You're Not Finished

Today I want to talk about something that I have been thinking about for a couple of weeks.  Most of the people who read this blog are young people but there some of us who are a little older.  Regardless of where you are in the journey of life, I want you to know that God's not finished with you yet.

I see people everyday who are not very successful.  Many of them feel like there lot in life is to just maintain whatever their state of life is now.  Maybe they work a 9 to 5 job, come home and watch TV, go to bed and start it all again the next day.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with the scenario I just described because there is not.  But most of the time those same people had dreams and visions when they were younger that they let slip.  Maybe they wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer and when that didn't happen, they just sort of let life slip by without trying to do what they dreamed.  Maybe they got discouraged because of some failure and that caused them to stop trying.  Let me just say, that regardless of your age, God is not finished with you.

We hear a lot in the bible about a guy named Moses.  Now Moses was a member of the royal family of Egypt by adoption and he was an Israelite by birth.  He lived a pretty privileged life for the first part of his life but then he hit a snag and got stuck in the wilderness for about 40 years.  At eighty years of age, he could have just quit on life and coasted in for the remaining years of his life.  He could have said he was too old to do much and it was just his lot in life to work for his father-in-law and watch his kids/grand kids grow up.  There would have been nothing wrong with that except God needed him to lead the whole nation of Israel out of Egypt.  He didn't start into his ministry/calling until he was well past the age at which he could draw social security (they didn't have it back then though) but he decided that God wasn't through with him and he did what God called him to do.

I have a friend who is working on going to medical school.  He is in his mid/late 30s which is past the normal age for people to start medical school.  Some people might say that he is too old.  After all, he will be in his early 40s by the time he gets done with residency, etc., and starts his practice.  But understand this, in a few years he will be in his early 40s regardless of whether or not he goes to medical school so I say he might as well chase his dream.  He is going to be that age regardless.  In a way that is similar to Moses, he decided not to let age stand in the way of accomplishing his dream.

So let me ask you this - what is your dream?  Why aren't you pursuing it regardless of your age?  You are not too old for God to use you.  You are not too old to accomplish your dreams so get busy accomplishing them.  Regardless of how old you are, dare to dream big and chase your dreams.  You might say, "What if I don't accomplish my dream?"  Well I say, "What if you do!"

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Keep Stirring

Today I want to tell you a story that I heard recently.  I was sitting around a table with some of my girlfriend's family a couple of days ago and Aunt M told us this story.  I think she actually knew the person involved but I don't remember that part for sure.

There was a man who was on his way to west Texas many years ago.  Now the drive to west Texas from central/east Texas is a very long one and there are some stretches even today where there are not very many gas stations, etc., but when this story took place, the man was stopping at the last gas station for many miles.  Since there was a long stretch of highway between gas stations, he decided to stop for gas.

While he was filling up the car, he noticed that there was a little hamburger place attached to the gas station.  Well, if there wasn't another gas station for miles, there wasn't another place to stop and each lunch either.  He was hungry so he decided to stop and eat.  As he sat down, a gruff looking waitress came over and took his order.  He ordered a hamburger and a glass of tea.  When the tea came she gave him only one packet of sugar.  So he put that packet in and stirred a little bit and tasted the tea.  It wasn't very sweet so when the waitress came by, he asked for a few more packets of tea.  To which she replied in her gruff voice, "Keep stirring!" and walked off.

So he stirred a little while longer and tasted the tea again.  There were still granules of sugar in the bottom of the glass but it tasted a little sweeter yet.  The waitress came by, looked at the glass and said again, "Keep stirring!"  Back to stirring he went.  When he got done, he tasted the tea and it was pretty sweet after all.  He was satisfied.  But the waitress wasn't.  She came by again and said, "Keep stirring!"  So he stirred until all the granules in the glass were gone.  When he tasted the tea it was very sweet all on one packet of sugar.

Now let me ask you this.  Have you ever been at a place where you think you need something?  Maybe you think you need more money.  How about this one.  Maybe you think you are not capable of doing something and you need more talent.  Possibly you think you need more love in your life.  Well met me tell you this - "Keep stirring!"  God has placed all the talent and love you will ever need inside of you when you made Jesus the lord of your life.  The bible says that David stirred up the gifts of God in his life with his words.  So Keep Stirring!  You have all the talent you will ever need.  I just may need to be developed in you.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

OK I have written several blogs about how to handle situations in life that don't exactly go the way we want them too.  I wrote about not quitting in hard times and several other things along the same line.  But today I want to talk to you about what to do when things are going great.

Many of us have battled how much we weigh right.  When those pants start getting a little tight, we start watching what we eat.  We start skipping dessert and cutting down our food portions until our clothes with the way we want them too, right.  There are all sorts of other areas where this applies.  How about when you hit a crisis?

I know there are places in my life and situations that are challenging to say the least.  When I hit tough places, I normally turn to my bible and begin to trust God in whatever area I need the help.  If my financial picture changes for the worse, I quit spending so much money, etc and I believe God to deliver me out of that situation.  But what should we do when things are going well?

Keep the main thing the main thing.  In my life things are going really well right now.  I am in a great relationship with a wonderful woman, my kids are doing well, my business is continuing to increase and in general life is very good.  What I noticed recently was that I quit seeking God as much as I was doing when things were not as nice.  I quit being as vigilant to do the right things with my life, etc.  Since He is the reason my life got better, doesn't it make sense that I continue to seek Him when times are good?  I think so.  He is my main thing.  But because He is the main thing, everyone else in my life benefits from my being near Him.

I have learned to be more loving and caring, to be smarter at work, to see needs better.  In short, I am continually transformed more into his image when I keep the main thing the main thing.  Now I am not saying that I am perfect by any stretch of the imagination.  The woman that I am dating says that we all get to be human and I think that is so appropriate.  But I am telling you that I am learning more and more every day to keep my focus in the right place.

Guess what, when we keep our priorities right and continue to do what we know to do, the number of valleys we have to go through will decrease.  Why?  Because sometimes the reason we wind up in the valley is because we are looking at the sky and fall off the road all on our own.  We quit paying attention to the small path leading us to the top and wind up in a mess.

So remember, Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Recharge Your Batteries

Hello everyone,

This post should benefit me as much as anyone.  Today I want to talk to you about recharging your batteries.  Before I get to how, let me explain what type of batteries I am talking about.  Today lets talk about your emotional batteries/love tank.  This is the part of you that allows you to give to others.  "Well I don't give to other's that I know of," you might say.  That's probably not true but if it is, you need to change that part of your life.  See true happiness lies in giving.  I will tell you of one special place I got to give in a few minutes and the impact I think it had.

So let me reiterate something I have said many times before.  You do give into other's lives every day whether you realize it or not.  Mothers, you give into your children's lives constantly, every day, day in and day out.  Fathers, we do the same thing.  Children you are constantly giving into other children's lives.  My children try to give into each other's lives every day but I keep telling them that giving hits and kicks isn't exactly what I had in mind.

Now let me say that I do consider myself a giver.  In general if you asked the people who are close to me, they would probably use that word to describe me.  I don't say this to be arrogant because I certainly know that if God didn't give into my life, I would have nothing to give anyone else.  I'm not talking about money only although that is certainly important.  But one thing that I have noticed about me is that after I give out for a while, I can fall into a funk of sorts if I am not careful.  This is when I feel myself being the most selfish.  I try hard not to let those selfish feelings translate into actions but they are there.  Now we know that feelings signal needs.  So what did I need?  I needed my tank to be refilled or my batteries for giving and loving to be recharged.

Doesn't this make sense.  How many of us have a cell phone?  If we use and use it without ever plugging it into the wall, what will eventually happen?  It will quit.  The screen will just go blank and it will be useless to everyone.  But if you plug it into the wall then after a time, you can listen to music, play games, make phone calls and do all the other things that phones do these days.

Well we are the same way.  I remember one day I was out playing golf at a local golf course.  I was alone and I was using my phone to listen to music while I walked the course.  I was really in a sour mood but I didn't know why.  Then the phone rang and I remember yelling at the top of my lungs at the phone (I didn't answer the phone so the person on the other end never knew this happened) - "What the ___ do you want from me!!  I've got nothing else to give!!!!!  Yes, I did use a cuss word and I shouldn't have.  See, at that point, I felt completely empty and I needed to refill my tank but I didn't know why or how.

I have been through this a couple of times recently to a very very much less degree but I believe the Lord has shown me that when I get to a place like this, it's time to plug in and recharge my batteries.  For me, this means going to Him.  I remember getting very frustrated at people that were close to me because they weren't giving me what I needed but it really wasn't their place to give me what only God could.  So I have learned that as I give out, it is important for me to go to God and replace what I give with what He gives.  When I do this it gives me the opportunity to bless others like the young lady I had the opportunity to bless this week.  I think I left her speechless and I guarantee you I had as much fun giving as she did receiving.

I hope this blesses you as much as it blesses me.

That's another Opinion of the Minion