Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. ~ Isaiah 41:10 NLT With words that powerful how can anyone be afraid, I mean He promises to hold us up and help us so what is there that we should FEAR? I am sure everyone has heard the acronym for F.E.A.R. right?  If not here it is False Evidence Appearing Real.  How often do we allow the seeds of someone else’s opinion to invade our minds? For I hold you by your right hand- I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid I am here to help you.’ ~Isaiah 41:13 NLT Wow!  God himself has promised to help us, yet we allow every day failures to impede our path.  We focus on the worst case scenario of any challenge we may face.  We all have awoken from a deep sleep in a cold sweat from a crazy dream where our FEARs come true. It makes a little sense though if we take a look at the weapons that are used against us to weaken us into submission and FEAR: 1.) Self-doubt – we get in our own heads and interfere with the work we are here to do. 2.) Opinions of others – whether in high school or in the workforce jealousy brings out the naysayers. 3.) Our past – we live an relive out past that […]

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  Picture yourself entering into you’re a large tool shed in the backyard gentlemen, you step inside and the smell of rust and sweat wafers out into the sunlight. You take a moment as your eyes adjust to the darkness within and you reach for the lone light bulb dangling from a rope in the middle of the shed. As the aged bulb flutters on and off as the filament heats up, your eyes adjust to the dimly lit shed. Within this old shed there are tools, tools on the walls hanging from pegs, tools leaning in all directions against the walls where they were left in a hurry. There are still more tools that have fallen off the aged hooks that lie on the floor in disarray. You search for the right tool that you need for the pressing job that is still on you honey-do-list. In the dim light, even as the bulb flickers above it is still difficult to see every part of the shed. You are forced to trust your instincts and remember back to the last time you used that tool where you may have put it as you fumble around in the darkness, tripping over the scattered tools on the floor. Finally you find the tool for the job, you breathe a sigh of relief and frustration at the mess you have left the old shed. You think to yourself that you really need to clean this mess up, but again it is left for another day. Imagine if […]

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This past Sunday at church I got a little fired up! Fired up in a good way that is.  The sermon was on the differences between being a thermostat and a thermometer in your spiritual walk. This is an old adage that I think is deserving a revisit from time to time. We all know that a thermostat controls the temperature whether for your air handler or under the hood of your car.  Meanwhile a thermometer merely reflects or measures hot or cold with no controls. My question for you is ‘do you influence or control the tone in your life or do you simply react and measure the ups and downs?’ Our thermostats in our homes have been working overtime lately with all the weather changes. Are you working just as hard to influence your house as well?  What about at work, in the community or even at church? Many of us act as thermometers where we gauge our surroundings and allow them to dictate out moods and behavior.  If our work is stressing us out, or our home life is in shambles so are we.  Rather than being a leader that inspires others we become irritable and difficult and thereby diminish others’ trust in us. Being a leader that works as a thermostat, you have the opportunity to check the temperature and make necessary adjustments.  This type of leader is caring and aware of the mood or temperature and with their finger on the pulse is able to adjust accordingly. The purpose of […]

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