You are Priceless!

Hi All,

I’m not sure who this is for, but I know someone needs to hear this.  I want to talk to you about what you are worth.  I believe many of us have a very low opinion of ourselves and think we aren’t worth very much.  Some of us value ourselves based on how much we weigh or how good we look.  Some of us value ourselves based on how many likes we have on social media.  I believe there is a young girl somewhere reading this who places a value on herself based on what a boy thinks of you.  I also believe that this person is using sex as a way to get boys to like them.  They are basing their sense of self value on how a boy treats them.

I want to encourage you to see yourself for who you really are.  Your actions or the things that have been done to you don’t tell the true story of who you really are.  You need to see yourself as extremely valuable.  As a matter of fact, you are priceless.  How do I know this?  Because Jesus gave his life for you.  Sure, He did it because He wants you to go to Heaven, but He also did it because He loves you and He wants you to have a good life here and now.  Here’s another cool thought.  No matter what you have done in your past, His value of you doesn’t change.  You can’t have done anything so bad that He doesn’t see you as a priceless work of art and He will always look at you that way.  He set your worth 2,000 years ago and the value will never change.

Do you know what the worst thing ever done in the history of the world is?  It was when Adam ate of the fruit in the garden of Eden.  When he did that, he condemned the world to all sorts of horrible acts.  Every awful thing you can think of, came from that one act.  Every murder, every theft, every horrible crime came from that act.  Guess what God did when He found out about it?  The first thing He did was come up with a plan to fix it.  As soon as He found out, He made the decision to send Jesus to pay for Adams sin and He sent Jesus to pay for ours too!  After that, He clothed them, and He still had a good plan for their lives. 

No matter what you have done, God always has a plan B.  Guess what plan B is always a good plan!  He’s also got a plan C, D, E …  He never runs out of good plans for your life!  He loves you that much!  Now if He sees us as that valuable, isn’t it time we start seeing ourselves the same way? 

That’s another 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

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.

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

Old Friends

Today I want to discuss a subject that I have come to appreciate more in the last week.  I want to talk about friendship.  Before I get to my Opinion for this blog, I need to back up a little.

Not that long ago, a good friend of mine, A, went home to be with the Lord after a long fight with cancer.  Now A and I stayed in touch over the years but we didn't stay as close as we were growing up.  I met A when I was in the 7th grade and we are both 41 (A is very much alive, he just went to a place called Heaven).  I still have fond memories of playing football.  A played center and if I remember correctly, he was a starter on the 1st team (or A team) when we were in middle school.  We are a lot alike.  I can still see him wearing his 3/4 top Nike Monster cleats when we played ball.  Later we called him "Hair" because when we were in high school he had long hair.

I also have very fond memories of us playing hide and go seek when we were in middle school with a whole group of kids from our neighborhood.  When we played, our boundaries were several blocks in every direction and we had a lot of fun.  Now A wasn't the only kid I hung out with.  There was B.  He was the high school baseball stud pitcher when we were in school and interestingly enough, he was also very smart.  For a while B and I were best friends and we were inseparable.

There were other kids in the neighborhood too - B and his little brother A, B and his little brother C and  several others.  For the sake of time I will stop right there except to say that B and I went to see my friend A the other day.  It was a very hard time for both of us.

Now let me fast forward to watching my own kids.  Over the last week, I had the opportunity to watch my kids pretty closely and one thing I noticed was that a couple of them were not very well adjusted to playing with other kids.  Why?  Well, one answer is that they don't have very many kids around them to play with.  That small fact - having kids around to play with - was something I realized was a true blessing in my life and also something that I see missing in my kids lives.  I learned a lot last week.  I can't say it was an easy week but it was certainly rewarding.

So let me leave you with the two things I learned from this past week.  First of all, kids need to be around other kids.  So parents please find ways to help your kids socialize.  Second of all, grew to really appreciate all the great kids I grew up with.  A, you will be missed.  I love you and even though we didn't stay as close as either of us would like, I miss you.  Let me leave you with this - Appreciate your friends.  They are truly a gift from God.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Fatherhood

OK, I probably should have posted this on Sunday in honor of Father's Day but life is busy and here it is Tuesday.  Today I want to talk about what being a father is about to me.  I think that the whole concept of fatherhood has lost itself somewhere in our society.  Realizing that the number of single parent moms is substantial, there are many kids who grow up without a strong father.

So what does a good father look like?  Well to start with, he needs to take responsibility for his life and his actions.  If you got her pregnant, it's your responsibility take care of the child.  It's your responsibility to train that child in the way he should live so that he will grow up to be a strong citizen and a good person.  Now most of you might think that my last couple of sentences are pointed at guys who get a girl pregnant and then don't marry her or provide for the child.  They certainly apply to that group but I am also talking about married couples and divorced couples as well.  It really doesn't make any difference how that precious child got her, just take responsibility for it and teach it.

Which leads me to my next point.  What should I teach my children?  In my life right now, I have three wonderful children plus two other children who I am around a lot.  So what am I teaching them?  Well yesterday my oldest son mowed the lawn and I paid him to do it.  Then I taught him about tithing.  Regularly we talk about God and how important he is to our life.  Did you know that Abraham was the father of Israel plus many other countries in the middle east?  Do you know why?  Because God knew that Abraham would teach his children about Him.  That's part of our job as dads.  Also dads, we need to know this.  Actions speak much louder than words.  If we tell our children one thing and then act in a different way, they are going to know that we don't believe our own words and they probably wont believe them either.

So after I teach them, what are some other things I should do?  I need to spend on them.  Now most of you might jump to spend money and I certainly tried to lead you that way.  Dad if you had that child, it is your responsibility to help provide for that baby.  Don't tell me that you are a "man" because you are tough, or successful or good looking etc., and yet you don't provide for your own children.  If you aren't trying to provide for them, I'm not sure you are a "man."  But where I want you to really go with this to spend your time on them.  That's normally the thing they want most.  The woman I am dating recently told me she thought I was good with teenagers.  I don't know if that's true or not but if it is true, its because I just talk to them like they are real people.  I don't treat them any different than any other person I would talk to.  I ask them questions about their lives or what's important and then I try really hard to listen to what they say.  Pretty simple stuff huh.

I think one of the most important things you can do to be a good dad is be the spiritual leader of your house.  Let your kids see you pray.  Don't leave all the praying to their mom or to the ladies in your life.  Real strength starts on your knees.  I heard someone say, "Show me a bible that is worn out and I will show you a Christian that isn't."  Let your kids see you spend time in the word of God.  It will help them as they get older.

Let me end this by taking a little different spin.  In many church's today, I hear all kinds of really nice comments about mothers on Mother's day and they are all true.  I am thankful for strong moms.  But then I hear remarks about who really wears the pants in the family or other somewhat derogatory remarks about the dads.  Ladies if you are making those "jokes" regularly, don't be surprised if he lives down to your expectations.  Encourage your man to be a real man and to be a real father.  You will be glad you did.

That's Another Opinion of the Minion

A Golden Opportunity

Today I want to talk to you about Golden Opportnities.  They are not necessarily opportunities to get gold but they could be.  Do you realize how many opportunities you have in front of you everyday?  Many of them probably go unnoticed.  See, sometimes we aren't really looking for the opportunities that God puts in our lives and we miss them.  Many times those opportunites involve doing something for someone else.  But understand this, if God put them in your life He will bless you even though you gave to someone else.  I am sure that I have missed more than I ever want to know about.

Well over the last few days, I realized that I had an opportunity that I took advantage of.  I didn't even know that the opportunity was one until later.  Fortunately, I was able to act on this one.  Now I don't think it was a real big deal to the people involved but most of life isn't about the big deals.  Whether or not you are successful in life is more often than not about how you handle the small deals.  Well on this particular occasion, I got to teach a few people how to fish.

OK, Uncle W, Uncle J, Dad, and everyone else who knows me, you can go ahead and laugh at me now because we all know that I am not a great fisherman.  To be honest, fishing even bores me most of the time.  See I like catching fish, I just don't really like waiting for them to bite.  Now fortunately for me, fishing is in my blood in both my mom's and my dad's family.  I am not very good but I can bait a hook, get the line out in the water and take a fish off of the line when someone catches one.  However, I really don't know much about it other than that.  I don't even know what we caught the other day.  It could have been small mouth bass but I don't have a clue.  The good news is that it bent the poles and everyone had a good time.

So why is this an opportunity from God you ask?  Well, because these three people are very important to me.  I got to impart something good into their lives and I think they really enjoyed it.  Sometimes life can be like a bank, especially with kids.  We have to make withdrawls from the account of their lives in the form of correction when they don't do their homework or when they need to clean their rooms, etc.  These types of withdraws are very important and they certainly are part of helping a child grow into a mature, productive, socially responsible adult.  I am all for them.  But if you don't make deposits into their lives in the form of love, teaching them fun things, spending time with them and just being part of their world, then you will end up overdrawn at the bank.  This is a very bad place to be.  Fortunately for me, I don't have to make any withdrawls from the people I taught to fish but this concept is still very important.  I did get to deposit a fun experience in their lives and I got to learn a little more about each of them in the process.  Here is something else that amazed me.

I had a lot of fun teaching them the very minimal amount that I know about fishing.  It might have been more fun for me than for them.  I did get to teach them about looking behind you before you cast.  It cut's down on the number of times you put a treble hook in your brother's head.  No, I didn't put one in my brother's.  He put one in mine.  But that's a different story.  See when we seize God given opportunities even though they look like giving to someone else God will bless you richly in the process.

Now here is another take away lesson.  I didn't know this was an opportunity at the time.  I was just having a good time hanging out with other people.  Thank you again K for all your hospitality this weekend.  What I did wasn't even anything I thought about.  I was just enjoying myself.  Many times life is like this.  God is putting opportunites into our lives and we don't even realize that these little gifts from Him are there.

God has a million ways to bless you and he sits around everyday thinking up new ones.  If you will look for the opportunities he presents to you each day, he can even make taking out the trash an adventure.  The thing is you have to do the little things to get the big reward.  Like I said, what I did wasn't monumental in anyone's life.  So look around and see where God has given you opportunites to make deposits into other's lives.  You will find that God is making deposits in your life when you do.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

My Oldest Son

In keeping with my theme for this month, I want to send another letter.  This one is to my oldest son.  I am so thankful for him.

Dear David,

As I write this, you are going through a hard transition in life.  Some of this is just part of life and some of it is because of your mom and I.  You are adjusting to 6th grade, changes in your attitude toward girls and unfortunately mom and I's divorce.  It is a lot for one kid to handle and I think you are doing such a good job.

As I look back on my how I have done as your father so far, I am a little sad because I know that I could have done much better.  I was just recently that I realized how little I knew about being a Godly father.  It is my whole heart's desire to teach you to be one in the few years we have left before you step out on your own.  I want to prepare you to be a Godly man.  If I can do that, I have succeeded beyond my wildest imagination for you.  The strange thing is I think in spite of all we have done, you are already becoming a very Godly young man.

I am so very proud of you.  Whether you know it or not, you started school when you were three years old because you had speech issues.  This was due to a hearing problem you had as a little tyke.  Now when I was in school kids in those classes were sort of looked down at and made fun of.  When I was in school, those kids barely made it through.  But not you.  You went from needing help with speech to all honors classes.  You are a really brilliant young man.  I also see things in you that I never could be at your age.  I look at you and see courage.

How?  Well, it took courage to ask that girl to the homecoming dance.  I would never, ever have done it because I would have been too afraid.  When we talked afterwards, you told me that your heart was pounding in your chest pretty hard and that even though when you asked her the dance had already passed, she was nice to you with her reply.  Son, I want you to remember that feeling and what you did.  There will be many more opportunities in life for you to feel that way and make a decision.  You are going to be in places where you risk rejection in your life.  It just happens.  But you possess that special quality called courage.  Don't ever change that.  Take risks because if you don't, you won't have rewards.  I know you didn't see it that way then but that's what you did and I am extremely proud of you.

Son, you are growing up so fast and it seems like it will only accelerate from here.  As you get older, I want you to understand something.  I heard a story about the head of the Salvation Army.  You know those guys who stand ringing the bell at Christmas time asking for donations.  Well they take those and use them to help people who need it.  One year, the head of the Salvation Army was going to send a telegram to all his offices around the world.  He wrote it out and then went to send it.  When he got to the telegraph office, he realized that it was too long and he had to cut it down.  So he trimmed it down to one sentence. Again, it was too expensive to send.  He finally trimmed it down to a single word - others.  Son, that's what our life is all about.  We are to help others.  You have to let the Lord show you who and how but always remember that's what life is about.  As you get older, you will see people who define success by how much education and money you have.  I thought the same way for a long time.  Don't get me wrong, money and education are important but not as important as people.  Think of others and ask the Lord to show you who you can help today.

Lastly, I want to talk to you about what you are going through in school today.  I know some of the kids make fun of you.  That really hurts your feelings and quite frankly, it just plain sucks.  When I was in school, kids did the same thing to me.  Grandma and Grandpa did they very best they could but I didn't wear brand name clothes like the rest of the kids and some people made fun of me a lot.  I also got made fun of because I had big ears and I had a lot of pimples.  It really hurt my feelings.  Son, as you go through these times, know that you were not alone.  Guess who else was made fun of and people talked bad about? - Jesus.  I guess that puts us in pretty good company huh.  You may not see it now but this will pass.  Just keep doing the right thing because it's the right thing.

I cannot begin to express how impressed I am with you.  You are smart, handsome, loyal, you love God, you aren't afraid to share your faith, you know how to build stuff, you always try to help your brother and sister, and you are a really respectful young man.  No matter what you do, know that I will always love you.

Love,

Dad

That's another letter from the Minion

Eleven Herbs and Spices

How many of you like Kentucky Fried Chicken?  I know I do.  As a matter of fact, it was my very first job when I was sixteen.  Well that's not entirely true.  My first job was for exactly 6 hours one day when I was fifteen.  The manager of a supermarket hired me as a stock boy.  I told him I was only 15 and he said he thought I could work there.  He found out several hours later I could not and I was let go.  I had to wear one of those square knit ties from the 80s.  It was light blue.  I didn't like the job anyway.

But I digress.  Kentucky Fried Chicken was my first real job and for a 16 year old it wasn't bad.  We got free chicken and free drinks.  Back then free was one of my favorite words.  One of my best friends and I started there at the same time.  We were both big boys.  We got 30 minutes for lunch and both of us saw that as a personal challenge to stuff as much chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits and little bucket parfaits in us as possible in a short time.  We always suffered from a hangover in those days.  Not the kind you think.  Our stomachs hung way over our belts.  I should right a book called how to weigh 350 pounds.  I don't think it would be a best seller but I can guarantee I know how to get there.

Anyway, back then the only things we were concerned with were girls, girls, girls, gas for the car and girls.  Neither one of us were very successful in those categories but we tried.  We both started in the kitchen and there is something about the smell of fresh chicken when it comes out of the fryer.  It is one of the best smells.  Then you add on the biscuits coated in butter and the gravy and you really have something.

That friend of mine was diagnosed last year with cancer.  Thank God he is doing well now and they think they have the whole situation under control.  Well, the other day I went by KFC on my way home from someplace and when through the drive thru I got a whiff of the kitchen.  It still smells the same is it did back then and for just one sliver of time, just a few milliseconds, I was sixteen years old again.  I wasn't running a company, taking care of kids, taking care of myself or anything else.  I was the kid who wasn't a good athlete, who only really cared about hanging out with his friends, not trying to keep up with the Jones' or anyone else.  For one brief instant, I realized the how easy the world was back then and how much things change.

I think we should all take a minute to be thankful for life and then take another minute to remember the things in our past that made us who we are today.

And that's, the Opinion of the Minion