Remember The Fallen

May 25, 2013 — 2 Comments

2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

“In order for a nation to achieve victory in combat, it requires something like a total surrender of its Soldiers. Every part of a combatant’s life, except that which belongs to God, must be consciously yielded over to the discretion of the state. Perhaps no one put it better than one soldier who fought in the trenches of the First World War:

‘All that we fear from all kinds of adversity, severally, is collected together in the life of a soldier on active service. Like sickness, it threatens pain and death. Like poverty, it threatens ill lodging, cold, heat, thirst and hunger. Like slavery, it threatens toil, humiliation, injustice, and arbitrary rule. Like exile, it separates you from all you love. Like the gullies, it imprisons you at close quarters with uncongenial companions.‘ (C. S. Lewis: “Why I am not a Pacifist” 1949)

After enduring some of life’s most disagreeable circumstances, our fallen service members never emerge in this life to enjoy the fruit of their service. They are surrounded by peril and misery for long periods until the end. In the midst of these overwhelming conditions Soldiers discipline themselves to access a component of human nature: a phenomenon we call Courage.. .

For these reasons I think Memorial Day deserves a notable place on our calendar and in our thoughts. No one deserves our honor more than those service members who surrendered their life for their country.”

 - Colonel Jeff Hall US Army

Please stop and remember those that have given the last full measure for our country and the families they left behind.

Grateful for those who gave it all,
BG

It is a spectacularly beautiful Friday morning and a great start to Memorial Day. Please remember the meaning and purpose of Memorial Day. Remember those who have fallen serving in our military and their families.2008 Memorial Day Poster #3.

Do you thirst for criticism? I can hear you saying “Do what???” Why in the world would anyone want to be criticized? Most of us have enough issues with our self-image as it is, right?

The thing is, is that when you receive criticism as an opportunity to examine yourself and to see if here may be a grain of truth in the criticism, then you have the opportunity to grow. You have the opportunity to deal with weaknesses or blind spots in your life and to become even more effective in your life.

Now if the criticism comes from those who care for you and you trust, then it is greatly important that you receive and reflect on their words. Scripture talks of the value of the “wounds of friends”.

So – do you really want to grow even more into who God intended you to be? If so, then not only do you need to embrace criticism s an opportunity and gift, you need to actually thirst for it.

Have a great Memorial Day, but do please stop and remember those who have fallen and then pray for their families.

BG

“If you take care of the depth of your ministry, God will take care of the breadth of your ministry.” – Life Action Ministries

https://www.lifeaction.org/

“If you take ca…

Well good morning and welcome to the middle of the week!Barn - Keely's photos

Recently I received some strange advice – if you want to be a better team member, then be nosey! I don’t know about you, but I was taught that being nosey was impolite. However, after it was explained to me it makes perfect sense.

I love our country and our people, but there are some things about our culture that just get in the way sometimes, especially when we take a good trait too far. We value the individual greatly and we are individualistic. There are some benefits to this as shown by our history, however, there are also downsides when it is taken too far. We have developed a mentality that everything is private  and we should not “meddle” in other people’s lives (does that seem odd to you that while we are so private one-on-one,we share too openly online? Weird). In doing so, we have lost touch with one another – we don’t really know each other. To be an effective team, you have to trust one another. To trust someone, you need to know them and them know you.

So, get nosey – find out the birth dates of your teammates, find out about their families, their dreams, their frustrations, and so on. Get nosey and get to know those you work with and get transparent. Lead the way with sharing about who you are and see what happens. You just might see trust starting to build on your team.

What other ideas do you have for building trust on your team?

Have a great Wednesday!
BG

106 Excuses That Prevent You From Ever Becoming Great

“The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions.” -William F. Scolavino

From a Tweet by John Maxwell

“The height of …

Good morning, I hope you had a good day yesterday. It was a spectacular day here yesterday although a tough time for others in the Midwest.Blue Skies Lauren 2013

Have you ever heard someone say that size someone up with a glance? How often have you heard that first appearances are everything? Think about those statements for a bit. Is that really sound thinking?

This weekend I was talking with one of our daughters about the wonderful complexity of people. We were discussing how even after many, many years of marriage or friendship that you continued to discover new aspects of the other person. People have so many facets to them and are ever changing due to so many different things.

However, as individuals that are so busy, we don’t seem to want to take the time to understand others, so we use “boxes”. We want to size someone up quickly and place them into one of our own predetermined categories so that we keep our thinking and our relationships in a nice and neat system. This is really shallow and lazy thinking, is most often wrong, and robs us and them of something important. Think about the following quote:

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.” Jesus – John 7:24

Jesus says to use right judgement, but most often we do judge by appearances. Some of us also have the foolhardy notion that some how we are good at doing so. So the question for you is are you judging people quickly by appearances and placing them into one of your boxes (categories) or are you taking the time to appreciate the depth and wonderful complexity of who they are?

It takes more time and is messier, but it is oh so worth doing. Take some time today and get to know the people you do life with a little better today. Go get a cup of coffee and hear their story. YOu will be amazed at what you learn.

Hope your week gets off to a great start!
BG