My brother-in-law Pat is one of those amazing individuals who exemplifies the “courage to care.” Several years ago he was fighting a fire in downtown Detroit, a city that is infamous for the fires set in its scores of abandoned buildings.
What did Pat do? He jumped through a tiny basement window just in time to stop a man from setting a policewoman on fire! Somehow Pat wrestled her free of the assailant who had just doused her with gasoline and had a lighter in his hand! His act of courage saved the woman, the house, and possibly his entire company.
I asked Pat, “How did you do this?” His response was simple: “You do the things you must to protect people. I am not sure I even thought about it…I just acted!”
I want to challenge you today to act on your instinct to help! Don’t be a bystander in life when you can be a participator! You can find the courage to care and you can change your nation, your family and your life!
Don’t ask what life can do for you, but ask, “What can I do to better the lives of others?” Remember Jesus said, Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends!
Scripture: John 15:13 (NIV)
On December 7, 1988, an earthquake devastated the northwestern section of Armenia, killing an estimated 25,000 – 50,000 people. After the earthquake, a father rushed to his son’s school only to discover that the school had been flattened. The father remembered dropping off his son earlier that day, and as he did every day he told his son, “No matter what, I’ll always be here for you!”
When the father saw the school he feverishly began removing rubble from where he believed his son’s classroom had been. The other parents were wailing, “My son!” “My daughter!” Some even told the father to go home, that there was no chance any of the students were alive. But the father replied, “I made my son a promise that I’d be there for him anytime he needed me. I must continue to dig.”
Courageously, he proceeded alone. He simply had to know—is my boy alive or is he dead? With seemingly supernatural strength, this father continued to dig…for 8 hours…12 hours…24 hours…36 hours.
Then, in the 38th hour, he heaved away a heavy piece of rubble and heard voices. “Armand!” he screamed. “Dad! It’s me—Armand! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save us! Dad, take them out first, I know you’ll be here for me!”
Moments later the father was helping his son Armand and 13 other frightened, hungry, thirsty boys and girls climb out of the debris. How could this happen? When the building collapsed, these children had been spared in a tent-like pocket. When the townspeople praised Armand’s dad, his explanation was, “I promised my son, ‘No matter what, I’ll be there for you!'”
The ancient scriptures say, “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:8 (NIV)
In the spring of 1883 two young men graduated from medical school. The two differed from one another in both appearance and ambition. Ben was short and stocky. Will was tall and thin. Ben dreamed of practicing medicine on the affluent United States East Coast. Will wanted to work in a rural community.
Ben begged his friend to go to New York where they could both make a fortune. Will refused. His friend called him foolish for wanting to practice medicine in rural USA. “First of all,” Will said, “I want to be a great surgeon. The very best, if I have the ability.”
Years later the wealthy and powerful came from around the world to be treated by Will at his clinic. Today, the Mayo Clinic is one of the leading educational and research hospitals in the world. Why? Because someone chose a life mission to be the very best they could be, and in doing so opened a pathway for scores of others to follow!
Who is your neighbor? Who are you required to help in this world? Should you be involved in the business of rescuing others, or is it just better to sit by and watch people suffer?
A religious leader asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a story about a man who was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes and beat him, leaving him almost dead.
A priest saw the injured man and quickly passed on the opposite side of the road. So did a second priest! Then a Samaritan man, considered lowlier than a dog but evidently having some wealth, took pity on the stranger, bandaged his wounds, put him in an inn and cared for him.
Jesus then posed this question, “Which of these three men was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hand of the robbers?” The religious leader responded, “The one who had mercy on him.”
In every human soul, there is a void—an emptiness, waiting to be filled. What will you pursue to fill that void? Success? Family? Prosperity? Education? Or are you willing to step out and set a different standard for your life? A standard that can make a difference?
As a small town prepared to be flooded before the building of a large dam, an interesting thing happened. In the months before the flooding, all improvements and repairs in the town stopped! Why paint a house if it will be destroyed in a few months? As time passed and the town deteriorated, the man offered this conclusion, “Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present.”
Hope is the picture of the future. Without that picture there is no confidence to move forward and certainly no power by which to live!
If you need hope today, you’ll find inspiring resources at www.lesliemcnulty.com. There you will find stories of people just like you discovering hope for everyday life! http://bit.ly/1L0XAFK
What is hope? Is it a feeling? A force? Or could it be something as simple as the picture of a bright future? From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire, Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a 6th grade class in East Harlem. Though located near the more affluent areas of New York City, East Harlem is notorious for its violent crime rates and poor education.
Mr. Lang was asked to speak to 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would surely drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children to even look at him!
Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. “Stay in school, and I’ll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.” In that moment, their lives changed. For the first time they had hope. One student said, “I had something to look forward to. It was a golden feeling.” Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school!
For these young students, the promise of an education provided a picture of a new outcome for their lives! Instead of facing the harsh reality that they would spend their lives on the streets struggling like most of their friends, they now had opportunity to break their financial and educational barriers and to rise to a new future! http://bit.ly/1cufu9O
Today we look at the last of our three Power-Phrases that will help you overcome the obstacles and hindrances you will encounter on the way to realizing your dream.
Power-Phrase #3: The difference between great and small people is that while all may fall, small people just fall, but great people get up again.
You see, positive thinking is the power to look at your situation and find just one positive aspect, one positive thought that you can hold on to in order to transform your negative situation into an opportunity!
Regardless of what you may face today remember this, never give up! You may be at the end of your rope but remember—one positive thought has the power to loosen the grip of impossibility and propel you forward into possibility!
Today we continue with the next power phrase to help you develop the positive kind of thinking necessary to turn your negative situations into opportunities:
Power-Phrase #2: “Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.”
Standing before a large audience of farmers, Dr. Schuller recalled another family tragedy. During the great depression and several years before the tornado disaster mentioned in the previous blog post, a drought destroyed the family crops, forcing his father to mortgage everything to survive. Dr. Schuller recalled entering the bank and seeing a sign on the wall that stated “Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.”
Five years after the destructive tornado, Schuller’s father had completely rebuilt the farm, paid off the mortgage taken after the Great Depression drought, and retired a successful man!
Have you ever considered how to generate a positive thought? Over the next three days I want to introduce 3 “Power-Phrases” for you to frequently recite. Allow them to fill your sails with the wind of positive expectation!
Power-Phrase #1: Tough times never last, but tough people do.
This phrase comes from the title of one of over 37 books authored by Dr. Robert Schuller, pioneer of the first televised church service.
Living positive in a negative world, or developing positive–thinking patterns in difficult situations, provides the creative energy and stamina necessary to tackle life’s biggest challenges.
You may be thinking, if you only knew the problems I’m facing! Well, Dr. Schuller’s family certainly had their own share of problems. His own father, at the age of 60, lost everything when a devastating tornado destroyed their livestock, their crops, their family home and their barn. Nothing was left! Ten farms were utterly destroyed by that storm—only one man rebuilt! http://bit.ly/1Jvt5rc
Recently a leading global medical research institute listed the following benefits that can be attributed to positive thinking:
- Lower rates of depression
- Longer life expectancy
- Increased resistance to the common cold
- Lower risk of heart disease and related death
- Better overall psychological health
- Lower stress levels
- Better stress management and coping skills
- Increased physical well-being
These facts alone should enthuse you about the real life benefits of thinking positively. One positive thought can indeed cultivate the dream that is in your heart! http://bit.ly/1FcdCOj
