"What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger"

     Now I am definitely not a philosopher, but I am apt to grab on to a good philosophical adage when I hear one. Friedrich Nietzsche is quoted as having said "What doesn't kill a person only makes that person stronger." I'd like to admit to you that I was reading one of Nietzsche's books, but that wouldn't hardly be true. In actuality a song by the band Need to Breathe and Lauren Diagle, "Hard Love", that I listen to just about every morning hinges on that very line of encouragement.

“Hold on tight a little longer
What don’t kill ya, makes ya stronger
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love
You can’t change without a fallout
It’s gon’ hurt, but don’t you slow down
Get back up, ’cause it’s a hard love”- 

  The whole premise of Nietzsche's proclamation and the lyrics of this song is that the adversities and even the afflictions of life that we persevere through will eventually make us a stronger person, a better prepared person, equipped with the grit and resiliency to enter future storms of life with an "overcomer" mindset. 

     I'll admit that is an easier one to say than it is to do. It's a "tough row to hoe" by yourself, and knowing someone is there to catch you when you fall or empower us when we are weak is not only comforting, but also essential. No man is an island.

      When I share with someone that I have learned to embrace adversity as a critical component of growth, many times the person I am talking to looks at me like I have three heads and says, "How is that possible? How can you be so positive in the middle of some type of hardship or difficulty?" Well I have learned the secret that Paul shared with the church in Corinth, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." II Corinthians 12:9-10. In another instance Paul proclaims to the church in Philippi, "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." 
Philippians 4:11-13. It isn't easy, and I don't want to make it sound like all you have to do is think with a positive attitude and it will all be okay, but I am saying it is possible, and yes you can overcome and persevere!
     You may ask, "When will I ever get relief from this traumatic chapter of my life?" The answer to that question is that unfortunately/fortunately you may or you may not ever get the physical relief you would like to receive, but when you accept the conditions you are in, whether they be physical, financial, or emotional as a tool that God has given you to use to benefit His purpose for your life, your perspective will change. Where once you felt persecuted, know you will feel empowered to share, to help someone else that isn't as strong as you. A child, an elderly person, a student, a friend, that is struggling, or even a loved one that has fallen into the same trap that once held you captive may be the very reason you endured and overcame that adversity in your own life. 
     The valleys you traveled through to reach the mountain you are standing on right now are the very lessons you have learned from and know they have equipped you so that you can help someone else survive their own valley. The adversity and afflictions of life mold our trust and faith to create in us an encouraging truth that God has a plan and whatever our role in that plan is we must trust that it is for a greater purpose than just for our own personal existence.
     I may fall, I may suffer, I may deal with adversity remaining days of my life, but I am confident that God is a great big God, and His plans are beyond my scope of understanding, so I place my trust and faith in Him. That has made all the difference in my life and it can do the same for you! Persevere!! 
Coach Carter

The Leaf in My Hood

     We live in a deeply wooded area and with that being said it would be an understatement to add we have plenty of leaves to contend with around this time of year. Right now it isn't too bad, but over the next month or so rakes, leaf blowers, and piles upon piles of leaves will be common sites in our neighborhood. What I'd like to share with you today isn't about all of the leaves that will carpet the ground where we live, but instead it's all about one single leaf that created a relentless pain for me.
     One recent Saturday morning I had made my way out to my truck, pulled out and was headed out of our neighborhood. That's when I noticed a leaf that had found itself lodged in a vent slot near the windshield of my truck. As I accelerated down the road I expected the leaf would blow off so I did just that. I pushed the pedal a little harder than normal anticipating that the leaf would soon fly over the cab, but it didn't. No big deal right? Well maybe not for you, but with my Attention Deficient Disorder tendencies I couldn't hardly pay attention to the road because I was so intent on seeing this stowaway leaf fly away. My next thought was to turn the windshield wipers on to see if their arms could possibly reach the leaf and move it just slightly enough for the air to grab it up and send it flying. No luck. This leaf wasn't going anywhere, looking at this leaf's stem it didn't even appear to be that deeply lodged in the vent slot. I decided it was time to add some aerodynamics and tactical elements to the attack on my nemesis. By this time the leaf was now vibrating against my windshield and the rapid tapping of this dried up leaf against the glass was about to drive me crazy, so I started slightly swerving to the right and left to dislodge this nuisance off of my vehicle. Still no luck! I had exhausted my full arsenal and to no avail! What was I to do? Well the climax of this story is really rather anti-climatic. I pulled over to the side of the road, placed the truck in park, opened my door, exited the truck, and plucked the leaf out of the tiny vent slot on my truck's hood. Wow, that took all of what like about 30 seconds?? With this distraction now removed I was able to resume my journey and place my full attention on the road where it needed to be all along.
       I share this episode not necessarily as a lesson on how to effectively remove a leaf from your hood, but because in our lives we often have small issues or concerns that usurp our focus, when all we have to do is stop and take care of the little problem before it becomes a major problem. You know if I had not pulled over and removed that leaf the distraction it had created could have easily resulted in an accident for me. We let those little things in our lives that cause us to lose focus to do the same thing. Many times we know exactly what it is in our lives that is creating interference with our goals, yet we do everything we can to avoid taking care of the issue at hand.
      Watching television, video games, social media, or electronic devices as a whole are one type of distraction that keeps us from staying focused on where we really should be concentrating. But it doesn't have to be electronics, anything that keeps you from accomplishing your goals for the day, or serves as a distraction on your journey in life qualifies as a leaf stuck in your hood. We can swerve back and forth on the road, we can turn on our life's windshield wipers going back and forth about what we should actually be doing, but at the end of the day we have to make an intentional effort to remove whatever it is that is causing us to be distracted from what is really important. We all have a purpose in life and God wants us to have our focus set on His plan for our life. Hebrews 12:1-2  tells us, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." If you have something that you need to be doing get the distractions out of the way and make the move to get it done.
     This week I encourage you to stop and reflect on what it is that might be distracting you from being focused on your day's mission. Is there something out there that just needs to be removed so that you can place your full attention on what is really important? If so don't spin your wheels trying to think of ways to contend with the distraction, instead stop, make a plan to remove whatever it is, and then do what needs to be done. Sound easy? Well I can guarantee you the 30 seconds I invested to remove that leaf from my windshield were so much more effective than the 10 minutes I wasted doing everything else I did that only distracted me and hindered my morning drive!

If You Don't Use It, You May Just Lose It!

     In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) a businessman brings three of his servants in before he goes on a long journey, and gives each of the three a quantity of talents or gold equal to their skill level. I guess his goal was to allow the servants to see what they could do with their master's gold to turn a profit while he was away. As the story goes the one that was given five talents doubled his master's investment, and the servant which was given two talents did the same creating an 100% return on what he had been entrusted. Alas, the servant who was given only one talent took the talent and buried it so that he wouldn't lose what he had been given by his master. Upon return from his journey the master gathered the three servants to see how well his investment had played out. To the servants that doubled their master's investment he rewarded them by promoting them within his business and giving them more authority. To the servant that thought he was doing the master a favor by not taking a chance on losing what he had been given watch over, the master scolded him and told him how he had not taken advantage of what had been given to him, so even what he had was to be taken away from him and he was cast out of the master's business. What a lesson for us to apply to our lives each day. In our Flat Tire Ministry Thought for the Week, we'll be exploring the moral of this parable which I have titled, "If you don't use it, you may just lose it!"
     In the parable talents represented a form of monetary value, but every time I read this story I can't help but think about human talents. Athletic prowess, public speaking, mechanical or electrical expertise, encouraging others, coaching, and leadership are just a few that come to mind when I think of talents. Some of us have been gifted with multiple talents just as the servants in the story, while others may feel like they are limited in the "talent" pool or that they have no real talents at all. First let me tell you, everyone has a talent, you may have never tapped into it or you may not have realized that it is a talent, but let me assure you, you have a talent. The problem is many of us are reluctant to use what we have been given. Why?
     Two or three reasons come to mind. First, we don't want to take a chance on getting embarrassed or looking bad in front of others if we aren't successful in our endeavors. Fear of failure cripples our efforts to use the talents we have been entrusted to use. A second reason deals with lack of motivation. Any athlete that has excelled at their sport has had to work at it way beyond what is expected of them by a coach or team. The athlete that excels at her sport has invested an extensive amount of time practicing and studying their craft to get to where she is. Men and women athletes that reach the "gold" level of competition understand that just because they have been given a talent doesn't mean they will rise to the top level of their sport. They, just like the servants in the parable, have taken what they have been given and invested time and effort to make it the best it can possibly be. The third and last reason we don't utilize our talents has to do with apathy. I'm tired, let someone else do it, or I just don't have time in my schedule are all excuses that handicap our drive to use the talents we have been given. I am a coach, I have coached organized wrestling or volleyball for over thirty years. I am not going to say I am a great coach, but I do believe God gave me the talents necessary to be a good coach. But coaching takes a great deal of time and commitment. It means you put others in front of your wants in most situations. You have to prepare way beyond the time on the practice field and when game time comes you have to be willing to accept the outcome win or lose as ultimately yours to own. I firmly believe that each of us are coaches in our own walk of life. At work, at school, in your home, or on the team you coach, you have talents to share with others it's your responsibility to do just that.
     Whatever the reason is that you are holding back on squeezing the most out of the talents you have been blessed with, I want to encourage you today to re-position yourself in terms of your talents. You may be multi-talented or you may just have one talent that you haven't even chinked off the tip of the iceberg on, but the key is that you go out and use what God has given you to benefit others today! Your life isn't about you, if you are holding back because of fear or failure, or maybe you lack the  motivation to get busy, or just because you don't think it will really matter if you do or don't get involved, you can start making a difference today. You have been given the talents that you have so that you can make a difference so why would you sit around and bury that talent? It's sad, but it is so true, "if you don't use it, you may just lose it".
     Let me encourage you to reflect today on the talents that you have. Don't sit there and say I don't have any talents, that isn't realistic and it isn't true. Anything you do well is a talent. Cooking, arts, speaking, coaching, running, helping, sharing, teaching, caring, or leading you have a talent. Find ways to use that talent to help others. If you cook amazing chili share it with someone less fortunate than yourself. If you are an above average learner, take your knowledge and spread it to others. If you can lead, lead by example, lead with integrity, and make a difference in the world you live. Whatever you can do, do it with everything you've got, take full advantage of your talent and watch it flourish in the lives of those you come in contact each day! Go for it and have an amazing week!
Coach Carter

Where's Your Focus?

     Each morning when you rise from bed, you make a decision about what is going to be your focus for the day. You may do this intentionally, or as I presume the majority of people will get up and their focus is basically created for them just by the sheer magnitude of their thoughts. What we think on becomes our focus, and what we focus on, becomes what we put our efforts into, and what we place our effort into becomes who we are and it also becomes our mark on the world in which we live. Why do people wake up with a dread of the day? My guess and the "focus" of today's Flat Tire Ministries Thought is that they have their minds set on the wrong priorities and for them life has no joy nor fulfillment. This morning you may be the very person this blog is intended for and you don't even realize it. You may be so caught up in the race to buy happiness that you have lost sight on what really matters, but hopefully today's message will help all of us to stop, reflect, and recreate our focus on what truly matters.
     Let's get right to the crux of the matter. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus poses this question, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" I believe what Jesus was asking His disciples was where is your focus? What motivates you to get up and get out of bed each morning? What drives you to go to work and give it all you got on the job? At the end of the day what measuring stick do you use to validate the results of your efforts for the day? If everything we do is connected to the material world then we will always go away from the day with a lack of fulfillment. If what drives us to be successful is related to a banking account number or a title that we have been given then we will always be in want of more or another title to achieve. Enough will never be enough, and the sad part is those that are closest to you, the ones that you have the chance to make the biggest impact on will not garner the true benefit of what you have to offer them. Your lack of focus on the right stuff, creates a void in the lives of those you are intended to impact with your focus. So what do you gain if you get all the toys, but you lose the very thing that can't be bought in the process? I Timothy 6:7 says it best, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out." I think that pretty much sums it up if your focus is on the things in life that are temporary, but hold on there is hope!
     If your drive in life is directly connected to what you have instead of what you have to give, it is time to stop and redirect your focus on what really matters. I am in no way suggesting that we shouldn't be striving to provide for our families and those that count on us to do our jobs and bring home the means by which we live, yet I am saying that when that drive becomes our focus we may lose sight of what really matters and what will leave a lasting impact on those we come in contact with on a daily basis or that once in a lifetime opportunity to make a difference in someone's life. I guess what I  am really saying is we need to stop focusing on what we don't have and what we want to have, and start focusing on what we have and what we have to give to others. Here I'm not speaking to material gifts or financial donations, I'm talking about what you have to offer in the way of hope, inspiration, time, and love.
      A simple act of kindness goes a long way, a smile and a word of encouragement make a difference, and a helping hand that lifts someone up can change someone's life. We have so much, too much in most cases and we put all of our efforts into getting more. What if we put at least a small portion of that effort into giving someone else a strand of hope? What if we gave our children our time instead of a new electronic device? What if instead of trying to win the rat race, we stopped to help someone less fortunate than ourselves to finish the race? What if each morning when we got out of bed we took a moment to realize what a gift today is and how thankful we should be that we can even get out of bed, walk to the shower, go to the refrigerator for food or drink, and then make our way out to our car which will in turn take us to the job that provides us all that we need and more? And what if we extended that thought for just one more minute to think about how blessed we are to have just one more day to make a difference in this world. One more chance to make a difference in your coworker's life, a family member's outlook on their world, or maybe if you are as lucky as I am to be an educator you might stop and think about the chance you have today to change the world through the lens of a student's mind. Wow, the potential outcomes are endless, the only barrier to what you can achieve with a positive mindset focus is you.
     When you wake up in the morning instead of thinking about what you don't have or what you have to go do today, stop I mean literally stop and recreate what you will focus on today. When you want to complain about your job, family, life, or whatever it is that you are prone to complain about, stop and put things in perspective. Change your focus from a "me" centered life, to a life that has given you the opportunity to make a difference in a life, maybe a ton of lives, maybe the world! God doesn't make mistakes and He made you so remember that the next time you want to have a pity party about how bad your life is. Get up, get out, and go make a difference in your world you live in today! Once you place your focus on what really matters you will see the world you live in change for the better!
Coach Carter

Encouragement

     I have a page in my "Notes" app on my phone where I store ideas for future FTM Thoughts as they come to me so that I won't forget them down the road. Often the simplest instances provoke thoughts and ideas for inspirational encouragement. A ripple in a pool of water, a disobedient canine on a lead, an ant carrying a tremendous load, or even our flag waving in the sky have all served as thought provoking ideas for my posts. But for today's Flat Tire Ministries Thought I can't say that was the case. During my devotional time and subsequent prayers this morning, the thought of encouragement kept running across my mind, so in obedience I want to share with everyone or maybe with just one reader in particular my words of encouragement today. "Be strong, be relentless, and stay the course that has been set in front of you."
     Be strong, courage and faith don't come without making some sacrifices along the way. You will face opposition when you are doing the right thing, but you have to allow your faith to make you bold and courageous. Muscles become stronger when they are given a workout. The muscle is torn so that it can repair itself stronger and thus be capable of handling more stringent workouts in the future. Your faith is the same way. When you believe in what you are doing and you have sought guidance on what you are doing through prayer and meditation stay strong, don't give in to negative comments or opposition that is certain to confront you. Stay strong and remember as long as you don't give up, as long as you are moving forward, and as long as there is still air in your lungs you can accomplish what you want to do at this moment. Faith = Strength. God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3. Paul said it best, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31.
     It's easy to give in, it's easy to make excuses about why something isn't going to work and then just quit. I want to say this to you, don't give up stay the course, see it through, dig in, and grab a hold of something and hold on. The words of the theologian Thomas Fuller are appropriately fitting "it's always darkest just before the dawn". When I think of being relentless I always catch a glimpse of an old poster that hung in one of my teacher's classrooms. The hand drawn sketch was a picture of a bird holding a frog by it's hind leg preparing to drop the frog into it's mouth, the frog has reached out and grabbed the bird's long neck with it's free leg. The caption under the drawing read, "Don't ever give up!". Be relentless, when you think you can't you can, when others tell you it won't work, commit to your cause and show them it will and it can. There's a reason why the Little Train chugged along saying "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!" The more you believe it and the more you dedicate to it the more likely it is that you will see your efforts pay off. Isaiah 30:20 provides this promise, "And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher." Help is on it's way be relentless!
       Stay the course! Columbus faced a world of opposition to his supposition that the world was round and that if you reached the horizon you wouldn't just fall off the flat world. In the face of opposition or when the struggle seems like it is too much to move forward this world tells you to just give up it's not worth the fight. I am here to tell you to push forward. The easy thing to do is give up. Anyone can do that. The tough thing to do is to stay the course. Push forward, and commit when it looks like and sounds like you should give in. Whether it is a relationship, a fight against an addiction, something at work, or a student that you just can't reach don't give up. Don't go it alone, seek help, find resources, reach out to the One that gives us strength and stay the course. "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." Philippians 4:6-7. Paul's directive to the church in Philippi are words of encouragement  that each of us need to heed when our bodies or our minds want to give up. Stay the course, you may be at the brink of success and if you quit you'll never know it! Stay the course!
     That's all I have today. I live what I share and I believe what I share. Whether this message is for you today or not, you will or you have just been through something that you had to persevere to make it to the other side. My hope and my prayer is that in some little way the words on this page today may be of encouragement to you and that when that thought of giving up creeps into your head you will keep up the good fight and see it through. It is worth the fight! Press on and keep looking towards the light!
Coach Carter

Just a Little Faith

     Faith- "... is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1.
I enjoy listening to Contemporary Christian music and one of my favorite songs right now is the song "Even If" by  the band Mercy Me. In particular, one verse resonates strong with me:

They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Good thing
A little faith is all I have right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Give me the strength to be able to sing
It is well with my soul

Oh how I desire to build that kind of faith that believes even when things are going "bad", it is all going to work out just the way that God has it planned, and what I have to do is trust that the way it works out has to happen for what happens next to take place. 
      You see the essence of the kind of faith that is referred to in Hebrews 11:1 is that you are clinging to something that you can't see and you are trusting that things will work just as they should. We hope that things will work out the way we have them envisioned, but we place our trust in the fact that regardless of the outcome our faith tells us that everything that happens does so for a reason and we, by placing our trust in our faith, believe that the way things works out is for a much bigger reason than our understanding. We "hope" things work out a certain way and we may even pray that things work out a certain way, yet at the end of the day if we have faith our hope is not just for the outcome to be what we want, but instead our hope is that whatever happens it will impact the life of someone or possibly a group of someones. Faith thus is placing our trust in something we can't see.
     Just like the team building exercise called the "trust fall" in which a person turns their back to their team and then when given the direction to fall backwards the person falls back trusting that their teammates will be there to catch them when they fall. You can't see if your team members are behind you, but you trust that they are there and that they will not let you hit the ground. If your team members really want to test your faith they get nervously close to the ground and catch you at the last possible moment. Just a little faith allows us to trust that we won't hit the ground.
      It would be nice if everyone's faith was so strong that no one ever questioned why things happen like they do or why things don't turn out the way we want them to, but that isn't the way the world spins. In the song above the lyricist laments having only "a little faith" but in reality isn't having a little faith better than having no faith at all? How do you respond when you face a mountain in your life? Do you give up, lay down, or hang your head down and quit? When our trust is tested does it fizzle out or does it stand firm? I don't know about you, but my faith tells me to trust and have faith that whatever mountain stands in front of me I will move it when it is time to move it if it ever is time for me to move it!
     If you have no faith it is easy to give up. Purpose, trust, hope, and persistence are depleted when we have no hope. But there is also good news when we bolster our faith with trust and hope. Romans 5:1-5 tells me, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Basically, if you have a little faith it can be sufficient, but just as a muscle you want to develop has to be stretched and torn for it to grow, so does one's faith.
    Those that are grounded in faith are tested and that testing shows up in a myriad collection of ways which are unique to each of us. Just as Paul stated above in Romans 5:3 we have to be strong in our sufferings because those things that don't kill us only make us stronger to coin an old adage. If we have no faith we have nothing to hope for. We are defeated before we start, it is a learned helplessness or hopelessness in this case. If you need hope it is my prayer that you will seek hope. I have found that my hope lies in my faith that there is a bigger purpose for my life and that God has a plan for everything and it is my job to live my life to the fullest, never give up in the face of adversity, and always hold on to the hope that does not fail and does not falter. Got a little faith? That's all you need right now! 
Coach Carter

     
    

The Secret of Success

     I guess it is fairly safe to say that pretty much everyone wants to be successful in life. The definition of success varies from person to person, but I do believe I have an equation that most undoubtedly works for me and I am certain it will work for you as well. It's important to understand that there are many different definitions of what success really is, and how we actually measure success also offers a wide ranging spectrum of opinions and scale models. For me success is when you rise each day and know that what you do makes a difference and that you want to go out and make as big of a difference as possible. Then at night, when your day comes to an end, you can peacefully lay your head on your pillow and rest comfortably knowing you did all you could to make that difference in as many lives as possible. The big question is how do we do this, make a living that will support our families, and still feel like we stayed true to our plan of being successful? Well the measurement of how successful you are is something you will ultimately measure at the end of your life, but whether or not you are successful in life can be summed up by how well you accomplish four daily duties which I firmly believe make for a successful person, in your family, at your work place, on the highway, in the restaurant, and just about any other place you can think. In today's Flat Tire Ministry Thought for the Week I'd like to share my "Four Rules for Success" of what will make you successful in life.
     First rule, Treat everyone the way you would want to be treated in that same situation. We all have heard of the Golden Rule at some point in our lives and we all say that is the way that we should always treat others, but is that the way it is each day everyday in your daily walk? If we mess up we want others to forgive us and not come down on us too hard for our goof up. When someone else messes up and it impacts our life we want someone to pay the price for that mess up. We are quick to seek retribution, yet we are also quick to expect others to forgive us immediately. How about when you are driving down the road and someone cuts you off, what is reaction? Do you blow your horn and curse the person or do you keep your frustration to yourself because you know that the next time it might just be you that makes the driving faux pas and desire a little bit of grace. Give what you would hope to get if you were on the "getting" side. When we treat others the way we want others to treat us we demonstrate understanding, forgiveness, and grace.
      Second Rule, Never ask anyone to do something that you would not be ready to roll up your sleeves and do yourself. Being in any position of leadership creates the necessity of telling others what they need to do and how you want it to be done. Well if you wouldn't want to do it the way you are telling others to, or if something needs to be done and time is crunched, you should be prepared to jump in and do all you can to see the deadline is met. When you do this others will see that you understand the challenges that they face and that you are in it with them to see it through.
     Third, this one speaks to longevity. Stay calm in life's storms and have faith. I was talking with my nephew Bogi yesterday and we were talking about the fact that life is full of ups and downs, trials and triumphs, adversity and peace. I am very proud of Bo and he just keeps amazing me. He was saying he knew things would work out in life he just has to keep living it and I shared this visual image for him to remember as life happens. I told him to think about the mountains. Notice I said mountains plural. Mountains would just be a high range of plateaus if it wasn't for the dips or valleys. We get to enjoy the mountain because the valley exists which we have to climb to reach the mountain top. You may be in a valley, you may have just gotten out of a valley, or you may be stuck in a deep canyon with no view of the mountaintop in sight. Keep climbing, keep things in perspective, and don't ever lose the attitude that you will make it and things will work out the way they are supposed to work out. That's important to understand, we can't question how things turn out we just have to accept and believe that they will work out the way that they are supposed to work out. Not always easy, but always true.
     Fourth rule, Choose to be happy. Each day presents choices from the time you rise to the time you hit the bed. We have the choice to seek pity or we have the opportunity to make the most out of any situation. We choose to work hard and be fulfilled by our efforts and abilities, or we opt out and say that our work does not matter and that our life has little meaning. I don't care what anyone says you are in charge and you make the choice each day. Choose to look at the glass and be thankful for it regardless of how much water is in it. I mean if it is completely empty you still have a glass when you do run up on some water. It's your choice.
     That's my top four, there are a number of other factors that can play into your life being deemed a success, but in my mind if you hit a home run with these four any other factors will fall into place. Live each day like there is no tomorrow, give more than you get, laugh, cry, and respect everyone, the list goes on and on and there isn't any of them that can be measured by your financial portfolio or by the size of your house, or the floor on which your office sits. Life is too short to live it chasing success, success is there you just have to know how to define it!
Matthew 16: 26-27
²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
Have an awesome Labor Day and relax!
Coach Carter