Choices

Tomorrow about 15 girls are coming to our home to eat their team dinner together.  They do this every week of the volleyball season on a rotating basis at each girl’s home.  This team dinner has special significance because it is the last one we will provide for the girls.  My daughter is a senior and it is the end of an era for her and us.

We started volleyball in 4^th grade and have literally played year round since then.  This past March the Lord allowed Tyler to get hurt in a volleyball injury that effectively ended her volleyball aspirations for a scholarship in Division I ball.  Crushing!

My daughter has been a good student all along so this does not mean her life is over by any means, in fact it will undoubtedly take a turn for the better soon, but a lot of effort seems to have been wasted … or was it? You see I believe our life is the sum of all our choices; not just of what we do, but more importantly of how we think.  How do you process the things that take place in your life?  That’s the difference-maker.

“You are born and eventually die and in-between you make a lot of mistakes”

You have a choice as to what you will do with your experiences.  Will you be defeated by them or will they make you wiser and strengthen you for the future? I feel I have made many more bad decisions than good ones, but I have been blessed to understand that failure is not fatal.  I can turn my mistakes into diamonds that will pay for my future if I am wise and thoughtful.  I will continue to make bad choices because I am only human.  But I can also continue to excel if I refuse to let my mistakes and disappointments defeat me.  It’s a mental game and boils down to a choice which only I can make.

When I think about all the girls coming over tomorrow, I pray that they are wise enough to understand the power of choice.  They will not be able to control what happens to them as they progress through life, but they can decide to learn from their experiences and keep growing.  They can be winners no matter what befalls them in life because they have a choice… and so do you!

Work hard to make good decisions.  Don’t be a fool!  But when your good choice turns out to be not-so-good, you are not defeated.  When life hands you a lemon – make lemonade. That is a choice that only you can make.

“You are the sum of all your choices, so choose well!”

Failure and Loss

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. “ 

~ Winston Churchill

I am a very upbeat, optimistic “can-do” guy.  For me the glass is almost always half full.  But tonight I almost lost if for a little while.

Early this year my beautiful daughter broke both bones in her lower leg in a freak accident and had to have a titanium rod placed in her tibia.  She was a great prospect for a Division I volleyball scholarship and that all went down the drain after 9 years of intense competition at a very high level. A month ago we found out that the trauma probably triggered type I Diabetes and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life.

This all started me to thinking about what has happened in my life over the past 5 years.  Both of my parents have died, my son discovered he had Type I Diabetes; I left my employment after 13 years and the organization tanked; I started another venture that tanked;  I am in serious debt, and on and on.  It has not been pretty!  From almost any perspective, my life has been a disaster zone the last five years.

Here is the irony … just before all this happened I told myself how satisfied I was with my accomplishments.  I had made a significant contribution to my start-up church and been a leading elder for many years.  I had brought my ministry out of a long downward spiral and quadrupled its annual income and my new business was thriving,  Last but not least my family was all healthy and serving the Lord – Who could ask for more?

Well now I’ve lost all my pride of accomplishment. But today I am battle hardened to an extent I never knew before.  In the past, I believed the same things about God and His faithfulness but I had never put Him to the test – I never needed to

.

Today the enemy has tried to discourage me.  He has been whispering in my ear that I am a failure and responsible for all the crummy stuff that has happened.  “Maybe God is paying me back for my sin or lack of faith or …?” He wants me to think I am a failure and undeserving of my Heavenly Father’s love and grace. The Devil wants me to quit.  He wants me to forget my God’s promises and His faithfulness.  He wants me to take my eyes off of eternity and my soul and focus on the here-and-now and my present condition.  Satan is a master deceiver who has come to steal and rob and harm me in any way he can, but I refuse to let him.  I’m not even going to stop and feel sorry for myself because I am focused on God and not myself.

Right now I am counting my blessings and there are many … too many to count.  I am focused on the battle I am fighting and humbled that He has counted me worthy to be His son.  I am getting ready for my assignment in eternity and will not let Lucifer pull me off task by his wily strategies.  No one can take my soul and I am safe in God’s hands.  How about you?

“The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.”

II Corinthians 10:4-5

Creating Your Own Opportunities

“Man proposes but God disposes.” 

~Thomas a Kempis.

I once heard of a man who proudly proclaimed, “I am a self-made man,” to which he heard a resounding retort from a nearby listener, “That must be terribly disappointing.”

Many of today’s leaders are Type A and very aggressive. When they see something they want, they go for it with all the gusto they can muster.  They make their own opportunities and are not used to waiting for anything or anyone to give them permission to proceed.  All of that is understandable for a person who has no knowledge of God, but it is totally unacceptable for a spiritual man.  A man who understands God’s ways knows that he can never be responsible for his own destiny or success.  I am ashamed to admit that I have been guilty of being too sure of myself and going through closed doors from time to time.  Have you?

Self-confidence has led to some of my biggest failures.  I was working on a very large event a few years ago.  It had a massive budget but we were gathering momentum and sure of our success.  I remember telling our staff one day that we did not have time for a prayer meeting because we were too busy and needed to get right into the work for the day. But now in looking back I see something I did not see then.  It was not my hard work, know-how or even our gathering traction that could make us successful; only God can give us the victory we need.  I was old enough and spiritually seasoned enough to know better but my carnal nature got the better of me and I failed as a result.

Confidence is good but be sure to place your confidence in the right thing; not yourself and not even your gifts. Place your confidence in God.  Only He can make something out of nothing.  He can make your bad plan into a good plan and He can take your experience and throw it into the trash can. My greatest successes have been totally unexplainable and certainly not attributable to my own intelligence or hard work.  Only a fool thinks he can create a lasting legacy apart from God.

So here is a summary of what I have learned: 1.) Work as hard and smart and you possibly can. 2.) Prayerfully observe as God opens and closes doors – be flexible to attend to the movement of His Spirit.  3.) Do not go through closed doors but wait on God.  4.) Give Him the credit for your success. If you follow these guideposts you can never fail. If you don’t you will never succeed.

“A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.” Proverbs 16:9