Moments that Motivate with Tim Lovelace

The other day I was at convenience store in Tennessee, paying for a couple of items, when a Canadian 20 dollar bill fell out of my wallet and onto the counter. As I picked it up, the cashier asked, “What kind of money is that?” I replied,  “It’s Canadian.” He asked to look at it, then said, “Its pretty…but you couldn’t but anything with it in this town…its not worth a dime.”

 As I left the store, I thought about the meaning of value...

My alarm was set for 6am, but I awoke at 5, because I’m always excited to hike in the mountains. So I read my Bible, then pulled out a map to study the trails. On this  particular hike I was going with my daughter, Gabrielle, and my dear friends Danny and Cindy Tesney. 

Danny brewed coffee fit for a king…but I drank it anyway. We drove to the trailhead for our 7 mile day hike. The trail led to a lush cove with two 100 foot waterfall...

One dark, stormy night, while driving on the backroads in the mountains, I experienced stress that was caused by stress. Let me explain. It was raining so hard that I had my wipers on high, trying my best to see the road. Suddenly, my driver’s side windshield wiper arm broke. I immediately had to lean, with my seatbelt on, to the other side of the car, while impersonating a pretzel.

 If you have never driven much in the mountains, t...

For years, I have enjoyed driving through the valleys of California while admiring the beauty of the almond orchards, especially the almond blossoms in springtime. But long before I saw the orchards, I loved eating almonds in my favorite candy bar. Just one bite of an Almond Joy and you understand why the word joy is part of the name.
 
I was flying into California for a concert, and some friends, Gary and Kathy Oostercamp,...

When I was a child, my parents loved to camp in the Smoky Mountains. I distinctly remember one vacation when we were passing Lookout Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and I spotted a large cave opening on the side of the mountain. I felt like Tom Sawyer, and I wanted to know more about this 
cavern.

As a teenager, I began spelunking and throughly enjoyed the hobby of exploring caves. And although I’ve been in many...

Nearly everyone loves gifts, and Christmas is definitely the season for them. Our friends at Forbes state that Americans spend more than one trillion dollars during the Christmas season. Did you wrap your brain around that number? Pun intended! That’s a lot of gifts, especially if you’re shopping at the dollar store! 

One trillion is a huge mathematical number, but during this season, I think I’d rather think about the num...

Friendships are so special. It has been said that a friend is someone who truly knows you and still likes you! The friends I have the longest history with are the Syferts. 

My dad’s first time to preach in their 
home church in Indianapolis, Indiana was in the 50s. That evening, after the church service, Norm and Eileen Syfert invited my parents and my oldest sister, Pamela, over to their house for cake and coffee. The...

Have you ever known someone who is addicted to the weather channel? I have a friend who can tell me the barometric pressure in Bulgaria or when a tropical storm is going to hit the Samoan Islands. Although he never leaves his farm in Stinking Creek, TN.

But I don't have to watch the weather channel to know when it is going to snow here in east TN. If I walk into Walmart and everyone is grabbing bread and milk like it’...

Years ago, a close friend and I flew up north to a city covered in snow. Arriving at the airport, there were three people there to pick us up, and one was wearing that little black cap. You know, it was a limo driver.

With the wind howling, we all climbed into the warm limousine and took off on the most memorable limo ride of my life. About 30 minutes away from the airport, we felt the car engine sputter. Everyone giggled ...

“Ok, I’ll do it.” Have you ever said those words and regretted them later? I have. I was in fourth grade when my teacher, Mrs. Lyles, told me she had an idea for a school program. She explained that one of my classmates would sing a sad country song, and I would walk out on stage and pretend to cry. “It will be funny! Will you do it?” Although I felt like it was an awful
idea, I said, “Okay, I’ll do it.”

I slowly rode ...

I’m wondering if any of you remember your first day of school. For many of us, it was a long time ago, but the smell of Elmer’s glue still sticks in my memory. 

What about the size of our first pencils? They had the circumference of a giant redwood tree. My generation didn’t have superhero backpacks, but we did have super awesome lunch boxes.

Another thing I remember about my first day of school is that the teache...

The USS Alabama, a World War II Battleship, has been visited by millions of people since it was first brought to its permanent home at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile Bay. What a lot of
people don't know is how several young children helped move the 45,000 ton ship.

The Mighty A, as she was nicknamed, served for three years during World War II as the floating home of 2,500 valiant crew members. She eventually r...

If you watch television, you have seen a zillion commercials; advertisements luring people to purchase items they don't need, like knives that cut through concrete, glue that can hold a rocket ship together 
and a Chia pet that looks like Darth Vader.

Many of the ad agencies use a catchphrase to appeal to the listeners. Some
commercials sound like this, “Are you tired of flashlights not working? Well, we have ...

My late Uncle Otis had a saying, “If you are looking for me, look for the shade.” I was remindedof his expression while performing at an outdoor music festival. It was not a typical hot summer
day…it was a scorching, sizzling, mind melting day. The large  stage had a roof, so I didn’t see a sunburn in my future. However, I was concerned for the festival attendees. 

By the time the concert started, the sun was beyond br...

A  few years back I was doing a concert in Ohio, where I was introduced to a very kind gentleman, Dwight  Spearman, who had fought in World War II. I thanked him for his service, and he was very gracious, but like most heroes, he turned the attention away from himself and humbly gave honor to the soldiers who 
didn’t make it home.

His stories and laughter were so enjoyable. Very few veterans from this war remain, and I...