Attitude Change

I'll be honest, I am not a dog lover.

I know this upsets some people, but that's just the way I am wired.

Maybe it has to do with my childhood. Dogs would nip my heels while I rode my bike on country roads.

Horrifying! 

The sound of a dogs bark is like scratching fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

What to do?

Sometimes just a little adjustment in the way you see things can make all the difference. 

So, I have decided to change the way I hear dogs barking.  

To me I am going to hear it as shouts of  encouragement.  

I don't know what they're saying normally but I am going to translate it as, "Todd you're doing great!  Todd, you are so good looking!  Todd, you can do it!  Get out there and follow your dreams!"

So now, I can tolerate those loud piercing blasts of sound, because it's doing me good!

Ask A Pro

Ever get advice from a pro? It could be financial, relational or even spiritual.


We all need to learn from someone else how to do life. There are teachers for every level.


Imagine being in front of Jesus.


You get to ask Him a question or ask Him to explain something.


In the gospels, people did this all the time.


I wonder if you have ever had that pleasure of being in the same room as someone who you knew, likely had the answer to the question you have been asking. Someone who could explain things to you in a way you could understand and relate to.


Jesus did this, he never ignored anyone or said hey come back tomorrow, I have to think about that one!


He had an answer, not everybody liked his responses, but He had one.


Sometimes he told a story, and it would have the answer in it, or sometimes He would ask a question back to the person, so they would think about what they were asking.


Isn't that great?


We can still ask to this day!


Today, ask a pro!

A Spiritual Nudge

Have you ever had a spiritual nudging?  Did it turn out to be right?  Was it a lifesaver?  It was for this guy!  

A St. Louis police officer said it was God who told him to put on his bulletproof vest, the decision that saved his life. 

The officer, who asked to remain anonymous for the safety of his family, said he was sitting in his personal vehicle working his side job providing security. It was a hot night and the office had taken off his bulletproof vest when he saw some non-suspicious looking folks walking down the street and he felt a prompting to put the vest back on.

“... the hairs on my neck stood up," he recalls, and at that point there was a voice that told me grab my vest. I know it was God." 

That decision ended up saving his life.

A short time after the officer put his vest back on, two vehicles, one of which held the three individuals the officer had previously seen, pulled up directly in front of him and a man in a black bandana got out of the car with a gun. 

The man opened fire on the officer, hitting him in the chest. The officer fired back, and the man fled the scene on foot while the car drove away.

Those nudges may not be as dramatic as this story is, but what if we could all tune in to that Voice?

Maybe God is always talking to us like this, we just have too many other voices blocking Him!

Aliens?

I like sci-fi.

But, hey, I am also a rational guy to.

I don't think there is anyone else out there in the universe, although I think it's fun to think about.

When I heard this story, I really started to wonder how a brilliant mind could be so wrong...

"Renowned physicist and atheist Stephen Hawking and Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner this week announced an ambitious bid to combine vast computing capacity with the world's most powerful telescopes to intensify the so far fruitless search for extraterrestrial life. Milner says "The scope of our search will be unprecedented: a million nearby stars, the galactic center, the entire plane of the Milky Way and 100 nearby galaxies.""

This search would involve $100 million dollars!

Even Dr. Evil would be amazed at this!

If other intelligent life existed, they would tell us this...

"Use that money to help those living on your own planet before you come knocking on OUR door!"

Seriously, if your family was suffering and you could ease that pain, but instead you used the resources to go on a hunt for your neighbors who live a billion miles away, who you have never met or even know if they exist...wouldn't that be INSANE?

I find it amazing that people can throw away such an opportunity to help mankind on such foolishness!

God help us.