What a Minion Likes To Do

Looking back on the memory of

The dance we shared

Neath the stars above

For a moment

All the world was right....

Some of you will recognize the lyrics to that song some of you will not.  Recently my ballroom dance instructor told me I was stuck musically in the 80s.  That might be a little true because it's when I was a teenager.  That song is "The Dance" by Garth Brooks.  I really liked that song when it first came out.  All the girls liked it too so I thought I could use it to help me get dates or make the dates I had better ones.  So guess what I learned at TCU?  I learned to make a rose out of a paper napkin and learned how to play that song on the piano.  I thought that would be super romantic - a paper rose, singing that song while playing the piano.  How could I go wrong?  The best thing was that every girls dorm had a piano in it while I was at TCU so it was perfect.  I went a little farther and learned a few more songs - Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (couldn't sing that one), Fur Elise (Beethoven I think), and The Rose by Bette Middler (I did try to sing that one) were the extent of my library.  My friend BL, could play a couple of other songs but I cannot remember what they were.  BL, I know you read this sometimes, call me and refresh my memory please.  

Is there a point to your ramblings Mr. Minion, you ask?  Well yes.  While I was not near as successful at being Michael Buble as I would have hoped, I discovered something while learning these songs.  I actually liked to play the piano.  Now I am never going to win any competitions at it but its fun.  My mom played a lot growing up and she actually got pretty good.  I guess that's where I got it.  Well, a few months ago I picked up the sheet music for "The Dance" again and guess what?  I couldn't play it anymore.  Do you know why?  I hadn't touched the piano in years.  Why is it that I quit doing something that I really enjoyed?  I don't really know but I did.  I don't think I ever sat down and decided I wasn't going to play, life was just life and I didn't do it anymore.

But when I picked up the sheet music and sat down at the keyboard, the next thing I knew it was an hour later.  Did it sound good?  Probably not but I didn't care, I was enjoying myself.  See, that was an interest that God put in my box that I hadn't played with in a while and I missed it.  I wasn't playing because I wanted to be the best or even so other people would enjoy it.  I just was playing.

Obviously, I have written on this topic before but I think it's worth looking at again.  So let me ask you, what things do you enjoy?  Sit for a minute and think hard about it.  You may have to think back several years to find your piano moment but I am sure it's there.  I want to challenge you to take a little time this week and do the thing you enjoy.  It will enrich your life.

That's another 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