Websters Dictionary defines faith as a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof".
If I show you a dollar in my hand, you know you can believe I have a dollar in my hand. If I hold that same dollar in my hand but keep my hand closed, you have to have faith in my word in order for you to believe me.
Faith is a very interesting thing. A lot of us have faith that we don't even know we have... and... a lot of us lose faith that we think we have.
With God, most of us have faith when times are good and we see what we seek. But, when times are bad and what we seek we do not see, we often lose, or become weak in our faith.
A young man one time had become very lost in his ways. He was an alcoholic and a drug user. He ended up getting into some trouble and his mother worked out a deal for him. He would be able to live with a young minister on the conditions that he didn't get into any trouble and on the condition that he attended the youth service every week. Try as they might, this young man never would change.
The mother of the young minister had great faith. She kept telling the minister "Look what God is doing in him" and "Look how God is changing him." The youth minister of course was baffled at this as the only thing he saw was the same lost teen who refused to change from his ways.
This pattern went on for months. The teen continued an alcoholic and outlaw and the preachers mother kept saying "Just look at how the Lord is changing him."
Many months later during a youth service, the teen was sitting as close to the exit door as he could. A youth sitting next to him turned to him and said "I need prayer". The group immediately went to the youth sitting next to the alcoholic teen. The minister placed his hand on the knee of the lost teen as he knelt down next to the other young man who had asked for prayer. In that very moment the Spirit of God struck the lost youth and right then and there, he confessed his sins, gave up alcohol, accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior and heard a calling to the ministry.
It was amazing ... no one had faith in this teen ... except for the preachers mom. You see, the preachers mom understood something that until then none of them had understood.
When you plant a crop you take a handful of seeds and throw them in the ground. You water them, and tend to the soil, but for some time, you will see no results. Although you can't see it, you know that seed is growing. When you're in the fields working and someone asks you what you're doing, you don't tell them "nothing" because you planted seeds and nothings happened, you tell them you're working the soil, waiting for your particular crop to come through.
That's how God is. Even though we don't see Him working... He is working. The preachers mother knew that. That teen never changed his ways even in the slightest, yet she kept saying "Look what God is doing" because she knew she was planting seeds and God was tending to the soil. She knew, eventually, the harvest time was coming. And when it did, it didn't just sprout a couple leaves, it erupted into a forest overflowing with life.
We plant seeds with God all the time. We ask God for this or that and when we don't see it, we just kind of lose faith in it. We need to change our mindset from having hopeful faith to having received faith.
That preachers mother knew what was coming. She never doubted it for a minute. There are things in your life that you've been praying for and because you haven't seen them, you've become discouraged. Now is the time God is telling you to start watering the seed because indeed, He is tending the soil and although you don't know when... you can guarantee your harvest is on its way.
- Matthew Q. Llewellyn
Monday, July 27, 2009
Visualization: Inspiration from Matt :-)
I was in a group interview one time and was asked an interesting question. The recruiter asked "You just arrived on scene of a mass casualty incident with 20 red (critical) patients. It's you and your partner, the supplies in your truck and bag, and what you can find around you. You have no other help available. How many people do you think you can save?"
A lot of people said they would save 3, maybe 4. One person said he probably wouldn't be able to save any because most would die during triage. Then the recruiter asked me how many I would save. Reluctantly, as I knew the response I would get, I said "All of them." The recruiter laughed for a minute and repeated what I said back to me and then said "and just how to you plan on saving all of them? That's completely unrealistic."
To which I answered ...
"When unrealistic situations become realities, it requires that unrealistic improvising become realities as well. In EMS we are taught to improvise, adapt and overcome. I'll do whatever it takes and use whatever I can find to make sure every single patient lives."
He then asked me, "And do you really believe all of them will survive?" I answered, "No one knows the future, we only know the future we visualize. When I see myself in this situation, I'm not planning for failure, I'm planning for success."
This was a lesson I learned when I was a child playing basketball at the YMCA. Some of us were having trouble putting the ball in the basket. The couch pulled us aside and said, "Guys, you can't just throw the ball and hope for the best. You have to slow down, think, and in your mind, see yourself throwing the ball and it going into the basket." Our success rate greatly improved once we mastered this.
Henry Ford said "Whether you believe you can, or can't, you are right."
Believe it or not, we all learned this as children... perhaps, we have forgotten.
A little engine worked at a train station, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a great big engine to take it over the hill. "I can't; that is too much for me," said the great engine that was built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused.
In desperation, the train asked the little engine to draw it up the mountain and down on the other side. "I think I can," puffed the little engine and it put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."
As it neared the top of the mountain, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by drawing on bravery and a belief that it could, and then went on down the other side of the mountain, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could."
Are you a little engine that can or a big engine that can't?
Our outcomes are most often based on what we visualize and what we think we can do. If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can't, you can't. And as the little train taught us, if you think you're big enough and think you can, then you will.
Think big my friends... think big.
A lot of people said they would save 3, maybe 4. One person said he probably wouldn't be able to save any because most would die during triage. Then the recruiter asked me how many I would save. Reluctantly, as I knew the response I would get, I said "All of them." The recruiter laughed for a minute and repeated what I said back to me and then said "and just how to you plan on saving all of them? That's completely unrealistic."
To which I answered ...
"When unrealistic situations become realities, it requires that unrealistic improvising become realities as well. In EMS we are taught to improvise, adapt and overcome. I'll do whatever it takes and use whatever I can find to make sure every single patient lives."
He then asked me, "And do you really believe all of them will survive?" I answered, "No one knows the future, we only know the future we visualize. When I see myself in this situation, I'm not planning for failure, I'm planning for success."
This was a lesson I learned when I was a child playing basketball at the YMCA. Some of us were having trouble putting the ball in the basket. The couch pulled us aside and said, "Guys, you can't just throw the ball and hope for the best. You have to slow down, think, and in your mind, see yourself throwing the ball and it going into the basket." Our success rate greatly improved once we mastered this.
Henry Ford said "Whether you believe you can, or can't, you are right."
Believe it or not, we all learned this as children... perhaps, we have forgotten.
A little engine worked at a train station, pulling a few cars on and off the switches. One morning it was waiting for the next call when a long train of freight-cars asked a great big engine to take it over the hill. "I can't; that is too much for me," said the great engine that was built for hard work. Then the train asked another engine, and another, only to hear excuses and be refused.
In desperation, the train asked the little engine to draw it up the mountain and down on the other side. "I think I can," puffed the little engine and it put itself in front of the great heavy train. As it went on the little engine kept bravely puffing faster and faster, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."
As it neared the top of the mountain, which had so discouraged the larger engines, it went more slowly. However, it still kept saying, "I--think--I--can, I--think--I--can." It reached the top by drawing on bravery and a belief that it could, and then went on down the other side of the mountain, congratulating itself by saying, "I thought I could, I thought I could."
Are you a little engine that can or a big engine that can't?
Our outcomes are most often based on what we visualize and what we think we can do. If you believe you can, you can. If you believe you can't, you can't. And as the little train taught us, if you think you're big enough and think you can, then you will.
Think big my friends... think big.
Two Deputies killed in Oklahoma. What should we do with the killer?
Yesterday, a human piece of garbage, who I refuse to make popular by saying his name, shot and killed two of our finest here in Oklahoma. Deputy Chase Whitebird, 23, and Deputy Marvin Williams, 43, of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, entered a residence to arrest a suspect. Upon opening the door, the suspect opened fire, striking both deputies within seconds. One Deputy died at the scene, the other died on the way to the hospital.
Since this happened I've read the story on many sites and read comment after comment, each comment offering a prayer and/or a desire to immediately kill the suspect. Since everyone else is putting in their two cents, I thought I would offer mine as well. That said, here's what I think we should do.
As much as I would love to see immediate justice, I have to stand by the right to a jury trial for this man. However, when it's a cop killer, I think we need to go the extra mile. Instead of 12 jurors, get 36 (12 x 3). This should account for his initial trial and 2 subsequent appeals. When found guilty, and I have no doubt he will be, we go old west on his butt.
One of the reasons there was little to no crime in the old west (contrary to what Hollywood depicts) is because we had something we've done away with in modern times... Public hangings.
Once found guilty, we schedule his hanging 24 hours later. He's given his day to make amends with God, have his last meal and have his attorney copy down his last wishes and desires for his affairs. (While I believe in the death penalty, I also believe in the thing that sets us apart from the ones we put to death.)
24 hours later, in front of God and everyone, we put the rope around his neck, read the charge, read the verdict, offer him last words and drop the floor out from under him. This way, every time someone thinks about killing a cop, they can remember the image of him dropping and hanging to his death.
Rest in peace fallen brothers... Go walk your beat on Heaven's street, you've done your time in hell.
Matthew Q. Llewellyn
Since this happened I've read the story on many sites and read comment after comment, each comment offering a prayer and/or a desire to immediately kill the suspect. Since everyone else is putting in their two cents, I thought I would offer mine as well. That said, here's what I think we should do.
As much as I would love to see immediate justice, I have to stand by the right to a jury trial for this man. However, when it's a cop killer, I think we need to go the extra mile. Instead of 12 jurors, get 36 (12 x 3). This should account for his initial trial and 2 subsequent appeals. When found guilty, and I have no doubt he will be, we go old west on his butt.
One of the reasons there was little to no crime in the old west (contrary to what Hollywood depicts) is because we had something we've done away with in modern times... Public hangings.
Once found guilty, we schedule his hanging 24 hours later. He's given his day to make amends with God, have his last meal and have his attorney copy down his last wishes and desires for his affairs. (While I believe in the death penalty, I also believe in the thing that sets us apart from the ones we put to death.)
24 hours later, in front of God and everyone, we put the rope around his neck, read the charge, read the verdict, offer him last words and drop the floor out from under him. This way, every time someone thinks about killing a cop, they can remember the image of him dropping and hanging to his death.
Rest in peace fallen brothers... Go walk your beat on Heaven's street, you've done your time in hell.
Matthew Q. Llewellyn
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