- Hardship is a great revealer of who your true friends are.
- If they talk about others with you, they will talk about you when you get up and leave.
- No one grows through comfort and ease.
- Life is a vapor, it can disappear like the morning fog.
- Treat the one you date kindly, you may work for them one day.
- Dating in high school is dumb.
- Smartphones aren’t making people smart.
- Groupthink acts just like a virus and can spread through a city, town, or even the whole world even if the information is totally false.
- Misinformation can hit Japan at the same rate your light turns off and on.
- The need for ancient wisdom is at an all-time high.
- Hug an old person then ask them lots of questions then listen.
- Some days will wind up in the loss column, shake it off and move on to the next day.
- Marrying a Latina was the best decision I could have ever made!
- Wise counsel begins with understanding.
- Where there are many words, trouble is close by.
- We have lost our reverential AWE and WONDER of God.
- We have manufactured a Jesus product that is easily communicated and mass-produced in large quantities but lacks the power of the real person.
- Bumper sticker faith will fail you in a time of trial.
- If you have never encountered God, really encountered, I mean can point to a moment in time when you were CHANGED then I doubt you have ever met HIM.
- People will pay a lot of money for counseling and not really want to change.
- Dogs are God’s little messengers to remind you how much HE loves you.
- Cats are God’s little messengers to remind you how complex relationships can be.
- I’m convinced we don’t know what a healthy marriage is.
- I’m convinced we don’t know what healthy parenting is.
- Our education system is filling the minds of our youth with math, science, and reading, with little to no input regarding the internal working order of human beings.
- The vacuum created by a sterile education system devoid of any (heart) matters has left a burden on churches and families.
- Churches and families are in severe trouble because the very fabric of their existence is eroding due to popular opinion and thinking creating a wash of small-minded thinking that discounts years of ancient wisdom.
- The moral fabric of our society is no longer substantiated by the belief system of its people which will, in turn, lead to the decay of peace as we know it.
- Unless we return to our roots and discover the ancient biblical wisdom, learn by it, live by it, and allow the living God to guide our doctors, lawyers, politicians, educators, families…we will be taken over by more zealous religious ideologies which will eliminate our freedoms.
- History shows that when people see the government as the hero, they will easily give away their freedoms to government control.
- When I look at those who call themselves followers of Christ, I see little to no difference in the cultural norms of our day.
- Cultural relevance has pared the claws of the Lion of Judah and relegated Him to a domesticated house cat.
- I’m NEVER educated, encouraged, or happier after scrolling my social media feeds….yet I go back again and again.
- Most people have headaches because their halo is too tight.
- Too much of a healthy thing becomes unhealthy.
- Most of our physical problems started as little stresses and worries.
- Self-improvement first starts in the mind, then moves to the pen, then to your feet.
- People are like Crayons, some colorful, some black and white, some broken, some dull. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could use all 64 colors, jump back in the box, and get sharpened from time to time?
- We are all enrolled in the University of Earth, some waste it, some learn from it, while others, leak all they learn.
- Strengthening one small area of your life will impact the other areas of your life.
- Not having a tv in your bedroom is a good thing.
- Listening while looking at your phone isn’t listening.
- Safe and faith don’t belong in the same sentence.
- Retirement isn’t mentioned in the Bible.
- Linus drops his blanket only once in the Charlie Brown series, it’s when the words, “fear not” are read aloud as quoted from the Bible.
- We are still carrying our blankets like Linus because we have forgotten what the Bible said about fear.
- Van Halen was better with David Lee Roth than Sammy Hagar.
- Music is supernaturally powerful beyond comparison in accessing the innermost parts of our lives.
- What you stuck in the ground in your teen years will sprout later in life, whether you like it or not.
- God is sovereign and in complete control, YOU are not, HE does whatever HE wants to do and is not limited by your mistakes, failures, or your points of view. He is and will always be the supreme King of everything, you don’t need to be afraid, HE has overcome everything you fear even death itself.
Join The Blanket Dropping Club
Linus drops the blanket in A Charlie Brown Christmas after he repeats the words, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not” from Luke’s gospel chapter 2 vs 10a.
Why did Linus drop the blanket?
He was emphasizing a great truth to you and to me, FEAR NOT!
I invite you to join the blanket dropping club.
Why?
Because the blanket isn’t necessary anymore.
Are you
Afraid,
Lonely,
Scared,
Anxious,
Human?
Drop the blanket, it isn’t necessary anymore.
Aim at nothing hit it every time.
“Aim at nothing and you’ll hit it every time.”
Zig Ziglar
Life doesn’t aim for you.
It’s impossible to improve without a target!
- Targets provide focus.
- Focus provides momentum.
- Momentum pushes you through the pain.
Hit the target experience the euphoria of a grand finale!
Repeat
God helps those who help themselves?
“God helps those who help themselves.”
This is to say that when you hustle with all of your best efforts, giving everything you have to God then He will, in turn, help you.
Is this true?
No
We are incapable of doing anything in and of ourselves which is why we needed a sacrificial lamb to take our place to satisfy the law code to allow us access to a Holy God who is perfect.
Once we clothe ourselves with the truth that we are not under the law trying to earn our way to God but are in fact operating with the Holy Spirit living inside of us, the same Spirit that parted the Red Sea and caused dry bones to rise then we can understand God’s economy.
God’s economy is that He paid a heavy price to purchase our freedom, namely Himself through Jesus in the flesh so that we have access to all of Him.
The world’s economy says God helps those who help themselves.
We have a choice, God’s economy, or the world’s economy.
God’s economy is imbued with a power resource that is infinite and life-giving, in short, all the resources of heaven are at one’s disposal.
The world’s economy leaves us on our own with only our own resources which can get us by at times but is finite.
Putting it another way, when we are operating out of God’s economy, there is a battery that never drains.
The world’s economy has a battery that drains then has to be charged.
Practically speaking, how does this apply to a modern-day business owner who is struggling to make a profit and needs God to multiply their efforts?
Choose God’s economy through abiding and remaining. Jesus, states, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15: 7-8
When we are abiding and remaining, NOT operating in our strength but in the strength of God, we will bear much fruit. When we are in this posture we are to ASK whatever we wish and it will be done. The reason this makes sense is that when the posture of our heart is one with Jesus, we will ask what HE would ask.
A great spiritual bridge must be crossed moment by moment if God’s economy is to be lived in. We must choose to live out of the butterfly self vs the worm self. The butterfly has gone through the rigors of the cocoon and has been transformed through metamorphosis into a winged beauty that glides through the air. This is a far cry from the belly slithering worm it once was. The problem becomes when the butterfly behaves like a worm, it sinks.
Which will you choose? Minute by minute, moment by moment we choose God’s economy or the world’s. We choose to operate as a branch lying on the ground wishing it would produce fruit or we are a branch attached to a mighty tree producing fruit when the whole body deeply rooted supplied with nourishment provides all the essentials for this day’s fruit growing.
Imagine your life right now, the problems you face, the challenges of the world….now choose God’s economy, namely the way of the Spirit of God, then watch the butterfly wings appear.
20 things I learned in 2020
- Experts sometimes don’t agree.
- A presidential race can turn at any moment.
- The word “pivot” is way overused.
- Normal has left the building.
- Losing a loved one will change you.
- Security is a myth.
- The church can meet in a drive-in theater.
- People will believe anything you tell them if enough other people believe it too.
- We don’t like being told what to do.
- If you aren’t operating online as a business you are a dead duck.
- We have a stubborn refusal to allow this pandemic to teach us.
- Shallow roots lead to toppled trees.
- Shallow people lead to toppled lives.
- Quarantine people for an extended period of time and they will make news happen.
- People will lose their minds if you mess with their sports.
- Our government can come up with billions of dollars for stimulus packages with no real way to pay for it.
- Faith over Fear is a cute yard sign that very few people actually know how to apply.
- My glasses fog up incessantly while wearing a mask.
- Who knew toilet paper was so valuable a commodity?!
- God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Focus Forward
13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phillipians 3: 13-14
Want to wreck your car?
Drive while looking backward.
Want to wreck your life?
Live while looking backward.
We were meant to live out of the windshield, not the rearview mirrors.
Focus forward and glance back.
God has called YOU to strain toward what is ahead.
Strain for the prize!
The great cloud of witnesses applauds you.
New Life
I grew up without the knowledge of or ever seeing the face of my mother who gave me birth. I am adopted twice, more on that later. With adoption comes a litany of challenges such as attachment disorders, and identity challenges. I encountered all of these but had no idea what they were and why I was acting the way I was. I would be afraid of being abandoned but didn’t know that was fueling my desire to break the rules to get attention. An intense fire raged inside of me for as long as I can remember, a fire to break stuff, or break me, sometimes resulting in both being accomplished. I can now see what was going on back then that fueled my fire. It was and is anger. I grew up angry but didn’t know it. My anger was directed mostly at myself. I just thought everyone was angry at themselves, now as I am older I know different.
We all do possess varying degrees of anger, however, my anger was white-hot, at me. White-hot means that when I made the smallest of errors I would blowtorch myself into a pile of ash. I first noticed this consciously while playing sports. Whenever I would make a mistake I would go ballistic on myself, internally raging and criticizing. Golf was no fun because when I missed a shot I would throw my clubs, especially after countless hours of practice and lessons. I realized that my life was being lived much the same way, where I would actually live it in an effort to NOT mess up vs daring greatly. There were plenty of mistakes because one can’t live life without them. My mistakes however became translated into a shameful symphony of self-hate and a blow torch internal rage. This is probably a huge surprise to those who know me because I am seen as a calm person who doesn’t let much bother him. Nothing could be further from the truth. I channeled this fire into perfectionistic efforts to accomplish tasks without error. When there were errors I would translate them into the belief that I am the error. NONE of this was conscious to me until recently and I am in my late 40s. I have lived an entire lifetime not really knowing why I was so angry.
The only reason I am not dead or in prison is that God pursued me. You read that right, He sent the hounds of heaven to chase me. I came to realize that before I was born God loved me and had a plan for my life. God used people and circumstances to draw me to himself. More than anything He used the love and acceptance of some dear friends who genuinely cared for me to stoke the fire of God’s love in my heart. My heart by the way was a punching bag of anger, resentment, and abandonment spurred on by an unconscious awareness of being rejected by my birth mother. A personal growing relationship with the Jesus of the bible is the ONLY thing that saved me from me.
What about you? Maybe you weren’t adopted nor rejected by a birth parent. Maybe you walked through a messed up childhood where there was constant fighting in the home, or alcohol was a demonic force that drove your parents apart, or maybe you were physically mistreated in some way that left you with gaping wounds that nobody sees. First of all, I say with as much sincerity as can be mustered from a keyboard…..I’m so sorry. My heart aches for what was done to you. Don’t tune out if you weren’t abused, maybe you have an internal critic that uses your heart as a punching bag. You could be a pastor of a megachurch, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, or a welder at the manufacturing plant. All of this to say we breathe the same air, just some of us have varying levels of anger and or criticism inside. May I offer you a cool glass of water to quench your parched thirst?
God sent me to pursue you. You are loved by God unconditionally. What you need to know is that an invitation exists for you to begin a new life walking with HIM in ways yet to be discovered. Here are a few simple facts, number one you aren’t perfect neither am I. In order for us to have a relationship with God, we have to be perfect. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Jesus was and is perfect. He came to trade places with you so you can live and not die. He died while living perfectly so you wouldn’t have to live perfectly, in other words, an offer stands for you.
If you will state this out loud: God I know my life is broken – I believe Jesus came to live, die, and was raised from the dead – to rescue me from my sin. Forgive me, I turn from my ways and put my trust in You.
The Bible says “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
Anytime someone prays this or says this out loud, I imagine heaven breaking out into a song with dancing. You have begun the coolest race on this planet. If I’m being honest, life doesn’t all of a sudden magically get easier, it gets purposeful.
Now what?
- Download the bible app on your phone, it’s free.
- Choose a simple plan and begin to read or listen to it.
- Pray simply.
- Message me back if you chose to follow through with this prayer.
Imagine your life, one that is completely forgiven of everything you have ever done wrong. How does it feel to be clean, really clean? You have the wisdom of the God of the universe at your disposal to consult at any time anywhere, just ask Him through simple prayers. Some of the easiest ways I talk to Him is through typing a question and waiting for an answer. Just because you are clean doesn’t mean your mind will let go of all the bad things you have ever done. We have to come to God regularly to wash off the muck and grime.
My life is now 30 years into a relationship with God, one thing I will tell you is the growth happens slowly over time like water cutting through rocks. I am a little bit better and a tad bit wiser now so my encouragement to you is this, allow God to love you, allow others to love you in healthy ways, and start living with a huge smile. The world awaits your offering!
Root Deep Living
I LOVE “likes”!
I was glaring at my screen eyes wide open scanning for the red notification that I have received a new “like”. I saw the beautiful red number that indicated that yet another human or computer somewhere out in the universe saw my work as worthy enough to attribute the click of the “like” button. See what I just did there? I prescribed significance and meaning to getting “likes” on my social network. Know what happened in my brain when I saw this red notification? My brain lit up like a Christmas tree in the rewards center. A shot of dopamine (the neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure), pulsated through my system causing my brain to smile BIG.
I just explained the anatomy of addiction!
At the very core of my functioning, I was rewarding myself by searching for “likes”. And just think, I haven’t even watched the popular Netflix documentary about this very thing. I am admitting my vulnerability to being addicted to the “like” button. How about you? Do you find yourself surfing searching for the newest response to your post? Are you hungry for the next comment on your selfie or blog post or video? We are people who are searching for the next HIT of dopamine whether it comes in tiny doses the size of an M&M or in huge doses such as personal praise or rewards. We are becoming mice in B.F. Skinner’s test labs where he created the theory of Behaviorism, this theory is rooted in the belief that we have NO FREE WILL and are only a product of rewards either positive or negative. Are we ok with being reduced to a series of rewards that influence our next actions? Are YOU ok with this?
What is my counselor’s take on all of this?
I believe that earlier and earlier we are introducing electronic devices to children where their reward center of the brain lights up much more frequently than it is designed to. With our young brains lighting up so frequently it begins to develop shallow root systems. The trees grow tall but the roots grow shallow. What does this mean? It means that as soon as something hard comes into the life of the young person they fall over because their brain can’t handle the stress.
What about you and me?
Our roots are getting more shallow as well. When the root system in our adult brains gets shallow, the smallest stress can topple us over like a live oak in wet weather with a gust of wind. Don’t believe me? Look no further than the year 2020 when Coronvirus hit our nation and world. One of the biggest results of Covid has been a massive toppling over of our trees. The absolute highest intellectual minds in science and medicine have been toppled over which has trickled down to the general public. Guess what our response was? BUY MORE TOILET PAPER!!!!!! Seems to me we have toppled our trees.
So what and now what?
We have a problem. More than ever we need to take the time to be aware of what we are doing to our brains and begin to make the choices (you have free will) to choose to deepen our roots.
Here are some root deepening exercises we can all begin to practice to deepen the roots of our brain.
- Put your device down and take a 15-minute walk. Notice the beauty around you, the rustling of the wind through the trees, the sound of the birds as they sing. Feel the warmth of the sun on your skin.
- Put your device down and choose to be very interested in someone else. Dale Carnegie is famous for teaching us How to Win Friends and Influence People. One of the key point’s Carnegie made is to be very interested in other people. Get them talking. It’s amazing how much more people will like you if you become very interested in them.
- Close your eyes and imagine God. The leading Neuropsychologists and scientists have found that when people are hooked up to brain imaging machines where we can see the activity of the brain in real-time, it shows that our brains light up like a Christmas tree when we simply think of God. I don’t know what your faith lies in, but may I invite you to imagine the God of the Bible?
- Smile often. Smiling releases happy chemicals through your body. Go ahead and try it! Try frowning, it takes more muscles to frown than to smile.
- Live with your palms up. It has been said it is impossible to be angry with someone if your palms are up. Try to be angry with your palms open facing upward. Now ball up your fists. See the difference?
In conclusion:
We have the opportunity to be deeply rooted as we lead the next generation towards their future. Unlike Skinner, I believe we have absolute choices, God doesn’t make us mice rather we are complex intricate humans made in the likeness of a creator God who loves us and designed us for JOY! If you will take these ideas and put them into practice you will produce fruit that will impact the next generations to come.
Let’s go deepen our roots!
Be weird because normal doesn’t work
Resist the urge to blend in.
Blending in is easy and builds the wrong kind of muscles, the easy muscles.
Instead build the weird kind of muscles, the kind that gains the type of results you want anyways. Need some help? Try these as some examples of ways to be weird and build weird muscles:
- Cancel your credit cards and pay them off
- Resist the quicksand of the “not enough” life that social media offers
- Read excellent books
- Be a filler not a drainer
- Rise early and get moving
- Pray often
- Thank at least 5 people a day
This is a start as you set out to be weird.
Why weird?
Because so few people are actually doing this.
Begin today!
Application:
What is one thing you can start doing today to break out of the ruts? Share your story here.
Dave Scott 