I remember many years ago I was looking for a new truck and I stop by a local dealership to look at a truck. If you have ever been car shopping you know as soon as you get out of your car here comes a sales person. However, this day no one walked out to see if I needed any help. You see on this day I was driving a semi-truck moving some heavy equipment from one job site to another. I was dressed in jeans and old shirt and a ball cap on. Let’s just say it looked like I had been rolling around in the dirt for a month. As I walked around looking at the trucks not one person came out to see me.  I finally walked into the dealership and there stood all the sales people. I walked up to one and asked about a specific truck that I was looking at. The sales person answered my questions but did not give me the time of day. He then walked away to go talk to another person who had entered the lot.  
After my lack of customer services, I got back in my semi and drove off. This bothered me all day because I knew he was judging me based on what he saw me driving and the way I was dressed. I can remember just how little it made me feel! Like a person with no worth at all. So, when I got off work I went home got a shower and changed clothes and went back the dealership. When I pulled up in my personal truck and with a cleaned-up attire, yep you guessed it I had my pickings of the sales people on the lot. However, me being me I went back to the guy I talked with earlier that day. Guess who had all the time in the world for me now. You guessed it. 
This situation reminds me how easy it is to judge others. You can see how a person acts, the clothes they wear, or even the friends they have and put that person into a box. We write certain people off because of how they treated us, or how we perceive them. However, just like the sales person was wrong about me not being able to afford the truck, many times, our judgements of people can be wrong.
By judging others, we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The other thing about judging others is that it cheapens the price Jesus paid for mankind. Jesus gave his life for all humanity. That means each person has value to God. From the most popular to the least popular, each person matters to God. Because each person matters so much to God, when we judge others we cheapen the price God paid for each person.
So, the next time you’re tempted to pass judgement on someone. To look down on them for what they wear, the color of their skin, their sexuality, or how they act remember that they are important to God. He loves them and wants them to have the chance to get to know Him. So, the next time you’re tempted to judge someone, use it as an excuse to share God’s love with that person instead of judging them.
​

I have debated on writing this but, I believe someone out there needs to hear my story or better yet Gods Story.
You see about 5 years ago I was going through a divorce and dealing with a lot of mental health issues that I had never dealt with.
I had experienced depression for years but never went for help because I am man and I can fix it. I didn’t talk to anyone about this! Why? Because I would have sounded weak and again I thought I could fix it, I could handle it. I kept pushing all these feelings down and never opened up about it.
As men we just don’t talk about mental health, at all. We think we can deal with it but what we don’t see is the people around us get the brunt of this. Because I wasn’t addressing my depression, my kids were affected. I would come home from work and they never knew what Dad they would get. The dad who had a good day and didn’t deal with the internal demons or the Dad who has been dealing with the demons of depression. This dad would come in like a whirl wind and of course they would be walking on egg shells. How fair was that to them? Well it wasn’t fair because I was too stubborn and ashamed to get help.
It was all about me and I was not thinking of anyone but myself. Fast forward many years and when I was going through my divorce it all came to a head. I started to believe the lies in my head. Lies that my kids didn’t want to be around me and didn’t love me since I was the one who filed for divorce. I was sitting in my apartment and was being torn apart from the inside out. I kept hearing all the lies that were running through my head - I’m not worthy to be a dad, what kind of man are you, no one loves you and it would be better if I was not even here anymore.
After of months of dealing with these thoughts and I couldn’t fix it. This is where things started to go south, fast. I ended up in a place where I thought if I just took my own life, everyone would be better off.  You see for months and years I was in this dark box and it felt like it was closing in on me. I could not live like that anymore. I’m not going to go in to detail but right before I was going to end my life God opened up the top of the box and all I could see was my kids, family, and friends. I can’t explain of why God allowed me to see the light, because I talk with folks all the time who have dealt with family members and friends who are no longer with them and they ask why wasn’t the lid lifted for their loved one.
As I sat there I realized I was broken and I needed help. I drove myself and checked myself in to get help. I was there for some time and the process started for me to get help. I then realized I could not fix this on my own. I put my faith back in Christ, and during this time God taught me a lot about Him. We hear people say “God will not put more on us then we can bare” but we need to really read and understand that verse. God says he will not put more on us then He can bare. We are small and weak. We have to lean and trust Christ and give it to him.  Since then I have been getting help and being more open to my councilor and to my family. Yes, I still struggle from time to time about being open and vulnerable. I still want to put a wall up. However, I few years later I got remarried and my wife pushes me and will not allow me to put that wall up.   
 
So, guys/women if you are dealing with mental health it’s ok to get help. You’re not weak by talking about it. We are weak if we don’t talk about it.  Don’t try to do it on your own. So, if you’re in a place where you are having thoughts that you believe there is no way out of the darkness please get help or call 1-800-273-Talk (8255). There is a way out I promise. I’m proof that there is!!!
 

Have you ever been lost in the crowd of people? Maybe in a city or even in a crowd of traffic. I remember I was in Dallas with my 2 daughters. One was about 5 and the other was still in a stroller. We were walking around Dallas and went to see the grassy Knoll. There was so many people so we decided to go inside the former Texas School Book Depository and go on the tour. I remember getting up to the area where Harvey Oswald made that shot. As I was looking around my daughter got away from me and she was lost in the crowd of people walking around looking at the history on the walls. I remember the feeling of not knowing where my child was at. I asked my sister and brother-in-law to hold the stroller with my other daughter. As a Dad, it was the worst feeling as I was looking all over the place for her. I remember finding a police officer and shared my daughter was lost. The officer started to help me look for her. I was rushing through that place like a mad man looking for her. As I turned a corner I spotted her looking around with tears in her eyes. I called out her name and she looked up and saw me and she ran as fat has her to little legs would go. When she made it to me, she leaped in my arms and held on with dear life. I can always remember having that feeling of a lost child and the feeling of having her back in arms. Later that day, I thought this is how Christ must feel when his child is lost. The only difference is, he knows where we are at. We just need to realize we are lost and run back to him.
In a book I was reading by Rick Warren he observed, “Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it.” You see for some reason my daughter let go of my hand and followed the crowd and not her Father. This caused her to get lost in the crowd. You see as adults we know these words to be true as adults, but we fail to live by them. Instead of trusting our Father we let go and try to do it on our own or follow the crowd. When we do this, we will suffer the consequences, maybe not at that time but in time we will.
Who will you try to please today; your God or your friends? Your obligation is most certainly not to your neighbors, friends or even family members. Your obligation is to an all knowing, all powerful God.
The Fear of man is a snare, but the one who trust in the lord is protected. Proverbs 29:25

Too Busy
 
Have you ever felt like your running from one thing to the next? Being a leader in my company requires a packed day. I go from one meeting to the next, attend client meetings with my reps and by the end of the day, I still have my work to do. So, then I spend time doing my work, replying to emails and doing sales reports. Hey, it’s part of the job, right? Then, however, sometimes I must go to events after work which I usually don’t mind because usually there is food involved LOL. Then, when I finally slow down I have asked myself what did I miss.
If you have a spouse and kids like I do, you sometimes miss the important things. By being so busy are we missing that special time without spouses? Are we missing the important things with our kids?  Sometimes you need to step back and remember the important things are at home and protect that time.
Are you one of those men or women who is simply too busy for your own good! Has the hectic pace of life robbed you of the peace that might otherwise be yours through Christ? If so, you’re doing a disservice to yourself and family. Through His Son Jesus, God offers you a peace that passes human understanding, but He want force his peace upon you; in order to experience it, you must slow down long enough to sense His presence and His love.
Today, as a gift to yourself, to your spouse and family, and the world, be still and claim the inner peace that is your spiritual birthright – the peace of Jesus. It is offered freely; it has been paid for in full; it is you for the asking. So, ask. And Share.  We often become mentally and spiritually barren because we are so busy.
Carefully planning puts us ahead in the long run, hurry and scurry puts you further behind. Proverbs 21:5

As we go through life, we have choices we make every day.  Sometimes make the choices that are based on the circumstances we are in, choices based on our job, choices based on what we need to do or say to our children, and we make choices on…. you can fill in the blank. Before we make a choice in life we need to pause and ask this question. “In Light of your past experience, what is the wise thing to do?” This is a simple question to ask ourselves before we make a decision or choice but one of the hardest. We can apply this this question in business or personal choices.  I think of a day when I went to trade in my car for a new one. My current car had nothing wrong with it at all. It wasn’t new and it had lost the new car smell but it did what I needed it to and that was to get me to work and back. However, I came up with all the excuses to trade in my car for the new one.  You are thinking, why is this a big deal if you want a new car. Go get it right. I mean, I can afford it or can I. This is where this question comes into play. Based on my past experience, I put myself in a place that I was working for a car payment and man that car cost me. It cost me spending time with my kids because I was having to work longer hours to pay for this car. I was sitting in the dealership and asked this question to myself. Then I started to think if I made this choice what would it cost me in the future. So, I made a choice to walk away with my old car instead of getting a new one. Making the choice to ask that question ended up being a wise decision. You see, I’m in sales and my income is based on commission. The economy changed and folks were not buying advertising like they once were. If I would have bought that car that day I would have been back in the place I was in the past.  Sometimes we need to ask the hard questions before we make that choice.
Life is a series of choices. From the time we wake up until the time we fall asleep at night. You make countless decisions – decisions about the things you do, decisions about the words you speak, and decisions about the way that you choose to direct your thoughts. As a believer that I am, who has been transformed by the love of Jesus, I have every reason to make the right choice. But hey the last time I looked and the mirror and went out in my boat I’m not Jesus and can’t walk on water. HAHA.  We have all the daily grind of life that will eat you up and spit you out. We make choices that are not pleasing to Christ. We make choices and they will catch up with us. Maybe not now but they will. I know because I have made those choices in my life. Before we make choices in our life, let’s take a moment and ask this question “based on my past experience is this the wise thing to do?” 
But seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:33