Just when it feels like you have been burdened with all you can take,

Just when it seems like hope is gone and your a soldier in a battle that you never would have won,

Just at the point of stress and strain, mental anguish and pain,

Just when your eyes are blinded by trial and tragedy,

you look at the ground you are standing on,

you look at the meat that is gone and the remaining bones on your plate,

drive by the homeless person with the sign,

see someone with cancer and realize right now your fine,

go to work in the morning while others stand in the unemployment line,

you wonder what is the worst that can be and suddenly,

you walk forward away from the place of pain and start over again…

M.L. Hodges

Someone must have received a special grant to the bank account, I mean charity, of there choice. They say that she was depressed, and not eating, and sad…so what! That is what prison is suppose to do. It is suppose to make a person evaluate what got them there and come up with ways to avoid going back. The purpose of the conviction was to administer proper punishment for the crime. Hilton is a spoiled brat that has not been exposed to real life. It is completely unfair for the justice system to function based on the size of a person’s net worth, but it is also inherently “the American way.” The justice system functions based on the prominence of the individual or the bank account of the individual. Hilton joins the ranks of O.J., Jayson Williams, Robert Blake, Ted Kennedy and many others that got off easy when they probably should be serving time. What is that old saying, “money talks…” The courts are simply pay as you go institutions these days. You pay the right amount of money and you just might get to go home!

Modern viewpoints on “Christianity” and what it means to be associated as such have changed dramatically over the years. The belief system and the basis of it have never changed, but people’s willingness to live up to it has. The modern “Christian” (I put the word in quotes because the definition these days changes based on the “Christian” you are talking to) on average engages in at least one pre-marital sexual relationship, drinks alcohol on a regular basis, utilizes profanity, and/or engages in some form of organized gambling. The varying degrees often depends on the ministry the individual is associated with. My goal with this series is not to tell you as a reader how to govern your life, it is however my goal to present the facts in such a way that you can process them in relation to your life. Each person must live according to their own convictions, but if your identity is based in the belief system of Christianity, the standards are clear. Your decision to follow them or not while yet identifying with the belief system is purely based on your convictions. The first major issue facing the modern church is sexual promiscuity among professed Christians.

A recent study evaluated views on 10 moral behaviors ranging from gambling to sex. The individuals they evaluated where self proclaimed Christians. I want to present the findings of this study in portions. The first portion explores views on sex. When asked what they viewed as acceptable behavior, 42% said having a sexual relationship with someone of the opposite sex other than their spouse (husband or wife) was acceptable, 38% of those polled gave the stamp of approval to pornography, and 30% said homosexual sex was acceptable. Almost one out of every ten evangelical Christians maintained that adultery, gay sex, pornography, and abortion are morally acceptable. What does this say about the modern church, or more specifically, the modern “Christian?” Churches and many spiritual leaders treat sexuality like the elephant in the room, they see it but chose to walk around it instead of address it. Polls always have an error factor of plus or minus 5%, but even with that the statistics are still interesting.

If this constitutes the sexual views of Christians…how is it effecting the perception of Christianity in America? Why has there been a sexual revolution of sorts among this body of believers? How do these statistics relate to your belief system whether you identify yourself as Christian or not? How are relaxed views on sexuality effecting society as a whole and Christianity specifically?

Muriel and John James, Co-Authors, Passion for Life

When I was in graduate school, I took a class in “organizational behavior.” The class focused on the psychological and emotional demands of building teams and addressing the needs of each team member in a business organization as well as in a organization in general. Our professor, Dr. John N. Younker, however would also use the class in a strategically brilliant manner to challenge our way of thinking about our lives. A lot of the concepts he presented were over the heads of many of his students because his way of thinking was very forward, progressive and unconventional. Dr. Younker was a consultant to CEOs and had a unique perspective on everything. One of his philosophies was it is more damaging to stay in a job you hate than to walk away from it even though you may not have a backup plan. He always said it can “take years off of your life.” I found an exercise he gave us in that class and I still believe this exercise is relevant for everyone as they seek to find their ideal position in life. Dr. Younker created a questionnaire entitled…

CREATING AN IDEAL FUTURE STATE FOR OURSELVES:
A QUESTIONNAIRE TO GUIDE THE DIRECTION SETTING PROCESS

He challenged us, through this questionnaire, to evaluate where we were in our lives and take the necessary steps to get to where we wanted to be. He has been, next to Dr. Rodney P. McClendon and Dr. Brian Williams, the most influential professor in my educational pursuits. You see, Dr. Younker was also a psychologist and many of the assignments he gave us were far deeper than we could even process in the alloted time we were given for class. How forward thinking was he? He gave each of us an opportunity to meet with him after our class was over to learn what he had observed about us. Dr. Younker, as I stated, was a well trained psychologist and he was willing to share with us what would normally cost hundreds of dollars an hour for free since we took his course. I took him up on the offer…

He told me he was not going to “hold any punches” in his assessment of me. I was curious and nervous with anticipation about what he might say. I never had a psychologist evaluate me before. As we sat and ate lunch, I realized then, more than ever, the importance of therapists and psychologists. In a nutshell he told me two things….I was living beneath my potential and maybe the ideal company for me just might be the one I have to create. He actually told me,” You can do better…you can live a better life than the one you are accepting.” He also told me, “you need to be in a high performance environment that constantly challenges you.” Not knowing me personally, he evaluated me psychologically and that meeting changed the direction of my life, even though it took me two more years before I began to pursue my own company. In a nutshell…he was right. He told me to also complete the exercise I mentioned above. I want to share this exercise with you and I believe it will be advantageous to you to answer these questions candidly and honestly in relation to your current position in life and where you would like to be…

I hope that this exercise will provide you with some direction as we all seek to discover the balance between purpose and opportunity, happiness and practicality, and life and risks…

Creating an Ideal Future State…

When your passionate about your work, it is not work…it is a destiny, your purpose, your mission, and your ministry. An entrepreneur thinks differently than the average person. The average person separates “work” and “home life,” an entrepreneur views the two as one. My “work” is my “home life”…it is my fulfillment and my joy. I do not view the two as separate. People who view the two as separate do not have a connection to their “job”. An entrepreneur’s work is not a “job,” it is a way of life. Can I work too much? Not in my eyes…the balance comes from the passion that drives it. There have been many people that others accused of “working too much” and what do most Americans call them now…their boss!!!!

Every thing great was built upon the pillars of hard work, sacrifice, and a belief that the end result justifies the struggle of the journey…you can never work to hard when you know what the end result will be. What is the flaw in the philosophy of working too hard? When you love what you do, there is not “work” and “home life,” there is simply good a good life!! Many Americans do work too hard though…they work too hard wasting their time building the passions of other people while never taking the time to find what theirs is!

I do not want to bombard you with why I think Rush Limbaugh is an intellectual and an idiot at the same time, or why President Bush is a good businessman, but a horrible president, or why Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are outdated and out of touch , or why Obama is inspiring, but has not presented any concrete platform, or why Don Imus was stupid, but not a racist in the forum of a business magazine…so I choose to say those things here. The beauty of free speech and blogging! There is a lot going on in the world right now and at the grassroots level, we have a responsibility to speak up and out against what needs to change and for what needs support.

I appreciate all of you that were loyal readers of my blog in the past and I hope to garner your support as I reinstate it. We can change the world one word at a time, one action at a time, one thought at a time, and with love and concern for each other and our future all the time. The revolution should not be televised, because television is fiction…right?!

peace and blessings,

M. L. Hodges

Resolutions can open doors of determination and opportunity, but they have to be more than just statements. I have a lot of unanswered questions for the new year. I also realize that the answers are within me. Will your business be successful in the new year? It depends on how hard you work on it. Will you find love in the new year? It depends on if its in God’s plan for you. Will you get a new job this year? Will you buy a house this year? There are many questions we can answer through are work ethic. Will you lose weight in the new year? It depends on how serious you are to lose weight.

There are some questions that are out of our hands, and there are others we can answer. In life, we must answer the questions we can, and wait for the answers to the ones we can’t. Build on what you can, work towards what you can, and complete the things that are in your control. Be patient and wait for the answers to the questions you cannot control.

1. Is it in my best interest?

2. Will it alter my life in a positive or negative way?

3. What are going to be the long term effects of the decision?

4. Is it in line with my purpose in life?

For every decision we make, we must understand if it is in our best interest. Will the decision make you happy and add fulfillment to your life? Is the decision going to move your life forward in a positive direction? A lot of decisions that will seemingly make you “happy” will not necessarily progress your life in the right direction. Every decision we make also has a direct effect later in our lives. Sometimes we have to spend our lives recovering from negative decisions, or spend our lives benefiting from a good decision. Our final, most important evaluation must be based on the connection of a particular decision to our purpose in life. If these four questions can be answered and you are comfortable with the answers, you will stand behind every decision. The choice is literally yours to make and yours to stand behind. People are not in charge of our decisions, they are merely critics.

The Weeble Wobble

Can you have visions without sight?
Can you plan for your success if you don’t write
what is in your mind and find yourself left
behind and stuck in the daily grind of mediocrity?

Can you dream if you don’t believe?
–work hard when your lazy and fight hard
when others think your crazy?

Can you stand up when your knees are sore,
Get back up when life throws you on the floor.

Fight against Hell to prevail,
Run through the fire with disire,
Over the coals to reach that goal,

Will you quit when others don’t see it?
Will you run when it seems it won’t get done,
Give up just before you were about to come up,
act like a lion that thinks he’s a turkey,
And becomes his own worst enemy trying to
devour all the great things that could be…

Can you have visions without sight,
Can you fight in the dark when there seems to be no light,
Reach for the great things that you know can be…
what do you see?
Death or Opportunity?

Music has a way of calming anxiety, reminiscent of the beautiful spaces and places in life that we wish we could entertain all the time. Every note and every beat in the music is significant to the message the musician is trying to portray. Every tone is important, every sound is unique and the very expression of the music gives you incite into the mood and the mind of the artist. Music is a language that when spoken correctly can heal the hurting, bring joy to the sad, uplift the downtrodden, reinforce dreams, and connect true love. Music is God’s unspoken language of change. As a musician, I believe that the language must be articulated in such a way that people’s lives are positively affected. What is the responsibility of a musician and/or an artist? Is it important for them to put out positive content?

This is just something I was thinking about today. What do you think? I was changing channels on my television and passed through MTV. Videos were on the screen and they were disappointing. I am very disappointed by the music I am hearing and the videos I am seeing on TV. The lyrical content is focused on sex, drugs and behavior that does not uplift people as a whole. One of the things I loved about the music of the seventies was the ability they had to talk about the problems of the world and address social issues through the art-form. Who can forget “That’s the way of the world” by Earth, Wind, and Fire or “Someday we’ll all be free” by Donny Hathaway? Who can forget the songs and the music that made us think like “Sentimental Mood”?

There is nothing wrong with addressing love through the medium of music, but it becomes less significant when the song only expresses the physical relationship between man and woman. Songs like “If its Magic” and”Overjoyed” by Stevie Wonder became classics because they talk about the emotional connection of love. Jazz artists, soul singers from the seventies, many hip hop artists, gospel artists, and neo-soul artists have used music to address the human spirit, social issues and to invoke change. On the other hand, many artists of today are socially irresponsible in their music.

Is it OK to say that you call women and people out of their name, use sexually explicit lyrics and constant vulgarity in the name of entertainment? Is this just an excuse to ignore the responsibility and the spiritual effects music has on people? In my opinion, music is more than just something to make people “feel good,” music is a universal language of sorts. When spoken correctly, this language reminds people of the good times, inspires people to make it, connects people to their Creator, and reminds people of the beauty of love. Shouldn’t modern musicians and artists be more conscious of the music they are making? When music is written, performed and articulated correctly, it truly becomes “A Love Supreme”…

[youtube=http://youtube.com/w/?v=rfHtVgM14sM]