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Pastor's Blog
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Monday, February 27 2017
Pastor Thomas' Encouraging Word for Monday, February 27, 2017
pastor.thb@gmail.com
on behalf of
Thomas Bounds <pbcpastor@windstream.net>
February is traditionally considered the month of love. Thank St. Valentines. Who do you love enough to share a weekly encouragement? Pass the word along and encourage friends to connect with me. Anyone can reach me at pbcpastor@windstream.net
“The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”
Steven Pressfield
Good morning, friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and the day has begun with joy and energy. Don’t let me slow you down! Let’s get to it!
I don’t know anybody who likes to talk about fear, not their own fear at least. We wrongly sense that acknowledging fear will somehow expose our weakness. Even if you won’t talk about them think about your fears for a moment. I’m not talking about spiders and snakes (like the old Jim Stafford song); I’m talking about performance fears, action fears, self-image fears. Got any of those fears in your closet? Probably; we all do.
What we all don’t have, though, is a healthy understanding of fears. Fear is an internal bully that tends to win. I compare fear to a young Mike Tyson. Fear runs at us in the ring of uncertainty, punches us extremely hard squarely in the nose, and we are down for the count. Fear wins quickly, usually. To wit, during middle school I had to give a speech to the school and deemed it important to memorize it. I marched on stage, spouted a few sentences and then completely blanked out. It was humiliating and thus was born a Mike Tyson in me. Now, as a professional speaker for 16 years, if I even barely think of speaking without notes fear punches me in the nose and I end that thought pretty quickly. Can you name the Mike Tysons
Pastor Thomas' Encouraging Word for Monday, February 27, 2017
pastor.thb@gmail.com
on behalf of
Thomas Bounds <pbcpastor@windstream.net>
February is traditionally considered the month of love. Thank St. Valentines. Who do you love enough to share a weekly encouragement? Pass the word along and encourage friends to connect with me. Anyone can reach me at pbcpastor@windstream.net
“The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist.”
Steven Pressfield
Good morning, friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and the day has begun with joy and energy. Don’t let me slow you down! Let’s get to it!
I don’t know anybody who likes to talk about fear, not their own fear at least. We wrongly sense that acknowledging fear will somehow expose our weakness. Even if you won’t talk about them think about your fears for a moment. I’m not talking about spiders and snakes (like the old Jim Stafford song); I’m talking about performance fears, action fears, self-image fears. Got any of those fears in your closet? Probably; we all do.
What we all don’t have, though, is a healthy understanding of fears. Fear is an internal bully that tends to win. I compare fear to a young Mike Tyson. Fear runs at us in the ring of uncertainty, punches us extremely hard squarely in the nose, and we are down for the count. Fear wins quickly, usually. To wit, during middle school I had to give a speech to the school and deemed it important to memorize it. I marched on stage, spouted a few sentences and then completely blanked out. It was humiliating and thus was born a Mike Tyson in me. Now, as a professional speaker for 16 years, if I even barely think of speaking without notes fear punches me in the nose and I end that thought pretty quickly. Can you name the Mike Tysons in you? I’ll bet you can if you’re not too afraid.
The power of fear is that it draws you into a fight in the first place. How many times has your progress or success been stymied by fear? Many, I suspect. The challenge is to engage the opportunity, the possibility, the dream, the next step instead of the fear. Take the chance. Make the move. Do the thing. Take the step. Fear says you’ll fail, and you may, but when you keep trying your confidence will grow. And one day after you’ve engaged the action long enough you’ll look to your side and see the Buster Douglas in you pummeling Tyson. Will fear be dead? Not hardly, but as you create more confidence in you the joy of wading into your fears to risk success will become a joyful experience. This is hard work, I know, but if the “want to” is greater than the “can’t do” this work is for you.
What is something you’d like to do that fear has prevented until now? Whatever it is I know you can do it. Just get to it again and again and again. Now, about my next speech… Have a great week!
Matthew 14:22-32
Monday, February 20 2017
“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
Pablo Picasso
Good morning, friends! The day is passing quickly and my time is precious today so let’s get to it.
Many things have been taught to me as a pastor and none of them greater than the lessons of death. Obviously I don’t mean I’ve died yet (!). I’ve simply seen death so many times that I am an acquaintance of death. We are not friends nor are we enemies but we certainly know one another pretty well. And most often when we meet I see behind it a trail of unmet and untried disappointments.
My wife has a friend who is a family cook named Mrs. Cook! She loves to bake things for friends and organizations. For a long time she heard statements akin to, “You should do this for a living.” People with particular talents occasionally hear such phrases. Mrs. Cook frequently deferred until one day she made a batch of cookies for a client. One batch led to three, then to ten, and now she bakes and decorates cookies all the time and sells them all over the country. How much joy did she put off to tomorrow and for how long? How much regret would she have felt had she never decided “Today is the day.”?
Professionals more in tune than me with death suggest that unmet regrets are powerful emotions at the ultimate moment. None of us would do well to rush head long into every whimsy but I think we all know the difference between a whimsy or passing fancy and deep held desire. Why do we hold on to our whimsies and defer our deep desires? To do so is a daily gamble with deep, deep regret. So many things we will accomplish today, this week and this year mean little or nothing, yet the few things we know matter deep in our hearts will get scant attention. Death has told me many times, “I don’t care.” Do you?
Listen, I know how tempting it is to roll the dice on tomorrow, to chase the rabbit of whimsy rather than the big game of desire. And the house seems to let us win, a lot. But my experience with the house (death) has taught me that the house always wins. Quit playing with your time. Stop gambling away your desires. Do today the thing that matters most to you, not just for today but for all time. It may take some work to figure out what that thing is and when you do make that thing the priority of every day. And when death comes calling for you, say, “I won!” with no regrets. I know you can do it! Do you? Have a great week.
Luke 9:57-62
Monday, February 13 2017
“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Good morning, friends! I hope your weekend, whether warm or chilly or down right cold, was somehow a blessing to you. We must make the best of things, you know? Let’s get to it!
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. If you have a spouse, special friend or partner and have forgotten be warned. It’s a special day! I can’t tell you how to celebrate it but I urge you to celebrate your spouse, special friend or partner and anybody else in your life with whom your connection is love. Just do it.
Goethe, one of the greatest philosophers ever known, hits the nail on the head with power in today’s quote. I can’t tell you how many times I fall into the trap of thinking that any love I show is a gift to someone. It seems so modern to think that if I’m loving “that person” then somehow I’m doing them a favor, giving them a blessing, poignantly sacrificing my precious self for “them”. Have you ever felt that way? It’s the dangerous road to viewing love as power.
Goethe sees love quite differently. Imagine if everything that you love (person, place, thing, attitude, emotion…everything) was each an article of clothing that must be worn every day. Whatever was true about the object of love would be worn on you for everyone to see. Some of the clothes would be beautiful and of the greatest quality. Some would be shabby; others would be trash worthy and still some, hopefully not too much, would be downright ugly and offensive. We would try to hide the less attractive clothes but occasionally they would be seen. And we can’t take them off. That’s what love does to us; it shapes, fashions and makes us.
If you’ve been thinking only about people, think again. It’s just as easy to love money, stuff, power, anger, image, etc. I could tell you to be careful with what you love but what good would that do? My best suggestion is to be aware of what you love and what it’s doing to you. Whatever you go to time after time is now more a part of you than you can imagine. Take stock and take control. Love is great, perhaps the greatest thing of all and it comes with a price. Pay yours carefully. Happy Valentine’s Day, friends, and have a great week!
Luke 19:1-10
Monday, February 06 2017
“Life is short, fragile and does not wait for anyone. There will never be a perfect time to pursue your dreams and goals other than right now.”
Rachael Bermingham
Good morning, friends. I hope you are all well today. The doctor told me this morning that I’m good for another year. Here’s hoping! Now, let’s get to it.
Two events of the past week in my own circle of relationships have reminded me of the spontaneity of life. One friend from my earliest childhood died immediately of a heart attack. Another friend from recent years faces imminent death from a here-to-fore unknown brain tumor. Each of these events have shocked me and caused me to wonder in deep ways, “What am I to make these events? What lessons am I to learn from the extreme misfortune of my friends?”
In our home we have a well-worked out understanding of sweets and treats: no savesies. What that means is that, let’s say we have cupcakes. None of them have names on them and therefore belong to no one. If you don’t eat “yours” now there’s no guaranteeing it will be here later. Many a tear has been shed, but fewer with growing maturity, over the last cupcake / cake or pie slice / brownie, etc. No savesies; eat it now or risk losing it. “No savesies” seems more to me now like a reasonable life lesson. What are you risking with saving that you may never get to enjoy?
I wish life were as simple as “blow it all now or risk saving it for later.” I’m not suggesting binary simplicity. But I see (and experience) so much timidity, lost dreams, and faded blessings that I think something is out of balance. Don’t cash in your retirement funds to live for a couple of years in Bora Bora. Don’t blow everything you have on one spin of a roulette wheel. Be reasonable, yet at the same time don’t waste the life and energy you have today because you think everything will be better tomorrow. My friends don’t have any more tomorrows and both of them thought they had a bunch of them. Take a chance today. Treat yourself once in a while. Be outrageous every now and then. Don’t let your life pass you by with too many cupcakes molding in the cabinet, victims of “savesies”. Eat the cupcake today and enjoy the life you have now. I truly think we would all enjoy a better life if we actually lived a little. Give it a try, and have a great, great week.
Matthew 6:25-34
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