August 4, 2025 • 55 mins
Right Thinking with Steve Coplon.
This week's show called "The Gift of Yourself." Tune in and hear Steve talk about the unique gifts and talents that we each have as he shares insights inspired by Jim Stovall and Don Green's newest book "The Gift of Giving, Living Your Legacy." You will be inspired to give more of yourself to others and experience greater personal happiness than ever before.
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/right-thinking
This week's show called "The Gift of Yourself." Tune in and hear Steve talk about the unique gifts and talents that we each have as he shares insights inspired by Jim Stovall and Don Green's newest book "The Gift of Giving, Living Your Legacy." You will be inspired to give more of yourself to others and experience greater personal happiness than ever before.
https://www.talknetworkradio.com/hosts/right-thinking
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
There must be lies burning brighter somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Got to be birds.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Him in the sky. Good morning, Welcome to Right Thinking
with Steve Copeland. I'm your host, Steve Copeland, and thank
you for tuning in.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Let's have a great day. Good morning, everybody, glad to
be with you today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Today is going to be as much a thank you
and a show of my appreciation for two men that
have done so much for me and so much for others,
Jim Stowball and Don Green. I want to just start
right now. Let me tell you what the show is
going to be, Episode one seventy nine. Right Thinking with
(01:04):
Steve Copeland is very pleased to announce that this week's
show is called The Gift of Yourself. Tune in here
Steve talk about the unique gifts and talents that we
each have. As he shares insights inspired by Jim Stowball
and Don Green's newest book, The Gift of Giving Living
your Legacy. You will be inspired to give more of
(01:27):
yourself to others and experience greater personal happiness than ever before. Well,
as I started to say when I opened up, Jim
Stowball and Don Green are two of the most beautiful,
wonderful people that I've ever met in my life. They're
both world famous. They've been on my show many times,
(01:50):
the two of them.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
But what I would like to.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Do today is is talk about the book that just
came out on July the fourteenth, that's a collaboration between
the two of them, and share many of my own
personal experiences as What I want to do is just
try to have each one of us, including myself, finish
(02:15):
listening to this show and have just a greater desire
to do more for other people and to know that
when you do that, you're going to have many more
blessings yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But what I'm trying to say, which is very kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Difficult, is don't focus on what you yourself will receive
from it all, but just do it naturally. And that's
really what this book is about, the gift of giving.
Don Green is the executive director of the Napoleon Hill Foundation,
and Jim Stoveall is one of the What should I
(02:57):
say about Jim's He's an entrepreneur, he's an author, he's
a philanthropist. He's received phenomenal recognition. I always when I'm
trying to introduce people to Jim Stowball tell them who
he is.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I asked this question, do you know who Mother Teresa is?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And everybody goes, oh, yeah, sure, I said, well, Jim
Stowball got the same award, the International Humanitarian of the
Year award that Mother Teresa got for all the wonderful
things that she did for the world. A quote that
I just picked up on her just this morning is
that love starts with a smile, and she certainly demonstrated that.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I know a lot about Jim Stowball. I've got many
of his books, and the same with Don Green. In
preparation for the show, I pulled out of my bookshelf.
Here off my bookshelf, just my Jim stowveall books and
some of my Napoleon Hill books on Green books, and
I've got about thirty five books sitting right here next
to me that I that I can look at. It
(04:07):
starts with think and grow Rich. I've got the book
that Don Green wrote. Everything I know about success I
learned from Napoleon Hill, Outwitting the Devil, how to own
your own mind three feet from goal. It's just kind
of endless. I read Napoleon Hill's thoughts for the day
every day. I've got Jim Stowball's series Here Wisdom for Winners.
(04:30):
I've got some of his books in the Homecoming series,
one season of Hope, Top of the Hill, Will to Win,
I've got Napoleon Hills on the air. I've got three
of Jim Stowball's movies, The Ultimate Gift.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Ultimate Legacy, The Ultimate Life.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Why I'm telling you this is that I believe that
who we associate with is.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Who we end up being like.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And if we I can associate with good people, there's
a great chance that will end being good as well.
We're going to be influenced by by the people that
we associate with. The Gift of Giving, Living Your Legacy.
I pre ordered it a while back. I waited a
couple months for it. Every day when I read Nepaul
(05:21):
and Hills thought for the day that comes to me
on my smartphone about three days a week or so.
Underneath it is a is a advertisement, so to speak,
that this book's coming out, The Gift of Giving. And
when I first saw that months ago, I said, Oh,
(05:42):
this is going to be incredible because Don Green.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Don Green is he's just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
As I said before, he's the executive director of the
Paul and Hill Foundation. But I think the best thing
I can say about Don Green is is that he's
a friend of mine that every day he wakes up
and he has a he has this this this thing
framed I guess next to his bed and he just
basically says, Dear Lord, show me who I can help today.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's Don Green.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Jim Stowball, we've we've we've had him more like I said,
And his story is basically that Jim Stowball was one
of the top football players in the country in high school.
He had everything in the world laid out for him
to be able to have a full career in the NFL.
And when he was recruited by probably one hundred colleges,
(06:40):
and I mean he was truly the number one, two
three recruit in the country. He was an interior alignment
with speed and agility. One of the things that he
said early out was he never read a book. You know,
he didn't care. He was just a football jock. Well,
he went to get a physical part of the college
thing for his football career and he was diagnosed with
(07:03):
Maco degeneration and the doctor said, we're really sorry, but
you're going to go blind. But we just don't know when,
and so he had a lot of things that he
needed to.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Do his story.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
The way this book is written is Don Green as
the executive director of Paul and Hill Foundation. He tries
to put out the teachings. He doesn't try. He does.
He puts out the teachings of Napoleon Hill, the great,
great man who came up with the philosophy of personal
(07:37):
success and worked with Andrew Carnegie back around the early
nineteen hundreds. He published Thinking Grow Rich in nineteen thirty seven.
Think and Grow Rich is the number one bestseller of
all times in the success motivation world. But the title
can be a little misleading, think and Grow Rich. I'm
(07:59):
going to get into it in a minute and tell
you about what rich means according to Napoleon Hill. So
what this book is and it's more than I Well,
I knew it was going to be fabulous, but it's
even more than that. It exceeded all my expectations because
I've read, as I've said, forty givers take Napoleon Hill books,
(08:19):
and the philosophy is something that's been with me for
over forty five years I think now close to fifty.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And I like passing it on to people.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And this book takes Jim Stowball's story and he pretty
much tells you his story and how his life was
affected by his hardship, and how he had to make
that significant change because he wasn't going to have the
football career that is all he ever thought he was
going to do, and how he really got into the
(08:54):
meaning of life. But Napoleon Hill had a best friend
named Lee Braxton, and at the time of Jim Stowveall's
bad news, his father introduced him to Lee Braxton. His
father was a teacher, a professor at Oral Roberts University
(09:19):
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Lee Braxton was a phenomenal success.
His stories also in The Gift of Giving It's highlighted somewhat.
But Jim's father introduced him to Lee Braxon, who was a.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Very older man.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jim's probably at this point of his life eighteen nineteen
years old. Lee Braxton was probably in his late seventies,
and he gave Jim Stowball a copy of Think and
Grow Rich and became his mentor and helped him work
(09:55):
through what he needed to do in his life to
get past his heart sh I could go on for
days on recounting Jim Stowveall's story, and I won't though completely,
but I'm going to bring out some highlights of the
book because it's really all in this book.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
But what I really love about.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
This book is that it is a beautiful way to
try to have each one of us.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Understand what's really really important in life and to make
changes in our life that we will be able to
do more of what the Lord has fully intended for
us to do with our lives. Now I'm back to
Don Green for a moment. As executive director of the
(10:49):
Napaul and Hill Foundation. Don Green came there after it,
had an incredible career and business and he was a banker.
He was the youngest bank president States, and he had
a he had a lengthy career in banking and and
there's a lot of the.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Background of Don Green in this book.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And like I say, I've read so many books from
Don Green, Napoleon Hill, Jimpsto Ball that I that I
pretty much know the story. But the way that it's
all brought together with one point in mind is to
is to encourage each one of us to do something
more with our lives than just think about ourselves the
(11:31):
gift of giving. I'm going to read some excerpts in
a moment, but let me let me go back to
a place that I say is the beginning. Where's a
good place to start. It's always at the beginning. I've
been searching, or always have been searching my whole life
(11:51):
for a greater meaning? What's my purpose? Who am I
drawing myself closer to the Lord?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And And when I when I was.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Young, I was i'll say wayward. I dropped out of
college a couple of times. You know, y'all know my story.
But at one time I got a degree in accounting
after dropping out of college twice and thinking I was
going to change my major to elementary ed one so
I could give more and care about kids more of
(12:20):
my life, do more for kids. But I had a
job and an accounting firm that was a cousin of mine.
His name was Joe, Joe Leebowitz, and it sad my
little office. I had my sh angle fifty one sixteen
Greenwich Road in Virginia Beach. And I got a new
apartment and I wanted to get some plants for it.
(12:43):
And there was this corner gas station at Thomas Corner Exile,
and I rode by there and there was this eighteen
wheeler there with the doors open, and there were about
thirty or forty tropical plants.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yuckas and ferns and.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Those kind of things fig and they're all out there,
and there was this gentleman there with a a kind
of a Safari hat type thing on, sitting in a
beach chair. So I pulled over and went in there.
And his name was Bill. I would give anything to
be able to see him again. This has been forty
(13:19):
seven years ago, Gibberta. But I met Bill and he
was a very very kind, friendly person, and we engage
in a lot of conversation. And his story was was
that his wife was also an accountant in Florida, and
he had a business where he would bring plants from
(13:41):
Florida up in this truck to different places in rent
space on corners of like parking lots of gas stations,
and he'd be there for a couple of weeks and
he'd meet people sell plants. Well, he and I kind
of really hit it off. Bill was probably fifty four
or five years old and I'm twenty two, give or take.
(14:02):
And he said Steve, would you like to eat dinner
with me? You know I'm out of town, and you
know I love talking to you. And I said absolutely,
because this person was very, very He had a lot
to say, he had a lot of wisdom. And so
we went to dinner, I remember as a Chinese restaurant.
We sat there and right at the beginning of the meal,
(14:26):
he took out a copy of Think and Grow Rich
and he gave it to me. And I will never
ever forget what he said to me. He said, Steve,
I've been talking to you and I just want to
tell you that I want to let you know that
your thinking is right, the way you view things, and
I want to give you this book to validate your thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He said, You're going to learn a lot from this book,
but I want you.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
To know that the basic philosophy and the views on
life that are in this book you already possessed. And
he says, so I want you to have this book. Well,
that was the beginning in my life of one of
the greatest gifts that I've ever received that put me
into a path. And so from that day forth, as
(15:14):
I read Napoleon Hill and then related to him and
identified with him and passed it on to as many
people as I could. Hey, I got this radio show here,
and everybody knows I enjoy talking, but I like communicating.
I like sharing. I love everybody. I got that from
my mother and it's just a blessing for me to
(15:36):
be encouraged by people like Bill the plant Man and
Jim Stowball and Don Green for the work that I do.
One of the things that Jim talks about in the
book when he tells his story is that forty years
after he met his wife, Crystal, who was also a
(15:59):
student at or Roberts, and he heard a speaker It
relates this story, which is just absolutely beautiful LaToya. Jim
was just what he called himself, a football jock, didn't
care too much about anything. So there's this one little
antidote in here where he's in a huge assembly with
about five hundred people, maybe fifteen hundred people, I guess
it was, and a person came that was speaking about
(16:25):
the work that he does to build wells in poverty
communities in Africa, and or Roberts himself was there and
at the end of this person's speech on his mission
to build wells, he passed the plate, and he said
to everybody, let's help this person do what he's doing
(16:48):
because it's making the world a better place or something
of that nature, and he passed the plate. Well, Jim
tells this beautiful story that he's got seventeen dollars, a
ten dollars bill, of five dollar bill and two ones
that has bart and he's that's all the money he had,
and he was going to have a date with Crystal
after classes that day, so he had a big decision
(17:10):
to make.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Should he give, how much should he give?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, he took a dollar out and when the plate
came around, as he started to put it in, Oral
Roberts said something that affected and changed Jim's Jim's life,
And I want to see if I can find that here,
because I'm going to try to turn the page here.
Oral Roberts made a statement that said something to the
effect give me just five seconds here. I think I
(17:35):
have a bookmark here on this I think it's on
page sixty one. Let's go to page sixty one. Okay, Well,
let me just read a paragraph here. All of us
give a piece of our time and a piece of
our money, and if we're able to do that, we'll
cultivate an abundance mentality. You see, there are only two
(17:55):
ways to think about time and money, abundance and scarcity.
That's a different part that I wanted to get. I'm
not going to quote from the book. It's too much
in here. I've got like forty passages that I airmarked.
But the point was this. Jim was faced with a
decision how much should he give?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And L.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Roberts happened to say something right when the plate was
in front of Jim, and he said, if you don't
give freely, then then keep your money because it's.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Not worth giving. That's a paraphrase.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But Jim Soball took the dollar out that he was
getting ready to give, and he put a ten dollar
bill in, thinking, oh geez, I'm only going to have
seven dollars for my date with Crystal.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Well, afterwards, he and Crystal went to.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Dinner, and when they didn't really go to dinner, they
ate in the dorm because he said, Crystal, I got
some good news and some bad news. First of all,
I supported the mission to build a well in Africa
for people that need water, and I gave ten dollars,
but I only have seven dollars for our date tonight
to take you to dinner. And she was really pleased
with Jim, and she said, well, let's just eat in
(18:56):
the cafeteria at the dorms tonight. Well that's what they did.
But then she asked Jim a question that forever changed
his life. She goes, Jim, what are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well he got all.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Excited because that's the first time that she used the
collective we instead of you, and he just said something
of the nature that I'm going to start a foundation
and I'm going to find what my passion is. It's
as much as that man's was, and I'm going to
give a million dollars to that foundation. Well, the whole
(19:29):
story in this book about Jim and what he overcame
with his blindness and how he became just such a
phenomenal person starting the Narrative television network, it's all in
this book. The book starts off that he's in front
of or Roberts University in front of thousands of people,
presenting a chap for one million dollars to start the
(19:51):
Stoveball Entrepreneurship Center, the Center for Entrepreneurship at or Roberts University.
And he's relating in the book just how incredible it
feels to have reached what it was that you set
as your goal.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's what this book is all about.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It's not just looking at Jim Stowball's story and thinking
what a great man he is, which he truly is.
He teaches you how to live with purpose, to find
your purpose, to live with purpose, and how to get
where you need to go that you want to go.
Let let me let me stop on that thought just
for a second and tell you that one of the themes
(20:36):
that I really want to bring out today as I
tell you more about Jim Stowball and Don Green, who
their stories are so beautifully captured, the purpose of the
Paul and Hill Foundation and what Don's done to it
to grow that, to keep the teachings in Paul and
Hill available to people. They're all about changing the world,
(20:57):
making the world a better place. And at the back
of the book there's an appendix that has worksheets on
how to get you thinking in the right direction so
that you can find what your purpose is, and it
gives you strategies and things to learn how to how
to get there.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
But what I wanted to say is this.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I am so blessed to be friends with both Jim
and Don who have supported me so much. Don for
about eight years now, Jim for about three, maybe going
on four, and just to be in the company of
people like this makes me feel like I've achieved something
in my life. But I want to tell you, when
(21:39):
you read biographies of great people, and I've read hundreds
and hundreds my whole life, I've always loved reading biographies
and had this thought that I want to learn to
be like these people that have done so much for
the world, and I've never given up myself.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
On believing that I'm will one day be one.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Of those people. Well, let me just tell you something.
This book teaches you more than I've ever come across
in any book on how to become the person that
you truly want to be. And it starts where you're standing.
That's a Napoleon Hill quote. You know, the best time
(22:23):
to start is where you are. And so there's all
kinds of wisdom in this book that says things like,
if you're not a generous person now, you probably never
will be.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Most people think.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That, well, when I have my career, when I get
rich and everything, and I get all the things I
need done, I'll then retire and then start doing charitable
things and give more. Well, this book is about doing
it now, not putting it off. Becoming of the mindset
that you need to be like that now. You need
(22:57):
to have that become your personality. As Napoleon Hill and
Don Green teach, every day, you need to be able
to know your desire, your burning desire, and never quit
and lay out a plan action.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And that's what Napoleon Hill is all about. I've got
I've got.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
A poster that's framed right here in front of me
from the Napoleon Hill Foundation.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It's called stay the Course. Uh George George W. Bush.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
That's a quote, but it's a ship sailing on on
a on an ocean, and it's it's got all the
sales of all the principles of the Napoleon Hill philosophy,
and and the main ones are applied faith, going the
extra mile, definitive purpose, positive mental attitude, the mastermind. It's
(23:46):
all about creative vision, enthusiasm, having a pleasing personality, teamwork,
learning from adversity and defeat, having accurate thinking, having self discipline,
controlled attention, personal initia of maintenance, of sound health, budgeting,
your time and your money. These are the principles of
philosophy of success, cosmic habit force, the higher power that
(24:10):
we need to be in touch with. Well, what I'm
getting at is that just as Jim Stowveall had this reflection,
let me tell you, Jim Stovall is a is a
very very great person. I mean, he's he's done so much.
(24:32):
I already told you, a National Mountaineer in the Air Award,
he started the narrative television network for blind people, National
Entrepreneur of the Year, personal friends with many presidents and
famous people. But he teaches his philosophy of how he
gives up his time constantly. So here's what I want.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
To tell you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Every one of us has a tendency to think that
we're not good enough. We all have a tendency to
think that I'll never be like that person. Well, let
me give you a really simple example, because that's what
Don Green did with Jim Stowball in this book. He
uses Jim's life story as an example to then teach
the principles of the Napoleon Hill philosophy through the foundation
(25:14):
and to talk about the great work that they do,
which is philanthropic and giving the gift of giving living
your legacy. It talks about you will never have a
legacy unless you live it now.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
But for me, what I experience all the time is
I experience that I look at other people that have
done great things, like Don and Jim, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Think I can be like them.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And a lot of people think, hey, Steve, you've got
a long way to go before you get like them. Well,
I might not reach the magnitude of success for for
the great philanthropic work that they do, but I've carved
out my own little niche in a different way. And
that's what I want to teach a little bit right
now as I talk about this book today, I want
(26:13):
to I want to share some other thoughts, and what
I want to start with is the whole idea that
we may not be able to operate at the magnitude
or at the level of some other people that would
greatly admire, but if we do just our own small part,
that's going to change the world. And here's a personal
(26:37):
story that I'm going to share with you. Jim Stoveall
relates his story of success going from a college kid
that had next to nothing, met the love of his
life in college.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And I have to tell you I didn't know this part.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But when he was in college, he was losing his
eyesight and he could still read a little bit. When
Lead actually gave him a copy thinking grow Rich, he
could still read, but it was slow because he had
to squint a lot. Well, the school. The school gave
him some people, some volunteers to help read to him,
and Crystal was one of the four. I think he
(27:16):
said that we're signed by the school to help this
football player that needs some help reading get through school. Well,
he immediately told the school that he didn't want any
of the other three. He only wanted Crystal. I thought
that was pretty good. I thought that was real good anyway, though,
So Jim Soball the shares that he has given over
(27:40):
five hundred people scholarships from his foundation for the full
college education, hundreds of people. Jim believes in education. Don
believes in education. I believe in education. But he's given
millions of dollars in scholarship funds to help people go
through school and for each of them to be able
(28:02):
to pass on their knowledge and their wisdom to help others.
Don Green himself He doesn't talk about this much, but
I know personally that he every year he and his
wife the scholarship fifty people to University of Virginia at Wise,
he supports fifty people on full scholarships every year personally,
(28:25):
not to mention all the millions of dollars that the
Napaul and Hill Foundation has provided in scholarships.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
So what is it I want to tell you is
that we tell you a little story here. So Don
Green sent me.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
A copy of a book, fifty six copies of One
Season of Hope, when I let him know that I
was teaching financial literacy and chibil Dream High School to
at risk students in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, Jim gave Don gave me a gift where he.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Said, he's see if I got a copy of a
Jim Stowall book here called One Season of Hope, would
you like to meet for me to send you some
copies so you can give him to the students.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And I was very appreciative.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So he did, and I read it the day that
I got it, And that's how I called Jim Stowball
up because his phone number is in the back of
the book, saying if you. You know, give me a
call if you want to talk to me. You know,
I'm here for you. And that's how I met Jim Stowall. Well,
about three years ago. I was on my way to
the prison that I had a program out at Baker City, Oregon,
(29:33):
Powder River Correctional Facility, and I went through Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I drove nine hundred miles out of my way to
go meet Jim Stowveall and Don Green counseled me before
I went.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Jim Stowall set up the.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Appointment, and then he chose to tell me it's best
that I don't come because he thought that I wanted
something more from him to support my foundation, and he
already had his mission laid out and he wasn't going
to be able to support me financially. And I said, now,
I just want to come to you. That story, you know,
I tell it a lot. But so I drove to
meet Jim Soball. But he said, Okay, if you really
want to come, you can only have fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
That's all I have, and he gave me the date.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Well, one of the things that I did in that
fifteen minutes, I would say, was a life changing experience
for me. Don Green had cautioned me, do not go
a second over fifteen minutes. Jim Soball is a very
very important person, and so I honored that. I actually
had my stop watch in front of me. I didn't
(30:35):
tell Jim that he couldn't see it, so I put
it in front of me, so make sure that I
that I stayed disciplined. But I asked Jim Stowball a question,
and it's the answer to this question that is a
life changing moment for me.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I said to Jim.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I said, Jim, I'm on my way to do a
seminar in Oregon in prison at Powder River, and I
do a lot of these, but would you give me
something that I can say to the men there from you,
so that when I get there, my message will be
more than just coming from me, something that would help
(31:13):
them appreciate my message more. And he did not hesitate whatsoever.
He said, Steve, you tell those men that if you
were the only person on this earth, then God would
have done the exact same thing with his son on
that cross for you, because He loves you that much.
(31:34):
And then he went on to say, in every adversity,
every disappointment, every heartache carries with it the seed of
an equivalent benefit.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's a Napoleon Hill quote.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Well, I thanked him for that, and I got to
tell you he didn't have a moment of hesitation when
he shared that with me. And so I went on
to the prison and I spoke that I want you
to know that when I go prisons, I give out libraries.
I give out generally eleven or twelve thirteen books, but
generally about six or seven of those books that I
(32:06):
give out are Don Green, Napoleon Hill, and Jim Stowball books.
What an honor and a privilege for me to be
able to go do the work that I do with
people that are falling through the cracks, the hardship populations,
people that are incarcerated and have the support, and to
know that my message is being supported by Napoleon Hill Foundation,
(32:29):
Don Green, and Jim Stowball.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Well, back to the scholarship.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
So at Powder River Crectional Facility, I met a gentleman
there that came to three of my seminars, and his
name is Robert Miller, and my father died two years
ago August of twenty eighteen. He was ninety five years
old and when he died. He was a World War
(32:57):
Two veteran, and I had the process is of a
two thousand dollars life insurance policy sent to me. And
I got to thinking when I got that, what am
I going to do with it? And am I going
to share with my children my grandchildren a couple hundred
dollars to different people. But write at the exact same
time that I got that check for two thousand dollars,
I got a letter from Robert Miller. And Robert Miller
(33:19):
fifty four or five years old, been incarcerated off and
on for thirty one years, and his life had some
phenomenal addictions and hardships and done many many things that
you know weren't good. But he wrote me and asked me.
He thanked me for his involvement with me. He asked
me what I meantor him. But he was looking to
(33:41):
go to online college and he gave me statistics. It
said that people that are incarcerated that have a college
education have a ninety four percent less chance of recidivating
going back to prison. That was the strongest single to
turn it college education for people that are incarcerate that
(34:04):
I'd learned in at that point six years of being
involved and mentoring people and teaching in prisons. I gave
him that two thousand dollars and I got involved with
Adam State Correspondent School, the number one online university, online
learning center. I guess say distance learning center is what
(34:25):
they call it. I gave him a scholarship, and I
got him in for first two classes, and I did
all the work to get him registered and so forth. Well,
what I want to tell you is is that I'll
never be able to give millions.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Maybe I will, Maybe I will, maybe I will.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, I should never said never, but that two thousand
dollars scholarship, and then I gave him another semester and
had someone else contribute five hundred dollars the second time.
But what I know that I did for Robert Miller
and the appreciation of the love that he showed me.
He's out now and I still am in touch with him.
(35:01):
But the love that Robert Miller gave back to me
for helping him along made it all worthwhile for me.
It made me feel as the I feel like I
am the single most successful person in the world, that
my life goals have been achieved.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
That I could give of myself like that.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
So, just like any other show that I do, I'm
just going to kind of digress and talk around the
subject a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
But I want to.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Tell you that each one of us we each no
matter how successful we think we are, no matter how
prominent we are, no matter how much money that we have,
you don't need to be in a competition with others.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Of well, I'll never be like that.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You need to just have a life of loving and
giving to others. Let me just read this as I
talked to my wife all the time about the shows
that I'm going to do, and I told her, I
want my theme to be I want to encourage people
to know that we are all unique.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Children of God, individual children of God, that He loves us.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
The same as anyone else more, we each one of
us equal. And I said, I want to impress people
upon people the same thing that Don Green and Jim
Stowball are. I President of the gift of giving, that
what true success is is giving to others. And so
I asked her, can you help me find some scripture
(36:29):
Donna helps you with my scripture research all the time
that really makes people realize that they have unique gifts themselves.
And she's got a little book. It's called What's True
about You? Life changing reminders of who God says you are.
It was it was by Holly Girth, and she turned
right to this. You are beyond compare And this is
(36:49):
one Corinthians twelve four to six. Now there are different
gifts but the same spirit. There are different ministries but
the same Lord. And they're differ different activities, but the
same God produces each gift in each person. And then
she has a prayer. God, you are our creator, and
(37:10):
you made each one of us just as you wanted
us to be. When you look at us, you don't
compare us to each other. Help us to do the same.
Give us eyes that recognize our strengths without pride, that
see each other's gifts without envy, that have a vision
for how we are better together because we are all
(37:33):
different and all deeply loved.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Amen. I love that. I love that that Donna provided me.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
There's five scriptures that I've met, actually, one, two, three,
four scriptures that.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I want to share right now that give you the.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Same message that the practical application and teaching.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
You more of how to do it. That is in
the gift of giving.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
It's all the same thing as Philippians chapter two, verse
three through four. Don't be selfish, don't try to impress others,
be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't
look out only for your own interests, but taking interest
in others. Also Galatians five thirteen. For you have been
(38:22):
called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But
don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead,
use your freedom to serve one another in love. Proverbs
nineteen seventeen. If you help the poor, you are lending
to the Lord, and he will repay you. Deuteronomy fifteen ten.
(38:46):
Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord
your God will bless you in everything you do. That's
pretty much the same thing that all Roberts said that
day that affected Jim Stowball so much to take out
that dollar bill and put ten in his place.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
You know. Another part of the same point.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Here is the Bible story of the Widows might Mite.
It's kind of like a penny, and the story of
the widows Might describes as a widow and she gives
two coins to the temple treasury, and Jesus witnesses this offering,
and he describes how great her gift is because it
represents a greater proportion of her wealth than the larger
(39:27):
gifts of other religious leaders. You know, back then, all
those people that were running the temple, they weren't they
weren't treating everybody so good. In the previous chapter in
the in the in the Bible there that's in two
places there Mark chapter twelve, forty one through forty four,
(39:47):
and in Luke chapter twenty one one through four, and
the passage just before he talks about the widows. Might
Jesus portrayed the people that were the religious lead who
were feigned piety. They accepted the honor from people, but
they stole from widows. And he quotes, beware of the
(40:08):
scribes who like to go around in long rooms and
accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses
of widows, and as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They
will receive a very severe condemnation. What we're trying to
say is the real riches in life that is in
(40:30):
this book. This is a Napoleon Hill twelve points here
that he's going to give you here of what the
true riches in life are. So this is the twelve
great riches of life. Let me read these for you
before I read it. Money is the twelfth, It's not
number one through eleven.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Think about this.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I've meditated on this a lot in the last two
days since I've gotten this book and read it. One
a positive mental attitude. It is so important to maintain
a positive mental attitude. Two sound physical health. You're not
going to be a whole lot of good to a
lot of other people if you aren't healthy and be
(41:16):
able to be strong enough to be active. Three harmony
in human relationships. Having personal relationships is one of the
main secrets to life. Four Freedom from all forms of fear.
(41:36):
You can see how these all kind of intertwine together.
Having a positive mental attitude will keep you from having
so much fear. But four is freedom from all forms
of fear. Five the hope of future achievement. Six, the
capacity for faith. Seven, a willingness to share one's blessings.
(42:02):
Eight a labor of love as an occupation. Nine an
open mind on all subjects. Ten self discipline in all circumstances.
Eleven the capacity to understand others, and twelve sufficient money.
(42:25):
Let me read directly from this in the book. Number
seven was a willingness to share one's blessings refers directly
to generosity of spirit, But many of these riches derived
from or inspire charity as well. Money is certainly necessary
to provide material security and the occasional luxury to enjoy,
(42:47):
but it is not an end in itself. As Napoleon
Hill explains, money will buy a great deal, but it
will not buy peace of mind. It only will help
you find peace of mind. Money then becomes a vehicle
for obtaining a greater form of wealth, for true riches
are found and the peace of mind that generosity brings.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
These are the things that the book is about. The
book made me think of a.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Lot of beautiful things. One of the things that I
did as I raised my own children that I'm very
very proud of for their giving. There is a little
song Raffi was one of my favorite children singers that
I exposed my children to. And this song is a
(43:38):
children's little song and it was written by a woman
named Malvina Reynolds who's very interested. And I recommend that
you research her m al v I n A Rentols
I googled who wrote this song?
Speaker 2 (43:53):
But think about this, it's all so simple.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
What don green gemstow all the gift of giving living
your legacy. It's doing for others, and this song expresses it.
I won't sing it, I'll just read it to you.
Love is something if you give it away, give it away,
give it away. Love is something. If you give it away,
(44:20):
you end up having more. It's just like a magic penny.
Hold it tight and you won't have any. Lend it,
spend it and you'll have so many they'll roll all
over the floor.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
For love is.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Something if you give it away, give it away, give
it away. Love is something. If you give it away,
you end up having more. Money's dandy and we like
to use it. But love is better if you don't
refuse it. It's a treasure and you'll never lose it
unless you lock up your door. For love is something.
(44:55):
If you give it away, give it away, give it away.
Love is something. If you give it away, you end
up having more. So let's go dancing till the break
of day, and if there's a piper, we can pay for.
Love is something if you give it away, you end
up having more.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
What an incredible song.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
I think that that describes what this book is all about.
Jim Stowball teaches in this book there are only three
uses for money, spending it, saving it, and giving it away.
And so I want to tell you right now that
(45:37):
I love the direction that my life has gone, and
that when Jim Stowball came back after forty years and
stood there at the school where he told his girlfriend
that became his wife, that he was going to give
a million dollars to something that he had passion in
and he started the Entrepreneurial Center, that same feeling that
(45:58):
he shares in the book I share.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
As I talk to you right now.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
That I've been in prisons for eight years, I've been
able to have this radio show where I can try
to get words of encouragement. But for right now, I
just want to say thank you to the Lord for
giving me people in my life that love me, that
do so much for me. And Don and Jim y'all
are two of the people that I really really want
to give a special thanks to God bless both of you.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
The whole idea that Jim and Don are promoting is
the basic concept of if you give a man a fish,
he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a
man how to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. This
book teaches sustainability, how to take your thoughts, get your
(46:46):
purpose to find and then put it into motion and
teach you how to perpetuate it so that it lasts way,
way longer, so that it won't run out. I don't
know what else that I have the time to share
with you on the book here. Let me just thumb
through it here and give you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
A quote or two.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
True riches are found in the peace of mind that
generosity brings. I've already shared that thought with you. Either
you give God your best and expect the best, or
you keep your money because you're going to need it. Yeah,
that's what the message from Ral Roberts was that day
that inspired inspired Jim so much and Lee Braxton. What
(47:27):
was so beautiful here is is that when Jim Stowball's
father introduced him to Lee Braxton, who was already teaching
at the school.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
For a dollar a year. I'll tell you because he
was already a millionaire and he.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Gave of himself at that school to teach people Jim
did not know he gave when Lee Braxton gave him
his copy of Thinking Grow Rich. Jim did not know
that Lee Braxon was napole and Hill's best friend. And
then he in fact gave the eulogy at napole and
Hill's funeral. And so when I went out to visit
(47:57):
Jim that day to meeting Don Green, heh he counseled
me as I told you before I went. But Jim
Stowveall has had Wisdom for Winners, a weekly column and
UH and newspapers all across the country, on the Internet
and so forth, and he compiled a.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Book, Wisdom for Winners series for books, and.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
He donated all the proceeds from that book to the
Napoleon Hill Foundation so that the Napoleon Hill Foundation can
further its mission to educate people and to help make
the world a better place. And the proceeds from this book,
The Gift of Giving Living Your Legacy, have also been
donated from Jim Sotball's participation in it, to the Napoleon
(48:44):
Hill Foundation. What a beautiful thing for these people to
be doing so much for the world. You can go
to Amazon to get this book and wow, let me
let me just let me just say one two more
things about what we're doing. The title of today's show,
I wanted to slip in the gift of yourself. And
(49:07):
this is another part of how I am just so
pleased that the journey that I've taken in my life,
all the paths and twists and turns that I've done,
have brought me to be a friend of Jim and Don's.
When I dropped out of college back in nineteen seventy
four for the second time, and I went with my
(49:28):
good buddy Jack Belhart. He was driving out to Colorado
to visit with his brother that was living out there.
I dropped out of college the day before my semester
was to start. My mother she pulled alver hair out
at all turned gray. What was left, I guess. And
I went out there with Jack and he drove his car.
We drove together, and we went up into Canada, Montreal,
(49:51):
across the plains and got out to Colorado and I
worked at a Chinese restaurant there for a couple of weeks,
and then I left Jack and I was going to
hitchhike to California. And when I got through Silt, Colorado,
not too far from Aspen, I think it was. And
I went back there in one of my travels to
Oregon to go to the prison two years ago. What
(50:13):
a feeling for me to have been a twenty two
to three year old college drop out looking for myself
and then gone back to this place on my way
to prison, where I had all of these books in
my car from Jim Stowball and Don Green and Napoleon
Hill and all my workbooks that I give out.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I went through Silk, Colorado.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
On this hitchhike back when I was twenty two years old,
twenty twenty three years old, and I got picked up
hitchhike in by a trucker and he got to be
late October and I got dropped off at the top
of the mountain at Silt because the trucker had.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
To go home.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
He took a left and I had to keep going
and there was no one going to pick me up,
and it was going to snow that night. And this
man was walking along the sidewalk. He was a mountain
man kind of guy, you know, thirty inch bot step ups,
a thirty inch waist, you know, a cowboy, had big
belt buckle, and he looked at me standing in the
road hitchhiking, and he said, you're not going to get
(51:12):
a ride. Nobody's going to pick you up. And he said,
would you like to work for a couple of days.
I'll pay you twenty bucks a day, room and board.
And I said, yeah, you know, I guess that'll work.
So we walked a block or two. We took a rite.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
We went up this.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Little little path and there was a camper sitting there,
like a pickup truck with a camper back on the
back that you can add to it. And he goes,
that's where we're going to stay. I was like taking
a back. I didn't have a lot of choice here.
But it was a very harrowing experience at first. But
I got into the back of this camper and I
slept on the park that's above the cab of the car,
(51:45):
and he slept on the back part. But we ate
some bienna sausage and and we had a we had
a couple of beers and some crackers, and then there
was a hailstorm and it was a terrible turble turble
thing at first. And there was a lot happened on
that trip. And he had a nineteen year old son
that he couldn't hadn't seen in a couple of years
because his wife got borced and took him away from
(52:08):
him and he couldn't see his son. And I'd say
he had some psychological difficulties at the time, because the
man actually started looking at me and said, I reminded
him of his long lost son. And we basically shared
this father son thing where I said, well, my dad's
never had a heart talk with me, you know, because
I was He left when I was seven. And so
(52:29):
the point I'm making is this, we had this moment
where it got very, very frightening because he said to me, Steve,
no matter what I say or do, don't fight back. Yeah,
And so I'm not quite sure what I was going
to be having to get into here with Merle.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And he was a cowboy kind of guy. He had
a ranch, raised horses.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
He ended up, he ended up getting kind of out
of control and I actually had to had to had
to slap him across his face, told him to calm down.
I'm not your son, You'll be all right more. Come
on now, Well, from that moment on, it was okay.
He asked me that I want to come live on
his ranch and help him raise horses. I said, what
a nice what a nice invitation. Well I didn't do it,
(53:08):
but so he said, we got to go to sleep.
It's time to time to go to bed because we
got a big day tomorrow working. So I got up there.
I'm a sleeping bag up on the up on the
hood of the car there, open the top there, and
I couldn't sleep. And then I finally said, Merle, can
I ask you one more thing? And he said yeah,
(53:28):
And I said, Merle, what is the single most important.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Thing in life? And he did not hesitate one second.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Just like when Jim Stowball gave me my message to
take into Powder River, Merle said to me, the gift
of yourself. Now go to sleep. Steve, Well, everybody, I
hope that you've enjoyed today's conversation.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
I hope that I've inspired you a little bit to
maybe do more for others.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I hope that I've inspired to go to Amazon and
get your copy of the Gift of Giving Living your
legacy and learn all you can about Jim Stowball and
Don Green and Napoulian Hill Foundation. Y'all know how to
reach me Rightthink dot org and if anybody wants to
have a conversation with me or correspond with me, I
am available, just as is Jim Stowball and Don green Well.
(54:21):
I'd like to end today's show with one more thank
you to Jim and Don. And it's not just from me,
but it's from the whole world. Jim and Don, the
two of you have done so much to make the
world a better place. The world is a better place
(54:42):
because of two of you, So I pray that both
of you have just safety and health and happiness for
you and all your loved ones for a long long time.
God bless both of you and everybody. Thanks for listening,
have a wonderful week. Thanks for listening to Right Thinking
with Steve Copland. I'll look forward to being with you
(55:04):
again next week, and remember it, don't quit, plan ahead.
Speaker 2 (55:08):
It will get better. God bless you and have a
great week.
There must be lies burning brighter somewhere.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Got to be birds.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Him in the sky. Good morning, Welcome to Right Thinking
with Steve Copeland. I'm your host, Steve Copeland, and thank
you for tuning in.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Let's have a great day. Good morning, everybody, glad to
be with you today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Today is going to be as much a thank you
and a show of my appreciation for two men that
have done so much for me and so much for others,
Jim Stowball and Don Green. I want to just start
right now. Let me tell you what the show is
going to be, Episode one seventy nine. Right Thinking with
(01:04):
Steve Copeland is very pleased to announce that this week's
show is called The Gift of Yourself. Tune in here
Steve talk about the unique gifts and talents that we
each have. As he shares insights inspired by Jim Stowball
and Don Green's newest book, The Gift of Giving Living
your Legacy. You will be inspired to give more of
(01:27):
yourself to others and experience greater personal happiness than ever before. Well,
as I started to say when I opened up, Jim
Stowball and Don Green are two of the most beautiful,
wonderful people that I've ever met in my life. They're
both world famous. They've been on my show many times,
(01:50):
the two of them.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
But what I would like to.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Do today is is talk about the book that just
came out on July the fourteenth, that's a collaboration between
the two of them, and share many of my own
personal experiences as What I want to do is just
try to have each one of us, including myself, finish
(02:15):
listening to this show and have just a greater desire
to do more for other people and to know that
when you do that, you're going to have many more
blessings yourself.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
But what I'm trying to say, which is very kind of.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Difficult, is don't focus on what you yourself will receive
from it all, but just do it naturally. And that's
really what this book is about, the gift of giving.
Don Green is the executive director of the Napoleon Hill Foundation,
and Jim Stoveall is one of the What should I
(02:57):
say about Jim's He's an entrepreneur, he's an author, he's
a philanthropist. He's received phenomenal recognition. I always when I'm
trying to introduce people to Jim Stowball tell them who
he is.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I asked this question, do you know who Mother Teresa is?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And everybody goes, oh, yeah, sure, I said, well, Jim
Stowball got the same award, the International Humanitarian of the
Year award that Mother Teresa got for all the wonderful
things that she did for the world. A quote that
I just picked up on her just this morning is
that love starts with a smile, and she certainly demonstrated that.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Well.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
I know a lot about Jim Stowball. I've got many
of his books, and the same with Don Green. In
preparation for the show, I pulled out of my bookshelf.
Here off my bookshelf, just my Jim stowveall books and
some of my Napoleon Hill books on Green books, and
I've got about thirty five books sitting right here next
to me that I that I can look at. It
(04:07):
starts with think and grow Rich. I've got the book
that Don Green wrote. Everything I know about success I
learned from Napoleon Hill, Outwitting the Devil, how to own
your own mind three feet from goal. It's just kind
of endless. I read Napoleon Hill's thoughts for the day
every day. I've got Jim Stowball's series Here Wisdom for Winners.
(04:30):
I've got some of his books in the Homecoming series,
one season of Hope, Top of the Hill, Will to Win,
I've got Napoleon Hills on the air. I've got three
of Jim Stowball's movies, The Ultimate Gift.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
The Ultimate Legacy, The Ultimate Life.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Why I'm telling you this is that I believe that
who we associate with is.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Who we end up being like.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And if we I can associate with good people, there's
a great chance that will end being good as well.
We're going to be influenced by by the people that
we associate with. The Gift of Giving, Living Your Legacy.
I pre ordered it a while back. I waited a
couple months for it. Every day when I read Nepaul
(05:21):
and Hills thought for the day that comes to me
on my smartphone about three days a week or so.
Underneath it is a is a advertisement, so to speak,
that this book's coming out, The Gift of Giving. And
when I first saw that months ago, I said, Oh,
(05:42):
this is going to be incredible because Don Green.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Don Green is he's just wonderful.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
As I said before, he's the executive director of the
Paul and Hill Foundation. But I think the best thing
I can say about Don Green is is that he's
a friend of mine that every day he wakes up
and he has a he has this this this thing
framed I guess next to his bed and he just
basically says, Dear Lord, show me who I can help today.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
That's Don Green.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Jim Stowball, we've we've we've had him more like I said,
And his story is basically that Jim Stowball was one
of the top football players in the country in high school.
He had everything in the world laid out for him
to be able to have a full career in the NFL.
And when he was recruited by probably one hundred colleges,
(06:40):
and I mean he was truly the number one, two
three recruit in the country. He was an interior alignment
with speed and agility. One of the things that he
said early out was he never read a book. You know,
he didn't care. He was just a football jock. Well,
he went to get a physical part of the college
thing for his football career and he was diagnosed with
(07:03):
Maco degeneration and the doctor said, we're really sorry, but
you're going to go blind. But we just don't know when,
and so he had a lot of things that he
needed to.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Do his story.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
The way this book is written is Don Green as
the executive director of Paul and Hill Foundation. He tries
to put out the teachings. He doesn't try. He does.
He puts out the teachings of Napoleon Hill, the great,
great man who came up with the philosophy of personal
(07:37):
success and worked with Andrew Carnegie back around the early
nineteen hundreds. He published Thinking Grow Rich in nineteen thirty seven.
Think and Grow Rich is the number one bestseller of
all times in the success motivation world. But the title
can be a little misleading, think and Grow Rich. I'm
(07:59):
going to get into it in a minute and tell
you about what rich means according to Napoleon Hill. So
what this book is and it's more than I Well,
I knew it was going to be fabulous, but it's
even more than that. It exceeded all my expectations because
I've read, as I've said, forty givers take Napoleon Hill books,
(08:19):
and the philosophy is something that's been with me for
over forty five years I think now close to fifty.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
And I like passing it on to people.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And this book takes Jim Stowball's story and he pretty
much tells you his story and how his life was
affected by his hardship, and how he had to make
that significant change because he wasn't going to have the
football career that is all he ever thought he was
going to do, and how he really got into the
(08:54):
meaning of life. But Napoleon Hill had a best friend
named Lee Braxton, and at the time of Jim Stowveall's
bad news, his father introduced him to Lee Braxton. His
father was a teacher, a professor at Oral Roberts University
(09:19):
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Lee Braxton was a phenomenal success.
His stories also in The Gift of Giving It's highlighted somewhat.
But Jim's father introduced him to Lee Braxon, who was a.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Very older man.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jim's probably at this point of his life eighteen nineteen
years old. Lee Braxton was probably in his late seventies,
and he gave Jim Stowball a copy of Think and
Grow Rich and became his mentor and helped him work
(09:55):
through what he needed to do in his life to
get past his heart sh I could go on for
days on recounting Jim Stowveall's story, and I won't though completely,
but I'm going to bring out some highlights of the
book because it's really all in this book.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
But what I really love about.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
This book is that it is a beautiful way to
try to have each one of us.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Understand what's really really important in life and to make
changes in our life that we will be able to
do more of what the Lord has fully intended for
us to do with our lives. Now I'm back to
Don Green for a moment. As executive director of the
(10:49):
Napaul and Hill Foundation. Don Green came there after it,
had an incredible career and business and he was a banker.
He was the youngest bank president States, and he had
a he had a lengthy career in banking and and
there's a lot of the.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Background of Don Green in this book.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
And like I say, I've read so many books from
Don Green, Napoleon Hill, Jimpsto Ball that I that I
pretty much know the story. But the way that it's
all brought together with one point in mind is to
is to encourage each one of us to do something
more with our lives than just think about ourselves the
(11:31):
gift of giving. I'm going to read some excerpts in
a moment, but let me let me go back to
a place that I say is the beginning. Where's a
good place to start. It's always at the beginning. I've
been searching, or always have been searching my whole life
(11:51):
for a greater meaning? What's my purpose? Who am I
drawing myself closer to the Lord?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
And And when I when I was.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Young, I was i'll say wayward. I dropped out of
college a couple of times. You know, y'all know my story.
But at one time I got a degree in accounting
after dropping out of college twice and thinking I was
going to change my major to elementary ed one so
I could give more and care about kids more of
(12:20):
my life, do more for kids. But I had a
job and an accounting firm that was a cousin of mine.
His name was Joe, Joe Leebowitz, and it sad my
little office. I had my sh angle fifty one sixteen
Greenwich Road in Virginia Beach. And I got a new
apartment and I wanted to get some plants for it.
(12:43):
And there was this corner gas station at Thomas Corner Exile,
and I rode by there and there was this eighteen
wheeler there with the doors open, and there were about
thirty or forty tropical plants.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yuckas and ferns and.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Those kind of things fig and they're all out there,
and there was this gentleman there with a a kind
of a Safari hat type thing on, sitting in a
beach chair. So I pulled over and went in there.
And his name was Bill. I would give anything to
be able to see him again. This has been forty
(13:19):
seven years ago, Gibberta. But I met Bill and he
was a very very kind, friendly person, and we engage
in a lot of conversation. And his story was was
that his wife was also an accountant in Florida, and
he had a business where he would bring plants from
(13:41):
Florida up in this truck to different places in rent
space on corners of like parking lots of gas stations,
and he'd be there for a couple of weeks and
he'd meet people sell plants. Well, he and I kind
of really hit it off. Bill was probably fifty four
or five years old and I'm twenty two, give or take.
(14:02):
And he said Steve, would you like to eat dinner
with me? You know I'm out of town, and you
know I love talking to you. And I said absolutely,
because this person was very, very He had a lot
to say, he had a lot of wisdom. And so
we went to dinner, I remember as a Chinese restaurant.
We sat there and right at the beginning of the meal,
(14:26):
he took out a copy of Think and Grow Rich
and he gave it to me. And I will never
ever forget what he said to me. He said, Steve,
I've been talking to you and I just want to
tell you that I want to let you know that
your thinking is right, the way you view things, and
I want to give you this book to validate your thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He said, You're going to learn a lot from this book,
but I want you.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
To know that the basic philosophy and the views on
life that are in this book you already possessed. And
he says, so I want you to have this book. Well,
that was the beginning in my life of one of
the greatest gifts that I've ever received that put me
into a path. And so from that day forth, as
(15:14):
I read Napoleon Hill and then related to him and
identified with him and passed it on to as many
people as I could. Hey, I got this radio show here,
and everybody knows I enjoy talking, but I like communicating.
I like sharing. I love everybody. I got that from
my mother and it's just a blessing for me to
(15:36):
be encouraged by people like Bill the plant Man and
Jim Stowball and Don Green for the work that I do.
One of the things that Jim talks about in the
book when he tells his story is that forty years
after he met his wife, Crystal, who was also a
(15:59):
student at or Roberts, and he heard a speaker It
relates this story, which is just absolutely beautiful LaToya. Jim
was just what he called himself, a football jock, didn't
care too much about anything. So there's this one little
antidote in here where he's in a huge assembly with
about five hundred people, maybe fifteen hundred people, I guess
it was, and a person came that was speaking about
(16:25):
the work that he does to build wells in poverty
communities in Africa, and or Roberts himself was there and
at the end of this person's speech on his mission
to build wells, he passed the plate, and he said
to everybody, let's help this person do what he's doing
(16:48):
because it's making the world a better place or something
of that nature, and he passed the plate. Well, Jim
tells this beautiful story that he's got seventeen dollars, a
ten dollars bill, of five dollar bill and two ones
that has bart and he's that's all the money he had,
and he was going to have a date with Crystal
after classes that day, so he had a big decision
(17:10):
to make.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Should he give, how much should he give?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well, he took a dollar out and when the plate
came around, as he started to put it in, Oral
Roberts said something that affected and changed Jim's Jim's life,
And I want to see if I can find that here,
because I'm going to try to turn the page here.
Oral Roberts made a statement that said something to the
effect give me just five seconds here. I think I
(17:35):
have a bookmark here on this I think it's on
page sixty one. Let's go to page sixty one. Okay, Well,
let me just read a paragraph here. All of us
give a piece of our time and a piece of
our money, and if we're able to do that, we'll
cultivate an abundance mentality. You see, there are only two
(17:55):
ways to think about time and money, abundance and scarcity.
That's a different part that I wanted to get. I'm
not going to quote from the book. It's too much
in here. I've got like forty passages that I airmarked.
But the point was this. Jim was faced with a
decision how much should he give?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
And L.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Roberts happened to say something right when the plate was
in front of Jim, and he said, if you don't
give freely, then then keep your money because it's.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Not worth giving. That's a paraphrase.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
But Jim Soball took the dollar out that he was
getting ready to give, and he put a ten dollar
bill in, thinking, oh geez, I'm only going to have
seven dollars for my date with Crystal.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Well, afterwards, he and Crystal went to.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Dinner, and when they didn't really go to dinner, they
ate in the dorm because he said, Crystal, I got
some good news and some bad news. First of all,
I supported the mission to build a well in Africa
for people that need water, and I gave ten dollars,
but I only have seven dollars for our date tonight
to take you to dinner. And she was really pleased
with Jim, and she said, well, let's just eat in
(18:56):
the cafeteria at the dorms tonight. Well that's what they did.
But then she asked Jim a question that forever changed
his life. She goes, Jim, what are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Well he got all.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Excited because that's the first time that she used the
collective we instead of you, and he just said something
of the nature that I'm going to start a foundation
and I'm going to find what my passion is. It's
as much as that man's was, and I'm going to
give a million dollars to that foundation. Well, the whole
(19:29):
story in this book about Jim and what he overcame
with his blindness and how he became just such a
phenomenal person starting the Narrative television network, it's all in
this book. The book starts off that he's in front
of or Roberts University in front of thousands of people,
presenting a chap for one million dollars to start the
(19:51):
Stoveball Entrepreneurship Center, the Center for Entrepreneurship at or Roberts University.
And he's relating in the book just how incredible it
feels to have reached what it was that you set
as your goal.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That's what this book is all about.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
It's not just looking at Jim Stowball's story and thinking
what a great man he is, which he truly is.
He teaches you how to live with purpose, to find
your purpose, to live with purpose, and how to get
where you need to go that you want to go.
Let let me let me stop on that thought just
for a second and tell you that one of the themes
(20:36):
that I really want to bring out today as I
tell you more about Jim Stowball and Don Green, who
their stories are so beautifully captured, the purpose of the
Paul and Hill Foundation and what Don's done to it
to grow that, to keep the teachings in Paul and
Hill available to people. They're all about changing the world,
(20:57):
making the world a better place. And at the back
of the book there's an appendix that has worksheets on
how to get you thinking in the right direction so
that you can find what your purpose is, and it
gives you strategies and things to learn how to how
to get there.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
But what I wanted to say is this.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
I am so blessed to be friends with both Jim
and Don who have supported me so much. Don for
about eight years now, Jim for about three, maybe going
on four, and just to be in the company of
people like this makes me feel like I've achieved something
in my life. But I want to tell you, when
(21:39):
you read biographies of great people, and I've read hundreds
and hundreds my whole life, I've always loved reading biographies
and had this thought that I want to learn to
be like these people that have done so much for
the world, and I've never given up myself.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
On believing that I'm will one day be one.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Of those people. Well, let me just tell you something.
This book teaches you more than I've ever come across
in any book on how to become the person that
you truly want to be. And it starts where you're standing.
That's a Napoleon Hill quote. You know, the best time
(22:23):
to start is where you are. And so there's all
kinds of wisdom in this book that says things like,
if you're not a generous person now, you probably never
will be.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Most people think.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That, well, when I have my career, when I get
rich and everything, and I get all the things I
need done, I'll then retire and then start doing charitable
things and give more. Well, this book is about doing
it now, not putting it off. Becoming of the mindset
that you need to be like that now. You need
(22:57):
to have that become your personality. As Napoleon Hill and
Don Green teach, every day, you need to be able
to know your desire, your burning desire, and never quit
and lay out a plan action.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
And that's what Napoleon Hill is all about. I've got
I've got.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
A poster that's framed right here in front of me
from the Napoleon Hill Foundation.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
It's called stay the Course. Uh George George W. Bush.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
That's a quote, but it's a ship sailing on on
a on an ocean, and it's it's got all the
sales of all the principles of the Napoleon Hill philosophy,
and and the main ones are applied faith, going the
extra mile, definitive purpose, positive mental attitude, the mastermind. It's
(23:46):
all about creative vision, enthusiasm, having a pleasing personality, teamwork,
learning from adversity and defeat, having accurate thinking, having self discipline,
controlled attention, personal initia of maintenance, of sound health, budgeting,
your time and your money. These are the principles of
philosophy of success, cosmic habit force, the higher power that
(24:10):
we need to be in touch with. Well, what I'm
getting at is that just as Jim Stowveall had this reflection,
let me tell you, Jim Stovall is a is a
very very great person. I mean, he's he's done so much.
(24:32):
I already told you, a National Mountaineer in the Air Award,
he started the narrative television network for blind people, National
Entrepreneur of the Year, personal friends with many presidents and
famous people. But he teaches his philosophy of how he
gives up his time constantly. So here's what I want.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
To tell you.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Every one of us has a tendency to think that
we're not good enough. We all have a tendency to
think that I'll never be like that person. Well, let
me give you a really simple example, because that's what
Don Green did with Jim Stowball in this book. He
uses Jim's life story as an example to then teach
the principles of the Napoleon Hill philosophy through the foundation
(25:14):
and to talk about the great work that they do,
which is philanthropic and giving the gift of giving living
your legacy. It talks about you will never have a
legacy unless you live it now.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
But for me, what I experience all the time is
I experience that I look at other people that have
done great things, like Don and Jim, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Think I can be like them.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
And a lot of people think, hey, Steve, you've got
a long way to go before you get like them. Well,
I might not reach the magnitude of success for for
the great philanthropic work that they do, but I've carved
out my own little niche in a different way. And
that's what I want to teach a little bit right
now as I talk about this book today, I want
(26:13):
to I want to share some other thoughts, and what
I want to start with is the whole idea that
we may not be able to operate at the magnitude
or at the level of some other people that would
greatly admire, but if we do just our own small part,
that's going to change the world. And here's a personal
(26:37):
story that I'm going to share with you. Jim Stoveall
relates his story of success going from a college kid
that had next to nothing, met the love of his
life in college.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
And I have to tell you I didn't know this part.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
But when he was in college, he was losing his
eyesight and he could still read a little bit. When
Lead actually gave him a copy thinking grow Rich, he
could still read, but it was slow because he had
to squint a lot. Well, the school. The school gave
him some people, some volunteers to help read to him,
and Crystal was one of the four. I think he
(27:16):
said that we're signed by the school to help this
football player that needs some help reading get through school. Well,
he immediately told the school that he didn't want any
of the other three. He only wanted Crystal. I thought
that was pretty good. I thought that was real good anyway, though,
So Jim Soball the shares that he has given over
(27:40):
five hundred people scholarships from his foundation for the full
college education, hundreds of people. Jim believes in education. Don
believes in education. I believe in education. But he's given
millions of dollars in scholarship funds to help people go
through school and for each of them to be able
(28:02):
to pass on their knowledge and their wisdom to help others.
Don Green himself He doesn't talk about this much, but
I know personally that he every year he and his
wife the scholarship fifty people to University of Virginia at Wise,
he supports fifty people on full scholarships every year personally,
(28:25):
not to mention all the millions of dollars that the
Napaul and Hill Foundation has provided in scholarships.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
So what is it I want to tell you is
that we tell you a little story here. So Don
Green sent me.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
A copy of a book, fifty six copies of One
Season of Hope, when I let him know that I
was teaching financial literacy and chibil Dream High School to
at risk students in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, Jim gave Don gave me a gift where he.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Said, he's see if I got a copy of a
Jim Stowall book here called One Season of Hope, would
you like to meet for me to send you some
copies so you can give him to the students.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And I was very appreciative.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
So he did, and I read it the day that
I got it, And that's how I called Jim Stowball
up because his phone number is in the back of
the book, saying if you. You know, give me a
call if you want to talk to me. You know,
I'm here for you. And that's how I met Jim Stowall. Well,
about three years ago. I was on my way to
the prison that I had a program out at Baker City, Oregon,
(29:33):
Powder River Correctional Facility, and I went through Tulsa, Oklahoma.
I drove nine hundred miles out of my way to
go meet Jim Stowveall and Don Green counseled me before
I went.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Jim Stowall set up the.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Appointment, and then he chose to tell me it's best
that I don't come because he thought that I wanted
something more from him to support my foundation, and he
already had his mission laid out and he wasn't going
to be able to support me financially. And I said, now,
I just want to come to you. That story, you know,
I tell it a lot. But so I drove to
meet Jim Soball. But he said, Okay, if you really
want to come, you can only have fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
That's all I have, and he gave me the date.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Well, one of the things that I did in that
fifteen minutes, I would say, was a life changing experience
for me. Don Green had cautioned me, do not go
a second over fifteen minutes. Jim Soball is a very
very important person, and so I honored that. I actually
had my stop watch in front of me. I didn't
(30:35):
tell Jim that he couldn't see it, so I put
it in front of me, so make sure that I
that I stayed disciplined. But I asked Jim Stowball a question,
and it's the answer to this question that is a
life changing moment for me.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I said to Jim.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I said, Jim, I'm on my way to do a
seminar in Oregon in prison at Powder River, and I
do a lot of these, but would you give me
something that I can say to the men there from you,
so that when I get there, my message will be
more than just coming from me, something that would help
(31:13):
them appreciate my message more. And he did not hesitate whatsoever.
He said, Steve, you tell those men that if you
were the only person on this earth, then God would
have done the exact same thing with his son on
that cross for you, because He loves you that much.
(31:34):
And then he went on to say, in every adversity,
every disappointment, every heartache carries with it the seed of
an equivalent benefit.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's a Napoleon Hill quote.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Well, I thanked him for that, and I got to
tell you he didn't have a moment of hesitation when
he shared that with me. And so I went on
to the prison and I spoke that I want you
to know that when I go prisons, I give out libraries.
I give out generally eleven or twelve thirteen books, but
generally about six or seven of those books that I
(32:06):
give out are Don Green, Napoleon Hill, and Jim Stowball books.
What an honor and a privilege for me to be
able to go do the work that I do with
people that are falling through the cracks, the hardship populations,
people that are incarcerated and have the support, and to
know that my message is being supported by Napoleon Hill Foundation,
(32:29):
Don Green, and Jim Stowball.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Well, back to the scholarship.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
So at Powder River Crectional Facility, I met a gentleman
there that came to three of my seminars, and his
name is Robert Miller, and my father died two years
ago August of twenty eighteen. He was ninety five years
old and when he died. He was a World War
(32:57):
Two veteran, and I had the process is of a
two thousand dollars life insurance policy sent to me. And
I got to thinking when I got that, what am
I going to do with it? And am I going
to share with my children my grandchildren a couple hundred
dollars to different people. But write at the exact same
time that I got that check for two thousand dollars,
I got a letter from Robert Miller. And Robert Miller
(33:19):
fifty four or five years old, been incarcerated off and
on for thirty one years, and his life had some
phenomenal addictions and hardships and done many many things that
you know weren't good. But he wrote me and asked me.
He thanked me for his involvement with me. He asked
me what I meantor him. But he was looking to
(33:41):
go to online college and he gave me statistics. It
said that people that are incarcerated that have a college
education have a ninety four percent less chance of recidivating
going back to prison. That was the strongest single to
turn it college education for people that are incarcerate that
(34:04):
I'd learned in at that point six years of being
involved and mentoring people and teaching in prisons. I gave
him that two thousand dollars and I got involved with
Adam State Correspondent School, the number one online university, online
learning center. I guess say distance learning center is what
(34:25):
they call it. I gave him a scholarship, and I
got him in for first two classes, and I did
all the work to get him registered and so forth. Well,
what I want to tell you is is that I'll
never be able to give millions.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Maybe I will, Maybe I will, maybe I will.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Yeah, I should never said never, but that two thousand
dollars scholarship, and then I gave him another semester and
had someone else contribute five hundred dollars the second time.
But what I know that I did for Robert Miller
and the appreciation of the love that he showed me.
He's out now and I still am in touch with him.
(35:01):
But the love that Robert Miller gave back to me
for helping him along made it all worthwhile for me.
It made me feel as the I feel like I
am the single most successful person in the world, that
my life goals have been achieved.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
That I could give of myself like that.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
So, just like any other show that I do, I'm
just going to kind of digress and talk around the
subject a little bit.
Speaker 2 (35:26):
But I want to.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
Tell you that each one of us we each no
matter how successful we think we are, no matter how
prominent we are, no matter how much money that we have,
you don't need to be in a competition with others.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Of well, I'll never be like that.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
You need to just have a life of loving and
giving to others. Let me just read this as I
talked to my wife all the time about the shows
that I'm going to do, and I told her, I
want my theme to be I want to encourage people
to know that we are all unique.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Children of God, individual children of God, that He loves us.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
The same as anyone else more, we each one of
us equal. And I said, I want to impress people
upon people the same thing that Don Green and Jim
Stowball are. I President of the gift of giving, that
what true success is is giving to others. And so
I asked her, can you help me find some scripture
(36:29):
Donna helps you with my scripture research all the time
that really makes people realize that they have unique gifts themselves.
And she's got a little book. It's called What's True
about You? Life changing reminders of who God says you are.
It was it was by Holly Girth, and she turned
right to this. You are beyond compare And this is
(36:49):
one Corinthians twelve four to six. Now there are different
gifts but the same spirit. There are different ministries but
the same Lord. And they're differ different activities, but the
same God produces each gift in each person. And then
she has a prayer. God, you are our creator, and
(37:10):
you made each one of us just as you wanted
us to be. When you look at us, you don't
compare us to each other. Help us to do the same.
Give us eyes that recognize our strengths without pride, that
see each other's gifts without envy, that have a vision
for how we are better together because we are all
(37:33):
different and all deeply loved.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Amen. I love that. I love that that Donna provided me.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
There's five scriptures that I've met, actually, one, two, three,
four scriptures that.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
I want to share right now that give you the.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Same message that the practical application and teaching.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
You more of how to do it. That is in
the gift of giving.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
It's all the same thing as Philippians chapter two, verse
three through four. Don't be selfish, don't try to impress others,
be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't
look out only for your own interests, but taking interest
in others. Also Galatians five thirteen. For you have been
(38:22):
called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But
don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead,
use your freedom to serve one another in love. Proverbs
nineteen seventeen. If you help the poor, you are lending
to the Lord, and he will repay you. Deuteronomy fifteen ten.
(38:46):
Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord
your God will bless you in everything you do. That's
pretty much the same thing that all Roberts said that
day that affected Jim Stowball so much to take out
that dollar bill and put ten in his place.
Speaker 2 (39:02):
You know. Another part of the same point.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Here is the Bible story of the Widows might Mite.
It's kind of like a penny, and the story of
the widows Might describes as a widow and she gives
two coins to the temple treasury, and Jesus witnesses this offering,
and he describes how great her gift is because it
represents a greater proportion of her wealth than the larger
(39:27):
gifts of other religious leaders. You know, back then, all
those people that were running the temple, they weren't they
weren't treating everybody so good. In the previous chapter in
the in the in the Bible there that's in two
places there Mark chapter twelve, forty one through forty four,
(39:47):
and in Luke chapter twenty one one through four, and
the passage just before he talks about the widows. Might
Jesus portrayed the people that were the religious lead who
were feigned piety. They accepted the honor from people, but
they stole from widows. And he quotes, beware of the
(40:08):
scribes who like to go around in long rooms and
accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues,
and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses
of widows, and as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They
will receive a very severe condemnation. What we're trying to
say is the real riches in life that is in
(40:30):
this book. This is a Napoleon Hill twelve points here
that he's going to give you here of what the
true riches in life are. So this is the twelve
great riches of life. Let me read these for you
before I read it. Money is the twelfth, It's not
number one through eleven.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Think about this.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I've meditated on this a lot in the last two
days since I've gotten this book and read it. One
a positive mental attitude. It is so important to maintain
a positive mental attitude. Two sound physical health. You're not
going to be a whole lot of good to a
lot of other people if you aren't healthy and be
(41:16):
able to be strong enough to be active. Three harmony
in human relationships. Having personal relationships is one of the
main secrets to life. Four Freedom from all forms of fear.
(41:36):
You can see how these all kind of intertwine together.
Having a positive mental attitude will keep you from having
so much fear. But four is freedom from all forms
of fear. Five the hope of future achievement. Six, the
capacity for faith. Seven, a willingness to share one's blessings.
(42:02):
Eight a labor of love as an occupation. Nine an
open mind on all subjects. Ten self discipline in all circumstances.
Eleven the capacity to understand others, and twelve sufficient money.
(42:25):
Let me read directly from this in the book. Number
seven was a willingness to share one's blessings refers directly
to generosity of spirit, But many of these riches derived
from or inspire charity as well. Money is certainly necessary
to provide material security and the occasional luxury to enjoy,
(42:47):
but it is not an end in itself. As Napoleon
Hill explains, money will buy a great deal, but it
will not buy peace of mind. It only will help
you find peace of mind. Money then becomes a vehicle
for obtaining a greater form of wealth, for true riches
are found and the peace of mind that generosity brings.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
These are the things that the book is about. The
book made me think of a.
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Lot of beautiful things. One of the things that I
did as I raised my own children that I'm very
very proud of for their giving. There is a little
song Raffi was one of my favorite children singers that
I exposed my children to. And this song is a
(43:38):
children's little song and it was written by a woman
named Malvina Reynolds who's very interested. And I recommend that
you research her m al v I n A Rentols
I googled who wrote this song?
Speaker 2 (43:53):
But think about this, it's all so simple.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
What don green gemstow all the gift of giving living
your legacy. It's doing for others, and this song expresses it.
I won't sing it, I'll just read it to you.
Love is something if you give it away, give it away,
give it away. Love is something. If you give it away,
(44:20):
you end up having more. It's just like a magic penny.
Hold it tight and you won't have any. Lend it,
spend it and you'll have so many they'll roll all
over the floor.
Speaker 2 (44:34):
For love is.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
Something if you give it away, give it away, give
it away. Love is something. If you give it away,
you end up having more. Money's dandy and we like
to use it. But love is better if you don't
refuse it. It's a treasure and you'll never lose it
unless you lock up your door. For love is something.
(44:55):
If you give it away, give it away, give it away.
Love is something. If you give it away, you end
up having more. So let's go dancing till the break
of day, and if there's a piper, we can pay for.
Love is something if you give it away, you end
up having more.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
What an incredible song.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
I think that that describes what this book is all about.
Jim Stowball teaches in this book there are only three
uses for money, spending it, saving it, and giving it away.
And so I want to tell you right now that
(45:37):
I love the direction that my life has gone, and
that when Jim Stowball came back after forty years and
stood there at the school where he told his girlfriend
that became his wife, that he was going to give
a million dollars to something that he had passion in
and he started the Entrepreneurial Center, that same feeling that
(45:58):
he shares in the book I share.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
As I talk to you right now.
Speaker 1 (46:03):
That I've been in prisons for eight years, I've been
able to have this radio show where I can try
to get words of encouragement. But for right now, I
just want to say thank you to the Lord for
giving me people in my life that love me, that
do so much for me. And Don and Jim y'all
are two of the people that I really really want
to give a special thanks to God bless both of you.
Speaker 2 (46:25):
Well.
Speaker 1 (46:26):
The whole idea that Jim and Don are promoting is
the basic concept of if you give a man a fish,
he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a
man how to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime. This
book teaches sustainability, how to take your thoughts, get your
(46:46):
purpose to find and then put it into motion and
teach you how to perpetuate it so that it lasts way,
way longer, so that it won't run out. I don't
know what else that I have the time to share
with you on the book here. Let me just thumb
through it here and give you.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
A quote or two.
Speaker 1 (47:06):
True riches are found in the peace of mind that
generosity brings. I've already shared that thought with you. Either
you give God your best and expect the best, or
you keep your money because you're going to need it. Yeah,
that's what the message from Ral Roberts was that day
that inspired inspired Jim so much and Lee Braxton. What
(47:27):
was so beautiful here is is that when Jim Stowball's
father introduced him to Lee Braxton, who was already teaching
at the school.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
For a dollar a year. I'll tell you because he
was already a millionaire and he.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Gave of himself at that school to teach people Jim
did not know he gave when Lee Braxton gave him
his copy of Thinking Grow Rich. Jim did not know
that Lee Braxon was napole and Hill's best friend. And
then he in fact gave the eulogy at napole and
Hill's funeral. And so when I went out to visit
(47:57):
Jim that day to meeting Don Green, heh he counseled
me as I told you before I went. But Jim
Stowveall has had Wisdom for Winners, a weekly column and
UH and newspapers all across the country, on the Internet
and so forth, and he compiled a.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Book, Wisdom for Winners series for books, and.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
He donated all the proceeds from that book to the
Napoleon Hill Foundation so that the Napoleon Hill Foundation can
further its mission to educate people and to help make
the world a better place. And the proceeds from this book,
The Gift of Giving Living Your Legacy, have also been
donated from Jim Sotball's participation in it, to the Napoleon
(48:44):
Hill Foundation. What a beautiful thing for these people to
be doing so much for the world. You can go
to Amazon to get this book and wow, let me
let me just let me just say one two more
things about what we're doing. The title of today's show,
I wanted to slip in the gift of yourself. And
(49:07):
this is another part of how I am just so
pleased that the journey that I've taken in my life,
all the paths and twists and turns that I've done,
have brought me to be a friend of Jim and Don's.
When I dropped out of college back in nineteen seventy
four for the second time, and I went with my
(49:28):
good buddy Jack Belhart. He was driving out to Colorado
to visit with his brother that was living out there.
I dropped out of college the day before my semester
was to start. My mother she pulled alver hair out
at all turned gray. What was left, I guess. And
I went out there with Jack and he drove his car.
We drove together, and we went up into Canada, Montreal,
(49:51):
across the plains and got out to Colorado and I
worked at a Chinese restaurant there for a couple of weeks,
and then I left Jack and I was going to
hitchhike to California. And when I got through Silt, Colorado,
not too far from Aspen, I think it was. And
I went back there in one of my travels to
Oregon to go to the prison two years ago. What
(50:13):
a feeling for me to have been a twenty two
to three year old college drop out looking for myself
and then gone back to this place on my way
to prison, where I had all of these books in
my car from Jim Stowball and Don Green and Napoleon
Hill and all my workbooks that I give out.
Speaker 2 (50:32):
I went through Silk, Colorado.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
On this hitchhike back when I was twenty two years old,
twenty twenty three years old, and I got picked up
hitchhike in by a trucker and he got to be
late October and I got dropped off at the top
of the mountain at Silt because the trucker had.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
To go home.
Speaker 1 (50:51):
He took a left and I had to keep going
and there was no one going to pick me up,
and it was going to snow that night. And this
man was walking along the sidewalk. He was a mountain
man kind of guy, you know, thirty inch bot step ups,
a thirty inch waist, you know, a cowboy, had big
belt buckle, and he looked at me standing in the
road hitchhiking, and he said, you're not going to get
(51:12):
a ride. Nobody's going to pick you up. And he said,
would you like to work for a couple of days.
I'll pay you twenty bucks a day, room and board.
And I said, yeah, you know, I guess that'll work.
So we walked a block or two. We took a rite.
Speaker 2 (51:24):
We went up this.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Little little path and there was a camper sitting there,
like a pickup truck with a camper back on the
back that you can add to it. And he goes,
that's where we're going to stay. I was like taking
a back. I didn't have a lot of choice here.
But it was a very harrowing experience at first. But
I got into the back of this camper and I
slept on the park that's above the cab of the car,
(51:45):
and he slept on the back part. But we ate
some bienna sausage and and we had a we had
a couple of beers and some crackers, and then there
was a hailstorm and it was a terrible turble turble
thing at first. And there was a lot happened on
that trip. And he had a nineteen year old son
that he couldn't hadn't seen in a couple of years
because his wife got borced and took him away from
(52:08):
him and he couldn't see his son. And I'd say
he had some psychological difficulties at the time, because the
man actually started looking at me and said, I reminded
him of his long lost son. And we basically shared
this father son thing where I said, well, my dad's
never had a heart talk with me, you know, because
I was He left when I was seven. And so
(52:29):
the point I'm making is this, we had this moment
where it got very, very frightening because he said to me, Steve,
no matter what I say or do, don't fight back. Yeah,
And so I'm not quite sure what I was going
to be having to get into here with Merle.
Speaker 2 (52:43):
And he was a cowboy kind of guy. He had
a ranch, raised horses.
Speaker 1 (52:47):
He ended up, he ended up getting kind of out
of control and I actually had to had to had
to slap him across his face, told him to calm down.
I'm not your son, You'll be all right more. Come
on now, Well, from that moment on, it was okay.
He asked me that I want to come live on
his ranch and help him raise horses. I said, what
a nice what a nice invitation. Well I didn't do it,
(53:08):
but so he said, we got to go to sleep.
It's time to time to go to bed because we
got a big day tomorrow working. So I got up there.
I'm a sleeping bag up on the up on the
hood of the car there, open the top there, and
I couldn't sleep. And then I finally said, Merle, can
I ask you one more thing? And he said yeah,
(53:28):
And I said, Merle, what is the single most important.
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Thing in life? And he did not hesitate one second.
Speaker 1 (53:37):
Just like when Jim Stowball gave me my message to
take into Powder River, Merle said to me, the gift
of yourself. Now go to sleep. Steve, Well, everybody, I
hope that you've enjoyed today's conversation.
Speaker 2 (53:51):
I hope that I've inspired you a little bit to
maybe do more for others.
Speaker 1 (53:59):
I hope that I've inspired to go to Amazon and
get your copy of the Gift of Giving Living your
legacy and learn all you can about Jim Stowball and
Don Green and Napoulian Hill Foundation. Y'all know how to
reach me Rightthink dot org and if anybody wants to
have a conversation with me or correspond with me, I
am available, just as is Jim Stowball and Don green Well.
(54:21):
I'd like to end today's show with one more thank
you to Jim and Don. And it's not just from me,
but it's from the whole world. Jim and Don, the
two of you have done so much to make the
world a better place. The world is a better place
(54:42):
because of two of you, So I pray that both
of you have just safety and health and happiness for
you and all your loved ones for a long long time.
God bless both of you and everybody. Thanks for listening,
have a wonderful week. Thanks for listening to Right Thinking
with Steve Copland. I'll look forward to being with you
(55:04):
again next week, and remember it, don't quit, plan ahead.
Speaker 2 (55:08):
It will get better. God bless you and have a
great week.
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