C.H.I. reading
What Are You Prepared to Do?
a CHI Essay
What’s the most important thing you can do with the short time you have on this Earth?
Introduction:
1. I became a Christian during the summer between 6th and 7th grade during my time on a church flag football league.
2. Not much church during high school, parents didn’t go to church.
3. Began going back to Church during college,
4. I was a State Park Ranger for 15 years. I’ve seen all types of good and all types of bad horrible things. Saw very good rangers and some very bad peace officers… at that time I came up w/ “CHI”.
Drugs, alcohol, child abuse, spousal abuse, car accidents, illegal aliens dying etc. etc. Wanted to be a ranger because I wanted to help people. But still left an empty feeling. God was speaking but I wasn’t listening… I wasn’t prepared to do what I was asked to do… I was hurt … 5150 story… still wasn’t ready to listen!! Wife gets a boyfriend & moved out, leaving me and the two kids…. Still didn’t stop to listen My Dad’s cancer was in remission for 5 years but comes back and he dies in less than 6 months; still too busy to listen. Lose my job, lose my wife, lose my paycheck, lose my house and basically everything we owned.
Every time God closed a door, I refused to accept it and forced that door open … only to get it slammed in my face again!! Finally after a great deal of prayer, my pastor told me to “STOP”, “SIT” “PRAY” and “LISTEN”. He told me about:
James 1:4 - "So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything."
He also told me to take the time to hear what God is telling me, I gave up and couldn’t do it by myself. Cory told me to lift these burdens up off of my shoulders and to lift them up to the Lord.
James 1:22 - "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
I realized that God was closing these doors and that He was leading me somewhere else. This is when I realized He was leading me into teaching … at a Christian School … …. At MVCJH: I was now prepared to do what needed to be done… I know that God wants me here!!!
1 Thessalonians 5:14 - "And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
What’s the most important thing you can do with the short time you have on this Earth? Obviously… to accept Jesus as your absolute lord and savior. Most of you have already done that at this time… I hope… BUT NOW WHAT? … Is that enough?… I don’t think so.
How many have seen “Saving Private Ryan”?… At the end of the movie… Tom Hanks lies mortally wounded after seeing most of his eight men killed all trying to save this one man… reaches up, grabs Private Ryan and says, “Earn this!” Then drops his head and dies… You must live the rest of your life striving to “Earn this” but as you and I both know… we will never “Earn This”. It comes through His grace towards us… a lot like slurpees at lunch… We will never be able to “Earn” our salvation… but we can develop a life style that will demonstrate to others our Christian Character and Integrity. We can go out and preach the gospel and convert the masses…. Not me, couldn’t do that… I’d love to be able to but that’s not for everyone… We could sing praises to the Lord…. Nope, not me… music and I don’t often collide in the same sentence… Maybe through CHI?
What’s “CHARACTER” - The combined moral and ethical structure of a person. Moral and ethical strength. Quote 1: Character is what you are in the dark. Quote 2: Every person has three characters: that which he shows, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has. Quote 3: The measure of a person's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be caught.
What’s “HONOR” - A code of dignity, and pride. Personal honesty maintained without legal or other obligation. Quote: The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.
What’s “INTEGRITY” - Rigid adherence to a code or standard of values. Quote. Few men have the integrity to withstand the highest bidder. (George Washington)
Maybe you could develop a lifestyle where your Character, your individual Honor Code and your Integrity will help you be the better person… the person someone in a crowd will see and say “ Wow, what a nice person. I’ll bet (s)he’s a Christian. I’d like to be like that!”
Story 1: Watching an “Andy Griffith” episode w/ dual plots… Rich kid speeding thru town crashes into someone and is arrested by the sheriff. Opie playing baseball, breaks a neighbors window and he is torn between lying about it, he knows he could get away w/ it but decides to tell his dad… dad thanks him for his honesty but still makes him pay for the window… Opie takes the punishment and goes on… rich kid tells Andy that he’s too hard on his son… Rich kid’s Dad’s lawyer shows up, has paid off the guy the kid crashed into and convinces him to lie to Andy… The lawyer will do anything to get the rich kid off…. Finally the rich kid says no! Stands up for what’s right and “Pays for his window”
Another Lawyer story: A man commits three very bad crimes and gets away w/ it. His conscious gets the best of him and he confess to the crimes, turns himself in to the police. He repents and asks God’s forgiveness. The company he works for hires him a very expensive lawyer who’s only thought is to do what ever it takes to get his client off, to him, the lawyer, that’s what it means to be a “Good Lawyer”… the company told the lawyer to say the man was “insane” when he committed the crimes. The man isn’t insane; he simply knows that he has to accept responsibility for his actions and go to jail for his punishment… BUT after hours of talking w/ the man the lawyer isn’t so sure says” People think it’s hard to do the right thing. The man replies, “ It’s not hard to do the right thing… It’s hard to know what the right thing is… once you know what’s right… it’s hard not to do it.” If you live you’re life with “CHI” it’s much easier to know what’s right and as a result… doing the right thing, the Christian Thing” soon becomes natural.
What Are You Prepared to Do?