John Bonesio 
No wonder people want to be “normal.” Most terms that refer to the opposite of “normal” have negative connotations, like “strange,” “weird” and “freak.” But to me and to other like-minded people “normal”has a negative flavor instead. When I hear “normal,”I think“average” or, even worse, “mediocre.” I cringe at the thought of those words being … Read more
The last two times I talked about types of help that are harmful either to the giver or the receiver. This time I am pulling it all together and sharing what amazingly awesome generosity looks like. Amazingly awesome generosity has the following attributes: It’s given for the right reason. It doesn’t leave us (the giver) in … Read more
Last time we talked about help that harms the recipient. Today we will talk about help that harms us, the giver. Sometimes outside influences result in harmful helping, but sometimes we are the culprits. Here are a few indicators that our generosity might be harming ourselves. 1. We feel guilty for not giving When we … Read more
Sometimes we give help that harms the other person. We think we’re helping, but what we’re doing is more like giving a drunk a drink. We have discovered a cause about which we are passionate, and we want to make a difference, but if we’re not careful, our help can do more harm than good. … Read more
We hear things like, “Leaders or born, not made.” So, when we talk about needing leadership skills to live our calling, some of us may be wondering, “What if I’m not a leader?” Everyone is a Leader (or can be) One thing I want to make sure we understand is that just about everyone is … Read more
There are many ideas floating around about leadership. Sometimes focusing on the key elements of an idea helps bring clarity and understanding. Here are 3 key elements of leadership. Influence John Maxwell defines leadership as influence. We agree that influence is a big part of leadership. Sometimes we confuse leadership with authority. When someone is … Read more
Do we lead our life or do we just accept our life? Accept Our Life When we just accept our life, we use a thought process like: “I have to ____.” We let circumstances or others direct our life. We avoid personal responsibility and we get to avoid blame, as we aren’t the ones who … Read more
Our personal experience of life is truly amazing when we find and live our calling. Let’s compare the experience of life with our calling and life without our calling. Life Without Our Calling When we haven’t found our calling, it may be that we’ve not found something that uses our strengths at least a little … Read more
Will the result of our life be buried with us? Sometimes we don’t think about the result of our life. We just go through life responding to what comes up, all the while working to make ourselves happy. We pursue happiness, but I believe we are really seeking satisfaction. We often get confused between happiness and satisfaction. … Read more
You have a calling. Really. You do. Some people believe a calling only comes directly from God as an assignment. Other folks believe only professional ministers have a calling. In everyday life, we’ll even use phrases like, “You’ve found your calling,” or “this is definitely not my calling.” But what exactly do we mean by … Read more