If your friends suck, maybe it’s you that sucks and they’re all awesome

Having friends can make all the difference in the world.

There have been scientific facts of what having friends in our lives can do for us.  Lower blood pressure, higher happiness in life and other things you can find out if you go to the Mayo Clinic website.  It’s nice to have great friends.

Friends came through for Paul in Acts 27:3…

“The next day we landed at Sidon; and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for  his needs.”

As Paul was sailing as a jailed prisoner, he was able to go see his friends to meet for his needs.  Friends can meet a need in our lives.  Friends can make a huge difference in the lives of others.  Sometimes though, we are not the best friends.  We think of our own thoughts and wants above others.

There was a time I thought I was really good friends with someone else.  We were talking online one time and I noticed the conversation was all about him (This isn’t always a bad thing). So I kept talking and saw if he would swing the conversation around, her never did. We were decent friends, but I realized the majority of the time we just talked about what he wanted to do.

Finally I decided to stop calling him and saw if he contacted me back. He never did. As a result, we went our separate ways. There are times I have not been a good friend and need to work on it. A good friend can make all the difference in the world.

I am glad to be surrounded by so many loving people.  There are things I need to do to be a better friend. What are something’s you like in a friend? What are things you can improve on to be a better friend? Are you a friend that can meet other’s needs? If not, you can improve and help someone out in a tough time. Try to work on being a better friend today.

Have a great day.

Opinions can be good

Arm chair quarterback, columnist, talk radio and so many more can be known for giving their opinions.

Facebook can be funny because of all the funny things people can say or do.

I would say the same goes to Pinterest and they can crack me up.

One recently suggested that “Pinterest was created by a group of men who are tricking women everywhere into cooking, cleaning and working out.”

Cracked me up.

Opinions.

Opinions can be taken as a bad thing, like unwanted advice.

We can take some Opinions in a bad way.

Are there times when opinions are good?

Sometimes opinions can change our mind to do something better or give us a better idea.

I had knee trouble for a long time.

I went to a specialist and he told me there was nothing he could do, I had a problem with my knee that couldn’t be fixed.

I was down, but Hailee worked with a friend who used another doctor in town and got me in to see them.

They told me something was wrong with my knee and they think they could fix it.

I trusted their opinion and got the surgery.

Best decision ever.

Sometimes listening to others opinions can be a good thing.

Paul was on trial and people brought false witnesses and told the judge wrong things.

That judge didn’t think he did anything wrong but sent him for a second opinion (Governor Felix), but first he stated his, this is some of the letter written to Felix…

“I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment.”

Getting a second opinion to make sure you make the right call.

Paul’s life was on the line and while their might have been other motives for not naming him innocent rather than sending him to Felix, he got a second opinion when a man’s life was on the line accused of things he didn’t do.”

Opinions can help.

Opinions are not always evil.

They can help give a great perspective.

They gave a great perspective on Paul and how he did nothing wrong.

Opinions can be helpful even if we are stubborn.

How has listening to another person’s opinion helped you out?

I loved my second opinion about my knees.

They are great and improved drastically since the surgery.

Don’t just automatically ignore another’s opinion.

Think about it, it might help you out even if it’s not what you want to hear.

Have a great day.

Why haven’t the Lions won a Super Bowl and why did Peyton Manning have to leave?

Anybody that knows me knows I am a Lions fan through it all.

Through the good times and the bad.

It’s too bad it’s a lot of bad, but we show signs of improvement.

When people ask, why haven’t they won a Super Bowl yet, you could list numerous things.

Lack of talent, hiring awful coaches, making Matt Millen president and the list can go on and on.

Just like with Peyton Manning leaving the Colts.

Many different things that led to that happening.

Sometimes we find out things as they happen, other times we have no clue and we just guess.

Sometimes this happens in more serious situations then in a sports game.

People get wrapped into things like riots and such based off pretty pointless things.

This happened as people rioted after MSU lost a basketball game.

People were expelled for some of their actions in the riots.

Bad things can happen and people can be involved in them for the wrong reasons.

This happened to Paul in the Bible.

A group of people didn’t like Paul and the result ended up getting a group of people together and were beating him, trying to kill him.

Soldiers were called into handle the situation.

Once they were able to get through the crowd and get to Paul they arrested him and ask what was going on and why was this man being beat.

Acts 21:34…

“Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.”

Why was Paul being beat?

They couldn’t get the same answer.

Some didn’t even know why this get started and yet they were beating him.

It’s amazing how some things happen when not everyone knows why they are happening.

Ever feel like that happens in life?

People respond to things and have no clue what the full story is?

How gossip can overtake people is sad.

Bad things happen in our lives all because people react before hearing the full story.

We are people that like to be quick to react long before we listen.

How can we change for the better?

People were beating Paul without have the reason why he started to get beat.

James 1:19…

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Lives could be changed if we did this.

Do you think you are react before you listen?

Imagine the difference we could make in this world if we just listened first.

Do you think the world and our lives would improve if we listened to the whole story?

Have a great day.

Details

A breakdown in details can be huge.

Hailee and I were driving from Mt. Pleasant to Lansing. 

There is a stretch that goes from 70-55 mph.

Usually nobody slows down.

I was driving along with the speed of traffic when Hailee said, “It’s hot.”

So me being the great husband that I am, rolled down the window on her side.

She gave me a puzzled look and said, “Why did you roll down the window?”

I told her she said it was hot.

She told me, “I said look cop not it’s hot!”

I did not get pulled over, but we had a good laugh about it.

Attention to detail can come back and bite us sometimes.

When I am explaining a story or letting Hailee know about something, she tells me to go in better detail.

I can answer her very short in words like: fine, alright, good, cool.

She doesn’t get the necessary details then.

Details matter.

After Jesus died, they gave details to explain what happened after. 

While reading through this, you could think, this has no value but it is really key.

In John 19:38-42 they explain how Jesus was buried.

One of the details they gave in verse 39…

“He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.  Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.”

The first he they were talking about was Joseph of Arimathea.

This story matters because people claimed that Jesus didn’t die on the cross or that his body was

stolen.

This gave the detail necessary to prove those who believe that wrong.

There were two people that buried Jesus right here, they went to proper authorities and got him all setup in a tomb.

Details matter.

We know that Jesus died on the cross and was buried where they said he was because of the witness of these people.

I need to listen to my wife so I can know when a cop is coming and so I know what’s going on in life.

We need to be able as faithful people to explain what we believe to other people.

The death of Jesus is an area we need to have great understanding in.

We need to pay attention in faith and life.

What do you need to pay greater attention too?

Have a great day.