Bends in the Road

I have known a few places that were close to where I was living at the time where someone was driving impaired and failed to make the turn.  In most cases it there was death involved.  This driving was totally preventable, however, the prevention wasn’t taken seriously.
Life can hand us our fair share of rough patches.  I am sure you have had to deal with low spots in your life.  How do you handle those low spots?  That is a real question to think about.  This dilemma brings us to this week’s quote…

A bend in the road is not the end of the road ... unless you fail to make the turn.  ~ Author Unknown

Turns in the road should not keep us from still making accomplishments that we have set before us. 
What does your turn look like?  A simple knot or a complicated “Boy Scout” knot?  Either way, a knot can keep us from getting to point B in life.  We should really examine this quote by looking at our challenges as opportunities. 
Don’t fail to make the turn!  Continue to the end of the road.

Pleasing the Father

As I sat down to write this today, I was thinking how to start and I thought about one of the songs that we’ve been playing before assembly…”Let Us Worship” on our Praise & Harmony CD.  The first lines of the stanzas are…

Let us worship the Father
Sing your praise to the Father
Lift your hands to the Father
Let us worship the Father

Chorus:
And we will glorify
We will glorify the Lord (We will glorify)
And we will glorify
We will glorify the Lord

It has a great upbeat tempo that just gets your toes to tapping and being excited about the opportunity that is before us each day and each minute to join in with Him with some exciting things!

Yesterday, we looked at Matthew 3:13-17 examining how Jesus was pleasing to His Father, in more ways than just being baptized, but it was mentioned in this passage. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

Count Your Blessings ~ God is a giver of good things.  Our determination of “good” may sometimes differ, though.  However, even in your definition of good, think about all the good things that you have in your life and then thank Him for them.  Appreciation is pleasing to the Father!

Take Time for Him ~ Take some time each day to pray, listen to praise, do a service project, or something else that may take your mind off of yourself and reflect on to Him or doing something for someone else.  Jesus was a servant (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45) so doing a service project is reflecting Him. Reflecting Him is pleasing to the Father!

Do Pleasing Things ~ Doing things that are pleasing to Him will definitely please Him! Again, it is not always activities or things that please us.  However, most of us know that about any “good” thing is going to be pleasing to Him.  Go out and share how He has changed your life…that will definitely please Him…and maybe please someone else as an added benefit!

Sometimes it can be difficult to appreciate what others have done when there are so many great things they have done for you.  Family, like parents, can often be overlooked and underappreciated.  Similarly, the Father in heaven can be underappreciated.  Take time to appreciate and please Him as you go about your day!

Is Freedom Free?

Most of us have seen a phrase that closely resembles this…Freedom Isn’t Free.  Around that phrase you will typically find a picture of someone who has spared their life so we could be free – most often a patriotic picture of a soldier. 

You could take that phrase and apply it to Jesus by thinking of Him as giving his life for our freedom. Which, in order for something to be free there was someone who paid a price before.  When you think about freebies you receive at a place like a fair, the sponsor had to pay for it in order to give it away.  So, is freedom free?

I am going to go in a different direction and say that freedom is free.  Specifically, freedom in Christ.  It is free to you to take advantage of.  It is free to you to decide whether or not you are going to commit.  It is like a piece of money that you see on the ground.  You decide whether or not you are going to pick it up or leave it there.

When we lived in Illinois our church had a once-a-week preschool.  When I moved there we charged $10.00 per child for the whole year.  Ridiculously cheap!  Sometimes things are so cheap or free that we cannot find the value in it.  Take fashion, for example, if a line of fashion came out that cost a fraction of the high-end prices, you’d probably think they were cheaply made.  We typically find value in something that costs more.  Many material things in this world are like that – cars, houses, watches, technology, etc.

When it came to our preschool, it was probably so cheap that some people that were not familiar with it, probably didn’t find the value that it held.  If it would have cost $10.00 per month, at least, maybe it would have felt like there was more value in it.  So, not everyone took advantage of the opportunity that was before them.

Back to that "money on the street” example.  If you didn’t pick it up, someone else is bound to.  Someone else is going to take advantage of gaining a bit of wealth.  When it comes to a freedom that is found in Christ, if you don’t take advantage of it, you lose out.

In order to have the freedom, someone may have to die; to take advantage of that freedom, someone has to act.  Unlike our American freedom, which once we are born, we possess, Christian freedom is a choice.

Aside from someone dying to give us our freedoms, I challenge you to think about how freedom in Christ is totally free.  You can leave it for the next person or you can pick it up and share it with the next person.  That way, you can have the benefit and so can the next person.

Is freedom free?  In this case, YES!  The real question is, have you or will you take advantage of acquiring freedom in Christ?

Parents: Positive Role Models

Our culture is filled with many positive messages out there, unfortunately, many of the negative messages will overshadow the positive ones. Messages of body image, being the most talented, and even glamorizing the use of alcohol and cigarettes can definitely fall into the negative category.

Even before I became a parent I had in mind that, as parents, you impact the future, through your kids, by how you act around them.  That could be how you deal with your marriage, your social skills, your work ethic, or your relational skills.  You set the precedence on how your children will be.  You determine if they are comfortable in certain situations or not.  You dictate much of their future, including being a positive role model.  This brings us to this week’s quote…

The best way to raise positive children in a negative world is to have positive parents who love them unconditionally and serve as excellent role models.  ~ Zig Ziglar

Being a parent has taught me that it is very easy to get wrapped up in my every day life.  I get caught up in my day to day activities and can lose a day before I realize it.  I hate it when I do realize it because the day is already past.

I hope that what my wife and I are doing with our children will create them to be positive kids and, eventually, adults.  I hope that we will have a positive impact on their view of body image, using their talents, and de-glamorizing the use of alcohol and cigarettes, as well as, a host of other things.

Want to have positive kids in a negative world…be a positive parent!

It’s About Winning

Just about any venture I involve myself into I want to win/succeed. This is especially true when it comes to sports. Though I learned to relax a bit when I was in college playing coed softball with less than athletic females. However, each time I am involved I want to win.  It doesn't matter if is sports, designing something or delivering a sermon, I hope to do well. When that doesn't happen I am my worst critique to improve the next time.

I would guess that many of you are similar. You hope to improve each time you venture into an area. You don't aim to lose or even close to last. Yesterday, for Father's Day, we looked at the concept of winning by examining a few scriptures. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

1. Pursue Victory ~ if you are like me, you enjoy winning and doing well. An old saying goes "that its easier to calm down a fire than start one". By that I mean if your pursuing something positive, continue. Go after what will make you victorious.
2. Enjoy the Circle ~ Too often life can cause us to see the fog instead of the objects.  We get wrapped up in the fog of problems, irritations, frustrations, failures, etc., instead of looking at the great things we have before us.  As Christians, we have the luxury of being able to be in the “winner’s circle” as we are heirs of greatness.  Enjoy it!
3. Promote Your Team ~ When a team is successful, people want to be a part of that team.  It is usually going to be evident as people will be purchasing/wearing that team's apparel.  Plus, conversations will involve talking/sharing about that team.  As you are on God’s team, which is the greatest one ever, who are you going to share that great news with?

Want to win?  We all probably do.  In the Christian race, there is the potential that everyone wins.  However, not all will, based on their choice.  What is your choice?  I choose to make sure that I cross the finish line “on the right team” because “it’s about winning”!

Getting Beyond the Pain

I can remember a time when I felt THE worst pain in my muscles I had ever felt.  Most of the time whenever I would exercise the pain would not show up until the following day – after that good night’s sleep.  This was the first and only time I had felt this type of pain only about an hour or two after the activity.  The cause…a piece of rehabilitation equipment called a Biodex.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the type of exercise that creates the soreness is called a negative contraction.  Most contractions in muscles cause the muscle to shorten. A negative contraction is where the muscle is contracted and is actually being forced to lengthen.

When I was being shown how this piece of rehabilitation equipment works, like a dummy, I climbed up on the chair.  The feature I was being shown was that I had to pull back when the device was in one position – then the machine would push out while I was trying to hold it.  Thus, elongating my hamstring muscle group, while contracted. Then, when the leg was straight, I had to kick out.  The machine, then, would pull my leg back.  Thus elongating my quadriceps muscle group.

Doing these about ten times created this unbelievable soreness.  I had a hard time walking up stairs that evening…it was almost unbearable!  That brings us to this week’s quote…

The man who can drive himself further, once the effort gets painful is the one who will win.  ~Roger Bannister

I have been in the midst of fighting through pain, even if I didn’t receive first place when it was all said and done.  However, this type of pain is not always about muscular pain, or the like.  Maybe it is pain to keep going with your job, with being a parent, with being a spouse, to keep going through high school, or to continue with any commitment.

A winner isn’t always defined as a person who comes in first.  A winner can be that in character.  They can be the hero that allows something great to happen.

Fight through the pains in life…and you’ll come out a winner!

Doing What Comes Natural

What comes natural to you?  Of course, it would depend on what context one was speaking.  You come upon an emergency where your neighbor’s house is on fire.…what comes natural for you to do?

• Go on, for you are on a schedule?
• Stop and see if you can help?
• Go over to the house, hollering their names to make sure they are alright?
• Go in to see if you can see anyone?
• Call 911 before you find out anything, for you just want to help?
• All of the above?
• None of the above?

We all have situations in which we will do what comes natural to you.  Each one of us is different.  We all do things differently.  That doesn’t necessarily make us wrong, just different.

What about if that scenario wasn’t as tangibly life threatening?  Then, how’d you react?  Think about this…your neighbor’s soul is about to catch on fire, what will you do?  What comes natural for you?

• Go on, for you are on a schedule?
• Stop and see if you can help?
• Go over to the person, making sure they are alright?
• Hope someone else is asking them about their soul?
• Send a “911” prayer before you find out anything, for you just want to help?
• All of the above?
• None of the above?

This “natural” thing that you do may not have any helpful effect on them at all.  They may end up “burning” because you didn’t do anything.  However, we all have natural abilities that can help save someone.  In I Peter 4:10-11 we find that Peter is wanting his recipients to do what comes natural to save people.

We all have some type of natural ability or talent that can be used to share Him with others. If you like to eat, then use a meal as a catalyst to share Him.  If you like to text, use that.  If you like to visit personally, use that.  If you like to fix cars, use that.  If you like to write creatively, use that.  If you like to play sports, use that…the list could go on and on and on.

We just need to do what comes naturally to you and do that!