All posts by Keith Thompson

One chapter doesn’t make the whole book

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You can’t read one chapter of a book and expect to know the whole book. I read a lot and have 100’s of books at home and at our lake house and probably average reading two books a week. I can’t read one chapter and put the book down.

In life, there may be a chapter or two you wish you could delete but they are part of the book of your life. I was with a friend this week who needed a little love. He told me of his failures and how the memories of those pass failures seem to have prevented him from moving on. I told him about all my past business failures and how there was only one thing I was able to do with any success. Sell hotels. I have often wondered if those failures were simply the path, I had to take to get me where I am today. I intend to ask Jesus when I get to heaven.

The point is to not let a chapter or two determine the whole book of your life. Momentum in a football game is a lot like life. There are many changes in momentum during one football game, but the objective is to push through the valleys until you regain your purpose. There are many people who die having never gotten past a bad chapter or two in their life and just couldn’t seem to finish the book. In case you didn’t know it, Satan has his own YouTube channel of your greatest hits and the number one way he tries to influence our life is to play the old videos from our past. He waits every day for you to wake up so he can punch the play button on some old failure from your past.

One of the hardest things to do in life is forgive yourself. Doing so, could be one of the greatest things you could ever do for your future and your family’s future. A pig will find a mud hole and go back and wallow in the same mud every day. Its like he just can’t get enough of it. You are a child of the living God and he doesn’t want you to wallow in your past. The problem? He can’t make that decision for you. You must do it. KT

Play button versus pause button

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We all have seen videos, games, presentations with the play arrow in the middle of the screen to get started. If you are watching a YouTube about how to paint your house, go ahead a hit that play button. However, in the weightier things/ big decisions in life, we would all do well to remember the pause button exists for a reason. It lets you stop and think about it before proceeding.

As you think back over your life there are probably memories of times you wish you could go back and hit pause instead of play. There may have been a job decision, relationship decision, parenting decision, financial decision, health decision and the list could go on for pages. The point is, when faced with a decision that will affect your future and your family’s future, the pause button is your friend because it lets you think it through.

In my career I have hit the pause button many times and thankful I did. There are also many times in business when I proceeded to hit play only to find out later, I should have hit pause. We cannot go back and rewind and get a do-over. We must live with the decisions we made, but we can use that knowledge in future decisions. Many times, a short pause can often be the difference between a good decision and a bad one. KT

All hat and no cattle

Life

This is an old Texas term to describe a cowboy that has all the right gear and the right look but doesn’t own any cattle. It means the person is trying to be more than he is. He wants people to think he is a large rancher, when he’s not.

Today’s term that means the same thing is, fake it till you make it. Same meaning just different words. We all have known people like this who need to put on an image that is different than who they really are. One of the most refreshing things is when you meet a person who is real and not trying to be someone they’re not. There is a certain ease about that person, and they seem much more engaging, and the conversation is much more free flowing. They are who they are.

If you could choose to me anyone, why not choose to be you. Everyone of us was created by design and for a purpose and everyone of us has different talents and gifts. God didn’t make you to be like someone else. He made you to be you because there is only one person in the world exactly like you, you

In the post COVID world, there seems to be a rise in identity crises for many people. They quote the sound bites they hear from news and social media thinking those words will make them into someone else. When God created each of us, he put a “ding ding” meter in us to discern the real intentions of other people. We all have it. When you try to be someone you are not, the other person’s meter quietly goes ding ding, and they can see through it. Be yourself. You are unique in many ways but the way to do your best in life and fulfill what God intended for you, it is be you. Dress like you, speak like you and act like you and it will amaze you how other people respond to you. They will see you for who you really are. You. KT

Godliness with contentment is great gain

Life

This is a passage in 1st Timothy 6:6. It is short, to the point and very important.

What does it mean? It means that when you do the right thing, a peace comes over you that gives you contentment. The dictionary definition of contentment is a state of happiness and satisfaction. Contrary to what you read in the news or hear out of small people looking for a sound bite, we all know what the right thing is to do. In every situation that comes up, we know in our hearts the right path and the wrong path. Its like seeing a person drop their wallet. You can take the path of searching it for money first or take the path of picking it up and taking it to the person. Simple right? Well in dealing with more serious issues in life, the right path is never cloudy, it is just us doing what is right.

The word Godliness simply means to act Godly. Be honest, straightforward, transparent, loyal, steadfast, forgiving, and consistent in the way we live our lives

In Colossians 4:6, the passages says – always let your speech be gracious and pleasant, seasoned with salt so that you will know how to answer everyone. When you do what is right and what you know you should do, there is a contentment that comes over you and that is what the passage means when it says, Godliness with contentment is great gain. KT

Taking your finger out of the water

Family, Life

There is a metaphor that has been around a long time. The imagery is a person sticking a finger in a pool of water and pulling it back out. When you pull the finger out of the water, the water just closes back up as though your finger was never there. The metaphor is meant to symbolize your life after you die and how life around you will close back up and quickly moves on.

I had a friend pass away early this summer. He was very good at his job, maybe even one of the best ever. His office was filled with awards and monuments to his success. I was visiting some friends recently at his old office and looked in his office and what I saw, broke my heart. The staff there wasn’t doing anything wrong, but they were putting all his papers in the trash and clearing out all the sales awards and mementoes of his success. The thing that stuck me standing there was how fast life moves on without us.

Clearly, his family will carry his memory close for the rest of their life, but the business world just moves on, like pulling your finger out of the water.

Another friend with our company 20 years younger than me, passed away two weeks ago. He was with his wife and children when the Lord called him in front of his family. Much like the first example, there was sadness but the world around him just quickly moved on, like pulling your finger out of the water.

My point is, make sure those you love, know it. Hug them every time you see them even if they act like they don’t want you to. I ask my granddaughters from time to time, “do you know that Papa love you?” Their answer always pings my heart. They say, “yes, because you tell us all the time.” That is what I wanted to hear and wanted to know, that they have no doubt how much I love them.

Hug those around you and tell them every chance you get that you love them. KT