My 10 year old daughter, Ashley, had the misfortune of asking to start up piano lessons the very day I wrote that ten thousand dollar check.

“No, honey.” I answered her. “We simply can’t afford it right now, and you’re too young for a job.”

Without a word, she simply went about her business.

I felt guilty. How could life be so unfair to my sweet girl? I wondered.

About 20 minutes later she came to me with a piece of paper in her hand. She said, “Mom, if I were to clean the piano teachers bathrooms, do you think that she would give me piano lessons in return?”

Impressed with her thought process, I told her to call the teacher.

The piano teacher thought it to be a great idea and said, yes!

Honestly, I felt disappointed when circumstances kept me from paying for my daughters piano lessons. But God had something special in mind for my girl. He wanted to instill work ethics and even help the piano teacher out for the summer.

When will I learn that life isn’t always about me?

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (NIV)

This is the verse I think of when I consider my time at the SCORRE 2012 conference.

Ken Davis holds nothing back in this training week. He gives us the tools we need to become successful communicators.

There’s another key to the SCORRE conference…

It’s one thing to have the tools you need in your tool belt, it’s another thing to actually get them out and learn how to use them.

Each day of the conference gives the attendees the opportunity to use each tool we’ve been given. This is the part I found INVALUABLE!!!

It’s putting reality to skills. Anyone can tell you how to do something, but a true leader takes the time to show you.

I left SCORRE with a confidence I never knew was possible. I’ve begun seeking out more speaking engagements because I’m confident in my new found skills of communicating truths effectively to others.

What are you waiting for? Sign up for the next SCORRE conference!

Thank you to my personal mentoring group, and to the staff of the SCORRE conference for changing my ability to communicate in an immeasurable way.

1. You will learn to FOCUS your talk.

2. You will learn to CREATE an effective talk.

2. You will learn to APPLY these new truths while at the conference.

My core group had 7 men and two ladies. Our coach, Jimmy, encouraged and corrected with care.

More information to come..

In this picture, the forest looks uniform – except for the one tree with great bends in it.

Let me ask you, when you look away from the photo, which tree will you recall? Probably the one that’s different.

My sister used to work in a pediatric cardiologists office. They saw a large number of kids with disabilities, and she loved when the Down Syndrome kids would be in the office (she didn’t like the fact that they had heart issues) because they always smiled and were so full of love. I guess you could say they were a good kind of different.

“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:11-12 (NIV)

God urges us to be a good kind of different in this verse. If you were standing in a crowd, would you blend in, or would you be a good kind of different? Strive to be the person God wants you to be and don’t be afraid to stand out!

Have you ever stood at the front door fumbling with your keychain to find the right key?

Jesus is the key that fits the door of heaven. He is the only way to enter eternal life with God.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 (NIV)

Jesus is not only the key to eternal life, but He is also the key to satisfying the longings of our souls.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14 (NIV)

Are you satisfied today? Do you have peace? If not, check to see if you have accepted Jesus into your heart (Romans 10:9-10). Next,  fill yourself daily with Scripture reading and prayer. Doing this will allow you to drink from the eternal fountain only offered through Jesus Christ.

In a movie about the winter olympics, Cool Runnings, the sign over the finish line read: Finish/Arrive and it made me think.

To finish implies being done. The end. It’s over.

To arrive connotes just beginning after a journey.

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God,  Hebrews 12:22-23a (NIV)

When this life is over and we are entering heaven, while we are finished with our earthly race, we are just arriving into our heavenly eternity.

Let’s rejoice today because when this race is finished, our new eternal lives have only just begun!

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)

As a Christian, what kind of life do you expect to have here on earth?

In a fair world, Christians would flourish in business, in health and in relationships. But if life were fair, Christ wouldn’t have died on the cross. After all, He was sinless, and chose to bear our sins on the cross to give us eternal life.

I’ve heard the above verse many times over the years, as a matter of fact, we sang it as a gospel hymn in church (see youtube link below) growing up. But today, as I read it as if for the first time, two phrases jumped out at me:

“When heat comes” and “In a year of drought”

We shouldn’t expect life to treat us differently, just because we’ve become Christians. Trials will still come. It rains on the just and unjust alike. 

As Christians, here’s what we can expect:

“It does not fear, it’s leaves are always green, it has no worries, and never fails to bear fruit.”

Don’t be discouraged today if there are trials in your life (heat and drought). If we trust in the Lord and put our confidence in Him, we will live victoriously in the midst of the trials.

Now that’s something to sing about!

Elvis recorded a gospel song about this verse in 1956:

My younger children have asked for a garden this year. My first thought was no, since I remember the weeds and bugs of gardens past. But with no concept of the negative side of gardening, my children have persisted, and I’ve given in.

Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he may have enough to finish it;

When starting out, the soil is perfect with no weeds or bugs in sight. But to count the cost is to realistically expect bugs and weeds and realize the work required to get a harvest. I am trying to teach this to my children. While they are excited about having their own garden, come August they may lose that enthusiasm.

This reminds me of the Israelites who begged to get out of Egypt, but never counted the cost of living in the dessert. What are you praying for today? Have you counted the cost? Have you considered what it will look like in the future? It is interesting to look at the verse just before Luke 14:28:

Luke 14:27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me, he cannot be My disciple.

We must bear our cross. God knew the cost of following Him. He knew that at the point of salvation the soil would be pure and weed/bug free, but He also knew that after a season the bugs and weeds would appear and we’d have to put in some hard work to get a harvest in our lives. So, whatever it is that you are praying for…. consider the cost and be prepared to bear your cross when the weeds and bugs come into your life. Then you can expect to have a bountiful harvest!

Happy Gardening!

We gathered our lopers and headed outside to begin our annual pruning. The most dramatic tree would be my Crape Myrtle. Here are before and after photo’s of this kind of tree:

As we hacked away at the long branches of this seemingly healthy tree, my youngest daughter said, “Mommy, why are we pruning a healthy tree? Shouldn’t we only prune dead trees?”

I went on to explain that by pruning a healthy tree, you would ensure a bigger harvest. In this case a harvest of flowers, but with fruit trees, a bigger harvest of edible fruit.

This got me thinking of spirituality. When we are digging deep into the Word of God and our spiritual health is at it’s peak, that may be the very time God chooses to prune us.

He would prune our lives in anticipation of a bigger harvest in the next season. When I feel Him pruning my life, I often think He’s getting rid of non-productive things, but with this new perspective, He may just be pruning healthy things, too.

How has He pruned your life recently?