life

How do you get what you want?

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We have two dogs at home and they are pretty good at getting what they want. They get food, pats, play, fresh bones and walks. They never are aggressive and always loving. It does not matter what happens, they are happy to see you. They gently use love, cuteness and persuasion to get their way.… … Read more

Happy New Year!

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This morning my wife Melissa and I talked about the New Year. I explained to her that the New Year isn’t as significant to me as my birthday that comes later in the month because of the experiences I had growing up in Birmingham in the 80’s and 90’s when I was in high school. 

The crimes in Birmingham’s urban area at that time didn’t make national news like many of the recent tragedies that occur in suburban areas today. But if you lived in the city at that time there were fights, stabbings, and shootings every week at parties, high school football games, basketball games, the skating ring, the teen clubs, the mall parking lots, the movie theaters, and just about any other place you could imagine. 

Some of the violence was gang related but there were also cases where teenagers were being killed and robbed for their sneakers and jackets. Even though I was raised in a loving family and was an honors student at a magnet high school, I had a gun pulled on me at band practice after school one day because a drug dealer wanted my sunglasses. As a result of all this violence I had friends that didn’t live to see our high school graduation more than 20 years ago. So, for me, I’m more thankful for being alive to see another year of my personal life than I am the new calendar year. 

After sharing this with my wife, she said I should have more joy and that I have a reason to celebrate. She said life’s too short to be so serious all the time. She suggested I shouldn’t allow the New Year or my birthday to pass by without truly letting loose and celebrating the life God has given me.  I agree. Life is too short to focus on the stresses of life, to get too wrapped up in the struggle to be successful, or to risk our happiness by living recklessly. 

“For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” James 4:14b NKJV

We should not allow our hearts to be brought low by the losses of our past. We shouldn’t put all of our hope in the future we do not know. Life can reach it’s end as quickly as a vapor vanishes away. Instead, we should rejoice today in the life we have in God and place our hope in Him alone. Every breath we breathe and day we live is a blessing from God. We should celebrate the New Year with thankful hearts filled with gladness. Happy New Year!

Guard Your Heart

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Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV)

Lately the pressures of family, ministry, work, and school have caused my emotions to spill outward. The interesting thing is most of what’s coming out isn’t new. It’s all old feelings that I’ve tried to bury in my heart through the years. As I’m going through these experiences, I’ve resolved to do my best to express my feelings rather than suppress them. Honestly, this decision has made my mind clearer and my heart lighter. Here’s how you can do it too. 

Keep or guard your heart. It means to be aware of your heart and feelings. It means to pay attention to your emotional state. To guard your heart well, you’ll need a healthy and accurate emotional vocabulary. You need to know the subtle differences between anger, frustration, and disappointment for example and know when you’re feeling each one. This will give you the ability to address your feelings correctly rather than waiting for them to fade and take up residence in your heart. 

Guard your heart with diligence. The word used for diligence here in the scripture literally means to imprison or jail. Years ago I directed a ministry to a juvenile detention facility. One of the first things you learn is security seeks to keep inmates from going out but they’re just as diligent about monitoring what’s brought inside. Everyday items like paper clips, staples, and even plastic cutlery could be used by detainees to harm themselves or harm the officers. There was always a strong officer on duty ready to search any bags if needed.

We must have the same diligence when it comes to our hearts. The baggage of everyday life has to be checked at the door by a strong dose of truth from God’s word and consistent prayer. Discouragement, depression, anger, hatred, unforgiveness, and any thing else you can think of just walks right into our hearts when there is no truth with which to compare it. When these emotional challenges get a foothold in our hearts, they eventually become our issues in life. Under the right circumstances with the right pressure, they flow out of us in ways that hurt others and ourselves. 

When we guard our hearts, keeping damaging emotions out by accepting the truth of God’s word, we will find the issues of life are easier to deal with. Instead of our hearts being a source of negative issues, we will become a source of healthy, positive attitudes and emotions.