Dave Horton – Inspiration, Leadership, and Love

Dave was a man who showed us all what true love is. A man who always had a minute to say hi, to listen to what’s on your mind and on your heart. No topic was too much for Dave and he loved to support others. Although we will all miss Dave since his passing today, we also get the opportunity to follow in his footsteps in how we treat other friends and strangers. Not once did I pass his office today and not thank him for the man he is and thank God for such an incredible creation. I believe that God has used Dave as an example of how people should live life on Earth. I appreciate Dave and the level of leadership he brought to the office. He was always willing to help and always making sure that everyone had a smile on their face. I believe that Dave is in an amazing place now, looking down on each and every one of us smiling and cheering us on throughout our day. There is no sadness in Dave’s heart right now but only peace and love. I will forever walk past Dave’s office and think of him and saying hello to him every morning as I walk to my office. I have been listening to a song title When I Get where I am Going by Brad Paisley and it’s almost like Dave is singing it word for word as that is where he is right now. I request that you listen to the song and just soak in the lyrics. If you have never met Dave Horton, just know that he was a man of love, compassion, leadership, open hearted, and an inspiration to my life. God Bless Dave Horton and the Horton family, we are all here with you and we all love you with our whole heart.

I choose to never take life for granted and to live every day, every moment, knowing that I may never have another.

Today – Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

Today was absolutely an incredible day! It started with some prayer with members of my Keller Williams Arizona Realty family for a man that is truly a compassionate, genuine, loving, and spectacular man named Dave Horton. I sit here and listen to one of my favorite bands “David Crowder Band” and just think about life and how incredible it is. Every day I am gifted the opportunity to step into this place called Earth and meet new people, build on existing relationships, work at an incredible real estate office, listen to good music, listen to others talk, and so on. It is men like Dave Horton and the life he lives that inspires me to actually LIVE life to the fullest. I appreciate the people in my life; my family, friends, and co-workers. I couldn’t be more thankful for the things I have and the people that have been placed in my life. I know big things are going to happen during the 2nd half of this year and God is going to lead me to places that I can’t even begin to imagine. I just wanted to keep my blog short tonight and share a recent photo that I took here in Phoenix. Thanks for reading tonight !

Welcome Back!

It has been a while since I’ve blogged…since 2010! So much has shifted in life and in the world since then . I’ve met so many new friends and I’ve surrounded myself with some of the best people. I recently discovered a new passion of mine; photography! I’ve really stepped into it and have recently experimented with lighting and different locations around the Phoenix valley. It is really cool to see how taking a picture of something can really bring out the beauty in God’s creation! I was in Tempe this past weekend taking pictures of then water and bridges at Tempe Town Lake and people would walk by and look at the screen of my camera and just compliment me on how amazing the picture would turn out. It then dawned on me how taking a picture of something that everyone sees can bring out even more beauty in it. I can’t wait to do some traveling this summer around Arizona and capture different locations on my camera and share them with the world . I now carry my camera with me everywhere because I never know when I might see something spectacular and I would hate to miss out on an opportunity to capture something great!

I have become very thankful to my to great bosses Kevin Kauffman and Fred Weaver for giving me the opportunity to have such a great job and also supporting me in moving forward and trying new things in life! Two of the most incredible people who I have grown closest to in the past few months. They have seen me grow so much over the past two + years. Thank you both so much!

I can’t wait to see where photography is going to take me over the next few months, what friends I will meet, and what places I will travel to! I look forward to blogging and sharing it all with you ! God bless and enjoy the rest of this awesome Tuesday!

Life is Good!

It’s Sunday, May 29th and life is good! I just finished taking some really cool pictures at Tempe Town Lake in Tempe, Arizona of some bridges and lights. I wanted to post one on my blog for everyone to view and check out! Have an awesome Sunday and I look forward to posting a more in depth blog later today!

God bless!

Tempe Town Lake - May 28th, 2011

Graham Colton – Best Days

Check out today’s song of the day I think you will really like enjoy it!

The Power of a Smile or a Simple Hello

Today I thought about how much a smile or some sort of acknowledgment can do for someone . We all have busy schedules including myself big time which obviously leaves limited time to stop and say hello to everyone that passes by. Why is it that we don’t always smile at people or just smile at all in general. I would imagine it takes less effort and energy to smile than it does to drive your car on the freeway or better yet cut someone off on the freeway. It’s fun to know that I may have changed a person’s entire day just by throwing a smile their way and letting them know that someone has given then attention. I think a lot of people go through their day without anyone giving them any attention and it must really make it difficult on them to actually enjoy their days activities. My personal goal is to smile and talk to as many people as I can throughout the day no matter what it is or who it is. I feel that sometimes when I am around certain people they get embarrassed because I truly do talk and wave to pretty much anyone. I am not sure why people get embarrassed because the chance of me even seeing that person again or them remembering me specifically is pretty much not going to happen. It’s sad to say that many people don’t socialize more because you never know who you’re going to meet or who’s life you’re going to touch that day. One thing I learned when I worked at Disney World in Orlando, Florida is that it’s not who you know but it’s who knows you and I think the more people you get in contact with the more people that will want to surround themselves with you. I am glad that I naturally smile a lot and make people have a better positive day as well . Imagine how the world would be if everyone smiled at one another and waved and just said hello? I think the world would be a much better place and it would definitely be a more positive one at least. I think it would be a good challenge to everyone to start smiling more and just carrying conversations with people you may not know well like the Starbucks cashier or the person taking your order at Five Guy’s Burgers and Fries. I’m sure we’ve all had our moods changed by the act of someone else smiling our way. See who you can meet today .

Is Life Really That “Bad”?

So I have been thinking…is our lives really that bad? I mean we all have our problems and hardships but what about the people that don’t even have families or a place to live or food to eat? Is our life still that bad when we think of them? I’m choosing to blog about this today because I feel that I make a bigger deal out of the problems and tough things I experience in my life when really they are a small fraction of what could be happening in my life. I can’t be anything but thankful for the people I have in my life and the things I have as well. I am completely blessed with everything I have and I do my very best not to take things for granted. I’m really excited for the what the near future has in store for me as I know I will be partaking in some incredible events. I think life is full of choices and one thing I’ve recently learned thanks to Klemmer and the facilitators is that I can say I HAVE to do something all day long when in reality there is a choice and I don’t really HAVE to do anything. So I may be going all over the board with topics all within one blog haha but I feel that it’s important to be thankful for what we all have and I think it’s important to change our mindset of having to do something to choosing to do something and creating better results in the things that we choose to do/”have” to do. I don’t know why I have been thinking about this topic so much but I’m choosing to act upon it and start overlooking the small things that I think are problems and instead of sitting on them and letting them control how I live my life, I’m going to conquer them and move on to bigger and better things. Next month I am attending a leadership seminar called Heart of the Samurai hosted by Klemmer and Associates which is a leading company in growth and leadership seminars. I have attended three up to this point; Champions Workshop, Personal Mastery, and Advanced Leadership and they have all influenced my life in so many ways. I am not 100% sure what I will be engaging in when I attend this next course but I know that it’s going to have something to do with Team Work and what the power of people can do. I think this course is really going to show me how I can apply myself even more in the teams that I am apart of being relationships and business and start creating even greater results in everything I do. I challenge you to look into what Klemmer has to offer so that you can see that there are so many benefits and opportunities in life that we don’t see on a regular basis but they become visible to us when we come into contact with experiences that shape our lives and change our way of thinking. I know I say this a lot but I appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to read my blog and share something with me about it. I challenge you to not let the little things in life control how you act or feel because in reality it will pass and life will move on and I know by experiences we tend to get wrapped up in something and when it passes we look back and say why did I even let that bother me.

Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

The video I chose for today was chosen because sometimes I think we take life for granted and avoid reality and how it could disappear in a second. Reality is hard to think about sometimes but I think it’s something we need to think about because it definitely causes you to be more thankful for the people you have in it. Although it may be hard to watch, feel free to watch it.