Negative vs. Positive

Two types of voices command your attention today. Negative ones fill your mind with doubt, bitterness, and fear. Positive ones purvey hope and strength. Which one will you choose to heed?  Max Lucado

Did you know that it takes approximately 10 positive statements to counteract a single negative one? If you think back over your life, can you remember the positive things someone said to you or the negative? 

I don’t know about you, but I can vividly remember the times someone said something negative to me or about me.  I can picture in my mind the individual who said it and even where I was at the time it was said.  The positive ones are harder to recall.

So this is what happens.  Someone says something negative to you about the way you do your job, the grades you get in school or the way you drive and it sticks with you like chewing gum on the bottom of your shoe.  That negative statement said to you out of anger from another person can color the rest of your life.

I remember to this day the time a former boss told me I would never amount to anything.  She was angry because I was leaving the position with her company so she wanted to make sure I knew that she thought I was a failure.  Then there were the kids in school who told me I was skinny or just plain inadequate to their way of thinking. 

So if you take the negative things that people say to you and take them to heart, you will eventually believe it. 

I am an observer of people.  I find it interesting to watch how they treat each other.  It happens with kids, parents, siblings, coworkers, bosses and spouses.  I like to watch the eyes because that is where you will read true emotions.  The eyes will tell the story of the pain behind the bravado and putting up a good front. 

One of the greatest lessons I ever learned came later in life.  That lesson is God is the only one I should be concerned about when it comes to what He thinks of me.  He is the most important.  If I know He loves me, then the hurtful things others say about me or to me no longer matter.  The problem comes in when you are younger.  When we are younger we take things to heart.  Children are especially vulnerable because if they are never told of God’s love for them they begin to believe the negative. 

I am guilty of saying negative things to others.  The critical thing about saying negative things to others when we are angry is that we don’t glorify God.  Can you imagine standing before God one day and He looks down at you and says He is disappointed in you because you broke others down instead of lifting them up? There are times when we need to confront others with the negative but it should always be done in love never in anger.       

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of breaking others down with negative comments.  When I do that it doesn’t glorify You and I ask for your forgiveness.  Building others up and showing them Your love should be my first priority.  I am so thankful you didn’t put me in charge because I don’t always do a good job of showing others Your love.

Scripture: Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.  But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  Colossians 3:12-17

Let It Go

We need to follow our Lord's admonition to remember Lot's wife, for she was one who did not forget her possessions even in a time of the greatest peril. She was not guilty of having retraced a single step towards Sodom. All she did was look back. But how revealing was that backward glance! Does it not speak volumes concerning the condition of her heart?  Watchman Nee

Have you determined yet that you need to let it go? By letting go I mean we have to learn to let go of things.  Too many times I think our perspective of what is ours is skewed.  We start to think that we own our house, car, furniture and even children.  The concept of ownership is taught to us from a young age.  It is like we are all children in a giant sandbox trying to one up each other.  We want what the other child has so we do whatever it takes to obtain it, including boxing them over the head with our sand pail. 

I’ve spent the majority of my life obtaining things.  Why?  When I die none of those things are going with me.  It’s kind of like reading a book that doesn’t have an adequate ending.  You are left hanging wondering why it didn’t end differently.  That is how possessions can overtake our lives. 

If we ever get the proper understanding of what stuff is, we will never feel discontentment.  We will be content with what we have in life.  There is peace in that place.  If I am content with what I have and let go of the hold it has on me, there is a peace that surpasses worldly understanding.  The anxiety of not having or obtaining something will be gone. 

If our hand is open with the things we think we own, God will provide for all our needs.  The thing we have to remember is some things are needs and others are wants.  He doesn’t say he will provide for all our wants.

Are you holding onto things that you think bring you happiness or trying to obtain something you don’t have?  Every time I do that I am disappointed.  When I am content with the things God has already given me and am not constantly searching for something new to add to my pile of stuff, peace will overflow in my life.        

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You have blessed my life beyond measure.  Remind me that I am not the owner of my things.  I am a steward of everything you provide in my life.  Help me to handle Your things wisely and to let them go.  I am forever grateful for Your influence in my life.  I praise You above all others.    

Scripture:  Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good?  No one is good but One, that is, God.  But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth.  What do I still lack?”

Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Matthew 19:16-22

Big Yellow Taxi

No man who is fit to live need fear to die. To us here, death is the most terrible thing we know. But when we have tasted its reality it will mean to us birth, deliverance, a new creation of ourselves. It will be what health is to the sick man; what home is to the exile; what the loved one given back is to the bereaved. As we draw near to it a solemn gladness should fill our hearts. It is God's great morning lighting up the sky. Our fears are the terror of children in the night. The night with its terrors, its darkness, its feverish dreams, is passing away; and when we awake it will be into the sunlight of God.  Thomas Fuller

I had another dream last night, or I should say early this morning.  I dreamed I missed the school bus.  You know how in the early hours of the morning you go into what they call REM sleep.  You know what I am talking about.  Rapid Eye Movement sleep.  I call it RLM because in this dream I was running to catch the bus and I missed it so it was more like Rapid Leg Movement. 

So I am dreaming that the school bus was going to pull up at any minute at school, but I forgot something and ran back to get it.  Have you ever noticed that when you are in a hurry, everything and everyone else slows to a crawl?   I am not sure why I had to run down the bleachers, but as I am running I look over and see one of my uncles sleeping in the bleachers.  I am not sure if this was to remind me not to be caught sleeping when the big yellow taxi pulls into the station, but that is a possibility.  When I returned to the pickup location the bus (or big yellow taxi) had pulled away and was down the street turning the corner. 

We were all kids at one time and if you never rode a school bus it can make a kid panic if you miss it.  For a kid it is like the end of the world.  There is not another bus that is going to come along and pick you up 15 minutes later.  The bus you ride is the only one that is going to take you home.  You can’t get on the next bus in the line and get home.  That bus will take you somewhere else and maybe somewhere you don’t want to go. 

So back to my dream.  When I missed the bus I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone.  The really weird part (I know you are laughing now because this whole thing is weird), was that back in the day when I went to school we didn’t even have cell phones so this dream covers multiple generations.  So I pull my cell phone out and call my Dad.  Instead of the phone ringing it started playing a Willie Nelson song.  So I am thinking, is this the right phone number because my Dad doesn’t like Willie Nelson music.  In the midst of me making this phone call I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen.  I don’t know if I thought I could catch another bus in the kitchen or what, but I thought I was late again.  When I get to the kitchen I glance at my phone and it is 3:30am. When I finally came to my senses, I went back to bed but I couldn’t go back to sleep.  Imagine that.  So yet again, I started thinking about God and this is what I came up with.

There is only one bus that goes to heaven.  We all want to be on that bus because the other bus is not one we want to take. Time is ticking away for us to get on the right bus and we must be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. I want to be in line when the bus pulls up to my stop.  I don’t want to be running around chasing worldly things. 

There is an old hymn that we sang in church that puts this all into perspective for me.  The hymn was called “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder I’ll be There”.  I will be standing in line waiting for the big yellow taxi to pull to a stop and when the doors open I will run on and take a seat.  I can’t imagine a nicer ride.     

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.  Words & Music by James M. Black

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, there are times when I dream strange things.  One of the things that I so enjoy is thinking about You in everything I do.  Thinking about You brings me joy and I see You in everything, even my weird dreams.  Thank You for loving me enough to give me a way back to You.  When the roll is called I want to be in the Lambs Book of Life and live with You for eternity.       

Scripture:  He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.  Revelation 3:5

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  Revelation 3:19-21

A Time for Everything

Trials should not surprise us, or cause us to doubt God's faithfulness. Rather, we should actually be glad for them. God sends trials to strengthen our trust in him so that our faith will not fail. Our trials keep us trusting; they burn away our self-confidence and drive us to our Saviour.  Edmund Clowney

I was reading Ecclesiastes 3 and the verse that stuck with me was in verse one (“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.”)  What does that mean?

This is what I think it means.  There is a season for everything.  That means that we are going to have many seasons in our lives and some of those seasons will be good and some will be bad. 

So here is an example from my life of a bad season.  The worst season of my life was cancer. At the time I didn’t think that was purposed for my good. What happened was in time I thanked God for that season.  Why?  In the current season of my life I thank Him for willing that to happen in my life because it drew me closer to Him.  I was going through life not thinking much about God at all and then “cancer”.  If you want something to get your attention that one did it for me. 

Each of us during our lifetime will go through many seasons and every one of us can probably remember the season that was the worst.  It might me the failure of a business, the loss of a spouse, loss of a job, the list is endless.  There is an unlimited supply in this world of bad seasons.  When we are in the bad season is when we should turn to Him and lay it at His feet.  He is the only One who can bring us to the other side of that season and help us to understand the value of it in our life. 

I heard a woman who had survived breast cancer say that she didn’t understand how anyone could consider cancer a blessing.  I have to say I consider it God’s favor on me.  He loved me enough to allow me to suffer so that I could get a true picture of Who He is, but my thankfulness didn’t come until a later season in life where I was not in the midst of chemo, lost hair and illness.  In the proper season His purpose was revealed to me and what a blessing it has been in my life. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You know what is best for me and I give my life to You to do as You will.  Take me and mold me into what You want me to be.  I am nothing without You.  You have blessed me over and over again during the hard seasons of my life.  You have also blessed me with good seasons.  I praise You for the tough times that teach me to love You more. 

Scripture:  Everything Has Its Time

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:  A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck what is planted;  A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up;  A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance;  A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to throw away; A time to tear, And a time to sew; A time to keep silence, And a time to speak;  A time to love, And a time to hate; A time of war, And a time of peace.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Pops & Ladies at the Door

Our love to God is measured by our everyday fellowship with others and the love it displays.  Andrew Murray

Last week we were in Houston with some 350 other vendors selling the products we make.  If you have never experienced an event of this size I will give you a picture of what goes on behind the scenes. 

The event started on Wednesday night but we had to set up our booth on Monday and Tuesday.  The first three days you have a different colored pass to get you into the event.  One color allows you into the dock, another into the garage and another into a specific parking area. 

There are always many workers out in the lots directing eighteen wheelers, trucks, trailers and people in all directions.  The first day we drove up there was a gentleman who worked for Reliant who was manning the front gate into parking.  The first day he saw my Dad they bonded.  I think it was a God bond because he blessed us every time we drove in.  He said it made his day because my Dad was always smiling.  So every day when we drove up he would call out to my Dad, “Hey Pops, how’s it going today?”  One of my favorite things to do is watch how people are affected by how you treat them.  Every day this gentleman blessed us by letting us park close to the building.  On Sunday, Mom and Dad went to church and didn’t get to the stadium until after 1:00pm so as you can imagine there were no parking spaces available, or so we thought.  When my Dad drove in this same gentleman was at the gate and he said his usual, “Hey Pops, how’s it going today?” This same gentleman told my Dad to wait as there were clearly no empty spaces available and when that happens, you could be parked up to a mile away from the stadium.  So the attendant takes off down an aisle and talks to another parking attendant and then returns to my Dad and tells him to follow the other parking attendant.  They took my Dad over close to the building and moved some cones and let my Dad park near the building.

Another incident was at the entrance to the convention center.  We all had to wear badges or they wouldn’t allow us into the building.  There were always two employees at the entrances to check badges.  We saw these same two older ladies every day.  One of the ladies reminded me of my grandma.  She called me baby every time she saw me.  On the third day of the event my sister and I decided to take a couple of our products and put them in gift bags to take to the ladies at the entrance.  I must say that my Mom and Dad’s business is the first company I have ever worked with or for, where I have the opportunity to give something away without having to go through the chain of command.  I don’t have to go find my manager, check with my supervisor or ask the president if I can give a candle to a cancer survivor or ask if it is ok to give free product to someone in need.  You would have thought we gave these two ladies a sack of gold.  They hugged us and thanked us over and over again.  One of the ladies turned to us and said “Love will be returned to you and God bless you.”

There was a third incident that occurred with my Mom. We had a lady and her friends come into our booth and she and Mom were talking.  She told my Mom that this time last year she had suffered a stroke and could not walk or talk.  She was standing in our booth walking and talking.  That is a God miracle.  My Mom turned to her and said we are going to give you a candle and she hugged her.  The lady started crying in our booth.  She couldn’t even speak she was so overwhelmed. 

This is what it is all about.  God intends for us to touch others through Him and when we do, He is glorified.  God has blessed my parents business beyond measure and I think the reason lies in how we treat people who come to our booth. It is not about the money and how much we sell or how much inventory we move.  God can and will exceed our expectations if we will allow Him to work through us on His behalf.            

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You amaze me.  The more I see You at work in my life the more I love and adore You.  The people we meet may or may not be Christians, but we are all in need of a Savior and I pray that You will allow others to see You by the way I treat them.  If they can see a reflection of You in some small gesture I make, I praise You for that blessing.      

Scripture:   “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”  John 13:33-36

A Shining Light

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine.  D.L. Moody

It is so good to be back with you.  I missed my time with you last week.  We were at an event last week for my parent’s business and I have many stories to share with you.

Have you ever thought about how you show the world God’s light?  God intends for each of us to be a light to show others who He is and in the process He will be glorified. 

Many years ago we would spend several weeks every summer with some of our family in Austin.  I have an aunt who would take all of us (by all of us I mean 7 kids ranging in age from 9 to 13) to various sites around Austin.  Aunt May would take us to the State Capitol, to museums and we even went to Inner Space Caverns.  My aunt was a brave soul to take 7 kids on these trips.

One of my favorites was the Inner Space Caverns.  The Texas Highway Department found the caverns while drilling and they turned it into a park.  You would buy a ticket and a tour guide would take you down into the caverns where you could see all types of rock formations.  The tour guide would take you down into the middle of the caves and then they would turn the lights out.  If you have ever heard the term “pitch black” that is the best way to describe it.  You could put your hand in front of your face and see nothing.  It was a scary feeling. It was startling when they turned the lights back on.   

I thought about that long ago trip and it made me think about God and His Light. He is glorified when we show others His Light by the way we treat each other.  When we see someone in need and offer help His Light shines.  If we show kindness to someone who has harmed us, His Light is revealed.  If we are to ever truly understand what living in the Light is all about, we must step out in faith and reflect that very thing to others.

Are you hiding your light under a bushel or are you a light to the world? We have to look outside of ourselves to shine our light.  You can live in darkness or be a light to the world.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be a light to the world.  The only way I can do that is to set aside self and do for others.  In a world where kindness is sorely lacking in the majority of people, help me to show others who You are by my daily actions.  When people see Your Light shining in me, I pray that You will be glorified.

Scripture: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:14-16

Surveys

The God who is worthy to be known and served for who He is, is Himself the answer to this world's longings. And those who know Him best are best equipped to serve Him. He is their message. If we have discovered the glory of God in the face of Christ, we must not hold back. The God of glory must be made known.  Tom Wells

One of my responsibilities at work is to sell my bosses sports tickets if he decides not to use them. This week I had tickets to sell so I went onto the website to list the tickets. The problem is when I went out to sell the tickets certain “enhancements” had been done on the website.  By enhancements, I mean they changed the way the screen looks so that it is unrecognizable.  So I have tickets and a parking pass to sell.  In the process you are required to print your tickets, (which allows you to download them to your computer), and then you can upload them onto the site to sell. 

So I am moving through the site reading all the new screens and one of the newer screens is one where it requires you to look at each uploaded ticket and select a button that says “Yes” I want to sell this ticket and then you press a button that says please confirm because if you do this wrong you will incur extra charges.  So I click through all the tickets and then I try to upload the parking pass and it starts looping me back through the tickets and gives me a message that says, “You must replace one ticket with the parking pass.  You only have space for four items.”  So at this point I call the contact number because I am stuck in a neverendingloopingnightmare. 

A representative gets on the line and I explain the situation.  I ask her why they changed the website?  She says, “It is due to customer requests for enhancements to the site.”  So she then tries to walk with me through the process and she can’t get it to work either so she says, “Can I put you on hold “briefly” so I can determine how to fix the problem." 

As I am sitting on hold I get another call on my phone and it is my boss, so I hang up.  I return to the site the next day and the screen is totally different.  It is not even the same screens I used before and I have no problem getting the tickets listed along with the parking pass. 

Here’s the kicker.  This morning I get to work and I have a survey online from the company where I sell the tickets and this is what it says, “Thank you for using our site. We are always working to improve the ticket listing experience and have randomly selected you to participate in our Customer Experience survey. If you have 5 minutes to spare, we would appreciate hearing about your ticket listing experience.

Do you ever get the feeling that your computer knows more about you than you think? I’m thinking random selection is not the case; they know where I live and work. 

Have you ever asked yourself if we took God’s survey about how we are doing as a Christian what would our response would be?  The following is a sampling of questions and I took the liberty of revising them for God’s survey.

Select 1 through 10 (1 meaning poor and 10 being excellent) and other options Falls Short or N/A. (by the way this is exactly the options in the online survey for this company).

1.    How well is your life organized?

2.    Are you using My tools wisely?

3.    Have you navigated through my Instruction Manual?

4.    Have you navigated through all the Books?

5.    Usefulness of the selling tools.

6.    Were Jesus’ instructions clear enough? 

7.    How useful are the tools I provided for salvation?

8.    Did you complete the process? Repentance & Baptism

9.    Did the disciples give you a variety of tools to use?

10. Would you recommend me to someone else?

11.  Am I accessible?

12.  Do you try to make changes to My Word?

13.  Am I your primary resource in times of trouble?

14.  How likely are you to refer others to me in the future?

15.  How likely are you to return to Me and My Resource in the future?

16.  Have you looked elsewhere besides Me for peace, love and hope?

17. How does your relationship with Me compare to your other relationships?

18. What reason do you have for not accepting me as your Savior?

19. Did I explain the commission/fee structure well enough? 

20. Which tools from my resource are you using to help others know Me?

21. I provided My Son as an instant download.  Why haven’t you accepted Him as your Savior?

22. Did I make it clear how you can receive payment for following Me?

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I don’t think I would do so well in the response to Your survey.  You give me everything I need in one manual that will help me live a Christian life and within the pages of this manual, Jesus and the many others listed in the Bible have given clear instructions for me to follow.  Help me to do a better job of glorifying You in everything I do and to study Your Manual so that I can show others Your great love.
   
Scripture: Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,  and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,  far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.  Ephesians 1:15-21