Have you ever been around someone you secretly wanted to be like? You wanted to emulate that person? The truth is, it seemed better to fit into someone else’s story than the story for which you were meant.

My parents divorced when I was young and I lived with my mother and stepfather (whom I loved very much) up through the ninth grade of high school. I did not mean to, and it was not my intention, but I broke my mother’s heart when I told her at 15 years old, I wanted to live with my father and stepmother for a year. That one year turned into two, three and here I am still in Georgia.

I cannot explain this but in Virginia where I lived with my mother and stepfather, I was surrounded by kids my age that seemed better at all things than I was. I had fallen into this cycle I cannot explain where I expected to be the third string on the team, the below average achiever. Something deep in my young soul (certainly God) told me i needed to move to Georgia and start over or I was going to end living a life that was much less than what God planned for me.

I moved to Georgia in the summer between my 9^th and 10^th grade year and immediately had a better set of friends. I tried out for football as a sophomore and made the 1^st string varsity team. I went on to be the senior class president and captain of the football team and seemed to excel in high school at every turn. It was a God thing. There is no other explanation. It changed my life’s trajectory

I loved my Mom and Stepdad with all my heart, but I knew I was in the place where I could become the someone I was supposed to be. I have been blessed beyond my imagination with a beautiful family, great career and a life of which I could only dream.

Becoming the someone you are supposed to be, many times requires change. Change in our environment, changes in how we think, but mostly a change in how we see ourselves. Our own self-image. Elaine and I always knew if we could only teach our babies one thing, it would be how to develop a positive self-image and be the someone they are supposed to be. We succeeded because it would take 10 pages to write about the fine women they have become.

Change often requires effort but most importantly, it requires the hand of God on your life. KT

How many times have we spent hours worrying about tomorrow, only to wake up and discover that God was already there waiting for us?

The truth is, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Many of the fears that once seemed so overwhelming never happened. And the challenges that did come were met with strength, wisdom, and God’s faithful provision. Yesterday’s anxiety accomplished nothing—but today’s reality reminds us that God carried us through.

Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). He wasn’t telling us to ignore life’s responsibilities. He was inviting us to trust the One who already holds tomorrow in His hands.

If God was faithful yesterday, He will be faithful today. And if He is faithful today, He will certainly be faithful tomorrow. Instead of borrowing tomorrow’s burdens, embrace today’s blessings. Worry imagines the worst, but faith expects God to do what only He can do.

So the next time anxiety whispers about the future, remember: today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday—and God has brought you safely this far.

My oldest daughter told me about this T-shirt you can buy and the graphic on the front says, “I might be laid-back, but I can lean forward real quick.”

There are people in this world that are in constant laid-back mode. I have always envied these types of people because I wish I was that way, but I’m not. Like many of us, there is a tolerance level for unimportant things but there is a line. For me, that line is my family, my God and my country.

Like senator John Kennedy from Louisiana says, “you can’t fix stupid.” I read the news and see what many people spout off, and I can still remain laid-back, but when it is my wife or my children, I can lean forward real quick. My deceased father in-law, Max Phillips, once told me, “I am a Christian, but I am not a doormat.” I think I heard this the first time I took his 11^th grade daughter on a date. Ha. He left zero doubt in mind, that if I hurt his baby, I might no longer be among the living.

As Christians, we are the light in the world, but we are not milk-toast pushovers. We stand up and are accounted for when it matters. You see these paintings in some churches that depict Jesus as a little frail, homely looking man. He was not. He was a carpenter and when he spoke, everything and everyone stopped to hear what he said. That day he threw the money changers out of the temple, notice, it didn’t say, the money changers fought him. No-sir, they knew better than challenging him.

Jesus was a man’s man, and even sometimes called people hypocrites, serpents, liars and brood of vipers. Yes-siree, Jesus himself was laid-back, compassionate and gentle but he could lean forward real quick. KT

A couple weeks ago, I asked our Sunday school class to take an index card and write down one question they would like to know about the bible, God, biblical history etc. I told them if you could only ask one question, what would it be?

There were several index cards that asked similar questions, so they got grouped together. One group of cards ask about the prehistoric animals, cavemen, neanderthal time period in relationship to creation and Adam and Eve. Another set of questions centered around the question of how mankind grew from just Adam and Eve and then how did mankind grow again after the flood when only eight people survived.

Good questions and I did my best to answer the second one last Sunday. My son-in-law said something to me some time ago that really stuck with me and helps with these answers. He said, “God just made a way.” I thought about that and it is so true. Our little limited minds just can’t wrap around the magnitude of some of the things God has done through history. In those cases, the only answer may be –  God is the Way Maker.

In your life today, you may be facing some giants, and it may be hard to see how God can get you through it, but just know he is the great, I AM, and he is the, Way Maker. It’s difficult at times to just rest on that promise but isn’t that really what faith is? Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It doesn’t matter if we can see the way and or understand the way, just as long as we know the Way Maker. KT

The worst client is the one that ignores your advice. There is always some give and take with clients, and they will many times follow your advice, but they will at least always listen to your advice and then make their decision.

I have this client now that just thinks he has to be the smartest person in any room he walks in. ha. He always needs the last word and always has to tweak every decision, just a little, before finally agreeing to it. This guy is 45 years old and probably weighs 130 lbs. soaking wet and thinks he is God’s gift to real estate. Several perfect examples lately all end the same way. We get his hotels almost under contract, and at the last minute, he has to tweak the pricing and terms, just a little more. It kills the deal. He doesn’t understand why the buyers back out and he never thinks he is at fault for killing the deal. He always blames the buyer, the staff, the broker (me) and his attorney. Never himself.

He has to feel like he got every chip off the table and has to win every conversation and is not happy unless the buyer takes a knee. I know if he is doing this with me, he is doing this with all his vendors and his own staff. Needless to say, he will still own these hotels for years and he will probably wake up one day and wonder why his real estate investments are losing money.

Arrogance, ego and pride are three of the worst personality traits a person can have in our business and this guy, bless his heart, has all three in spades. Maybe someone will take him down a notch or two one day but until that happens, he will continue to make bad decisions. KT