What Can We Learn from the 2017 Astros?

Just 3 months ago, Hurricane Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States in 12 years.  Over 4 days, many areas received 40 or more inches of rain, as the system stalled over eastern Texas, including Houston.  With peak accumulations totaling over 5 feet, more than 30,000 people were displaced; and hundreds of thousands of homes were flooded.

The excitement the Houston Astros brought to the town was a great positive, emotional lift for the community.  The players—moved by the destruction in Houston and later in some of the players’ home country of Puerto Rico—were motivated to dig a little deeper during the 2017 post-season.

What a dramatic post-season it was with the Astros defeating the Red Sox in 6 games, the Yankees in a thrilling 7 games, and in one of the class World Series of all time, defeating the best team in baseball—the Los Angeles Dodgers—playing the first Game 7 of a World Series ever in Dodger Stadium.

Yesterday, I took 6 boys—who were excused from school—to join at least half a million other Astro fans downtown for the World Series parade—the first-ever in Houston, Texas!  What an exciting day, and what a way to start the month of November.

After the playoffs, I considered a few key lessons we can glean from the 2017 Astros.

Click here to learn more about them.

Hiding from Hate

Amsterdam 2017

Last week, I was privileged to serve as a keynote speaker for HR Vision Amsterdam.  Jennifer was able to make the trip with me, as we celebrated our 20th anniversary with a trip to Europe!

For my blog, this month’s focus is on the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.”  As my last post illustrated, behind every murder is an attitude of anger and hate.  We were able to take an up close and personal look at the hate of Hitler during World War II with a couple of famous hiding places in the Netherlands.

To learn more about the inspiring stories of Anne Frank and Corrie Ten Boom, click here.