What does this stone remind you of? A reminder of reality…

Sixth of the Last 7

I met with a very dear friend before I came into work today, and he had just gotten back from Uganda. He explained how he was vividly living through the nightmare of openly seeing a young teenager being stoned to death for stealing food this past week, more than likely because the young adolescent was starving. My friend continually expressed remorse in the visualization of how that could have been his son, killed for the act of trying to survive the epidemic of starvation. The business entrepreneurs in this particular Ugandan city make a public spectacle of a thief to prevent others from stealing, making a visual memory of what to remember of those who do wrong, making an example of what the consequence is: a stoned death. There are not enough police to enforce/keep citizens from committing crimes. So naturally citizens take matters into their own hands with extreme measures in an attempt to prevent the country from tearing itself apart through unrest and wrongdoing like stealing. I doubt that most Americans can even fathom what this would be like. Whether we like what we do or not, many of us have a job, and for those who are seeking employment, the government pays you well for not having a job. Either way you probably have it pretty good considering you are not being stoned for the food you are trying to eat. An interesting question comes to mind: How many Ugandans could live off my daily intake of calories alone? We concern ourselves with losing weight with New Year’s resolutions we never keep; of course a Ugandan strives to gain a few pounds to avoid severe levels of malnutrition.

Teenagers in this country get a slap on the wrist for stealing a candy bar from a convenience store and in some ways may be encouraged to go do it again because there are no real consequences for doing it again. Our culture covers sin up with a dirty table cloth pretending that nothing is wrong.

I love to write and take photos…while the image at the beginning of this entry is not a pleasant one, I could see myself documenting such social injustices so that the Western civilization would wake up through the voice of someone who refuses to be quiet about such subject matter. Perhaps that is where my path should cross with my friend that I mentioned in the beginning of this blog entry. One of my favorites in ministry always says that “we are truly better together.” I would passionately serve in fighting for the documentation of such narratives with whoever might join hands with me. Maybe then people would come to God because they love Him in the gratefulness of their own hearts, rather than because they need something from Him….asking for a new car or retirement plan.

Westerners talk about their gratitude, saying all the right things about how we are blessed beyond belief, but I really think that many have no idea what the world is truly like. We work in our cubicles and think to pretend what really happens in other countries when many have never traveled outside of Alabama. This country hides sin where forgiveness becomes a ticket to indulge because we know that sins are still forgiven in salvation or at least they supposedly are. You were not the one throwing the stone in Uganda, but perhaps you are still the one holding it in the ignorance of living with a mask over your eyes. We do after all only see what we want to see.

The Pleasure and Patience of Agony

5^th of the Last 7

This year the Lord is teaching me patience on a new level. I am beginning to wonder if we must learn patience before we learn the pleasure of whatever God truly has in store for our next move in life. This would also involve the blessings of progress and personal growth in attaining that patience. Perhaps the longer the wait, the more agony we may experience, and therefore the greater the reward will be because with each passing moment we learn more patience, gaining a higher threshold each time. Hence there is pleasure in the agony of patience to the finish line. I am running my third and final race tomorrow in this twenty-one day challenge. I had a race each weekend of the twenty-one day Highlands challenge. At the finality of this weekend, I am learning that we may not be here tomorrow. The twenty-one day fast is not necessarily about the due diligence of drinking water living like Jesus in a desert for forty days and nights. I think it about lessons to take on as new seasons arrive for a new year. I have not been perfect in writing, running, and The Big Three each day, but I have made great strides! I am learning that goals take a moment by moment, step by step approach, moving forward. I often want to run the half-marathon today without training for the 5K first. Life does not work that way. We must work our way up through growing pains in agony, learning patience, to thus attain the pleasure in the reward of waiting for whatever God has waiting for us in the first place. Perhaps this is the twenty-one day lesson for me to walk forward with! I know most of us in our spiritual journey can relate to this process….we are after all humans who believe in the strength of the One who is Perfect. This process as a result gives us the strength in the patience that we need and perhaps even begin to want at the right moment in the right time. Celebrate with me in the agony we can experience together!

Laughter is Medicine to the Soul – It Keeps Us On Track!

Four of the Last 7

I stayed up last night looking at expensive camera equipment – like walking around Wal-Mart pretending to spend big money on Plasma television, there is something settling with a camera in my hand or my fingers on the keyboard writing (my current two favorite hobbies). The camera and Wal-Mart are truly my real happy places. I think we must remember our happy places in the bliss of smiles when everything else seems to just be stagnant. I am constantly told in the office that I am either crazy or that I am a mess, just meaning that I enjoy making others laugh saying ridiculous comments (respectful of course) to see their day shine even if under the skin mine is not so much. While many can look at life with an annoyingly positive attitude, which I am daily working on, my day routine does affect my mood at times. I have learned the hard way that we must settle into a vision where we know and believe that good things will happen. In belief we expect it to happen, knowing that God will come through. While you may not be laughing inside, laugh with God and those around you. There is no rocket science entry today but just a reminder that smiling and laughing can change your day even when you make others do the same. Growth comes with time and so do dreams with real hard work. But know that God provides good laughs as medicine to the soul to get through our own stagnant times.

Swing, Swing Away – You WILL Hit a Home Run Eventually!

3^rd of the Last 7

Have you ever felt like you were stuck? Today I spoke in conversation with an individual who said she was just tired of being “stuck” in life. I was not in a position to say that I agree with the potential client that I feel the same way because I am paid to portray that life is great and that everything is fine and that you should give your money to benefit those it goes to. Sometimes the counselor (ME) simply wants to say, “I understand how you feel more than you may know.” I sort of really do feel this way, stuck not really moving forward much in career, writing, photography, and/or even some ways in my spiritual life. I think we all ask, “When will I get that break?” With each inquiry for a new opportunity I send out, I ask myself this question almost every day in prayer or reflection. “God, I need you, and while I am extremely grateful for all that you have recently done for me, please answer my prayers so I feel fulfilled each day I walk on this Earth.” I would say that in relationship God and I are super tight, but in my everyday routine there is not much excitement. Things are not bad, but the wave is not so high that I am about to crash with glee and join Barnum-Bailey Circus.

For a baseball metaphor, I think in these “sort-of type” circumstances you really must swing, swing, and swing away in hopes that a break will come. Pick up the bat, and keep going. I believe that I or you will eventually hit a homerun. It is a matter of probability. If you keep trying through perseverance, you will knock it out of the park. You must trust God and in doing so trust yourself and what you are doing. Tony Dungy would often say in many of his books, “We must do what we do and continue to do what we do” (day in and day out working for the championship). That same applies to you. The same applies to me. We must do what we do. Those who thrive on motivation do not feel Tinker Bell dust everyday where they feel like clowns they are so excited for each second we live. We all have our doubts in the hard work and the dreams we pursue. Those who are truly motivated are those who try even when they do not feel like it. They still swing no matter how they feel.

My challenge to you and myself today is this: keep swinging! Swing, swing away! And with angels in the outfield, the homerun will soon take care of itself with God’s blessing, at least that is my hope.

Which Land Is Easier - Overseas or Here in the United States?

2^nd of the Last 7

This thought often crosses my mind in regards to faith, whether we as Americans (or politically correct, United States citizens) have it so good when we have it so comfortable. Opportunities are ample for us. While there might be some repercussions my parents do not necessarily support because they do not want me to live at home forever, even though I would be totally cool with that, I could quit my job and do almost whatever I put my mind to. It may not be the most responsible thing to do, but over time with the support of my own network of friends and family, it might be doable! We are very blessed but also very naïve at the same time. We worry about really dumb miscellaneous petty thoughts like what a person thinks when we first meet, what I will order for dinner at a sit-down restaurant, or perhaps “I do not like the way that preacher talks; therefore I will not go to his church anymore.”

I am not sure such choices are so eternally good for us. We become picky. We become fickle. We in many ways really never have it that hard compared to so many countries around the world. Our stomachs are often full with a Crackle Barrel breakfast. Our gas tanks are filled so we can go to work to make a decent living. We go to school to make more money over time to be more comfortable with more things, more ambitions, and more goals all the while forgetting about our brothers and sisters in Christ who have absolutely NOTHING! ….yet we marvel at their faith on how they praise the name of God as loud as a tractor trailer passing on the freeway. Such individuals have audacious faith that have been challenged with no food, with no clothing, with no medicine, or with nowhere to sleep – they have no other option than to depend on God. They just do.

I even catch myself complaining about the stupidest circumstances when things really are great! Our God has given us so much that we should praise Him before things get to the point of desperation where we must come to Him. We should praise Him all the more because things are good. You might even find yourself receiving more blessings when you praise God for the blessings you already have!

I often hear about individuals who come home from overseas projects and missions trips with changed lives because of the other side of life they always knew about but never bothered to open their eyes to (consciously knowing in the back of their mind that people died of starvation or leprosy). I would encourage anyone to go overseas that has not already been there (in an Eastern culture where hardship is prevalent). See others who must become desperate for God in their desperate circumstances because they have no other option than to believe right now!

I admire the believer who has a yearning to worship and praise God genuinely without life-changing circumstances. Those rare people do not complain. They just believe, and as others in dire need believe in countries, that is how I want to believe. That is how I want to live. I have seen the world and thus benefitted from it, but in the New Year, I am pursuing God just because I want to, not because I need to or have to out of desperate and extreme measures. I am desperate for God simply because He loves me, and beyond that, like my open-eyed brothers and sisters in other countries, I realize that is the only passion that truly matters, the sacrifice of a Son on the Cross.

1st of the last 7 – Peace Upon Us – By Design

“Then you will safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:23-24 NKJV

I am trying my very best to finish this last week with all the goals of 21 Days of Prayer that I had in mind at the very beginning. So far today, God and I are doing great, meaning that we are off to the right start. Over the past fourteen days, there were always a few days where I fell off, where I would not exercise, or I would find some excuse to not do one of the spiritual three truths, to exercise, to write, usually because I did not want to get up that early in the morning or that I did not want to stay up that late. The one thing I did not do was beat myself up. I have learned that guilt over time will destroy more than it will ever build you up. I guess it is true when someone days you are your best friend or your worst enemy.

If I ever lose sleep, it is because my mind is racing about the future, not being where I would like to be as a young professional. I do not worry about it, like fretting. I have come to grips with the fact that life is a step by step process, moving forward one minute at a time. Its takes time to get to the top. Before the age of twenty-nine, I may have even been naïve to think I would start on the top or that I would get the top easily because I know languages, have traveled the world, and got a Master’s degree. I am finding out that you have to crawl, scrape, and fight tooth for tooth and nail for nail to finish the race to do the Big Things in the States, to publish a national seller, to marry a Godly woman, to graduate with yet another credential, to start a photography business, to plant life, and to serve others through a self-initiated nonprofit….not losing vision in the discouragement of doing/facing something you do not necessarily like in the meantime. I know many of us get tired of performing tasks for the sake of paying bills, or at least I do.

I mentioned “peace upon us” because I believe it is “by design” to ask God for what we believe or see as impossible but to know deep down in our hearts that it is still possible with God in the works. The peace comes from the faith in knowing that faith factor of truth. Ask and receive. While we think it is not that easy, I am trying in 2012 to make it that way. By design, God wants to bring peace to our lives and our sleep by allowing and giving up the big things for His discretion and His timing. Confidently believing in this reality will bring the peace you may seek in knowing that God has a purpose for your life. Believe it, and do anything and everything with every tenacious bone in your body to achieve it.

Oh yeah, Aubie knows who’s number one – War Eagle, HEY!

The Definition of the Verb Engagement by MOM –

When I heard the word “engagement,” my heart sunk to the bottom of my chest because I thought my son of almost-thirty had moved out of our house to join the wife of his dreams, but then I realized my boss just wanted me to define a public speaking term.

The engagement of communication occurs on two accords: the individual and the group. Engagement is the capacity to relate from another’s perspective while in communication with that individual. You attempt to understand a paradigm where an effort to do so is reciprocated and gratefully appreciated from the corresponding individual where communication is asymmetrical (an active effort of speaking and listening two ways).

While the gift to engage on a personal level is trait all spend a lifetime to perfect (Important side note: I think that is called marriage.), engaging an audience of size moves with feeling and tapping into the emotions to motivate and inspire. If you are not able to engage an audience, then they may simply fall asleep. Even in the most trivial of topics, you must feel as they feel, do as they do, or get on the level of those you are speaking to. The honest observation of most public servants or leaders is that they can rarely relate to the lifestyle of those they speak to. Like the individual, you must connect on a group-wide scale within five minutes. Engagement in this element is the ability to relate, understand, and connect with audience members in a manner that changes lives and moves minds to work towards and through common vision. Engagement is a true gift that only few successful orators possess. It is a level of engagement that is more difficult to attain than individualistic engagement. Some of us are born to engage. Others are born to follow those who can.

While I would like my son to be engaged and move out, let’s just settle with this: Engagement is genuine connection through relationship. If you can relate, you can engage and therefore connect. It occurs on an individual and group level, the later being more difficult than the first.

*** Special Note: Do not tell Mom’s boss, but I think the author of this blog helped her with this homework assignment. ***

Okay, this is what Mom wished REALLY happened! This dude is a super smoother operator from the one and only Plains of Auburn.