All posts by Keith Thompson

Lonnie Bell

Family

Lonnie Bell is my uncle and he is greatly loved by all those around him, his family, his friends and me. He received a medical diagnosis lately that almost made me tear up. He is one of the sweetest, most compassionate and gentle men I have ever known and has always been an example for me to follow.

There are three children in my mother’s family. My mother, Uncle Rayburn (passed away) and Uncle Lonnie. All that side of my family were farmers and my grand parents (their parents) always farmed which meant the husband and wife both worked in the fields. My mother told me something today I did not know. When Lonnie was born, he had a heart defect and couldn’t lay down to sleep when he was a newborn baby. My grand parents took turns every night holding him upright on their shoulder so he could sleep. My mother is five and half years older than Lonnie and when my grand parents had to work in the fields, she (at 5-6 years old) took care of Lonnie.

This all happened just after the great depression when families were barely getting by. Add to that a sick child and a young child (my mother) as a care giver and you can get the idea of what life was like. Uncle Lonnie grew up like most children and his heart condition was finally diagnosed when we he was in his early 30’s and had open heart surgery in the early 70’s that saved his life.

When you think about what hard living looks like, it would do us all good to think about how life was two generations ago. That generation of people not only saved America in WWII and the Korean war but showed us all what actual resiliency, honestly and Integrity looked like. You are in my prayers uncle Lonnie. KT

Every path leads to a destination

Career, Life

Wouldn’t it be great if you could stand at the entrance of a path/ trail and see all the way to the end? You could then know if you want to take that path. Unfortunately, that is not how life works. Every decision we make leads to a result and every path we take leads to a destination. Life would be so much easier if we could see the result before we decided to take a certain path. Every path we take leads somewhere and the decision we all must make is; do we want to be at that somewhere.

We all know the wrong paths a person could take; cheating, drugs, sex, infidelity, lies, stealing, alcohol and the list could be quite long. The problem with entrances to a path is they always look good and inviting at the beginning. If you can, read that last sentence again.

By way of example, say a person is at a crossroads in life. One path looks hard and the other path looks easy. Let’s say the easy path is a little bit of drugs and a little bit of alcohol; At the entrance of that path it looks like so much fun and the person can envision a long life of freedom and joy. Everybody else is doing it so it must be ok, right?

What you cannot see at the entrance of that path, is the destruction, devastation and possibly death. See, all that is hidden from you behind the pretty entrance. The real result is only revealed once you start down that path and many times you don’t even know it until you are too far to turn back.

We as adults know (if we are honest) how the story ends for most paths. Unfortunately, we fool ourselves into believing it will be fun. If you are ever out with a bunch of guys and one of them says “watch this,” there is pretty good chance it will not turn out as expected.

So, if you are standing at the entrance of a path (change in your life) put on your spiritual infrared goggles and humble yourself and ask God to tell you which way to go. KT

Where your money is

Career, Family, Life

The bible says, ‘” where your money is, there will your heart be also.”

This statement is so incredibly true, and it doesn’t matter if you agree with it or not. It is literally a fact of life.

In 2006 I started a little investment company while I was still working for a larger brokerage house selling hotels. The little investment company was supposed to provide a little extra income and help me diversify. What I noticed very quickly was that I started thinking more and more about the little investment company instead of where my focus should have been. Before long (1 year) it took more and more of my time, energy, and thought. Basically, it stole my heart away from the large company I was with. See, it was where my money was invested and before long it had my heart also.

Take anyone that invests in stocks. They began casually watching the stock they are invested in and before long they have an app and an alert to notify them whenever the stock moves. They start looking at the stock several times every hour and It quietly steals their attention and their heart

Whether or not you believe it is true or whether you accept it, you should understand it and be aware of it. What I mean is to be careful where you put money or invest money because it has the risk of stealing your heart. It also can cause one of two emotions. Joy or anxiety. If the investment where your money is goes well, it can result in satisfaction, joy and a feeling of accomplishment.  The problem is, if it doesn’t go well, it can result in stress, anxiety, lack of sleep and loss of joy. This why I say to be careful.

Finally, in Proverbs 4:7 the bible says, “above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” KT

Hilton Hotels

Career, Life

In 1919, Conrad Hilton when to Cisco Texas to buy a bank and ended up buying a little hotel named the Mobley hotel. He became a hotel man that day and went on to build one of the greatest hotel companies in the world.

What most people don’t know is that after Conrad bought that first little hotel in Cisco Texas, he began to build major high-rise Hiltons (one per year) all over Texas. By 1929 he owned around nine-ten major hotels when the stock market crashed in 1929. He ended up losing all the hotels to his lenders except for the newest Hilton hotel in El Paso Texas which opened in 1930. It took years after the great depression for banks to lend again but once they did, Conrad Hilton began to build back the company he lost by buying distressed hotels in California and New York and became the Hilton Hotel Company we know today.

During the great depression, 80 percent of all US hotels went bankrupt but somehow Conrad kept believing in the US economy and was determined to build a hotel company. He lost it all yet retained the will, perseverance and the drive to start over.

Looking at history, it is always easy to read stories like this and discount them because we weren’t there. We know how the story ends and it somehow lessens the impact and we don’t quite grasp the grit it took for many Americans to get through the great depression. We can’t relate to what it was like halfway through the depression when it seemed like everything was lost and no one had any answers.

Those people in the 1930’s did what many people today are doing, just move forward and keep trying. If you do that you will break through. History is full of great success stories and I have no doubt that 100 years from now, students will be leaning about the year 2020 and the struggles, failures, and successes. In 2120 if a blog is still a thing, someone will probably write a story about how we came through the pandemic of 2020. KT

You cannot give what you don’t have

Life

It is a fundamental truth that you cannot give what you don’t have. When you think of this, most people think in terms of money, but this also applies to many other areas of life. Sure, money is money and if you want to give to a good cause, unless you have the money you can’t help.

This concept also applies to other very important areas of your life. Your compassion, your tenacity, your joy, your peace, your patience, your positive outlook, your calming spirit and the list could go on for pages. In short, if you don’t have these attributes in supply in your own life, it is terribly difficult to share them with others. If you are not at peace it is hard to share peace. If your compassion is depleted, it is hard to show it to someone else, etc.

The good news is that most of these attributes are decision based. That’s correct, they come from you deciding to have them. In the roller-coaster 2020 year, it is easy to have misplaced these attributes and if you leave them on the sidelines long enough, it becomes very difficult to get them back. It is like allowing a feeling of melancholy to find residence in your spirit. The more you embrace it and allow it to continue, the more difficult it is to get rid of.

Think with me outside the vernacular for a moment. See, Satan goes around with his clip board to see who he can get to buy what he is selling. His focus is the sadness and despair of the heart. If he gets you to accept discouragement, much like melancholy, he just keeps pilling on, anxiety, loneliness, sadness and all their brothers and sisters. If you allow this to continue, before you know it, you don’t want to get out of the bed.

As a friend of mine in Texas has always said. You got to cowboy up and take your life back. KT