The Seven Miracles That Saved America

The Seven Miracles That Saved America by Chris and Ted Stewart is a book about our great nation and how it has been preserved by divine providence to stand as the example of liberty and freedom to all the world. The book specifically talks about 7 miracles that allowed our nation to succeed and prosper when it looked as if our democracy was doomed for failure. Very quickly below are the seven miracles cited in the book.

#1 Columbus—love him or hate him the story of Columbus is pretty remarkable. The book offers new details and insights that I did not know beforehand. In the end, through many miracles, the new world was discovered by a Christian centered people that laid the ground work for our great nation.

#2 Jamestown—with the presence of England on the brink of elimination from the new world, Jamestown was miraculous preserved and hence England eventually took control of what is now the east coast of the USA. This again provided the right people, talents, culture, and beliefs that eventually lead to the rise of our nation.

#3 Summer Fog—I believe there were numerous events during the revolutionary war that were truly miraculous and demonstrated the hand of God in the war. One of course was the incident cited in the book about the thick summer fog that allowed the trapped American army to escape their enemies unnoticed and live to fight another day.

#4 The Constitution—never had man created such a document that would successfully last to govern a people for centuries and produce the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. The events surrounding the creation of the constitution and the people involved are truly miraculous.

#5 Abraham Lincoln—according to the authors, our country was in such turmoil at this time that under any other person’s leadership, the country would have been split apart and divided and the experiment of the United States of America would have failed. However, because of Lincoln, our nation stayed together as one nation, under God.

#6 Midway—this again is one of many miracles during wartime that helped preserve our nation. If we had not won this decisive victory, many of our military resources would have been committed to our war against Japan and our ability to help Europe would have been greatly diminished perhaps altering the outcome of WWII.

#7 Fraction of an Inch—when Ronald Reagan was shot, the bullet was less than an inch away from causing fatal damage. Like Lincoln, the authors argue that Reagan was the right leader for the time to move our nation through difficult economic and foreign relation times. The authors believe that because of Reagan, the cold war and the world domination of communism were eliminated.

It is amazing to read about these incredible stories that have helped preserve our nation—and inevitably there are many more miracles that could be discussed. In the end, the authors believe that God has had his hand in blessing and protecting the USA.

The end of the book contains perhaps the most important message which is one of hope, faith and optimism for the future of our nation. Though not all is well, there are many great people and many great efforts are being made by the USA to protect liberty and the rights of all people. Because of this we continue to be a beacon of freedom to the world. This book helps us remember why we should all be truly grateful to be Americans! God bless America!

See how I ranked this book

Simple Advice to Becoming Popular

Now I know I don’t typically give relationship advice per say on this website but it is February so I thought I would do anything I could to help. Recently I was speaking with a friend who shared with me his three secrets to relationship success and popularity. Now these are tips specifically designed for winning over the opposite sex, but really these pointers apply very well to all relationships. And though his tips are very simple, they work, and can help us all in building successful relationships and in being more popular. So here they are…

# 1 Ask Questions and Listen

The first tip to becoming popular is to ask questions and then really listen. People like to talk about themselves and share their opinions, feelings, stories, and lives. Many people are not successful at building relationships, because they fail to ask questions and listen. Instead they choose to only talk about themselves or worse they ask questions and then don’t really pay any attention to the response. Doing this leads to unpopularity; so don’t make this mistake! Instead, ask questions of others and then listen to their answers. Surprisingly, you can learn a lot about a person this way.

# 2 Don’t be a Know-It-All

Nobody really likes a know-it-all. If you always have a better story, or know a little bit more, or never agree with others opinions because you are always right, or you always have something to add--then you probably are not very popular. Instead of being a know-it-all, try to learn from others, consider their opinions, and swallow your tongue on occasion. Trust me, it will help.

# 3 Make Others Feel Good about Themselves

My friend mentioned that this is the most important and has the greatest impact on popularity and successful relationships. However, this one comes with a warning that most people can detect flattery and insincerity a mile away. So, you have to make people feel good about themselves by sincerely complimenting them—and by doing it often. Look for the good in others and let them know what you think. Avoid sarcasm and put downs especially when first getting to know someone. Overlook the negative and search for the positive. How you make people feel will be a direct correlation with how much they like you. If you are able to make others feel good about themselves then you will be popular indeed.

These three tips are guaranteed to make you more popular and today, since it is February, I have a bonus tip that my friend actually shared with me a few days later. Here it is.

# 4 Eye Contact

Making eye contact goes a long way in building relationships because it demonstrates trust, respect, and honesty. There once was a politician who continuously failed and one of the reasons was because while shaking hands rather than making eye contact with the person he was shaking hands with, he would often gaze toward the next person who he was going to greet. Until he learned to look people in the eye he was not successful. Often times when people are talking to us we are distracted. If we want to be popular and build strong relationships we need to give people our undivided attention when speaking with them. We should not be typing, or writing, or reading, or even watching television, or fiddling in some other way when conversing with others. There is true relationship building power in looking people in the eye.

So there you have it—four simple yet tried and true tips to helping us become more popular and build successful relationships. And truly applying them in our lives just might change it for the better. (And I’m sorry guys that I didn’t get this out before Valentine’s Day—but remember there is always next year…).

Protect the Goose!

Probably most of you have heard it—the story about the goose that laid the golden eggs. And if for some reason you missed this wise tale, here is a quick summary courtesy of Wikipedia.

“A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose.”

In today’s tough economy, I see too many companies going after the goose that lays the golden eggs. Often in an effort to adjust or make changes in order to save a business, we end up sacrificing long-term success for short-term sustainability. Unfortunately and too their eventual determent, companies across the globe are looking for cost savings at the expense of their often most precious assets, their people. And while they are busy with wage freezes, lay-offs, slashing of employee benefits, reductions on training and education, cutting celebration and recognition dollars, etc., smart business are picking up those most talented employees that are all part of this “golden goose” carnage. Rather than search for every other possible way to save and improve—which certainly exist in every organization—companies mistakenly choose to slit the throat of the golden goose because it is an easy and obvious target. My advice is to protect the goose at all costs and only when every other option has been fully exercised, and the only way to keep the doors open is to do it—only at that moment may it be appropriate to go after the goose—when it truly is the only option to survive, because once you do, the chances for long-term success are nearly zero.

Now learning form this, we can apply it to our personal lives. Certainly we have a goose or two in our lives that lay golden eggs. How about our education, our families, friends, or maybe even our faith? As things have gotten tougher have we began to go after the goose? Have we slowly begun to sacrifice our education, families, friends, or faith to try and “survive”? If so, we need to step back and realize the golden goose in our lives and then ensure we do all that we can to protect it. In this instance, never is anything worth the sacrifice of our golden goose in our personal lives because once we do, life loses its meaning.

So protect the golden goose! Do not be foolish like the man and woman in the wise tale. Instead be patient and have the discipline to know that killing the golden goose will never result in good. Now, more than ever is it time to protect the golden goose both in business and at home. Doing this will lead us to both happiness and greater success!