When Did Everything Change?

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

Allow me an off week here. I love the fall season, it is my favorite. It is a time of change. For a long time it represented a new beginning for me. Growing up there was always a new school year to look forward to. After I had a daughter it was her new school year each fall. School Orientations, PTA meetings....always something new. There was something about the leaves changing, the crisp cool weather, the smell of wood burning. All of these things reminded me of new beginnings. A little backward I guess...most people look at Spring as a time of renewal. This year is the biggest change of all. My daughter has left for college and is now living away from home.

For the past eighteen years we shared every weekend together. I mean we did all kinds of stuff. Weekends were our special time. Her mom and I separated in 1998 and I had custody for the weekends. That time was special. Even in high school when we adjusted the schedule so she could have social activities we still had great weekends. Even after I remarried and got a wonderful step-daughter we still had those special weekends. There were many times that we were doing our own separate things but it was still special just being together. Now all of a sudden she is gone.

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WWW ~ (World Wide Worship)

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

" As it is, there are many parts, but one body."  1 Corinthians 12:20

Having been out on the country several times on mission trips or sponsor tours I have come to appreciate the fact that no matter where you go when you are with believers there is an incredible sense of fellowship and Spirit. My first journey was to Mexico in 1998 travelling with a church youth group. My fondest memory is being in San Diego right on the coast and overlooking the Pacific. There we worshipped and sang. It was an incredible experience just looking out at the vast ocean and feeling the prescience of God. I can remember singing "In the Secret" and just feeling moved by the words of that song.

In the secret, in the quiet place
In the stillness You are there.
In the secret, in the quiet hour I wait,
Only for You, 'cause I want to know You more;

Seven years later I would travel to the Dominican with another church group to work on a church in Monte Cristi. At night we slept on the roof of our home. Laying there just looking up at the stars I listened

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Down The Slide!

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

Last week the nation was transfixed by the JetBlue steward who had enough of his job and made a dramatic exit from the plane and his career. In his side of the story he got fed up with a passenger and once the plane landed he opened the emergency exit, deployed the slide and slid down into infamy. Regardless of whether his side of the story is true or not people rallied around him and cheered his actions. He became a cult hero for his actions. To many he represented the person we would like to be. The person who finally has had enough and then in a dramatic fashion tells the world and makes a difference.

I know that their are many times in my life that I would just love to do the same. Working in a customer service environment I can understand the frustration that he encountered. I can easily say that the majority of calls that I handle are by customers who are angry and want to lash out. It certainly does not matter to them if I am at fault...I represent the company therefore it is me that bears the brunt of their anger. I must admit it can be tiring at times. However I would never dream of just telling a customer off and walking out. That is too far off the spectrum for me.

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An Attitude of Gratitude

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

I must admit that sometimes I have a problem with gratitude. Often I am so consumed by the hustle and bustle of everyday life and so wrapped up in my trivial problems that I really fail to thank God for those things that I should be truly thankful for. I thought about this over the weekend and decided to make this the topic of my article. I think God was putting this on my heart with two incidents that occurred during this time period.  I had a Compassion Team meeting at my house on Saturday and several members of my team had just returned from Tanzania and had stories to share. I also started thinking about my negativity and how often my prayers are about those trivial things. I pray that the pain in my knee might be better, I pray that I might have a good sales day at work, I even pray that God will make the humidity go away. I mean really....here is God looking down on all of us and sees all the suffering that is going on through out the world and I am literally taking his time with these types of prayers. Get real! I must admit that I am really not as shallow as I am making my self sound. My prayers are often more substantial and do offer praises but how many times do we just throw those types of prayers up to Him and ask for something that really is not that important. Our attitude is too often one of wishing rather than thanking.

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Leaving (Living) A Legacy

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

My daughter leaves for college in just about a month. It is amazing how fast time really flies. It just seems like yesterday when she was born and now 18 years later she is coming into her own. This has obviously sent me reflecting and thinking about my roles and what I want to be remembered for. Was I a good father, was I there when she needed me, and did I instill the proper values into her to last a lifetime? Some of those can be easily answered while the last one won't be answered until the very end. Actually in the end when we come face to face with God we will need to look back and see what legacy we have left. It is that legacy that will define us and it will be that legacy that we will be remembered for. All of us have sinned and fallen short of what God really wants for us but it is how we lived our lives that will be reviewed. We all have our highs and lows throughout our lives. There will be things we wish we could change or things that we wish we had done better. The bottom line though I believe is what have we leave behind, not the tangible items but rather the things that we are truly remembered for.

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