Extend Your Reach! A Newsletter for Acceleration, Issue No. 39

Welcome to Extend Your Reach! A newsletter designed to bring you the best tips, tricks, and resources to help you grow and succeed in both your personal and professional life. In this newsletter, we will be highlighting five different areas of focus to help you extend your reach and accelerate your growth.

Note: If you want to further pursue any of these recommendations then just click the image as I have added hover links.

A Book You Should Read - The 13th Gift by Joanne Huist Smith. The 13th Gift is a heartwarming Christmas story about how a random act of kindness transformed one of the bleakest moments in a family’s history into a time of strength and love. This true story will warm the heart and is a beautiful reminder of the miracles of Christmas and the gift of family during the holiday season. Give it a read. If that doesn’t work then there’s always A Christmas Carol and last but not least, the Holy Bible. After all, it is Christmas.

A Small Business You Should Support - Cali Raised LED. I have had their LED ditch lights and LED light bar on my 5th gen 4Runner for at least 3 years and they’ve never stopped being amazing. I use and abuse the 4Runner, too. Crossing rivers, driving on 4x4 mountain roads that Jeeps are afraid of (Lake Como Rd. for example), and traveling all over the country. I got the additional LED lights to use while driving the elk gauntlet from Pagosa Springs, CO to Santa Fe, NM so one of those horses with antlers won’t kill my Toyota. We make this drive several times a year so it was a good investment. These suckers are bright, too. I bet that if you stood in front of the 4Runner when they’re on that they’d give you a mild sun burn. They also sell rock sliders and other accessories for your off road vehicle. You can shop online or visit them in person if you’re a Fort Worth local. Quality product and great people. You’d be an amazing Christmas gift giver.

A Person You Should Follow on LinkedIn - Cara Burke. Cara has expertise in analytics tools like Snowflake, Databricks, Google Cloud Platform, PowerBl, and Tableau. She combines a strong mathematical background (she’s a mathematics wizard in all seriousness) with a deep understanding of business dynamics. She designs reports, dashboards, and mathematical models that accelerate business growth. She produces great content on LinkedIn and can help you use your data in a way that it’s a superpower. Follow her and learn daily. Work with her and win daily.

A Podcast You Should Listen To - One that immediately comes to mind is "The Advent Podcast" by Fr. Mike Schmitz. It’s a series of short episodes meant to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas through personal stories, Scripture, and themes of hope, peace, and love. It has a warm, sincere tone that feels like a personal conversation, and it’s perfect for focusing on the deeper spiritual and emotional aspects of the season.

If you're looking for something with a bit more variety and charm, "The Christmas Chronicles" by iHeartRadio is another great pick. Hosted by comedian and writer Chris Duffy, this podcast features stories of Christmas traditions from all over the world, interviews with special guests, and even some fun, heartwarming holiday trivia. It’s light-hearted but also reflective of the season’s joy and love.

Both are wonderful for getting into the Christmas spirit with a mix of heartwarming stories, reflections, and a little humor!

A Verse From the Bible -? Finally, let’s get to the best part of this newsletter and the Lord’s word.

Matthew 1:21-23 (NIV)

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).”

In Matthew 1:21-23, the angel explains to Joseph that Mary’s miraculous pregnancy fulfills God’s promise of a Savior. The child she bears is to be named Jesus. The name "Jesus" is derived from the Hebrew name Yeshua (????), which means "Yahweh is salvation" or "The Lord is salvation." In this context, Yahweh is the name of the God of Israel. So, the name "Jesus" emphasizes the belief that God, through Jesus, brings salvation to humanity because He will save His people from their sins. This is in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14, which speaks of a virgin bearing a son who will be called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” These verses highlight both the divine mission of Jesus to bring salvation and His presence as God incarnate, dwelling among humanity to restore the broken relationship between God and people.

Merry Christmas and may God bless you.? All in all, I hope by looking into one or all of these five areas of your life, you can extend your reach and accelerate your personal and professional growth. I hope this newsletter has been helpful and I look forward to sharing more with you next time!