Shooting Stars

One of the benefits of being up around 4:30AM each morning is having the good fortune to catch a meteor shower on full display. I unknowingly, literally walked right into an early morning light show this past week and it did not fail to impress and set me up for an amazing day. It is hard to describe the smile that comes across my face when I am fortunate to catch a falling star in full descent. It happens so fast and many times you just catch a quick glimpse of the trail as it trails quickly to its demise. If you are fortunate enough to experience a meteor shower encountering over 100 shooting stars in a short period of time is completely possible. I hope I'm not writing this blog to someone who hasn't witnessed a shooting star, if there is someone out there who hasn't had the enjoyment of watching a falling star make its descent, I encourage you to search for the next one that will be occurring in your proximity and then make plans to find a dark sky spot and load up your blanket and a good friend to share this spectacle with. 

The unfortunate aspect about watching a falling star perform is that the whole thing signals the end of the star's life. There's an old rock and roll song by the band Bad Company titled "Shooting Star" which tells the story of Johnny who wanted to be a rock and roll star. Johnny reached his goal, but just as quickly as he reached stardom, his ultimate demise was hastened with a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of sleeping tablets beside his bed. Textbook "shooting star" example. Alas, this Flat Tire Ministry Thought is not set to focus on the lost potential of so many bright and shining stars, no today's message is one about potential gained not lost. 

Shooting stars, we are not. Although today's message is about the beauty and power observed through the demise of a literal falling star, your life isn't meant to end in such a manner. It is our job to assure that when the light in our star is exhausted, it isn't just a meteorite rock that remains as evidence of our existence. Your legacy, your impact on your family, friends, the community in which you live, the state where you reside, the country you align with, or your impact on the world are all things that you have control over and I want to challenge you to make a positive difference in as many of the aforementioned aspects of your influence. 

I am inspired and motivated by the proclamation of Solomon in Proverbs 17:6 "Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father." In other words, if we do our job the way God intends for us to live out our lives fulfilling His purpose for the life we have been given, then the confirmation of a job well done will be found in our grandchildren's lives. In addition, our children will be a "shining" example for their children. Don't lessen the impact you will have not only on your own children, but also on the lives of so many other children, adults, and even institutions or movements. You were given a purpose on purpose, if you don't fulfill that purpose, your life will be much like the meteorite rock scattered across a field with no purpose of meaning accomplished. Or, your life can glow, flame, and impact so many others much like the brilliant stars of the night sky and spectacular performance of a shooting star. Don't allow your light to fade out of existence, leave your impact of this world in the lives of those you live with, work with, and spend your time with each day. Our shining example to follow is Jesus. Jesus wasn't going to be a shooting star, His plan wasn't to shine just while he walked this earth, but to continue shining into eternity! Won't you join Him as he moves us to action, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  John 14:27 What legacy piece will you leave?

Coach Carter

It Only Makes You Stronger

 

I had something brought to my attention earlier this week and it definitely was one of those "Aha" moments. I was listening to a sermon by Pastor Chip Ingram, and in the sermon, Ingram made a reference about lifting weights and building muscles. The obvious point was that anyone who lifts weights wants to develop their overall strength, or improve a certain body region, arms, legs, chest, back, so on and so on. You may lift weights just to maintain your muscles, but the majority of people who lift do so to build their muscles. So, with that being said, the desired muscle growth will not happen if you don't progressively add more weight to the bar. After the body gets "conditioned" to a certain amount of weight on the bar the muscles plateau. To continue to build more muscle mass you have to add additional weight and/or change the exercises to alert the muscles to get busy and grow. Basically, what happens is the increased resistance produces more muscle tissue as the weight lifter trains and pushes his or her body to the point of exhaustion, the whole "no pain, no gain" idea. 

Unfortunately, if we aren't growing our muscles just the opposite happens. If you don't use a muscle for a period of time the muscle will become weaker. Go outside today and do about fifty squats and see how your legs feel the next day. Squatting that much just isn't something that we do on a daily basis so it only stands to reason that we will probably experience some pain in our thighs after a round of squats. We don't want our muscles to atrophy so we exercise, we run, we stay active to avoid the negative impact on our muscles and overall physique. 

Well guess what? This analogy fits perfectly with how we grow through our adversities and even our afflictions. We don't want to experience bad or negative events in our lives, but for us to grow and "exercise" our faith muscles this is exactly where it happens. Think about it, if life was easy we would definitely or should definitely be content. No sickness, no conflict, no work issues, kid issues, financial woes, and your marriage is bliss. Wouldn't that be nice? Well it would be nice for a day or maybe a week, but if we really stop and think about it, when we go through something in life is when we actually go to work on finding a solution, remedy, or fix. That search is where the growth opportunity lives. 

I'm not suggesting that we jump up and down the next time that a life event happens, but instead to change our attitude and perspective about what is happening and how we approach the situation. Instead of taking the stance that we are the victim in every situation, how about we look at it as an exercise for growth. Maybe your faith muscles are at a place where they have atrophied. Could it be that through the cataclysmic journey you are traversing currently, you are headed exactly to the place that will be your next area of impact? I don't know and I can't give you guarantees, but I can assure you if you don't grow through it you will get stuck in it and that is where our muscle memory starts to fail us and atrophy most certainly does exist. 

The good news is we are not going to lift that weight by ourselves. Just as any weightlifter has a spotter coaching them as they lift that heavier weight, we are not alone as we "lift" life's challenges and circumstances. We have a promise that should reassure us in those times when life is feeling too heavy to lift found in Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” When you feel all alone, remember you are not. As you lift that heavy weight hold tight to Paul's proclamation "I can do all things through Christ which gives me strength." Philippians 4:13. 

You got this!

Coach Carter

 

Playground Rules

To say I loved my ten years as principal of Union Heights Elementary School would most definitely be a true example of an understatement. Actually, I could say the same thing about my sixteen years at East Ridge Middle School where I taught and coached in the first stage of my educational career, and now for the past five years as the Career and Technical Education CTE Supervisor for our Hamblen County School system. It rarely has ever felt like work, thankful to be in the profession I feel like I was purposed to be a part of from the beginning. Blessed. Okay, note to self, stay on topic. 

As a principal one of the major roles you carry out is to be the extreme conflict resolution center for the school. Students who wound up visiting my office for behavioral issues normally had missed the opportunity to reach a resolution in the classroom, or even better before the teacher got involved. Classroom conflicts happen, albeit more rarely, when organization and structure are evident in any classroom. There just isn't too much room for misinterpretation of the expectations in an elementary teacher's class. Head down to the cafeteria and, for the most part, the same set of expectations from the classroom apply in the cafeteria. Stay in your seat, keep the conversations at a table level, eat the food on your plate, if you make a mess please clean it up, and don't mess with another student's food. All pretty much anticipated wouldn't you say? Walking to and from in the hallways, morning and afternoon bus duty, each of these had rules and expectations to help make transitions doable and efficient. The one place that I did not create a set of standard rules was on the playgrounds at our school during recess time for each grade level. 

The simplistic, general rule of thumb on an elementary school playground is allow the students to work out problems they encounter as much as possible. The "rules" set for this structured “free for all” time are fairly simple and for the most part can be easily maintained. That being said, I have many fond memories of being present on one of our playgrounds when one of our teachers would have to provide some minor conflict resolution guidance to some not so content playground participants. I can vividly picture a pair of sweaty, little seven-year old’s coming to their teacher to settle a touchdown related dispute, or times when inclusion just wasn't happening and feelings were devastated between two friends whom moments before were as thick as thieves. The responses from our teachers that I generally heard could have been written on stone tablets and posted on the outside classroom posts. The rules were so consistent whether it was on the Kindergarten - 2nd grade playground or up on the bank at the 3rd-5th grade location. I. Thou shalt share. II. Thou shalt play nice together or if you can't go find someone else to play with. III. Name calling is not allowed. IV. No fighting. V. Thee shall include everyone, this is not your personal playground. Of course, there were myriad nuances to this set of rules, but for the most part these five standard bearers could pretty much address most anything that occurred during recess each afternoon. 

Were these five "commandments" never broken? The question goes without being asked, yet I'll answer it with another question, "Are the ten commandments never broken?" Simply stated we are not humanly capable of not breaking from Moses's contribution to the standard rules for mankind. Yes, the rules did experience deviators, but that was what the teachers were there to provide resolution for when necessary. I can pretty much guarantee you though that the teachers were always striving for students to solve their disagreements on their own when at all possible. 

So, my question today is this, "What happened between our days on the elementary playground where we all had to get along or wind up sitting out on the sidelines, and where we are today where the only person that matters in most cases is "me"? Think about it each of the playground rules apply in the adult world of work, home, and even during our daily travels. Sharing? Aren't we taught that it is better to give than it is to receive? Play nice? Well if you don't like the way something is going in your world I suggest you either figure out how to get along, or go find somewhere else to go play, remember it isn't your playground anyway. We are just borrowing this world we live in from our grandchildren, let's leave it better for them then how it was when it was given to us. Name calling, fighting, those actions aren't allowed for our kids on the playground, in the classroom, or out in public, why is it okay for adults to behave like that? It isn't. We should be the role models so that our teachers won't have to do our job on the playground. The fifth playground rule was include everyone. Beyond popular belief, you are not the judge. You don't get to decide who is right and who is wrong, you can have your opinion, but this is not your playground so you don't get to decide who plays on it or who doesn't. I didn't write the rules, I'm not judging anyone, all I'm echoing is the commandment that encompasses all of the ones above. Jesus of Nazareth, Son of the Living God proclaimed in Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law...". I suppose the "in everything" and "to others" Jesus stated includes everyone regardless of their skin pigment, I think everything includes our relationships at work, at school, at home of course, and how about on the roads and highways we travel each day. I won't digress towards the topic of road rage, but keep in mind those roads aren't yours, you are just as much a guest on the highway as the person that sat an extra :10 seconds after the light changed to green. 

I firmly believe our elementary school playgrounds are an outstanding learning platform for our children to learn how to get along and play well with others. Maybe we all need to take a break and go for a swing? "I want to leave you equipped with two verses.  

"Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins" Proverbs 10:12.

 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." I Peter 4:8

Coach Carter

"Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda"

 

Contemporary Christian singer songwriter Matthew West has a relatively new song out titled “What If?” which challenges us to not be someone who looks back and is forced to ask themselves the question, “What if?” Two little words, but man do they pack a powerful punch. Place a fill in the blank spot at the end of the sentence, “What if ______________ ?” and if you are like me, you could come up with a laundry list of regrets and wishes. With one more month left in 2021 we do not have to wait to make that “New Year’s Resolution” for some change to take place in our lives. We have the ability today to turn our “what if’s” into “I did’s”.

Probably one of the most haunting verses in West’s song shares a fear that many of us can relate to, and some of us still need to wake up to.

“My biggest fear is waking up to find what matters
Is miles away from what I spent my life chasing after
Is my story gonna have the same two words in every chapter?
What if, what if”

It is never a bad time to stop and do a little self-reflection, call it a check up on where you are and what you are chasing. We get so darned busy being busy that we can easily lose sight of what our goal was in the first place.

 

Parents pack their schedule with do this, go there, be here, be there, run, run, run all for the sake of giving the best to their children. Is that the best thing to do with our time “together”? I don’t have that answer, that one is yours to navigate. Mothers and fathers spend 60+ hours working a 40-hour work week to provide everything, anything that their children ask and many times don’t even ask for. We just think they would love it and we want them to be happy. What if? What if what they really want is to just spend some time with their mom or dad doing something that costs nothing more than a little time. Speaking of work, for those of us that believe the world will stop spinning if we aren’t there in the middle of the workplace making it all spin, it may be time to stop and internalize what we are doing and how we are spending our time. (That one hits home, I’m just saying)

 

As I said early on, you can fill in the blank after the phrase “What if________?” with just about anything you can imagine. “What if I had exercised a little more? Would I be experiencing the health issues I am right now?” Or “What if I had gone back to school and obtained that technical skill I wish I had pursued when I was younger?” We can spend all of our time boasting about what we “woulda, shoulda, coulda” done, but unfortunately once that ship has sailed there isn’t always a chance to go back. One of the charges I have always told the student athletes I coach is to not be someone who looks back and tells others that you could have done this or that if you would have worked a little harder you would have been all state. It is easy to tell people that you should have gotten that scholarship, and that you would have gotten it but… It is too easy to look back and play the blame game, when in reality, the blame has to sit right there in your lap.

 

Flat Tire Ministries was created to build hope, and there is hope for those of us that have fell victim to the regrets of misappropriated time in life. Matthew West’s song offers this note of inspriation, “But last I checked this heart inside my chest is still beating well, I guess it's not too late”. That’s just it, as long as you have breath in your lungs and your heart is still beating you can change the direction of where you are headed. Some things may be gone, you can’t go back and rededicate yourself to practice more for your high school wrestling team when you are almost 60, but you can spend more time with your grandchild making sure they get the most out of their ability and focus. Other things in life you can still change your focus and amount of focus that you invest. Relationships, time management with family and friends, career focus, hobbies, pass times, TV time, social media time, or whatever you put in the center of your life time. Those are all things that could wind up being a “woulda, shoulda, coulda” what if statement/question, but you have the ability to shape the outcomes and not be a victim of your own procrastination.

 

What if I would have given more time to developing my relationship with my Creator? What could I have accomplished if I would have sought His will more for the life that He gave me to live? I tried to give my family all that they wanted, but should I have given them more of the one thing that could impact our grandchildren and their children’s children as my legacy to them? Well the last time I checked I’ve still got a heart that’s beating inside my chest, I guess it’s still not too late!

 “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.” Philippians 3:13-15.

 

Coach Carter

 

 

Grateful for Being Thankful

 

As we in the USA are fully aware, our annual Thanksgiving Day holiday is right around the corner. Most of our focus on this day is centered around the roasted turkey that didn't receive a pardon, yet it is not uncommon to see the retail/marketing world move from Halloween directly to Christmas mode with little thought of the day set aside to give thanks for all we have been given. If you think about it, Halloween and Christmas garner a great deal of worldly attention because the focus is set more on what you "get" as opposed to what you "give". Hence Thanks"giving" which is, as it should be, more about giving thanks. We have so much to be thankful for faith, family, and friends top my list with opportunities and lessons learned following close behind. But, today I want to spotlight something that I am thankful for that may sound a little redundant at first, but if you sit and ponder on it for a minute, my hope is that you can add one more thing to your list of all the things you are thankful for this Thanksgiving season. 

Way too many people live life without seeing how blessed they actually are, and that keeps them from enjoying the life they have been given to live. I'll use the term grateful here. If you aren't thankful for all you have, regardless of how little or how much you have, the art of being grateful for you may seem foreign or indescribable. What would it be like if we could get to a place where as we give thanks for all we have been given, we include a thankful thought for being able to recognize that we recognize how blessed we actually are? Like I said when we started out today's message, redundant right? Not really. 

Some of us give thanks and some of us say thanks, but how many of us realize how thankful we should really be? Let me be the first to go on record to say "Thank you" for the ability to be grateful on the Sunday before the Thursday we traditionally "give thanks" for all we have been given. The world feels broken, we work to "get" for self, we self-promote to "get" likes and views, we covet what our neighbor has and then we go out and "get" one better than theirs. What if we could stop placing the emphasis on "getting" more stuff and focus on what we have already been given and give thanks for that each and every day? 

I have room to grow in this area, I haven't mastered the art of being thankful in all situations and under all circumstances, but I am thankful that I have been given eyes to see how fortunate I am and how I enjoy saying thank you for all I do have. I am thankful that I don't take that for granted. I am grateful that I am a thankful person. May I go about each day, not just Thanksgiving Day, thanking those that have given me the opportunities I have been given and thanking my Maker for all that I have been given. And God my provider, I am grateful that I am a thankful person and not someone that is always wanting more. The Apostle Paul tells me that "You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God." I Corinthians 9:11, which speaks to my heart telling me to realize that I am thankful and thank God each day for having that peace of mind and clarity of purpose. 

As we approach Thanksgiving this Thursday, is there a chance you will stop and give thanks for all you have and all you have been given? In so doing, give a little time to thanking God for the ability to see just how much we have been given. Pray for gratefulness and how you show the world you live in that you are thankful for being thankful! 

So grateful that I am thankful!

Coach Carter

 

Traveling Along the "Trials" of Life

 

Trails and Trials, one little letter transposed and we transition from an enjoyable walk down a winding pathway, to a dreaded period in life that challenges us to dare move forward. On the first look those two words are distinctly different. I mean who doesn't enjoy a leisurely stroll down a mountain trail or even following a man-made trail to take in a series of historic landmarks such as a memorial park trail? As for trials, I don't think I recollect people lining up to take part in their next trial of life? Marital issues, financial matters, work issues, home issues, health, mental health, basically anything in your life that happens along the way that is unexpected and undesirable, those my friends we call the trials of life. Distinctly different, yet uniquely similar, both trials and trails take us on a journey, it is our choice where that journey takes us in life. 

The metaphor of our lives being a series of trails that we journey could easily have the word trials substituted and convey the same message. Actually, we may actually travel through many more trials in life then trails if we think about it. I have traversed many trials in my life and I can attest that the "journey" through each of those trials has taken me to new levels of perseverance and resiliency in my life that I most likely would not have achieved had it not been for the trials of life that I endured. 

Think about going on a hike, a leisurely hike if that promotes a better visual image in your mind. Without a trail to follow how easy it would be to get lost. Trails are marked in most cases, directing us to take a left turn here and a right turn there. Well-traveled parks have signage alerting the journeyman about upcoming features such as waterfalls, sunset views, and even steep or dangerous sections of the path ahead. The markers along a trail and the beaten down path which lays out the "way to go" are there because many have traveled that trail before you. Trails are easier to travel because of those that have been there and done that before us. Wouldn't it be nice if the trials of life were the same as a well-marked trail? 

What if those trials of life were laid out specifically for you or I? What if instead of looking at trials in life as punishment for bad choices, misfortune, or even the result of generational influences, we adopted the mindset that trials of life are set to build us up and take us to where God can actually use us for the purpose we were designed to accomplish? Psalm 37:23-24 tells us that "The Lord directs the steps of the godly, He delights in every detail of their lives ^Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand." Moving from being a victim of a trial, we suddenly transform ourselves into a servant of God traveling down a trail that we must journey and grow through to become that man or woman we were purposed to become. I am reminded and comforted by the words of David in Psalm 23:4 "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou are with me Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me". Confidence gained, stamina packed, and doubt removed, I walk forward not knowing what tomorrow holds, but motivated and empowered by the knowledge of WHO holds tomorrow! 

If you are going through a trial currently, place your trust in the one that created you to endure and even thrive in this moment. Life isn't easy and the trails are not always flat and marked with what lies ahead, but if you can get to that place where you place your faith in the understanding that you weren't made by mistake, and what you are going through can grow you and fulfill you, then you no longer will be traveling through a trial, but instead walking hand in hand with God down the trail of life you were purposed to traverse! 

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

 

Coach Carter

Loving Conditionally

I had a hard time getting the words out of my mouth, "loving conditionally" It just doesn't flow right when you try to say it. Of course, the real phrase is to love unconditionally. The idea behind the thought is that regardless of what you do, who you are, or how bad it gets, you are still loved. Is that a hard one to swallow? In human terms it certainly is a challenging concept. How quick are we to pass judgement on others and discard them when they don't fit the mold we see as "loveable”? Unconditional love is heavenly, literally. If you want an example of unconditional love look no further than the example God provided with the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. 

Jesus is the epitome of what unconditional love looks like. Think about it, after the Romans had beaten him, tortured him, and nailed him to the cross, this man looked down at his persecutors and then looked to his Father and asked God to forgive them. Why would Jesus ask his Father to forgive them? Why didn't He say, Hey Dad, how about you make these guys pay for what they have done to me! There can only be one reason, unconditional love. We can't move far enough away, we don't have to measure up to some kind of standard, and we don't have to look, act, or behave a certain way, God loves us unconditionally. 

God's son, Jesus, explained it like this. Love the Lord Thy God first and then love thy neighbor as thyself. (Luke 10) After sharing that guidance with a group of people that had gathered to listen to Jesus, a man asked Him "who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied by sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan and then asked the man who do you think the neighbor is in the parable? Of course, it was the man who stopped and gave a hand up to the man from Samaria who had been beaten and left for dead in the ditch. 

Interestingly, the neighbor Jesus referred to wasn't the man's next-door neighbor, it was someone, anyone, that needs a helping hand. Unconditionally displaying love which coincidentally is also known as the word "charity". Charity: voluntarily giving to someone in need. Someone in need, not someone that looks just like me, believes the same way I do, someone that I think deserves my "charity", but instead the word charity means giving to someone. Someone, anyone, I believe those two words are interchangeable and very well should be. If Jesus, beaten nearly to death and then nailed to a rugged cross can look down at the men and women who demanded He be put to death and say, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" Luke 23:34, then who are we to be picking and choosing who we want as our neighbor. 

It is hard to say the term conditionally loved, because the two words do not go together. We are called to love unconditionally just as we are loved unconditionally by our Father in Heaven. If His love for me was conditional, I'm pretty sure I would not be loved. If love is only to be given to someone that has the same skin pigment as mine, then is that really love? Does someone with a different hue of dermis deserve less of a life than you or I? If someone speaks a different language am I allowed to not love them as my neighbor? According to the words of Jesus I don't think so. 

Today's Flat Tire Ministry may strike a chord with some, so I ask you to consider something. We are a country of immigrants, immigrants that have traveled across oceans to call this continent home. A land of immigrants so much that we have been labeled the great melting pot. Why did our forefathers come to this land? For a better way of life. Why does anyone still come to America today? For a better way of life. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and anyone else reading today's message, I want you to put yourself in a situation for just one minute. The place where you live is destitute, crime, drugs, murder, and thievery are the daily norm. If you don't like that place then how about putting yourself in a city where there are no real jobs, poverty would be considered living well, and the prospects of things improving are minimal at best. In either of those cities the likelihood that your child could be molested, stolen, or at best uneducated and destined to live the same hopeless lifestyle that you have lived is highly probable. Would you not reach out to a "Good Samaritan" for a hand up? Would you not want your "neighbor" to love you unconditionally as a human being with a family? Would you not do the same thing for your family? Would you not take a chance on picking your family up and moving them to a place where you know there are jobs, food, clean water, housing, and hope that if you worked hard and gave it all you got your family could be safe? If you can honestly sit there and say you would not move your family then I'm not sure why you are even reading this today. No, it is not my place to judge you. I will leave that to the One that will judge each of us when it is our turn to be judged. 

While I am on this earth, while I have lungs that breathe and provide me with a voice to speak, while I have the opportunity to support our students, all students, I will make every attempt to be your neighbor, a neighbor that will demonstrate loving others unconditionally. I ask you to look deep in your heart today, do a self-assessment and ask yourself, "Do I love conditionally or do I love as my Father loves me, unconditionally?" Ours is a grand venture, the tone of our country is one of division not union. As people look for ways to divide us, I challenge you to be someone that pulls us together. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13.

 

Coach Carter