I've made a decision about professional sports

I've never been a fan of professional basketball, but I have spent a lot of time watching baseball on TV, especially when the Reds were playing. I've been to the Reds ballpark a number of times even though they haven't been a very good team in recent years. Likewise, I've watched many professional football games on Sunday afternoons. That has all ended since professional sports has decided to no longer honor our flag and support an organization that has brought much damage and violence to our nation.

During the Vietnam war I served four years in the US Navy and was proud to do so. I made two trips to Vietnam on board the USS Enterprise. When I enlisted I took an oath to defend our country and our constitution. I love this country even though it isn't perfect. I also love our flag and all it represents. I have zero respect for those who do not.

It is a shame schools quit teaching American Civics because we now have people who vote who know nothing about how our country is set up and how it functions. We have college graduates who know nothing about our nation's history. They have sat under professors who filled their minds with socialist propaganda and who told them how evil our nation has been since its founding. Socialism has never worked anywhere except in a college classroom, and it never will.

Professional athletes who have been pampered all their lives because of their athletic talents earn millions each year from a society they want to destroy. Those millions will have to come from someone else because I have no intention of buying another ticket or team memorabilia or do anything else that will put a nickle in their coffers. Maybe if enough other people make the same decision, team owners will begin to understand that Americans will not support the things that want to tear down the country we love.

Every organization that sponsors these teams need to know that they don't have to worry about being boycotted. Since we are not watching the games we don't see the commercials. The millions of dollars they spend on advertising is being wasted because many of us don't know who is running ads on these games. I hope advertisers are getting really cheap rates for their commercials since fewer people are seeing them.

As a veteran I defended the rights of people to make decisions about how they would conduct themselves. If you want to kneel during the playing of the national anthem, you have every right to do so, and I would never support any attempt to deny you that right. But, I also have the right to choose how I will respond to you exercising that right, and I choose to ignore you, to write you off as irrelevant to my life.

I choose to support the vast majority of police officers who do a great job of protecting the citizens of this nation. I choose to support those organizations that love our nation and respect what it stands for. When the national anthem is played I will proudly stand and salute our flag and give it the respect it deserves. I choose to vote for persons who are dedicated to making this nation better regardless of their political affiliation. I choose to honor God with my life, and I pray that He will send a revival that will once again turn this nation back to values it once had.

What choices will you make about how you will support this great nation of ours? Just remember, choices have consequences.

Do you prefer healing or helplessness?

There is an interesting story in the Bible about a man who had lived with some infirmity for 38 years. He spent time at the Pool of Bethesda which, according to Jewish legend, would heal the first person who stepped into it when an Angel stirred the water. Jesus met this man there one day and asked what appears to be a rather foolish question: Do you want to be made well?

Why would he not want to be made well? Why else did Jesus think he spent time at this pool? Anyone in their right mind would prefer well-being over illness, wouldn't they? What is really interesting is that the man never answered the question. Rather, he offered an excuse. He didn't have anyone to help him into the pool and someone always got in the water first. He was depending on someone else to help him become well. Frankly, it sounds like a lot of people today.

We live in a land of unbelievable opportunity. We have freedoms that people living in other country will never know. We have opportunities that do not exist anywhere else for people to do amazing things with their lives. But, we have a significant percentage of our population waiting on someone else to take care of them. They depend on a government check to provide them with the bare necessities of life instead of taking advantage of the opportunities available to them to rise about that.

The government is discussing another providing another check to Americans due to so many out of work while at the same time companies are trying hard to hire new workers. People are demanding that additional money be added to unemployment checks which, in many cases, provide more income than they were making when they were working. Exactly how does that provide any incentive for someone to look for a job when they can sit home and make more than they would working. Others are demanding that minimum wage be raised. Why does anyone want to remain in a minimum-wage job anyway? Minimum wage jobs are there to help people get work experience so they can go out and find better employment.

As a senior in high school I started a minimum wage job at .75 an hour. Before graduating I had asked for and received pay raises that increased my salary to 1.25 an hour. Just a few weeks before graduating I requested another .25 an hour which was refused, so I quit and went to work for another business the next week for 1.50 an hour. As soon as I turned 18 I went to work for another company at almost twice that salary. No one needs the government to guarantee them a living wage if they are willing to advance themselves and do what it takes to deserve a higher salary. To break the chains of helplessness one must break his dependence on others to provide for him. Becoming mature occurs when we begin to take responsibility for ourselves.

While many people are dependent on the government for their income, many more are dependent upon credit to maintain their lifestyle. There is a reason it's called Mastercard. As long as one is dependent on credit it will be your master. Talk about helplessness! Look how long it took for the pandemic to cost people their jobs before they began to scream that they couldn't pay their bills, they couldn't pay their mortgage or rent, they couldn't buy groceries. We were in the greatest economic boom in decades, and yet millions of people were living paycheck to paycheck with nothing in reserve. Why? I imagine it was because many of them had more money going out each month than they had coming, and they made up the difference with plastic.

Do you want to be made well? If financial distress is making you feel helpless maybe it's time for plastic surgery. Like a lot of physical healing that occurs, there might be some temporary discomfort, but it will be worth it when you begin to heal financially. If you need help getting out of debt and achieving financial security, check out the plan Dave Ramsey promotes in his best-selling book
The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness. This plan works.

You can go through life feeling helpless or you can find healing for every aspect of your life. The choice is yours, but remember, choices have consequences.

You only get one chance at life

As I watch the news each evening I am often saddened at what people experience in life and the things they do to themselves. We may not have much control over things that other people do to us or some events that happen, but we do have control over many of the things that occur in our lives, especially as adults. When we make bad choices in life we can expect bad results. For some people, that sums up much of their lives. One poor choice after another resulting in one bad result after another. Life is too short to live like that. You only get one chance at life so why not make the best of it?

There are people living their entire lives on government assistance. In fact, there are generations of families who know nothing but waiting each month for their government check to come in to provide them with subsistence living. Why would anyone choose to live like that? Right now a lot of businesses are closed and people are out of work, but this is an unusual situation brought about by a pandemic. But, even now, there are jobs for people who want to work. You say, "Not where I live." Then move. During the Great Depression people moved across the country seeking employment and taking whatever jobs they could find to support themselves and their families. You may say, "I don't have the training." Many of these jobs will train the person who wants to work. A friend of mine told me a couple of years ago he couldn't fill all the open jobs in his company. When I asked if people lacked training he explained he would gladly train someone.

Perhaps you have a physical reason that makes it difficult t work. Read the book What's Your Excuse?: Making the Most of What You Have by John Foppe. He was born with no arms but graduated college in 3 1/2 years, became an artist and travels the world as a motivational speaker. Refusing to allow his handicap define him, he was determined to honor God with his life. This past weekend I saw a similar example. At an auction I noticed a man missing both arms and one leg. I learned he was born that way. He was walking around the auction buying parts he could use in his business. He bought a lot leading me to think he has a pretty solid business. He and Foppe both understand they only have one life, and they are determined to live it the best they can.

How many people do you know holding hatred and unforgiveness towards other people? What a horrible way to live out the remainder of your life. Your unforgiveness doesn't affect them one bit, but it does a lot of emotional and physical damage to you. Let it go so you can be free to enjoy life.

We may never know the damage that has been to countless lives and families due to drug and alcohol abuse. The broken marriages, the lost jobs, the deaths, the crime, the pain brought about by these substances cannot be truly measured. Lives wasted by persons waiting for their next fix or their next drink run into the millions around the world. All seeking a high that will never satisfy. You only get one chance at life so why waste it on something so temporal?

I want to encourage you to consider the choices you've made in the past. Probably some of them weren't very good. I know that's true for me. But, what is more important that the choices you've made in the past are the ones you will make in the future. If you make better choices you will get better results, and that one life you've been given will be richer and more satisfying for it.

The need to forgive

One of the most important decisions that any of us can make is to choose to forgive someone who has harmed us. It's also one of the hardest decisions many of us will have to make. Forgiving those who have hurt us deeply is never easy. Even to suggest doing so brings up a host of painful memories and triggers a lot of negative emotions. That in itself is enough to indicate how important it is that we forgive.

Medical science tells us that unforgiveness can cause a lot of problems. It can raise our blood pressure and lower our immune system. Unforgiveness can elevate our heart rate and increase the risk of depression, heart disease and diabetes.  When we refuse to forgive it can increase our anxiety levels and cause us to lose sleep. It can cause digestive issues. Research also finds that these issues can worsen as we get older. Someone has said that refusing to forgive someone is like drinking poison thinking it will kill the other person. Chances are, your unforgiveness won't bother the other person at all, but it can cause you a lot of serious consequences.

You may argue that the individual doesn't deserve forgiveness, and you may be right. Many people have been deeply hurt by those they trusted. It may well be that they don't deserve to be forgiven, but your unwillingness to forgive them is allowing them to hurt you again. You are giving them power over your life once again. You are enabling them to destroy your health and well-being. They are still in charge of your life, and you can not experience the future you could because the past continues to hold you captive.

As a Christian I am reminded of how much God has forgiven me. I am further reminded of the scripture that tells us that if we are not willing to forgive others, God won't forgive us. I know what my life was like before I invited Jesus Christ into my life, and I know He was willing to forgive me of much. How can I not forgive others when they have hurt me?

Perhaps you are not a person of faith. You need to forgive anyway. The problems listed above is sufficient reason to forgive. Who wants to do that much damage to themselves by refusing to forgive someone?

How does a person forgive? Dr. Karen Swartz from the John Hopkins Hospital says “It is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not.” We choose to forgive so we can move on with our lives.

It's important to talk about our decision to forgive. That may or not be with the one you are forgiving. If that person is no longer around or is not a safe person to talk to, you may want to talk about this with a counselor, a pastor, a spouse or a close friend. Hearing yourself verbalize your forgiveness helps settle it in your mind and heart.

What about forgive and forget? The reality is that you are not likely to ever forget the wrong that was done for you. Sometimes when you forgive you may be able to rebuild a relationship with that person. With others, it's best to avoid them especially if they are dangerous or toxic.  In either case, you probably won't forget what has occurred in the past, but because you have chosen to forgive, you have released the past so it can't hurt you any more. Now, you are ready for your future.

Welcome

I want to welcome you to our new blog Choices.

Each of us have the incredible freedom to make just about any choice we want in our lives. We have the ability to choose the person we want to marry, if we want to marry, to work in the career of our choice, to have children or not, to be persons of faith or not, to choose where we want to live among other things. In fact, in just about every area of our lives we are allowed to make choices. However, what we are not allowed to do is to avoid the consequences of those choices. Every choice has consequences. As I like to say, we make our choices and our choices make us.

For 20 years I served as the pastor of a small church. For 14 years after that I was a judicatory minister with responsibility for over 130 churches before I retired. My ministry allowed me to see how people's choices impacted their lives. Sometimes, people made poor choices that had a negative impact on their lives. Some of those individuals were repeat offenders. They just kept making bad choices until their lives were much different than what they wanted. Yet, in too many cases, they did not know how to turn their lives around.

I also knew many people who often made good choices in their lives. Those good choices produced positive results for them. Their lives were much better than those who consistently made poor choices. But, one thing we never want to lose sight of is that our lives can always improve, no matter how good it is today. As we learn to make even better choices in the future, our lives will continue to reflect those good choices.

I had the privilege of hearing one of the greatest motivational speakers of all time, Zig Ziglar, speak several times. He would often begin his message by asking the audience some questions. He would ask, "How many of you believe that regardless of how bad your personal, family, and business lives are at this moment there are still some things you could do that would make them even worse?" That generally got a laugh from the crowd. He would follow that question by asking, "How many of you believe that regardless of how good your personal, family, and business lives are there are still some things you could do to improve them?" After giving the audience a few moments to think about his questions, he would say "If you honestly do believe there is something you can do to make your life better or your life worse, you have reached a profound conclusion. It's this: I don't care how bad my life is, I don't care how good my life is, there is something I can do to change it - and the choice is mine."

This blog is dedicated to helping people make better choices in their lives. As a retired minister, I still have a passion to see people live their lives to their fullest potential. Every Sunday I would share messages designed to do just that. In this blog I want to do the same thing.

We will address just about every aspect of our lives, point out mistakes that people sometimes make, and offer better choices for your consideration. We will address important topics such as marriage, raising children, personal finance, business and career choices, pursuing success, job security and a host of other subjects that affect us all.

I hope you will want to follow this page and check out all the articles. Be sure to click on the blue FOLLOW box on the right side. If you add your email address, you will receive an email whenever a new post is added. I sincerely believe they can help you live your best life. I also invite you to share these articles with others. Encourage them to follow this blog as well. Making choices in life is inevitable. We should each strive to make the best ones we can.