Never underestimate the difference you can make

“Underestimating the importance of your ability to contribute and the role you could play virtually eliminates any chance you will make a difference in anything” - THM There are many problems in the world around us. If you live here in Kentucky then we can create a list rather quickly of issues that need attention, problems that seem to persist that need addressing and people all around us need encouragement and hope. The value of our individual lives we seem to be have plenty of experience with discarding as useless or considering to be of no value worth sharing with anyone. Nothing could be further from the truth even if we believe we are a waste of time and energy, no one ask for our opinion or thinks we have anything to say. Even if that’s true, pay no attention to what others believe and don’t allow someone else’s thinking to be your driving force in life. YOU MATTER. Your opinion matters and because of your life experiences you have a depth of wisdom from your journey to share. It is possible that one could think more highly of themselves than we should, but flipping the coin to embrace the attitude you have no value is just as destructive. Self value is an approach to self worth that you place on your life. Underestimating this ability places you in a deficient that could be challenging to overcome. Keeping approaches and attitudes in healthy balances makes a big difference in our lives and in our ability to help others. One doesn’t have to know it all, or know everything to be of assistance or an aid to others, but one must be willing to be whatever part we can play to the benefit of others. One important role we can all play is listening. This doesn’t mean listening and multitasking at the same time, this mean stopping what you’re doing and giving them your undivided attention. There is no greater feeling in the world then believing someone cares enough to listen! Imagine the difference if we all took time to be a true listening ear to a friend or even a stranger. Imagine they're self worth from the conversation once you parted ways. Imagine the well being feeling all because we stopped in our travels to give a listening ear to another. The difference that can be made in the lives of others are countless, all because we have confidence in ourselves. Our contributions could be timeless all because we extended a helping hand, aided someone in their distresses, or offered to help, if they were willing to receive our aid. Think about that friend that needs a home cooked meal. The difference that can be made through a meal of encouragement will likely never be forgotten, especially if given to a hungry soul. Consider the opportunity to be a friend to someone that needs real friends. Too often we see someone and who they are running with, but yet we stay away at a safe distance and continue to observe from afar, thinking how dire straight their situation is, yet we remain unengaged. Our ability to contribute is a constantly appearing opportunity. Don’t become immune to the opportunities before you. With each push aside, deflection, or taking our eyes and looking the other way, we dull our senses too moments in which our lives could make all the difference to someone else. In life I’ve discovered that falling into patterns works both ways. You could haver a pattern of good or create a pattern of positive, it doesn’t have to be always negative. This Christmas we should be looking for opportunities to make a difference and we should be looking to create positive patterns as our natural reaction or response. Just imagine the difference we could make if this were true. Until then

So you've fallen way behind?

“When you finally admit you are so far behind in life that do you duo? Admitting you’ll never catch backup with what you should have done, what do you do next?” This was the exact question I asked myself back on December 6, 2020. In August 2020 I began sharing my personal reflections through social media like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This thought was on day 105 of 365 that I was celebrating. Beginning in October of 2014 I began to face some challenging health issues related to diabetes coupled with arthritis that literally took me off my feet. Those challenges would continue through May 2020. I simply do not have enough space in this column to share all that the journey entailed but I’ve got plenty of stories and experiences that I would love to share with your church, club, organization or group of friends. Falling behind has many elements that can contribute to the burden of begin so far behind. It would be great if we could name one thing that put us in the “far behind status”. Honestly if we could identify the very first second that such begins we could nip that off immediately and that would help us stop the slippery slope. If I want to encourage myself I should tell my inner being that admitting the fact I am behind is the first step in correcting the issue…if you are laughing with me that makes me happy, because I’m not alone, you understand. The question asked was to solicit answers from followers and readers in dual purpose. One goal was to double check myself and my thinking and the second goal was to motivate others and myself that even when we are not where we want to be, and even though we have lost our footing on where we were, we should never stop moving our feet forward. I received response: Kenny Peace said, “No timer like the present. Get Up and get moving..Never too late to maker a changer got there better…”. Ed Arnold wrote: “Topical joke: “God put me on earth to do a certain number of things, I have the confidence in knowing that I’m so far behind I probably will never die.” Jim Mills, Jr., said “Today is a new day. Ask God to help you accomplish what he needs you to do and the rest will simply fall in place.” There are three responses to my question. Motivation isn ever easy, but “preaching to the choir” is a real thing for me. The choir needs a good word too, in order to stay on track. The choir needs to be challenged to sing with new energy and emotion, finding new ways to grow while staying the course with singing too. Motivating ourselves is never easy but necessary. I discovered that using the encouragement of others is a great tool at motivating myself to keep moving. The worse possible decision once we have fallen behind is to decide that there is nothin we can do now and simply give up. Then the piles will get higher and higher building mountains to climb in our daily lives and living. God’s Word is a great motivator when we feel like we are in such a state of being. One action that we can without question take when we find ourselves I such a spot is to forgive ourselves for the failure that’s on us. We normally are willing to forgive others but we find it nearly impossible to forgive ourselves. Our failures are not to her taken lightly, but we too deserve grace and mercy. It is just not an action for others, but us as well. Another action we can take is the the correct steps when we realize we have been going in the wrong direction. Falling behind includes the element of a lack of attention and standing still while things around us are moving. Taking action is important on our own behalf. If you are the type of person that runs to help rescue others but does nothing to help yourself, then that we can certainly correct. We as individuals must stay healthy in order to help others. If we don’t care for ourselves then we will discover we will soon be unable to care for anyone else. Acknowledging we have fallen behind is the perfect opportunity to clear out that which is in front of us and begin to deal with those things that are directly in-front of us. First steps, that the requirement to get up and walking again no matter where we find ourselves. Until then

Love came down at Christmas

Days have a way of creeping up on us and days have a way of passing by so quickly. It is quite possible that I have connection with days that may seem weird to many. When I was a teenager, my mother bought me my first journal. I started then writing things down. Recording events, happenings in my life, people, feelings, if you can name it I’ve written about it to myself. In the 56th year of my life, I recorded my thinking in a different way. I shared through social media my daily thoughts of encouragement. Things that I wondered about, believed, had confidence in and encouraged myself with. On the 301st day of the 56th year of my life I wrote: “The greatest gift is love. The most precious gift is time. Opportunity is where these two change lives”. Following Thanksgiving, Christians began a Season in their lives referred to as Advent. Advent is about the coming of the Lord as the Savior of the World. I’ve been thinking this year as the 4 weeks before Christmas arrived that Advent is really a “seekers” celebration. We Christians might hold the time dear because of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but Advent this year I have been thinking about back to a time before I knew Jesus personally. As a person who was just living life, day by day, doing what I’m thinking most of us do, just living and whatever happens, well, just happens. That’s rather carefree living but as a “seeker’ there is something in life that I know is missing. “Seekers’ have this feeling inside but we can’t seem to put our finger on what’s happening. So we keep looking, we live our lives in such a way that we are hoping whatever is missing, we will bump into it. The Wise men in the Christian narrative of the birth of Jesus were seekers. The difference between them and many wondering people is that they had seen His Star in the East and we're on a journey to find the Christ child because they had seen. Christmas I sum up in the words “Love Came Down at Christmas”. The greatest gift in this world is love. Love has been defined by Jesus and what He did for us that we could not do for ourselves. Love’s characteristics have been defined by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Love is the gift that changed everything. The dually important and equal gift in life is also time. If you searched the Bible you will find plenty about time, how it has operated, how time has been recorded through the lives of so many individuals and how time has been noted through history. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 has a great collection of issues, themes, discoveries, and truths about time. It is often referred to as a time for everything when quoting headlines of scripture. Time is that unique moment that when it happens, it is now or never. My quote references love and time as two of the greatest gifts. The element that brings these two into perfect harmony is opportunity. If you have love, but don’t give it away, what is its value? If you are looking for recognition that you have love in your possessions, congratulations on hanging on to love, but if you are only holding it, what remains its value if not used? Time is not a difficult concept to understand. It ticks away in seconds. I would suggest the easiest way to grasp the concept of time is to simply sit around, do nothing and let time just tick away. I’ve responded to the question before, “what are you doing?”, with the answer nothing, which could be either really sad because I was just in a state of lack of purpose, and had been wasting time, or it could be the perfect moment because I could be free and available, which is opportunity for me. Love, time and opportunity, three great companions of change! I am not sure how you spend your days or record your time, but both are important tools that when mixed with opportunity will allow us to use what we possess for change. Until then

Focus, distraction, discouragement, vision and hope

The world is a busy place, even if you live here in Southeastern Kentucky. Sometimes we have the tendency to think that the rest of the world is busy busy while things here never change, the world has already passed us by and we are in slow mode and nearly void of the rest of the world’s problems because of such. If that’s your thinking, I would suggest for your consideration that there is a difference between feelings and reality. Feelings have the easiest track into our lives to misdirect us, lead us down emotional stair cases and to put such weight on our shoulders that we feel completely stuck in the mud, with no hope of getting out. Along the by-ways and highways of life we each will face moments in our travels that we overtake us or that we will overcome. My personal encouragement, “Don’t be distracted and don’t get discouraged. Focus eliminates distraction and vision creates hope”. Focus is that which causes us to fix our eyes and energies toward our goals or need to discover solutions. Focus is that which requires us to create an action plan of steps. Focus is a process of eliminating distractions from the answer. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in life is focusing on all the reason why I wasn’t able to accomplish my task. Maybe your like me and you could spend days pointing out to all our sympathizers the issues that others created, the problems that others should have dealt with on their own time but no, their issues become ours and they are to blame for our lack of achievement. I feel better already having written that and gotten the truth out there…..of course that’s the way we feel…..and all that has created the perfect distraction that is almost a guaranteed remedy for failure in reality. Focus is the answer for discouragement. Once we have allowed our feelings to take over our emotional well being, we have lost whatever ground we had hopes of achieving. There is no more of defeated state of being that realizing all we had worked for seems to have been lost in a single moment because of our action or lack there of. Discouragement is that which creeps up on you. If discouragement had the characteristic of jumping out at you and announcing itself we would all no doubt t punch discouragement right in the throat, or at least that would be my first thought. However discouragement doesn’t work that way. Ot happens little by little and it arrives at your doorstep without the slightest observation that it was even walking up your sidewalk. When we take hold of our reality and align it with focus it is amazing what happens to distractions and discouragements. We will always have distractions in life. We will always have things that will interest us and can easily get our attention creating a perfect distraction from the things at hand and the foundation we are attempting to build and build upon. Don’t be distracted, remain focused. Focus will lead to success, but the process is not an overnight experience. Focus creates hope because with each step of success we are learning along the way we can overcome issues instead of being overtaken by them. We learn that because of that type of success we discover vision because we are not drowning in hopelessness. Vision is a product of focus by which discouragement is eliminated and replaced with hope. If we are removing one thing from our lives, life has a requirement that it be replaced with something else. Our choice regarding what we are removing and replacing is all on us individually. Our attitude in life has influences that impact our way of thinking. Situations and various circumstances we have encountered also have an impacts on our attitude. These truths however do not eliminate our personal responsibility for that which we can control. Focus, distraction, discouragement, vision, and hope. These five elements are generally in close proximity to each other at all times. The amount of attention and focus we give to these different characteristic elements play a huge role in our life’s journey. Will you be distracted at times in life, yes. Will you become discouraged as you live, go and do, absolutely. Should we leave these two D’s by themselves? No! Focus is the answers as it lays out a welcome mat in our lives, inviting vision and hope to come on in. Until then

Thanksgivings and people. Trosper Buchanan, Jonah Lewis and Bo Brown

Presently I am in the midst of what I have hash tagged as #thanksgivings. Thanksgivings are those people, places, experiences or books that have each enriched my life on their own merits. Growing up I had the concept in my mind that thanksgivings are a one day a year moment in time. Of course I would right? After all Thanksgiving only happens one day each year and after that day of turkey, ham and cranberry sauce, we were off to “ho ho day”, when Santa Clause comes to town. As I have aged my mindset has changed from a one day a year time of thanks, to a year long attitude of thanks as each day passes and especially during the fall season I have #thanksgivings that I especially point out, highlight or acknowledge. The importance of life and the quickness of time has played two big roles in my change of attitude. In our youth we often skip over the meaning of moments in life. I can easily become sad reflecting on the conversations I’ve missed or the lack of understanding on how important some situations are. By reflecting, I pray I have sharped my skills in recognizing the importance of opportunities. Today my skill set recognizes the many #thanksgivings I have daily. Too often we get caught up making big to-do’s over one activity, event or experiences that we miss the next one coming toward us head-on. Take for example meeting people. I realize that some folks are so-called shy and they just don’t feel comfortable introducing themselves, or saying hello without someone else speaking, but that just not me. First, I know what it is to want to be left alone, I get those moments, but everyone deserves an acknowledgment. Does it take time, yes it does. Will it slow you down some, yes it will. What will you miss because you walked on by?, only Heaven knows but I’m one to not take many chances on missing anything that Heaven might have in-store for me, so I’ll probably be that guy reaching out his hand to shake, (even during Covid) and yes, I’ll probably be that guy saying hello or asking a question without any formal introduction. My #thanksgivings include some of the neat people I’ve met. Call me selfish if it helps you get outside yourself, but you might miss the very answer you’ve been search for through an introduction. Recently I traveled to Mercer County to watch Trosper Buchanan play in a high school football game. I said hello to two student athletes who were kinda standing off by themselves. I met Jonah Lewis and Bo Brown. I learned about Jonah and his desire to come to Union College in Barbourville, Ky…(I know what’s that odds of that, he and I meeting each other, oh the connections we talked) and Bo Brown, who is just a junior is already planning out his career choices and direction too. He had his heart set on the University of Louisville. Both kickers on the football team and both soccer players too. Trosper Buchanan’s grandfather is Ernie Trosper. Ernie’s connection to Union College and the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival are legendary indeed. Every football game needs sports officials and during a dead moment in the sideline I asked the linesman, did I hear the announcer say that Doug Chaney was the referee for tonights game? When this guy said, are you Tim H Mills?, my response yes, he said, it’s me, Mike Helton..lol. Doug’s father and I officiated sports together, I remember Doug and his brother when they were growing up. Mike I have known forever too. Life, ministry, community, all just a part of the blessings to me. I’m just thankful for the blessing of meeting folks throughout my life, all a part of my #thanksgivings 2021 Until then

Clueless Thanks

My personal list of things I have attempted to go after head on is so long that there is no real way for me to publish such a list of those moments. I’ve wanted to charge forward on so many situations believing I could help and because I had a desire to help too. If there is any such self-reflection in your life I’m sure you could create a list as well of such times in your life. In 2020 I began sharing from my personal journal written thoughts throughout my social media daily. I shared thoughts I was thinking, pictures that reflected a specific moment of thought, scripture, quotes, whatever was my focus of the day, I shared via twitter and Facebook. The 365 thoughts were a part of my desire to write a daily devotional book of encouragement, motivation, a reflection on Christianity and my personal thoughts as just another person living life as each day unfolded. On the 63rd day of my 56th year of life I recorded: “I thank God for all the things I haven’t a clue He has shielded and protected me from, which are countless no doubt. What can you name you know He has protected you from? #THM #56-63” Today as I continue to work toward completion of that project I find myself again thankful for all the things I haven’t a clue He intervened on my behalf. I do have a list of things I can name that there is no doubt He stepped into within my life and shielded me from. That list includes situations where I knew better than to get involved with, and only time proved His intervention was so “right on time”! My moments include relationships, purchases, trips and conversations. Sometimes our decision making ability seems to be infected with a virus of stupidity…go ahead, laugh at me if it helps you see those moments in your life where we reflect back and say “what was I thinking?” But what about all the times we are clueless about where we cannot see the direct hand-i-work of God in intervention mode? When I think about these moments, I think the only way to experience such wonders in question is by simply living a life of faith where we are doing what we should be doing and not questioning every step and decision involved in the moment. Should I pray…why wouldn’t we be praying all the time? Do we really need God to come and hold our hand and walk us through life like our parents did the first time we went to school and we had to leave the safety net they had built around us? We know what our parents had taught us thus far in life. At that age, if you have a question ask. If you don’t know what to do, ask. If you need help, ask the teacher. However, that which we know to do we should do automatically. Our parents taught us, if someone else is talking, listen. If you need help raise your hand. If you are told to go stand in line and be quiet, do it, you know how, follow the rules, or listen to the instructions. Such guidelines are here to help us navigate this new world of school safely. Faith and God’s all protecting hand is also there and we should find our spirit of thanksgivings readily available given the fact we know we can easily mess things up in seconds that took quite a while to construct. The ever protecting hand of God is always at work, actually His skill is so awesome we might even think we traversed such obstacles in life because we are a good decision maker or planner, all the while, forgetting to thank God for His interventions. Let us never forget to thank God for the things were are clueless about. Until then

Traveling connected

“It is easy in life to travel the wrong road spiritually. Just think about the last time you were traveling and lost. You kept driving along thinking I’m gonna see something that will help, but there is nothing on the wrong way that does”. #THM I have logged many miles on like’s highways. These logged miles include walking on foot, in a car, on a bus, in the air on a plane, by horse, and 4-wheeler to name some of my personal modes of travel. In each of these experiences I have looked for familiar sights that I recognize. Air travel I never had figured out how to spot the sights I need for reference. I’ve flown into the Northern Kentucky Greater Cincinnati Airport hundreds of times and seems like every flight travels from some new direction and I know there are only two approaches to the airport, so go figure my thinking. Life is often this way. We should be able to figure something out, but we don’t. We should be able to recognize where we are, yet it is so tough to do. We should be able to get our bearings but this is much more challenging to do at times than at others. As a Christian I have found myself in many a mess spiritually. I realize that this confess is tough for some to admit, but it helps me as a Christian to admit how easy it is for me to make a mess. The challenge for me as a Christian is staying in touch with my base, my base foundation being Jesus Christ. My communication connections are prayer, Bible study, listening to sermons and messages, reading the Bible for pleasure and allowing God to speak into my life. Thankfully the pilots of the airplanes I have flown have been in constant contact with air traffic control. A super system if you will, that allows for radar tracking contact, vision contact, radio contact, each with a specific purpose and yet each playing their part in the big picture of safe air travel. These features between the airplane and air traffic control helps keep the plane on target and on the correct coordinates that will land the plan in on the proper runway and even get we passengers to the proper gate for disembarking the plane. Really amazing how all these work together for the end product. It is possible that one of these different elements could be lost for a time period and all things still operate safely. For example radar and visual are important and we need both but there was a time that pilots landed plans by visual sight alone without radar. Radio communications are important, but with a clear understanding of what needs to happen, things can go on safely without incident if everyone does \their part and what they know to do and what others are expecting them to do. In the Christian life, sometimes we are absent some of the important elements that helps us as Christians navigate the journey of life, spiritually. Sometimes we forget to pray, sometimes we haven’t read our Bible, or taken time to make sure we remain solidly grounded by keeping all our contact points clean and grounded. I believe it is easy to travel down the wrong road and we help that dilemma because we keep traveling thinking we are going to see something that will immediately provide us our bearings and foundation again. Stay connected might not be easy always, but it is a sure way to travel safely. Until then

The value of life, you decide

The 56th year of my life was personally documented with daily published thoughts, expressions, photos, ideas and questions through Facebook and Twitter. Highlighting you're thinking through social media was challenging for me. I took this course of action as a way to publicly share my self-motivations, thoughts on Christianity, my attitude about life and what keeps me smiling. I have written personal journals throughout my lifetime, but never have I attempted to condense my thoughts down to 280 characters or less. I remain fully committed to the thought that most people like to think they will always remember what we believe, shared or the stories we told, but with time and age memories sadly fade. However that which we write down becomes a recorded part of history about us, our life, and all that we write about, that will never fade away. “The value of life is one lived where a difference is made in the lives of others”, my written thought for day 329, which occurred on July 23, 2021. I have the practice of identifying key words from a sentence and then putting them together and seeing if they communicate the same intent. It’s kinda my own sentence diagram and in this case, the message communicates strongly for me. Value, life, difference, others. One of the greatest opportunities we have in life is the gift of observation. Having the chance to see and watch others and to witness how they live their lives is one outstanding teacher. I would never suggest that one embraces freely and without any cost analysis the impact of following the leader, but to see the positive and the negative provides a clear picture of what is best for you. To question the value of life, I’ve see the value be placed at such a low cost. The value has such a low threshold that mentally one could care less whether you had it or didn’t. Thats not the value I have for myself or anyone else. Attempting to give others value can be an up hill battle especially if they have never cherished life nor considered what an appropriate appraisal would look like. Selfishness is one of the easiest traits that can develops and grow. Without consistent checks and balances you can be overwhelmed in no time flat. In developing land, environmentalist, engineers, and contractors are always interested in the “Impact Study”. What is going to happen if we do this, or if we do that? The same is true for individuals and this one life we have to live. The difference I want to make in others is positive, but I know my short-comings and how easy it is to miss the desired impact, but I won’t miss it because of a lack of effort. Real friendship and investment allows for honesty to be a hallmark of ones life, surrounded by mutual respect and appreciation. Failures, when shared constructively, are an awesome tool of learning and difference making. I am not sure what you consider your life purpose to be. I don’t know how you evaluate if a life lived was a good one or not, but for me, I’m watching to see the impact of your life on others, then that will tell me a big chunk of who you are. Life can be filled with quotes, phrases, thoughts and ideas, but if action is never taken purposely to intentionally make a difference in the lives of others, I would say you missed the value of life completely. Until then

The Joy of Life

Oh the joy of life! I write this knowing very well, personally, that there have been moments and times in life where to mark them off as joy would seem to be a lie I’m attempting to convince myself that it is true. Not sure if you have ever been in one of those types of situations, but there is no way we can check such off the list as joy righty? We might check it off as hurtful, a struggle, unacceptably or as bad, but we reserve the thoughts of joy for moments of pure pleasure, celebrations and complete happiness. Joy, in Christian circles is often expressed as “Joy comes in the morning”, but do you know what that means? Sometimes peopler are described as joyful, does that mean they are like “happy crazy”? Joy certainly has several different images to display but my statement, “oh the joy of life” is a vastly encompassing phrase for me. Joy arriving in the morning indicates that wherever we are presently, if we allow a sunset and a sunrise things can are different. I‘ve had those 245 hour turn arounds, but most of mine moments are like a 72 hour deal, when I’m looking for the sun to come up. I find joy in life because I have learned some Biblical truths that have become foundational truths in my life. Anyone can shout in church when things are going great. A matter of fact I know a lot of “good time church shouters”! Those folks who when life is going great have the most uplifting comments to share, they have a smile on their face when your frown is about to fall from your skin. However when the road moves from 4 lane interest travel down to a one lane dirt path the positive shouting has disappeared just like that great paved highway of travel has too. The purpose in life and the purpose for living seems to have vanished in a puff of wind. It is in these moments that the joy of life will be required to put on a full frontal assault against the enemy. James, the brother of Jesus Christ writes in the Book of James, chapter 1, verse 2, “…count it all joy when you fall into temptation”. Counting trails as temptations as positive doesn’t sound very honest or realistic, but I believe it is totally both! Let’s be honest, have you ever laughed and cried at the same time? Life, some want it to be either one way or the other, but for me I’ve found is a mixture of sunshine and rain, happiness and pain. Oh the joy of life, it is an expression of thankful, for me, that I get to experience all of life’s journey experiencers. Good things and bad things. They are going to happen, we plan for the good, but the bad arrives uninvited every time. Does this mean we quit?, no. We keep pressing through, we keep attempting to get another angle of view, we push our way through or we seek to find a detour to get around the mess we’ve found ourselves in and we do it all for the joy of living life. We need to count our joys in every chance we have to count a joy. Make a joy if necessary but never lose purpose that our attitude matters when we are discussing our joy definition and our living of life experience. Are the next words to be spoken from your mouth going to be “Oh the joy of life”? They should be, others are looking for hope and it could be your words unlock their vault that is a spring of joy that will sustain them through anything. Until then

The options of discovery are around us

If you know what God uniquely gifted and purposed you to do then the question about what you should be doing is answered very quickly. Knowing what are talents and skill set is provides us a complete foundation for happiness and direction for our lives. Talking with individuals can often be challenging because many times we simply have no clue about what we are suppose to do, what makes us happy or what are next step is from where we currently stand. Most often I will hear people say “you know that’s a good question”, when asked what they want to do. Or something like”I just can’t make my mind up” when wondering which direction to go. Attempting to figure out for myself, the answers to those questions, are more than challenging. Most of the time we are concerned about making the right decision but we spend more time worrying about making the wrong decision, and thus we become stuck, not moving in any direction, and we basically do nothing at all when in this type of position. Having been whereof I am writing I can say with total confidence I get the feeling and I understand the frustration. However, when I began to understand that God had a plan for my life, things began to change. I discovered having a foundation from which to evaluate and judge my actions and dreams from was a game changer for me. I know I am a Christian. I may not always act like a Christian, my words may not always sound like a Christian but I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever in whose I am. Because I believe this to be a fact for me in my life, I have continued my search in seeking what talents He gifted me with. I have been in a long on going search for many years about His purpose for my numbered days here on earth. While I have not discovered all the answers I’ve sought, and while I have not always received immediate answers for my questions, my faith in Jesus Christ has been strengthen because I at least know some of what He had gifted me to do. One of the challenges in confirming the foundation on which we stand, surrounds the issuer of what we know. Most often we like to know and understand everything before we jump in, at least that is a normal caution when it comes to Christianity. Yet in life, there are plenty of things, too many to write about that we volunteer to do, join in on awhile we haven’t the slightest clue as to what is going to be required, we just join in. Given these truths we all can identify with, why is it we are so slow to join in on God’s band wagon of activities, purpose and calling? Why are we so slow to react to happiness and direction when it is available to us through several discovery channels? We can pray and ask God for clarification. We can listen to His messengers who preach and share God’s truths from the Bible, we can be encouraged and directed through music that honor and glorifies God and we can ask questions of others in how they found their purpose, gifts and talents, if we would engage in that conversation. The options of discovery are around us, I’m just figuring that we really don’t want to know. Maybe we think we are not obligated if we don’t really know or especially if we don’t ask. Like there is some chance we are not held accountable if we don’t acknowledge there could be answers if we only ask God for His help. Avoiding the question or avoiding the issue, some believes will solve the problem because the issue is just not addressed. That would be a false truth, even if people act as if the practice is valid. I want to be happy in life. I have found my greatest happiness when I serve God and I am following His plan. For me, a part of that is just loving people. All people, whoever they are, and wherever they are. I’m not a pre-condition type preacher either. No pre-requirements in seeking Him or attempting to discover your talents or your purpose by His design. The only requirement I find in scripture would be you asking Him to help you see. Until then

What was the last thing?

The subject of personal responsibility no doubt conjures up in your thinking thoughts that the hammer is about to fall on someone. I’m agreeing with you if that’s you're thinking because that is normally the situation. A failed follow through, a slacked response to an urgent situation or a totally disregard of a concern now has consequences of which we are about to be held fully responsible. I would like to direct the thought of personal responsibility toward myself and to the fact that I have publicly announced that I believe in Jesus Christ and I believe He is the Son of God. This confession is not just a word statement but it is also an action statement where my words and action are working in conjunction with each other in a positive manner for the cause. Often personal responsibility is held accountable in professional office settings, in meetings of leadership with businesses and organizations and even in the public view as things relate to legal court proceedings. I have heard some individuals assume their personal responsibility for words, actions, situations and such with the attitude that it relates only to them, and them alone. Their decisions don’t have any impact on others. This attitude is often heard in an expression like “this is my business and it doesn’t have anything to do with you.” John Donne was an English poet and he coined the phrase “No Man is an Island”. The meaning is quite simply, we are all connected, even if we chose not to be. For Christians and for our personal responsibilities as followers of Jesus, our responsibility is to Jesus Christ as His disciple. This relationship is built on accountability, conversation, words and actions. Jesus before He was crucified at Golgotha, that is the place of the skull, He had gone to a garden to pray. Along with Him were some of His disciples. He instructed them to stay at one spot while He went a little further ahead of them so He could have a conversation in private with His Heavenly Father. After a time of talking (praying) Jesus went back to where He had left the disciples. To His dismay they were all sleeping. Maybe it had been the longness of the day, or even that of the entire week. No doubt because of all that had been taking place, sleeping opportunities had been limited. Maybe the disciples missed the importance to Jesus when He had asked them to sit and pray. Well, I should just write it wasn’t a “maybe” it was a “they did” miss completely the importance of His request. Of course Jesus left them as they were with a reminder for them to pray and in the end, Jesus left them to the decision of their own, to sleep while He continued with His personal responsibility. For Jesus He knew that the Cross was before Him and soon He would be put to death. My question about personal responsibility for us who confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior is this. What was the last thing that Jesus asked you to do? In writing I don’t exactly have the ability to pause in such a way as to allow plenty of time for self-reflection, personal thinking and even a time of meditating, but oh how I wish you would ponder the question, what was the last thing Jesus asked you to do? It could be you don’t want to consider this question because you already know the answer. Could be you are not interested in thinking back to that moment in which you know you clearly heard God’s voice and made a personal decision not to respond in a manner He had requested? Whatever creates the pause in answering this question I’m asking you to explore. We as Christians have a personal responsibility to Jesus and we have a personal relationship too, even though it might not be described as that by us. Nevertheless the relationship and responsibility remains even if we act or deny its existence. The disciple missed the importance of that hour of prayer in the garden with Jesus. They missed the opportunity to be a leaning post for Jesus as He contemplated the days He faced that were before Him. They missed the opportunity to be there for one another. Yes, we can all pray alone, but the encouragement others receive from praying with others is a moment shared that is rarely ever forgotten by those individual participating. You and I, by not being personally responsible, are missing opportunities to grow our faith, belief and confidence in Jesus and we are impacting others by robbing them of a chance to see faith in action. So…….what was the last thing Jesus asked you to do? Until then

The talk of the town

There is no doubt what the talk of the town is today. I could write that the talk of the town is the talk of the Country and even the world. The Coronavirus, or simply Covid19 is what folks are talking about everywhere. In December 2019 I know for me, I wasn’t thinking that in September 2021 we would be talking about this virus as I am writing and thinking about it today. Over 200 Countries in the world with over 76,023,488 individual cases as of December 2020. A lot transpired in one year, and now, 9 months later, we see the variant continues to impact the lives of thousands upon thousands alone here in the United States. It was January 21, 2020 that the first case was documented in Washington State. The person to person contact has been devastating on every imaginable front, and worse, every front unimaginable. Who would have thought automobile production would be halted because parts were unavailable? Food shortages as suppliers and distributors were unable to gather and ship food because of the spread of the virus. Who would have thought that students would go to school as their classrooms would become virtual as their schools would be locked down because of this pandemic? Did you imagine that tiller parts and lawn mover production would be halted or even the fact that Mason Jars would become an item stores would be unable to stock? The impact of Covid19 has touched every aspect of normal living to the point where today, the conversation of what is normal is challenging to describe or predict. What has become normal is that no one knows. The government has not been reliable with information. Our medical family practitioners, the doctors we have known our entire lives, or at least for many years, the doctors we refer to as family, they have been wondering, shaking their heads and at a loss as to what to advise, prescribe or how to explain this crisis that continues across our land. The talk of the town is our disbelief as to the impact on our families, the hospitalizations, and the most costly impact, the deaths of our loved ones, close friends, co-workers and those we know through life's travels. The talk of the town is now at a point where people are mad, confused, angry, stunned ad not sure what to do as we all should be looking for our role in this crisis that is not somewhere else, but that rather is right here at home, in our communities, in our churches, on our son or daughters sports team and in our schools. There is no facet of life not impacted today. My heart breaks for those whose lives have been lost, for those who have battled for their lives and for those standing around wishing to find someway to make things better. I personally have taken the vaccine, I took two shots. Having been someone who has faced serious life health issues, and as someone who has taken plenty of medications where I signed to release liability understanding the medical communities suggested treatment was all just a trial test. It was a guess with a hope that things would help me and I gladly signed up. Why you might ask, well thanks for asking, my answer is simply. I will choose quality of life over quantity of years every time. Everyone must make their own decisions, I get it, but your decision also has a huge impact on those you know and don’t know. I’m asking those I know to please do the right thing, if not for you, for those you know. I believe it really matters. Until then

No one wants to be dependent on anyone or anything. Independence is the goal. We love the idea of freedom. Being able to pick and choose, do what we like and want to do. The thoughts of being dependent on someone else makes us feel weak and we might even have the image of “us” waiting around, just twiddling our thumbs, waiting on “that” other person to show up, to let us in, or do what we can’t. If that’s you're thinking, there is no questions about those feelings. We’ve all been there a time or two in our lives and we might even be in such a situation right now. That is the feeling of helplessness and most of us immediately reject such type of thinking. Being strong is considered a positive image and I’m not disputing that is a positive image, because it is. However, strength can be demonstrated or measured in many ways. The word strength does’t seem to match with the word dependency. The word independence doesn’t seem to match well with the word dependency. The word freedom doesn’t seem to work well with the word dependence. However, I am suggesting that to recognize appropriate dependency is a great strength. Recognizing needs and solutions is a great strength. Recognizing surrender is a step to freedom, might seem to be totally out of step, but dependency and understanding work hand in hand when properly applied. In an attempt to be wise, I heard an individual say, “I make my own decisions.” I like the confidence and resolution of the statement, I even like the thought and attitude, but such a position that eliminates the clear need of help, assistance, direction, support and aid in life, will leave you stranded along life’s highway if you don’t take due notice. Dependency identifies a condition. I have been many things in life and I continue to remain dependent upon God. I am not writing this to be spiritually superior, I am sharing this because it is a truth that took the repeated experience of Him carrying me, to finally recognize. Being dependent Sid the best spot for me. I’ve branched out enough, I’ve done my own thing, and repeated that process over and over, thinking that I might discover a different result somehow. Sounds like insanity, because it is. I know I have no ability to control anything. I can share this because I’ve attempted to control many things. I have thought, I had things figured out, to just discover myself broken down along that same road of life you might be traveling today. I found strength in surrendering to God’s plan and purpose for my life. I found strength in acknowledging my survival depended totally on the shoulders of another. That other person is Jesus Christ in my life. I found strength in confessing my need for direction, wisdom and help. I have actually found more than I could have ever imaged through faith, because of God and His plan and because of Jesus and His obedience to God’s purpose for His life. The best decision I ever made in my life, was to begin my journey of faith and following God’s call on my life. I am confident you too will discover this same truth, but trusting God’s plan and purpose for your life. Until then

Two wishes

Of all the things one could wish upon another, here are two that I believe we can all use. Thankfulness and purpose. We will often overhear someone say “I wish you well”, “we have confidence, you can do this”, which are positive, but the same can be said for hearing the negative too. People wish a lot of thing on others and it is not always good. Hearing another say “I hope they get what is coming to them”, that is normally a negative expression, as if when this happens it will be an opportunity to get even or see justice performed. I never want to wish negative things on folks. To be honest, the positive can be challenging enough to handle so I’m staying away from any negative wishes on any friends or foes of mine. Thankfulness and purpose are attitudes that I believe are a benefit that also work hand in hand with each other. Being thankful one could describe as a needed discipline almost. It appears that there are many that have no sense of thankfulness for anything, anyone, any experience or any opportunity. The only way, I suppose one develops such an attitude, is because of the lack of exposure to gratefulness. I can easily create a list of things that I’m thankful for and that list always begins with a list of names for me. People who took time from their lives and their families and who gave themselves and their time to invest into my life is a gift. Their gift I want to be thankful because I recognize its impact on my life. Time is a beautiful thing, especially after we have granted time the opportunity to grow and we can clearly spot the impact of another’s investment into our lives. Purpose and thankfulness work well together because once we can count the contribution of an opportunity before us, we can clarify our interest in things, we can consider directions we could go and we can set goals that will help us fulfill our new found purpose or we can re-established that which we allowed to fall by the way side because of distractions. Purpose is that moment in our lives when the lights go off, purpose is that moment when things align together and we see the bigger picture for the first time. Wishing luck, sending out good vibes, and hoping the best for folks is positive and I’m confident that no-one in their right thinking would reject such an attitude suggestion of good wishes. Yet, thankfulness and purpose, when embraced, appreciated and understood have a lifetime of change and impact. There are many expressions that describe a hand in hand connection. We comfortably say without any explanation, peanut butter and bread, cheese and crackers. These things we understanding clearly, but thankfulness and purpose might need little more attention on our part. An action plan for being thankfulness and an action plan on living with purpose changes everything. The next time you get ready to wish anything on a friend, neighbor or a family member, I’m suggesting you wish thankfulness and purpose. They might be a little taken back by your expression, but tell them “preacher” said, these two are good traveling companions, Until then

During the midst of challenging times

Sickness, illness, chronic health problems, challenging times, some folks are blessed to never really ever experience. I’m not talking about avoiding the doctor, we all know those folks that refuse to go to a doctor, but I’m talking about folks who have been blessed to avoid any significant health issues in life. For individuals who have faced some aspect of health moments in life, if they were short lived, you are never so happy to have gotten that moment behind you. Of course time is always a relative matter when it come to comparisons, but I’m not attempting to compare sickness or illnesses, but short term and long term chronic health issues have their own set of challenges that are different from one another. The impact on family is also different depending on the circumstances faced, that care required and ones availability to render aid to their loved ones or friends. There are plenty of folks who face such moments in life totally physically alone, their constant contacts and interactions are with health care providers, facility staff members, aids, or others helping in their care that are unrelated. Having spent time in 5 different nursing homes I can easily write about those moments from my personal experience too. What becomes an overwhelming force in ones life because of health challenges, is the manner in which we embrace the experience and the attitude and understanding we hold too, when we experiencer or walk through these types of moments in life. This embracing philosophy is important for the individual and the family alike. Often times one side of this equation is either the positive to the negative or in worse case is the demonstration of negative no matter what. Doom and gloom are real factors in life, I know individuals who have like a bachelors degree and even one or two who holds a masters degree on the subject. If you have avoided health challenges in your life to this stage, congratulations, you may very well be an individual who never faces such moments, but if you are the flip side of this coin of life and if you are a Christian, then elements of doom and gloom are not us. We have been eliminated them with sunshine and hope because of our faith and confidence that God does all things well, in His time. We have accepted sunshine and hope because of Romans 8:28, and I can easily testify to what I have learned and I can share examples of how this single scripture has molded my mindset and my life. Christians who experience and endure health moments in life have a testimony that some can identify with, while others can only hear and believe because of the words and experience shared. We Christians who have experienced and endured also have a unique moment to demonstrate through the midst of such times, the Grace of God. Don’t miss your opportunity, if I’m writing about you. Until then

Carson Cade Elliott wants to be a "Skeleton"

What do you want to be when you grow up? Just typing the question causes me to reflect about the way the question changes from childhood to adulthood. As adults the question shifts from a desire to learn about your interest in what you want to be, to more of a statement of you haven’t a clue. It normally reads something like this: “You had better decided it’s time for you to grow up” or “when are you ever going to grow up?” I’m smiling because I don’t recall the various individuals who might have asked me the first question as a child, but I can easily recall the last person who told me I needed to grow up, lol. I am going to save the last statement for another column. We will title it something like how difficult it is to grow up or don’t be a child when you are an adult. My youngest nephew Carson Cade Elliott, upon entering his very first day of Pre-K1 was asked, “what did he want to be when he grew up?” His response caused everyone to smile thinking, kids will make you laugh with the things they will say and they will indeed. His parents don’t ever recall him saying he wanted to be a skeleton before. but that was his answer. He wanted to be a skeleton when he grew up. For children they have 300 bones in their body, and as adults we have somewhere between 206 and 213 in ours. Childrens bones are more flexible than ours as adults. They are still growing where we have become more rigid and have reached our final growth. The last bone to grown in the body is the clavicle. It normally reaches its maximum growth by the time we are 25 years old. The idea of being a skeleton when we grow up is really not that far off in truth or reality. We want our bones to be covered up with skin and tissues but we all know what it is to scrap a knee, fall or have an accident where the skin exposes our bones, or at lease some of us will know what this is like from life. I’ve learned that our skeleton makes up between 30-40% of your total body mass. Nearly half of our bone matrix mass is water, the other half is collagen protein and solid crystals of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate. Our bones allow for attachments of muscles and inside our red bone marrow is of course red blood cells. Our bones actually serve as our body's warehouse. I’m thinking about nicknaming Carson “Skelton” for his teenage and adults life because his wisdom as a pre-kindergarten was spot on. He is a developing skeleton as a child and those strong developed bones will play a major part of his overall health throughout his lifetime. Oh the wisdom of children! The idea to be a skeleton might seem laughable for adults and yet remain cute for a child to say. Kinda like the idea that “Jesus loves me” serves for those who have heard those words or even sung those lyrics. The thought might seem cute for a child but the truth of its wisdom is certainly most perfect for adults today. It may seem impossible, it may seem far stretched, it may not even make any sense on the surface. Nevertheless, if we were to simply take a moment to pause to take time to see how this truly connects to our lives and it might just be that you discover how love serves as our personal warehouse that is our connector and sustainer in life. Until then

Oh NO.....I'm 306 days late!

Have you ever been 306 days late? I don’t mind to share that as of the writing of this column, that is the exact number of days I am behind on a project I began, yes you guessed it, 306 days ago. I am granting myself credit for such a behind schedule achievement, because I had thought originally I would write everyday regarding my thoughts and accomplish my goal. Great plan right? Absolutely, I even write to myself, with the exclamation you’ve got this. It is funny how easy it is to get behind and to spend what seems like forever, yet never catching up. Truth is we are probably already behind before we even added anything else to our plate of goals, yet we keep setting new goals, because after all, without goals we will surely fail, right? In two short paragraphs I’ve clearly defined the issue and I’m confident that everyone reading can clearly identify with me by saying, been there too. I’m just writing it out for official documentation of my short fall, I just appreciate all who know where I’m coming from. Life can be so much fun and yet a burden of weight that buckles our knees too. I am a planner, I enjoy thinking things through, working our issues, setting goals, and pushing myself toward a milestone I’ve set. Self discipline is that internal control switch that we turn on and off throughout our lives. The biggest issue most face with respect to self discipline is that the switch is off 90% of the time. It is very challenging when we freely surrender to our impulsive self without restraint, reminder or recourse for our actions. (Yes that’s a sermon, 3 R’s). Because I like planning, I attempted to establish my game plan for my 365 day writing project before it began. My own strengths sometimes become my weakness, especially when the goal itself becomes my pusher toward action. I’m aware that I need passion, energy, thoughts, ideas and time to accomplish my goal, yet I seem to eliminate all of that just for the accomplishment of checking a box off my to-do-list. My personal project that I began 306 days ago, I’ve titled for the moment, simply as #56. To give myself some credit, I can share, I have written 306 daily thoughts, I understand where the motivation or inspiration comes from, I’ve got a good foundation for the project, I’ve just not written out an additional 250-300 words of thought to further my belief statement for each reflection. Process is an important detail to goals. Open to direction and even change of direction is important to process, just as goals are general and details are bullet points. Knowing if my involvement in a project is a “God thing or not” is a link of encouragement and motivation, even if I’m behind in my own thoughts and planning. Understanding that God’s timing is the clock to be timed by is important to know. If you want to be on time, His time, stay engaged with your inspiration. For me, Jesus is my inspiration, stay aware of your goal, stay away from rigid compliance for its sake alone, and trust that He does all things well in His due season, if we continue to contribute our part, even if we are behind in our way of thinking. One might not be as far behind as thought, if we just keep pressing toward the mark. Until then

Heart conditions can best seen through our attitudes

Attitude, I believe, is best described as a condition of the heart. Now as an individual who has experienced physical body heart conditions, I can share about the various experiences when such a condition is physically taking place. The varying experiences can leave one saying I didn’t feel anything, all the way to the experience where it stops you in your tracks without any warning. The unnoticeable physical heart condition happens and truthfully you doubt the medical test results after you receive them. This occurs because you never felt anything, the consequences were unnoticeable to the life experience of feel and known. Nevertheless the affect of such a moment has internal consequences that you may not be identified until several years later. Doctor’s sometimes describe heart conditions with a term like you’ve had a light stroke or a light heart attack. The impact of that experience is just as varied. Sometimes clearly others see a difference and we possible know without any question that we just don’t feel good, or right, or we are tired from a little extorting whereas before we could have completed that task without any cause. Both of these first two heart conditions have many reasons why they present themselves into your life. Genetics plays a role, life style, exercise, and even living a healthy life style of doing all the “so called” right things to do, still these conditions of the heart occur without warning or notice. If you have every experienced a heart condition where you experienced numbness in your arms, you were couching without any reason, cannot breathe, or fell back into a chair or down to the ground, you know the lack of inability to control anything is in full control. For some they have had to be rushed to the nearest emergency room for care immediately while others required someone else to do the breathing and CPR to keep the blood flowing. Heart conditions are important and we should take due notice and caution, because conditions of the heart matter. I believe the attitudes of the heart are just as important to take notice of and to keep in balance and check. Attitudes are that which we display without thought or processing, They flow from our actions and words rather freely and most people can perceive our attitude from just gestures alone. It is kinda scary that attitudes of the heart are often unseen or noticed just as some physical heart conditions exists until then show themselves in our lives. You and I should practice some self-examinations from time to time to make sure our attitudes and our physical heart conditions are AOK and in proper working condition. If not, then it is highly likely when we discover our attitude of the heart, we might have already used damage that we would never want to intentionally inflict on others. Until then

Interruptions, the key is preparation.

No one likes interruptions, but they will and do happen in life. At times you will feel devastated while other moments will feel like just a bump in the road. Preparation is the key. Faith in Jesus is my grounding rod. My father and I often had a conversation on the topic of writing things down. I write down a lot of things. I write down dates and times and the people I experience moments with. These notes I often record from life reflect everything from sermons I preach to dinners and events with friends. I like for my friends to even sign such reflections, just like a guest book. My dad and I could agree that somethings were good to write down but there were other thoughts he believed were best kept too oneself. I even agreed with dad on those thoughts, in part, but I saw personal value in writing them down for reflection and I’ve continued to practice such throughout the years. Interruptions in life are one reason I like to write things down. Any notebook will serve as a good journal of thoughts for the interruptions of life. It is often suggested that it is best to have a response to life’s happenings than a reaction. I agree a response is better than a reaction but that is hard to temper in the heat of a moment. Writing things down as the interruptions occur I‘ve discovered have provided me a foundation of preparation that knocks me less off my feet, because I’ve not only thought about it, but writing my feelings down has provided me with a response for when such moments arrive. Feeling devastated by life happens rather quickly in life for some, although it might take sometime to realize. For example, the loss of a parent to a child or the loss of both parents because of an accident. Depending upon age appropriateness the ability to morn a loss and see the blessings because of the same experience is one that requires reflecting and processing. Never miscounting the impact of a single moment in life helps put all the things of life into a big picture that can provide plenty of positivity even though tragic. Faith can be applied loosely to life. People often use the word faith with little to no thought, or at least it seems that way, in conversations. I’ve heard people yell at folks “I have faith in you”, after just walking away from a conversation, as an add on to what was said. I’m not saying that isn’t genuine or appropriate, but faith has more than one definition. For example, faith alone is defined as to believe or give credit too while there is no evidence for, or faith can be expressed because of another person has suggested the idea. Biblical faith also contains an element of conviction and belief. Christian faith identifies the source of authority for faith. Biblical faith is called a blessed hope and assurance. It is a solid foundation that has no elements of corruption or decay. When I write that Jesus is my grounding rod it is because my experience in faith has proven itself throughout the interruptions of life. Life is a bump in the road and it is my full intentions to make sure that if I’m driving I can safely maneuver and if you hit the bump too fast that I can be there to help you get back on the road of life again. Until then

What is your approach to health issues and faith?

Sickness, illness, chronic health problems, challenging times, some folks are blessed to never really ever experience. I’m not talking about avoiding the doctor, we all know those folks that refuse to go to a doctor, but I’m talking about folks who have been blessed to avoid any significant health issues in life. For individuals who have faced some aspect of health moments in life, if they were short lived, you are never so happy to have gotten that moment behind you. Of course time is always a relative matter when it come to comparisons, but I’m not attempting to compare sickness or illnesses, but short term and long term chronic health issues have their own set of challenges that are different from one another. The impact on family is also different depending on the circumstances faced, that care required and ones availability to render aid to their loved ones or friends. There are plenty of folks who face such moments in life totally physically alone, their constant contacts and interactions are with health care providers, facility staff members, aids, or others helping in their care that are unrelated. Having spent time in 5 different nursing homes I can easily write about those moments from my personal experience too. What becomes an overwhelming force in ones life because of health challenges, is the manner in which we embrace the experience and the attitude and understanding we hold too, when we experiencer or walk through these types of moments in life. This embracing philosophy is important for the individual and the family alike. Often times one side of this equation is either the positive to the negative or in worse case is the demonstration of negative no matter what. Doom and gloom are real factors in life, I know individuals who have like a bachelors degree and even one or two who holds a masters degree on the subject. If you have avoided health challenges in your life to this stage, congratulations, you may very well be an individual who never faces such moments, but if you are the flip side of this coin of life and if you are a Christian, then elements of doom and gloom are not us. We have been eliminated them with sunshine and hope because of our faith and confidence that God does all things well, in His time. We have accepted sunshine and hope because of Romans 8:28, and I can easily testify to what I have learned and I can share examples of how this single scripture has molded my mindset and my life. Christians who experience and endure health moments in life have a testimony that some can identify with, while others can only hear and believe because of the words and experience shared. We Christians who have experienced and endured also have a unique moment to demonstrate through the midst of such times, the Grace of God. Don’t miss your opportunity, if I’m writing about you. Until then

SMILE

Answers, we look for them everywhere, and when all is said and done, we normally discover we were looking for answers in all the wrong places. If that’s not frustrating to you, then you have some super duper attitude fixer-upper stuff that you need to start sharing with the rest of us. Answers are problem solvers that provide great relief to ones weary spirit when you have been searching for solutions with no results. Discouragement develops after we have been searching for answers and we’ve looked several different places, yet still found no help from our turns and efforts. Many of us have the feeling that if we go searching for answers, the answers should be readily available, ok, you can make the first solution challenging, but more than one challenge per issue is overboard on setbacks. Normally we know we are at this spot when we say out loud, “good grief, can I not catch a break?” Dishearten shows itself when our heart becomes exhausted and if we allow this attitude to prevail, soon dishearten will become a way of life, “woe is me” takes over and you will need a heart shock to get you back up to start if you live with this too long. When you and I make plans we seldom ever plan for set backs in our big lofty dreams. We maker plans for good moments, happy times, laughter and joy. We are afraid we might jinks ourselves by planning for contingencies. Sadness is a normal part of living, or at least it has been in my life experiences. I’ve had failures, some of my own making and others that I had absolutely no control over at all. Temporary sadness happens but I’ve never spent much time focusing on my sadness. I’ve spend just enough time to make sure I have identified the cause, and then I’m ready to move forward Feeling left alone is an emotion that many individuals, from children to adults have had to face and deal with. Feeling alone I often associate with a lack of vision and purpose on my own part. Now I’m aware that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two but there will be many journeys in which you will travel physically alone, but you will never be spiritually alone. Having someone walk beside us physically is great, yet learning how to have that same type of relationship with Jesus will give you a new emotion the next time you feel alone. Negative things, influences, attitudes, reactions, these and many other such negative approaches to life will be our neighbor even without an invitation to come over and sit awhile. The only way to combat negative is with positive. If you join in the negative chorus then you’ve just added another voice to an already too many member choir. Don’t be discouraged, don’t be dishearten, don’t be sad, don’t feel left alone, fight the negative with positive, and I am suggesting that the first step in all of this is to begin you day with a SMILE. Smiling is not applauded enough. Smiling is not encouraged enough. We don’t recognize it pubically enough when it is staring at us, we fail miserably to capture its beauty and the power of a smile. Embracing a smile in the mist of discouragement, or being disheartened, experiencing sadness, feeling alone, or when surrounded by the negative is not the complete and whole solution but it is a great start to changing everything. Until then

Faith, a trust that changes everything

Being a Christian defies an individual as a follower of Jesus. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, from the dead, is the defining action by God that validates the authenticity of Christianity. If Jesus had not defeated death then there would be no hope for you or I to overcome death with life. Because God so loved the world He gave us His son and because of His son Jesus, the Christ, we have the free unearned gift of forgiveness from our sins and the gift of eternal life too. You might define Christianity as simply trusting and you will hear or read no argument from me on this thought. Trust is a component of Christianity that I believe Christians will demonstrate throughout their lives because we are a follower of Jesus. Defining Christianity is not complicated. Living a life that demonstrates Christian principles is a game changer for those who witness us exercising our faith. I have a simple statement to share regarding begin a Christian, following Jesus, forgiveness, eternal life, believing, faith and trust. “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” Some folks might want to debate the thought that life can hand you some challenging situations, issues that require much processing, matters that even seem like a setback in your spiritual growth of faith. The flip debate to life handing us challenges would be that we create these on our own. No matter which side of the coin you embrace, the fact remains that “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” Being able to write out answers for your questions, I want to be able to provide these, yes indeed. To be able to help you in your spiritual growth, totally, I am committed, but what I have to offer is that which I cling to in my journey of faith. Peter in Acts chapter 3 was asked to give silver or gold to aid a weary and lame beggar who was asking for money, that which the beggar believe he needed to survive. Scripture records Peter saying “Silver or gold, I do not have, but what I have I give, get up and walk.” I have been personally confident at various times in my life, that I knew exactly what I needed, only to realize later I was clueless regarding what I needed most. Faith for some individuals, is a get what you ask for conversation, that type of faith might best be classified as a faith scheme lacking hope and no sacrifice of trust. “Faith is a trust that changes everything.” I don’t know what you are facing at this very hour, I don’t know the life journey you have just traveled nor the feeling of desperation you might be experiencing. What I do know is that being a Christian involves trust in our faith, that Jesus is at work, we do not always understand nor have a clue how things work out, but Christian hope is the answer because we trust, in faith, He does all things well. Until then

Life’s Interruptions need a grounding rod

​No one likes interruptions, but they will and do happen in life. At times you will feel devastated while other moments will feel like just a bump in the road. Preparation is the key. Faith in Jesus is my grounding rod. ​My father and I often had a conversation on the topic of writing things down. I write down a lot of things. I write down dates and times and the people I experience moments with. These notes I often record from life reflect everything from sermons I preach to dinners and events with friends. I like for my friends to even sign such reflections, just like a guest book. My dad and I could agree that somethings were good to write down but there were other thoughts he believed were best kept too oneself. I even agreed with dad on those thoughts, in part, but I saw personal value in writing them down for reflection and I’ve continued to practice such throughout the years. ​Interruptions in life are one reason I like to write things down. Any notebook will serve as a good journal of thoughts for the interruptions of life. It is often suggested that it is best to have a response to life’s happenings than a reaction. I agree a response is better than a reaction but that is hard to temper in the heat of a moment. Writing things down as the interruptions occur I‘ve discovered have provided me a foundation of preparation that knocks me less off my feet, because I’ve not only thought about it, but writing my feelings down has provided me with a response for when such moments arrive. ​Feeling devastated by life happens rather quickly in life for some, although it might take sometime to realize. For example, the loss of a parent to a child or the loss of both parents because of an accident. Depending upon age appropriateness the ability to morn a loss and see the blessings because of the same experience is one that requires reflecting and processing. Never miscounting the impact of a single moment in life helps put all the things of life into a big picture that can provide plenty of positivity even though tragic. ​Faith can be applied loosely to life. People often use the word faith with little to no thought, or at least it seems that way, in conversations. I’ve heard people yell at folks “I have faith in you”, after just walking away from a conversation, as an add on to what was said. I’m not saying that isn’t genuine or appropriate, but faith has more than one definition. For example, faith alone is defined as to believe or give credit too while there is no evidence for, or faith can be expressed because of another person has suggested the idea. Biblical faith also contains an element of conviction and belief. Christian faith identifies the source of authority for faith. Biblical faith is called a blessed hope and assurance. It is a solid foundation that has no elements of corruption or decay. ​When I write that Jesus is my grounding rod it is because my experience in faith has proven itself throughout the interruptions of life. Life is a bump in the road and it is my full intentions to make sure that if I’m driving I can safely maneuver and if you hit the bump too fast that I can be there to help you get back on the road of life again. Until then

Connections between Knox, Bell and Harlan Counties

​Shared history and connection is a thing “mountain folks” like to establish. For outsiders this attitude is not easily grasp at first. Sometimes its importance is not recognize or even more profound, there is a missing link of previous experiences to help one draw connections. To understand some of our history and connections it's beneficial to try to see some of our shared history, people and moments. Stepping back and looking at history is always a good teacher. ​This week, the 90th Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival will be held after being cancelled in 2020 due to the Coronavirus. Lauren Bohl a Knox County native who is a graduate from Barbourville Independent School District was crowned Queen of the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival in May 2019, as she represented Union College. She is only the second Queen to ever be Crowned representing Union. The first Crown belongs to Patricia Parsons Bennett in 1950. Little did Lauren Bohl, or anyone know, she would earn another title and crown as the longest reigning Queen since World War II because of the pandemic. History is a precious gift that marks time and moments. Connections are pretty awesome too, especially when neighboring counties get to share and love on the people they discover, get to know, cherish and share. The 2021 Queen Candidate from Union College is another Knox County resident, Emilyann Taylor Wilson, Gray, Ky. Her escort will be David Ethan Miller, from Barbourville, Ky. Representing Barbourville High School in the Princess Coronation this year is Emmaleigh Bargo. ​The history of Knox County and Bell County is uniquely tied in other ways too. For example, Bell County was created out of land from both Knox and Harlan Counties. There wouldn’t be a Bell County if we had not been willing to share some land. Dr. Thomas Walker made his way through the Cumberland Gap to just outside of what is now the City of Barbourville. The Cumberland Gap National Park was the gateway discovered by Dr. Thomas Walker back in 1750. If you’ve ever heard of Lewis & Clark, just know that Dr. Walker explored that land here and in western Kentucky decades before them and his documentation of the Cumberland Gap Passage would become a highway of people as Colonel Daniel Boone and his frontiersman cleared the Warriors Path or the Wilderness Road as it would became famously known, in 1775. The Warriors Path followed along the Cumberland River, straight through Flat Lick and throughout Knox County. ​ ​The Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival began in 1931 because of the passion and dream of Anna Walker Burns. She wanted to find a way to honor her famous ancestor. For the record, the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival started 4 years before the Kentucky Derby was organized and held her first race. The Daniel Boone Festival began in 1948 and we have some history here in the mountains of Kentucky, of which we can be quite thankful for and proud of. The KMLF is named for the beautiful Mountain Laurel which is a shrub with large clusters of small pale pine flowers that grow wild in Pine Mountain. ​One fact about us, our history and our connections, if you’ll give us enough conversation time, we will figure out a way to make us “all kin” and we will be able to explain it too, using your grandpa’s side of the family, more than likely. ​Life is a wonderful road of travels, moments and people. Shared history and connections make life more meaningful and give us plenty to talk about. Until then​

After long illness, I’m writing again - The Mountain Advocate, Barbourville, Ky

I don’t quite have the space to tell me story in one column but it did begin with a stubbed toe in October, 2014. The past 7 years of my life has been a mixture of memories branded into my life’s experiences, including time when I have no memory or recollection at all. Health challenges arrive at times with no advance warning and sometimes health issues appear so simple that there isn’t any panic or worry until you find yourself overwhelmed and totally confused by the quickness and onslaught of things you’d never even thought of before. Having battled health issue and after issue and having attempted to remain positive with a happy and positive outlook on life, situations and circumstances, 2019 doubled down against me and my ability to write was unexpectedly totally off the table, as I fought for life. With this column I am excited to return and share that my health has improved, and for the record, I am still alive, lol. I appreciate the many personal inquiries as to my health and those efforts same efforts expressed to the paper about where I went. Its excited to share a quick answer to that wonder and question. It is also exciting to return to writing “Until then”. I pray my column will be an encouragement for your daily life and I’m excited about sharing my life’s story through the Mountain Advocate. My columns have been about 4 things that I find make life valuable. People, places, experiences and books we read. Given the surprises that life can hand us, I have no guarantee about time, but his I know. Life is short no matter how many years we live on earth. Opportunities are unique. By not seizing the moments we have been granted in life, there is sure to be regrets if we do not act, when and while we can. Until then.