Would you believe you might be working with someone who is homeless? What about hungry? I mean, they work right along side you, right? Surely not. They get the same pay you do but they are homeless. So, your mind begins reeling with judgments and accusations. Well, if they took better care of their finances they wouldn't be homeless or hungry you decide. Somewhere inside you there is a still, small voice telling you they don't know where they are laying their head tonight but you shove it to the far corner hoping the Voice will be quiet. Yet, He isn't quiet for He was homeless. He was God alone manifested in the flesh, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Yes, folks, He was homeless. Why was He homeless? Everything belonged to Him yet He was homeless. Maybe to understand what it feels like to feel judged, alone, depressed, hungry? I don't really understand why but He did. I am so glad He did.
There are many factors that add to the homeless statistics today. There are foreclosures, poverty, eroding work opportunities, decline in public assistance, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable health care, domestic violence, mental illness and addiction disorders.
Before you think this couldn't be you, let's create a little scenario. You are the main character. You signed on a beautiful home to make room for the new baby less than six months ago. Great job, great life. Now, routine doctor visit reveals terminal cancer in your spouse. You are shocked! You go through the treatments and thank God all along the way for the insurance. It's not covering everything but it's okay.You have saved long enough to cover most of it.
You are headed to work now thinking how tired and weary you are becoming. So much work, money getting short and thinking about the huge stack of credit card bills, bank notes and uncovered insurance bills on your desk waiting on you when you get home. Not paying attention, someone pulls out in front you, you swerve, hit an embankment. The other driver isn't hurt. At least it doesn't seem like it. You are okay just shaken. You exchange information. You are relieved.
You head to work. Boss looks quiet serious. No smiles today as he brings you into the office and let's you know the company is downsizing and here is one month's pay in advance. Find another job. Sorry. You are devastated.
Exhausted, you head home to your family and those lovely bills. You begin writing checks and balancing. Not much left and you can't pay your mortgage. Meanwhile, you cannot get your coworker off your mind. His image keeps popping into your head with that heavy look in his eyes and always rubbing his head. You are starting to understand now a little of why he was rubbing his head in frustration for you find yourself doing the same thing.
You begin to feel like you are in a drowning sea of problems. Now you have been outsourced, your home is being foreclosed upon and there is simply not enough. That lovely little mishap in the car, oh, it wasn't covered. Forgot to pay the premium. Now they want to sue.
Fast forward you and your family are struggling just to survive. Fighting for the home is long since gone, fighting keep the credit cards that are flooded by interest. Now the new baby and you family are in an apartment that barely fits you all and you don't know if you will be able to stay another month.
You go to the bathroom and wipe your face, there are those eyes. The same look in your coworkers eyes is now in yours. Now you see. How clearly you see.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Have Mercy!
Well, have mercy! Mercy me! Will you just please have some mercy? God have mercy. Now that one is my favorite. But I wonder, do we really know what it means?
I have said and heard these phrases more times than I care to count. We say or hear them often. Don't we?
Oh, we want mercy. We need mercy. But what is mercy?
Jesus said "blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." He also said if we do not have mercy none will be shown to us. Wow!
Merriam-Webster says that mercy is compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or other person in one's power. It is compassion, pity or benevolence, Merriam-Webster tells us. Hmmmmm...
So, I am sitting here doing some personal inventory. I had a situation happen yesterday. Well, it was so much more than a "situation". I had an agreement with someone on a contract. They didn't pay all that was owed according to the initial terms. I was so aggravated. I was flat angry still talking about it well into today.
Yet, I went to the dentist this morning. I needed his mercy. I needed some work done that I really couldn't afford. He gave it to me. It was amazing the mercy that was shown to me. Yet, not thinking about what I had just read the day before where Jesus was explaining to his disciples the parable about the wicked servant. Well, today I was that wicked servant. I continued complaining about the contract. As I was driving down the road, my car began smoking. It caught fire! I abruptly pulled over. As the smoke rolled out the vents and under my steering wheel, I thought of this client. I was angry about why this was happening to me. Yet, deep down I knew. There was a lesson here. I was about to learn it.
I thought about this and I'm thinking about it now. Jesus warned us so clearly. He was warning me.
After all it is He that gives us the ability to obtain wealth and not us by our own hands.
What is more important? My heart being right before God or more money in my account?
I am sitting here repenting. It doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong. God will sort all of that out.
What is most important is mercy, right?
I want to be merciful. Don't you? Learn about Mercy's Master Motive
I have said and heard these phrases more times than I care to count. We say or hear them often. Don't we?
Oh, we want mercy. We need mercy. But what is mercy?
Jesus said "blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy." He also said if we do not have mercy none will be shown to us. Wow!
Merriam-Webster says that mercy is compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or other person in one's power. It is compassion, pity or benevolence, Merriam-Webster tells us. Hmmmmm...
So, I am sitting here doing some personal inventory. I had a situation happen yesterday. Well, it was so much more than a "situation". I had an agreement with someone on a contract. They didn't pay all that was owed according to the initial terms. I was so aggravated. I was flat angry still talking about it well into today.
Yet, I went to the dentist this morning. I needed his mercy. I needed some work done that I really couldn't afford. He gave it to me. It was amazing the mercy that was shown to me. Yet, not thinking about what I had just read the day before where Jesus was explaining to his disciples the parable about the wicked servant. Well, today I was that wicked servant. I continued complaining about the contract. As I was driving down the road, my car began smoking. It caught fire! I abruptly pulled over. As the smoke rolled out the vents and under my steering wheel, I thought of this client. I was angry about why this was happening to me. Yet, deep down I knew. There was a lesson here. I was about to learn it.
I thought about this and I'm thinking about it now. Jesus warned us so clearly. He was warning me.
After all it is He that gives us the ability to obtain wealth and not us by our own hands.
What is more important? My heart being right before God or more money in my account?
I am sitting here repenting. It doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong. God will sort all of that out.
What is most important is mercy, right?
I want to be merciful. Don't you? Learn about Mercy's Master Motive
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The Workman Is Worthy
Why is that sometimes people feel as though others can work for free? They want to charge for their items or their service but somehow you should give them your product or your service at a discount or even better, just why not give it away free?
You have encountered this numerous times in business. Can you do this? What about that? Maybe a little bit more of this? How about a whole lot more of that? The answer is almost always yes with reserve. You are wondering. Is there an image that is being projected here that comes off as unworthy? Questions arise. So, yes, for this time, I will. The end result is irritation. So, how do you love them yet assert yourself in business?
Well, maybe that is why Jesus said "the workman is worthy of his hire". We are all worth something, obviously. After all, He paid the highest penalty of all for our sins. He shed His very precious blood so that we would not be condemn but they we may live. I think He sure thinks something of us.
Perhaps He wanted us to understand when people work, they should be compensated.
And you should think something of yourself. No too much, for on the other end, Jesus did warn us to "not think more highly of ourselves than we ought". We have to have a balance here.
So, if others don't feel you are worth it, just remember, you are. You are precious. You are worth it.
Go. Be prosperous and most of all, give back.
You have encountered this numerous times in business. Can you do this? What about that? Maybe a little bit more of this? How about a whole lot more of that? The answer is almost always yes with reserve. You are wondering. Is there an image that is being projected here that comes off as unworthy? Questions arise. So, yes, for this time, I will. The end result is irritation. So, how do you love them yet assert yourself in business?
Well, maybe that is why Jesus said "the workman is worthy of his hire". We are all worth something, obviously. After all, He paid the highest penalty of all for our sins. He shed His very precious blood so that we would not be condemn but they we may live. I think He sure thinks something of us.
Perhaps He wanted us to understand when people work, they should be compensated.
And you should think something of yourself. No too much, for on the other end, Jesus did warn us to "not think more highly of ourselves than we ought". We have to have a balance here.
So, if others don't feel you are worth it, just remember, you are. You are precious. You are worth it.
Go. Be prosperous and most of all, give back.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Removing My Face
I have had this love/hate relationship with Facebook for the last month. Well, that would be a very conservative figure. It's been much longer. It's just really begun to irritate me this last month. Discovering that one of my talents the Good Lord has blessed me with, I jumped with both feet in to begin another business, web design.
Being on Facebook wasn't a problem for me. Initially, I enjoyed it. I met new friends and reconnected with old ones. It was absolute bliss! I learned more about my friends, enjoying watching for their posts seeing what they were learning about life, the places they went and how their families were growing.
I was never a big social media fanatic. I never jumped on the MySpace bandwagon, wasn't much of a Twitterer, but this whole Facebook thing totally had me. The possibility of networking with other professionals and meeting people around the globe would be a great way to build my candle brand, Inspirational Candles. So, I grabbed my hat and jumped on that wagon and headed West!
I was a quick study! It wasn't long and I became an addict. I would check my account in the morning, afternoon, evening and before I went to bed. Pretty soon I was doing it soon as I got up. I didn't pay much attention to it until designing websites, I noticed that I checked it before I even read my Bible, prayed or started work. I watched for posts and email throughout the day while designing. It started taking more and more of my day.
I began talking to my friends about my feelings about this giant. I mean, c'mon, 300 million people or more are on this network. I felt quitting it would be quitting them somehow. I felt kind of guilty not to mention my children were on there. So, yeah, Mom abandons you on Facebook. Great. Questions swirled in my head like "How will I know what my kids are doing?" "How will I know how my friends are doing?" I looked down and my Smartphone which instantly became smarter.
As these questions bounced around in my head and in my heart, I was rebuilding my website for Inspirational Candles. As I completed the site, anxiously, I posted it to my Newsfeed on Facebook. I was excited! All the questions were being abated because I was thinking to myself perhaps I had it all wrong. I needed this giant. I built a network of 1,200 people. Then the inevitable happened. Facebook deleted my Newsfeed, called my content spammy and abusive. I was furious to begin with. So upset, I immediately notified my friends and family and began the process of deleting my account.
Once deletion process began, they actually posted pictures of friends and family, including my daughter, perhaps throwing a little guilt my way. I laughed, pressed deleted and took a deep breath.
The next day I opened my email and text messages. Friends and family have told me they also have been thinking about deleting their accounts because it is taking so much of their time. They were definitely going to limit their time. Did I start a revolution against a giant who has become a household name? I sincerely doubt it.
Have I started a revolution within myself? You bet!
In retrospect I think back and wonder how much time I spent there. Only God and Facebook knows. How much time I now spend doing things I am supposed to, that only God knows and with that, I am satisfied. I'm free!
Being on Facebook wasn't a problem for me. Initially, I enjoyed it. I met new friends and reconnected with old ones. It was absolute bliss! I learned more about my friends, enjoying watching for their posts seeing what they were learning about life, the places they went and how their families were growing.
I was never a big social media fanatic. I never jumped on the MySpace bandwagon, wasn't much of a Twitterer, but this whole Facebook thing totally had me. The possibility of networking with other professionals and meeting people around the globe would be a great way to build my candle brand, Inspirational Candles. So, I grabbed my hat and jumped on that wagon and headed West!
I was a quick study! It wasn't long and I became an addict. I would check my account in the morning, afternoon, evening and before I went to bed. Pretty soon I was doing it soon as I got up. I didn't pay much attention to it until designing websites, I noticed that I checked it before I even read my Bible, prayed or started work. I watched for posts and email throughout the day while designing. It started taking more and more of my day.
I began talking to my friends about my feelings about this giant. I mean, c'mon, 300 million people or more are on this network. I felt quitting it would be quitting them somehow. I felt kind of guilty not to mention my children were on there. So, yeah, Mom abandons you on Facebook. Great. Questions swirled in my head like "How will I know what my kids are doing?" "How will I know how my friends are doing?" I looked down and my Smartphone which instantly became smarter.
As these questions bounced around in my head and in my heart, I was rebuilding my website for Inspirational Candles. As I completed the site, anxiously, I posted it to my Newsfeed on Facebook. I was excited! All the questions were being abated because I was thinking to myself perhaps I had it all wrong. I needed this giant. I built a network of 1,200 people. Then the inevitable happened. Facebook deleted my Newsfeed, called my content spammy and abusive. I was furious to begin with. So upset, I immediately notified my friends and family and began the process of deleting my account.
Once deletion process began, they actually posted pictures of friends and family, including my daughter, perhaps throwing a little guilt my way. I laughed, pressed deleted and took a deep breath.
The next day I opened my email and text messages. Friends and family have told me they also have been thinking about deleting their accounts because it is taking so much of their time. They were definitely going to limit their time. Did I start a revolution against a giant who has become a household name? I sincerely doubt it.
Have I started a revolution within myself? You bet!
In retrospect I think back and wonder how much time I spent there. Only God and Facebook knows. How much time I now spend doing things I am supposed to, that only God knows and with that, I am satisfied. I'm free!
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