Work really IS restful...with the right outlook!

The other day someone asked me what I would do if I won the lottery.  I responded "I would take some time with my family, line up some things I would like to sponsor and donate to and then find an opportunity for me to do what I love to do."

"You would go back to work?" they asked incredulously, so I asked what they would do. "Oh, man, I would buy a car, a new home, vacation anywhere, do nothing," etc., etc., etc.

We've all know people like this. And they are truly living an imbalanced life. Personally, I have noticed I go  stir crazy if I have 3 days off with nothing to do. I get owly and irritable and my family really notices this. I am quite aware because I don't like the way I feel. Why is that? Am I unusual? I know almost everyone says they wouldn't work, and perhaps not doing what they are doing now, but I believe they would in fact find something to do lest they would become quite miserable.

Why is that?  I believe it is abundantly clear God made our bodies and minds to work, not perpetually rest. It has been relatively well-established people are less like to be diagnosed with dementia if they are daily using their brain- reading, doing puzzles, in other words, exercising their minds. Genesis 2:15 reads God put Adam into the Garden of Eden to work it, to work it for God. It was entrusted to man by God so Adam's work of the garden would have been a form of worship.

Then we messed it up and God admonished Adam saying in Genesis 3:17-19 “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 
 

It is clear when you look at these two chapters together in context, the initial premise of work was in fact to be a joyful thing for man and was later subjugated to a chore secondary to our sinful nature. Since God had already designed man with the intent of  having him work the garden it can only mean work is supposed to fulfill a basic need and worship God.

Likewise, most people are familiar with the feeling after a good workout. I am not referring to something like a scene out of Rocky or running a marathon. I am talking about an exercise regimen or physical activity which raises the pulse a little. Our body was designed to release endorphins (Endogenous Morphine) into the bloodstream when it is exerted, or worked. This creates an euphoric sensation causing a great feeling when we are done exercising. Likewise, when we are in the right spirit, we will feel, maybe not euphoric after a day at work, but certainly more fulfilled.

God INTENDED for us to work our bodies to help keep us healthy and balanced. I am unaware of any other machine in the world which actually strengthens when it is used.

Furthermore, we have seen the side-effects of a sedentary lifestyle; today, Americans are by far the fattest and most unhealthy they have been in our history, and are more than likely in the #1 position in the world for obesity. Not something to brag about.

Even God himself "worked" 6 days before resting. Why would we be any different?  Were we not made in His likeness? But there's more to the story.

As a Christian, it is incumbent upon us to work well for our employer as a form of worship for our Father. Think about it for a second- particularly if you work in an job which seems like you are alone: You alone are the light of the Father in that dark place. Executing your job with joy and a sense of fulfillment will exemplify the role God has in mind for us.

We all dream of bigger, better jobs, with more pay, but remember the parable of the talents? Matthew 25:14-30 tells us how a master entrusted three servants with talents. 2 increased their gift while the third kept his hidden. This angered the master and he was no longer trusted with more than he already had. If he could not be trusted with a little more, how could he be trusted with a lot more blessing in his life? It is not by accident I think this is a parable on talents. In other words, the talents God has given you are not to be buried or kept hidden (see my article on the lessons to be learned from Christopher Maloney's audition on X-Factor).

When we realize we are worshiping God with our works by working with joy and passion, we are honoring Him and we should then naturally become less focused on the job and what our tasks are and more focused on worshiping God by being a good employee. This will clear our mind and open our heart to be more at rest.  Look at the three men at the top of this article- which one would you prefer to work with? Which one looks like he is a good employee?  


But there is more to the story: We have all heard of a restless heart. Someone who is impatient and seemingly ready to leave at the drop of a hat for something better. They are constantly on the hunt for the grass on the other side of the fence. I always wondered why this is and I believe it is because they have a restless heart. A heart at rest will find peace and joy in its current surroundings, a restless cannot be at peace. Thus, we see people who job hop, overeat, overspend, overdrink, be overly active, are too plugged into society to find their center and balance themselves.  Wise is the person who realizes this and sets about to make a change.

I made this change myself about a month ago. I stopped listening to my news talk radio and music and started listening to things to make me grow and learn. I can tell you from my personal experience, I am less tired at the end of the day, seem to get more done daily, and have grown more in my faith in the past few weeks than I have in the previous ten years. I felt I was in a good walk but now realize I was but a toddler stumbling along my path and now realize how much more there is for me to know and grow.

Put this to action in your life:

1. Find some time in the day to UNPLUG!  Turn off the phone, the social media, radio, tv. Be quiet, and reflect on who you are, what you have been given and whom you might be able to help. But start with yourself! Starting your day by watching the news is a great way to start looking at the world through a prism of negativity so refrain from watching/reading news.
2. Spend time listening to things that will improve you during your commute or during your lunch.
3. Start finding miracles in the small things in your life and be thankful for them, as trivial as they may seem. 
4. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, be thankful for the job you have now. Realize your boss may not be the greatest in the world, but they too are human, have ambitions and fears and could benefit from an employee like you, worshiping God by being the best employee they have ever had!

The miracle of the United States intro

Being an historian, I have had an opportunity to enjoy the many stories of the remarkable adventure that became the United States.

Tracing our history back to the Pilgrims and their improbability for success, I marveled at what is obviously something God was directly involved in. When you consider the various turns of events in our history, I am more and more convinced we were (as a nation) of Intelligent Design, and having been in medical sales for over a decade, having been exposed to the miracle of the human body, that we (as humans) are of Intelligent Design as well. 

Through subsequent entries of this blog, I will offer some of the more illustrative examples in which we not only succeeded against overwhelming odds, but flourished in less than 200 years.

Previously, the only people capable of such feats were conquering armies like the Romans, Greeks, Mongols, French, and many others throughout history. Powerful army-nations who conquered less powerful people and vanquished them to servitude and exploited the spoils of war.

While some would argue we did the same (especially with regards to the native Americans), the main difference here is we did not venture north to Canada nor to the south into central or south America which would be an appropriate example when compared to the aforementioned conquerors.

Furthermore, much of this great nation was taken from other nations in conflict, eg., Mexico, or outright purchased from others like France and Russia. No matter how you look at it, for a country to rise from the ground with literally nothing going for it but the desire to be free, and no guarantees except a very real possibility of dying, our founders braved difficulties, dangers, risks and fears you and I cannot begin to appreciate.

Consider the Pilgrims. Who were they? Were they the wealthy, aristocracy of Europe? Were they people of influence and means? No. They were very nearly the bottom of the barrel of society- perhaps one step above a prisoner or a slave.

They were not successful in part because they were religious outcasts, otherwise, they would not have had a need to leave and expose themselves to such risks and unknown variables. Yet, for all their shortcomings, these people established colonies in the wilderness of the eastern U.S., and set the groundwork for something truly remarkable- a nation unlike any the world had or ever will see; a nation of free men, and one that emerged as a superpower, and a powerful economical force as well.

That is not to say we have not made mistakes- we have. Many of which we continue to make (ostensibly for the greater good) today; Allowing judges to legislate from the bench, allowing the vocal minority to undermine the fabric of our nation by removing God from our schools and teaching revisionist history, allowing our taxes to be spent wantonly with little or no accountability, backing illicit governments, and unfortunately, repeating some of the same mistakes over and over.

Nevertheless, we tend to come out on top for a variety of reasons. The media call it ingenuity, military or economic might, what have you. Make no mistake about it- when adding them all together, it can be nothing short of Divine Intervention.

The Miracle of the United States Part one: Pearl Harbor

Few images are as recognizable or stir deeper emotions more than those of the Arizona sunken and burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Not many people would say the attack was a miracle or an act of God, but I submit to you, God was in fact working that day.

We were on a collision course with war; one we very much wanted to avoid after our recent experiences with WW1, but the clouds of war gathered over Europe and in Asia. Conflict was imminent and the American people, like those in Continental Europe, chose to ignore the warning signs and hope for the best.

Our embargo of Japans' oil supply is what had pushed us to the brink of war with the tiny nation. We were fully justified in placing this embargo considering:

1.) Japan's refusal to follow the Washington treaty limiting warships to a maximum tonnage of 35,000 tons.

2.) The manufactured international incident in Manchuria and their subsequent rape of the land. Oil and rubber were at a premium for the Japanese war machine and if they could not get us to loosen sanctions through diplomatic channels, they had but two choices: Scrap the mammoth battleships they were building which violated the treaty, or, they would go to war. Historical perspective of course gives us the benefit knowing which path they would choose.

It is also worth mentioning the Japanese cunning went so far as to attempt to enlist the help of Mexico with the promise of returning Texas to Mexico once they were victorious. But their plan, while audacious and bold, was executed with flair for not fully exploiting their success which would be a common theme of the Japanese military campaigns in the coming years.

The first miracle was that Admiral Chester Nimitz was, though being several years junior to other ranking naval Admirals, chosen to be the CINCPACFLT. Realizing there to be a rising storm in the west, he declined the position thus putting Husband Kimmel in the hot seat and forever dooming him to be the scapegoat of all scapegoats. This put Nimitz in the commander's chair 10 days later. A man with such strategic insight and nerve was exactly what we needed at that moment.

Second, thankfully military people are typically not terribly out of the box thinkers. As such, the battleships were still highly regarded as the capital ships. This is why they were all arranged quite neatly in rows on the morning of the attack. Aircraft carriers were largely viewed as a distraction and subservient to the battleships (BB's).  Thinking at the time essentially held the aircraft would be more valuable as scouts and spotters not as a prime arm of attack.  This is also the primary reason our aviators were so sorely outclassed with their under-performing a/c while the Japanese enjoyed many advantages in the air.  This is all miraculous for if they truly appreciated the quantum change in naval warfare, the naval leadership would not have sent the 3 American aircraft carriers to sea by themselves to ferry plane to American outposts.

Third, the Japanese failed to strike the oil tank farms (see below, in the bottom right of the image annotated "Oil Storage") immediately east of Battleship Row. These would have been plainly visible and clearly defined during the attack. In fact, many planes flew over them during their ingress/egress to their targets, or as they swooped in on Hickam Field to the south. This farm constitutes the oil reserve for the Pacific fleet. Just a couple of bombs would have set them afire, also threatening CINCPAC HQ which was within shouting distance. Without these reserves, refueling would have had to have been done on the West coast of the U.S.,  requiring many oil tankers and at sea refueling. This would have effectively ended our ability to check the Japanese advances in the Pacific at Coral Sea and later at Midway. So at a minimum, their failure to at least damage these reserves was a grave and costly strategic mistake.

Fourth, the fact the harbor was indeed so shallow made it easier to resurrect some of these damaged ships, returning them to see action against these foes, exacting some means of retribution and revenge.

Lastly, and I feel most important, they failed to secure the islands. Things would have turned out much differently had this occurred. This possibility was raised to my attention by their having not attacked the tank farms mentioned above. The very reason they attacked was for an oil shortage.

While we will probably never know exactly what the Japanese intended or why they failed to exploit their success, one fact is absolute; the outcome of WWII would have been far less certain had they continued the attack on the islands. They had won a great victory over the U.S. Navy, but because they had lost many more aircraft in the second attack, Japanese leadership thought it best to retire rather than press a third attack.

But what if the Japanese fleet had continued to advance on Pearl Harbor and the capital ships then started shelling the installation and surviving U.S. vessels? They wouldn't have had to be too terribly close to do so.

Most likely, their overly-conservative stance coupled with a fear of being discovered by aircraft from land or the elusive American carriers. Surely though, they knew our few remaining P-40 and F4F fighters were no match for the A6M Zero in the hands of accomplished combat pilots. So why? Why did they leave such a valuable strategic asset so close, yet so far away? Could it have been the threat of submarines patrolling? Surely they too could have been hunted down and dispatched.

Perhaps they felt they would be finding oil in the Australia/Western Pacific approaches, in SE Asia or within a few months following a successful campaign against Midway Island they would be returning to Hawaii. Had they brought an occupation force with them, they secure Oahu within a few days, replenish their fleet, finish off our remaining ships and find those carriers of ours before cruising the west coast with impunity.

To compound the question is also Admiral Yamomoto's reluctance to attack the U.S. in the first place. He had studied in America for some time before the war, and was awed by the industrial might of the United States. He warned his superiors such an attack was unwise, and if they followed through with the attack, they would have approximately 6 months of impunity before America would respond. In fact, after the attack he was quoted as saying "I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant."

His foresight was eerily prescient. Almost to the day 6 months later, despite numerical advantages in every category, the Japanese would be handed one of the most catastrophic losses of any naval battle in history at a little known atoll named Midway- the site of another miracle in the history of the United States.

Are you a BELIEVER, or are you a FOLLOWER?

Watching my friend getting baptized this weekend, one gentleman who preceded him stated he WAS a believer, but NOW is a FOLLOWER. That comment really resonated with me because for many years I have been a believer, but not necessarily a follower. During my walk I have been struggling to find the answer to what He would have me to do, and I realized not long ago I am in the desert because I was not following Him.

I posed this question recently to friends and not surprisingly, some like me, had not considered the difference between the two.

In the military when we were operating in a tactical environment with dozens of people moving around relying solely on their abilities to navigate and find key points to rally, people would often times not be at the assigned point and time in order to gather everyone together to accomplish the mission.  The one or two stragglers or folks who got lost, weren't disobeying their leaders or TRYING to fail. Rather, they were simply not following their leaders as closely as they should/could have.  They relied on themselves and in the bigger picture, their perspective failed not only them but those around them as well.

When I realized the error of my ways, and made a substantial change, I immediately felt more energized at work despite working 6 days a week for between 8-12 hours. I no longer felt as fatigued and stressed and now my family is benefiting from this. They are no longer getting my leftovers and a grouchy impatient husband and father.  I only wish I had been able to accomplish this much earlier for my sons. I was very difficult at times.

So, what is a believer, and, what makes someone a follower?Jesus is a leader today, but he followed God for his first 30 years before stepping fully into the leadership role God the Father had in store for his final 3 years on Earth. 

Below He illustrates the first maxim of leadership to Peter by serving or following first before leading men.

Jesus washes Peter's feet. An act of devotion and serving.

A believer is someone who, has accepted Christ as their Saviour and has received the anointing of the Holy Spirit as a believer. Call it Christianity 101 if you will.  They are often fervent and passionate about the Word and grace they have received. Hungry for more exposure to the Lord and plugged in so to speak about their church perhaps. Sharing with others their new-found faith and forgiveness.  This is an all-important first step, the significance of which cannot be overstated, for without first believing there can be NO following.  However, the new believer may not yet have a complete submission to God in all facets of their life.

For example, as a child, we mostly follow our parents' guidance for two reasons; positional authority and our innate belief they have our best interests at heart. This is true even though at times we don't understand why they may "rain on our parade" as it were. We lament to them "but everyone else is doing it (or going)". Sometimes we might rebel and defend it saying to ourselves "They just don't understand", thus justifying our disobedience and the breaking of their trust and wishes.

That doesn't take us away from being their child or even being faithful to them, just as a sheep may stray from the herd doesn't mean it no longer has faith in the shepherd. The child will learn a lesson from the disobedience, which is a part of the growing process, and the sheep likewise, will in kind follow the shepherd once again.

As we grow in our walk and become more and more spiritual as a follower, we learn at a far greater pace what God has in store for us. And we have to- it is simple physiology. When we take our eyes off a distraction and focus on the goal, we accomplish many things.  As a follower of Christ, our eyes are, by definition, upon Him and not on the earthly distractions. I firmly feel this is where "Christians" like the ilk of Westboro Baptist are so far astray from the walk with the Lord they are actually doing more harm than good. While they may believe, they are most certainly not following. I can say this with great faith for in John 8:1-11 Jesus forgave the adulterous woman when no legalist remained free of sin to cast the first stone. He forgave the sinner OF  the sin, and BECAUSE of the sin. WBC is proclaiming GOD killed our sons in battle because the Army is permitting homosexuals in it's ranks. That viewpoint cannot be reconciled with the heart and teachings of Jesus. It is clearly contradictory to anyone who is truly forgiven.

A Christian pointing his finger at sin does not realize he has THREE fingers pointing back at himself!

Furthermore, were there any Truth to their belief, would not ALL soldiers necessarily be condemned to the same sentence as their fallen comrades?

By following, we also receive better discernment on how to contend with sticky situations whether they be professional or personal, like how to help show the light to a non-believer.  This is critical for followers, for in order to be a good leader, you must FIRST, be a good follower. This of course is why people cannot simply start at a major corporation as a Vice-President or CEO without the commensurate experience. Likewise, Generals are not born into the army as they used to be but rather molded through experiences as a subordinate. Can you imagine a judge with no legislative experience hearing a case? A doctor having not completely subordinated themselves to their medical professors' experience and leadership? It simply could not happen in this world.

So the question falls to you now. Are you a believer or a follower?  If I can make the same type of impact on someone else I just received then that will bless me for my remaining days.