“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” – Luke 15:20

This line from the story of the prodigal son stuck out to me on a podcast I listened to recently.

The prodigal son had to take the first step – to admit he was better off in his father’s house and to head that way.

But his father saw him “while he was still a long way off” and went to him. The father met him more than halfway.

Our Father in heaven wants to do the same for us.

The first step is up to us. We must admit that we are better off in His house.

I believe this principle works in other areas too. Take the first step and you’ll be met more than halfway, most of the time.

Monday is a great day for first steps.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/NADx3-qRxek?si=2wUEVM8uN30QjKyx

One of the greatest blessings in my life is that I was lucky enough to meet Meaghan at a relatively young age.

Tomorrow marks our 23rd anniversary and I still frequently think something along the lines of “God only knows where I’d be without you”.

Hard to speculate what would be different – but I know for certain it would be worse.

I have never once come up with a version where things would be better.

It’s likely we all have people in our lives who fall into this category – God only knows where we’d be without them.

Come up with somebody who made that kind of impact in your life and tell them – today.

Make it a great day.

Jake

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. – Indira Gandhi

In order to experience life’s blessings we have to be open to them.

We miss out on so much when we have our fists clenched.

I’m sure we all have a story about some hurt or transgression that caused the clenched fist.

And I wouldn’t suggest we should be open to all the experiences that come our way (should probably skip trying cocaine…).

A little wisdom would go a long way here – choose carefully, but be open to the good that might come your way.

Make it a great day.

Jake

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. – Psalm 37:23-24

I was listening to a podcast yesterday and they were talking about this verse.

I immediately had the picture of walking with the kids when they were really little.

Imagine a little kid holding their parents while they walk over rocks or in the woods or something.

They are constantly tripping, unstable and in need of their parents hand to “uphold their hand”.

Often they beg to let go of that hand immediately fall headlong into the rocks, brush, etc.

For those of us who are Christians – what a great way to picture walking with God.

We also have relationships in our lives that lift us up like this.

We weren’t meant to spend our lives constantly falling headlong into the rocks. We were meant to walk together, holding hands and keeping ourselves from falling.

If you aren’t holding somebody’s hand – reach out!

Make it a great day.

Jake

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23

All have “failed”.

We spend much of our lives avoiding failure. Obsessing over what people might think if we were to come up short.

This verse is a reminder that ALL of us are going to fail.

We are all going to come up short.

If we’re lucky it will be something small. If we’re a little less lucky it will be something big.

Either way, it’s coming.

Isn’t this supposed to be a positive email?

It is.

We have the power to respond to the failure. The bigger the failure the more power in the response.

AND the God of the universe loves us so much He sent His son to die so that we can be forgiven all of failures, large and small.

Don’t be afraid of the failures. Embrace it when you have a chance to respond to a failure in your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake

PS – I know this is easier said than done and that I don’t know your situation. God does and He still loves you so that is good enough for me.

PSS – I don’t think this means we should seek out failure or give a lack of effort or care in our lives. We must do our best.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. – Hebrews 12:11

Monday morning reminder – discipline is good.

It’s no fun at the time, but in the long run it pays off.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/1k8craCGpgs

This song seemed appropriate in honor of Mavidea’s anniversary this week.

Don’t stop believing – that it can and will get better.

That our team, processes, clients and relationships will get better.

Don’t stop believing that a team of people doing business for the right reasons can and will succeed. That our future is bright and worth working for.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. – Bertolt Brecht

Change is a constant. We will all experience change.

Probably not in the way we want or on the timeframe we prefer, but it will happen.

This is good to know when going through something difficult – it will change.

This is hard to stomach when things are the way you like them – it will change.

Having the perspective of being present is helpful.

Make it a great day.

Jake

Below is an excerpt from Band of Brothers.

It is an amazing story about an amazing group of men.

This story stuck out to me because it shows how difficult battle and war can be for a person, but that hope and love can always win out.

Let’s be thankful for the service of others and spread hope and love wherever we can.

Make it a great day.

Jake

From Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose –

Sgt. Skinny Sisk also had a hard time shaking his war memories. In July 1991, he wrote Winters to explain. "My career after the war was trying to drink away the truckload of Krauts that I had stopped in Holland and the die-hard Nazi that I went up into the Bavarian Alps and killed. Old Moe Alley made a statement that all the killings that I did was going to jump into the bed with me one of these days and they surely did. I had a lot of flash backs after the war and started drinking. Ha! Ha!

Then my sister’s little daughter, four-years old, came into my bedroom (I was too unbearable to the rest of the family, either hung over or drunk) and she told me that Jesus loved me and she loved me and if I would repent God would forgive me for all the men I kept trying to kill all over again.

That little girl got to me. I put her out of my room, told her to go to her mommy. There and then I bowed my head on my mother’s old feather bed and repented and God forgave me for the war and all the other bad things I had done down through the years. I was ordained in the latter part of 1949 into the ministry and believe me, Dick, I haven’t whipped but one man since and he needed it. I have four children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The Lord willing and Jesus tarrys and I hope to see you all at the next reunion. If not I’ll see you on the last jump. I know you won’t freeze in the door.

Resending this daily attitude email from around the same time as the original to yesterday’s went out. Bill’s birthday was yesterday this year, but this email still rings true.

Today is my brother Bill’s birthday.

He may not know it but he had a part to play in Mavidea getting to 15 years old too.

Part of my plan if things had gone sour was to move in to my brother’s basement (he owed us from when we let him live in our basement for a while after college). Maybe not the most well thought out plan (I had many like this), but it let me be a little more free with the idea of taking on some risk and making some of the hard choices early on.

Many of you on the DAE list were part of those back up plans and hair brained ideas about how to make this thing work whether you knew it or not. Having loved ones, friends, family, etc. around in case things went sideways made things easier and less stressful (and still do). The list of who deserves a thank you here is too long to type up, but if you’re getting this email – you’re on it.

The point here is that we can risk the small stuff (businesses failing, money, jobs, etc.) if we have the big stuff (relationships, love, family, friendships) in place.

The love and support of family and friends helped Mavidea become something it wouldn’t have been otherwise.

Who needs your love and support?

How many lives might be enriched through this support?

Happy Birthday Uncle Bill and thanks for the support!

Make it a great day.

Jake