Don't Look Back

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day – such an incredible opportunity!!! – begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

This week I listened to two phenomenal messages! Each had a point – actually several – that were profound to me. This morning, I want to share the messages with you and a quick summary of my takeaway from each.

Now, to save you time, I want to share the links to the messages so you can go listen to them yourself.

The first one is titled Break the Anger Cycle\Been There\Part 7. It originally aired on May 21, 2023, and you can watch it here:

https://www.life.church/media/been-there/break-the-anger-cycle/

If you can’t get to it with the link I shared, please just type in the title in the search bar and it will pop right up. It is a little more than 34 minutes long.

The second one is titled Desperate for Hope\Book Club\Part 2. It originally aired on June 16, 2024, and is 36 minutes and 17 seconds long. You can watch it here:

https://www.life.church/media/book-club-2024/desperate-for-hope/

Both are incredibly powerful, and I can’t encourage you enough to listen to them.

Break the Anger Cycle

The speaker defined anger as “the outward expression of an internal wound or an offense.” My mind immediately goes to Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.” Yes, it is true that anger is an outward expression of an internal wound or an offense, however I would offer it is equally true that everything we say and do is an outward expression of the condition of the heart. Hurt people hurt people and healed people help people are not only quaint expressions, but they are also Biblical.

The speaker, towards the end of his talk, talks about investing in the lawn of his new home. He then transitions to talking about taking care of our hearts like we take care of our lawns.

• Weeds grow.
• We put fertilizer on them or try to kill them with some sort of spray.
• The weeds come back.
• We must pull the weeds out by the roots to make sure they don’t come back.
• Now there are bare patches everywhere.
• We must plant good seeds in the bare patches.
• We water the good seed.
• The good seed gets light.
• Over time, the lawn (heart) is healthy, and everyone can enjoy it.

It is noted that this is hard, dirty work. It is not easy reaching down and pulling out the root, not just masking the issue. It takes time. But, if we do the hard work, over time, what is produced will be something beautiful.

So, Friends, we would be wise to assess the condition of our hearts this morning. Is what our hearts are producing healthy, life-giving? If not, we need to pull some stuff up by the roots! As the speaker noted, “The work you put in today creates the beauty you and the generations that follow you, will enjoy.”

Desperate for Hope

I really hope you listen to this one! Christine Caine is a wonderful, hilarious, incredibly gifted speaker. She is talking about the end times, and she quotes Jesus from Luke 17: 32, “Remember Lot’s wife!” Then she transitioned to Genesis 19. I am adding a few more verses for context – Christine only spoke of verse 26.

“24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”

Jesus, in speaking of end times, says, “Remember Lot’s wife!” We then go to the end of Sodom and Gomorrah and “Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” She was calcified, stuck there, for eternity.

See, God was trying to deliver Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah. They were given specific instruction by an angel in verse 17 not to look back…” Remember Lot’s wife!”

Right about now you might be thinking, “What does this have to do with us, Kev?” Let me ask you a question; have you ever looked back longingly at the past? Have you ever said, “I wish things would go back to normal?” As Christine noted, the actual translation of “Lot’s wife looked back” is a longing for…wanting to go back. The Lord was trying to deliver Lot and his family from death and destruction, but Lot’s wife wanted to go back. We are not that different, really…

Christine offered up several great points. These are paraphrased however I have no doubt you will get the point.

• Because Lot’s wife looked back, she was forever calcified in a place that she was only meant to pass through.
• When you get stuck in a place, it has implications for the generations that follow you.
• Many of us are living lives stuck in a season that we were only meant to pass through.
• Often, when you are disappointed with God, you go back to the things He rescued you from.

Life is not meant to be lived backwards, Friends. Without a doubt, there are good and bad seasons behind each one of us. There were lessons to learn, strength to be gained, and purposes to be discovered. But those seasons are over. This is the day that the Lord has made, and it is the only one we are capable of living. We would be wise to live it fully without looking back lest we become forever stuck in a place that was not meant for us.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev

We Really Don't Know

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

 

Do you remember I told you all that last Friday was a big day where I work? Well, it could not have gone better!!! I am so very blessed; I serve alongside an amazing group of men and women who, in addition to being some of the greatest people you could ever meet, are exceptional professionals. We had worked as a group for about 3 months on the events that transpired on Friday, having several meetings, and thinking through the grandest and smallest of details. We had the entire day scripted and everything went according to script. It was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life, and it was an honor and privilege to play a part in it all.

 

As the day was winding down, a few of us were speaking with the architects and designers that we are blessed to have working on this project and one of them said, “We have done events like this at Notre Dame, Georgia, and Alabama. This was bigger and better than anything we have ever seen.” I was speechless. One of my sweet colleagues said something like, “I don’t know if that is really true, but it was sweet of them to say.” And then it really struck me; we did not know what we were capable of, we simply did our very best as we focused on honoring people and relationships, and in the process, according to the architects and designers, we hosted an event better than those with physical and fiscal resources literally hundreds of times ours.

 

Potential…we hear the word a lot however this is one of the few times I had actually felt like I had lived the pursuit of it. Unaware of what was normal or expected, we simply did our best and it was something special. I think back to when I was a young wide receivers coach in college. I had the privilege at that time of meeting with the wide receivers coach of the Arizona Cardinals, Ted Plumb. One of the things he told me that still sticks with me today is that he always requires his players to jump for a ball that is thrown high to them. The point was this; can you catch a ball thrown a foot over your head? Two feet? Three feet? Four feet? At some point the answer will be “no,” however we don’t know where that point is, we don’t know our potential – what we are capable of. And so, instead of assuming that a ball could not be reached, jump as high as you can, give it your best efforts, challenge the borders of your potential. That’s what our amazing team did; we challenged the borders of our potential!

 

I want to encourage all of us to take stock and do the same – to challenge the borders of our potential. Where are we letting limiting assumptions and beliefs stop us? What if you truly didn’t know what you were capable of accomplishing, and so you simply gave your very best? I can personally testify to the sweet reward of peace and self-satisfaction is worth every ounce of effort put into it.

 

I am also feeling compelled to share a really critical piece of all of this with you all; did you catch the part at the beginning when I said, “I serve alongside an amazing group?” If you remove even one person from our group, I doubt we achieve at the level we did. Everyone contributed, everyone mattered, and everyone, working together, made a difference. And by the time it was all said and done, our little group had engaged, enlisted, and empowered probably another 100+ who were all critically important in the success of the day. The point? Nobody achieves great things, nobody will fulfill their potential by themselves. We all need others – life was meant to be a team sport! Heck, Jesus had 12 disciples, appointed 72 more (Luke 10), and He recruited us all to His team with the Great Commission! People and relationships are what give life value and meaning, and it is through them, working collaboratively towards a common purpose, that the borders of our potential – individual and organizational – are found.

 

The truth is none of us know what we are truly capable of in any aspect of our lives. Let’s live lives where we daily empty ourselves giving everything we have to find the boundary lines of our potential.

 

I will close with a few quotes for you to thoughtfully consider.

 

“We are all capable of infinitely more than we believe. We are stronger and more resourceful than we know, and we can endure much more than we think we can.’ - David Blaine

 

“None of us can know what we are capable of until we are tested.” - Elizabeth Blackwell

 

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” -Thomas A. Edison

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

 

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

 

Kev

You May Never Know

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

There is a lot on my heart this morning…

Earlier this week I had a brief, overnight, business trip to Memphis. On Tuesday night I was in my hotel room getting ready to go to bed, scrolling through Facebook and my heart sank…one of my former players had passed away unexpectedly at the age of 47. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

This player was special to me. When I was getting ready to leave the school where I had the privilege of coaching him, he said to me, “My favorite part of practice was always the end. To watch your little boy run and jump into your arms showed me what a dad is supposed to look like.” You see, he had grown up in the inner city, did not have a father or father figure in his life, and it meant the world to him to watch my boy jump into my arms. It touched me when he said it, but it hit completely different when I read the tributes that have been pouring in about him when it said he was, “a father-figure to many.” While I know my boy and I were only a signpost God was using for a brief season of life to keep pointing this incredibly special human being to his purpose, it is quite clear his life mission was firmly established, and he worked tirelessly to fulfill it.

I am reminded of the quote by Scott Adams which says,

“You don’t have to be a ‘person of influence’ to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.”

You see, the thing I can’t get my mind around is that what my boy and I were doing was just us being us – happy to see each other and loving each other. Not profound to us, incredibly profound to at least one young man. It has me thinking, “What are the things you and I do, just being who we are, that influences the life of another?” The reality is people are always watching. I have said it before; wouldn’t it be great if I could tell you the exact time and day you would influence another life? Can’t you just picture it? You would make sure you look good, you are smiling, you are all positive and encouraging…Wow! Wouldn’t it be so, so good?! But that is not how life works. Yes, people are always watching, however we preach our most powerful sermons through the lives we live at all times and especially during the difficult seasons.

I don’t really have a challenge to wrap this point up, just a reminder; the lives we are living are influencing the lives of all the people around us, whether we realize it or not.

I have a couple of other things I want to touch on briefly…

Today will be a very big, truly historic, day for my institution. There has been so much great, very hard work by so many people. Do you have seasons like this in your life? We all do. The one thing that is really on my heart this morning is to encourage us all to truly enjoy these moments. Yes, it is busy, hectic, and maybe even stressful. Enjoy it! It is a brief season, soon it will be over, and the only thing we will have left are the memories. Let’s make sure they are memories worth sharing!

Finally, before Tuesday night I thought I was going to write Happy Friday all about letting your light shine. Jesus instructed us to let our light shine (Matthew 5:14-16). Instead of sharing my thoughts, I am going to simply share a few quotes that inspire me…perhaps you will find meaning in them too.

“Simply shine your light on the road ahead, and you are helping others to see their way out of darkness.” – Katrina Mayer

“There is no darkness so dense, so menacing, or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by light.” – Vern P. Stanfill

“We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to the shining—they just shine.”

– Dwight L. Moody 

“Be aware that who you are and what you have to offer can be a beacon to some lost soul.” – Iyanla Vanzant 

“I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” – Unknown 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com. 

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your special family, and please stay well!

Kev

One Word

Happy Friday, Friends!

 

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

 

I am currently reading the book, Think Ahead: 7 Decisions You Can Make Today for The God-Honoring Life You Want Tomorrow, by Craig Groeschel. This book is so good!!! I would highly recommend it to you.

 

Last Sunday I was reading Chapter 3.1 which is titled One Word. Wow! Just wow! I thought it was so good that I read it to my entire family when we all got together that night and we then talked about it. On Monday at Rotary, guess what the topic of conversation was? Yep, one word.

 

This is one of those that is so good that what I am going to do with this Happy Friday, in addition to encouraging you to get the book, is to share the things from this short chapter that I highlighted. I am pretty sure it will speak to you.

 

“If you could choose a one-word goal to describe your life, what would it be? Let’s say this word represents your character and summarizes what you stand for and achieved.”

 

“Why am I so convinced this is the best word?

Because when we get to heaven, if we have lived a life that pleases God, he’s not going to say, “Well done, my good and successful servant,” or “Well done my good and influential servant,” or “Well done my good and happy servant.” I’m guessing God wants us to be successful, influential, and happy, but I don’t think they’re his top priorities. When we get to heaven, if we’ve lived a life that pleases him, God will say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” (Matt. 25:21 NLT)”

 

“We’re pre-deciding to be faithful because we will never be faithful by accident. You may have a fluke day of faithfulness, but no one is faithful day after day after day without great intentionality.

Why?

Because we love what’s easy. But being faithful is rarely easy. Right? It’s never difficult to cut corners, fudge the truth, or take the easy way out. But living with integrity, doing what’s right, and honoring God consistently takes a lot of work (and a lot of help from God).”

 

“To be faithful we will need to learn to trust God instead of relying on ourselves. Habakkuk 2:4 tells us, “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God” (NLT). In our prideful self-dependence, we often trust in our wisdom, our knowledge, our goodness, our abilities, or our bank account. But Scripture says that those who trust in themselves have crooked lives.”

 

“If you study the Gospels, you’ll see that Jesus talks about faithfulness in three specific contexts. He talks about faithfulness in how you treat people, how you steward resources, and how you respond to God. So, we are going to make three faithful pre-decisions:

1.      Every interaction is an opportunity to add value.

2.     Every resource is an opportunity to multiply.

3.     Every prompting is an opportunity to obey God.”

 

Pretty good stuff, isn’t it? So, if you could choose a one-word goal to describe your life, what would it be? New day, new opportunity…we all get to choose!

 

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

 

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well!

Kev