Awestruck

My pastor told our congregation Sunday, "the word awesome is overused."  Back in his day, awesome was reserved for talking about God.  He went on to say people who were awestruck were filled with wonder of God's presence.  "Every Sunday Heaven and earth meet at the altar," he said.  His words were sinking in as he walked away slowly from the pulpit. 

I hope I never overuse the word awesome.  Yes, I do feel God's presence in my daily life.  It's in the people he places around me.   It's in nature.  It's in the Holy Spirit.  Mountains are moving.  All of this is for God's glory.  I'm awestruck.  May your day be awesome and may you feel God's presence in your life.

Look Back Without Staring

Does your past haunt you?  Maybe you're staring at ghosts.  Perhaps the skeletons in your closet are rattling you.  I like to think of my past as a rear view mirror.  As long as I use the rear view mirror for an occasional glance when I need a reminder about how I dealt with a difficult situation while keeping my eyes focused on what lies ahead, I can avoid living in the past.

If you find yourself staring at a past memory, ask yourself why.  Find the lesson and learn so you can move forward.  I'll give you an example from my personal life.  Someone close to me hurt me deeply and this caused some terrible pain.  The hurts turned into grudges.  The grudges weighed so much  I couldn't move forward.  I refused to turn around because I didn't want to relive the pain so I just kept looking forward, trying not to acknowledge what happened.  "The past is the past," I would tell my brain.  My body knew otherwise.  My body could feel weight, like an anchor attached to a slab of concrete.  It wasn't easy but I finally let go of the grudges.  It was the day I learned the meaning of forgiveness.  The past no longer had any power of me.  Every now and then I glance in the rear view mirror to make sure I'm not dragging anything along that might slow me down.  Give it a try.  Have a great day.

How to Deal with Intimidating Situations

That's my inanimate friend and traveling companion, Bro, pictured above with the bear.  Fortunately for Bro, the bear is stuffed and Bro won't be on the dinner menu.  There are times, though, when we may find ourselves in unfriendly territory or intimidating situations and we don't know whether to choose fight or flight.  That surge of adrenaline kicking in is meant to help us no matter which option we choose.

I find one of the best ways to get out of trouble is to understand why the person in front of you is so angry or upset.  If you look closely at the photo above, you will see the bear is trapped and he can't escape.  Wouldn't you be angry if you were in a similar predicament?  The next time you encounter an unfriendly bear, ask questions to determine where the anger is coming from.  A little empathy goes a long way.  You may find a solution that frees your bear from the source of all the frustration.  You may even become friends with your attacker.  Give it a try and see if you can bounce back from intimidating situations as well as my buddy, Bro, did with our day job mascot...

Bro is a champion at bouncing back.  If he can do it, you can do it.  Have a great day.

Next Adventure is 7 Days Away

It's the moment my team has been waiting for ever since our loss in the quarterfinals at last year's regional tournament.  I returned home and went in to surgery the following Monday at 8:08 AM on 8/08 to repair a sports related inguinal hernia.  Thanks to modern technology, my repairs were easy to recover from and I was back on the courts three weeks later.  Our team captain drew up a plan to come back stronger and better one year later and that time is now.  We're ready.  I feel better than ever.  Last year's defeat was painful because it came down to just a couple of points.  It's time for our mulligan.  Winner goes to Suprise in October.  I'll keep you posted.  These next seven days are going to be super busy leading up to our trip to Oklahoma.  Have a great day.

The Mind, Body, Spirit Connection

If you're feeling off balance today, perhaps it's a good day to check your alignment.  It's similar to the wheels on your vehicle.  When the alignment isn't right, you have excessive wear and a bumpy ride.  Your mind, body and spirit need to be on the same page.  Pay attention to all three.  Have a great day.

Happy Wednesday

This blog message, like the other Monday thru Friday messages this week, has been prerecorded so I can complete my temporary out-of-state assignment without missing my daily connection to you.  I'm sitting in my walkout basement right now with my loyal companion, Roxy, a six pound Chihuahua from Mexico, while my wife is upstairs washing the dishes.  She's cranking up the volume on my Best of Styx CD, a gift one of my sisters gave me for my birthday last month.  Fooling Yourself is blaring.  This was my go to song I played in my bedroom as a teenager.  Forty years later, the music still inspires me.  The one thing that's changed since I first heard this song is I managed to let go of all my anger.

The next song just came on – Show me the Way.  "Give me the strength and the courage to get there some day", the lyrics plea.  And that's what I'm asking for right now.  There's so much work to be done on this Happy Wednesday.  Song 3 is playing now – Renegade.  "Hangman is coming from the gallows and I don't have very long."  It's time to close out this story and complete the "honey do" list before I depart in the morning.  It's only appropriate that the final song playing during this message is Come Sail Away.  "A gathering of angels appeared above my head.  They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said, 'come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me.'"

Sail on, amigo.  Have a happy Wednesday.  And if your anger is anchoring you, cut it now.  It's time to come sail away.

Why Detours are Okay

I'm officially one trimester late with my third book and this pregnancy is nowhere close to being over.  I'm okay with this.  Yes, it's true... I'm a type A personality with a broken compass.  Jesus took away my road map and told me to enjoy the detour.  I am.  I'm going places I never imagined I would visit in my lifetime and I'm meeting some rather extraordinary people along the way.

Thank you for being patient with me.  God is still fine tuning me for his purposes and this next book will be released when all the pieces of the puzzle are in place.  Have a great day.