Smoke Detectors

    
Smoke detectors in a home are just about a given anymore. I know when I was still at Union Heights Elementary School during a grade level presentation a local firefighter explained to our students that they actually give out smoke detectors to families that don't have detectors in their home. Without this early alert system, the inevitable is a high risk, but with it homes are protected and lives are literally saved. You more than likely have heard the old saying, "where's there's smoke there's fire", that's why we don't install fire detectors, it would be too late if we waited to see the flames before taking action. Small, inexpensive, easy to install, and extremely low maintenance make investing in smoke detectors for our homes a virtual no-brainer.  Essential for our homes, smoke detectors could actually save us a wealth of strife and grief if only we had one installed in our frontal lobe. Unfortunately, Lowe's and Home Depot do not stock smoke detectors for our decision- making processes, but fortunately we do have a much better option that can provide us with a more effective alert system.
      In life the same principle figuratively applies about smoke and fire.  In most cases if something is starting to smoke it won't be long until we have a full-blown fire on our hands. Life is full of choices and decisions, that's a given. What drives the decision-making process is not exactly a given. Some of us just seem to make the same bad choices over and over, and over again. In other settings it isn't necessarily the fact that we make the same mistakes in rapid sequence, but instead it is more of what happens at the time a thought enters our mind. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bad idea detector in our head that could alert us before the smoke turns into a blazing fire?
     I would suggest that you do have a First Alert system at your disposal, but just as any brand of smoke detector requires batteries to be installed and then monitored regularly, our human smoke detectors must also have the right batteries installed and then charged on a regular basis. So how do you charge your body's smoke alarm system you ask? Well for me my guiding light for making the proper decisions in life and avoiding "fires" is found in my relationship with my Maker. Just knowing that God is real and placing our trust in Him provides each of us with a helper, “If you love me, you will keep my commands; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforting Counselor like me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever.  The world cannot receive him, because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, because he is staying with you and will be united with you." John 14:15-17 CJB. We can rely on God's Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us as we face those choices and decisions we face each day. Read His word, pray to our Heavenly Father, and seek Him through meditation and reflection.
      Your walk with God is definitely a difference maker in your life. None of us is going to get everything right and most certainly none of us is perfect in our decision-making history. The key is to connect with God and then keep those faith batteries charged, so that when smoke does appear in your life, you can easily rely on the One that can extinguish all smoke before it becomes a fire in your life!
Charge your batteries daily!
Coach Carter

HWJDMJ

     
      I'm guessing most of us can remember the WWJD acronym that became popular several years ago, "What Would Jesus Do?" The idea behind that campaign was to get people to think about how they handled themselves in just about any situation and compare that to the type of reaction we believe Jesus would have displayed based on His teachings and the scriptures pertaining to His life. Think "What would Jesus do if He saw a person stranded on the side of the road in need of assistance?" or "What would Jesus do if He happened upon a homeless person broken and defeated?" That list of questions could go on and on and the situations are unlimited, WWJD??
      Well my goal today is definitely not to create a new acronym for us all to paste on the back of our rear bumper or on a rubber bracelet. But I would like to pose a new question that I myself have been pondering, and one I believe is worthy of some personal self-reflection. My question to self is "How Would Jesus Do My Job?" Each of has a job, if you are a teenager your first job is school, if you work for a payday to support yourself or your family that is your job, and if you are a stay at home mother your job is, well your job is pretty much everything! Thank you mothers. We each have jobs part-time, full time, or maybe even all the time, but the point is not that you have a job, but how do you do that job and how does that compare to how Jesus would do your job.
   Colossians 3:23 gives us a directive that fits perfectly for today's FTM. The apostle Paul wrote "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters". I believe that is the mindset that Paul developed based on what he attained from the life of Jesus. If you study Jesus' life you will quickly find that his was one of service and definitely not one of being served. That is probably the first aspect of our "How Would Jesus Do My Job?" question. Service with a smile, service that wants to see the customer satisfied, service that makes the recipient ask the question, "Why do you work so hard at your job?" Jesus also worked utilizing compassion and empathy. Countless examples exist of Jesus teaching others about placing the needs of others in front of our own. I guess one of the most well-known examples to share would be Jesus' parable about the good Samaritan. Out of the three people that passed by the beaten and destitute man the Samaritan was the only one that had compassion and stopped to help. How many of us in our own jobs see someone that needs a hand or could benefit from some support, yet we stay wrapped up in our own little cocoon? Finally, what about the outcomes and outputs of our labor? Do we work to receive a paycheck or do we work to complete the work we have been given to do regardless of the personal sacrifice it takes to get the job done right? Here again Jesus provided the best example of following through and "getting the job done right". Just before Jesus was arrested and eventually crucified He pleaded “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” Matthew 26:39. Did Jesus want to be tortured and hung to die on a cross? Remember He was human just like you and I, but He was also the Son of God and He knew that any sacrifice he made here on earth would be richly rewarded in Heaven. On top of that He knew He had to provide man with an example of what sacrificial service actually looked like. So that verse in Matthew finishes like this, "nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."
     So I ask you, "How do you do your job?" Does it resemble the work ethic of Jesus? Is your work effort solely based on what you will get out of your effort or do you go to work with a servant's heart mentality that pushes you to work for others the way that you would hope others are working for you? I don't expect to see a run on the HWJDMJ memorabilia, but what I hope to see is each of us working a little differently. A little more of a "How can I do a better job doing what I do?" thought process, and a little less of the "What will I get out of this if I work hard?" mentality. Life is short, I want to say I lived my life to the fullest and I worked each day to exemplify the life of my Lord and Savior!
Colossians 3:23
Coach Carter 

No Pain, No Gain

     
Okay, I know most of us have heard the old cliché "No Pain, No Gain", pertaining mainly to the grind of weightlifting or exercise, yet applicable in most arenas of life. I guess the accepted thought on that is if you don't experience a certain degree of discomfort and strain in your workouts you probably aren't going to experience any noticeable level of improvement. Well, having a son-in-law with a Master's degree in Strength & Conditioning provides me with an expert on physical training, so I went a little deeper to find out exactly what the meaning of the "no pain, no gain" mindset actually is. According to Coach JD Newsom, what exactly is happening when we make the decision to add another 10 lbs. to the barbell or push out just one more rep, is we are "Forcing microfibers to stretch which causes them to grow. This stretching causes micro tears in the muscle that through rest and recovery (letting them relax, feeding them protein, massaging) they repair and expand." JD shared with me that there will be no growth unless you increase the resistance, reps, sets, or weight. "You just can't maintain the same and get more results."
     I'm pretty sure, you didn't accidentally tune in here thinking you were going to get a lesson in physical conditioning, so where am I going with this one today you may be asking? On the contrary, our FTM today is directly related to the idea of "no pain, no gain" and growing our faith and our trust in God. You see, in weightlifting, in becoming a better academic student, a better baseball shortstop, wrestler, volleyball setter, a better husband, mother, son, (you get the idea) the person has to put more effort, more time, and more commitment into their area of improvement to actually see gains. I can sit around and talk about becoming the next Lou Ferrigno, but that ain't going to happen without me applying the "no pain, no gain" rule to my workouts. (In my case, I'm not going to reach Lou Ferrigno status regardless of my efforts, I'm just saying.) But you get the idea, if we want to improve, if we want to excel, if we want to become better than we currently are, then we are going to have to pay the price. Believe me that is desirable. Those that are driven to be the best embrace the grind and the whole process of being broken down just to become stronger in the process.
      If this process is the accepted standard in life for growth, then why wouldn't it apply to our walk of faith and our relationship with our Maker? We have established that the desired growth we want is garnered through a certain degree of pain, so shouldn't we embrace the adversities and afflictions that we encounter, endure, and eventually overcome in our own daily lives? Now, I'm not saying that when we encounter a catastrophe we should be jumping up and down with joy. Life can give us some pretty tough experiences and enduring them can definitely be a challenge, possibly even an insurmountable ocean spread out in front of us. We have to alter our mindset to not only tread the water, but more importantly to cross that great divide.
     When I face adversity, when a problem presents itself and a solution seems like a distant sliver of light that is when I truly shine. In everything I do I want to be the one that overcomes the mountain in front of me, even if it is only to see a range of mountains that stand in my path. The wider the extent of the suffering the broader my opportunity is to overcome it and grow through it. Instead of looking at a problem and whining about having to deal with it, why don't we all look at the situation in front of us and let our imaginations run wild with all the potential for growth that can be gained through the experience. No pain, no gain. Simply put that rule aptly applies here in our walk with God just as much as it does in weightlifting. There's a particular quote from Winston Churchill that fits our topic appropriately, "The pessimist sees the obstacles in every opportunity, while the optimist sees the opportunity in every obstacle we encounter." For us to grow spiritually, for us to learn to depend on and count on our God to see us through the storms of life and bring us out stronger on the other side, we have to embrace the fact that for our relationship to deepen with God, we must grow to a place where our infirmities, our afflictions, and the other obstacles that stand in front of us are all necessary for us to grow into the man or woman God wants us to be. The apostle Paul wrote in II Corinthians 12: 9-10 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 
If you want to become the next Incredible Hulk or if you want to become the man or woman God created you to be, then embrace life's challenges. Look for how you can grow through the process. Seek the support of our Lord and Savior, and then after your pain and suffering is eased, rest and repair your body, soul, and mind! Let your pain become the source of your gain!
Coach Carter

The Anatomy of Service

     
To serve someone takes movement on my part. If I proclaim to be living a life of faith in Christ then I should be living a life of a servant to those I encounter each day. Service isn't done out of obligation, but more so out of a desire to share the love of God. The same kind of love that prompted God to send His son Jesus to be our exemplar of what love displayed through service embodies. Today's FTM looks at the act of service from the lens of our anatomy. During one of my morning prayer times this week, the idea of us being the eyes, the ears, the hands and feet of God here on earth overtook my prayers. Thank you Father for sharing your wisdom and grace with each of us so freely.
     Lord, today may my eyes and my ears, my heart and my soul be in tune to your guidance. May I not turn a deaf ear to the cries of abuse and injustice; may I not be blind to the despair and defeat of those who struggle each day. Father God, may I not be mute to share your message of love and forgiveness which you share with me each day. Dear God, allow my hands to be hands of mercy and may my feet be swift to move to aid those in need. Lord, may my heart feel empathy for those that hurt and may my mind be focused on how to build others up and to support them without enabling them. Precious Father, may I gain your wisdom so that I learn to search below the surface to actually understand the meaning and purpose of life's adversities and afflictions. Give me Your resolve, Your persistent perseverance, and Father arm me with the same mercy and grace that You have shown me in my own life. Father I am Yours and it is my prayer that I serve you with all I am each day that you place air in my lungs! May today be the day that I fulfill Your call on this life that You have given me to live! In Your blessed name, I pray. Amen.
     This week, no today begin looking for ways to start moving to action. The writer of the Book of James warns us about inactive faith in James 2:14-17 with this proclamation, "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
 Knock, Seek, and Open are all actions that Jesus directed us to do in His teachings. I challenge you to not only knock on the door, but open your mind to find ways you can place others needs in front of your own desires. Use the eyes of your heart to seek out ways that you can show compassion and care for those you interact with each day. And lastly, open your eyes, open your ears, allow your heart and soul to see beyond yourself today. Most certainly, your life is not about you!
Coach Carter