Wow! Today, I realize I was "unfriended" on Facebook by another relative. Since my brother's murder, I have been "unfriended" by at least a half dozen relatives and/or people connected to me through my brother, Lary. It is so unfortunate how people act when they are confronted with the truth of how they treated my brother, when they realize they did not benefit financially from his death, or when they jump to conclusions without having all the facts. I am so grateful for the real family I do have.

“Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy -- because we will always want to have something else or something more.” ― David Steindl-Rast

Last night, at the place I go to exercise, I had a conversation with a 29-year-old young man. I asked him, "What is it that you want out of life?" He said, "I guess I just want to be happy." I had the opportunity to share with him something I learned from my oldest son. Here is what I shared with him...

"You can’t spend your life in the graveyard of guilt dealing with the corpses of the past. Know when things are dead, know when to release them and bury them. If you continue to work with the dry bones of dead issues, you too will begin to decay. No amount of work will resuscitate a corpse. Sign the death certificate and bury the past." - TDJ

"The heart that’s meant to love you will fight for you when you want to give up, pick you up when you’re feeling down, and will give you their smile when it’s hard for you to find yours. They will never get strength from seeing you weak, power from seeing you hurt, or joy from seeing you cry. The heart that’s meant to love you wants to see the BEST YOU, not a hurt you. Never forget that." - Trent Shelton

"When you can keep on keeping on & keep doing what's right when nothing seems to be going right for you... You're saying something about your relationship with God that no unbeliever can deny and no devil in hell can come against." - Joyce Meyer

"When you begin to look back over your life and see how God blessed you, you may not have everything that you wanna have... and you may not be in the place that you were created to be... and you may not even serve Him like you ought to serve Him like you are supposed to serve Him; but, isn't it amazing that, even when you went wrong, God kept going right? Isn't it amazing how God blessed you and highly favored you? And that's why, even though you may not be in your purpose, every now and then you got to stop and give Him some praise; because, when you look back over your life and you see where God brought you from, is there anybody in the house that's got a praise for God who did you a favor?"  -TDJ

"Whenever something is threatening to take you under, always go back to the beginning. If you didn't start it, you don't have to finish it. If God started it, God will finish it. He is Alpha and Omega. He is the Beginning and the End. He is the First and the Last; He is the Author and the Finisher of our faith. You are not in this by yourself." - TDJ

"We need to allow ourselves to be still before our Creator and simply lean on Him. We need to find ways to revive our soul in order to maintain what matters most to us; our relationship with Him and our identity as His child." - TDJ

"God has you here for a reason, you have something left to do. Take all that you’ve been through and throw it up against what you’re facing. There’s strength for the stage you’re in right now. There’s another mountain in you." - TDJ