Bend in The Road

When the road bends, you must not walk straight. This is what our webinars and workshops are all about. Please visit our website and plan on attending an upcoming presentation on how to recession proof your 2009 marketing budget in light of this economy.

Tres Dias

Tres Dias is this awesome Boot Camp on Christianity, that in a weekend can help a person really experience the love that Christ has for all of us. My wife and I went through as a candidates back in May 2007 and we were blow away by the experience.


Since then, I have had the opportunity to serve on three a Tres Dias weekends at a campground just outside of Dallas. Being able to serve others during these weekends, has in many ways been more fulfilling than going through the first time. It is amazing to see how God can use normal people like you and me to touch the lives of others.


One of the folks from WebDex Media Group attended the weekend that I served and it really touched him in a positive way.

January Internet Marketing Workshops at WebDex Media Group

Almost from the beginning of WebDex I have hosted a workshop to teach people how to increase leads and sales from their websites. I really enjoy these and past attendees have gotten a lot out of them too. We just set the dates for January: 1/21 from 1:00 - 3:30 1/22 from 1:30 – 4:00

We will host a Webinar on “How to Recession Proof Your 2009 Marketing Budget” 1/20 from 1:00 – 2:00. The workshop is free and will teach you how to: *Increase Search Engine Visibility *Improve Conversion Rates *Develop a Winning Internet Marketing Strategy For more information visit our workshop page on our website. All attendees receive a complimentary workbook and a web site evaluation. Call Christy Wyatt today 469-568-4200 X116 for more information or to register. If you can't make it in January, we will host a couple in February and beyond. As soon as those dates get hammered out, we will make another post.

Welcome to the Rate Race

A cruise boat docked near a tiny Brazilian village. An American tourist
complimented a local fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how
long it took him to catch them.

"Oh, not very long," answered the man."

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the
American.

The Brazilian explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet the
needs of his family.

The tourist asked, "And what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The local answered, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children,
and take a siesta with my wife. Evenings, I go into the village to see my
friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar and sing a few songs... I have
a very full life."

The tourist said, "I have an MBA from Harvard -- a highly rated business
school -- and I can help you. You can start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the added money you can
buy a bigger boat, catch even more fish, buy another boat and yet another
so that soon you would have an entire fleet of fishing boats. Then,
instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can negotiate directly
with the processing plants and maybe even open your own factory. You can
then leave this little village and move to Rio, Los Angeles or even New
York. From there you can direct your entire enterprise!"

"How long would that take?" asked the Brazilian.

"Oh, twenty years or so," replied the tourist.

"And, after that?"

"Afterwards? That's when it gets really interesting!" answered the MBA.
"When your business gets really big, you can start selling stock in it and
make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And, after that?"

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the
coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a
siesta, and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends!"

Found this online and thought I would share it for all of us dysfunctional type A's!

The Difference a Father Makes

I just finished a book by Ed Tandy McGlassson with the same title as this blog post. It was given to me by a friend of mine, Michael Rasa on a Tres Dias retreat. The book is about a dad’s responsibility to help their children understand that they are good enough and have what it takes to be a man or a woman, and also to help their children understand when they have crossed over from childhood to adulthood.

Ed’s natural father was a Navy pilot and was killed in a heroic plane crash before Ed was born. However, Ed was blessed with a terrific step-father, Dan, who knew how to encourage, coach, and develop Ed into the best he could be. In the book he tells a story about how Dan woke him up at 5AM one morning when he was 11 and asked “Son what do you want to be when you grow up?” Ed said he wanted to play professional football. Before he know it, Dan had strapped 5lbs weights on his ankles, drove him 4 miles from their home, dropped him off and said, “If you are going to do this son, you are going to have to outwork every kid in America who is asleep right now. I am going to help you do this. I am going home to cook you breakfast. What do you want?” They he drove away. That ritual continued 5 days a week all the way through high school. Ed ended up playing in the national foot ball league for several years.

In college, Ed blew out his knee and it looked as if he would never play football again. The night of the injury, he was visited by a friend who led him to Christ and asked God to heal Ed’s injury. Miraculously, Ed’s knee was healed to the astonishment of the doctors and coaches. On night, after playing pro football for many years, Ed heard God tell him to stop playing football and start preaching the Gospel. Ed was less than enthusiastic about the news. The next morning, on the very first play during practice, Ed blew out the very same knee that God had healed years before. That got his attention.

The purpose of the book is to help dads develop rights of passage to call out significance in their children’s lives. He mentions that other faiths and even God modeled this for us. You might recall the story in Matthew where Jesus is baptized by John and then the heavens open up and God says “This is my beloved son, whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17. From there, after receiving a blessing from His father, Jesus begins His own ministry.

As dads our job is to help our kids discover what it is that God has purposed for their lives and to help them know and believe that they are good enough to achieve it. We must also set the goal line before them, so they know when it is time to stop acting childish and begin to pursue their purpose. We can do this by calling out our kids and speaking a blessing into their lives. Our words are like the rudders of mighty ships that are changing the course of our children’s lives for good or bad, and we need to take responsibility for the power of our words and actions. When we embrace this responsibility, we are being obedient to God and loving our kids the way that He loves us. When we ignore this responsibility, we are putting our kids out to sea without a rudder to be tossed about as life’s circumstances cash up against them. We are also setting them up for a life that will be full of doubt and potentially a life time of searching for meaning and purpose.

The book goes on to teach us how to do effectively call out our children and recommends the following steps:

Use positive affirmation with your kids – Our kids need to know that we are proud of them and believe in them. This is sometimes hard because we also must correct poor decisions and help them remember to “do their homework,” “clean their rooms,” “pick up after themselves,” and “ not to hit, bite, bully, bad mouth, yank, etc.” others. What ends up happening so often is that 90% of the things we say to our kids are negative to correct bad behavior. Therefore, we must seek out opportunities to affirm our kids and let them know that we are proud of them. Yesterday, my 15 year old son, Michael, who can be a handful, told me a story about how he was talking to a kid at school several weeks ago about God and he ran into her again last week. She told him that God had used that conversation to stir up affection for God and that now she is a believer. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him and blow away by him. I could never have been bold enough to talk to kids about God like Michael can when I was 15.

Bless your children publicly – Ed recommends that we not only affirm our kids, but we also call them out in a public setting. This cements our affection and acceptance of our children in their heart. One recommendation is to go on a trip with other families who know and love your children. Maybe a camping trip with other dads and sons. At some point during the trip, publicly acknowledge your love for your child and let everyone know how proud you are.
Develop traditions that highlight shared values – The book recommends that we find tokens or events that can serve as reminders of our affection to our children. Ed took his daughters to dinner and would give them a ring.

Spend time with your children – This is probably one of the most important investments we can make. Taking time out of our busy schedules to be with our kids and doing things they like to do, shows our children that we love them and are interested in them. My oldest son likes to make knifes, so we spend time going to the hardware store looking for metal or attending knife making conferences.

Build structure around your children – Ed tells the story of how he and his oldest son set aside a day to dream about where his son wanted to be in 10 years and what things could Ed do to support him. They built a plan together with shared commitment and accountability for both of them.

Celebrate over your children – We need to be our kid’s biggest fan. When they achieve victories, we need to be there to share in the moment with them. Remember when Tiger Woods won his first Masters and his dad was there and Tiger said “Daddy we did it!” Likewise, we need to be there for our kids.

Finally, the book challenges us to think about what kind of father each of us wants to be. Are we going to be active participants or passive bystanders in our children’s passage from childhood to adulthood? This book has certainly motivated me to get more involved and I now have some tactical things to focus on. If you are interested in the book, you can get copies of it at their website. Many thanks also to Mike Rasa for passing this book along to me.

Online Search Share, March vs. April 2008

Google searchers could end up with a new type of bug

By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz, USA TODAY

Cybercrooks are manipulating the computer code used to put the pizazz in millions of websites in hopes of taking over unsuspecting consumers' PCs.

The vulnerability occurs when someone does a Google search, then clicks on a result that has been secretly tainted by hackers. They will usually be taken to the Web page they expect. But at the same time, they are invisibly redirected to a computer server that installs a hidden program.
This program enables hackers to use the PC to spread spam and carry out scams. Typically, it also lets the attacker embed a keystroke logger, which collects and transmits your passwords and any other sensitive data you type online.

Any website indexed by Google that fails to carefully handle JavaScript — the coding that activates many cool Web features, such as changing the color of a button when someone mouses over it — is a potential target. That's seven in 10 sites, says tech security firm WhiteHat Security. Hackers have discovered ways to trick the website application to run malicious JavaScripts.

"We're in a phase where one or two smart guys are attacking a few dozen major websites," says David Dewey, manager of IBM's X-Force security division. "In the next few weeks I would expect to see copycats attacking hundreds of high-profile websites."

Attackers have secretly corrupted Google results that direct traffic to Wired, CNet, TV.com, USATODAY.com, ZDNet Asia, History.com and many universities, says Dancho Danchev, a Netherlands-based security researcher, and Finjan Software, an Israeli security firm.

Most Google search results are safe. But in March alone Dewey and other security researchers found several hundred thousand corrupted Web pages returned in common Google search queries. They fear crime groups have just begun to take advantage.

Google issued a statement saying it is helping affected websites fix the problem and is also developing new tools "to detect and block" malicious Web pages.

Security experts say consumers can protect themselves by keeping anti-virus subscriptions and software updates current. Running an anti-virus scan may help repair infected PCs, although more serious fixes may be necessary.

Spokespeople for USATODAY.com and Wired said each blocked the attacks as soon as they were discovered. CNet, owner of TV.com and ZDNet Asia, declined to comment. History.com did not respond to queries.

"It should be the responsibility of the website operators to stop exposing people to risk as soon as possible," says Billy Hoffman, a security researcher at Hewlett-Packard. Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney at Consumers Union, agrees.

Attackers have taken advantage of JavaScript before, but usually on individual sites. The search engine trick — which has been focused on Google, though it could work on Yahoo and MSN search engines — is new, Danchev says.

Attackers are thrilled "to capture even a small percent of the traffic" of a big site, Finjan's Yuval Ben-Itzhak says.