Foot Work 2011

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Don't Ride That Roller Coaster!

Luke 6:31-36 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

My prayer all the time is that God will bless everyone in my life in any way, shape, form or faction spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. Yes that means YOU, I truly want to see all those around me succeed in all that they put their hands too. We should all be that way, especially if we call ourself a Christian. So I simply say to you... Don't Ride That Roller Coaster!

Now, I know you may ask or wonder where I'm going with this one. Well in life we are supposed to be constantly growing or getting better in whatever we do. Many times we hear that we need to change our friends when we begin to grow. I would like to interject that we don't need to change our friends. Why not help them get like you? Why not help them become successful like you? Why not "share life" and tell them how you begin to grow? Why not give them a chance to grow with you before you write them off? Now don't get me wrong people, there are times when people don't want to change, and then you have to make the better judgement to let them exit our of your life!

I got off on a tangent, but back to the roller coaster... For those of you who have rode a roller coaster, you know that that first hill is usually the hardest to reach the top. You come around the corner fast and then they slow you down, you go up to the peak of the first drop slow. Now the whole time you sit in a position where you can see the top where you are trying to go. It seems as though that's when all hell breaks loose. Your stomach begins to buckle. You don't know if you're gonna actually reach the top. You begin to second guess yourself on why you got on the roller coaster, eventhough you rode many before. Then as you approach the top it gets slower. You begin to hear a nose that sounds like the roller coaster is about to break. *cluck cluck cluck c l u c k* When you get to the top it seems as though life stands still for a minute for you to reflect, and then in the blink of an eye you descend 2, 3, 4 or more times faster than what you ascended! Before you know it the roller coaster is over.

So, let me suggest to you to not get caught up to much into your success that you start mistreating people. As fast as you rise, you can come crashing down. Don't Ride That Roller Coaster, treat everyone as you wish to be treated along the way and remember to stay humble. God will allow your gifts to elevate you. You just make sure that you keep Him first and treat people right so you can stay climbing instead of preparing for "the first drop". God has blessed me to be in the position where I have been able to hire 3 of my close friends in the last 4 months, 2 as personal trainers and 1 as a manager. I want the people around me to climb that ladder of success as I do. If you want to be successful, help someone else become successful.

As always, I hope this blesses someone out there. If it blesses you please share; likewise I pray that God blesses YOU spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially! Remember to SHARE LIFE!!!

Tolerating Excuses to Sin!!!

I took a fast from twitter and facebook for a week, and when I came back tonight (2/25/11), this is the first thing I read. This will be the first time I've ever put a blog other than my own in my blogs, but it's so worth it! This blog was written by my big brother and person who inspired me to blog, Darrell James. I know it is long, but it is well worth the read for anyone claiming to be a Christian! I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me! Enjoy!

On Tuesday, February 22nd I did a status posting that I knew was going to invoke good dialogue between the ones who read it. Here’s the posting again for those who missed it: When I worked in the drug/alcohol field, we said that “once an addict always an addict”. I was talking with a friend and he mentioned giving into temptation also bringing up the song, “we fall down but get back up”. My humorous side responded, so once a sinner do we keep sinning just because God is a forgiving God (once a sinner always a sinner). He didn’t find it too funny. What do you think? SHARE LIFE-LET’S GO!!

Before I start I must give a DISCLAIMER (lol):
The purpose of this disclaimer is not to deny responsibility for what I’m about to write and share with you, or to cover up for anything you’re about to read. NOW LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT….. The purpose of it is to let you know that this is strictly my opinion on a topic and I do not claim to be a Mr. Know It All or that everything I say is GOLDEN. Nor do I claim to live a spotless and sin free lifestyle, YES I do sin and fall short of perfection BUT I strive to be more like Christ in my daily walk with Him asking Him to help me grow and remove my sins as not to repeat them. What you’re about to read was considered greatly and requested of God to help me express it diligently and without offended anyone who read it. (Whew, I’m already sweating and I haven’t even started to write yet, lol.) THAT’S ALL I’M SAYING, now let’s go……….ENJOY!!!

Sin is a big but small word, reminds me of an old song by Prince called ‘Sign of the Times’ where he says: AIDS is a big disease with a little name. Sin is a small 3 letter word that is so BIG that in the book of Genesis (v. 5-7) it speaks about God being so grieved at His heart about the sin of man that they were choosing sin and death instead of a relationship with Him, that He was going to destroy them (the story of Noah). Now take a moment to consider that this is just the book of Genesis and shortly after the creation of mankind. Now fast forward years ahead to current time and imagine the sins of the people of today, WOW. I’m just glad for His mercy and grace.

Now to give you more about what provoked this posting. I was talking with a friend on Monday and he was telling me about his disappointment in the area of trying to be a single Christian young man in a dating world of trying to find his mate. He was telling about how he’s tried staying within the church to seek out like minded women that were trying to walk the walk of faith. Within the last year of dating 4 different women he say that they tempted/pressured him sexually more than when he dated women outside the church. I went into how this didn’t give him an excuse to give in and then run crying to God for forgiveness. He said he had talked with an elder at his church about it was told that God will forgive him as well as the women for we’re not perfect and mentioned the above song. This triggered my funny bone and caused me to chuckle, saying what I had said, “so once a sinner we’re supposed to continue to sin and just take advantage of God’s mercy and grace because we know He’ll forgive us”. Let’s just say that our conversation went on for hours and ended with him asking me if I would be interested in talking with the elder at his church because of what we shared. This intrigued me to see what others thought of the discussion and I immediately wanted input from my FB fam, thus the status posting.

Now that you have that, let me take a brief commercial break to give you a little background info about myself so that you’ll know how my thought processes are formed. (Please keep this info private because once it comes out on The OWN Network and in my book I want everyone to at least pretend to be interested, lol.) I grew up 1 of 10 children to 2 of the best parents I could have asked for (imagine the assembly line for babies picking out their parents, yes I chose the ones I had, lol). They were both grounded in the church as my pastor likes to say, “from the old church” (big shout outs to my Pastor Keene and his leadership at KCC), Apostolic faith to be exact. My dad a bishop and my mom an evangelist, both great people in their time as they now rest in peace and shine through the legacy they left behind in the 10 of us. Well for me I grew up to dislike the fact that I was born in the church and forced to go because my parents went. Church was a priority in our house, when we weren’t there we were at home being made to do family prayer daily. I recall making a promise with a friend that I grew up with in the church that felt similar, we promised that once we were old enough to make our own decisions we wouldn’t step foot in a church again in our lives except for funerals and weddings (lol, this cracks me up now, however it happens still to youth that live similar lives to what I did then).

My mom being the praying mom she was talked/prayed to God so much that I thought at times she was talking to someone I never saw, now that I’m older and working in the mental health arena I’ve told people that she would’ve been diagnosed as schizophrenic, lol. I can recall times of hearing her cry out and running in the room thinking she had fell or one of my siblings were arguing about something. I had several talks of how I would never be able to run from God and what He had for me and I would think alright I hope He’s a good runner because I’m sure going to try to run and hide all the time, dodging under church pews, hiding in the balcony and trying to disguise my doings, lol. I didn’t understand scriptures like Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. My pastor broke this scripture down during a message one service in a way that really Blessed me, which was during the upbringing of a child he/she may take you through hell in the process but if you continue to train them correctly as they mature they’ll grow into the knowledge of what they were taught. So here I am today a changed man and glad to say that I don’t only go to church for funerals and weddings no more, lol.

During my upbringing my mom drilled into us, “once you see the light walk therein”. Now for me I didn’t care about this at the time because if I was going to be walking anywhere and there was no light I was cool with using a flashlight to light my path, not looking at it spiritually. Now I know that she meant although we walk and live in a world filled with darkness (sin) once you see better walk better. This to me meant a lot because as much as I rebelled against church I actually learned and held on to quite a bit and as much as my siblings would tell you that all I did was pout and sleep every service, trust me IT’S NOT TRUE, lol. Yes, there was times my dad would get in his mood and make me sit on the front row thinking it would make me at least sit up and not lay on the floor or the pew pouting and I would do it and act like I was sleeping. In spite of this, I actually learned and retained some things. I never wanted to get involved in church if I wasn’t going to be sincere about it, I didn’t want to be the lukewarm or indifferent believer because of knowing how God disliked this. I didn’t want to plan my next sin while repenting or asking God for forgiveness (yes, this happens - Lord please forgive me for the sin that I’m about to do, knowing better).

I struggled with things I would hear, like we should be careful of the spirits we allow or invite into our lives knowing that everything carries some kind of spirit with it. For me music was a big challenge and I was a hip-hop head refusing to let it go until I discovered gospel hip-hop and it’s what I bounce to now as well as bits and pieces of other gospel varieties of music but it’s all stuff that’ll encourage and speak positively into my life. So as I said earlier: Do I live a sinless life? No, but I do strive to eliminate and avoid it with the God’s help. Now let’s return back to the regular programming, enough about me, lol.

Sin is something that’s been around since the beginning of time and caused trouble every since; destroying lives, families, relationships, marriages and so on. God tried helping us to avoid sin at all cost, giving us guidance and tools to help (The 10 Commandments, Biblical Laws, The Bible, etc.). He knew that it would be difficult to live a perfect and sinless life, however He said (in my Bible it’s in red, depicting He directly said it, not a disciple, apostle, prophet but Him) in Matthew 5:48 - Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. - Now when this was said He knew of the temptations we would face in our walk and the difficulties that would come with them because He too had been tempted before. The sin isn’t in the temptation but in the giving in to it. He died so that we might be saved and strive to avoid sin to lead to a life more like Him - PERFECT. Through His death He washed us of our sins and forgave us but this wasn’t to condone or give us an excuse to continue to sin.

In the book of John where He says, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (the parable of the adulterous woman) if we read further we see that He tells her, “Neither do I condemn thee, go, and sin no more.” Once God renews our thinking and life, we’re to strive to be more like Him, PERFECT. Will it be difficult, yes; will we fall, yes but does this mean we continue to fall, NO. In our walk, we’ll stumble and fall, become discouraged, think of giving up but these are the times we have to rely on the promises He gave us and when we forget them, just pick up the Bible and read them, It’s a complete book of promises. Our goal as Christians should be to eliminate sin from our lives, not excuse it. Sin is deliberate rebellion against God and when it happens we should pray and ask God to help us remove it, overcome it and not tolerate it. In this life it’s hard to be flawless and free of sin because it surrounds us, but we can aspire to be as close to Christ like as possible demonstrating morally sinless behaviors. A tendency to sin doesn’t give us the right to sin.

In closing I find it interesting that if you look at every adulterous sin done in churches, every act of deception committed, every act of wrong doing - the first thing said by the person that committed the sin is, “well nobody’s perfect and my God is a forgiving God”. I would love to ask someone on the receiving end of the sin, “How do you feel about the affair your spouse was involved in that you found out about only after you hired an investigator and saw it on ‘Cheaters’ (that’s my show, lol) after you both had got home from church? Point being that as we mature we know right from wrong. There’s an old saying that goes, “Everything I needed to know in life, I learned before the kindergarten”. This stands true for our walk with God as well, He’s given us instructions to live by while giving us the ability to choose if we want to live by them. Sin isn’t mandatory for being human, it’s a choice.

I pray that each of you that took the time to read this is Blessed in your daily walk to be more like Him. Please leave comments, if it provoked your thinking about the topic please pass it on. SHARE LIFE-LET’S GO!!!!

Wow, I like that so much I have to repeat it or as my pastor says, “that’s a good place to say amen”, lol…………………
SIN ISN’T MANDATORY FOR BEING HUMAN, IT’S A CHOICE.

Love and Blessings.

He's Pruning Me!

Family, God must be preparing me for something, because I've never had so many people take advantage of my kindness and attempt to push me to anger! I've had a couple of instances in the last few months (since God brought me out of the state of depression I was in for most of 2010) where either I got bad service at a restaraunt or got burned by someone taking advantage of my kindness.

We went to Chilli's on Lakeshore Pkwy in Birmingham/Homewood, AL tonight. I was with my wife Felicia, my God-sister Bridni Hunter and my best friend MC. We got to the table and our waiter said, "I'll be with yall in a minute." He came back about 5 minutes later and got our drink orders. He brought the drinks back and then walked off. He then came back about 5 more minutes and asked if we were ready to order. Before Felicia can get out two words of her order out, He left the table and didn't say what he was leaving for. Well, he went to get his tablet to write down the orders. (Should've had it anyway right, or said excuse me, let me get my tablet) I asked him about a different type of ranch that they had, and he looked puzzled and then just walked off without answering. So after he didn't come back for a while I saw a nice young man that works there named Patrick whom I had previously met. I asked Patrick about it, and he told me I was talking about the avacado ranch. I asked him if he could let our waiter know, and he said no problem. I had to go wash my hands. When I came back everyone at the table let me know that our waiter just sat the plate down and walked off. Well, the plate had 2 ranches, 1 blue cheese and a honey mustard. (none of which are avacado ranch) So we all thought that it bothered him a little that I asked him about something that was in his job description... CUSTOMER SERVICE. Oh yeah did I mention that MC and I's drink was still empty?... I politely went to the manager, and asked her if she would come to our table when she got the chance. She responded it'll be just a moment while I finish up something. Well that moment turned into about 15 minutes. I asked one of the other guys, who also had a bad attitude to go get her. So when she got to the table she started giving excuses as to what took her so long. Then when I went into why I wanted to talk to her, she kept interrupting me and trying to make light of the situation. She didn't really take to heart what I was saying until I mention 2 of her workers that I know. So then she says give me a minute while I rectify the situation. Guess what people... she never came back. While we were waiting on her, the waiter went and told all of his co-workers that we were complaining. So all of the co-workers started walking by our table looking down on us and stairing like we were a circus act or something. So by that time I can feel my temperature rising, and I suggested that we just leave. MC never got his to go box, so he had about 5 chicken fingers sitting on his plate along with 3 cheese sticks from Bridni's plate. So needless to say I will NEVER go back to Chilli's on Lakeshore Pkwy in Birmingham/Homewood, AL.

When MC and I got in the car, I begin to tell him that I think God is pruning me lately. Then on the way home I thought about Job. Job 1:8 Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." So as all these things are happening to me, I'm just thanking God for all He has, is and will do in my life. I know He is going to take me to a whole other level, so instead of getting sour... I will yet praise! The devil may keep trying to throw me curve balls, but guess what?.... God is my batting coach, so I know He will have me ready.

As always, I pray God will bless each and everyone of you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. I just ask that you pray the same for me. Jesus loves you and so do I!

2 Seconds

So many times in life things come at us like a Mack truck from every direction. Sometimes it seems as though there is no stability in our lives. So in return we get trapped in the whole web of life. We're on top sometimes, and then there are more windings and links added to the web. So this entry is dedicated to the hardships of life. If allowed I would just like to take but 2 seconds of your time!

Second 1:
Psalms 150:1-6
Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his supassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
This chapter in Psalms to me is a parallel passage of 1 Thessalonians 5:18 which says, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
God clearly wants us to praise Him in all that we do, and in neither of those passages do I see a clause where you shouldn't. So even when people are taking advantage of your kindness, Praise! So even when you haven't got full grips on who you are in Christ, Praise! So even when you're a 25, 35 or 45 year old female and you just don't see "Mr. Right" ever coming, Praise! So even when you just can't seem to make that passing grade in school, Praise! So even when you are not where you want to be in life, Praise! So even when you think you are doing everything you can to be a good and no woman wants you, Praise! So even when you've been laid off or jobless and you think there is no way you will make it to tomorrow, Praise! So even when you think you've made it, but now life is even harder, Praise! Simply put you should always Praise God!

Second 2:
Now clearly I have taken more than 2 seconds of your time, but the title is just a metaphor to get you to understand the point that it doesn't take all day to just stop and say Lord please get me back on track. While you're moaning and complaining, that's 2 seconds that you could be giving to God! While you're changing your facebook status to negative things, that's 2 seconds that you could be giving to God! While you're out there giving up on life, that's 2 seconds that you could be giving to God! Also, this entry is in memory of my Father, the late, great Bishop Prince James Jr. My wife, Felicia would love when we went home and ate over my Father's house. He would ask Felicia or myself to put his food in the microwave for about 2 seconds. Now we knew it would take longer, but He was just telling us that it doesn't take long. So next time you feel down in the dumps, just look up and say Lord I thank you, and I Praise you for what you have done, what you are doing, and what you are going to do!

As I've told you before everything I write is as much for me as it is for you. As always I pray that God will bless you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. I just ask that you do the same for me. God bless you in Jesus Name!

Television Interview

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I want to bless others!

For me, my daily task it to bless someone every single day whether it be with a smile, a joke, a hug, a blog, a testimony, a gift, etc. There is no feeling for me better than knowing I made someone's day. Likewise, when God had positioned you where you can bless others please take full advantage of it. So, like I said before follow me people, I'm going places. http://www.createdtoexcel.blogspot.com/ http://www.twitter.com/cr8d2xl www.fitnesstogether.com/mountainbrook As always, I pray God blesses you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically, and financially. You know I ask that you pray the same for me.

Why:Too Many times

Hi family, as I told you many times before when I get inspiration to write a blog I usually wait a while and ask God to give me direction on how He wants me to put it out. Well, this time things are a little different. I got the inspiration to write this one, and immediately wanted to get to the computer to get started! So here goes!

If you read one of my recent blogs titled "Testimony", you would know that I'm on an spiritual and emotional high right now in my life. Now at the same time, as I mentioned before in a blog when God calls the devil always fights. The devil don't care nothing about you as long as you're doing anything and everything because he knows he still has first dibs on you. However, when you start to do right and get on the right track, he turns his attention to you. He feels like you're betraying him. Now this is true in my life, as I mentioned before all of my blogs are as much for me as they are for you. Everytime God brings me out or takes me to a new level it seems that the devil starts throwing all sort of little things at me to try to knock me off course.

Now, although the devil tries to knock us off course too many times we give him to much freedom in our lives. Too many times we empower him by letting the little things knock us off track. Too many times we do little things like not guard what comes out of our mouths, or in this generation our fingers(through texting and social networking). To many times we only call on the Lord when we're down and not thank Him when He's brought us through something.

So, the question is WHY? We have to keep going back on our knees and asking God to strengthen us through it all. Don't allow the devil to trip us up with the small speed bumps, when God has already brought us through the collision course. Don't allow the devil to ride, when you know he'll try to drive. Don't allow the devil to whisper in your ear, when you know he'll try to come in and control your every thought. When we allow him, we'll get that all to familiar question... WHY WOULD I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN WHEN YOU'RE DOING ALL THE SAME THINGS I DO? People always want better, and if we're not living better WHY would they want what we have. Remember Philippians 4:13 You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, if in fact you've given your life to Him!

As always I love each and every one of you. I pray that God will bless you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. I just ask that you pray the same prayer for me. Likewise, if this blesses you, comment and let me know and then send it or let someone else know about it. Don't keep the blessing to yourself, Share Life! Follow me on twitter also http://www.twitter.com/cr8d2xl and my blog site http://www.createdtoexcel.blogspot.com/ God Bless!

Week of Praise

On this day of Thanksgiving I realize that there is so much that we have to be thankful for. Sometimes even when we can't think of anything to be thankful for we should just praise God in advance. So, this blog is talking about a week of praise. It comes from a sermon that my Pastor, Bishop Jim Lowe of The Guiding Light Church in Birmingham, AL delivered on December 27, 2009. It breaks down a full of praise that you can repeat over and over again. It starts with Psalms 112 and goes through Psalms 118 coresponding with the 7 days of the week. I hope you enjoy.

Sunday-Psalm 112
Praise God by fearing Him and obeying His commands which is His word. When you do this you don't have to worry about anything. God will take care of you and generations to come after you. He will even fight your battles for you with and against your enemies. To fear God and understand and obey His commands, you must be able to communicate with Him. This is achieved by learning His voice through the study of His word. Not delighting in His commands negates the blessings; when you're serving God don't do it unhappily. Praise the Lord!

Monday-Psalm 113
This Psalm again starts with Praise the Lord. We are to forever Praise the Lord as His servants. Then it goes on to tell us some of the many reasons we should be in continual praise. The Lord does things for us that no one else can do, things that are truly impossible. However, we must praise! Praise the Lord!

Tuesday-Psalm 114
When God delivered the people of Israel, even the Earth trembled and rejoiced. When God does the many wonderful things for us everyday we should not have to be pumped and primed to praise God, don't let the rock cry out for you! Praise the Lord!

Wednesday-Psalm 115
We should not receive any glory, but God should because of His love and faithfulness. The world will question your God. Just know that the world's idols shall pass away and all that seek them. Trust only in the Lord for He is our help and shield. When the Lord blesses you, it's for you and generations after you. Set up your treasures in Heaven by trusting, praising, and exalting Him on the Earth. Praise the Lord!

Thursday-Psalm 116
Love the Lord because He hears our cries and rescues us. We should continue to call on Him and serve Him. He has, is, and will continue to do so much for us. There is no way we can repay Him. The least we can do is praise Him for all to see and serve Him. That is reasonable. We must praise Him in all aspects of our lives. Men will fail you, but God never fails, so we should continue to call on His name and serve Him whole-heartedly. Praise the Lord!

Friday-Psalm 117
All should Praise the Lord! We should exalt Him simply because of His love and faithfulness. The least we can do is Praise Him! Praise the Lord!

Saturday-Psalm 118
Praise God because He is good and His love is everlasting. We should proclaim His enduring love and mercy, for we are His people. God answers me when I need Him, so why should I fear, man can't harm me. God will take care of my enemies if I trust in Him. No matter how hard it gets, God will be my help. The righteous Praise God. Although I go through, God will never put more on me than I can bear. Ask God to grant you success. Take praise by force and proclaim that God is good and His love endureth forever. Praise the Lord!

I can assure you from personal experience, that if you faithfully praise and serve the Lord He will bring you out of situations that you could not see yourself coming out of. So in simple... Just Praise!!! If you haven't read my last blog titled, Testimony please read it! As always I pray that God blesses each and every one of you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. Just remember to pray the same for me. Likewise, if you didn't know by now I love each and every one of you! God bless!

Testimony

So, as I told you all another blog was coming soon. Likewise, I told you that I like to wait and contemplate on a post when I first think about, because I want to deliver it in the best possible manner. Now this is a post that I've been meditating on for about a month now. This is my personal testimony of what has been going on in my life! So sit back, make some time, and I hope it blesses your soul!

As some of you know I am in the fitness industry. I have been a personal trainer for about 7 years now. Well in January of 2008, I started working at Fitness Together in Mountain Brook, AL. I loved it there, I had a great team of co-workers and wonderful clients. However, somewhere along the way I started to be unhappy with the job situation. To make a long story short, I left Fitness Together-Mountain Brook in August of 2009. I then began working at Regions as a telebanker. All of you who knows me knows that I am one of the easiest people to get along with. So throughout my training I begin to love everyone, and they started to love me as well. I even received the award for mvp or something like that of my training class. So, after training i hit the ground running. I begin to make an impression on all of the people around me. Things were going great for the first month or so. Then I begin to get a little unhappy with that job, although none of my coworkers probably knew it because that's just the type of person I am. The only thing that made me unhappy about that job was the sales aspect of the job. I am not a seller by far, but I'm a talker and I love people. So believe it or not the rude, cursing, belligerent, angry, overdrafting customers did not bother me at all. I was just stressing that maybe I made the wrong decision by leaving what I love, to do what I believed to be right at the time.

Now the whole time I was at Regions, God was watering a seed that was planted before I ever left my old job. I had tossed the idea around of being interested in possibly owning and running a fitness together. I didn't know anything would come of it though. Now just as I was really getting a little stressed with the job at Regions, I got a phone call one day from my former coworker asking me if I was still interested in what I had talked about. I was like yeah of course, Regions pays the bills, but health and fitness is my passion. Again, to make a long story short January 15, 2010 I found myself meeting with two of my former coworkers and an investor who was a former client of mines. What does that mean Mike?... Yes you guessed it, I had suddenly become a 25 year old co-owner/operator of Fitness Together-Mountain Brook! So, is that my testimony... yes, but the plot thickens du-du-duhhhhh

I've mentioned before in a blog that everytime God blesses you, the devil attacks. God's plans are for you to prosper, but the devil simply wants to see you destroyed. So January through February was all adrenaline. Truth be told, I didn't know didly-squat about being a business owner. I was just excited to have the opportunity. Towards the end of February that high and adrenaline started to die down, and I begin to think maybe I'm not ready for this. I'm not good at sales (however thank God for Regions and what I learned there). I don't even know what I should do with my time at work when I'm not training. We're not growing at the rate I thought we should be growing. We have no marketing; the list goes on and on. Now in March, one of my business partners and I went to Franchise University, Fitness Together's week long training of the business, in Denver, CO. As the week went on, the stress and anxiety begin to build up. I started to realize that this is a lot, and I don't know if I'm ready. Now Franchise University is an awesome tool for Fitness Together. The staff, from the CEO to the secretary, was awesome and very hospitable. So one would think that you would leave there on a high. However, I left in worse shape then when I got there. I can remember being on the plane ride home thinking... there is no way we can do this.

So here I am in the blog that I wrote about previously titled, "The Pit of Depression/Negativity is Endless" Yes people I was in that pit. So if any of you had any type of interaction with me since about March, you should've known that it just wasn't the same old Mike. I went from being the life of the room and making everyone happy, to barely being able to make myself smile. There were friends and family that would ask me if everything was ok, and my reply would always be... "Everything is ok, just keep praying for me things are a little tougher than I thought but I'm blessed". So even in a bad state, I was still speaking positive. None of you could feel sorry for me, because half of you never knew anything was going on with me. It's like for months I was living, but not really here. Then it got worse; I begin to have headaches that would last for days. I couldn't seem to find my happiness. Felicia started to noticed a change, and she would often ask me at first. I would just tell her I don't even know what it is. I didn't think I was stressing, but I was and it was really making become a totally different person. Some of you may have noticed that my facebook status updates of inspiration got few and far between. I took a total hiatus from twitter. I hosted an event at my church, and I can remember people telling me, "Mike you just weren't yourself". I would shrug it off and keep going. The devil really was putting a two-piece combo on my life. He was hitting me with jabs and upper cuts, and I didn't even know how to climb out of the pit of depression. However, I will tell you one thing that I did not stop doing. I did not stop praying for breakthrough and deliverance.

Now back in June, my pastor Bishop Jim Lowe instructed us to just trust God and go outside of your norm in praise, serving and giving for 3 months and breakthroughs were going to happen. So of course I obeyed, I begin to pay more in my tithes and just be more faithful in serving at church. God begin to move before the 3 months. People were getting healed. People were getting jobs and better jobs, raises and bonuses, benefits, sales and commissions, and most of all Revelations from God. The whole time I'm thinking.. Mine is coming, but the devil was saying ha you're a fool. So the end of September ended the 3 months, and I found myself still in this state of depression. It was hard for me to even be around crouds of people. Now this is a little hard for me to admit, but everyone was telling me "Mike you're loosing weight, what are you doing?" I would always simply respond with nothing special, just the same ole. So it got to the point where I was loosing weight from stress. Now, I wanted to take off a few pounds, but not that way. I lost about 5 pounds on a church fast that we had back in February, so that was my excuse. The fast kick started it, and I just keep loosing.People in total I had dropped 22 pounds before I even realized. Felicia and I were close to having to buy me a whole new wardrobe.

Well about a month ago, we had our monthly call from our area director Eric G. at work. In that call he was just assuring us of how good we had actually been doing this year. Then all of the sudden everything hit home. I came home and begin to pray, and it's like I heard a voice say "Mike you've been here all along, but it was only going to be realized when you stopped looking at what you think your problems are". So, was it the call that made me feel better. No, it was God's appointed time to bring me out of the place where I was in my life. I had to go through that season to realize how precious every opportunity is. I had to go through that season to realize that things are not always as bad as you think. I had to go through that season to help someone else who will face the same challenges. I had to go through that season to be the energetic/motivated/determined trainer that I am today. I had to go through that season to become the driven and successful owner that God has called me to be. I had to look at the devil and tell him that I was created to excel and not fail and that's my devine potential! I had to tell that devil that no weapon formed against me shall prosper and that God had already blessed me tremendously, so you can just go back to hell where you came from.

I spent almost the whole year stressing over nothing when I was the person that was always encouraging people. I spent almost the whole year on doing the exact opposite of what I was telling everyone else to do. Well, I'm here to say that I'm back and I feel better than before. There is a certain feeling that you get when you realize that what God has for you, it is for you! There is a certain feeling that you get when you realize that weeping may endure for a night, but Joy comes in the morning. So, that's why you've noticed[(hopefully :-)] in the last month that I can encourage more again. I can keep my tweeples (my name for people who follow me on twitter) engaged. I can go to work everyday with a smile on my face. I can hold my head up proud and say I am a young, black, successful business owner. I can say in faith that God is getting ready to take me in places that even I don't see coming.

So, I say to you that if there is any situation you're going through. Please give it to God. Some of you are experiencing hurt, pain, loss, heartache, headache, stress, lack, loneliness and many other hardships that you just can't seem to get out of.... BUT GOD, He speacializes and He can do what no other power can do. I urge you, in fact I dare you to just try Him. As in my case, just stop and then Go. stop worrying, stop crying, stop stressing, stop fighting, stop losing and Go on with your life. Go on with your happiness. Go on and enjoy what God has already blessed you with. As I have also written previously, "Life is Like Nike, Just Do It". Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do.

I just want to send blessings to each and every one that has, is and will read this blog. This is a special one to me, because it really was a huge breakthrough for me. I pray that God will bless you spiritually, mentally, socially, physically and financially. Likewise, as always I just ask that you do the same for me. Now, if this blog/note blessed you in any way I would like you to do a few things for me:
1. Tell someone else about it or send it to someone who you think it will bless.
2. If you're on twitter, follow me http://www.twitter.com/cr8d2xl
3. Find my business' page on facebook Fitness Together Mountain Brook, so you can support and mainly just pray for us.
4. Pray for or check on people who you feel are acting unusual or out of there norm, usually there is something wrong.
As always, God bless you and I love you!