JESUS said, “treat people the same way you want them to treat you…” So how do you want to be treated? Let me take a shot and you let me know how I did: You want to be treated like a person whose life matters. You want to be respected, listened to, encouraged, forgiven, thought the best of. You want to be treated courteously and with generosity. You want to be appreciated and celebrated for your gifts, your talents and accomplishments.  And you want to be understood when you miss the mark or fail the test. How am I doing so far?  You also want to be treated kindly, with love and affection, not provoked, maligned or whispered about. You want to feel the same way we all do, significant!

It’s not a secret.  Become that person who you would like to enter your life.  Make someone say, “WOW!” after meeting you, and your WOW person will be released into your future. Dale Carnegie said it like this:  “You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.” Here’s a tip: Make this a conscious decision everyday and do not let your guard down, especially with your family and closest friends.

Please hear me now.  If you are in any kind of slump, emotionally, financially, spiritually or otherwise,  here is the key to your turn around… Stop trying to make yourself feel better. Rather, make somebody else feel better about themselves and then watch what happens within you.

Remember, you attract who you are, not what you say.  And just like a seed will produce after it’s own kind, so will your attitude.

Happy Sowing!

Ralph D. Gerard

Each year people from all over the world travel to Kenya to experience the adrenaline rush that only a genuine Serengeti safari can offer.  Perhaps; for I never visited Kenya. But I certainly remember my first trip to Lagos, Nigeria (West Africa) in the late eighties.  I promise you that the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel proved to be a kind of cosmopolitan safari which included more thrills than a herd of stampeding elephants!

After seeing my life pass before my eyes the second time, I discovered the problem.  There were no lines painted on any of the roads, including the freeway!  It was a chaotic free for all at speeds reserved for the autobahn.  In the absence of lines, drivers maneuvered in whatever way they believed would give them the edge to reaching their destination.  You would have thought there were daily cash prizes awarded to the motorists scoring the most near misses and escapes from death.

Traversing life without lines is also very perilous.  We are each born with a God-given purpose, an assignment, which we must discover and pursue (the earlier the better) in order to live a life of significance.   The road for the journey changes along the way.  Sometimes it’s a twelve lane highway, downhill with nobody near you for miles.  At other times it becomes a narrow two-way street with sharp turns and steep cliffs just off the shoulder.

But the one thing that should never change regardless of the road ahead, are the lines.   The lines on our life’s journey are our values.  These are the truths, the principles (non-negotiables), by which we live; rich or broke, mountain top or valley, in public or in private.  The lines are our core!  We cross them at our own risk.  Violating them costs us. Penalties are certain.  The lines define our character and shape our world-view.  They keep us safe and make our life attractive.  They do not change because the road becomes narrow, nor are they compromised for sake of opportunity or circumstance.  They keep our destiny in focus, our choices clear and our decisions precise.

And although it’s very easy to judge someone by where they seem to be at any given point on their journey, their true measure is determined by their faithfulness to the lines.  For as our journey progresses and our life unfolds, our significance and our joy will come not from how many deals we made or how many promotions we received.  It will be about our commitment to something greater than our ourselves; our generosity and our graciousness toward others.  It will be about our stewardship to the lines along life’s highway.

Have you defined your lines?

Ralph D. Gerard

Everywhere you look, whoops, there it is.  A Cross. Whether perched atop a church steeple, carved into a gravestone, engraved on a piece of jewelry or suspended on a chain.  The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity.  But think about it.  Does this make any sense?  How strange that an emblem representing the cruelest torture becomes the image defining a culture of life and hope.

There are other let’s say, cheery symbols marking other faiths.  The six-pointed star of David, the crescent moon of Islam, the lotus blossom for Buddhism.  And yet a cross for Christianity.  An instrument of execution.  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have not seen any tiny electric chairs worn around people’s necks.  Have you ever walked into a home and seen a gold plated hangman’s noose displayed on the wall?  How about a guillotine printed on a business card?  Yet we do so with the cross.  Many even make the sign of the cross as they pray.  So why?  Why is the cross the symbol of Christianity?

The answer is no mystery.  It is in the simplicity of the cross that we discover it’s depth.  Two beams, one horizontal, the other vertical.  One reaches out, like the love of God toward all humanity.  The other reaches up, as does God’s purity, power and grace.  And at that intersection, at the cross, is where you and I meet Him.  For it is there that a holy God put our sin on His perfect Son.  It was the ultimate act of grace.

It was there that He who was without sin was punished so that we might be forgiven.  It was there He was wounded that we might be healed.  It was there He died our death that we might share His life.  It was there that God’s justice was satisfied that His unlimited grace might be released.

And it’s why Christians call This Friday…Good.

Happy Easter!

R. D. Gerard

Life is Easy.  But to live it up you need outside help.  Forget learning from your own mistakes.  Too slow and painful and we don’t live long enough to make all the mistakes we would need to make anyway.  Soooo, learn from the mistakes and successes of others, as in, outside help.  This is the #1 way to live and grow on the planet.  It’s success without waiting; progress without pain and riches without sorrow! What?  Connect with those who can take you where you have never been.  Stop discussing your “stuff” with those who are unqualified to help you and be the friend you want someone to be to you.  Simple?  If so, why isn’t everyone doing it?

I have yet to figure out why we say to others the very things we would like people to forget; and you’ve heard it.  Ever felt like, “That was way more informatrion than I needed…”

Try this: Be courageous enough to be honest with yourself and (wait for it), confront anything which slows you down or stops your personal progress.  You’ll be in rare air.

Words are like seeds.  They’re pregnant with unseen potential.   You speak a sentence and get back a paragraph.  So hey, before you say it ask yourself, “Do I want this back on steroids?”  If so, say it with confidence and wait with baited breath for the rush, because guaranteed, it’s coming.  Good or bad.  Remember, we chose.

Here’s the $$, being free is not the ability to think or say anything you want to say.  It’s the opposite.  Being free is possessing the power not to say, think or do anything which would birth a negative season in your life.  That is Freedom!

You do not want to miss tomorrow…

R.D. Gerard