Category Archives: Resources

Leadership, Ministry, Remarkable, Resources

Nine Moments from The Nines

September 9, 2009 mjfelker1980

9-11am:
1) 5 Step Apprentice Process (Dave Ferguson)
2) “Stay Close to Jesus Son.”
3) My number one prayer is that I’ll hear God’s voice everyday and that I’ll have the courage and faith to obey. (Scott Hodge)
4) Have the faith to walk away from the orchard. (S. Hodge)
5) A movement cannot be planned but it must be prepared for. What are you doing to prepare for God’s movement in your church? (Perry Noble)
6) The Daisy Cutter Doctrine: the larger the impact of the ministry, the more legitimate the ministry – this is false!!! (Skye Jethani)
7) Numbers 20: Moses was disobedient but a miracle happened anyway. Maybe outcomes are not an accurate portrayal of legitimacy in ministry. (Skye Jethani)
8) Root your legitimacy in Jesus not in outcomes (Skye Jethani)
9) The Red Sea is gonna part! (Steve Robinson)

11am- 1pm
1) You are a “spiritual coach”- help people discover their gifts/ministry/desire for Christ (Scott Wilson)
2) Phil 3:10: Know Christ. Know the People you Serve. Know Your Partnerships. Know the Poor. (Dino Rizzo)
3) Spiritual Malpractice- offering people Jesus as the healer but failing to offer the safe places, people, and processes to help them heal. (Jorge Acevedo)
4) As people get closer to me, do they really grow closer to Jesus or do I turn them away from Jesus? (Nancy Beach)
5) Guard your heart (Prov 4:23) through 1) Spiritual Practices, 2) Safe Relationships, 3) Stretching experiences
6) I hope that I can give you INSPIRATION and INFORMATION that leads to TRANSFORMATION not STAGNATION that leads to FRUSTRATION. (Steven Furtick)
7) Elijah never would have gone to Mt Carmel if the brook had not dried up. Even when you are doing what God has called you to do- the brook might dry up. God’s glory will be revealed. 1Kings 17:7. (Steven Furtick)
8) You must learn to do Ministry out of the overflow of the Spirit of God in your life. (Craig Groeschel)
9) the challenge is to engage in the stream (of people, the culture) that flows right outside our doors. (Rick Rusaw)

Books, Ethos, Experience, Leadership, Life, Ministry, Resources

My Friends, My Mentors

August 27, 2009 mjfelker1980 2 Comments

Mark Batterson over at Evotional had this to say about Virtual Mentors:

When I am in my office, I am surrounded by several thousand mentors that sit on my bookshelves. Authors are virtual mentors. Some of them died hundreds of years ago. Others would never have time to meet with me one-on-one. But their writing is a form of mentoring.

I’ve heard that the average author takes about two years to write a book. So that means when I read a book I gain two years of life experience. Read a hundred books this year and you’ll gain two hundred years of life experience.

I’m being mentored by George Müller, Eugene Peterson, Francis Chan, and Scot McKnight right now. That translates into a lot of life experience according to Mark. Makes me even more determined to read, learn, and lead.

Who is mentoring you today?

Discipleship, Ethos, Resources

The 3 Angles

June 25, 2009 mjfelker1980

I’ve been reading through Eugene Peterson’s Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity this summer. What drew me to this book was that it wasn’t about ministering to others but that it was more about soul care for individuals/ministers. For Peterson, the shape that Pastoral Integrity takes is that of a triangle. A triangle is made up of 3 lines and 3 angles. As you can see by the title, the angles are what Peterson is most concerned with.

Peterson is challenging/calling those of us privileged enough to lead others into God’s presence to do so out of a life that is constantly connected to the Source. His premise is that we spend so much focus and effort on the lines of ministry- preaching, teaching, administration. To be honest these are the acts of ministry that we get grades for. They are the visible (most visible) aspects of our jobs. What Peterson says is that we should be more concerned with the angles of ministry because these angles feed, inform, develop, and connect our inner life with our “professional” life.

Here are a few choice excerpts:

Three pastoral acts are so basic, so critical, that they determine the shape of everything else. The acts are praying, reading Scripture, and giving spiritual direction. Besides being basic, these three acts are quiet. They do not call attention to themselves and so are often not attended to. In the clamorous world of pastoral work nobody yells at us to engage in these acts. It is possible to do pastoral work to the satisfaction of the people who judge our competence and pay our salaries without being either diligent or skilled in them. Since almost never does anyone notice whether we do these things or not, and only occasionally does someone ask that we do them, these three acts of ministry suffer widespread neglect.

The three areas constitute acts of attention: prayer is an act in which I bring myself to attention before God; reading Scripture is an act of attending to God in his speech and action across two millennia in Israel and Christ; spiritual direction is an act of giving attention to what God is doing in the person who happens to be before me at any given moment.

None of these acts is public, which means that no one knows for sure whether or not we are doing any of them. People hear us pray in worship, they listen to us preach and teach from the Scriptures, they notice when we are listening to them in a conversation, but they can never know if we are attending to God in any of this. It doesn’t take many years in this business to realize that we can conduct a fairly respectable pastoral ministry without giving much more than ceremonial attention to God. Since we can omit these acts of attention without anybody noticing, and because each of the acts involves a great deal of rigor, it is easy and common to slight them.

Wow. What a convicting premise! I couldn’t agree more with what Peterson has said. This summer it is my goal to make sure that I’m working the angles in a greater and more deliberate way. As the pressures of my life grow- new baby, summer expectations, fall planning, leading up-out-and-about- so must my reliance on my Father.

To paraphrase the words of that rock band from the Great White North, RUSH-

I’ll be working them ANGLES overtime! (That was for you Kratzer)

Resources, Spilling Personal Secrets, Study

Give It Away

June 7, 2009 mjfelker1980 2 Comments

Some have asked me how I take notes or how I can remember specifics from things that I have read long after the book has been retired to the shelf. Well wonder no more!

I got this from Tim Sanders’ book, Love Is The Killer App a few years ago so I can’t take any credit for this. I implemented this approach since then and began seeing the benefits almost immediately. Maybe this approach will help you as well. Using the last book I finished I’ll show you pictures of what works best for me.

First I jot down notes and references on the inside of the front cover (see picture below). I make sure to write the page number first and then follow it up with the main point, thought, or summation of the idea that I find interesting. Sanders recommends allowing only one line per note but that doesn’t work for me. When finished this becomes an index for all the takeaways and information that you have found helpful, insightful, or just plain interesting. It will serve you as a pretty good roadmap next time you’re tying to remember something you read. Best of all this info isn’t stored on your computer or on a some ratty piece of paper shoved between the pages. These notes will be forever with the book. Pretty handy indeed!

After I’ve taken notes on the front cover I then write down quotes and definitions in the back of the book (see pic below). I am not as diligent about writing down full quotes in the back as I am with jotting notes in the front. Typically, if there is a great quote more than likely I’ve highlighted it. Regardless, writing down full quotes helps you internalize the message and aids you in remembering what you found important or interesting.

So there you go! Maybe this method of note taking will help you become a better reader or maybe even a better leader.

What do you do to help yourself better understand or retain what you’re reading? Leave your solutions or ideas in the comment section. Let’s help each other learn and lead with greater understanding.

Awesomenessness, Book Review, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry, Remarkable, Resources

The Best of How the Mighty Fall

June 5, 2009 mjfelker1980

I finished How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins last night. What a fantastic read! I took a ton of notes and almost went through an entire highlighter. Collins builds upon his previous two masterworks, Built to Last & Good to Great, to paint a compelling and relevant picture of once great companies who at the crossroads chose poorly, lead unwisely, and with foolhardy ambition allowed their organizations to fail.

I loved this book! To be honest I have loved just about everything I’ve heard from Collins.

</div>The man knows his stuff and is an amazing storyteller. It is hard to argue with his methods and even harder to ignore his findings. The main idea behind the book is that companies/organizations move through 5 stages of decline: arrogance, undisciplined pursuit of more, denial of risk, grasping for the silver bullet salvation, and capitulation to irrelevance or death. Collins argues that decline can be avoided or reversed but only when organizations get back to basic principles and values. I think this book can speak truth into the life of any leader or organization that seeks not just to avoid failure but who truly desires to make a difference in the lives of those they serve. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from <a mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/How-Mighty-Fall-Companies-Never/dp/0977326411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244219257&sr=8-1″ target=”new” xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/How-Mighty-Fall-Companies-Never/dp/0977326411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244219257&sr=8-1″>How the Mighty Fall</a>: A core business that meets a fundamental human need- and one at which you’ve become best in the world- rarely becomes obsolete. The best corporate leaders we’ve researched remain students of their work, relentlessly asking questions- why, why, why?- and have an incurable compulsion to vacuum the brains of people they meet. Innovation can fuel growth, but frenetic innovation- growth that erodes consistent tactical excellence- can just as easily send a company (organization) through the stages of decline. The greatest leaders do seek growth- growth in performance, growth in distinctive impact, growth in creativity, growth in people- but they do not succumb to growth that undermines long-term value. And they certainly do not confuse growth with excellence. Big does not equal great, and great does not equal big. Any exceptional enterprise depends first and foremost upon having self-managed and self-motivated people- the number one ingredient for a culture of discipline. Audacious goals stimulate progress, but big bets without empirical validation, or that fly in the face of mounting evidence can bring companies down… The greatest danger comes not in ignoring clear and unassailable facts, but in misinterpreting ambiguous data in situations when you face severe or catastrophic consequences if the ambiguity resolves itself in a way that’s not in your favor. (Collins powerfully discusses the lead up and failures surrounding the Challenger explosion- the fateful decisions to proceed with the launch- to illustrate this point) When making risky bets and decisions in the face of ambiguous or conflicting data, ask three questions: 1) What’s the upside, if events turn out well? 2) What’s the downside, if events go very badly? 3) Can you live with the downside? Truly? You can be profitable and bankrupt Institutional self-perpetuation holds no legitimate place in a world of scarce resources; institutional mediocrity should be terminated, or transformed into excellence. If you cannot marshal a compelling answer to the question, “What would be lost, and how would the world be worse off, if we ceased to exist?” then perhaps capitulation is the wise path. But if you have a clear and inspired purpose built upon solid core values, then the noble course may be to fight on, to reverse decline, and try to rekindle greatness. The point of the struggle is not just to survive, but to build an enterprise that makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches, and does so with such superior performance, that it would leave a gaping hole- a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution- if it ceased to exist. To accomplish this requires leaders who retain faith that they can find a way to prevail in pursuit of a cause larger than mere survival (and larger than themselves), while also maintaining the stoic will needed to take whatever actions must be taken, however excruciating for the sake of that cause. Lack of management discipline correlates with decline, and passionate adherence to management discipline correlates with recovery and ascent. If you’ve fallen into decline, get back to solid… disciplines- NOW! We all need beacons of light as we struggle with the inevitable setbacks of life and work. “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never- in nothing, great or small, large or petty- never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” -Winston Churchill Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down, and getting up one more time, without end.</p&gt

Book Review, Discipleship, Ministry, Resources, Review

Book Review: Hero

May 27, 2009 mjfelker1980 1 Comment

Every man’s battle is not so much a fight for your purity as it is a fight for your manhood, a fight for who you are and who you intend to be. Sexual sin, then, is not your ticket into manhood after all- it’s your ticket out.

Fred Stroeker has co-authored some of the most well-received and challenging books on the market today. Along with Stephen Arterburn, the Every Man’s Battle series has been a game-changer and life saver for many men struggling for sexual purity in their relationships. Stroeker’s latest, Hero: Becoming the Man She Desires continues this challenge by focusing on single men and helping them take a stand for truth and purity in a world that makes it easy to compromise.

“You’re a greater man than I ever dreamed of being, Son.”
Hero is co-authored by Fred’s son, Jasen Stroeker. The opening chapters make it clear that Fred Stroeker is proud of his son – not because of anything Jasen has accomplished but because of the man he is. Jasen took a stand for his purity early in life and by the grace of God held on to it for dear life. How? Fred explains that the “secret” to living the pure life is that the true make of manhood is a “complete willingness to embrace social pain for a higher cause.”

Make no mistake this isn’t a call to martyrdom. This is the challenge for every aspect of being a disciple of Jesus Christ in every arena of life. We are to be different- no matter the cost, no matter the setting, no matter the issue. “Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his god pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

It’s Never Too Late To Demolish Your Strongholds
The Sroekers believe that there are a set of myths that the culture wants men to believe that lures them into sexual sin. These myths excuse behaviors and mindsets that lead to and trap men in sexual sin. They call them “Stronghold Myths” and the book features 9 of them. Some of these myths lead to chapters that seem right out of I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Others though are powerful and transformative. The strength of these myth-busting chapters lay in the fact that they are written from different perspectives. The chapter entitled “Her Desires” is co-written with the help of Jasen’s wife, Rose. Rather than have some dudes talk about women’s desires we get the perspective direct from a female source. I liked this aspect. The chapter “Sparks” finds Jasen and Rose listing ideas to help couples build chemistry together. Again, having chapters written from different perspectives was a nice touch that give the book a very personal feel.

Rethink What We’re Capable Of
So, who would benefit from reading Hero?

I think this would be a great book for a Father and Son reading. The back-and-forth between Fred and Jasen is a great feature of this book. I can see where Fred’s honesty about past mistakes could open a door of honesty between fathers and sons and Fred’s words of encouragement and admiration for his son could lead to that level of intimacy between fathers and sons. Fathers of teenage sons would definitely benefit from reading this with their boys.

Another group that could benefit from Hero would definitely be college age students. Whether a dorm room Bible study or a Sunday morning church group or a week night get together there is a ton of material to discuss and work through.

Hero is a great book and I would recommend it to any brother who wants to do the right thing- the heroic thing- and own his sexual purity for the glory of God.

Summary (from the publisher)
You already know it’s not easy being a single man in this culture today. But it is easy to be overwhelmed, to feel helpless and hopeless about living by God’s high standards for singles. It’s easy to cave in to the pressures of this sex-soaked world and accept defeat—blaming the media, the culture, even girlfriends who don’t know how tough it can be.

But many men have read books like Every Young Man’s Battle and Tactics and have committed themselves to stand strong and pure in the power of God, and to go on the offensive against the onslaught of negative stereotypes. Some have suffered. Some have fallen. But many have experienced victory—and you can be among them.

What makes those committed men so desirable to women? Be Her Hero is their motto. From best-selling author Fred Stoeker, along with his son Jasen, come the straightforward insight and real-life examples you’re looking for to help you take personal purity to its logical conclusion. Here’s straight truth with irrefutable evidence of what makes an ultimate hero to women who long for men of faith—men who stand by their convictions and make their world a safer and better place.

Are you ready to accept the challenge?

Buy HERO by Fred & Jasen Stoeker HERE

Bible Study, Experience, Mac, Resources, Study

At The Accordance Seminar

March 23, 2009 mjfelker1980

Today I’m at the Accordance Training Seminar at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I have used the Accordance software on my Mac for the past 4 years and love it. The software has been an indispensable resource to me for personal study and for professional lesson preparation. I am very much looking forward to finding better and more useful ways to maximize my Accordance experience. Oh yeah… and this seminar is FREE! Woo-Hoo!

Check out the Accordance Software website for more information. If you have a Mac and are looking for the absolute best Bible program look no further.

Live Blog of the Seminar

9:12am: And… here… we… Go!
9:15am: Intro. from Mark Allison. Working with Accordance for 10 years.
9:17am: Latest version is 8.2.1. (I’m up-to-date!)
9:22am: In Accordance the Bible is central. Searching is also central.
9:32am: 4 seconds to search for every word in Bible (for given translation). Hit details and see a concordance for each translation.
9:37am: To amplify. Select/highlight a word in a given translation and choose a new translation or tool (Anchor/Eastons/Dictionary) to find the word in that selection. Super cool.
9:38am: This truly is Instant Access. Everything is linked to everything.
9:40am: Highlight “heavens.” Amplify it to the Hebrew dictionary to find the Hebrew word and definition
9:45am: Geek Out! Amplify “heaven” in a tagged text. Hold option key. Click search and perform an all out search for “shamayim”. Click details and see how “shamayim” is used throughout the text:heaven, sky, highest, etc.
9:50am: Just amplified search “phileo” with the NT range in my NASB. Includes love, kiss, loved. Interesting.
10:03am: Now… on to the Resource Pallette
10:10am: In Parallels you can add a Greek/Hebrew text to compare
10:20am: Each English tool has information under Browser and can be searched alphabetically… or you can just search.
10:21am: oooh… I can do this in my Greek/Hebrew dictionaries too.
10:30am: At break I updated my library to Premier 8 and added the ESV Study Bible. Sweet!
11:30am: Who would have thought I could use the search commands? I can search by Chapter, verse, sentence. I can search a word in one text and display it in another translation.
11:33am: COMPARE TEXTS!!! Wow!
11:37am: CMND Shift _____. Keyboard shortcuts for search commands.
11:45am: Fuzzy Search- you can kinda remember it but not really. Search FUZZY COMMAND and find phrase you were looking for. This will be great when I can’t remember anything but the MJFV- The Micheal J Felker Version.
11:50am: Inference Command. Look at things like similar or exact phrases found in different books. We searched for similar phrases in Micah and Isaiah. Example: compare Micah 4:2 to Isaiah 2:3.
12:15pm: That’s Lunch
1:45pm: Creating charts and graphs on the fly. Searching in 1Samuel of where Saul, David, and Jonathan overlap.
1:50pm: Creating a list of every word in a given translation. Search the entire text. Click details and then click analysis. Can display in alphabetical order or by frequency of use. Example: Inheritance is used 244 in the NASB.
1:59pm: Find all the Greek words you don’t want to memorize by searching in the Greek text by search range Count 1 to find all the words used only once in the Greek. Increase the Count # to see words that are used more frequently- those are the ones you want to memorize!
2:05pm: Ok, I don’t need to get this technical in the original languages. I set up my default windows. My TNIV and ESV are displayed with their respective notes. I have quick access to the Anchor Bible Dictionary. I also have some personal notes and commentaries opened and ready to go every time I launch.
3:20pm: Dozens of ways to search through my various resources. So much information.
3:40pm: I think I’m nearing my information saturation point for the day.
4:10pm: Alright. Great day. I got a ton of new resources and I learned how to use the ones I already had even more! Whew! I am going to be a teaching/learning machine!!! Thanks to the Accordance team for their help and insights today. I’m headed home to help my wife prepare for her dinner party tonight. Peace!

Music, Playlists, Resources, U2

Top O’ The Mountain To Ya

March 17, 2009 mjfelker1980

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! We had a great day on the mountain although ski conditions started to get a little icy. I went back to tackle that jump again. I had a much better outcome today. I didn’t bite it. I didn’t fall. I stuck the landing and stayed on my feet. Major victory!!! We only skied for half the day because of the ice but we had fun. Today was a good day.

In celebration of St. Paddy’s I skied to an all U2 playlist today. Here is what helped me have a great day carving snow.

U2 Ski-tastic Playlist
1) Bad / 40/ Where the Streets Have No Name– “Bad” and “40” make great songs to listen to as you ride the lift. Time your ascent so that “Streets” kicks in as you reach the top of the lift.
2) Elevation– Original, I know.
3) Mofo
4) Electrical Storm
5) Magnificent
6) Fast Cars
7) Cry/Electric Co.– I credit this song for helping me stick the landing on the jump today.
8) Get On Your Boots
9) Out Of Control
10) Breathe
11) All Because of You
12) I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight

So, there you go. Maybe you weren’t as fortunate as me and you didn’t get to spend your Spring Break on the slopes. Maybe you’re thinking, “Great Micheal! How can I use this playlist since I’m stuck behind my desk and nowhere near the mountains.” No worries my friend. This is really my U2 Workout Playlist so hit the treadmill, hit the trail, or rock out behind your desk. There is no reason to think that this playlist is limited to the mountain time zone. Enjoy!

Music, My Life, Playlists, Resources, Taking Vacations

Ski-tastic Playlist 2

March 16, 2009 mjfelker1980

Hello from snowy Colorado. We have been hitting the slopes this week at Monarch and I have been having a great time. The weather has cooperated and it has been beautiful! Today I even attempted a jump. Reports say that I caught about 3 feet of air! I landed successfully but… unfortunately I then fell… pretty hard.

No worries though. My hip broke the fall.

It has been the one and only time that I have fallen all week. Apparently I live by the creed of “anything worth doing is worth doing big.”

I’ve been listening to my iPod on the slopes. I know to some that sounds like sacrilege but I feel that the mountain experience is enhanced by a great soundtrack. Here are a handful of the tracks that have made for a Ski-tastic playlist this week.

No Line On The Horizon by U2
Hot Fun In The Summer Time by Sly and the Family Stone
Use Somebody by Kings of Leon
Limelight by Rush
Numb by Linkin Park
Best of You by Foo Fighters
Misery Business by Paramore
Stand Up Comedy by U2
Just Like Heaven by The Cure
Hysteria by MUSE
When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin
Good Life by Kanye West

I hope everyone has a great spring break. We head for home on Wednesday and would really appreciate your prayers. Take it easy and enjoy the playlist.

peace,
Felker

Book Review, Ethos, Leadership, Ministry, Resources, Thoughts

Avoid the Cockroaches

March 4, 2009 mjfelker1980

I’ve been reading Tony Morgan’s Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musing on Leadership and it has quickly become one of my favorite books. I can see this small collection of blog posts, lists, thoughts, and challenges as one of my “go to” books for a quick jolt or simple reminder of my calling.

Tony Morgan is the Chief Strategic Officer at NewSpring Church in South Carolina. He has a great blog filled with all kinds of goodness. Killing Cockroaches is Tony’s attempt to collect some of his “best of” posts into book form because some “don’t embrace the credibility of an idea unless it is contained writing the hardbound covers of a book.” It is Small is the New Big for ministry leaders.

Morgan defines Killing Cockroaches as “responding to the urgent stuff in our lives that keeps us from doing the important stuff in our lives.” He relays a story when he worked in the corporate world as a CEO. One day he was working and was called away from his desk by a screaming employee who needed him to kill a cockroach that was in her office. I’m positive that “exterminator” was not on his nor any CEO’s list of job responsibilities.

This emergency (and others like it) would be what Covey would call the “tyranny of the urgent” and as a leader you could spend the bulk of your time chasing down emergencies and putting out fires. For some they feed on this type of energy. They love feeling needed or swooping in like a caped superhero. Unfortunately these feeling move from a feeling of exhilaration to burnout in the blink of an eye.

Sometimes we have to meet oncoming deadlines. Sometimes we have to swoop in and save the day. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. Sometimes we do have to kill the cockroaches.

But how can you avoid the soul-crushing realization that you’ve moved from a full-time leader to full-time exterminator. Morgan has some ideas:

Blocking out time in my schedule. A little proactive planning will give you the time you need to work on the important things. This helps me balance home, work, and Micheal time. I’m actively working on this in my life so that when emergencies do arise I can shift things around and still come back to what is important. I have also found that by trying to control my own schedule I can anticipate emergencies a little better than before. Do you plan a head? What can you do this week to pro-actively schedule your time?

Empowering other competent leaders. I spent 27hrs last weekend traveling (14hrs) and teaching (13hrs) between Thursday AM and Saturday PM. I was beat and I was a bit wiped come Sunday morning. The great thing is that I have a great group of adults and support people to help me teach classes on Sunday mornings. I know that I can count on them to lead, teach, and coach. So instead of worrying about getting a teacher to cover or summoning some energy from within (which would have been an impossible task this past Sunday) I knew that everything would be taken care of because I am sharing leadership responsibilities with other competent leaders. Who are you working with? Do they know that you appreciate them? Are you unleashing them for ministry?

Identifying my strengths. I always try to play with my strengths. In high school I was stocky and quick. In football it would have been a colossal mistake for me to try and push over or run over some of those 6ft+ offensive linemen. Instead I played to my strengths- stay low, go under/through, get into the backfield and mess up the O’s play. It worked. Could I have tried other techniques? Yes but I would have ended most games black and blue with little to no glory. Play to your strengths and avoid living within your weaknesses. When you have to constantly work within your weaknesses that is a recipe for disaster. Plus, working and living in your strengths most of the time gives you the (ahem) strength to kill those cockroaches when you have too. What are your strengths? Do you get to play to your strengths everyday?

Morgan states plainly that it is my fault when my day is filled with killing cockroaches. “It is easy to blame the screaming person who runs into my office,” he says, “but oftentimes I’m the one who has allowed (and sometimes created) those urgent demands.”

Today I hope you don’t have to kill any cockroaches. I hope you get to do what you love and can avoid the tyranny of the urgent. If you do find yourself dealing with cockroaches I hope that these suggestions will help you. Good luck friends! Keep pressing on to “take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Killing Cockroaches in 4 Easy Parts (from the Introduction)
1) Mix equal parts powdered sugar and borax in a bowl.
2) Sprinkle in cracks along walls and under cupboards
3) Keep mixture away from children and pets
4) Repeat as necessary for one to two weeks until all roaches have died

Tony Morgan
Killing Cockroaches

MichealFelker.com