Precious Stones

 

Precious stones, we know who made them, but who made them precious? Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, at the end of the day what makes those particular rocks so special? Is it the shine, the glisten that happens when the sun’s rays bounce off their hard surface? Or is it the limited quantity that make them so valuable and coveted? How can it be that a rock dug out of the ground could make men steal, kill, and destroy to possess a stone? The aforementioned stones make beautiful necklaces, and who could imagine a wedding taking place without a ½ carat diamond proclaiming the union to the wedding congregation on hand. I honestly don’t have an exact answer on how this all came to be, but I’m pretty sure it was all a human thing. We made precious stones precious, and mankind has made them valuable, but in the scope of what really matters, what value do “precious” stones really possess?

I suppose in the world of supply and demand the appropriate theory to explain the value of a stone would be the less of something that exists the more valuable that something is. My question is, valuable for what? I know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and somewhere along the way the beauty of a diamond caught the eye of a beholder and the rest is as they say history. Right? Well probably something like that. So, staying with that same line of thinking, the beholder had to have the beautiful, glistening rock so he went out to find his own. For the sake of our story, let’s say he couldn’t find his own. What is he to do? His mate would look stunning with that beautiful rock hanging around her neck and he wants to give it to her really bad, so what is he to do? Well one of two things, he either goes to the man who possesses the diamond and offers to trade him out of it, and if that doesn’t work then he makes a plan to obtain the rock any way he has to so that he possesses what he covets so bad. For the man who possesses the diamond, he is now proud that he owns something that someone else wants. He sees the opportunity to find out exactly how bad this potential buyer wants to own his rock, so he holds out, upping the ante just to see how valuable this little rock might be. To top this off, our owner of this little diamond happens to know where a whole cave full of these little diamonds can be found and he starts making plans to offer diamond necklaces to others, because he now sees the potential these little rocks possess. All of a sudden, a shiny little rock dug out of a rock cave wall has become an object of desire and desire makes it valuable. Otherwise it’s a rock.

I hope this brief look at my version of how a diamond or any other precious stone became precious made sense. Think about all the things that are “valuable” in our culture. Ferraris are really nice cars, but so are Hondas, right? What makes a Ferrari so much more valuable than a Honda? My guess is because there isn’t a Ferrari manufacturer speckled all across our continent or even all across Europe. There is tiny city in Italy, Maranello, where every Ferrari that roars down the road has been manufactured, and that is the only place that makes these “valuable” cars. Isn’t a Honda car valuable? Of course it is, if you were stranded in some remote desert part of the world and someone offered you a Honda Accord to get you out of there, I don’t think any of us would say, “No thanks, I believe I’ll just wait on a Ferrari”. Maybe it’s about time to do a little self-check on what we deem as valuable and how much time we put into obtaining what really is valuable for eternity.

Jesus made it very clear in his teaching, “No one can serve two masters: either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24. Notice Jesus didn’t name one over the other, he just says you’ll love one and pretty much despise the other. What we place value on gets our attention. Why are gold and silver so valuable? Honestly, it is the accessibility, or better the inaccessibility, to possessing it due to the finite amount available to possess. If we suddenly were transported to a planet that the surface was made of gold, all of a sudden what we have labeled a precious metal would be worth about as much as a shard of granite in my drive is worth today.

Do you have “treasures” that you value possibly a little too much? Jewels, gold, silver, cars, trucks, baseball cards, comic books, or any of the hundreds of other collectibles that we covet just a bit too much. You know you can’t take those with you at the end of the day, right? You can pass those down, but at some point, they can’t take them with them either. “Naked I came into this world from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there.” Job 1:2.

 Recalibration time. What grabs our attention gets our attention, that goes without saying. If it is important to us, diamonds and rubies or gold and silver, then we spend our time and effort working to possess more of it because it is valuable to us. How valuable are your children to you? How much does your family glisten in your eye? Is your relationship with the God that created you and purposed your life important enough to you that you make it a priority to possess? I’m reminded about the young, rich man in Matthew 19 that asked how to obtain eternal life, and when Jesus told him to give all of his riches away he turned around and walked away. You can’t serve God and possessions. The question is, what is valuable to you? Precious rocks or the Precious Rock that we can stand upon in all of life’s ups and downs. At the end of this life what will you be leaving to your grandchildren? Will it be a pile of rocks that man has made valuable, or will it be a legacy of faith, trust, and persevering obedience to the One that gives the eternal gift of life to you and to me?

Coach Carter

Storage Units, What's in Yours?

Storage units. Ever rented one? Maybe you are currently renting one, who knows maybe you have two or three storage units, there is nothing wrong with it, been there done that. The question is more are you getting a good ROI (return on investment) with this storage unit. It is understood that the renter pays a monthly or yearly fee for storing items of personal or monetary value in an environmentally and physically safe space. The storage unit industry recorded 39.5 billion dollars in revenue in 2021, so on the owner side of this investment, I would say it definitely can be a lucrative ROI. I guess where there might be some concern is on the other side of this business arrangement. I feel pretty certain that if I posed the question to someone that has a rented space for storage about whether they really needed to be storing the items in their unit the answer would be of course, absolutely. I'm not so certain that after a year or let’s say after three years the total of rental fees for your storage space won’t supersede the value of what is in your storage safe space. I'll be the first to admit from my own experience that after a few years of paying for a pretty big storage unit, I was prompted by my brother-in-law to take an evaluation of what was being stored and how much it had cost me to store said items and see if it really made sense. The outcome was mindboggling. I immediately began the process of retrieving what was of real value and moving it to our house, selling what wasn't really of personal value in the first place, and finally tossing out anything else that was just taking up space. Wow, that was an eye-opening experience, if you currently rent a storage space, even if it is just a "temporary" rental I'd advise you to perform an evaluation of your own ROI and see if you truly are storing items that need to be stored, used, sold, or discarded. 

Today's FTM wasn't meant to be an infringement on the "Money Matters" weekly podcast, yet the stark comparison of how we utilize the storage unit industry to how we "store” our talents and time is worthy of an insightful comparison. Remember the parable in the Bible that Jesus shared about the talents/money? The successful businessman was leaving town for a while and entrusted a certain number of talents to each of three of his able minded servants to watch over his wealth. Or so he thought. Two of the three servants invested the talents which they had been entrusted with, while the third investor rented a storage unit and placed the one talent that he had been directed to watch over in safe keeping. Well if you are familiar with this parable things didn't work out too well for the last supposed investor. When he had to make an accounting of what he did with the talent he had been given, all he could do was return the one talent just like it was when he received it. No increase, and actually it might have been worth less depending on inflation, if there was such a thing back then! Point being, are we taking our God given "talents", our skills or spiritual gifts, and yes, our resources, and placing them in a storage unit waiting on the right time to use what we have been given? Trust me the time to use your talents is now!

Jesus talked about this in Matthew 6:19 where he warns about "storing" your treasures, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." What good is a talent if you don't use it? Oh yeah, I forgot, you're holding out until the right time, I can assure you that there is no better time to retrieve what you have stored, both literally and figuratively and start using it today. If you are being called to serve, side note you are, then serve. What are you waiting on a sign from above?? If that's it then today's Flat Tire Ministry thought is your call to action. Unlock that storage unit door, pull out the skills, talents or resources that you've hidden away and then lead, serve, just do what you were born and purposed to do! 

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,"
Colossians 3:23

Coach Carter 

Who Goes Next?

 I was driving in our downtown area a few weeks ago and happened upon a scene that reaffirmed that people know right from wrong and what we are or aren't supposed to do.  The issue we face in our society today is more about people making the right choice and actually doing what we know is the right thing to do. In our "old city" downtown there is one main four-way intersection that is managed by a traffic light. On down main street there are a couple of four-way stop sign intersections, yet this one intersection has enough traffic to merit a red light. Well on this particular day, as I neared the intersection of Main Street and Cumberland Avenue, I noticed that the traffic light was blinking red and traffic seemed to have come to a complete stop. I was headed to a meeting and knew this could create a delay if the problem wasn't soon remedied. Just as that thought was crossing my mind traffic began flowing in a very rhythmic fashion. Without anyone saying a word the commuters began following the rules of a four-way stop intersection with cars taking turns in a clockwise rotational fashion. A smile landscaped my face as I thought about how in the midst of adversity a group of complete strangers, all with their own individual agenda, worked in harmony with each other to assure traffic didn't come to a complete stop waiting on the problem to be fixed or the arrival of a law enforcement officer to direct traffic in the same fashion as the four way stop effort that was being employed. It was comforting to see that in the face of conflict a certain level of "right" thinking prevailed. 

Why did this simple gesture of right over might grab my attention? I guess it was the fact that in an adverse setting, one where individual agendas (my meeting and not wanting to be late) could have been the driving factor in the decision about who goes next, this communal group of transit neighbors made a decision to cooperate and follow a standard rule of driving in a setting where the rule was not specifically in place. No big deal you're saying to yourself. Well maybe, yet in this world we are living in now where the emphasis is all on "me" and my agenda, it was refreshing to see the cooperative whole surpassing the egocentric choice of what is best for self on full display. 

As a society, everyone knows right from wrong. My three-year-old granddaughter knows when she is about to make the wrong choice, it just boils down to what she ultimately chooses to do. In this situation, it would have been easy for someone to have been thinking, "I've got to get to my meeting, so I'm going next regardless of where I am in the rotation because I'm going to be late if I don't!" That's fair, isn't it? Possibly nobody else in queue had somewhere they had to be and thus would be completely fine with the one taking precedence over the whole. Right? 

I'm not exactly sure where the view of the individual surpassed the betterment of the whole, but on this particular day I was encouraged by this simple gesture of selflessness. I challenge you today to put the wants or needs of someone else in front of your own agenda. A simple act of kindness, buffered by good manners and good morals can go a long way. Think it doesn't matter? I beg to differ. A random, simple act of right thinking with selfless motives made a difference to me on my morning commute, the difference you can make in another person's life today is waiting to see who goes next? 

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."  James 4:17 NIV

Coach Carter

Pleasureful or Purposeful??

We are living in different times that is for sure. Now, that might be what would be considered an understatement. Just look at all the universal issues we are facing as a society today. I would dare say that there is no more than a small handful of men and women alive today that have endured a global pandemic. The influenza outbreak around 1920 may be the worst global incident in modern history. That being said, the times we are currently traversing are obviously uncharted waters. 

I personally have moved in and out, back and forth, and through over half a decade of history and I can honestly remark that I have never witnessed times such as this in regards to jobs and work in our society. Help Wanted signs have pretty much became permanent displays in almost every job sector. Incentives such as signing bonuses, days off with pay, hourly wages that far outdistance the minimum wage, and flexible scheduling to meet the employee's desires mark the competitive nature of finding an employee. 

Our educational systems have been rocked through this pandemic, forcing school systems to revisit teaching strategies, scheduling methods, attendance rules, and grading policies to meet the needs of our students, teachers, and all other educational support cast academically and also to ensure their safety. Food prices escalating, political division on the right and the left and in the middle, social media dependency, mental well-being, and on, and on, and on we could go. "For the times, they have been a-changin", to borrow a line from Mr. Dylan. 

Everyone knows times are changing, especially those of us that are inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon monoxide. I guess what is so alarming to me in all of the change that we are experiencing is the slow methodical move towards a "me" driven society. We, and I do mean "we" as all inclusive, are at a crossroads of sorts. Are we going to be a country that covets a pleasureful lifestyle view where every decision is centered around me and how all choices are made based on what the impact on "me" personally is? I would suggest that in so many of the aforementioned "changin" times, "me" and how "I" am impacted are at the point of the arrow in origin. The question today, in my opinion, is how long do we believe a society that places self in front of service to others can endure? 

In a world that is now prone to asking "How will this impact me personally?" quicker and more frequently than "How can I make this world a better place for the next generation, for my children's children, and the world in which they will live?", it is time for each of us to stop and reflect on how we will proceed. Our personal time on this third rock from the sun is limited at best. James 4:14 NIV reminds us that, "....Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.", so the question begs to be asked what is really important, what should keep us up at night, what will our legacy piece to this world we live in be? 

I advocate that we move ourselves away from a self-driven "pleasureful" mindset to more of an others before self, "purposeful" mentality as the driving force in our daily output of effort and energy. I fully respect and honor those that have offered their service to our country in times of war and also in peace. Their personal sacrifice was and is a choice that is made based on the desire to serve others over self. Service over self to the point of giving their life for the lives of countless others that they would or will never meet. Leaving their families, possibly never to see them again, and yet they went and they still are going today. What if the "me" mentality ruled in the hearts and minds of those that have and are defending our country? I'm pretty sure we would not be the land of the free and the home of the brave, but instead the land that once was free and once displayed bravery through sacrifice for others over self. 

I am an optimist through and through, I believe we can be better through our adversity and afflictions. I firmly believe, because I see it in the actions and plans of the students I am blessed to work with each day. So many of the young men and women that fill our classrooms want to give rather than receive. They want to work and be a productive member of society. Do they have the blueprint and road map in front of them? My thoughts say the template exists, they just need leaders to demonstrate the skills and belief system that will support them in being successful in life. And that is where you and I enter the picture. 

Earlier we established that our life here on earth is pretty much comparable to fog, here for a time and then gone. Well, even though the fog dissipates, it leaves dew. The dew sticks to the ground and provides moisture to the leaves, grass, flowers, and even mother Earth. Your legacy needs to be much like the dew from the fog, dew sticks to surfaces long after the dew is gone. If we choose to live a purposeful life the example we provide to our children, our students, and even to those we live and work with each day will build the mental fortitude associated with placing the needs of others (purposeful), over the wants of self (pleasureful). May our driving force in life be centered around this advice from the Apostle Paul, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:3-8. I have said it before and I will continue to say it over and over again, your life isn't about you. It is abundantly more about what you can do to impact the lives of others in a positive manner that will ultimately have a positive impact in the world in which you live. You were designed on purpose with a purpose in mind, Rick Warren coined that phrase well, the crux of the matter that you must decide for yourself is clear. Will you spend your life fixated on me, me, me and mine, mine, mine? Or, will you commit to making your life have a bigger purpose where "me" is set aside and "we" takes the main stage of life? 

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Luke 22:42

Coach Carter 

Helium Balloons

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that pretty much everyone has had a helium balloon on a string and either intentionally or inadvertently let it go. Once that string is out of arm's grasp it is gone! Up, up, up it goes higher and further away until it ultimately disappears out of sight. Unlike a drone that has a controller to direct where the drone goes, a helium balloon goes off to its own ultimate destination. Although we cannot control the destination of the helium balloon after we let the string go, the balloon goes nowhere unless someone first fills the balloon with helium. So, the point of this little object lesson isn't about how to negatively impact our environment and ecosystems by cutting loose helium balloons, but it is all about understanding our role in training, raising, and preparing those we are tasked to teach.

We all teach, remember that, you are a teacher. You may teach life skills to your child, you may coach a sport and teach your athletes how to play the game, or you may teach coworkers or colleagues how to maneuver your area of expertise at work. Just as with our example of the helium balloon, you have the opportunity to share your knowledge and thus fill the brain, mind, or soul of those you are teaching, but you can't determine where that student is going to go after you carry out your side of the equation. That isn't your job. Your job is to share, teach, and provide opportunities. The "learner" has to make the decisions and choices which we would refer to as the outcomes of that learning. 

Don't get hung up on outcomes, those are Gods to guide and direct. You have a specific role and after that role is fulfilled it is up to the individual to determine what they will do with the learning you provided. If we do our job the way God created us to do it, then we have fulfilled our role. If we sit back and evaluate our impact by the outcomes that we visually see then we might get discouraged. Fulfill your role, teach, coach, and lead, but don't sit back and think you are also the judge. That job has already been taken.

As a parent, grandparent, coach, teacher, and advisor I have had thousands of opportunities to support the development of young people, both my own and a plethora of other students and athletes. I have been fortunate to witness so many positive outcomes from the learns and earns, and along the way there have been myriad flops that I would prefer to change if it had been humanly possible. My job isn't to worry about the outcomes because I can't visualize God's plan for someone's life, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways." Isaiah 55:8-10. My job is to keep on doing what God has called me to do!

So, when you get discouraged by the outcomes you see as a result of your teaching/coaching, don't dwell on it too long. God has a purpose and His will, will be done. Just keep on coaching and keep on praying!

Coach Carter