Holding on For Tomorrow

 

Do you ever get caught up in worrying about something that is coming up, pending, or possibly something that might or might not even occur? Are you guilty of spending your time thinking about the "what ifs" and losing valuable time to work with the what is? When we wake up in the morning that is the only day that we truly have been given and we should most definitely live that day to its fullest, but we do plan for tomorrow, the day that is not promised. In that uncertainty we do have one guarantee, we may not know what tomorrow holds, but we do know who holds tomorrow. 

 

That guarantee is a promise that we rely on if we walk with God. To know God, to really trust God, a relationship goes far beyond just saying we have been saved. Definitely the most important decision we can make is to accept God as our Heavenly Father, but after we have made that decision what happens in our life to develop a true relationship with God is where our assurances are nurtured. We say we believe, we say we trust, we say we have faith, but when trials and tribulations come our way, do we walk our walk of faith? Trusting in God’s plan doesn’t mean that we believe everything will always be rosy and bright and all of our situations and conditions will be worked out just the way we want them to be resolved. That isn’t trusting in God, that is more trusting in ourselves that we know what is better than God Himself. That is not the reassurance of trusting God. Instead, when we trust in God we reach the destination of understanding that God has a plan for each of us and in some instances, we are not the primary recipient of what God’s plan involves. Your life is not always going to be about you!

 

In the book of Proverbs 27:1 Solomon shares this wise reminder, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." and Jesus told His disciples "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself..." Matthew 6:34. Two pieces of advice that we should all remember as we set our schedules for tomorrow, next week, or even next year. We can and should be planning, but most definitely we need to be living today to its fullest, and then planning for tomorrow, because we trust God's plan for our life. In the book of James, the author gives this directive, "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that." It is wise for us to plan for tomorrow, but as we are preparing for the tomorrow that is not promised, we definitely need to be living in the today that we have been given. 

 

We have no guarantees of a tomorrow, and we cannot even come close to predicting what tomorrow holds for each of us if we do reach tomorrow.  Yet we, through faith, plan for tomorrow as we live out today. There is a comforting reassurance that goes beyond description when we know that regardless of what tomorrow holds, whether it involves us or not, the One that holds each sunrise and each sunset in the palm of His hand has a plan. We place our faith in the understanding that God's plans for tomorrow will be done. My prayer is that God's favor will shine down on you and allow you to serve Him one more day, today!

Coach Carter

There's a Reason for the Season

 

In the middle of June and during a relentless heat wave it may sound a little out of place to be chiming "Remember the Reason for the Season!" reminders, but for today's Flat Tire thought, I'm reframing that thought to "There's a Reason for the Season". In December folks are hurrying around buying, buying, and buying so it is easy to misplace our focus on the gift rather than the Giver, hence remember the reason, but for the context of today's message, I'm going to focus on the fact that everything and everyone has a purpose, so as life happens there is either a seen or unforeseen purpose connected to everything that goes on in your life and the lives of those you share each day with along the way. 

 Do I believe in coincidences? No. I believe you and I were placed on this rock at a specific time to experience specific events, to ultimately impact your life, those you share life with, or possibly the lives of people you may never even meet. During times when life is tough, it may be hard to accept that there is a purpose for the pain or suffering that is being endured, yet through seeking guidance and a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6), we find solace in knowing that God has a plan and that plan is not normally anything we would have concocted for ourselves or those we love. “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 higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9. We aren't wired to see the "bigger picture", and that is where faith and trust have to come into the equation. 

 When one of, what I have termed, "The Six Deadly Ds" (Debt, Disease, Drugs, Divorce, Depression, and Death hit home, life is pretty much going to be turned upside down in some way or another. What was a normal life yesterday can get flipped in a snap of your fingers and all of a sudden you're yelling "HELP!" None of us want to experience hardships related to any of the "Ds", but what we must be resolved to is the idea that you have, you will, or you may be experiencing one or even more than one of the six "Ds" in your life right now. (By the way, the six Ds is not an all-inclusive list, but if you trace back most issues in life, they can be connected back to something related to the list above.) The goal isn't to necessarily understand, but instead to find solace in trusting God to see you through whatever it is you or someone you know is experiencing. 

 I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I do know who holds tomorrow. If we can find the peace that God provides when we trust in Him, life's bumps and canyons all of a sudden become endurable. We accept that how we respond, what we do in reaction to, or how we move forward based on our circumstances may be the difference in someone else's life not our own. When I hit a struggle do I want my children to see me give in, or do I want them to see me "dig in"? When I fall down do I want those that look at me as a leader to see me make excuses and blame others, or do I want them to see me be accountable, accept my role, and then find the courage and strength to get back up again and again, and again if need be? When calamity strikes should I shake my fists and point my finger at God for failing me, or is peace and serenity found in realizing that my life is not about me and just as Paul struggled with a thorn in his side and accepted it as part of God's plan to grow Paul into the man God wanted him to be. (II Corinthians 12:7-12) I especially appreciate Paul's exclamation "... for when I am weak, then I am made strong." 

 Today, whatever you are facing, whatever challenges are standing there in front of you when you wake up each morning, find strength and courage in the fact that whatever it is you are facing God is there looking it eye to eye with you. You are not alone, and you will not go forward in it or through it alone. All you need to do is ask God to go with you. He will give you the strength to endure and even overcome. God has a plan and you are part of it. His plan's will be fulfilled, if not by us, then through us, make your pact with God and allow life to happen as it may, but with the understanding and peace that what happens to us is nowhere near as important as what happens in us and through us. There truly is a reason for the season, go find it for you and those you have an opportunity to impact with the life you live!

 

Coach Carter

Noise-Less

 

Last weekend as I was preparing to mow the lawn, I decided to listen to a sermon while I mowed. (Important to note that all I own in the way of earbuds are the ones that come in the box with a new iPhone.) To say that the factory ear pieces are of poor quality would be unfair. Under normal everyday conditions, they are more than adequate to listen to music, messages, and more. Not as much while I was push mowing the yard. 

 

As I was filling the mower tank with fuel, I also selected a sermon from an app on my phone and began a message from Chip Ingram, a favorite preacher/teacher of mine. The sound was clear and I actually turned the volume down a bit, but that was before I cranked up the mower. I readjusted the volume and while I was allowing the mower to warm up Pastor Ingram's voice was still audible and clear under the noisy conditions. When I started making my rounds the mower noise increased exponentially. It seemed the more I mowed the less I could hear. I turned the volume up to its maximum level and that helped, yet the best I could hope for was a word or two here and an inflection of Chip's voice there. I continued listening to the message even though I really didn't hear what was being said in his message. During this calamity of an effort to utilize time for my spiritual benefit, I did have an "Aha!" moment of sorts. My experience or lack thereof experience in listening to a sermon while mowing is relative to how I "listen" to those that I interact with each day. Many times, we hear the voice of the person that is talking to us, but the question many times is, do we really listen to what they are saying to us?

 

The noise from the lawnmower definitely qualifies as a distracter, I can attest to that just based on my recent experience. The roaring motor noise drowned out Chip Ingram's voice on my phone, and I dare say I only heard about 5-10 percent of what was being said. We turn down the radio when we want to better hear the person either standing in front of us or when we are on a call or virtual meeting we are invested. When the kids are playing hard and their shrill voices create a noise buffer, we express our inability to hear with something like, "Guys, I'm on the phone, please quieten down or move to a different area." Depending on the situation, we make the effort to reduce the noise, and that decision is made based on our perceived importance of hearing the message. So, is it safe to say that based on the value of the conversation, the more effort we will place on eliminating the distractions that are interfering with us being able to hear what is being said? 

 

I would go as far as to say that at times we can hear the message, but we make the conscious decision to not listen to what is being said. I often remark that communication truly only happens when both the message is conveyed and then received. In the Old Testament, Elijah had a first-hand experience with this idea. I Kings 19:11-13 tells how Elijah endured a series of elemental interferences, but then the voice of God was actually found in a "small, still voice". Aren't our own experiences too often very similar to Elijah's? 

 

The messages that we should be receiving aren't necessarily the ones being delivered on a device like our phones, more often the messages are hidden deeper into the normal everyday conversations that we are having with family, friends, and others that we interact with along each day's journey. The problem is that too often we are so caught up in all the surrounding noise and distractions that we can't hear what someone is trying to tell us even when we are sitting face to face listening to every word that comes out of their mouth! When your child is talking to you, put the phone down and intently listen to what they are saying. So often the true meaning of what is being said is under the surface. Eliminate the noise. When a co-worker is talking to you about a situation in their life, it may very well be an attempt to get help that you may be able to suggest or offer, but our lives are so cluttered with outside lawnmower noise that we don't even hear what they are saying to us literally or figuratively. 

 

In the parable of the sower, Jesus spoke to the matter of noise that hinders our listening, "Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19. Anything that distracts us from hearing what others are wanting us to hear creates a barrier to us being able to provide support or assistance. In the parable, the visual is that whatever distracts us not only keeps us from hearing what people are trying to say to us, but we also do not hear from God because we allow all the things of this world to distract our attention away from Him. 

 

Our goal: be the "good soil". "Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:20. Listen to what is being said to you, provide support when you can, hear their concerns and their hurts, hear the joy and experience it with the person delivering the message, and most importantly hear from God and listen, you were designed to help others and others are calling out for your help. Listen, hear, and then respond! 

Coach Carter

 

Change Your World, Change the World

 I believe it is safe to say that our world has some pretty big problems. That may very well be the understatement of the year, possibly the decade! We could spend our time today bemoaning the strife, turmoil, corrupt, and the unimaginable cruelty that exists in our world, but at the end of this post what would be any different because of our grumbling? Honestly, the only thing that might be impacted could be our moral psyche. The more focus we place on the bad, the more overshadowed the good in our world becomes. 

 

Throughout history there are countless numbers of men and women, young and not so young that have changed the world for the better. Most likely their original goal in life wasn't to change the world, instead it was more focused on changing the world in which they lived each day. Your center of influence might be a good way to term that area of your life that you have the best opportunity to make a positive difference. Think about Dolly Parton for just a minute, when she was growing up in rural East Tennessee, I'm pretty sure she didn't have her sights set on how she would someday provide a million dollars to support the effort to create a vaccine for a global pandemic. I'm guessing she probably wasn’t contemplating any of the philanthropic endeavors she has orchestrated over her life when she was going to elementary school in Sevier County, Tennessee. If you could have been a fly on the wall of the Parton homestead, I imagine you would have heard young Dolly commenting on how she wanted to help her parents, siblings, and those who lived in and around her. Her scope of support would have been on the elderly neighbor who needed someone to stop by and check in on them. Her daily "work" would have been to learn as much as she could, help as many people as possible, and to choose to do right over wrong when decisions had to be made. We should all want to see the world change for the better. In my own mind I have a warehouse full of things that I'd love to see change in the world. Senseless wars being fought for no clear reason, especially one the that warrants death and destruction such as what we see around the world. Injustice for those with less power and influence, cures for diseases that have disrupted families and killed millions, and for me one of the biggest tragedies that I wish could be changed is the horrendous, pointless attacks on schools and our most precious treasure. The list goes on and on, different to a certain extent for each individual, but overall there is a central theme about how we each would make the world a better place if only we could... I'd like to propose an unconventional method for each of us to change the world, my suggestion is for us to stop trying to change the world and to start working on changing the world in which you live each day. 

 

Mahatma Gandhi is recognized as saying "Be the change that you want to see". That quote is central to the idea of changing the world in which you live. First, you are your world that you live in. Your body, mind, and spirit are a unique world in itself that each of us has the center of influence over the choices we make and the paths we choose to take. You won't change the world outside if you don't first change yourself. Set goals, read good books by positive authors, read the Good Book, turn off the TV, exercise... more, help others instead of helping yourself to whatever you want, and give back because you have been given so much. That's a good place to start, but the world in which you live each day encompasses more than just you. Make a difference with your children, your siblings, your spouse, significant others, parents, friends, and your neighbors. Who's your neighbor? Your neighbor is the driver that cut you off on the highway this morning. Your neighbor is the cashier at the local coffee shop that needs to hear a word of encouragement today. Your neighbor in the world you live in is the homeless woman pushing her cart down the street, in your world your neighbor is the co-worker who is struggling with addiction, or the student's family that is facing eviction and homelessness. Gandhi said "be the change", not be the change today or tomorrow, "be" the change means become someone new, change who you are and be the change in your world today. 

 

In Galatians 6:9 Paul encourages us to, "... not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." In other words, if we change our focus onto how we can help those around us including ourselves, then we should expect to see a difference in the world we live in. If we see a difference in our world then most likely the world of those we impact will be different. If they choose to go out and make a difference in the world in which they live then that impact should change the world around them, and on, and on we go. Ultimately, if we change the world in which we live, the world will be changed. Envision ripples in a pool of water. Modifying Gandhi's challenge, a bit I will conclude with my own declaration, "Be the change in the world in which you live, and that change will impact the world in which we all live!" 

 

Challenge: Today intentionally change something about your world that takes the focus off you and places it on someone else that needs your attention more than you do yourself! 

Coach Carter