Playing through the pain

This past week I had the opportunity to talk to a few young people about dealing with the inevitable hurts one encounters in life. One of the things every human being has in common is that we have all been hurt by someone in our lives. I wish it were not so, but being hurt by someone at some point in life is unavoidable.

What I was talking with these young folks about was how you deal with the hurt and live your life. We all change as a result of being hurt. However, I wanted them to understand that it is important to change for the better. It's too easy to change for the worst, and that is no way to live your life. For instance, when someone lies to us, it's to easy to decide to never trust anyone ever again. Now, let me be clear, I can completely understand when someone chooses to never trust again, but it is not a healthy way to live.

In professional sports, athletes often talk about playing through the pain; meaning, they have all been hurt at some point, but they make the effort to play at their best anyway. We will all be hurt at some point in life, but we must continue to do our best to live life to the fullest. If we do not, we risk becoming the hurt, angry, jaded version of ourselves who would rather shut the world out than risk being hurt again, and that's no way to live your life. We cannot completely avoid being hurt, but we can control how we react to the hurt. Never give anyone who has hurt you that much control over your life.

I often wonder how many opportunities we miss in life as a result of being hurt. I wonder how many dreams die for fear of being hurt again. I worry that far too many people choose to isolate themselves from the world rather than live, because they don't want to ever let anyone in. I'm not saying let people walk all over you; no, never do that, but you should make every effort to move forward and live the best life possible, even when you feel like you're not sure you can. We only get one shot at this thing called life, so live as full of one as possible.

Anyway, these are my thoughts this week. Take care, my friends. Have a wonderful week!

The end is unavoidable, live fearlessly

Luke 21: 8 Jesus replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

1 Thessalonians 5: 1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Recently, someone asked me if I have done any preparation for the end of the world. The person was watching one of those shows on t.v. about people that spend all of their time preparing for the world to collapse. Naturally, when people asked me these things it is out of fear, so I try my best to give a fair response. My simple reply is usually, "No, I have not." However, this response does little to ease this type of fear. The fact is if you trust that God is in control, you have no need to worry about such things, or as Tim Tebow says, "I may not know what my future holds, but I know who holds it."

Don't live your lives in fear. One of the things I have noticed about all those folks who spend all their time preparing for the worst is that they spend ALL of their time preparing for the worst. They have no life outside of their preparations. That is no way to live. You cannot live your life to the fullest, if you live in complete fear of the future. Do not worry about the end when there is so much of life to live now. Jesus told his disciples to 'not be frightened.' Jesus promises that He will return in glory, and His people will be redeemed.

My prayer is that each and every one of you is able to walk in the fullness of God's glory. I pray you all feel and know God's joy, now and always. Jesus never fails, and He always comes through on His promises. Trust in God and the plans He has for your life. Live your life with purpose, and enjoy life completely in the here and now. There is no need to live in fear. God is in control. Have a blessed week, my friends.

Timing: The excuse to cover all excuses

Before I begin, let me say up front that I believe timing is absolutely vital, especially for astronauts, racers, and even bakers. My concern is when timing is used as an excuse. If I had a nickel for every time I have heard someone say, "The timing wasn't right," I would be a rich man. I like to tell friends who use timing as an excuse that the key to timing is being in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, many people stand on the sidelines watching the time pass by.

It's like going to a job interview, staring at the front door until it's too late, then deciding not to go in at all because you missed the appointment standing outside. Sure, you could've gone in, but now timing is your excuse. I once had a friend in high school who never went out on dates, like, at all. The thing about him was he would always say he was waiting for the right time to ask a particular girl out, and then he wouldn't ask her out at all. He would come back and say the time wasn't right. Well, four years passed by, and the timing was never right, or at least his version of right.

Sometimes you have to go out there and go for whatever it is you are trying to achieve. I completely understand if the timing really isn't right, but please do not use timing as an excuse to never try. Life really is too short for that kind of thinking. Every day I talk to people who have hopes, dreams, and life goals that they are waiting for the right time to chase. For many of them, the time will never be right. All of those hopes, dreams, and goals will go unaccomplished, and at some later time you can be sure they will say, "The timing wasn't right."

I know, thus far it sounds like I am ranting, but it breaks my heart to know many people will never live life to the fullest because they are waiting for the right time to live. I meet people who want to travel, do art, save the world, feed the homeless, write books, build houses, and spend more time with their children, but they are hoping they will be able to later. "Work is too important right now" and "I'll have more time later," they say. The truth is time is not on our side. Time goes on whether we want it to or not.

The saddest fact in my life is the amount of people I know who have passed away. Nearly everyone I grew up with is no longer with us. The one thing they all had in common was the desire to accomplish something in their lives that will forever go unfinished. The books they were going to write, songs they were going to sing, family they were going to love, friends they were going to share memories with, and places they were going to see will never happen. Their time on this planet of ours is done. It saddens me to think about how wonderful it would have been for them had they been able to accomplish even one or two of the things on their list.

Timing is important, and if your life and/or career is reliant on excellent timing, then please do not abandon timing. However, it is my hope that we can all stop using timing as an excuse for the things in our life that we fail to accomplish. Sometimes the timing really isn't right, but don't let that prevent you from trying again or trying at all. The timing may never be EXACTLY right. Live the best life you can. No one wants to reach the end of their life and carry more regrets than memories. Always do your best to really live.

Live for today...tomorrow is not guaranteed

I'm no stranger to loss. A staggering statistic about my life is the number of people I've lost over the years. A huge number of the people I grew up with have passed on. Every loss of life is tragic, young or old, sick or accident. More than a few of my friends have taken their own lives over the years. When I say a lot of loss, I mean a lot.

The one thing they all have in common is that they all had different plans for their lives, but for whatever reason they never got there. When I look back, I can still remember what some of their big plans were. Some were going to travel and see the world. Others were going to meet the guy or girl of their dream. They wanted to go to college. They wanted to have families and live a quiet life. One of them just wanted to live a life free of depression.

They all wanted to do amazing things and live beautiful lives, but in the end, that never happened for any of them. Thinking about their dreams breaks my heart to pieces. Moreover, the world will never see any of the life-altering, world-changing ideas that never came to be. They were all struck down to soon. No matter how old they were, it was still too soon.

The only thing more heartbreaking is that many of them had the chance to achieve their dreams, plans, and goals at some point in their lives, but they always found a reason to put things off until tomorrow. They were going to make that big change in their life tomorrow. They were going to travel some time in the future. They were going to switch jobs, talk to that important person, or chase that dream some time later. Except, tomorrow never came, and they never got a chance to do any of it.

I know we've all heard the saying, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today." There's a lot of truth in this old adage. Take the time to tell the people in your life you love them. Plan to take that trip you always wanted a little sooner rather than later. Above all else, make every moment count. I don't think enough of us live in the moment because we are too caught up worrying about the future or feeling trapped in the past. Enjoy this moment; you don't get a do over. Once this moment has passed, it's gone.

Live the best life you can now. Make sure the moments that count are more than those you regret. Regret will destroy, but I'll leave that subject for another post. Don't live recklessly, but also don't let fear run your life. Live life for today because tomorrow is not guaranteed.