Something to learn from Pedro

What’s kitschy, glitzy and promoted by 175 giant billboards for hundreds of miles along Interstate 95? Billboards like the one with a huge sausage that reads: “You never sausage a place! (You’re always a wiener at Pedro’s!)”. Every redneck in North and South Carolina ears just stood straight up!

Yep, South of the Border, in Dillon, S.C., a 350-acre roadside attraction with shops, restaurants, and some really odd concrete statues, including a collection of iconic Pedros, the extravagantly stereotypical Mexican bandito cartoon mascot. It’s highway Americana at its best, and if you’re driving I-95, you can’t miss it. But just to make sure, the billboards appear from the Virginia-North Carolina border to the South Carolina-Georgia border.

As intriguing as it sounds, South of the Border is not generally thought of as a destination by itself. Millions of people have stopped there for food, gas, bathroom breaks or just to air the kids out. And millions of others have passed right by, wide-eyed and shaking their heads in wonder. A $40 million enterprise not a destination? No, for you see, once you’ve gone there once, you’ll most likely never go back! It’s cheesy, cheap, and awkward all at the same time, and no one has reason or desire ever to return. Despite the bookoos of money spent on advertisement, Pedro can only get “first time” business.

I have learned something from Pedro…

Though his product may be good, his presentation is cheap!

Presentation is paramount!

You apply. Personal? Business? Church?

I’m just wondering (this could be dangerous; hold on), what could happen if we all really paid specific detail to the quality of our presentation. Not our product… the presentation. As Christians, we know who and what we represent (our product), and know that it doesn’t get any better than Jesus Christ and a Life in Him, but how is our presentation of Him to others?

Just like Ol’ Pedro at South of the Border, we spend thousands of dollars in “First Class” advertisement like websites, banners, touchpoint cards, billboards, etc… We got to make it count!

Our Guest is Priority! Our Presentation is Paramount… In our smiles… in our appearance… in our welcome... in our worship… in our preaching… in our altars… in our bible studies… in our fellowship… in everything! First class… all the time.

Dare to Care

We need other people! More important, however, if we are true disciples of Jesus Christ, people need us.

Many people in our world need us far more than we may realize. Reaching out and interacting with others follows acknowledgement, acceptance, and positive feelings about oneself and lifestyle. Love and acceptance of ourselves free us to love and accept those with whom we make contact.

Communication and Sharing

Two words are sometimes used rather loosely—communication and sharing. Is communication merely the dissemination of data? Is sharing only giving that which we have to spare?

Authentic communication is more than meaningless rhetoric. It is the exchange or transfer of information, ideas or opinions, whether verbally or otherwise. True communication is more than mere words or deeds exchanged for the sake of making token gestures. Communication has the potential of meeting mutual needs. It is a matter of sharing with one another.

Sharing is giving more than that which is convenient. It is supplying whatever is needed in any given situation.

Real communication is achieved when both parties understand and are understood. Real sharing is taking of our resources and meeting the need with the solution.

Sympathy and Empathy

There is a vast difference between sympathy and empathy. It is one thing to recognize a man’s plight; it is quite another matter to feel his desperation and pain and be moved to action to alleviate the distress, even at personal expense.

Only when we feel the hopelessness and utter despair of a hell-bound man or woman can we reach and touch the world for Jesus Christ.

A World of Searchers

It is common for all people of the world to search for a meaningful, fulfilling life. While searching, however, many people are filled with anxiety and confusion. Even Christians sometimes experience frustration, wanting to make all the right choices but having their vision blurred by the dazzling display of life’s unlimited opportunities.

Modern society, with its unending stream of possibilities for success, pressures people to hop aboard the “merry-go-round” of life. What happens? They spend their time, energy, and money on the very things that will rob them of fulfillment.

The Great Paradox

Through denying self, we obtain fulfillment. Through losing, we win. To live, we must die. To have, we must give.

So it is with caring. We can only become all God wants us to be as we assist others. Christians receive great benefits by expressing concern for others; self-esteem is elevated, we attract others who will care for us, and our society is improved.

Preparing to Care

In order to effectively care for others, we need to learn ten “caring skills.”

- Listen and observe.

- Be selective.

- Share.

- Be candid.

- Express joy or pleasure.

- Be patient.

- Counsel.

- Be interested in others.

- Take risks.

- Refrain from carelessness.

Dare to Care

The need for change is clearly visible. Materialism and self-centeredness do not provide joy. Only by daring to care can we find true joy.

As Christians, we may determine in our hearts today to greet our world with arms wide open. What treasures we will hold as we help one another!

RESOLVE2011

Resolve- A verb! (THAT MEANS ACTION), to come to a definite or earnest decision about; to determine!!

It’s that time again. The New Year is here, and as we look back at all we set out to accomplish in the past 365 days we also look forward and begin creating resolutions and goals for the year ahead.

Unfortunately, very often our resolutions list looks very similar to last year’s. In fact, although I don’t know the exact statistics, it is likely the percentage of New Year’s resolutions that are actually achieved each year is unbearably low.

Still, every January we try and try again to get our lives back on course in whatever direction we want to head. After enough failed resolutions, it could be enough to keep us from creating any new lists at all! However, I want to challenge and encourage you to not only make your resolutions for 2011, but also discover ways to achieve your goals this year and for years to come. Know this, Success is never an accident! You have to have a dream, goals, game plans, and hard work!

Make a Realistic Resolution List

It’s very important to make a Realistic Resolution List; write them down and make a conscious effort to change some things in your life, take some time to evaluate where you are and where you want to be. For this list, determine some realistic accomplishments you could pursue in the year ahead, and then underneath each list item make another list of the realistic steps it will take to get there.

Once we break down our resolutions into realistic steps, it becomes much easier to begin expecting them to come to fruition. I can now look at my desire to pursue my interests in a more promising light, and this motivates me to move beyond the list into actually taking the steps toward my goal.

Try it yourself. Do it! Start with one, and then move on into the list of realistic resolutions you will set out to achieve this year.

Make a Dare to Dream List

After you’ve finished your list of realistic goals, why not take it a step further and create a similar list of your dream goals? These are the things you don’t really consider becoming reality, but if you could have a wish or two you would love to see them happen. I have learned that when I stop considering something impossible or unrealistic, it often moves into the realm of possibilities and reality.

By making your Dare To Dream List you open the door to the potential of your dreams coming true, rather than watching them from a distance as they gather dust on a shelf. Be sure to follow the same format as your Realistic Resolutions List, providing steps that you could take toward reaching your dreams. Be prepared–you might actually see your dreams become reality.

The Jeff Cecil Dream List: Get my PLS, Get a promotion into the office (so, I’ll never travel again on a weekly basis), thus, committing more time for God, class, church, and others, make more money, pay off debt, Build our house, and ultimately, RETIRE and travel the world helping others!... A DARE TO DREAM LIST! Make it!

Don’t Sweat the Calendar

In this third point lies the key to this whole thing. The most important element to accomplishing this year’s and all of your future resolutions is to not give them an expiration date. If you need a due date in order to maintain your motivation on certain tasks, then by all means, go ahead and set them. However, I would highly recommend a reevaluation of the importance of setting a due date, and instead seek other incentives that will keep you moving forward. I have found that when I stop looking at the calendar for my start and end dates of my dreams and goals for my life, they no longer possess the unnecessary pressure of time and I am refreshingly free to make my way toward their success unfettered.

Think about it. Why do we choose the beginning of each year to evaluate our lives and set our course for the next 365 days? Why do we reach the end of the year and take stock on how far (or how little) we’ve come?

I suggest instead of letting our beginnings and endings be dictated by the calendar we should allow our lives to flow from day to day, year to year without a beginning or an ending to each one. Each day is full of potential and possibilities, and so is the next one. So why proclaim a success or failure based on which day it dwells in? We simply need to please God, number uno, and ourselves second!!! Nothing else matters!

My recommendation is to let this be the last year-end resolution list you ever create. Instead, let your list be ongoing, adding to it as another goal or dream arises in your life, and checking off your accomplishments as they happen, whether within this year or the next. Stop sweating the calendar and letting it dictate the rises and falls of your existence. You will find that, if given the freedom to come to fruition within their own natural progression of events, your resolutions will become your successes and your dreams will become your reality.

Now… Go Work Hard!

Your Thoughts

So what now? Will you take my advice and move away from this year-end tradition and into a more organic and free-flowing approach to setting and achieving your goals?

Will you choose and do what YOU feel is the right direction for your life? Will you choose and do what GOD feels is the right direction for your life? What are you doing to get there? Are these your dreams and ambitions or someone else’s? Will you be pleased with yourself and happy when you accomplish these dreams? Will God?

I wish you much success in accomplishing your dreams that lie ahead, regardless of whatever approach you choose to embrace.

No Thanks

In 2006, National Public Radio stated that writing a handwritten note is still the best way to send a thank you. But do this "Thankless Generation" people do it? Sandra E. Lamb writes in her book "How to Write It", “We write 75 to 80 percent fewer thank you notes, appreciation notes, congratulation notes, thinking-about-you notes, and just-a-note notes than our grandmothers did.” Often, the problem is not the ability to send a thank you message, but our own sense of duty to be thankful. Thankfulness is not cultivated in our society. Professors and pastors who open new vistas of thought and imagination to us, who inspire us with their passion, are too often overlooked except for the occasional moment where we feel compelled to say something. Friends share time and effort, lend money and rides, yet are often overlooked.

When you see the progression of what occurs when you are unthankful, you would think people would begin countering it, yet we always hear how busy everyone is instead, or “I meant to.” You can divide thankfulness into three levels:

Level One—Appreciation

This is usually a feeling that spurs some type of positive action.

John 6:11 tells us, “And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.” Here Jesus is modeling that we should be thankful for the food that we partake of—it isn’t just a given that we will have food, or shelter, or clothes, or a church family, or friends . . .

Level Two—Gratitude

This is generally something nice you do for someone who may not specifically deserve it, but the overall situation is such that it’s still deserved.

II Samuel 9:7 tells us, “And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land.” Saul, David’s worst enemy in the world, was also the father of Jonathan, his best friend in the world. As a show of gratitude for this friendship, David found Jonathan’s son, who had been hidden away, and brought him to the palace and gave him special treatment. David looked past what Saul had done to him and allowed a relative, a man who could start a rebellion by claiming that he deserved to be king, to live. By this gesture he knew there was nothing that the house of Saul could do to repay him.

Level Three—Thanksgiving

This is a spiritual condition that is exemplified as a form of worship, acknowledging divine blessing no matter your condition.

Genesis 8:20-21 tells us, “And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.” God had just wiped out mankind in a flood. Only Noah and his family survived. Upon leaving the ark, Noah built an altar and gave offerings to the Lord. As a result, God made an eternal promise to mankind for him that the rainbow would remain a promise that the earth would never be flooded again. God finds favor in those who show their thanks as a form of worship. This thanks that Noah offered up went beyond a mere gesture, it was an all-consuming heartfelt acknowledgment of who provided everything for him and his family. If Noah represented the attitude many have today, he would have gotten off the ark a little upset with God, asking, “Why did you leave us in there for that long?” “Why did you make me work so hard on the ark with all those stinking animals?” “Whatever happens now isn’t my fault, it’s yours because you did all this!” Instead, Noah had a heart of worship that acknowledged God’s being as everything to him—and God relished this spirit of worship.

Your thankfulness as worship bypasses the current situation, what the situation looks like, and it bypasses your current feelings—your thankfulness as worship is consistent.

Living in our society today makes it hard to be thankful. You are consistently encouraged to fight for yourself, promote yourself, and exalt your accomplishments. This type of attitude can permeate your very being, yet as a Spirit-filled Christian you can overcome this attitude with thankfulness.

The more you develop a spirit of thanksgiving, the more you realize that thankfulness is an attitude that must be cultivated every day.

2010 TOP Christmas Toy Drive Kick-off

"Giving, with no strings attached, to those that are truly in need".
Nov. 21- Dec. 15, 2010

Courage

Deuteronomy 31:6

“Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who is going with you. He will not fail you or abandon you"!

A quick search of the Bible and we will see over and over where the people of God were told to “Be strong and courageous!” Courage has been defined by many notable men and women throughout history as the principle quality that we build the rest of our lives on. Courage is the kindling for the fire of faith to ignite upon.

“Courage is the first of the human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all the others”. -Winston Churchill

We live in a time when the voice of courage in many are being magnified, and amplified, only to be dismantled and cast away. To say that this has no effect on the voices of us all would be errant. Knowing that we have a responsibility to a loving God we must not let our voices or our actions become small in our own minds. It is up to us to create moments of courage in our life. These big moments are so important because they fuel commitment.

My company was recently making some changes in the areas in which we worked. I knew then that I had an opportunity, a chance to be courageous. I really enjoyed a particular part of town that I worked in and I really didn’t want to be moved out of there. The moment was up to me, I had to go in to the head managers’ office and make my demands. Not really. I did realize however, at this moment, the only one who was going to speak for me, was me. So, after a quick prayer asking for favor from God, I made my first step. It was not that my boss was unapproachable or unfriendly; it was just uncomfortable to think I was going to go confront him. I sat down and told him my request, that I wanted these two areas of town to work in, his reply, “I don’t see a problem with that.” So simple, and so relieving. I got what I wanted, unselfishly and courageously. This small situation gives me confidence when I know I need to be courageous in other situations, asking to pray for someone, or telling them about the power of God. I don’t want my heart to be silent, or my voice. If the fire will ever keep burning in our lives, we must continually add to it with acts of courage. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear”. -Ambrose Redmoon

By: Patrick Woodrum