HOF Lessons

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this glorious Friday!

So, do you remember that last week I encouraged you to watch the NFL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies on Saturday? Do you remember I told you that there are a lot of great messages that come from the messes that others have lived as they walked their perfectly beautiful paths? Do you remember I told you that I would laugh and cry as I watched them? You remember all that? Well, I hate to tell ya BUT, I told ya so! :)

Today I briefly want to share a few words that Brian Dawkins spoke. They struck me as incredibly powerful when I heard them last Saturday night and they are even more profound to me in my life today. You can watch his entire speech - it is a little more than 22 minutes long - by googling "Brian Dawkins Hall of Fame Speech." I really like, and am sharing what I am sharing below with you, from the recording that is at MSN.com.

Before I dive into what I really want to get to I want to share a few nuggets that Brian shared.
1. The first thing he did is explain that he didn't get there alone. He talked about, and thanked, the many people who God had placed in his path to help him along on his life journey. The same is true for you & I.

2. He talked about football being what he did, not who he is. Funny, a couple of the Hall of Famers mentioned the exact same thing. Your job, your professional vocation, does not define the person you are...it is simply one of many platforms God has given you to make a difference in this world. I pray you, and I, never forget that!

3. And here is what I want to share with you. Direct quotes from Brian:

"The majority of success that I have had have come on the back end of pain. Pain has pushed me to levels unknown for me at the  time. All that I know is that is pain at the time. But on the other side of it, all of the sudden, I became better in an area. So when we go through those situations in our lives, pain helps you develop those things that is going to take you to the next level of whatever it is that the Lord has for you. Believe that. I am a living testimony of that."

"What that pain did for me, it increased my faith exponentially. I have grown leaps and bounds because of the things I have gone through. And that is one of those things I went through. And when I say I went through, that means I came out on the other side of it. So for those who are going through right now there is hope. You do have hope! There is something on the other side of this! Don't get caught up where you are! Don't stay where you are! Keep movin! Keep pushing through!"

I apologize if that is not all 100% accurate...I have replayed and replayed and replayed his speech trying to get it right. Regardless, there is no doubt I have captured Brian's heart.

So, Sweet Friends, what pain are you dealing with? Brian was talking about a season of his life where he was dealing with deep depression, to the point where he was contemplating how he would actually kill himself. Maybe for you it is depression, or loss, or addiction, or fear, or discouragement, or... Let Brian's powerful testimony speak to your heart. Whatever the pain, please fight through, keep the hope and believe that this pain is taking you to the next level of whatever the Lord has for you.

And one more thing I just have to share, quickly. Does it ever irritate you that those who say things like "keep the faith", "God is in control", "everything will be fine', etc. always seem to be preaching this from the mountain top? Yeah, me too. Well Brian has walked through the storm and he is yelling back to us through the wind and rain..."You do have hope! There is something on the other side of this! Don't get caught up where you are! Don't stay where you are! Keep movin! Keep pushing through!" Me? I am in the throws of a storm. I don't feel or hear God but I know He is there. I have yelled at Him and cried out to Him. I am not telling to you push through standing off on some mountain top somewhere...I am standing beside you as a broken man who believes in God, that His word is true and I am placing all of my hope in Him. I know that feelings are not facts and I refuse to pay attention to them. I will continue to seek the Lord, I will continue to persevere, I will fight for my faith until the day I stand before God. The storm will pass and I am grateful that my faith and strength will be greater because of it.

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.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

Instructions for Living

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this beautiful Saturday afternoon! I am having arguably the best day of my life - I have gone on a long walk, target shooting with my youngest Tender Warrior and a lunch date with my Beautiful Bride. I still have the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony to watch tonight, as well as a family movie, AFTER a Saturday afternoon power nap. Blessed! :)

This week I simply want to share a couple of things with you. As is always the case, I cannot - nor do I want to - tell you how to live your life. I can only offer some options - presented most powerfully through actions, not words - and testify to what I have found, believe and choose to try to do. That is my heart as I dive into this Happy Friday message.

The first thing I want to share with you is Romans 12. I read it earlier this week and my Spirit was doing jumping jacks as I was reading. :) Experience has taught me that this means the words are right and true. Though I fail to live them out far more often than I would like to admit, I am driven by this God-inspired wisdom. I will share the entire scripture, bolding the parts that in particular speak to my heart and perhaps offer a thought or two. I am not doing this to influence you one way or the other - just my testimony.

Romans 12(NIV)A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Kev's Thoughts: My mind is renewed by seeking God in His Word, prayer and by the Godly men & women He places in my life. When my mind is renewed, when I seek God's way, then I am able to test and approve of His will for my life. When I seek the worlds view I am helplessly lost.

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your[a]faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead,[b] do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Kev's Thoughts - God & my Mom both taught me this one; I am not better than anyone. We all have different talents, gifts & abilities and everyone should be honored. When people ask if I truly believe that every life has value, meaning and purpose I can emphatically say without hesitation - "ABSOLUTELY." 

9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Kev's Thoughts - People know if you truly love, value, cherish & adore them...you can't fake it and you can't give what you don't have. If you don't have it perhaps you should go to the source of your information and then look again.

Jesus came to serve, not to be served...surely it is not too much to ask for me to honor others above myself.

The only chance I stand of being joyful in hope & patient in affliction is by being faithful in prayer...and a quadruple dose of God's mercy & grace! :)

Mom always modeled this one too...practicing hospitality. Mi casa es su casa...my house is your house. I am not given the many blessings I have to hoard them...they are to be used to bless others. Thank you Mom! :)

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.

Kev's Thoughts - Augh! More, much more, mercy & grace needed here Lord! It is so hard to bless those who curse me and yet when I do I find that deep, abiding peace that goes beyond all understanding. And when I don't? I feel & act like a fool! Just keepin it real Friends! :)

As I have matured I have really learned this about rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourn with those who are mourning. What helped me? Realizing that it is not about me. God doesn't have everyone here to serve me or you...sometimes we are the joy in someone else's celebration, the anchor of hope in their moment of despair. When we are so caught up thinking about how uncomfortable we feel because what they are going through, perhaps it would be wise to remember that it is not always about me & you.

The Bible tells me that pride goes before the fall  and I can testify that every time I have been proud, I have fallen. Go figure!

I think this is another one I can directly attribute to Mom; first, she would not be pleased if anyone was defined as being "of low position." And second, she would absolutely not tolerate ignoring anyone. Every life has value, meaning & purpose! If I don't see it, the problem is with me, not them.

May I please give you one more "Momism?" It is not directly related to the conceited part but yet, perhaps it is. I remember one time she looked me dead in the eye and said, "Don't you ever make yourself look good at someone else's expense!" I am telling you, I feared Mom much more at that moment than God! :)

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

Kev's Thoughts - There is such a key part of this verse..."as far as it depends on you." I cannot control what anyone else thinks, does or says...I can only control me. I can choose to be all of the things listed above, or not. What my Bible tells me is to control what I can control and then leave the rest up to Him.

Probably one of the hardest roads I have ever walked, a couple of different times. When others have said and/or done things to me that were not right or fair, that hurt deeply, to leave it up to God. And yet, peace - and deliverance - are found when I do and they are not when I don't.

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

    

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Kev's Thoughts - Isn't this really the point of "What Will Your Influence Be...?" Yes, we live in a fallen, hurting, broken world. With this I must INTENTIONALLY  choose the things I will read, watch and listen to and then I must INTENTIONALLY choose to be a positive, encouraging influence in the lives of others. Evil is real and I can't be overcome by it. And while I might not be able to get rid of all evil in the world, I can be a light to others in this world.

I also want to share a quote with y'all that I came across just this morning. As the saying goes, "I am just going to leave this right here."

“The truest human is the one whose conduct proceeds from goodwill and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.” - Markesa Yeager

And finally, I want to encourage you to watch the NFL Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony tonight if you have the opportunity to do so. Why? Have you ever heard the expression, "God will take your mess and give you a message?" Well, there will be a whole lot of messages delivered tonight. I will laugh, I will cry and I will learn. Just thought you might enjoy it as well! :)

Enjoy the rest of this Saturday, have a great weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev

330

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn!

330. In the Haslam family, saying "330" carries a very special meaning. This is the 330th blog post of "Happy Friday." As I have logged in week after week and watched the count grow nearer and nearer to number 330 I knew exactly what this Happy Friday would be all about.

"Seven Words." That is what the shirt said, right below "3:30." I was a football coach -coaches love shirts! :) - at the time and my family & I were at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp. Brian Beltramo, then the Director of the Coaches Program and now the Arizona Director for FCA, had the shirts made for coaches. He then explained the meaning. One of the players for the Arizona Diamondbacks, when interviewed immediately following their World Series win in 2001 said, "He must increase, but I must decrease." He was quoting John 3:30 and when the Haslam family heard it, it resonated...deeply!

Let me give you the context of John 3:30. To fully understand we need to back up to John 3:22. Here is John 3:22-30:

"After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison).

Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness - look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him." John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.' The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the briedgroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease."

You see Friends, the arguments over who is better goes back to the time when Jesus walked the face of the earth...and even before! John's disciples were in an argument with a Jew and concerned that people were going to Jesus to be baptized instead of to John. To all this nonsense John replies, "He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease."

Speaking to your heart at all? I know it does mine. While we may not outwardly say that we are better than Jesus, we - o.k., I know at least I - fight to be in control, to have the answers, pridefully refusing to surrender. I think that is why this reminder resonates so strongly and convicts so deeply for me. This blessed life God has given me is not about me but rather about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the work they want to do in me and through me. The only way this happens however is for Jesus to increase and for me to decrease. I can't be the one in control, the boss and have Jesus increase at the same time. It is an either or proposition with eternal consequences. That is why, in the Haslam family, when one asks, "What time is it?" almost assuredly someone will answer, "3:30." It is ALWAYS time for Jesus to increase and for us to decrease.

Is it a coincidence - spoiler alert, I don't believe in coincidences! :) - that I came across a couple of things this week that speak about or point to John 3:30? I want to share them with you this morning.

Earlier this week, Lysa TerKeurst shared this on social media:

"The Bible says that God must become greater, and I must become less. Simple words I would do well to challenge myself with today and every day.

Simple words reminding me it's not all about me or my comfort or my plans. Simple words that remind me of the way Jesus demonstrated humility and service through His life and His death. Simple words...He must become greater, and I must become less.

I'll be honest; I need these words. How about you?

As these words rush through my mind, I realize it's good for me to serve others. It's good for me to see how often I grumble and complain. It's good to see how much I need Jesus. It's good to feel His strength take over when I'm weak.

Yes, Lord. Less of me. More of you."

And then there is this quote from one of my favorite Pastors:

"The more my life is about me, the more unfulfilled I will be." - Chad Moore

So Friends, a new day - full of new hope, opportunity, promises, and yes, choices - has dawned! You and I now get to choose! For me, it's 3:30! :)

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 and please cherish your precious families!

Kev