F.E.A.R. and P.U.S.H.

Some days we really need to have all the help we can get. Struggles and trails usually strike at times that are most inconvenient. Never do they happen when your best prepared to tackle them. There are times when the whole world appears dark. We feel engulfed and swimming in a lake full of ALLIGATORS with no sight of escape. 

Today I am honestly scared if I'll ever be able run again. Everyone is supportive but I know it's a long road ahead. It's easy to look back on your path, your journey, your trails, your struggles and say it "Look at how far I've come." However to be at the starting line and stare at the distance without the ability to see the finish line......well it's just daunting. 

So what can I do? I have one thing I need to do first and foremost. That's prayer. I have only one strength right now that I can draw upon and that is the Lord's. Mine's pretty fragil at the moment. Not trying to wallow in self pity. Really trying to be strong and motivate myself including others that I promised to support. It just stinks. I just wish I could rewind like you do on the DVR for the television and go back......I want that 30 seconds of stupidity back so I can make a wise decision. Don't we all?

So today I'll do my routine the best I can (sans running) and focus on what I need to accomplish everywhere else. I'll PUSH and not FEAR.

Thank you friends for all your support and love.

Eugene Thompson

ET This I Believe

Success and Failure is part of Life

It’s easy to blame ourselves or those around us for failures. However, we should not fool ourselves into thinking that failure is always a result of our shortcomings. Nor should we believe that success is exclusively due to our merits. Success or failure may be due to luck.

For example, Microsoft had a crack at success largely because of IBM’s offhand decision to use the MS-DOS operating system for a backwater project called the personal computer. Bill Gates later reflected, “Our timing in setting up the first software company aimed at personal computers was essential to our success. The timing wasn't entirely luck, but without great luck it couldn't have happened.” Asked why he had started a software company just at the time IBM was trying its luck with a personal computer, he replied, “I was born at the right place and time.”

This is not to say that hard work and ingenuity aren’t important. They prepare us to make the most of the chances we get in life, and they may create opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist. Yet one who succeeds at work may be no more deserving than another who fails.

If our response to success is solely self-congratulation, we are practicing idolatry. If our response is thankfulness, then we are worshipping God. If our reaction to failure is despair, then we are feeling the hollowness of a broken idol. But if our reaction is perseverance, then we are experiencing the gracious power of God.

A good piece of advice take from You version.

Eugene Thompson

ET This I Believe

Are You Ready For Some......Prayer?

This coming Sunday a new NFL champion will be crowned, and it will be either the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers. And, if you are one of more than a quarter of Americans, you believe that God will actively decide the winner of the game.

According to a recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute, 27 percent of Americans believe that God “plays a role in determining which team wins a sporting event.” However, the numbers get even more specific than that. About 40 percent of minority Christians and white evangelical Protestants believe God determines outcomes, while only 19 percent of mainline Protestants do.

Thirty-six percent of Americans living in the South agree that God plays a role in sports. However, in perhaps a twist of expectations, 28 percent of Democrats agree, while only 25 percent of Republicans think that God plays a role.

But in addition to God’s overall role in the outcome of games, a majority of all Americans — 53 percent — believe “God rewards athletes who have faith with good health and success.”

So, that ought to work out well for Ray Lewis this Sunday.

borrowed from yardbarker.com

ET This I Believe

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Sometimes rest is all that is needed. This weekend was a much needed break from all the other stuff and just a little bit of RUN, REST and PRAYER. I had been feeling quite drained the last week or so.

RUN:
Saturday my wife and I ran 6 miles (not together)....we are not the same pace and I listen to music the entire time with Runkeeper.

REST:
Then a bit of rest on by heading down to Knott's Island (first time there since we have lived here for 18 years) wasn't anything but wine and picking. Honestly my knee was hurting so I didn't want to wonder around an orchard and pick apples. Decided to take the ferry over to Currituck but had to wait an hour for it to arrive.....I am not a patient soul, but I did.  Then we realized (after the hour), that we read the sign wrong.....summer hours....another hour......sorry, no more patience......head back.

PRAYER:
I am preparing to teach the adult class at church on Sunday mornings so I began working on some of my lessons and my wife and I prayed for all the "things" in our lives and all the "people".

It was relaxing......can I do it all over again?
Have a great week my friends.