You Gotta Be You

Hello Everyone,

It's been on my heart to start writing again so here goes.  Today I want to talk about being true to yourself.  Have you ever been in a place were someone says or does something that you don't agree with?  Maybe you see someone at school bullying someone or saying something bad about someone.  I have found myself listening to people with views that differ from what I truly believe.  I've tried to reconcile some of those opinions and beliefs and tried to "go along" with them in my spirit but it never felt right.

Here's the thing.  I never felt peace until I finally decided that no matter who I am around or what they say, I'm going to be true to what I believe.  I'm going to stand up for what I believe is right regardless of whether it's popular or not.  It may seem cool if you are part of the in crowd at school and they want to make fun of someone but it's not.  It may seem cool to talk about someone behind their back but it's not.  It may seem cool to agree with the "new age" standards that many people in the world want to set but it's not.

What standards am I talking about?  Well that's a question that I will leave to you.  I will tell you this.  If you really don't know how you feel about any particular issue, pick up your Bible and get God's opinion on the subject.  While it may not be the most popular, it will definitely be the right one.

Before I finish, I want to say that it's not always OK to run around spouting your opinion to anyone and everyone.  If you feel inclined to tell every person you meet what you feel or your opinion, that isn't right either.  If someone has a different opinion that you, it's OK.  What's not OK is for you to change your opinion on any subject just to try to fit in with the crowd.

While it's a little short and sweet, that's the Opinion of the Minion.

To Your Parents

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk to all of you that are parents.  If you are a young person, ask your parents to read this.

Let me start by saying that I am a parent/stepparent to five very wonderful and very different children.  Our children are ages 15, 14, 13, 12 and 10 so we are just hitting the teenage years.  We are hitting the age where they become more and more independent.  But let me tell you this parents, we are also hitting the time of their lives where they begin to dream their own dreams and want to go their own paths.

For many parents this is a hard time.  See we think we have the plan for their lives.  We see them going to college and getting a good job out of school then preparing for a family and in many cases following the same track that we went down.  After all, if it was good enough for us, it's good enough for them right?  Wrong.  They have their own dreams and their own desires.

This past weekend, my wife and I had the opportunity to watch our oldest daughter perform in a theater camp in our town.  It was a wonderful experience for her and she truly enjoyed it.  In the second act, I was hit by part of the performance.  The musical is about kids going through school and it's "target audience" is teachers as they are in the classroom and their impact on the kids they teach.  At one point, four different young men and women describe a boy who writes a poem.  The first poem is named Skip after his dog because that's what it's about.  His teacher gives him an A and a gold star and his mom pins it to the wall.  His dad tucks him into bed and he's enjoying life.

The second poem is called Autumn because that's what it's about.  His teacher gave him an A and his mom told him not to pin it to the wall because the wall had just been painted.  That year he noticed that things weren't as rosy around him.  Then he tried another poem called Question (I think) because that what it was about.  His mom didn't say anything about it and his dad got mad at him when he tried to tuck him into bed.  He wrote his last poem on a matchbook and completely checked out of life.  His parents never knew he was unhappy.

The skit is followed by a song called, "I've Come Home."  It's about children coming home and the place of safety, love and warmth they find at home with their family.  This made me start to think about my own children and I began to wonder if my desire to see grow into the adults that I want them to was clouding my ability to see their dreams and desires.  What part of where they thought they wanted to go was I missing.  Since they are teenagers, their dreams are probably going to change several times over the next few years but that doesn't matter.  I started asking myself what was I doing to encourage them to stretch out and work for their dreams.  What was I doing to help them work hard to achieve the things that God put in their life, not the things that I was trying to put in their lives.  Now I am not saying that grades and their upbringing isn't important and as a parent it's definitely are job to make sure our kids work hard and do their best.  It is our job to help them grow into strong men and women.

Let me close with this.  What if Billy Graham's mom had forced him to be a dentist?  What if Albert Einstein's mom had forced him to be a lawyer?  What if Mother Theresa's mom had forced her to be an actress?  It would be like trying to put a size 8 foot in a size 6 shoe.  It just wouldn't fit.  So let me ask you this parents, what are you doing to help your children realize their dreams?

That's Another Opinion of the 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

Fight or Flight

Hello everyone,

This post might not apply to everyone but today I want to talk about your fight or flight reflex.  This is really something I probably already knew but it's something that I have realized about myself recently.  I don't know where I heard this but I have heard it several times lately.  When we face fear or some unpleasant situation, there is a reflex that kicks in almost immediately.  We either want to fight the situation or we want to run away from the situation.  

Before I tell you what I learned, let me say that to go to either extreme is not a wise decision.  There are times when you should fight and there are times when you should simply walk away.  In the words of my mom's favorite Kenny Rogers song, "You've got to know when to hold'em.  Know when to fold 'em.  Know when to walk away and know when to run."  I will soon describe what I have learned about my flight mechanism but before I do, let me say that there are going to be times when you should run away from the problem.  If you find yourself confronted with a gun and you don't have one, RUN. If you find yourself in an abusive relationship, ladies RUN.

But what if you just find yourself in a hard place?  For me, I used to shy away from conflict.  It has taken me several years to realize that this was me running from problems.  I didn't want to hurt any one's feelings and I didn't like when people hurt mine so I would just avoid the conflict.  In some ways, I reasoned that it was easier to just keep walking.  Now if someone calls you a name, that is the best thing to do.  If you don't like the way they treat you, then just keep walking.

But what if the person you don't like is your husband or wife?  Or what if that person is someone who works for you?  Maybe that person is your boss.  You can't just run away from everyone of those types of issues.  Just recently in my own life, I was faced with a situation where my wife did something that I didn't like.  The easiest thing for me to do would have been just let it go and say nothing.  Now we both do that for each other regularly and that's part of a healthy relationship.  But in this case, it was something that really bothered me.  I could sense myself getting mad at her and I noticed that because I hadn't talked with her about this one thing, almost any little thing she did would aggravate me much more than it should.  That's when it finally hit me that I was trying to run from a situation that I needed to address.  Now here's the amazing part of this story to me.  As soon as I recognized what was going on inside me, the little things that were trying to annoy me disappeared!  I was perfectly fine waiting to talk with her about it until we had time.  Here's another thing, as it turned out, it was just a misunderstanding between us.  This particular issue wasn't a big one at all but it did teach me that I need to identify places where I am trying to fly when there are times that I need to fight.

So 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

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

Fear

Hello everyone,

Today's topic is fear.  It's something we see all around us and something we deal with daily.  If you ask any of my five children or possibly my wife, they might tell you that I look really scary in the morning because my hair looks so bad in the morning!  OK, all joking aside, I want to take a more serious look at fear.  Just this past week I was in a meeting with someone who told me that a little bit of fear was a good thing.  This person was trying to make a point and she was very very wrong.  Fear will kill you.  There is nothing remotely good about it.

In her example, she stated that if we don't teach children to fear their hand getting burned by a hot stove, they could get hurt.  What she should have said is that if we don't teach children to respect the heat that comes off the stove, they can get burned.  But they definitely should not fear the stove, there's nothing good that can come from fear.

Now I can already hear someone saying, "Mr. Minion, the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  That is what the King James Bible says but what that word fear means is deep respect and reverence of the Lord.  Remember this, the Bible says that God is Love and that perfect love casts out fear.  That means that if we go near God that His love will cast out fear.  Let me put it this way.  I'm a dad and I definitely want my children to respect what I say but I certainly don't want any of my children to ever fear me.  It would hurt me to think that one of my own children was afraid of me.

I don't even think that horror movies are good for us.  Think about it.  They can desensitize us to what fear actually does.  We like to watch movies that have fear in them because most of the time there is no "real" fear that would come after us from them.  But they teach us to live with fear and that fear can be amusing.  I personally prefer comedies because I like to laugh.  The Bible says that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.

So what about fear?  I heard a preacher say one time that the shadow of a dog never bit anyone. How often do we sit around being fearful of what might happen.  I know someone who is going back to school and this person is afraid of some things that might never happen.  This person is worrying about things before they even come up.  Now I'm not telling you to plan for things and make sure you know what to do if something happens but that is much different that worrying about it.

Earlier this week, I was in a situation at work and worried about it for two days.  The particular thing I worried about never even took place so I worried for nothing.  Worse than that, we can't stand in fear and faith at the same time so I wasn't even standing in faith while I was worrying about it.  How dumb was I?  I have recently realized that there were several areas of my life where I was worrying about things and I am making the decision to quit.  Fear is of the devil.  I am striving more and more to work with one of my wife's 2 Ts (trust and thankfulness) - trust.  When I role the cares of those things over on to the Lord, He can take them and do something about them.

Can it be that simple to stop fear.  The answer is yes.  Quit choosing to live with fear and start choosing to live with trust in God!  When fear comes, tell the devil you aren't buying and choose to walk away from it!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Judgments

Hello everyone,

Today I want to talk about judgments.  Are they good or are they bad?  Once I had someone tell me that we should never judge anything because judgments were bad.  I responded that it seemed that we were judging judgments and that seemed bad too.  Obviously this circular thought made my head spin.  Today I was sitting at lunch with a couple of friends of mine and this subject came up again.  We should never judge people right?  Doesn't the bible tell us that we should not judge others?  Actually, that is correct.  The bible does say in Matthew 7:1 that we are to judge not lest we be judged.

So what does this mean?  Should we judge anything at all after reading this verse?  My friend at lunch today said that for every scripture in the bible, you can find some other scripture that contradicts it.  I don't think this is totally true.  I do very much believe that for every scripture in the bible we can find another one that seems to contradict it but I don't think the bible contradicts itself.  God's not schizophrenic.  He knows what He's doing when he rights something.  My friends and I were talking about a highly debated subject in Christian circles and we were talking about someone that we both knew who was connected to the subject.  My friend stated that he didn't judge this person we both know and I think that's right.  I don't judge him either.

After all, most of us who call ourselves Christians are known for being judgmental of others while not judging ourselves very well.  We seem to want to judge others in strict accordance with their actions while we want others to judge us through the eyes of grace.  In other words, we want to judge others of their sins but we don't want to deal with our own sins.  So we need to quit judging other people right?

The answer to that question is yes.  But let's look at judgments in general for a second.  I don't believe that all judgments are bad.  I think we have to take a look at our own lives and judge our own actions.  One of my friends at lunch today brought up the part of the bible where it says that we shouldn't go around trying to take the speck out of our brother's eye while we have a plank in our own and that's true but if you read the rest of that passage it says to take the plank out of your eye so you can see clearly how to take the speck out of your brothers.

Here's where I'm really going with this.  While I don't believe that we should judge other people, I do think we need to have our own sense of what is right and wrong.  Sin is sin.  I don't have to judge or define it, the Bible does that on it's own.  If someone's actions are wrong, it's OK to internally know that their actions are wrong.  But to look at that same person and say they are a bad person isn't OK.  The point I'm trying to make is that while I don't think we should judge anyone or exclude them from church for something they do that is wrong, I do think that we can acknowledge TO OURSELVES, not to them, that what they are doing isn't right.  That doesn't make them a bad person, it doesn't condemn them to hell, it shouldn't even kick them out of the church but I am tired of hearing people white wash things that God clearly says is wrong.

So if you see someone doing something that the Bible defines as sin, don't judge them personally and the vast majority of the time it's not even your place to tell them what they are doing is wrong.  But do notice that their actions don't line up with God's instructions.  Then, without looking down at them or judging them personally, take a look at yourself and see what actions in your own life are not measuring up to God's instructions.  Ask God to help you be a better Christian.

That's Another Opinion of the Minion

I Have a Plan

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to talk about plans.  How many of you have them?  We all do.  We have plans for lunch, tonight, this weekend, next week and many of us have long term plans for our life.  If you are young you may have your plan for high school or college or even younger parts of your life.  How many of you who are either in your first year of college or below feel pressure to come up with your plan for your life as a teenager?  Well, it's been a few years since I was a teenager but I remember feeling that same pressure growing up.

I need a plan for certain parts of my life now.  As some of you know, I got married again in late March.  We have five kids between us and we need a bigger house.  So we made a plan.  We looked at a piece of land in a really neat part of town and we started working on our plan.  But some things came up and we are not sure if we will be able to do this or not.  So my wife said we really need a plan about where we will all live now and she is very right.  I remember sitting for a couple of days worrying about what our plan should be.  I looked at many different scenarios and tried many different ways to make things go the way we wanted them to go.

At the end of all this worrying, I came to a very interesting conclusion - I didn't have a plan that would work and I couldn't figure out how to make any of my plans successful.  Guess what?  That's a very good place to be.  As a matter of fact that is a great place to be.  No, I am not crazy.  I finally got smart.  Why is this such a good place?  Because instead of working on my plan, I finally decided that I needed to ask God what his plan is for our house.  Did you know that the Bible says in the book of Jeremiah that God knows the plans he has for your life?  It also says his plan is a good plan for your life.  Want chapter and verse?  Well I won't give it to you - look it up! 

See, I was working extremely hard on my plan and the way I thought things should go.  But notice what the verse doesn't say.  It doesn't say, "I, the Lord God, know that you have the perfect plan for your own life and I will bless any plan you want for you life."  That sounds nice and I think we all wish that God would do that sometimes but He doesn't.  All that time I was working on my plans and God was sitting patiently on the sidelines of my life watching me run myself ragged.  I can see Him sigh as if to say, "I have a plan but I can't help you until you ask me."  I can see something in His face.  It's almost like He's bored.  He's not the least bit worried because He has a plan.  Guess what, His plan is blessed.  It will work and it will be the best possible house for my family.  He's not in a panic.  He knows exactly what to do.

We finally humbled ourselves and said, "Lord, we don't know what we need to do here but You do.  We are expecting your plan to work for our situation."  You know what happened to me?  All the weight of the whole thing was lifted off my shoulders and He started carrying it.  I am literally at peace with His plan and I don't even know what it is!  That's why He tells us that his burden is easy and his yolk is light because when we put His burden on correctly, He does all the carrying.

So let me ask you - Are you currently facing a situation where you don't know what to do?  Are you frustrated or in a panic?  Well instead of running around trying to make your plan work, why don't you just ask God what His plan is for your situation and let Him show you the perfect plan!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Letting Go

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post in a long time and for that I apologize again.  I know I need to write more and I hope to in the future.

Today's post is about letting go.  It's a message that has come to me from several different places in the last week which usually means the Lord is trying to tell me something.  I want to start with an illustration from a very good friend of mine, CS.

He recently told me about something that happened to him.  He was visiting with one of his closest friends when several of his friend's family showed up and had a lot of negative things to say about C.  They were very bitter about some "perceived" wrong that he did to them.  Now from our discussions, I don't think he really did anything wrong to them but this perceived transgression was really bothering several of them.  Here's the kicker.  This happened over a decade ago.  They have been harboring this grudge for a long time and guess who wasn't bothered about any of it until recently? - CS.  He didn't even know it was out there.  Pretty crazy stuff.  What's my point?  If you harbor a grudge against someone the only person you are really hurting is yourself.

I think that's a good point but I want to talk for a minute about the definition of letting go that the Lord keeps bringing to my heart.  I have to let go of the past.  In my current life, I don't have as many "things" as I once did.  I don't live in as nice a house as I used to and as a matter of fact, my ex-wife still lives in the nice house where I used to live.  I also don't have a boat like I used to.  And here's something else from my past that I don't like - I can't run as fast or as far as I could five years ago.

I've noticed lately that I have spent some time regretting not having the "things" that I used to enjoy.  What makes it worse is I am facing a couple of struggles.  Lately, it's been easy to be frustrated about the past and not really notice the great things that are going on around me.  So the Lord finally dealt with me to let go of the old house and let go of the boat.  Part of the problem of remembering the "good old days" is that they really weren't all that good.  I was just remembering the best parts of the "old days" and forgetting all the hard stuff that made them not so good at the time.  Another part of the problem is that while I was focusing on how things were, I forgot to focus on the good plan that God has for my future.  I'm on the verge of a couple of very significant breakthroughs in area's of my life that will put my family and I in the best financial place I have ever seen.

This year one of my businesses suffered a pretty big setback but it's still going strong and looks like there are opportunities to grow back some of what we lost.  Another of my businesses is on the verge of taking off in a way I would never have seen back in the good old days.  So what the Lord was finally saying to me is that at this stage of my life it's time for a new beginning not a being bogged down in trying to my recollection of the good old days.  But in order to move higher, I have to let go of some of the things I have held as important.

Something else I noticed was that I was holding on to feeling guilty about some bad choices I have made.  The worst part about that is I can't change any of them.  I can make choices about my future.

So I want to encourage you.  If your are holding on to things that are holding you down, it's time to let go and move up.  It's time for you to move out of your past and move into your future.  Maybe the devil has told you that because of something you did wrong it your past, that your life can't be as great as you would like.  That's just simply a lie.  Did you know that after the prodigal son came home from wasting all the money his father gave him that his father not only took him back but blessed him with fine clothes and a big feast.  God has a great plan for your life and nothing in your past can stop you and God from achieving a bright future. So let go and get going!!

That's another Opinion of the Minion

The Apple Seed

Today I want to encourage you to hold fast to the dreams that God has put in your heart.  Sometimes we have to continue to work a while before we see results.  I bet there are some of you who read my blog that are saying to yourselves, "I want to quit.  I've been working toward a goal for quite a while now and it seems like I will never get there.  I'm not even seeing results or at least not the results that I want to see." 

Well I can tell you I have been there before and I even face that now (well sort of).  There are a couple of areas in my life where I truly believe I know what the end result looks like.  But right now it doesn't exactly look that way.

Do you know what happens when you plant an apple tree seed?  If you water it properly and take care of the soil sooner or later it will sprout up an apple tree.  After a while the apple tree will produce apples.  But guess what.  The apple tree doesn't start producing apples the day after you plant the seed.  As a matter of fact, if you were to dig up the seed and look at it right after you planted it there would be nothing different about it.  It would just look like a dirty seed. 

See that seed needs to go through some days where there is no sunlight.  It goes through days that are rainy and it goes through days where people are putting fertilizer (that is manure) on top of it and all around it.  It needs to go through some days where there is nothing but darkness and pressure all around it.  If you left it above the ground where it was always bright and there was no pressure, it would wither up and die.  It would turn to dust.  But if you take away the sunlight, throw in some pressure, manure and plenty of rainy days the next thing you know that apple seed will begin to multiply and push it's way through the dirt to the surface.  It takes the pressure of the soil and the manure and takes nutrients from them.  It takes those rainy days and uses the water to grow.

I believe we are all in places where there is pressure in our lives.  For me personally, I know of a couple of places where I feel pressure.  If I look with my natural eyes, I don't see much movement or much way of getting through the dirt to the sunlight.  I've seen plenty of rainy days lately.  But I know what those rainy days mean.  Those rainy, pressure filled days where I see know light at the end of the tunnel mean that I am one step closer to getting above the ground and bearing fruit.  I'm one step closer to the success that I want and to the goal that I set.

So let me encourage you in this.  If you are facing what seems like an impossible situation right now.  If you are trusting God and putting your faith to work but you aren't seeing the results you want, don't quit.  All the bad stuff that is being thrown at your dream is a sure sign that your sprout is about to push through the surface!  You may only be one step from getting the result you wanted.  So don't stop trusting God to do what He said He would.  This could be your last day in the pressure!

It's happened again.  I've blogged myself happy. 

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

The One That Got Away

Hello everyone.  It's been a long time since I put anything together and I am sorry for that.  Today I want to talk about the one that got away.  Have you ever heard a song by Garth Brooks called "Unanswered Prayers"?  Basically Garth Brooks is talking about going back to his old high school and looking at his life growing up.  He's with his wife and apparently loves his life.  But his life isn't exactly what he thought it would be back then.  He prayed for God to do certain things in his life and God didn't answer those prayers but things turned out good anyway.

I find this very interesting because it happens so often in life.  It happened to me recently.  I pray every day that God will protect my business and that I will not lose any of my clients.  Now my company has had this one client for over 15 years and it's a big one.  We learned in December that effective at the end of July of this year, they will no longer need our services.  At first I was really upset.  Their decision not only effects my life but the lives of 20 to 30 people around me because it either effects their check or someone in their family.  That was a tough pill to swallow because I prayed about it all the time.

Now let me rewind a couple of years.  In January of 2010, the Lord instructed me to start a small company.  This company is very similar to the company that I run now with some marked differences.  This company isn't very big yet but it has potential for tremendous growth and we are already seeing it start.  After a couple of weeks of figuring out my current company in the aftermath of our upcoming loss, I began to see what the Lord had in mind when He wrote, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11.  I finally got a glimpse of His plan.  I could see that this decrease was actually increase in disguise and it's already coming to pass.

What I didn't see at first was this.  The one that got away needed to go away so I could land a bigger better fish.  I think that happens often to us in life.  Now let me ask you this.  What are you feeling so dis draught about right now?  What set back or disappointment are you facing?  Is it a bad grade at school?  Is it the loss of a girlfriend, boyfriend or job?  Maybe it's the loss of your house or something else due to the economy and you are mad at God about it.  Well I can certainly understand your frustration.  Let me tell you this - God does too.  It's OK to get mad at him.  He has big shoulders and He loves you very much.  He will even let you yell at Him.  So get it off your chest.

But after you are done yelling and getting upset, I challenge you to take a look around and see what God has in store for you.  If you ask Him, He will reveal the next door that needs to open.  And guess what, the thing to replace what you lost is probably right around the corner.  If it's from God, it will be better than what you lost.  Remember, sometimes you have to prune a tree so it can grow taller and stronger.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Give Her a Chance

Today I want to talk about something very cool that I did.  Now it may not be that great to you but it felt great to me.  I also learned that I did the same thing the Lord does for us.  Tonight I put my daughter K in a place where she could eventually make her way to the US Gymnastics Team!  Before anyone says anything, it is not my expectation that the does this.  And I will definitely love her whether she ever makes the team or even stays in gymnastics at all.  Either way I am proud to be her dad and I told her that in no uncertain terms tonight.  She knew that this was a place she could dream and if she worked really hard, she might have an opportunity to live that dream.  Let me tell you, I would be one proud dad if she does (but I am one proud dad now so it really doesn't matter).

As I was talking to the gymnastics people today, I found out that K was in the level two class.  If she does well she will be invited to join the level two team in the spring.  This will mean competitions locally and one national competition at the age of eight.  I think both of these are great opportunities for her to challenge and push herself.  I fully support that.  Now if she stays on track, she can make it up to level 10.  At level 10 she goes to a local competition.  If she wins she moves to regional and then national and then it's on to the Olympics!  Even though a lot of kids start down this track, not many of them become Gabby Douglas.  But one of them just might and why can't it be my daughter K?  The answer is, it most certainly can.

This thing has been bouncing around in my spirit since I figured it out a few hours ago and I can see the reason as I write this.  See God does the same thing for us that I have done for K.  He gives us a chance to achieve our dreams.  Many don't but it's not God's fault, it's ours.  If K doesn't go on to be an Olympian, it won't be my fault, it will be because she either chose to take a different path or she didn't dedicate herself to living that dream.  I think we do this in real life all the time.  God gives us an opportunity and we either don't work at it or we decide to do something else.  Regardless of what we do, the doors to our success are right there.

I hear people that are waiting on God to drop success on them like He dropped manna from Heaven on the Israelites in the desert but he doesn't work that way.  I also hear people that say He will just work everything out for their good regardless of what they do or don't do and this isn't true.  The Bible says He has a good plan for our lives and it also says He blesses the works of our hands.  If there isn't work from our hands, He doesn't have something to bless.  Now K is in the same place.  If she works hard and dedicates herself to gymnastics, she has a chance to be the best.  But if she doesn't work hard and eat right, etc., it won't happen. The choice is hers and I believe that the choice is ours when it comes to how successful we allow God to make us.

So let me leave you with this challenge.  If you are waiting for God to drop success on you, don't wait start doing something He can bless and see how He works.  The other challenge is this - find someone who is attempting to live out their dream and give them a helping hand.  Give them a chance.  You will be glad you did.

That's another Opinion of the Minion.

The Lens

Today I want to talk about The Lens.  What is The Lens?  Good question.  I'm glad you asked.  Before I talk about The Lens, let's talk about lenses in general for a minute.  When I think of lenses, I think of glasses.  Have you ever put on prescription glasses that weren't yours?  Everything looks very distorted doesn't it?  I used to wear glasses but I had lasik surgery several years ago and don't need them now.  I didn't wear them at all until I was an adult.

I will never forget this.  It was my first year of law school and I had to drive to Dallas and back to Fort Worth everyday because the classes were in Dallas.  Now on the way home, everything was always a little fuzzy at night.  The lights weren't clear and I always had trouble seeing the street signs on the freeway.  Then one day, I went to see an eye doctor and I was prescribed glasses.  I got my first pair of glasses from a Wal-Mart off of Rufe Snow Drive in Fort Worth and I will never forget the day.  I put the glasses on and walked outside.  I was completely amazed at all that I could see.  It was as if scales had fallen off my eyes and it was amazing.  If you have ever had glasses, you completely understand.

So what is The Lens?  The Lens is what we see life through.  It's what we look through when we see other people.  It's also what we look through when we look in the mirror.  The Lens effects everything.  The thing I want to focus on for a minute is how the lens effects the way we see other people.

Have you ever seen someone you thought was strange or weird?  What makes them weird?  It's the way they look when you compare them to yourself or other people.  See I believe that we are all a little weird in our own ways.  But what if you are looking at that person through the wrong lens and instead of being weird they are actually just unique.  I think sometimes if we would take off our glasses that filter what is cool and what isn't we will find some very amazing individuals.  I think we should all look at other people through a certain lens though - the lens of love.

Now I am not talking about the mushy gushy feeling you get when you are around your boyfriend or girlfriend, what I mean is that we should love everyone.  God does.  Does that shock you?  God loves sinners.  Now I can already hear you screaming that he doesn't but it's true.  God only hates the sin but he loves everyone.  That means he can feel when others hurt even if they aren't living exactly the way he wants them to.  I say if it's good enough for God, it's good enough for us.  So let me ask you who are you looking at and seeing the wrong thing?  As you walk through tomorrow in this Christmas season, would you look at everyone you are near through a lens of love?  That's a tough thing to do but well worth it.

And that's another Opinion of the Minion

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

Faith

Today I want to talk about faith.  Did you know you have faith?  "Well, wait a minute," I can hear you say, "I'm not even a Christian.  I don't believe in that faith stuff."  My friend I beg to differ with you.  You do have faith.  What you have faith in is a totally different question.  While I was working out at the gym today, my trainer showed me a video of the guy who recently jumped out of that balloon from the edge of space.  Did you know he had faith?  In what?  Gravity.  He believed that he would return to earth when he jumped out of that capsule.  If he hadn't believed it, he would never have jumped out.

See we operate in faith all the time.  When you get out of bed, you have faith that you will be able to stay on the floor (gravity again).  You have faith that you are breathing air.  You have faith that the round ball in the sky providing light is the sun.  We have faith in all kinds of things.  Yes some of us have faith in God and that's a very good thing.  According to the bible, the opposite of faith is fear.

Fear is faith that something bad is going to happen.  If you have fear that you are going to die in a car accident, you are really saying that you have faith that this will come to pass in your life.  That's not a good thing.  Now I know some people will say that they had faith in God for this to happen or that and it didn't.  Why didn't your faith work?  I can't say for sure.  There are a lot of reasons that you may not have received what you wanted.  But let's look at the other side, there are many times when we fear something will happen and it doesn't.

I am amazed sometimes at how much fear and faith we see everyday.  Some fear is stronger than others but some faith is stronger than others as well.  I want you to know that fear and faith are not equal even though they are opposites.  Faith in God will always beat fear.  So let me ask you what you are afraid of today?  In the last couple of weeks I have been afraid of a certain thing.  But here's what I learned, when I started trusting God and putting my faith in him, that fear had to shrink away.  So let me ask you this?  Where is your faith?

Is it in something bad or something good?  The answer is something you have to decide but know this - you will operate in faith in many things today.  You only get to chose what you have faith in.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Conflict

Today I want to talk about something that is a very tough subject and honestly I don't know if I have ever seen people do this right.  I want to talk about how we solve problems between people.  Now I don't think that we can really go around solving other people's problems.  I know several people who have tried unsuccessfully to do that for years.  But what I want to talk about today is a great personal triumph for me.

Think with me for a minute about learning how to drive a car.  If you had never done that before and had never even seen a car, do you think you would be capable of driving one?  Let's say you managed to get the car started and drive it.  Since you don't know the traffic laws, there is a very good chance that you will wreck that car and quite possibly get someone else hurt right?  Well that's the way I think I have been with conflict resolution for most of my life.

If you are married or in a serious relationship, you are going to have conflict between the two people in the relationship.  If you aren't, you are going to have conflict between yourself and your friends and all sorts of other people.  Now for me, resolving conflict with friends has always been fairly easy but for years I have had conflicts with people who are close to me and had no idea how to resolve it correctly.  As I have said before, for a long time I simply turned my emotions off.  That wasn't the best thing but it made conflict resolution easy.  How?  Well, most of the time I would other people simply run over me. Whenever there was a conflict I was normally the one to try to keep the peace.  I read in the bible that blessed are the peacemakers and I tried to be a peacemaker.  The problem was, many of the people I knew only wanted peace on their terms.

That typically didn't work out well for me because I just gave in.  Was there really conflict resolution?  No because I just bottled up all the hurt and never found a balanced, healthy way to resolve it.  Part of my problem was having to deal with people who didn't know how to resolve it either.  Most of them learned that the way to resolve conflict was to get mad and yell.  If you show enough anger then the other side will back down and the conflict is resolved right?  In the short term, that is true but it is very damaging to a relationship.  So that way doesn't work either.

About a year and a half ago, the Lord really opened my eyes to my emotions and how they work.  Since then, I have felt a lot of things.  Most of them are new.  Many feel good but many do not.  This brought a change in the way I decided to resolve things.  If I didn't get a good solution to the problem and one that was more on my terms then I would simply cut the offending person out of my life.  I applied this to dating and I can tell you it didn't really work either.  What I was saying then was unless you are perfect, I won't be around you because if you mess up once, you must be like the other people I have dealt with who don't know how to do this any better than I do.  Guess what, that isn't a winning strategy either.

So why am I so excited?  Well I recently dealt with a person over a particular issue.  On the issue in question, the other person did something that aggravated me a little.  Now fortunately, I read a book earlier that day discussing conflicts and how we resolve them.  Some people believe that how you resolve conflict will indicate how long you stay in relationship with someone.  If you don't do it well, that relationship won't last.  Well in this particular case, I ran a quick errand to give myself a little breathing room to think through things a little.  When I did, here is what I discovered.  This issue did irritate me and it would be unhealthy for me ignore the emotion.  However, in the grand scheme of life, it really wasn't that big a deal.

The other person in this situation could sense that I was offended and thus became a little defensive.  I was able to share how I felt.  It didn't take long and as soon as I shared my feelings and knew the other person generally cared about how I felt, all of my aggravation over the situation left.  I felt much better.  At the end of the discussion this person felt better too.  The funny part is that I don't know if the other person has had much success in life resolving personal conflict either because I sensed this person was waiting for me to attack.  When I didn't it seemed like it was a little shocking to that person as well.  Did it feel great?  Yes!  I finally let something bother me, expressed my emotions in a calm and respectful manner and then the situation was resolved.

So what did I learn?  When you have a problem with someone, you need to acknowledge that their is a problem.  Don't stuff it down but don't react out of anger either.  Take a few minutes to cool off and get your head under control.  After that, take the time to express yourself in a respectful way to the other person.  After that, you will feel better.  Now let me also say that it certainly helped that I knew the other person loved and cared about me.  This particular person is also very level headed and very capable of rationally discussing the situation which was a big plus.

That's another Opinion of the Minion