Show Me

 I've often heard people refer to the state of Missouri as the "Show Me State". That phrase can even be found on the state's license plate. Curiosity finally got the best of me and I completed a simple Google search just to find out where the "Show Me State" nickname originated. My search revealed that there are a number of theories as to where the nickname started, ranging from miners needing to be "shown" how to do the work they traveled to Missouri to do, to a politician's challenge to an opponent to provide evidence "show me" instead of just relying on "frothy eloquence" in his speech. Wherever the label originated, it definitely stuck. If you are from Missouri, it would be safe to say that you want someone to prove their claims before you believe what the other person is saying. 

 

I'm pretty sure that James the half-brother of Jesus wasn't from Missouri, but based on the challenge he presents in James 2:17-19 he very well could be considered a favorite son from the "Show Me State" of Missouri. James wrote, "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder." To build a little context, James was writing to Christians from a Jewish background whose salvation was based solely on faith. Basically, James is saying to this group "Show me" your faith without it coming through in the life you live, and he would show them what faith really looks like through the work he was doing for the Kingdom of God. I'd have to say that I tend to agree with James, our faith should be visible through the way we live our life for Christ. 

 

Go back and read the last sentence in the scripture quoted above, James delivers a profound truth that is both simple and deeply complex. Faith by itself means that you believe in God. Approximately 81% of men and women polled in America say they believe in God. If believing is all it takes then our country is in pretty good shape. The paradox James presents in our scripture today is that even demons believe in God, but does that mean they are living their life for God? So, the question would be, is faith or belief in God enough? Is that all God wants and expects from us? Are we living out the charge that Jesus gave us as disciples through the Great Commission if we sit back and proclaim our faith through the context of belief alone? (Matthew 28:18-20)

 

James says show me your faith, don't just say you believe. But how do we do that in our everyday walk? Do we need to stand on a street corner with a sign proclaiming John 3:16, or are our works more of a way of life that we live out each day? I lean more to the daily walk mindset, our works should be who we are at work, when we play, out around town, and most assuredly in our homes with our families. Our minds should be set on service over self, compassion and empathy towards our fellow man, and forgiveness for those who don't deserve forgiveness. Those are all qualities that Jesus modeled and taught while He was here on this earth giving us an example of what our works should resemble.  

 

When we go even deeper, our minds become set on trusting God, not just believing in God. Trusting and obeying God goes beyond just believing in God. A faith mindset trusts that God is in control, believes He has a plan and purpose for each person's life, and understands that it is our responsibility to seek out what God created us to do in this life He gave us to live. The work we do in seeking God's will is only possible when we develop a faith that walks with us through the valleys, and stands beside us on the mountain peaks of life. Today, you can tell the world that you believe in God and that you have faith that He is the God of all creation, or you can choose to show the world the God you believe in and trust. The choices we make, the work that we do, and the talk that we walk should all be examples of the faith we live out. May your walk with God be on full display through the works that you do. I believe God wants us to show Him that we believe in Him, I can almost hear Him calling out, "Show me". 

Coach Carter

Jumpstarting Your Battery

 

I keep a pair of battery jumper cables in my vehicles just in case I happen to come up on someone in need of a battery charge. It happens to the best of us, a light is left on, the head lights don’t automatically turn off for some reason, or believe it or not batteries do eventually die and usually just when you least expect it and when you are the least prepared for a dead battery. I’ve been on both ends of this interaction, there have been times when I provided the jump and a number of times when I was the one seeking a kind soul to raise their hood and give me a boost. 

 

 Any experienced battery jumper understands what I mean when I say “red is the positive and black is the negative or neutral”. In my experience, it is good practice to always call out the cables and where you are about to connect them, because you never know how knowledgeable the person hooking up the cables on the other end is and that can be a bad situation for both cars if the cables are connected incorrectly. At times, even after hooking the cables up there still exists a bad connection and the cables have to be reconnected assuring that the electrical charge is able to flow from the source to the receiver. And in some instances, the "dead" battery is so weak that it is necessary to allow some time for the weaker battery to store up power before the charge will actually allow the car to start. In other words, when the cables are connected properly, and ample power has been attained from the source the flow of energy from the source to the dead battery happens easily. 

 

 For us, life happens and when it does we potentially run into a place where we experience a "dead battery" as well. Schedules are busy, responsibilities at work, home, and in all of our other obligations can create quite the drain on our energy levels if we allow them to overload our day. And then the unexpected gets added into the mix. Sickness, financial strains, marital or relational woes, and job-related stress are just a few examples of how life can create a drain on our lives, and if we don't have a source of energy restoring us, the same outcome to our car's battery will eventually happen in us as well.

 

 Where do you turn when your life needs to recharge? What recharges you? Or even better who recharges your life when your battery needs a jumpstart? Just as a car battery has a positive and a negative post, we too can choose to recharge through a positive source or too often we can choose a negative influence as our means of recharging. For some working for the weekend is their driving force as they are convinced that if they can just make it to the weekend life is somehow going to be magically better. Unfortunately, the weekend offers extremes that drain our well-being rather than recharge our batteries if we aren't careful. A word of caution here, if what you attempt to use as a recharging mechanism moves you further away from God, you can be assured that recharging will not occur. As a matter of fact, Paul shares a pretty extensive list of things to avoid in this world in Galatians 5:19-21 "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying’s, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Conversely, in the same chapter right after Paul's list of negative charges, the Apostle gives us a list of positive charges that will most definitely re-energize our life's battery. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23.

 

When we are jumping somebody's car battery we have symbols on the battery to assist us, and jumper cables are color coded red and black to match up with covers on an automobile’s battery cables. In life we don't necessarily have color coded supports when we are choosing what we will use to recharge our internal battery. The good news is God is the best battery charger available. Choose God and choose the things in this world that are not necessarily of this world! “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

Coach Carter

 

 

Assembly Lines

 

The name Henry Ford will forever be directly associated with the creation of the assembly line. Before 1913, manufacturing a car took a team of workers over twelve hours to completely assembly an automobile. Ford, who had watched the process by which meat was being processed and packaged, believed that a similar process in the manufacturing world would increase production and decrease the amount of time spent constructing an auto. His idea was to create a conveyor system where one person would add their particular piece to the future automobile progressing from one station to the next, approximately 80-90 positions, until the vehicle reached the end and was ready to roll out the door and onto the road. Ford's genius equated to a process that reduced the manufacturing time down from twelve hours to one that took little over an hour to complete. This experiment in specializing each step in the manufacturing process created an explosion of assembly line type strategies which revolutionized manufacturing in the early 20th century and catapulted America into the role of an international leader for manufactured goods. 

 

Assembly lines and manufacturing just make sense, they go together almost as seamlessly as peanut butter and jelly, or cheeseburgers and french fries. Where assembly lines do not fit in so effortlessly is in the area of life. We as humans are moving along a trajectory, but in our lives the pieces aren't laid out for us to pick up along the conveyor of life. Instead, we are given the free will to make choices and decisions along our path and those decisions ultimately "assembly" us into the man or woman we are, or better yet the man or woman we become. Imagine Ford's assembly line, but instead of it being a straight-line conveyor system, God's conveyor belt forks off to the right or left each time we make a decision. Right or wrong, forward guiding, or backward dragging, God allows us to make our own choices. With that being said, when we make our choices there are consequences and outcomes from any and all decisions we make. 

 

The question comes down to this, how do we know what the right choices are? How do we know that the choice we make is going to be conducive to the completion of our lives as servants of God? What instruction manual do we have that can assure us we are getting the parts of the whole assembled in the way God designed us to be assembled? These are critical questions, and for those that do not have a personal relationship with God these are questions that keep us from becoming a functioning member of the community in which we live. Fortunately, we have direct access to answer the questions above, and we have God as the Master Assembler of our lives. 

 

Having free will to make life's choices doesn't mean that all of our choices will be productive and beneficial decisions. Poor judgment, bad advice, and miscalculated outcomes have hindered many a man or woman as they traverse their way along life's assembly line. Where an assembly line has a straight-line path, life's path is all about the curves we navigate, the bumps and cracks in the highway that we overcome, and most importantly, the time we take to learn what God truly has planned for our lives. The time we invest with God enables us to make sound decisions along the path we journey. 

To have a better understanding of the path God has for our life, we must have a relationship with God. That relationship is one developed over time, time that provides us with confidence that the choices we make and the paths we follow are not just predestined because we are on some sort of conveyor belt. The time we spend studying God's Holy Bible, and the time we commit to meet with God daily and talk with him personally, will provide us with clarity and purpose as we visualize the plan God has for this life He gave us to live. 

 

When Joshua was appointed as the successor of Moses, the Israelites were definitely not on a conveyor belt ride to the Promised Land. Throughout their journey in the wilderness the chosen nation did not appear to have a road map to anywhere. Along their journey, idolatry had become rampant. Worshiping false "gods" had become common practice, yet Joshua stood firm in his decision to follow God's plan for the nation of Israel. In Joshua 24:14-15 we read the words of Joshua as he proclaims his faith and trust in the one, true God. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

 

For over 100 years automobiles have been manufactured utilizing an assembly line model. Advances have been made in how that actually looks, yet the methodology still persists. It works for "things" to be put together along an assembly line. I thank God that we are not moving along an assembly line in life. Free will makes us unique in that area and we must choose who we will follow and what will guide our choices and the decisions we make. I choose God and I pray for His guidance each day as I make the decisions I am faced with and the choices I make. My question for you today is this, are you allowing the world to "assembly" your thoughts and plans? If so, turn from the conveyor belt of this world and make the decision to allow God to direct your steps. That decision will change your world. 

Coach Carter

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