I feel now that I’ve left the middle east that there really is nothing exotic going on in my life. Yet, I am so content. That is a great thing. I just can’t convey it enough, that I really never thought I’d see any happiness again. For someone as so Happy-go-lucky as I was that was a startling reality for me. But not only did I make it through the rain (like Barry Manilow) I am happier, and more content than I’ve ever been. I simply don’t worry about anything (most of the time). I think that is why I like to talk about my struggles and victories so much on this blog. Maybe if some of you readers are going through a similar circumstance you can look at my life and somehow become inspired by it. The key really is Christ. If you have Christ in your corner, is really like a no-lose insurance policy. That is if you are living your life right. If not, all bets are off. Whenever we veer off-track, and we all do, it seems like we are trying to compensate with some sort of self-indulgence. I think I heard Charles Stanley or maybe it was Steve Madsen say, We give into temptation when we don’t trust that God will do what he says he’ll do. So we self-medicate. Self-medication always makes things worse in the end. We all sober up eventually and have to face our own realities.
Now I don’t want you to think that my life is perfect. There are many negatives in my life right now. If I dwelt on those, in a short time I could be absolutely miserable and struggling. If I told you all the things that are currently going against me, you would sympathize and think I’m totally justified with my pity party. But what good does empathy do in that situation? Instead of one person miserable, now there’s two. So I’ve made a conscious choice to look on the bright side, to find the silver lining no matter how thin it may be. Sometimes its hard to do, but the more you do it, the more it becomes second nature. The more it becomes second nature the more it becomes infectious with the people you associate with. When it becomes infectious it becomes self-perpetuating. That infection of positivity also works negatively as well. That’s why I try to steer clear of negative thinking people. If you are a Christian, there is no way you should be a pessimist. If you are, you are doing it wrong. Contact me and we’ll talk about it. Think about Paul and all the time he wrote about joy, while in a Roman prison. If he can find joy (not necessarily happiness, there is a difference) then surely we can as well.
I was feeling a little anxious this morning. I had misplaced my squash racquet. I had a squash game at 12 and didn’t know what I was going to play with. Then I got anxious about the new version of Final Cut X (an editing program). I bill myself a professional editor now. I had ordered the upgrade and found out I don’t know how to edit at all on the new platform. I was absolutely lost. I was afraid I was going to have to learn how to edit all over again. As a side note, professional editors everywhere detest the new Final Cut Platform as it was designed for the amateur editors. So these two factors were really just getting me down and ruining my day. Then I caught myself. These two circumstances were so insignificant in the big scheme of things. Christ admonished “Be Anxious for nothing.” So I said a quick prayer to myself, “Spirit of fear you have no authority over me, be Gone in Jesus name.” And just like that…With a silent woosh, the anxiety disappeared. So I guess the anxiousness was some sort of spiritual attack.
It reminds me of the story of my friend Casper. I wrote about him a few years ago in my blog. Casper and I developed a short but intense friendship. God brought me into his life for a specific purpose for a specific season. That was to help him and his lovely wife, Mariette, navigate through a rough patch. He had just suddenly lost his job in Bahrain, the banks cancelled his credit cards, he just found out his wife was pregnant, and was facing deportation back to South Africa all within a matter of a couple of days. I was having dinner with them and the husband and the wife were clasping hands, not in a state of panic but these were desperate times. At the time, I had a very secure career and was very comfortable but alone. He had no security instead, just a wonderfully supportive wife and a wavering faith in God. Mariette was his bedrock. I told him very clearly, that I would trade places with him in a heartbeat. Having someone by your side believing in you is far more valuable than the temporary security of a job. So Casper, Mariette and I prayed that night for God to direct Casper’s steps. God did indeed do that. A week or so later Casper got a sweet job offer back in a very preferable place to live in South Africa. I think it was Johannesburg, Im not sure. All that worry and anxiousness didn’t do a bit of good. It was a lesson I have to continually learn, like I had to re-learn today and I’ll probably re-learn it again in the future. The devil’s goal is to sabotage our relationship with God. One of the best tools he has to do that is to whisper worry, anxiety, and doubt into our lives. When that happens we are more susceptible to temptation. Its like when Peter took his eyes of Christ walking on the water, he started to sink. As long as we keep our eyes focused on our priorites, God first, family second then we shall not sink no matter what the storm seems like that surrounds us.
Oh…I found my racquet and I have a lovely wife that believes in me and supports me. God really does want us to have it all.
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