Helping those who feel hopeless

 I Corinthians 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Have you ever wanted to help someone but knew that your efforts would be in vain? How do you give hope to someone when the person does not want to hear about the Giver of hope?

You may have heard about the famous basketball player and his girlfriend who left on a boating trip with the basketball player’s brother. Weeks later the brother turns up trying to get money by using the basketball player’s identification. To add further to the mystery, the basketball player’s brother dies in the hospital before any charges can be filed. The two were still missing at sea. Two weeks later one of my business acquaintances missed work for almost a week and no one would tell me where he was. When he returned I called and talked with him for a few minutes. He advised me that he had gone out west for a memorial service. It was for his niece, the girlfriend of the basketball player. According to my friend, the brother admitted that he killed them and threw their bodies in the Pacific Ocean. While grieving the loss of his niece, my friend’s mother told him that she has terminal cancer and will probably not live to see Christmas.

This devastation caused him to turn inward, become angry at life and the world, and unable to truly express his feelings. He had not experienced a relationship with the Lord and after a few words with him it was apparent that mentioning the Lord’s grace, forgiveness, and love was not wise counsel.

After letting him talk for a few minutes, I asked, “How are you really?” He wouldn’t answer, so I asked him the same question again. After the third time, he broke down and said that it seemed that life was hopeless. We talked for a while longer and the only thing I could do was tell him I was available 24 hours a day to listen and wanted him to never feel that a telephone call from him was an inconvenience. I could have told him about the hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ at that time, but I knew that he was not receptive to my words. His pain is too great to listen and truly hear.

The only way I can help is to be there for him when his pain becomes too strong to bear alone. Privately, I prayed for him daily. It’s tough to feel helpless when you see your friends in pain. For some of us, it’s natural to want to fix the problem and give them hope, love, and grace. We want God’s timetable to be our timetable.

In today’s scripture, faith is the foundation and content of God’s message to us; hope is the attitude and focus of tomorrow; and love is the action. We must love the person where they are today, believing in the faith of God’s promise for us, with hope being our Christian reflective attitude of life’s good and bad experiences.

Look around, we all know people who are experiencing hopelessness in their lives. Pull along side them. By being a friend who cares about the whole person we can witness the Lord’s love and give hope when the door of their life opens. Just be there for them.

A Dreamer Living the "Dash"

Ecclesiastes 6:12 How can anyone know what is best for us in this short life of ours -- a life that passes like a shadow? How can we know what will happen in the world after we die?

One of the most exciting parts of the Olympics is to see who the fastest man alive is. A young man from North Carolina proved to the world that when he ran the 100 meter dash in 9.85 seconds. When asked about the race his comments were, “This is what I was born for," Justin Gatlin said. "This is why I started running, and this is why I live. I said it was going to be the most exciting race in the world, and it was. This is what I train for.” Now Justin is just a memory as Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran the ran in 9.58 seconds.  I ponder who the fastest man was in the 1970’s, 1980’s, or even the 1990’s. My mind is blank. They are all now shadows in history.

Years ago the “dash” in life though took me to a small cemetery outside of Cincinnati. There I saw a number of monuments that had the same last name as mine. One name was the familiar name of my great-great grandfather, Jackson Balser, who served in the Civil War. I still have his field rifle that has been passed from generation to generation, including notches in the stock.

Staring at the monument I noticed the dash between his birth date and his death date. What had he done in the lifetime called “dash”? What was his farm life like? How did he relate to his children? How did he serve during the Civil War?  What legacy did he leave? Throughout the cemetery there were people from infants to those over 100 years of age. Looking at each one I was void of what they did in their life. Then it hit me. I am part of my great-great grandfather childrens' dash.

The principles of life were passed to his children who passed it on to their children and so forth until it came to me. Maybe it was looks, maybe it was attitude, probably not my temper, but since it was in a church cemetery that my great-great grandfather established. I realized that it was his faith that lives in my heart and is being passed on to my children and will be to their children.

What is in the “dash” of your past?  Not everything that has happened in our past will be things we want to recall. Yet the best part of living this life is that we live under the grace of love in Christ.

One important aspect, as you look at the “dash” in your family’s lives, is that you can keep and cherish what is good and discard what is bad. As we build a relationship with the Lord, think about what the “dash” will be in your life.   Build the “dash” in your life everyday so people will know who you were, not by events or accomplishments, but by your reflection of Christ’s love through you every day!

Just remember what Solomon said, “Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.” Ecclesiastes 12:13

Drinking From My Saucer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwjbpxPibu4&feature=related

Hebrews 6:13-14 “When God made his promise to Abraham, he backed it to the hilt, putting his own reputation on the line. He said, "I promise that I'll bless you with everything I have - bless and bless and bless!” (The Message)

While traveling recently, I was surfing the radio and heard a song called, “Drinking from My Saucer”. Intently listening to every word, it reminded me of years past when my grandmother would meet her friends for coffee after the meeting of “The Women’s Temperance Union”.

The table was set with cups and saucers along with a pot of hot coffee. Each lady would pour a cup of coffee and overflow the coffee into the saucer. Then they would take the full cup of hot coffee and set it next to the saucer. Each lady would then pick up the saucer and drink from the saucer.

When I asked my grandmother why they did that, she told me that the coffee could only be drunk immediately when placed in the saucer. Later, I related drinking from the saucer by my grandmother to the blessings that the Lord gives us.

We don’t realize everything we are given by a loving Lord. Then what overflows into the saucer are the blessings we appreciate immediately. Usually the ones we see daily.

Yet the Lord keeps filling our cups like he did for Abraham. What a promise! The words and music of the Southern Gospel song, “Drinking From My Saucer” that is found on the website:   www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwjbpxPibu4&feature=related 

and  gives us a powerful devotion to appreciate how God blesses us no matter what we have endured.

Once we ponder on the blessings in our lives, in spite of the storms, each one of us can see that our cup of blessings overflows into our saucers and we are thrilled to drink from the saucers.

How do you know you are following God's lead

Here's one area I struggle with each day of the year. In striving to be a Christ follower, I want each step each day to be guided by the Lord. "Knowing when to hold them, knowing when to fold them and knowing when to walk away" as quoted by Kenny Rogers, is a constant battle in my business and in my life.

Being a Dreamer, if someone or a company says no to a given situation or product but it appears that they do not understand the full details, my immediate reaction is "who do I go to and get a yes response"?

When these situation confront me, I take a moment to pray as seek the Lord's wisdom and think about Proverbs 3: 5 & 6 -Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Yet being head of two companies, I have to move forward with decisions every day. But is it the right one that God wants me to take? Over time I see where the Lord was leading my decisions and other times it appears that I was too much a sales person and drove the situation forward- The wrong way.

So how can you be assured a decision is what the Lord wants you to do or is it your own wants. The dilemma continues for me, but I keep looking up trusting for the straight path.

Making Fun of Dreamers

Acts 2:17 In the last days, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams." (Found in the old testament in Joel 2:28)

People who have known me for any length of time knows that I am a dreamer and a half glass full person. It is God's make up of me. My lovely wife often says that I am ahead of my time when it comes to ideas and solutions to problems and situations.

What can stifle a dreamer is for people to make fun of the person. The dreamer learns to keep his "out of the box" thinking to themselves and only releases his thoughts a select few people.

Recently I was confronted by a leader of an organization to not waste the time of the organization by bringing up suggestions that were strategic in nature without have them fully flushed out. I found someone who took my dreams and ideas, reworded them into her own understanding and presented them to the same group. Each one was accepted and became part of a strategic plan. The dreams became reality because it was not coming from "The Dreamer".

I would suggest that if you are a dreamer, find a mentor or friend who can talk you through the thoughts and maybe get them to the right people so that the church, community, and the world can gain from what the Lord has put into your head.