Sunday Rockin Chair Thoughts pt9

Adversity will either de-rail you and slow you down … discourage you and cause you to give up, give in, compromise and quit … or it will fortify your resolve and drive you closer to your call and purpose. If we learn from mistakes we come back smarter and more determined than before. Mistakes are sometimes misinterpretations of the truth. If our motives are pure we can easily see the lesson in our mistakes and move on. Some people use mistakes as an excuse to stay in the rut while others become more focused and more centered with better strategies. We should not only overcome adversity but come back with stronger fire power and more accurate aim and a more mature attitude and that separates winners and losers … leaders and followers. Mistakes sometimes cause failure but I believe there are areas in our life where we’re not supposed to succeed. Success in one area of our life may steer us away from our true destiny. If I had succeeded in Sports I would never have picked up a guitar; never written a song. Jesus turned stones into bread and water into wine. He could have had the most successful Bread & Wine franchise in history; but that wasn’t His destiny. His destiny was the cross. He stayed focused and didn’t allow successes along the way to distract from His mission. There’s no in-between; we constantly move either forward or backward. There’s no such thing as “standing still while we make up our minds”. Standing still is equal to moving backward and that means losing ground. If we choose to stand still the “rip-current” of adversity will sweep us away. As long as we’re “in motion” we can stay one step ahead of adversity.

Adversity is at work 24/7 with a focused agenda. Adversity gained control in the Garden of Eden; adversity lost control when Jesus said, “it is finished.” Now there’s no excuse for failure. No longer do we have to live “under the circumstances.” Matthew 28: 18. The truth is; failure has to have permission to take place in our lives! We either succeed or we fail to succeed but we do have a choice and the choice is ours alone to make. We make choices to win or lose … minute by minute … every minute of every day. If you’re given to the notion that “some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you” … then you’re not walking in love and faith will not work effectively because you’ve created a back door “just in case things don’t work” out the way you had hoped. You’re trying to get something for nothing; you’re letting “pride and fear” keep you moored to the dock and if your ship never sails - your ship will never come in. You’ll never experience the joy of sailing through the adventures this lifetime has to offer and you’ll never pull into the port o’ call where there are people waiting for you. Destinies are tied to your destiny - people who need your gift. Good or bad; every action and inaction is a seed sown and we most definitely reap what we sow.

Adversity is “the breakfast of champions”! We need to get off our apathy. We need to get our eye’s off of ourselves and help make someone else’s dream come true because whatever we make happen in someone else’s life, God will make happen in our own. We are the sum total of every decision we’ve made in our life. The “wise man” built his house on a rock and the “foolish” man built his house on the sand. What makes the wise man so wise? It’s because he expected the storms of life. He knew trouble would challenge him, but his foundation was solid and the house he built on that solid foundation could weather the storms. The “foolish man” said, “well, that’s just life; ain’t nuthin’ you’kin do about it” … “whatever” and his house was destroyed in the storm! Wise choices come with age, experience and determination and that’s why there are no “young” wise men - only “old” wise men!

There IS a dream in your heart … God put it there. It may be buried underneath years of heartache and pain, doubt, fear and unbelief but it IS there. I challenge you to define it, see it, and make it come true. When we were kids we had no problem dreaming … all day long. A “dream” is that thing in our life we want bad enough that we’re willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen; willing to CHANGE. It takes discipline, courage, resilience, faith and hope and they all have to come from you … from your spirit, soul and body. When God brings you to it, He’ll see you through it but the choice to stay on course, run the race and cross the finish line comes from you and when your dream does come true … you’ll have the necessary character that it takes to keep it and no one will be able to steal it. Don’t listen to the “nay Sayers” and remember, “The critics don’t count.” Problems are a given. We know the problems are there but I say, “Flush’em.” Problems may come in the form of friends, loved one’s, enemies, family or your own deeds but don’t allow problems to stand in the way of your success because, remember, you’re on a mission and someone needs the gift you have for them. Don’t tell God how big your problems are; tell your problems how big your God is!

Sunday Rockin Chair Thoughts pt 8

Purpose and calling are two different things. Calling woos us. Calling leads and guides us to purpose and purpose is “that thing” that pulls us out of bed every morning with excitement and enthusiasm. Together they make destiny clear and when destiny is clear life is fulfilling. A fulfilled life is empowered by God to succeed and cannot help but make life better for everything and everyone connected to it. “Calling” is a sort of “consecration” if you will; we know we’ve been elected to do a specific job and that job becomes our life’s work and the work blesses the lives of others which in turn will bless us. Calling is just what it is; an invitation. I think we lie if we say “we never heard a call in our life.” It’s easier to say that than to admit we heard the calling and were indifferent, selfish and too lazy to respond. Some people know early on in their lives what their purpose and calling are. Some people live an entire life and then die without ever finding out and some people know but refuse to pursue their purpose and calling. Everyone’s constitution is different but freedom of choice is one thing we all have in common. We can choose life and success or, we can choose failure and death. Am I saying we’ll just keel over dead if we don’t realize our purpose? No, I’m talking about spiritual malnutrition. We’ve all, at one time or another compromised our integrity and paid the price for bad choices and decisions. Whatever the reason for not pursuing our dream, the end result is the same … a life unfulfilled. You might “think and grow rich” or you might just “grow old and die” but if purpose and calling aren’t pursued then destiny is left behind and life – no matter how good or bad – is unfulfilled. Success is getting from one side of “the wall” to the other. Success = dreams come true; reaching the Promise Land and then taking possession of it. Success comes with a price; otherwise it’s worthless. Success comes only by struggle; otherwise it is gratuitous and won’t last because it’s built on the sand.

Everyone’s “wall” is different and everyone has their own way of overcoming the wall they face as well as their own time frame for overcoming it. Some people leap right over the wall with no problem … they move toward God with total abandon, like Peter stepping out of the boat and onto the water. Some people take their time getting over the wall and some people never even try because they have no clue … they’re content with life on “this” side of the wall and for one reason or another don’t care about what’s on the other side; their self esteem is too low to produce the energy they need to fight the good fight of faith. We can’t be overcomers if there’s nothing to overcome. By definition, “succeed” means “to take the place of.” Take the place of what? Take the place of failure! If there’s no opposition, no struggle then it’s not really success, just a free ride. Our ability to overcome the wall in our life depends largely on our upbringing and how we were raised … how we were taught to deal with trials and situations … how we’re equipped to handle failure. We all have to deal with issues and drama. We all face trials and situations because even though God is in control, there is a spiritual outlaw loose on this planet who has nothing better to do than stir up trouble in our lives. This outlaw won’t play fair and won’t quit playing so we have to stay one step ahead of his game all the time. He’s a tactician; he knows your nature; he has a print out on your weaknesses; he knows how to evaluate your “hot buttons” and he knows what it takes to trip you up; he has a profile and a contract on you, BUT … he has no power over us unless we give it to him through compromise. Whatever resource we use to put him in his place determines our success or failure in this lifetime, which in turn determines success or failure in our eternal lifetime as well. It’s not just enough to “make it to Heaven” when we leave this world. God has restored Heaven on earth, otherwise how can we pray “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” and not believe that we can actually live our lives above the circumstances?

Sunday Rockin Chair Toughts Pt7

We’re born with an “audience” to reach. You don’t have to be a public figure to have an audience of your own. Any friendship or acquaintance; any customer base or neighbor is an audience. There are no “chance meetings” in our lifetime. Of course public figures, like entertainers, have the most obvious audiences but an auto mechanic has an audience too! A dentist has an audience – a grocery store checker has an audience! Our neighborhood is an audience. We have a gift that comes into play when we interact with others. We have a gift they need and they have a gift that we need. Gifts are unique to each individual and whatever our “gift” is, there are lives that will be lived incompletely unless we “give” them the gift we’ve been given to deliver to them. How do we know who needs our gift and how do we know when to give it? We don’t! When I strap on my guitar and walk onto a stage it’s obviously “time to give my gift” but what about afterwards?

Our individual gift is a unique ingredient that will help complete the life of another and encourage and refresh them on their journey. Nothing happens by accident and every interaction is an opportunity to “give the gift” designed specifically for others; at that certain time and place. We may meet and become lifelong friends or our paths may cross only once but either way - an exchange takes place; we have something to offer each other. We each have a talent designed to bless each other at that moment in time. We think of talent as an obvious gift of music or athletic ability but everyone is talented with something that makes us individually unique. Our uniqueness is the gift we share with the world around us; something I require and something you require; something custom made for others. It may not even be noticeable for years after we meet. Your gift can be a word - a song - a smile … something … but it’s a gift that I’ll do without until you give it to me. Your gift will never be in my life unless you put it there. No one else is able to give your gift to me; only you! The same is true for me. We’re all missing pieces of the puzzle in someone else’s life. We complete the puzzle in each other’s lives by being who God called us to be.