Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "His greatness outshines my view of His goodness all the time." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 94. This quote can make it sound like this is a fact in my life. It sounds as though I'm saying that I always see and appreciate God's greatness more than I do His goodness. Honestly, that just isn't the case all the time. It is when the challenges of life come against me that God's greatness can take a back seat to my need to see His goodness happen in and around me. Let me explain that a bit more as it relates to living this life as a victor.  You see, God is a good God. This is a fact that is spelled out, time and time again in the Bible. In fact, I believe God's Word tells us that Satan's main objective is to get us to doubt God's goodness  in our lives? Why would the devil implement this strategy? I believe that it is because if we can't hold on to the hope that God is good, there is no use in having any belief in a God at all.  Maybe that's why being an agnostic or an atheist is such a viable alternative to faith in God. It is so easy to simply refuse to believe in a loving God when so much of what we see happening in life points to the fact that goodness can't possibly be part of this, so called, God of love. Satan has done a magnificent job of implementing his primary plan of attack when we come to doubting God's goodness.  We fall right into Satan's plan of attack when we let our circumstances be a part of defining what a good life is to look like. It is when we look to the results of those things we do as proof of who this God is in our lives that goodness becomes something that drives us away from God rather than push us toward Him.  But, then there is the issue of God's greatness. You see what gets us into trouble is thinking that God is great because God is good. Applying that kind of thinking into you life plays right into Satan's hands. God isn't great because He is good to you and to me. He is great because He is God. It is when we start to be touched by God's greatness that His goodness is so much easier to accept, even when bad times come our way.  God is great whether we are doing well in life and God is great when things take a bad turn in our lives. His goodness doesn't prove His greatness - it just helps make His greatness something easier to  believe when bad times come our way. As we mature into the kinds of victors God sees us to be, we are better able to hold onto His greatness when goodness seems to be so lacking in our lives.  For today's Bible reading I want us to consider two verses. One speaks to God's goodness. The other speaks to His greatness. Let's look at God's word together now. The first verses says.  O Lord, you are so good and kind, so ready to forgive, so full of mercy for all who ask your aid. Psalm 86:5 (TLB) How do you feel when you hear that verse? Isn't there a warmth that comes over you? Can't you just smell the goodness of God like the aroma of fresh baked cookies wafting through your home? Goodness, particularly goodness like described above is so comforting. It is so easy to see why goodness is so attractive. It makes us feel good with the kind of good that touches us deep into our soul. Now consider the following verse on God's greatness.  “O Lord God,” I cried out; “O great and awesome God who keeps his promises and is so loving and kind to those who love and obey him! Hear my prayer! Nehemiah 1:5 (TLB) Feel the difference in that verse? Where the goodness verse feels warm and cuddly, this verse makes me want to stand at attention. There is an authority that can't be missed in these words. Though the word "love" is mentioned in today's reading, it isn't the kind of cuddly and

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "That’s why I think God hates religion. It has the ability to make us doubt who we are in His eyes." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 76. There are so many people who have been turned off by religion in the world today. Why do you think that is? I believe that, for the most part, those who have been turned off by religion have been overcome with feelings that our services have brought to them. Feelings that seem to be saying that they just don't measure up. The world is so good at making that point abundantly clear in our eyes. Nobody needs one more place working to drive that point home in our lives. The church was an invention of God. It was a place we could gather to experience the glory, the magistry and the awe of a God who wants to relate to us in a personal and real way. The church was to be a place where relationship with God would be fostered. A place where the intimacy of love could be promoted in relationship building ways. Take a look at today's reading as it relates to the "job" of the church. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water, in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty—pure and faultless, without spot or wrinkle or any other imperfection. Ephesians 5:25-27 (GNT) This important verse in the Bible often gets missed due to where it is placed. As you can see from the beginning of our reading today, it starts with direction to husbands on how they are to love their wives. It is in the discussion on how wives are to love their husbands that so much controversy has occurred, thereby making it so easy to overlook the power of relationship these verses are trying to get across to us. From these verses, I can't help but to see the call God is making to the church. Do you see that call in our reading today? If you are anything like me, you might naturally gravitate to the action words in our reading and equate those words to the call on our churches. Our reading today is filled with action. Words like dedicate, make, wash, and present all speak to me of important work we have to do in order to be prepared for what God has for us, the church, in the future. Sadly, I think focusing solely on the action words is exactly what makes church become an unsafe place for many of us in the world today. When we focus only on dedication, washing clean, making pure and presentation we get off in the weeds in ways that makes us look more like the world than it does what God intended for the church to actually be. Look, I'm in no way saying that action isn't to be part of our lives. Change without action is simply not possible. What I'm saying is that change isn't to be the focus of the church. Change is God's responsibility as we come into relationship with Him. The church isn't an agent of change. It is to be the bride of Christ! That speaks of relationship fostered from a place of acceptance and love that brings the power of change in a way that no religion can ever match. You see, I think we have taken the action part of today's reading and made that too much of our objective. Religion can get so distracted with trying to make us all come to a place where we are presentable to God. I firmly believe that in doing life together, we will learn how to be more of what God sees us to be through Christ. I just as firmly believe that when we make change the focal point of our mission in the church, we miss the mark in such profound and easily rejected ways. I came across this quote as I prepared this presentation. It sums up what God is looking for in the bride He calls the church to be. It says... "You don’t marry someone y

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "Also, like holiness, those who don’t understand how righteousness comes about are doomed to rigorous and futile striving. At some point you are guaranteed to fail when you rely on your own efforts to stand righteous before God." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 58. I have a reoccurring dream. I don't remember many of my dreams but for some reason, this dream always stays with me. In my dream, I'm running from someone or something. As hard as I am trying to run, it feels like I'm swimming in molasses. My legs just won't move like I want them to. Though I try with all my might, I'm slowly being overtaken by what I'm trying to get away from. This dream doesn't happen often. When it does, it always disturbed me. Even the fact that I have shared this dream now gives me a little bit of the creeps. I'm sure this dream has some deep seated, psychological meaning. I really don't care if it does or not. What I want is to be able to keep that feeling out of my waking life as much as possible. In my dream, it is as though trying to get away from whatever is pursuing me is an exercise in futility. I feel helpless at making my very own movement happen. What a horrible and trapped feeling. That's the exact feeling we all should have when we look to this world and to our actions in this world for the kinds of fulfillment only God can give. So many of use strive to bring traits like holiness and righteousness into our lives. Sure there are a lot of things we can do to help make these traits part of our lives. What we have to come into the fullness of is that it isn't completely up to us to make these traits part of who we are. It is through God's power in our lives that things like holiness and righteousness can ever be a part of the identity we want for this world. Read with me today's Bible verse and let's see how it relates to that feeling of futility when we take on too much of what God is suppose to be doing in our lives. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) How much of a need for your effort do you see in becoming the righteous of God in today's reading? I don't see any of my effort at all. Maybe, at best, my effort is simply saying yes to the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Other than that, it looks to me that being righteous is more something God gives and less something I have to make happen in my life. It is when we get stuck striving for things that God gives freely that we hamstring ourselves with victim thinking. This is so easy to do when it comes to holiness, righteousness, faith, love, relationship, and most importantly identity. We don't have to work ourselves to death to get these things. These things are part of who we are when we step into a relationship with God through His son. Working to get these things when they are already there is what makes us feel like we are swimming in molasses. This doesn't mean that we play no part in the process. From today's reading, there are two words that, when we come across them in the Bible, we should pay particular attention. Those words are "so that..." In our reading today it says that Christ was given "so that in him..." Our job isn't to be striving to get righteousness or holiness or faith or love. Our job is to be "in Him". That's it. Relationship is what it is all about. God isn't looking for us to create these important traits in our lives. He wants us to walk with Him. In doing so, those traits come alive in ways we could never have made happen on our own. Being "in Him" can sometimes be a challenging thing to do. It isn't because God is making relationship hard with Him. It is that our busy lives, filled with striving to get all

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "When freedom comes we have to go on the journey with God to help us discover what it means to live the free life." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 46. Live is a journey towards greater and greater freedom when it comes to those living the victor’s life. We are victors because of the freedom Christ purchased for us on the cross not because we feel like we aren’t under the attack of bondage. Understanding and living out that freedom is a process that victors learn by living in this world filled with bondage of one type and another. Today’s Bible reading is key to living like a victor. What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. Galatians 4:1-2 (NIV) No one wants to think of themselves as slaves. Nothing can be more tragic and victimizing than the thought that someone or something else can “own” you. Reality is that we all are slaves to something or another in this world. The way I read today’s Bible verse, we will remain slaves of one kind or another until the fullness of time is achieved in God’s eyes, or we pass from this life into the next. Along the way though we are taken on a journey where slavery is replaced with a greater and greater realization of the heirship we are offered as Children of the King. That’s the journey all victors are on. That’s where it gets dangerous for the victor to let their current circumstances affect their identities. At this moment your circumstances might be such that you look like and feel like a slave. Today’s reading is clear - though you might be a slave you are still heir to the entire Kingdom of God! Freedom, particularly complete freedom in Christ is a journey. It is a process by which God is breaking the chains of this world to bring us into a greater realization that we are His Children and, thereby heirs to all He has and all He is. Why does He take us on this journey? Why doesn’t He just give it all to us now? For the same reason you don’t give your 2 year old child a million dollars. They wouldn’t know how to handle it without first going on the journey with you to maturity. Do you feel like a slave today? Is victim thinking creeping in because of that trapped feeling? Maybe today is your day for another step in the journey of freedom. Maybe you are about to receive another dose of heirship in your life that will break off those chains for good. Either way, you are a victor whether the chains are broken or not. You are God’s Child and that makes you free no matter what your circumstances dictate.

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "God acted out of who he was, not how he felt. Roles make us live a roller coaster life. One moment we feel we are on top of the world because a particular role we are living out is working our way. The next minute we feel we are sinking fast because we aren’t living up to the way we think a role should be playing out." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 25. Feelings are a tricky thing when it comes to living the life of a victor. It isn’t that feelings can’t be trusted. Feelings are an important part of what makes a human a human. It’s just when we use feelings to dictate how we act or react to situations that come our way that we get into trouble. Feelings based actions lead to a roller coaster kind of life that is a hallmark of victim thinkers. Today’s reading takes a look at how God acts and reacts to challenges He faces. I acted out of who I was, not by how I felt. And I acted in a way that would evoke honor… Ezekiel 20:9 (MSG) God was tempted to destroy the entire nation of Israel because of their idolatrous ways. Had he acted on how He felt there would have been “hell to pay!” Instead, God acted out of who He was (and is). Identity is the key to acting and reacting to all that goes on in the victor’s life. When the roles we play don’t go the way we expected, we are tempted to act out of how we feel. Anger, depression, frustration, jealousy, vindictiveness, even hatred can be the norm for those who act out of how they feel when they don’t get their way. Victors just can’t afford to live this way. Doing so kills the peace that comes with the power of knowing who we are. The other trait we see God exhibiting from today’s reading is something called honor. God acted in a way that would bring honor to Him and honor to the nation of Israel. Victors somehow just seem to ultimately default in a way that brings honor. We always don’t make the honorable choice right off the bat but it isn’t long before we experience a course correction and get back to our honor based identity. A Child of God’s is a victor that acts in a way that ultimately brings honor to The Father. Each and every task you put your hand to today comes with the need to act or react. Take the victor’s path today and act or react the way your Heavenly Father would. When you allow your identity as God’s Child be what guides your actions, honor will ultimately be the result. Those stuck in victim thinking might not appreciate an honor based action but know this; when honor is the result of acting out of who you are, God smiles with pride at the actions of his Child.

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "So it is with offense. The longer offense is allowed to linger in the life of the offended the bigger the problem of bitterness can become. Just like the plant root, bitterness seems to find its way deep into every action of the offended. It grows larger than the offense that it was designed to support." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 210. What if I were to tell you that I knew of a movie that, if you watched it, it would do all of the following in your life. Open the door to darkness and evil Make it impossible for you to experience peace and joyMake relationship very challenging, even with those you loveMake defeat in your life a real possbilityMake it almost impossible to relate to this God that loves youWith all that in mind, would you watch that movie? I love watching movies of various kinds, but I think if I were made aware that a film that would do all these things in my life I would choose to avoid that movie like the plague. I'm willing to bet most of you would do the same.  There is a character trait that we flirt with at times that guarantees all of the points described above will be part of your life. That trait is bitterness.  So many of us allow bitterness to grow and thrive in our lives. It got there as a result of prolonged periods of time stuck in victim thinking. The challenging times that have come against us over a lifetime has made it possible to believe things about ourselves that make bitterness something that we seem to readily invite into our lives. When bitterness has taken hold, darkness, unease, defeat, broken relationships and so much more of the symptoms our Victim Based Society seems to promote these days, come rushing into our lives.  God hates bitterness. He hates what bitterness does to His children. It turns us into a grumpy and disgruntled people. Those affected with bitterness are some of the hardest people to be around. I hate to say this, but so many of our church pews are filled with people who have made church life something that is downright unappealing by the presence of bitterness in their lives.  Who in their right mind would want to be part of a relationship with God if the people that are suppose to be representing what a relationship with God looks like walk, around with scowls on their face due to the bitterness they entertain in life. Where is the fruit that comes with the Joy of the Lord in those people's life? God's plan isn't to attract those who want to relate to Him through the bad attitudes caused by bitterness in His Children's lives. He is looking for a world full of followers who find a relationship with Him worth everything this world might throw at them. Those are the people God calls victors.  God is pretty direct when it comes to living a life free of bitterness. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.  See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15 (NIV) The author of Hebrews lists two devastating effects of bitterness in the lives of God's people. First of all it causes trouble. Trouble follows the bitterness in a person's life. Trouble with relationships, trouble with contentment, trouble with love, even trouble with health are all byproducts of those with bitterness lingering in their lives. Much study has been done on the effects of bitterness. Sometimes the trouble bitterness causes creates a level of drama that is nothing short of ugly. That ugliness makes it so easy to reject the embittered soul. Having these kinds of results inside the Church flies in the face of God's plan for building a Kingdom on Earth that has eternal impact. Hebrews also says that bitterness defi

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "Instead of a sense of urgency that says, 'I have to get busy making something happen,' I can now live with a posture of trust that is summed up by the statement, 'It’s up to God to make this happen.'" As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 196. I hate that feeling that comes when I realize that time is growing short when it comes to getting something done. That feeling is most overwhelming when so much of what needs to be done to get to completion is still yet to be accomplished.  You know what I'm talking about. How would you feel if you were to wake up on a Friday morning realizing that that project you have put off for a while now is due on Monday afternoon. I can remember that mix of panic and dread as I considered how in the world I was going to get done all that needed to be done in the few short days remaining before a project was due. That same dread and panic can slip into our lives when we view destiny like a project we have failed to make happen.  Please don't take this discussion as an admonition against procrastination. Time management and other project focused tools isn't what I think we need more of in order to live the life of the victor God has made possible for us. No, we don't need tips and techniques - they are a dime a dozen in the natural world. What we need to help break the panic and dread that comes when time seems so short is a perspective that doesn't leave us trapped in victim thinking.  Time is such a cruel and merciless task master. It marches forward no matter what the situation. There is no letting up when one considers the unending tick, tick, tick of the clock. Time doesn't care one little bit how busy your life is or how many challenges you have had to face. Time stops for no man and that simple fact can make destiny filled with dread and panic when destiny is thought to be the sole responsibility of you and of me.  I love what today's Bible reading is trying to communicate about time and our destiny. Let's take a look at it together.  For God says,“At just the right time, I heard you.    On the day of salvation, I helped you.”Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NIV) The use of the word "today" in our reading is so important for those of us seeking to live the life of a victor. The right time is right now! Today is the day of salvation. When viewed in the light of this perspective, victim thinking issues surrounding the short time we have left to make destiny happen pale by comparison. Let me explain that a bit further.  So much of the panic and dread that I feel when it comes to destiny stems from the fact that, that mean old clock just keeps on ticking. Did you know there are over 31 1/2 million seconds in a year! Each tick you hear on a clock is counting down to when that clock won't tick any longer for each one of us. So far I have lived through some 1.8 billion ticks of the clock. Want to know how many ticks you have, just multiply 31.5 million times your age and that is how many ticks you have heard in your life time. The bigger that number is, the shorter it is till your clock won't be ticking any longer.  I'm definitely on the down hill side of the time remaining to get something accomplished in this life. The more I think about that the greater the stress I feel. What has helped me so much in this process is viewing destiny with the perspective God has on the subject.  You see, God has all eternity to get done what He has planned. I'm created in the image of God, so why shouldn't I view my destiny through the same lens? This doesn't give me permission to ease up on doing but it makes my doing able to be measured in a way that isn't limite

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "It is a sad fact that real and meaningful change often can’t happen until we completely surrender. Surrender usually comes at the end of a long journey through the pain of a string of “have to” obligations that hit us square in the face." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 183. Surrender is such a terrible word in my life. I have been taught that you never give up. It is a fact that most of the significant change in this world came as people simply wouldn't take no for an answer. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about.  Thomas Edison, it is said, was told that he didn't poses the mental ability to be a person of learning. It took over 1000 tries before he found the right combination of materials needed to make the light bulb. Micheal Jordan, arguably the most accomplished basketball player in history, was cut from his high school basketball team - he didn't have the talent to play against teenagers. Walt Disney was fired from a job because it was said he lacked imagination and that his ideas were no good. Henry Ford bankrupt multiple companies before making a go of it with Ford Motor Company. Abraham Lincoln, JK Rowling, Winston Churchill - take a look at the life of just about any person who has had an impact on history and you will see failure after failure that had to be overcome before success was even a remote possibility. I don't mention this as a pep talk. My words aren't meant to make it so that you will keep success as a dream. What I hope this discussion surrounding victor living does for you and for me is to keep us in the game of life. It is when victim thinking takes over that surrender becomes such a damaging word as we work to apply surrender in such personally destructive ways.  You see it would have been so easy for Thomas Edison to surrender his efforts at attempt 999 with the light bulb. The invention of the light bulb would have been attributed to someone else had victim thinking taken over in Edison's life and had he surrendered his attempts at history. Same goes for the amazing list of notables that have risen to the top of their game after overcoming failure after failure.  I have found that surrender is absolutely the key to those who succeed as well as those who fail. It is what the person is surrendering that makes the difference when it comes to success or failure. Those who have reached the pinnacle of success after multiple failures are just as beholden to surrender as those who never reached their pinnacles due to surrender. Let me expand that thought a bit.  You see, I believe that those who have turned failure into success did so as they surrendered their drive to let what they were doing to have any impact their identities. I can't find in the biographies of famous people who have overcome failure the statement, "I did what I did because I wanted people to like me." No, there was something greater driving those destined for success. They had surrendered the identity issues of success for the passion that drove them way past their care for what others might think of them.  Where victors surrender letting results be what defines them, victim thinkers let what others might think drive them to give up on their dreams and passions. Success and failure, victor living and victim thinking all happen as a result of surrender. What kind of surrender are you going to give in to today? There are so many verses in the Bible on surrender. Some of them speak of surrendering to God. Others speak of never giving up. The life of a victor is defined by the knowledge of when to surrender and when not to. Check out today's reading with me now. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will h

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** I was having dinner with a friend recently. He was telling me about this big business deal he had made happen for his company. Through his efforts, a significant sale was made that brought great accolade to all involved. I asked my friend how much the contract he sold was for and believe me it was a significant accomplishment this friend made happen. Here's where the story got really interesting for me that evening. I asked my friend how the company he worked for reacted to this sale. He said that there was a flurry of emails going around congratulating his boss, and his boss's boss coming form the highest echelons of the company. As my friend saw so many people getting pats on the back for all the hard work my friend had done, something started to arise in my friend's thinking. You see, at that moment, my friend started to let victim thinking creep into his life through feelings of jealousy. He began looking at all the congratulations that others were getting as a slight against him and all the hard work he had to do to make this sale possible. Though he was getting pats on the back as well, the fact that others, thousands of miles away, were getting credit didn't sit right with him at all. He told me he was getting ready to sit down and craft a carefully worded email to help all the powers to be know of their mistake in spreading the good tidings of this sale so widely in the company. My friend is really skilled at making a point, even a difficult point. Maybe that is why he is such a good salesman. It sure is a skill that helped him land such a lucrative deal for his company. My friend said that as he contemplated sending out an email to set everyone straight, something just didn't feel right. He was torn about what to do. He still felt slighted at how upper management was handling the good news of this sale but he just couldn't pull the trigger on writing a response to all involved. My friend stopped in the middle his confusion and asked God to intervene. It wasn't long after that moment of prayer that something hit my friend like a ton of bricks. He realized that God loved him just as much whether he got all the credit he wanted for making that sale or not. You see, my friend realized that credit wasn't the issue, identity was. This friend was about to step into the dangerous zone of making identity about something others see as a result of what he did. But, like the victor I know this friend to be, he didn't. My friend said that when he realized the fact that God's love was for him whether he was viewed as a success by others or not, a peace came over him that was literally inexplicable. It just didn't matter whether he got ALL the attention his fragile soul wanted or not. God saw him as the fullness of the victor He calls my friend to be and at that moment that was enough for him. He told me that he was so glad he didn't waste the time writing an email to correct all those he felt slighted by. He said that he would have spent hours agonizing over every word of this email to make sure it was the right combination of information combined with the respect needed to make sure he didn't lose his job. He also realized that, if he would have sent that email, many many hours would have been required to deal with the fallout of sending such an email around to upper management. Misunderstandings would have resulted and so much precious time would have had to be invested to clean up the mess identity issues could have caused that day in my friend's life. This victor told me that evening that he felt liberated by his decision. He knew what a good job he had done. Others in the company knew it as well. It was when this friend recognized victim thinking lurking at the door that he was able to shut that door in ways that brought a power to his life that just can't be matched by any pat on the back from man in this world. Liberated is a great word for us to think about when it c

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** "Bad stuff is going to happen to us all. It’s how we react to that bad stuff that sets victors apart from those trapped in victim thinking." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 141. Our reaction to things in this world is such a powerful reflection of the kind of life we are living at that moment. This is particularly the case when it comes to our reaction to the badness that happens from time to time.  I use to react in such a negative way when bad times hit. Even the simplest of mishap could send me into a tailspin. I can remember some of my most used words when something didn't go my way were, "Why me?". It was as though I thought the world had a personal vendetta against me when even something small and relatively insignificant happened in my life. Thank God, nothing really bad happened during those days when my reaction was so skewed. Who knows the amount of victim thinking I could have unleashed with such a bad attitude.  I have thought long and hard as to why I reacted in such a selfish manner when I experienced things I didn't care to have in my life. You see, I think that the reason I was able to let my reaction get the better of me was because I really didn't know who I was. I was looking to the world to try and help me find my identity. When bad things hit, that brought in a level of identity that scared me badly. I just couldn't stand the thought that badness could ever be a part of who I was.  Look, I hate bad things happening to me as much as the next guy. That reality doesn't make me a victim thinker. It is the fact that I wanted a good life to be proof of something about myself that made it possible for victim thinking to control my reaction to life's circumstances from time to time. When we don't know who we are even the smallest of slights against us can make us react in ways that just doesn't rise to the level of who we really are.  The Dalai Lama has this to say about our reaction to things that come against us. "When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength."  Now, there's a choice that sets the victor from the victim thinker apart. It is when we turn inward in ways that make self destructive habits part of our coping mechanism that victim thinking can come out of our reactions in potentially victimizing ways. When we turn inward for a strength that has been there before time began that our reaction can take on an entirely different view by this world. I find it interesting that the Dalai Lama sees what I call victor living and victim thinking the result of the same action. Turning inward isn't what sets the victor apart from the victim thinker. It is what we are looking for when we turn inward that makes the difference. When we come to realize that there are times in this life that we just can't control that we stand the best chance for making our reaction be be something that comes from strength rather from destruction. Today's Bible reading emphasizes the importance of time in the life of a victor. Check it out with me now. There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth: A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap, A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct, A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer, A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part, A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go, A right time to rip out and anothe