Don't Take It Personal (Inspired by Hugh Greenwood)

Most of us have the impression that we need to impress people and be well-liked by the world. Well if we strive to be a "people pleaser", we will take offense or take comments personal, causing us to react in a negative way. The world changes daily, and the world's standards will consistently change, so we will never please people of this world.

However, there is one standard that has not and will never change, and that is God's standard. We are not made to please people of this world, we are to please God. With pleasing God, we will please people around us. God gave us His Word, gave us The Bible, so we can have an answer for EVERYTHING. We all have problems, and we all have that friend we turn to because we trust them. Realize that people's intentions can be altered, based on their feelings for us or giving us advice for what is best for them. Also realize that God's intention, is to love us, He will never give us advice that will destroy us. Will His advice hurt? Will we suffer pain? Most likely, but it is to help us grow. It is sinful to stay stagnant because we are not using God's given gifts and talents. We must grow, but with growing, we will have growing pains. When we pray to God to grow us in different aspects of our lives, realize that we are praying for pain. When you suffer pain, God is answering our prayers!

In this world, we are going to get personally attacked by enemies, friends, and even family members. And the people that try to personally attack us, do not have any positive intentions for us. Most of the time, they want to make themselves feel better, when in reality our intentions should be to make others feel better. This is my mindset, if someone attacks me personally, I ignore it. But if someone is telling me I am doing something wrong, according to God's standard, I am all ears. I will forever be willing to learn. So understand the difference, do not get in arguments or debates with people that talk nonsense. Those people are not worth our time, they just want attention and to feel superior over us and over God.

If we do not have compassion, we will win no argument. We need to help people, instead of wishing evil upon people, let's hope and pray that those people get right with God. We do not want our worst enemies to go to hell. Let's lead people in the right direction with our actions and words. We never know who is watching and who is inspired by what we do. In The Bible, Genesis 12:3, God says that He will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So if we bless others, God will bless us. There will be greater joy from God when we bless those that curse us. If we curse those who curse us, it goes back in full circle because we become a curser, therefore God will curse us and there will be no satisfaction or growth.

With personal attacks, there are going to be people that cross the line. I do not mind when people attack me personally, but when they attack people I care about, it bothers me. In my growth, I have realized that I need to find ways to react in a positive manner. Yesterday, Hugh Greenwood of the UNM Lobos Mens' Basketball Team, showed us a great example of just that.

There was ONE fan that was making terrible jokes about his mum about her issues with breast cancer. Hugh did not give him the time or acknowledgement to mention him. Because the intention of this fan, was to get attention, whether if it is negative or positive. Hugh also mentioned that this fan's comments, motivated him to beat UNLV at Las Vegas(UNM 71 UNLV 69). He told members of his family, "I love you guys so much. No one messes with my family." Hugh could have easily got in an argument with this fan and no one would blame him. He understood that it would have distracted the task at hand, which was to beat UNLV. Hugh put on a great performance and showed his winning experience. Instead of reacting right away, he took time to compose himself to find a way to turn it into a positive, and sure enough he did.

I am sure God had a huge smile on His face when Hugh reacted the way he did. Not only did he put this fan to shame, but we are to be encouraged to not curse this fan, we are encouraged to hope and pray for him not to get cancer and get right with God. Have this fan understand that he does not need to crave attention at the expense of bad character. We are all called to do great things with the unique gifts God has given each and every one of us. Let us encourage good people and bad people, to use the gifts God has given them and have Jesus be at the center of their lives. The more god-like we are, the more God will bless us and the earth.

If we are right with God, that does not mean we are going to please everybody. Do not get caught up in that concept. Learn to please God and the right people will come in our lives and the wrong will leave it. I understand that people are going to hate me, I am very open about my faith because I believe it is important and I take it seriously. With that, people of this world will attack me personally, they will hate me, and I realize that...the world hates Jesus too...In John 15:18-19 Jesus says, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

Do not follow the world's ways, follow and obey God's ways, for He is the judge of our eternal life, not people...Everything I know, and everything I have experienced, is from God. This is not my own wisdom, this is what God has taught me. He gives us experiences, talents, and a Bible; that He wants us to use collectively. 

P.S. If you like to help raise money for the Hugh Greenwood Pink Pack, a fundraising organization to raise money for cancer research, follow this page on Twitter @HGPinkPack and in the bio, you will find a link that gives you the opportunity to donate to this great cause!

P.S.S. I do not want any false accusations against the ENTIRE UNLV fan base, this was just one fan. The UNLV Rebellion sincerely apologized on behalf of this fan and encouraged Hugh and the organization to help fight cancer.

Thanks for Reading,
Christopher Edward Perez

In My Time Alone

Now there are a lot of times where we feel lonely...And in those times, we can try to search for something or someone to get us out of our loneliness...Truth is, we need to search for ourselves.

Loneliness is something we can all struggle with; we can be sitting in our room or we can even be around a group of people. Some of us believe that we are not cool or normal if we do not go out on Friday and Saturday nights. Now I have experienced being alone on these nights and going out on these nights; and I honestly felt more alone when I was out, around a bunch of people.

When I have time to myself, I really try to find out who I am. I get so many thoughts racing through my head, thinking of ways to improve myself and improve other things around me. In those times I am thinking deeply, if I am out trying to have "fun", I am not thinking, I am not improving myself, I am only hurting myself. I believe that if we are complacent, if we are not improving, if we are not growing, we are hurting ourselves. We are meant to grow, it does not make sense for me to say at 22 years old, I am done growing, there is nothing more I need to learn. It does not make sense if you are 16, or 50, or whatever age you are...We need alone time to figure out how to improve ourselves for when we are out in public at our job, in our sport, with our families or with school.

Obviously, being around other people is healthy for us, but it is important that we are around the right people. Because when you are around friends or other people, you can focus more on being entertained and conversations can be one sided where one person talks and one person listens. We do not want to be around people that are going to negatively influence our lives. To some people, it is not obvious that what they are doing is wrong. Because a "friend" or person can convince them that what they are doing wrong, is right. Just because something feels good, does not mean it is right. This is where finding your alone time helps, where you shut out all the outside noise and figure out what is right and what is wrong. Do you REALLY feel good after doing something wrong? Is the good feeling only temporary? Ask yourself hard questions, because it is very rare that other people in your life will do that.

Since high school, I have always done something that my high school coach taught me. He challenged us that every night before bed, to look into a mirror, and ask yourself, did you do your best? I like this exercise because it is a conversation between you and yourself, so there is no reason to lie to yourself, if you do, than that is a whole other issue. But if you try this, and not lie to yourself, you will find out more about yourself. Because we all like to impress our friends and hide bad things from them, so we do not necessarily let people get to fully know us. So there were times where I could not lie to myself, some days I did not give my best, and I would tell myself why and how I am going to do better. Now I live everyday for that moment before bed and more often than not, I am able to tell myself I gave my best. There are days where I will forget to give my best and need to be reminded, but I will never forget to ask myself that question.

We all look in the mirror to see how our hair looks, what looks bad on our faces, how our smile looks, etc. But what about what truly matters? The mirror is not just help us fix our physical appearance, it gives us a chance to look at ourselves and gain a feeling inside of us. Your brain and heart think of things when you look at yourself, and if those feelings are bad feelings, look to fix them. If you feel you are doing something wrong, fix it. Do not believe that you can go throughout your life by getting by with your physical appearances. I know a lot of you do not like change, so you do not change your personality or who you are; but whether you like it or not, your physical appearances will change with age. So look to improve yourself from within, because that is something that can always change for the better. You are not to be known for your physical appearance, you are to be known for the good things that you do. And you will be amazed on how much your physical appearance becomes more attractive when you look to improve your personality and character. I promise you, you will be more attractive than people who look good and do bad.

For me personally, I like my alone time, because I am not alone. I get to talk to God, I get to have a honest conversation with Him. I go to a God that is my answer, that teaches me what is right and what is wrong. No one else can tell me otherwise, if it goes against The Word of God, I ignore it and say it is not for me. There were times in my life where I was surrounded by a lot of people, but completely ignored God. Interesting how in my time alone, I found Him. In my time alone, I talk to Him. In my time alone, He teaches me. But when I was surrounded by people doing wrong things, that is when I really felt alone. If I want to feel good and be entertained, I look for a church before a night club/house party. After leaving the church, I feel a lot better than when I left night clubs/house parties. I get a lot out of church, I got nothing out of night clubs and parties. The goal at church is to find inner peace and learn what is right and wrong. The goal at night clubs and parties is to get drunk and take someone home with you. You will always achieve your goal at church, but you won't always achieve your goals at parties. Say you do get drunk and take someone home with you, how do you feel the next morning? Probably not too good, and if you do feel good, you are going down a road of temporary happiness and true loneliness.

Do not feel bad, do not go try to fit in with people because you think it is necessary. Be yourself, find yourself, and other people will find you. People that will support you, care for you, and love you!

Thank you all for reading! I look forward to hearing your feedback and stories!

Sincerely,
Christopher Edward Perez

Quick Read: I Have A Friend Who...(Inspired by Steve Smothermon, Sr.)

I have some advice for you...if you are sick, don't go to the hospital

Wait, why not?

Because there are sick people there. 

...That doesn't make sense.

Sure it does, you shouldn't be around other sick people if you want to feel better. 

...But, there are doctors there that can heal me and make me healthy. If I don't try to get healthy, then I will always be sick. If I am surrounded by other sick people, we can share stories and encourage each other to fight our illness and get better!

...Realize that we are born sinners...and in order to turn away from a sinful life and repent, we must go to church and learn to live a righteous life. When you are not saved, you are sick. The church is your hospital, the pastors are your doctors. And in the church, you will be surrounded by sinners and imperfect people. But like how in a hospital, patients want to feel better. Church goers realize they are not perfect but are willing to be perfected. If your friend or family member is sick, wouldn't you take him/her to the hospital, and be there for him/her until they get better?

Of course I would. 

So if your friend or family member is not saved, not born again spiritually, and is living a sinful life; wouldn't you take him/her to church and be there for them, support them, and watch them grow? 

This New Year, really challenge yourself to reach out to someone, invite them to church. We can't save everybody, but we can all save at least one!

#IHaveAFriendWho...

ALL IN

We come into the year 2015 with different resolutions and different goals set; however, I have a resolution that could help you achieve your goals with one concept. That concept is, strive to be the best at everything you do. Have total faith that giving your best will lead you to success and happiness.

I understand a lot of  us can be in positions we do not want to be in. So what happens is our attitude becomes poor. Say you are working at a certain company, solely to make money. Meaning you do not love your job, you have a "clock  in, clock out" attitude that leads you to hating your job but you stick with it because you know you need the money. With a situation like this, you STILL must strive to be the best at what you do. Maybe you are a waiter/waitress, strive to be the best waiter/waitress you can possibly be. Maybe you are a cashier at a store, be the best cashier you can possibly be. Maybe you are working a "9 to 5" job that you do not like, still be the best employee you can possibly be.

This idea consists of being a complete person, where you make an effort to be great in all aspects of your life. We are all sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, athletes, employees, teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. We need to be the best at what we are called to be. For me personally I am a son, so I am striving to be a great son to my parents and represent my family in the best way possible. I am a coach, a teacher, a mentor, a trainer, a Christian; God has called me to be a leader in EVERYTHING I do. I do not want to be a great coach and an average teacher. I want to be a great teacher, I want to gain more knowledge so I can mentor the youth. I want to learn how to improve strength and conditioning for athletes, so I read about how to train athletes to be great and not average. Nothing I will ever do, will be just to make money, I do it to be the best because I promise you, striving to be great will come with great opportunities.

When I was in high school, I refereed games on the weekends. A lot of high school athletes did this, and some of them did not take it seriously. Some of them just wanted to get paid and thought it was an easy way to make extra money. I knew that I was going to get the same amount of money from the guys that did not take refereeing seriously. Which at first it does not seem fair, but I did get rewarded for taking the job seriously. My boss, saw that I was sprinting up and down the court to get in the right positions to make calls and make the right calls. I was not the perfect referee, no one is, but I showed I was taking it seriously and working hard. With that, my boss gave me more games to call, and I called all of the championship games for each division. So at the end, I did end up earning more money.

As a sophomore in high school, the boys' volleyball coach talked to the basketball team about joining the volleyball team. I played volleyball from time to time, but never anything organized. So I had to learn from scratch on the fundamentals of volleyball. I was committed to learning as some athletes were not taking the tryout seriously. Not only did I make the volleyball team after never playing before, I played on the varsity team that same year, up unto my senior year. Through those three years, I earned Most Improved, All-League, MVP, and two school records. One for most assists in a game (62) and one for most serves in play in the season (316).

With these two situations, I want to encourage you to be better at what you are called to do. Some of you may be working a job that you do not take seriously. But imagine if you go into work tomorrow, and the next day, and so on; with a great attitude and a determination to be the best, I am almost 100% sure your boss will notice. If he/she does not notice right away, be patient because the opportunity will come. Especially for waiters, waitresses, bartenders; you want to be the best so you can get more shifts to make more money. You can gain more tips, and if a customer does not tip you well, do not get discouraged! Instead try to find an understanding of why they did not tip you well. I have said it before, you never know who is watching. The better your attitude is, the more you take your job seriously, the more you want to succeed; the more connections you will gain through people that not only could help you out, but want to help you out because they will get a good feeling about you through those aspects.

The second situation consists more of the students and athletes. I first want to emphasize that as a student, you should want to be the best student in your class or even in your school. Can other students have more benefits and advantages to be the best student in the school? Of course, but it is not about having the best situation, it is about making the best out of your given situation. Striving to be the best, and feeling you cannot be best, is still okay. Because believe it or not, miracles still happen, but you have to put yourself in the best situation possible to have miracles work out for you. Secondly, comes the athlete perspective of being your best. I know some of you play multiple sports, and if you do, you should give 100% in each sport you play. I do not believe that if you play multiple sports, one is more important than the other. If you feel that one of the sports you play is less important to you and you do not love it as much, then do not waste your coaches, parents, or teammates time. Because being a part of ANY team, should consist of hard work, dedication, and a perfect effort. As a coach, the players should want to win just as much as I want to win and more. If you do not feel the need to win, then you are not a true athlete. A true athlete does not want the superstar role on a losing team, a true athlete wants a role to do whatever it takes to win games and championships.

Readers, I would not have been able to be a part of a Division I team if I was not all in. If I was not committed to winning, if I did not work hard, if I did not spend hours in the gym by myself; I would not be a coach, a mentor, or a leader. I would not be able to inspire others. The reason why I can motivate people is because I have the stories and experiences to back up my logic. And I will continue to be all in. I do not write these articles for my sake, I do it for people that could possibly get moved or inspired by my messages. I strongly appreciate the feedback, and it warms my heart to see how different people are being moved by one message. I see moms putting my articles on their refrigerators, I see schools putting my articles in their newspapers, coaches from different parts of the country are telling me that they are showing these articles to their players, professional writers are encouraging me to keep writing...I am getting more praise, more opportunities, and more connections; by simply being ALL IN.

We are all called to be greater tomorrow than we are today. Never compare your progress to someone else's. Because I know I am far behind a lot of people in this world, but that will not discourage me to give up and hide. It is hard being great and striving for greatness, but the blessings and opportunities that come with it bring joy, happiness, and peace to your life. Do not be overwhelmed that people around you are ahead of you, instead learn from those people. That way you can use other people's success to help you succeed!

I remember as a kid, I did not really like getting Christmas presents. Of course I appreciated what I was getting, but there was one thing I saw that was happening during the holidays, and that was serving and giving. I saw athletes play Santa Claus for kids, visit children's hospitals, feed the hungry, build houses, etc. And for me, that was one of the main reasons why I wanted to be in the NBA, so I could do stuff like that. I realized I do not need that status, I could have a giving heart in everyday life. So for me personally, I want to be the most unselfish and giving person in the world. And each day I strive to be and I learn how to be just that. I know there are more unselfish people out there, I know I am more unselfish than others. But none of that matters, it is about me being better that I was yesterday and continuing to make my best better. So I encourage you all to add this concept into your New Year's resolutions. Then by this time next year, you can really see how much you have grown as a person; whether it be in your relationships, sport, job, etc. Seek to improve yourself, and you will start to see that you can be somebody more than the average person. You will see that EVERYBODY is given opportunities to achieve greatness!

Thank you all so much for reading and let God bless you with a great year and many more to come!

Thanks,
Christopher Edward Perez

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