A virus has been impacting the health of the family this week. My wife and youngest son have been battling a severe cough and overall soreness all week. As in sports or business, when you lose a player the whole team/family is effected. I have needed to adjust and pick up the slack.

I listened to a talk by Andy Stanley yesterday regarding our Christian faith. In a nutshell, the Jesus model is not focused on you but on the you beside you. It is all about loving our neighbor. The question for each day is What does Love require of me? The Jesus model is less complicated but far more demanding.

Easter weekend is fast approaching and it represents the hope of the Christian faith. Jesus died on the cross on Good Friday. This is good because he died for our sins. On Easter Sunday, I believe he rose from the dead, so that those who believe will have everlasting life. He disabled death! Moving from pain to joy reflects the pattern of life. Life is difficult and there will be pain and joy. Through it all there is hope for all Christ followers and this is the message of Easter.

Being a leader means learning how to express yourself and listen to all viewpoints. Your opinion matters as much as the next person. Communication problems usually result from being judgmental rather than seeking to understand.

I listened to a talk by Mark Batterson yesterday who was talking about self control. I liked his definition of self control- Making decisions against self/ego. Today, I have made the decision against myself to get up early and work out. To win the fight against self and laziness takes discipline and fortitude. Take small steps and your self control will get stronger each day.

We held our annual Evening Easter Egg Hunt last night and it was a blast! We always start off with the story of the Gospel and get input from the kids. After that, it is total chaos. We hid 508 eggs and each child was limited to 25 per bag. In addition, there was the silver and gold eggs that were hidden in the most difficult spots. The kids needed a hint for the golden egg. I proclaimed the egg was buried just like Jesus and he became the light of the world. Our neighbor figured it out and found the egg under the solar light.

It is so refreshing to meet a friend or colleague who greets you with a “There you are!” versus “Here I am!” Need to take this loving approach in my daily interactions. Make people feel special.

I attended a free jazz concert at the University of Mary Washington on Friday night. The jazz ensemble was a mix of students and professionals from the area. The performance was magnificent. We have a great deal of musical talent here in Fredericksburg and I will look to attend these types of concerts in the future. Great date night!

Spring has arrived according to the calendar, but it is not reality here in Fredericksburg this morning. Just a cold rainy day ahead. Nonetheless, I constantly remind myself to spring forward and fail forward. This is how growth occurs in nature and in my life.

I signed up with All Clear through Anthem a couple months ago. Anthem’s data was breached and they offered All Clear for one year to all its customers and former customers to help protect identity theft. I received a call that one of my son’s social security numbers might be in play. No other detail was provided and I was told to wait for a week to receive the detailed report. This experience reminds me of when you go to the doctor and the office runs a variety of tests and every little thing they see might turn into something larger, but in most cases it is nothing to be concerned about. The security testing seems to run in the same circle. I guess it is better to be safe than sorry. We will see shortly.