PEOPLE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

 

Sorry I missed you yesterday.  Early travel sometimes bumps my schedule a bit.

 

Yesterday was quite the day.  Beth and I traveled to just outside Washington DC for the 14^th Annual SAMHSA Prevention Day.  This is a yearly event that brings folks from all over the country together to discuss HOW we can help prevent DRUG ADDICTION.

 

There were some “heavy hitters” at this event. National experts.  Leading officials. High ranking prevention leaders, you know the kind that hang out at the WHITE HOUSE from time to time.

 

I will be honest, the thought of presenting even at a small breakout was a little intimidating.  But like most times when GOD has opened an unexpected door an unexpected blessing ensues, and it had nothing to do with what I was going to say and everything to do with who I was going to meet.

 

And that came in the form of “the people” I was privileged to present with and for. 

 

I was asked to present the ROLE and OPPORTUNITY for the CHURCH to engage in the current crisis.  The talk is “EMPOWERING FAITH BASED CAPACITY” and the PARTNERSHIP CENTER from the Department of Health and Human Services are who asked me to share. 

 

This TEAM is REMARKABLE.  

BOLD in their faith! Compassionate, loving, and eager to see change.  Undaunted by a VERY CHALLENGING cultural dynamic that often “discourages their evangelistic natures”, they share FAITH and HOPE and how BOTH meshed with BEST PRACTICES and EFFECTIVE methodologies, CAN and WILL turn the tide on this scourge on our communities and families.

 

And on the panel of speakers with me was the Sr. Director of Social & Behavior Change for the BOYS and GIRLS CLUB of America, Danielle.

And all I can say is WOW. 

 

In addition to being a delightful person and very well educated, she has a SERVANTS heart evidenced by her work abroad.

 

But she made a statement while she was sharing; something she had gleaned from her work abroad that “WE ARE PEOPLE because of people”.  Quite profound.

 

None of us are HERE on our own.  We are all descendants from a single pair divinely created centuries ago.  We have MUCH more in common than we do in difference and as a RESULT we MUST be about the business of “BEING” for each other because we “ARE” each other.

 

The BIBLE SAYS that we are to:

Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. Hebrews 10:24 (TPT)

 

THE Bible also says for us to LOVE one another, look out for one another, hold one another accountable, stir each other, bless each other…the list goes on and on.  There are countless “one another’s” in scripture!

 

That is why I like Danielle’s little quote from the isolated people she served.  “We ARE people because of PEOPLE”.  Perhaps if we remembered that more graciously and thankfully the way we INTERACT, and LOVE other people would improve!

 

So today be thankful that YOU are because of the OTHERS in your life.  

Appreciate them.  Acknowledge them.  Thank them.

 

To bring this point home, I like this little excerpt from Staneart’s Talk on the “IMPORTANCE of OTHERS” and I will close today with it.

 

When was the last time that you told someone how important they were to you?

One of my class members about ten years ago decided to use this principle with his sales assistant.  She was the assistant for five different salespeople, and her job was to put together marketing materials and, ultimately, their contracts when they sold a big deal.  During the class, this salesman decided that the work that this woman did for him was critical to him closing deals, so on his way into the office, he bought her a big container of popcorn and just put a sticky note on it saying how important she was to him and to his success.

 

When he gave it to her, she was shocked and surprised, but awfully grateful as well since he was the first person in years to treat her like an equal in the office.  When he came back to class the next week, he told us that she had taken the sticky note off the can and stuck it under the plastic protector that covered her desk so that she could see it every day.

 

I saw this man a couple of years later and asked him about the sales assistant.  He told me that she is still there and still doing a fabulous job.  He said, though, that she now has over a dozen of the sticky notes on her desk.  She keeps every one.

 

Great leaders use this aspect of human nature to make people feel important.  One way to be a great leader is to find some way every day to make the people around you feel important.

 

Remember, “We ARE PEOPLE because of PEOPLE” …

 

Love ya all!

Have a blessed DAY!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE