Our destiny is made by our choices … Our emotions are not reality We are emotional creatures but our emotions are not reality they are only indications of where our attention is going and where we are headed … Someone comes along and tells us we shouldn’t be happy We should be terrified The world is burning Our future is in ruin Our emotions latch on We look around and we will find things to agree with that … Suddenly we are in the ditch … Why do I believe what I believe ? Where am I headed? Why can’t I ever find what I need? I’m unorganised … Fix it … Be organised Be intentional Know yourself Move forward Build Be constant Consistent Forge ahead And adapt and learn Be self aware and grow What an opportunity We’ve been here before We know what to do History repeats Ask your grand parents Ask the boomers Build What else is there?
Short term debt cycles Long term debt cycles Our habits and our emotions drive us … Consuming for what we want right now Credit and credit cards Increased power to purchase without increased income Betting that our future self will pay it off… Inflation Recession 10 years 40 years The middle class gets squeezed Stops spending money Starts paying off their debts Driving inflation up And recession The poor just try to survive The wealthy have assets So they are still able to get loans etc When the banks foreclose or call on debts They are able to pick up the pieces Capitalism is the consumer…. There is no evil entity 70 percent of our economy is small business and consumer habits… Be intentional Know where you are going and why Control your future Or your habits will control you … —— If you’re calm Constant Consistent Know where you’re going The long nights The early mornings They all will be worth it —— Watch the morning The fall come in Watch the seasons change You’re making your future You’re arriving You built this Together With changing habits —— I’ve been fortunate I haven’t always been the best I could be I was dishonest I lied I drank I wasn’t my best I’ve been forgiven of much I didn’t go to college I worked since I was 14 And with my father before that … But I’ve been given second chances I have a family I have a home I’m building And I’m thankful ….
What does this have to do with you and your goals ? Maybe some days feel a lot like Monday and it feels like the world is off it’s track … Everything is demanding your attention…your comment … What does it have to do with you and your goals? Forge ahead… Someone said I should be angry because my tax dollars … Forge ahead… I should be angry because … Forge ahead … I woke up, purchased more shares, asked about parental leave (turns out I get six weeks leave) and I’ll purchase more shares for my son… Building consistency A legacy… Forge ahead… I know I don’t have the answers I know I’ve made mistakes But the way I see it, The best way to protect and secure the future is to forge it… Be responsible to it … Maybe I came from nothing in material things … But my son will inherit a legacy And we will give back And we will raise a standard of pride and excellence and responsibility To ourselves and our community. What else is there … The world is off its track demanding your comment …
What does this have to do with you and your legacy?
I feel very lucky And I feel very overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of being a father … Raising a son and sending him off into adulthood… I consider how much I struggled and tried to figure out Even the small things … Shaving, picking out a suit, How to budget, how to invest, how to save …
Gladwell said it takes 10,000 hours to master a new ability or skill…. But in our time… By the age of 21 We’ve clocked 10,000 hours playing a video game or binge watching a tv show …
Psychologist say we’re stuck in adolescence pushing it to 24 … Failure to launch…trial independence ending at 29… How We love the story of the prodigal son… Irresponsible and coming home to a fathers love … Only in our time we have sons waiting for fathers to come home, to take on responsibility…to stop drinking …to stop leaving… —— Is this what we came here for? Young men Stumbling into adulthood Not really quite sure where it begins And what to leave behind What to sacrifice And what to take up as responsibility What the worth is…in living this way… —— Intention —— It’s quiet It’s just knowing the process And trusting it It’s holding eachother accountable to success… To pride and honor To responsibility So we leave no one behind We don’t stumble forward … It’s walking with each other and teaching the processes, how to step into adulthood … So I have this window of opportunity… I have maybe ten years to prepare for this … But if I’m selfish … I’ll miss it… —— I’ll miss it with what is easy… What is comfortable … I’ll miss it… —- Don’t miss it… You only get so much time … 10,000 hours Maybe it’s not enough to just send them out… Maybe it’s more … Maybe it’s showing them how to live How to question How to understand How to fix the broken things How to know the worth of things and not just the cost … How to move into adulthood ….
So I feel very lucky … And I feel overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of being a father … Maybe we all feel this way … But there is time to prepare If you only take advantage of the opportunity. No it won’t be easy. But it will be worth it. What else is there? -E
This is sober… Almost a year …seven months… This is fatherhood… This is … This is getting your life on track. Getting your health on track Your finances on track. Loving and supporting and being loved and supported. It’s sacrifice, Long days, Long nights, 142 miles a day commute. This is figuring out what you want your life to be… What you want to leave behind What you want your son to see . I was drinking everyday It was easy and most people didn’t know it … I looked terrible I didn’t like the way I felt I didn’t like the way I acted and I didn’t like myself … I was always trying to stop Like trying a budget Or a diet … But that’s not how progress is made… And then I met this girl And we stayed up all night talking about what we hoped our lives would be Our goals were very similar It was things we could pray about I called her one night and told her I was going to go a week without drinking… I felt better I went two weeks … I got a promotion at work The culture at my job was one I could align with And it pushed me to be better and improve and be right and true And tell the truth … I knew I needed order in my life And that drinking was just a short cut It would cost me in my health down the road …and it was costing me in my finances right then. I went a month … I just never picked it back up… I don’t want my son to see me like that… Taking short cuts… I want him to see the work The dirt And the win. The right and true.
Be right and do right. It’s a long road … It’s harder and longer than you think it will be… But it’s worth it. The win is worth it no short cuts… No one can take this from you. This is yours. This life, This future, This here and now. -E
There’s an old story of Elijah hiding in the cave … He believed he was finished He was the only one left He would stay there and die The earth was finished Everything was hopeless —- We overlook How the Lord had fed him all along the way Seeing that he was burned out fed him 40 days and nights with him all that time… —- And we overlook How he brought an earthquake And a wind storm A pillar of fire but the Lord wasn’t in any of it … He was in the calm… —— Remember who you are The quiet The calm The ability to adapt To create To hold And to know… To know… —- Build your life Quietly and assuredly There are no shortcuts The world is not ending You are not alone You Are In the calm
Strange things have happened It’s all happened here before It’s just the ghost of old shipwrecks Passing by your doors —- Sleep in peace tonight There’s nothing new under the sun Take your hand from your gun This too shall pass Sleep in peace tonight The wolves are howling The nightmare is crawling Over your back pages It’s gonna leave its mark And these passages soon will be read The world is not falling It’s only turning the ghost of the past That old hangman That old dust bowl That famine And recession The flies that nag The dog that bites The tempers flared Like shots at the moon The stars are falling Falling over Alabama tonight It’s all been done before Look out kid They’re digging up the interstate again… This too shall pass Keep you hand off your gun Do right be right Don’t take short cuts You will short yourself in the end … Do right be right kid … You’re just in the foyer The world is just beginning … Strange things have happened Where’s all our Dylan’s Standing by the road … Do right be right kid The words will come and they will go… The Phoenix destroyed your kitchen stove Cut down a tree with its fist Its words you dismissed Don’t short yourself There’s no easy way out There’s only to endure and be true And let the words come And when they come Thank them And let the words go …
Regarding Samuel 