Courage

Today I want to talk about courage.  We all know that our military men and women are very courageous and that they have and will lay down their lives in the face of danger.  Policemen and firemen would do the same.  We have stories about people giving their lives for others which is a very courageous thing to do.  As a matter of fact, Jesus did this very thing for us a long time ago.  But today I want to talk about having courage to live life and face problems.

This is a whole different type of courage.  As we enter the Christmas season it is very easy for some people to withdraw emotionally and feel dis-couraged based on their circumstances.  I know that for many years, I didn't have enough money to do the things I wanted for my family at Christmas and it would make me depressed.  I didn't want to go to Christmas parties or watch Christmas movies.  I viewed everything surrounding Christmas as a chore.  Christmas cards went out and gifts were given - the job got done but that wasn't really living.  Do you know what courage is?  Courage is being in a situation that you don't really like and deciding to make the best of it regardless of whether it feels good or not.  Courage is staring at the things in your life that you don't like about yourself or your situation and not letting it stop you from living and enjoying life.

But for years I was unable to face my weight problems or my financial problems.  I was just too afraid to admit that I had them.  Why?  Because then my life wouldn't be so perfect.  And my life was perfect.  it was perfectly wooden.  I was living dead because I didn't have the courage to face my short comings.

Have you ever faced depression?  It takes real courage to recognize it and decide that you are going to do something about it.  See depression is a very serious problem and if your not careful it can kill you.  So what do you call someone who has faced that monster and overcome it?  Courageous.

I knew of a situation where someone was depressed to the point of wanting to commit suicide.  Now the story goes that this person was a young person.  While it's not uncommon, what seemed strange to me about this story was that the person had low self esteem when that person easily could have been just the opposite.  This person was very attractive, smart, caring, funny, had a magnetic personality and extremely gifted but also battling depression.  One thing that caught my attention specifically about this story was that the person in it was strong enough to admit there was a problem and ask for help despite all the fear many fears of doing it.  That person is my hero!  I only hope that I will have that kind of courage when I need it.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Consistence

OK today I want to talk about consistence.  That's a good word even though it can be a hard one.  I heard a preacher named Gloria Copeland say that God told her that in consistency lies the power.  I think this is such a true statement.

As many of you may know I went to law school and have my license so I am a lawyer in Texas even though I don't practice law very much.  Now when I went to law school, I was determined to give it my best shot and whether or not I failed, I was going to try hard and I was very successful.   Right after I realized I was going to do fine in law school, my goal changed to becoming a lawyer.  I wanted to try cases like Perry Mason (He was a lawyer on an old TV show and I think he won ever case except for a couple.).  I was determined that I was going to be the best trial lawyer ever.  Guess what.  After my first year of law school I was so high in my class I got asked to be on the law review which is a pretty prestigious deal.  I was doing great.  Now after that first year, what if I walked up to you and said, I'm through year one of school and I'm not a lawyer yet so I quit!!

You would have probably looked at me and said something like - Well you can't be a lawyer yet.  You haven't made it through the next two years of school and you have to take (and pass) the bar exam.  It's ridiculous for you to think you should be a lawyer yet.  Just hang in there and do what it takes to get to your goal.  You have to consistently chase it for a few more years before it gets there.  If I then said - That's it I don't care if I'm not supposed to be one yet, I quit anyway.  You would probably think something was wrong with me.  And you would be right.

But I have done this many times and I have seen other people do this more times than I can count.  No, I'm not talking about quitting law school but I have seen so many other people quit on their dreams before they ever had a chance to materialize.  The reason they quit was because they expected to reach their goal without doing what was necessary to get there.

Let me use another example that will bring this closer to home.  As many of you know, I used to weigh 350 pounds.  What if I tried to diet for two weeks and got frustrated because I hadn't lost all the weight I thought I should and I quit?  Let me see a show of hands from anyone who has ever tried to lose weight and quit your diet when you didn't see immediate results.  OK put your hand down, I can't count all the hands!  I did it myself more than once.  See for me to lose the weight I had to consistently eat the right things and exercise over 14 months to get where I wanted to be.

But that's not the only place it can effect you.  How many of you were believing to get out of debt and haven't?  Well don't quit.  If you will consistently spend less money than you make, you will come out of debt.  How many of you have pursued a dream to be a writer or an engineer or a singer or something else?  Well don't quit!!!  If you will keep pursuing your dream, you can achieve it.

I want to leave you with one thought that is a little harder than the ones above.  How many of you started believing God for something and you haven't seen it yet?  Maybe you are believing for a loved one to be saved or someone to be healed.  Maybe you are believing God to heal your marriage or something else.  Maybe the situation looks pretty bad right now and you don't see how God is going to fix your problem.  Maybe you wonder if He even wants to do it.  Well let me tell you that God does want to fix your problems but He needs you to have faith and the right actions to go with it.  He needs you to be consistent with doing them and He will see you through!!

That's Another Opinion of the Minion

Perspective

Today's post is all about the word perspective.  Have you ever heard the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure"?  Well that can certainly be the truth.  Because I live in the United States, the first perspective issue that comes to mind is our recent national elections.  I can tell you that I have definitely heard a lot of different perspectives about President Obama getting re-elected.  When I look at my personal Facebook page, some people say it's the greatest thing to happen to America and others say it's the end of the world as we know it.  The answer is probably somewhere in the middle.  Where?  I'm not going to guess.  What I find interesting is that so many people look at this whole election like it's a sporting event.  Once they decided who got their vote, they were more interested in seeing that person win so they could be on the winning side.  Seems a little silly to me.

But let's talk about another issue of perspective.  I have told this story once before but it's worth repeating.  As many of you may know, I am a runner.  I wasn't always a runner like I am now.  When I weighed 350 pounds I ran alright but it was typically to the nearest buffet.  Even then, I only ran from the parking lot to the buffet.  But at this point in my life, I have been delivered from that awful weight problem and I actually run several miles each week.  I've even ran a couple of marathons.  Pretty cool right?  Well let me tell you when I was fat if someone said I would run six miles one day, I would have thought that was impossible.  When I was training for my marathon, six miles was practically a day off.  I could almost run that in my sleep.  It's all about perspective right?

Here is another example that really shook me.  One day I was running and for whatever reason, I had a slow run.  Obviously slow is relative but compared to what I was used to doing, that day I ran slow.  After my workout, I hit my usual morning spot on the way to the office - Starbucks.  I was a little mopey on the inside as I went through the front door.  That slow run sort of started my day off wrong and I was pouting on the inside.  I walked past a guy in a wheel chair and headed to counter just like normal.  Now I wasn't being rude, I just wasn't being overly friendly because I was in a bad mood.  This is when the Lord gave me a real lesson on perspective.  Now I only think I have heard the audible voice of God once in my life and this certainly wasn't that time.  What I heard was down on the inside. 

The Lord said to me, "Do you see that man sitting in the wheelchair?"
"Yes I do."
"Well he would give almost anything to be able to run as slow as you did this morning."

That certainly jerked the slack out of me and it really made me thankful for the ability to run.

See I think there are many things in life that we look at from one perspective and take it for granted.  If we could see things from a different perspective it might make us much more thankful for what we have.  I know people who have lost a loved one that maybe they took for granted while they were here.  Now they only wish they could have the time to be with them.  What are you taking for granted?  Is it a person or a job or maybe it's just the ability to see or walk?  I challenge you to find something you take for granted and spend a second looking at it from a different perspective.  See if you aren't thankful for it after you do.

That's another Opinion of the Minion