How to stay strong through hard times

We all have experienced many hard times in our lives.  The difference in the outcome is our perspective on the situation.  Let’s take my daughter, for example, a hard time might be when gymnastics is canceled.  For a parent on the other hand a hard time might have the means to provide a new pair of shoes when your children wear theirs out.  For a manager, it might be making the decision who to furrow in a time of crisis because there are not enough funds in the account to pay all of the employees. 

We all suffer, the outcome is strictly depended on our outlook for the situation. 

The outlook is the key.  A bad outlook will cause you to feel that the situation is worse than it really is.  While a great outlook will make the situation pass without much stress. 

What can cause you to have a dismissal outlook?  One possibility is that you can’t see past the current situation.  When you can’t see any type of positive outcome for the situation it causes stress.  Another might be that you are micro-focused on the negative.  Focusing on the negative will cause you to only see the negative side of life.  Before long, you won’t be happy anywhere doing anything.  Yet another thing that might be that you have been in the same situation a few times in the past and never before has the outcome been positive.  When you have been through it before it can be hard to see how this time it will work out any different.  One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  What most people don’t take from this awesome advice is that all you have to do is change one variable to change the outcome.  Your attitude could be that variable. 

  

On the flip-side, what can you do to get and keep a positive outcome for any situation?  Here are a few of our suggestions.

Spend some time in the word and works of God.  Take a few moments and open a bible, but don’t stop there take time to read it too.  Another way of spending time with our makers is in prayer.  A lot of times I will simply say, “Good morning God, how are you today?”  The answer you get might surprise you.  This always brings me to the “light” of any situation.  He helps guide my thoughts to know that this is happening for a reason.  I never said that I know the reason it is happening, I have to have faith that he knows what is best for me. 

Work out, or take a walk or a run, get some exercise.  Get in a good ole workout and see what it does to your perspective.  There is something about getting the blood flowing throughout your entire body that will cause you to have a positive perspective.  Sometimes when I am extremely frustrated with something I burn my body out in the evening, then miraculously the next morning my mindset is completely different.  My body suffers but my mind is a better state. 

Get some rest.  Sleep is the best thing for your body and your mind.  If you are sleep deprived then your mind has a harder time functioning, therefore it is harder to have a positive perspective.  It seems like when we are younger we have a tendency to spend all night running around and somehow think that it doesn’t affect our productivity the next day.  The older I get the more I realize that my body functions best with about 7 hours of sleep, my wife on the other hand needs about 8.5-9 hours of sleep.  Why do I bring this up?  It is definitely no to show that I am a superior human being compared to her, lol.  It’s because we are all designed with different needs.  Just because I can function on 7 hours of sleep not everyone can.  I am sure that there are people out there who only need 5-6 hours of sleep every night to function.  Nevertheless, I would guess that they would do more than function if they started getting a little more sleep every night.

Try finding a positive outcome for the situation.  In every situation that I encounter I eventually find a positive outcome, and then I focus on that outcome.  Here’s what that does for you.  It causes you to see put in more effort to make it happen.  You won’t even realize it but you will work 200 times harder to make that positive outcome now because you know it will happen. 

Take a break to reset your mind.  Taking a break with the intention of not focusing on the situation will help you find a positive outcome when you come back to the issue.  This one is extremely hard to master I know that no matter how hard I work at this I still fail at times.  What I have found is that when I am able to accomplish it I seem to find the answers I am looking for as soon as a come back to the situation. 

Find a podcast or book that can help you find answers.  Podcasts are a great newer tool that is completely free.  I will almost guarantee that there is a podcast episode out there for the situation that you are currently facing and I would bet that they have a solution.  Be sure to take every podcast at face value though.  You will definitely find a few out there that are not giving good advice.

Surround yourself with positive people.  The people that you are around playing a huge role in your ability to find positive outcomes and how hard you push yourself.  If you start spending time with people who are unmotivated then you find that you lose your motivation.  If you spend time with people who are always negative, always make fun of others, are mean, mock others.  You will find that you start doing the same.  On the other hand, if you surround yourself with people who are always positive and always smiling then you will start being more positive and smiling more.  You will have more fun and not be as stressed.  Be sure to surround yourself with people that push you to be better a person, not the opposite.

There are so many different ways that you can work towards seeing the glass half full for every situation.  These were just a few of the ways that I use.

Your mentality will be the biggest difference between succeeding and failing, seeing the positive compared to the negative.  Mindset is what causes you to win or lose.  Don’t let your mindset be the reason you don’t succeed in everything that you do in this life.

Listening to Listen

All too often, we don’t listen to actually hear what the other person is saying.  Instead, we listen to tanswer. 

NOT Listening to listen is a huge mistake but is something that all fall victim to.  Think about the last time you had a conversation with a leader who was distracted the entire time you talked, how did you feel? 

I know that I have been on both sides.  All too often people have come into my office and I never stopped working the entire time they were there talking.  It was not until they left that I realized what I had done.  I thought that I was too busy to take a few moment to listen to listen to them.  What did that do to them?

I know exactly how they felt because I have also been on the another side where I have walked into someone’s office and they never stopped working throughout the entire conversation.  They were delayed in answers, sometimes never answered questions, or never acknowledged that I was even there.  I felt like I didn’t matter, as if I wasn’t important enough to even be recognized.  Whatever is on their computer was more important than I was. 

Have you done that before?  What about with your partner? Your kids? Parents? Friends? How would you feel if you were expressing your emotions and they were ignored? 

Take a few moments to actually listen to what people have to say. 

Dean Graziosi talks about when he negotiates he does twice as much listening as talking.  This ensures that he knows exactly what the others are looking for and allows them to negotiate with themselves.  What a great concept.  Listen so well that you don’t ever have to negotiate!

There is more to listening than just stopping and looking at the person.  Too often, we listen only to answer.  We are not really hearing what they are saying.  I KNOW that I have done this before, too many times.  I have to catch myself almost daily and tell myself to actually listen to what people need and what they want to say.  I am guilty of thinking while they are talking instead of listening to their entire thought.  I listen so that I can look smart and give them a profound answer. 

Answers are NOT needed for every question, Dan Greer (did I just quote myself?  YES is did!!)  Sometimes we just need to listen and let others know that have been heard. 

I had a manager in the past that would stop me mid-sentence and then insert his answer.  To the problem.  Most of the time it wasn’t even what I was talking about.  It was extremely aggregating to have that happen.  it didn’t take me long to realize that he was not a Leader he was a boss.  He wasn’t my boss for very long.  I left that position to find a better one with a real leader.

Are people leaving your department regularly?  It might be something as simple as your listening skills.  If your people don’t feel heard, they don’t feel appreciated.  Take a few moments today and listen to everyone that walks through your door.  When you answer the phone ask them how their day is going and actually listen to them.    Ask them questions that pertain to the conversation.  Don’t try to steer the conversation to the questions you want to ask, ask questions that pertain to the conversation. 

I have also had employees who have not been good at listening.  As a leader that is extremely aggregating.  Kids seem to listen to their parents about ½ the time if we are lucky.  As an employee, it is just as important as a leader to listen.  If your supervisor talks, you should be listening.  If you are asked to go to a specific client, don’t hesitate, don’t say ill get there in a few weeks.  There is a reason why you were asked to go there.  If they ask you to work on a specific spreadsheet and give you specific directions on how to complete it, DO IT THAT WAY.  There is a reason they are asking you to do it a specific way.  If you have better ideas, don’t hesitate to bring them up to your team but don’t just implement them. 

Listening is one of the most important things that we do every day.  Listening is important for everyone.

PS. You should know that I am not perfect and I know that I have listening issues.  When these topics come to me as I write the blogs I take the advice I give to heart every time.  Thank you for taking the time to read.

Living in Fear is no way to live at all

The world today is CRAZY.  Why do we as people hoard material items?  I have been guilty of it, maybe on a smaller scale. Like waiting until the kids go to bed to eat ice cream so, I don’t have to share as much.  Or, hiding a special item so others don’t get to use it.  WHY do we do it?  Because we are scared that we won’t have it.  So what do we do?  We run out and buy massive amounts of items we don’t really need so that we can live in peace that we won’t run out.  For like the next 10 years. 

How do we stop living in fear?  One of the ways that I do it is by giving God those fears.  When I notice that, I’m living in fear of something, like not having enough money in the account to pay bills, or running out of TP.  I take massive action and I give it to GOD.  I stop right then and there and take a few moments to thank him for what he has given me.  I ask that he help me to know that he is in control and that his plan is already in motion.  I ask him to help me learn how to, not have fear for that particular thing.  Almost immediately, either the fear leaves my mind or he gives me a solution that I haven’t thought of before.

There are definitely different ways of alleviating fear from your body, but that is the best way for me. 

Let’s take a moment to discuss why living in fear is horrific for your health, both mental and physical. 

You mental health starts to suffer almost immediately because your brain is overloaded with emotion.  All of your senses are heightened therefore causing more of a mental overload.  Next your mind is operating in hyper speed because you now see, hear, and feel more constantly so your heart rate picks up, causing more mental stress.  Your chest will start hurting (a physical sign, but wait) then your mind starts having more fear over what’s happening to your body. 

Another condition of mental fear is what I mentioned earlier, hoarding.  As people, we tend to be extremely selfish.  We have been since the beginning of time.  That’s why the good lord sent a massive flood to cover the whole earth and wipe out mankind, because of our actions.  Hoarding is something that we all have done in the past at some point in our lives.  It’s something that we do when we are in fear of missing out or not having what we “need.”  What causes us to think, “Man I need to go buy massive amounts of TP because I might not want to go to the store again for a while?”  FEAR is the reason.

You see by living in fear of anything, your mind starts to turn your body into a mess.  It creates symptoms that would have never been there originally.  They one undeniable thing is that your immune system is weakened when you are living in fear.  Therefore, you can contract new ailments easier. 

Satan wins if we live in FEAR.  That’s exactly what he wants, he wants us to be scared so that we stop leaning on God.  He wants us to depend on ourselves instead of leaning on God for everything.  When we lean on God, we have faith and loose the FEAR factor. 

Take a few moments anytime that you start to feel the fear and ask God to help you better understand the situation.  Ask him to help you by taking your fear away.  Living in fear is not living it is surviving.  I don’t want to survive I want to LIVE. 

Take care of yourself!

Take care of yourself!

Have you ever noticed that you struggle to tie your shoes? As if it’s hard to breath when you bend over.  I’ve been there several times in my life.  You know what I did.  Absolutely nothing.  I didn’t realize that my health was effecting my entire life.  Other might have caught it but I didn’t.  I didn’t notice anything other than I didn’t feel as good as I used to. 

Here the thing health is something that we have full control over.  We can choose water of a soda.  We can choose salad over a candy bar.  We can chose to eat better; the fact is that we don’t want to.  Many times, we use those sugar foods as a crutch.  It’s our way of making it through the day.  Our elixir of life if you will. 

Hey I get I’ve been there before, and guess what I’m there now.

One of the things that I have discovered is that the way I eat and the way I feel are associated with my performance.  In addition, before I ventured out on our own, just God and me in the business performance wasn’t as important.  Now that I have to depend on my health and drive to stay alive and pay the bills, I have noticed that if I do a small workout it really helps my energy level for the day. 

Another thing that I noticed is the amount of sleep that I get.  I grew up with the dad of dad’s.  I love you dad but you might have and might still be over exaggerating how much sleep you get.  He was and is a great person but he prided himself on telling people that he got up at 3:30 am and went to bed at 10:30, “just after the news.”  (I didn’t bother to tell him that he could find the same news at 6:30, 830 and 9:30.)  The truth was that yes, my dad did get up early; he didn’t lie about when he got out of bed in the morning.  Shoot he had to milk 2 cows before heading off to work.  Most of the time he started working at 5:30 or 6am and the shop was at least 30 min away.  What he did exaggerate was when he went to sleep.  He always failed to mention when talking to others that he usually slept in the chair from 7:30-10:00 then woke up just long enough to watch the news and went to bed.

Anyways, I grew up thinking that men didn’t need much sleep.  I know better know, my wife taught me that lesson.  Lol.  I have completely changed my schedule in the last year.  I have started making sure that I am in bed or getting ready for bed by 9pm then I get up around 4:30.  I use the first 1.5 hours of my day to get done the important things.  Like wishing happy birthdays to everyone on Facebook, reading scripture, and pounding out a project that would take me a lot longer when I have multiple distractions.  The point is that we all work differently.  I do know that if you are lacking on sleep then you will not be at your peak performance throughout the day.  Do you think that will any brownie points with a client when you sit in a meeting yawning because you went to bed too late, or got up super early just because?  NO, in fact I have witnessed firsthand how much that turns a client off.  I have actually had clients come to me and say, “What’s up with Joe?  Man this stuff must really bore them; I saw then nodding off in during the meeting!” 

So do yourself and your career a favor make sure you get some sleep and take care of yourself.  Don’t pour yourself into anything ever!

Exercise is another key ingredient to a successful day.  If you just walk from your house to your car, then to the office, and sit most of the day, then walk back to your car and back to your house, where you sit and watch TV for the evening you won’t feel very good about yourself.  I know that there are a couple different types of people here.  The ones who work out and are super buff, the ones who are overweight and you know can’t feel good, then there are the ones who are mostly healthy and happy with their bodies. 

I usually fall into between the unhealthy and the almost happy with my body ones.  I know that I could be better and that I could work out more, but I choose to be happy with the way God made me.  When I feel like I can’t breathe when I tie my shoes, I know that I need to step it up a notch. 

Here is my suggestion for exercise, find something that you like to do.  For me its running (I hated running as a kid but now I thoroughly enjoy it).  Start with one time a week find about 20 min to go exercise.  If you feel better move it up to 2 times a week.  Soon you will be doing some sort of exercise every day of the week.

For eating right, you can do a few things as well.  One is to keep a case of water in your vehicle.  I prefer to use reusable water bottles and make sure I have one in my truck every day.  If I have water then I don’t want or need anything else.  Make it a challenge with yourself, no one else needs to know, but see how long you can go without soda, or an energy drink.  The longest I have gone was 5 years, and that was the best I have ever felt about my body.  Also, order a salad at the restaurant instead of a burger.  That has been a huge success for me. 

My tip for sleeping is to be like the birds, when the sun goes down think about finding a great place to roost for the evening, then when the sun comes up you’ll be ready to go.  Don’t pride yourself on how late you can stay up.  Pride yourself on how great you sleep.  Set your alarm and don’t hit snooze.  The second the alarms goes off, slide your feet out of bed and hit the floor running. 

The last thing that I have to say on this to make sure that you set some time aside for you.  A little every day.  It can be tough to do that.  Especially with a family and work, and everything else that life throws at you.  However, if you don’t make it a priority to have a few moments of peace where you can unwind then you will end up in the Dr. office in no time.  Stress and worry is number one killer of people today.  Take a few moments and turn off your phone so that you can really take a break.  The world can wait 10 min for you, trust me.

You only get one body, so take care of it.  Don’t fill it with crap.  I once had a teach tell me you are what you eat.  I didn’t used to put much faith in that, but now I see that they were right.  If you eat a bunch of junk then you feel like junk, but if you keep a healthy diet full of fruits and veggies then you fell so much brighter and ready for the day.

The Truth About Commercial Motor Vehicles

I am going to apologize for this blog before you start to ready it.  This is going to be a ton of facts all thrown at you all at once.  If you make it to the end you are either really interested in DOT or you are one tough dude or dudet. Lol

Let’s start with what is a commercial vehicle? 

The federal government classifies a commercial motor vehicle as any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of over 10,000lbs that is used in interstate commerce.  Ok now what does that really mean?  Here’s the nuts and bolts, if you use a ¾ ton pickup with a GVWR of 10,000lbs then you shouldn’t fall under federal regulations for commercial motor carriers.  Unless you are transporting Hazardous materials.  What happens if you need to pull a trailer behind that same pickup for business?  Now you need to take the GVWR of the pickup and add the GVWR of the trailer together.  For arguments sake let’s say that the pickup’s GVWR is 10,000lbs and the trailers GVWR is 10,000lbs.  Your new Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) is now 20,000 lbs.  You are now a commercial vehicle and must abide by all federal regulations. 

In order to better understand this lets talk about what commerce is.  The United States Government defines commerce as, “All activities of a commercial or business nature between U.S. citizens.  Commerce is not limited to trade but also involves the communication and travel that goes into facilitating trade.  Domestic commerce is trade that happens between entities in the same state.”  To simplify that statement commerce is the act of trying to make money.  Interstate commerce is when you are trying to make money and cross state lines to do so.  INTRAstate commerce is staying within the same state while conducting business or trying to make money.

Did you get all that?

Ok now we are going to make the water even more muddy!!  States have different laws and regulations about commercial motor vehicles (CMV’s).  Colorado says that if you only operate in INTRAstate commerce you are not a CMV until your GCWR is over 16,000lbs.  New Mexico on the other hand states that you are not a CMV until your GCWR is 26,000lbs.  Utah follows federal regulations and says that as soon as your GCWR is 10,000lbs then you’re a CMV.  Oh my gosh what???  Why do they make it so hard to be in compliance? Why cant they just set one standard and follow that standard?  Yeah I don’t get it either. 

Here is a great example of INTERstate vs INTRAstate and how fast it can change.  Lets say that you start a lawn mowing operation after work and on the weekends.  You are operating in New Mexico and own a ¾ ton pickup (GVWR 10,000lbs) and you use a trailer (GVWR, 6,000lbs) to haul your lawn mowers from house to house.  The state laws if you operate in INTRAstate commerce for NM state that you are not a CMV until you reach the 26,000lbs threshold.  Since your GCWR is only 16,000lbs you are not a commercial vehicle.  Business is going great and you decide that you need to expand in to Colorado.  Your trucks are still parked in NM but you drive to Colorado 2 times a week to mow lawns up there.  Those times that you drive in to Colorado you are now operating in INTERstate commerce and since your GCWR is over 10,000lbs you are now a commercial vehicle. 

Wait isn’t Colorado’s CMV regulation that you are NOT a CMV until your GCWR is over 16,000lbs? and your truck and trailer are exactly 16,000lbs so your under the threshold?  Yes, but since you crossed state lines for work so now you fall under federal regulation that stats that you are a CMV if your GCWR is over 10,000lbs. 

That makes it clear as mud! 

Where can I find my Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)?  On most trucks and pickups there is a manufactures sticker on the driver side doorframe.  It will have the VIN and the GVWR listed there. Don’t look at one ¾-ton pickup and think that all of them are going to be same.  It completely depends on the vehicle as well as the year of the vehicle.  The manufacture is the one determining what the GVWR of a vehicle is.  On trailers it there is usually a manufactures tag on the tongue or towards the front of the trailer.  If there is no GVWR on the trailer the next best thing is to contact, the manufacture give them the VIN and ask if they can ship you a new manufactures tag that includes the GVWR.  If you can’t do that then you can take the tire rating (usually found on the sidewall of the tire) and add each tires rating together to find out what the capacity of the trailer is. 

A couple key things to remember, before you operate a vehicle for commerce be sure to check the local and state laws for where you are operating.  Any vehicle used to try to make money, crosses state lines, and has a GVWR over 10,000lbs is considered a CMV and must abide by all Federal Motor Carrier Regulations.  Ultimately, you are responsible for what you do, if you choose not to follow state and federal regulation if you are caught in the end you will be the one who is responsible for the fines among other things that might happen. 

If you have any other questions about this please don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!

The Clearinghouse will it really be worth it?

By now most us have at least heard about the NEW clearinghouse that the federal government put into effect on Jan 6^th 2020.  There is a lot of different “facts” floating around out there about this.  Rest assured we are here to help you understand what this is and how it really works.  Let’s not wait any longer to get into all of this excitement.

With one of the transportation acts passed by the Obama administration came the Clearinghouse.  The Clearinghouse is completely new and does not currently take any regulations away from the industry.  In fact, it adds a step for the next 3 years.  Starting January 6^th 2020 if you hire a new CDL driver you must conduct a FULL Query through the clearinghouse and those results must be negative.  If you fail to conduct a query before allowing them to operate a CMV for you then you might be faced with a critical violation in the event of an audit, or even worse in the event of litigation it could be construed as negligence. 

The first thing you need to do is set up your employer account with the Clearinghouse.  It will ask that you tie your portal account to your clearinghouse account.

Wait, what’s a portal account?  Don’t stress if you don’t have a portal account we would be more than happy to help you get one set up.  The first thing you need is your DOT number.  Next grab your DOT Pin number.  Don’t know what that is!  No worries just go to https://cms8.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/request-pin-number and work through the process.  If you would like help, just let us know we are more than happy to help you. 

Why is this a good thing for industry?  These queries cost $1.25.  That’s pretty cheap, I know that it’s a high price if you’re hiring lots of employees but in the end it will still save you money.  The clearinghouse is going to alleviate the pain of sending out background checks to previous employers for the past 3 years. 

Here’s the details on that.  This year you still have to send out background checks for the past 3 years of employers, then next year you only have to send out background checks for the previous 2 years.  Then the next year 2022, you only have to send out previous background checks for 1 year.  Finally, by 2023 you won’t have to send out the annoying background checks to previous employers.  That’s AWESOME and going to save the industry so much time and effort. 

My opinion is that the government should have opened the clearinghouse up to consortiums and third party administrators for 3 years then had industry start pulling query’s.  But hey, I’m not as smart as the federal government, I’m just a good ole boy trying to make living lol….

There is a difference between a full and partial query.  A full query must be pulled for all NEW drivers prior to operating CMV’s for your company.  Full queries have to be approved by the driver.  If the driver selected email as their primary contact then the clearinghouse will send them an email immediately after a full query is requested.  If the driver does not respond to the query, you cannot allow them to drive for you.  If the results come back with any infractions then as an employer you must ensure that a negative Return To Duty (RTD) has been completed.  If they never completed a RTD then you can allow them to operate CMV’s until a negative RTD is recorded. 

A partial query must be conducted on every driver every year.  You must have a signed release from the employee prior to pulling these.  My suggestion is to tie these to your annual review process.  You can just add this to when you pull MVR’s and the certificate of violations.  If a partial query comes back with any infractions then a full query must be pulled. 

Oh man, that’s a ton of information in a short amount of time.  If you have any questions about the clearinghouse, the FMCSA portal, or shoot if you just want to talk about our other services, don’t hesitate to call us.  We are here to help make sure you are covered when it comes to DOT.

Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 NIV

This scripture really touched my heart.  How often when things start to get tough and we start to suffer do we turn to God and say, “What did I do to deserve this” or “I really tried to listen to you, but I feel that I didn’t get the point.”  So often, we turn to God when times are tough to ask him for guidance and to take away our suffering.  The way I take these verses are that it is only through suffering that we can learn perseverance, gain our true charter, and hope so big that we can’t help but be happy.

Wow, that was awesome!

Let’s break down these verses even more.  What is perseverance?  I grew up in the grange where they always prayed for perseverance.  To me perseverance is when you don’t give up.  Angela Duckworth would call it “Grit.”  The ability to stick with something even when things do go as easily as expected.  Faith requires perseverance, being an employee requires perseverance, being the leader requires perseverance, being a parent requires perseverance.  I think you get the point, life requires that we have perseverance, or grit.  Never giving up is huge.  I have been listening regularly to the podcast, “Born to Impact.”  These guys are amazing and constantly talk about what it means to have perseverance.  They use the analogy of a person who hits a rock 99 times and it never breaks, then he swings the 100^th time and the rock breaks open and is full of amazing beauty.  If you don’t have perseverance and gave up at swing 99, you would have never found the true treasure. 

Let’s move on to character.  I consider character to be how we act, and react to every situation that God places in our lives.  Our character is formed by the events that happen for us.  The way we act on those situations shows our true character.  Ill bet that we have been in a situation where our boss was not a a nice guy.  Maybe we gave him a reason not to be nice to us, maybe we didn’t.  the fact is that we don’t like our current situation.  We have the option to allow our character to be one who goes around talking about them behind their backs, or we can bring it up to them and ask how we can fix the situation.  The point here is that our character is what makes the difference.  How is our character formed?  By the situations, God has led us through and our actions during those times.  Character is something that can change over time in everyone.  We have the ability to grow into the person we are truly supposed to be.

Hope!  How would you describe hope?  To me Hope is the ability to have faith that things will turn out great.  Even in those situations where we KNOW beyond any doubt that it will never work out, having faith that it will work out.  Hope is the ability to see the good in others when no one else does.  Hope is the light of the world.  Hope believes that humanity will take the righteous actions.  Hope can be anything you want it to be as long as you believe in it.  Hope is knowing that no matter what God has my life and yours under control.  All we have to do is sit back, work like heck, and trust that God is guiding the ship in the direction he needs it to go. 

The last part of these verses are the hardest for me.  They say that it is only through suffering that we can gain all of these things.  Why are we so, for lack of better words, dumb, that we have to suffer to gain perspective in this?  God knows our path, he knows us before we are even born, he knows us better than we know ourselves.