I was leading a seminar this week and we were talking about the importance of understanding just how precious time is and how so little of it we actually have in life.  We seem to live our lives as if we have “all the time in the world.

‘In other words it's very easy for us to put off the really important things that we say that we will ” someday” get around to doing.  You know the kinds of things I'm talking about-the” bucket list.”

In case you haven't seen it the movie featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman titled the bucket list is the story of two men who discover they are about to die and they go on an adventure of accomplishing all the things in life that they wanted to but they had put on their bucket list.  The places they wanted to visit, the things they wanted to see and do, and healing the relationships that had been broken in their lives before it was too late.

So as we were talking about this in the work shop a gentleman raised his hand and he said to the audience what would you do today if you knew that you were going to be dead at midnight?  If you knew this was the last day that you have on this earth what would you do are smart who would you talk to?  What would you say?  Where would you go?

Obviously a question like this is very powerful to consider.  The only problem with it is that we don't seem to ever stop and consider these kinds of questions in our lives.  But the reality of it is today could in fact be the last day that we have on planet Earth.

So let me repeat his question at this time directed to you-how would you treat this day if you knew that you were going to be dead by midnight?  Take a moment and write down three to five things that you would be surer that you would do.  That you would regret and drink into eternity having not done these three to five things.

So let me ask-what things on that list can you do today?  And what's stopping you from doing it?  None of us are guaranteed tomorrow?  So maybe today it's time to take care of these things.

Let's just hope that were not  “Dead by midnight.”

Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought about my desire to live an authentic and transparent life- as a Christian man, who is in business, with a wife, children, community and church leadership responsibilities.

I believe I have come to the conclusion of wanting my life to be summarized by the following 12  words:

Nothing To Prove

Nothing To Hide

Nothing To Lose

Nothing To Fear

Imagine the freedom and power of leading and conducting your business, serving your spouse and children, and simply living your life in such a way.

How awesome would it be to feel like you have nothing to prove to anyone?  Just being yourself and having people accept and welcome you - exactly as you were created by God.  Never having to work outside of your passion or what you are good at just because you feel like you have to earn someone's respect.

Consider how clean your conscience would be with nothing to hide. This would mean that your life and business would be "above reproach," and you would have no shame or guilt over any aspect of your life- including the words you use, the sites you visit on the internet, the small details of those business deals that can be tempting to "work in the gray area" to maximize revenue or profit.  This would mean your local newspaper could do an in-depth expose' on your life and business, and they would not find anything worth printing!

How awesome would it be to come to the conclusion that God truly is in control, and it is ALL HIS anyway- so when all is said and done you have nothing to lose!  This would certainly make it easier to sleep at night, and would give us an incredible sense of peace in these troubled economic times. When you truly are not worried about what you will lose, you can live your life with passion and wreckless abandon for the Lord.

And finally, when you have nothing to fear, you live with such authenticity and confidence (in the Lord) that no person and no circumstance can cause you to worry, fret, or lose your joy in Christ!

I am challenging every follower of Christ to ponder this motto- steal it-borrow it- use it- change it-create their own motto, etc.

But whatever you do - LIVE IT!