The World Was Not Worthy of Them

Make the Change Mission is all about each of us realizing that we have the power to change our relationships, our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, our states, our country and our world. Not through amazing feats of miraculous miracles. Not through large sums of generous donations. Not through amazing feats of talented marketing, but through our actions, our words, our deeds and our faith.

I read a verse of scripture this week that completely threw me for a loop. Scripture has a tendency to do that so many times in my life, which is why I continue to study it. However, this scripture hit me because it made me realize that each of us can in God's eyes be worthy of His trust and his praise. It also reminded me, that we can be more then just "Sinner's saved by Grace". I hear so many people use that as an excuse to live unproductive lives for God. I also hear a lot of people say, hey I'm just human not God. This verse changed all that for me, it confirmed something that I have believed for along time and that is this. We are capable of living lives that are worthy of God's notice, trust and praise. We are also capable of resisting that which would hurt our reputations and our characters. Is it easy ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! But what is!!! I hope that when I finally leave this world, this will be said of me, maybe not by those who knew me, but it would be nice, but by God when I finally get to meet Him face to face. I hope that through my actions, my words, my deeds and my faith, I will be found worthy of this statement, as so many have been before me. I am sure your wondering what in the world it could be that he found. This is it:

Hebrews 11:38 "the world was not worthy of them." WHAT only seven words, well that's not the whole verse, but that is what hit me smack dab in the face. If you read the whole chapter, it is the chapter that speaks of those people who had faith in God and through that faith stayed true to that belief even in horrifying circumstances and stayed true through amazing miracles. In the end however, they were held in such a high place that the writer actually said "the world was not worthy of them". I have never looked at myself or those I serve with as those kind of people. I have always been taught to be humble and not look to that kind of fame or esteem. However, shouldn't I pray that God would look at my life and would be able to say after my death, "the world was not worthy of him".

It also got me thinking that so many times, I look for the approval of my peers or those I serve with, those in the world I think of how they view me. This verse has showed me that those who stayed true to God, who stayed true to their faith, they weren't loved by the world, they weren't appreciated by those who they ministered to, but they were loved and appreciated by God!!! So, the next time you are struggling, you are wondering why me God, you feel that no one understands, you just don't feel like making the change. Remember this verse and remember, that we are not working for a prize that we will leave behind when we are buried, but are working for treasures that moth and rust can not touch and will last far after your life on earth is done!!! Don't ever forget how important you are to God and His plan. He designed you, created you, formed you, gave you the talents, skills, personalities and even the quirks, in order to help you in the mission that is your life journey. You matter, you effect people, you effect relationships, you effect this world. You have the chance to make the change and do it by choice, not by chance or accident. Start today!!!

New Years Resolutions

New Years Eve, a day when everyone starts to put "The List" together. Oh you know what list I'm talking about, the list that always starts with I am gonna lose weight this year. I am gonna read my bible every morning this year. I am gonna walk everyday this year. I am gonna use that treadmill that has been in my basement for 10 years this year. Yes it's coming back to you now right, you remember, the New Years Resolutions List. Some people have already started to fill up my news feed with their list, most of which are listed above. This seems to be the time of year that we as people decide that we need to do what every good American does at this time of year and that is, make a list of what "I" am going to do to make "ME" better this year. I have seen lots and lots of creative things that will even help us remember the great things that have happened to "ME" this year. A creative person posted a picture of a large canning jar that had a note on it, that read "Starting January 1st write good things that happen to you on little pieces of paper: Surprise Gifts, Accomplished Goals, The Beauty of Nature, LOL Moments, Memories Worth Saving, Daily Blessings, then on December 31st open the Jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you in 2014!" I bet some of you are even writing that down because it's such a cool idea and it is. It's the American Way!!! Be all that you can be!!! Do all the cool things that you can do!!! Take all the cool adventures that you can take!!! Make your life as good for "YOU" as possible!!! Do you see a theme here? I do and I have for years now. News Years Day, has always been about "ME"!!! Well, several years ago, I was challenged to make life not so much about "ME" but more about "OTHERS"!!! So, I came up with this page and also a blog. For several years now, my News Years Resolution List has been made up of ways that I can help improve others lives. I have found it much more satisfying and much more worthy a goal, to spend my year helping others improve themselves, give others opportunities to check off a few of their Bucket List items. I have at times walked along side those that I have helped, others I have simply in the quietness of my room prayed for and written emails, Facebook posts and private messages, others I have labored for hours at my table, in my chair, making things that will help them through our winter months. The challenge I have for all of you, is this.......when you make out your New Years Resolutions this year, make at least two, that involve helping someone else improve themselves or their lives. Something that will "Make the Change" for them, that when they open their Jar December 31st, they will have at least two things to read, that were a result of your involvement in their lives. Happy New Years everyone, may this be the year that you "Make the Change" and find your Jar full December 31st!!!

Well last month was tough, Pneumonia, broken tail bone, lower spine crooked and disc's dying or dead, pain, fatigue, weakness and all around not so good feeling at all. However in order to "Make the Change", I can't let those things stop my mission, or make me lose focus on the goal and that goal for me, is finding ways to change peoples life's in my actions, my words, my deeds and my faith. Sometimes when illness or physical disabilities take away one part of my mission and stops me from fulfilling another part of my goal, I have to go to another part. I used to be so hung up on the physical aspect of my disability that it stopped me all together from "Making the Change" in my family, my friendships and my community. It nearly did me in, but when I remembered the whole mission, it includes things like "Words" and "Deeds" and "Faith". These things don't need to include the physical, but can be done sitting on my chair. Last month I found ways to "Make the Change" by making things for people, encouraging people who were needing a good word or a reminder of the blessing's in their life. Giving people Christ's love and another way I "Make the Change", is accepting help, encouragement and actions from the people who love me. It's hard sometimes to let people know that I need the very things that I try so hard to accomplish in my mission, but I do and last month I received that change and felt the prayers and read the words of encouragement and it made such a difference for me when I was feeling pretty down. So, even though in our life's there are many obstacles to our mission of "Making the Change", don't let them deter you from it, let them be catalysts to figuring out new ways of accomplishing your missions, not letting your weaknesses rule you, but make you stronger by figuring out ways that you never would have thought of if those weaknesses weren't there. Our circumstances can break us, or they can help to teach us a new way of thinking. Are you letting your circumstances stop you from your mission and your chance to "Make the Change" in your little part of the world. If so, remember the whole mission statement and know that there are many ways to "Make the Change", sometimes it just takes a little thought, determination and out of the box thinking. So use November to figure it out and while your figuring it out, go ahead and "Make the Change", it will only make you stronger and give you a strength you never knew you had!!!

New Years

It's that time of the year when Make the Change Mission gets to look back at 2012 and see if I and we have kept on track with the goal of this Blog page and that is “finding ways to change people’s life’s in your actions, your words, your deeds and your faith." I truly believe that each one of us has the ability to change our homes, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities and our states. We don't have to be scholars, college graduates, all "A" students, politicians, community leaders or fairy tale hero's. If you are any of those, all the better!!! However, all we have to be is ourselves!!! The more that I find myself meeting people, the more I realize how important each of us are. We all have a unique opportunity to impact the people, the community, the neighborhoods, the families, the homes we live in. I am more and more convinced, that if each of us takes the time to put into practice the "motto" of this page and Make the Change, we will see more and more people, finding hope, joy, happiness and peace, in these troubled times. Each person you meet has a need, each need has a purpose and each purpose can create for us a path, a path that leads us down one road or another. We all want to believe that we don't need anyone else, we are raised from children to become "adults" and what does that mean? It means that we are able to go out on our own, make our own decisions and no longer "need" our parents or anyone else. This concept has lead us as adults to believe that if we need someone, than we are failing in what we have been taught our whole lives. This could not be farther from the truth. Yes, being an adult often means that we venture out on our own, we find our own way and we find our own lives, but never should it mean that we no longer "need" our family, our friends, even sometimes strangers that we have yet to meet. As human beings, we are relational beings and with that nature, comes the need to "need" others. So many people that I meet and talk with truly need someone to invest time in their life and invest in a relationship with them. I am amazed at how many people even though they have "a lot" of friends, feel so alone. Many of the most outgoing people, often find themselves sitting on the couch at night praying that they had someone that understood them, someone that they could tell everything to, but feeling like there is no one there for them. This past year has found me in so many places that I never would have been five years ago. With each new person I find, with each new project I take on, with each new opportunity I seek out, I find a person, a group, a community, waiting for me. It is so exciting to go out each day looking for the opportunity to serve and never being disappointed. This past year has found me helping to feed over 840 people that were hungry, it found me helping fund my son’s mission trip to Joplin MO. and watching him impact several families devastated by natural disasters and also seeing him and our youth leader grow a bond that has changed him in so many ways, all of them good. I have found myself at many houses helping to fix computers, build dream houses and many other odds and ends, not because I am strong, able bodied or even capable of building a house, because I am not, I am disabled, but I found ways in all those cases to help in whatever way I was able and I found in all those cases, people open to a crippled guy who could give them an hour or two of help and it made a difference, it helped, it created a friendship, a bond, a trust, that I was there for them and I found later, that those same people were there for me when I needed them!!! I found myself answering the call of an old client of mine that turned into me saving her life, because after meeting with her and talking with her I found that she was going to kill herself, but because of our "chance" meeting, because I was open to the principles of this page, she and my family connected and she didn't kill herself and she made it through another Christmas. I found myself working with my girls knitting hats for the homeless and hurting in Flint, 74 hats we made and my daughter and I were able to pass those hats out to over 60 people, knowing that they would at least have warm heads this winter. I found myself following a man home that had run out of gas and helping him out and seeing this big huge man holding his little girls hand, crying, hugging me, telling me how that help was an answer to his prayers. I found myself at our church, giving people a Christmas, who without our church would not have had Christmas, they received gifts that blew their minds. Hearing them tell me how blown away they were that they were getting the kind of gifts they were and how thankful they were. I found myself out in Flushing on Taste of the Trail, again with our church, handing out trail mix and meeting a group of guys that have impacted my life tremendously. They are the Greater Flint Muddler Minnows. I met them out on the trail and something told me to join their group, something that I have never done, EVER!!! I gave them my last $25 for membership fees and am now a member of their board, have become good friends with the president of the club and have been so blessed by him and the opportunities that I have had because of them. There were so many, many more experiences that I had that made 2012 an amazing year, not because I fulfilled my New Year’s resolutions, not because I was able to lose those 30 pounds that I was hoping for, not because my health improved, but because in 2012 I was able to find ways to change people’s life’s in my actions, my words, my deeds and my faith. My hope this year, is that all of us will strive to make that commitment, to use each day as an opportunity to Make the Change and therefore make a difference that will last beyond our resolutions!!! Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Thanksgiving!!!

November is the month of Thanksgiving and you may see that many people are posting what they are thankful for on Facebook. However, I think it needs to go a little further then that. I have heard so many say at funerals that they wish they could have told the person how much they meant to them, how much they influenced them, the many reason's that they admired them. So many people have so many regrets of things they never said and for many, it's to late. I believe November should be a time where we take the time to personally write letters to those we love and those we admire and those who have impacted our lives and tell them what they mean to us, or how their lives made a difference in our own life!!! We should never have regrets for things that were never said when we have today to say them. It's time to get your pens and pencils out and start writing some letters to people you care about, or people you want to know how thankful you are for their life and the influence it's had on yours. Depression runs rampant in the next few months, as people sit at home and feel the loss of loved ones, or the loneliness of an empty house. A letter from you, could change their whole outlook for the holiday months and could bring a joy to their hearts that they needed at this time!!! So what are your waiting for: "Make the Change"

Fear our common enemy to Making the Change

We had a few crimes in our area that have brought a lot of fear and trembling to our community and the surrounding communities and I began to read the blog's and comment sections of the newspapers that covered the crimes and a very common theme ran through them all. That's why I don't help anyone!!! The crime that shocked our community was the shooting death of a woman who after thinking that she was helping a young lady who approached her, was shot and killed when a group of people Carjacked her. The running theme through out several newspapers was that this is why you just can't help people you don't know anymore. Which leads into the second crime which to me was worse then the first only because of what happened afterwards. A man was attacked at a Gas Station and shot. After being shot, he dragged himself across the parking lot and with many people watching and ignoring him, he pushed opened the door to the store and begged for help. A video shows everyone in the store ignoring and even stepping over him to get to the counter. It broke my heart to think that a man shot, could be so near help and have so many people at hand to help, but yet not one person moved to help the poor old man. It got me thinking of a story that my Mom and Dad told me years ago when I was a child and one that I memorized in order to never let this happen to my heart. It's the story of the "Good Samaritan". In this story, the question is asked of Jesus "who is my neighbor"? Jesus than tells the story of a man who is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road, a Priest and a Levite both see the man, but for fear of an attack on themselves, they ignore the man. However, when a Samaritan comes by the man, he attends to the mans wounds, carries the man to safety and then pays to have the man cared for. Jesus then asked who was the neighbor? The man who had asked the question said "The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Fear is an easy out for those who don't want to "Make the Change", it sounds "right", it is accepted by most, but the truth is, if change is to come, then we must be the "neighbor" and we must show mercy, in spite of our fear. Yes, it could cost us our lives, but it also may save it one day, when we need a "neighbor" and they remember our mercy and give it back to us in our time of need. So what are you waiting for: "Make the Change"

I can't do that!!!

I can't do that!!!

If you have worked in leadership or with leadership at all, those words are probably very familiar to you, I hear those words all the time and in fact, those words have been on my tongue a time or two over the years. Since 2003, I have had 11 surgeries, my doctor had three maybe four more planned that I have so far said no to having. I have been totally disabled and unable to work full time since 2009, so those words, have been a temptation for me for years now. Since 2003, I have lost a lot of who I am and what I was, due to the pain and limitations of my disabilities. Saying I can't do that, almost became an everyday occurrence for me, when dealing with friends, family and the church. However, those four words became a prison for me, only allowing me to see the limitations and the walls, but not seeing the opportunities to become something new, something different, something that allowed me to say yeah, I can do that!!! It took time, for me to realize that even with my limitations and my weakness; I was still able to help. It's sometimes embarrassing to not be able to do the "manly" things anymore, but to tell you the truth, I have found more than not, I am one of only a few that help anyway and my help even in its limited form, is very welcomed and appreciated by those who receive it!!! It was a hard road to travel, to get to this place, to see myself, my limitations, my disabilities, my weakness, as something of value, to see myself as someone of value!!! There is a road, its dark and lonely, its filled with anger and self-pity, it finds no good in pain, no good in suffering, it says only “I can’t do that”, it’s a road that I want to travel every day!!! I want to tell my wife “I can’t do that”, I want to tell my kids’ “I can’t do that”, I want to tell my friends “I can’t do that”, I want to tell my Church “I can’t do that”, I want to tell God “I can’t do this anymore!!!”, but I am afraid of the dark, maybe you didn’t know that about me!!! Yes, I admit it, I am afraid of the dark and have been all my life and that’s why I just can’t follow that road, the road that is dark and lonely!!! I hate the dark, but even more, I hate to be a lone!!! So why tell you all this, why open up to all of you like this, well, I figure that if I am always wanting to say “I can’t do that”, then maybe a few of you are wanting to say it as well. Maybe hearing me say “I can do that”, even if it’s just helping pass nails along, or hold a board, or run to the car or the tool box, hearing “I can do that”, might spark that light inside you, that burns inside of me, that yearns to help in any way I can, that yearns to be with friends and family, if only to work together!!! Maybe, you are finding yourself saying “I can’t do that” and needed someone to tell you that you can do it, or at the very least something else that’s just as important. I will end with this: A great friend gave me more encouragement then he could have ever known this weekend, he came to me and said “Scott, I know you think that you didn’t do much today, but you really did and I really appreciate it”. I was feeling exactly that way and those words didn’t have to be said, but they came from his heart and they touched mine more then he will ever know. So what do you say, let’s go out there this week and “Make the Change”!!!