LEADING CAUSE OF LIFE

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.

While in Nashville last week with my amazing friends from West Virginia, DC, and Tennessee, we heard from author William Moyers.  I mentioned him in an earlier OFH.  One of the things he shared in his talk was a little snippet from Gary Gunderson.

Gunderson is the author of “Leading Causes of Life: Five Fundamentals to Change the Way You Live Your Life”

Gunderson is Senior Vice President for Health and Welfare Ministries for Methodist Healthcare and the director for the Interfaith Health Program at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He is a commissioned Deacon in the United Methodist Church.

And he identifies the 5 leading causes of life as:

Connection

Coherence

Agency

Blessing

Hope

Now if you are a frequent follower of the OFH you know I love that first one!  In fact, in my world, CONNECTION is KEY to RECOVERY! - A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. – Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)

Gunderson describes the next one, coherence, as a zeal for learning, for expanding our faith.  That is a healthy habit for sure!!!

Agency is a pursuit of purpose; of finding a lane a way to serve.  This too is an important one in the role of recovery. While in Nashville with our friends from Project Return, we discussed the magnitude of purpose on a healthy return to society and an effective recovery.

He (GOD) creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. – Ephesians 2:10 (MSG)

The last two are “sort of” obvious.  We know that when we offer blessing, we get blessed! (1 Peter 3:9) and we know the importance of HOPE! 

In fact, I love the way Rick Warren tees up the criticality of HOPE in our lives when he says, “We could go 40 days without food, 8 days without water, but we can’t live one SINGLE day without HOPE!”

And Ben Courson remarked that “Hope is the glue that holds FAITH and LOVE together”.

I would agree.  And the LORD is MOST GENEROUS with HOPE that is for sure!!!

Your future is bright and filled with a living hope

    that will never fade away. – Proverbs 23:18 (TPT)

So, while we often are bludgeoned with news on “leading causes of death”, can I encourage you to seek out and embrace some leading causes of life today?

Get connected!  Embrace faith! Uncover and pursue your GOD-GIVEN purpose! Bless somebody! And cling to the boundless HOPE of GOD!

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

DIFFERENCE MAKER

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.

Whirlwind!

Sorry I missed you yesterday.  Was one of those “Willie Nelson” days. “On the Road Again” - 😊

Clarksville to Indianapolis to Paulding Ohio to my bed finally at about 11ish was the itinerary. 

But what a BLESSED day!

My friends in Clarksville have an amazing and scalable counseling solution to share with ALL our RECOVERY partners!

My dear sister in Indy is seeing doors open for her on several levels; chaplaincy, expansion of her PAL footprint (https://palgroup.org/), not to mention alliances being formed with formidable health systems.

And my partners from Paulding?

GOD is up to something amazing there!  A new LIVING FREE work is a month away from launching. An AMAZING prevention plan called “Helping Kids Prosper” is being deployed.  And a READY coalition is on the horizon!

I am one blessed fella!  To be able to lead, guide and inspire folks to using their gifts, engaging their communities and the challenges is such an honor.

And as we were discussing the plans for Paulding’s plan called CITIZENS OF PAULDING FOR RECOVERY AND PREVENTION, I was so moved by the ENERGY of the 30 or so in attendance.  They WANT to engage! They WANT to become DIFFERENCE makers!  And I believe they have the FAITH to do it, FAITH that is ready to ACT; “JAMES FAITH”

My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if someone claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, “Good-bye. I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat,” but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith? So, then faith that doesn’t involve action is phony. - James 2:14-17 (TPT)

I share these stories with you today to encourage you.  It is so easy to look at the challenges in our communities, things like suicide, addiction, trauma, trafficking, and disconnection and feel paralyzed.  But if we can EMBRACE our “JAMES FAITH” a faith that is READY to act, we can, and we will with GOD’S direction and GOD’s help begin to turn the tide on these social challenges and help turn our communities back to GOD and back to loving one another.

I believe it!

I see it and get to participate in it all the time!

So pray for these folks who are EXERCISING their faith; who are wading into the challenges with creativity, passion, and expectation! 

And pray for yourself today. 

Ask GOD for WAYS that your FAITH can be enhanced and vitalized with some ACTION! I promise you that when those two things come together, GOD will BLESS you and those you serve, and you TOO will become a DIFFERENCE MAKER!!!

never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.” ― R. Buckminster Fuller

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED WEEKEND!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

MAGICAL HOPE

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.

What a day yesterday.

Opened with hearing from several city leaders regarding their accomplishments and continuing challenges with the addiction challenge.

Then me and my friend, “went on the road”.

We made sight visits with some amazing people who are doing remarkable work in and around Nashville.

The first stop was at a place called Project Return.

 https://www.projectreturninc.org/

The second an amazing stop and inspiring conversation with leadership at the helm of The Next Door.  https://thenextdoor.org/ 

April our contact shared a powerful story of personal redemption and how that has launched her to help countless women to find their way out of addiction via a beautiful convergence of clinical and Christ.

And then we scooped up my buddy Monty and “went to the foothills of Tennessee”. And as we pulled up on a remarkable campus, the campus of Blue Monarch, the presence of the Lord was palatable. https://www.bluemonarch.org/

And as you look those works up today, pause and pray for them.  They are all on the FRONT-LINE of ministry.

Their teams, their work reminded me of this encouragement from Teresa of Avila:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,

Yours are the eyes, you are his body.

Christ has no body now but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

compassion on this world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

They all have embraced this call! And they BRING HOPE as a result!

One of the TRUE blessings of the work I am honored and blessed to do is the people I meet. And yesterday I saw in the face and heard in the words of so many, HOPE.  Simple HOPE.

And I like this little quote from Taylor when she said, “Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

Yesterday for me was “magical” because the true LIGHT of HOPE, was lit and on display for sure.

And here is the good news, that same light, that same HOPE is for you too!!!

…those who hope in the Lord will be happy and pleased…

Psalm 146:5 (TPT)

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

WORDS ON THE HEART

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.

“A disciple asks the rebbe: ‘Why does Torah tell us to “place these words upon your hearts”? Why does it not tell us to place these holy words in our hearts?’ The rebbe answers: ‘It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So, we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in.”

Our KEYNOTE from last night  in Nashville shared this little quote. It was something that he had penned into his book, Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption.

His name is William C. Moyers and he is the vice president of public affairs and community relations for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, based in Minnesota.

His story, like many recovery stories, was very familiar and as he shared, I was both affirmed and encouraged.  Affirmed because the solutions he was sharing resonated and lined up with what me and my dear colleagues from Tennessee and DC are doing!  Encouraged because I always love to see someone who was bound by addiction freed and making a difference!

But let’s go back to the quote. I really like this part of it…

So, we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in.

Made me think of this passage.

the seed sown on good soil represents those who open their hearts to receive the Word and their lives bear good fruit—some yield a harvest of thirty, sixty, even one hundred times more than was sown! – Mark 4:20 (TPT)

This ministry of recovery is ALL about SEED planting.  And I liked the visual provided by the quote of a “heart breaking” for the WORDS, the seeds, to enter the heart of someone who is challenged and is in need of intervention and help. And I have seen when the “heartbreak” happens, and lives are transformed; often by simple WORDS/SEEDS of truth.

John 8:32

Galatians 5

Jeremiah 29:11

I could go on.

My encouragement today is that we MUST never be stingy with our words of hope, our seeds of recovery.  We must continue to sow and to place on the hearts of those we love.  Because…

You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth – 2 Timothy 2:25 (MSG)

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

WITH IN IN WITH

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.

God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. – Colossians 1:27 (MSG)

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. – Matthew 1:23 (NIV)

Isn’t that a reassurance for the believer today?

Simply that CHRIST is in us and that we, regardless of our “religious standing”, can look forward to participating in and sharing in GOD’S glory; that GOD through CHRIST is WITH US?

GOD wants us to be clued in to the “secret” that CHRIST has taken residence in us and with us and has amazing things to SHOW us!

This mystery of CHRIST’S intentional intimacy is for ALL of us!

The question is, are we willing to embrace it?

Embrace the truth of the mystery?

And more importantly be GRATEFUL for it?

Friends, this CHRIST ‘in us and with us” is not something to ever be taken for granted.  It is the FOUNDATION of another crucial truth.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

Christ IN us!

Christ WITH us!

Christ CONNECTED inseparably to us.

CHRIST the HOPE of GLORY for us and intimately intertwined!

So, the thought for today is probably easy to decipher.

Do we understand that magnitude of the privilege to have this sort of intimacy with the Lord?

Do we understand the magnitude of having CHRIST for us?

Are we attuned to His glory?

Are we grateful for all of it?

Do we acknowledge it?

Manning said it this way!

“The Christ within who is our hope of glory is not a matter of theological debate or philosophical speculation. He is not a hobby, a part-time project, a good theme for a book, or a last resort when all human effort fails. He is our life, the most real fact about us. He is the power and wisdom of God dwelling within us.”

"With-In"

I love you all.

Have a blessed “in and with” DAY

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

ANTIDOTE

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.

Philippians 4:6-7 (TPT)

Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your faith-filled requests before God with overflowing gratitude. Tell him every detail of your life, then God’s wonderful peace that transcends human understanding, will make the answers known to you through Jesus Christ.

Other translations like the NKJV use the more familiar phrase, “Be anxious for nothing…”

But just exactly what does that entail?

One of my favorites, Max Lucado unpacks it this way.

“Be anxious for nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Is this what he meant? Not exactly. He wrote the phrase in the present active tense, which implies an ongoing state. It's the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul wanted to address.

The Lucado Revised Translation reads, "Don't let anything in life leave you perpetually breathless and in angst." The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.”

“The PRESENCE of anxiety is UNAVOIDABLE, but the PRISON of anxiety is OPTIONAL”.

Hang on to that a second my friends.

Anxiety has an antidote!

And Paul sums up what it is so nicely; he clearly prescribes the elixir to combat this pesky contagion, “Be saturated in prayer throughout each day”

I had the pleasure of breakfast yesterday south of Dayton with a dear friend and colleague.  She helms one of the most comprehensive and compassionate recovery ministries in the area.  And as we were catching up, making some plans for 2019 and an upcoming event, we began to chat about the challenge of ANXIETY.

“Are we doing enough?”

“Is what we are doing effective?”

“What does the new administration mean for our work?”

“Can we sustain it?”

And ironically each of us had been “infected” recently by that anxiety contagion.  But what was CLEAR, especially for her, is that she had found PEACE via PAUL’s simple solution, prayer.

Continual prayer.

Intentional prayer.

Directed prayer.

Grateful prayer.

And she was quick to say that the “PEACE-FILLED” payoff of that diligence was a PROMISE that GOD was keeping. 

What an encouragement!

This time of year, the PATHOGEN of PANIC is most certainly in the air.

But today, instead of allowing any anxiety to imprison, reach instead for the antidote and SATURATE yourself and your surroundings with PRAYER. 

Peace is promised! And peace will come!

Torrey summed it up well when he said,

“Those persons who know the deep peace of God, the unfathomable peace that passeth all understanding, are always men and women of much prayer.

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE

PONDER

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.

Yesterday our Pastor, Pastor Mark was sharing a talk entitled, “Christmas is What You Make It.”

He used a couple little videos that perhaps you have seen.

But toward the end of his talk, Mark referenced a passage of scripture that all will find familiar.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Luke 2:12 (KJV)

And he highlighted the “swaddling clothes” portion of the verse and then he proceeded to share something that he had uncovered in preparation for the day’s teaching.

Here it is…

            “Have you ever wondered about "swaddling clothes"?

Everyone knows that Jesus was born in a manger, and the 2nd chapter of the gospel of Luke says that he was wrapped in "swaddling clothes" and laid in a manger. In fact, even hospitals today use a cloth that they call a "swaddling" cloth. Unfortunately, it's a misnomer that will soon be over 2,000 years old, because "swaddling clothes" have nothing to do with a child being born!

In the Middle East, people traveling long distances were often met with many hardships and trials on their journeys. In the event of a death in travel, the body could not continue to be transported for many days. For that reason, travelers wrapped a thin, gauzelike cloth around their waist many times. If someone died on the journey, the others would use this cloth, referred to as "swaddling clothes" to wrap the corpse in before burying them.

When Jesus was born, there was no room in the Inn, and so Mary and Joseph used a nearby stable for Jesus' birth. With no other cloth to use, Jesus was wrapped in Joseph's "swaddling clothes" - the cloth normally reserved for a person's death.

The King of Kings and Lord of Lords came into this world in a lowly manger and was wrapped with burial clothes - in truth, He was born to die. To die for the sins of all mankind.

When you celebrate Christ's birth this Christmas season, keep in mind that even in birth, He was preparing for death - his ultimate reason for coming to earth....

To save us from our sins.”

Mark’s sharing of this evoked quite a reaction from the congregation.  I must admit, I hadn’t heard that myself.  And while that little theory and postulation might be familiar to you, I did find it thought provoking.  Especially in the light of another familiar passage.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 (KJV)

I would encourage you to “ponder” this a little like Mary did the visit and responsibility bestowed by the angel. 

Ponder the intricacies and the complexity of GOD. 

Ponder that right from the start, even before He could speak or begin to take care of Himself, JESUS was already fulfilling His destiny and ours.

Ponder that!

I love you all.

Have a BLESSED DAY!!!

OPPORTUNITIES for HOPE