Don't Judge Me

Today as I was on my way home, a funny thought hit me, "I wonder what people first think when they see me?"

This thought was purely based on the fact that I was wearing a suit & bow tie, with Beats wireless headphones, wearing a swiss backpack and drinking Perrier sparkling water.

High Maintenance D. Hill or simply D. Hill

Why was this intriguing to me?  I think it was the bow tie & sparkling water that started it, which I don't like by the way (I prefer tap water actually).  The Perrier was the only thing in my office I could grab and dash with, nevermind it had been sitting in my office for over 5 months.

In my mind I could see others thinking of me as some high maintenance person, when in fact I am pretty much the opposite.  How many times do we see people in our daily lives, work places, churches, mosques and worship centers and immediately form a lasting opinion of them?

This is the very reason why God told Samuel in ISam 16:7 - 

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

During this time, Samuel was given the mission of going to anoint David the next king of Israel.  Before he went, God wanted to ensure that his judgement was not clouded by what man considers valuable.

While I will acknowledge that many times the way a person presents themselves can be indicative of who they are, it is not the case for all.  Sometimes people simply need resources, time or a mentor to guide them through the roads of life.

There are also times when our own insecurities get in the way of seeing the other individual(s) for who they are.  Ok, what the heck am I talking about?  I'm talking about that person you see and feel is more attractive than (or a close runner up), smarter, taller, thinner, stronger than yourself.  

Do you maintain the first opinions you form about an individual?  Or do you let their actions form these opinions?  What if someone made a mistake that hurt you, how do you react?

Blessings,

-d

G.O.S.P.E.L.

I watched this video and wanted to send this out as I think it does a GREAT job of illustrating the Gospel in a current language/medium.

Blessings,
-d

I Don't Love Myself

Throughout my life there have been so many times where I sabotaged myself along with the very things I was working soo hard to accomplish - at least that is what I told myself.  If that was the case, then why did I so often find myself 'coming up short'?

Tonight I had a discussion with my son regarding him giving up on the things he loves when things got hard.  We discussed various examples where he gave up on things he really enjoyed from musical instruments to sports.  I do realize that when young, children vacillate from one thing to another and this I accept.  However, I realized it was something deeper when I began to see his disappointment associated with his physical person/stature.

I myself recognized this trend for this is something that I too struggled with when I was young.  I did not love nor believe in myself and therefore when things went wrong it felt as if I was a direct failure and this would confirm my deep seeded feelings of being a failure.  

There was no quick fix to me getting over these feelings of inadequacy.  I figured the harder I worked at something the better off I would be and this was true in large part.  But when I did not measure up, I quickly reverted back to the 'woe is me' and 'I will never be...' thoughts/feelings.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I looked in the mirror and admitted that I did not love myself.  Once I opened the gate, I was able to go further and admit exactly what I did not love about myself.  When I did this, it allowed me the ability to come face to face with myself and decide if I wanted to work on the resolution or continue hiding my issues with works, things, people, etc..  

During the discussion with my son I shared some of my struggles with him and told him that while I believed in him, he too would have to believe in himself and give himself a chance.  Stop looking at all that is wrong and see the things that are right, because there are many things that are right.  I hugged and kissed him and ended by telling him that he is loved and valued because Christ paid the price, so stop comparing himself to others and using their standards to judge himself.  

We are all uniquely made to fulfill different purposes but the first order of business is to recognize your value and LOVE YOURSELF!  Do you love yourself?

Blessings,

-d

Prov 4:23 - Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Why Christ called a man Satan

At various times in our life we are confronted with challenges that cause us to behave as if we were Satan himself.  Often times there are good reasons (if only to us) for our behavior, whether someone was out of line and they needed to be 'told' or they hit a trigger of ours (i.e. stepped on our last good nerve).  What we should be mindful of is the impact that our behavior has/is having on those around us.  Our very behavior could be the reason why people stop attending church, are made to feel that they are not important, feel they have no safe place, think less of themselves, etc...

I have found myself having to climb the wall of doubt after someone's behavior made me feel less than.  One such time was when I was in a Algebra class and the teacher held my test up in front of the class and declared "you are too stupid to be in my class"!  I wanted to become the invisible man and walk out of the class never to return and be heard from again.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your position), my mother was a motivating force all her own and put the teacher, principal and myself on notice that such behavior would not be tolerated and she would indeed be back to check!  Long story short, I was able to come away from Algebra with a good grade but the damage had been done and I would not fully believe in myself for years to come because his words would  resonate in the back of my mind.

Maybe the teacher was trying to motivate me by using a different tactic, maybe the teacher was racist - imagine Utah in the 80's and me the only African American in the class, maybe the teacher simply had a bad day and knew I had potential.  What ever his reason, for a long time I would view him as an evil man.  

One act should not dictate what type of person(s) we are just like it did not with Peter.  Jesus did call him Satan (Matthew 16:23) but He also, a few versus earlier (Matt 16:18), said that Peter was the rock that He would build his church on.  Surely Christ would not build His church on Satan, He was merely letting Peter know that his behavior at that moment was reflective of Satan.

Who/what are your behavior(s) reflective of?

Blessings,

-d

What is faith to you?

What happens when our faith is tested in our daily lives, what is it that people see when we are tested?  Do they see the faith we talk about or do they see the oxymoron of what we say to that of what we do?

Faith as defined in Hebrews 11:1 as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  There is soo much in these few words.  Let's start with substance, one definition of this is - physical mass/matter that occupies space.  Using this definition, our faith should 'occupy' space, this can mean soo many different things - space in our minds, in our being, in how we present ourselves in the world, etc...

Evidence is pretty straight forward, these are things helpful in forming a conclusion or the proof that something is.  Adding this to what we know about substance, my definition of the two joined together is, 'the physical proof that something does exist'. 

 Many times my response(s) to trials are not proof of my belief that God is able to handle/resolve any trial I find myself in.  Just maybe, my current response is serving as proof that my belief is indeed lacking - Lord, help my unbelief.

When your daily trials appear, are your responses the physical proof of your belief that God is and can handle any situation?

Blessings,
-d