Thankful & Positive & Optimistic thinking

I've noticed some people are so encouraging to be around!  It's like if you could just be with them you would feel better because something inside of you wishes you were that thankful, that positive, that optimistic about the future and that loving and caring to others.

I want to be more optimistic and thankful and positive.   I need lots of practice, but want to stop bad and negative habits.

Thanks,

A Star So Bright by Shawn L (Circa 1996)

I met you at the mountain.
We were joined by a star.
We both reached for the star and the moon looked on.
I can see the brightness of our star, especially
     when the Son smiles at us.
It's funny isn't it how much the Son feeds our star?
Brighter and brighter burn ...
We are consumed, breathed, and made anew.
Sometimes, the star may not even shine at all.
But, I will hold the star until I can not hold it anymore.
I will bleed out my light to our star.
     Our Star Of Love!

Fist Full of Tears (Circa 1995)

They say it began in World War II
He was asked to drink.
So he drank from the lake of misery.
He drank a fist full of tears.
It crushed him.
It intoxicated his soul.
Now the past and present collide.
It is now passed down to each generation.
To curse us forever.
"Pass the torch," time calls to us.
"Pass the pain."
"Pass the anguish of sin."
Will it ever end?
Will it ever stop?
The chain might not be broken.
The shadows of fear cloud my mind.
The thunder of pain with each footstep.
Will these wishes stop time?
Will this curse continue in me?
Can I be so proud as to say that I am not affected?
I think not.
In time the torch will be passed to me.
Fear will strike like lightning.
Thunder will roll like the pain.
But I will stand firm.
I will hold on to my glimmer of Hope and Love.
On this day of reckoning thats all I can hold on to.
Or I will be consumed in the misery of my
    FIST FULL OF TEARS.

Great Physician by Shawn L (Circa 1994)

I hurt.
I bleed ...
For cuts that are not my own.
Why do I cringe at the sight of blood?
Sooner or later I will not care
about ...
other people's pain.
if I let it gnaw at my soul anymore.
Great Physician heal pain that is not my own.
Gentle Spirit cover wounds that I detest to see.
Because I can not bear the sight
   of the pain in anyone else again.
Help me apply the comfort with Your hand.
Because I don't want them to hurt.
And because I don't want them to bleed.

Growing into a Man of Prayer

I have been praying alot this year.  Maybe it's not alot for some but for me it has been alot.  I am praying about on average 1 hour a day and I haven't prayed that much for years.  I am thankful I am.

One reason is the bible calls me to it, but another reason is it's like breathing when I am tempted to worry, I am thankful for the Work of Grace in my life.

Here's the things I have learned this year about praying that have helped my prayer life

1) Keep asking friends / family what their prayer requests are and pray for them regularly.
2) Ask your friends and family for updates.   They will keep giving you more prayer requests if they know you are really praying
3) Be involved in people's life and get past the shallow nature of friendships
4) Keep detailed prayer lists
5) Keep an updated list of answers to prayer.   I have about 25 different answers to prayer in 2011 and this really really helps you keep praying.
6) Suggest to get together with others to pray
7) Intercessory/Thanksgiving/Praise/Repentence prayer is so important to keep them all up.

Ok so this isn't a life-shattering list, but it helped me out this year to really be more of a man of prayer.

Coca Cola - Investing Education in low interest rates

It's interesting to notice weird little things.

I am shocked right now that Coca Cola's bonds currently are yielding 2.4%, however the stock dividend is currently at around 2.8%.

Clearly the stock is a clear advantage over the Bonds because if anyone knows about Coca Cola it's risen it's dividend for the last 49 years or so.

So you can hold onto Coca Cola like you would hold onto a bond that is yielding 2.8%, but this dividend yield keeps increasing year after year.     It doesn't matter if the stock increases in value but it will because of Coca Cola's 8% grow in earnings each year.

Coca Cola's dividends have grown 9% a year over the last 8 years.

What this means if you hold onto Coca Cola shares for 8 years you can easily expect to get 5.8% dividend on a company that has done significant dividends increases and book value increase and earnings increases for years.  I also expect the stock price will double in that time because of their earnings history.

It wouldn't be a good time to sell that stock because you have the future growth from 2020 - 2030 as well and your dividend % keeps growing at the same time the stock is growing.

Buy and Hold of good companies with extremely long term competitive advantages are never a bad thing unless the valuation gets out of wack like it did in 2000.   I have a great formula I use for evaluating companies that Warren Buffett used.

Let me know if you want more information as I love to talk a bit about investing.

The Tyger William Blake (1794)

(This one is best to read outloud to get the full effect)

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?