Rose Cook Small
A woman who knows the value of independent, courageous action
Born in 1912, grew up in a poor neighborhood in Camden, New Jersey. One of the six Children of poor immigrant parents, Rose peddled vegetables to help the family out. She had to leave school at an early age. At sixteen, Rose married Harry Cook, who operated a local market. Working in the market with her husband, she began to build a dream of owning a large meat-packing business.
Working long hours in the market until her hands raw and red and raising two children at the same time, Rose kept the dream alive.
Their business grew, and two years later they opened another market, this time with a packing house. But in 1973 a fire destroyed that market. So broke that she couldn’t afford eight cents for trolley fare, Rose walked fourteen miles to the store to clean up and see what could be salvage.
Finding the bank reluctant to lend the Cooks money to start over, Rose put up her wedding and engagement rings as collateral. Bluebird inc. was born in 1940 with money Rose had obtained from her rings. The bluebird they chose as their symbol means love, grace and happiness.
When Harry Cook died in 1950, Rose took over filling the roles of mother, father, breadwinner and advisor. She also carried on the business, directing its growth and expansion. Over the years Rose learned the business, from buying slaughtering and cutting meats. At the same time, she put one of her sons through medical school. The other joined her in the business.
…End Notes.
After years of bone-tiring work, this woman of independent spirit built Bluebird into a giant meat packer that produces 11 million pounds of meat weekly, with annual sales of over half a billion dollars.
Don Moen
"This time, I’ve followed my heart and not my head.”
It’s a simple statement that carries with it a powerful meaning in the life of worship artist Don Moen. One of the best-known and respected recording artists in the Christian music industry, Moen has earned a worldwide reputation for his work as a songwriter and worship leader who has helped shape today’s modern worship landscape. As a platinum-selling recording artist, he has recorded more than 17 albums which have sold more than 5 million units. But it’s his newest release, I Believe There Is More, which has become his most personal project to date.
I Believe There Is More is the next chapter, a new season that comes in the midst of what has been a three-decade-long career for this award-winning songwriter who has penned such worship classics as “God Will Make A Way,” “I Just Want To Be Where You Are” and “God Is Good All The Time.” Moen’s landmark recording Give Thanks which sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
“I’m amazed that I’ve had the favor I’ve had, that I’ve done the things I’ve done,” Moen admits. “I am the most unlikely guy… I didn’t plan it or go after it. But I’ve realized over the last few years in particular that I needed to pay more attention to what God had originally called me to be…a worship leader and songwriter.”
The path to that realization has been filled with some pretty important steps along the way. Even in the midst of awards, accolades and success, it is most notably Moen’s visionary instincts and strengths as a mentor and leader that industry peers and fellow musicians have recognized most. His initial recordings with Integrity Music led to a 20-year relationship with the label, during which time he served in a variety of creative roles and was eventually named president of the label.
I Believe There Is More is the next chapter, a new season that comes in the midst of what has been a three-decade-long career for this award-winning songwriter who has penned such worship classics as “God Will Make A Way,” “I Just Want To Be Where You Are” and “God Is Good All The Time.” Moen’s landmark recording Give Thanks which sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
“I’m amazed that I’ve had the favor I’ve had, that I’ve done the things I’ve done,” Moen admits. “I am the most unlikely guy… I didn’t plan it or go after it. But I’ve realized over the last few years in particular that I needed to pay more attention to what God had originally called me to be…a worship leader and songwriter.”
The path to that realization has been filled with some pretty important steps along the way. Even in the midst of awards, accolades and success, it is most notably Moen’s visionary instincts and strengths as a mentor and leader that industry peers and fellow musicians have recognized most. His initial recordings with Integrity Music led to a 20-year relationship with the label, during which time he served in a variety of creative roles and was eventually named president of the label.
But, in late 2007, he decided to leave his position at the label. “I was compelled by the Holy Spirit to rethink my priorities… to pursue my own calling, my own ministry,” he explains. “I couldn’t go another month denying that. It had taken a back seat for far too long. It was no longer a career issue. I knew that if I didn’t pay attention to the stirring in my heart, I would be disobedient to God.”
It was a difficult decision for Moen to make at this particular time in his life. To pursue something completely new – leaving a secure position at a company when he had a family with five children to support (three in college) – went against all logical reasoning. But it was a heart decision.
“I didn’t know how to get in the boat and pursue the new thing God wanted me to do in my heart, while keeping one foot on the land,” Moen shares. “But I’ve felt confirmed. I know I did the right thing. Integrity was my family for 20 years. It was a season of my life that I was blessed to be a part of, but seasons change, and if we don’t change when the Holy Spirit wants us to change, we miss out on some of the best things ever. “This time I’ve followed my heart and not my head, and look at the doors that have opened,” he adds. “I would have never walked through them had I stayed comfortable where I was.” That’s why Moen felt compelled to call the new record I Believe There Is More. In many ways, it’s the perfect title for where his life is at the moment. “It gives me every reason to share with people who are more motivated by fear than faith. Fear says, ‘God is not going to use you anymore.’ Fear says, ‘You’re getting too old to have an impact. You’re not young and beautiful.’ Faith says, ‘I can do all things in Christ.’ Faith says, ‘Doors are going to open if I take that step.’ Fear sees the glass as half empty; faith sees it overflowing.” Moen stepped into the role of producer on his own album for the very first time, a task that reignited his passion for the creative process more than he’d expected it would. “I’ve really enjoyed being back in the studio as a producer listening to mixes. I’d really removed myself from the very thing that got me into music to begin with – the nitty gritty of working with songs, working with songwriters, getting the right band together, getting the right sounds… It’s just been such a pleasure.”
As part of that process, Moen has also written or co-written nine of the album’s 14 tracks, something he moved away from on previous projects. “This is the first time I’ve written in a long, long time,” he shares, “and I think I’ve written my best songs. Writing was always something I crammed into the middle of a busy schedule. But I’ve had time to live with these songs, and to be intentional about the writing process. I’ve not been this intentional about my writing in a long time. I really think it’s the most personal project I’ve ever done.” Moen planned the album much like he’d plan a worship service, taking great care to place the songs in a particular order. It’s why the album kicks off with the powerful worship chorus “The Greatness of You.” “I could see myself starting a concert with this song,” says Moen, who strategically thought about everything from key range, tempo and ending when considering how each track would transition into the next. He co-wrote four songs with Hillsong writer Mia Fieldes, including the energetic “Thank God I’m Free” and one of Moen’s favorites, “O God of Abraham.” “Mia is one of the most fun writers to work with,” Moen says. “We worked extremely well together.” It was during a writing session with Fieldes that Moen penned one of his most personal songs to date, “Grace Is Enough.” “I can boast to many works/Done out of insecurity/And credit many conversations/To my immaturity/And while I’m misunderstood/You are understanding me/And showing me how grace is enough.” Moen also co-wrote two songs with renowned songwriter Claire Cloninger including the album’s title track, “I Believe There Is More,” a fitting theme for the album and for a new season of life. “We resist new seasons out of insecurity and fear,”
As part of that process, Moen has also written or co-written nine of the album’s 14 tracks, something he moved away from on previous projects. “This is the first time I’ve written in a long, long time,” he shares, “and I think I’ve written my best songs. Writing was always something I crammed into the middle of a busy schedule. But I’ve had time to live with these songs, and to be intentional about the writing process. I’ve not been this intentional about my writing in a long time. I really think it’s the most personal project I’ve ever done.” Moen planned the album much like he’d plan a worship service, taking great care to place the songs in a particular order. It’s why the album kicks off with the powerful worship chorus “The Greatness of You.” “I could see myself starting a concert with this song,” says Moen, who strategically thought about everything from key range, tempo and ending when considering how each track would transition into the next. He co-wrote four songs with Hillsong writer Mia Fieldes, including the energetic “Thank God I’m Free” and one of Moen’s favorites, “O God of Abraham.” “Mia is one of the most fun writers to work with,” Moen says. “We worked extremely well together.” It was during a writing session with Fieldes that Moen penned one of his most personal songs to date, “Grace Is Enough.” “I can boast to many works/Done out of insecurity/And credit many conversations/To my immaturity/And while I’m misunderstood/You are understanding me/And showing me how grace is enough.” Moen also co-wrote two songs with renowned songwriter Claire Cloninger including the album’s title track, “I Believe There Is More,” a fitting theme for the album and for a new season of life. “We resist new seasons out of insecurity and fear,”
Moen explains. “But we’ve got two choices: live our lives in fear, or live our lives in faith. When you understand that you are called to do a specific thing – when you get in that place – you can step fully into the role God has for you, and say ‘This is who I am.’ The more we have to lose, the harder it is to step out in faith.
…End Notes.
But I believe there is more – for the preacher who has had a moral failure, for the artist who thinks his career is on the way down, for the woman who is divorced and feels judged… there is more. “God is still in the business of changing lives, and he’ll work through you. When we make a mistake, like a GPS, God will ‘recalculate’ our route. He’s going to take us to the place he’s destined us to go. Our Plan B is not his Plan B. He’s still on Plan A. He’s going to get us there. That’s the message of hope, and the message of this record, too!”
TIME HAS MADE A CHANGE
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Soccer’s superstar players never materialized here at the World Cup. The game’s best – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, etc. – often failed to lift their play and, in turn, their teams, to a level this grand stage demands.
The conventional wisdom on why: They were too selfish, unable to adapt to the team concept of a national squad.
Then there’s Diego Maradona’s take: Unlike the past, the stars weren’t selfish enough.
“Today the players are more collective, more team players,” the Argentina coach said after his own star-studded team was bounced from the World Cup. “They want to do everything with their teammates. It is a different type of game right now.”
This goes against so much of what we’ve come to believe, and expect, in sports. The reason that Uruguay and the Netherlands square off here Tuesday in a semifinal is because they embraced selfless, team-oriented play.
Such a mentality is celebrated.
What Maradona is suggesting is that this line of thinking has become so widespread it’s actually killed the star player, who no longer acts like a star player. Rather than demanding his place in the natural pecking order of pure talent and past performance, they sink back into the pack.
Such thinking would carry little weight except it is Maradona who said it. Who could know more about what’s needed for a talented player to morph into a larger-than-life superstar and dominate the World Cup? No one owned this event the way Maradona did in 1986 when he led Argentina to the title.
His implication is that the star needs to act like the star. That he is better than his teammates is a given. Rather than apologize for it, he must remind them of it, make them respect it. He must lead not by being one of the guys but by being above the guys. It’s the cult of personality, if you will.
“I think we were more selfish,” Maradona said, which has to be the first time an old player said that about a bygone era. “Maybe before it was about being selfish players who [made the] rest of the team work for us.”
Today’s players receive remarkable hype – television commercials, video games and media attention. They are single-name personalities around the globe.
Yet you’d never hear one say that the rest of the team works for them. They’d be vilified. Instead today’s stars go out of their way to support their teammates and talk publicly about how no one player is more important than the other.
Only some players are more important, Maradona notes.
Consider the most competitive environments on earth – the military battlefield, the flight deck of a commercial airliner or a hospital operating table.
This is where failure is not an option. In those cultures, the delineation between the star (the general, the lead pilot) and the others (private, flight attendant) is clear. Often socialization between classes is prohibited – enlisted men do not dine with officers – and the word of the higher-ranked person must be respected.
When having open-heart surgery, no patient would care if the lead surgeon is friends with or helps empower the nurse. In fact, the idea that the nurse would fear disappointing the lead surgeon and would clearly defer to him at all times might be considered a positive. You’d want the most brilliant talent to be the leader.
In Maradona’s day, he says, that carried over to a soccer team. He was Diego Maradona and they were not.
“Time changes in life,” Maradona said.
In this time, the star player must be humble and supportive. And not just on the field, but in all parts of team life. Obviously all players know they need others to make them better in the game. Someone has to pass them the ball. Or receive a pass. But off the field, is one for all, all for one really the best concept?
It’s difficult to say. Maradona only knows the mentality that made him lead a country to World Cup glory. It certainly isn’t the only way.
Perhaps it is one of them, though. And with most of the world’s top individual players home watching the semifinals, with criticism of their selfish play ringing through their heads, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe they weren’t selfish enough.
Maybe Maradona’s correct. Maybe the soccer world has gone soft.
Mary Kay Ash: The Woman Who Burn the bridge behind her.
Upset with the way she had been treated in the male-dominated business world, Mary Kay Ash began to make a list of all the negative and positive things she’d seen working for previous employers. She discovered after writing this down that she had the perfect plan for a successful company.
Before Mary Kay Inc.:
Born Mary Kathlyn Wagner in 1918, at age 17 she married Ben Rogers and soon had three children. While he served in WWII, she sold books door-to-door, selling an amazing $25,000 in just six months. After her husband's return in 1938, they divorced and she decided to change careers, going to work for Stanley Home Products. Though one of the top sales directors, she was repeatedly refused promotions and pay raises that the men were getting. After 25 years of hard work, she retired in 1963.
Mary Kay Inc.:
With her life savings of $5,000 and the help of her 20-year-old son, Mary Kay opened her first 500 sq. ft. store in Dallas in 1963. Mary Kay Inc. started with just nine independent beauty consultants. She based the company’s philosophy strongly on her Christian faith. She told her people to prioritize their life with God first, family second, and work third. With this as her guiding practice she has encouraged women and given them new opportunities for their own personal and financial success.
Incentives:
One of Mary Kay’s most effective strategies was incentives. In 1969, pink Cadillacs were given to the top sales directors. Diamond bee pins were another incentive to keep the women striving to do their best. With thirty-seven markets world wide, and well over 350,000 consultants, Mary Kay Inc. now makes over $1 billion in sales in nineteen different countries.
Recognition and Awards:
Fortune magazine recognized Mary Kay Inc. with inclusion in “The 100 best companies to work for in America.” The company was also named one of the best 10 companies for women to work. Her most recent acknowledgements were the “Equal Justice Award” from Legal Services of North Texas in 2001, and “Most Outstanding Woman in Business in the 20th Century” from Lifetime Television in 1999.
Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation :
Mary Kay started the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation in 1996 after seeing her most recent husband’s suffering and death from cancer in 1980. The organization is a non-profit establishment that provides funding for the research of cancers affecting women and is dedicated to putting an end to violence against women by supporting women's shelters and educational programs.
Best-Selling Author:
Mary Kay is the author of three best-selling books. The first was her autobiography, Mary Kay, which sold over 1 million copies. Her second book, Mary Kay on People Management, was based on her business philosophy and has been included in business courses at Harvard University. Her third book, You Can Have it All, was a best-seller just a day after it was introduced.Mary Kay Ash died in 2001. A Web site dedicated to her memory is located at MaryKayTribute.com.
Quotes:
"Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember you can achieve."
"Do you know that within your power lies every step you ever dreamed of stepping and within your power lies every joy you ever dreamed of seeing? Within yourself lies everything you ever dreamed of being. Become everything that God wants you to be. It is within your reach. Dare to grow into your dreams and claim this as your motto: Let it be me."
MY STORY:WRITTEN
This is the story
It all begins with the passion bore out of love
And grave for written with so much to give
A burning desire to showcase the world at large
The power of the pen so burning within wants to be hard
Cos am voice in this world I deserve to be hard
Am a sun that will sat and shine one day up there
Like a diamond in the sky.
Thou the road will never be easy
Discouragement will come form friends and family
Love ones my soul mate the one I cherish most
But I will never give up my dreams
Of been the outstanding writer of my time
With God by my side all things are possible.
It all started some years ago while I was in JSS3
From exercise book into a n hard cover note book
From there to go in online in the year 2009 Feb. 13th
Today my works that was regarded as trash now
Commends commitment from all people
All over the various works of life.
In spite of the ups and down
Here I am today the dream has come true
Thanks be to God for is unfailing presence
Ever abiding presence that has never left me
To my own self thank you Lord.
Friends says that am just wasting time
Some say you have enough money to throw away
Some say you posted trash
Hmmm! Through many dangers
Toils and snares have already come
It’s grace that brought me thus far
And watch out for the best writer of the decade
Welcome to my story