Today’s a new day! As you’re walking through a season of trials, remember you’re not the only one. Life is filled with challenging moments. But remember, it’s those tough seasons in life that build you into the person God created you to be. Every test builds a testimony. ~OC
The Race
Today’s a new day! As I continue to recover from my hospital stay, God is reminding me that He created me to be a marathoner, not a sprinter. But, I want to be a 100% now and not wait through the months of recovery. You would think after twenty-three years on this crazy beautiful health journey I would have that lesson memorized.
Throughout my entire life of playing and watching sports, some of the people I have had the most respect for are those athletes who have overcome tremendous hurdles. They work through an injury or trial in life and reach the highest levels in their respective sports.
I always loved running as a child, but never ran a marathon until after my cancer diagnosis. Even a Parkinson’s diagnosis could not keep me from running. However, as I continue to run this crazy beautiful health journey, I realize that it’s not a sprint, but a marathon. Along the path of the race, there will be many trials and tribulations that come along our way. In any sport, teams will face tough stretches where their teamwork will be tested, but it’s how they come out of those trials that determine whether or not they will be called “champions.”
As I ran my marathons, I would often experience fatigue. In the heavenly race, we can consider fatigue to be a temptation whether it is not praying every day or letting our Bible collect dust. We all face different types of temptations and at times, we succumb to those temptations. However, Jesus wants us to drink the living water and trust in Him at all times. In John 4:13-14, we read the following words from Jesus to the woman at the well:
“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)
With the exception of a few very talented runners, most people run a marathon to finish the race. As Christians, we are taught to run to the finish line or in other words, until God calls us home to be with Him. After you accept the invitation to run with Jesus, there is still training that we all need in order to fully experience all that God has in store for our lives.
Our spiritual training is something we all need to do 24/7/365 in order to run the race God has specifically designed for each of us. It takes a lot of effort to stay in our lanes and sometimes we run into a few hurdles along the way, but the goal we have to remember is ultimately receiving that heavenly reward when we come face-to-face with with Jesus in heaven.
Today, I encourage you to keep running the race God has planned for your life. While it may seem difficult at times and a shortcut might seem tempting, remember the heavenly reward that God has set before us once we finish the race. His Son ran the most grueling part of the race for us when He suffered and died on the cross for us, so that we can have eternal life and have a heavenly reward. I want to encourage you to keep spending time in God’s word each day. When we are equipped with the Gospel, we can withstand any test the enemy throws at us just like our Savior did in the wilderness (Matthew 4).
I want to encourage everyone to run this amazing race with me. My hope and prayer is that everyone comes into a beautiful and personal relationship with Jesus. So as I close out today’s writing, I want to share a little of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians that I believe, sums up my post pretty well.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 3:12-14
Today, I encourage each of us to press on towards the ultimate goal. ~OC
I’m Blessed
Today’s a new day! This morning God led me to read Psalm 63. What a beautiful and encouraging chapter. I encourage each of you to take the time to read over this amazing chapter.
In Psalm 63, we read about God’s love and David’s response. It is filled with some amazing lessons. Here is one that God brought to my mind.
Have you ever said or heard someone make the statement, “I’m Blessed.” Most of us have uttered those words at least once in our lives. I do not use this phrase much, but it came to me as I was studying the scriptures this morning. So how would you describe being “blessed?” I’m glad you asked.
As I continue to run this crazy beautiful health journey, I am blessed that God is present in my struggle. Knowing that I am not alone facing the uncertainties of this journey is a blessing. Feeling God’s love and kindness is a blessing. Living with the hope that my health issues are not the end of my story is a blessing.
Have you experienced God’s blessings in your own life? Think carefully. When have you felt alone, and a sudden thought or call reminded you of God’s presence? When have you been walking through a tough situation in your life and God reminded you that you’re not alone? When have you felt forgotten like nobody cares about you, and suddenly something happened that reminded you of God’s loving kindness? Each of those moments are blessings.
Remembering the ways that we have been blessed should give us a desire to give blessings. Remember in Psalm 63, we read that David chose a lifetime of singing God’s praises.
God’s blessings should transform us in such a way that they change our understanding of ourselves and of Him. Our lives should be filled with caring for others and passing on God’s blessings. Every time we take a breath, every time we speak and every time we serve.
So here is today’s challenge for each of us:
Take in a deep breath and give God praise. Allow him to remind you of all the ways he has blessed you in each area of your life. Carry those beautiful memories with you, as you go about your day and face the different challenges the day might bring. And take time to bless someone else today. ~OC
Right to Left
Today’s a new day! The Challenge for the Day:
Hurry kills presence.
Worry kills peace.
Doubt kills faith.
Ego kills love.
Now read that right to left.
Have a great day! Look for an opportunity encourage someone today. ~OC
Hospitals Not Country Clubs
Today’s a new day! I was born and raised in South Florida. I am blessed to still call it home today. If you drive around South Florida, you will drive past one country club after another. In the same way, if you drive around South Florida, you will see a church on just about every corner. A church should look very different than a country club, but sadly some churches look and act no differently than the country club next door.
As I continue to walk my faith journey, I truly believe “The church should never be a country club for the healthy, but a hospital for the broken.” The church should be a place where broken people, from all backgrounds feel welcomed and loved. The Church should be a place of healing. Not a place of leisure.
As I read through the Bible, Jesus was never referred to as the Great Golf Pro or the Great Tennis Pro. No Jesus, was referred to as the Great Physician. In Matthew 9:12-13, Jesus shared “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.” Then he added, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Jesus came for those that are so sick, that they cry out to Him for a healing touch. His prescription for all of us who are broken and sick, is to surrender everything to Him. On the other hand, Jesus rejected the country club culture of the religious leaders who believed they were already “well”.
I believe, if more churches would act like the hospitals God intended for them to be, there would be people all across the aisles crying out, “Finally, I can stop pretending I have it all together.” Broken people would experience true healing.
Is the church you attend closer to a country club or a hospital? Is everyone welcome to be part of your church? Does the congregation openly welcome everyone or just those who “fit” the part? Is your church really prepared to embrace the messiness of a hospital, to truly serve your community? Is your church equipped to be an emergency room for those broken people in and around your community?
As so many churches gather this morning, I pray that they will be places where everyone is welcomed. I pray they will be places filled with people ready to love and care for the broken. I pray today, that churches would actually be a “hospital for the broken” and not just a country club with nice amenities and a great slogan. ~OC
Heaven
Today’s a new day! As I continue to walk this crazy beautiful health journey, I sometimes think about the day I will actually see Jesus face to face. Of course, I hope that day is somewhere in the distant future, but thinking about that day brings me peace, comfort and hope.
I have noticed over the years, that so many Christians look forward to spending eternity with Jesus, but do not want to leave this earth to do so. They do not want to leave their loved ones. I understand that more than you know. Yet, during my long health journey, my suffering has compelled me to yearn for the relief I will find in the presence of my Savior. As I continue to walk through this season of health issues, I hang on to the hope that to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. And in His presence, I will find fullness of peace and joy.
From threats of wars, division, health issues, and tragic accidents suffering is real. But as Christians we can rejoice while suffering. We can know and have confidence that suffering and death are not the end for us. We have an assurance of more. So much more. We have the hope of eternal life. And that’s what we have to hold onto when we’re suffering. My friend, if you’re currently walking through a season of suffering, know that God is with you. He has not forgotten about you. I encourage you carry the hope of heaven in your heart, knowing that God will deliver you in due season. Until then, keep living out your purpose and being a difference maker right where God has you planted. ~OC
Grounded in Hope
Today’s a new day! I am temporarily ending my break from social media and my blog to share the following. ~OC
I was admitted into the hospital this past Monday. After not feeling well for the past few weeks, my medical team shared I was in the middle of a Myasthenic Crisis. This can be very dangerous and deadly for a patient with Myasthenia Gravis. So I am spending the week in the hospital receiving treatments. This week and everything leading up to it have not been easy, but I have found Hope in the midst of the storm. The following is what God has been sharing with me this week.
As we walk through this journey called life, we will face moments on the mountaintop and in the valleys.
We will experience moments of peace and days of trials and tribulations.
There are some things in life we can control, but there are a lot of things in life that are totally out of our control.
I cannot control that my body is being destroyed by multiple health issues, but I can choose to live with Hope as the waves crash around me.
I am not sure what kind of storm you’re currently experiencing, but it does not have the final say. Jesus does. Each day He gives up a Hope that will never fade.
This week as I sit in this hospital room, I am reminded of these beautiful words:
When darkness veils his lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath, his covenant, his blood
Supports me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
A Call
Today’s a new day! As I watch tv or scroll through social media, I see so such suffering and injustice. And sadly, I see so many Christians adding to that suffering and injustice. It breaks my heart. More importantly, it breaks God’s heart. During those moments I reflect on the following verse:
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.” ~Proverbs 31:8-9
As I reflect on those verses, I am thankful that God is different and He desires for those who call Him Father to be radically different.
God loves with a love far greater than any of us could truly ever imagine. He feels our pain and disappointments more deeply than we ever could. God will never force Himself on those who choose to live their lives without Him, even though He longs for those who are hurt and broken to take His hand. But He respects our choices.
But for those who choose to call on His name and call themselves Christians, God expects us to be a reflection of His character. To truly live out the words from Proverbs 31:8-9.
As I reflect on those words, am I truly living out those commands?
In a time where political power seems more important than the Gospel to so many American Christians, is the Christian community any different than the world so many of them like to judge?
As Christian, are we fighting against injustice? Are we speaking up for those with no voice? Are we taking the time to help the helpless? Are we truly seeking justice for those in need or just praying about it? Are we even attempting to be the hands and feet of Jesus?
As I pray and look around, I wonder why so many Christians appear to be just paying lip-service while ignoring the plight of those suffering in America and around the world. Why so many spend more time justifying ungodly prejudices against “others” than helping them. Why are so many American Christians so focused on what makes them comfortable and happy that they turn a blind eye to the suffering of those outside of their safe little bubble? Why are so many Christians walking through life ignoring the scriptures that command us to fight for justice and to love all of our neighbors?
Jesus shared the following warning in Matthew 7:21. “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”
I hope and pray that you do not see this as an attack on American Christianity, but instead a wake up call for Christians in America to step up and actually live out their faith and the scriptures that call us to be loving and radically different.
As I close, I want to pose the following question to my Christian brothers and sisters: Are you breaking God’s heart by calling yourself His child, but refusing to live a life of serving those in need and fighting for justice?
I know I for one, can and must do better. ~OC
Hope and Joy
Today’s a new day! The following post is one that I have been writing and rewriting for months. I am not sure it’s exactly everything I want to say, but sometimes you just have to put it out there and not worry about the response.
What if I shared with you that when I look at this crazy beautiful health journey I am on, I do so with hope and joy in my heart?
In the midst of countless hospital visits, treatments, pain and surgeries there has been indescribable hope and joy that has surrounded my every step.
Let me share some truth with you. It has not been my health journey that has that brought me this hope and joy. Far from it. The hope and joy that I live with comes from someone else. You see, as I have experienced my health declining over the years, I have become intimately aware of how fragile life really is. I have become more aware of how short, and how painful our time can be on this journey called life. This has led me to crave for a life that God promised to those who would follow Him. A life where there is no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death.
As I have run this grueling health journey, I found myself more desperate for God’s word and the peace of heaven. There were days I fixed my eyes on heaven just to get through the day. But then something amazing began to happen. The more I focused on God’s promises and heaven, the more I felt alive and renewed. Even though my body continues to decline, I have experienced more hope in the promises found in the Bible than ever before. I started leaning more into those promises because that’s where I find my hope, peace and strength. I have to make a daily choice to totally embrace God’s promises or allow this health journey to consume me. To become my identity.
I began to see the scriptures in a whole new way. Verses like the following:
“My brothers and sisters, you will face all kinds of trouble. When you do, think of it as pure joy. Your faith will be tested. You know that when this happens it will produce in you the strength to continue. And you must allow this strength to finish its work. Then you will be all you should be. You will have everything you need.”~James 1:2-4
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” ~Romans 8:18
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” ~2 Corinthians 4:16-18
I know as some of you read this post, you’re facing major storms in your life. Life seems overwhelming at times. So, when some guy is telling you to “think of it as pure joy”, it might bring out feelings of anger rather than joy. I get it. But just for a second asked yourself, “What if these verses are true?” What if even during the toughest moments of your journey, the cancer diagnosis, the Parkinson’s diagnosis or some other challenge is actually being used to make you perfect and complete, lacking in nothing? And that even the deepest hurt will someday be replaced with insurmountable love, peace, and joy.
The hope and joy I am writing about may not always look like happiness the way we understand it. The hope and joy that comes from following God and focusing on heaven is not the same as what the world defines as joy. I believe it’s far more rewarding.
The world connects joy to a moment, experience or circumstance. So, if life is currently full of sunshine, we have plenty of reasons to celebrate. But the amazing thing about God’s joy is that nothing in our life could be going right, but with God’s help, we can still find the strength within our soul to praise, to help others, and ultimately, still have hope and joy.
The darkest moments of my health journey are filled with hope and joy because I continue to cling to the beautiful promises of God. They are my lifeline. And as I continue to hold onto that hope, my head miraculously stays above the raging seas. The storms that surround me haven’t changed, but I know even the biggest battles in my life cannot take away my most precious gift in life, my relationship with God. And for that, I am forever grateful.
As I close out this post, I want you to hold onto the following truth: The hope and joy that comes from Heaven, far outweighs the trials we will face here on earth. ~OC
Taking Time to Pause
Today’s a new day! Is your life so busy at times that you miss out on time with God? I think that can happen at times, but we can never allow the busyness of life to continually keep us from missing out on those precious moments with God.
The Power of Pausing with God
God’s presence is powerful, especially in a busy life, and the benefits are immense.
When we intentionally slow down, we:
• Renew our strength – Not only do our bodies need rest, but so do our souls. Pausing in God’s presence restores our strength (Isaiah 40:31)
• Gain clarity and wisdom – Stepping away from the chaos allows us to hear God’s guidance (Psalm 46:10)
• Increases trust – Slowing down in life reminds us that God is in control, not us (Exodus 14:14).
• Deepens our connection –Pausing prepares our hearts to be vulnerable with God and usher in His presence. (James 4:8)
So today, take some time to pause, breathe and spend some time with God. ~OC
The Blessed Overcomer 