Courage

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

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

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

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

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

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Consistence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's Another Opinion of the Minion