Love - Watch Out

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to take a small detour from talking about the attributes of love to issue a warning about our study.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have had more opportunities to be unloving than I can remember in the last year.

For instance, just this morning I was sitting in Starbucks reading and going through my daily routine.  When I got done, I had to take my SUV over to get the air conditioner fixed.  While I was driving through downtown Fort Worth, I turned onto a street and pulled up a little and stopped (I was playing Pokemon Go).  When I did, the lady behind me honked her horn at me for stopping.  Now she couldn't see me so she has no idea I did this but I immediately said something ugly to her.  Why?  Because the devil doesn't want me to learn to really walk in love.

He met someone 2,000 years ago who walked in perfect love all the days of his life, Jesus.  Guess what, the devil couldn't touch him because perfected Love was Jesus' shield and protection.  Love is another name for God and he was walking in perfect God all the days he was here and it protected Him.  Now I am not saying we are going to be perfect because we miss the mark sometime.  But what I am saying is that the more we walk in Love, the more impact we have on this earth.

Jesus walk was so different that it impacted the people around Him long before he ever died on the cross for our sins.  See the devil doesn't want me (or you) to walk in Love because he knows it will drive out his only weapon - fear.  The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear.  It also says that Love never fails.

So are you believing for a loved one to turn to Jesus?  Are you believing for a situation to change at work or at your school?  Are you believing for restoration in a relationship?  Are you believing that you can change something in your life that you don't like?  Are you battling addiction?  The list of questions could go on and on.  But what's the answer to any of these problems?  The answer is perfected love.

I know my love walk is not perfect.  I also know that perfected love lives inside me right now and He is working on my behalf to get me to the right place.  Are you struggling with the whole "God thing?"  Would you like to have perfect love living inside you?  You might say something like, "You don't know what I did.  I did something that nothing can fix.  I did something really bad and God can't love me."  Well have I got news for you.  Jesus' blood was shed for ALL sin.  No matter what you did, Jesus' blood is stronger.  Would you like to start a relationship with Him right now?  All you have to do is say, "Jesus, come into my heart.  I make you my Lord and Savior."  That's it.  If you said that prayer and believed it, something just happened inside you.  You got born again and that Perfect Love now lives inside you.

If you prayed that prayer, would you please let me know.  Also, please find a good Bible based church so you can start to learn more about the Love that has been put into your heart.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Love is Not Rude

Today's we are going to talk about another aspect of Love.  Today's topic is rudeness.  Before we get into this, I want to you notice that again, this is not a feeling.  Love is not concerned with whether or not you feel rude.  That doesn't even sound right.  Love doesn't act rudely.  This should be a fairly simple one as we all have been around people who are rude.

I can't tell you that I am around very many people who I would consider just openly rude.  I don't have any friends that would call someone something ugly to their face. And honestly, I wouldn't either.  But let's think about rudeness for just a minute.  Did you know that as we are studying love, no where in the Bible does it say that the person who we are rude to has to know about it to make it unloving.

Ladies, have you ever noticed some other girl who looked like maybe you wished you did and said something to your girlfriend about how she was dresses.  The reality is she's probably dressed fine but you are a little jealous because maybe you can't dress that way?  Guys, have you ever seen a guy driving a nicer car than you and said something rude about the guy just because you are jealous that you can't drive what he drives (I confess I have done this one.).  Well guess what?  That's rude.  Whether or not the other person heard you, doesn't matter.

Now I can hear someone saying, "Well if they didn't hear it, what does it hurt?"  That's easy.  It hurts your faith.  How?  Well, doesn't the Bible say that faith works by love? (Galatians 5:6)  If we aren't walking in love, it will hinder our faith.  Before I go farther, I don't want anyone to stand in condemnation and you need to know that God is a graceful, merciful God.  I know this because there are several places where I have acted unlovingly and God is blessing us tremendously.

But here's the thing - I don't want ordinary faith.  I was in a Starbuck's several months ago and there was a girl in a wheelchair.  I wanted to pray for her and see her healed and out of that chair.  When I thought about it, I heard the Lord say, "If you pray for it, I will back it."  I know it was the Lord's voice!  Guess what I did!  Nothing!  I left that girl in that wheelchair and left the store without speaking to her.  Why?  My faith wasn't strong enough.  I want my faith to be stronger and stronger every day.  I've had a vision for a long time of us walking into hospitals and emptying them because God healed every person in them.

That type of dream doesn't come to reality with weak faith.  That's why I am working to get rude behavior out of my life.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

Love Does Not Dishonor Others

Hello Everyone,

OK everyone.  Before we get into today's topic, I want to tell you what I've seen in the last week.  I thought I was pretty good about not bragging on myself and yet I caught myself doing it three times that I remember in the last seven days!  The latest time was just this morning to a friend of mine and I was bragging about this blog!  That's completely ridiculous because I strive to write what the Lord tells me and so I can't take credit for any of this.  I have been before the Lord and asked for forgiveness.  So let me encourage you to watch what you are doing this week and see if there are any areas were you can improve.

So let's get on to today's love topic which is love does not dishonor others.  So what does this mean?  Dishonor is means to bring on shame or disgrace. Now this an interesting topic to me because there is a big difference between bringing shame on a person and telling someone about an inappropriate action.  As a parent, it's my job to train my children so when I tell them about something they have done wrong, I am not trying to bring dishonor on them.  I'm trying to keep them from getting hurt.

That's exactly what God does with us.  We know He is Love so everything He does is based in Love.  When He tells you not to do something, He's trying to keep you from getting hurt.  For instance, when He says that we should not steal, it's because He knows the effect it will have on us both in this world and in the spiritual realm.  But let me be very clear on something - He IS NOT shaming us as a person.  He's trying to correct our actions.  He knows that these actions will get us hurt and He loves us too much to see us get hurt if He can correct us.

What does that tell me?  In order to determine if you are walking in love in this area, examine your heart and check your actions.  Notice again that this definition of Love is an action word.  It's still not a feeling.  When we have to correct someone, are we being clear that we love them and they are valuable?  Are we being clear that they are extremely valuable?  If so, then correction is coming the right way.  If not, then we have to change the way we correct someone.

The other point I want to discuss is something a little more obvious.  When we talk about people are we bringing dishonor on them?  Even if they never hear us, it doesn't change that what we said or do is not walking in Love.  If you are an American and a Christian, are you saying bad things about our current president?  Did you say bad things about our last president?  I am not telling you that you should support what they do or what they believe.  It's OK to disagree with that but if you are saying bad things about their character, then you are not walking in love.

The worst thing about this type of problem is when we are not walking in Love, it stops faith from working in our lives because the Bible says, faith works by Love.  So when we speak badly about someone who isn't around, we aren't really hurting them because they may never even know it.  Unfortunately, we are hampering our faith in our own lives.  It's time we all start walking in Love more and allowing our faith to produce the great results in our lives that we all desire.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love Does Not Boast

Hi Everyone,

Today's topic is boasting.  When I looked this word up in the dictionary, one of the definitions was to brag about yourself or to brag about your stuff to others (that's the Minion translation).  It's interesting because it is very similar to pride but we will talk about pride in the next post.  Again, I want you to notice that bragging is an action, not a feeling.  We don't feel bragging, we say something that is bragging.  So what does this mean?

We all know the one upper.  In fact, sometimes we have been the one upper.  You know the person.  If you tell as story, they have a bigger one.  If something good happened to you, something better happened to them.  So we shouldn't brag about things in our life right?  Well if that's the case, then we should never tell anyone when something good happens to us or when we do something great right?  Wrong!  I want to stop and say that just because you tell someone about something you have or did, does not make it bragging.  When you tell a story to puff yourself up, that's bragging.

Let's look at God for a minute.  If God is love and love doesn't brag, then what happens all the times in the Bible where God talks about who he is and what he's done?  Is he bragging?  Certainly not.  When we brag, we normally do it to impress people and I don't think the Creator of the universe needs to impress His creation.  So what is He doing?  He's trying to build our faith.  When God tells you something about Himself, it's not because He's trying to brag.  He wants you to know that He's able to provide all things so that when you have lack, you can trust in and rely on Him.  He wants you to know that He can heal people so that when you are sick, you will go to Him for healing.  He wants you to know that He created everything so that when you need anything, you can go to Him.

So here's what I have learned today.  There's a difference between bragging and telling someone about something that's happened to you.  That difference is motive.  When you brag, you want people to look at you and how great you are.  When you tell someone about something great that you did or happened to you and you do it to encourage them, then it's called ministry not bragging.

Let me finish by asking you this question.  Do you find yourself ministering or bragging when you tell people what's happening with you?  I know there are places in my own life where I can do this better.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love Doesn't Envy

Hello Everyone,

Today we are going to think about something love doesn't do.  As I said earlier, love is an action verb.  The feeling of being in love is great but it's not the core of Love (God).

For this particular aspect of Love, it's interesting because it's something Love doesn't do.  Love doesn't envy someone else or something else they have.  This should be another easy one right?  Well in one sense that's true.  But let me encourage you to check yourself on this and see if there are any hidden areas of envy in your life.  I know I have found them in mine.

Let me give you a couple of examples.  I go to a gym and work out every day during the week.  I run in the morning before work and I lift weights with a little more cardio at lunch.  I'm in decent shape for 46 years old but the truth is I'm not as fast as I used to run and I'm 30 pounds overweight at the moment.  So what happens in the gym?  I can walk in and see someone working out who is in better shape than me.  Every once in a while, the devil will put a thought in my mind that says there is something I don't like about that person.  I don't like the way the act or how much they talk.  I don't like the way the hog up all the machines.  I don't like how long it takes them to get a set done and get out of my way.  Well here is what the Lord showed me about that one day.  What someone was doing or not wasn't the cause of my irritation.  What irritated me is that they were in better shape than me.  My envying of a person didn't come across as envy.  It came across as something else.

Let me tell on myself again.  I could be driving down the road and see someone speed past me or cut me off in traffic by getting into my lane and get upset with them.  This happened more times than not if the person was driving a really nice car.  I might even say under my breath something about how they think they are special or privileged, etc., because they were speeding or something else (which I have done myself on more than one occasion).  That seems logical right?  They should slow down and should be more careful in traffic.  But the truth behind what made me mad was they were driving a car and I was jealous of them because it looked like they had more money than me.

So what's the big deal with being jealous right?  After all, while I am not being loving toward either of those people, I am certainly not hurting them and neither of them knew I even had a thought?  Well, even if you don't say something hurtful to someone, this is still very damaging - TO ME.  Why?  Well, it blocks the flow of love out of my life and into someone else.  While that's bad enough, it also caused me to be unsatisfied with what I had.  Think about it.  Instead of enjoying the fact that I am in good health and the Lord has blessed us tremendously financially and every other way, I was unsatisfied and couldn't enjoy what I had.

So let me ask you this.  Are there any areas in your life where you might be secretly envious of someone else?  If so, I encourage you to get rid of it.  Envying is really dangerous to your health.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Love is Kind

Hello Everyone,

Today's topic is love is kind.

OK this one should be a no brainer right?  We all know what it is to be kind.  My wife teaches kindergarten and she teaches her kids everyday to be kind to each other.  If I asked some of her five year old children to define kindness, they could.  The would tell me that kindness is being nice to a friend or kindness is sharing your blocks with another kid.  They might say kindness is letting someone get in line in front of you.

They would be right about those being acts of kindness and acts of love.  Notice again that this is an action.  It's not a feeling.  When we are kind to people, it makes us feel good but the kindness itself isn't a feeling.  Already we know that love is an act of the will because kindness is an act of our will.  We make a decision to do something kind for someone else.  As a matter of fact, I am plotting an act of kindness right now and it feels good.  I am really going to enjoy myself tomorrow doing what I have planned.  I'm excited about it.

So here's the slight change the Lord showed me about kindness this week.  Did you know the Bible says Love is patient and love is kind?  Now I have always taken those two things to be separate things.  In other words, Love is patient.  In a completely unrelated event, Love is kind.  But what I am just getting a grasp on is what happens if we combine the two at the same time.

In other words, what would happen if while I was being patient with someone and waiting on them to change or do something I want, etc., I do a kind act to that person or in that situation.  As I said last time, patience creates the space Love needs to grow and work.  If that's true, kindness is a fertilizer that helps love grow.  While you are waiting on your friend to apologize or your spouse to change, you are being patient and that's showing love.  Now take the next step and fertilize that situation/person with an act of kindness.  It will help you be patient and it will help the situation grow.

Remember this, every time you do an act of kindness, you are operating in Love which means you are operating in God.

An that's another Opinion of the Minion

Love is Patient

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to start talking about what love is.  Our topic for today is patience.  Have you ever had an experience were you were not patient with someone?  I know I sure have.  If you have children, especially teenagers, it's easy to lose your patience with them.  On our streets today, you can see how impatient people are with one another.  Well, when we are acting impatiently with each other, we aren't walking in love.  That doesn't mean we don't love, it means in that particular instance, we aren't walking in love the way we should.  Also, there are opportunities for you to be patient whether you pray for them or not.

I have heard in Christian circles for years that you shouldn't pray for patience because God will cause something to come in your life that requires it.  But here's the problem.  God is not saying that if you are patient, then you are walking in love.  What He's saying is when His love is developed in you then you will be patience.  So what you need to pray for is that His love will so grow inside you that you will be a patient person.  You aren't doing work to prove love.  Love is working which causes results.

So what is patience?  One definition is - the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.  What does that mean?  Well for me personally, it mean's loving my children and being patient while I am waiting on things to develop in their lives.  One of the most interesting characteristics is waiting without getting angry or upset.  Let me say to my children, I apologize for the times that I am waiting on you to develop but being upset at the same time.

Now I want to say a thank you to my wife.  She has shown me love by being patient with me.  Overall, I'm a good dad and a good husband but there are a couple of things that I need to get straight.  My wife has known about them since we met and she's loved me and been patient with me for a long time.  Thank you Honey.  I love you.

So what does all this mean?  Start believing God to change you and out of His love, ask for him to grow the attribute of patience.  Then find an opportunity today to be patient.  Maybe you need to be patient while other people are ahead of you in line.  Maybe you need to be patient with someone while you are driving.  Maybe you need to be patient with one of your friends or your parents while they figure things out.  Regardless of what it is, find a place today to show someone else love by being patient.

Time

Hello Everyone,

Tonight I want to talk about time.  Time is finite.  There are 24 hours in a day; 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute.  There's only so much of it and when we run out of time, we run out.  By that I mean when we die and go to heaven or hell, we are out of time.

I recently heard of someone who felt like they were out of time at a very young age.  The felt they had made mistakes that could not be overcome.  They felt like they were behind where they should be based on their peers.  What's so amazing about this person is that they are so young.

Maybe you feel like you are out of time.  Maybe you are 50 years old and have been through a failed marriage.  It could be you think you are too old to go back to school.  Time as run out.  It could be that you are really young and the devil has sold you a pack of lies telling you it is too late for you.  Maybe you feel that time has run out and your situation is now hopeless.  I don't know all the things that the devil uses to make us feel frustrated.  But I want you to know something.  It's not over!  You are not out of time!  God still has a plan for you.  You can accomplish that plan whether you are 15, 35, 55, or 85.  You are not out of time.

I want to tell you about a man named Abram.  He was 90 years old and his wife was almost that old.  They never had kids and wanted them.  Abram had a visitation from the Lord.  The Lord told Abram that he would be the father of so many descendants that they would be more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore.  Can you believe that?  Well Abram did.  He believed it so much that he started calling himself Abraham which means "father of many nations."  Nine months later, they gave birth to a son and the promise was on.

Friend, God wants to do the same thing for you he did for Abraham.  If there is any area of your life where you feel that it's too late, I encourage you to take it to the Lord and see what He can do with it.  I guarantee you, it's not too late.

Well, I've blogged myself happy again.  That's another Opinion of the Minion. 

Who Should Be President

Hello Everyone,

     Today marks another changing of the guard in Washington, D.C.  We now have a new president and while there are many in this country that are excited about his arrival, there are many that are really upset about his arrival.  Which group are you?  Well regardless of which one, let me ask you this?  Why are you excited or upset.  The answer is that we all need a deeper revelation that God is our source.  If God is truly your source, then it won't matter who's in leadership because you put your trust in Him not in him (or almost her).

     See one of the problems with putting our trust in a man instead of God is we can be disappointed in them.  Where God has always performed what he said he would perform.  His record is perfect.  Do you need peace in your life?  Do you need prosperity?  Do you need healing?  Do you need forgiveness?  Do you need redemption?  No man can provide any of these but with God all things are possible.

     Another problem is that as we begin to look to these men and women of our government as our source, many times we loose sight of love.  Did you know that the Bible says God is love?  Let me put that in a mathematical equation for you.  God = Love.  To put it another way, Love = God.  You can't walk in true love without walking in true God and you can't walk in true love without walking in true God.  But many of the feelings I see and hear about politicians these days are fear, hate, concern, worry, and the list goes on.

     Guess what.  Those things aren't pure, lovely, just or of a good report and we shouldn't think on them. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pay attention to what our leaders are doing and have an opinion but when hate guides your actions, you have the violent protests we are seeing today.  We should pray for our leaders regardless of whether or not we voted for them.

     So take heart.  If you didn't vote for our president, remember that God loves you and He's still in control.  If you did vote for our president, remember that He's not God.  God is God and he loves you.

     That's another Opinion of the Minion

Politics or People

Hello Everyone,

In light of the political elections that are coming up in American, I want to take a second to talk about politics but not in the way you might think.

I've noticed that everyone has an opinion about the current political landscape.  Some hate Trump; Some hate Clinton and some hate everyone.  But here's what really doesn't make sense to me.  I see a lot of my friends and family on my personal Facebook page and other places posting about politics.  They all have something to say about what should or shouldn't be done.  They all have something to say about this person's moral character or that person's.  They all have something to say about this person's truthfulness, etc.  Yet not one of the people I have ever talked with has the capability (other than casting 1 vote) to do anything about it.  Furthermore, neither one of the candidates cares about what any of them think on a personal level.  Whoever gets elected is going to do whatever they please regardless of what you and I think.

So I've been asking the Lord what to do about it.  Here's what the Lord showed me.

1.  Whatsoever things are lovely, just, pure and of a good report, mediate on these.  That doesn't mean that you ignore things but it does mean that you shouldn't focus on them.  Focus on God's word.  It will actually make a difference in your life.

2.  Find someone to bless today.  This one is huge.  I can't really influence who gets elected but I can influence the people around me.  Do you know someone who needs encouragement or maybe someone who needs a meal.  The list of needs goes on and on.  Did you know the Bible says that when you give to someone in need, you give to Jesus?  That's really big.

3.  Remove a critical spirit from you.  See I have noticed that before the Lord told me to quit giving the race so much attention that I was getting critical.  Not only was I critical of the people in the election but I started being critical of people around me.  That's no place to live.

So I ask again - Politics or People?  The choice is yours.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

A Time to Rest

Hello again everyone.  Today I want to talk about rest.  Before I go into this post, let me say I am not taking my own advice right now.  It seems to me that with the technological advances, we are busier now than ever before.  We might not work sun up to sun down behind a plow like they did 150 years ago but we are still very very busy.

I see it everywhere.  When I was a kid, we played little league baseball and it ran for a couple of months (probably April to June) and if you made the All-Star team it ran a little longer.  Now baseball is a year round sport.  There's fall ball, winter ball, select teams, little league, etc.  It's not just baseball, it's every sport.  In the interest of competition the schedules are much more demanding.  For the kids this is great but for parents it requires more and more running.  You can drive over a hundred miles a day in Texas just running kids back and forth to practices, etc.

Before I get any ugly responses, let me say that I am a sports fan and I enjoy watching our kids.  But you need to count the costs of all those activities.  No, I don't mean the monetary costs although those are important.  I am talking about the time costs.  You see, while every one of these events on their own is really great, we have to be careful that the sum of the events doesn't run us down.  What is the cost of time spent doing anything on the relationships that are important.

Last week, my wife and I were so busy running kids, working, taking care of the house, doing our gym work outs and the list goes on that I rarely saw her at all.  When I did we were rushing off to another event!  Now I am complaining about going, I just began to notice that I was getting tired.  How did I know?  Well, one night my wife and I were in the kitchen talking about the new toll road in Fort Worth.  We were discussing how we seldom see the police on the other major roads but that they were definitely handing out extra tolls on that road every day.  That turned into an argument and we were in agreement on the issue!  Fortunately it wasn't a major argument and we only argued for about a minute before my wife said, "Why are we arguing about this?" and it stopped but it let me see that I was really getting tired.

So let me ask you this.  Are you feeling yourself frustrated and tired a lot?  If so, what type of toll is it taking on your friends and family around you?  Are you short with people you love?  Have you found yourself so busy that you don't have time to read your bible and be alone with God?  If the answer is yes, then let me suggest that you take a minute and re-evaluate where you are spending your time.  It is important to get things done but at what cost?  Are there things you really need to cut out of your daily schedule?  Don't try to keep up with what everyone else is doing.  Run your race.  You'll be glad you did.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

Focus

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk about focus.  Where do you focus the majority of your thoughts?  Do you consider all the bad things going on in the world today?  Do you consider something bad that's going on at school or in your personal life?  Wherever you put your focus, there you will ultimately go.  Let me give you a few examples.

In the Bible, there was a guy named Job.  Now he was a really rich guy and had several sons and daughters.  Interestingly enough he was very afraid that they were saying awful things about God or sinning in some way.  So what did he do?  He offered sacrifices just in case they might have sinned for them everyday (I think it was every day but if not, it was very often.).  Guess what happened?  Ultimately the things that he was afraid of, the things where he put his focus, came upon his children.  Am I saying that Job caused this, nope.  The Bible said it.

Let's shift gears a little.  How many of you have every ridden a motorcycle?  Several years ago, I got my license with a friend of mine, JC.  Now he rode all his life so he was a natural.  Me?  I looked like someone who needed training wheels for his motorcycle and I still do.  I much prefer a four wheeled motorcycle with leather seats, a good air conditioning system and plenty of room.  I think those are called cars.  Anyway, when I was learning to ride, they taught us how to turn.  What we were told was to look where we wanted the bike to go, not where the bike was going.  So we would focus on where we wanted the bike to go and it would go that way.

Let me give you one more example and I will make my point.  The other day, I was thinking about my company and about being an employee.  I run my own company and we do a lot of Oil and Gas work.  As some of you may know, the price of oil has dropped a lot lately and that has caused some slowness in the industry.  I was worrying a little about my business and whether we would be able to sustain our growth even though I knew that the Lord started this business and I knew he was watching it and causing it to grow.  The problem was my focus was on the price of oil and how drastically it could impact my business.  I wasn't focused on where I wanted it to go or what the Lord said about it.

I started thinking about being an employee and how easy it must be to just go to work and do your job.  After that, an employee collects his or her paycheck and that's it.  I started feeling a little sorry for myself thinking about how they don't have to worry about whether or not the check will cash (most of the time) and how easy that must be.  Now my business is really fine but I wasn't focused there.  That's when the word of the Lord came to me.  He said something like, "You should be like those employees you are thinking about.  If you would just keep your eyes on Me and roll the care of it over on Me, things would be much better for you!"

That's what I did.  I put my focus back on my faith in God and what He is doing in our business.  Immediately, I could see where things were going and how good things really are for us!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

The Box Revisited

Hello Everyone,

This is one of the first posts I ever created and I think that every once in a while I should repost it because it was so profound to me.



I have given this a lot a of thought and I believe that the Lord showed me something that changed the way I view people.

You see, when God creates a person he gives them abilities, passions, desires, talents and all sorts of wonderful attributes that we seldom ever see.  Then he takes all these things and puts them in a box with silver wrapping paper and very pretty red ribbon tied in a bow around it.  He calls the box - You.  It is a present to the world.  When I saw this for the first time, I looked around at all the people walking by and said to myself, "Merry Christmas!" because all I could see were beautiful boxes waiting to be opened.

The problem is many people don't even know what is in their own box much less have taken the time to look in someone elses box.  This starts when we are in school.  As we grow up, we learn all kinds of new things about ourselves: what we like, what we don't, the changes that our bodies go through, we learn things in school about the world and we learn about social interaction.  But sometimes that social interaction teaches us that the stuff in our box isn't all that important.

Have you ever felt like the stuff inside you doesn't really matter?  Can you look back to a point in your life where you were doing something you really enjoyed and someone else called it or you stupid or worthless?

When you pull the most precious parts of your life out of the box and let other people see them, it is scary because you are definitely vulnerable at that point.  But know this, the Lord put all those wonderful things inside and they are of great price and value.  Don't let someone cheapen what is so precious by their comments.

Everyday, I see people who are alive but aren't living.  I think it is because they have told themselves that the treasures in their box aren't important or worth much so they don't do anything with them.  They may not have done this openly but below the surface it happens.  You have to know that if God took the time to create you and put all those treasures inside you, they are important both to him and to me.

When was the last time you looked in your box and pulled out something you truly enjoyed and used it?  When was the last time you opened the box?  When was the last time you were passionate about anything?  Are you so caught up in the rat race that your box isn't important any more?

Here is another interesting question - When was the last time you opened up someone else's box to see who they really are and celebrate the gifts inside them?  Do you always know what is wrong with your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, friends, parents, family, coworkers but never look inside the box for what is so awesome about them?

Husbands, what would happen if instead of criticizing your wife, the next time you saw her, you decided to look at something that was so precious to her, so beautiful, so tender, so amazing and something she loved about herself?  What would happen if you nurtured that gift and encouraged it to grow?  What would happen if, after you opened her box, she decided that your box was the most special one on earth and decided to touch the core of who you are?  What if you both decided to go deep in your relationship?

Boyfriends, what if you looked at her and decided that you wanted more than just what was inside her clothes, you wanted what was inside her heart.  Girlfriends, what if you decided that you wanted the same thing?  What if you wanted to explore who they are and make them the best person they could be while they did the same thing to you?  What if you looked at them and asked, "What can I give?" instead of "What can I get?"

Is this a little intense?  Yes.  Is it worth it if just one person decides to open their box or open someone elses?  Yes.  You see, I believe that I got to see a little glimpse of the creation through the creator's eyes when He showed me this.  It was truly an eye opening experience and I can definitely say I will never be the same.  I got to see how He looked at and longs for His creation to be all that we can be and how His love for us goes so deep His heart aches for us.

So I guess the real question is what is in your box?  I want to know.

That's the Opinion of His Minion

Toothpaste

Hello Everyone,

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything but today I want to talk about toothpaste.  Toothpaste comes in all different sized tubes and in more flavors than I can count.  There is wintergreen, spearmint, peppermint, and the list goes on and on.  Now I am not sure about how it comes packaged in other parts of the world but in the United States, most of the time it comes in squeeze tubes with a screw on cap.  The tubes are normally bright colors to make you feel good about using their brand and to make their brand look good.  It's supposed to be pretty important stuff because it helps us keep our teeth and gums in good health.  I can't remember how many times my mom asked if we had brushed our teeth before we went to bed.  As a grown up dad of five, I can't count how many times I have asked the same thing to ours.

So why am I talking about toothpaste?  It's because we humans have a lot in common with that tube.  At a factory somewhere, there are machines and people that put the toothpaste in the tube but did you ever notice that you don't really know what's in the tube until you take the cap off and squeeze the tube?  You can't see through the tube normally.  As I said a minute ago, you can see the outside of the tube and it may look great but you can't see the inside.

Some of you have probably figured out where I am going with this.  See, we can't really know what's inside a person until there is pressure put on that person.  It's when the pressure comes from all sides and starts to really squeeze that we get to see what's really inside their "tube."  We are all the same way.  We can look great on the outside but have real trouble on the inside.  But let me tell you this.  Whatever you put down on the inside of you is going to come out in words when the pressure is on.  Just like that factory, if you put God's word in your heart and you meditate on it regularly, that Word will come out of your mouth when you get into a tough situation.  If you're putting negative thoughts and ideas down in your spirit then those same negative things will come out of your mouth under pressure.

Let me ask you this.  What kind of toothpaste is on the inside of you?  Is it good thoughts?  Is it based on the Word of God?  Is it something that will help you when the tough times come?  Or are you saying things to yourself like, "I'll never make it.  My dreams won't come true.  I'm not good enough.  I'm not pretty enough.  I'm not smart enough."  If you are doing that, then stop because those negative thoughts are lies.  You are good enough, smart enough, pretty enough and God can make your dreams come true.

Let me end it with this.  Check out what's on the inside of your tube because the pressure will come and it will come out.  If you don't like what's there, then change it.  It's not hard.  Get a good Bible and start feeding on what God says you are and what God says you can do.  Then when the pressure comes, you will start using the words of your mouth to bring you out of that situation and into the place God has for you.

That's Another Opinion of the Minion

Random Acts and Bank Accounts

Random acts, we've all seen them on the news.  Someone gets mad at someone else in traffic and communicates something ugly.  Someone else comes home from a bad day at work and yells at their kids.  Someone else gets really upset and punches someone out.  This list could go on and on.  So what do they have to do with bank accounts you might ask?


Well I am not talking about the bank account you have at Bank of America or Citibank.  I'm talking about people.  Did you know people are like bank accounts.  Every time you do something negative to them, their emotional account gets lower.  Every time you do something positive to someone, it goes up. 


Let me try to illustrate this.  Last week when I went to pick up three of our five kids, our youngest daughter was having a fit.  She was going to get to go where we were because she was sick and it wasn't a good idea.  Now she is 9 years old but was acting more like 9 months and having a toddler fit.  This particular day, I did not have a great day at work.  To top it all off, I was late to get the other two boys to swim practice.  So what did I do?  I did the "natural" thing to do - I lost my temper.  Now I don't really have a bad temper but I did get really mad (for me) at my daughter.  I was so mad, I was raising my voice at her and she was yelling at me. 


It ended with me spanking her and her still throwing a fit.  At one point, she said some really mean things to me.  Because I am her dad and she is a child, the things she said didn't really bother me.  After all, she is only nine.  Her behavior was in appropriate so I corrected it but what if she was 20 years older and said she hated me?  It could really hurt my feelings and damage my self esteem.  Now this wasn't premeditated, it was a random act that could have really drained my emotional bank account.


Let me tell you another random story.  Most of you know that I am from Texas and I still believe in saying ma'am and sir.  I think it's polite and I like it.  It's a way for me to show someone respect.  Now the other day, I was in a Starbucks in a different state (if you know me that's a shock right?).  The person behind the counter asked me a question and I said, "Yes ma'am."  However for a split second, I was mortified because there was a distinct possibility that I just said yes ma'am to a guy.  It would have been a totally insulting thing to do.  Fortunately, it turned out to be a girl so I was safe.  Again a random act but it could have definitely hurt some one's feelings.  That could have definitely drained that person's emotional account.


Up to this point, everything I have discussed centers around not hurting someone and draining their account.  I suppose I could stop right now and say that it's best to be careful that we don't hurt other people and that is certainly true.


But I want to take a minute and talk about the other side of the ledger.  If you take $100 to your bank and deposit in your savings account what happens?  Your account balance goes up right?  So what if we took that same approach and started adding to other people's emotional accounts instead.  When was the last time you walked up to a total stranger and given them a compliment?  Are you too shy for that?  Well let me ask you this.  How would it make you feel if someone in line at Starbucks that you didn't know (assuming you are a lady) that you really looked nice in the dress you were wearing?  How would it make you feel?  How about if you told someone you work with thank you for doing a good job on something?  It's going to make their account balances go up.


So let me encourage you in this today.  Try to find someone and give them a random act of kindness.  Be careful though.  Because whatever you do to someone, it will be done to you.  If you start giving out random acts of kindness, sooner or later, they are going to start coming back to you!


That's another Opinion of the Minion

Pressure Your Pressure

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk about something that has been in my spirit for a little while.  Are there things in your life that you are believing God to make happen?  Maybe you are trying to lose weight, get out of debt or make better grades.  It's possible you are dealing with something even much more serious - a loved one who you want to know Christ, deliverance from drugs or something else.  That's what I want  to deal with today.

Have you ever worked hard on something and don't really see results?  You say, I have tried to study more or I have tried to lose that weight and no matter what I do, it won't come off?  Are you feeling pressured to quit the diet, quit studying, stop believing for your loved one?  Well we have all been there.  I know I have.  That pressure is really heavy right?  On top of that, nothing seems to be moving right?

Well there is a law in physics that says something like every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  When you push down on a table, the pressure you put on it will actually cause you to rise.  But if you increase the pressure you are putting on that table, it may look like nothing is happening.  So you push down some more and still nothing happens.  Then you push even harder and nothing happens.  You keep increasing the pressure and finally you hear the table legs start to creek and this encouragement causes you to put even more pressure on the table.  Why hasn't the table broken?  It is putting as much pressure back on you as you are putting on it.

But at some point, if you keep increasing the pressure, the table will buckle.  One minute you are pushing on it and it is pushing back on you.  The next minute the table is not able to exert enough pressure back on you to stand and it falls.

That's the way it is with the problems in life.  The reason we don't see immediate victory is because our problems are pressuring us but guess what, there is no movement.  That means we are putting pressure on our problem!  If we keep it up, sooner or later, the problem will buckle because it can't handle the pressure you are putting on it.

So I want to encourage you.  If you are trying to loose weight, keep at it.  You might not see the results you want immediately but keep pressuring your pressure.  Those pounds will come off.  If you want to get out of debt, keep the pressure on your debt.  It will leave.

If you are using your faith and believing God to bring a loved one into the kingdom or something else in your life then keep at it.  To use a line from a song I heard the Crabb family sing, "Just hold on.  My God will show up and He will take you through the fire again!"

Well, I've blogged myself happy again.  That's another Opinion of the Minion.

To Fear or Not to Fear

Hello everyone, 

Today I want to talk about fear.  Now we could discuss all kinds of phobias and it seems like there is a phobia for almost everything.  There is even phobia of success.  Can you believe it!  If you Google it, there are a lot of things to say about it.  There's also the fear of failure which is the opposite.  We run around a lot wondering about what happens if we fail.  What happens if we try out for something and don't make it?  Most of the time, nothing really bad happens.  We might get embarrassed if we fail or we might not get something we had our heart set to do.  But other than that, what negative really happens?

Let me ask you this.  What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?  Would you become a professional athlete?  Maybe you would run for President or run some big corporation.  I am digressing from my topic for tonight so I will save this discussion for another day.

Let's talk about fear itself.  It can grip us and stop us in our tracks.  Some people believe that a little fear is healthy for you.  That's almost as intelligent as saying a little cancer is healthy for you or a few broken bones are good for you.  After all, they might teach you something right?  Nope.  A little fear is not good for you because fear connects you to the devil and that's not a connection you need to make. 

Now I can hear some of you saying, "Well Mr. Minion, the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  Yes, there are some translations of the Bible that use those words but what it really means that the reverence of the Lord and the respect for the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It doesn't mean that being terrified of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  For the record, God doesn't want you to be afraid of Him.  That thought is just plain ridiculous.  Are any of you parents?  Are any of you in a relationship?  Do you want your children, spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend to be afraid of you?  Of course not,  I have five children and I don't want any of them to be afraid of me, not even a little bit.

If you think about it for a few minutes, we use the word fear a lot and can make connections to it.  Have you ever said, "That scared me to death?"  how about sayings like, "That ____ will be the death of me yet?"  Some people even sit around and talk about all the bad things that can happen to them.

So is fear a good thing?  Not on any level.  So if fear is so bad for you, what's the opposite of fear?  The answer is faith.  Faith in what?  First and foremost, faith in God.  Second faith in yourself.  Third faith in the plan God has for your life.  When you turn from fear, you're left with faith.  

I can already hear some of you saying, "Well what about what's going on right now in my life?  What if it doesn't work out?"  Not too long ago, I was afraid of losing my job and I was afraid that my new wife wouldn't care for me anymore.  That she might even not want to be with me anymore.  That fear was gripping.  But here's what I finally realized.  Regardless of what she did or didn't do, God would be with me.  He will see me through to the place of victory he has for me.  For those of you who know me personally, you should know that my wife has very strong moral character and I truly believe that she is deeply in love with me and committed to me.  The only thing that freed me from it's grip was to turn to faith in God.  If all those bad things happened, I would still be OK.  

But one thing I learned while sitting in that fear was that I didn't enjoy life.  I was sitting at a place watching everyone around me having a good time and I wasn't.  Why?  Because that fear had a grip on me.  Once I got out of that grip through faith, I started having a good time again.  So if your at this place right now, let me encourage you.  Take a step out of fear and take a step of faith!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Take the Test

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk with you about test taking.  We all love to take tests right?  Well I normally don't.  They are a lot of work and what happens if we fail.  We can get a bad grade and if we fail too many times, we have to take the whole class over.

How many of you have a driver's license?  If you do, there is a very good possibility that you had to take a test before you were given one.  In Texas, I took Driver's Education class, I practiced and then I took the test with someone riding in the car with me.  I will never forget that day.  I believe it was my 16th birthday.  It was the very first day that I could take the test and I was sooo excited.  I couldn't wait to get my parents out of the car and hit the road on my own.  It was a day of great achievement.  I could finally drive my mom's 1975 Oldsmobile Omega by myself.  We called this car the splotch because it was many different shades of ugly green.

On that very memorable day, I pulled out of the parking lot with the Department of Public Safety officer in the passenger seat giving me directions.  I was a little nervous but that was OK.  One of the first things he asked me to do was parallel park and I did almost as badly as you can do and still not completely fail the test.  I hit the curb with the car sticking out into the street.  It was bad but not catastrophic yet.  We pulled away from there and drove across Jacksboro Highway into a nearby neighborhood and went through the rest of the test.  I got a couple of points taken off due to the way that I backed down the street and I ended up with a 77 on the test.  It wasn't pretty but it worked!  I had a driver's license.

But what would have happened if I failed the test?  Guess what, I would have taken it again at the next available time and continued over and over until I passed.  Here is something else, the State of Texas would let me take it over again.  So why am I telling you this today?

Well many times life is like that driving test.  There are things in this life that we want to do, have or be.  Maybe you want to be a better friend.  Maybe you want to be a better mom or have God do something wonderful in your life.  It could be that there is some bad habit that you just can't seem to shake.  In times like these, you may feel discouraged and feel like giving up.  You may even feel like God is mad at you.

There are also times when you don't want to do something hard.  Have you ever avoided a conflict because you don't like the uneasy feeling that comes from conflict?  Have you ever wanted God to promote you in some area of your life?

Well most of the time to accomplish any of these things, we have to take a test.  Many times God will test us before he gives us something to see if we are ready for it or not.  What happens if we fail one of those tests?  Sometimes the devil will tell you that it's over.  Whatever you are hoping would happen will not and you should just quit.

Let me tell you that God is a loving God.  He wants you to have many of the things you want and he will never stop giving you chances to take the test and pass!  So if you fell down and didn't achieve your goal, stand back up and dust yourself off.  Then get right back to studying for the test.  Then keep taking the test until you pass!  God will continue to let you take the test as many times as you need until you pass.  He's not mad at you if you fail.  The test isn't impossible to pass.  God can show you how.  Also remember this - He is pulling for you and so am I.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

The News

Hi All,

OK before I start, let me say that I mean this first part in jest.  Let's take a look at the news for a few minutes.  As I have stated before, I live in Fort Worth, TX.  Over the past few days, we have had an ice storm that shut down most of the city.  We did need the news to tell us which schools are closed and which businesses are closed and we did watch it for that.  But what we didn't need the news to tell us was what was going on outside.  When I looked out the window, it was white outside.  There was sleet on the ground and ice in the street.  When I looked at my wife's car the windshield was covered and so was the top of my Expedition.  The conclusion I drew from all this was that there was sleet on the ground and that the roads would be bad.

Fortunately for me, I didn't need to look outside because for the entire news broadcast, they went from one person to another showing sleet on the ground.  Each one of them would take their cue and act like they were breaking a story worthy of some type of national news prize.  It would go something like this:

Newscaster:  Now let's go to Frank in downtown Fort Worth.
Frank:  I want our camera man to zoom in on the gutter by the side of the street.  Get a tight shot of the white stuff.  As you can see from our close up, the rain that came down earlier was affected by the drop in temperature.  When the temperature went below 32 degrees, this liquid turned to a solid and it's now sleet!!!

Newscaster:  Thank you Frank for that information.  Now let's go to Sue who is in Berkeley.  Sue, what do you have?
Sue:  What we're looking at here is the total coverage of an entire front yard plus their bushes with sleet!!!

This scene goes on for 30 minutes!  Why is that when we got it the first time?

OK now on a much more serious note, we do need to be careful of the amount of time we watch the news.  Remember news companies get paid to sell stories and for the most part, bad stories sell much better than good ones.  The last time I watched the news, there were three stories about bad things happening to people, the weather, one bad story, sports and ending it all was one bad story.  If you feed yourself on those things, you can start to meditate and focus on these bad stories.  Before you know it, fear can begin to creep into your life and the next thing you know, your eyes are on more of the bad things going on in life than the good things that God can do for you.

I made a decision to spend very very little time watching the news and like one of my favorite preachers said, I missed several crisis that were on that I didn't even know about.  They didn't bother me in the least.  If you are going to spend time watching the news, I suggest you pull out the Bible and see what the news is on your future!

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

What's Steering the Bus?

Hello All,

I am finally getting around to writing again and I apologize for taking so long to get back to it.  Today I want to talk about what's steering your bus?  What's directing your life?  The answer to that is easy - our thoughts direct or life.  The bible says in Proverbs 23:7 that as a man thinks in his heart so is he.  What does that mean, your thoughts are steering your bus!  Have you ever sat around and worried about a big test.  Every time you think about it, you become afraid of failing it?  Then when you actually take the test, you don't do so well?  I know I've done things like that.

Let me tell you about one area that this has happened and what I figured out to do to stop it from happening again.  My company had a big client up until about a year ago and I listened to several people who would worry with me about this big client and what they were trying to do to us.  We all worried for several months and then I found myself worrying about what would happen if we lost them.  How would we survive and what would we do.  Now there was no real obvious signs of things going wrong with them but my heart began to be fixed on how we would lose them.  Sure enough, at the end of last year they fired us!  Just like Job, the thing that I feared had come upon me.  I believe that this is always the devil's plan for our lives.  He is constantly trying to steal, kill and destroy.

Now thank God that He is gracious enough to see us through our mistakes.  When I realized that I was doing it with another place in my business, the Lord showed me what I was doing and I was able to stop.  Why didn't God show me before I lost the big client?  He was trying to tell me, I just wasn't listening.

If we just stopped right here this would be good news but this isn't as far as it goes.  See, we can set our minds on good things and they will come to pass too!  There is another aspect of my business that is starting to go really well.  It is actually multiplying.  I don't mean it's growing, it's multiplying.  Now we started talking about this business at the first of the year much differently.  When I started this year, I was talking about this business being much larger than it is now.  I was seeing it, I was believing it and I was expecting it.  Guess what - that's exactly where it's headed.  As I am thinking in my heart, so is it.

So let me ask you, where are you seeing yourself?  What thoughts are you allowing to run around inside you?  Do you see yourself as overcome or overrun?  If you are struggling with this today, do me a favor.  As hard as it may be, take 10 minutes a day and start to use your imagination.  See yourself overcoming the thing you are struggling with.  See God stepping into your situation and it turning around.  See yourself as the victor not the victim.

That's another Opinion of the Minion