The Trophy Room

As a youngster I never received a trophy. I never got involved in school sports, so that could be a good reason for it I'm sure.
Nevertheless; always enjoyed watching my home team (The Yankees) win. Found it exciting to see them get that beautiful trophy, while someone also got the MVP trophy for that season.
Stock car racing was another sport I followed for a while and like wise, enjoyed to see my favorite racing hero's like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart, or Al Unser get that amazing trophy.
I have always wondered how it must be to enter the Trophy Room of some of these great sports hero's like:
 Derek Jeter, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhart, Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Chris Everett, and so many others. If it were me, I am sure I would be re-visiting my trophy room very often, for it would motivate me for my next victory.
I am sure that they always had room for more trophies to come.

When I read of Bible hero's like David, the Bible doesn't tell us that he had a trophy room. Yet, I can only imagine how David's trophy room would have looked like if he had one.
The walls would have the heads of the beasts he killed while protecting his flock of sheeps.
The Bible tells us in 1st Samuel the following:
1 Samuel 17:33-35 (NKJV) ³³ And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
³⁴ But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock,
³⁵ I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. 


It was as if David took Saul on a field trip to his "trophy room" and said, "King Saul, come into my trophy room and I will show you all my trophies" Here is the head of a lion, the head of a bear, the head of this other beast, and if you look closely, you will see an empty slot. This empty slot is for my next trophy. This next trophy will be handed to me by no other then the King of kings, the Lord of lords. It's just a matter of time when the head of Goliath will be hanging in my trophy room.
David was sure that the same God that gave him the previous victories, was going to give him a new victory.
David did not see Goliath as a challenge to big to hit, but as a target too big to miss.
David Got his new trophy!!!!
1 Samuel 17:54 (NKJV) ⁵⁴ And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

Like most people I myself have encountered several difficult situations in my personal life. I call them my personal giants.
Like David, I have had some "Saul's" tell me, "you are not prepared, you are not equipped, or you might need someone else to take care of that for you.
I decided to enter into God's presence and while there I have felt in my heart God promting me to re-visit my trophy room. The trophy room that has all previous victories.

                                      

I discover while in the trophy room that I had more trophies then I thought.
A trophy when he healed me from cancer back in 1985, when doctors said I had only six month to live.
There was a  trophy in the shape of a car when God supplied me with a car when my finances told me I couldn't afford it.
A trophy in a shape of a check when I was broke, and under financial stress, and He came through for me.
I realize while there in the trophy room that I have so much room for more trophies.
As I came out of the trophy room, I notice I wasn't feeling that defeated any more.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that the same God that gave David his trophies, and gave me my past trophies, will also give me the upcoming victories.
While in my trophy room I made room for my future trophies. I realize I am not a victim, but a "victor"

Maybe you should take a trip into your trophy room, and see all the trophies, and victories God has given you in the past. You will also see those empty slots for your upcoming victories.
Let's go win some trophies today!!!!
God bless
 

Lets Communicate

                                                                
Welcome to JR's Corner. 

                                       Disconnected??

 We live in a great world advanced in technology. As we all know, we are able to communicate via emails, texting, Face Book, Twitter, Skype, Pinterest, oh yes and the cell phones. It almost feels awkward calling a phone a phone. They seem more like hand held laptops.
In spite of a rise in our communication world, many times we fail to connect. Yes, there is a difference between communication and connecting.
Verizon couldn't put it in better words when they came up with the famous slogan, "Can you hear me now?"

Not connecting or getting disconnected is not fun. Have you ever been in an important call, or just an interesting one and all of a sudden you realize the other party is not there? How long were you talking to yourself? Will you be able to pick up where you left?
"Dropped calls...Not fun!!"
Of course disconnectimg doesn't only occur over the phone.
I have experience being in a conversation with someone and somewhere in the middle of the conversation is when  I realize I have  disconnected.

 Apparently my topic was not important or maybe the other person had something in mind. I must have gone over his/her minutes, and since we are living in such a fast pace world we only have a "few minutes" to speak.
I'm thinking "time" can easily pull the plug and disconnect us.
In other words we are communicating  yet disconnected.

How about  when someone asked you, "how are you doing?" and just when you are about to answer, they walk away, and say, "take care, my friend." Hmmm, I guess I wasn't fast enough, or they didn't really want to know (which in many cases "it is what it is.")

I feel disconnected again!!!!                         

One would think that texting is the right way to go, right? 
After all our society has replaced a lot of the talk talk with texting.

Well maybe it's only me but it's  so frustrating and sometimes hurtful when after I send a few texts, there is...no reply!!!

How about the ones that  reply and answer questions you didn't ask. The ones that puzzle you by answering one of the 3 questions you asked.
I am communicating, but again I am disconnected.

I'm thinking this could be one of the reasons why in a world of "high tech" communications so many feel disconnected.
So many feel alone, depressed, and with no one that would listen, or really care. 

Yes, we can turn to Face Book, and all those fun social networks we love so much but even there many times we feel disconnected.

I challenged myself, and challenge you to find someone to really connect with this week.
Put some "Value" into someones life. Build someone up this week.
It only takes a few minutes to make a difference in someones life.

Maybe if we all start connecting as we communicate we all can make a big difference in the lives of many.

I wake up every morning and ask God to grant me the opportunity to Connect with someone whom I would be able to make a difference in. 

Of course we must not forget that our first connection of the day should be done in "Prayer"

Isn't it great to know that when you connect with God, there is no drop calls, no miscommunication, all your questions are answered, and most importantly...He is your Best Friend Forever!!!!

God bless.


"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
                                                                    -  Helen Keller