Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill

Abraham Lincoln lost election after election. Michael Jordan was cut from his basketball team. Helen Keller was considered a hopeless individual who would always have to be cared for by others. In other words, these people were just like you and me: They were not considered worthy. They were failures!

What set these individuals apart from what we are so often willing to settle for was their ability to overcome obstacles and use their failures as stepping stones to remarkable accomplishments. They were strong enough to disregard the low expectations that others had for them and go on to greatness because they had high expectations for themselves.

This is one of life's great lessons, and it has been played out over and over throughout the course of history. It is not what others expect of you that will determine your success or failure. It is what you expect of yourself!

So, what is it that you expect of yourself? Are you content to let your past problems set a course of mediocrity for your life, or will you use these difficulties as inspiration to fuel you to the great things that God has created you for in the first place?

Think about this: A weight lifter gets no stronger by lifting a series of lighter and lighter burdens. It is only when he tests the limits of his muscle by lifting greater and greater weights that he becomes strong. In a like manner, if you are complaining because your path is strewn with obstacles that have to be gone around, lifted, or removed, then aren't you really looking for ways to weaken, rather than strengthen, yourself?

The road to success has never run over even, well lit paths. It goes over mountains and raging rivers and sometimes has to be traversed on dark and dreary nights. But, for those willing to rise up to the challenges of life, great successes can be won - both with physical accomplishments and in the more important area of your spiritual service to God.

What "barriers" have been holding you back? Why not climb over those barriers and press forward to successes that God made you for in the first place!

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up.

Galatians 6:9, NIV

Carpe diem!

Latin for, "Seize the day".

The American dream revolves around getting rich and retiring young. The sad truth is that while most people mentally plan to retire, they simply don't have a physical plan that would allow them to do so. The most recent figures I have seen for what a couple needs to have in savings to comfortably retire ranges from $700,000 to $1,300,000. Maybe this is why Obamacare is so popular - it will help us all die young so that we won't need to retire.

Still, most people would like to live the American dream, but what can you do? Surprisingly, there are a number of fairly painless ways to be able to save more without having to give of major frills like eating and living indoors.

When I substitute taught Junior and Senior High for six weeks while our real business teacher took a break to have a baby, I revealed to my students two of the most basic formulas for staying out of debt. The first is to never spend money on a credit card for non-essential items. Sounds obvious, I know, but you would be surprised how many people are paying on $10,000+ credit card balances consisting of little more than a series of custom coffees (I gotta have my caffeine) and fancy steak dinners (We have to treat ourselves sometime).

The second is to never, ever, ever, buy a new car that you cannot afford to pay cash for. A new car purchase or lease is always advertised as something like $299 a month. In reality, after taxes and fees, that $299 turns into $350. Add another $100 a month for comprehensive rather than liability insurance, and you're at $450 a month for six years - if you are lucky! Compare that to the $1,500 a year average for a used car with lower mpg and more frequent repairs, and you are still looking at about $4,000 a year difference before taxes. In 25 years, that is a $100,000 difference, assuming that you just put it in a hole in the ground. This $100,000 can be multiples higher if you invest it wisely - and you will invest it wisely - because you are now that kind of a guy or gal.

But, why talk about all of this? We want to live well right now - right? Who knows if we will ever see 40, much less 65, so let's carpe a little diem right now!

That would be okay, I suppose, if we were just talking about physically retiring - but we are not! The fact is that most people give far more thought to their thirty years of retirement than they do their eternities... yet they are still woefully unprepared! If you are among the vast majority of people on this planet who give much more thought to retiring than to heaven and hell, but are unprepared for the needs of your old age... what does that say about your chances for Heaven?

Why not "seize the moment" and start preparing for eternity by reading your Bible today? It's something to think about while we are driving our new cars and sipping on our frappuccinos, while on the way to that steakhouse tonight!

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.

Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 6:19, RSV

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Have you ever taken a wrong turn? We all have, at one point or another. These moments are especially disconcerting when we just "knew" that we were on the right road, only to find out later that we really weren't.

This is one of the reasons that daily Bible study is so important. In addition to the daily doses of peace and comfort and assurances that God gives us in His word, we also read each day to make absolutely certain that we are on the right path.

Let me give you a "for instance". Did you know that millions of people each year seek God's salvation through something that they call the Sinner's Prayer?

Do you know where the Sinner's Prayer is found within the Scripture? Why not look it up, today?

"But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 15:9, KJV

"Study to shew thyself approved"

the Apostle Paul, as recorded in II Timothy 2:15, KJV

"Because its there!" George Mallory

born June 18, 1886, Mobberley, Cheshire, England.

died June 8th or 9th, 1924, north face of Mount Everest, Tibet

"Because they're stupid!" My sweet wife, still living...

Have you ever looked back on your life and tried to explain the things you have done? For instance, I got my second concussion in a rock fight when I was about four, got stuck in a tree top (same age), got my tongue "hung" on a fence (still four and, remarkably, still alive), got my third concussion in a poorly planned bike and ramp incident at age eleven, got stuck on the face of a rock wall 30 feet or so off the ground at age twelve... the list could go on, but you get the point.

I can remember when I was about eight, my parents looking at a house to buy atop a very steep hill. I think they finally rejected it when they realized how much trouble it would be to get there on icy streets. I can remember to this day my distinct relief at their not buying that house, because all I could think about was how I didn't want to have to ride my bike or sled down that death trap of a hill.

Now, you might be thinking that I wouldn't have had to ride or sled down that hill even if we had got the house, but you would be wrong. There was something in me at that age that compelled me to do those things. Some of you will understand, but I fear that those of you who have not experienced enough of concussed living will ever understand: I just had to do it!

It had nothing to do with adrenaline rushes, and very little to do with peer pressure. As a matter of fact, most of my dare devil stunts were done in private so there would be no witnesses in the slim, but unfortunate possibility of failure or premature death.

I'm sure that some sort of intense, year's long, psycho-analysis would reveal the true cause of the compulsive behavior of my early years, but suffice it to say that I did indeed feel "compelled" to tackle any challenge that came my way when I was a boy. Fortunately I have since moved on from this stage of reckless immaturity, (though my sweet wife - still living - might possibly disagree), but I notice that many people in the world of religion seem to have that same reckless compulsion that I occasionally displayed as a lad.

For example, there are certain sins - sins that God has warned against over and over in Scripture - that they feel compelled to take part in. There are types of worship that are not found within Scripture, but they still feel compelled to experience anyway. There are plans of salvation that are nothing more than the teachings of men, but they still feel compelled to "obey", while there are other things that the New Testament reveals are required for salvation, that men feel no obligation to obey whatsoever.

Why is that?

When it comes down to it, are we truly following God's carefully chosen and clearly revealed plans... or do we feel "compelled" towards a plan of our own? Wouldn't it be a shame to have spent so much time seeking God in ways we feel "compelled" to do... only to find ourselves having perished, unnecessarily, on the north face of some mountain that we were never even commanded to climb in the first place?

Do you think that God wants you to find out what His will is? It is found within the Bible and you can start reading it today!

"What have you done?" asked Samuel.

Saul replied..., "I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."

"You have acted foolishly", Samuel said, "You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord's command."

I Samuel 13:11-14, NIV