No. What we are seeing today is mild compared to history. The difference is we hold a live news feed device in our hands, so the flow of information is instant and the news media wants us to think the world is falling apart.

To name a few times in history that were far worse than what we are seeing today – The COVID pandemic five years ago, financial crisis of 08-09. Vietnam war where newspapers were publishing the casualty list every day and moms and dads all over American held their breath reading the casualty list every day to make sure their child was not on the list. Korean war. The Civil rights movement of the last 60’s. Let us not forget WWII when we lost 407,000 of our youth. WWI, the great depression that lasted 10 years. Wrap your head around that stat – 10 years of homelessness, hunger, joblessness, despair.

Also let us not forget the Spanish flu of 1918-1920 where 1/3 of the global population died – Estimates were up to 100 million people died worldwide and 675,000 just in the US. More people in the US died from the Spanish flu that we lost in WWI, WWII, Korean war and Vietnam war put together. Then the Civil war when America lost 620,000 of our young men. Lastly, just read the bible, and the middle east has been at war for 2,000 years before Jesus was born and for the 2,000 years since Jesus was born.

My point – God has got this. All of today’s world unrest did not surprise God. It didn’t sneak up on him, and he is fully aware of all of it. Today, put your phone down and blow the dust off your bible and turn to Psalm to 46:10. It reads – “Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Take comfort today in knowing that God still has his hand at work, and he knows everything including your every thought and action. Be still and know he is God. KT

This morning i was speaking with a dear friend that was one of my mentors in life and helped me get started in the hotel brokerage business some 35 years ago. He asked me how it was going for us?  I told him, (excuse me church friends) that it is like a damn dog fight every day. He laughed and said yea, it does feel that way.

Aside from the stock market, which continues to grow without any good reason, the greater economy is still struggling mainly because of the effects of high inflation and higher interest rates which has affected pricing for everything from labor and housing to toothpaste and everything in between. Today you spend close to 15 dollars for a burger, fry and coke. The last five years have resulted in the greatest (in my opinion) financial reset of my lifetime. It’s like everything just jumped permanently 30-40% in price. For many areas, housing prices have doubled and, in some cases, tripled.

In the hotel world, owners still think their beloved hotel is still worth what it was in 2019 and its just not. Couple that with the need for them to renovate their hotel and newly built hotels competing with them, and it is like a triple whammy in our business. Hence the dog fight example.

Add to all this, the civil unrest we see every day in the news, and we find ourselves living in a different world than just a few years ago. Well, the good news is that this, like all cycles, change, and this financial market and civil unrest will stabilize and settle down at some point hopefully soon.

So,,, in today’s financial market, you just have to put on your helmet, button your chin strap, cowboy up and poke your chest out and be determined to end the day better than when you started. It’s a dog fight out there so we need to be ready. KT

It’s never too late. God can change you your life trajectory in a moment. One idea from God can change your life as you know it and it doesn’t matter how educated you are, how connected you are, or how old you are.  

The following inventions were invented by mistake. The inventors were trying to create something entirely different when they realized they had stumbled on something special. The list is long but these are a few – Penicillin, Microwave Oven, Super Glue, Post-it Notes, Velcro, Chocolate Chip Cookies, X-rays, Corn Flakes, Hula Loop, Kentucky Fried Chicken, just to name a few.

Everyone may not be destined for greatness, but almost all major inventions were created by average people with average intellect with average resources.

What is my point? Don’t ever think life has passed you by. If you are still breathing, you are still in the game. God has a way of picking up the pieces of our lives and leading us where we never thought we would be. Wake up every day with a sense of expectation that God is watching, and he knows everything and today, may just be the day that God shows up and shows out in your life. KT

Worry is the dress rehearsal for something that may or may not ever happen. Take any situation that you worry about and keeps you awake at night. When you worry about it, you envision all the pieces, all the players, all the circumstances and here is the funny part, you aways envision yourself as the one that gets hurt, shunned, disrespected, disappointed and the one who loses.

Why is it that we always see ourselves as the loser in the worries of dress rehearsal? Here is the truth – Satan wants us to worry, he wants us to be discouraged, he wants us to feel ‘less than enough,’ and wants us to see ourselves as the loser. If he can get us to think these thoughts, he basically sidelines us from succeeding. There is nothing more fearful to Satan than a happy, well-adjusted and successful Christian who is unashamed to share their faith.

When I was worrying and going through all the debt situations with the restaurants in the early 90’s, I always saw myself as the failure. The one that was not good enough, not smart enough, not resourceful enough, basically just not enough. Well, God got me through that, and all the worry dress rehearsals turned out to be wrong. Sometimes it turns out to be correct, but more times than not, we always envision it to be worse than it ends up being.

It’s impossible to tell someone ‘stop worrying’ and they instantly quit worrying. Ha. You can, however, whisper uplifting words to help someone through that situation.

So, as best you can, stop creating a full-dress rehearsal of all the bad things that could happen to you and try as best you can, to roll the care over on God. KT

What is a memory box you ask? It is that mentally remembered place you go to (a box if you will) that carries all your past shortcomings, failures and mistakes. Satan wants us to open it everyday and take every failure out and look at it and remind ourselves how unworthy we are. If he can keep you in your past, he keeps you from pursuing your future.

If you could give yourself a gift this Christmas and New Years season, it would be to close the box and never open it again. The best I can tell, there is nothing we can do to change the past. The past is the past. What we can do is change our future and live our life in hope for the future instead of regretting the past.

It doesn’t matter how full your box is or how shiny and pretty it is. It needs to stay closed and forgotten. Do you realize that when you ask God to forgive you for something, and then when you bring it up again, he doesn’t know what you are talking about. His forgiveness is pure, and he remembers it no more. We should try and do the same thing with some of our past memories. Even the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3;13/14 – forgetting those things which are behind and pressing toward to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Happy New Year. KT