David L. Winters's Blog, page 4

Including God in Your Career

While most Christians would say they bring God to work with them, how many really allow God to make a difference in their work life?My Buddy's WeddingYears ago, one of my best friends asked me to be the best man at his wedding. It felt like a huge honor and I took my responsibilities very seriously. Myself and the other groomsmen actively followed Christ and the pre-wedding festivities were all G-rated fun. As his life with his new wife began, they launched a couple of businesses and became consumed with 7-hour work weeks. Business StrugglingA few years into their marriage, I caught up with them (during their quieter time of the year). It became clear to me that they completely left God out of their lives. There was no time for church, morning devotions or even a quick prayer. I challenged them about getting back into fellowship and they tried to implement a couple of my recommendations.A few years later, I saw them again on a visit to their state and things were going very badly for them. Their business neared bankruptcy as it made almost no money the prior year in spite of all their long hours and hard work. They had again wandered away form church and now began to blame God for their business woes. For twenty years, I saw them stumble and fail through multiple iterations of their various businesses until finally their marriage ran into rocky waters. Sad EndingWhen I asked them specific questions about how they had put God first in their lives, they could not answer in the affirmative to hardly any of the questions. Eventually and tragically, my friend eventually lost his life to an apparent heart attack. Although well known and respected in his field, his life (at least outwardly) seemed to end in shipwreck. No one knows what God might have been doing in his heart, but the things he shared in me via emails did not seem promising.I bring all this up as a cautionary tale for all of us. As Christians, God doesn't necessarily take a center place in our work lives. We have to intentionally include him by asking for His advice and help, reading His word regularly to get His insights and trying our best to follow God's principles in all we do. Invite God Into Your WorkOur work is meant to be God's hands extended to a hurting world. The work we do helps God take care of people. Whether we check groceries, build power plants or redecorate homes, God wants to use us to make life better for others. As we yield our work lives to Him, we become more effective at taking care of others. Within ourselves, we tend to become self-centered. When we yield to the Holy Spirit at the start of our work day, we become God-centered and others-focused.Ask yourself, how much have I involved God in my work life? Purpose to begin each day at work with prayer. Invite Him into each task and meeting. Pray over your work projects and products. Read His word so He has an easy way to respond to your questions. Thank Him at the end of each work day. He loves us so much and wants to be in our work lives.

Finding Joy In Your Job

Rend Collective, an Irish folk-rock band, stormed the stage with enthusiasm and joy. Celebrating their "Good News" tour, they rocked, danced, fired off confetti and blew bubbles through a torrid opening sequence of songs. By any stretch of imagination, they seemed to be having great fun playing for the nearly full arena. It would be difficult not to smile and have a good time witnessing their antics and obvious freedom moving about the stage. They loved leading worship and entertaining at the same time. While enjoying their infectious optimism, I got to thinking about how much they must like their jobs. Although many weeks into a multi-continent tour, they still found passion in their mission: to bring enjoyable music with a message.Looking for Joy While not every job comes with the accoutrements of being in a traveling band, each of us have a choice each day. Do we look for the joy in our world, our friends, our job, our families or do we take another path? Sometimes, joy floats on the surface of life and takes little effort to experience. The first time that I fell in love for real, I walked on cloud nine for months. It would have been difficult to make me depressed no matter how hard anyone tried. Other things just didn't seem to matter in light of finding an object of affection that returned my love. As life and time went along, that infatuation period expired and real life came to call. Traffic jams, unreasonable bosses and health problems of family members disturbed the peace. Joy took a little more work once I came down from the infatuation high.Focus on Life-Giving Thoughts That's really my point with this short blog. Joy requires focusing on things that bring inner satisfaction. Focusing on external problems, deficits or difficulties steals our joy. Beginning each day, we are well served to remind ourselves that we serve a great big God. Nestling into His love for us and remembering His sacrifice frees us to grab hold of joy for one more day. Trusting in His provision means believing the day will go as He orders it. Grasping onto joy is not denial. It doesn't involve ignoring problems or running from responsibilities. Living in joy means choosing to focus on those eternal things that make life worth living. Getting real about our mission of loving others each day crowds out victim mentality, selfish tantrums and hopeless depression. We are the balm someone else needs today. Spread yourself liberally on those around you. (Hope that imagery made you smile.) You are the peanut butter in someone else's celery today.Books On The Horizon I would appreciate your prayers for several books that I have in the works. The exact order and date of their appearance is not clear, but God has a plan. Pray that I will settle into faith about His plan and do my part to write excellent manuscripts, publicize and market the resulting books and continue to give God the glory for any results.

Ten Ways to Beat the Blues

My friends on Facebook offered the following advice for those feeling down. I put them in order because people like Top 10 lists. The ones that didn't make the list included: gambling at the casino, checking how long it had been since Michigan beat Ohio State in football and attend a Cincinnati Reds game.List of Mood Elevation Activities 10. Clean the house. 9. Sing the blues. 8. Listen to babies laughing on YouTube. 7. Spend time with kids. 6. Eat chocolate, then go work out at the gym. 5. Eat fruits, veggies and other healthy stuff. 4. Listen to worship music and praise along with the songs. 3. Hug someone. 2. Take a walk (by the beach if one is available.) 1. Do something nice for someone else.

Do You Have an Identity Crisis?

Have you consciously thought about the image you project? Most adolescents go through times when they try on various identities to see what fits. As young adults, many of us tire of worrying about what others think. So, we try to be "ourselves," whoever that may be.In our thirties, we may be confronted by someone who points out a downside to the us we are portraying. Perhaps, it is part of our fallen nature. Suddenly, the game changes. Instead of being ourselves, we decide to try to be someone better than the egocentric man or woman who "tells it like it is" or at least, how we see it. Some would call this desire to be better: maturity.Being a ChristianIf we are particularly blessed, our search for ourselves eventually drives us to find our identity in Christ. What could be better than emulating Jesus in our thoughts, actions and reactions? After all, the word Christians started out meaning little Christs."But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For 'who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).So our Christian walk becomes more of a process than just trying to be like Jesus. We want to get the mind of Christ inside our thinking process. As He directs our thoughts and begins to order our steps, we become more in tune with God's plan for us in the world.Being OurselvesThis begs a major question: is there any room for individuality in the Christian walk? Should our life's goal be to decrease being us, so that we can increase being like God?God made each of us to play different roles and to demonstrate unique aspects of God's character. While we all should seek to display the redeemed version of us, we aren't meant to be carbon copies of each other. You are a one-of-a-kind miracle. Several places in the New Testament, we are reminded that Christians receive various gifts and that we play different roles within the Body of Christ. So How Do We Know If We Are Doing It Right?Regardless of our gifts or the roles we play, our lives are meant to bear fruit for God's Kingdom on Earth. Paul defined this for the Galatians, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23). If we regularly show love to those around us, we are on the right track. If the result of our life work brings joy, we are on the right track. If we can do our life's work with kindness, we are on the right track.Let's all try to have the Mind of Christ, so we can be the true person that God created at our birth. Unique, divinely-ordained, you are amazing!

Doing Extra: A Sign of Righteousness

People of our parents' generation put a lot of emphasis on character. Have we lost our appreciation for the importance of backing up talk with action? Perhaps it's a common malady across cultures for middle-age people to idealize their childhood and think the world is going to Salt Lake City in a hand basket. I can remember comedians as far back as the 1960s getting laughs from the line: "Kids these days!" This column is not about trashing the younger generation or venerating all people born before 1940. All generations have their noble characters and their slackers.Is the Hard Worker Extinct?One of the joys in penning my latest book was talking to people of several generations about their work life. This included business owners, managers and regular employees. One of the common issues that several of them noted: people who don't carry their weight. At any workplace, a few people do more then their share, but some co-workers barely contribute at all. Most fall somewhere in the middle. It led me to wonder: Is the hard worker of old extinct? My Mom definitely qualified as a hard worker. She served as an electronic technician, working her way up from soldering circuit boards to assembling and testing huge computer gauges. Whenever I met one of her co-workers, they almost always mentioned her work ethic. They made comments that sent me away smiling and feeling proud of her. - "She does the work of three men." - "Fern is amazing. I don't know how she gets so much done." - "The whole place will probably shut down when Fern retires." From my own experience as a manager for 20+ years with the government, I can attest that hard workers come in every age group, gender and size. (Some of my most dedicated workers were overweight.) Not all of super-producers were overtly Christian, but many of them did profess Christ in large or small ways.Why Should Christians Work Hard?Some believers try the direct approach to winning others to Christ. There is nothing wrong with talking to our co-workers about God, particularly at break time or when moving from one location to another. But people are more attracted to those with admirable qualities. By doing our best at work, we build credibility. The last thing we want people to say is that we spent all our time talking about our faith, but not much time working. We need to show our faith by our attitudes, actions and diligence. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Author UpdateThanks to all of you who pray for me and follow my burgeoning author endeavors. I have three projects in process at the moment. My next fiction work, Stock Car Inferno is in the final edit phase with my publisher, Brimstone Fiction. The release date will probably be in the September or October. I am also super excited about my next non-fiction release, Taking God to Work: The Keys to Lasting Success with Steve Reynolds. It could be released as early as August. Finally, I'm enjoying the writing phase of a new book about a missionary friend and his exciting adventures in Peru. This book is the wildcard of the three projects. If it is self-published, which seems likely, it could beat the other two out of the gate in the next few months. So it's going to be a busy second half of the year. I am so looking forward to getting out on the promotion trail and seeing many of you. Until then, God bless and take good care of God's world. He needs your best efforts.

Are You Blooming?

About this time each year, I get impatient about Spring. The gloom of defoliated trees and cloudy skies has just about done me in. This morning, I took a walk around the neighborhood in search of exercise and the first glimmer of springtime hope. In some ways, my life feels like the landscaped looked today. Gone are the days of abundant foliage and blossoming gardens. What remains are sturdy structures, devoid of beauty and energy. My knees even creaked a little as I climbed the large hill on my usual route.When my walk mercifully ended and my tired body laid down for a brief rest, I looked up and saw an amazingly hopeful sign. Highlighted by the bright blue skies and wispy white clouds, I could see numerous buds up and down the branches of a mighty oak in the backyard. Although I couldn't easily see it yet, Spring is on the way.Your LifeWhat's going on with you? Are you blooming yet or is this a time of quietly laying the foundation for the future. Some plans take time and some purposes are not quickly realized. If I could do one thing for you today, I'd like to reassure you that your Spring is coming too. For everything, there is a season and God is using this time to birth a new blessing in your life. Hang in there. Keep working hard at preparing for your dreams to come true. Get ready because the time of fulfillment may be just around the corner. Once things start to unfold, you may barely have time to think.PrayerDear God, help the person reading this short piece to know your love for them today. Help them to catch your excitement for their future. Pour out your Spirit and your blessings on their life right away. Don't defer our hope, but help us to use this time to prepare. We give you thanks for your abundant blessings. Amen!

Love at Work

Have you ever been tempted by an office romance? My Pastor took a poll at our church. The number one workplace temptation of the medium-sized congregation (800 on Sunday morning) is sexual impropriety or romance. People look their best, smell their best and act on their best behavior at work. For the most part, we seldom, if ever, see our co-workers in old, dirty clothes or badly-kept hair. Co-workers don't tell you to take out the garbage or ask "what's for supper" after you've worked a long shift.VulnerabilityWork friends get to know us. They may admire some of our qualities. They might appreciate our sense of humor, even better than a spouse. They might be a shoulder to cry on when things aren't going well at home or in another part of our life. If a co-worker becomes attracted to us, they might know our points of vulnerability and capitalize on them to draw closer.Potential ConsequencesThere are a lot of potential outcomes for office romances. Few of them are positive. If either person is married, the romance could end with adultery, divorce, a broken family and/or a loss of reputation. If the object of affection is a junior co-worker, it could cost the manager a promotion, a sexual harassment complaint or even a career. If the object of affection is senior in the organization, it could cause uncertainty about personnel decisions. Did I get transferred because my boss wanted me out of her life? Did he give me the promotion just because he's attracted to me? Worse yet, an illicit affair could cost the Christian his witness among people he or she may have spent years trying to win to Christ.Unmarried Co-workersYou may wonder, is there anything wrong with romance at work, if both people are single. The answer is . . . it depends. If both people are believers in Jesus and legitimately looking for a life partner, work can be an okay place to find the love of your life. However, most relationships don't work out. Do you want to date a co-worker, have the relationship fail and then see the person every day at work for the rest of your life? (Mild exaggeration.) Or worse yet, do you want to job hunt because your relationship becomes the talk of the office? How would you feel about developing problems with co-workers or supervisors who misunderstand your relationship? This is a tricky area and much prayer and consideration should be given before jumping into a relationship with a co-worker, even if you both are single and dating according to Biblical standards.Advice from the BibleThe Bible reminds us that all sin begins in the heart. "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). Each of us who call Christ Lord must keep our hearts focused on God. We do this through nurturing our relationship with God and letting him wash us with His Word, the Bible. Talking things over with Jesus and yielding to the Spirit's gentle suggestions can keep us out of trouble at work.Keeping our FocusOur primary purpose at work is to take care of God's world through our jobs. Truly loving our bosses, co-workers and customers requires a purity of heart that shouldn't get mixed up with sexual temptation. Getting waylaid by an office romance is likely to distract us from our main purpose at work. If you are in the phase of looking for a lifetime husband or wife, let God help you find one. Commit the issue to Him and trust Him for the result. One friend of mine put a picture of her ideal (for her age) husband on her refrigerator. Within a year, she married a very rich dude who shared her faith and her commitment to ministry. I'm not sure about her methodology, but I know God answers prayers when we trust Him with the result. Whatever the perfect mate for you, God knows and is much more likely to pick the perfect one than we would be ourselves. Happy Valentine's DayDear Readers, you are special to me. Most people who receive my blog either by email, Facebook or Twitter, don't find time to read it. I so appreciate you who do and trust that God is blessing you today. My hope and prayer for you is that your heart overflows, not just with romantic love, but God's agape love at this time of year and throughout your life.

Loving January

For most of us, Winter is not our most well-received season. Perhaps January ranks as your least favorite month with the colder temperatures and threat of snow, ice and television overdose. When your world is threatened by an evil intruder, like Winter, the best defense can be a good offense. What are you going to do to stave off cabin fever and enjoy January like it's the merry month of May? Plan ahead to make this your best cold-weather month ever. The following are ten ideas about how to love January and make the most of it.Idea 1: Visit a Container Store. Who couldn't use a little more organization in their house. Before a blizzard descends and traps you indoors, head out to a store that sells containers and other tools to help you get organized. Then, you can spend those bad weather days finally getting a handle on that unruly drawer, closet or room.Idea 2: Make Someone a Basket of Goodies. Do you know someone who can't get out in the cold weather? Obtain a basket at a craft store and fill it up with things to make their Winter better. Include tea, jam, English muffins, a book of puzzles, one of my books (shameless plug), a blanket, a magazine, a devotional, etc. Your visit to them will probably be the best part of the gift for them and for you.Idea 3: Buy a few Books. When God slows us down with a couple feet of snow or a hefty coating of ice on the roads, what better time to read a book. By having a few in the house, you don't have to worry about going out to get one as the storm approaches.Idea 4: Get a Head Start on Taxes. One of my least favorite things about tax time is getting all the information together. Some of mine is hard copy and some is electronic. I like to take a day when I don't feel like braving the cold and just put it all together in one folder on my computer.Idea 5: Pre-buy and Address Greeting Cards. Although I thought my Mom went round the bend when she started doing this, I now see the glory in it. You can look like the best friend, aunt, brother ever by always having the cards ready to go. Use sticky notes to arrange them by mailing date. When the time comes, you will be ready to launch.Idea 6: Weed the Clothes Closet. If you're like most of us, you add to your clothes collection, but don't spend much time thinning the herd. Take one of these snowy mornings and separate clothes into three piles. Keep, donate and discard.Idea 7: Take an Online Course. Many online courses are now free. Youtube is a starting point to find out "how to" do something you've always wanted to do.Idea 8: Plan a Vacation. Before retirement, I can remember hurrying off to several vacations without much planning. While you are hanging out at home on a cold day, why not take your next vacation to the next level by identifying things you'd like to do once you arrive at your destination? Check out the fun things to do in the area where you will travel. It will give you something to look forward to in the Spring or Summer.Idea 9: Set Up Indoor Exercise Opportunities. If you can't get out to the gym, set up some indoor exercises. There are lots of suggestions on the internet, just google home exercises. If you are feeling extra creative and have a several children around the house, create a family Olympics with several different physical events.Idea 10: Catch Up On Prayer. When is the last time you prayed about everyone in your family or all of your friends? Why not spend an hour or two of your down time putting first things first.I hope these ideas are helpful reminders for you. Don't get down when the temperatures plunge. Use the quiet times of the year to help someone else or position yourself for more success in 2018.

When Family Gatherings Cause Anxiety

Although many of us live for family times, not everyone looks forward to the holidays and associated large gatherings. Christmas dinner may trigger anxiety either because of unresolved family issues or due to new developments. There is something about the continuity of family traditions that raises the stakes.DivorceMy heart broke for a close relative who skipped Christmas one year rather than tell us that her marriage was breaking up. She later told us she feared judgment, but also didn't want to swallow her pride. She assumed everyone thought her life was perfect and we would be shocked to find out otherwise. What a needlessly lonely time that Christmas Eve must have been? Of course, we eventually found out and loved her just the same as before.Family IssuesSome family hurts go beyond trampled pride or inconsequential tiffs. Where deep offenses reside, the holidays don't necessarily heal. They merely force estranged relatives into the same rooms for a few hours. No home is large enough to escape the pain of a broken relationship. Proximity to unforgiveness or unconfessed sin can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety both for the one who feels hurt and the one may feel wrongly accused of sinning against the other. AnswersPray in advance of your family celebrations. Pray into specific situations that you know about. Ask for God's help to be a peacemaker. Ask Him to use your party or celebration to mend broken hearts and reconcile estranged family members. Be careful not to throw gasoline on the burning embers of an unresolved conflict. If you are a person who likes to joke around with siblings, make sure that "jokes" aren't subtle ways of poking at old wounds or making one relative feel less than others.Prince of PeaceMake Jesus the center of your family gathering. The Name of Jesus brings peace wherever it is spoken. Reading the Word of God (even in short sections) brings the Living God into your home. Let His Word penetrate your event. Make it more than just a gift grab or an overeating fest. Make it a celebration of the coming of The Lord to our Earth.Take Nothing For GrantedWe never know when a meeting will be the last time we enjoy the company of others. Life is fleeting and we won't have endless opportunities to love those in our own family. How surprised we all were when my brother died unexpectedly at 46-years-old. Hug everyone like you understand just how precious and fragile is life. Make sure all of your flesh and blood know just how much you care about them.Thank YouThanks to all who made this a very fun year for me. Getting into the author/book business has been a life-long dream. You made that possible. It may seem like a small thing to buy a $15 book, but to authors, it is an affirmation that we may be on the right track. For those of us who dream of loving God through writing, it means the world. Keep praying for me, and I will do the same for you. May all your dreams of helping others come true in 2018.

All is Calm; All is Bright

If you are like me, sometimes you don't feel like the brightest bulb in the pack. Today, I made a whopper of a mistake. It is so big and dumb, I'm not even going to tell you about it. Well, maybe if you read to the end, I might tell you. Every year, the holidays hold certain challenges. My church life remains deeply embedded in Virginia. My family spends most of their time in Ohio. It could be stressful, deciding whether to travel and be with family or stay here and fully participate in the great things that church life has to offer for Christmas. As usual, I'm splitting the baby and doing both. To reduce stress for myself, I'm going to Ohio next week and returning a full two weeks before the big day. My loving sister and other dear relatives have consented to a family dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant. To make sure the younger set knows I'm not doing this solely to avoid buying presents, I've already bought gifts for the few children left in the gift exchange and they are being shipped to the parents to hold until their Christmas family gift-giving. So, why am I telling you all this? Within each of us rests the possibility of planning and doing our best to execute a Christmas with less stress. We can point our families to materialism and frenetic running around or we can embrace a calmer, saner Christmas. My Church has a manger build activity this Saturday and a Christmas choir for Christmas Eve. I'm excited that I've been able to plan around these activities and still honor my family in Ohio. Knowing me, this and a couple of Christmas concerts I plan to attend are about all the activities that I need to feel the Spirit of the season. The rest of the time, I plan to write and to concentrate on God's message of love for all of us: Jesus. "8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:8-14) In light of God's Gift, who cares about my mistake? It really doesn't matter.