Eat Your Veggies!

 

Why is it that so many young children snub their noses at the veggies on their dinner plate? Broccoli? yuck. Peas? No way. What about carrots? No thanks! There are exceptions of course, but throughout my years as an elementary school principal the vegetable compartment on our lunch trays many times sat full as students carried their trays up for dismissal. Is it the texture? Could it be the color? Or what about the name itself, spinach just doesn't have the same appeal as ice cream does it? Could it be that the difference maker is that we are told to eat our veggies because they are good for us and we need those vitamins and nutrients packed inside a broccoli floret, and then in the same conversation we are told to avoid those sweet, salty, snack food items because they will rot our teeth and add tons of bad calories? Blame it on our taste buds, perception of the visual image in relationship to the taste, or whatever you want, but at the end of the day, we tend to slide towards those things that are not good for us. And food is not the only area where we are drawn to choose the bad over what we know is the right choice to make. Why do we as a human race gravitate towards what is bad for us so quickly?

 

As small children we are taught right from wrong, we are rewarded for making good choices and we receive some sort of consequence when we make the not so good choice. As we grow and mature into adolescence and eventually adulthood, we make thousands of decisions based on right and wrong each day. Our morals and ethics from our upbringing should be the driving force as opposed to choosing whatever makes us feel good at the moment. In our example of the food choices, we have been taught that a healthy diet is a key to a healthy heart and a fit body. Yet, fast-food restaurants wouldn't be super-sizing our meals if the demand wasn't there. At that moment when hunger pings are knocking at your frontal lobe’s door, we want an immediate fix and a whopper sized burger with a x-large order of hot, salty fries meets the need about as fast as the swipe of your debit card. As mentioned, this making the right choice dilemma is in no way limited to our diet. 

 

The Apostle Paul, a man after God's own heart dealt with this choice of right over wrong too, because he was after all, human. In Romans 7:15-20 Paul describes the battle he faces in making the right choice. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." I can almost picture Paul sitting there with an enormous slice of chocolate cake encumbered with thick fudge icing to his left and a leafy green salad sprinkled with a lite balsamic vinaigrette dressing to his right as he contemplates which plate he will grab and devour. Transfer this to decisions made in your work space, relational decisions, or just plain old everyday decisions that are made throughout your day. Do you ever have to stop and give thought to the choice you are about to make? Regardless of the choice we make, the decision- making factor is where Paul admitted his struggle. 

 

So how do we bridge the gap between making the sound, right choice over the "this is what I want" choice? Well for Paul he worked it out this way, "So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Paul acknowledged that he alone can't win the battle in his mind, but by relying on Jesus there is victory over the world available to all. 

 

 When we were children we really didn't know better when it came to choosing healthy foods over the junk food of the world. As we grew and became educated we also gained an understanding of the impact our diet has on our health. But we had to learn this lesson and then apply the learning to our decision-making process. That relationship still exists today in our walk with God. We know right from wrong because we spend time in God's Holy Bible, we place ourselves in settings where we can hear God's word taught and preached, and then we develop a deep relationship with God so we aren't just filling our minds with the sweet and salty allure of the world. It is true, you are what you eat, eat your veggies!

Coach Carter

 

 

Planting a Tomato Garden

 

I'm going to start off our time today with an obvious statement, the purpose of planting a tomato garden is to produce life giving fruit for the sustenance of those that benefit from it. I told you, pretty basic stuff, right? Well, what if I told you that a tomato garden isn't necessarily for the person planting it, but more for those that the planter can share with over self. I've been around farming and gardening throughout my childhood and to a certain extent on into adulthood, and after all these years, it has become clear to me that those who plant a garden aren't necessarily thinking about themselves, but more importantly the people that they can share their garden with, thus providing them with life giving fruit so they in turn can return the selfless generosity to someone else down the line. Tomato gardens are all about growing tomatoes, what grows out of your life's garden is up to you.

 

If you haven't ever been involved in growing a tomato garden, let me assure you that the investment equals a great deal of labor, sweat, and time. Tomatoes grow on the vine, but the work that goes into assuring those plump, juicy red treasures starts way back in the early spring. Over the course of the next several months attention must be given to weeding, watering, staking out, and delicately suckering off sprouts from the plant that serve only to lessen the flow of nutrients to the main vine and ripening fruit. At any given time, the tender plants become suspect to an invasion of pests that want to feed off the hard work of the gardener. Applying some type of pesticide assures the plant is not harmed, and also protects the fruit before it ripens. But the story doesn't end there. When the tomatoes ripen on the vine there still has to be a harvest before anyone gets to enjoy the fruit off the vine. Picking tomatoes happens in some of the hottest weather and as you can guess there is no hiding from the sun since we want our garden to grow and sunshine is definitely not something that we want to hinder. 

 

After all the work is done, and the harvest is complete, you would think it is time for the gardener to sit back and enjoy the true fruits of their labor, but that is not necessarily the case. The grower knows that the fruit will quickly over ripen and rot if it isn't used soon after it is harvested. So, what does the farmer do? The very thing that we should do, share. To take something that involved so much labor and effort and give it away, would seem off track for some, but for the gardener that is almost as rewarding as sitting down to lunch with a homegrown tomato and bologna sandwich slathered with mayo! 

 

The point of today's lesson relates to the analogy Jesus shared in Matthew 9:37-38 where He said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” You may never plant a tomato patch or any other type of garden for that matter, but the seeds you are planting in the life you are living is a garden in itself. You map out a plan for your garden in your mind each day, and then you go about planting the seeds and nurturing the transition of a seed to a plant, eventually providing a fruit bearing, life giving product of your labor. Are the seeds you are planting going to produce fruit that inspires a life of giving and serving? What we plant and grow is a choice, and unfortunately some of us choose to sow to the flesh in whatever way that looks in your own life. Sowing seeds of greed, anger, resentment, or fear also can be nurtured intentionally or unintentionally, so it behooves us to spend the same time weeding, watering, and nurturing our gardens daily to assure we are developing the fruit that God wants us to harvest. 

 

You choose what grows in your garden, choose life giving fruit that will prosper and support those you live with, work with, and share life with each day. God's garden is bountiful and we are called to tend His garden here on earth!

Coach Carter

Finding Courage in the Unknown

 

The cross-country journey of Lewis and Clark is beautifully mapped out in Stephen Ambrose's historical biography "Undaunted Courage". Their charge was to find a northwest passage waterway that would connect the intercontinental United States with the Pacific Ocean. That, of course, we all know today does not exist, yet the overall success of their expedition is recorded as one of tremendous courage and amazing fortitude. Beyond the surging rivers, deep canyons, desolate plains, and the massive Rocky Mountains, Meriwether Lewis and the expedition crew also encountered unwelcoming Native American nations, harsh weather conditions, and in several instances near starvation. To say they "went out on a limb" in taking on such a challenging exploration would be nothing short of a gross misinterpretation of their journey. There was certainly an element of fear that crept into the minds of Lewis and Clark as they were preparing for their journey, but nevertheless they journeyed on. 

 

As I began my own new journey as a Director of Schools, I was visiting one of our elementary schools and outside the front entrance, students had posted encouraging quotes on the canopy poles. One of those quotes aptly fits our conversation today. The quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson goes like this, "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." What Emerson is suggesting is exactly what the Lewis and Clark expedition did. If Meriwether Lewis had not challenged the accepted norm, then his trek to the Pacific Coast would have never occurred. Did the Corps of Discovery expedition find an all water route to the Pacific, no, but their accomplishments in mapping the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase, the identification of hundreds of unknown animal and plant species, plus the initial interactions with Native American peoples across the continent are all well documented as successes in American exploration. If fear had won the challenge would the accomplishments of Lewis and Clark have been duplicated by someone else eventually? Possibly, but could it have been an exploration made by another country that eventually laid claim to the land areas they encountered? Absolutely. The Lewis and Clark expedition didn't follow the constraints of the path that was already in place, instead they created the trail Emerson challenged us to find for others to journey along in their lives. 

 

Another quote I encountered recently warns us that "Safety is the biggest hindrance to human endeavor." It is "safe" to say that if Meriwether Lewis and company had not been willing to get out of the "safety zone" of the familiar then they would not have taken the risks of their northwest exploration. They would have stayed where things were laid out by city streets, mapped out passages, and familiar territories. Their courage in facing the unknown lifted them from the notion of "doing things the way we've always done them" to a historical accomplishment that propelled the United States across the North American continent.

 

What is there in your life that you are holding back from doing because it is out of your comfort zone? Is there a new career path that you have been contemplating, but where you are now provides security and a sense of stability? Are you stuck in place in some other life decision you need to make, yet the path is uncharted and you are afraid of rejection or failure? You have a purpose in life, God didn't create us to be set in a course with no ebbs and flows, wins and losses, or ups and downs. Instead, you were created to forge new trails that will lead others to God through your efforts. You were meant to do hard things, maybe not like trekking across an unknown land mass, yet what God has planned for you may have even more challenges associated with it than what Lewis and Clark endured. Our promise is that God is with us through it all and that is enough. King David provided this encouragement to his son Solomon as he charged him to finish the work of building the temple to God, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished."

 

Whatever decisions you are facing, my challenge to you is to move forward. Progress is not made moving backwards! Pray for guidance, strength, and courage, but then move forward and map out your own path that will lead others to where they need to be. You are not alone, God is with you and He will never abandon you as you journey through the life He has given you to live! 

Coach Carter

 

 

A Hole in My Sole

I remember a pair of shiny black dress shoes I had that fit the title of my favorite pair of shoes. Stylish, but not trendy, versatile in function, and way too comfortable to be a pair of "dress" shoes. I literally wore that pair of shoes out. I was able to keep the uppers looking good by applying the leather conditioner liberally, and I regularly polished and buffed them to keep the shine appeal. That was on the surface, it was much easier to perform the necessary upkeep on the visible portion of the shoe, the issue that mounted over time was what I mentioned above, I wore the sole of those shoes out. To the point that a hole gradually developed from the years and miles of pacing, climbing, shuffling, and journeying in and out of work weeks, social gatherings, and church. I literally had a hole in my sole which really complicated my working relationship with this pair of shoes that had served me so well. On the surface the shoes were without blemish, yet underneath the surface where the real work takes place, I had a pair of shoes that were exposing my foot to pebbles, dirt, and most noticeably wetness. I tried to continue wearing the pair of shoes, because they were like a best friend to me in my overall wardrobe, yet it became quickly apparent that the "hole in my sole" was not going to get better, and the elements of nature that shoes are designed to protect us from were only going to become more and more of a problem. Thus, I concluded that it was time for a new pair of shoes, and coinciding with that purchase was the retirement of what once had been my go to pair of shoes. 

 

In life we can experience those same "holes in our souls". On the surface life looks good, we keep things polished and cover the blemishes with material conditioners that provide the appearance that everything is okay and life is good. Our exterior appearance is more manageable just like my old pair of shoes. Unfortunately, real life is not just surface level. The surface level can and is in many instances of life superficial and only provides the appearance of stability and contentment. Rarely do we see the holes in a person's soul in our normal everyday interactions. Obviously, most people don't want others to see that they have problems and for the vast majority of people our holes in life make us appear vulnerable and weak so we do all we can to hide that from our life circle. Just as the hole in my pair of shoes sole was visually hidden, we can stash away our soul's hole for a while, but eventually the world and its trials and tribulations leave us unable to function in our daily lives. 

 

A breakdown in a relationship, work related woes, financial burdens, physical ailments, addictions, or any other "hole" creating life experience causes friction in our souls which ultimately wear us down to the point of creating a breakdown in life. The final solution for my shoes was to purchase a new pair of shoes. Fortunately for each of us, we don't have to attempt to purchase a new soul in life. God created a pathway to fix the holes in our soul. In the Book of Romans Paul challenges us "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2. On our own fixing the hole in your soul is overwhelmingly challenging, but when we turn our adversities and afflictions over to God we can trust that He is able to take care of us and through faith we will experience God's healing touch.  

 

We can trust God to take care of us through the "holes in our souls" in life. Whether it is through healing, comfort, or strength to carry on, He is ever present in our lives whether we acknowledge Him or not. Our faith must be based on what God does in us and for the benefit of those we live with and do life with each day. Placing our trust in Him gives us the strength to move boldly forward. A blind man that Jesus healed was asked who he thought Jesus was. The man wasn't giving the officials the answer they were looking for so he gave them the best answer he could, "... One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25. I don't know what you are going through in life, your family, coworkers, and others that you do life with most likely don't see the holes in your soul either, but there is one thing I do know. God is the ultimate cobbler. He can mend your soul and heal your wounds. Call on Him, trust in Him, and He will be there for you and with you. 

 

Coach Carter

Running on Fumes

 

I distinctly remember a time when as a teenager, I was riding around with a friend of mine who had a Volkswagen Beetle and we apparently were literally driving on fumes. I noticed my friend was swaying back and forth between lanes on our side of the road and I inquired about what he was doing, to which he replied that we were about to run out of gas and he was trying to slosh the gas in the tank back and forth to assure every last drop made it to the fuel line. We did make it to the next gas station, but that instance of fear that we might end up running out of petro has always stuck in my mind. As a matter of fact, I had a similar situation this weekend which is the reason today's Flat Tire Thought is titled, "Running on Fumes". 

 

I normally don't allow my tank to get dangerously low, yet Friday evening was a busy one and when I finally rolled in to the drive at our house, the low fuel light was glaring at me and the mileage range total was sitting at 14 miles. I made a mental note that I would have to get fuel first thing Saturday morning as I started my day. The next day, with a full schedule in front of me, I backed down our drive and on with my journey I went. I had parked the car on a sloped portion of our driveway which must have altered my mileage range total, because as I looked down at the dash what I saw glaring back at me was a big "0" for how many miles I had to go before I would run out of gas. The closet gas station to our house is probably four to five miles away which would have been fine for the "14" miles shown while I was sitting more vertically in our drive, but now "0" miles did not leave room to wonder if I was going to make it or if I would be walking to the station gas can in tow. Immediate flashback to my childhood VW incident, yet to myself I was thinking how would attempting to slosh the gas to the gas line actually work if there was no fuel in the tank? So, what did I proceed to do? Out of fear I began driving faster so I could make it to the pumps before my Rav4 clugged and shut down due to no fuel. In my mind I was thinking surely Toyota designed the range finder feature with people like me who find themselves in a similar situation. Surely, that "0" has a safety net included that gives me just a little more in the tank than the glaring "0" showed. My attention momentarily shifted to the speedometer which showed I was vastly exceeding the speed limit, which would ultimately have a negative impact on my non-existent fuel mileage anyway. Yet, in my mind the only thing I could think about was I had to hurry and get to the station before I run out of gas. The ending to this story is for all practical purposes anti-climactic, but there was a harrowing cliff hanger moment when I wound up sitting on an incline at a red light which was literally all of 500 yards away from the gas station. I kept waiting for the mileage range signal to roll over to "-1", but the light changed colors and miraculously I pulled in to the pumps and filled the tank to the top. 

 

The big question today is why did I start driving faster when I realized I was about out of fuel? Simple answer, fear. In my moment of fear, my mind was frantic and worried because I had to get to my destination without delay. I allowed the fear of running out of gas to rule my decision-making process, which relying on my own intuition most certainly made the possibility of actually running out of gas more of a realistic possibility. It only stands to reason, which I later verified, that the faster you drive the more fuel your car will consume. That means in a car that shows no gas in the tank, if you pick up your speed you will utilize more fuel from your tank.

 

How do you respond when your anxiety levels hit turbo? Do you hit the cruise control or do you respond by kicking your mind and body into high gear reaction mode? God's word guides us to experience Him when we face adversity or fear. "Peace be still and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10 is what God says to each of us in our anxious trials and tribulations of life. Instead of charging forward when we face adversity, God says slow down and come to Him. God is our roadside assistance when we face highway hazards and empty tank experiences. Trusting in God means we don't have to speed up to take care of the situation on our own, instead we slow down, listen for God through prayer and meditation, believing that God will direct our steps as His plan for our lives unfolds. 

 

Hopefully, you won't ever be faced with a zero miles left alert in your automobile, although it is almost certain you have just moved on from, entering into, or facing a potential sort of life altering situation. Instead of speeding into a "I've got to fix this" or "I'm doomed" mindset remember that God is there, He will give you peace and He will guide your plans. 

Coach Carter