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Living Beyond A Burn Out

Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by 2 Comments

Happy Friday!

Sometimes, life’s complexities distract us from the BEAUTIES of what we have. I cherish those intermittent moments when I am blessed with EYES TO SEE my blessings! Yeah, I’d love to tell you guys that I walk around happy and thankful everyday… but that would be a lie. Sometimes, I FORGET how blessed I am. Even in my darkest times, when I seem to have nothing… I still have EVERYTHING! My God, I am a BLESSED PERSON!  

Since my family is supposed to be going on vacation soon, I’ve been working like crazy at positioning our ministry to function OUTSTANDINGLY in our absence! We all know about the pre-vacation CRUNCH… six months of unfinished business carried out in ONE WEEK!  

The good news here is that many times, as we clear up some of our mess, we start to see LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! This is what happened to me last night… I SAW THE LIGHT… and it was BRIGHT! (rhyme)

In that moment, I realized how blessed I am… how many good people I’m surrounded with… and how much God is still using me to REFRESH PEOPLE! I saw new hope… and moved a step or two beyond my recent burn out. I felt new water pouring into my heart, washing away the debris of recent disasters!

During this enlightenment, I recaptured the PROFOUNDNESS of my DIVINE PURPOSE AND CALLING… I felt a VIBRANCY running through my spirit… I felt LOVE and POWER racing through my entire body! It was… and it still is this morning, an epic experience!    

Everyone wants to know that their life is making some kind of real difference in this world. As we age, we long for SIGNIFICANCE! Take a look at the following verses… they represent a day in the life of Jesus… and a model for the attainment of significance!  

Matthew 9:35-38 

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. (Jesus lived to help people find real life)

And he healed every kind of disease and illness. (Jesus reached down and pulled people from death and misery)

When he saw the crowds, (Jesus looked beyond himself to SEE the real state of his followers)

He had compassion on them because they were CONFUSED and HELPLESS, (their problems were so great and they didn’t have anywhere to go for help) like sheep without a shepherd. (Jesus gave his whole life to offer hope to the hopelessness)

He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Jesus wants his followers to do as he did)

I guess here’s what’s happening to me right now: as I’ve been meeting with the leaders and future leaders of our ministry… and as more and more or our macro initiatives are delegated out to well able people… I’m able to see GREAT HOPE in the profound fruitfulness of our next harvest… and this BRINGS ME TO LIFE AGAIN!

Our newly forming DREAM TEAM is coming together NICELY… and so, I’m going on vacation with my amazing family… we’re going to RELAX and REPLENISH… and then come back home to build up momentum towards our FINEST HOUR YET!    

Questions: How are YOU going to better position yourself for significance? What kind of overdue changes will you need to go ahead and make this week, this month, or by the end of this year? Are you on the right team? Are you currently suffering some degree of burn out? If so, what are you going to do about it?

The harvest is still great… and the laborers are still few. Let’s assemble around eternally significant initiatives and go out of this life in a BLAZE OF GLORY!

I pray that todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! Please leave you comment… I love the interaction!

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When Your Faith Remains Strong…

Saturday, February 21st, 2009 by 5 Comments

Good Saturday Morning Friends!

A few days ago, I posted a blog: Stop Flipping Out… Relax! Today, I want to respond to a bloggers comment as my teaching point.

In the referenced blog, I talked about turning our mountain making fears into mountain moving faith. I made a very transparent statement about how I respond to my own challenges at times, and I talked about the importance of growing up in FAITH. Here’s a quote from that blog:

“So often, I turn little problems into HUGE ones as I refuse to let God work them out. In panic, my judgment becomes clouded… I fret and fear… I allow the small problem to take my entire mind captive. Before long, I’m unable to see the good things happening in my world… I become trapped in a realm of hopelessness… I grow weary, I breakdown, and burn out.”

Blogger Des, known for his own blog as christianranter.worpress.com wrote the following reply to my above referenced post:

“Now since you said that you and your wife are opposites; is she the one who does more of the faith thing and you’re the fretter? I know that’s the case in my house and it drives me nuts as she always ends up being right about stuff I worry about.”

Ok, here is my reply to Des’ question…

Des, I used to be so much stronger in the faith realm… I was fearless in the face of opposition… and over the past few years, I’ve weakened in my mountain moving skills. This is one BIG thing I am working on for this season of my life.

Emily has one of the most UNSHAKABLE FAITHS I’ve ever encountered! Emily lives everyday like a bulldog on a juicy stake! She NEVER waivers from a promise of God… she believes that EVERYTHING will work out… and she HELPS to keep me doing the same!

It really is amazing how God puts people together for synergistic purposes! The two of us equal far more than the sum total of our two individual components! As for me, I am aiming to REBUILD my FAITH and get back to WALKING IN THE MIRACULOUS once again.

Through the relentless pounding of the crashing waves of this stormy half decade, I have become far too circumstance oriented… been tossed around way more than I should have allowed. Instead of CALMING my storms and COMMANDING my mountains to MOVE, I have spent far too many days crying, “Why me?”

Just realizing this sets me on a new path of opportunity! I celebrate ENDURANCE and I praise God for keeping me alive in the fiery furnace! I’ve learned so many priceless lessons… and I am coming forth as GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE!

1 Peter 1:7 says this, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

Wooohoooo!! This is a mighty ENCOURAGING BLOG TODAY! Hope you love it… pray that it ADDS great value to your amazing lives! See you tomorrow in person @ 10am- Destiny Family Center… tomorrow is SUNDAY!!

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Stop Flipping Out… Relax!

Thursday, February 19th, 2009 by 5 Comments

calm-downGood Morning Bloggers!

Last night… a bunch of church friends gave Emily a beautiful birthday party!! It was a blast… the birthday cheer was amazing… the cake was AMAZING! I prayed earlier that God would do something really nice today for every party guest! So brace yourselves… its coming!

I woke this morning… in the same vein of revelation I was in all day yesterday. For some reason, I’m inspired to talk again about turning our problems over to God. This is such a challenge for most of us… it is for me. So often, I turn little problems into HUGE ones as I refuse to let God work them out. In panic, my judgment becomes clouded… I fret and fear… I allow the small problem to take my entire mind captive. Before long, I’m unable to see the good things happening in my world… I become trapped in a realm of hopelessness… I grow weary, I breakdown, and burn out.

If we want to experience more peace, and more happy outcomes in our lives… we’re going to have to change the way we RESPOND to stressful situations. As soon as we notice ourselves heading down this destructive path, we should seize control of our emotional state… and STAND UP IN A SPIRIT OF FAITH.

This is not easy at first… but well worth the effort. The only option is to live the rest of our lives tossed to and fro with every wind and wave that comes our way! To live in fear is to live in the slavery of what MIGHT go wrong. And the more we submit to fear, the better we become at pointing out destructive possibilities. We have been training ourselves to find every possible opportunity for failure… we welcome destruction because it’s what we think about most of the time. Whatever we focus on and monitor often GROWS VERY BIG!

So today… we must stop doing this to ourselves! We must RISE IN FAITH… RISE IN LOVE… RISE IN THE BOND OF RELATIONSHIP we have with our Heavenly Father. We must train our minds to point out the possibilities for success… in EVERY SITUATION! When problems arise… call them opportunities for PROGRESS! Refuse to come under the darkness of FEAR. Be confident, not in your human strength or your clever alliances… but in the fact that you belong to God Almighty!

Psalm 33:13-22

 13 The Lord looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
for all its strength, it cannot save you.

18 But the Lord watches over those who fear him,
those who rely on his unfailing love.
19 He rescues them from death
and keeps them alive in times of famine.

20 We put our hope in the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
for our hope is in you alone.

Ok… that’s it for today… hope this blog adds great value to your amazing lives! Chat later…

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