a negative way, then run from her.
3.  How does she treat other people around her?  Be careful if she is mean, inconsiderate or rude to people around you because that gives you an indication of what she is really like.  One day she will act the same way to you.
4.  Does she go out of her way to help other people when there is no perceived benefit to her for doing so?
5.  Does she know God?
6.  Ladies want to be treated like queens.  Men, ask yourself this question - If I do all the work to treat her like a queen, what do I get for my efforts.  If it is just sex, soon enough the work put in will not be worth what you get for it.  Your work must get you something far more rewarding - Her heart committed to yours.
7.  Gentlemen, we all know the cost.  Make sure she is really worth it.
8.  When you are in a bad situation, how does she react?  Does she do the right thing or look for the way out that is most beneficial to her?

Ladies and Gentlemen, this list is not a complete list by any stretch but I want to challenge you to look beyond the superficial traits about a man or woman and try to see who they really are - good or bad.  I think Blake Shelton summed it up pretty well when he sang, "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking?"

You attract what you are so do you have real strength?

That's the Opinion of the Minion

The Box - 2015

Hello Everyone,

This is one of the first posts I ever created and I think that every once in a while I should repost it because it was so profound to me.



I have given this a lot a of thought and I believe that the Lord showed me something that changed the way I view people.

You see, when God creates a person he gives them abilities, passions, desires, talents and all sorts of wonderful attributes that we seldom ever see.  Then he takes all these things and puts them in a box with silver wrapping paper and very pretty red ribbon tied in a bow around it.  He calls the box - You.  It is a present to the world.  When I saw this for the first time, I looked around at all the people walking by and said to myself, "Merry Christmas!" because all I could see were beautiful boxes waiting to be opened.

The problem is many people don't even know what is in their own box much less have taken the time to look in someone elses box.  This starts when we are in school.  As we grow up, we learn all kinds of new things about ourselves: what we like, what we don't, the changes that our bodies go through, we learn things in school about the world and we learn about social interaction.  But sometimes that social interaction teaches us that the stuff in our box isn't all that important. 

Have you ever felt like the stuff inside you doesn't really matter?  Can you look back to a point in your life where you were doing something you really enjoyed and someone else called it or you stupid or worthless?

When you pull the most precious parts of your life out of the box and let other people see them, it is scary because you are definitely vulnerable at that point.  But know this, the Lord put all those wonderful things inside and they are of great price and value.  Don't let someone cheapen what is so precious by their comments.

Everyday, I see people who are alive but aren't living.  I think it is because they have told themselves that the treasures in their box aren't important or worth much so they don't do anything with them.  They may not have done this openly but below the surface it happens.  You have to know that if God took the time to create you and put all those treasures inside you, they are important both to him and to me.

When was the last time you looked in your box and pulled out something you truly enjoyed and used it?  When was the last time you opened the box?  When was the last time you were passionate about anything?  Are you so caught up in the rat race that your box isn't important any more?

Here is another interesting question - When was the last time you opened up someone else's box to see who they really are and celebrate the gifts inside them?  Do you always know what is wrong with your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, friends, parents, family, coworkers but never look inside the box for what is so awesome about them?

Husbands, what would happen if instead of criticizing your wife, the next time you saw her, you decided to look at something that was so precious to her, so beautiful, so tender, so amazing and something she loved about herself?  What would happen if you nurtured that gift and encouraged it to grow?  What would happen if, after you opened her box, she decided that your box was the most special one on earth and decided to touch the core of who you are?  What if you both decided to go deep in your relationship?

Boyfriends, what if you looked at her and decided that you wanted more than just what was inside her clothes, you wanted what was inside her heart.  Girlfriends, what if you decided that you wanted the same thing?  What if you wanted to explore who they are and make them the best person they could be while they did the same thing to you?  What if you looked at them and asked, "What can I give?" instead of "What can I get?"

Is this a little intense?  Yes.  Is it worth it if just one person decides to open their box or open someone elses?  Yes.  You see, I believe that I got to see a little glimpse of the creation through the creator's eyes when He showed me this.  It was truly an eye opening experience and I can definitely say I will never be the same.  I got to see how He looked at and longs for His creation to be all that we can be and how His love for us goes so deep His heart aches for us.

So I guess the real question is what is in your box?  I want to know.

That's the Opinion of His Minion