Bloom Where Your planted....

Several years ago, I told you a story about one of my all-time favorite people. Not that I know her, or have even met her. But I admire her. Because one day, at age 42, in beautiful downtown Cleveland, she ran a marathon by accident (all 26 miles, 385 yards of it). Her name was Georgene Johnson. Still is. As you will recall, she lined up with the wrong group at the starting line. Not the 10K group, where she belonged. But the 26 mile group, where she didn't. It wasn't until the four mile mark that she realized her mistake. So she just kept going, finishing the race in four hours and four minutes. But it's what she said later (by way of explanation) that has stayed with me since. Said Georgene: "This isn't the race I trained for. This isn't the race I entered. But, for better or worse, this is the race I'm in."

I still finished...

In 1968, in the Mexico City Olympics, John Steven Aquari from Tanzania, set out for hopes of an Olympic Gold in the marathon race. Sadly, for him and his country, midway through the race, he had a horrible accident. Falling to the ground, gashing his knee wide open and dislocating his knee from the joint, certainly keeping him from finishing the race. Well, all of the other runners left him behind and eventually entered into the stadium for the final lap. Over an hour after the race had been run and all of the other runners had already completed, John Steven Aquari shocked the world. When the stadium was mostly empty, this very injured runner, hobbled into the stadium limping and fighting his way to the finishing line. Leg wrapped with a little towel, with blood running down, he finished a race that virtually everyone else would have quit. That's what we are going to do, because we have unfinished business. And God is calling us to finish the race. After the race was won, the interviewers asked John, "Why did you do that when no one else would have?" And John said, "My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start a race, but they sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.
God did not send you to earth to start a race, He sent you here to finish it. Commit, take the step and finish. Our life is not about us. This is what Paul said in Acts 20:24 - I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task...."

Little Man with Big Ups!

Anthony "Spud" Webb stands as the third shortest player to be part of the NBA. After attending Midland College and North Carolina State University, he was the 4^th round draft pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 1985 Draft. In 1986, Webb entered the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, and despite being the shortest, had the highest jump of 42 inches and went on to win the contest. He spent most of his time with the Atlanta Hawks, playing six seasons with the team. Statistically, Webb had his best seasons with the Sacramento Kings where he was a starter from 1992-1995. In 1998, Webb retired from basketball after playing just one season with the Orlando Magic. He played 814 games total and scored 8072 points throughout his entire career.

Spud was a great high school star, but because of his height no college would take a chance on him, so he went to a small community college and made a name for himself. Then North Carolina State took a chance on him and he led them to the Sweet Sixteen. Then Spud graduated and again no one drafted him. Finally the Atlanta Hawks gave him a shot. He played for them for four years, and under his leadership the Hawks made the playoffs each time. He got traded the team wanted to make room for a new full‑sized college star and the team went years before making the playoffs again.

Spud said, “I used to pray that the Lord would make me taller when I was in junior high and high school, but every time I went to measure myself, or stand in front of a mirror, I’d always be the same size. And then one day I got the message, so I said to the Lord, ‘If you won’t make me bigger on the outside, will you make me bigger on the inside?’ And the Lord liked that prayer and that’s what helped me become successful.” (3) What a great attitude. The final measure of a man, or a woman, is not how big they are on the outside, but how big they are on the inside.

Bailing Out

Virginia Durr, a privileged Alabamian spent her entire girlhood never having to wonder for a single moment whether she belonged or not. She was a member of the "Magic Circle" or upper-class white society, a debutante and all that goes with it. She grew up to be the woman who, together with her husband, went down to the police station in Montgomery to bail out Rosa parks on that famous night when the bus boycott began, and nothing in the segregated South was ever the same again. After that, Clifford Durr lost his law practive, and much of white Montgomery stopped speaking to them. Mrs. Durr's autobirgraphy is called Outside the Magic Circle. The Durrs took up themselves the burden of the Son of God, who came to live among us as one outside the magic circle. Entering into the Good Friday Three Hours is to step outside with him for a space, "outside the camp" (Heb. 13:13) where the "best people" never go.

The Dark Knight

"He is not the hero we deserve but the Hero we need" -sound like my Savior.

From the motion picture "The Dark Knight"

The Dark Knight

"He is not the hero we deserve but the Hero we need" -sound like my Savior.

From the motion picture "The Dark Knight"

Pressure and Pearls

" "A pearl is a beautiful thing produced from an injured oyster. Find the treasure in your injury."

Weebles Wobble But They Don't Fall Down

Weebles is a trademark for several lines of children's roly-poly toys originating in Hasboro's Playskool division on July 23, 1971. Shaped like eggs with a weight at the fat, or bottom end, they wobble when pushed, but never fall completely over, hence the name and the slogan "weebles wobble, but they don't fall down."

The popular catchphrase, "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down", was used in advertising during their rise in popularity in the 1970s and during the relaunch in the 2000s.

It's about what's on the inside of you that counts!!!!

It's all in how you spell it!

When life gets you down remember this: STRESSED backwards spellS DESSERTS

Math is a lot like life...

Math does not only apply to numbers but also to life. For when looking at negative situations with absolute value lenses, the outcome will always be positive. In other words your attitude determines your altitude.