Amorvia Extrasolar

Last night our Christian Millionaire group had a special guest. Jack Chamberlin is the 83 yr old founder of Westland Realty & Investment, Inc., a Christian man, an entrepreneur, and a salesman who was mentored by his tiny single mother or four boys, a purveyor of rabbits and veal during the depression. A great success story!

Jack told our aspiring business people about the importance of goals. His mantra while he was selling auto insurance was “2 and 10” and he would stand at the mirror and repeat it over and over every morning. His daily goal was to sell 2 new policies and 10 units of insurance. He was always a top sales person in his region. “You have the keep your goal in mind every day!”

He told us that he fired his entire staff of 25 real estate agents because of their lack of a work ethic. “They would come into the office at 11am, push papers around on their desk for half and hour, and then go for a two hour lunch!” They did not treat their work like a real business. Jack did. He was a business man who happened to sell real estate. He worked his business every day. So when he realized that he was carrying half the production in the 25 sales person office he fired all those slackers!

Jack attended a Christian men’s prayer breakfast every Thursday morning in those days. He surrounded himself with positive, successful, faith-filled men. He kept up on the best training available, and he kept it positive, even in the down cycles.

I’ve been to a lot of sales training events, read a lot what’s available in sales and marketing books and when I heard Jack talking it was listening to Earl Nightingale all over again.

There is nothing new under the sun. We like to think that new technology and contemporary techniques are essential to success in the world. But listening to Jack I was reminded that the old fashioned ways of having great goals, treating your business like a business, and having faith and keeping positive are essential component for a successful business and life.

I love you – Bryan Martin

Today, my dearly beloved, is a day to count your blessing… even if it is a very very difficult day for you.

Today I will officiate the memorial services for two women, different families with vastly different backgrounds and lives.  Both were in their early sixties, young by today’s standards. Both had difficult health issues. Both left loving families, children and young grandchildren.

I count it a privilege to serve families like this. These situations are always reality checks for me.

So today I invite you to list and send me the top ten blessings of your life.

List and send to me your hopes and dreams for the future.

List and send me how you hope to make a difference in the world.

Send me your brief prayer of thanks to God for all the goodness.

For your trouble in sending me these lists I will share you part of the prayer attributed to St. Patrick.

God bless you… you are indeed blessed!

I love you – Bryan Martin

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie,
Christ where I sit,
Christ where I arise,

May Thy Salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

A tropical disturbance came through last night sparking thunderstorms.
 
The evidence of the disturbance lingers… the morning sky is rapturous as the sun dances on the clouds creating silver linings and morning red hues.
 
The consequence of the disturbance is that it will be cooler today. It was 104 yesterday, 99 today. While that seems numerically insignificant, for those of us who have lived in the area a long time 99 is a fabulous spring-like temperature.
 
We welcome disturbances like this.
 
If only we could see the emotional and spiritual disturbances of life the same way!
 
My simple thought for today is a prayer for you…
 
May you be refreshed in the storm like disturbances of life…
May you see the beauty of it dancing like leaves gently tossed in the breeze…
May the stagnant unhealthy air of your status quo be replaced with clean fresh changed air…
May the day bring you life, love, hope and a new song…
May the grace and peace of God lead you to new opportunities to HELP ONE…
May the love of God flow through your heart to your world, like a tropical disturbance…
 
I love you – Bryan Martin

How can you tell if a kid needs help? Kids don’t have jobs to lose, bank accounts to worry about, or payments to make. 

But the stress that their parents are under is an invisible force that puts pressure on them, too. 

Kids are very intuitive; they may not be able to tell you exactly what the problem is, but when mom and dad are under pressure… they feel it. 

Often their feelings come out in behavioral problems… especially when mom and dad are emotional preoccupied with “other things” and are emotional absent from them. 

Here are some ways to HELP ONE kid when times are tough for them. 

1)      Acknowledge them. Greet them by their name. Give them “five.” Observe how big they are getting. Over estimate how old, tall, what grade they are in. Make them feel like their presence is important and special.

2)      Play with them. Engage in a game of ball, tic tac toe, hoops.

3)      Ask about their dreams, what they want to be, where they want to go.

4)      Take them to the movies or provide movie passes for them.

5)      Buy some cool clothes just for them.

6)      Arrange a date night for their parents for temporary stress relief.

7)      Get them involved is helping other kids.

8)      Take them to Sunday school

9)      Take their picture and give it to them.

10)   Give their mom and dad a grocery card with instructions to get something special for kids.

 We get so caught up in the adult drama of human life that we forget the little human beings running around our feet and we forget that their needs are just as important. They don’t know what to do with their stress, but it is simple to HELP ONE kid deal with tough times.

 Today HELP ONE kid!

 I love you – Bryan

 ps What other ways can we help kids?

The fan base for the HELP ONE Facebook site is growing! Last week there were 4 and now it is up to 42. We have a tribe of HELP ONE people. The ideas behind HELP ONE is simple; HELP ONE person, family, institution every day in meaningful and significant way. It could be as simple as a needed pat on the back or a bag of groceries. We have paid rent, bought phones and turned on electricity. It is simple, easy and a great way to enhance the well-being and welfare of your neighbor.

I needed to watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition last night. It was a good reality check for me. I have mixed feelings about the program because it is 1) commercial 2) corporate sponsored 3) scripted 4) sometimes cheesy. Nevertheless it moves me to see suffering people, like the Kadzis family, who are helpers in their own right (they have adopted wonderful children), get help from ABC, Sears, CVS Pharmacy, local builders and contractor, and thousands of local people (neighbors). This episode was especially poignant because George Kadzis had terminal brain cancer and actual died hours after the house was completed.

Yes, I cried.

Every time I hear HELP ONE stories it spurs me on to want to do more. So I will ask you once again… Will you HELP ONE today?

We need to hear your ideas about how people can HELP ONE so please post them at the HELP ONE Facebook site or email them to me.

I’d love to hear your HELP ONE stories, too.

I love you – Bryan Martin

Today is my daughter Joanna and her husband Matt’s 11th wedding anniversary. Their daughter Lauren is pictured above with Jennifer and I. Happy Aniversary you guys. What follows is a special Sunday edition of my blog celebrating the power of love in our lives.

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. — Ephesians 3:15-21

I love you- Bryan Martin.

The pain was so severe that she passed out. That’s when the physician called the ambulance and she was transported to the hospital. Mom said that the pain was just below her ribs and radiated around her back, she started sweating, felt nauseated and all that added up to a possible heart attack.

Long story short the pain abated, all the symptoms subsided, and all the tests came back negative. They even did C scans of her abdomen, head, ultrasounds of her heart and neck. Nada, zip, zulch, nothing there. So theories about what happened range from a bad case of gas to God knows what.

I stayed with her all day from 9am until I dropped her off at home at 8pm.

Here is an interesting fact; all this happened on the 10th anniversary of my dad’s death. So we had a lot of time to talk about dad. She said she had been thinking about the date all week… and so have I. I told her that her pain in the side was dad trying to get her attention. There were more than a few times when he was a pain to her.

I don’t know what to make of all of it. I’m calling the whole event a God thing.

We had a little run in with the health system while we were at it. We couldn’t get her released from the hospital without leaving against medical advice. Mom did not want to stay another night! The lady in the next bed is having a colonoscopy Friday morning so they are making her drink this concoction to clean her out. And since she couldn’t walk to the bath room they set up a little port-o-potty next to her bed. With nothing between her and my mom except a thin curtain we could her EVERY LITTLE HUMAN FUNCTION sound she made. Mom looked at me with wide eyes as if to say “I can’t listen to that all night… GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

The problem was the MD was missing in action, AWAL, no where to be found and not answering phone calls or pages. No MD, no release. We where trapped, prisoners in a HOTEL CALIFORNIA kind of situation… but with a lady using the port-o-potty every fifteen minutes two feet away. We started to pray!

Within a few minutes God found our recalcitrant MD and we were on the road home.

What an experience! I’ll say one thing. Praise the Lord for competent well trained RNs who know how to work systems and MDs. Ours was the greatest.

Thus ends my exciting day, 12 hours of caring for my mom, in the middle of a very busy work week. May it never happen to you!

Thanks for your love and prayers. You are the greatest!

I love you- Bryan Martin.

After our Bible study last night I found a voice mail stating that my mom had chest pains and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Wow… that does crazy things to your head! She was feeling better and after tests was given a clean bill of health, so far. The critical blood test won’t be back until some time today… so we are crossing our fingers, knocking on wood and throwing up a few Hail Marys while we wait.

The great irony is the timing. Today is the 10th anniversary of my dad’s death. Spooky!

I have had a lot on my mind remembering my dad… it is really an emotional anniversary for me, when this hit. It kinds grabs me. I contacted my two brothers and my kids, then, feeling emotional and spiritual all at the same time, I went to bed.

When I awoke this morning I wanted to go to the gym and when I stepped outside I was confronted with the absolute beauty of the morning. It was a gorgeous cloudy dawn that spoke to my heart. With my coffee cup in hand I took off to the gym and had a wonderful gym experience. Jennifer didn’t go this morning and the private time seemed appropriate.

In a few minutes I’ll take off for Visalia, about 50 minutes south of here, and go sit with my mom while we figure out what’s going on.

Events like this play with your head… so far so good.

Keep my mom in your prayers.

I love you – Bryan Martin

The young son read my book and gave it to his mother.

 Back it up a little… let me give you some history. His dad has been active with a one year commitment in a leadership role for a fraternal philanthropy. Dad was spending evenings and weekends away from home. This put a lot of strain on mom. In the language of my book, a wall was thrown up between them. The stress was so bad that mom was even thinking of leaving the relationship.

 The young son read my book and gave it to his mother. She had plenty of time, since dad was busy so she walked the treadmill and read the book. After finishing the book, it is a quick read, she gave it to her husband, the dad, and announced that she was leaving for the weekend and that he NEEDED to read the book before she got back.

 He read the book.

“They didn’t make a big deal about it,” the young son told me. But the book gave them insight into why they were so out of balance, it gave them a language and a common understanding of what they needed to do, and they started to implement the practices the book teaches.

 Consequently they have repaired their marriage.

 It really touches me when I get feedback like this about the book. It is amazing to me that Jennifer and my story and words can have such an impact.

 The truth is that there is a lot of stress on relationships in these troubled times. “Fun Loving” is a great helping tool. Jennifer and I can get right in to people’s living rooms and encourage, empower, and help them. If you haven’t read it yet, or it’s been a while, pick it up, write your name in it and pass it on, you know that you know someone who could use it.

 If you can’t afford the book, let me know and I’ll send you a free copy. Hit the link on this page or email me your request.

 I love you—Bryan Martin