Monday, May 18, 2015

Been There, Done That!

As I look back at my life, I find that there are many things that I have experienced that fall into the "Been There, Done That"category. I guess that is why I started this Outreach Ministry in the first place.

Oh, I know the old adage "It's my life and I can do whatever I want...". or "If I screw up, it's my fault and it doesn't hurt anyone but me...". Well, I'm here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.

Everything we do in our lives has some residual effect on someone else no matter how big or little. The things we say, the things we do, the unkept promises, how we react to a situation always has a residual effect on someone else. It may not seem so or be immediately obvious, but believe me it does.

Has anything ever popped out of your mouth that you immediately regret? Have you ever been having a bad day at work or school and take it out on someone else? Have you ever blamed someone else for your failures or lied to anyone when you thought it was better than telling the truth? Well, I'm guilty of these and many more.

It's easy to fall into a trap that you don't think you can get out of. It's easier to blame someone else, or the different circumstances in our lives for our problems. That's much easier than looking in the mirror and taking "Personal Responsibility" for our actions.

There are very few things in this life that I personally haven't experienced in one way or another that you may have come up in your life. That is why I try to help those with many of the issues I have faced, socially, mentally and addictively. Sometimes we are just to proud to seek needed help for small issues let alone the big ones. We feel that we will be judged or embarrassed for doing things we might think are not big enough that we can't fix it ourselves.

Have you ever walked up to someone and said, "I have a really dumb question..."? Are you afraid of how they will react and really think it was a dumb question? I'm here to tell you, there is no such thing as a "DUMB QUESTION"! And, you should never be made to feel embarrassed to ask for help or question something you don't quite understand or are unsure of. Anyone who degrades you for asking a question is the one with the problem, not you, and you should "NEVER" be afraid or embarrassed to ask about anything. A responsible person should be willing to answer you or work with you to find the answer.

A lot of people have come to me for advice or with questions throughout my life and I am never afraid to tell them if I don't know the answer immediately, but we can usually find someone that does, or we know where to look to find it.

This is my job, my responsibility and my honor to help those in need or with life's little questions. You see, it's all because I've already "Been There and Done That"!

It is my sincere prayer that God will guide me in my Ministry and help me provide His Wisdom to those I am honored to serve!

C.S.Lewis Daily Presented By BibleGateway

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Today's Reading

Lewis, grieving the death of his wife, Joy:
I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace. On any view whatever, to say, ‘H. is dead,’ is to say, ‘All that is gone.’ It is a part of the past. And the past is the past and that is what time means, and time itself is one more name for death, and Heaven itself is a state where ‘the former things have passed away.’
Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.
Unless, of course, you can literally believe all that stuff about family reunions ‘on the further shore,’ pictured in entirely earthly terms. But that is all unscriptural, all out of bad hymns and lithographs. There’s not a word of it in the Bible. And it rings false. We know it couldn’t be like that. Reality never repeats. The exact same thing is never taken away and given back. How well the spiritualists bait their hook! ‘Things on this side are not so different after all.’ There are cigars in Heaven. For that is what we should all like. The happy past restored.
And that, just that, is what I cry out for, with mad, midnight endearments and entreaties spoken into the empty air.
From A Grief Observed
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
A Grief Observed. Copyright © 1961 by N. W. Clerk, restored 1996 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Preface by Douglas H. Gresham copyright © 1994 by Douglas H. Gresham. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.