In With the Now

Hello All,

Ever find yourself waiting to exhale? Hesitant to seize the day because of a pressing issue. It’s not to imply that you’re ungrateful; you realize that if you give any thought to the blessings in your life, you’d have to admit that although things could be better, they could also be worse. Much worse! However, in spite of that, something or things have positioned themselves between you and your perception of “smooth sailing”. It happens to all of us. I met a guy over the weekend and he shared that he and his long time girlfriend had both come into the relationship with a pet dog. Fast forward 10+ years and now, his dog is dead and hers’ is dying and they’re wondering what they will do AFTER that. I also met an older gentleman who’s new to the area from New Jersey and he’s waiting for his photography business to take off so he can….. That’s what I mean. We often find ourselves waiting for a life-changing turning point to usher in the next phase. At the moment, I’m waiting to close on a house so I can move in and all that’s entailed; hooking up electricity, water and cable so I can see what I’ll do AFTER that. Waiting for kids to go to college, or that new job to open up, or or or. Once one “or” is done, a few more “ors” take its place. Some expected, others not so much and these ors make it seem as if smooth sailing is just around the bend or a long ways off.

Ahhh…the ever elusive smooth sailing life, where ice cream taste better and the laundry is always folded and put away. I digress; this may not depict your anticipation or your reality. In light of the current matters in your life, they may not be blocking some sort of ethereal Nirvana type place. At the end of the day this isn't about NOT having a focus and an anticipation on our long term goals; all this really is, is an encouragement to not miss out on blessings of now because you're waiting on the blessings on the other side of a future event. There’s always going to be something significant on the horizon that’s rightfully enjoyable; a graduation/certification, new job, new location or moving into a new house, but why should that get in the way of Today? Ice cream TODAY would still be pretty darn good!

Here’s the Word:

Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 96:2 Sing unto the Lord, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Okay, so it’s only Wednesday and not our favorite FRIDAY. And even though we may have major weekend plans that we’re getting ready for, nothing is stopping us from making ‘Now’ all it can be. Count and rejoice in your blessings! As a matter of fact, today being Wednesday, it’s bang bang shrimp for $5.00 at Bonefish Grill. If you like the idea of spicy shrimp and you’ve never tried it, TODAY is the day you’ve been waiting for! Enjoy!

In Him,
Cros

Word Problems

Ya know? I get it. Generally speaking, people really don’t like math. Furthermore, unless you’re part of that elite group that has no problem with statistical derivatives, I would surmise that you probably don’t miss the days of math in school.
(btw, I know there are statistics and I know there are derivatives…not quite sure about the combination though…jus sayin.)

For some, the simpler equations and formulas were sorta “fun” to learn such as A=1/2(b x h) for triangle area, but I’m sure that I can’t remember a single person who embraced those dreaded “word problems”. Remember those? Well here’s an example: Sally, Anna and Richard have a lemonade stand. They paid $5.23 for ingredients and $6.45 for supplies. They sell 4.62 cups of lemonade per hour at .75 cents per cup. How long does it take to start turning a profit? And how much does each of them get paid if the stand stays open for a week from 11:30 am til 6 o’clock? (I figured I’d make it a real problem for those who absolutely love math and simply can’t contain themselves) But WOW! For the rest of us, we see these problems and we immediately start praying for death!

But is there an answer? Yes! There is. There’s ALWAYS an answer. Now if word problems are the very worst thing that math can throw at you AND you know that there's always an answer, then it’s surely time well spent for us to figure out how to overcome the anxiety? The fear floodgates in our minds burst forth with thoughts of failure, or being perceived as incompetent, or outright panic for a multitude of reasons. The enemy loves to push us to panic and unsettle us from the idea that there IS an answer worth pursuing. But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

The fact of the matter is, these teachers KNEW they were giving us a problem that would initially be seen as overwhelming but they would always help us by saying the same thing; “Remember what you know. Break it down and solve it in small steps.” It’s the same thing with life. We get an overwhelming situation and we react in panic. Although now that we’re older and it’s not as permissible to show that fear, we respond with anger or a feigned competency instead of being honest. We have knee-jerk reactions that cause more harm than good to ourselves and those around us. It doesn’t have to stay this way.

Here’s the word;

2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Jude 1:17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Today our problem isn’t how we deal with word problems, it’s how we deal with world problems; life problems. We don’t know how to apply The Word because we spend so little time in it. We rarely get past panic to the first step of “Remember what you know” because all too often, we haven’t built up a remembrance to draw from. And rather than embracing the idea that ‘we’re MORE than conquerors through Him’…we’re still praying for death. (Ours or others’)

I don’t believe that there’s a single problem that we can face in this life where some insight isn’t already provided in The Word. Our Word problem stems from our lack of time spent studying It. We have a teacher who knows that things will be overwhelming at times BUT there IS always an answer and if you study and remember, you’ll be able to honor His patient instruction by the way you navigate life’s complicated word problems.



In Him,
Cros


Feel free to email your answer to the problem in paragraph 2...Don't forget to show your work.