Today’s Top 50 Person: Don Boykin
Today’s Christian Song: Creed by Third Day

Yes, I know the late, great Rich Mullins wrote this, and he has some incredible songs, but this version is the one I love. Lyrically of course it is legendary, but also musically this is just … right.
Today’s Quote: “A positive attitude will help you get things done better than a negative attitude.” Zig Ziglar
Today’s Thanks: Transportation. I can’t imagine a world without being able to go where I want to go, when I want to go there. I drive 17 miles to work one way. Without transportation, I would probably never leave my neighborhood.
Today’s Verse: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.

Today’s Top 50 Person: Dick (Richard) Smith
Today’s Christian Song: I’m Accepted by DeGarmo and Key

Today’s Quote: “If you’re not doing something with your life, then it doesn’t matter how long you live. If you’re doing something with your life, then it doesn’t matter how short your life is. A life is not measured by years lived, but by its usefulness.” Dr. John C. Maxwell
Today’s Thanks: Acceptance. I am so thankful that before God, I don’t have to perform. He already knows my inside and out, and to Him – I am loved! Also there are people in my life who love me unconditionally. I am so thankful that when I feel lonely or like a failure I can confide in them and they accept me for who I am. That is a huge deal, and not something to be taken lightly.
Today’s Verse: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12.

Today’s Top 50 Person: Dr. John C. Maxwell
Today’s Christian Song: Where There Is Faith by 4Him

I was at the performance of this song and the entire concert. It was at the coliseum in Mobile, AL. And my best friend Ken Reich played trombone! The concert was released on video, so there’s evidence out there somewhere!
Today’s Quote: “Attitudes are nothing more than habits of thoughts, and habits can be acquired. An action repeated becomes an attitude realized.” Paul Myer
Today’s Thanks: Education, and the ability to learn. I am not the smartest person in the world, but I am thankful that God gave me an ability to learn new things in order to broaden my horizons and understand more about this life He gave me. I may not ever get another degree, but I hope I never lose interest or desire to learn new things.
Today’s Verse: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16,17.

Today’s Top 50 Person: Tina Baker
Today’s Song: Meant To Live by Switchfoot

Today’s Christian Song: What You Need by Joe English
Today’s Quote: “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seed you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson
Today’s Thanks: Melody and Jaron’s friends. I am so thankful that my kids have good friends! I can’t imagine what it would be like to not be social, not have people in your life that you really love, that you can just relax and be yourself with. What a huge part of growing up! I just hope that my kids are as good a friends to them as they are to my kids!
Today’s Verse: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:1 – 3.

Day 38 – May 16, 2012
Today’s Top 50 Person: Michael Pigott
Today’s Christian Song: Just Between You and Me by dc Talk

Today’s Quote: “The more self-centered I am, the more unsatisfied I will be.” Rick Warren
Today’s Thanks: Medicine, and the practice thereof. Wow – I can’t imagine living back even 100 years ago when most diseases ran rampant and we didn’t know how to take care of ourselves health-wise. Thank God for the advancement for knowledge that allows us to know how to be as healthy as we can be.
Today’s Verse: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2: 8.

Reputation is the shell a man discards when he leaves life for immortality. His character he takes with him. Jason Oelrich

Today’s Top 50 Person: Mike Brister
Today’s Christian Song: “Everything About You” by Sanctus Real

Today’s Quote: “Let us not take for granted the brevity of this life, or the length of the next one.” Tate Cockrell
Today’s Thanks: Dogs. Dachsunds. Pets. My first dog was a dachshund, because a cousin of mine told my mom that they were great pets, and it would be good for me to have one since David had grown up and was out of the house when I was growing up. Besides, they had one and loved him. So, we went to Birmingham and got STRUPI!!! Oh my, how I loved that dog!!! And we have had dachshunds ever since. Nicky (I came up with that name, short for Nicholas – a German name), Cinnamon, Chester, and now Majik and Scooby. I wanted to name Scooby “Piper”, but oh well . . . you see how far that went! So much for the German names too! (Strupi was supposedly short for a long German name that nobody around me could pronounce.) Even though these current dogs will not be house trained, our love for them supercedes that disdain for their actions. Except for Angie. Haha! What would my life be like without dogs??? Scooby might be the largest dachshund in the world – he is 37 pounds! And with his long hair, we tell him he looks like a black bear! He is so pretty and so lovable! Majik is scared of his own shadow, but I love him. And boy, does Mom love him! He lays in her lap all day, belly up!!! Funniest thing I’ve ever seen, and it’s funny every time I see him do it! Which is just about every day. I call him a Fox-Dog, because he is colored red like a fox, and he has a kind of bushy tail. Which is tucked between his legs most all the time. I also tell him he has “rabbit feet on the back” because his back feet look just like the lucky rabbit’s feet you see hanging from certain rear-view mirrors! I think it hurts his feelings, but he still loves me a pretty good bit. As long as I don’t make any sudden movements, he will come in my arms and “get his loving” for the day. Haha!
Today’s Verse: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Today’s Top 50 Person: Rich Malone
Today’s Christian Song: Know You In The Now by Michael Card

Today’s Quote: “Giving thanks would require a belief in the existence of Someone Who has blessed you. If He does exist, you owe it to yourself to find out Who He is, and why He is blessing you!”
Today’s Thanks: Laughter. What would life be like without being able to laugh? Even when we are physically sick, laughing helps us feel so much better. We draw close to friends by laughing with them. We remember jokes when we can’t remember many other things that have been spoken. I am so thankful for the release of tension and sadness that happens when I let loose, or when I happen to think of something hilarious, and just laugh!
Today’s Verse: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1.

Today’s Top 50 Person: Michael Bowen
Today’s Christian Song: Let It Go by Whiteheart
Today’s Quote: “The bookends of success are starting and finishing. Decisions help us start; discipline help us finish.” Dr. John C. Maxwell
Today’s Thanks: My Mother. Space doesn’t permit, nor can words express my thanks and my love for my mom. It’s almost trivial to attempt. But let me just say that nobody could ever mean more to me than her. She has survived the loss of 3 husbands. She raised me by herself. She always believed in me, always encouraged me. She waited on me hand and foot, probably too much. As I got older, she took care of me financially so that I could go do what I wanted to do. She has provided for me things that I never even knew that I needed. She has been a Godly example of what a mother should be. So now that she is older and needs help, it is my turn to provide for her. But I could never repay her to what she has done for me. I love my mom!!
Today’s Verse: “For as high as the heaves are above the earth so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103: 11, 12.

Today has been a lazy day. I find myself just not feeling very good most days. I’m not sick but I feel very weak and like I just need to lay down. So I have some today! But Jaron and I went Mother’s Day shopping today, and then I took him to get a haircut this morning and to a party tonight. Rawls Taxi Service! Angie and Melody went to the coast to see Mimi for Mother’s Day and because she is recovering from her knee replacement surgery. I wish I could have gone, but things need to be done here. And it’s been good to hang with Jaron!
Today’s Top 50 Person: Cliff Hardin
Today’s Christian Song: “Lord of the Harvest” by the Imperials. Signature song off an album that came along at a great time for me, when I was just learning all about Christian music.
Today’s Quote: “Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.”
Today’s Thanks: Clean water. Most of the world does not have clean water to drink, and therefore, sickness is rampant. It is easy to take water for granted since it is so readily available, but water is not only healthy but is literally life giving. We drink it and we bathe in it, and for both of these I am extremely thankful!
Today’s Verse: “Then he said to them all, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23.