Right and Wrong

Most of the time the right thing to do is also the toughest thing to do. It usually makes for an interesting battle inside my soul.

As I've grown to be a stronger follower of Christ, I see multiple examples of this in the Bible. But nothing is more evident than when God gave his only son to die on the cross for our sins. Now that wasn't easy! But it was the right thing to do. Jesus died on the cross to save us because we were incapable of saving ourselves due to our sinful nature. Jesus set the ultimate example.

I am challenged to do the right thing everyday. In my job... in my parenting... as a husband.

Why has it become so easy to lie and cover the truth today? If given the choice I'm tempted many times to not do the right thing. I need a constant reminder. I need to go to church. I need to read my Bible. I need to surround myself with good friends that will hold me accountable for my actions.

Most of all, I need to realize that I will not always to the right thing but I need to want to do the right thing. When I don't do the right thing I need to beg for forgiveness and call on the the mercy of family, friends or the person I've wronged but ultimately beg for God's grace and do everything in my power to learn from my mistake so that I don't do it again.

It is said we should learn from our mistakes. I agree completely. What do you think? Where would we be if we didn't? Do the right thing even though it's likely not the easiest choice. See where the world ends up. See how you turn out.

Buy this design on many items at http://www.i-cubedpromotional.com/ to serve as your reminder

Reading, Writing, and 'Rithmetic

It's back to school time! I find it to be an exciting time; I always loved school! My kids aren't so thrilled... But I love fall, sweatshirts and jeans, the changing colors of the leaves, football (better yet, the marching band!)

This design started percolating around the 4th of July. I had wanted to have a new patriotic shirt to wear for the 4th and started thinking about what I would want that to look like. The pledge of allegiance popped into my head and I started wondering what I could do with those words. The flag was a natural - easily patriotic - and provides a great backdrop for the text. I didn't get the design done in time to have my shirt for the 4th, but I'm planning on wearing my new red shirt for casual Friday at work this week. And with school starting across the country (my niece and nephews started yesterday!) this is a perfect design to talk about!

I don't know what the policies are in school these days. My son says they still say the pledge each morning. I found an online map that indicates that some schools have a law that states kids have the option of saying the pledge or not. I can see pros and cons about that. Mostly I feel that as a citizen of the U.S. we should all be proud and thankful to live here and the freedoms that we have! I'm thankful to the people serving in the military willing to lose their lives if necessary to defend our rights and freedoms and protect our country.

Our country was founded by great, God-fearing men who set up a wonderful democratic system. It is my hope and prayer that we can move closer to their vision for our country.

Self Discipline

This is a tough one for me. I think I designed this as much for myself than for my family or others.

I started my own business back in 1994 and found that becuz it was a one person business I was basically a full-commission salesperson. Someone had to sell my products and services and that someone has to be me. Uh-oh... no more goofing off on the 8 to 5 job. I had to become DISCIPLINED!

Well, like any full-time commission scenario there are the usual ups and downs. Some checks were very good and some weren't so good. If only I could stay consistent all the time (read: disciplined) I would have a great check all the time. Sounds easy...

Well, I shut my business down in 2000 and you don't shut down a business becuz you're making too much money. We weren't! I was working 80 hours a week but living in the poverty level. I grew tired of working for my employee's paycheck and although I thought I was disciplined, I wasn't. Things were inconsistent and run by the seat of my pants. I was robbing Peter to pay Paul and just barely hanging on financially. It was time to pull the plug.

The decision hurt. When I look back on it I question what happened? I was a hard working, caring boss who wanted what was best for my clients and my employees. But, I think what I wanted most was what was best for me. I was disciplined and determined to show the world how I could make it and my discipline was geared toward everyone else.

I never took the time to look inward to see what my true motivation was. Proverbs 16:2 says that all a man's ways seem innocent to him but the Lord weighs his motivation. What was my motivation? I started asking why I do the things I do and found that my discipline was a self problem and I needed to stop blaming everybody else and accept the fact that it was up to me to change things... Lord willing. Once this became clear to me I started looking at my kids and wife and found that we all had a similar problem. Taking it further if all of us in this world would just practice discipline of the self rather than point and poke at others what a difference this would make.

So... how about we all take responsibility for our own actions and keep our discipline to our self. Watch what happens!

This design can be found in our I-cubed brand at http://www.i-cubedpromotional.com/. Take care and have a great weekend!

What's in a Name?

First of all I want to thank all of you out there who have visited this blog. I'm super excited about how many people have taken time to read our posts. I would like to encourage you to respond if you'd like to. We'd love to hear from you!

Keep coming back and keep sharing with your family and friends! Together we will improve the way the world thinks!

Our first post talked about the story behind the stores but I'd like to explain the thinking behind the name of our inspirational/motivational line of apparel and merchandise. We call it I-cubed. Our goal with I-cubed designs is to Impress, Impact, and Improve.

We want our 100% original designs to impress upon people to do the right thing. Most are based on common sense and things we may have learned a long time ago but forgotten. Maybe we chose to and maybe we didn't.

We want our I-cubed designs to impact people in a positive way with the ultimate goal of improving the way the world thinks! I-cubed designs will serve as a reminder to both the person who is using or wearing the item or perhaps serve as an inspiration to someone who sees the messages and cause them to act in the right way and/or do the right thing.

Who knows, anything can happen! How do you improve yourself? Use our I-cubed designs to remind you to do the right thing or give them as a gift to a friend that could use some encouragement.

Parental Rights (and wrongs)

I grew up the youngest of five children. Each of my four older siblings had two kids before I had my first child. (I finished up with two.) I babysat my nieces and nephews many times when I was in high school and college. I was comfortable being responsible for kids of all ages even down to infants. The one thing I always noticed (or thought I noticed) was that my nieces and nephews all listened better to me than they did their parents.

Based on all my experience parenting was going to be a piece of cake. I mean, if my nieces and nephews listened to me when I was just their uncle then it was a "given" that my kids would always listen to me when I was their Dad. Right?

When my oldest son was born I was the happiest guy in the world and there is no better feeling in the world when you hold your kid and they fall asleep on your lap. No one tells you how difficult it can be when your kid isn't perfect or the challenges start to come... and they definitely do.

My oldest was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 6 and has had problems adapting to school. He has difficulty with authority and loses his temper often. There was a time when I was afraid to answer the phone because I was certain it would be someone (school, teacher, neighbor, etc.) telling me how rotten my child was and therefore implying what a terrible parent I was. It happened so often that I started thinking perhaps they were right.

What I finally decided was that he was my child and no matter what he is awesome. He has faults and he is brilliant in his own way and he is a gift from God. Although I may not like what he does and how he behaves and I question often whether or not he can control his behaviour - I think the answer varies depending - he is my child and I will always love him. NO MATTER WHAT!

Parenting is the toughest job in the world. Parenting is also the best job in the world. Bottom line is that we must all take responsibility for our kids whatever they are like and Make it Apparent We're a Parent!

Half Full - Thinking Positively

My best friend (and first friend), Jeff, died of natural causes back in 1987 shortly before he turned 21... or maybe it was shortly after. It doesn't matter. We were born 9 days apart and lived right next door to each other for several years until he moved across town. We were still best of friends - which included fighting every day and making up the next - until my family moved away when I was nine years old. We played Star Trek as kids and I was ALWAYS Kirk and he was ALWAYS Spock... we never died. But unfortunately, he did.

I'll never forget the day I heard. It felt like someone sucker-punched me in the gut when I wasn't looking. It took many years to feel like I could get that breath back. I truly felt like a part of me died that day as well. I helped carry my best friend's body to his grave. It was my first experience with death.

I kept all my feelings inside and didn't tell anyone. Not even my closest friends or my wife. I struggled with my job and hated my work. I had the "pleasure" of dealing with panic attacks and other physical side effects of cooped-up stress but when I went to the doctors they couldn't find anything wrong.

Six years after my friend died I checked myself into the hospital. The 6th floor... the mental ward. I didn't know what to do. I was having trouble controlling my thoughts. I wasn't suicidal... rather, I was afraid to die. However, the interesting twist was that I was also afraid to live. I was diagnosed with depression and was given anti-depressants. I took them for almost 15 years up until about 6 months ago... but that is a story for another time.

Several years back I started to understand that blaming others for my depression and position I was in was just wrong. My wife and I started our own company, had a couple wonderful boys, and I started realizing that truly it isn't what happens to you that matters in life but how you deal with it. You always have a choice.

God had blessed me with the ability to creat graphics that were kind of "quick and witty" and so I declared it was time to improve the way the world thinks. I was going to do that by offering our designs on items and keep positive messages in front of people to remind them how to think.

This was the basis for the Half Full -Think Positive design. You have a choice. Choose wisely! Check out this and all the rest of our designs at the sites included at the top of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

The Story Behind the Stores

Do you ever have pictures or images pop into your head when you hear a story or listen to someone talking? My husband and I do - often!

We've been inspired to help improve the way the world thinks. It seems so much that you hear and read is bad news - descriptions of awful things and awful people. It's very easy to think that the entire world is falling apart and there's nothing good left in it. We are motivated to point out those good things and remind people to "think positive" and "stop and smell the roses". We really do only have one life and I, for one, want to live it joyously and noticing all the wonderful things around me!

So, over the years my husband and I developed these images, graphics, that are geared towards keeping our mind on the good things. But we didn't know how to get them "out there" where others could utilize them. We were not interested in running a retail business, nor did we have the funds to invest in a bunch of inventory that we would have to store and try to sell somehow. We felt like we had good ideas, but no outlet.

A few months ago we discovered a resource that has allowed us to build an online gift shop featuring our designs. There was no cost to develop the site and there are many products available from the manufacturer. These products can be purchased one at a time or a few at a time so there's no bulk ordering required. And the manufacturer handles all the orders, processing the payment, creating the goods, and shipping directly to the recipient! It seems we found our perfect solution - an online store where we can promote our designs, help improve how the world thinks, and make some money. All this at no cost to us. We are thrilled!

So, we have established two online gift shops - one for evangelical designs at www.fogpromotional.com and one for motivational designs at www.i-cubedpromotional.com. I hope that you will take a look and see if any of our designs encourage you to think more positively and enjoy each day!