The Battle Plan

                Life is a war and in order to fight a war, we need to form a battle plan. The battle plan gives us the guidelines by which to make everyday decisions as well as long range goals. Each decision and goal leads us more and more toward our destiny. The first step in our battle plan is to work on our attitudes and motives. It is better to do the wrong things for the right reasons than do the right things for the wrong reasons. Once we have the right attitudes and motives, then we will be ready to make specific goals and directions.

                “I can’t never did nothing”[1] This was a statement used by my father all through my childhood. At first it was hard for me to understand the meaning of this statement, but after time, it became one of the guiding principles of my life. It is speaking of the “can do” type of attitude. He would tell me to do something and I would say, “I can’t” and proceed to give him all of the reasons it could not be done. He would simply say, “I can’t never did nothing”. What he was saying was that if I didn’t even try, I’d never accomplish anything. I had defeated myself before I even started.

What he wanted from me was to first try and even if I failed, at least I had tried. I also learned that if I tried and failed, I could learn from the experience and do better next time. (The surprising thing was that I found that I could do a lot more than I thought!) We are not a failure just because we fail the first time we try something. Failure is when we give up or we don’t even start because it seems too hard. The battle first has to take place in our mind and heart. If we are defeated in our heart, then we can never achieve victory. We must at least willing to try before we can succeed. If we fail, then we will learn our limitations and only then can we come up with a strategy to overcome those limitations.  Life is a constant learning process, making mistakes and growing in wisdom and knowledge. From our wisdom and knowledge we will gain courage and confidence. If we cease to learn, we cease to live.

Courage

                It takes courage to face hard times and not give up. It takes courage to do the right thing in the face of opposition. It takes courage to face the truth when we find our beliefs are incorrect. It takes courage to overcome our fears. Having courage does not mean we won’t have any fears, it just means we have faced our fears and have overcome them. We derive our courage from believing in the principles that we follow and that these principles are more important than our fears. 

                Two men can go into battle. One is excited and has no fear; the other is shaking in his boots but still goes to fight. Which one is the truly courageous man? The first man is fearless (or foolish) and thus needs no courage. The second man is torn apart by anticipation of danger, shaken to his core. This man has to deal with his immediate fear and the resulting struggle inside of himself. One part of him wants to give up and run away but another part of him knows he must stay and fight no matter what the cost. His commitment to principles for which he is fighting must be stronger than the power of his fear. Even though he is still afraid, it is his courage that enables him to go into battle. He is truly a courageous man, not the man who has no fear. (A man without fear will do stupid things and get other people killed along with himself)

                The man who can not overcome his fear and runs away from the battle is called a coward. He lets fear reign over his life, making him a slave to his fear. Even though he may live through the battle, he will have to face his fears again and again. This will happen until he finds the courage to face his fears and overcome them.

Taking risks

                There was a survey of senior citizens about what was their greatest regret in life. Most of them had the same basic regret. They regretted not taking enough risks in life. Isn’t it strange how we spend so much time and energy trying to make our lives secure so we don’t have to take risks. Yet taking risks is one of the most exciting and fulfilling parts of life.

                Fear is the greatest deterrent to taking risks. There are always the questions, what if we loose our business, what if we loose our money, what if we don’t make it, what will people think? Taking risks require faith and courage to overcome these fears and questions. Think of the pilgrims, the pioneers, the founding fathers, these people took theirs lives in their hands by taking risks. “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”[2] This statement made at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We can see that our founding fathers were not acting philosophical when they signed it but were indeed risking their very lives to start a new country.

                There must be an evaluation of the risks against the value of the rewards. Just because an opportunity presents itself doesn’t mean it worth the risk. It may be a stupid thing to do to begin with. Or it may not be the right time or the right place to take action. Or we may be taking risks to do something that we don’t really want to do at all. I think of all the stupid things I did because someone else thought it was a good idea. I didn’t have the courage to think on my own or do what was wise. I found myself taking risks just to please other people. Once a person bet me I couldn’t stand up on the seat of my motorcycle and let go of the handlebars while going down the road. There was no money involved, just a challenge. I did it (pretty stupid) but at what risk? I could have crashed, been killed or maimed. I found that trying to impress people is generally not really worth the risk. There was no real satisfaction in living life for the foolish wishes of others. I alone must make the decision of which risks are worth it and which ones are not. If we find the risk is worth our goals, then we need to go for it. Yes, there are risks in life but without these risks; there can not be reward or the satisfaction of victory. Without the ability to fail we can never know success. We can’t let fear of failure rob us of the joy and happiness that always comes when we finally succeed.

                “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them”[3] Sometimes circumstances make us take risks we don’t necessarily want to take. There were two men who grew up together and went to the same church, same school, and were the competitive as friends. Both men graduated High School together but there was only one job opening at a local factory. The two men found themselves in competition for that single position. The first man got the job and kind of laughed about it. The second man was disappointed because he just wasn’t able to find work. The only thing he found was an opening for a missionary helper in Africa. Circumstances had left no other option for him. Disappointed by the situation, he headed off to Africa, not knowing what the future held. The first man continued at his steady job, secure in his positions and place. After 26 years the two men meet again and compared their lives. The missionary man said to the factory man, “Since I have left, I got married, become an ordained minister, lived in over 20 countries, and raised 5 children. I saw lives changed for the good and have seen miracles happen. I have had enough adventure to last two life times. Life has been thrilling and wonderful.” After 26 years on the job, all the factory man had were pictures of his 2 weeks vacations he took each year. His life was secure but dull. The missionary man had been disappointed at first with his situation but found his poor circumstances had been the best thing that ever happened to him. (This man is my personal hero and I pattern my life after)

                We must have the faith and courage to take action when faced with opportunities, good or bad. We don’t always know what the outcome of our situation might be. Without taking risks, there can be no gain. With great risk comes great reward. Our destiny always involves us taking a risk of some type. How much are we willing to risk in order to reach our destiny? That depends on how much we believe in our destiny.

                Let’s go back to my father’s saying of “I can’t never did nothing”. I learned to never say “I can’t” around him. But instead I would say “I’ll try”. But that still wasn’t good enough for him. “Don’t say ‘I’ll try’, say ‘I will’”. Sometimes there was just no pleasing him it seemed. What was the difference between “I’ll try” and “I will” anyway? It was just two different ways of saying the same thing I thought. I sure was wrong!

                The difference is the attitude with which we tackle our situation.  “I’ll try” has a half hearted sound to it. It also implies that there is an undetermined limit in how much time and effort will be applied to the project. It also implies that there is a limited amount of risk I was willing to take. “I’ll try and if it doesn’t work, well, I tried”. This leaves room for failure and excuses. “I will” has a definite commitment involved. It is saying I will get the job done no matter what the cost. There is a higher level of risk now because it has become matter of honor to live up to my word. This attitude is an excellent motivator and causes us to be far more resourceful and tenacious in everything we do. In other words, we don’t take “no” for an answer.

                We need to take an “I will” attitude toward finding and fulfilling life’s destiny. Most of life’s battles are won or lost in the heart before the first action is ever taken. We can look at a situation and we can be overwhelmed by the sheer size of what we are facing. We can get a “why even try” attitude and give up. This is where fear has overcome us and fear has won the battle. But when we say “I will” no matter what, we have now found the courage to overcome our fear. In ancient times, warriors always went into battle ready to die. If they were ready to die and loose everything, then fear no longer had a grip on them. If they were not afraid to loose so they were also not afraid take the risks necessary to win.

                The heart is the biggest battle field of life. This is where we need to say “I will” to what ever is necessary to accomplish our life’s goal. Excuses will not win the battles of life. Half hearted attempts don’t give satisfactory results. We need to do all things as if our life depended on it, because it does. But having the attitude of heart that say “no matter what” gives us the courage to overcome our fears and be successful in life.

Attributes

                Once our attitude is settled, we can start making the battle plan. We need to  make a list of our attributes, our strong  points. Everyone has special things about them that make them a unique individual. It is our unique attributes that make success in life possible. (Some people can describe these attributes as quarks or oddities but they are still what make us who we are.) What are your talents? Singing, speaking, a strong work ethic, good cook, artistic tendencies, work with animals, green thumb, sitting on the couch, sports (just kidding about sitting on the couch). Everyone has certain God given talents that are constructive and profitable. We must take these things that are within us and use them help us lay out a battle plan for our life.

                As we make a list our strong points, we should also make a list of things that we consider to be our limitations. This can be height, weight, intelligence, age, physical conditions, and such things that can make life harder or easier in some situations. I dislike listing limitations because limitations many times don’t really stop us. They often are nothing more of an obstacle to be overcome rather than a limitation.

                It could be considered a limitation if you wanted to become a ballet dancer and you weigh 300 lbs. Even though your weight could be considered a limitation, you could to lose 160 lbs in order to reach your personal goal. If you were able to loose the weight, you would appreciate being a ballet dancer much more than someone who is naturally thin. (You also would probably end up rich from writing books about loosing weight in order to follow after your dream. What an inspirational story that would be!)

                This is why I don’t like to take limitations too seriously. Age is another limitation that I think has very little bearing on life. I read about a woman in San Francisco that set the world’s record for the most mileage run by a human in a 5 day period. She was 77 years old and setting a world athletic record! Then we consider that Beethoven was deaf when he wrote his greatest works. Then there was the case of Joni Ericson, a girl who was paralyzed from the neck down by a diving accident. She went on to become a best selling author as well as an artist, painting with a paint brush using just her mouth. Limitations are not necessarily impossibilities, just obstacles to be overcome.

                We need use our strong points and limitations to find a basic direction for our life. Once we have come up with a direction, no matter how humble or trivial, it is time to start arranging our life toward achieving success. I know a woman, both a mother and a wife, who was good at cleaning toilets. She was so good at it, she made a business out of cleaning bathrooms. She soon expanded and started cleaning houses. Soon she had to hire help because she had so much business. She simply focused on what she could do well and combined it with integrity and service. She soon was making more money than her college educated husband. Humble beginnings can lead to great things

                The part that made her simple talent into a successful business was attitude. Even though she had a humble talent, she did it to the best of her ability. Our attitude is our greatest asset. Attitudes of honesty, integrity and service are very rare. Employers are all looking for employees that they have these qualities of character. We may sometimes wonder how some people ever got into positions of authority (not everyone, just certain idiots we have had to work for). Generally they got their position because they were found to be trustworthy and willing to carry out the mission they have placed before them. Not necessarily because they have great talent or special gifting. They are simply dependable and faithful at their job. Attitude is the one talent we can change about ourselves. It can take time, but the sooner we make a commitment to start changing our attitude, the sooner we will see results. (Don’t give up because it seems to be too big of a job.)

                The first step toward having a positive attitude is to have a grateful heart. “Is the glass half full or half empty?” Count what you do have instead of what you don’t have. Ungratefulness leads to greed, selfishness, then disappointment, sorrow and bitterness. Show me a bitter person and I’ll show you an ungrateful person. Show me a happy person and I’ll show you a person who is thankful and grateful. I am not talking about manners and polite words, but an attitude of heart. The ungrateful are always disappointed, frustrated and never happy with anything they have. This person is usually angry and upset about something, everyone dreads it when they come around. Nothing is ever good enough.

                But the grateful person is at peace within themselves and able to enjoy what they have. Those who are around them also have a good time. The grateful are quick to forgive and slow to anger. There are no bounds on those who are grateful. Life is full and satisfying. Everything is good.

                Gratefulness is the basis of a good attitude. From there all other attitudes fall into place. Qualities of integrity, honor, self control, generosity, joy, peace, love are all that go together to form a great attitude.

Setting Goals

                “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. But happy is he who keeps the law.”[4] The “vision” it is speaking of here is not a spooky religious experience but setting goals for the future. A better way of saying this might be “without goals, you will have not direction in life, but those who follow through with their goals will be satisfied” (that’s my translation). It is our goals that give us guild lines from which to operate, as though aiming a gun. Just as we must aim a gun in order to hit a target, we must have “guidance” from our goals or we will never fulfill our destiny. If we find ourselves are moving in circles, it generally is because we do not have defined goals.

                “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”[5] The first thing we need to do is create plans. There are three types of plans we should make, short term, intermediate and long term plans. We have many “minor destinies” along the way to our “major destiny”. It is by fulfilling the little things that prepares us for larger things. If we can not fulfill the short term plans, there is no way we can fulfill the long term plans.

Each step of our life is a building block toward the next step of our life. Everything should fit together in an orderly fashion. If we don’t have a plan, the steps or “building blocks” of life are chaotic and nothing but a waste of our time and effort. We must plan in such a way that each short term goal builds toward our long term goals. This is being focused or “aiming” our lives in a particular direction. Our short term goals lay a foundation for our intermediate goals. Our intermediate goals lay a foundation for our long term goals. The long term goals give us direction of how to plan our short term goals. Thus all of our goals are interdependent on each other. If my long term goal was to be an electrical engineer, I wouldn’t take 4 years of scuba lessons. Electrical engineers usually don’t need scuba lessons to help them do their job. (Someone, somewhere will probably prove me wrong on this example) But an electrical engineer needs to take math and science courses as a short range goals. The engineering degree itself would be an intermediate goal. The lone range goal would be the implementation of electrical engineering degree as a career.

                When someone runs a marathon, it is made up of a lot of steps. The longer and faster the steps, the sooner the race is over. The size and pace of the steps are determines by the runners natural abilities combined with the runner’s personal will and the physical conditioning. When we see a marathon, we take it for granted that the people running have prepared themselves to do the event. It is not a case of a person just walking by and saying, “Gee, I think I will run the marathon”, then run the race and come in first. The winner usually has spent years preparing for the race by training and diet. Accidentally winning doesn’t happen in a marathon and it doesn’t happen in life either. Many see rich and financially successful people and think they just accidentally became millionaires, like life was a lottery. We don’t stop and think that most of the rich earned it. (The few who didn’t earn it aren’t of any real concern to us.) They earned it by preparing themselves for their profession, taking risks and working hard to make those risks pay off.

                Nearly anyone can become a millionaire if that is their goal in life. But most people are not willing to pay the price of becoming a millionaire. The price is working very hard and sacrificing time and personal pleasure for their success. Most wealthy people I know work 70 to 80 hours a week. Most “non” wealthy people work 40 hours or less a week. The “non” wealthy seem to always be envious of the wealthy and wished they could be wealthy too. But are the “40” hour people willing to work “70” hours to become wealthy? Usually not.

                But if you really want to become rich, here is the way to become a millionaire. If you are just starting out in life, get a 40 hour a week job, even if it only pays minimum wage. Now go out and get a second job working an additional 40 hours a week and bank all the money you make at your second job while living on money from the first job. The money you put in the bank will accumulate and by the time you retire, you will be a millionaire!

                Most people are not willing to work the extra job for 45 years, which means they are not willing to pay the price of becoming a millionaire. Work is the only true way to be successful, not dreaming or wishing or envying or the lottery. It is good to remember that making lots money may be some peoples calling but by no means is it everyone’s calling in life. Making lots of money is usually not worth the sacrifices unless it is truly your life’s calling.

                The only true and lasting way out of poverty and despair is work. I wish to repeat that statement, the only way out of poverty is work. It is not government programs, charity, sympathy, or good intentions. Work is the only way to overcome the problems of life. We must work at investing in ourselves and having faith in our direction in life. No one is exempt from “working” through their difficulties. Even if we are wealthy, we can have problems with family, friends, physical and spiritual challenges that require work. All true relationships require work. The only way to deal with our problems is work and the sooner we accept that, the better. Quick fixes or semantics will not last.

 Teamwork

There is a tendency to think “if I only had a better job” or “a better education” or “more money” that life would be easier. Life is not easy and there are constant challenges. Changing our circumstances will not necessarily cure our problems. “You can take the boy out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the boy”[6] Our problems will always follow us until we face them and work them out. Our problems generally lie within us just as the “country” was in the boy. We may try to run away from our problems but they just follow us where ever we go. Being free from problems is something that just doesn’t happen. We must deal with our problems right where we are. Quite often we need help to overcome these challenges. We should not be afraid to ask for assistance as the need arises. We are all in this together. Team work is an excellent way to bring accountability to our struggle.

                Football is a good example of not just working toward goals but also the importance of teamwork. When two teams make it to the superbowl, they are not there by chance. They are there because they worked for it. They must first have the basic talent with which to work. Each individual on the team has to have a certain amount of physical ability to be able to play the game.

                Raw talent by its self is not really worth much more than no talent. The raw talent has to be trained, disciplined and refined then it can be used. There are plenty of talented individuals who never develop their abilities and ended up with nothing. Football players definitely have work hard and make sacrifices in order to be the best at what they do. They have to be motivated people.

                Then each individual is especially trained for one primary position on the team. This is where the coach comes in. The coach sees the talent of the players and directs them to the best positions for their talents. He may move the men from one position to another, making the team more effective. Once they are all in their positions, they learn to work together under the coach’s direction. They help one another be the best they can be by cooperating and encouraging each other. They want all of the other team members to be the best at what they do. There is no room for personal vendetta, prejudice or rebellion. There is only one goal, to be the best. “Winning is not a part time thing, it’s an all time thing.”[7]  Then they train together, learning and working, making each other the best they can be. If one loses, they all lose. If one wins, they all win. This requires short, intermediate and long range planning.

                The short range goal is the physical training. The intermediate goal is learning team work and doing the job. The long range goal is the superbowl. Each step is necessary for reach the next step. The overall goal is necessary to set the directions of each step. All is totally interdependent upon everything else in order for it all to work. When they all work together, not just physically but with all of their heart, then victory is that much closer.

                So it is in planning our destiny. We need the support of the others who are on our team. It could be our family, friends, employer, acquaintances, and those who we deal with each day. Without the support of all the people around us, we will find it very difficult to accomplish our destiny.

Planning our destiny

We need a general idea of what our destiny will be so we can start planning our short range goals. One of the keys to finding out your destiny is first figuring out what you like to do. Do you like to fix things, do you like to read, do you like to draw, do you like to cook, do you like to talk, do you like to argue? God puts these desires in our heart and these desires can help give us direction. There is purpose for everyone and it is a good purpose. God is not mean and does not call us to a destiny that we truly find loathsome and revolting. The desire of what we are called to do is already placed in our heart just as sure as we are born with a brain and the will to survive. So what is it that you desire to do? If you had a choice of anything and money wasn’t the object, what would you do (permeate vacation doesn’t count, it must be something constructive) Odds are your destiny has something to do with your built in desires.

Next consider what it would take to have this desire happen. Education, physical conditioning, work and practice or what ever else you may need. This is how we start setting goals. You may not necessarily end up doing what you first plan but you life has started moving. Just as it is much easier to steer a moving car than one which is setting still with the engine off. Our lives are a lot easier to direct when we are out doing things and moving forward. “Man plans his way but God directs his steps”[8] As we go through life, we find that our desires will change and also our destiny may change. Everything is for a time and place. When I was younger, I loved to travel, living a life of faith and pushing the limits. Now I tend to want to be more stable and teaching people, inspiring them to be all they can. I made a plan for my life and I didn’t always get to do what I wanted. Instead the Lord directed me and life has been more exciting and fulfilling than I expected, much better than what I had planned!

Let’s start with a simple plan that everyone can relate to, the goal of survival. The basic necessities for survival are food, clothing and shelter. Everything beyond this is luxury. We talk about poverty in the United States but in most parts of the world, our poor would be considered wealthy. We need to shed the luxury mentality of our society and look at the reality of life and what is really needed. Then we can start setting some proper goals.

                Let’s say we suddenly lost everything, family, friends, job, home, possessions and even our education. What would we do? This is the first step in short term goals, survival. We may start with just handouts and a homeless shelter or a church. There are many organizations that would love to help in a time of need. The thing to remember is that this is a starting point, not a destination. No one expects you to stay in this “needy” situation. I hear people complain about the minimum wage being to low to raise a family. Of course it is! It is just supposed to be a starting point from which to advance. Handouts are nothing more than a starting point from which to advance. It is everyone’s responsibility to help out in a time of need, but it is equally the responsibility for the recipient to advance out of their bad situation. The key to all advancement is work. There are those who have physical limitations and can not work for wages. There are still things that they can do besides sit around taking from others. It could be that their destiny is to spread love, joy, be a friend (which can be a lot of work). Even being a recipient of someone’s generosity can be work. Showing love and being grateful is something anyone can do (actually everyone needs to do this).

                Once we have our immediate needs met and we need something to advance toward. Let’s make our first goal being self sufficient as much as possible. What is it going to take for us to become self sufficient? Let’s consider two men came into the Salvation Army looking for help. They were given a place to stay and an opportunity to work. They started working on the same job together. When pay day came, one man put his money in the bank and started looking for a room to rent. He wanted to improve himself and advance out of his situation. The other man decided to celebrate his first paycheck, and went out on the town, drinking and having a good time. Which man do you think would eventually succeed in life?

                The first man had a goal, to accept responsibility for himself. He had some misfortune in his life but he wasn’t going to let that hold him down. He realized that to be independence would require responsibility on his part. If we can not be responsible, we can not be independent, and we will never be truly free. We want everyone to be like the first man, just needing a little help to get started. Unfortunately most people in dire circumstances are like the second man, just living for the moment. The second man is governed by desires instead of wisdom. If we help him out, we will just have to do it again. Ultimately, poverty usually comes from poor choices and wrong attitudes. It is a lack of proper goals and motivation which lead to the poor person’s continual downfall.
                Let’s study of the attitudes of these two men. The first man was thankful for his opportunity and did not take it for granted. He realized its value by doing the best he could with what he had. The second man was not grateful. He was only in it for the momentary pleasure or anything else he could he could get out of it. He did not regard the opportunity given him to have real value. If he fails take advantage of his opportunities, they become fewer and fewer. Ultimately those who fail to take advantage of their opportunities usually end up taking advantage of the people around them instead.

                Now that we have one short term goal, a job, let’s look at some other short term goals. We all need a base of operation, a home, a point of reference. A permanent place of address indicates stability and responsibility. It is a place where we can be ourselves, a sense of identity. It is from our home that we build relationships with friends and family. A home is the physical spring board to finding and fulfilling our life’s calling. A home is not an end in itself but a most needed and useful tool for life.

                A home and a stead job do go hand in hand. No matter how humble, there are jobs out there. There are many unemployed people that I have helped find jobs but they didn’t take them. They tell me one reason after another why they can’t take this job or don’t want to do that job. Sometimes I get the feeling they just don’t want a job. (Everyone wants to make money but no one wants to work!) They continue in their poverty even thought the opportunity is there. There must be a willingness to work even humble jobs in order to advance. Those who won’t work are living off the work of others. (When ever some gets something for nothing, someone gets nothing for something)

                The purpose of these simple goals of home and job are to get a foothold on life. You don’t even have to be homeless for this goal. You could be a high school graduate who is just starting out in life. It is the same principle. We don’t want to continually live off our parents. We want to become independent and free. But we start by setting goals of job and home.

                We now move on to intermediate goals. Let’s say that we now have a job and usually we don’t want to keep making minimum wage. In order to advance we have to get some type of education. My father always said to me, “You are not paid for what you do, you are paid for what you know”. Our education may be right for the job we are doing at the moment. But to advance, we need to be able to take on new responsibilities by increasing our skills through education. This education could be formal or informal on the job education. (I find that the informal on the job education is the most valuable education) When we gain new skills and knowledge that will make us more valuable to our employer. When we advance in position and responsibility, we will make more money.

                This also applies in an unemployment situation. I hear about people who are chronically unemployed. They have been out of a job for over 2 years and have just about given up. I think that if you find yourself unable to find work in your field after a few months, change fields! Don’t wait 2 years! There are a lot of businesses looking for hard working people and can’t find any. Look and find out where there is a shortage of workers and go for it. A lot of places are even willing to train you. Take the time to get as much education you need. Meanwhile if you do find a job in your original field, then you have expanded your knowledge while you were looking. More education can only expand your horizons and your opportunities in life. Over my lifetime I have been a paperboy, farmhand, worked in a grocery store, sheet metal worker in a factory, computer technician, wall paper hanger, salesman, mechanic, Snap-on Tool dealer, musician, pastor, martial arts instructor, owned 3 businesses and hustled a lot in between.

                We often have to do things we do not particularly like in order to move forward. These things may just be simply a step along the way and not necessarily our goal. Sacrificing what we want in order to move forward can be part of our destiny. We must have an attitude of thankfulness that we had a job at all. Having an attitude of “well, this job only pays minimum wage so I am not going to work very hard” is not a thankful attitude. This is the attitude of a person who will continue in poverty. We need to do the best job we can regardless of pay. As we show ourselves faithful, new and better opportunities will appear. But if we do not have the right attitudes, new opportunities will do us no good when they do come along.

                We have to use wisdom when laying plans and not become so heavenly minded that we are not earthly good. In other words, we should not dwell so much on the theoretical that we neglect the practical. Once this little 4 year old girl started telling me “my mom says I can be anything I want”. So I asked, “ What do you want to be?” She said “I want to be a daddy”. This was a case of the theoretical not being in touch with the practical. We are governed by several practical things that help shape our lives, things over which we have no control. These things are called our circumstances. Our circumstances are the bounds in which we operate. We have no control over where or when we were born. We have no control over our intelligence, or our talents. We have limited control over our likes and dislikes. We also have limited control over our appearance and health. In fact, we do not have control over 98% of what happens to us each day! The one thing we do have control over is the attitude of our heart and how we react to things. Let’s concentrate on that which we do have control over.

                Our lives are like open fields. We can plant what ever we want in our lives. If we plant good things in our lives, they soon come up as good fruit. Likewise if we plant bad things in our lives, they become bad fruit. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”[9] Our lives are accumulation of what we have planted. As we plant correctly, we have developed a cycle of prosperity and good habits. If we plant foolishly, the results are poverty, hunger, and bad habits. Planting proper attitudes is the beginning of success in life. Without planting proper attitudes, no amount of physical success will ever bring happiness or fulfillment.

                Don’t get discouraged if after planting all the right things in our lives, bad things still keep coming up. What we may be reaping is the bad crop we planted previously. It takes time for the new crop to grow and mature. If we are faithful and patient, we will reap our new crop of good things. The key here is patience.

                We tend to give up when we don’t see instant results, not realizing our time table is not God’s time table. In our society everything is instant, microwave, instant coffee, fast food, cell phones & texting. But in the big scheme of things, time can be really slow. We go to school for 12 to 16 years and think we are educated and ready for a career that lasts 40 to 50 years. In God’s time table, He may spend 40 to 50 years getting you ready to use only a short time, but the consequences of that short time can be eternal. The thing to remember, we are not the judge of God or His plan. His plan always works for the good of everyone. The problem is when people ignore his plan and fail to carry out their destiny. Then everyone suffers when things go wrong and God gets blamed. God is good. God never lets us down. We just let ourselves and others down.

                That is why we need to be patient at what ever it is that we do, we do not know the outcome of our lives and efforts. I would venture to say most of us will never see the total results of our lives. Don’t give up, don’t be discouraged by what you do or don’t see, life is a walk of faith. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God causes the growth”[10] This just a way of saying that all of our efforts are intertwined with the efforts of others. You may work and someone else get the recognition. Then again you may get recognition (or blame) for something you really didn’t do. Who gets the recognition isn’t really important. I have seen careers ruined when someone’s feelings got hurt because they were not recognized for their efforts. This developed into a bad attitude which in turn started to affect their performance and eventually lead to the loss of their career. Make sure you don’t get side tracked from our true goals by vanity and pride of seeking recognition.

Authority

                Let us go back to the bumper sticker that said, “Question Authority”. I would like to ask the people who had that bumper sticker who gave them authority to question authority. Amazingly enough they probably couldn’t come up with a good answer. They liked the statement as long as it was not applied to them. I have found this actually to be a good statement “question authority”, to tell what is real and what is speculation. We should hold those in authority accountable for what they do and say. If they are real, they will always stand up to close scrutiny and will prove to be valid. It is up to us to separate real authority from the illusion of authority.

                A child brought a puppy to the first grade class for show and tell. The child held the puppy up to show the class and all of the children were captivated. Then the teacher asked the child if the puppy was a boy or a girl. The child didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl so the teacher asked if any of the other students knew how to tell if it was a boy or a girl. The class sat silent for about a minute when suddenly one little boy stuck his hand up and said “Lets vote on it”.

                This is the difference between opinion and fact. Facts always stand up to proper examination, therefore we should never be afraid when someone wants to check out our facts. As long as we have done our homework, we have nothing to fear from scrutiny. I hold a 5^th degree black belt in Taekwondo. If someone asks if I am a real black belt, there is one way to find out but it could be painful. I may need sometime to stand up to the examination about what I can do or what I know. I one time had a man who practiced a different style of martial art say to me “You do Taekwondo? I know how to beat you!” He didn’t know anything about me or what I can do. He made a broad generalization. He was not operating on fact but on false opinion. I just let it go, no need to prove who I am, I already know. If he wanted to pursue it, then we would find out who was real.

                We can plan and live our lives by that which has been shown to be true. This is why I use scripture and quotes from people who have succeeded in what ever they have done. Not only can we tell that what they have said is true but we can see the results of their actions. “So then, you shall know them by their fruits”.[11] Look at the end result of what people do, not just how good or how compassionate they sound at the moment.

                “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”[12] Intentions alone are not enough to justify doing something. We must always consider the repercussions of our actions. It would be like saying, “the plight of the poor is very bad, let’s give every poor person $100,000 so they can live a decent life”. This sounds nice but is not practical or realistic. The repercussions would be the fact that it would take more money than exists in the entire country to do this. It would require the confiscation of everything everyone owns to do this. And by what authority could something like this be done? But when you try to tell some people about the facts, they just call you greedy and uncaring. Such it is when opinion meets fact. Knowing and trusting authority and having your facts correct is essential in setting goals and laying out our battle plan of life.

                When we are able to understand life’s objectives and are able to fulfill our destiny, then we are truly free. People seldom fail because of circumstances; people fail because they are in bondage to bad opinions and habits that hinder any real growth needed in their lives. Only by wise strategy and action can we be prepared for the war of life.

Review

                We need to work on two areas in order to get ready for the war of life. First we need to work on our attitudes then we are ready to set our goals. Our attitude which is the strongest weapon we have. When we have a positive and good attitude, we will move forward and find fulfillment in what ever we do. This gives us the courage to overcome fear and to take the risks necessary to achieve our visions.

                We need to list our attributes and also our limitations. This will give us a good measure about setting our guidelines and goals. We need short term, intermediate term and long range goals. Long range goals set the direction of our lives, short term goals are the steps. We set our goals according to the circumstances we have to deal with. This is to be combined with an honest self evaluation based not on opinion but on solid and dependable principles and facts.

                Purposes and goals are not things that come about haphazardly, but require planning. “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’”[13] There is always a cost and commitment to any plan we choose. We must first figure the cost of what we are undertaking. Are we willing to put forth the effort? Is our objective worth the effort? Then we will be ready for life’s battles.

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[1] Unknown

[2] Benjamin Franklin, July 4, 1776, signing the Declaration of Independence

[3] Shakespeare

[4] Proverb 29:18

[5] Unknown

[6] Unknown

[7] Vince Lombardi

[8] Proverbs 16:9

[9] Galatians 6:7

[10] I Corinthians 3:6

[11] Matthew 7:20

[12] John Ray, English Proverb 1670

[13] Luke 14:28-30