Can I have two minutes of your time? Friendships are a fantastic part of life’s journey and I’m fortunate to have so many wonderful friends. However, friendships at the job can be tricky especially when your role or theirs has changed. Allow me to share a few tips on navigating difficult friendships at the JOB.

Can I Have Two Minutes of Your Time? The thought of speaking to a small or large group of people usually conjures up all kinds of fears and anxieties. In fact, I have read reports that indicate public speaking is the number fear of many Americans. Allow me to share a few tips with you on how to manage this fear. In this fashion you will be ready to make that big announcement at the reception or ace that briefing for the project you are working on or maybe nail the next interview.  Don’t sweat it, I’ve got you covered.1. 

Over 70% percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96% of all Earth's water.  Americans spend more than $11 billion on bottled water per year. That being said, there are times when water will not quench your thirst and you thirst for something more than water.

In today’s world where it seems like any and everything goes, we see tragedies after tragedies unfolding on a never-ending news cycle. Where the word compromise is viewed as a weakness instead of cooperation. When minor family differences are hashed out on social media for the world to see. Where the student loans crisis has hit the $1.5 trillion mark and the cost of a college education continues to rise. Where the gap between the have and have not keeps ever widening. When the suicide rate it is record high. Where veterans are not getting the care, they need, and some are dying in the waiting room. Where incarceration is preferred over rehabilitation. I want you to know that there is still hope for the hopeless.

In Today’s sermon we find Joshua with a promotion and dealing with grief not to mention all of the people that Joshua finds himself in charge of. So, today’s sermon finds us at a time of change. Change can and does bring on uncertainty. And many of us see the new year we see it as opportunity for change, something new or different direction. But no doubt there will be challenges for tomorrow, but the quintessential question is how will you and I face tomorrow? I believe that it will take courage to overcome any and all adversities.

I’m an adult now and no one is going to tell me what to do. As a child I often dreaded hearing the words “Because I said so”. But these words mean something different when we are dealing with adversities.

As I was wrestling with a subject to place on today’s sermon, I went through several iterations including titles like “Take Care of the 1% “but I recognize that in today’s politically charged environment that may not come across in the way I intended. I Also thought about saying “99% is not enough” but in the land academia 99% will get you a good grade that most if not all of us would be completely satisfied to live with. So, it is not my intention that any of us leave here today thinking that 99% is good enough. And so, I settled on a subject that can or should call us to action and that is “Don’t forget the 1%”.

With so many nuggets of relevant and pertinent information I found myself with a challenge of just where to focus for a few minutes. In praying and seeking God’s guidance I felt led to focus in on just four verses that offer three aspects of Christian living, which I believe is for the three dimension of time, yesterday, today and tomorrow, it’s for three categories of people you, me and everyone else. With that as the backdrop the subject for today’s sermon if the three keep aspects for Christian living.

My friend there are at least three times that we need to pray, before something happens, while something is happening and after something has happened. While there are three times, we need to pray it has been my experience that most of us who do pray, pray the most when something is happening at that moment in our lives.  Are you current in prayer life?

Prayer, it is a weapon that the adversary has no defense against. Prayer can travel any distant, overcome any language barrier, defeat doubt, lift souls, move mountain, raise the dead, protect singleness, heal a divorcee and fix a broken marriage and restore friendships. Can I get an Amen?