Hate

Hello All,

It's been a long time since I posted anything so here goes.  Today I want to talk to you about hate.  It's an interesting word but it's almost as overused as the word love.  People say I hate to work, I hate to go to school, I hate bread pudding....  Do we really hate those things?  Not normally.

That person is of the opposite political view of me so I hate them.  That isn't really true either.  We may not like their opinion on a subject but that's no reason to hate them.  The Supreme Court of the United States recently handed down a very controversial decision on marriage and it sparked a lot of anger on both sides of the debate.  Did it make you mad or upset?  It did make me a little sad for a little while.  Now let me say, I don't have an opinion on whether they were right or wrong.  I can tell you what the Bible says but I will never tell you my opinion on the subject because it's irrelevant.

Let me say this to both sides.  Stop the hate!

If you are pro gay marriage, that's your right.  But stop hating on people who aren't.  Just because they don't agree with your stance doesn't mean that they are against you.  I was amazed at the amount of hate I heard from the far left over this issue.  You can dislike a decision without disliking a person.  Also, if you are on the far left, why is it that everyone else has to agree with you all the time or you get really upset?  People are entitled to have different opinions than you.  It's OK.

I can hear all the people on the right cheering.  But slow your roll.  If you are on the far right, stop judging people based on the decisions they made.  Guess what.  While the Bible does address this issue, it also says to judge not lest ye be judged.  And the people on the left don't have to agree with your opinion either.  They have a right to theirs.  You still can't hate them because of their belief.  It's not God's way either.

So what am I saying?  Have your opinions.  Have your beliefs.  I wish that everyone who reads this would make the decision to make the Word of God final authority in their life.  But that's not likely.  But drop all the hate and name calling of the other side.  In the words of a popular YouTube video - Aint' nobody got time for that.

That's another Opinion of the Minion

Focus

Hello Everyone,

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's another Opinion of the Minion