I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer but when I need to, I can work with the best of them and many times over the years I have “worked” my way through fear, worry and anxiety.

…probably why I used to shoot 200 hundred free throws a day during my basketball career (it is frightening standing on that free throw line all alone) and why I went to over 700 AA meetings during my first two years of sobriety (I was very afraid I was going to relapse).

You may recall my blog from last Sunday.  I shared the keys to overcoming fear and they were prayer and surrounding yourself with positive people, places and things.  Add “stay busy by working” to the list.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

Isaiah 41:10, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.  Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”  (NLT)

Worry is of the devil.  Peace is of God.  Therefore PEACE is a complete efficient thought revolving around a pivot point of God.

God beats the devil every time…if we call upon him in prayer…some days I am praying a whole lot more than I would like to think I need to…

If you pray why worry, if you worry why pray?

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

John 16:33, “I have told you all this so you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart because I have overcome the world.” (NLT)

There is no bigger waste of time than worry.  Worry, a by-product of fear, is the devil’s playground.

If the devil, through worry, stands between us and our ability to chase our dreams; who is standing closer to our dreams?

Ask God to always help you learn from yesterday, focus on today and keep an eye on the future and you will have no time to worry.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@Eaglelaunch

Proverbs 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.  Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”  (NLT)

With that being said, I need to let all you young pups know, once you reach 50 you begin to think about death a lot more than prior to 50. I can honestly say I have a very short list of would of-should of-could of’s. Hoping you all will be able to say the same. Live a life of no regrets.

I was talking with a business colleague who is my age and we where laughing about doing overhead projector presentations 20 years ago and how we now need to move past PowerPoint to the next presentation tool. We agreed our success has hinged on the willingness to learn.

Advice from a soon to be 53 year old…

Never assume
Don’t take things personally
Give more effort than you want to give
Dream big
Love more than you want to love
Give more than you want to give
Forgive more than you want to forgive
Understand life ain’t fair
Turn the “why me’s” into the “why not me’s”
Don’t sweat the small things
Understand you only have one shot at life and it is darn short…you’re gonna die so don’t stop growing until you take your last breath.

(I wrote this while traveling 30,000 feet in the air…if I went down you all know I was working right up to the end).

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@ EagleLaunch

When you set your new goals for the year, did you expect to achieve them or were you “hoping” that just maybe this was the year you were finally going to successfully achieve your New Year’s resolution?

Most of the time the feeling of hope is simply a form of postponed disappointment.  Please don’t confuse this with the hope we have in God because that is the one hope we all know will not be disappointing.  My comparison of expectation to hope in this blog is more about an attitude.

When you set your resolution(s) or your BHAG’S or your “house cleaning” goals for 2012 (see 1/1/12 blog), were you expecting to accomplish them or just hoping?

Expecting can be dangerous if our expectations come in the form of other people, places and things but there is absolutely nothing wrong with having expectations for ourselves and the teams we lead.

I was blessed to be a part of some very special teams in my life and on each of those teams we expected to win every “game” which is probably why we won a lot of games in high school, college and business against opponents who were much bigger and stronger than us.  We beat some opponents where the odds were stacked heavily against us.

When you expect to win, and expect greatness in all you do, you are beginning with the end in mind.  And the end is great.  When you start expecting greatness you will suddenly find your path to greatness becomes filled with meaningful actions all focused on the end. When losses, setbacks and failures occur, the attitude of expecting greatness causes us to evaluate the loss, learn from it and continue on our path to greatness.

When you hope to win, although you may have an end in mind, the word hope, in an of itself takes away the edge you feel when compared to expect.  Hope gives you an out when the path of activity becomes challenging.  It is a lot easier to walk away from a “hope” I have of myself than an expectation.

Can you imagine how your spouse would feel if you told him or her, “I hope to be a good spouse.”  How would your kids feel if you told them, “I hope to be a good parent.”  How would your boss feel if you told them, “I hope I can become a good worker.”  How do you think God would feel if you say, “I hope there is a heaven.”

C’mon people quit hoping and start expecting and it all starts with you.  What are the expectations you have of yourself?  Are you expecting to achieve your goals or are you expecting failure?

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch

Proverbs 13:4, “Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper.” (NLT)

For those of you wondering why you are not prospering:

…do you have a plan?

…are you working hard?

…are you avoiding the easier, softer way (i.e. shortcuts)??

Nuff Said.

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch

Last night we had our small church group over for dinner.  After dinner we began to discuss “Christmas is not Your Birthday,” a book written by my Pastor Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg  Church.  It is a simple read, or as my Pastor Mike would say, “a book that Jay Meyer doesn’t have to have his wife read to him so he can understand what I’m talking about.”

Anyway as is the case with our small group the conversation went down two or three different paths throughout the night and at one point I posed the question of why some “get it” early in life where for others like myself I “got it” later and of course why some never get “it” at all.  The “it” I am referring to is the full utilization of the mighty powers given to us from the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a free gift we receive when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.

My faith walk has been an interesting process.  I was raised in a family that believed in God.  So I believed in God but grew to despise church.  I was one of those who was more concerned with the “hypocrites” in church than my personal relationship with God.

For years I viewed God as this super natural power of convenience.  I called upon God only when I needed him and if he got me out of trouble I believed in him…for awhile.  If he didn’t answer my prayer I either felt as though my sinful ways had placed me way down on God’s list or that maybe this “God thing” wasn’t what it was made out to be.

Then I turned my back on God.  My active addiction years involved behavior I knew God would hate me for and my knowledge of God and his power at that point in my life told me “what’s the use, I’m heading to hell and I may as well feel good during the ride.”

Then I hit “hell” and was still alive and felt absolutely miserable…believe me, there is a hell.

And because of a five week “sabbatical” from my drugs and alcohol in a treatment center I decided the “hell” route really wasn’t the route I wanted to take so I started opening my mind to others who had “been to hell and back.”

During early recovery I found the cure to my problem was a spiritual cure.  It was about having a personal relationship with a “God of my understanding.”  This could be a grandparent, my favorite pine tree in my back yard as a kid growing up, my basketball, what have you.  I just needed to believe in something greater than me.  Ego (easing God out) is the greatest cause of missing out on the transformation powers of God.

I began to hear that God was a loving God, unlike the punishing God I had pictured in my mind.  I could feel this love as I would go to 12 Step meetings where we were all fighting to stay out of our self-induced hell by staying sober a day at a time.  We were all pulling for each other.  We were all pushing each other.  None of us ever wished bad things upon one another.  We tried our best to not judge but simply love.  It was in these rooms where I felt closest to my higher power.  The closer I got to my higher power the more desire I had to knowing “it” even more.

At my ten year point in sobriety (I was about 39) I became mentally unglued.  The compulsion to drink and drug had been taken away from me but I had grown apart from my higher power.  Other than a prayer in the morning I was back on my own and mentally heading to hell in my head with no drugs or alcohol to ease the pain.  I can remember telling my wife during this tumultuous period how there is no worse state to be in than to feel totally helpless over a situation and NOT wanting to drink or drug to numb the pain…remember I’ve always had a couple of wires crossed in the upper part of my body.

Out of shear desperation I called my sponsor whom I had had very little contact with and he helped get me slowly but surely back on track.  My sponsor was an AA “junkie” but he also read the Bible and believed in Jesus.  He never pushed Jesus down my throat but I wanted what my sponsor had so I started studying about Jesus.

The thing with studying about Jesus is once you start studying the more you want to know…at least it was and is that way for me.

Jesus was this “dude” with long hair who kind of went his own way and spoke in parables like John Lennon.  He was someone I could relate to.  He was the spirit behind the lyrics in “All You Need is Love.”  He would get pissed off at self-righteous and judgmental people including the rabbi’s and pharisees and was attracted to the drunks, prostitutes and other “sinners” that sought his transformational powers with free hearts.  He told us how we should not turn our backs on the “least of these”  and always be willing to help those in need.  He frowned upon judging and promoted humility.

Today I know Jesus was and is–in those 12 Step rooms I referred to above.  I know today, that where there is love there is the presence of Jesus.

Last, but not least, I learned Jesus gave us the power of the Holy Spirit (to be like Him) through His death and resurrection.  (Please note those are Jesus’ words in the scripture verse from the book of Acts above.)

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I normally try to limit my blogs to 600 words or less but as I’ve indicated before.  There is no rhyme or reason or structure behind my blog topics.  I simply write when The Spirit moves me.   For some reason I needed 950 words to get to the point I am trying to make.

Some people get “it” early in life some people like myself get “it” a little later and some people never get “it.”

“It” is the power of the Holy Spirit.  But once you get “it” it is important to understand what “it” is and how to use “it.”

There are some who are just happy to have received “it” and understand they will be in heaven some day and that is all that matters.  They continue to live in misery, subconsciously fighting the Spirit because they are unwilling to let go of the world and the “luxuries” and beliefs of  the world.

Some of us believe this super natural power we receive from God through the Holy Spirit should allow us to do things the world views as super natural. And when our prayers aren’t answered and tragedy strikes in the presence of God we kind of get the “only the good die young” mentality and we give up.

The fact is there is only One who can perform the super natural and that one is God as Jesus demonstrated to us during his 3 decades of life with us on earth.

The proper utilization of “it” involves allowing “it” to permeate throughout our human existence to the extent we can be the hands and feet of Jesus.  He came, He left us a guide to follow and the guide is all about living as He did in order to bring others to Him so he may perform His super natural powers on them.  In most cases taking a self-centered, distraught and conflicting heart and filling it with peace.

Hmm sort of like what my wife and her Christian prayer warriors did for my life years ago.

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So what is this all about?

The small group I was referring to at the outset of this “book” is a great group of people.  We are quite diverse with a common goal.  The goal being to become the hands and feet of Jesus to the best of our abilities.  To become the best disciples we can be. To become the best we can be at utilizing “it.”

We all pretty much understand the key to tapping into the power of the Holy Spirit (“it”) is the ability to die to self and deflate our egos (easing God out) a day at a time so “it” can do “its” work.

Putting knowledge and understanding into practice is where the challenge for most of us lies.

One of our members of our small group is a quiet single lady.  She has had some tough times but never complains about them.  She literally doesn’t have a pot to urinate in.  Although every day is probably a challenge for her to make ends meet, there is a feeling of peace that is always released from her presence.  Her favorite saying is “it’s no big deal.”  She doesn’t have much to say but when she says something she captivates our group.

Last night at the end of our group she grabbed a bag of cards and Christmas “goodies” and started handing them to us.  The goody consisted of a small sock and glove bought from the Dollar General Store sewed together with a a stitch of thread and from the top of the sock and glove came a little piece of wire forming the shape of a hook.

As she handed these goodies out and we began unwrapping them she said to the group; “please hang these on your Christmas trees and let them remind you to make the year 2012 as the year you will try to be Jesus’ hands and feet.”

…to her “it” (her gesture) was no big deal.  But to me “it” reminded me what “it” (the power of the Holy Spirit) is all about.

“It’s” not about us, “it’s” about what Jesus can do through us.  And “it” won’t happen as long as we are full of self or in some cases sh..”it.”

My friend not only gave us a reminder about what “it” is all about but she is living proof of that reminder.

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The card she gave us said the following:  PEACE, LOVE and JOY for you at Christmas and Always.

Understanding, believing, following and allowing “it” to live through you will give you peace, love and joy always.

I write from experience with tears in my eyes.

P.S.  Christmas is not your birthday.  Celebrate “it” that way.

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

Psalms 121:2, “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

Question:  Where do you draw your power and strength from today?  Is it alcohol?  Is it exercise?  Is it your spouse?  Is it your kids?  Is it drugs?  Is it your job?  Is it your house?  Is it your car?  Is it your body?  Is it your position?  Is it your degree(s)?  Is it your friends?  Is it someone else’s body?  Is it a relationship?  Is it food?  Is it shopping?  Is it sex? Is it from other people who “motivate” you?  Is it your IPad?  Is it your clothes?  Is it your hair?  Is it _______ (fill in the blank).

We have access to the power that created heaven and earth and all things in it and around it.  Why wouldn’t we always first draw power from that source?

Don’t wait for all of these other power sources to run out of juice before you begin drinking the real energy drink.  Drink from His cup first in all you do and life becomes much more productive, meaningful and powerful.

I write from experience…

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

My sponsor’s translation of the above verse; “If you pray why worry, if you worry why pray?”

Many years ago, (prior to my crash, burn and resurrection) I viewed God as simply a God of convenience.  He was there only if I needed him.  Sort of like the cough and cold formula we keep in our medicine chest.  We like to keep it handy just in case we get a cold.  I believed in God but I didn’t believe in His powers.  Not because I didn’t want to believe in His powers.  I simply had no clue or understanding of what His powers could do for my life.

Back in my “pre-understanding days” I also viewed an acceptance of Jesus as my Lord as a free ticket to live forever.  My thinking…”I love life why wouldn’t I want to live forever?”   Once again my relationship with the Lord was a selfish relationship of convenience, it had nothing to do with understanding and tapping into the powers of Jesus on a 24/7 basis.

Then came my crash and burn and an uncontrollable urge to consume drugs and alcohol at the expense of my reputation as well as my relationships with others.

Then I “came to” and found the only way I could stay sober an hour at a time was to talk to a power greater than me on a continual basis.  ”I can’t, God can, I think I will let Him.”  I learned this in the rooms of AA.  The battle us addicts face in the early going of sobriety is a slippery and bumpy walk where our spirit wants sobriety but our flesh (mind) wants the high.  For me this battle went on for about 3 years.  I combated this unbalanced path with a conscious contact with God.

Where many of us get this all screwed up as we think in order for God to listen to our prayers or our talks with him, we need to be perfect.  Forget that notion.  God wants us anyway he can get us and actually the more willing we are to admit we are screwed up, the better His work becomes through our lives.

So what is my point?  As my good friend Mike Bowie would state; “I’m glad you asked!”

If you are worrying today–If you are projecting outcomes to things that have not yet taken place–If you are consumed with what others are doing or aren’t doing–If you are holding onto a resentment, guilt or a pain from the past–If your expectations are not being met–If you have no serenity…my guess is you are not praying…enough.

The devil thrives in our worries, projections, resentments, guilt, pain and unmet expectations.

Take God off the shelf, put Him into your life and converse with Him all day long.  Suddenly the peace many you may have thought would only be found in heaven will come alive in your spirit and you will begin experiencing eternal peace in the here and now.

Today I have an answer to worry, guilt, shame, emotional pain, resentments, expectations et al and it is prayer.  I am much easier for God to live through when I leave the door open to Him 24/7.  I start my day with prayer and every time a screwed up notion begins stirring, I turn it over to God (prayer).

If you pray why worry, if you worry why pray?

P.S.  Unprayed upon guilt, shame, emotional pain, resentments, expectations et al, will lead us to either an unproductive  life or behaviors (like addiction) to numb the pain…can you say the devil?  Kick the devil’s a$$ with prayer!

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com

Years ago I asked my old high school basketball coach Bob Huelsman (who I still think was one of the best coaches–any sport–our state has ever seen) what the secret to his success was and he basically shared with me his coaching success was dependent upon how talented the athletes were that he was coaching.

Although I agreed with Bob’s thoughts I also reflected upon how he also did a great job with teams that weren’t that talented.  And as a player for him I can tell you the one thing he was excellent at and that was having a game plan with an end result in mind.  The game plan included a thorough scouting report of the team we were about to face as well as defined direction for each of us.  We knew what our roles were, we knew what was expected of us and we all knew the result we were going after.

Many organizations, teams, businesses and individuals confuse activity and being “busy” with results.  It is the leader’s responsibility to give direction and instruction to the team so everyone knows not only what they are supposed to do, but why they are doing it.

This is why it is so important to have a plan with an end result in mind.  When you have a plan with an end result then your activities will have meaning to them and any activity and energy spent on things that have nothing to do with the result you are after should be eliminated.

On an individual note; if you are not happy with the direction your life is headed you may want to do an inventory of the activities of your day and see how much activity is pointed in the direction of the results you are trying to obtain.

P.S.  ”If you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.”

P.E.A.C.E.

jay@eaglelaunch.com