Making Excuses or Making it Happen?

     

Joe E. Carter. My dad. Forgive me, but I'd like to take a minute to brag on my dad and some of the accomplishments he made during his life. First, dad raised three healthy, intelligent (well two out of three ain't bad, self-identified), hard-working, and caring children. Joe E. Carter was a well-known and respected builder and contractor in Hamblen County. During the time period from the mid-1960's thru the early 1980's, Joe E. Carter was chosen as builder of the year, elected president of the Home Builders Association, built an expansive number of homes in several subdivisions across Hamblen County and then moved into the commercial building arena constructing a shopping center, apartments, and a number of restaurants namely Western Sizzling Steakhouses in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. Not only did he build these businesses, he was partners in several of these establishments which enabled him to retire from building in his early 50's. From there Joe E. Carter fulfilled his passion with farming and either owned or leased farms in multiple counties around East Tennessee. He became a supplier for Swaggerty Sausage with his swine farm operation and had over 100 head of cattle on the Carter-Whetsel family farm. We were heartbroken to lose our dad to a brain tumor way too early in life at the age of 63. During his life he became a voice for the common man and was highly respected for his honesty, loyalty, and compassionate heart. What a legacy for his children and grandchildren to follow. 

     Like I said at the beginning of today's message, I wanted to brag about our dad, but not really just to be bragging, more to set up the context of what today's message is all about. You see what I didn't share with you was Joe E. Carter's front end story. I didn't mention that he was only able to attend school through the seventh grade because he went to work to help support his mother and four siblings. I didn't mention that when he was a young man he worked multiple jobs at a time, including one in a local furniture factory where he almost lost his life in an accident that resulted in the loss of some of the digits on his dominant right hand. (Remember he was a carpenter, think hammer, screwdriver, saw, etc...) Oh yeah, I failed to mention that Joe E. Carter and our mother Martha Whetsel Carter were divorced before I was even born, but remarried and raised Bob, Chuck, and Donna making sure that we all three received degrees and advanced degrees from the University of Tennessee, East Tennessee State University, and Lincoln Memorial University. (Remember this was a man with a seventh-grade education) My point is by all standards Joe E. Carter had every reason in the world to not be successful. Nobody would have given it much thought if Joe E. Carter had at any of the aforementioned "milestones" in his life given up and just decided that life had handed him a stacked deck and he might as well get used to being at the bottom of the ladder in life. 

     It would have been easy for Joe E. Carter to have made a list of excuses about why he didn't do this or he didn't follow through on that. He could have made a living out of excusing himself from hard work due to his impairment and he could have convinced himself and others that the reason he wasn't able to provide for his family was due to his lack of "education". All of these were real circumstances for Joe E. Carter, but just the other day I was thinking about my dad and it came to me that I cannot recall one instance where he ever made a mention of his missing digits nor of his lack of formal education. I can't recall one time that he said "Hey can you do this for me it's hard for me to grip this screwdriver?" He must have taught himself how to read beyond what his seventh-grade education had taught him because he went on to read blueprints, contracts, and lease agreements, but I never once heard him say "I can't read this" or "Can you read this for me?" I honestly can't remember one time when Joe E. Carter muttered the words "I can't do that." That is why I shared the background history on my dad. Joe E. Carter's legacy to his family is that inner drive to never give up and to never quit. "You don't make excuses you make it happen!" would probably have been his mantra if he had one. 

      So, what is the thought to go with today's message? What do I hope and pray that you take away from our Flat Tire time together today? Well just like the mission behind Flat Tire Ministries is when you get a flat tire you can stay on the side of the road and wait for someone to come along and fix your flat for you, or you can get out the spare tire, jack up the car, and change the tire allowing you to get back on life's highway! that's today's message. In life you have a choice in everything you do or don't do. You can make excuses or you can make it happen. It is all up to you. Sure you have challenges, certainly there are and will be obstacles, insurmountable walls, in front of you, but you get to choose do I let those walls stop me or do I use the wall to build a ladder, grab a shovel to go under, or figure out a way to use that wall to build a house! Your life and the story that it eventually will tell is a myriad collection of choices and decisions that nobody else gets to make. Those are yours and you have to take responsibility for each and every one. I can't even imagine what my life would have been like if Joe E. Carter hadn't made the choice to not make an excuse but to instead find a way to make life happen! 

      As we conclude our time together today, I'd like to share one thought with you about your life's obstacles and the choices you make to overcome them or use them to your benefit. It may seem that your life's "problems" are too big to handle on your own, and of that I would say you are correct. The apostle Paul gave us a message from our chief cheerleader in life that should serve as an encouragement in all of your life's struggles and the decisions you make on how to handle those situations. In Philippians 4:13 Paul wrote. "I can do ALL things through Christ which strengthens me". Not just some things mind you, but "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST". That is pretty encompassing wouldn't you say? But what about if I try and I don't succeed you ask? What is the true measure of success I would ask you in turn? To fail is to not try or to stop trying, but to succeed is to give it all you got and see where it takes you from there. If I may leave you with one challenge today it would be this. Don't make excuses about why you can't do something, instead make a plan on how you will do something and then do it!

Thanks Dad!

Coach Carter

    

"None so Blind..."

     I read a quote the other day which led me to a prayer that I am sharing today for our Flat Tire Ministries Thought for the Week. The quote attributed to John Heywood, 16th century English writer, reads, "There are none so blind as those who will not see". May we ask God to open the eyes of our heart and to move us towards love, empathy, and compassion for our fellow man. 

"Father God to have ears and not hear the cries of those that are hurting. To have eyes and not be able to see the violence and hatred that plagues our nation. To have the means to help and save, but not move to do anything that isn't centered on self. And most importantly, to have the answer to life's adversity, afflictions, trials, and tribulations, but to never share that message of hope is unforgivable. Father God as I read your warning to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 3:16-27) that if he did not warn the people about God's commands Ezekiel would be held responsible for their sin death, and all I could think is God we are Ezekiel today. Father I may have eyes that function properly, but if I can walk by a homeless man or woman on the streets of our cities and not be moved to action then I truly am blind. If I hear the ugliness of prejudice and racism and am not moved to stand up for what is taught in your word about loving thy neighbor as thyself then I am surely deaf, and if I do not become an advocate for those that need help I am illiterate as a man. Father may I not be a  disabled Christian. A paralytic may not be able to move their arms or legs, but they can still be the hands and feet of God. May I not be overthrown by apathy and a self-centered mindset. Father open my eyes, illuminate my path, and move me to action in service to You. Lord I do not want to be a paperweight rock holding down your truth. May I be wings to lift up those that are in need and a strong back to bear my fellow man's burden. Amen"

Have you chosen to be blind? Have your ears grown deaf? Will you not be God's hands and feet? There is a Great Physician that can give you 20/20 vision, that can open your ears to hear, and He can give you the ability to be His hands and feet on a daily basis. Be moved and then move!
 Coach Carter

What Motivates You?

     
Today's title begs the question "What Motivates You?" What makes you get up in the morning to do the things you do? What drives you to be the best you that you can be? What is that thing that causes you to make sacrifices, decisions, and choices each day? We make a plethora of decisions each day and you need to understand why you tend to lean one way or the other on the spectrum of what is the motivating force in your life.
      Are your decisions based on personal gain? Do you think about the impact on others in your world and how your decisions will impact them? What about your decisions to support a cause or to get involved in a program or group, what is that guiding force that moves you from sitting there thinking about it to the point that you actually get up and move towards action? Do you make your decisions based on a sense of responsibility? I'd say that's a move in the right direction, but is doing something only out of a sense of duty really enough?
      How about if your actions, choices, and decisions are driven by guilt, anger, or resentment? I guess my question for you if you just answered yes to that one would be, "How's that working for you?" If your life's motivation is founded on anything based in or associated with anger then my guess is you are living a pretty miserable life. You probably want to blame someone else for everything that is "wrong" in your life, and you more than likely can't see whether the glass is half full or half empty because you are too upset because the glass isn't as big as you wanted it to be in the first place. Sheez, get a grip! The life you are living isn't about you!
      The true litmus test for every choice, every decision, and every thought or deed that we think or do should center on whether the action is done out of love. I believe if we could create a Geiger counter that could measure all of our decisions on whether they were based on love for our fellow man, then we could solve a great deal of the problems in our own life and possibly see a drastic change in the way our world revolves around itself. It may sound simplistic, but I would counter and say to the cynic, what other deciding factor is more relevant and what other course of action in making decisions has a better potential to have a positive impact on your life, the lives of those around you, and even on society in general?
     Many of you may be familiar with I Corinthians 13 which is commonly called the "love" chapter in the new testament of the Holy Bible. The author, the Apostle Paul, makes the point that regardless of how much we donate to worthy causes, whether our decisions appear to be a sacrifice on our part, or even if our actions are worthy of being recognized, if the litmus test doesn't ultimately show our decision was founded in love then we are definitely off track. Paul goes on to describe what love is and how love acts providing an excellent guidebook for us all. Verses 4-7 paint a clear picture of what love looks like in our decision-making process. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I firmly believe that if ALL people could measure their life's decisions against the standards listed above, then we would see a different mechanism driving the direction our lives, our country, and this world.
      This week, find a time each day to stop and reflect on your life. Look at the decisions you have made and point your love Geiger counter at them. What has driven your decisions? What has motivated you to get you to the place you are right now? Can you relate your life to a life of love for others? Do the choices you are living measure up to a life of love for others instead of love for yourself? Are the sacrifices you are making done out of love or done out of responsibility? My prayer is that each of us, self included, will take a deep look into who we are, what makes us who we are, and what drives the decisions and choices that we make each day. At the end of the love chapter in the Bible, the Apostle Paul states that "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." If love is the greatest quality of all then shouldn't it have the most prominent place in our hearts, minds, and souls?
May love be your driving force in life!
Coach Carter

Swimming to the Other Side

     
Several years ago, a friend of mine showed me a little trick to better guage the distance from one side of the lake to the other. If you will turn away from the body of water and then look between your legs the view you will see is a much better perspective from the view of just standing on the bank peering across the divide. In that particular situation, it really made me reconsider whether I wanted to attempt swimming across the lake, especially since we were ill equipped with no life vest or flotation device. Turns out the little trick my friend shared with me definitely gave me a different perspective before I dove in for the swim. Wouldn't it be nice to have a method to guage all of our choices and decisions before we make them?
      Certainly it would appear that if we had a similar method to determine the risk and the challenge in our decision-making process for all of life's major and even more minor decisions life would be much easier and our success to failure ratio would exponentially rise. Our health would most certainly improve, and life in general would start to feel a little less stressful if we were able to determine whether success or failure was in the making before we ever took the first step in the process. I guess if bending over and looking through your legs provided a better perspective on the success ratio, we might have a pretty funny looking society of people standing around, bending over, and looking between their legs before answering yes or no to a business decision. Fortunately, we do not have that system to lean on, but more fortunate we are that we do have a method by which we should measure out our major decisions before we dive into the deep blue unknowns in life.
      In Philippians 4:6-7 Paul reminds us of the process by which we can rest a little easier with our decisions and choices. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." What Paul is basically sharing here is that if we want peace of mind with our decisions then we should slow down, earnestly seek God's wisdom and guidance, and then make the decision as if we just looked between our legs and the distance to the other side of our lake is within a hands reach. That is comfort. Paul tells us that if we seek God in the decision- making process that we will be at peace and are able to take comfort in that knowledge. 
       "So Chuck, you're telling me that if I pray before I make a decision then it is always going to work out the way I want it to?" No, I'm not telling you that, I'm not even suggesting that you will automatically receive a guiding answer when you pray and seek God's guidance. There's always the potential that what you are asking is out of alignment with God's plan for your life in the first place, so why would you get guidance on something that isn't even in the plan book for your life? What I am suggesting is that through "prayer and petition" your questions and dilemmas will become more focused on God's will for your life and the impact that your life is to have on others. In other words, life will become less about you and more about what your life can do to help others. 
     I shared Philippians 4:6-7 with you earlier in our post, but the next couple of verses in that chapter put it all into the proper perspective. Verses 8-9 read like this, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." How fortunate, how blessed, we are to have God's promise, and not to have to depend on looking between our legs to judge the complexity of our life's decisions. At the end of the day, if what we are considering fits the criteria laid out by Paul, then we can safely presume that we are headed in the right direction. If our decisions are based in love which is the foundational cornerstone of all decision-making processes, then we can be at peace and we definitely do not have to worry about the perspective from which we are looking!
Seek His will!
Coach Carter 

Take a Thankful Walk

     
Motivational speaker and author Jon Gordon suggests taking a "thankful walk" in his book "The Positive Dog". Basically, what Gordon suggests is that when we start experiencing our own little pity party we need to stop and look at all we have to be thankful for in life. It's easy to get down on life when you set your mind on the challenges you are facing in your home, work, or other relationships, and when we set our mind on thinking about how rough we have it, then it compounds the circumstance in my opinion. It's safe to say we all have things that each of us would rather not have to be dealing with, and it also would be safe to assume that if we could wish away some of our problems we would be doing that, but how many of us are actually spending the majority of our time focusing on what we do have and being thankful for what we have?
     When I get up each day I spend time in devotion, meditation, and prayer during which I make an effort to give thanks for the little things that are really big things when you stop and put them in perspective. For example, I easily could wake up each morning and start complaining that I'm tired, I've got a packed day, my feet hurt, well you know where I'm going with this the list could go on and on! Try this when you get out of bed tomorrow, take a moment to think how fortunate you are to be able to get out of bed. Focus on that for a minute. What if you were paralyzed? What if you had no legs? Would that change your mindset on getting up out of bed and being able to walk to the bathroom, walk out the door, and walk down the street to the market or deli? Let's take it another direction. Instead of focusing our negative energy on having to go to work, or feeling like you are stuck in a job you hate, what would happen if we started thinking about how thankful we are that we have been given the intelligence and skill set we have to do the job we are doing? What would it be like if we were just thankful that we have a job that allows us to pay the bills we have, and to guarantee us the income we need to provide housing, food, and the clothes on our backs? Instead of focusing on what we don't have, how about giving some thanks for the fact that we live in a country where we have more opportunities and more avenues to pursue them then about 75% of the world? Think that might cause a little mind shift?
     For me, I believe Jon Gordon's "thankful walk" is all about perspective. When we set our minds on how bad we have it or how bad our circumstances are then we can quickly find ourselves in a state of despair and hopelessness. When we start convincing ourselves of how bad we have it, then it compounds the severity of the situation. "Nobody has it as bad as I do", and "Let me tell you about my own little crisis", become our life's theme and focus. I know bad things happen and I know you may have a tough situation that you have been dealing with, are dealing with currently, and possibly don't foresee a end to dealing with it ever, but could it be that the very thing you are dealing with is the door which is going to lead to the next chapter in your life? Well if you turn the perspective around to one of looking for the things you do have to be thankful for then I believe that mindset will lead you to the key to unlocking that door of opportunity that is just waiting on you to turn the key!
       To be thankful and to take that "thankful walk" requires a great deal of faith and trust. In
I Thessalonians 5:18 Paul tells us to " give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." That's easy to do when things are going our way, relationships are rosy, there's money left at the end of the month, doctor's report says "A OK", and the boss just patted you on the back and told you what a great job you are doing! Life is good and I want to thank God for all He has done for me! Sound familiar? Well what about when the dog just got in a fight and the vet bill is an unexpected $500.00, or the washing machine leaked the whole night and the floor is bowed up like a bridge? Wife is fussing, child has the flu, and your boss says they may be shutting down your branch next month? How do you take a "thankful walk" in any of those situations? Well you do just that. "I'm thankful I have a job that allows me to pay the vet bill and if our branch does shut down, I have been a faithful, hard worker with a strong work history so I will have a positive reference to take into a new job search if that happens. I'm thankful we have a professional, caring doctor that is fully capable of taking care of our child, and although my wife is fussing at me, I am thankful for our marriage and the stability it provides our child! Does that change the mindset of how we could be thinking in similar situations? 
     Life is tough. But guess what, nobody said it was going to be easy! Life shouldn't be too easy anyway. How would we learn to be thankful for the sunny days, if we didn't have the stormy days to compare them? Change your heart, change your mindset, and take a walk! 
Coach Carter