Story:
My Jennifer tells about being 7 years old. She braved a flight of steps to the high board at the Samford U pool. Looking down at the water 15 feet below, fear won! Jennifer made the decision to retreat. All in was not an option. Backtracking down the steps, with an aggressive boy yelling at her to hurry, she fell many steps. A trip to the clinic for stitches left an indelible mark.

Today and every day, there are all in decisions to be made.

Matthew chapter 19 compels us to make all in decisions, but who makes it possible to move ahead when we want to back down the steps from life’s heights?

The first all in decision deals with marriage. Am I all in today to do my part to make this 53-year marriage work. I mean really work? Yes, I am willing to be all in today to delight in Susie and be all present.

Jesus delights in happy, joy-filled, high functioning homes.

Matthew speaks once again to the treatment of children.

Children are very dear to my heart. After 50 years teaching youth it is clear some adults truly love children and others tolerate them. The best coaches I know have a unique capacity to delight in teaching children with praise and good teaching yet still require a positive I want to excel attitude & willingly correct failures on and off the court.

An all in coaching mindset sees failures as stepping stones to success.

Yes, when I am with children I am all in with a total commitment to inspire them to know they are miracles and to expect them to act like a miracle.

Now Mathew makes a turn to a tougher more demanding matter.

Who will enter the kingdom of heaven? The men who followed Jesus asked in awe? Who can be saved?

“With men, this is impossible, with God all things are possible.”

With God, I can win the moment today. Not just one moment but each new moment. Each failure moment will be energy to win the next moment and before I realize it, there will be a long string of winning moments.

When I close my eyes tonight to enter sleep being all in all day will be my victory.

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Wallace and the Whale

Key Statement: What you treasure becomes precious, important, and brings great gratitude from your mind into your heart

Many years ago at NBC, a coaching team was invited to speak in schools at Barrow Alaska. Barrow is the Northern most city in America.

Early that morning a whale was caught near the village, nearly every student rushed out on the ice to see this mammoth.

Words cannot describe the excitement, the enthusiasm, and the joy capturing a large whale brings to an Alaska village. It is an amazing experience, I will never forget the memory of seeing so many excited people.

This picture of Wallace on top of this gigantic whale reminds me of the majesty and miracle of God’s creation.

Too often when I tell of my experiences in Alaska the response is, “I could never live there, it’s way too cold.”

Last night Mike Crowell and Delitha Spear attended a seminar on discovering how to live life at its maximum.

This morning I asked Mike and Delitha what there one takeaway was; remember the LLA principal? To Learn you first must listen, then learning doesn’t take place until you act upon what you hear.

The takeaway was, the act of learning for both Mike and Delitha. They said, ” living in the present moment with gratitude was their takeaway.”

Study the picture of Wallace and the Whale.
What do you see?
What don’t you see?

Fred Crowell sees:
Pure joy
Professional excellence
Lots of food and provision

Fred Crowell doesn’t see:
A grateful widow receiving lots of food
Mothers cooking some whole soup (it is delicious)
Men using oil for many things
Celebration in the village

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LOOK AT ME, BOYS!

Key Statement: You listen with your eyes. What you don’t see is often more important than what you can see.

True Story: 10:30 PM, dark, bitter cold, winter night. Anacortes, Washington. Crowell boys, Mike and Fred heating two bricks on the oil stove to take to their upstairs beds where there was no heat.

Dad emerges from his bedroom; dressed for work at Everett Plywood and Door; Night shift at $2.00 an hour. Dad Crowell was in a bad mood. Tan cap, tan jacket, tan trousers, angry face.

Dad opens the front door; then closes it and turns to his two eldest boys before he leaves. Boys were at first glad to see him leaving; not interested in another lecture.

Dad speaks, “Look at me.” Boys keep their heads down looking blankly at a worn carpet.

Crowell boy’s heads pop up with total focus on their father’s eyes knowing the dictator of this household gave a quick left or righted slap to the cheek if not obeyed.

At this moment Ellsworth Crowell delivers the best advice had had every given to his two eldest sons.

“Take a good look boys, I am going to the GD job, I hate; I hope to God someday you have a job you love.”

Turning abruptly Dad Crowell walked out the door into a winter night to drive 60 miles to a job he hated.

Fast Forward to today. 67 years later Dad’s words hit home. We listened, we learned, we acted.

Mike Crowell is a retired superintendent of schools, coached two girls teams to the state basketball championships, and is my hero.

Fred Crowell recently received a wonderful compliment from an Alaska Basketball Official no less. Dad’s words hit home. NBC is my passion, my hope, my inspiration and most of all the tool God has given me to love and inspire youth and adults to find their true meaning and purpose in life.

The best thing about life is, “If you have breath, breathe.” Wake up, be happy, be filled with His courage, given oxygen/encouragement to each person you meet today.

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HAPPY HAPPY CROWELL'S

Key Statement: People are about as happy as they personally choose to be. Happiness is an attitude. When a young athlete practices the idea of LLA (listen to learn to act) they have begun the journey to define their true potential.

Dress yourself in happiness and toss the other clothes in the wash for cleaning.

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ABSOLUTELY - ABSOLUTAMENTE!

Key Statement: Words you say, are far more important than the words you think. You create your world by the words of your mouth.

The Friday before Easter commemorates the most significant day in the history of mankind.

Your friend and author of Words of Hope, Fred Crowell wrote these words days ago, however, Good Friday is a day to remember every day of our lives.

It was this day the Lord Jesus Christ cried out, “Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani?” Which means, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

As I read the Gospel accounts of the events that took place on Good Friday the word absolutely screamed in my ears.

Imagine Jesus in Gethsemane lying prostrate on the ground pleading with His Father to avoid going to the cross.

With great sadness and a broken heart, Abba Father says, “My Beloved Son I am so sorry, but the only way for sins to be forgiven for all humankind is the cross.”

With tears streaming down the Lord’s face and tiny drops of blood dripping out of his pores our Savior says, “Yes, Absolutely, Absolutamente!

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OCEANS

The creative genius of the Grand Master’s paint brush was making two-thirds of our planet, Earth, oceans!

How is it possible to be near the ocean, yet never stop to contemplate this miracle?

The sea of Cortez is my front yard today. The metaphor for my bicep muscle is gratitude.

Push-ups and bench presses build bicep muscles. Five positive statements each day develop the mental muscle called gratitude.

The answer to both questions is Gratitude. Lives void of gratitude are blind to the wonders of the world. The eyes don’t see because the mind is trapped in negativity.

The solution to blindness to our beautiful world is gratitude. The solution to bringing out the best in people is gratitude.

Today, for the second time, I offered a grandchild a $100 bill if they memorize Psalm 8 and tell me what it means. Do the same, I might not give you a $100 bill, but believe me, it will be far more valuable.

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PEOPLE RELATIONSHIPS

Key Statement: People were created to need people, but too few people invest the time needed to master the skills to treat people well.

World leaders keep failing to learn from previous wars. Lessons not learned are simply repeated.

Hitler was the hero of Germany but it wasn’t enough. Herr Idiot Adolf wanted to control the entire world and destroy anyone who did not fit his image of what a person should look like. ~17 million deaths

Stalin a 5’4″ pee wee was Vladimir Lenin’s prime hit man. Being excessively fearful of painfully dying on a sick bed, Lenin wanted one of his closest henchman to kill him.

He selected Old Joe as his assassin, who’s given name was Gorke. “I choose you, Gorke, because you are so cruel you are the only one who will kill me as I am dying on my death bed.” ~ 27 million deaths

Imagine what the continent of Africa could be if people would totally eliminate greed and corruption.

Wars would cease.
Murders no more.
Rich resources utilized.
Africa could easily be the richest continent on earth.
If, if people could live together in harmony and peace.

“94 out of 100 marriages consider their marriage happy after 20 years of experience.” HH

Only 27% of married couples live together in the USA, while 73% of couples living together are not married. Our nation’s divorce rate is horrendous.

Crowell Estimate: 100% of all Words of Hope readers have at least one relative unwilling to work towards family unity and health. One stubborn person can cause great harm.

In a large family; 6 sisters and 1 eldest brother, the bossy sister engineered changes to her brother’s will on his death bed. A neighbor said, “That greedy sister would have hauled the house away if she had a big enough moving truck.”

One in five businesses does not last beyond five years; with an average failure rate of 80% at the 5-year mark.

It is nearly impossible for a company started by a father or mother to survive for three generations. Often the third-generation children ruin the business because they never had to work hard to get there.

After a son takes control of his father’s business empire, the son has personal discipline problems and a poor work ethic. Hostile divorce and a new marriage to an employee undermined people’s confidence in the son’s leadership. Eventually, the son is removed by shareholders after millions of dollars are lost.

A wise financial expert once said, “The true character of people is quickly revealed when a business deal goes south. People of poor financial character flee the scene like rats in a sinking ship.”

A highly successful and powerful business owner put together an exclusive opportunity in a prime city. The projections were excellent, but the economy in 2008 went south of south.

The powerful developer held all the power cards. He threatened to sue the minority owners if they did not play ball. Playing ball was the only option so the minority owners took a major financial hit while the lying broker recouped all his assets.

At his mother’s funeral, the priest told one of her boys that he was going to hell.

The belligerent young adult replied, “I will be glad to go to hell as long as you are not there.”

There is our Father here on earth. There is our Father who is in heaven. Mix them up and you may have a serious God problem.

True People Hope
Hope is found in the words of ONE Who:
Never went to college
Never owned a home
Never married
Never raised children
Never formed a start-up company
Never had a 401-k
Never elected to office
Never wrote s book
He gave mankind the solutions to solve every kind of people problem.

OUR FATHER WHO ART
IN HEAVEN
HALLOWED BY THY NAME
(This solves the evil rulership problem).

THY KINGDOM COME
THY WILL BE DONE
ON EARTH
AS IS IN HEAVEN
(Heaven is real; live life, love
people more than things).

OUR DAILY BREAD
(Fresh bread goes stale
after one day and at
death we leave
with nothing, so
stop being greedy.

FORGIVE US OUR SINS
AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS
(Solves most problems when
lived in honesty).

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CHURCH THIS MORNING

This is where I am having church this morning.

Pray, give thanks in all things.
Pray without ceasing, in everything.
Even cancer, or even whatever hardship you are facing give thanks, for this is God’s will.
This was the hand that was dealt to me, this is my hand, cancer.

I can complain I can whine, or I can give thanks.
And I chose to come out and have harder reason to.

Oh my gosh, what a wonder vacation I am having with my children and grandchildren.
Papa is having a great time.

What a great life.
Look at this place.
It’s glorious.
Look at these people over there.
But I am all by myself.

I pray that God would bless you, and read some of the things that I have been doing to make this day a glorious masterpiece.

Rejoice always; again I say, rejoice. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

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UNASHAMED

Shame is the demon that haunts all of humanity. When you name it, you can beat it.

One evening, the professor asked an elegant question. Elegant questions do not have just one correct answer.

For example; “who was the first president of the USA,” does not qualify as an elegant question.

The prof set the table in such a way to create conflict! There were about 24 educators in the class; teachers, counselors, administrators.

All but two of the class raised their hands to affirm they believed humankind was basically good.

Two people in the class raised their hand declaring they believed humankind was inherently bad; actually evil in nature.

To the prof’s delight world war 3 broke out! The two were immediately under attack.

The most aggressive attack was that anyone holding to this belief system, (believing humankind is inherently evil) wasn’t qualified to be an educator.

I find myself smiling as I think about you, readers of Words of Hope. Was I among the vast majority or was I one of the two dissenters?

The debate raged on for the three hour class period and into the next three-hour class the following week.

By the end of the second class, the majority of the class had switched positions. No longer did they believe it was inhuman and cruel to believe humankind is inherently evil.

History proves it. At the end of WWII the great minds of the universe proclaimed, “The lesson has been learned. Wars are evil. There will be no more wars.” REALLY!?

Of course, it would be inconceivable to believe we are born inherently both self-destruction and world destructive unless there was a solution; an antidote.

Jesus is the one and only one who gives us the perfect solution. “If any man be in Christ, we are new creatures.”

The miracle of the Christ life is we don’t go out, clean ourselves up and make ourselves good; He gives us a new nature.

UNASHAMED is a book that affirms the fact that the shed blood on the cross and the resurrection is the only solution to the ghost called shame, making it possible to live truly unashamed.

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TOO BUSY OR DON'T CARE

Key Statement: If you are too busy or don’t care enough to spend quality time, without any distractions, with a spouse, a child, a dear friend, or a person in need you care about, the true fact is, you are too busy!

Point of Bemusement: An estimated 5,000 people will receive this edition of Daily Words of Hope with Fred Crowell.

Ed Mattfeld, man of professional excellence in the Heath Care Insurance field, sent me the following:

We had the power cut at our house this morning and my PC, laptop, TV, DVD, iPad, plus my new surround sound music system were all shut down. Then I discovered that my mobile phone battery was dead. To top it off it was raining outside, so I couldn’t play golf.

I went into the kitchen to make coffee and then I remembered that this also needs power, so I sat and talked with my wife for a couple of hours.

Reading this took me back to the days I was counseling up to 50 clients a week with Northwest Counseling – “Personal and Family Counseling based on proven Psychological and Biblical principles.”

Like a medical doctor prescribing medicine to his patients, the Crowell Counseling System was based on three steps.

From the present problem, the symptom, mine down to the root problem. The present problem is like the leaves on a tree. They reveal the health of the tree. The roots are the place where truth is found in the human experience.

Act – What is the prescription? Actually, it is not a prescription. It is homework.

Ironically, in so many counseling cases the client resists homework as much as a student stonewalls the teacher’s assigned homework.

Will you complete Crowell’s prescription for improved relationships or are you either too busy or don’t care?

If married, have a date with your spouse. The date is one hour long; no social media, just the two of you in a quiet place. Listen well. Speak softly. Compliment often. Criticize not!

If you are a parent or a son or daughter, make an appointment with your children or your parents. This appointment can be a walk, a drive in the car, in a soft chair, or a snack in a quiet place where the two of you talk, without distractions.

If you wish to develop an intimate relationship with the Holy Trinity, God the Abba Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, set aside 15 minutes in a quiet place where silence is golden. Elegant questions require listening and full life engagement.

If 1,000 people read this Word of Hope, it is my estimation no more than two hundred people will do one of the three assignments.

Once completed, send an email confirming you completed all three assignments stated above.

Prediction: no more than two percent of 5,000 WOH subscribers will send an email stating they finished the 3 prescribed assignments, even though the benefits are amazing!

5,000 WOH subscribers
20% (1,000) will read this WOH
2% of the 1,000 will complete one of the 3 assignments.

Now we are down to 200 people out of 5,000 who will be doing the prescription for a quality relationship.

This means 4 people out of 5,000 subscribers will respond to tell us they completed the task.

Crowell assumption based on 75 years of life experience, the number one reason families are in trouble, among many, is dads are not doing their job as husbands or dads.

Extreme example: A father of a remarkable 14-year-old boy, and I mean remarkable, has given a total of $17 in child support in 2 years.

Common example: Dad runs around in a professional NBA or NFL shirt with his favorite player’s number on it and knows more about the player than he does about his own son or daughter, yet does not have the “want to,” “know how,” or the ambition to put his arms around his wife and tell her how special she is and how much he loves her.

Speaking of golf, any man who would love their wife and their children as much as they do their golf, they would have incredible families.

Prove me wrong. I expect to receive more than four emails stating they did all three assignments.

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MYELIN PROTECTS HOPE

You must build hope, for the day will come when it is desperately needed!

Myelin is a coating that covers your circulatory neurons. Every time you perform a skill, you are creating myelin. Electricity travels across those neurons and how fast the electricity travels depends on how much myelin you have. The more talent you have the more myelin you have. Great athletes, Olympians, and musicians will have more myelin that is created over time. These people aren’t born with their talent.

It’s worth saying over and over until it becomes part of the fabric of your life; consolation and desolation are one phone call away from each of us.

Six days ago “Esperanza Means Hope” was the WOH for the day. Faith, hope, and love are the big three according to St. Paul.

Out of thousands of subscribers, there were two requests to learn how to grow their hope. Interesting. Only two?

Growing hope became vital, a have to, it was critical. The difference between living in fog and abounding in sunshine when desolation ripped our home when cancer came in 2010.

Pray, hope. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be open. These are the Lord’s promises. Ask the Lord for hope.

P.S. Soon after completing this WOH a friend emailed, “My 81-year-old mother was in an auto accident. An 86 year old hit her car. I resigned from my job and am moving to take care of her.”

Thankful this special friend has tons of hope built through the myelin of hard work, a life lived with gratitude and a relentless faith in the Author Of Faith.

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

Key Statement: If you don’t listen you can’t learn; if you don’t act you will not learn.

Based on the key statement, action is intrinsically linked to learning. Successful businessman and former Gonzaga University basketball star, Mike Nilson, believes, “If you know it and you don’t do it, you don’t know it.”

“If you are sitting in this class with no intention to take action, it would be much better for you not to be here.”

When truth is revealed to us we become responsible to this truth. Action is demanded.

A few years ago, traveling south on I-5 a motorcycle policeman hit his flashing lights. I was in a red rental RAV4. In the fourth lane a big SUV passed 3 lanes of heavy traffic. The speed of three lanes was 70 MPH; big, black SUV close to 80.

Smiling the policeman responded, “I guess this is your lucky day. All four lanes were speeding, but you were going 70mph in a 60mph zone. I chose you.”

Listen is a disciplined skill set. Few people are excellent listeners. Learning to see what you don’t see is more valuable that learning what you can see.

Learning requires one to be curious. This requires energy, enthusiasm, and effort.

Action demands motion. Get busy is my son Jay’s power words to imitate for his team.

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

Key Statement: If you don’t listen you can’t learn; if you don’t act you will not learn.

“If you are sitting in this class with no intention to take action, it would be much better for you not to be here.”

When truth is revealed to us we become responsible to this truth. Action is demanded.

Smiling the policeman responded, “I guess this is your lucky day. All four lanes were speeding, but you were going 60mph in a 70 zone. I chose you.”

Listen is a disciplined skill set. Few people are excellent listeners. Learning to see what you don’t see is more valuable that leaning what you can see.

Learning requires one to be curious. This requires energy, enthusiasm and effort.

Action demands motion. GET BUSY is my son Jay’s power words to imitate for his team.

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

Key Statement: If you don’t listen you can’t learn; if you don’t act you will not learn.

“If you are sitting in this class with no intention to take action, it would be much better for you not to be here.”

When truth is revealed to us we become responsible to this truth. Action is demanded.

A few years ago, traveling south on I-5 a motorcycle policeman hit his flashing lights. I was in a red rental RAV4. In the fourth lane, a big SUV passed 3 lanes of heavy traffic. The speed of three lanes was 70 MPH; big, black SUV close to 80.

Smiling the policeman responded, “I guess this is your lucky day. All four lanes were speeding, but you were going 60mph in a 70 zone. I chose you.”

Listen is a disciplined skill set. Few people are excellent listeners. Learning to see what you don’t see is more valuable that learning what you can see.

Learning requires one to be curious. This requires energy, enthusiasm, and effort.

Action demands motion. Get busy is my son Jay’s power words to imitate for his team.

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THE WONDER OF YOUTH

One day I was a player; next a coach; then a father and now Papa to hundreds of young players who love basketball and LIFEBALL!

Please enjoy meeting three of the finest youth to ever wear an NBC Camp T-Shirt.

Hershel was a camper now a coach. Kiah and Wallace will be college freshman next year.

It is fascinating to think about the fact that not one hero in the New Testament was recognized as man or coach of the year.

The legacy the men and women gave us is not material. Rather, they gave us the love and light and living life of Jesus Christ.

Youth are so wonderful when they are truly alive, filled with faith, hope, and love.

Few things inspire me more than being in the presence of a child who is dedicated to learning and doing all they can to bring honor to their family and become a living rock for God.

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THE FATHER OF LEARNING

To qualify to be a credible father or significant mentor, it is a twofold process:

Life presents many gifts to each of us. Life in itself is a gift enough. Just to be alive. “If you have breath, breathe” is a line that stuck with me from a movie.

Yet, life offers so much more than to just breathe. For me, the joy of having my children who are proud of me. This is more precious than life itself.

Today the focus is on the father of learning, imitation. My motivation, as I sit in my sacred place, is to find intimacy with my Abba Father so that I find the resources to work on my track record and my pursuit to be worthy of being imitated. To keep my children proud of me.

Two years ago, I promised to give a 100 dollar bill to a granddaughter if she would memorize and be able to tell me how she would apply Psalm 8 to her life.

I believe Psalm 8 has immense value in my journey to be a man who consistently seeks to live PTR & WOBI. “Want to” + self-discipline + intentional study + hanging with worthy to be imitated + forgiveness asking, are in my life success manual.

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world and am free.

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HOW TO FIND GOD

Jesus said, “Come unto me as a young child.”

No wonder when Abba Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Holy Spirit united in deciding to help us find God through a human being; none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It was Jesus who showed us God in the flesh. We don’t have to wonder what God looks like; He lived among us.

Quickly I said, “I am looking for God, and I just found Him as I look at you.”

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WHO WINS TONIGHT?

Best balance of pace and poise. They can run with Carolina if they need to, but also can slow the game down and grind it out in the half-court. GU must take care of the ball against Carolina’s pressure, but South Carolina’s pressure was relentless and GU handled it. GU top 6 logged a ton of minutes on Saturday but it doesn’t matter this time of year. Heart and toughness win the day. GU must make 9+ 3’s. Points in the paint will be tougher to come by today.

UNC wins. Pain of loss from last season. They also will neutralize the Gonzaga Bigs which means the game will be won at the wing spots and the MVP of the game will be Justin Jackson he will have 23pts and 8 rebs and he will hit key 3s down the stretch.

I’d rather have UNC’s roster – they have the best players on the floor. I like Jackson, Berry, Meek, Hicks & Pinson.

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LIFE IS NOT AN ACCIDENT

“The motorcycle crash that nearly killed me taught me how to live; to be a better person.” – Jay Williams

“Fred, you’ve heard many of our managers say their ‘career cancer’ is anxiety and worry. How do you personally deal with worry and anxiety?” Fear of failure is the root cause of worry and anxiety. Each manager who named these two demons as their number one emotional cancer has Professional Failure Syndrome.

Jay Williams, the former Duke basketball and Chicago Bulls star, told his life story in his book, Life Is Not An Accident. Williams book has been my companion this vacation. In less than one minute Jay’s life was changed. Never to play basketball, loss of multi-millions of dollars, possible missed fame on and off the basketball court; all traded for what William’s called a stupid decision. A pro basketball player ending his career on a Roadhog two wheel power machine.

My life experience easily ties jay Willian’s story to the question on how I deal with anxiety and worry, which I claim come from the bed of fear of failure.

For Jay, it was a tragic bike accident. For me it was cancer. Both brought us to the end our life rope.

Jay shares it took him over 10 years. My journey with dirty Mr. C began 13 years ago; the last 6 have been a major war.

Books like Jay’s and mine liberate the author. Jay’s message wakes me up to the reality that life is a one-time deal. We get a one-way ticket. One stupid move and we can pay dearly the rest of our lives.

Thank you, Jay Williams, for your courage, thank you for your story, thank you for your example, it is my goal to follow your example.

Consider, readers of Words of Hope, life is not an accident; and your life, the way you find it right here right now, is no accident. Play your best hand, it may very well turn out to be a full house.

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OREGON v NORTH CAROLINA MATCH UP

Coach Crowell’s facts, opinions, and predictions.

Emotional my heart goes PAC 12. The DUCKS are fun to watch. What will Nike’s Phil Knight dress them in? The neon yellow shoes, tank and shorts didn’t scare Michigan. Let’s wear green with yellow trim and play with your minds. Oregon will have to play their hearts out to win their second NCAA championship and take the trophy back to Eugene. They last won it all in 1941.

Trivia Fact: In my junior year at the U of Idaho we delighted in defeating the Ducks 4 times.

Trivia Fact: Athletes In Action was founded with coach Crowell as the first coach at 25 years of age. 50 years ago, ALA beat the Ducks 73-71 in one tough win.

Logically my head tells me Gonzaga will have to face and beat the Tar Heels to bring the NCAA Basketball home to what I believe is one of the best-kept secrets in the nation. Spokane, Washington, one of America’s most delightful places to grow and raise a family.

This is so hard to type these words. I really like Coach Dana Altman. Seems like a class act that can match coach Roy Williams point for point.

Grit, fire in the belly. No coach and no other players in college ball have lived the past 365 days going to sleep every night feeling the pain of losing the national champions on a last second shot.

Reminds me of watching Duke v Notre Dame 025c18f1947bd2d564ff5301095d3d9b

. In the first game, Duke played Digger Phelp’s excellent Notre Dame team. Duke won in a thriller. They celebrated by cutting down the nets. The Duke Devils had a great 6’11” center, too bad they celebrated too early.

Next game up was the Coach Joe B Hal’s Wildcats of Kentucky. They squared off against a great Arkansas team coached by Eddie Sutton. It was a battle.

It was amazing to watch Kentucky players walk off the court looking totally void of emotion, almost looking angry. There was no celebration. In the Kentucky locker room the number 60 was changed to 40.

As the Kentucky players prepared to dress to play Duke, the number on the board was still 40. Their goal was to win the next 20 minutes; at half-time the 40 was changed to 20.

Kentucky had avenged giving it away the previous year just like North Carolina did last year.

One more story about revenge. UCLA in 1994 was drilled in the early rounds by Tulsa.

To redeem themselves from this humiliating defeat, the O’Bannon brothers, point guard sensation, Tyus Edna and the greatest living expert on John Wooden Basketball, Coach Jim Harrick vowed to have their revenge.

In a brawler of a game, the Bruins defeated Coach Eddie Sutton’s Oklahoma State before facing defending national champs, Arkansas for all the marbles.

Edney, the hero who drove the length of the court with a behind the back dribble to break down a defender, kissed a running layup high off the glass all within 4.8 seconds to beat Missouri.

Then in the semi-finals, Edney severely injured his wrist on his right hand in the brutal game and he could not play in the championship.

UCLA beat the defending national champs Arkansas without Tyus Edney. Ed O’ Bannon had 31 points 19 rebounds. Every Bruin played lights out hoops.

Trivia: Both Shann Ferch, son in law, and Jay Crowell played for Coach Harrick, love him to this day.

NC has a huge advantage if Joel Berry ll’s ankle is healthy over Oregon freshman Payton Pritchard.

Typically the smallest team tries to play fast. Not so in this match up. Oregon is smaller and wants to play slow. Oregon changes defense to control tempo. Carolina rebounds to up the tempo and is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country.

Watch Tempo. Fast favors NC. Controlled lower pace, lower score favors Oregon. If at halftime the score in under 35, or even in the single digits and Oregon is behind they can still win.

4. Coach Williams is one of few coaches who plays two bigs at the same time:

I like two bigs at the same time. I like bigs playing high-low ball and being tree blocker/screeners GM for shooters.

Watch. Can Oregon force Carolina to go smaller or does Carolina’s bigs control game?

Watch. Who wins this battle? Oregon beats defenders to the hoop. Brooks and Dorsey excel at this. Can NC stop them?

Each team has great players. I love Dillon Brooks. He has 30 feet shooting range, dunks like he can break defenders hands on the rim if they try to block his shot.

Tyler Dorsey has to have a great game to keep the Tar Heels from ganging up on Dillion Brooks who I predict a first round draft pick.

I will watch closely how 6’10 Kennedy Meeks (love his game) and Isaiah Hicks, 6’9″ pound the glass, and don’t forget 6’8″, Justin Jackson. The teams leading scorer.

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YOU ARE SO KIND

Kindness is ranked #5 in the order of the 9 fruits of the spirit in the Lord’s orchard.

One of my core life values is “Dress for Success.” I learned this principle early in my professional career.

Wearing a coat and tie at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, was the only way for people to know I was staff and not a student.

Hoping for an upgrade and favorable treatment during air travel, was motivation to dress at a higher level than the average traveler.

Up to this point, the focus has been exterior dress. It’s time to shift gears and focus on “the dress of the heart.”

“Put on” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control: this is the Lord’s charge and challenge.

Having the mind of a basketball coach, I think application. How do I make this work in real life?

Crowell’s Dress for success game plan:
Start the day by dressing twice.
Dress one, the exterior:
Carefully select wardrobe for the day.
If tired or fearful, wear red.
If discouraged or worried, wear some yellow.
If lacking confidence, dress in purple.
If you are wanting to grow as a person or in business, wear some green.
If you need to have true grit, wear black.

Dress two; the interior:
As you put on each article of clothing put on a fruit of the spirit,

Example: As you put on socks, put on hard work/self-control. Put on a sweater, put on kindness.

Ephesians 6:10-18 is a good source to expand on the Dress for Success Principle.

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EXIT HELL HALLWAYS ENTER PEACEFUL ROOMS

Key Statement: “Ex” means to get out and “en” means to enter. Get out of the hallway and enter rooms of beauty, grace, peace, joy and love.

Developing the emotional intelligence skill “EQ” is necessary to get unstuck from being trapped in hallways of negativity, fear, worry, depression, anxiety, and all emotions and mental states that destroy the pursuit of excellence.

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COACH CROWELL ON APRIL TO NOVEMBER BASKETBALL

Key Statement: School ball season is ALL about the team.

Off-season is all about the player; not the team. In-season selfishness is team poison. Off-season selfishness is the tool necessary to become a great player. In the off-season, games are the candy, ice cream, and milkshakes of basketball! Individual skill work is the main course!

What are you going to do between April 1 and November 1 to coach and mentor your players to be ready to do the four crucial skills stated, to win championships?

Coach what are you going to do to know the game better and to understand how to encourage and inspire your players to win championships?

It is tragic youth are expected to specialize at an early age. No wonder there is so much burnout. High school basketball players are expected to play 11 to 12 months a year. Coaches are coaching the entire year. Many coach’s families are in shambles. The coach’s spouse and children get little but “crumb time,” from coach dad.

How sad? The last day a boy or girl plays their last high school game 99% end their basketball career! Does this make sense to demand your players play 11 months a year?!?!

What if you could build a championship team and give your players a good portion of the summer off to earn money for college, swim, and play at the ocean or lake.

What if you had a training program that actually gives your players the best opportunity to be totally ready to play next November?

Coach, I care about you and your family. I care about your players. I want your team and your players to reach their true potential as both basketball players, academic students and sons, and daughters with pure character.

Coach Crowell Experience: To be qualified as a mentor you must have PTR (prove track record) and WOBI (worthy of being imitated).

Proven Track Record: 12 years college level head basketball coach; 2 years YMCA 7 and 8-year-olds, 20 plus years AAU boys and girls coached championship teams at the high school level.

If you wish to have me send you my off-season basketball program, just email me through my administrative office MMaguire@nbccamps.com

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HELL IN THE HALLWAY

Ideas from a sermon about being stuck in the hallway of life.

The reason people get mentally stuck in hallways is because only 5% of our emotional decision making takes place in our conscious level of thinking while 95% of our actions happen at the subconscious processing level. We get stuck not knowing how we got there. Hallways are temporary, designed to get you from one room to the other. They are not places to reside for extended periods of time.

Hallways are excellent metaphors for daily life. Everyone ends up in a hallway at some point while looking to find a new and better place. But it can be frightening to open a new door. There are times when it might feel easier to go back through the same door. Others wait in the hallway, afraid to try the new door or to go back through the old one.

When we get stuck in a hallway it is impossible to experience the grace and beauty of life. No longer do the words of Jesus, “I have come that you may have life abundantly make any sense.” Getting stuck in the hallways of life is what hell on earth looks like and in reality it is a living hell. Hallway living is not a good place to be and not the place to feel the abundance of life.

The sermon titled Hell In The Hallway is a brutally graphic description of the negatives that come from being stuck in a hallway through the imaginations of our minds.

No one intentionally chooses to get stuck in the hell in the hallway with no room to enter.

“Who is the you that you are not?” is a conscious-living and thought-provoking gem. It is hardly possible to know who you are if you can’t figure who you are not.

Take 10 minutes to list all the ways you are not and then list the ways you are. Getting out of the hallway begins with an existential diagnosis about the hallway and yourself. Is it a hallway of depression, resentment, anger, self-pity, blame, arrogance, pride, jealousy, envy or…

This conscious recognition of hallway living is the crucial first step. There is no way to get out of hallway hell living until this first step takes place. The second step is knowing who you are and who you are not. Both are vital; you cannot know who you are without first understanding who you are not.

Does this open your conscious mind to any ways that you may be living a portion of your life in a hallway of hell?

For the next Word of Hope, I will focus on living in rooms, not hallways. Once we have a better picture of what may be behind the doors, we can step out of the hallway into a room designed for living.

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2017 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A GREAT FINAL FOUR YEAR

Let’s have fun doing some diagnosis. Like great military commanders, great basketball coaches examine their opponent’s weakness and find ways to impose their strength upon the foe.

It was fun for Coach Crowell to learn after he wrote this article that the game makers in Vegas have the Zags by 7.

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RULE OF

“Learning important truth principles is like mining for gold because life truths are more precious than much fine gold and silver.” -FC

The master teacher of master teachers was not willing to teach life-changing principles to the casual learner. In fact, He taught in parables because sincerity, an eagerness to learn and with intent to “DO” were His requirements.

If a miner is not willing to relentlessly mine, no gold or silver will be found.

Likewise, learning cannot happen without mining. Thankful Dr. William Bright taught us the rule of 6.

Seeing the hidden truths of an inspiring movie deepens each time it is viewed. On view number 6 the movie becomes part of your life.

Repetitive review or practice is one of the four pillars of changing the way we believe and act. You can discover the other 3 pillars in a past Words of Hope at crowellu.com.

Last week a colleague asked me this question. “How come so few people want to grow and change?”

Gold and silver miners will tell us mining is really hard work, very expensive and demanding of uncommon patience.

One example: Les Mis came to Spokane. One of our granddaughters played a leading role. I attended 13 of the performances. Without intent, I found myself singing the amazing songs. Les Mis had become part of me. I had mined it well.

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TWO WORLDS

“Boy, we live in two different worlds and we both are extremely happy.” -Long Time Friend

As I read this email from a former classmate I began to reflect on the idea of people living in two different worlds.

What is bringing you happiness these days?
What can I do to make our relationship better?

Factual questions are important because facts are important. There are right and a wrong answer to them.

Elegant questions make for richer and more delightful conversation because there is not a right and wrong question. These questions go to the deep inner things of the mind and heart.

My friend’s words about us living in two different worlds moved me to think of these kind of questions.

A final thought to my longtime friend and to you my special readers of Words of Hope.

Let’s imagine we are in our final days in our two different worlds. We are in hospice; same place; same room; single beds and within the next five minutes we will close our eyes for the last time.

Will one of my favorite sayings be for real for you? “Today’s goodbye is tomorrow’s hello.”

With supreme confidence, my last goodbye is going to be the next glorious hello to Abba Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, my mother, Kathleen Mitchell Crowell, and many who have gone before me.

Plus I will be waiting with open arms for all loved ones, to say hello again when their times comes.

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WHO IS YOUR HEAD COACH?

Fact is, everyone has a head coach! The critical question? Is your head coach worthy of your total allegiance?

Clearly, my teen and college days were dedicated to be in a position where my head coach would be me, Fred Crowell.

The two most important qualifications in the job description of a head coach are:

A qualified head coach was Paul, formerly known as Saul of Taurus. Paul’s life was transformed by the saving grace of Jesus. He was a new man, old things in his life passed away.

Paul lived such an exemplary life he was able to tell his players, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Tragically the average person is their own head coach by default. If you don’t intentionally select a head coach, the job is yours.

In my second basketball season at the U of Alaska in Fairbanks, it became crystal clear that as much as I had worked hard to become my own boss, my own head coach; I wasn’t fit for the job.

My book Meet My Head Coach carefully explains the logical reasons I made the dramatic decision to ask Jesus Christ to be my head coach.

The right head coach is key to success. No one understands this concept more than athletic coaches. Great coaches win championships. Poor coaches look for new jobs.

Two perfect examples of the critical importance of a head coach are captains of ships and pilots of airplanes. The buck stops at the captain; in life, the bucks stops with Jesus the supreme head coach.

If you are looking to find a coach worthy of your allegiance; check out Meet My Head Coach. l lay out the claims why I believe God is the only one worthy of being my head coach.

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WORLD’S GREATEST ARTIST

Susan Stricker, high school math teacher, lover of beauty, declares to any and all, “God is the greatest artist!”

One of my thousands of joyous moments was an experience in the Canadian Rockies. Jay and I took 44 “die hard” basketball players on a 10 day intensity basketball experience. One strapping lad proclaimed he was an atheist. Early one sunny morning, we took the boys on a run. At a spectacular viewpoint our atheist shouted, “Now, I believe in God!”

Yes, indeed, “The heavens declare the glory of God. There is no speech or language where His voice is not heard…..In the heavens he has pitched his tent like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion like a champion set to run his race….”

Spring in Spokane is upon us. Birds sing, deer graze on green lawns, trees are alive with buds….it is time to celebrate new birth. I love Spring. Thank you God for the seasons of the year. Spokane has four seasons. God is the master artist of all of them.

The problem is life gets in the way. We run the risk of being blind to God’s beauty. It is tragic to miss the glory of His creation. For months, during a period of despair, I did not look out our large windows overlooking our splendid city. Busy, health issues, worry, fear, all robbed me of living in the precious moment.

As Susie often says to me, “Slow the bus down.” This means taking time to examine a budding limb on a tree, to stand still and see the sunrise, to breathe slowly and smell the air, to truly see God’s amazing artistry.

Check out the link my amazing Alaskan friend, Mike Tauriainen sent me today. Ironically it came to me after I decided to write about God, the world’s best artist.

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LAUGHTER - GOOD MEDICINE

“Laughter is a fascinating subject to study because each person has a unique way of laughing.” F Crowell

In my years of empirical research I have come to the conclusion that one who easily laughs was raised in a home with a mother who laughed easily.

Conversely I have discovered those who do not laugh easily grew up in a home his where mother did not laugh easily; of course there are always exceptions

Laughter is a gift. The good news is laughter can be taught, learned and become habitual.

Susie and I are working on laughing more often. One way is watching a favorite TV series that, to us, is very funny. It makes us laugh. We feel better when we laugh.

These two videos make me laugh. If you want to laugh watch each one six times in one sitting.

Laughter doesn’t solve our problems but it helps us work through them with a lighter spirit. Laughter is a gift. Laughter begets laughter. Laugh on purpose. Laugh just for no reason. Just Laugh. You will feel better

Ha ha ha ho ho ho he he ha! Corny? Yes, indeed! What’s wrong being corny and as grand daughter GG said, “I love papa; you’re silly.”

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LAUGHTER IS GOOD MEDICINE

My life experience tells me people who laugh often, easily and for no apparent reason grew up in a home with laughter.

When I meet a person of laughter I assume they have a mother who models this behavior. I am seldom wrong.

Laughter is a gift. Some babies come into the world laughing. They never stop laughing. They see the positives. They laugh and make others laugh.

Some babies come into the world howling. They are cranky and disagreeable all their lives.

Most of us fall in the middle. We are neither on the laughter or cranky side. The good news is we can choose laughter or crankiness

There are Laugh Conferences where people are taught to laugh. One basketball coach planned to have one good laugh each practice.

My brother, Mike, is the funniest guy I know. Typically I call him each morning. It is common to have tears running down my checks. Mike delights in turning my comments into hysterical counter punches.

As reminders, I like to buy colored rocks with a keyword printed on them. Last week I carried a forgiveness rock. This week I have a laugh rock. I plan to laugh often. Join with me and we will bring joy to others and to ourselves.

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EQ MORE VALUABLE THAN IQ

“Emotional Intelligence is the most important, yet least taught skill in education.” Fred Crowell.

One of the many benefits of going on vacation is think time. No cell phone, no race horse living. Lots of think time.

My mind during vacation is like a farmer tilling acres of soil. My tiling field is often EQ (emotional intelligence), the single most important life skill to master. EQ has been proven to be a far greater predictor of success than IQ. Some universities place greater value on EQ than IQ scores.

Empirical data is my favorite type of research. I find truth in the reality of life experience, whereas some find it in the ivory towers of higher education. Though I regret not being able to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology, I cherish my double doctorate degrees in The School of Hard Knocks and Never Quit University.

My research lab, visiting with people at the swimming pool. I asked a high-level executive who meets with CEOs of major companies this question, “In your life experience, how many people out of 1,000 have exceptional EQ?” After thoughtful contemplation, she said, “one!“

Later in the day, my son-in-law, Dr. Shann Ferch (Doc) and I talked in length about EQ.

I shared with Shann that the best teacher my wife Susie and I had in our life, Dr. Howard Hendricks, told our class in 1968 that his research revealed, 94 out of 100 marriages were unhappy after 30 years. I then asked Shann the same question. Shann estimated 60 out of 1,000 people have exceptional EQ. Doc gave a higher score because his experience is with more people committed to EQ development.

This led me to ask Shann, a clinical psychologist expert in servant leadership & forgiveness, who has been a successful therapist for over 20 years, “Why are there so few skilled people in the area of emotional intelligence?” The wise father of my three amazing granddaughters said, “The ways you develop a high level of EQ, emotional intelligence is:

Doc went on to say, “If you have not experienced one, or more, of these four ways to develop a high level of EQ, it is likely your EQ is lacking.”

Often, I am astonished at the lack of emotional intelligence I see in my world. Too many basketball coaches leave me amazed as I watch them interact with their players. In my years as a counselor to families, I have been shocked to see the absence of an emotional connection between parents and children. Surely, high EQ is a conscious level commitment. Selection of a wise mentor is paramount in my book.

I confess, my saving grace is that I have discovered what Paul learned and so effectively communicated in his book to the Corinthians. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

My hope for you, my dear readers, and for me as well, is that at the end of 2017, our EQs will have a higher score. It won’t happen unless we act upon one of Dr. Ferch’s four ways to develop EQ. My choice is #2. What is your choice?

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THE CRUCIAL LIFE QUESTION

Meaning and purpose is the jet fuel for life. Tell me in 30 seconds or less your reason for living!

Years ago one of basketball’s premier coaches expounded on basketball being mostly a mental game. A great high school coached believed winning was 75% mental!

When cancer hit me hard five years ago, meaning and purpose became a prime question for me. The learning curve has been steep, the obstacles often as rugged as the high peaks a sheep hunter faces on a record-breaking hunt.

The more research spent the more it became crystal clear M/P (meaning and purpose) was the cornerstone, the most critical yet least understood and executed success principle on planet earth.

Ask 20 people to tell you why they are alive.
Ask 20 college students why they are in school.
Ask 20 people why they go to work.

Pretty sad to spend up to 50,000 dollars per year and not be able to state in crystal clear terms why you are at a particular university.

Even sadder, to wake up each day and ho-hum through life without knowing and working on your M/P.

As 2015 comes to a close and 2016 approaches I am convicted to hone my M/Ps for the new year.

33 years ago in Meet My Head Coach, I listed four ways to see amazing personal changes. In December please join me in discovery at a deeper level our M/Ps for 2016.

Step One:
What is the truth about me? Not what I say I am but what God says about me.

Step Two:
What are my blind spots, recognition is my first step to finding true M/P!

Step Three:
Confess any and all things as sin in my life that robs or steals the fruits of the Spirit in my life.

Step Four:
Live gratitude the linchpin to living a virtuous life. Each day write out five gratitudes.

Fuel our life jets with meaning and purpose so we bring honor and glory to God and our loved ones.

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75th CELEBRATION

March 18 is always a special day in the Crowell’s life. Mom wanted her Saint Patrick’s Day boy to be named after Ireland’s Patron Saint Patrick.

Dad wanted the name Frederic after his dad. Mom lost by about 8 hours and I have run late ever since my birth in Seattle in 1942.

November 5, 2016, dirty, chicken-hearted cancer struck! Seattle oncologist gave a prognosis of 3 years to live.

Hope beats cancer. Hope keeps joy, peace, passion, love and a no quit attitude alive.

I am blessed by the words of my son Jay, “Incredible testimony you have! Grateful every day that you are thriving and living life to the fullest! Love you.” – Jay Crowell

“Your commitment to write daily words of hope has been valuable to my mind and heart. I consider knowing you and learning from your gift of wisdom being one of the great blessings in my life. Thank you.” – Mike Dahl

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TRUE GRIT

“People can see the size of your body but no one can see the size of your heart.”

March madness is the time for basketball. My real joy in watching over 100 games this season comes from analyzing the coaches’ ability to make adjustments throughout the game.

Fact is, only about 1% of all the players at the high school level will play college basketball. Fact is, most can’t play college ball.

The physical analysis is the easy analysis. 7-foot players don’t have to be great to get a college basketball scholarship. 6-foot players must be sensational.

Physical size matters. Height, weight, speed, jumps, can all be measured, but the size of the heart can’t be measured.

True Grit is found in the heart. True grit is forged on the anvil in the woodshed of hard knocks and painful experiences in the game of life.

True grit doesn’t just happen. A true grit learning experience for me took place as a you11-year-oldold. My job was to deliver 100 papers before 5 AM. Dad worked nights on the plywood mill. I was very sick with the flu, but the only way those papers were going to get delivered was by yours truly. I recall using my bike as a crutch. I was able to get those papers out to the customer in the midst of vomiting.

Without being dramatic, I can tell you it was experiences like these that gave me true grit. Today as I fight Mr.C, there is true grit in me, cancer cannot rob me of joy or passion for life.

I tell high school players, “You can play college ball if you have true grit! No one can stop you from being the best person you can be, if you have a never, never, never quit mind set.”

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. – 1 Corinthians 9:24

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Your Belief System is Your Compass

“A guide that directs your beliefs on what’s wrong and what’s right and determines your life choices.” – Ms. Jessie Craig, Civil Engineer, head Girls high school basketball coach.

When you understand how your mental complex works you can begin to change your belief system/compass.

The human mental complex is a combination of the conscious, subconscious and conscience.

The will is the driver of the belief system. Your will does five things for you:

Faith is the fuel that feeds your will. Faith is always in the now, not yesterday or tomorrow. Faith is in the present tense.

If a person says, “l’ll try” there is no commitment. There is no will power. Try is devoid of faith.

The Bible has much to teach us about the human condition. Unlike too many college professors who teach in the clouds the writers of Holy Scripture write in graphic terms, we can know, understand and act upon.

Ecclesiastes use the ax, as a way to teach the way the will and faith work together to change one’s belief system.

If the ax is dull the work is more difficult. The ax is a representation of the will. If the will is soft life becomes hard.

Faith is the tool that sharpens the ax. Faith is essential, necessary to sharpen our life sword.

If the ax is dull you have to work harder. The ax needs to be sharpened. The work of sharpening the ax is faith. The ax becomes sharp through exercise; work, action.

Faith must have corresponding actions. We can know the ax needs to be sharpened but if we don’t do the act of sharpening the ax our faith is worthless. Faith only happens when there is action.

Until action takes place nothing happens. Both wood cutting and life is hard without will and faith working together.

Thank you, Dr. Jones, Deputy Director, Alaska Military Youth Academy for sharing your wisdom with me.

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PHILOSOPHY - BELIEF SYSTEM

Philo means to love. Sophy means to study. Life means to live.

The study of loving life is never boring, sometimes scary to explore, very mysterious, truly fascinating, too often neglected, and seldom or poorly taught.

Breath by breath, hour by hour, day by day, month by month, and year by year the philosophy of life becomes a child’s belief system.

Every word spoke to the child; every physical interaction with the child; each and every experience is recorded in the child’s subconscious from conception. Yes, even in the mother’s womb the child is learning.

This learning forms how a child sees oneself; how the child sees the world; how the child sees how people see him or her; how the child believes God sees him or her.

The belief system is the foundation. The soul/spirit of humanity acts out life according to the belief system formed in the very early years of life.

Smart owners hire an architect to design a plan; dumb ones build without a plan.

The selection of a PTR (Prove Track Record) contractor who builds the house to the exact specifications of the architect is the first step to building a great house.

Throughout the building phase, city or county inspectors inspect the integrity the construction.

The building begins with the foundation. The foundation is crucial. If the foundation is built poorly the house will be very difficult for the builder because nothing will be level.

An expert foundation professional can lay concrete 1/8 inch level across a 30-foot floor span corner to corner. This is the way a quality home should be built.

Let’s return to our personal philosophy of who we are; our belief system; the architectural blueprint of our being.

This mental blueprint in my opinion (based on my life experience) is formed during the formative years which begins in the womb; the perfect environment for development and growth.

It is my conviction psychology has the scientific tools to diagnose the ways to help clients understand the formation of a person’s mental blueprint and even help clients live more effectively, but alone it cannot fix a poor plan or faulty foundation.

The genius of human development is discovered in the spiritual reality. Jesus brought us a totally unique therapeutic system.

Rather than making self a better self as nearly every psychological system attempts. The Christ System does not help with the client with a redesign of their mental blueprint or a remodel of the constructed house.

As strange as it may seem, The Christ System gives us a brand new mental blueprint and sets a new foundation. Instead of fixing an old heart. He gives us a new heart.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus the master architect has a new mental blueprint for each person, we just have to stop trying to fix the old one and build upon His foundation if we want a home that endures the storms of life and lasts forever.

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WHAT HAPPENED?

“Days are long sometimes. Very long, but life is way too short, way to brief.” -Fred Crowell

30 years ago, Fred Crowell was living in what he calls the Golden Era of Life. Dad traveled everywhere to basketball camps, son Jay and daughter Jennifer with him. What joy!

As I soon approach birthday number 75, the profound words of the Apostle Matthew, so carefully passed on to us in his gospel, makes so much sense to me.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life-whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” Matthew 6:25-30

Matthew finishes chapter 6 with the verse NBC Camps was founded upon 45 years ago, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto to you.”

What happened? Seems like yesterday Jennifer was singing daily throughout the home. We called her our resident butterfly.

What happened? Seems like yesterday Jay was practicing karate in the kitchen. “Hey dad, come rebound for me. How does my shot look?”

If we give ‘em the best of what we have left, our “what happened?” will become treasures in our memory bank and in the lives of those we love.

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HOME BASE (PLATE)

“The day basketball season ended, my second love, baseball began. Throwing strikes was my passion.” -Fred Crowell

Where do you go mentally and or physically when life seems to be sucking the air out of you?

There are so many ways to escape the real world. It is necessary for everyone to take a rest both in body and mind.

The danger is living in the world of make believe and missing the beauty, majesty, and miracle of the real world.

For children who grow up in very difficult circumstances, escape is the difference between making it and not making it.

Basketball and baseball were my saviors. The two places I was totally saved was on the basketball court and baseball diamond.

Thankfully, I grew up in an era when we played hours and hours without a coach. This was my escape from a harsh and unpredictable life experience. No harsh or unpredictable master.

In real life, children have limited power and limited freedom. Children, like adults, crave freedom and personal control.

Children who have no boundaries often face serious life hardships. This in itself is child abuse.

Children raised in violent homes have big mountains to climb to break free and not repeat the family failures.

Transition is a very difficult process. Transition is reversing generational family dysfunction.

First Base – In baseball the leadoff hitter’s job is to get on first base. It doesn’t matter how!

Get a hit, take a walk, let the pitcher hit you with a pitch. “Get on first” is the mission.

In life, getting on first base is the mission. My life’s first base is to discover the love of God. Getting on first base with God was the best thing that had ever happened to me. My first step towards freedom.

“For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” John 3:16

Ultimately home plate is the destination in baseball. Get the runs, win the game.

Time doesn’t allow for discussion of 2nd and 3rd base but home plate is the ultimate destination.

In real life, home plate for me is found in Psalm 23. Daily, word by word, taking baby steps through King David’s Psalm was, is, and will continue to be my greatest weapon to beat cancer and/or take my last breath in this life.

“The LORD is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
He lets me rest in green meadows;
He leads me beside peaceful streams.
He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.
Even when I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
protect and comfort me.
You prepare a feast for me
in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
My cup overflows with blessings.
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the LORD
forever.” Psalm 23 1-6

For 53 years, the Lord has given me a bride, who no matter the difficulties and challenges life brings, home plate is where Susie always returns. Always.

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ONE IS NONE; TWO IS DONE

The value of teamwork; the skill to delegate.

A motto among USA special forces elite team is, “One is none and two is done.”

Which reminded me of a mentor back in the late 60’s. Jack, he always asked me two questions: “What was I doing?” and “Who was I taking with me?”

This also reminds me of the value of husband and wife being united in parenting children, and the value of having a trusted crucial other, a go to person for wisdom and accountability.

My favorite New Testament passage tells it as well as any instruction manual I have seen on this concept of, one is none and two is done!

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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SOLUTION TO POOR CHARACTER

The freedom from quick temper, anger, and personal conflicts.

The Apostle Paul is truly a remarkable writer. I marvel as I read his many books. In about 57 AD he made a difficult decision.

Do I visit Rome or Jerusalem? Fortunately for today’s believers, Paul chose the latter. Instead of going to Rome he wrote the Christians a brilliant letter to people he had not yet met.

Paul’s 16 chapters to the Romans is considered by many New Testament scholars to be his finest work. Romans is far and away my favorite Bible book; the cornerstone of my theology.

About 6 years later, after six tough years of severe persecution, Paul wrote to his beloved Timothy.

This book is like a father teaching his son to be successful. As a basketball coach, I deeply appreciate the common sense approach to living in freedom and the easy to understand application.

KNOW, UNDERSTAND, and DO are the essentials to developing good character and eliminating poor character.

Paul’s solution to poor character is to set the high goal of having holy hands, clean hands, held high.
To reach this goal, forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness eliminates wrath and anger. Forgiveness eliminates poor character.
A life fundamental skill. Each day, commit to having holy hands. Take a moral inventory. Intentionally forgive any and all past experiences both toward self and others.

Give it up to God when in a battle with past scars. Ask with the past offenses of others and your own sins.

Ask yourself this question, “Do I want to hold on to these past scars or do I want clean, holy hands?”

Paul inspired Timothy to live with clean, holy hands. The reward is freedom from poor character. It’s worth the cost of being obedient to our Lord.

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THE CROWELL BASKETBALL - LIFEBALL

“Shooting a bad basketball is like chewing food with a broken tooth. In LIFEBALL fixing a problem with the wrong tool creates more problems.”

How can I more effectively teach basketball’s most important and most difficult skill has been a question on my mind for years and years.

In basketball, the shot is the most important skill. It is a difficult skill to master!

Guarding your heart is life’s most difficult skill! EQ education is the foundation in learning how to guard your heart.

Diagnosis demands the relentless pursuit to discover the root of the problem. A cancer friend who has a one in a million kind off cancer has an oncologist who said, “Stay with me, here is my cell number, I am going to keep you alive. I will find the root of the problem.”

This is the mindset I have in teaching the art of the basketball shot and EQ training focused on guarding your heart; the solution to depression, anxiety, fear and even suicide.

One morning about 3 am. I woke abruptly. For several years I had worked on a simple way to place your hands on the basketball correctly. A soft grip with your hands and correct finger placement is crucial, the hands are the steering wheel.

The diamond idea jumped out as the perfect solution. As you look at the Crowell Basketball the diamonds are clear. There are 8 diamonds so a shooter has 16 choices to place the index and middle fingers. The correct positions to get perfect backspin.

Just like mastering the heavily guarded shot in basketball, guarding the heart is every bit as difficult.

The challenge is to be a warrior when the situation calls for it and to be able to shed tears when it is the right time.

How will you guard your heart today and follow Paul’s admonition, “Be joyful always pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything.”

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ANECDOTE FOR BULLIES

“Do not be afraid; be strong and courageous.” -Joshua

Be of good courage be not afraid neither be dismayed for the Lord thy God is with you wherever you go.

One of the most important responsibilities of fatherhood is teaching his child not to be afraid, to be strong and courageous.

How does a father accomplish this enormous challenge, responsibility and, yes, obligation?

1. Live PTR. Imitation is the most powerful teaching tool. Proven track record is vital.

2. Quality time spells love. One on one time with a child is encouragement/oxygen and magic to their very innermost being.

Ryan Carr is one of my everyday heroes. I love and respect RC. Though small in size Carr has become a giant in his profession. He is chief basketball scout for the Pacers. Big job.

The Carrs have been blessed with 3 children. Austin is a twin. Great kid; kind, loving, generous. Actually too kind if that is possible.

Why were these parents seek parenting advice? Because it is the most difficult job on earth.

Jay Crowell was much like Austin; gentle, kind, eager to please. “The Oarsman,” Jay Crowell learned to beat fear and become courageous! An oarsman in an 8 man crew race burns like a horse in the Kentucky Derby. Thus the nickname.

My life experience coaching/counseling kids gave me the wisdom to teach Austin two crucial life skills.

1. Confront the problem. Roleplay the issue back and forth until the child is ready to confront the person. Practice, practice and more practice.

2. Put son in karate, so he will learn that he never has to fight, he already knows he has the tools to take care of himself. So there is no need to fight.

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BASKETBALL - MADNESS

“The game I love can be so cruel” -F. Crowell

Basketball became the love of my life in fourth grade. Anacortes, Washington, a small town on Fidalgo Island was a hotbed for good basketball.

Brian Rockom had a record of the famous Harlem Trotters. He would set up a record player on a court with rims low enough a grade school kid could dunk. Rockom would play the Trotters famous Sweet Georgia Brown.

We basketball danced for hours imitating Marcus the late Haynes and Sweetwater Lemon. It was pure joy to meet the greatness basketball dribbler ever 60 years later. I told Mr. Haynes this story. He smiled.

March Madness is the NCAA brand name for a month of spectacular hoops. Each round bets the university team hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The madness is not inclusive for college players, High schools throughout the nation are in a state of madness!

This madness connotes extreme excitement. Synonyms would be words like fanatic, zealous, crazy and euphoric.

Tears filled our locker room in 1960 when our Anacortes team lost our dream of being state champions.

As the basketball season comes to an end only one team ends the season with a win.

The pain for so many basketball players at season end is enormous. My life experience and my professional research has convinced me that as many as 8 out of 10 basketball players are disappointed with their basketball experience.

Simply stated – I love basketball because it is the best tool I have in my tool box to teach kids to:

Never quit
Love to work hard
Set goals – high goals
Say NO to destructive behaviors
Learn to fail and get busy to win
Live life more than basketball
Respect authority
Obey rules

Like basketball life can be so cruel. It takes enormous courage to commit to winning whether on the basketball court or the game of life I call LIFEBALL.

It takes far more commitment when you lose basketball games that end dreams. Same goes for serious illness, destroyed relations, financial collapse, and the death of loved ones.

Basketball and life are cruel teachers. Are they worth it? I say YES. Life is our gift. What we do with His gift is our gift to the world.

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PROTECT YOUR TEAMS

The name of the game is unity. It starts in the home.

Life was not meant to be a lived alone; even my favorite childhood hero, the Lone Ranger, had Tonto whom he affectionately called Kimosabe.

1967 brought with it a huge learning curve for Mrs. & Mr. C. We had moved from Alaska to California. We had gone from an income of $33,000 to $3,600 per year. We became faith missionaries and our parents were unhappy about it.

Only 9 months earlier Jesus Christ had become my head coach. He had agreed to my one condition in this life-changing decision: that no one would know Jesus was “my coach.”

In all life choices, He became the head coach just like I was head basketball coach of my teams.

Make no mistake, when I coach a basketball team. It is all my way or the highway.

Two weeks after saying yes to Jesus, we were in our car driving to our best friends’ who would not like the news that we had become Christ followers.

Yet I see it this way: If I had a pill that could cure cancer, it would be given to every person who asks for it, but never to anyone I had to hold down and force feed.

Let’s go back to our days in SoCal. Our favorite teacher at the Biblical Institute evaluated our spiritual IQ at Elementary School level.

The brilliant prof said one day in a class of several hundred college grads, “If your Christianity doesn’t work in your home then it doesn’t work.”

That day, Susie and I realized that if it didn’t work in our own home, we were fooling ourselves. So let’s learn how to make it work.

First, let us look at a teaching method the Lord used in his three-year ministry. Jesus only wanted those who sincerely desired to know His Truth.

If you have confidence in Fred Crowell’s desire to have unity in each of your teams, then read on.

A team is defined as two or more working for the same cause and your first and foremost team, is your family team.

Action: Know, understand and do what Jesus Christ taught in the Gospel of John in chapter 17; Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son.

Then devour as a hungry tiger chapter 6 in Meet My Head Coach; The name of the game is unity. For maximum effect, complete each assignment at the end of the chapter.

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ATTENTION MUST BE PAID

“The price tag to get noticed is; good behavior, bad behavior, illness, or getting injured.” – F. Crowell

Other people’s attention is as strong a human need as oxygen, food, and water.

A teen girl had a fight with her father. She can’t remember if the fight was about the war in Cambodia or too much makeup on her face.

She left home. While sitting in the sand near the ocean, a dirty looking, little man stopped in front of her.

“Your dad kicked you out of the house?” The voice spoke softly as he touched her hair with kindness.

She watched the dirty little man with skinny legs walk away. Soon she was running after him.

Squeaky Fromme, placed a little hand into Charlie’s never to leave his side until he murdered the actress, Sharon Tate.

Charles Manson convinced this lonely, attention-starved girl that he was the son of god.

Our eldest grandchild, Natalya, played Squeaky in the play Assasins. Amazing role to play because of the complexity of Fromme’s damaged life.

The famous person playwright wrote this emotionally and thought-provoking play about people who assassinated or attempted to kill a USA President.

Both interesting and fascinating to see the common theme in each assassin’s life from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald.

The common thread in each assassin was a feeling they were unappreciated and a desire for attention. They each, in turn believed killing a president would validate them and give them significance.

Over the past 45 years, I have closely studied youth. Clearly, the ideal is to get attention and recognition through good works.

If this is not possible, bad behavior is a likely option. The reality is, “I am going to get you to notice me!” Attention must be paid!

If one’s moral code is strong, bad behavior is not an option. Being good enough to get attention doesn’t work for the moral person. The only way now is to get sick or injured.

Of all the many rewards life offers, none is more precious than living in light of Christ before those who long to be noticed. Jesus has enough love for us to pay the attention bill each of us needs paying.

Once we know we have been filled with His love, we can be there to give people the attention they so desperately seek.

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HOUSE TO HOME

All of life experience is both mystery and fascination to me. Brilliant human performance guru, Paul Nakai, tells us, “Curiosity is the highest form of emotional intelligence.”

Curiosity leads to an investigation; investigation produces knowledge; knowledge, the art of knowing becomes understanding. Knowing and understanding result in doing.

Without being curios man would still be living in cave – amazed by fire coming from lightning striking trees. Curiosity was the fuel that led to the discovery of flint, matches; then blow torches.

We have all left the caves, and we have an amazing privilege in this life to build our own home. Whether it be in the 500 square foot house I lived in 70 years ago or the home we live in today.

My wife Susie and I changed houses and homes 14 times the first 8 years of our marriage, so I became curios about how and when a house officially turns into our home.

At what moment in time did the new house become home and when did our once beloved home return simply to being a house once more?

Seems like a simple concept. Not true. Some houses, even when fully occupied never become homes.

House is a building. House is where you exist. Home is where you live, alive with joy and passion. Home is a sanctuary of safety and optimum opportunity for growth. House is just four walls, roof, and heat.

We can easily make a house more of a house; bigger; prettier, better, but homes can become better homes as well. Both require planning, hard work, and intentional action. Both cost energy, time and personal sacrifice.

Last year our lake cabin had to be raised. Each time we removed Crowell life, the home started becoming simply a house. Within days our former home was a shell, yet ready to become open doors and windows for an inner city ministry house.

Reminds me of the admonition to build the house on the rock; not the sand. With the lesson for me being to make sure the new house has a solid foundation. Once the new cabin is built, as we bring in Crowell life, we must be sure to bring love, joy, peace, kindness and goodness to make it a home for others.

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HELLO MY HERO!

From early morning hours to nearly lunch time no words for Daily Words of Hope with Fred came to my mind. Susie encouraged me to wait and let it happen.

On my office computer was a four-word email message in response to the Words of Hope SO EASY SO HARD message.

Truth be told, at times life is so, so hard and difficult for everyone of us. It isn’t if it is going to be hard; it is only when.

Best time to prepare for the hard times is when you are living in the good times. James gives us excellent instruction.

Life is so, so hard yet so, so wonderful. Living to love Creation, all of it, is a joy for all of us to grasp and cling to with all our might.

No wonder James gives us a solid formula to deal with trials, adversity, loss, poor health and difficult times. James wants us to be able to walk through these trials with victory. These are the teaching steps St. James carved out in his remarkable book called, James.

Step One – Count it Pure Joy when you face trials (Even cancer). – James

Step Two – Embrace and cling to Gratitude. “Be joyful always; pray w/o ceasing; give thanks in everything.” – I Thessalonians.

Step Three – Trials and tribulations grow Faith. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” – Hebrews

Step Four – Faith is the discipline that develops Endurance. Endurance is a never quit attitude. – I Corinthians

Step Five – Endurance is a necessity in building Pure Character. Pure character is getting rid of all residual anger and resentments. – I Timothy

Step Six – Pure Character is the Precious Tool in your Life Skills tool box that prepares you for any hardship life presents you.

PJ + G + F + E + PC = PT

Pure Joy + Gratitude + Faith + Endurance + Pure Character = Precious Tool

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FLOODED WITH JOY

“And you will be planted like trees near living waters and whatever you do shall prosper.”

Water is the fountain of life, without it, we can do nothing. Water has amazing qualities, one of which is immense weight.

Remarkably water has the capacity to lift a 900-foot cruise ship, with 1,750 passengers, 85 feet above sea level. This in itself is a phenomena.

The gigantic Oroville dam in Northern California brought life to thousands of farmers, yet when the dam began to break thousands of homes were in jeopardy.

When our friends, the Meyers, were told to evacuate, they loaded up all they could in a pickup truck and headed to high ground, thinking they may never see their home again.

Being flooded by love is the best kind of flood. To wake early with a heart of joy, peace, gratitude and thanksgiving is pure delight.

Being flooded with joy is not normal. It is not a genetic trait. Joy is learned behavior.

Just as the Panama Canal’s access was built by sweat and even men dying. Our access to joy was purchased in a similar manner, may we learn to redeem that precious purchase each and every day.

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EASY TO START, HARD TO FINISH

Each New Year resolutions are made with high hopes and firm resolve. By the year’s end these well intended resolutions will have been abandoned.

In January and February, fitness centers are packed with men and women working fiercely to lose weight. A few months later, the majority have gone back to couch potato living.

Too often basketball players dribble the length of the court sashaying through defenders only to chuck up a missed lay-up. Finishing the play with a basket is hard.

Coaches plan practices knowing games are lost in the last two minutes of a game. Finishing is more important than the start.

Unwise business leaders start a venture without counting the cost to finish the project. Finish happens when quitting is not an option.

Growing up is less difficult than growing old. Living becomes very hard when illness is present. To finish life to the last breathe with excellence is a worthy ambition.

5. Develop self-discipline. Learn a foreign language, run a marathon, learn a musical instrument, or learn a new skill. Appreciate denying self. Say no to lazy thinking and lazy living.

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SLEEP IS PRECIOUS AND PRICELESS

“I think of you through the watches of the night because you are my help.”

After three full, long days at a camp, the 74 year old body was ready for sleep. I slept 12 hours in one day. Gratitude was my attitude.

Wendell Berry’s poem touches me deeply as I lie on my bed. Hope it comforts you as well.

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GOD'S GRADING SYSTEM

“Teachers first instruct, then examine you. God examines you, then instructs you.”

After months of deliberation, I made the profound decision to ask the Lord Jesus Christ into my life with the simple promise that I would follow him to the best of my ability.

Soon after this life-changing decision, I read in Paul’s words to the Romans, “God proved His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Over a period of 50 years of experience, I have discovered the power of seeing what can be and speak what it can be before it comes into reality.

In the basketball realm, if a coach believes a person is a good player at the start of the season, this person will be a better player at the end of the season.

Conversely, if the basketball coach believes a person is not a good basketball player, months later there isn’t an improvement because the coach has total control.

In the spiritual realm, the miraculous wisdom of the One who is the visible expression of our invisible God, who created all things in Him, by Him and for Him, is that He calls us holy, chosen and dearly loved, long before we actually live these characteristics out in our daily life.

What if this was true? And I believe it is true, that God’s report card gives each of us a 100%, then loves us when we are becoming 100%.

It’s like the college prof who told Fred Crowell, “I see greatness in you.”

Over a period of five years, Doc Green spoke greatness into my life! He believed in me before I believed in me.

Criticism, blame, accusations, and anger seldom makes us better. Self-destructive thoughts and words dig us into deep pits.

Encouragement is oxygen. As the bodies’ brain, blood, heart, lungs need oxygen, all creation needs encouragement.

People become what we inspire them to become. We become what we see ourselves becoming.

God is who He says He is and you and I are who He says we are, not who we think we are. It’s just that simple.

It only becomes difficult when we fail to believe what God tells us about us in His WORD.

If you are in Christ, by His grace your report card has already been delivered and you scored 100%.

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WORDS MATTER

“People create their world by the words of their mouths.” – F Crowell

Today I went to Mass aboard the MS Rotterdam. The gentle, kind and elderly priest spoke from Genesis. Over and over in his homily, he spoke of the power of the words we speak.

The priest’s sermon reminded me of my desire to be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. As James said, “Anger does not bring about the results God desires.”

While Susie put in her long walk around the ship, I had coffee; and wrote Word of Hope. Then on to breakfast on the aft deck.

The request for a quiet table alone was ignored. The waiter placed me very close to two quite elderly ladies.

It was too easy to hear every word they spoke. While it is impossible to recall much of what they discussed, the subject matter was people, not ideas.

My first thoughts were to marvel and be happy for all their life long memories. They had been part of the rich and wealthy crowd of south Florida.

Second, thoughts, the priest’s message, words matter played out in my mind.

Recalling someone once telling me; “You can talk about ideas or you can talk about people.”

It was like the two aristocratic ladies were actresses in a two-person play, and I was a phantom, single spectator. It was fascinating.

This was one of the lines I remember; “The bacon is good; Delvin wore her dead husband’s clothes to the party.” “Ha ha.”

“I think he married her for her money. Does she still own the bungalow at Palm Beach?”

The kind, wise priest motivated the congregation to speak words of love and hope and encouragement.

The two aristocratic women motivated me to talk about ideas, philosophy, faith, love, and encouragement.

Their negative conversation moved me to speak life about the wonders of creation.

Speaking of wonders. This am the MS Rotterdam enters the locks of the Panama Canal: one of the wonders of the modern world.

When we engage in making our words matter, our lives become wonders, because Personal Worlds are built with the words of our mouths; word matter.

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LOGIC AND EMOTIONS

Most people make emotional decisions and try to justify them with logic.

The ideal is when emotions and logic match up, yet in reality, this is a rare phenomenon.

Brilliant men and women build sensational advertising campaigns with the sole purpose of selling products. Few sales pitches are based on logic as the vast majority of purchasing decisions are based on emotion.

Years ago Converse was the basketball shoe of choice. Marketers made a critically poor decision. They did not make Dr. J, the current world’s best basketball player, their Mega Shoe and they stuck to their underpowered 40 million dollar ad budget.

Nike attacked youth at the emotional level with a 240 million dollar ad budget. They got every kid in the basketball world to admire and love Michael Jordan. Nike did such an incredible sell job, inner city kids have killed to wear a pair of Air Jordans.

The issue with decision making is not a matter of it simply being a wise or foolish decision. In some situations, logic is the best way to decide the course of action; other situations a decision based on emotions is the best.

In 1966 the most profound decision of my life confronted me. Emotionally I resented Christianity. Logically it became intellectually clear to me Jesus Christ was exactly who He claimed to be.

The brilliant English professor, CS Lewis, said, “There are only three logical answers regarding the life of Jesus Christ.”

2. Jesus was crazy, a lunatic who truly believed He was God. If crazy, he joins the crazy crowd of people who are still in their graves.

Professor Lewis proved logically Jesus could not be considered a great teacher like a Gandhi unless He, in fact, was honest and truthful.

EQ, emotional intelligence, is very important in decision making. EQ Is the skill set to know if a decision is based on logic or emotion.

The ideal is making logic and emotion congruent. When emotions may lead to immoral behavior, logic must win if we wish to avoid harm and pain in the future.

If life is to be fully lived, some decisions call for an emotional, not a logical decision.

The beauty of faith in Jesus Christ appeals both to the mind and heart. Rather than committing intellectual suicide, I logically said “Yes” to Jesus Christ, love of life and people and an emotional explosion of joy and gratitude followed.

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THE FOUR F WORDS - FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS, FUN

“If you have faith, family, friends sprinkled with a little fun you can beat anything.”-Loraine Derr, Juneau Alaska

If anyone on earth understands the value of faith, family, and fun it is Lorraine Derr.

Susie and I have enjoyed a new friendship with Lorraine we formed on our recent memorable 15 days on the Ms Rotterdam as we boated from San Diego through the modern day world wonder, the Panama Canal to Ft. Lauderdale.

People are so easy to be with when joy, peace, and love are the drivers of their lives. They speak easily of ideas and possibilities and they tell positive stories of past experiences.

People are so hard to be with when resentment, blame, and anger spew from their mouths. They speak easily of past wrongs, other people’s failures and negative stories of their past.

Lorraine was a popular member of 49 member Panama Canal tour group. She came alone. Only brave people can travel alone.

Only single adults traveling with married couples understand the difficult dynamics. Only folks who have lost a marriage partner to death can understand this type of loss. Lorraine lost two good men to illness. Yet Lorraine speaks life and lives life.

Basketball coaches have practice plans. The better the plan the better the practice.

I like Lorraine’s quote, “If you have faith, family and friends sprinkled with a little fun you can beat anything.”

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SHADOWS IN THIS LIFE

“Mr. E, something evil walks our streets. It is a shadow.” – Lydia, elderly Yupik Woman

One caller said, “Your words on suicide were very hard to read; nobody likes to talk about suicide. Yet it is really important to bring it out in the open. I didn’t realize you had that many experiences with suicide.”

An emailer wrote, “The problem with suicide is people do not want to admit they are in emotional trouble. Telling another they are depressed is an admission of weakness. To confess being suicidal runs the danger of being called ‘emotionally unstable’. Living a lie is the only option.”

One person told me, “My child told me 4-5 times in a year life sucked and said these words, ‘I want to die; I want to kill myself.’ I did not take these words seriously. I thought this was an attempt to get attention.” This child killed himself!

The following email is from one of my truly amazing heroes. Jeff Erickson, he is the best of the best; a former NBC Camper over 35 years ago; a devoted husband and father. Jeff is a school administrator in village Alaska. I asked Jeff permission to print his letter to me.

I share Jeff’s pain. I had a friend who ended his life. I did not see any of the signs. It happened during the summer months when I was away at NBC Camps. My friend was a master at hiding his pain, his depression, his despair. Maybe I would have seen it if I had been seeing him on a regular basis; maybe I wouldn’t have missed the signs. My friend’s emotions were tucked away in the SHADOWS covered by a huge smile, big voice, tons of hugs and funny stories.

Jeff’s email is going to be hard to read. I know. It brought tears to my eyes just like it has brought pain to Jeff for so many years. Just like it does when I think about my friend placing a rifle in his mouth for the last time. It hurts. It hurts forever.

So where does the hope come from? It comes from waking up and being vigilant. It comes from moving into the shadows where people really live. It means stop being obsessed with pro or college sports talk, or being a democrat or republican and live in the shadows were people really hang out. It means bringing the Light of the World, the light that cannot be overcome by the darkness. It means getting the guts to ask the hard questions when need be. It means waking up!

“Six of the players on my last Savoonga high school teams committed suicide within the following 10 years….I get tears right now as I write that. I blamed (maybe still do) myself for leaving too early. We had such a good thing going but I was transferred to St. Michael after 2 years. If you had told me this would happen….and made me choose…they would have been the LAST six on the list. I struggled with this for many years…. How could good young men, with strong supportive families, with jobs, wives, kids…make this choice? (Almost all (maybe all) happened with alcohol/drugs in mix.)

Then I was in Savoonga for work one week about 15 years ago. I was laying down for the night on a foam mattress with a little desk light to read some. Something so strange but so real happened.

The light started to “darken”….not turn out, but it quit giving off light…I could see the bulb but it was dark. Then I felt like I was being pushed into the mattress…not like hands on my back, but my whole body. I could see my hands pressing into the foam. I was freaked out. I yelled something like “IN JESUS NAME GO AWAY!” — The weight went away and the light came back. I was shaking.

Now, I am a pretty stable, non-excitable guy and I had been fairly skeptical about “ghosts, demons, and Bigfoot.” I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night and woke up to the elderly cook, Lydia, arriving to make breakfast for the kids. I shared my experience with her. She was quiet for a bit then said, “Mr. E, something evil walks our streets. It is a shadow.”

It was an eye-opening experience. I thought — If I, a stable, non-substance using, person of Faith, could be so affected by something like this — what chance does a young person, who doesn’t have a relationship with God, who is under the influence of something, have? When that little “voice” pushes toward a gun, a rope…some pills.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

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TRAVEL - SITES or PEOPLE

“I travel not to see imposing monuments. Which indeed somewhat bore me. Nor beautiful scenery, of which I soon tire. I avoid the great. I would not cross the road to meet a president or king…” – “In A Strange Land” Somerset Maugham

As I read Maugham’s quote, the guilt I feel when confessing I bore easily when looking at tourist attractions disappears. I, too, prefer a good discussion with an ordinary person much more than walking about a castle or hoping to speak to a famous person.

My life lives out the idea that people, ordinary day to day people, are far more, like Somerset Maugham, interesting to me than cities, mountains, rivers, man-made things, and a second’s touch with the famous.

This does not by any means mean, I am not a lover and admirer of all creation; it simply means humans, God’s highest creation, captures my interest and curiosity the most.

The theme of In A Strange Land is the delight of people; all kinds of people; not sites or famous people.

On this 14 day cruise, there will be at least one attraction in each country visited that I will remember. These experiences are filed joyfully and carefully in my memory bank. I will treasure them for years to come.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – The fantastic city growth since our visit 30 years ago. No longer is there a five-year-old girl with the saddest eyes begging in the city stream while her mother washes clothes.

Huatulco, Mexico – Remarkable clean scene from a five-star hotel overlooking the city & ocean. Loved this place, where many snowbirds own condos.

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala – Famous for its jade and home to the city of Antigua. I will remember we walked forever on stone streets.

Corinto, Nicaragua – Giant cathedral in Leon city, huge cathedral being painted by low paid workers; about 100 dollars a month, not a day or a week; an entire month. Country of Red Sox Hall of Fame Dennis “Pedro” Perez.

So many shacks, unkept streets with buildings posted with pictures of President Ortega and VP Mrs. Ortega everywhere. Yes, indeed the wife is the VP.

Costa Rica – River cruise looking for crocodiles. 52 species of humming birds. Best papaya I have eaten in a long time. Amazing, no armies since 1947 yet a true prosperous democracy. Seems a miracle to me Nicaragua has not tried a takeover. Nice country.

Next up is the Panama Canal. 12,000 ships a year pass through. I am excited to be one of these vessels in 2017. 5000 people died building the canal. At 1913, it took 350 million US dollars. It was called one of the 7 wonders of the modern world.

Cartagena, Colombia, city on the Atlantic. Conquered by the Spanish. Sir Francis Drake tried to take it for England. Incredible craftsmanship reminded me of Edinburgh Castle – fort in Scotland.

Yet, for Words of Hope author, the best part of the tour has been people, not attractions.

Workers on the boat. kind, generous and hard workers. My kind of people. Our two delightful cabin men, from Indonesia, work 10 months, 7 days a week from 5 a .m. to 12 midnight with a nap midday. And best of all they are grateful for a job!

Palmers quote makes me realize I can be a fan of the people God places in my life and be grateful for the people cheering for me as I fight to win Life’s Battles.

Fact! If there were no people in our lives there would be nobody to love. Nobody to honor. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to hug. Nobody to serve.

If there is a greater privilege than loving people please tell me. Loving people lasts for eternity. If loving people were easy, everybody would be loving people. Loving people is work. It is a selfless act.

“Just Love People” is a better slogan than “Just Do It.” And you don’t need a swoosh to love people.

Just Love People. We have the perfect example. Imitate the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, Mighty Counselor, the Alpha and the Omega.

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GOODBYE MIGHTY MITE

An emergency call from Spokane to our stateroom 7051 on the MS Rotterdam, as we prepared to enter the Panama Canal, brought sad news.

Our beloved miniature Pom had dislocated his shoulder for the second time in two days. Mighty had proven good for his name. He fought cancer valiantly for 7 years.

So, so hard to give our daughter the green light to put Mighty down. I heard Susie tearfully asking Jennifer to hold Mighty Mite as the vet put him to sleep for his last time.

Mighty was the fifth born to his mother Keiki, our 5-pound teacup Pom, and Mr. Fox in December 2005.

Mr. Fox, the Seattle Crowell’s Pom and Ms. Keiki romanced for a month at the Spokane Crowell’s home. Keiki became pregnant with five puppies tucked in a tiny body.

The vet warned Susie it was a rare phenomenon for a tiny Pom to deliver more than three pups; let alone five.

The first pup was thumb sized and very bossy. We named him Teddy after President Roosevelt. Best dog the Orcott’s ever owned.

The fifth was stuck. He was ready to die but with seconds to spare a pinkie-sized pup popped out. Immediately Susie got him milk from mother dog.

Mighty was ALL Susie’s – her prized companion; 24 hours a day if possible.

As much as Mr. Crowell did not want two dogs we could not give Mighty Mite away.

As the family says goodbye today to this special creation of God, I wonder why dogs have the incredible gift to love unconditionally, but not humankind.

As I write these words the MS Rotterdam is in the first stage of three locks. Soon this enormous passenger vessel will be elevated 85 feet. Man is a mechanical genius.

Why is it that humans can build a 50 mile Canal or put people on the moon but we can’t get along?

Why can’t more than half our marriages figure out how to make family life work?

How is it possible for a brilliant life created in the image of God, give into heroin or other life destroying drugs?

How is it possible for two political parties living in the land of the free and home the brave, to spew discord and division? Why is showing respect and civility so difficult?

How is it possible to have unprecedented numbers, especially, young men committing suicide?

Goodbye, beloved Mighty Mite. Thank you for the lessons of loyalty, love, affection and joy you gave to us these past 12 years.

Since imitation is the best teacher and compliment, I promise to copy you in these virtues you lived every day of your life for the Crowell/Ferch families.

Goodbye, Mighty Mite, you lived your life to the maximum. You loved us unconditionally.

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SUICIDE is like a GHOST KILLER

“I never saw it coming. He was the last person I ever thought would take his life.” – Very close friend

Silently, quietly, the Ghost of Suicide slithers here and there striking with a vengeance that leaves it’s victims dead and the hearts of loved ones and dear friends broken.

My first experience with suicide was in 1963. One of the 110 boys under my supervision at Stevens Hall, University of Idaho, attempted to take his life.

Eight years later, Ms. X came to my counseling center. She had recently tried to check out for the sixth time. Thankfully a neighbor fished her out of her car.

One of my scariest moments was talking a client into giving me his loaded pistol.

During the past 50 years, my life experience has taught me a Suicide Prevention Life Book.

With gratitude, I humbly thank the Lord I have never lost a client. I think the skills I learned as a basketball coach, through psychology, and spiritual education have been valuable.

Basketball coaching is all about finding the opponents weaknesses. Counseling begins with accurate diagnosis.

Psychology is vital in understanding human behavior. The “Why” is discovered with excellent psychological tools. My conviction is psychology can undress you but it can’t dress you (fix you).

Who are you?
Who made you?
What is your purpose in life?
What happens to you when you die?

Never before have so many youths told me they, or a friend, have seriously considered taking their life.

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PAIN - FRIEND OR FOE

Is it impossible to get through life without experiencing pain?

Let’s imagine being able to be totally pain-free. Wow! Awesome – sounds wonderful.

It is truly wonderful until you grab hold of something hot enough to burn your hand severely yet it doesn’t hurt. Being pain-free is no longer useful.

Imagine sitting next to a fire made out of coals cooking hot dogs; you don’t realize your leg is on fire until you actually see the damage inflicted.

The Apostle James endured pain. James gave us incredible insight into making our personal pain into a friend, not a foe.

No, he was not kidding, because his life with Jesus taught him pain is fuel to grow faith.

Faith is valuable because faith grows endurance. Again and again, I see endurance being key to success. As my son Jay teaches athletes. Jay says, “compound interest happens when you pay the price over an extended period of time.”

If there is limited endurance, poor character is evident in people’s lives. Thus endurance builds character. James says grow your character so you can win the tough trials of life.

The book of James, only 5 chapters long, is one of my favorites. Romans says your faith proves your commitment. James says, show me your works so I can believe your faith.

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WALK IT, DON’T TALK IT

“If you know it and you don’t do it, you don’t know it.” – Mike Nilson

The Apostle James short book on walking your talk reminds me of a college basketball game.

Showboat talker was fouled with two seconds on the clock. The opposing coach called time out hoping to freeze “big mouth” who loudly declared to his coach and teammates.

“I’m going to make the first one and then the second one to win the game!”

Many years ago, my delight was to coach a 4th grade boys’ team. It was easy to love the young lions. One of the best was noted for his congratulations.

After one practice session I called this delightful little guy over, “Patrick, do you ever wonder why I brag all the time about your teammates, yet I never brag about you?”

Anyone who coaches young boys or girls with love and patience, lives for these special teaching moments.

“Patrick, you are a great player and I would love to brag about you to the team but you do it all for me. If you stop bragging, I will do it for you.”

He gave me a high five and I began having the privilege of telling Patrick’s teammates the many good ways he was valuable to the team and our world.

James reminds me to be careful to walk, not talk, my faith. James says, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger.”

St. James is a strong coach. He does not suggest we listen well, speak wisely, and be slow to anger. He tells us.

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PROTECT YOUR PEACE

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10

The Spokesman Review reported that the Washington legislature awarded Spokane $300,000 to help reduce the huge auto theft and home burglary problem that ranks our city at top levels nationally.

In a ten minute span, our neighbor’s home was robbed while they dashed out for a quick errand. Two close friends’ cars were stolen. Identity theft is brutal too.

Victims of robbery feel violated. They become hyper protective of their property and identity.

The Crowell’s have a highly efficient alarm system. We never leave home without it on alert.

Living in a state of peace is as valuable as any property I own and my identity. Having peace demands similar attention to the protections of anything of value.

Peace protection begins with guarding the heart. This week my focus is going to be on protection of the precious gifts the Lord gives all who choose His Ways.

If you did one thing to protect your peace today, what would it be? Please email with one way you protect your peace. My prime way is to spend 15 minutes alone in my sacred place to prepare for the new day.

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DOCTRINE, PHILOSOPHY, BELIEF SYSTEM

50 years ago Susie and I were doing post grad work at the Institute of Biblical Studies. We were eager learners.

The best professor in our lives jolted us one day with these words, “Doctrine is dynamic. Revelation demands a response.”

Your child comes into the kitchen, “Dad, the basement is flooding. The toilet is overflowing. Doctrine says, “Water not going down the drain means water on the floor.” Revelation means: get your body downstairs now.”

The prof went so far to say, “If you are in this class with no intention to act on what is revealed to you, then you are foolish. It would be better for you not to be here.”

The full impact this lecture had on us did not happen immediately. Now, after 50 years, I believe that your doctrine, which is your philosophy, your belief system; dictates how you live. It is your most precious gift from God.

If this is true, and I believe it is, then my philosophy is my most precious belief and must be protected.

Allow me to use a basketball example. I find basketball an excellent tool to teach more complex life skills.

A basketball coach who philosophically is very conservative. The coach has a control based belief system because mistakes are severely criticized.

Each year a coach can tell the team they will play fast and lose, but the first time the team loses, slow ball replaces fast and lose. That is because the coach’s basketball doctrine does not tolerate turnovers.

Too many humans are dead people walking. They breathe, walk and talk, yet their eyes lack light, their smile never reaches their eyes and life is hard and boring.

This is Crowell’s thesis: (this philosophy and belief system is based on personal experience plus hundreds of personal interviews with students and professionals):

1. 8 of 10 junior and senior high school students don’t like school and don’t love hard work.

2. 80% of our workforce, including educators, cannot clearly articulate their meaning and purpose for their life’s work. Thus it is just a job.

3.70% of adults have lost confidence in marriage. I am told 27% of people living together are married, 73% are not married.

Someone once said, “There are three types of people in this world. Firstly, there are people who make things happen. Then there are people who watch things happen. Lastly, there are people who ask, what happened?”

And more than we would like to admit we can have the mindset of, “I don’t care what happens unless it happens to me.”

The first and foremost way to empower a person to walk alive and not walk dead is to inspire them to examine and define their belief system.

Who am I?
What is my meaning and purpose?
What is my doctrine on work?
Who created me and why?
What happens when I die?

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God–this is your true and proper worship.” – Romans 12:1

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15 MINUTES

“Such a short period of time, yet so difficult to set aside too be still, to be quiet.”

Often I told my dear friend, who is racked with MS pain and needs help with things like transportation and small projects, “If I’m too busy to take time for you, I am too busy.”

15 minutes goes by so quickly. Matter-of-fact, a full day goes by so quickly. Too often at day’s end I think, time flies. Too busy is as common as l’m tired. In reality, both are excuses.

A wise man said, “Most of the world’s problems could be solved if you could sit quietly alone each day for 15 minutes.”

Yet these precious quarters of one hour are so hard to come by. Why? When this could be the most important time of the the day.

Today’s 15 minutes have been special for me.15 turned into 60 minutes. It was well worth it.

I will close with a line from Wendell Berry. His poem, The Peace of Wild Things is precious to me.

I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

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MOTIVATION IS AN ENGINE

Fuel is the energy source of every motivation. Metaphorically motivation is an engine. No fuel no motivation.

Enduring love for another human, love for a cat or a dog, a pony, or even a bunny works like fuel in our motivational engine.

A brother’s love for his younger brother was gasoline that kept his motivational engine from dying.

A son’s respect for his remarkable and Godly mother was the fuel for his motivational engine to save his purity for his bride.

A father’s love for his children was fuel to work in the coal mines in order to put bread on the table and see his kids get a college education.

Patrick Henry’s bold proclamation, “Give me liberty or give me death” was jet fuel for the patriot.

Winston Churchill’s incredible love for his England was atomic fuel for his massive motivational engine. Against all odds, Sir Winston refused to leave England in spite of Nazi war planes dropping thousands of bombs. Churchill said, “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..”

And, of course, there is George Washington, riding on his white horse, clearly in range, of British sharpshooters poised to bring him down. He had gallons of high octane fuel; more than enough to fill the empty tanks of his weary soldiers who were ready to quit.

Finally, in the sports realm, poor Cleveland, no professional pro sports championships since 1964. Talk about a cause to bring Cleveland the NBA crown. Labron and company did what no other team has done in NBA history; come back from a 3-games to 1 deficit!

How did they do it? It was their motivational fuel. Cleveland had a greater cause to win than Golden State had.

And now we arrive at a crucial point? Who was the greatest motivator of all time?

Who has impacted and motivated more people to live at a higher level than anyone person in human history?

Jesus Christ, He stands tall above all others, it was Charlemagne who said, “In a word, we may say that all men, no matter what their faith or what their indifference and unbelief, who have considered carefully this subject, admit that the man Christ Jesus stands high above all.

The dominant skill found in every motivational leader, be they parent, grandparent, teacher, counselor, coach, CEO or peer friend. Is the mastery of mining deeply to find the gold vein in a human’s heart, the place we find fuel for our motivation engine.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 2:5

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ENCOURAGEMENT IS LIKE OXYGEN

Every life form is starving for a drop of encouragement.

Fred Crowell gets an email of uncommon kindness and he wants to climb new mountains backwards.

Please read this email from my friend, Peter. We met at NBC Volleyball Camp In 1982. Peter is a remarkable teacher at the famous Punahou School, Honolulu. Former volleyball star and coach of about 12 state championships, yet an even better husband and father. I wish everyone had a person like Peter Balding in their life.

Hi Fred,

I can picture you in lazy Lahaina town. That’s great. Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for caring for others and showing many of us how to live. We all need people like you in our lives. Life is difficult and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being truthful.

How blue is the ocean? Can you smell the ocean? See the light dance off the waves? God created that body of water and all that lives in it. It is a source of much healing gratitude. Enjoy all that it has to offer.

There are risks in writing or speaking in personal terms. One potential downside is the danger of self-promotion and turning people off.

Today I take this risk because you and I have the need for encouragement. The God of all Creation designed us to receive encouragement.

Peter Balding poured courage into Fred Crowell. Where is my new mountain? I need it because I want to climb today.

Send a Peter like email or better yet, a letter to someone you know who could use some of your encouragement.

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WHO IS GREATEST?

Ali said he was the greatest boxer of the day; now Meriweather lays claim.

Tiger greatest golfer ever? Thanks but I take the Golden Bear!

Basketball is it Labron? No thanks! I choose MJ, Jabbar and maybe the Big O.

How about politics? Lincoln or Washington or…?

Who is the greatest Papa? Well, I think it is Papa Suave.

Indeed there is an obsession with who is the greatest?

MATTHEW 18

Jesus tells us who is the greatest! As always with Jesus the answer is the greatest answer!

“Who ever comes to Me as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of God”.

Wonderful news! All can be the greatest because each of us can come to Jesus as a little child.

What is necessary is to imitate the joy, humility, total delight a small child has in celebrating life?

The joy of my summer was walking into our kitchen – upon seeing my 4 and 2 year olds, I shouted, “What time is it?”

In unison Kingston and GG shouted, “PAPA TIME”!

WHAT TIME IS IT?

For me it is time to come to The Lord of Lords like my grandchildren run to Papa and jump into my safe arms!

What time is it in your life?

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GUARDIAN ANGEL-SAINTS DOING HIS BIDDING

Angel of God
my guardian dear
to whom God’s love
commits me here
To light to guard
To rule, to guide

Every person, every home, and every community needs guardian angels and saints doing his bidding.

What is man that He created us a little lower than the angels and has given him dominion over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the animals of the land.

It brings pleasure for me to think about the human angels and saints I have been privileged to know, who have prayed for me, who change my life with their love and sacrifice.

Some of these chosen by God who He calls Holy and dearly loved. – (Colossians)

Scammon Bay had the late Mary Sundown; her torch passed on to daughter-in-law, Joan Sundown and new Missy Abraham, principal of the High school is growing strong wings.

Hooper Bay has Albert Green’s mother, Mrs. Green and Albert’s wife Renee. Women who love God and people.

Dillingham has Charlene Lopez. Spend a half hour in D’ham and you soon learn Charlene is here, there and everywhere. Charlene is a fierce cancer fighter and community leader of unparalleled hard work and vision.

Husband Dion, boys’ basketball coach, is smart enough to know he is married to a guardian angel.

I think of Chefornak. A tiny village in Alaska where Robert and Eva Panruk, live and serve children with tons of love and motivated hard work. Then there is my hero at Toksook Bay who placed his strong hand on my shoulder as nearly 100 children played basketball. Xavier Tulik asked Abba Father to heal Fred Crowell.

Theologians debate the Biblical correctness of angels and saints. As a basketball coach, I am more interested in acting on what I know and understand.

I know when my life is in light and in darkness at an EQ (emotional intelligence) level. It boggles my mind. He calls me chosen, holy and dearly loved. This is grace.

The Book of Life gives crystal clear life instructions on how these four promises work out for all who are obedient to come to Him.

I chose to call the amazing people who are in my life angels and saints. This elevates the way I experience life more fully.

Because of the finished work on the cross, we are who He says we are; not who they or even ourselves say we are.

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HARD TEACHER - DIRTY GRADER

It may be impossible to escape life without some Hard Teachers and Dirty Graders.

Life is hard until you realize it; then it is no longer hard. – Scott Peck, Road Less Traveled.

When the value of life experiences takes me back to my memory banks, there was a master’s degrees class titled, The Psychology of Learning.

The professor delighted in telling us how extraordinary he was and how fortunate we were to sit at his feet and learn from his knowledge and wisdom.

We knew his first test was going to be brutal. He warned us to memorize all the lecture notes and assigned chapters.

After hours and hours of hard work memorizing the study material, our group of guys was ready to ace the test.

Wrong! He tricked us. He took multiple choice questions from a standardized test book.

These questions were totally unrelated to the subject matter. He purposely did not ask one question from his lectures or the course textbook. He laughed at us as he returned the tests with poor scores.

The professor was a nightmare; his class disgusting. Cancer is a nightmare. The routine of doctor visits and high priced drugs, disgusting.

Dirty Graders make it even more difficult. Often unbearable. Dirty because there is no warning. No opportunity to prepare. Often no human solution. No way out.

The one way, the best way, the wisest way is to trust the Gentle Teacher the Easy Grader.

Miraculously, the professor I speak of does not give dirty, trick tests and laugh at his students. He does not come upon us like a thief in the night.

For 50 years, the life-giving professor has given me the tools to deal with the hardest and dirtiest graders, life presents.

Of course, I speak of Jesus, the one true God and only mediator between God and me.

Name one professor who has the credentials to grade his students not on what they do, but what He does. This is why we call it grace.

Absolutely. He changed my life. I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me the strength.

He is the light of the world and in Him there is no darkness. The light shines in the darkness; the darkness cannot extinguish the Light. -St John

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CELEBRATING 75 YEARS

Birthday presents to each other and writing off one more goal on our bucket list.

So clearly, Susie King, the 19-year-old sophomore, at the University of Idaho stands out in my mind’s eye.

She wore a red and white checkered coat. She was a fashionista back then. Susie was in Bill Hart’s vintage Ford coup.

I looked her over. She never gave her eyes to me. I was nonexistent at this first meeting.

Never Quit Crowell had a new goal. It was not easy; one being I was a mere freshman. Mrs. Crowell didn’t make it easy to win her heart but who cares if it’s hard to win the prize is worth it.

56 years later the Sooze is sitting next to me on an Alaska Airlines jet headed to San Diego. Tomorrow we board a Holland American Cruise Ship and are so thankful.

We will go through Theodore Roosevelt’s Panama Canal. Ever since I read about President Teddy and the Happy Warrior’s relentless and ambitious pursuit to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with a canal, it has been on my bucket list to travel it.

Roosevelt was one of our greatest presidents. He was a man among men! He took on the financial monopolies and leveled the playing fields for working class America at a great price to himself. My kind of guy.

“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

Bucket lists are important. Susie and I have many more items to check before we go to our eternal home.

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ON THE WAY TO HOPE

Artist Ann Tremarello, Fairbanks, Alaska.

There are many roads in the life journey. This painting by dear friend, Ann T, has special meaning to me.

Each year Lathrop High School honors the late Joe Tremarello with the Joe T Basketball Classic in Fairbanks.

Joe was my mentor when I coached at the University of Alaska 50 years ago, he was the highly successful coach at Lathrop.

Ann had highly important positions at the university for 43 years. She has become an accomplished artist.

As an expression of appreciation for traveling to Fairbanks to honor Coach T at the classic, Ann gave me the choice of one of her many paintings.

This was difficult. I reduced it down to two paintings. I liked both. Finally, I chose the one you see in this story.

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SEARCH ME O GOD

“The riches of life demand searching with a pure heart with relentless pursuit of truth and love.”

Often in the counseling setting, we role played to discover the root of a present problem. One technique I often used was imagery. Humans, unlike the animal kingdom, were given the gift of imagination!

With clients void of the skills necessary to deal with their present problem, which most often was not the real problem, the client was asked to imagine sitting in a kitchen. As they sat in contemplation in the make believe kitchen, I asked them to look at the closet door. Inside this closet is the “stuff” you need to look at and examine.

Typically the client was afraid to open the door for fear they would not be able to successfully face the “monster in the closet.”

For this reason, I believe the Psalmist ends 139 with these words, “Search me….” For the next 24 hours, let’s do a search. Let’s find out what we need to see in our inner life.

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HARMONY AND RHYTHM

Basketball is an excellent life skills teacher IF the coach has mastered the difficult skill of living above the line.

A life living above the line is a life of gratitude, compassion and competency. Deficiency in one of these traits cripples effective teaching and living well.

The most effective basketball defenses force the other team to play out of rhythm. Unity is harmony. Teams play poorly when forced to play in confusion and disunity.

The universe is designed by the creator to move with rhythm and harmony. Sunrises, sunsets are predictable. Tides in and tided out are can be known in advance.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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A CHILD IS BORN

“Dad I never knew how much you loved me until Kingston was born.” – Jay Crowell

For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder.
And his name will be called
wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of peace.
Of the increase His
Government & peace
There will be no end.

The year 1979, the month February, the day was number 4. It was the day, an experience waited and prayed for 10 years.

As the Doctor received Jay into his new world, tears ran down my cheek and I heard myself saying to Abba Father, “See I told you I love you.”

Until children have children they cannot know how much their parents loved them. You can’t have what you don’t experience.

Until parents have children it is difficult to understand how much God loves us.

Until we know the Savior, we cannot fully know that the depth of love for God is love. This love surpasses all human love.

This love overcomes the child who has no father, the mother who has no child, the single person who has no spouse, the ones robbed of their health and all the hardships life brings.

This is the transformation when Psalm 23 takes over. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.

This is when we discover the reality of Paul’s true experience of being content with or without. It is more than enough.

This is the place where we live in the land of being joyful, thankful and at peace.

Sounds easy. This road is so hard, the only way I know how to live in this joy is to pick up my cross and follow Him daily.

When you win the moment you can win the hour; then the day. Some days are so tough it is just one step at a time. Joy is around the corner or the next corner. It is there, just keep moving one step at a time.

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BE BRAVE LETTER

“If you want to be brave do brave things.”

Early in the dark silence of a new day, my mind thinks; my heart suffers for a beautiful, kind, gentle, strong, wife and mother in the loving village I have come to call home; Scammon Bay, Alaska. These are my Words of Hope for the Ulak family and to the millions and millions in the cancer war.

God has allowed you and me to have cancer, not our spouses. This is the hand we have been dealt.

In so many ways your Byron and my Susie have it more difficult, even harder than you and me because they are helpless.

As you and I suffer, they suffer. They so desperately want to take our sorrow away and even share in it with us.

Please read each of these Daily Words of Hope listed, because though they were written to many, in reality, they were for you and me.

“He said to me my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness that’s why I boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses for when I am weak then I am strong…” – Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

You, Darlene Ulak, are the child of God. He knew you before you were born. Today you are all His. His angel. His ambassador.

Please pray for Fred Crowell that I will be strong; ready to live fully or die gracefully knowing we belong to Him.

Darlene Ulak and Fred Crowell can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength.

Harley, I share this with you because I know how you love Byron and Darlene. You are Scammon Bay’s servant leader and you do it so well.

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WORDS OF HOPE

The story of Daily Words of Hope

The story begins at the University of Idaho. One of my roommates received letters and care packages with goodies weekly. The joy these gifts brought Vern was obvious.

In turn, my mailbox was empty. The amazing thing is my HOPE factor moved me to the empty mailbox daily.

Out of our poverty, often come remarkable blessings. Three letters in three years at Idaho was the beginning of a love affair for writing notes and letters.

For 45 years, student-athletes and staff write a letter to family or significant others. The impact has been life changing for the sender and the recipient.

In 1990, our only girl married. Her husband took her to Germany. Loneliness is a horrible feeling. My goal was a letter a day for Jennifer who I call my Glory. I liked the idea of her getting a letter daily. Over about 8 months, over 200 letters found their way to Germany.

Fast forward to 2015. Our eldest granddaughter is off in Oklahoma for college. Loneliness will be knocking at her door.

As I wrote daily emails to Natalya I would CC: a few others. A few others grew to more others.

Thus Words of Hope was birthed. No longer do I have the energy to travel to camp after camp or work long hours on a regular basis. WOH has been my most precious way to share how the Lord has helped me win my personal war with cancer.

Once in a while, which is more than enough, I get a response. Please allow me to share a recent one that lifts me with more hope and fire in the belly to fight another day.

I love you and the impact you have had in my life. I have used your intention vs. impact WOH many times and love every aspect of it. It has stood some of my most intellectual colleagues up in their tracks as they ponder the selfish nature of a good intention against the impact they are having on others.

Hope is the anchor to our souls. We grow hope through growing faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

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RUNNING RUNNING RUNNING

“Days at times can be very long, however, in the end, life is too short.” -FJC

What would happen if we changed “I am too busy” to if I am too busy, I am too busy.

Spiritual Director and Professor Emeritus at Gonzaga University, Father Bernard Tyrrell, has 82 years of experience in life. He is my teacher for if I am too busy, I am too busy.

At the height of Father B’s worldwide leadership in Christotherapy; the integration of Christ and psychotherapy, he was struck with multiple sclerosis.

In spite of intense pain and suffering, the dedicated Jesuit continued his remarkable service teaching Gonzaga students the reality of Jesus Christ. In addition, Father B was a spiritual director for many people the past 40 plus years.

After several years under Father B’s guidance I asked, “Father, would it be possible to be friends as well as my spiritual director?”

Because Father B majors in grace and never one to impose we had to have a friendship rule.

After 18 years this is a cherished friendship and a life changing spiritual direction experience.

Father B asked in this manner, “I’m sure you are too busy, but would you mind driving me to the drug, store or doctor or …?”

My response soon became, “Father B, if I am too busy to do this, I am too busy.”

Due to health issues, my beloved Father B is in California. No longer do I get to treat him to a monthly haircut. No longer do we have 3-hour lunches over a fine meal at Father B’s choice of restaurant.

Next time the words fall out of our mouths, “I am too busy,” ask: too busy for what? The reality is we have time to do what we choose to do.

This is the true reality. Too busy is an excuse.
It is easy to live in the memories of the past.

It is easy to live in the dreams of the future.
It is so hard to live right here; right now.

It is when we win the moment life becomes so easy.
If this were an easy concept we would have to say I am too busy to:

Call you
Write you a note
Visit with God
Read a book
Sing a song
Sit still
Laugh with a friend
Listen

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DELIGHT IN PEOPLE & PEOPLE DELIGHT IN YOU

One used often among motivational experts is in the Apostles encouragement to the Galatians.

The law of cause and effect proclaims every action has a reaction and causes an effect.

Delight falls into this truth. As we delight in life, in things, and especially in people delight returns with compound interest.

We set a goal. To love, every person we encountered on the trip; on the plane ride home Shawn said, “I liked every person we met.”

This motivates me to grow my delight muscles. Life is a precious gift. Each human is a miracle. Christ our Lord loves each of us. The miracle is He loves me.

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HEAVY HEART THERAPY

“Imagine visualizing a valentine type heart strapped with a heavy backpack waiting to attempt to clear a high bar. That bar is Hope!”

Recently I visited with a very special person to the Ferch/Crowell families. Heavy in heart, with her hope bar too high to get over.

In the storms of life we need heart anchors. To be clear, I see our souls as being the essence of who we are. Heart and soul are synonymous in my opinion.

Anchors are associated with boats. They are crucial on boats. But they must have the correct specifications. The anchor I purchased for our pontoon boat was too small. It didn’t get the job done.

Rather than boats, St. Peter used anchors to teach the importance of anchoring our hearts with hope.

If our hope anchor does not have the correct specifications for a person’s heart, it is ineffective in protecting our emotions.

The boat anchor’s job is to keep the boat off the rocks. The hope anchor’s job is to keep our heart (emotions) off the hazards of life.

As our dear friend opened up to bring light to her burdened heavy heart, as she dropped tears talking about her father’s imminent death, Susie and I grieved with her. In trials like these, we are given the privilege to be anchors.

Cancer has taught me not to run from a heavy heart but to lean into the challenge and put on the full armor of God. The goal is not to survive, but to thrive.

As the three of us wrapped our arms around each other, our hearts did not stop hurting but the anchor seemed stronger. It is in times like these the profound love of Jesus draws near.

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WILLING TO NEGOTIATE

“Never fear to negotiate and never negotiate in fear.” JFK 1960 Inaugural Address.

Rhetoric is the skill to clearly present in the written or spoken word, your philosophy, opinions, ideas and points of view.

Wordsmith mastery is a critical life skill. In ROTC class at the University of Idaho, our commander taught us the absolute necessity to be skillful with both the written and spoken word.

Words are power. No wonder the Creator of the Universe used words so profoundly in Genesis 1.

God created the world with His Words.
The Holy Bible is called the Word.
The Word became flesh and we behold His Glory.

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but Words will never hurt me,” is a perfect example of a half truth.

The late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a masterful wordsmith. Both in speech and in the written word, JFK could communicate to the masses, rich or poor, educated or uneducated.

Philosophy, history disciplines, psychology and even religion are delightful and fascinating subjects between people who have the rhetorical skills to negotiate.

One dad slaps the kid, the other says, “Please tell me more about your anger; please use your words.”

Brother’s response if done well, “Let’s set some time to sit together with each other’s best interest in mind and negotiate.”

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GOD SENT A MAN

Who was this man? What was His meaning and purpose in life?

Two profound questions for the ages. The questions were relevant when John wrote them around 90 AD.

They were relevant questions to Fred Crowell in 1966 when the young U of Alaska basketball coach loved basketball more than life itself.

These two questions, if personalized, are relevant today; they are “Game Changers.”

How can I be so sure these two questions have the power and influence to dynamically alter the course and direction of one’s way of thinking and acting?

These past 2000 years, thousands and thousands of men and women could have their names in the story.

They were not the light. They were created to live His light and bring Glory to God and honor to the One who gave His life for us so that His light could shine in, through and out of us.

“God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” – 1 John 6-9

In 1965 Susie taught 3rd grade at Nordale Elementary. God sent her little Suzy. She fought all year to beat leukemia. She lost the battle. Suzie’s light won my Susie’s heart and led her to the light.

Sue was a great college point guard. She applied to coach at NBC. Her coach was a special man and coach, I had prayed for 27 years; could never get him to camp. Sue could and did. Coach Joe T. found the light.

In 1972 a man knocked on a dormitory door at Kansas State U September 4, 1972. He ask if he could have a visit. Nolan, “Speedy,” Swift told the basketball star about the light. That day Danny Beard asked the light to come into His life. Danny has been a “game changer” for Jesus Christ for 41 years.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:5

God is sending us today. The questions, “Will our light shine and how will it shine.”?

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BRILLIANT MOMENTS

Recently the Lord blessed me with one of those “brilliant moments,” where time stood still and light flooded my being.

After 10 busy days in Scammon Bay, Anchorage and Fairbanks, the Alaska Airlines jet landed in Spokane. It was a long day. Fairbanks to Seattle to Spokane.

The “Brilliant Moment” happened an hour earlier in SeaTac. Due to arrive in Spokane at 12:30 a.m. my plan was to take a Spokane taxi home.

One of the last passengers to board the plane was Shann Ferch, my cherished father of our 3 granddaughters and husband of Jennifer.

Both Shann and I were more than surprised to see each other. Shann had missed multiple flights out of Fargo, North Dakota.

The expression on Shann’s face when we locked eyes was a “brilliant moment.”

Time stood still for a fraction of a second. Smiles erupted from our faces. A warm embrace was the touch of gentle appreciation and love.

Honestly, I desire more of these “brilliant moments.” They are waiting for us to experience.

The strong mind empowers us to be prepared to look and listen; a soft heart is necessary for the light to dine in us.

1. Prepare the mind and heart daily.
2. Stop, look, and listen.
3. Pray without ceasing.

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NATIONAL TREASURES

The United States of America’s most valuable and most neglected resources.

American’s treasure is youth. Adults deplore looking old. New and young are the trophies of today. Heaven forbid growing old.

The elderly are cast aside to nursing homes. Many brilliant men and women retired are never asked to share their immense life experience resources.

The elderly are the most neglected resource in America. As a rule, we do not respect the elderly. We do not listen to them or seek their counsel. We are not interested in their life stories. We don’t learn from their successes or their failures.

Today, society lives to please their children. Parents fall into the trap of working hard to make their children happy. Too few parents are focused on making children do the right thing.

Child-happy trumps child-working-hard and doing the right thing. We now live in the generation of ME.

Fact is, happiness is a product. Happiness is the product of doing the right thing at the right time.

If the goal is to make the child happy, beware! You are training a child to be self-centered and entitled.

Modern day experts on child training would be wise to read the account of two brothers in Genesis. One did right, one did wrong.

The question to the wrongdoer was, “Why is your face so downcast? Why are you so unhappy?”

No question in my mind, our most valuable resource is youth. They are our future.

Crowell has been in the “kid biz” for over 50 years. As a 21 year old college senior, Susie and I were dormitory parents to 110 men. Most were 18 to 21. One was 44 years old.

One night Daddy Crowell had to have one of my guys, 27 years old thrown in Jail for the night and removed from his dorm room the next morning.

Treasure youth under our authority by having crystal clear instruction with red lines bathed in tough love.

My message of today is seek out the elderly in your life. Take time to listen to their stories. Each story is a miracle. Find ways to use the national treasures.

Treasure those older people in our lives with respect and dignity. Find ways to draw deeply from their wells of wisdom. Everyone has a story.

Learn the stories of grandparents and retired folks. Find ways to bring value to them. They are national treasures every bit as valuable as our youth.

Recently I was privileged to be in Scammon Bay for the Kick Off Basketball-Classic.

Jaden Ulroan is one of our national treasures. The Yupik culture honors and respects the elderly. The amazing thing about this photo is there is nearly six decades and two generations difference between Jaden and me, yet there is profound affection and appreciation for each other.

‘And now, a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, too, am an elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I, too, will share in his glory when he is revealed to the whole world. As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly-not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the Great Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never-ending glory and honor.

In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”‘ – I Peter 5

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TOUGH MINDS SOFT HEARTS

A tribute to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

The year was 1968. The game was Athletes in Action. Our opponent was the LSU Bengal Tigers led by the best player I had ever seen, Pistol Pete Maravich, who averaged 44 points per game for 3 years.

In the late 1960’s America was in racial tension. It was “burn baby burn.” On one side you had Malcolm X; the other MLK.

How bad was it you ask? I know! I was there. There were far too many people running around with “soft minds and tough hearts” and the nation needed a change.

In my lifetime, few leaders lived the Biblical view of being tough-minded with a soft heart more effectively than Dr. King. Clearly, he was among the leading statesmen of the last century.

Going back to Baton Rouge, December 1968 where I was advised to play only one “colored” at a time, the basketball race lines were ready to break on the college basketball scene in the south of the USA.

LSU won the game; four Afro-Americans played at the same time; Maravich scored 48 points and best of all the A.I.A. star player spoke at half-time to over 10,000 people about his solution to what he saw as the problem.

Doctor King would have been proud of Clint Hooper’s brief testimony. It went something like this:

“I grew up in Seattle. My father was involved in the Black Panther Movement. Distrusting white people was part of my education. I discovered the problem in America is not a black-white problem, or a red, or yellow problem. It is a sin problem.

Clint was tough-minded. 22 points and 16 rebounds in a dramatic win at Kansas State proved Hooper was mentally tough. Soft hearted, Hooper’s entire life is a living tribute to MLK’s dream. Hoops is my hero to this day.

The prophet Jeremiah and many other Biblical characters write poignant words about the necessity of being strong minded and soft hearted.

Strong minds are vital in protection soft hearts. Soft minds force ones to have hard hearts for protection.

In today’s culture, the norm is soft minds and hard hearts. Children are forced to grow hard hearts because we are not teaching strong minds.

Self-control and personal disciple are not being taught or lived by adults. Jeremiah warned Judah to change their ways.

True confession. My heart is very soft. My mind is not nearly as strong as it needs to be. Those chocolate coconut balls chase me and catch me, but today I will out run them.

As you do a diagnosis of your mind and heart, factor these concepts into your analysis.

If one has a weak mind the heart will be hard. If the mind is not strong it cannot guard the heart.

If the heart is not soft the mind will be mean spirited. Compassion, grace, kindness, joy and other wonderful qualities will be hard pressed to deliver.

Thank you Dr. Martin Luther King, for being a Crucial Other; one with PTR (proven track record) and WOBI (worthy of being imitated). You lived Strong Mind – Soft Heart. You took an assassin’s bullet to show us the way to love God, Love people, and love life.

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FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES

Knowledge and understanding of the following three principles give meaning and purpose to life.

It has been said when Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic he did not know where he was going.

“The more clear we are in what we want, the more power we have to achieve what we want to accomplish.”

Roger Smith is an award-winning fifth-grade teacher. Russ and Janice sent Roger “The Dodge” to NBC Camps as a 9-year-old.

3 days in, Roger called home. He wanted out. Mom said, “Roger, your dad and I spent $125 for you to be at NBC Camps. We will see you, Saturday.”

Today, Roger directs NBC Auburn and is a Vice President of the company. He is a pillar at NBC.

Let’s play a “WHAT IF” game. What if Russ and Janice jump in the car and bring sad, unhappy, son home for graham crackers and warm milk; then tuck their little boy into bed.

If this would have happened, would Rog be hailed by thousands of NBC youth and his 5th graders as a game changer, teacher, and leader?

1. The parents were crystal clear. There were no second guesses. Their son was going to finish the task.

2. Unlike Columbus, the Smiths knew where they were taking their son. They had done their homework. They knew exactly where Roger was, and they knew he was safe. Happiness was not a key factor.

And when Roger returned home, he knew where he had been, and he has never missed a summer for 39 years.

I delight in when “The Dodge” dishes out rapid fire instructions, stops, looks into eyes after eyes and shouts, “clear” and with more fire the athletes yell “crystal clear!”

Homework:
Since reading makes us fully prepared for speaking, and writing makes us more exact, take some quiet time to put in writing your personal answers to the 3 Foundational Principles.

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REVELATION DEMANDS A RESPONSE

Revelation is truth, knowledge, enlightenment or information.

If the goal is for your audience to listen attentively and immediately act upon enlightenment. My favorite place for revelation is in the locker room at a basketball or football game.

The players want to know how to win. They are already motivated to act on what they hear.

Yet, if the team does not respond to the coach’s revelation, defeat is the likely result. Of course, I am assuming the coach has knowledge and truth to reveal.

Yellow light on the dashboard indicated the fuel is low. Revelation demands to stop at the gas station.

Where this philosophy becomes difficult to apply is within the realms of matters of the mind and heart, as these don’t demand an immediate response.

The fact of the matter is; knowledge is usually not the problem. The real challenge is motivation.

A business man knows he should work less and become more efficient, yet does not act.

Do you want to experience the rewards that spring forth from responding to revelation? Then do this simple task.

Practice listening for a single applicable truth, and when you receive that revelation, enlightenment, or challenge, do it!

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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VAN GOGH – LOVING PEOPLE

“Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.”

This is when a person dies. At the funeral, wonderful things are said about the deceased. Why wait until the funeral? Those we love and cherish need to experience our love when they are alive.

Crucial question! Who do I need to reach out to and tell them what I would say about them at their funeral?

Van Gogh had it right, believing there is nothing more artistic than loving people.

Carefully prepare a list of people I want to tell how much they mean to me. Write them a note.

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HARLEY SUNDOWN'S ALASKA

Scammon Bay nestled on a hillside on the shores of the Bering Sea, is Coach Harley Sundown’s Disneyland.

One day this amazing coach is teaching hoops, the next catching a moose or seals for family dinners, or on the microphone using his vocal talents.

In 2010 Harley placed a call to me. Harley asked, “What would it take to bring NBC Camps to Scammon Bay, located two flights from Anchorage?”

Talk about love for basketball. Players and fans travel to Scammon’s Winter Classic by airplane and snow machine.

The parking lot looks totally different from normal parking lots; you won’t see a single car there.

The kids in Scammon love basketball – I can tell as I watch 10-year-old Cassius knock down three consecutive 3’s displaying perfect shooting form.

One of my most special blessings was meeting the late Mary Ann Sundown at her home during her 93rd year. Harley’s mother was the Yupik’s most famous dancer and one of nine sisters.

Harley and Joan, parents of 12 children, have sought to give their children excellent educations.

Eldest son, Hershel, was a dedicated NBC Camper and head coach of Scammon Bay’s 2017 Girls State Championship team.

Every great life story has a great life lesson. The lesson here is, be all there, wherever you are. Abraham and Missy Rivers told me, “Harley does so much for so many in Scammon Bay.” Mrs. Rivers is a remarkable school principal there.

They call education, “The Scammon Way.” Everyone is treated with love and respect. Scammon Bay is the grandparent of NBC CAMPS in Village Alaska.

Bobby Moore, NBC part-time coach and head pastor at River City Church and I have been blessed to be guest teachers of basketball and LIFEBALL or the past 8 years at Scammon.

Harley Sundown is living proof that Disneyland can be anywhere you are willing to be all.

The challenge Harley Sundown’s life presents us with is, what are we going to be and do with where we are?

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THE SNAKE LINE

A powerful solution to stop worry, fear, self-pity, and other forms of negative behavior.

I happened to hear a portion of a sermon about not controlling your thoughts and emotions.

Babies can’t control their emotions. This is acceptable. It is understood. Mind and emotional control is a learned behavior.

When adults don’t control their words and behavior, it can be assumed they lack emotional intelligence. Screaming obscenities, driving too aggressively and acting like spoiled children is not acceptable behavior.

Did you know excessive heights and bad weather are not the greatest hazards facing rock climbers?

Poisonous snakes are the gravest danger because they blend in with the environment. Often they cannot be seen. A toxic snake bite for a climber on a remote cliff can be life ending for the mountaineer.

Yet snakes cannot survive in high altitudes. Once the climber reaches these elevations where the snakes cannot live, there is no longer a fear of being bitten by a snake who has the ability to poison the climber.

Negative emotions like fear, anger, worry, jealousy, resentment, and self-pity are emotional poisons. They can’t live above God’s, “snake line.”

Emotional poison does not exist where love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control exist.

It is the same way a rock climber is on alert for snakes, emotionally intelligent people are keenly aware of their emotional temperature.

Living above the “emotional snake line” is worth giving up behaviors that are common in the world of untrained children. It’s worth the discipline to know, understand, and obey God’s manual that teaches us to live above board and above the snake line.

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90 DAYS - 20 PERCENT

Of all creation, the human is the grandest creation all. Nothing compares to woman and man; not the great animals of Africa, the mighty oceans of the earth, not the miraculous rivers and mountains, not the moon hanging above the lands and not the stars and sun in all their glory.

The Palmist said, “What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”

90 – 20 is the amazing phenomena with intentional focus and commitment in 90 days the human can be 20% stronger in 90 Days whether you are 8 or 80 years old.

Imagine having the human potential to be 20% better or more productive in just 90 days.

20% stronger
20% less weight
20% more productive
20% better listener
20% less angry and impatient
20% healthier
20% kinder
20% better parent
20% better spouse
20% better grandparent

Choose the one example above. The one you need the most improvement on, the one you really care about getting better in!

Begin your day planning to improve this one thing. Ask one person to be your encouragement partner. Have a written plan how you will be 20% better in this one area in 90 days.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

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LEADERSHIP - A WORTHY AMBITION

“Leadership is always the problem & always the solution.” – Bobby Moore

Leadership is a common topic of conversation these days. Leadership has been on my educational radar screen beginning the day I was hired to be the head Men’s basketball coach at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks in 1965. I faced an enormous challenge. The previous coach had quit at the halftime of a game. The program had never experienced a winning season and this big problem was leaderless.

At our first meeting, 36 students joined me in a classroom. I wore a suit and tie so that students would know I was a member of the UA staff. One of my players was a year older than me and I looked younger than most of them.

These were my first words, “Welcome, my name is Fred Crowell, I am the coach.”

You might be thinking, why did I tell them who I was and name my position. Earlier that day, Mike Tauriainen, veteran player and currently one of my best friends on the planet, walked into my office and asked me, “Where is the coach?” I replied, “I am the coach.” With surprise, Mike said, “You can’t be; you are not old enough.”

After the introduction, I announced, “Congratulations, all of you have made the team; I do not cut players.” At the first practice 35 players showed up; one was out ill. Five days later 36 players showed up for the two-hour intense basketball session.

Two weeks later 13 players showed up. 23 players decided they did not want to pay the price to be a NANOOK (a name for the polar bear.) One quit because he would not get his hair cut to the minimum standard; several others decided a party life was more important than basketball; still, others did not want to go to class and be on study table.

When are your ready to lead? When are you ready to be a father or mother? When are you ready to lead a company or coach a team? Important questions? Based on 50 years of experience, I believe you are never ready until you are thrust into the leadership role. At this point, the question becomes, are you motivated, dedicated, passionate about learning to become the person qualified to do the required job?

Based on my research as a college student, a long professional career as a college coach, owner of an international business, marriage and family counsel, husband, father, papa and mentor to many, these are the ways I believe leaders can solve problems and not be the problem:

1. Develop the passion for being a qualified servant leader – begin with “want to” not “how to.” For example, I can be 100% dedicated to being the best Papa in the world. Show me a great papa and I want to learn from him. I want to be better and better as a papa! “Want to” is king in my world.

2. Have a crystal clear philosophy – know what you believe and believe what you do! My greatest lifetime gift is seeing the world through the lens of God’s Holy Word, which became flesh and dwelt among us. I am committed to following the example of Jesus, Paul, David, Daniel, Peter, and other great men. This demands study and relentless pursuit of learning new and better ways to be a servant leader.

3. Come under the authority of a qualified mentor leader – I have come to believe that every person needs a mentor in each important area of life. This mentor must pass two very important tests. These two tests are not negotiable. A worthy leader must have a proven track record over a long period of time – no one time flash wonders, and they must be worthy of being imitated. Imitation is the father of learning.

If you can’t be imitated in your behavior in any area of life, it is time to change this behavior.

In my view as I enter my 74th year of life, there has never been a time when leadership at all levels is so lacking. Too few fathers, too few coaches, too few politicians, too few teachers, too few mothers, too few business people are worthy of being imitated.

I long to be able to say what the Apostle Paul told his followers, “Follow me as I follow Christ’. While in prison this amazing saint said, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Special friends who read Words of Hope, I confess I have a long, long way to go to be able to say, Follow me as I follow Christ”, but know each day for the rest of my life I am passionate about coming closer to being able to say, “Follow me as I follow Christ for He alone is worthy to be followed with unabandoned passion.”

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SO HARD, TO SO EASY

Hard work pays off

14 plus years ago in the birthing room at Sacred Heart Hospital, the doctors went into emergency mode hoping to save Ariana Alexis Crowell / Ferch’s new life.

It was a tough go for a while. It seemed like an eternity. The family was ecstatic when Arie survived.

A couple years later, Ari was back to Spokane’s excellent hospital. One Doctor foolishly said to Jennifer, Ari’s mother, “If we get the illness under control, (an unknown diagnosis), Ariana may still suffer brain damage.

Once again, the Crowell/Ferch’s were in panic and prayer mode. Mother-bear was beside herself.

Now at age 14+ Ariana Alexis Ferch is beginning to benefit from a life of dedication, relentless pursuit of excellence and passion for ballet.

What you see is a young lady who has spent over 6 hours in practice some days, coming home totally exhausted.

What you see is the potential that each of us has to be amazing at some special skill the Lord has placed inside of us.

Every child benefits from a PaPa who is willing to tell the world about his precious grandchildren.

While in China, my Chinese basketball boys delighted in saying with huge smiles immediately after making a shot, “so easy!”

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

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DECIDE TO MAKE WISE DECISIONS

“Decide” is one of those highly interesting words in the English language.

“Cide” has many partners. Outside, inside, downside, upside, homicide, suicide, genocide.

Decision making is a difficult skill to master. Every decision has three options.

What kind of year will you have?
What is one way you can be better by 2018?
What is one relationship you can better?
What new skill interests you?
Who do you need to forgive?
Who needs your love and encouragement?
What does Abba Father want from you?

Jesus was the Master at bringing people to make life changing decisions with questions such as:

Who do you say that I AM?
Who among you, without sin, cast the first stone?
Whose name is on the Roman coin?
Why do you come in the middle of the night to see me?
Is this your question or someone else’s?

The clearer you are in what you want, the more likely you are to get what you want.

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THE SECRET OF SILENCE

A friend likes to tell me, “I am going to do nothing today, and I don’t plan to start until noon.”

About 17 years ago, I began the interior journey. Being driven all my life, “doing nothing” was foreign to me. To this day I tend to be uncomfortable being quiet, sitting still, doing nothing. Even arriving early to a meeting seemed to be a waste time to me.

For the majority of my life I have been either, “full bore” or sleeping, living like there was a shot clock countdown for everything I was doing, and I agree with Mark Twain’s notion, “If it weren’t for the last minute I wouldn’t get anything done.”

The beauty of silence was a secret to me, until I experienced the peace and tranquility that it brings. My journey to the meditative life began in 1999 when I entered into spiritual direction with the wisest, kindness man I have known in my lifetime. Father B, a Prof at Gonzaga, who asked me one question at the end of our first session, “When we meet in two weeks, please tell me about your prayer life.”

This was the first step in learning that the interior journey is of more importance than the exterior life journey.

My first discipline was setting my stop watch for three minutes, to sit in total silence. Even though I struggled in the beginning, now I take an entire day on silent retreat twice a month. It has been a practice for 17 years now. Truly the best way to find God is to be still.

One brilliant wise man once said, “If you spend 15 minutes alone with God each day, you can solve most of the world’s problems.” Start with 3 minutes and see where it leads.

Join me as 2017 is brand new, and discover the secrets only found in being still before God.

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FIVE LIFE CHANGING WORDS

“I am proud of you!”

As Edith steps down the stairs in a beautiful wedding dress, Lord Gratham’s loving eyes and outstretched arms greet his lovely daughter.

A joyful Edith responds, “You can be as proud of me as much as you like for a long as you want.”

Life experience proves to me that being told by someone who loves and or respects you, “I am proud of you,” are five words that inspire and encourage.

How can I be so sure that telling people you are proud of them is profoundly life elevating for those who hear these words?

Crooked/straight lines: To know a line is straight it is necessary to understand what makes a line crooked.

Love/hate behavior: the two sides of a coin are love and hate. The depth of love is equal to the depth of hate. Jesus admonishes us to love that which is good but hate that which is evil.

Being proud and being ashamed are as far apart as crooked from straight and love from hate.

When people receive these magic words, “I am of proud you!” the impact can be profoundly productive.

Whereas when humans receive the destructive force of shame or contempt, behavior diminishes. Too often a life is destroyed by shame.

Personal story: An aunt said, “The Crowell boys aren’t worth one red cent.” The statement was made over 55 years ago. I remember vividly.

Thankfully, my genetic gift was the relentless pursuit to succeed, to escape poverty. I was born with fire in my belly! When told can’t, it made me fighting like mad.

Yet in spite of this fire in my belly, I still needed people to say to me, “Fred I am proud of you.”

Without these heroes who stepped into my life, I would not be the one writing these words today.

3 people said in words and deeds, “I am proud of you.” They shaped my life dramatically. I am who I am today because of them.

First is Susie. We met at an age of 19 in college. For the first time in my life, I was verbally told, “I love you; I am proud of you.” No one apart from our Lord has elevated the way I see life, people, myself more than my bride of 53 years.

Second is Jennifer. In her grade 6, I had refused to ask Susie to forgive me. It was her turn to go first. I went outside to cool off. Shooting hoops was my therapy. When I came back into the house Jennifer had placed every picture in the house face down on the table.

Jennifer said, “Until you ask forgiveness you are not part of the family.” For 47 years I have heard Jennifer (no exaggeration) say, “Papa, I am proud of you.”

Third is Jay. We liked kites. Jay was 4. We were at a park trying to get his kite up on a calm day. I ran time after time. I was near exhaustion, “One more time, Dad.”

To get the kite up I had to run a fast 30 yards to hand off the kite string. Jay knew I was pooped and needed some fire.

I can say because Jay says so often, “I am proud of you, dad,” “go for it dad!” The fire in my belly burns hot.

And last but not least I share these very personal words. Finally in the winter of life I have realized at a very deep level when God, my Abba Father says, “Fred, I am proud of you,” I believe it.

I wonder how often I can tell someone with total authenticity, “I am proud of you.” I welcome you to join me in this pursuit today, tomorrow and forever.

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ABUNDANCE NOT SCARCITY

“I have come that you might life and have it abundantly.” – Jesus

The six Crowell kids knew every day of our growing up that we were poor. We lived in the land of scarcity.

There was never enough simply because there was not enough, a huge difference from having enough but feeling like it is never enough.

Imagine a box arriving at your door. It is a gift to you. You have no idea who sent the gift.

You open the box. Carefully wrapped inside the box is a plain wooden box. A note says open the box.

You open this box and inside is a smaller box with instructions to open this box.

Inside is a small box. It is beautifully decorated. The note says please open when you are truly ready to receive the greatest treasure, the most precious gift you will ever get.

These are the soft words sung to you, “Wherever you are be all there. Whatever you have it is enough. I am yours and you are mine. Now go live in abundance. You have everything you need. It is enough.”

I tell you my reality; it took cancer for me to learn I live in the land of abundance because wherever I am and whatever I have it is more than enough. This is real freedom.

Find your freedom dear friends, don’t wait until you have to learn it through some sort of pain.

If life were a baseball game, home-plate for me is Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

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LOVE - BELONGING - SUCCESS

“Self-existential diagnosis is like taking your eyes out of your head and watching yourself.” – F. Crowell

Regrettably far too many people are unwilling to take an honest diagnosis of themselves.

Physically we know oxygen is a vital need. The brain can’t go less than two minutes without it.

Water is the second vital need. After 3 days the body shuts down without it. We need water.

Food is a third vital need. The body can go much longer without food. Friends I know have fasted 40 days.

Water is like belonging. We live poorly without belonging. We were not created to be alone.

Food is like success. We need to be successful in our own eyes and also in at least a few other’s eyes.

My favorite dog was named Challenger, a big black lab who weighed 133 pounds. One day I left home on a motorcycle with Challenger chasing behind me. He stayed with me for about the length of a football field. My speedometer read 33mph.

One day Challenger nipped a man who walked up behind me as I was burning leaves.

We had Challenger evaluated to determine if he was safe. The expert tested Challenger.

After his diagnosis he told Susie and me this startling news, “Fred, you are Challenger’s problem. You have a juvenile delinquent on your hands because you are not giving love, not making him feel like he belongs, and do not give him enough praise so that he feels successful.”

After 8 training sessions with this canine expert, Challenger became a remarkable companion. Let me make it clear. The canine expert trained me to train Challenger.

These six elegant questions form the way I coach basketball, conduct EQ business seminars, and manage my life.

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MEET A MODERN DAY ANGEL

You His mighty angels doing His bidding. – Psalm 103

Of all the people Susie and I know, Jan is one who goes daily to her secret garden to be with the Holy Trinity. Jan has a sacred place to make this daily journey.

After a teaching career of 32 years, Jan started a ministry to the poor in one of Spokane’s most depressed areas. It is nicknamed Felony Flats.

Every Monday over 200 people are served a hot dinner. Recently Jan raised enough money to convert an old pole building into a place where displaced people can have a hot shower and wash their clothes.

Jan beat pancreatic cancer and several other serious health issues. Jan is a miracle.

Retired Lt Colonel Don Frieze said, “You get a compliment from me you earned it. Jan Foland is the most amazing person I have met in my lifetime.” Officer Frieze is 82 years old.

People who do not seek the counsel of wicked people, walk the paths with committed sinners and lounge in the seats with critical people will experience the blessings of the Lord.

Life’s struggles don’t stop Mrs. Foland. She never stops thanking God and serving the poor.

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WEIGHTLESS GRACE

For by grace we have been saved through faith not of works lest any man should boast. – Paul

The Christian faith presents many paradoxes, which initially to the newcomer of the faith don’t make sense. To the agnostic or atheist, Christianity is pure foolishness.

Understanding and experiencing grace makes all the difference. Like in Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carl, the remarkable story of Ebenezer Scrooge, or the movie The Mission, about John Newman’s life moving him to write Amazing Grace.

Think of this idea. If a coach thinks a player is great, the player will be a better player at the end of the season.

Now conversely, if the coach does not like an athlete’s game at the start of the season, the common outcome is the player lives up to the Coach’s expectation.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:1-2

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HONOR IS A GOLDEN VIRTUE

The word honor and the idea of honoring others has been on my mind this Christmas season’s 31 days of celebration.

Passing two magnificent soldiers in the airport, I was so encouraged. These powerful warriors are exactly the soldiers I want defending my country, and my family that I love so much.

My kind words of gratitude brought huge smiles, lighted eyes, and generous “thank you’s,” that made me feel so good.

Yesterday, a surprise to my wife Susie, I cooked a special lunch to support my clean week. Wild Alaska salmon is my favorite dish; especially blackened.

Today’s words of hope honor the Blake boys as I call them. Scott Blake is founder/owner of Copper River Seafoods and his younger brother, Brandon Blake is the former basketball coach, of Palmer High in Alaska.

In 1979 the Blake parents sent Scott from Cordova all the way to NBC in Spokane to attend NBC camps. Brandon played on NBC Alaska’s 1985 team. They went 15-0, beating the German National Team.

Today Copper River Seafoods is the best seafood company in the world in my eyes. I was so blessed to see their smoked salmon on sale at Costco. So wonderful that you can get their world-class seafood at your door, visit www.copperriverseafoods.com.

As you read these words of hope about honor, think about joining me on the Crowell honor Challenge: Honor one person, or family, or team, or business, each day this December 2015.

Let’s start right here right now. Today, just one day. Whom can you honor today? If you are like me, someone will come to mind. Got it?

Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor.
– Proverbs 15:33

ALL IN TODAY?

The crucial question…

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Wallace and the Whale

Key Statement: What you treasure becomes precious, important, and brings great gratitude from your mind into your heart

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LOOK AT ME, BOYS!

Key Statement: You listen with your eyes. What you don’t see is often more important than what you can see.

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HAPPY HAPPY CROWELL'S

Key Statement: People are about as happy as they personally choose to be. Happiness is an attitude. When a young athlete practices the idea of LLA (listen to learn to act) they have begun the journey to define their true potential.

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ABSOLUTELY - ABSOLUTAMENTE!

Key Statement: Words you say, are far more important than the words you think. You create your world by the words of your mouth.

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OCEANS

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PEOPLE RELATIONSHIPS

Key Statement: People were created to need people, but too few people invest the time needed to master the skills to treat people well.

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CHURCH THIS MORNING

This is where I am having church this morning.

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UNASHAMED

Shame is the demon that haunts all of humanity. When you name it, you can beat it.

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TOO BUSY OR DON'T CARE

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MYELIN PROTECTS HOPE

You must build hope, for the day will come when it is desperately needed!

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

Key Statement: If you don’t listen you can’t learn; if you don’t act you will not learn.

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

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LISTEN - LEARN - ACT (LLA)

Key Statement: If you don’t listen you can’t learn; if you don’t act you will not learn.

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THE WONDER OF YOUTH

One day I was a player; next a coach; then a father and now Papa to hundreds of young players who love basketball and LIFEBALL!

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THE FATHER OF LEARNING

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HOW TO FIND GOD

Jesus said, “Come unto me as a young child.”

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WHO WINS TONIGHT?

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LIFE IS NOT AN ACCIDENT

“The motorcycle crash that nearly killed me taught me how to live; to be a better person.” – Jay Williams

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OREGON v NORTH CAROLINA MATCH UP

Coach Crowell’s facts, opinions, and predictions.

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YOU ARE SO KIND

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EXIT HELL HALLWAYS ENTER PEACEFUL ROOMS

Key Statement: “Ex” means to get out and “en” means to enter. Get out of the hallway and enter rooms of beauty, grace, peace, joy and love.

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COACH CROWELL ON APRIL TO NOVEMBER BASKETBALL

Key Statement: School ball season is ALL about the team.

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HELL IN THE HALLWAY

Ideas from a sermon about being stuck in the hallway of life.

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2017 WILL BE REMEMBERED AS A GREAT FINAL FOUR YEAR

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RULE OF

“Learning important truth principles is like mining for gold because life truths are more precious than much fine gold and silver.” -FC

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TWO WORLDS

“Boy, we live in two different worlds and we both are extremely happy.” -Long Time Friend

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WHO IS YOUR HEAD COACH?

Fact is, everyone has a head coach! The critical question? Is your head coach worthy of your total allegiance?

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WORLD’S GREATEST ARTIST

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LAUGHTER - GOOD MEDICINE