Lincoln's Attitude

Your attitude is communicated to others in three ways,—7 percent by words, 38 percent by tone of voice and 55 percent in non-verbal ways, such as posture.


Those who have the most to overcome in life are often the ones who make the most of it. People usually consider Abraham Lincoln one of the top 5 of the best presidents of all time. Look at some of his many obstacles.

If anyone had a "reason" to have a bad attitude, it was Lincoln.


* He had to work to support his family after they were forced out of their home. 1816
* His mother died. 1818
* Failed in business. 1831
* Was defeated for legislature. 1832
* Lost his job and couldn't get into law school. 1832
* Declared bankruptcy, and spent the next 17 years of his life paying off the money
he borrowed from friends to start his business. 1833
* Was defeated for legislature again. 1834
* Was engaged to be married, but his sweetheart died and his heart was broken. 1835
* Had a nervous breakdown and spent the next six months in bed. 1836
* Was defeated in becoming the speaker of the state legislature. 1838
* Was defeated in becoming elector. 1840
* Was defeated for Congress 1843
* Was defeated for Congress. 1846
* Was defeated for Congress again. 1848
* Was rejected for the job of Land Officer in his home state. 1849
* Was defeated for Senate. 1854
* Was defeated for Vice-President -- got less than 100 votes. 1856
* Was defeated for Senate for the third time. 1858
* Was elected President of the United States. 1860

happy 4th of july

regina spektor - who is laughing at god?

i'm intrigued by the new release of regina spektor. i dont want to commentate here but i love the lyrics, the music and i want them to speak for themselves...

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor

No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet

No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken

No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood

*Chorus*
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’ve lost all they’ve got
And they don’t know what for

No one laughs at God on the day they realize
That the last sight they’ll ever see is a pair of hateful eyes
No one’s laughing at God when they’re saying their goodbyes
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious

No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one laughing at God in hospital
No one’s laughing at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God when they’re starving or freezing or so very
poor

No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
No one’s laughing at God
We’re all laughing with God

1980's Music Flashback from Twist Weeblow

My good friend Scott Sorgea (aka Twist Weeblow from Plain White Rappers fame) published a best of the '80's song mix called '80's Ultimate Mix. And i'll have to say i disagree with very few of his choices. Infact, i'm still trying to convince myself not to drop $58.35 and buy the whole list. Great music, great decade, great list Scott.

Perspective

Tennis pro Rafael Nadal quotes his uncles view of excellence in an interview to American Way Magazine, “First, if you ever throw a racket, we’re finished. They’re expensive, and when you throw a racket, you don’t just disrespect the sport, you disrespect all the people who cant afford equipment. Second, losing is part of competing. You will lose. And when you lose, it’s not going to be my fault or the fault of your racket or the balls or the courts or the weather. It is your fault, and you will accept it and try and do better next time. Third, have fun. When you stop enjoying this, its no good. You’ll find something else that gives you pleasure.”

Netbook on top of car + 50 mph + gravity = only scratches

Ok, so this is an answer to prayer, a miracle and a surreal moment all at once. We just left the in-laws and because i was carrying a 25 pound man child in a car seat (his name is Sage and he is awesome) i absent mindedly put my padfolio (containing 2 yellow pads and about 20 papers i was working on at the time), a book (tribes by seth godin) and my acer netbook on top of my expedition (about 6.5 feet from the ground).

At the first stop light i head something shift and thought it was stuff in the backseat coming to a rest on the door. because we didn't want to open the door and have things fall out, jeanne checked out the noise and found nothing. i entered the dallas north tollway on ramp at frankford and accelerated to about 50 mph when i heard a thud on in the back. i checked my rear view mirror and saw a flurry of papers and knew in an instant i was gonna have a bad night. i knew exactly what it was. i couldn't stop because by this time i was doing 60 and well into traffic. i cautiously took the next exit, stopped, got out and hoped that somehow only the papers fell and the netbook was stuck somewhere in the roof rack, nope!

i sped back on the tollway took the next exit and proceeded to the drop zone. i called my father in law for assistance, pulled to the side of the tollway on ramp, turned on the hazards and made my way a quarter mile down the tollway picking up my book, padfolio and miscellaneous papers but no netbook. bother, i said to myself, its probably got a cracked screen and has already been run over 10 times. But i prayed as i walked along the tollway as my wife and daughter prayed in the car. then i saw it, upside down and seemingly in one piece. it was. i picked it up, ran back to the car and headed for home.

my wife took inventory; one book (albeit dinted but very readable), one padfolio (complete with beauty marks), surprisingly, ALL the papers that i was working on (which was by far the most valuable item and most desired for retrieval) and one netbook. we pushed the on button with low expectations and guess what happened? Nothing. but thats ok, i thought, i can remove the hard drive and get my data back (most of it was already backed up since i use google docs).

all in all i thought, i got everything back, everything. and for sure i got the most important things (my working documents) and hey, i'll probably even get lucky and retrieve most of the data from the hard drive. when i got home and finally got my hands on the netbook, i noticed the baterry was ajar...see where i'm going here? yep, works like a charm. this acer once aspire netbook is one tough mutha.

ok, so the pics here are of my netbook. the disassembled one was because i took it apart to check for loose wires (which i found one of the wires connecting the wifi modem that was easily put back into place). the other one is the exterior with its many beauty marks.

so........if anyone knows anyone at acer, tell them to look this story up. i'll sale it to them and even star in a commercial or straight to dvd movie about my incident.

(c) 2009 RB Jones

bad night may 14, 2009

dang. bad night for me. first i leave my netbook on top of my car, it crashes on the freeway. then the lakers bomb.









but that is ok, i can put my netbook back together and there is a game 7 in LA!

How To Make Your Youth Group Bigger Badder Better

Compel Night (aka friend night)


This is a special night designed to 1, increase your groups visibility (and brand visibility), 2, mobilize students and leaders to bring a friend to church,3, rally the support of the entire youth group for prayer, planning and implementing a special night, 4 potentially double the size of your regular youth group attendance, and 5, to see those who don't know Christ receive a firsthand presentation of the gospel.

download the entire document here

Life Coaching = Life Success

The return on investment for coaching has been shown to be remarkable. Executives of Fortune 1000 coach-using companies reported the following benefits:
An increase in productivity (by 53%)
- Increased customer service (by 39%)
- Increased retention of senior people (by 32%)
- Reduction in costs (by 23%)
- Increased bottom line profitability (by 22%)
The same survey reported that the individuals who received coaching saw improvement in:
- Working relationships with their direct reports
- Working relationships with their manager
- Team-building
- Reduction in conflict
- Business Relationships with clients


"Once used to bolster troubled staffers, coaching now is part of the standard leadership development training for elite executives and talented up-and-comers at IBM, Motorola, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and Hewlett Packard. These companies are discreetly giving their best prospects what star athletes have long had: a trusted adviser to help reach their goals." -- CNN.com

Ready to discover what it is all about? Click the link to read the article below and find answers to questions like:

WHAT IS LIFE COACHING?

WHY PURSUE A LIFE COACH?

HOW TO OBTAIN AND GROW WITH A LIFE COACH?


(read more)


(Source: Manchester Review, 2001, Vol. 6, 1; and Executive Coaching - With Returns A CFO Could Love, Fortune Magazine February 19, 2001)

Transitions in Youth Ministry

I'm a part of a great networking group in North Dallas. Las Thursday we discussed the topic of Transitions in YM. I'm still chewing on some of the thoughts the collective churned out.

1. churches don't transition well.
2. the adolescent years are marked with two types of difficult transition; a physiological one (mental and physical changes, think puberty) and societal ones (church, school and other annual traditions)
3. most churches that don't transition well are personality based.
4. the move from children's program to youth programs to adult programs is bumpy so should we be shocked when there is a train wreck?
5. the biggest challenge in transition is the transition in ownership of faith
6. having a family ministry paradigm (one that oversees these transitions definitely helps.

Comment below to share your thoughts.

Brilliant Prank

Brilliant Prank

1. Fasten the balloons to the car
2. Drive like a crazy person
3. observe the other road users

car with balloons shaped liked missiles attached... when moving the missiles pull down behind the car

in a flash...in the twinkeling of an eye

Head Reviews

music.

Brian "Head" Welch
Save Me from Myself
Released September 2008

Since leaving the band Korn in 2005 Brian became a Christ follower, got baptized in the River Jordan, started an orphanage in India, wrote 2 books (one landed in the top 20 on the NY Times best seller list) and just released his first solo release; not a bad three years.

“I gave you everything, all the pain life brings, just to get you to come back to me.”

This is both the opening line and the tone of the cd.

Incredible guitars, solid lyrics and decent vocals are what you get from Brian “Head” Welch’s freshman release, “Save Me From Myself”. 

Hey one would expect some rock your face off guitar work from the man who pioneered the 7 string guitar and Head does not disappoint.  they are hard, in your face, melodic and thick.  They are often backed with eerie synth and incredible drum tracks thanks to Josh Freese (The Offspring, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle).  The title track proves the power of power chords, not overdone but perfectly muscular.

The lyrical content tackles tough issues head on with perfect passion, boldness and thoughtfulness.  Topics include (and deal very positively with) drug abuse, physical abuse, teen abortion, suicide, rebellion, religion and money.  Head knows his influence and handles some subjects antithetically.  Die Religion Die and Re-bel would conjure Korn fans to a typical anti message.  Head uses them in a tertiary way evoking the opposite message (rebel against what is bad and die formal, bad religion).

Besides penning, Head plays several instruments, and belts several layers of vocals.  Lets see I think for this musical genera (nu-metal?) there are besides singing, a groaner, a shrieker and an obligatory screamer; Head lays all the main vocals. 

Overall this release is solid; albeit, not for everyone.  There are very dark overtones both musically and lyrically (die religion die).  Although the seemingly negative lyrics are really not.  Fans of Korn and those of us new to the party can appreciate this release for face value.  For an initial release, the music here is complex, easy to get and huge (see the first 30 seconds of Adonai). 

video.

Ok.  Lots to say, more questions to ask.

Having said that, this vid aint for everyone.  It is graphic, macabre, hard hitting, edgy and for some offensive.  My first viewing I couldn’t get past the chick on chick action.  After a little more thinking and seeing the obvious, the more subtle came through and I saw the light.

I’ll be concise but there be aware, SPOILER ALERT (if such a thing exists for videos)

            1.  It is pg-13

            2.  It is NOT a Sunday School lesson

            3.  It is very positive and has real life testimonies

            4.  Head breaks free from his chains

            5.  The bad people die in the end

You can see the video with yesterdays links (see below) and make your own call.

In an interview on power fm Head says that he is not a Sunday School teacher and what he is trying to do with the video is reach his people.

I think he is but he may offend grandmas people in the process.

Music Therapy - Brian "Head" Welch

three years ago i didn't know corn on the cob from korn the band.

my friend erik (in the pic below) was a fan and besides attempting to share their music with me told me he was praying for them - good job erik.

anyway, i was browsing the news one day and i saw that a member of the band korn had a religious experience, i would have missed it, except that this epiphany happend at a church in southern california where my uncle was the pastor. i saw his church, him and brian welch on tv. nice. time to call erik.

after confirming the story with my uncle and erik i still was not a korn fan.

fast forward a couple of years; brian has released a couple of books telling his incredible testimony and earlier in the month a cd.

we had the chance to meet him at a local release party and i have to tell the story.

i introduced myself and we exchanged small talk. i thought it would be cool to tell the story of eriks prayer with brian so i did. "hey man, i really didn't know much about korn but erik was a fan and kept telling me he was praying for you and i though it would be cool for you to know that."

here is the coolest part.

a huge smile came across brians face and he gave erik a giant high five and a hug. this made my day - the power and joy of salvation!

Below are some links to some decent reading material regarding brian and his new life.

coming soon, i'll review the cd and the video, but beware the video is a bit of a jaged pill to swallow.

fan site - here
brians myspace - http://www.myspace.com/brianheadwelch
see the video for flush - here (caution - pg13)
testimony/prayer at church - here
some celebrity fodder - here
the making of the video flush - here

Sage Part II

A few more pics of the lil prince before i begin random posts again.



A few more pics of the lil prince before i begin random posts again.

But first, how about a random post about Sage? In the picture below Sage is sporting his hospital jewelry, or as I see it, his Baby low-Jack. It is an actual device that they put on babies so they cannot be "stolen" from the hospital.

The Man Child Fashion Photo Shoot

Sage John-Brian Jones
Born 8.17.08
Weight 8 lbs 7 oz
Height 19.75


Awwwwww....

Big Sis


Like Father?

Grandama Jones, Sophia, Sage

What a heartbreaker

Smile or smirk?

Here are some additional pictures of Sage and his supporting cast. Since I have another day or so with some extra time, I'll probably post some additional pics sometime later.

The Newest Member of the Family

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce you to the newest member of the Jones family...

Introducing...

Sage John Brian Jones

sophias new hair style

rb: I love the new hair, howd you do it?
smj: a put braids all over my head when it was wet. the next day I took them out and... walaa!

grave thoughts

We began the day with a good amount of work in front of us. But continuing with our theme from yesterday and knowing that tonight would end in a graveyard, we had to us 'stories' as a transition.

Since this was to be our last day working in Calvin's house, we were on a quest to find a relic; at the house, on our free time, wherever. And our relic needed to tell a story; preferably a story that speaks to our life and purpose.

Around 8:30 we ended up in the Algiers cemetery reading headstones and contemplating the tale of our own mortality's. Grave thoughts. We found several common denominators in the graveyard: religious symbols, stone, Cajun names and - the dash.

The dash is the small line between one birth and death dates; it represents our life. How long is our line? How strong is our line? What give our line purpose? How can we direct our lines to be the line that will make a difference, make the world a better place and provide impudence for other to pen stories about? Not every outcome could be covered but the beginning is all the same...a life devoted to Christ.

Jesus said "truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal."

Encounter Time