Embrace Your Foundation

So everything we do, are bricks of our personal foundation. A foundation can only be built if many bricks are added, and some of us want to go back in time and remove the bad bricks, but we cannot remove those bricks because the foundation will be ruined. There are things that I have done in the past that I regret, there are many mistakes I have made but I cannot remove those "bricks" out of my life. I don't want to, because my foundation is being built by God, it always has been. But now that I know that God is building my foundation, I am going to do my part in making it stronger and indestructible!

I am sure everyone is familiar with, "The Three Little Pigs" story. Two pigs build their houses of straw and sticks and the other builds his house out of bricks. Some of us grow up in a brick house, a strong foundation that is built on the power of God. Some of us grow up in a straw or stick house, a weak foundation of the lost and of the world. The world wants to tempt you with the easy way, to build your house out of sticks and straw, to have something quick and cheap, but once you build that, the world says you are on your own. If someone ruins your foundation, oh well. But what God offers is a house of bricks, a strong foundation that is hard to bring down. Of course you will still be tempted to let bad things come into the house of bricks, but if you let that temptation in, it can ruin you. Build your life like a house of bricks, it will take longer and a lot of hard work, but along with that journey, you are protected by God and given the reward of eternal life in Heaven!

Jesus says and teaches in Matthew 7:24-27 - "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Some of you may believe that this life is not fair. "People have more blessings than me." "How can I serve and believe in God when other people around me don't?" "Temptation feels so good." "God has taken a lot away from me, why should I serve Him?"

God has made EVERY single human on this earth, everyone is God's creation. But not everyone is God's child, we become God's child when we are saved, born again, and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We all have a fair opportunity to seek Him and become God's child. I know that when I see a homeless man or woman on the streets, I pray to God that they find a way to Him, because with God, they can get out of that situation. No matter how poor or how messed up your life is, you can find Him because He WANTS you to seek Him.

You should not be so ashamed of your past to where you say, "Oh God I have messed up so much, there is no way I can change and expect you to save me from the bondage of the world's ways." You cannot change your past, whatever you do, good or bad, is a part of your foundation. It is up to you if you want to make those bricks, straws, or sticks. You make your good and bad past experiences bricks, by letting God build them up. If you are saved, everything you have done in the past, has led you to Jesus. So you should not want to alter your past in any way. If the world and the devil build your foundation, as easy as it was to build it, it can easily be destroyed.

We are all given a fair chance to be born again, and we are all given different experiences because God wants us to humble ourselves and be inspired by what other people go through. If you look at someone and say, "Wow they are successful." Accept that as a blessing in your life, and seek to learn from that person and be motivated to succeed. If you see someone and say, "Wow they have it bad." Accept that as a blessing in your life, and humble yourself and find a way to help them.

So do not worry or think about what you have done in the past. Do not let those thoughts keep you up at night, instead feed your mind on ideas or thoughts on how to serve God and sew into His Kingdom. The worries and fears will go away, because when you care to serve Him, He blesses your life with answered prayers. You go searching for a friend, you may not find one. But if you go searching for God, He will provide you with many friends!

We must work hard everyday and never be complacent. If we dwell on our past disappointments and accomplishments, we will not see what we need to do next. The harder we work to live a righteous life, the more powerful we become. Fully obey The Word and you will have a perfect God fully protecting and working in you, the ultimate foundation.

Thank you for reading! Any feedback and suggestions are encouraged! Any questions or prayer requests are welcomed as well!

Sincerely,
Christopher Edward Perez
cperez0116@yahoo.com
Twitter: @C_P_2
Instagram: @cperez02
Facebook: Chris E Perez

What's In It For You?

There are a lot of things in this world that we can love or pretend to love. Different people, different things...we could love movies, music, or anything that we set our heart on. Loving people and loving things are okay, it is when we start WORSHIPPING imperfect people and materials that we need to ask ourselves, what's in it for me?

I hear and see people talking a lot about their favorite celebrities. They speak on how great they are, they have posters in their room of these people, and they go to great lengths to let people know that they are "perfect". No one in this world will ever be perfect. No matter how much money someone has or how talented they are, they are not perfect. You can say that there are a lot of celebrities that do a lot of good things and I agree. I admire ANY person for doing the right things and doing good for others, it inspires me. But God tells us that no amount of good deeds can ever be good enough for Him. We are born sinners, so in order to have a relationship with a perfect God, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who is all man and all God, to pay the price for the sins of imperfect people. So there is no need to "worship" imperfect people.

Instead of speaking so much on celebrities, speak more on how great God is. Instead of posters of imperfect people, fill your room or house with decorations that represent your beliefs and pride for God. Instead of spending money on clothes and materials that represent your favorite people, spend money on helping others and clothes that will show your beliefs. I am not saying that you need to totally disregard your favorite people, but God should be first in EVERYONE's life. Not money, not your siblings, not your parents, not people. If you put God first, then He will bless you in your finances and the people you love. If you pray to Him, He will know your heart. If you worship Him, you will be blessed more than you will worshipping people. The people you worship and the people you love, more than God...is your god. There is only ONE God that is perfect, everyone else is imperfect. So why would you worship imperfect people that cannot give you what a perfect God can?

There are a lot of people I respect and admire. There are people I read about or I read on what they have to say. There is music I listen to because I like how the lyrics speak to me. There are clothes that I have that represent people and music groups that inspire my life greatly...BUT I realize that those people I respect and admire, follow biblical principles and have Jesus Christ at the center of their lives. I will never worship ANY person, God is the only one that deserves worship. I will love people based on God's love (Mentioned in the article, "What Is Love?"). People will speak to me that will make me love them because of how they are speaking about how great God is, what He does, and what He calls us to do. So what's in it for you to worship people?

I also hear and see people writing on social media or posting pictures that do not necessarily benefit themselves or other people. I see people using Twitter as a way to rant about something or someone. You may realize that you are talking to yourself when you do that...or you could be desperately seeking for attention and wanting people to sympathize for you. You do not need to do that, I believe Twitter should be used to bring awareness and inspire people through short phrases and links. Do not use it as a running diary.

Let me assure you that bringing your problems to God, will benefit and bless your life more than any other way. Unless people speak to you through God's Word and His teachings, those people that try to help you, do not have their intentions based on what is best for you. Instead of bringing your problems to social media, bring them to God, bring them to a strong man of God, bring them to a strong woman of God; and you will not necessarily hear what you want, but you will hear what you NEED.

Do not shy away from people because they are telling you the truth. Telling the truth is not judging anyone, it is bringing you the Good News, it is telling you how to serve God so He can bless your life and break you away from any bondage you may have. I know that when I talk to God, when I open my mouth and speak to Him, He has me speak in a very powerful way. Because as I am speaking to Him, I realize that He is perfect and His ways are perfect. He has given me a Bible that has ALL the answers. So when I talk to Him, I realize that my ways are ridiculous, I realize that my problems are not all that bad. Why? Because I know God is working in me, it is the greatest feeling to be reassured that God is working in my favor. Even during hard times, He is growing me and making me stronger. I realize that He is blessing me, and sometimes I have a hard time finding out how, but I just have total faith that He is.

When I look back on my life so far, I can see how God blessed me when I could not see it at the moment. As I learn more about God's Word and being taught The Word in church, the easier it is for me to understand how God works. I think some of us shy away from God's ways because we do not see it working in our favor...but as you gain more knowledge of the truth, you will gain more of an understanding of how He works. It is not that sinners cannot understand God's Word, it is that they choose not to understand it. It could be too hard to follow His ways, but God created ALL of us to be able to understand His Word. With His offering of free will to us, we choose whether we want to understand it or not. A relationship with God is important, do not let the world's ways, that constantly changes, influence you to lose your privilege in having a relationship with Him. What is considered good today may not be considered good tomorrow, but God's Word never changes, so we can know how to serve Him and how to get to Heaven. If the world is so messed up, what's in it for you to follow the world's ways?

Now everyone that knows me knows I do not see benefits for taking self-portraits (i.e. selfies). I have heard many ways that people try to explain to me that they are beneficial, but I still do not see why. One reason why people take self-portraits, is to see how many "likes" they can get. And I see an addiction coming because people get so consumed on getting more and more likes. They will add picture filters, they will reveal more of their body, they will do whatever it takes, to take a good picture of themselves.

Personally, I have heard this, "Wow that girl looks way better on Instagram than she does in person." I believe that is a big turn off for people, because the person does not appear the way that they seem. So you can be lying about your physical image

People also do it for the comments, "You're so beautiful!" "You're so perfect!" Now when I see a beautiful person, I will tell them because that should not go unnoticed. But beauty is more than a picture or a physical image, beauty is revealed when a person does good things and lives righteously. It says in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 - "And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes. For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do." Women do not need to attract men on how they reveal themselves, but be attractive on how God reveals them. The most attractive quality for me personally is a positive relationship with God, someone who serves Him and helps others. The physical beauty will take care of itself, if God sees you working to serve Him, He will bless you with great physical qualities that will attract people. If you serve God, and you look good, than what will stop you from God revealing the perfect spouse for you?

The one comment that bothers me is, "You're so perfect!" Because like I mentioned, none of us are perfect, so why would we tell people lies on Instagram when they post a self-portrait? I know I can be reading too much into that. But some people can take that comment, and really believe they are perfect. When people believe they are perfect, they tend to trust their own ways. People have told me that comment too, not because of a self-portrait, but because of my positive attitude and willing to help others. I realize that when people tell me that, they are telling me a lie. When people tell you this comment, it could definitely be an exaggeration. So I think of perfection like this, being perfect means that you realize you are imperfect, and are willing to be perfected. No one will ever be perfect, God did not create us that way, because He wants us to constantly seek Him and have a relationship with Him. Our purpose on this earth is to get as close to perfection as we can, knowing we will never fully reach it. So if you post self-portraits or comment/like self-portraits, what's in it for you to show lies and tell lies?

All I am saying really, is to focus on having a strong relationship with God, put Him first in your life, and He will take care of the rest. Some of us struggle to find a purpose for why we are here, well let God work in your life and He will show you why.

With a relationship with God, I am not saying that you need to go preach The Word or write about it or to know every scripture in The Bible. If you haven't had a relationship with God, start slow. If you have had a relationship with God, continue to find ways to serve Him. Starting off slow can mean reading a verse a day, watching church on TV, then going to church, asking a friend to go with you, etc. Believe me, I took small steps, very small steps, on my path. I have only been going to church for 5 years, and after 5 years, I can finally say that I am ALL IN with God to where I am going to serve Him and put Him first in my life. A journey of a thousand steps starts with one. Do not get overwhelmed with people that know worship songs and verses, they are just on a higher spiritual level than you are. But that does not mean you cannot catch those people. I knew NOTHING when I first stepped into a church, surrounded by people that knew a lot about The Word of God. Instead of shying away and being intimidated, I took on the challenge of being a better Christian so I would not feel lost.

There are people in this world that are lost, not in understanding God's Word. If you are lost, you are not alone. If you are lost, you can be found. Do not follow the world's ways, you will be even more lost. Follow God's ways, and He will reveal your best qualities, and show that you do matter, and that you have a beneficial purpose on this earth!

Thank you all for reading, any feedback, good or bad, is appreciated. Please contact me in any way if you have questions!

Sincerely,

Christopher Edward Perez
Email: cperez0116@yahoo.com
Twitter: @C_P_2
Instagram: cperez02
Facebook: Chris E Perez

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

Twitter: @C_P_2
Instagram: @cperez02
Facebook: Chris E Perez

Show You Belong

There are certain things we want and certain places we want to be, but in order to achieve your goals, you have to work for them, show you belong, and prove your worth.

A lot of us have been asked the question, "If you had one wish, what what you would wish for?". People can ask for more wishes, because they know they want more than one thing. Some of us can answer that question, where we believe if we just get that one thing, we will be happy. Say you do get that thing you wanted, it may be a new phone, or a new house, or an advance in your salary. What happens next? Well, you will start thinking of other things you want. I strongly believe that the human mind has unlimited wants. If I gave you 24 hours to create a "Wish List", and you were given everything on that wish list, your mind will still find a way to think of other things you want.

We must set goals in order to achieve what we want, but once we achieve those goals, we must set new goals for ourselves. My first goal going into high school was to make the freshman basketball team. Since 3rd grade I have been playing basketball and I wanted it to pay off. When I got to tryouts, I realized how much better I was than most of the players trying out. I was sure that if I worked hard and showed I belonged on the team, I was going to get a spot on the roster. Me believing that I was better than most of the players, was not going to be good enough, I had to prove I was better and show what I can bring to the team.

Since then, I have constantly set goals for myself. I wanted to make JV, make Varsity, be a captain, play college basketball. I wanted to pass my classes, get a 3.0 GPA, get straight A's, go to college. I want to be a coach, I want to be a head coach, I want to coach at a college, I want to coach in the NBA. With setting these goals, I know that I have to work for them in order to achieve them. Being on a team last year, does not mean you are guaranteed a spot on the team next year. Getting a good grade on one test, does not mean you will get a good grade for the class. You have to continue to work hard on a consistent bases.

God has given you a plan, a purpose rather; along with that purpose, He has given you UNLIMITED potential. Not one human being is limited by their circumstances in order to fulfill God's plan. You are able to overcome being poor, you are able to overcome being small, you are able to overcome school. I believe there is no greater achievement, than doing something that no one has ever done before and doing something people told you that you could not do. In able to achieve that, you have to overcome an obstacle where you had to prove you are worthy. People will write you off with an eye test. If a coach sees that you are short and skinny, he or she will probably think you will not make the team or cannot help them. So what do you have to do? Show you belong and prove your worthy. If you dress a certain way, a teacher can see that you do not care about school and are not intelligent, but yet you can show by your hard work, that no matter what, you will prove that you are smart!

We will all fail and we will all have success, but the way you respond to both failures and achievements, will determine how you live your life. When we fail, we can easily get down on ourselves and give up. The greatest successors have failed because of how they responded to their failures. After you fail, the best thing to do is get an even stronger passion to get better. Whenever I lost a game, or I received a bad grade, I would get a really bad feeling. So I would do everything I could, to learn from my mistakes and get better, so I would not have that bad feeling again. Will I lose again? Will I fail? Most likely, but in order for me to become successful, is for me to not accept I am a failure. The people that have success, have failed MANY times, but they do not call themselves failures. The ultimate fail, is failing and calling yourself a failure.

Responding to success can give a lot of people a sense of entitlement. What I mean by that, is that with success, people will begin to think that they are better than everybody and they do not have to work hard anymore. When you get a good grade on a test, that does not mean you do not have to work hard to get a good grade on the next test. You must learn that, the reason why you received a good grade on the test, is because you worked hard and studied for it. So that means if you want the same or better result, then you have to work hard and study. If you win a game, if you win a championship, that does not mean you do not have to work hard to win the next game and defend your title. If anything, you will have to work even harder because it is a lot harder to defend a title than it is to win it. Because once you win a championship, next year other teams will step their game up to take that title away from you. Just like we are supposed to learn from our mistakes and failures, we are to learn from our achievements as well.

Do not dwell on what you did yesterday, because you can achieve a lot more today. Losses and wins, are not to be thought about, they are to be a learning experience. Never get too down about a loss and never get too high off a win. Because it will effect your next game. You see it all the time in sports, a team can pull off a great upset, but then lose to a team that they are better than. Why does this happen? Is because a team can dwell so much on a big win, that they are distracted in game planning for the next game.

This is how life is, we can achieve great things, but if we dwell on those things, it will be harder to achieve even greater things. In order to build good character, you have to continue to do the right things. You cannot do something bad for your company, then tell your boss that it should be excused because you did a great thing for the company a few weeks ago. This life is not based on what you have you done, it is on what have you done lately? And what you have done in the past, should have the same qualities as to what you have done lately.
 That is what showing you belong is all about. Showing each and every day that you are worthy and not dwelling on the past.

Hall of Fame running back Walter Payton told us that if you are good, you will tell everyone. But if you are great, people will tell you. Let the success be your noise, not your words. Work hard in silence, because the times when I got better, is when no one was watching me. There is extra work I did that my teachers did not know about and there are many hours I put in the gym that my coaches did not know about. But when I had to show that I belonged on the team, I was prepared because I worked hard for those opportunities. Along with my hard work in silence, teachers and coaches would and still do, talk highly of me and recommend me to colleges, teams, and jobs. Like I always stress, look at the bigger picture while you are painting the small details. In order to get the bigger picture, you have to start out by creating these little details.

Thank you all again for reading and I hope this helps with any situation you are in! Enjoy the holidays!

Chris Perez
Twitter: @C_P_2
Instagram: cperez02
Facebook: Chris E Perez