Cry for help

Lord I feel like I am bring pulled out to sea by the awesome waves of the wedge. The breakers keep coming in but I cannot regain my strength. As I see the shore so close and now I am even on the steep shore line the wet sand runs through my fingers as I claw my way to escape the monster waves trying to consume me. I scratch and I claw as it seems I move nowhere to only be pulled back out by the words and actions of others. I seek you and call out to you as best I know how in my extreme distress. I have feelings of such mistrust with people that it has spilled over to my relationships. I look at where I have come only to blame myself and to hear the voices tell me I am doomed and know not God. I am in fear of disappearing from the face of the planet if I give into men and there assessment of me.
Help me to trust in you oh Lord you are my only hope that I will never let go of. As I cry for help!

Thermometer or a Thermostat?

Creekside Devotions
February 21, 2011
Thermometer or a Thermostat?

Joshua 1:9
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged,
For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Some time ago I was discussing this scripture with Byron Sims, a great friend who is a good example of strength and ‘good courage’—He’s a Thermostat! Well, why? Byron has been battling a certain type of brain tumor for approximately 14 years and has undergone several very intensive surgeries to remove the tumor as it grows and attaches to his brain stem. He displays a resolute strength founded upon the principle that God will provide.

Byron possesses enormous personal courage and a fearless approach in dealing with his condition, but he has never just adjusted to his condition. He establishes the environment for his body, mind and spirit through God’s will. I believe as a result of Byron’s realization that God is in control, he always is strong and of good courage. His outlook matches the will of God for his life because he knows God is in control! God is the thermostat of his life!

The very same reason is why God clearly admonished Joshua in scripture (Joshua 1:9) to ‘Be strong and courageous.’ God wanted Joshua to understand no matter the tests, the trial, the circumstance, people, or the condition he needs to have the character and wherewithal to do what is right despite the issue and or what people may want or say—because God is in control. He wanted Joshua to be a thermostat not a thermometer. We must be resolved to stay the course as given by God even if it means we have to change our surrounding, our condition and settings to match the will of God. Are you a Thermometer or a Thermostat?

Thermometers measure conditions and adjust to reflect those conditions. Thermostats regulate and change their environment to match their settings.

Are you just adjusting to your surroundings and have become as everyone else, or are you changing your environment, surroundings and condition by adjusting your settings to match the will of God for your life?

God wants committed men and women willing to be both strong and courageous Christians in this modern world–He wants Thermostats! Are you strong and courageous to be a Thermostat in your world? Or, does your spiritual temperature rise and fall according to the world around you?

I pray that God will give you the character, strength and resolve to do His will. Become a God oriented Thermostat and not just an ever changing Thermometer!

God’s Grace,

Col. Bernard Warrington, Jr.
Corpus Christi, Texas

Gaining Peace and direction

Having gotten back to work from July to November in North Dakota taught me a couple of lessons. First how my mind was so cluttered with stress about life issues and my need for solitude to gain a different perspective. Second solitude helps me to work on my character. When our minds are cluttered with extraneous thoughts we cannot have the right perspective on our situation.

The first thing I know that needs to happen is I have to prioritize my days. How I can accomplish this is by taking time to learn how to think. This can be done in a time of solitude. I have not gotten ahold of prioritizing my days and I know this is a problem. This article by John Maxwell gives a way to evaluate your priorities. http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com/2010/12/06/starting-the-great-separator/

Prioritizing my day will help to have my mind in order. I have read a lot about goal setting and prioritizing and do believe it will work. The problem I have is believing it will work for me! So this is an area of my life right now that needs a major overhaul. I do know that I have to take small steps one day at a time. As you stack up many days you can look back on something good or bad. We all have the same 24 hrs. How you prioritize your day is how productive and successful you become.

I had a lot of solitude out in North Dakota. For one month I was out in a camping cabin on Lake Sakakawea. I went to work and came home to a peaceful lake house. I think the hardest thing a human can ever do is spend prolonged times of solitude or being alone. It can work in good or bad ways if you let it. It can be a very productive time or non-productive time. When you look at people in prison you see what it can do. Some go crazier and other use there time for good to reflect on their lives and how to become better people. When under stress you are limited to what you are thinking about. I have found that I can focus better with a clear mind and I know most of us will agree. Here is another article from Maxwell on how to manage your life not your time

http://johnmaxwellonleadership.com/2010/11/29/dont-manage-your-time-manage-your-life/ it seems to me to get at the solitude idea. That it really is about our character and that is what solitude works on. Solitude facilitates the process of considering who we are and who we want to become. There is a multitude of influences that a buying for your time and attention. If we look close at what we are guided by it may surprise us. What ideas are yours or someone else? We have to take control of our lives through our thoughts. The only way to do this is through a time of solitude and thinking. There are books by John Maxwell on developing your thinking muscle called “Thinking for Change.” It is a great book for your times of solitude to train yourself how to think.

I hope that what I have written for your consideration will help in the journey of life. We all have our struggles in life. We are the ones who choose to make our lives better. It may not always get easier but we will know how to handle situation better. Then we will be better equipped to live our lives better and help others.

Giving back in our world today is of paramount importance. Most people are scared and fearful of what is happening. This kind of learning is invaluable to our friends and family. Most people think that the learning stops after college is over and that cannot be farther from the truth. The learning is just starting and how are you going to apply what you have learned. This is true for non-formal education or even the very esteemed “School of hard Knocks!” some of us have our Phd’s in this University. I am having to learn and even accept that may I have something that could help another person that I have learned through my failures and mistakes and overcame.

Thanks to those of you how read this and I would love feedback on the ideas and even corrections because I do not always have it right. Forgive my writing this is also something I am working on. But if I can at this point get across my ideas then I have accomplished my goal to help another person. We all are facing uncertain times in our country and our world so that is why it is so much more important than any other time before to give our knowledge away to others. The old saying “Give a man a fish feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime!” lets start teaching people how to fish!

Acceptance of Reality

Well all of us have our excuses of why we do things or don’t do things. I have learned over the last 18 months that if I don’t point the finger back at me then I am at a big loss. I have to take responsibility for my life and have “NO EXCUSES!”

This kind of living is freedom!!!

Ask yourself today ” Am I living blaming other, or do I look at how I contribute to solving problems by taking responsibility for my attitudes and actions.

Have a great 4th of July and be grateful for this

Independence Day.

God Bless.

Hope this post sparks thought and encourages you to seek out growth.

Location:Cortina Ln,Omaha,United States

Are you working with purpose

Are you working with purpose???
As I have been working on finding may way through this recession I have decided to find purpose in my work. As I worked in the dirt for over ten years I never had purpose. Now that I am homeless and close to having no unemployment it is getting interesting. I want to have a purpose in my work.

Personal Identity

We live in a world today that makes it really hard to know certain things.

What I am talking about is “Who are you?”

The answer to this question is a very big deal. It controls how we live out our lives, relate to other people and many other important issues in life. My goal in this post is to get us thinking how we view ourselves and how our self talk is. To relate it to myself I am going through a career change. I have operated heavy equipment for over ten years. Now construction everyone knows comes with a whole sub-culture with ideas and speech.

Now I am going into business and it is a night and day difference how you relate to other, dress, ect. So I have had to start thinking of myself as a business man and not a heavy equipment operator anymore. Now why is this so important? Well if I still viewed myself as an operator I would relate to people in business like I did out on the job sites. Now for the most part women would not like that kind of talk. It also would board on sexual harassment.

We get mixed up with the idea that our identity is in our roll at work, or as a parent, a sibling and other ideas that have nothing to do with the “Core of who we are.”

This is a really important question for us to ask as we head into the 21^st century.

Hope you are having a great year so far.

Shawn Thornton