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Building A Dream Life

We May Think Our Plans Are the Best, But Are They Really?

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We Need to Be Careful About Being Too Set in Those Plans

We all deal with doubt. Sometimes it’s doubt in ourselves. Sometimes it’s doubt in others. Or maybe its doubt in God.

This is understandable. We’ve all been sure about something only to be disappointed. This leads to doubt.

In Pastor Lee’s message this week, he pointed out John the Baptist’s doubt in Jesus being who He said He was. In Matthew 11:2-11, while in prison, John heard about the things Jesus was doing. He sent his followers to Jesus to ask Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”

This was John, Jesus’ cousin. The same John that “lept inside his mother womb” when Mary entered the room pregnant with Jesus. Even John had doubts.

The Scripture goes on to confirm that Jesus is who He says He is.

People expected Jesus to be some world leader who would come in and take over. They were expecting one thing and God’s plan was different.

The key to overcoming doubt, is to not give up when things don’t go as we planned. This is hard. We think we have everything all figured out. Surprise!

When we limit ourselves to our humanness, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment. God’s plans are big and we need to align our plans with His.

Our plans may not be God’s plans.

We’re sure that if we just keep on pushing, we’ll achieve what we want. This is only going to happen if it is also God’s plan. We need to persist but be sure to check to see if this is what God’s plans are. If we’ve done this, then…

We need to persist without exception.

“Great leaders – great achievers – are rarely realistic by other people’s standards. Somehow, these successful people, often considered strange, pick their way through life ignoring or not hearing negative expectations and emotions. Consequently, they accomplish one great thing after another, never having heard that something cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing!”

Andy Andrews, The Traveler’s Gift

God’s timetable is not our timetable.

We tend to want things and we want them now. This is another part of thinking we know better than God. There is a balance between knowing when to push forward and when it’s not time yet. If we can find that balance, we will live a less stressed life.

This past weekend I saw the movie Father Stu, which is based on the true story of a boxer, Stuart Long, who became a Catholic priest. Stuart had a difficult life growing up and after giving up boxing he went to California to pursue an acting career.

While working in a grocery store, he meets a woman named Carmen. He falls for her and falls for her hard. To the point that he joins the church as one of her requirements to date. His plan is to win her at all costs and it begins to work.

After Stu lands an acting role on an infomercial, he faces discouragement and goes to a bar one night where a mysterious man advises him not to drive home. Stu ignores the advice and drives drunk on a motorcycle, crashing into a car he’s thrown off the motorcycle and then run over by another car.

Severely injured, he drifts in and out of consciousness and has a vision of the Virgin Mary, who tells him that he cannot die in vain. This leads Stu to “change his plans” and to become a priest.

This story is a great example of how God’s plans can be different than ours.

Align your plans with God’s earlier rather than later. It reduces the chance for doubt.

Life is Crazy Busy, and it Only Gets Worse Around Christmas

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The Real Question is…What Are You Going to do About it?

Most of us have too much going on in our normal daily lives, with work, family, personal task, etc. You know…life. This only ramps up around the holidays.

Why do things get so crazy busy at this time of the year?

There are several reasons for this. Most of the things we do are important, some not as much. I know our family starts holiday activities before Thanksgiving and continues through New Year. This can make things a little crazy.

This includes things like family gatherings for Thanksgiving, decorating for Christmas, Church events, etc. As families grow and kids marry, there are multiple activities that need to be organized. Other family members’ schedules affect our schedules. It’s a little like a game of holiday musical chairs.

Decorating, gift shopping, baking, gift wrapping, gathering to open gifts, traveling to the next family gathering and on and on. It’s easy to get caught up in the process and forget the reason for the season.

The key to holiday crazy is to be clear on what the most important thing is and to enjoy the crazy season.

Baby Jesus is the small center of sanity in the insanity of Christmas. Jesus is the ultimate gift and we need to remember that.

John the Baptist knew what the most important thing was. He makes this clear in his conversation with the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 3:1-12. He explains the importance of not just going through motions, but knowing who Jesus is and changing your heart and lives accordingly.

He explains the importance of repenting. Repenting is more than just feeling regret for something you’ve done.

Repenting requires change.

We’ve all experienced our GPS telling us we need to turn around. Granted, our GPS isn’t right 100% of the time, but we as humans think we know better and too often just keep on driving, even though we’re going the wrong direction.

Pastor Lee told us a story that makes this point. He was going to a town that he was sure was one place when, in reality, it was not. After listening to his GPS telling him to turn around for two hours, he realized the GPS was right. This cost him a lot of unnecessary time and heartache.

We all tend to do things like this in life as well. We think we know what’s best and we ignore God telling us to turn around. 

In this crazy Christmas season, embrace the busy, enjoy the season and listen to your life GPS (God’s Positioning System) for direction.

Not Being Awake at the Right Time, May Mean Missing Something Important

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Pulling Our Head Out of the Sand Helps Us to Stay Awake

We’ve all been so tired that we can’t stay awake one minute more. This appears to be the case for a man at Super Bowl LIV. Sporting News editor Karisa Maxwell captured footage of the sleeping man from her spot in the stands at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., during the first quarter.

The man is shown sitting in a seat with his head leaning back against a wall, legs crossed, eyes closed and mouth open. Several football fans can be seen standing up to watch the game in front of him, but he seems unconcerned with the showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Granted, sleeping through the Super Bowl is not life threatening, but the average ticket price for this game was $6400. That’s a pretty expensive nap.

I would hate to pay the price for something like that and then sleep through it.

Life is like this. It has a pretty expensive ticket price and too often we sleep through it.

There was a point in my life when I was asleep and got a wakeup call.

When a scaffold plank broke and I fell, it got my attention. After the accident, I gave some serious thought to my life and how I had been just “going through the motions”. It was more like I was sleep walking than living my purpose.

We need to get actively involved in our lives and not wait to be hit upside the head. It’s much better to figure out what our purpose is before something like this happens.

We have the power to choose if we will go through life asleep or awake.

In Matthew 24:36-44, we’re told the risk if we choose to sleep through life. If we live nonchalantly with our head in the sand, one day we will wake up too late and miss the boat.

I believe that God has a plan for our lives and the time we need to accomplish our purpose. In Psalm 139:16, is says that our days have been determined before we are even born. Only God knows that number.

Finding our purpose requires us to get and stay connected to God through studying His blueprint (Bible) for our lives and talking with Him (praying) regularly. Paying attention to the needs around us and doing something about them. Taking the opportunity to share His plan with those around us through our words and actions.

Our responsibility is to wake up, find our purpose and live each of our days to the fullest.

Your life is more important than a Super Bowl…don’t sleep through it.

It’s a Lot Easier to Say Something Than It Is to Do It

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

We’ve all heard this phrase, “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s a pretty common saying.

It is believed to have originated during the English Civil War. John Pym, an English parliamentarian, coined the expression in 1628. He said, “A word spoken in season is like an Apple of Gold set in Pictures of Silver, and actions are more precious than words.”

It’s easy to say things but harder to do them. Words can just roll right off our tongues before we take time to think about what we’re saying. This is especially true when we want to do everything for everybody. I call this a servant’s heart. I know because I have one.

When we do the things that we say we will, we are showing where our hearts really are.

The thing to remember is that we have control over both what we say and what we do.

We can change what we say and do. We don’t have to accept the status quo. We can write our own story.

In China, if they don’t like the way a movie ends…they change it.

In the final scene of the movie Fight Club. the star stands with his girlfriend, as they watch explosives blow up a cluster of skyscrapers — all part of what was presented to the audience as a plan to destroy consumerism by erasing bank and debt records.

That amount of anarchy — and the government’s inability to stop it — doesn’t appear to have passed muster with China’s notoriously strict censorship rules though.

In the version available in China, the entire scene featuring the explosions has been cut out. Instead, it has been replaced with a caption explaining to audiences that the authorities arrived just in time to save the day.

“Through a clue received by the police, they rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding,” the caption reads. “After the trial, Tyler was sent to [a] lunatic asylum receiving psychological treatment. He was discharged from the hospital in 2012.”

We have the power to change how our story ends.

We can decide if our actions or words will speak the loudest. As long as we are still alive, we can write our story.

In Luke 23:33-43, we see an example of rewriting the end of a story. As Jesus hung on the cross there were two criminals hanging there with Him. One of them insulted Him by saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

The other criminal responded harshly to the first, “Don’t you fear God, seeing that you’ve also been sentenced to die? We are rightly condemned, for we are receiving the appropriate sentence for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus replied, “I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.”

Both criminals wrote their own stories by the choices they made in that instance.

Jesus’ actions spoke loudly. The criminal’s choices spoke loudly. Our choices speak loudly.

Our actions are more important than what we say. We shouldn’t stop at our words. We can bring our words to life through our actions. We can write the ending to our story.

Choose your words and actions wisely and write the ending to the story that God wants for you.

Worrying About Things Can Really Suck the Energy Out of You

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The More You Know Before You Need to Know it, the Better Equipped You’ll Be

Disaster movies are popular and generally do well at the box office. Who doesn’t like a story where everything is crashing down and the underdog hero steps up and saves the world, even though they didn’t think they could.

This reminds me of a quote I heard recently from Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger. He is the pilot who made the heroic landing of the of US Airway’s Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after being struck by a flock of birds shortly after take-off from New York.

Sully said, “We all have heard about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations. They act courageously or responsibly, and their efforts are described as if they opted to act that way on the spur of the moment… I believe many people in those situations actually have made decisions years before.”

Learning and implementing little things into our lives daily is the best way to be prepared for whatever life throws our way.

We all know how life can throw us curve balls when we least expect them.

Jesus tells us this very thing in Luke 21:19-15. He tells us to expect wars and rebellions. Nations fighting, earthquakes, wide-scale food shortages and epidemics. He prepares us as followers of His, telling us we will be sought out and persecuted.

The more we read His word and learn from the Scriptures, the better prepared we’ll be.

Yemen is a country where Christianity is oppressed and discouraged. There is a man there who converted to Christianity. For years he kept his beliefs a secret from his friends and family, knowing that he would be in danger if he was found out.

Then he decided that if the Scripture he was reading was true…then Jesus had his back. He went on to share his faith with his family and now he is ministering to people in Yemen.

Worrying wasn’t going to do anyone any good. He gave the worrying to God.

The Cambridge Dictionary says, “worry is thinking about problems or unpleasant things that might happen in a way that makes you feel unhappy and frightened.”

Things that might happen is the problem. According to several studies somewhere around 85% to 95% of the things we worry about, actually don’t happen. That is a lot of wasted energy.

There are a variety of different studies and statistics that support this. One thing is for sure…we spend way too much time worrying about things that are out of our control.

In Andy Andrew’s book The Noticer, Jones, talks about the futility of worry and discusses the percentages of time being wasted. Jones says to focus on the 8 percent.

  • 40% of the things we worry about will never occur
  • 30% of the time, we worry about things that have already happened
  • 12% of our worry is about needless imaginings about our health
  • 10% would be petty-little-nothing worries about what people think
  • 8% are legitimate concerns

In Matthew 6:34, we read, “Therefore, stop worrying about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” This sounds like good advice.

Stop letting worry suck your energy and instead put your focus on Jesus and what God tells us in Scripture. This will equip you to be a hero.

When We Ask God Man-sized Questions, We Are Limiting the Answers We Get

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We Need to be Asking God Sized Questions Instead

Asking a man-sized question is a sure way to get a man-sized answer. As humans it makes sense that we think in human terms, because we are human after all. But what could be possible if we quit limiting ourselves? Because when we incorporate these limitations, we are limiting God’s answer.

This is a little bit like the cute little girl who went into the pet store and shyly asked the store owner for a small rabbit. The store owner asked her what color she would like. “We have black ones, brown ones, white ones. What color would you like?”

The little girl said, “It doesn’t matter, my python won’t care.

The store owner asked a man-sized question. He made some presumptions about what the little girl’s plans were for the rabbit and then asked the question. We do this kind of thing all the time when asking questions of God. We limit His answers with our small questions.

God has a lot bigger plans for us than we have for ourselves.

In Luke 20:27-38, the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in a resurrection, asked Jesus a question about a woman who was childless when her husband died. According to the writings of Moses, the husband’s brother should marry her. In this story the brothers kept dying and the next one would marry her.

The question from the Sadducees was, “In the resurrection, whose wife would she be?”

This is one of those man-sized questions.

Jesus goes on to explain to them that marriage is a worldly thing designed for companionship, family and filling the earth. In Heaven there will be no need for marriage. We will be like the angles.

We need to be thinking bigger, out of the box questions and then have faith that God will answer them. This doesn’t mean that the answer will be what we think or expect. We need to change our simple-minded thinking.

We need to quit holding God back with our small questions.

In Mark 11:23-24, we are told that if we, “…tell a mountain to be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and don’t waiver, that it will happen”. I don’t know about you, but my small man-sized brain finds this hard to believe.

The first vision that comes to my mind is the mountain being lifted from the earth and floating to the nearest ocean and being dropped in. The Scripture doesn’t get into the specifics. Maybe it could involve some big excavation equipment or new technology.

Think about President Kennedy when he said that we would put a man on the moon…and we did. That sounded pretty far fetched when it was said, but it happened. President Kennedy had faith. This doesn’t mean that it was easy, or that a man just magically floated up to the moon.

This was a God-sized idea that required the faith and hard work of a lot of people.

We need to think bigger and have more faith. If we align our man-sized thinking with God’s and remove our human-sized limits, we will be amazed when that mountain is in the sea.

How Does One, Make All They Can, Save All They Can, Give All They Can?

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At First Glance, One Naturally Thinks Money…but it’s So Much More

I started writing about my core values as a life filter back in January of 2017. Core values are an important part of intentionally living our best lives, the lives that God has designed for each of us.

In that first post I said I would break down my core values in future posts. Well, here we are…almost five years later and I still have two left. Today we shorten the list to one. The core value for today is…

Make all I can, save all I can, give all I can.

This is a variation of the words of the 18th-century theologian and founder of Methodism, John Wesley. Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can. As one of my core values I wanted the focus on me and my business.

Growing up in the Methodist church these words were a part of my life from a young age. As it is with most things we hear when we’re young, it’s not until later in life that we grasp and appreciate the full meaning. As we mature, we begin to realize the importance of taking the blinders off and seeing the bigger picture.

Too often money and business get a bad rap. I believe that most businesses are not working to take advantage of people. Nor do I think that money is evil. It the lust after money that’s evil. Sure, there are cases where people and businesses are being selfish, but I don’t believe that to be the norm.

Make all you can, Save all you can, Give all you can

These are great words to live by and they also serve as a great business motto.

Make all you can –

Making all you can is about more than just money. Making is the process of making or producing something. It’s the qualities needed to make something. Making sounds a lot like building…making buildings, making businesses, making lives. Money is needed to make things, but it isn’t the only thing needed.

From a business perspective, if you don’t make money you won’t stay in business.

This is one of the reasons it’s one my core values…I tend to put making money lower on my list of my priorities. I use this core value to remind me not to do that.

Save all you can –

Like making…saving is not just about piling up money. Saving is reserving and not wasting. It is about spending time wisely. It’s about being thrifty and frugal.

I see figuring out ways to save as a challenging puzzle and I’m constantly looking for ways to solve it.

We should always expect the unexpected. Saving allows us to be better prepared for the unexpected.

Give all you can –

Giving is something that is often connected to money. Around the Holidays we are bombarded with opportunities to give. Once again giving is about so much more than just money.

One of the best ways to give is to share our skills and abilities.

Whether that is at our church, community organizations, or through our vocation. Sharing our gifts through work is honoring to God even if it’s something we get paid for. Last week we discussed the importance of service over sales. Service is about giving.

Finding the balance and not getting too focused on one thing or the other is important to operating a successful business and living a fulfilling life.

That’s why Make all I can, Save all I can, Give all I can, is one of my favorite core values.

Previous core valuer posts –

Using core values as a life filter

Honor God in all that I do

Intentional action

Take the blinders off an be more observant

Pay attention to detail

Spend time wisely, there is a limited amount

Never be satisfied with mediocrity

Find and maintain the balance in everything

Build the wall one brick at a time (previously, move the mountain one shovel at a time)

Remember that I have two ears and one mouth

Be accountable

Why is it That Many People Feel Like They Need to Hide in Plain Sight?

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Zacchaeus Wanted to See Jesus, But Didn’t Want Jesus to See Him

Is seems that most of us feel inadequate and unworthy. We think everybody else has it way “more together” than we do. Why do we, more often than not, sell ourselves short of our God given value?

We just don’t feel like we’re good enough.

This is not how God sees us!

Most of us have heard the Bible story about Zacchaeus climbing the sycamore tree.

As the story goes, Jesus was walking through Jericho. Zacchaeus wanted to see Him, but was a short man and had trouble seeing over the crowd, so he ran ahead and climbed up in a tree. When Jesus got there, He told Zacchaeus to come down so they could go to his house.

This upset the crowd, because Zacchaeus was a sinner. He was a tax collector after all. The people felt that he was unworthy of Jesus.

I’ll bet Zacchaeus agreed with them because most of us feel unworthy.

I think Zacchaeus might have climbed up in the tree to observe Jesus from a distance without being seen. That’s sounds like something that I’d do.

But Jesus did see him and went to his house. Later that day after they had spent some time together, Zacchaeus told Jesus, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”

Most of us like not being seen, because if we are, something might be expected from us, and this is scary.

Anonymity is much more comfortable.

Our egos are so fragile and we’re afraid if we put ourselves out there, they might get broken.

There are two points that I want to make today.

First, this is not what God wants for us. He has made us in His image and He has given us a purpose. If we keep it to ourselves, there will be a lot of people that miss out on the gift we have to share.

Don’t keep your purpose hidden from the world.

Second, we need to support those around us. Encourage them to step out of their comfort zones. Help them up when they get knocked down. Assist them in going forward again.

Those people who were upset that Jesus was going to Zacchaeus’s house saw Zacchaeus as the world did, not as God did.

We need to see people for who they can be, not as they see themselves.

God working in us can help us become who we are meant to be. God and us working together can help others become who they are meant to be.

Don’t hide in a tree. Get down and get to work.

Why is it That We Too Often Confuse Simple and Easy?

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No One Ever Said That Living Right Would Be Easy

I recently read a blog post from Rabbi Evan Moffic titled, The Difference Between Simple and Easy. As someone who is good at making simple things more complicated than they need to be, I had a light bulb moment while reading. I realized how much of the time we confuse these two.

Simple and easy do not mean the same thing.

For example:

“The Ten Commandments are simple. They are a list of ten things we should and shouldn’t do.

But are they easy? No. If they were easy, we would leave in a world without murder, theft, adultery, or conflict. They are simple but not easy.

Certain acts are easy and simple. Baking a cake from a cake mix is simple and easy. You pour out the mix, add water and eggs, stir, put in the oven, and enjoy.

Some acts can be easy but not always simple. Habits often fall into this category. Take driving, for example.

Driving is easy for many of us if we have been doing it for years. But anyone who has sat with a new teenage driver in a car knows it is not simple! It becomes easy over time.

Now the most meaningful category: Simple but not easy.

Following a diet is an example of simple but not easy. We generally know which foods are healthy and which are not. But we do not have an easy time sticking to them.”

Living right is simple but not easy.

It is easy to look at others and compare ourselves to them, both good and bad.

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus shows us an example of a Pharisee and a tax collector doing this.

By all appearances the Pharisee had been living right. He was not greedy or dishonest. He had been faithful in his marriage, followed the law and tithed. All things that are part of living as God wants us to.

Then he did something that God doesn’t want us to. He built himself up by comparing himself with a tax collector.

Normally tax collectors were known for overcharging people when collecting taxes and would pocket the extra. They were looked down on by the Jewish people of that time.

The tax collector was belittling himself and feeling inadequate and unworthy. He was asking God for forgiveness.

Neither of these men was completely right or completely wrong.

We need to be careful to not compare ourselves to others.

We need to compare ourselves to what God wants.

This is simple, but not easy.

Like the Ten Commandments as well as the rest of the Bible…it’s all very simple. But living it out in our daily lives isn’t easy.

How Many Times Should You Try Something Before You Quit?

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Successful People Accomplish More Because They Persist Without Exception

This is an interesting question. How many times is too many…ten, fifty, a few hundred, how many?

Depending on who you ask, the answer will be different.

For example, if you ask one individual in England, how many attempts should be made at passing a driver’s text, he will tell you…157. Why? Because it took him 158 attempts to pass.

It is reported that he spent over $5,000.00 in fees to accomplish this.

This is some serious persistence.

We don’t know exactly how many times the lady went to see the judge in Jesus’ story in Luke 18:1-8. What we do know is that she wouldn’t take no for an answer seeking justice from the judge. Persistence like hers pays off.

Whatever we’re trying to do will happen if it aligns with God’s purpose and we persist.

Wanting to align my desires with God’s is one reason I include the “serenity prayer” in my daily prayer time.

God, grant me:

Serenity to accept the things I can’t change,

Courage to change the things I can,

Wisdom to know the difference.

Help me to:

Live one day at a time

Enjoy one moment at a time

Accept hardship as a pathway to peace

Take the sinful world as it is

Trust that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will

In everything Your will be done

Amen

Persistence is a choice that we can make.

It is the 7th Decision (link) in Andy Andrew’s book, The Traveler’s Gift. I think this excerpt from the book explains it as well as anything…

“I will persist without exception. I will continue despite exhaustion. I acknowledge the fact that most people quit when exhaustion sets in. I am not “most people.” I am stronger than most people. Average people accept exhaustion as a matter of course. I do not. Average people compare themselves with other people. That is why they are average. I compare myself to my potential. I am not average. I see exhaustion as a precursor to victory.

How long must a child try to walk before he actually does so? Do I not have more strength than a child? More understanding? More desire? How long must I work to succeed before I actually do so? A child would never ask the question, for the answer does not matter. By persisting without exception, my outcome—my success—is assured. I will persist without exception. I focus on results.

To achieve the results I desire, it is not even necessary that I enjoy the process. It is only important that I continue the process with my eyes on the outcome. An athlete does not enjoy the pain of training; an athlete enjoys the results of having trained. A young falcon is pushed from the nest, afraid and tumbling from the cliff. The pain of learning to fly cannot be an enjoyable experience, but the anguish of learning to fly is quickly forgotten as the falcon soars to the heavens.

A sailor who fearfully watches stormy seas lash his vessel will always steer an unproductive course. But a wise and experienced captain keeps his eye firmly fixed upon the lighthouse. He knows that by guiding his ship directly to a specific point, the time spent in discomfort is lessened. And by keeping his eye on the light, there never exists one second of discouragement. My light, my harbor, my future is within sight!

I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith. In Jeremiah, my Creator declares, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” From this day forward, I will claim a faith in the certainty of my future. Too much of my life has been spent doubting my beliefs and believing my doubts. No more! I have faith in my future. I do not look left or right. I look forward. I can only persist.

For me, faith will always be a sounder guide than reason because reason can only go so far—faith has no limits. I will expect miracles in my life because faith produces them every day. I will believe in the future that I do not see. That is faith. And the reward of this faith is to see the future that I believed. I will continue despite exhaustion. I focus on results. I am a person of great faith.”

It is up to you to decide how many times you should try something before you quit.

Just remember that this is a decision that you can make, but I recommend that you run it by God first.