In order for one to truly give of oneself, we must possess control of oneself. “The fundamental issue is freedom. You must possess yourself in order to give yourself away.” We all like to give to others in the form of charity whether in time, talent or money. Once we obtain a clean heart then and only then can we give. This is not to say that we cannot give our weekends up or maybe an hour here or there volunteering. We can go to charity event after charity event and still be empty. Even if you give the shirt off your own back to someone in need that does not consist of true giving. We remain slaves to the world and everything in it. Rather than giving to those in need we will hoard things we don’t really use, like or even want. We look in our full closets and think we have nothing to wear. Meanwhile our brothers and sisters are out in the elements hungry and bare. He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much. – Lao Tzu Click To Tweet Sure we go to church on Sunday and tithe our ten percent. Does putting spare change in the basket somehow wash away our sin? We talk a good talk as we hide the lies we hold within. Thinking that if we ask forgiveness then it is okay to do it all over again. In fact we were all sold into a lie of sorts. No matter what the. deed no matter […]

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We all hear the term “servant leader” being tossed around in both the business world as well as within our local communities.  What exactly is a servant leader ? How do we become one or better yet, why should we want to be one? Leading by serving is a practice that dates back many years before the new lingo came along.  I am sure you can think of a couple of people in history as well as your own lives that lived to serve others.  By serving others they intentionally or not share their influence in their business, community or family effortlessly and without expectation. Let’ take a look at some of the component that I believe to make-up a servant leader LEAD – Goes without saying that a leader must live and lead by example. Respecting others and working just as hard if not harder than those that you lead. INSPIRATION – It does not matter if they work for you, or you for them or maybe they are your peer; everyone deserves to be treated with the same level of respect and courtesy. Give the people around you honest and true respect and generously love them for the blessing they are and they will naturally follow your lead. TEACHING – Share your knowledge and experiences in a benevolent manner that will be remembered. Everyone knows that the student one day will become the teacher so share and share alike. EMPATHY– As leaders it is easy to dismiss or disregard the feelings and heart […]

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’” How are you going to answer than question this year?  By coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities. The MLK Day of Service is a part of United We Serve, the President’s national call to service initiative. It calls for Americans from all walks of life to work together to provide solutions to our most pressing national problems. We can all make a difference in our own neighborhoods and communities and in turn change our cities, states and nation.  This is the twentieth anniversary since the designation of a day to serve.  We together can celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream by serving and helping others as he would have done.  By choosing to live to our potential and using ways of non-violence to improve our communities, we too can empower others and build bridges to heal the nation. By taking the day that most of us have off and transforming it into a day on in our communities we can begin a trend of service that can heal our country. So take a little time out of your busy day off, go out and serve others and in turn you will be serving yourself.  I will be heading out to share sandwiches, clothes and the gospel with the homeless in my city today.  What will you choose to do to continue the dream?   Blessings, CJ