Achuckallen

Instigating Better

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Three Steps Toward Mental & Emotional Health

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July 28, 2021

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’ve struggled over the years with my emotional and mental health. I’ve wrestled with depression, anxiety, fear, and comparison. It’s not my favorite thing to open up and talk about. Still, in a world of expectations and ongoing societal tensions, we seem to be at epidemic proportions regarding our state of peace and contentment. In other words, I am not alone in this struggle.

As Julie Homrich and I have continued to build ClearPath Counseling Network, I’ve become so much more aware of the simple steps we can all build into our daily routine and help get us to the point of peace. While these steps are simple, they require great intentionality. Without recognizing the need to introduce these simple steps into our daily lives, we allow our emotions to overwhelm us and control us, often with significant negative consequences.

Here are three of the lessons that have greatly helped me get in my lane of peace and contentment. I trust that they will help you as well.

  1. PRIORITIZE SLEEP! For decades I would brag about the fact that I could function at peak performande on 4-5 hours of sleep each night. The greek interpretation of those bragadocious words is “stupid.” If there is one thing I avoid at all costs, it’s not getting enough sleep. One poor night’s sleep won’t ruin your health, but it also won’t help you feel your best the following morning. String together multiple nights of poor sleep, and you’ll set yourself up for a number of potential issues: “The long-term effects of sleep deprivation are real. It drains your mental abilities and puts your physical health at real risk. Science has linked poor slumber with a number of health problems, from weight gain to a weakened immune system.”–Alyssa Atkinson
  2. Recognize and Attack Stress! Chronic stress is one of those things that isn’t entirely in our control, but it can wreak havoc on both our body and our mind. We often want to flee from stress in the hopes that it wil simply work its way out. But it rarely does that. Stress is a beast on our mental health and our physical health. In this article, from the National Institute for Mental Health you will discover the great challenges that both self-inflicted stress and stress applied to us does to our lives. There’s no question that life stressors will pop up regularly, and we have to deal with them when they do. There will always be an endless list of things you could stress about, such as a potential new job opportunity, family tension, finances, or a meeting with someone who you don’t know well. The cumlative results of each of these stressers is usually out of your control, and stressing will never better the outcome. I know it is easier said than done, but if you can learn to prepare to the best of your ability, and then let the chips fall where they may without stressing about all the “what-ifs”, both your mental and physical health will benefit immensely. I have discovered that three things I’ve placed in my morning routine help me consistantly manage stress well. Seek to recognize the stress, name it, and then attack it!

    1) MEDITATION! I know that I sound like a broken record, but engaging in prayer meditation will change your stress level immensely. Just 5-7 minutes each day to slow your thoughts, calm your soul and attempt to hear from your Creator is a HUGE step toward amanging and attacking stress.

    2) LISTS! Prep a list on anything you cna be consistent with. List as much detail as your brain needs. I create a task list every single day. It is on a 3×5 card and includes evertything from big pictire items to remembering to take out the trash. I see my lists as a parking lot so I don’t have to stress over what I need to remember!

    3) EXPECTATION EXPLANATION! We all have expectation for ourselves and for others. Expectations unmet can create huge blocks of stress in our life. Here are a few thoughts on the expectations that we all struggle with: First, we deal with personal expectations that typically start with comparison. We start comparing our life, or even our day to others, with great regularity. Comparison will rob you of joy, contentment and peace. It is a relentless thief that will attack you, every single day. There isn’t a single generation that doesn’t face this challenge of comparison. Second, comparison calls on us most when we live our lives through social media. The life we are comparing ourself to is often not real, at all! Third, comparison happens without our own sense of reality. Every person I know has something I do not have. But every person I know has challenges, sufferings and battles that I do not know, either. Stae and explain these realities to yourself and in that explanation do not allow the evil one to speak negative self-talk into your life – ever! You have one expectation to meet today and everyday. Love God, love others and love them as you love yourself. So, loving yourself is a powerful commandment…do it well and do it wise. Fourth, many of our expectations are created in a physical list or a mental list. They are created in our mind and often center around the what and where we “should be” right now in our life’s journey. TEAR UP THAT LIST! Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be stressed!

In the words of my good friend, Julie Homrich; “the current church culture at large, we are really good at giving quick solutions in the form of a Bible verse or building the next big program, but there are certain tipping points in a generation where we see that people are desperate for someone of faith to validate their pain without immediately trying to fix it. Mental and emotional health have hit epidemic proportions in our nation, state and community.”

I realize that there are plenty of ways to attack mental and emotional health, but these three are so simple to implement. If you do not have a meditation tool to help you, I use Soul Space. It is simple, free and provides an incredible, peace-filled 5-7 minute meditation every day. I promise you that when you give this habit 14 straight days, you’ll find yourself craving it like I crave biscuits and gravy! In the paid subscription part of the app (TOTALLY WORTH IT!) is an 8 day course entitled, “The Jesus Way to a Happy Life.” It is a total gamechanger for the Follower of Christ.

Would you be so kind to drop a few thoughts in the comments section of this BLOG. I’d love to know how you are dealing with stress, anxiety and overall mental health. I would also love to know if there are any areas you’d like my thoughts on. Thanks for reading – PLEASE SHARE!

Peace, Chuck

COUNTERINTUITIVE LEADERSHIP

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July 21, 2021

You can almost predict how our great American leaders in Washington might act or react to the challenges of our society. Step one – scream at somebody. Step two – blame somebody else. Step three – schedule a press conference to get ahead of the story. Step four – spin baby spin!

coun·ter·in·tu·i·tive – koun(t)ərinˈt(y)o͞oədiv – adjective – contrary to intuition or to common-sense expectation (but often nevertheless true).

But what if there is a better way to address problems, or even address problem people? What if we’ve been handling our leadership responsibilities wrong over all these centuries? What if there was a way that leaders could lead, people be served, trust is generated, and solutions could be found and activated? I know; it seems like an impossible dream. But what if it could really happen?

According to Jesus of Nazareth, it can happen. According to His life, it will cost something. Based on His story, and His impact, there is but one model for us to turn to. HIS WAY.

Here are five ways of sure success as we face
the turbulent and challenging days ahead.

  1. SERVE OTHERS RATHER THAN WANTING TO BE SERVED: That’s a loaded statement, but it’s a power-packed truth that every leader we elect, call, or hire should grasp with desperate understanding! That is as counterintuitive and as counter-cultural as you can get. In Matthew 20:25-27… “Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;.”
  2. LOVE OTHERS, ESPECIALLY YOUR ENEMIES: Nothing could sound more preposterous than loving your enemy. I mean, those people hate me. I can’t love them. But Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” That was His word for how we are to engage with folks we agree with, but He drops the microphone with this, from Matthew 5:43-47, “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?
  3. IF YOU’VE GOT IT, GIVE IT AWAY! How insane is that? Give away what I have? Chuck, you’ve lost your marbles! God wasn’t playing around when He instructed Paul to write these words, “Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion since God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make every grace overflow to you so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. As it is written: He distributed freely; he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” Jesus pointed out the most unlikely leader to His disciples as the offering was being offered one day; “While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.” Luke 21:1-4
  4. REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM: God inspired these words from Proverbs 3, “My son, don’t forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commands; for they will bring you many days, a full life, and well-being. Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people.” A hearty dose of humility would be a massive step in the right direction!
  5. YOU HAVE A GIFT, USE IT WELL! If you’ve been blessed and honored to lead anything, hear these words, because you are being held to a higher standard whether you like it or not. “But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” Luke 12:48

We do not have time to sit and wait on another generation to right this ship we live on. We need men and women to step up and lead well. It has been said that the definition of leadership is influence. While I agree with that, I also know that influence alone isn’t nearly enough. If influence is all we need, we are in trouble. Charles Manson had influence. Adolf Hitler had influence. We need leaders not made up with a shell of influence but instead built with courage, tenacity, and the critical ingredient – Godly Character!

Join me in praying for those leaders to step into our halls of justice, politics, business, and most especially, our churches.

Peace, Chuck

Are You Okay?

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July 20, 2021

It’s a simple question. Are you okay?

With typical flippant answers to the question “how are you doing?” we rush to fill the empty airspace with “good, we’re good.” And yet, my office could be booked six days a week, twelve hours a day with counseling appointments filled with failing marriages, anxiety-riddled adolescents, and lonely adults. We, as a society, are not okay.

Loneliness has been a growing problem for decades—with some social scientists estimating that 61 percent of adults in the United States feel lonely—and it’s only been made worse by last year’s COVID-19 lockdown. While keeping to ourselves helps prevent coronavirus’ spread, we humans are social creatures, and prolonged isolation takes a toll on our mental and emotional health.

Many reports from adolescent studies state that one-third of 13 to 18-year-olds suffer from varied sources of anxiety disorder. Almost 50% of teenaged females are greatly affected by anxiety. More than 7% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 4.4 million) have been diagnosed with anxiety. And more than 3% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 1.9 million) have been diagnosed with depression.

Almost 50% of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation. Researchers estimate that 41 percent of all first marriages end in divorce. I counsel plenty of marital difficulties, and honestly, most can be repaired. But that takes work. In a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, I read the following; “Over the years, researchers have determined certain factors that put people at higher risk for divorce: marrying young, limited education and income, living together before a commitment to marriage, premarital pregnancy, no religious affiliation, coming from a divorced family, and feelings of insecurity.”

I’m no Einstein, but can we not see the big, bold, highlighted lettering on the wall? We are in a mess! And the fabric of our country is under attack. But before you go waving your red or blue political buttons at me, hear this. We are messed up politically, educationally, racially, and spiritually, but we are in crisis mode emotionally!

You could go all John Wayne on me and tell this generation to toughen up. You could blame one political party or another. You could blame the schools, or the churches, or the president. But when it all hits the fan, we have nowhere to look but in the mirror!

While we have been fighting political wars that have burned through billions of dollars and countless hours of uncivilized discourse, we have allowed America to be the epicenter of mental illness. Rather than fixing problems, we have spent all of our time fixing blame on others. Rather than supporting educators that can serve our students, we’ve lobbied for preferential curriculums. Rather than churches loving on communities, we’ve focused on megachurches and celebrity pastors. Rather than the government serving its people, our government just wants to bicker and sling crap at each other while grasping for more personal and party power. Friends, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, is it not?

That is why I’m spending a great deal of my time and energy creating ClearPath Counseling Network. I can see, in my mind’s eye, a robust network of resources, listeners, prayer warriors, counselors, and most importantly, well-equipped and educated clinicians. I can see a network where parents sitting at their kid’s games will refer friends to ClearPath. I see a day when schools and churches connect for the betterment of our society and families as they join the greater good to help support our communities with real, affordable, practical care. I see a network of providers that will rise above the clutter of our white-noised-filled world and focus on the person in front of them, rather than the one that can pay the most. I am committed, along with my partner and friend, Julie Homrich to build something that will tangibly, practically, and affordably care for children, adolescents, families, couples, and adults. A place that is accessible, helpful, and safe. A place for every color, race, creed, faith, and sex. I’m finding that it isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t cheap. But is worth building! More to come on ClearPath Counseling Network!

If you’ve read my articles before, you know that I have zero tolerance for the foolishness in politics. I considered running for office, but I honestly don’t know if I’ve got the stomach for it. I do know that when the Divine was so kind as to call me into His service, I was called to make a difference. When I first got to Sugar Hill Church as Lead Pastor almost ten years ago, I knew it was only a matter of time before we would eliminate our debt, invest ourselves into public schools, community, our local municipalities, educating young Latino students, feeding hungry people, and loving on anyone and everyone that came across our path. And now, we have two huge initiatives on the horizon.

First, the ClearPath Counseling Network. We will soft-launch the network this fall and be open and ready to serve in January of 2022. Julie has done a masterful job of creating our network, assessments, and developing our first wave of clinicians. I think we could see this modeled in churches and schools across the country! The second initiative will start with some baby steps until will can crawl, walk and someday run. It will be focused on serving single mothers. Imagine a holistic service that can assist single mothers with practical help like parenting skills, financial management, housing, personal care, proper education, GED counseling, job skills, and job placement. All of those tools and more, wrapped in the kind of love and care that Jesus Himself instructed the church to show! White, black, brown, green, or purple – Moms that are struggling and on their own need help in these weird and tumultuous days! I am just a big enough fool to believe that we can build both of these initiatives and by 2023 have both of them cooking with gas and ready for replication.

I’ll bet that most of you can help, and in the months to come, I’ll let you know how you can be a part of it all. In the meantime, don’t lose hope! Every single problem that this country faces is within our grasp if we were to somehow decide that Jesus of Nazareth was right then and He;’s still right. “Love One Another.” I say it every single week, and I believe it more every single day – If we would individually, then as communities place Jesus and His teachings in the right priority of our lives, we will discover every solution to every problem!

The problems of loneliness, anxiety, mental health, marriage, and family are all about our hearts. We really can be the greatest country on earth AND be the most grace-filled, caring, kind country on the planet. As a matter of fact, you cannot have one without the other!

Let’s start with three simple steps in our personal lives:

  • Choose to talk with your family today (apart from text and devices)
  • Choose to be grateful for what you have today. When you’re grateful for waht you have, what you have is always enough.
  • Choose to extend a kindness to someone that you cannot get anything in return for today.

It’s that simple and it’s a good start!

Talk Soon, Chuck

4forFRIDAY with Chuck Allen

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Here is Your 4forFRIDAY for July 16, 2021

I love to share good reads, learnings, listens, and reviews with friends and followers. So, thanks for joining me on my 4forFRIDAY BLOG. Each week, the 4forFRIDAYoffers recommended Reads, Listens, Learnings,
and Reviews, for your enjoyment.

A Podcast that is New To Me! The Daily Stoic with Ryan Holliday

It’s not sexy, polished, or overwhelming, but it’s so good! If you have never read the daily meditations from the Daily Stoic, it is a real challenge. I have been using the book for three years now, but the podcast has allowed me to have more time for other valuable readings in my daily routine.

A Must Listen Audio: Finding Your Best: A Conversation on High Performance Mindset

Buckle up – this one will challenge you. An Audible Original conversation with Coach Pete Carroll and Dr. Michael Gervais. World-renowned sport psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais and Super Bowl-winning NFL Coach Pete Carroll, authors of Compete to Create, team up again for an intimate conversation about the psychology of sport and high performance.

A Great Business Book: The Talent War:
How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent

For your organization to win, you need to attract and retain the best talent. But without the right strategy or mindset, you won’t be able to do so–and you won’t be able to compete. After all, your people, not your product or service, are your strongest competitive advantage. When it comes to winning on talent, no one does it better or more consistently than the US Special Operations community. Their success comes down to their people and a widely held foundational belief: Talent + Leadership = Victory.

An Awesome Read from Scott Sauls: Love Across Our Differences: A Christian Non-Negotiable

Another expertly written word from one of my favorite authors, Scott Sauls: For the Christian witness to be taken seriously in the West’s increasingly pluralistic and secular environment, Christians must learn the art of:

  1. Staying true to our beliefs and convictions;
  2. Genuinely loving, listening to, and serving those who do not share our beliefs and convictions; and
  3. Consistently doing both at the same time.

A Powerful Quote from James Clear

“We need to redefine “hard work” to include “hard thinking.”
The person who outsmarts you is outworking you. The person who finds shortcuts is outworking you.
The person with a better strategy is outworking you.
Usually, the hardest work is thinking of a better way to do it.”

The Weekday Podcast is a 5 minutes/day, 5 days/week Cup of Encouragement, straight from the Scriptures.
New episodes are available Monday – Friday on the Sugar Hill Church APP or at WeekdayPodcast.com

Go in Peace, Chuck

Bigotry Matters

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JULY 2, 2021

Let me start this post with a simple yet poignant statement from our 40th President, Ronald Reagan, “Let me speak plainly: The United States of America is and must remain a nation of openness to people of all beliefs. Our very unity has been strengthened by this pluralism. That’s how we began; this is how we must always be. The ideals of our country leave no room whatsoever for intolerance, anti-Semitism, or bigotry of any kind — none. The unique thing about America is a wall in our Constitution separating church and state. It guarantees there will never be a state religion in this land, but at the same time, it makes sure that every single American is free to choose and practice his or her religious beliefs or to choose no religion at all. Their rights shall not be questioned or violated by the state.

I would also like to follow that up with a word from one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, “Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education and free discussion are the antidotes of both. We are destined to be a barrier against the returns of ignorance and barbarism.”

My fear for this great land is that we have rapidly become a nation that destroys our opportunity to be the shining city on a hill. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described that Christians are to be “the light of the world.” That we are to be like “a shining city on a hill.” I fear that we have become a nation of light snuffers and city wreckers. Too often, bigotry is described in America through the singular lens of black vs. white tensions, prejudices, and hate. But I’ve discovered in this country, founded on the principles of freedom, we are now determined to destroy any person, organization, or thought that doesn’t agree with our own.

Before you hurl your first disagreeable thought or hearty amen, hear me. This is not a one-sided issue. Every side is presently guilty of the hate-filled anger and bigoted speech that I hear about others and have even received regarding me, my church, and my faith.

The late Donald Rumsfeld had a quote that describes how we got here. He said, “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.“

Our assumptions are not known knowns. Our bitterness and bigotry are based on unknowns. Therefore, they are built on faulty foundations that break down with reasoned interpretation and understanding. Case in point: Pick the audience that any bigotry is assigned to, be it racial, religious, sexual, educational, etc. Once you’ve identified that bigoted assumption, imagine having to share a cab ride with any person in your bigoted category, let’s say for 60 minutes. And you engage in a conversation with that person and genuinely disagree with them on any level. Is it then your assigned role to convey to them, or worse about them, your great displeasure with who they are, color they are, educational or religious preference? What if you are heterosexual and they are gay? Can we not see the person without the tagline?

I’m not suggesting that we all agree on issues of conviction or preference. If anything, I’m stating that we should disagree! But isn’t that the American experiment that is 250 plus years in the making? But brave men and women didn’t lose their lives to allow any of us to use the modern accessibilities of technology and information to destroy and despise one another. Instead, they died for a belief that our constitution was not flawed in its preamble: “We the People of the United States, to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.“

I’m afraid I have to disagree with so many things. I do not like the fact that an Olympic athlete snubs the flag and national anthem of the USA. As a matter of fact, it sickens me. BUT! That right is indeed hers as an American citizen. I disagree with so many freedoms granted by the constitution of the United States of America. BUT! I am willing to defend that very freedom to avoid the tyranny that inevitably follows in the path of squelching it.

Another case in point: Chick-Fil-A is defined as a “Christian Company.” But that is not possible. Organizations are not “Christian,” people are. Yes, they employ many Followers of Jesus, and yes, the Cathy family has been consistent in their faith walk for decades. I should stop and state that I may be the only person on the planet that doesn’t have a preferred palate for the Chick-Fil-A menu. I know, let the hate mail begin! But here is the point, Dan Cathy has ascribed to the biblical position on marriage as one man and one woman. Can we not attack his business as homophobic and hateful? That is nonsensical, at the very least!

I’ll never forget the day that I received this email from a senior adult at my church (embarrassment fully added here). It is quite literally a bigotry-filled rant that cuts against every single teaching of Jesus. “I cant help but tell you there was lots of grumbling at church today.  Most people completely support the Espanol ministry. What the grumbling is over is having to constantly undergo Spanish lessons and today iced the cake with a full blown Mexican party complete with Mariachi band and food plus the ongoing Spanish word lessons.  Please this is the United States of America, We do not want this kind of stuff at our church.“

There it is! Bigotry is at its finest and a significant reason people say no thank you to the local church! And I do not blame them. If there has ever been a place that should be committed to breaking down the walls of prejudice and bigotry, on any level, it is the Church Jesus claims as His own Bride!

I am more committed than ever before to model and lift high the ideals built within the foundation of our nation in search of a more perfect union. A nation where “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Disagreeing with me or anyone else is fine. It is even encouraged by our Creator and the declaration of our own independence and constitution! When then can we not determine that God made no mistake in who He has created? Why can we not choose to live more like Jesus and less like the Pharisaical leaders of the very people He came to this earth for? Why can we not choose to discover our own convictions, speak up for them, and know we will be disagreed with, and yet know that is equally true once the shoe is placed on the proverbial other foot?

If we were to spend our energies on becoming the human being that God desires us to become and less energy on how we can find fault or destroy someone else, this world would be a far greater place to exist. I am not suggesting that we try to live in some Pollyanna world with rainbows and no-calorie doughnuts. I am simply suggesting that we each have so much to work with and to work on that we are literally ruining life for so many as we verbally, spiritually, and physically beat them down.

I’ve been guilty of this, and so have you. But surely we are better than that? Can we not grab hold of Matthew Chapter 5 and allow the words of Jesus to clarify how we are to live and enjoy this life? Can we not, as Americans, not listen to the words of Reagan when he stated…

“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind, it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it and see it still.”

We were never created to be a nation of hate, bigotry, intolerance, or spiritually empty people. We were and are the greatest nation on this planet and still the greatest hope for a world to live in peace. Our constitution, the document that those brave patriots fought to create and then uphold, demands better from us. May we once again become a nation worthy of God’s richest blessings.

Go in Peace, Chuck

4forFRIDAY with Chuck Allen

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It’s a Day Late – But here is Your 4forFRIDAY for June 18, 2021

I love to share good reads, learnings, listens, and reviews with friends and followers. So, thanks for joining me on my 4forFRIDAY BLOG. Each week, the 4forFRIDAYoffers recommended Reads, Listens, Learnings, and Reviews, for your enjoyment.
Thanks Again!

A Really Good Personal Development Read: Rituals Roadmap

In Rituals Roadmap we can learn how to further employee engagement, explaining that workplace rituals foster a sense of belonging and help workers connect with one another and their work. From our morning cup of coffee to the standing Wednesday morning meeting with our team, our lives are steeped in rituals. Rituals Roadmap combines cutting-edge scientific research with examples from our most popular human companies, like Starbucks, Microsoft, Chipotle, and LinkedIn, showing how they establish rituals during meetings, employee onboarding procedures, and daily interactions among coworkers. 

A New Restaurant that Is Really Great! From the Earth

Before you think that this is a back-to-nature tofu kind of joint – hold on! I had the best steak sandwich of my life and the double burger is amazing. Whatever you do, get the fried pimento cheese balls and the blueberry cheesecake!

A New Album that I’m Loving from Crowder: Milk and Honey

Like everything Crowder does, this is pure joy! I absolutely love this album. Be careful, it can cause you to break a few sound ordinances!

A Wonderful Gadget I Use Everyday & Is a Gift for Every Dad at Sugar Hill Church on Father’s Day Nite Ize DoohicKey

I love this handy gadget. It’s a small prybar, letter opener, tiny wrench, and screwdriver. Perfect for opening paint or loosening a screw. Every dad gets one free at Sugar Hill Church on Father’s Day!

A Wonderful Quote from
Beth Kephart

“I was learning to trust what I could not set in language, keep, control or hold. I would say that I was learning to surrender. To stop warring with myself, to stop needing to be right, to come to terms with shifts and change, to sit on a hill and count my blessings.“

The Weekday Podcast is a 5 minutes/day, 5 days/week Cup of Encouragement, straight from the Scriptures.
New episodes are available Monday – Friday on the Sugar Hill Church APP or at WeekdayPodcast.com

Go in Peace, Chuck