Under pressure

“If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.” 

Proverbs 24:10 NLT. (http://bible.com/116/pro.24.10.nlt)

Most of us complain about stress. It's not fun being under pressure to do something. I have to admit there are plenty times I my life where I fail under pressure. I always look back at those events with sadness. Failing under pressure usually means hurting those we love. It means making poor decisions with serious consequences. I have written about the stresses of life in this blog and I usually write about trying to turn things over to God to relieve the stress. Sometimes God wants us to be under stress. He wants us to develop a strength that will be able to defeat even the toughest enemy. The only way to develop that strength is through trial. Even though I hate the stress when I'm in the midst of it, I always grow personally and spiritually through fire.

Dear Lord, thank you for caring enough about me to guide me through tough times. Thank you for helping develop my strength. I trust you and love you with everything in my life. I have had many trials and tribulations, but they have made me who I am. I wouldn't ask to change anything in my past or ask to remove the stresses that lie ahead. When I turned my life over to you, it was through all things, not just the good parts of life. Thank you Lord for my wondeful life. It is wonderful because of you and you alone. Amen!

Failure is the fuel for growth!

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law; (Psalm 94:12 NIV)

I am wrong! 

Those are key words in the life of any human on this planet. The ability to admit errors and to accept consequences helps us grow. I certainly know how tough this is. I struggle with admitting I am wrong, yet I am always looking for ways to get better. That is the next step. The first is to admit your error. The second is, decide what you are going to do about it.

I teach Math. Students love to see me make mistakes. Any teacher that can't admit their mistakes is a failure as a teacher. Students need to see it's ok to make mistakes. It's ok to fail. I have seen the consequences of not being comfortable admitting wrong doing. When someone can't deal with their own errors, they always resort to covering up those mistakes. Publicly admitting you are wrong is nearly impossible for some people.

God brings discipline in the midst of our errors in life. He doesn't want to punish. He wants us to grow from our failures. If there were no consequences for mistakes, what incentive would we have to change. None of us is sinless. None can claim the righteous ground. Yet, when we confess our sins, God is there to lift us up. He is there to help us endure the humiliation and the consequences. He is there to help us grow and recover stronger than before. There is a reason for our mistakes. They are the fuel for growth! Praise God!

Dear Lord forgive me for my sins. Forgive me for my arrogance and trying to act perfect. Help me to use the failures and mistakes of my life to grow closer to you. All I do is for you Lord and I know you want nothing but the best for me. I praise you for your wondeful love and grace. Amen!

Gods grading system!

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 NIV)

 I know people who would love to see me fail! Whenever we start something new in education, there are many people who would love to see it fail. In all fairness, we have had a bunch of a FADS over the years. It's hard to shift. One of our newest program is using a standards based grading philosophy. Students keep working at understanding a standard until they master it. They get to "Fail" until they complete the standard successfully. The detractors say this is not helpful and students will not try and not learn if they just get to redo things. I see students putting out so much more effort and genuinely caring about their education. 

I am so glad God doesn't grade like we do in most schools. Our lives are filled with failures. Satan loves to see them. Yet, our God is patient enough to let us try over and over until we finally get it. We can and will sin. God forgives us. God give us 70 times 7 times to forgive. He gives us instruction along the way and re teaches us daily. God would make a great educator. He's not looking to see us fail. He takes no joy in our failures and wants to see us succeed. So much is his desire that he gave his son so we might overcome our sinful failures and spend eternity with him. I love his grading scale!

Ignore the Critics!

God and Jesus and angels all back me up in these instructions. Carry them out without favoritism, without taking sides. Don’t appoint people to church leadership positions too hastily. If a person is involved in some serious sins, you don’t want to become an unwitting accomplice. In any event, keep a close check on yourself. And don’t worry too much about what the critics will say.... (1 Timothy 5:21-23 MSG)

I have reached a place in my life where I'm not concerned about my critics. Our society is full of critics. Most people are selfish when it comes to analyzing others. I like to trying new things and I'm not afraid of failure. I am always analyzing what I'm doing and how can I make it better. This is particularly true at school. I want to check my motives all the time. Am I doing something that is better for me or better for my students? I can't get stuck in old ways of teaching just because it's always been done that way. It's easier to keep doing what I've always been doing. That's not always what's best for kids. We need to stretch ourselves. Challenge tradition in favor  of progress. 

We have a lot of spiritual critics out there also. Some think riding a motorcycle for Christ is ridiculous. Taking Christ to a bar or "Sin filled" biker event is tantamount to blasphemy. Critics in the church are everywhere. We don't play the right music, the preacher doesn't preach the right way. We emphasize youth too little or too much. We've watered down the gospel message or are too tough. When it comes down to it, we have one critic that matters. The only analyst we should call upon is The Lord. His opinion is the only one that matters. If God calls us, we have to go! If the spirit leads us to the lions den, we should not hesitate. We need to ignore the noise of earthly opinions and listen only to the voice of our creator. Can a person be wrong following the voice of the Father? NO WAY! Satan wants to place doubt in our minds. He doesn't want us to grow or change. His voice comes through many of the people in our daily lives. We need to learn to be more sensitive to Gods voice than the voice of our detractors! 

IGNORE THE CRITICS, LIVE YOUR LIFE FOR CHRIST!

You win some...... You lose some.... God never quits!

Acts 18

 ⁵ When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. ⁶ But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

 ⁷ Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. ⁸ Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

 ⁹ One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. ¹⁰ For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” ¹¹ So Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.

There are over 400 schools in the state of Indiana. Not all of them have Football but most of them do. Out of those schools there are only 5 schools that get to end their season on a positive note. When you play sports, someone wins and someone loses. You can't win them all. Yet, I know how hard coaches take losses. I guess that's what drives them. They really want to win every game, even though they know that's impossible. They prepare to win.

Paul acts like a coach. He wants to win every soul he comes across. He doesn't plan on losing a single person. He wants all saved for the Lord. That should be the goal of every Christian. We should never prepare to lose.  We should always prepare to win. We need to look at every relationship. We need to look at every person we meet as an opportunity to change a life for Christ. We should never look at someone as being hopeless. It's sad to say but we can not save everyone for Christ. But, God does not need us to save everyone. It's ok if we lose.

God never gives up on anyone and we need to assume that if we are not successful, someone else could be. Just because WE have failed does not mean it will never happen. We need to be in constant prayer with our Lord. We need to know if we have done all we can do. God will let us know. If we have done all we can, we need to trust God will not abandon this person. He will send someone else, then someone else, then someone else again. He will not give up. Our Failures will not deter him from working until all are saved. We might think of it as failure. It may just be a part of God's plan. 

Coaches are stubborn people. They hate to lose and they are always working to find ways to win. We need to always be looking for ways to win souls for Christ. We should leave no stone unturned. We need to fight for every lost soul. We need to open ourselves to the leading of God. God will use us for his purposes, in his time, with his definition of success. If we are in Christ, we can not fail!

Failure!

Psalm 91 (New International Version)

⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,
   nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
   nor the plague that destroys at midday.
⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,
   ten thousand at your right hand,
   but it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only observe with your eyes
   and see the punishment of the wicked.


I can bet you know someone who has fallen away from the Lord. You might know a Pastor who has failed publicly. You might know a friend who has sinned and left the Lord. It happens. I have wondered at times why God put's these people on Public display. It seems they are so damaging to witnessing and spreading the message of Jesus Christ.

Sin grieves God. Sin is not unique to those who do not know the Lord. We all fight the Battle of Sin. Unfortunately, some fail. I am not one to judge why, or to comment on how. God knows these things. But, as a sinner saved by the grace of God, I need to be on constant alert. One of the ways we can stay vigilant is to "Observe". We need to observe those around us that have failed. We need to observe the punishment of the wicked. We need to witness the Grace of God and compare it to the consequences of rejecting him.

These observations should help us stay focused on him. If we do, we will not fear the terror of darkness. We will not feel the pain of the arrows around us. We do not have to fear pestilence or plague, or cancer, or loss. We do not need to fear failure. We are promised his protection. We need to stay alert. Keep the Faith. God is with you. Do not Fear. You do not need to worry of Failure as long as you leave God in control.