Lean In

Think about it for a minute, what do you typically do when someone wants to whisper or speak to you in a quiet voice? For me the answer is I lean in. I'm not sure if that is a basic instinct or what, but as I reflect on my observations over the years, what I recollect is that people just lean in to get closer to the speaker when they want to hear what is being said, especially if it is being said in a quiet voice. 

The Old Testament prophet Elijah had one of those leaning in experiences with God back in 1Kings 19:11-13. Elijah was in a desperate situation and was basically hiding out from Jezebel's soldiers on Mt. Horeb. He was needing to hear from God, and here's how God delivered His message. Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. God could have gotten Elijah's attention and delivered any message He wanted to through the storm, wind, fire, or quake, but instead God wanted Elijah to lean in and get really close to Him so, he whispered in a small, still voice. 

I believe that is what God wants us to do in our relationship with Him. When we face life's storms, when we feel shaken as if we are enduring an ongoing earthquake, God wants us to lean in and listen to what He wants us to know and understand. But how do we lean in to an invisible God you ask? We get in our own Mt. Horeb spot. A quiet place where we get alone with God and listen for that small still voice. We lean in to the Word of God and read His Holy Bible, and we most importantly hear from God when we develop a true relationship with Him. We lean in and by doing that we hear from Him in the midst of our storms, trials, and afflictions.  

James 4:8 tells us to "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you...". As we begin to lean in to hear what God is saying to us, He draws closer to us. Leaning in to God is where we stop relying on our own understanding, finding strength through trusting, and an inner peace fortified in our faith. The storms may rage, and the night may be dark, but when we have the promises of God near our heart, mind, body, and soul, we lean in and He is there. Lean in!

Coach Carter

Good Morning!

Have you ever given a moment's thought to the simple little phrase "Good morning"? I imagine, if you are like me those two words come out of your mouth numerous times each day, more than likely without a thought being given to what we mean in our brief encounter in passing. Are we wishing them a "good day"? Are we informing them that at that moment our morning has gone well? Or could it possibly just be two words that have no meaning at all behind them and we are just being cordial? I certainly hope it isn't the latter case! 

I was reading through some scriptures today when I happened upon this verse from Psalm 143, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life." Psalm 143:8. May each morning remind us of God's unfailing love, now doesn't that just resonate of what would symbolize a "Good Morning"? As the sun rises in the east each morning, we should be quick to proclaim that it is a "good morning"! 

As the sun displaces the darkness of night, our hope and prayers should be for God to illuminate the paths that we should take and the words we share. So, of course each morning is a good morning, especially when we have that personal relationship with the God of All Creation! Just as the sun rises, I too rise each morning. I give thanks for that ability to rise out of bed and from there it is a plethora of giving thanks for all God has done for me, all He has given me, and I thank Him in advance for what He is planning to do through me each day. The sun rising is a constant reminder that each morning is a "good morning". 

So, as you start out your day today, keep in mind what you are saying when you bid someone you pass a "Good morning". The Son has risen and the morning sunrise is a constant reminder of His unfailing love. The goodness of His daily promise to be with us always (Joshua 1:9) gives us the authority to proclaim that today is indeed a Good Morning!

Coach Carter

 

Vending Machine Faith

What comes to mind when you encounter a road sign that reads, "Rest Area Ahead"? For some a restroom break is envisioned, for others a chance to pick up some travel site brochures about the area, and for most the snack area for refreshments pops forefront and center.  Coffee for the weary driver, soft drinks, chips, and a candy bar for the kids, and a wide assortment of other sweet and salty items for pretty much everyone young and old alike. We scan the glass encased options and settle on our choice. From there it's a matter of dropping in the correct financial obligation which in turn sets the machine into motion and instantly our snack drops down to the retrieval area. Presto, we get exactly what we want. That system works well for snacks and drinks, but for some folks, the vending machine mentality is how they anticipate their prayers and supplications should work with God. 

 

With vending machines, we have a need, (hunger or thirst) and the vending machine can give us what we need to quench our thirst or curb our appetite. When we pray to God we have a need and we come to God to express our needs, concerns, and our pleas for His divine intervention. Along the way, we may thank Him, yet too often our prayers may appear to be similar to our encounters with a vending machine. 

 

In the face of adversity or affliction, we turn to God for a solution to the adverse conditions we face, and in the midst of our afflictions we come to God with a prayer for healing from the illness or condition we or someone we love is facing. Not only is that our approach in our prayers to God, but after we go to God with our intercessions and supplications we want to step back and watch God put the machine into motion so we can retrieve our answered prayers much like the candy bar dropping down into the receiving area of the vending machine. Life would be far less complex if that were how things worked, but I would suggest that if life were that simple, we would not grow in our relationship and dependence on God to see us through life's ups and downs, ins and outs, and all of the valleys and peaks that we encounter throughout the journey created for us to travel. 

 

The Apostle Paul provides us with a better picture of how we should approach God with our prayers in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul endured so many hardships and constant persecutions that it would have been easy for him to have walked up to God's vending machine and prayed for immediate relief from the afflictions he faced. Yet above the scripture from Galatians tells us that Paul realized he was no longer living his life for his own benefit, but instead Paul identified that he was living his life centered around trusting God and His plan. Living that life out to the fullest regardless of what he may have wanted in his flesh became Paul’s strength and focus. 

 

Jesus faced a vending machine decision when he was facing the imminent reality that His life here on earth was about to come to an end. Jesus prayed to His father and asked God “... if you are willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” Luke 22:42 When we develop our relationship with God we begin to realize that our prayers may not be in alignment with God's plans for our life. The hardships we face may be the stepping stones towards the victories that God has prepared if we are faithful, trust, and believe. What we perceive to be the best outcome in a situation may be a good answer for us, but for God's plan it may not even crack the surface of what will be accomplished if we are faithful and stand strong in trusting God's way. 

 

Center your prayers not on what "you" want, but place your wants, needs, prayers, intercessions, and supplications in God's hands and submit to the call He has on your life and the purpose you will fulfill through His plans for your life. I am thankful that life is not a vending machine! I have grown through my adversity, I have learned to endure through my afflictions, and I continue to see more of God's purpose for this life He has given me to live through the trials and tribulations of this world. That is my prayer for you today. Instead of us asking God for the prayers we pray to be answered the way we want them to be answered, may we pray for God's hand to be on our lives and may we live out God's purpose for this life we are living. "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." II Corinthians 12:9-10. 

Coach Carter

  

The Car Wash

When I was growing up it was common to see someone out in their driveway, sponge in one hand, water hose in the other accompanied by a bucket of frothing soapy suds cleaning their car. Especially on Saturdays, I suspect water meters pinged loudly as everyone got their automobiles clean and shined. For myself, if I really put the effort into cleaning my car properly, I was probably looking at a couple of hours at least. Add a wax job and you were looking at the biggest part of a Saturday afternoon. 

 Fast forward to today and the automatic car wash has revolutionized the experience of cleaning our car, SUV, or truck. Automatic car washes in themselves aren't a new phenomenon, yet more recently, car washes have basically become the new driveway car wash experience where everything you need to clean your vehicle, inside and out, is provided right down to the spray bottle and cleaning cloths. No more water hoses getting kinked up under the back tire, Yeah! 

 This offer of a "full service" package appears to be a game changer, but that's only if you take advantage of the resources that are available. I'll admit, I've turned in my sudsy bucket and sponges for an "unlimited" washes package, which has made keeping the car shiny much easier. Drive up, place the car in neutral, and keep your hands off the steering wheel. Minutes later your car is washed, waxed, dried, and shined. The problem is that's only half of the job that needs to be done. As you drop your transmission back in gear you next encounter the area created to vacuum and polish the inside of your automobile. Pull in to a slot, grab a couple of cleaning rags and go to work drying off those renegade water spots, clear off smudge marks on the interior windows, shine up the dash area, and then vacuum out all the crooks and crevices, all of which typically equals more time and a much higher level of effort to provide a true deep cleaning. To be completely transparent, many times I check the clock and make the hasty decision to bypass cleaning the interior. In my mind, the outside of my car is what the majority of people see, so if I don't clean the inside up, and it isn't too dirty anyway, then it won't really matter. Most people will see the shiny exterior and for all practical purposes they will perceive my car is clean. That line of thinking helps me justify driving on by the vacuums and cleaning tools, yet the fact of the matter is that just because the exterior of my car looks clean, it doesn't necessarily mean my car is clean. Could it be that we treat our relationship with God the same way that I just described in my car cleaning experience? 

 Living out a life of faith is a much deeper commitment than an exterior wash and wax. We can live a life that on the surface appears to be clean and shiny without showing what is really going on inside. Our hurts, pains, and even our own selfish desires can control what is going on inside, and the whole time we keep people far enough away so that all they see is our buffed exterior life. That may work in how others perceive us, but God knows our inner workings. He knows our thoughts, intentions, and plans, and God knows whether our plans are set to benefit us personally, or if our plans are designed to serve God and expand His Kingdom. To live out a life of service to God we have to be willing to clean out the areas of our life that people may not see on the surface. Just like our car cleaning analogy, we have to be willing to get down into the crooks and crevices of our heart, mind, and soul, vacuuming out the bad and replacing it with the love of God. 

 If you are struggling with what it looks like to clean out the interior of your life I believe this scripture may help, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:8-9. You can't clear out your heart and mind on your own. The past can weigh you down, your current situation can cause you to feel unworthy or unforgivable, but that is the world talking to you. You have value and you have a path to forgiveness that was forged over 2,000 years ago. Christ is your soul's automatic car wash, and regardless of where you are in life, God gave us His one and only Son to provide each of us with a walk with Him that is both shiny on the outside and most importantly on the inside of our soul. “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.”

Coach Carter 

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