Stay positive

As I watched the news last night and this morning about the fires in California and about how people are losing their homes and all of their belongings my heart went out to them. Joel Osteen was on Fox news last night talking about how, everyone affected must know that God is in control and how we must all keep positive attitudes. This is a good message, but a tough one to follow through with if you are one of the ones that have lost a home in the fire. How do I keep a positive attitude when all that I have is gone?

It made me think of a man that went to our Church in Bovina when I was a kid. My dad just told me this story a couple of weeks ago. This man was in a wheel chair and had been for as long as I could remember. I never really knew what had happened to Jerry and why he was in a wheel chair, till my dad told me his story. Jerry had a wreck when he was younger, which paralyzed him, but that is just part of his story. When he had his wreck he had been drinking. Jerry was a heavy drinker at the time and face a battle with alcohol. After his wreck he could not walk and could not talk very well, it was hard to understand him unless you knew what he was talking about. Jerry was telling my dad about his life one time and told my dad that although he had spent most of his life in a wheel chair, if it had not been for that wreck he probably would not have been a Christian. I thought what a powerful statement. Sometimes it takes a event like this to change our hearts and turn to God. Jerry became a very devoted Christian man and I believe that he is in heaven today. Jerry passed away several years back.

I look at some of the things that I have been through in my life, although I think, wow I wish I would not have had to go through that, and I do not want my kids to have to go through the same things, some of those bad things made me finally turn to God. Bad things happen in our lives. Losing homes to fires and tornadoes and other bad things that happen in the world are terrible experiences to have to go through, but we must remember that God is still in control. If we turn to him and rely on him to get us through these things, it can make our relationship stronger with God. If we build our success on God and not the things that can be destroyed or taken away from us, it is a lot easier to go through some of the tough things that happen in life. It has taken me a long time to realize this.

So look to God everyday of your life, and know that he is in control, let him lead you and not an event in your life lead you. Build your success on God and not on the things that can be destroyed.

We talked about service last night in class, then we did a great service by helping out in the auditorium, by sharpening the pencils and cleaning any trash up around the song books. Thanks to everyone for helping, it feels really good to take some responsibility in keeping our building clean and prepared. See all of you at Friday lunch, hope you are having a great week, and good luck to the band, they play in Lubbock on Saturday!!