By Invitation Only

I would like to share with you an excerpt from a recent email I received from a Rabbi. I hope you enjoy.

“Guests constantly visit my study and though I talk to them, sometimes quite loudly, they are strangely invisible to everyone else. One frequent visitor is my father. His presence helps me prepare speeches. When the ideas flow too slowly or I find myself struggling to memorize a difficult paragraph, I invite him in. He knows how hard it is but he nods encouragingly and tells me that he often used to encounter similar challenges.

Sometimes Orville and Wilbur Wright join me. They’re an interesting pair. I invite them whenever I find myself falling into the trap of envying others. I eavesdrop as they mutter to one another about Samuel Langley who was given $50,000 by the United States War Department to build a flying machine. In 1903, $50,000 was a lot of money! When Langley’s contraption crashed into the Potomac, he gave up. Orville and Wilbur remind me that they persevered year after year, crash after crash, while others got the press and the awards. In December 1903, the Wright Brothers succeeded.

Another favorite companion is Ernest Shackleton. Though he usually glowers at me, whenever I feel weak his visits strengthen me. When his ship, Endurance was crushed by ice on his Antarctic expedition, he and his men suffered unimaginable hardship and deprivation. With considerable self-sacrifice, Shackleton brought every one of his men to safety.

Imagination is a wonderfully useful tool and developing it allows you to entertain your own visitors, as I am sure you do. Bringing them into your life allows you to draw inspiration and courage from them…” *

As I ponder on the words of Rabbi Lapin, I ask myself “Who is it I have invited into my house, my life, my day-to-day? Whose lives, past accomplishments, and hardships that have been won successfully am I reflecting on?” How thankful we are to have the opportunity to learn from men and women who, up-to-date, have made tremendous discoveries because they wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t quit, and were determined to see themselves as a winner, ultimately leading them to win and overcome seemingly impossible situations. I sometimes look to others’ achievements and say to myself, “Wow!  If they were able to do it, I know I can”. It’s encouraging to think that all these men and women who have had these amazing, world-renown discoveries and triumphs also probably had even seemingly greater “fails” (at first) than I can imagine…yet they went on to reach such greatness.

Do you ever think to yourself, “I wish I could just sit for 5 minutes and listen to these great men and women? I would learn so much. It’s one thing to read about them in the history books, but I can just imagine what sitting face-to-face with one of them would be like. My life would be forever changed.” I’m sure at one point in life, even as a kid, each of us have had that thought about wanting to meet one person or another, either from past or present, thinking there’s just so much we could glean from them. Yes, I have my “that would be so cool” list of people, and I think it’s important too to learn from the accomplishments and achievements of others, including what it took them along the way to get there. 

YET there is one thing in all this that just isn’t quite satisfying for me. Why is that? Well, it’s because all these people are just that…they are people. I can learn from them but they aren’t living my life with me. I don’t really know them, or at least most of them, and they don’t have an invested interest in my life. I’ve only learned about them. BUT I do know of ONE who has invested everything in me and you. He cares for us more than His own life and He knows everything we need to do and how to get us there. He loves us more than anyone else does and He has the most valued investment in us than we even have in ourselves. I’m telling you, that’s the kind of person I want to come and learn from, someone who has done it all and been successful in EVERY-thing I could imagine; someone that wants to come sit with me and couldn’t imagine doing anything else than be with me and share great secrets and truths I need to know; someone that wants to show me how much they love on me and as much as He wants to sit with me and listen to me. And that’s exactly who God, your Father is, and He wants to be all that and more to YOU! He invested His best into us…Jesus! He’s provided every answer we need in His Word. He’s given us the greatest Encourager and Helper enabling us to be and accomplish greatness through His Spirit. Wow!That’s the kind of person I want to invite in. He’s waiting to be invited in. Not just at the point of salvation or when we need something but in every detail, in every area of your life. He wants to help if we will allow Him to. Revelation 3:20-21 says:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne. He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says.

So, who do you want to invite into your house? If you are like me and couldn’t imagine anyone you’d rather invite in to fellowship with than your Heavenly Father, then all you have to do is ask. Once He comes in, really let Him in. Listen to Him and allow Him to redecorate things, if you will. He has the best ideas and will help you with anything you need. He wants to be there and He wants to show you everything that concerns you. Remember, though, to invite Him in every day. Then listen and do what He says. He’s already done every hard thing for you and He wants to show you each step of how you can live the most amazing, victorious, blessed life possible with success, joy and peace all along the way.

Every day, it’s up to you who you invite in…it’s by invitation only.

* (To read the remainder of the article above, go to http://www.rabbidaniellapin.com/blog/2011/a-passover-song/ or I highly encourage you to sign up to receive Rabbi Daniel Lapin’s weekly Tool Thoughts at www.rabbidaniellapin.com).

No More Damage

Have you ever had something not so great happen, primarily due to your unintentional lack of paying attention to what’s going on around you?  And as soon as that not so great thing occurs, you immediately think “I knew I shouldn’t have done that” followed by the overwhelming desire to kick yourself.  Well, that recently occurred to me with a little gadget we all know as the iPhone.  That’s right, I had a recent mishap with this little device, which seems to have become one of those things you just can’t live without…I mean, how many of you out there have your entire life on a little device that you can hold in your hand?  Well, here’s my story…

One day as I was walking by the bathroom at work, I stepped in to grab some tissue.  I noticed there was none next to the sink so I went into a bathroom stall to get some toilet paper.  As I made a quick turn to leave, all of a sudden I hear this “ker plunk”.  “OH MY GOODNESS!” I thought.  That did not just happen!  My precious iPhone slipped out of my pocket and went right into the toilet.  Did I have to think about reaching in to fish it out?  Absolutely not!  There was no going back and forth about whether I would stick my hand in a public toilet and save this little thing that meant so much to me.  Without a second thought, I rescued the very thing that has my life’s work & calendars, e-mails, pictures, music, notes…everything you could think of was on this little thing I could hold in my hand.  And many of us think, what did we do without all this technology before?

So after washing my hands several times, I immediately found a friend who would know just what to do.  After looking it over and instantly noticing several things were not going right, I began to think, “oh no…these phones do not have insurance on them!”  I have heard the stories of people who have dropped their iPhones in water and they were not salvageable.  Mine didn't just get dropped in water; it was submerged.  We noticed my phone would not stay turned off.  Every time we would try, it would turn itself back on.  It doesn’t take a technology genius to know this is not good.  So I did my best to dry my phone out and started thanking the Lord for fixing my phone.

Well, a couple weeks later, I noticed my screen pixels started going out.  Could this be because of submerging my phone in water?  I finally decided to take it to the Apple store to have it looked at.  The tech person started looking at it and mentioning all the reasons this could be happening…one of which is dropping it in water.  As he took my phone into the back of the store to run a test on it to see if it had any water damage, he mentioned to me that if it does it would be considered my out of pocket expense to fix.  I did as any “smart” person would do and just smiled and said “Thank you.”  Five minutes later, the tech walked back and said there does not appear to be any water damage to your phone so we will replace your screen for free.  Wow!  Thank You, Lord!  I gratefully said “thank you” to this gentleman again and within 10 minutes walked out of the store with a new screen for my phone.

So, what’s the point of this story?  Is it great that I got a new screen for my phone?  Yes!  Is it even better that an expert in iPhones says there is no water damage to my phone?  Definitely!  But as I was thinking back to this whole scenario today, the Lord reminded me how He has done the same thing for us.

Jesus gave His life and overcame sin and death for us.  He made a way for every one of our imperfections and wrong doings of our human nature to be fixed and made right.  Once we believe and receive the work He’s done for us, it is ours.  It’s available to us all along, we just have to receive this free gift provided for us.  2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says:

• Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!  And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.  And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.

He changes us and makes us a new person.  It doesn’t matter what “mess” you are in or if your life seems so dirty that you can’t see a way out or if you can’t see how things can ever be right again.  It doesn't matter if you made a wrong decision, you know one of those HUGE, life altering decisions that got you in the middle of a desert land and you don't know which way to turn to get out.  It could be a wrong relationships you're in, slipping up with your kids, having no job and bills to pay, or something you've done that you feel like you can't tell anyone about.  No matter what mistakes or wrong choices you have made, no matter what circumstances need to change in your life, God is always there for you no matter what and He wants to talk with you; He wants you to know that He loves you and is always there for you no matter what.  It’s never too late for God to fix what’s wrong in your life.  The most important you can know is that He loves you and wants to make everything right in your life.  Just remember, you can't fix you.  All it takes is making a decision to turn your will and your choices over to the Lord and let HIM fix what’s wrong.  We were not created to carry the burden or care of anything.

• Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.     1 Peter 5:7 AMP

A very wise woman once said, “Today will be the easiest day to make a decision to do things God’s way.”  And that is so true.  There is never a better day than today to let God have your life, your decisions, your choices and I’m not just talking about your salvation.  Yes, this is the most important decision you could ever make.  However, it’s also in the every day decisions to let God have control of your life, to direct each and every step.  He’s  planned the most amazing life for you and it’s full of joy and peace. 

So, take a look at your life.  Does anything not seem right?  Does it seem like the passion and excitement for life that you used to have, has become a little dull and dim (going out like the pixels on my phone), and you’re just going about each day hoping one day things will get better, one day things will change?  If so, stop right where you are.  Begin to thank the Lord for the good plans He has for you (Jeremiah 29:11).  Thank Him for restoring your life and for making things right.  Ask Him to show you what He wants you to do next and then do that.  Don't become overwhelmed, thinking it will take too much to fix this.  Just do what He's saying now and He will lead you every step of the way.  He’s not hiding all these good things from you.  He desires for you to know them ALL because He loves you and He wants the BEST for you.  Seek Him in everything you do and discover all the wonderful things He has planned for you.

4 important lessons from today:

1. You are Loved

2. God’s got a good plan for your life

3. It's never too late with God

4. Don’t leave your iPhone in your pocket in the bathroom

The Best You

Have you ever gotten a ‘great’ idea ? I mean a really ‘great’ idea? C’mon, don’t be modest. I know you have. We’ve all had those ideas that are just brilliant and even said “This is it!” Maybe it was inspired by someone or a word you heard in Church; maybe something you saw on TV or on a billboard driving down the highway.

So after time, prayerful consideration, and thoroughly seeking the Lord’s direction, you are confident that this ‘great’ idea is really from the Lord. And, here you go…you finally know it’s time! It’s really time to do this! What is ‘this’ you may ask? Well, it could be anything…recording an album, writing a book or even a blog, starting a Bible Study, beginning a community outreach project, launching a business or a website, going on a mission trip, _(you fill in the blank)_ …

The list could go on and on and I must admit it can be rather exciting to start a new venture; it’s like an adventure. Everything seems new and fresh and things are happening. Take writing a blog for example (I only use this example because blogging is one of those new ‘great’ ideas I have just begun). I have always enjoyed writing but hadn’t done anything with it until recently, just woke up one morning and knew “This was it! I’m going to write my first blog today!” and so I did. It was kind of exciting, thrilling. Who would read it? Would it be any good? What would it look like? What would I write about? How can I improve the next one? And the thinking began…

So, let’s say you finally write your first blog and when you’re done, you feel accomplished. You did something that was completely and uniquely you. It really felt good. Then of course days later you start to think, I need to do more. I need to do better. You know so many people who are writing something new every day and each time they are more creative. So what do you do? You start making notes, asking questions, looking at their pictures, the analogies, the stories, the…

And here’s where one important word comes in…

Yes, that’s right. STOP!  How many times have we begun something that God has directed us to do and when we get ‘stuck’ we start looking at what other people are doing? Or researching what the latest trends are?

Of course we can learn a lot from our friends and others who have accomplished greatness. We even want to rejoice with them in their successes; however, my friends, be watchful that you don’t become distracted by what other people are doing and lose sight of the God-given vision He has planned for your life.  I like what Galatians 6:4-5 says in the Message:

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

It’s that simple. Don’t compare yourself with others. God has called YOU to do and be something so GREAT that is fitting only to YOU. He even carefully planned it ALL out before you were even born.

So trust the Lord with every step and detail of whatever ‘great’ idea you have, for it is He who is the GREATNESS inside you to accomplish every ‘GREAT’ idea you have.

Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.              Proverbs 3:5-6 amp

And remember to be THE BEST YOU!

What's on your list?

Blogging?  Christine, a blogger??  As I have so often read many a witty, funny, creative and even random blogs by those I so admire...my response would be, Why not?  Blogging can't be wrong, can it?  Blogging is just you and it's just me being exactly that...you and me, and allowing others to share in a little bit of this journey we call life.  So here it goes... :)

As I woke up this beautiful Saturday morning, laying in bed & enjoying the thought of just being able to lay there with nothing to do...was suddenly interrupted by the hundreds of things I 'knew' I should be doing today and tomorrow...grocery shopping, laundry, errands, calling this friend, delivering this 'late' birthday gift, and the list goes on.  After all, there's only 2 days to the weekend and I must be productive, right?!?  I must get started...

Then I began to think, what am I doing?   What is it I really want to accomplish this weekend, what do I want to accomplish today?  Has life really become all about 'making' and 'crossing' things off of a to-do list.  Now don't get me wrong, I am all for making lists and even more for crossing things off of it...but the question or rather challenge in my mind is...what's on my list? 

Are all those things 'groceries, laundry, errands...' important?  Of course and I'd probaby be safe to say wearing clean clothes is important to the person next to you too. :)  The question at hand is though, what other things are on my list?  What things have been on my 'mental' list but never made it to my 'to-do' list?  Better yet, what things are on my 'vision' list that have not made it to my 'to-do' list?  Probably more than I'd like to admit.

I recently read a quote by Walt Disney, "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."  So simple yet so profound.

So today, my list has gone in the trash and I am embarking on a new one...a life one.  Will some of it look the same?  Probably.  But now there are 5 questions I must answer to each thing that goes on my list:

1. Why am I doing this?
2. What if I didn't do this?
3. Who does this benefit?
4. Does it matter? (at the end of the day, will it really matter if I did this?)
5. Does this line up with what God has called me to be and told me to do?

So my question to you is What's on your list?