Hello everyone and Welcome to another

episode of Selling Greenville your

favorite real estate podcast here in

Greenville, South Carolina, I'm your host

as always Stan McCune realtor right here

in the Greenville area of South Carolina

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today is going to be a much different

episode than normal but as some of you

know my father passed away earlier this

month after battling multiple sclerosis

for about two decades

and then for the past two years

battling melanoma which he ultimately

lost that fight

earlier in the month of July and he

would have been

76 years old on July 23rd

so he didn't quite make it that long

but he made it to 75 years my mom and he

celebrated their 50th anniversary in the

month of June and he was a

listener of the show

and and even though he didn't send a

lot of text messages that wasn't a big

thing that he did very often he would

usually send me a text message each week

to let me know that he enjoyed that

week's episode and and so I really

feel like I want to give this episode

because this is my show I can do

whatever I want

I want to give this episode as a

tribute to him and specifically 10

lessons that I learned from him that

I think will be useful and inspiring to

everyone that listens to this

now to give a little bit of

background real quick my dad wasn't a

business person during my life he was

the pastor of a small Church in New

Jersey and at various times he took on

various chaplaincy jobs sometimes in

volunteer capacity sometimes in paid

capacities

he was a hospital chaplain a Hospice

chaplain a nursing home chaplain and the

chaplain of the Somerset Patriots

baseball team for a time

he didn't really know very much about

real estate so

these 10 lessons that I learned are

not real estate Centric but

there there's a lot that basically

everything in my life was gleaned from

my parents in one way or another and

obviously my dad was a big part of that

and so I can directly thank him

and and directly attribute to him

much of My Success in real estate and he

he actually was kind of he acted kind

of flummoxed at various times that I was

good at real estate that I found a

way to make a career out of it

and he would say well you didn't

get that from me

and that that's not really true

and you guys will see that in in

this episode I'm gonna try to to keep

myself composed this is obviously

not going to be easy for me to do but

but I think it's the right thing to do

and it's what I want to do

and so as I already said who I am

today and how I approach my work in real

estate is heavily influenced by my dad

and so I want to

give this tribute to to him but also to

you all so that you can experience a

little bit of of what I learned from him

and maybe that will be encouraging to

you

so 10 lessons that I learned from from

my dad lesson number one

work hard as long as sorry work hard

start already struggling here work as

hard as you can as long as you can

hopefully the rest of these will go a

little bit smoother than that

once I get going here I think

I'll be okay work as hard as you can

for as long as you can my dad

worked as hard as anyone I know at

one point he had three jobs his his

pastoring job and then at least two

other chaplaincy jobs I think he might

have had three chaplaincy jobs at one

time so maybe so perhaps he had as many

as four jobs at one time he would try to

take off one day per week but

being a pastor what a lot of people

don't realize is it's really a 24 7 job

so my dad would try to take off Monday

but if someone had

a marriage crisis that happened on a

Monday or if someone passed away on a

Monday or whatever the case may be

someone needed counseling on a Monday

like those things couldn't just wait

until the next day

and and so really he he worked more

or less 24 7. and

from what I recall he only had two weeks

of a vacation each year and I

don't think he really counted his hours

maybe he did the hours that he worked

but I think he worked between 60 to 70

hours per week like actually working

like actually doing something work

related besides just the kind of being

on call all the time which is just

the nature of when you're in a pastoral

Ministry type of position that's that's

just kind of the way it is but in terms

of how my how my dad approached work he

didn't do all of this crazy work just

for the money he wasn't working 60 to 70

hours a week just for the money

really the things he was doing were

not obviously very high paying

things you don't get paid a whole lot

when you're a chaplain you don't get

paid a whole lot when you're a pastor at

least most of them don't most of the

ones that are doing it right

are not getting paid enough or not

getting paid very much and I'll just

leave it at that

but he did find fulfillment in

throwing himself into work and giving it

100 every day and that was something

that I saw every single day and that was

something that just subliminally just

just was absorbed by me as a child as as

I became a teenager as I became an adult

I've I just saw that example of hard

work and that led to me

finding fulfillment in work whatever

that was as a student I found

fulfillment in being a student I worked

hard as a student when I got my first

job same thing as I progressed and and

got you know into the business World

same thing as I got into real estate

same thing all of these things that work

ethic was instilled in me and that's

something I can directly point to my

dad as I saw that example and that was

put in me

and he would frequently talk about how

important it was if you committed to

something you need to fulfill your

commitment 100 if you commit to a job

you need to give it a hundred percent

and if you can't then just don't don't

agree to do it

but if you do agree to do it

find a way to get it done or

or say that you can't do it and that

goes to that goes to everything even the

smallest

obligations he gave it a hundred percent

and and he always felt like everyone

else should give it a hundred percent

and

I think a a big takeaway I have from

this is you don't know what tomorrow

brings but you can give 100 today and

that was what my dad did he gave a

hundred percent every single day and

that is something that that I feel

myself every day I have this opportunity

and you as a listener if I could be a

little preachy for a moment and I'm

going to do this a few times you have

that opportunity today you can give a

hundred percent today because tomorrow

is not promised to us

but today we have this opportunity to

completely throw ourselves into our work

into our relationships into everything

that is in our lives and if we do that

then we'll find that fulfillment and

we'll find the love for what we do

the second

lesson that I learned from my dad and

and I by the way I I had to cut a lot of

lessons out of this I had to really

distill this down to 10.

so there's a lot more obviously in

these ten but the second that I chose to

include was talk to people

my dad one thing that people

universally recognized about my dad was

that he just enjoyed talking to people

he he was interested in hearing other

people's stories and it would sometimes

get on my nerves like we would just be

you know at the at the gas station and

he would just strike up a conversation

with someone and he wasn't trying to get

anything out of them right he wasn't

trying to

even go out of his way to you know to

share with him his faith that's a very

common thing

you know when people that are pastors

they want to immediately you know talk

to someone of them like by the way do

you know Jesus

my dad wasn't like that if the

conversation went there he would

obviously talk to them about that but he

was just interested in talking to people

and no matter where we went

he was always talking to people and

always

just wanting to hear from them it wasn't

that he had all these things that he

wanted to tell them it was all these

things that he wanted them to tell him

that he wanted to hear from them about

their story and

just throughout his life it was very

clear that people were always more

important than possessions he didn't

have a lot of of worldly Goods he didn't

have a lot of possessions but it didn't

matter because he was invested in in the

lives of so many different people even

people he just met in passing he would

he he loved to just have a random

conversation with someone and then he

would talk about that conversation for

for so long you know like he would bring

up man that guy at McDonald's was you

know that that cashier at McDonald's

was just so friendly you know and he

would he would rehash the conversation

over and over again

and I think he really

understood that in a way that's

challenging to me that human Investments

and spiritual Investments are much more

important than material Investments and

he just

I don't even know if he would have

framed it that way but that was just the

way he lived

I remember

this was a few months ago maybe maybe

around December time something like that

my parents went to and I I went with

them to Jersey Bagel Brothers which

is a place on North Pleasantburg

right across from Bob Jones in the in

the Lake Forest shopping center great

place if you want to get a you know a

fresh Bagel

a you know Taylor ham egg and cheese

which is a jersey thing that if you

don't know you don't know if you do know

you know

and he just you know as always he

he struck up a conversation with the

owner of the place and they had

they had a long conversation and

and then naturally at the end the the

the owner was just like hey let me get

you a bagel for free let's let's get you

something that you can that you can take

to go and this was just the type of

thing that happened all the time like he

would just naturally have a conversation

with someone and then that would

result in people feeling valued and then

they wanted to give to him some of the

of the value that they had received out

of him

and this kind of that transitions

really nicely into my third point which

is well before I I go there

I do want to say

talk to people that that's a challenge

for me because I I like to grind

in my work and I I like to kind of

block things out and and sometimes

forget about people

and it's it's easy for me to forget

that sometimes you just need to talk to

people

people you know we're in this world

where we're all in these little Bubbles

and

we we need that human touch we need that

human connection there's a lot of people

that if you just talk to them you can

completely impact them in a way that you

didn't realize

and in a very small way I think that

that's what happened in that experience

that I remember you know from from

Fairly recently at Jersey Bagel

Brothers

and so as I started to say before

that transitions nicely into my third

lesson here which is

treat your network like they are your

net worth okay tricky that was a tricky

one but I think I did that one okay

there's a common phrase your your

network is your net worth I've

referenced that on here before very

impactful phrase for me

usually the way people mean that

phrase is that you need to

to network with as many people as

possible to try to extract value out of

them as much as possible because that

they will become a major resource for

you ultimately but that's not how my dad

approached any of these things so that

as I've already alluded to it and so

that's why I rephrase that I actually

originally had this point as your

network is your net worth and I was

going to clarify that my dad never used

that phrase because he never did I said

he wasn't a business person I don't

think he read any business books

but if he did and if he coined a

phrase it would have been something

closer to treat your network like they

are your net worth

and what I mean by that is that

as he was invested in people

he he wasn't trying to extract value out

of them he already saw that there that

there was value in them

and he treated them as such and he he

treated people

as people as individuals it was a really

big deal to him

something that was instilled to me as a

small child that when you know you're in

a restaurant or or whatever where

there's the opportunity to tip people

that you that you showed generosity that

you give good tips even if you if you

don't have enough money to give a good

tip you just you don't go to that

restaurant that was something that was a

really big deal to him

but because he was invested in people

and and wasn't trying to extract value

out of them those people naturally

became valuable they became a resource

to him

I if I listed off everything it

would be astonishing but through the

people that he knew he got several of

the jobs that he got the pastoring

several pastoring jobs several

chaplaincy jobs a lot of those came

through his Network

he ended up on television multiple

times

he got free tickets to sporting

events a lot we went to a lot of free

sporting events growing up

he found homes to live in several of

the places that that my parents and

my family called home as I was growing

up and and perhaps even before that were

places that other people had found in

one way or another for them

the last vehicle that he had

was a wheelchair van that was a van that

their Church gave to him

and so people were constantly and and I

already gave the example a very simple

example of the bagel place

just

be feeling the need to to give him

something to go you know after having

that interaction with him

but what's interesting in all of

these examples is and and what really

goes contrary to the book on networking

and what people typically where where

the conversation usually goes when

people talk about your network being

your net worth is that my dad never

asked anyone for anything I don't I

don't recall him ever asking anyone for

anything in fact it really bothered him

he was a very independent person it

bothered him to ask people for for

things

I remember growing up

our church that was in Dover New

Jersey when we had a big snow

as a little kid I remember going over

there with him to help dig out the

church and I think that there were some

other men that would that would assist

with that but me as a child I don't

remember that I just remember it being

me and my dad and we would dig that

church out of the snow and it was not

easy we got three feet of snow we had a

few blizzards back when I was growing

up we'd get this in insane snow

it was a it was a ton of work and

he

I don't remember him ever asking people

to come help I think that there were

some people that realized that that they

needed to

but at the end of the day he was very

independent and he wasn't asking people

for things but people were just out of

their hearts wanted to

give back to him and I think that that

was because he simply got to know people

and just invested in those people and as

a result they felt like they needed to

to give back to him and so

while I'm in this world where it's all

about networking and not just in real

estate but just in business as general

where where you do see it's very easy to

see people as Commodities I'm challenged

by my Dad's life that you don't need to

see people as Commodities you don't need

to see people as something that will

contribute to your net worth just see

them as people

and eventually when you need something

those people will be there you don't

need to worry about well who is in my

network that will be able to help me out

no they will they will help you out

because you've already invested in them

and they will naturally get back to you

the fourth lesson I have on here is run

don't walk

again not a phrase that my dad would

have ever used

but this is this is one of the first

ones when I was thinking through the the

the things that I learned from my dad in

my head this is one of the first ones

run don't walk

being a pastor you know isn't a

glamorous job and it's not a job that

most

would consider to be exciting but

when my dad was working he had really

just this excited energy to him and he

was always moving and just always seemed

to be excited to be going wherever it

was that he was going next the the

church that

that my parents and and my family was

at when I was growing up was this

basically four story it was three

stories with a basement

Church in in New Jersey and

being as many floors as it was it was

there was just a lot of stairs that you

had to do in this church building and I

would go over with him a lot while he

was working there was a gymnasium in the

basement and so I would practice

basketball he would you know study or

work on different things at the church

whatever it was that he was doing and I

just have one of the most distinct

memories that I have is while I was down

there in the gymnasium I could hear him

running up and down the stairs at church

it was just this this energy that he had

just spilling over it was there was no

rush in theory there was nothing for him

to be rushing to but it was just he was

just always running he was always moving

another not as not as distinct memory

but but some similar that I have is he

and I would watch sporting events

together and I remember how there would

be a like a really exciting play that

would happen and you know he would it

would go to a commercial break and he

would jump up out of his seat and kind

of with a hop step you know go get a

snack or you know go use the bathroom or

whatever he was getting up to do and

even though there was no need to rush it

was like he was just moving in a hurry

he had he had purpose and and he wasn't

just going to slowly go from from one

place to the next he was gonna move and

it was always like he was just running

out of time to get everything done

he had things to do and he was moving

with purpose and he was going to get

those things done and and the the

fullness of his life combined with his

energy meant that he just had to had to

move and he had to move quickly and

it's just it's interesting you know when

you reflect back on on a life that was

lived and you really start to think

about so so many of these different

things

my dad had a fullness to his life that

was just every day like he lived life

like it was full every single day even

though like I said being a pastor is not

a job you would consider to be exciting

being you know working chaplaincy

jobs isn't necessarily exciting

but

you wouldn't have guessed that from from

watching my dad from from watching how

he lived a life there was an excitement

to to what he was doing and there was

a purpose to what he was doing and dad

didn't need to get away

from life to enjoy life

so

you know for instance there was a

stretch in my life where

I lived for vacation like I was

basically living in between Vacations or

living for the weekend or whatever or

whatever the case was I was I was living

to get away

and my dad didn't didn't live to get

away like I said he only had two two

weeks of vacation per year and we

basically spent those two weeks visiting

relatives more or less

and he didn't he wasn't real big

into traveling

he didn't have you know a whole lot

of things that that excited him outside

of just normal life but normal life was

enough

and he had a just a full life

every single day and he enjoyed the

fullness of it as he ran from from one

responsibility to the next and so

I'm Challenge and I'm inspired that

my you know it's easy to get in the

grind and to not enjoy the grind but if

you don't enjoy the grind what do you

have you're like I said like or like I

alluded to before you're just bouncing

from weekend to weekend or from vacation

to vacation and so run don't walk

move with purpose enjoy the life that

you have enjoy these responsibilities

these moments

they they can be full if you see it that

way in your mind if you see the fullness

of the moment you'll realize hey this is

exciting this is this is a life that I

only get to have one time this day I'll

never get back this moment it'll be gone

and

and and you can never redeem that and so

run from one moment to the next don't

walk

lesson number five

contentment isn't always easy

but it is always available

one thing

about my dad is that you always knew

what he was thinking he really wore his

emotions on his sleeve

he was very easy to read you you knew

if he was angry if he was upset if he

was happy

you just you just knew that he he did

not hide any of those emotions it was

very apparent how he felt

and yet in spite of that most people

that wear their emotions on their

sleeves are are typically people that

are you know complaining all the time

and

not very pleasant to be around

oftentimes

in the case of my dad I very very

rarely heard him complain

I saw him experience a lot of things

that most people would complain about

things that were difficult people coming

and going from church which only the

pastor of a small church can can fully

appreciate how difficult it can be when

there's turnover within that church

I saw him having to take care of his

aging mother my grandmother for for a

long time

and as I already alluded to he had

multiple Decades of failing Health that

ultimately limited his work led to his

retirement

the same failing Health that

gradually took away his ability to walk

and other Mobility for for years until

he was ultimately confined to a bed

basically for the last few months of his

life and in all of that he he genuinely

seemed content in his life like I didn't

get the impression that he was

keeping things to himself like I said he

wore his emotions on his sleeve now

there were moments where he would just

say it is what it is you know but that

was the closest thing to hearing him

complain that usually I'm not going

to say he never ever complained but

usually that was the the closest thing

he would say to complaining it's just

well it is what it is this is the way

this is the way life is and this is the

hand I've been dealt

when he could no longer work he was fine

with transitioning to doing things at

home and helping my mom even though

he said that he wanted to work until

the day he died you know this kind of

plays into what I talked about before

about his work ethic he he genuinely

wanted to work until the day that he

died but he couldn't his health didn't

allow that and

despite not having that that really

fundamental desire he made a complete

transition to not working and

and basically

kind of reversing roles in some ways

with my mom

where she started working and he and he

was kind of more focused on on you know

doing things at home

and he seemed content with that I was

actually very surprised with how content

he was in in that situation when he

could no longer walk he was content

sitting remember this is a person that

that was constantly moving constantly

running that ability to move was taken

away from him

and what I saw was that he he

transitioned to that and okay I'm gonna

sit I'm gonna find something to do while

I'm sitting

when he could no longer sit he was

content lying in bed

there was always just this god-given

contentment to him

no matter what happened around him and

that's definitely something that I

struggle with I struggle with just

being content you can be complacent and

and just kind of get stuck in a rut but

that's not what I'm talking about he had

a contentment that when

he he literally could not improve on a

situation and the situation was by a lot

of metrics lousy he was still content in

that situation

that taught me taught me that

contentment is always available even

when it's not easy

there is always the ability to be

content in whatever state you find

yourself in in whatever situation you

find yourself in and

you know for for our family as

Christians we look to our faith for that

but there are there's a lot of and I'm

going to get to this I'm jumping ahead a

little bit but there's a lot of Beauty

in the world that if you if you open

your eyes and and look to it

and and really take it in you can find

the contentment even in the the times

when things around you don't look

Pleasant don't

aren't enjoyable

there are things that that you can

look to to find that contentment

lesson number six

a penny saved is a penny earned

well-known phrase so my dad obviously

didn't coin this phrase but it was one

that he liked to say a lot when I was

growing up I can't tell you how many

times he said this

frugali was a major part of my

upbringing

and that should come as no surprise

my parents had three children my dad

was was the primary Breadwinner to use a

kind of a tired phrase but but one

that's hard to replace

and we lived you know my entire life

until I became an adult in New Jersey

which is an expensive State and my dad

was a pastor of a church with less than

100 people so not a very high paying job

as I've already alluded to

and so there was a lot of frugality

in my upbringing that was intentional

that was taught I remember my dad

teaching me how the unit price worked at

the grocery store or

when you're comparing comparison

shopping and that's a life skill that I

now realize a lot of adults to this day

that I know don't have like they weren't

taught what the unit price is and so

they don't understand how to do basic

comparison shopping

I remember him

sitting me down and explaining to me

how expensive college would be based on

the rate of inflation and

how even though he and my mom would

help support me financially through

college it would not be possible if I

didn't bring it would not be possible

for me to graduate from college debt

free if I didn't bring something to the

type table financially remember at the

time that

I was growing up getting student loans

was was really a big push and a lot of

my friends were were going to college

and and contemplating getting student

loans and all of that

and that wasn't something that we wanted

to do if we could avoid it

and so my dad challenged me on that

point and and

I wanted to work at early and so I

started working in the ninth grade I was

the first person in my class to get a

job in high school and I worked as hard

as I could for all of high school all of

college I saved 80 percent

of what I made to go towards my

education from the very first moment I

started working in high school I did

that

and in the end

my sisters who are older than me and I

all went to private high schools which

my parents had to pay for

we all went to college got four-year

bachelor's degrees and we all graduated

with those bachelor's degrees debt-free

and that wasn't because of Any

a hidden Financial strategy or any you

know

crazy and incredible Investments you

know my parents didn't invest in Tesla

when the stock price was like nothing

and then it it took off or anything like

that

they just knew that a penny saved is a

penny earned that if you

practice frugality in the right way that

it could go a long way it could take you

places that

just being frivolous with your money

won't

and I'm incredibly grateful for that

I have I don't approach finances

exactly the same as my dad did

he would never have considered

investing in real estate the way I do

but the the ideas of financial

frugality that he taught me

help me in all of those Investments to

understand the power of being wise with

your money the power of not just using

your money to buy more sneakers to

buy you know a vacation that you can't

afford or whatever the case may be that

that you can make that money last really

long if you do if you use it the right

way you can you can make it work for you

and and that was something hugely

influenced influential in my life

lesson number seven

each season of life is uniquely

beautiful

my dad had a lot of seasons of life I

mentioned him being being a pastor in

New Jersey but he was also a pastor in

other states obviously South Carolina

I should mention this was actually

before I was born he was a pastor in in

South Carolina he was in a pastor in

Georgia in Connecticut

I referenced he had various

chaplaincy jobs over the years some of

which started as him volunteering and

then led to paid positions

and and of course the last 20 years

of his life were a completely were

several different seasons kind of packed

into one as they were directly impacted

by his failing health

and he clearly had some parts of his

life that he enjoyed and found more

fulfillment and than others but in every

season there was there was a beauty a

fullness something special happening

something at work something to be

enjoyed and something to be appreciated

and in recent years I've heard from

so many people whose lives he touched

all throughout his life and all of these

different seasons including the most

recent years when his health was was

really failing him

and he had you know just all these

stories from all of these different

seasons of life of of just things that

were that were fun or that were crazy or

that were you know just really

meaningful to him and so there was just

always this this beauty to every season

of life and I think it's easy to just

get caught up in all of the challenges

and there is you know there's a

well-known phrase to stop and and smell

the roses or however it goes there's

something to that right because if you

just get and I've referenced getting

caught in the grind multiple times you

just get caught in the grind and and

forget to just take a moment and to

breathe in the air and to to enjoy that

there is Beauty in each moment

you'll you'll miss out on something

and life has so many seasons some are

hard

but if you look for it you will find

beauty you'll find something full you'll

find something special at work in all of

them and I saw that directly in in my

Dad's life

lesson number eight

discipline is the backbone of success my

dad was extremely disciplined this is

another thing one of the first things

that that came to my mind was just his

discipline I've already said how he

worked a lot of hours didn't take many

days off what I haven't set up to this

point is that he had a routine and a

schedule that he stuck to religiously

he I mean he was really a stickler

about his schedule and about his

routine it was very predictable

we you know I really knew exactly

what he was doing

exactly when and sometimes I would

I would push that you know schedule a

little bit like there were some times

when I was working in high school and

there was a little basketball hoop

behind the restaurant that we worked at

and so sometimes we would play a little

basketball for you know 20 30 minutes

after after work was over and my dad was

picking me up because I I couldn't drive

yet where I just didn't have a car

and he would he would let me play

and and you know wouldn't say anything

even though now in hindsight I'm like I

was probably really throwing his

schedule for a loop doing that

but he was he was extremely

disciplined he was constantly reminding

his children to be disciplined in their

studies in their work

in their everyday lives that was a

constant refrain that we heard over and

over again was this reign of of being

disciplined

and this was one of the things that

stood out to me the most you know

growing up and now looking back is that

my dad wasn't the greatest speaker in

the world he wasn't the greatest writer

he wasn't he he didn't always make

decisions that made a ton of sense to me

but he was always disciplined and that

discipline made made up for and makes up

for so many other potential or perceived

shortcomings and that's something that's

that's really impactful for me is that

man I can I can accomplish so much more

if I'm disciplined in in what I'm doing

and just thrust myself into it

than if I'm haphazard but really good

right there are some people that are

like really really good at something but

they lack the discipline

let me put my money on the person that's

disciplined but not as talented any day

of the week they are they are the people

that you want to be in your group on

your team in your network

to go back to that

those disciplined people are so much

more valuable and are going to

accomplish so much more than the people

that are really really talented

and have very specific skills but

lack the discipline to go with them

lesson number nine

and we're almost done here when a door

closes there's always another Open Door

another thing I saw from firsthand

from my dad was that the world was full

of opportunities tons of opportunities

one opportunity would close and another

would open the opportunities were

everywhere

and

and and that was just you know not

something this is more something that

like looking back I notice but in the

moment I didn't really notice it but now

that I look back I see that there were

just there would always be these doors

that would close and then other doors

that would open up and just there was

always something that was available

there was always something that if if

one opportunity went away another

opportunity would Avail itself

but if you weren't looking

you could very easily miss that

opportunity now as I said before my dad

didn't go out of his way to to try to

network that wasn't like a strategy that

he had

he didn't go out of his way to try to

find Opportunities but somehow there was

always a new opportunity a new open door

waiting for him and I think he just

simply made himself available

tried to help people out when he could

and somehow there was just always an

open door waiting for him when one

closed and there was you know there's

kind of a confidence that I have now in

life that's like you know what I might

feel like a door is closing but there's

another one that's going to be open I I

see that now I've I've experienced that

kind of vicariously through my dad and

now now I just I have this confidence in

life that's like

nothing nothing can can stop you

if you are

making yourself available if you are

investing in people there will always be

an Open Door there will always be a new

opportunity that you can that you can

find that you can Avail yourself to

there's a a popular phrase I actually

did not write this down because I didn't

plan to say it but let me see if I don't

butcher it

I believe it's luck is when

preparation meets opportunity I believe

I said that right luck is when

preparation meets opportunity so there

is no luck right if you're if you're

prepared and then the opportunity arises

that's what it looks like luck to other

people but it's really not luck it's

just that you were ready when the moment

arrived and I think that that was the

case so many times with my dad some of

these different things that I I

mentioned

you know becoming a baseball chaplain

how many people have that the ability

to become a baseball chaplain for for a

minor league baseball team these were

just the types of things that would just

happen to him

and it wasn't just that he was in the

right place at the right time he wasn't

trying to be

he was just he was prepared and when

the opportunity arised preparation met

opportunity and and doors opened that

previously nobody would have expected to

to have been open

lesson number 10

enjoy a cup of coffee each day

one of my dad's Hallmarks was his love

of coffee if anyone knows him if anyone

listening knows him you already know

this

he always found a way to enjoy a cup

of coffee often multiple cups of coffee

each day a few months ago he was

hospitalized

they my parents did not live in in

the Greenville area so I had to go in

their direction to to be with them to

help them out

and every single day that I went to the

hospital to be with my dad he'd request

I'd bring McDonald's coffee to him that

was a really big deal he was a big

McDonald's coffee guy which I cannot

explain

I just because he liked coffee didn't

mean he had a refined palette right

but no matter how complicated or

mundane life was

even if he was sitting in a hospital bed

he always enjoyed that cup of coffee it

was just it was a simple pleasure that

nobody could take away from him and I

find that it's easy in life to get so

caught up in the challenges and

frustrations that it's easy for like

days to go by where you just have no

enjoyment and it's just like again

you're just in that grind you're just

not enjoying it and what I've learned

from my dad is that each day you need to

to stop and take that moment I've

already talked about smelling the Roses

but to to turn that into a direction

that would that would make

him happy enjoy that cup of coffee or

whatever simple pleasure it is that you

have find a a simple pleasure that you

can enjoy every day that doesn't cost a

lot of money that doesn't take a lot of

time but that you'll be able to just

take a few moments and just enjoy and

just do that every single day enjoy your

cup of coffee every single day make sure

that your life doesn't get so busy and

so crowded that you no longer have time

for The Simple Pleasures in life

all right I hope that you guys enjoyed

that

I barely made it through

that was it not easy

but I appreciate you guys watching

and I appreciate you guys listening all

of my contact information is in the show

notes let me know what you thought if

there was anything

different that you hadn't thought of or

anything you wanted to to add to it

or or share about my dad if you knew him

I'd appreciate any of that my contact

information is in the show notes as

always please rate review subscribe do

all of those things for the show and we

will talk again next week