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