Common Sense Reborn

June 4

³¹To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  (John 8:31-32, The Jesus Bible)

Many Blessings to you all on the first Sunday of June.  I do not have much time, but I had to sit down and share some truth with y’all today, and as Jesus pointed out nearly 2,000 years ago, once you know the truth, the truth will set you free.

I had the absolute privilege to listen to a forty-five minute motivational message from Dr. David Anderson as part of our Yellow-Ribbon pre-deployment event yesterday afternoon.  Dr. Anderson runs a faith-based, personal development program (called “Impacting People”) that can be found by clicking here.  He was a very powerful speaker and he definitely motivated me to be a more present leader at work, at home, and every chance I get.  Part of Dr. Anderson’s teaching is his podcast, Red Truck Marriage, and his main message to strengthen marriages:  better communication.  While Dr. Anderson was an energetic, engaging speaker, what really made me key in on his speaking was that as he was laying out his message, while speaking to a room full of soldiers preparing to deploy in a few months, Dr. Anderson stated “I once read somewhere there is ‘no greater love than those who are willing to lay down their life for their friends’”.

I found this humorous because, I, too, have once read that quote, in a pretty popular book known as the Holy Bible, and I had just shared those verses in my last post.  Well, Dr. Anderson then dropped another little hint of where he was subtly steering his message to when he later said “I once read somewhere that the truth will set you free.”  While Dr. Anderson was doing his best not to make his motivational speech a sermon, because he can not offend anyone by focusing on one particular “faith” since this room full of soldiers may have had every type of religion represented in that building; near the end of his speech, Dr. Anderson did share his spiritual beliefs.  During this part of his talk, he stated that he believed we are all created by a higher power that he called “The Great Author”, who “allows us to co-write our own story”.  And later Dr. Anderson reminded the room that “the one that made you said you are a masterpiece”.

So for today, on Sunday, the day we Christians should be setting aside as our Sabbath, as our day of worship and praise, I invite you to remember these two truths:

1.  The One who made you said you are a masterpiece.  And you are. A beautiful, perfect masterpiece designed for greatness.
2. You are part of the most incredible story ever written, and it is still being authored.  You can not control everything that happens in your life, but you can control your thoughts and attitudes in how your story plays out each and every day.  The pen is in your hand, what story are you going to write in this season of your life?

Fill your day with praise and worship.  Crack open that Bible and dive in.  Attend church today, or watch your favorite pastor online.  We were created for greatness by a loving Father who wants to see us all love one another and lift each other up.  For all that God has created for us, for the love Jesus had for all mankind, let everything that has breath praise Him.