Friday, June 15, 2012

Two Feet Part 1

Hello everyone,

Many of you know that I use to way 350 pounds and the Lord delivered me from weight issues.  I believe he told me to write a book.  Below please find a small part from the first chapter.  Please let me know what you think.

That's the Opinion of the Minion


It’s 5:55 a.m. and the alarm clock begins signals the start of another day.  After a couple of seconds I roll over and turn it off.  Out my picture windows, I am greeted by an amazing sight.  The sun is just beginning to rise over the tops of the buildings downtown.  Fort Worth isn’t the biggest city in the world by any stretch but it’s my city and its home.  I live in the penthouse and the view from my balcony is breath taking.  I let Clara Belle out on it and she lays down to enjoy the air.  She’s a Great Pyrenees mix and looks more like a polar bear than a dog.  It’s a cool 65 degrees Fahrenheit outside today.  Quite a change from the hottest summer in north Texas history.  We have had 70 days of over 100 degree weather and I am glad for a break.
That done, I pick up my Ipad and open the Sonus app that controls the stereo zones in my apartment.  I only play the music in the bedroom so I don’t wake up any of my neighbors but it gets me going.  Next, it’s time to make the bed and start the shower. Shower complete, vitamins consumed and dry fit clothes on, I lace up my Asics Kayano gym shoes.  They only have a couple of days left before they are trash but they still feel good.  At around 6:25 I head out the door and down to the car.  It’s a short ride to the gym and there is an audiobook talking to me through the Lexus’ stereo system.  As I walk in the door, I see many familiar faces and they are a mix of smiles and frowns just like you would expect.  My good friend and trainer is there talking to his fiancĂ©e on the treadmill so I stop to offer some good natured words of quasi encouragement and head to the men’s locker room.  I drop my bag in the back corner and pull out the Garmin watch along with my IPod Nano.  It’s just another day in paradise.  On my way out the door, I stop to drop my shirt by the computer monitor on the desk and step out into the cool air.  What a beautiful morning.  It‘s one of those times in life that you are in awe of God and his creation.  I can see more of the sun peaking up over the tops of the buildings and know this is going to be one of those great days.
As I stand there waiting for my Garmin to sync up with the satellites OneRepublic’s  Good Life is blaring in my ears.  It’s nice just to sit there and hum along while the watch talks to whatever it talks to.  My trainer just told me that I don’t have to do weights today just cardio but he asks me to push just a little today.  This should be a good run.  The humidity is low and the temperature perfect.  I will only run six miles today.  Certainly not the farthest I have ever run but a lot farther than I could have gone eight years ago.  Watch finally working I start out.  Almost immediately I take a right turn and head toward White Settlement road.  The tunes change and my mind drifts all over the place.  I think about the people in my life.  Who needs help today and what can I do about it?  When I get to work, what needs to be done?  What else is on the agenda today?  I have a blog that has 37,000 fans from literally around the world.  What would the Lord have me tell them today?  How am I going to bring them a word of encouragement?  It’s a great day and I start much stronger than I have in a long time.
Now I hit the 1.25 mile mark and start the climb up the first real hill.  The whole run is a little uphill but this is the first one that really gets my attention.  I have to cross 7th street and then make the climb.  The cool air definitely helps and my legs don’t really burn today.  I am holding steady at about 7.4 miles per hour.  Now that’s not really all that fast even for me but it’s much faster than I have been running.  
As I come over the top of the hill.  I spot something truly remarkable.  It’s a box and it’s on the opposite side of the street from where I am running.  This box isn’t just any old box, its silver with a bright red bow around it.  You know the kind; you can take the lid off the box without disturbing the ribbon on the lid or the box because someone has wrapped each separately.  I will never know exactly what is in this box but I appreciate it none the less.  God has placed certain unique qualities inside this box.  Who knows what they are but because He took so much time and care when he created it, I respect it greatly.  It is truly an amazing gift to the world and I am honored just to see it for a few minutes.  As I look around, there are more boxes.  One is crossing the street and one is already in front of me on the same side of the street.  One thing I know for sure - God is deeply and passionately in love with each of these boxes and that makes me appreciate them greatly.  Many of these boxes need help and I wish I could be the one to help them all.  Sometimes I get to but not as often as I would like.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Do Nice Guys Finish Last? (Part 2)


Last time I wrote, we talked about how to define a nice guy.  Today I want to deal with the question - Do nice guys finish last?  Most of you probably have not read a post that I did about this time last year discussing why women can be so attracted to guys who are not very nice to them.  Well today let’s look at this from the other side of the equation.
In high school and in our 20s I think it is very difficult for us to know what exactly we want.  We want everyone to like us.  We want people to want to hang out with us.  We want admiration from our friends.  These things are all OK but what this really defines is “being popular.”  Unfortunately at that age, we don’t know how to be comfortable with just being us so to make ourselves feel better we put other people down.  Now if you are a popular kid then when you put someone else down they are “unpopular” right.  
So if you are a girl which group do you want to be associated with?  The “popular” crowd or the “unpopular” one?  That’s a no brainer right?  Well let’s look at the nice guy for a second.  Think of the nicest guy you know.  Does he typically go around putting other people down?  I doubt it.  That’s what makes him a nice guy.  Is he typically going to be in with the “in” crowd?  Many times not.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that if you are popular that you are not a nice guy because that just isn’t true.
But I think girls in high school are attracted to the popular guys because they are “popular.”  Nice guys in that group may be seen as finishing last.  I mean when a girl says you are a great guy or a nice guy isn’t that the kiss of death in high school?  I know I always felt like that was the case.  However something interesting has happened since I got out of high school (which was 20+ years ago).  I discovered that women’s opinion of what they want change.  When the most popular guy in the school struggles to hold a job, doesn’t appreciate her the way he should and never really does things for her, all the sudden her opinion of being with the “popular” guy changes.  
Just a side note for everyone struggling with this issue who is in high school today.  One day after you graduate high school popularity will mean nothing.
Anyway over the course of time the “nice guy” starts to look much more appealing.  What girl doesn’t want to feel special and be with someone who treats her like she is a princess?  Does that sound like a fairy tale?  Well to some degree in real life it is but I think that we guys can be nice and treat ladies the right way.  See guys, here is what I found out.  When you are over 30 and a woman tells you that you are a nice guy, that is no longer the kiss of death.  In fact, it can be just the opposite because a lot of times that lady is so tired of being with someone who doesn’t treat her right that she is actually longing for a nice guy.
I am dating a truly amazing woman.  She is everything I want and so much more.  She is elegant, classy, beautiful, funny, smart, intelligent and I could go on for a while.  When   one of my friends met her, his first comment was how is she even available to date?  Another friend told me that I had far “out kicked my coverage.”  That’s a football term but it is a high compliment for her.  Another friend of mine asked me if she was as pretty on the inside as she was on the outside.  On a scale of 1 to 10 she is an 11.  And here she is attracted to me!  I still find that hard to believe.  But I bet you if you asked her what attracted her to me one thing she would probably say is that I am a nice guy.
That’s another Opinion of the Minion.