Finding the good in everything

First, a joke that my brother posted on his blog...

An American, a Canadian, a Mexican, a Cuban, a Nicaraguan, a Costa Rican, a Hatian, a Brazilian, a Bolivian, an Argentinian, a Fin, a Swede, a Norwegian, an Englishman, an Irishman, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, a German, a Pole, a Ukrainian, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Turk, a Libyan, an Algerian, an Ethiopian, an Israeli, an Egyptian, an Iraqi, an Iranian, an Afghan, an Indian, a Russian and a Korean walk in to a restaurant. The manager approaches them and says, "Sorry gentlemen. You can't be served here without a Thai."

 

That joke made me laugh out loud when I read it. And I needed a good laugh. Thanks Chris.

 

 

In the past 24 hours I've been blessed in many ways... blessed to be able to minister to an old friend who's hurting, blessed by being part of a great Ministerial Association in Pierce, blessed by meeting folks from all walks of life, blessed to have people who say what they feel.

 

That last one is a little twisted... because in my "line of work", I'm not like a weather forecaster. If I say how things should be, some people can get quite upset with me.

I wonder if the gal on my television station gets angry calls, letters, and visits when she talks about the horrible storms.

I wonder if the Weather Channel gets hate-mail because of a tornado.

I'm curious if the National Weather Service gets people who threaten to "pull their support" because of a 30% chance of rain.

 

At the same time, if the weather is great, I sometimes feel like I'm in the same boat as a forecaster. After all, when was the last time you called the weather person and said "thanks for the great day"?

 

Now before you get carried away with the "oh, he's sobbing"... no, I'm not. I'm joking. I'm chuckling. I'm even laughing my butt off because I know of a couple of people who are going to read this and not find any humor what-so-ever.

To them, "bless your hearts"...

 

Today someone walked up to me and thanked me for being the Pastor of their church. The other day, a couple of people commented on how my preaching has gotten better and better (although sometimes, I'm preaching from my "oldie but goodie" file... did I fall into a slump in between?)

 

I appreciate the positive comments. It's nice to hear something good in a day, in amongst all of the sad or painful news I deal with.

But I also wonder, such as in the case of my preaching, what will happen when I have a "down day"? If my preaching isn't up to par that week, will everything backfire? Or if I don't make it to the hospital to visit someone because of other visits, will it snap back at me?

 

Again, I appreciate the positives. I really do.

At the same times, are we keeping focused on the positives?

 

When we go somewhere - getting gas, buying groceries, seeing a show, visiting a friend - are we bring up the positives, or stuck on the negatives?

Do we mention how great the wait-staff was, or keep griping because the steak wasn't "perfect"?

Are we complaining because we don't get visits, or are we make ourselves more hospitable?

Can we say something nice, or are we too busy whining?

Have we tried to lend a hand to someone, WITHOUT expecting something in return, or are we too tied up with "they shoulda..."

 

Writer and lecturer Dale Carnegie wrote in one of his books about a man who would get his lunch from a waitress that felt down all of the time. The lunch reflected her attitude... stale, lacking, and cold. Finally, the man addressed the waitress by name one day and complimented her. After that, every time he'd come for lunch, the waitress had a smile on her face, and even tossed some extra chips on the man's plate.

Carnegie's concept is that it is possible to change other people's behavior by changing one's behavior toward them.

Granted, this doesn't always work... a person who is doing some consulting for and with me has tried and tried to make this work with a few people with little to no success. Is he doing something wrong? Does he not have the knack? I don't think it has anything to do with him... some people just can't change, no matter how greener the grass is on the other side.

 

But for those who are willing to try out that new meadow, things are sunnier, brighter, happier, and more exciting because of the opened opportunities to them.

 

Next time you get a chance, compliment someone, and do it honestly. Maybe something as simple as how their clothing looks, or how nice they were to open a door for you.

If you can't find anything nice to say, then as the saying goes, then don't say anything at all. This is not only for you, but for everyone else around you, because the more you gripe, the less people will want to hear from you. The more you complain, the less people will come around.

And I'm willing to bet that more people will be happier not being around a whiner, moaner, and complainer than getting dragged down in someones bad habit.

 

Now go out and give it a try... say something positive to a person, and watch what happens =)

Otherwise, you may look like this...

 

 

Cue the "Rocky" theme music...

This weekend, I realized that it had been a while since I went walking. Between the snow/ice on the uneven roads in this town, and the hectic scheduling of different year-end reports that are due, I allowed it to slip away.
Of course, I could have gotten around the excuses - and for that, I can only blame myself.
This morning, I decided to go weigh-in... the first time I had done that in two months. I was trying to catch up on stuff, and I usually weigh-in on my day off, and my time has been "rearranged" by some new events. Also, I only had to jump out of bed to go, and sleep has been a valuable commodity over the last few weeks.
Of course, I could have gotten around the excuses - and for that, I can only blame myself.

So the other day, I went on my walking route for the first time in a long time. The roads were mostly clear, but the weather was COLD. And when Dingo and I weren't getting snowed on, the frost from the trees was dropping on us. A nice "winter wonderland", if I am to find a positive =)
This morning, I weighed in for the first time in two months. I found that I had gained 3 or 4 pounds. ARG! But overall, my clothes are still fitting good and for many possibilities, I could have gained a lot more than that.

I can go back and forth on everything... I started running on my walk this past weekend, and I set a great time for myself for the route. And now I have shin-splits. I have been watching what I'm eating a lot better and easier. But I have to be better at tracking my meals.

One thing I've learned in the past 10 months is that everything is about ATTITUDE. When I have a positive attitude, things go great, even if I didn't make a goal. When I have a negative attitude, I'm losing battles, no matter how well I try.

How can we apply this to every day life?
First, people can stop complaining. Seriously, just stop. For every complaint I've seen or heard, I can point out a few "worse" things so easily. So face the fact that you don't have it so bad.
Second, people can stop complaining. Just quit complaining. There ARE positives, and if you're bickering about "how bad" you have it, you'll miss the great things.
Third, people can stop complaining. Enough already. Did you ever read the story about the boy who cried wolf? Some people think it's just about false alarms, but overall, it tells you that the more you squawk, the more people will tune you out, or maybe just avoid the negativity. Listen to yourself and think of how many people you can irritate with your words. Then compare that to how many people don't seem to come around any more.
Finally, start every day with a positive. Be happy at something. Laugh at something. Hug someone. Make a good breakfast. Enjoy nature. Enjoy the sound of kids playing. Call an old friend, or better yet, call a foe and reconcile.

Face it, the negativity gets you no where.

People don't visit? The road is the same distance in both directions.
People talking trash about you? Is it true, and if so, how can you better yourself?  If it's not true, does it really matter what they say? They can't take your air away from you. Breath and move on.
People whining too much? Lift the positives - They can't take that away from you.
People on your case? Tell them to back off. If you're a grown-up, you have that ability. If they don't like it, then oh well.

Being positive is like having a strong rope pulling you up when you're trying to climb a cliff. The struggles might seem hard, and the anxiety can be overwhelming, but having that tug along the way give you the power to make it.

Have a great day!

Dingo's got more love than...

At the beginning of the month, Bishop Scott Jameson Jones spoke on what it means to be radical Methodists, and in his lessons, a theme that seemed to pop up was "how people can call themselves a Christian when at the same time, they don't love their neighbors".

Today my truck's battery was low (hopefully because of leaving some things on overnight - hoping it's as simple as that), and I made one phone call and someone was came by and gave me a jump (Thank you Bill!!).
I could have called others, but did I have the time to repeat a process of explain Jesus' words of love while also talking about Christian humility?

Jesus said to love one another... he didn't say that we had to like them - but to love them. And if people want to talk trash and show pride, instead of admitting their sins - so much so that they'll refuse to give to their church, find a way to hold it hostage with threats, make church a "my place, not theirs", or they can't admit that they messed up.

Saying that you care doesn't mean you get to set limitations. It means caring above and beyond yourself. It means being nice, even when nice hurts. It means looking in a mirror and seeing your own faults before others.

Take my dog, Dingo, for example. She is trained in watching, protection, and such, but only by command. Any other time, she's SO friendly that she'll lean against a person on her two hind legs just to get more love and show more love (yes, this can be annoying at times, but...).
Dingo understands when people are hurting, and she'll go and comfort them. She understands when people are being nice, even if they have a problem. She understands love.
How? Why? Beats the heck out of me.

So while people are so busy trying to climb some invisible ladder, trying to be better than others, I'll be down here with Dingo, letting people climb.
... Because the higher you climb, the more swaying in the ladder - and the more swaying in the ladder, the higher the risk of falling - and when you fall from such a height, well, "ouch!"

Love one another.
Enough, already, with the pride.
=)

no boys and their toys?

This past 24 hours has been a fun one. Really.
"Winter Storm Q" came through my area, and dropped it's snow in varying amounts around northeast Nebraska. To help out someone who lives out of the area but works in town, I had them staying in my spare room. The fellowship was great, and it was the least I could do.
I recently read about how many people in a city (I think Lincoln, but not sure) was asking the City folks if they could move snow from their driveways and such. These weren't people who just wanted the "freebee", but people with health concerns who had to make it to vital doctor visits or medical treatments.
Understandably, the City couldn't fill the requests, so many volunteers did the job. If I recall correctly, people from various churches, businesses, etc would get the requests forwarded to them, and they would go do the job to help out the citizens. So cool!

When I lived in Frontier County, we were hit with a big snowstorm, and people in Maywood and Curtis Nebraska did about the same thing. Guys with snowplows, tractors, snowblowers, etc would just show up and clear driveways. I think there was a "system" to it... businesses got cleared out; elderly and those with medical conditions were cleared; cops, firefighters, and EMTs were dug out; churches were opened up... and then it seemed to be a playtime - the guys would just plow for the sake of plowing, staying clear of the Street Depts and such for the sake of safety. People would call this a time of "the boys with their toys" going out to "play".

Now as I'm sitting here, I'm appreciative of the guy who opened up my driveway when we was clearing his folks' place out. Even though the church has someone who does it (because of the liability insurance, the church has to keep the walks and drives plowed), this means that I don't have to wait for the regular plow-guy, and it will help free him up sooner to take care of his other customers.
Admittedly, I'm not going to get all of the exercise I could have gotten by clearing the driveway myself, but it's done, and now I'm able to get out sooner to take care of other business.

But sadly, I've noticed around here that some people aren't as "open" to helping... people who have the ability to help out others will only take care of their business, and then say that it's too much work for them - while their sitting at home stewing because people are stingy. Or people who say "we can take care of this" and then suddenly become busy - sitting around telling stories at the cafe, wondering why other people aren't there (it's because the others are out plowing people out, out of the goodness of their heart).

My new Bishop has made it clear what it means to have a caring heart, to extend a love to one another, even if you don't like the person, and to help others in need.
Are we falling short? Do we need to take another look at ourselves and ask "why" we are too busy complaining, moaning, and griping, instead of lending a hand to those in need?

If you are able to do something - anything - do it. Help get someone's groceries to their home. Take out the trash for them. open up their driveway so they can make it to an important medical treatment.
And if you own a plow, tractor, whatever - call it "a good reason to have some fun".
Yes, gas prices are high, and time is precious... but in the end, what's better? Doing the good deed, or knowing that people know how stingy someone was?
The rewards are far greater than the hassle.

For me, my "reward" came in the form of a Russell Stover's candy - they knew it was my favorite.
And my bigger reward is on my heart.

Blessings!

You're who?

Today I preached on going into the wilderness - looking at Luke 4, when Jesus had his own wilderness experience, he faced trials, and the same Spirit was with him in the wilderness was the same one that led him through it.

I'm reminded of a book that I had to read in the first year of my ministry studies... and how the entire class seemed to feel the same way about the book - "what a waste".
But looking back, the book probably has been more enlightening through the memory of it than what us students gave it credit. It has served as a reminder of how people need to release whatever pains, emotions, and burdens that are weighing them down so that they can "let go and let God".

I decided that during Lent, I will "escape that which burdens me, so that I may only be burdened for God's calling". This means letting things go, not allowing another's dark to fill my voids, and reassessing my life.

I'm reminded of so many videos, music clips, and movie lines that I can use, but in the end, it's not about that - it's about taking care of me so that I can do that which I need to do.

So if a person's attempts to drag me down frustrate them, "bless their hearts."

To reassess

 

Sometimes you have to stop and reassess your life.

 

Sometimes you aren't happy with what you find.

 

Sometimes it might even greatly upset you.

 

But isn't God's grace amazing?!

Worth the hassles

I've got the sniffles. Probably got them from my older granddaughter as we went out on our "Date Day", having lunch and riding the Merry-Go-Round.
I'm also feeling beat up... my body still aches from all of the driving I did over the past week, including fighting with the weather as I went from point to point to point.

But it was worth it. I had time with my favorite ladies, and am working on planning more time this Spring - maybe even Liberty coming to Grandpa's for a few days, and giving mommy & daddy a couple of days of "vacation" (minus Abigail, which she'll have to wait until she's not so "dependent" on her mommy for meals).

Repeated Merry-Go-Round rides, lunch, watching Liberty run through the Kids' Play Area, holding my new granddaughter Abigail, the time, the visiting... Yeah, it was well worth it.

At a recent event, I chatted with a fellow clergy that was telling me how (they) were wanting to move so that they could be closer to family. Right now, they have about a two hour drive.
Two hours? I've give just about anything to be only two hours away.

But after driving 1280 miles in the five days in a vehicle that needs a serious "remodeling" (you'd think that a Blazer would have enough interior room - don't be fooled. Ugh. (LOL)), I don't regret any minute.
The exhaustion is finally leaving my bones. The sniffles will pass. The truck can even be washed to get all of the road salt off of it. Because the one thing that matters in it all is my time with those I love.
That's my priority.