Wednesday; May 13

I am sure Saul of Tarsus thought he had it made.  He was a trusted part of the Jewish religious movement in Jerusalem.  He had been trained up for this moment and he had everything in place – the knowledge of the Law and a zeal to protect his faith.  Yes, he was where he was supposed to be ... or was he?  In a matter of a few days, he discovered a new destiny.  After meeting Jesus on the Road to Damascus, spending three days blind and fasting, then hearing Ananias telling him that he needed to change his lifestyle and perspective; Saul understood he had a new talent and a new mission.  Shortly after making this realization, the Lord related to him, “Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me ... Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” (Acts 22:18, 21).  Saul’s circumstances led him to a new realization about himself and a new path in life.
What have we learned about ourselves over the past few weeks?  Have we discovered some talent we didn’t know we had?  Have we felt the stirring to do something different with our lives?  Are we realizing that what we were doing before needs to be replaced with something more fulfilling?  If so, what are we going to do about it?  With many of our communities relaxing the constraints we have felt, we are at a crossroads in our lives.  We can fall back into our old ways or we can use this newfound realization or energy to lead us toward what we can be doing in the future.  There has been a lot of talk about our communities discovering a new normal, but that revised way of doing things doesn’t need to be reserved just for how we go to out to restaurants or the way we travel. 
Do we need to invest in a new normal in our own lives?  If so, it will never be easier to do it than it is right now!
         Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more