Hope: It’s in you to give.

Hope

2021 is the year of hope. 

That’s what I’m calling it. That’s what I feel personally that it needs the most. 

It’s the year that is in need of hope, great hope. 

Jeremiah 29:11 say “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”

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The only way I’ve ever found to have hope, real hope, is to draw it from the source like water is drawn from a well. 

Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth. 

Have it, give it

I remember an old commercial about milk the tag line was “got milk” I still remember it so it was cleaver but not meaningful because I don’t recall what the message was. 

The message thousands of years old was clear and is remembered. “I have come to give you life in its fullness.” That was Jesus message, his message of hope and following the worst most hopeless year of a generation the message of hope has never been needed more then it is in 2021. 

But hope needs to be had to be given?

Got hope?

If I have hope I am responsible to give hope to those with less or none. 

It’s what Jesus did and if I say I follow him I must follow him in this. 

Need it, take it. 

Remember when we had pennies? 

Stores had these trays if you had an extra penny you leave it and if you needed one you could have one. 

Well if you need hope, take it. It’s available and it’s free. 

Jesus message continues with this promise. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

We all need hope, we just don’t all know where to get it. 

Well I’ve got a bucket and I know where the well is so I’m just going around sharing so if you need some Hope stick around cuz 2021 is the year of hope and I’ve got a bucket full for whoever needs it. 

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H. Heaven 

Just having come out of the Christmas season the celebration of hope come down. 

Hope is heaven come. It’s from heaven and having it and giving it is like having and giving a piece of heaven.

The funny thing about it is that the story didn’t end there. 

Hope stayed and heaven is here to stay 

O. Orchestrating 

I can’t say that I fully comprehend the job of a conductor, you know the one with the stick that they wave at the band. 

But I get that they are directing or orchestrating the musicians so that the right group plays the right part at the right time. 

Jesus is the maestro when it comes to hope. 

And we are the orchestra. We each play a part and if we play our part when we are signaled then things go off with out a hitch. 

Hope holders need to play their part when signaled. There is no time to grand stand. 

In the words of pastor Rick Warren 

“It’s not about you”

But you get to be in the orchestra.  

P. Promise

Jesus is the ultimate promise keeper. 

There are a couple of promises that I love that give me hope. 

Seek me and you will find me. 

I will never abandon you or leave you. 

Jesus was a promise at one point and the hope he would bring now has come and we are promise keepers when we share the hope we have. 

My favorite promise is where I’m told there is a plan for my life a plan to give me a prosperous future with hope. 

What promises am I making and keeping? 

Are they giving hope to people? 

E. Encounters

Hope is like glue in a bottle till it encounters a hopeless situation. It’s great but it’s not doing anything. I don’t think you can really hold onto hope it’s to fluid it’s a gap filler. Gaps left by all sorts of things that are painful leading to hopelessness. 

Jesus said “I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders...”

It’s not people who are healthy who need a doctor but those with an illness. 

The only thing needed to make hope real for it to encounter hopelessness. 

Back to the beginning of this week if you have it you gotta give it. If you need it it’s free for the taking. 

Hope it’s in you to give. 

 

What does it mean to be AWESOME

 Attitude

How can I make everyday awesome? 

This is a question that I have been asking myself and for me the first way to be and stay awesome is to check my attitude. 

I tell my kids all the time “attitude is up to you.”

To have a good attitude or a bad is my first step being awesome in my interactions first with my family and then with the outside world. 

I’m committing to being awesome starting with checking my attitude. 

Willingness. 

The choice to make everyday awesome means that I have willingness to do the things that make for an awesome day, week, month, year and life. 

Living your best life isn’t a one man/woman job but it is a personal choice, and it a choice you will have to make. 

I don’t want to look back at my life and say “ya that was a good life” I want to look back and say “that was an awesome life.” I want it to have meant something to me and to the people who I encountered. 

Nothing changes for me till I decide to change something. 

What will you choose? 

Extend yourself 

It takes putting yourself out there to be awesome. 

Not just wandering around out in the world but trying things, honing your skills. 

My mentor has challenged me to stop looking at results and to just practice the basics. 

For me that means one thing for someone else something different. 

Average does just enough to get by that’s not who I will be. 

Awesome puts their best foot forward and then the other extending themself toward the prize. 

The apostle Paul a biblical hero of mine said to run the race with the intention of winning can’t do that sitting down or doing just enough. 

I must put myself out there and be uncomfortable long enough to win long enough to be awesome. 

Showing up. 

Showing up is 80% of success and 14.29% of awesome, that’s how the math works out anyhow. 

If I’m gonna be awesome for myself, my family, my team, and for the world I’ve got to come to things with awesome in mind daily. 

It can’t be a sometimes thing it’s gotta be a daily thing or I will loose track of what I’m after. 

One of my all time favorite verses from the Bible is Psalms 25:5 the last sentence specifically. “I will hope in you all day long” 

I’ve only got the capacity to do one day at a time it why Jesus teaching prayer was for us to ask for daily bread. 

Whatever the percentage showing up is do what you do today with the decision to be awesome in everything your present for. 

Own it. 

I hate looking stupid. 

Doing something I’m not good at can sometimes result in me looking silly it’s kind of embarrassing but how I’ve learned to switch that in my head is to own the mistake.   Someone can’t laugh at me if I’m laughing too one of us is just joining in. 

Being awesome means that I have to travel down “I suck at this” street. 

The road is a lot easier if I own the failure and enjoy the ride knowing that my destination is awesome. 

Make it count. 

Everyday is an opportunity to make a difference it’s also an opportunity to do nothing. 

Awesome people don’t do nothing they step up and make it count. 

Here’s a quote from The Man in the Arena by Teddy Roosevelt

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...”

Being awesome means getting into the arena and making everyday and every struggle count. 

Being awesome is not standing around giving commentary. 

Find your arena and get into it everyday. 

 

Expectation

The law of attraction says that what you project you can expect. 

So what are you expecting from 2021?

People literally are calling 2020 a year from hell. There are countless ways this has been expressed but what is 2021 supposed to be part 2 or day one? 

I expect 2021 to be awesome I expect 2021 to be filled with Hope regardless of what happens and by this time next year I expect that great things will have happened because I’m looking for it. 

What will you be looking for?