2020… my word of the year is pray… could not have been a more appropriate word for a world so turned upside down by pandemic and fear, deceit and corruption. God is present in all of it, and His Sovereign plan will unfold, exactly as he intended.
As we prepare for a Christmas, a time to celebrate the Saviors birth, let us not forget to prepare our hearts and make room for Him in our lives.
Be blessed my friends.
SB
“If you stand too close to Christ, those who hate Him will also hate you” Pastor Stoper
Matthew 10: Whoever acknowledges me before my Father in Heaven
The lines will be drawn between good and evil, God and Godlessness. You and I will have to decide where we will be.
I’ve been doing a study with Pastor Stoper for the past year and have learned a tremendous amount, deepened my faith and my knowledge of the Bible.
I would think it’s not possible to stand too close to God…. but truthfully, Pastor Stoper is right… there will be people who hate you just because of the Christ for whom you stand.
When Christ returns, I want to be found faithful to His calling. I want to stand as close as I can. How about you?
I dare say that most bible believing people want the comfort of knowing Christ but aren’t willing to take the pressure when the persecution gets tough. I pray the Holy Spirit will continue to guide and strengthen those that He is calling to be warriors for His Names sake.
Be blessed today, my friends.
SB
My heart is breaking… my oldest daughter is a kindergarten teacher… and one of her functions is to facilitate online teaching in our district which employs a hybrid model (some on line and some in classroom teaching due to the pandemic)
Yesterday, she was helping a student well call “Joey” with his online work and then a test. As they began to take the test, his mother came to help him. Not realizing his mic had not been muted, his mother began to hurl four letter words at him, exasperated with having to help him read words he was struggling to read. My heart was broken as my daughter recounted the events, and I just wanted to run to Joey and hug him and tell him God has a plan for his life.
Similarly, one of our piano instructors let me know she had to reschedule lessons because she was dealing with a crisis. She is a counselor in the day, and teaches in the evening. One of the kid she counsels attacked his foster parent and she was involved in trying to calm the aituation
At the beginning g of this pandemic, I expressed that my concern for the societal effects of this situation far exceed the effects of the disease itself. This is a reality that many people are blind to… while we’re masking up and sanitizing our hands, we’re beginning to look at others with one eyebrow raised, judging by them for the way in which they are dealing (or not) with the risk of virus. With our masks on, we no longer “look” people in their eye… and move coldly through the market, picking up only that which is essential.
Advertisements flood our minds with slogans like “be home, be safe”, which assumes everyone’s home is as safe as those making the mandates. Sadly, however, this is not necessarily the case.
Suicide rate in Japan has quadrupled…. anxiety is through the roof. We are living in unprecedented times but times of darkness.
In this Christmas season. I want to share the reason for my hope. It’s not in a vaccine, or in a new president. It’s not in my security. It’s in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to bring hope and light to a dark world. It is through Him throat we can find peace amid chaos.
I prayed for Joey this morning, and for his mom… that they would find peace this Christmas… the peace that comes from the Father. I pray for all of the Joeys out there today, struggling with the stresses of this day.
Christ has been born! Alleluia and amen. He has come to heal the broken.
Broken and yours,
SB
Over twelve years ago, I had a ” God” sized (and I believe God-given) idea to open a “coffee shop / music studio.” The dream stayed in the recesses of my mind for the most part, and in a journal I kept where I captured my “random” thoughts of programs and events that might someday happen in the studio. Along the way, I shared my dream with just a few of my closest confidantes, one of whom introduced me to author Erwin MacManaus, in the book, “Seizing Your Divine Moment”, and Mark Batterson, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”. Both books literally transformed my thinking and my life and I literally have read every single book both of those author’s have written.
Several years ago I had the privilege to worship with Erwin MacManus at his church Mosaic, in Los Angeles, and he signed his book, Warriors. I follow him on Instagram. Yesterday, he posted this…
As I read his post, I was struck by several things… first, he is human, and experienced the same emotions that I experience. Sometimes, I think we consider people like authors and pastors (especially “famous” ones) to be exempt from feelings like discouragement. It is such an encouragement to me, though, that Erwin is willing to share his own vulnerability.
Second, he been criticized for what he is doing. As much as I would love to live in a world where people didn’t criticize one another, it seems, especially this year, people are more critical than ever before.
“Still there is that 1% that feels they must let me know that what I am doing is wrong”…. as much as I want everyone to like me and love what I do, that is not a reality… for me… or even Erwin MacManus, as blessed as he is. It is true that not everyone will share my vision. Some will come and others will go. This is true in my regular career as well as my studio. I must learn to accept that what I do may not be for everyone, and there will be those who walk away.
“It’s terrifying to put yourself out”. As I write this blog, I have shared my most vulnerable moments… it is indeed terrifying putting yourself out there. “If I can set one artist free to create with courage, then it will be worth it”
In the end, his post addresses the negativity, and conveys that he is going to continue to live his faith out loud, and continue to work to inspire others to become all they can become. I admire his strength.. I admire his conviction.
Oh, did I mention he is fighting cancer? Just before his book, The Last Arrow, was published, he was diagnosed. He has not let that slow his mission or his purpose.
We all have battles, including thoughts we brought about by other people. We must continue to encourage one another to hold to our convictions and keep pushing through our purpose, even when the hate comes, even when people quit us, even when we’re not sure we’re on the right path… we must let others know it’s okay to be human and need to be encouraged… and we must continue to encourage one another…to push others to be their best.
I will keep pushing, myself and others, to be the best that they can possibly be. I will do my best to continually strive to connect deeply with people, to help them see what’s possible beyond what is… I will try to overcome discouragement with hope, continue to try to encourage those who need it.
Be blessed today, my friends.
SB
Father in Heaven. I come before you humbly asking your guidance and your grace, your healing and mercy. Bring unity where there is division, bring laughter where there is sadness, hope where there is despair, healing where there are wounds…. in our homes and communities, states and in our nation, we humbly ask you to intercede and bring peace.
In your holy name I pray
SB
Good morning, friends. As PRAY is my word of the year for 2020, I start each day with devotional time and prayer. This morning, I have several requests for prayers of friends and loved ones battling health issues. I know that Jesus is our ultimate healer, and I pray for His healing on my friends… that throughout the their healing, they might see the power of Jesus to transform their lives.
Father in Heaven, I pray to You today, and ask that You touch those I’m thinking about with Your touch… that in the name of Jesus, they would healed of their afflictions. I pray for healing of body, mind and spirit. Restore the bodies that need restoration, bring peace where it is needed, and bring health to those who need it
In Your Holy name I pray, amen
SB
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me” FALSE
In an ironic twist, the very platforms that were launched to give everyone a voice have created the very place where opinions are like bellybuttons, and when mine isn’t like yours, you can berate me for it. Social media bullying has replaced social graces and tolerance, in the very name of tolerance itself. The world of social media is an ugly, ugly place.
Those who know me well know that one of my joys in life is seeing other people develop to come “out of their shell” and reach their full potential. I’m about helping others achieve whatever their goals and dreams are… and sometimes in the process, they need a little push…. not over a cliff, but sometimes out of their comfort zone. I do it, not because I think there’s anything wrong with them being in their comfort zone, but because I’ve discovered that sometimes, when we take a leap outside of it, we discover a whole new world, a whole new perspective and whole new experiences that we’d have never known had we just stayed inside our box. It is exhilarating to me to watch people discover they had the ability to do things they never thought possible.
I take very literally the scripture where a Jesus says, “I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly” and feel it’s part of my mission in life to help others achieve abundant life.
I also come about this mission quite naturally because, in my young life, I was very much governed by “victim” mentality, having lost my father to cancer early in my life. From age 8 to about 22, I felt very sorry for myself and allowed that loss to affect all areas of my life. I didn’t walk around talking about it, but had sunk so deep in depression that I was truly unable to pull myself out of the mud. In hindsight, I would actually say my depression caused by that loss had truly disabled me from even wanting to achieve anything.
By Gods grace, He truly picked me out of the muck and mire and put a passion in me to a) recognize this characteristic in other people b) encourage them that they, too, can be pulled out of the muck and mire. In both my professional career as an engineering manager and director of music studio, and in my personal life as a youth leader for our youth group, I seek to pull people out of their “victim” and to “victory” through Gods grace, and to achieve what they never knew was possoble. My passion is fueled because I can so clearly see what I was and what I’ve become, through Christ alone… it is not a change I could have made on my own. I was truly headed for self destruction… and God literally came after me like the Shepherd goes after the one lost sheep.
All of this is backdrop for an incident that occurred online that truly has me very upset, mostly because I felt it was an unfair attack on my character.
One of the groups I belong to on social media is for online music teachers, a support group and a “safe” place where teachers can ask for advice and feedback from others. It’s been a great resource, especially during Covid where so many lessons have gone from face to face to online in many cases. Questions range from technical setup to teaching techniques to business questions, and everything in between. The creator of the group seems wonderfully caring and encouraging to the teaching community.
The other day, a teacher posted a question asking how to deal with a student who refused to count outloud and, as a result, could not play the correct rhythm. In my studio, when teaching students rhythm, I require them to count outloud, even if they are shy or awkward about it. (It’s actually one of the techniques I use to help people come out of their shell). As an aside, my personal experience with rhythm probably exacerbated my passion for correct rhythm. My first two piano teachers never really stressed good rhythm with me. As a result, my rhythm was terrible… until I auditioned to take lessons (yes, I had to audition to be accepted as a student) with a professor at Duquesne University. He told me my rhythm was terrible (and he didn’t mince words!) and essentially demanded that I learn it correctly. I rose to the challenge, and have committed that I will always do my best to teach students what I wasn’t taught by my first two teachers.
Other teachers responded in similar fashion, that they would force students to count loud, but one of the teachers apparently did not like my response and lashed out at me (but not the other teachers who said they required outloud counting) and said my rigid ways were “SUPER, SUPER albeist”
Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability.
Can I just say here that I’m honestly sick to death of the people who think every comment is a social prejudice of some sort? My goodness… I truly feel as though we’ve become a victim society!
That said, I will admit that her unfair label of me is bothersome… my initial response truly was anger and resentment. Who did she think she was calling me an albeist!? And then my reaction was to recoil, and all sorts of thoughts of self doubt came through my mind, as if it was telling me she’s right and that I’ve never really helped anyone at all, so why keep trying? I’ve lived this pattern before… it’s theme is all through the book Masquerade and I believe it’s a lie Satan would have us believe to render us ineffective.
I think about the outcasts I knew from school, the kids who sat by themselves at lunchtime, the ones who had no friends and were picked on… I wonder if they ever figured out that they are more valuable than the label someone put on them unfairly because they didn’t understand their past, or their true personality, or their true motives.
I know not everyone in my life will love me, or even like me for that matter, but this week was a reminder of how important it is to treat others with respect. I will not apologize for trying to help someone achieve what they didn’t think possible. I will apologize for hurting someone’s feelings, which is something I would never intentionally do. I will try my best to not label someone unfairly, and I will forgive those who have done so unto me, that I might be able to grow instead of recoil. … most importantly, I will continue to help other people grow in whatever way I can as that is a passion that truly fuels my spirit. I will seek to understand what makes them.
As I contemplated leaving the group, I reached out to its founder to thank him for everything he’s done to create a support group for online teachers and wished him well. He asked what happened and I shared with him. He immediately responded with a video message saying unfortunately sometimes aren’t ready to accept that they need help or need to change something …that perhaps at a later point they will realize the wisdom in the help offered… and that perhaps my comments helped someone else who needed to hear them. He encouraged me to keep being who I am.
May we please continue to learn from one another instead of tearing each other down. May we continue to evolve and grow and encourage others to do the same in a loving way. I pray God will give me grace to give to others when I need to give it, but continue to allow God to develop others and me into who He intended is to be, that’d we’d love the abundant life He intended us to have.
Be blessed today, my friends. If you’ve made it this far in my post today, I congratulate you! Forgive the rant… it’s been weighing heavy on my heart. I am forever grateful for those who pushed me out of my comfort zone to achieve what I never thought possible. Had it not been for them, I would still be the insecure wallflower that I was all those years ago.
SB
Off I go to dreamland.. Sleep, sleep,
Stress weighs heavy upon my conscience after tense and moving day, ever conscious of pending deadlines, marked by highest levels of anxiety among those with whom I work, in a world where simple things seem increasingly difficult.
I pray tonight my dreams take me to places far away, to escape the intense reality of the world that has become my norm, replacing angxt and deadlines with creative freedom, ever exploring silliness and fun
Off I go to dreamland, praying God speak through my dreams, guiding and directing next step. I lay my burdens at His feet and ask Him to envelop me in His Goodness, cradle me in His arms, giving me the mental rest He knows I need
Be blessed, my friends, be blessed
SB
www.bible.com/111/psa.126.5.niv
www.bible.com/111/rom.15.4.niv
Journey-For-Life 