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Struck Down But Not Destroyed :)

Thursday, April 30th, 2009 By 4 Comments

Good Morning Friends, 

I’m kind of taking off from blogging today… hope this inspirational clip brings you plenty of courage to face your day and make it great! You guys are champions… and champions can take the hits!

Here’s a text version of the video… Be inspired! 

“What is it you said to the kid…”

“The world aint always sunshine and rainbows…”

“It’s a very rough, mean place…”

“And no matter how tough you think you are…”

“It will always bring you to your knees and keep you there…”

“Permanently if you let it…”

“You or nobody aint never gonna hit as hard as life…”

“But it aint about how hard you hit…”

“It’s about how hard you can get hit…”

“And KEEP MOVING FORWARD!”

“How much you can take…”

“And KEEP MOVING FORWARD!”

“If you know what you’re worth…”

“Go out and get what you are worth…”

“But you gotta be willing to TAKE THE HIT!”

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; STRUCK DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED!”

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Behavioral Transformation :)

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 By 8 Comments

Good Wednesday Friends!

I’ve been thinking so much lately about what drives people to take certain inevitable courses of action. I’m talking about the programing behind the things we do over and over again. You see, I believe that nearly every human action can be traced back to a preset behavior. Understanding this allows us to feel compassion rather than rage towards the people who mistreat us.

There is a cause behind every effect. That nasty waitress on Friday night was only nasty because she just got evicted from her apartment before coming in to work that day… or she just found out her dad has cancer and only 6 months to live… or the father of her child is leaving her for another woman!

This waitress, now being under more stress than she can bare, while trying to serve you and your friends… she handles stress the way she has been programmed to handle her stress. Her current adverse circumstance triggers a preprogrammed pattern of behavior… and the result is the nastiest waitress of your entire life. Believe me, if you think you are miserable… you should imagine what she must be feeling!    

As written in the blog, Identity Transformation - A Message From Jail, I believe that some people in this world clearly have a much more difficult time SHEDDING OFF THEIR DESTRUCTIVE PATTERNS. They are programmed for failure… and even though they feel warm and fuzzy at times over the DREAM of changing their ways… the program always knocks them back down. They are simply living the way they were programmed to live… UNTIL they are reprogrammed to live differently!  

A habit is a behavior pattern acquired by FREQUENT REPETITION or PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPOSURE that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance. It is AN ACQUIRED MODE OF BEHAVIOR that has become nearly or completely involuntary. 

HABITS are first cobwebs, then cables! –Spanish Proverb

A HABIT cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time. –Mark Twain

Bad HABITS are like comfortable beds… easy to get into, but hard to get out of. –Anonymous 

HABIT is either the best of servants or the worst of masters. –Nathaniel Emmons 

Most humans at least try to act differently than they are programmed… many times a day. We want to change because we KNOW that so many of our habits are leading us far, far away from our dreams. We know that unless we change, we will never experience life as we can and should!   

Everyone CAN change! God offers us many promises for behavioral transformation. Here are two…

  1. We can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:1-3)  This is where we take the amazing teachings of the Bible and we program them into our minds! And so, instead of thinking and acting the way some other flawed human has programmed us to think and act, we challenge these inherited thoughts and actions… we replace them with a far better program.   
  2. We can live under the influence God’s Spirit and live in the state of knowing rather than a state of thinking. God is perfect and all his actions are always perfect. He promises that we can learn to walk under his influence all the time! The fruits of Gods Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control! (Galatians 5:22-23) These are not learned behaviors… they are the qualities of living in the NOW of Gods Spirit! We can act and react like God does because he is acting and reacting through us! 

Both of these promises require FAITH and corresponding ACTION. One must believe that God is able to HELP messed up people through the process of replacing their OLD DESTRUCTIVE habits with NEW and far more CONSTRUCTIVE ones… and that God is able to bring each of us into a state of living in the NOW of Gods Spirit.  

The only other option is to forget about all this talk of transformation and just keep moving in the direction of our current habits… and that is a scary thought for most of us. So, go away from todays blog with more compassion for the people out there doing crazy things, realizing that they really CANT HELP IT… and have the courage to enter into the process of reprogramming for a beautiful future filled with amazing actions!

Have a super day everyone!

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Healthy People Are Happy People!

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 By 4 Comments

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I have a confession to make… ready for my confession? Ok… since you are so politely attentive this morning, Im going to tell you. I’ve been eating like a pig lately… yeah it’s true… and I haven’t run in something like a month or more. And since accountability is a great motivator… I thought to blog about my laziness today!

I think it all started for Emily and me back when we had to miss the Virginia Beach Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon due to a very stressful situation. That race was supposed to launch our race season of something like 6 races… a few 10K’s… a few half marathons… and a full marathon. We had trained for about 6 months, all through the winter… we were all registered and ready to go… only to cancel our plans just 5 days before the race.

Emily was far more bummed out than I was… but since she is my trainer… I stopped running when she stopped running. And here I am today just a few months away from vacation at the beach… and I’m eating like its fall… storing up insulation for a LONG WINTERS NAP! And if I don’t make some changes REAL FAST, Emily’s brother Jeff is going to TEAR ME UP all vacation long. 

What shall I do… how will I break this destructive pattern? Is there any hope for me? YES, THERE IS! And since it sounded so good, I’m going to SAY IT AGAIN… YES THERE IS!

There is no doubt about it… healthy eating and regular exercise increases the quality and length of our lives! And healthy eating and regular exercise CAN be FAR MORE FUN than living without an ounce of self control. Let’s face it… we always FEEL BETTER when we make healthy choices!

So here’s my inspirational food for the day: to increase the quality and length of your life, start making healthier choices TODAY! 

From personal experience, I can say that unless you exercise, you wont be able to eat healthy… and unless you start eating healthy, you wont be able to maintain a fun and long term exercising routine. The two are connected!

Start by changing the way you think and feel about healthy foods and heavy breathing! Start telling yourself, “I love vegetables so I eat delicious vegetables each and every day! I exercise 3 to 4 days a week because I love exercising!” We must reprogram for a better life! 

Next… you’ll need to create an achievable 6 month plan… and start somewhere! If you’re WAY out of shape… start with a short walk every morning and lengthen that walk each week or two. If you’re addicted to sweets… replace the junk food with FRESH FRUITS! Clean out your cabinets… get the junk out of the house so you are no longer tormented with temptations you’re not yet able to overcome! 

When we started training for our first marathon… Emily had NEVER run a mile in her entire life! And within 11 months she was able to RUN 26.1 miles! Not only did we achieve a lofty goal… we HAD A BLAST getting to that destination! Exercise is VERY FUN when you have a FUN PARTNER. Get outside when you can… join a gym if you can afford it… gyms are so much FUN and GYM PEOPLE are HAPPY PEOPLE… because HEALTHY PEOPLE ARE HAPPY PEOPLE! 

I wanted to write this blog because I want YOU and ME to live a LONG and HEALTHY life! It breaks my heart when people I care so much about die young… when diabetes, clogged arteries, various forms of cancer, and other conditions arise as the result of not gaining control over their health. I leave you with the words of Richard Simmons, “YOU CAN DO IT!” LOL

Have a healthy day! Tootaloo!

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Surviving the Snapping Point

Monday, April 27th, 2009 By 8 Comments

Good Monday Friends,

James 1:19-20 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

I know you may be thinking, “Wow Chuck, what a random verse to begin this blog with. Has somebody made you mad?” My simple response is that this is real life and there are many opportunities for each of us to be angry… every day. These are just two verses I read this morning that really jumped off the page and I thought to expound upon the topic for my first anger management blog. Enjoy!

So… when was the last time it happened to you? Think back to the last time soooo much pressure built up inside and you did everything you knew to do to keep turning the other cheek… and then it happened… you SNAPPED with a capital S! Be honest here… you are amongst friends! Let’s face it everyone… we’ve all been pretty peeved a time or two in our lives haven’t we? The first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

In todays stressed out society, there is so much SNAPPING going on! So many people seem to be living right at the edge of their SNAPPING point. And SNAPPING never helps a situation does it? It only makes things far worse.

James 1:19-20 “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

EVERYONE should be QUICK to listen… SLOW to speak… and SLOW to become angry. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Just three simple steps to a SNAP free life! 

Listening is a vital part of conflict resolution… and when we lose our ability to listen, we disable out our ability to gather the vital information we need to make proper decisions. One of the first signs of anger is that we are no longer able to hear anything but the fire raging in our mind.

Once we stop listening, we simultaneously speak… louder and faster… and faster and louder… not realizing that we are heading for a certain disaster. A mouth seized by an angry spirit is one of the most dangerous weapons known to man.

So then according to these verses, listening MORE and speaking LESS go along with being SLOW TO ANGER. If we can open our ears and adequately direct our words, tonality, and body language… if we can do this and learn to do it well… we will keep God in control of our most stressful circumstances.  

Self control is listed in the Bible as one of the nine FRUITS of the Holy Spirit… it is a promise for every follower of Jesus. Let us pray and believe to have this promise and let us aim to become the BEST listeners, the MOST CAREFUL speakers… and the slowest people on the face of the earth to SNAP. 

I know this sounds much easier than it actually is. All spiritual victory begins with a new revelation, a new commitment to change, and a PRAYER OF FAITH! So, just reading this blog takes you a great big step closer to a far more peaceful future. You can do it… you can overcome… because with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! 

Have an amazing day everyone! We love you guys and we just finished praying for you all!

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Bringing New Life 2 Old Routines!

Sunday, April 26th, 2009 By 3 Comments

Happy Sunday Friends!

Instead of going to the office for my final sunday morning sermon preparations as my usual 7 year routine requires… I have broken my chain everyone! For the past few Sundays, I have been staying home and working from my family room. That way , I am here when my family wakes up. I couldn’t do this without my new Macbook Pro… so thank you God, for my new beautiful aluminum laptop! 

Today… I decided to prepare out on the patio. The weather is perfect for it. Right now it’s still dark… the birds are already awake, the fish are all fired up, thinking I am going to feed them… it’s a beautiful day… you guys are going to LOVE IT! 

My reason for mentioning all of this seemingly meaningless bloggage is to make a very good point about ROUTINES. 

Whereas routines are healthy, making it possible for us to settle into productive patterns and build up momentum towards achievement… routines have a shorter shelf life than most people realize… they need to be altered usually while they are STILL WORKING for us!

What I mean is this: Most humans create routines that become the death of them. We set a routine that starts us heading toward something beautiful… and because we fail to challenge these routines frequently enough… what started out as a blessing becomes the rut that sends us plummeting into a ravine!

Because we are created by God and we have been given so many of his amazing qualities… we crave for new sights and new experiences. Routine then, should SERVE us as the means to these NEW SIGHTS and EXPERIENCES… the happy journey to a beautiful destination. And when the routine becomes LIFE itself for us… our inherent craving for sights and experiences becomes smothered… sucking the life right out of us! 

For SEVEN years, my routine has been to go into the church at 5am EVERY Sunday morning to pray and study for the 10am service. I must confess how little I have enjoyed this routine for upwards of two years or more. Yet, it was my routine and I was DEDICATED to this routine! And, as I analyze this routine, I see that location is of VERY little importance. The real importance of this routine is the fact that I pray and study for my 10am Sunday service. 

So for me… coming out here on my patio to cary out my Sunday morning Sermon preparation changes EVERYTHING! I feel happier and FAR MORE CREATIVE! My prayers feel so FRESH… because I have updated a lifeless routine! Granted, I couldn’t have made this change of routine without the new laptop and it’s not going to work on rainy days. What will work is the fact that I am out of the office… and for now, this is a change that’s breathing LIFE back into my Sunday morning routine! 

How about your routines? Any of them SCREAMING out for CHANGE? I’m not suggesting you stop reading your Bibles, or praying, or going on date nights with your spouse, or serving in the church, or any other thing you are being CALLED to remain faithful to! I am simply suggesting that there may be a FAR MORE ENLIVENING WAY OF DOING THEM!

Have a super day everyone… church at Destiny Family Center @ 10am… after that… GET OUTSIDE and HAVE THE BEST SUNDAY OF YOUR YEAR! Tootaloo…

Filed Under: Journal & Message
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