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. ********** “All the roles I play here on earth will end, but my identity as God’s Child never does. As simple as this concept is, it’s an identity that carries with it something that all the roles I play will never have – longevity.” As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 17. Destiny… Legacy… Purpose… Impact… Each of these terms requires significant effort in order for this life to have long lasting meaning. It is such a sad fact that so many of us are literally killing ourselves to try and leave a legacy that will outlast our life. We want to be remembered. Striving to fulfill some destiny or purpose or to leave some kind of lasting legacy is the victim thinker’s feeble attempt to gain some level of immortality. “If I can only do something significant enough for the history books to mention my name, then I might have a chance to live on forever." I don’t know if history changers lived with this kind of attitude or not. I kind of doubt it. I’ll bet that most people we know of from history were just doing what they had to do at any given moment only to be caught up in events that became historical. The people I’m worried about are those trying to create a historical name for themselves through the roles they play and the identity they structure from those roles. Some will actually succeed at creating a legacy, but for the vast majority of us we will barely be remembered only a few generations after our death. This discussion isn’t meant to depress you, it is meant to open your eyes to something bigger. I get more and more fired up knowing that life, on my own terms is amounting to nothing when I consider today’s Bible reading. Check it out for yourself. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (NIV) We are created in the image of God! I don’t know about you but, that thought amazes me. There is something about me that is inherently just like my creator. It’s not that I can look in the mirror and say, “Yep, I look like God!” No, there is something in the very fabric of my being that reflects the image of a good, all knowing and all powerful God. Because of that fact, I have found it easier to let God worry about what legacy, destiny, purpose and the impact this life of mine might have. That’s what a victor has to come to grips with. Though he or she is made in the image of God the victor is just as messed up in this life as anyone else. In spite of this,  the victor’s life has meaning. Why? Well it isn’t because the victor is good at doing something or that the victor is good at getting out of the trouble that comes his or her way. The victor is a victor because of God’s love and perseverance for His own. That’s what gives me great hope. It isn’t about what I can or should do that gives me the standing I so desire. It is because of my heritage; the very way I was made by my creator. In His image I’m a victor. Outside of that what can I measure up to my own efforts? This doesn’t mean that victors sit by and watch their life pass. Victors are emboldened by the fact they are their Dad’s child. They join in where they see their Father working and put their efforts into endeavors that can have lasting and world changing consequences. The big difference between victors and victim thinkers is the ability to hold their destiny, purpose and legacy loosely. The impact you and I might have is ultimately out of our control. This doesn’t deter the victor it empowers him or her simply because they carry the image of the God who can do anything He wants. Today can be so different for you and me. Today can be one of walking with our heads high even though some of what we may face is working to bring us down. The image that

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. ********** "...formulas often fuel our ability to let victim thinking rule in our lives." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 219. Oh how I love a good formula. I can't tell you the number of engineering classes I remember where a particular formula was presented that just made perfect sense. There was such a sweet feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment to the fact that I had learned something absolute. There is just something comforting about a black and white formula in a grey world. Our natural world doesn't operate under the control of formulas quite the way the scientific world does. Though we try and try to make a particularly good result happen in our lives by repeating steps we hope will take us back there again, more often than not formulas just can't be relied on when things we want to feel good about ourselves are concerned. How many times have you tried to think about what you did or what you said to make a certain situation turn out in the favorable way it did in the past? If you are like me it is a real hit or miss prospect as to whether that event turned out as well as it did before. It is when my repeated attempts at orchestrating a good outcome doesn't make things happen the way I want them to that victim thinking can really take hold. Formulas play right into that statement in ways that down right surprise me at times. It isn't that formulas are bad. They aren't! It is my believe that if I live a certain way, if I act a certain way, if I perform up to a certain level then everything will work the way I want it to that ushers in those kinds of feelings that make victim thinking a real possibility. This is particularly the case when I try and develop formulas to make things happen I need to happen to support a particular view of my identity I want others to believe. I have said this before and I will need to say it again and again, anything that I rely on that I believe is under my control when it comes to what shapes my identity is something that is eventually going to let me down in victim thinking ways. This is the case when I believe that I can create formulas surrounding circumstances that I find particularly critical to my identity. Check out today's Bible reading and see what it says about relying on things we think we can control to help define our identities. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV) Something happened to Paul that made him feel like he was tried and convicted of a capital offense. I have to tell you that that is how I can feel when formulas for good outcomes in my life have failed me from time to time. It feels like I was put on the firing line and I heard the shots ring out. Not much is more devastating than doing things that seemed to work well in the past only to have them blow up in your face somewhere down the road. I love what our reading says today, "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves..." Such a good reminder that, when it comes to identity, we can only rely on God to tell us the truth about who we are. This is so important when the world does its best to speak against our identity in victimizing ways. Relying on self when identity is concerned is akin to a death sentence. Life is found when we do all we can to simply believe we are who God says we are. We can't create a formula to make all our circumstances work to prove this identity. That's just not in the cards. It is when we just believe that we are God's Child that victor living is a real possibility. Choosing to ignore what God says about us and work to create our own identity though our carefully planned out actions is where victim th

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. ********** "Offense has that amazing ability. Once offended, a person is closed to hearing anything about that offense until such time as they judge that those who have offended them have been punished enough." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 202. It's like our ears close up when we are offended. We just can't seem to hear when it comes to the issue that offended us. What a shame! Even in situations that has resulted in offense there are things that can be learned that make victor living even more possible. It is so difficult to allow ourselves to be taught when we refuse to hear. What can be learned by hurtful words that might offend us? There are two things that I have seen that might be the result of words that have offended me in the past. First of all I have discovered that often times the words spoken that offended me really weren't meant to be an offense at all. Secondly, I have found that even in the most offensive words spoken there just might be some element of truth that I might benefit from considering and applying in my life. If I remain deaf by offense, I will never be able to discern any element of the truth that might be a part of the hurtful words and/or I might discount the person saying words I found hurtful. Let's take a look at both issues to see what we can learn. I can't tell you how many times loved ones have said something that I took offense to. Many of those times I choose to do what I have so often do when offended in the past and just close those people off from my world. I way too many cases than I care to admit, the words that worked to offend me were never meant to do so. In other words, the person who said something to offend me had never intended to do so. I had misinterpreted or misunderstood what they said in ways where my buttons were pushed. They weren't the problem - I was! I have written off way too many relationships because of a misunderstanding. That's tragic. How many relationships have I become deaf to because of offense? Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of haters out there who want nothing more than to bring offense and more into your life. Those are the kinds of relationships that I don't need to have in my life. But to lose relationship with someone over misunderstanding something in a way to make me deaf as a result of offense is a horrible waste of potential. Losing potentially valuable relationships is the first reason we should not let offense make us deaf to the world. The second reason that kind of selective hearing is so detrimental when offense is at hand is that we might miss some truth that is behind the hurtful words. I've said it before but I need to say it again. In order for a lie to work there has to be some element of truth there or it just ins't effective. I believe that there are times when offensive things are said where truth, no matter how small, might be a part of what is being said. How it is said might be something we can complain about and have every right to react to but becoming deaf to any amount of truth is a dangerous plan for the victor in this world. What I try to do now when someone says something I find offensive is to be as objective as possible. I want to find any spec of the truth and then own as much as I can of that truth so that my life will be all it can be. A friend of mine did this when someone said something offensive to him. He said that, upon evaluation, he found that 5% of what was said was true. The other 95% was completely wrong from his vantage point. My friend took an amazing stand and said he wants to own 100% of the 5% of what was said. Don't you know that kind of approach goes a long way to making him live out his victor status in power filled ways. The Bible says this about of

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. ********** “What I do does not define my identity. I’m not stupid because I did one stupid thing. I’m not a loser because I lost a race.” As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 12. Ever think you are a loser just because you lost the race? That kind of thinking has its basis in a misplaced identity. The person or team who came in second in the championship, though lost, are not losers unless they choose to believe that they are. The difference between the person who loses yet lives like a victor and the loser who is stuck in victim thinking is choice. What I do and the results of what I do should not have any bearing on my identity as a victor. Look at today’s Bible reading. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) There is a fine line being walked by the author of these words. For those caught in victim thinking, this verse is filled with guilt and condemnation. It is saying to them, “You lost because you didn’t do enough. You will always be a loser because you just aren’t good enough to figure out how to compete at the elite levels.” For the victor, this verse is filled with the truth of purpose that this life has to offer. The victor realizes that there are many races that we will compete in in this life. Why not be as prepared as we can be to win those races. Not that winning is what makes us victors. It’s just more fun to be prepared to do our best, then see our best be what it takes to win. Even if we lose after our all our preparation, the victor can learn valuable lessons on how to be better prepared next time that particular race comes our way. Win or lose, the victor is prepared by leaning in on the fact that our identity is not altered by the outcome of what we do. Our status as victors has been established by Christ's work on the cross. Victory, though a sweet reward, doesn’t always come so relying on victory to prove our victor status is a victim thinker's paradise. Today you will win some and you will lose some. Some of the wins will come with little or no preparation just like some of the losses will come after great and strenuous preparation. If we look to the final score as to whether we are victors or not we will be in a place where victim thinking can takes its tole on our life. As you go through your day today, pay close attention to how the outcome of your “races” impacts your psyche. You are a victor, not because of your victories. You are a victor because of what God has done for you and that doesn’t change no matter who crosses the finish line first.

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. ********** "Identity is the door to destiny. Perspective is the key to that door." As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 198. We talked yesterday about identity being the doorway to destiny. If identity is the doorway, perspective is the key.  So many of us has tried for all we are worth to get through the doorway of destiny though our identity. Unfortunately we have found that door to be locked. We have been sold a lie that says we are the key to opening the doorway of identity that leads to our destiny. We have tried to life up to this lie by doing all we can to find out and/or establish who we are.  I'm literally exhausted thinking about how I have lived those last two statements so fully all my life. Sure, the pursuit of identity has taken me to some very interesting and profitable places. But has any of those results make me feel any closer to my destiny? Absolutely not!  That's why I have gone through long periods of time letting victim thinking control my life. The enormity of the disappointment in my life over not being able to get the doorway of identity to fully open so that I can grab on to my destiny has literally come close to killing me. That kind of disappointment experienced over and over again is just about too much for any person to handle.  Take a look at this beautiful and powerful Bible verse with me now.  I see what you’ve done. Now see what I’ve done. I’ve opened a door before you that no one can slam shut. You don’t have much strength, I know that; you used what you had to keep my Word. You didn’t deny me when times were rough. Revelation 3:8 (MSG) God has watched as we have spent our lives doing in order to be when it comes to our destiny. Isn't it time that we watch what He is doing? He has opened the door before us. I believe that is our identity as His Child that makes us a victor. No one can shut that door - not satan, not even our own efforts. We are who He says we are and that's final. Now is the time to live out that destiny. We have come before the doorway of identity that leads to our destiny. We have found that doorway locked but God gave the key. The key to the doorway to destiny is perspective - God's perspective. The very fact that we have worked to keep God's word - that we have refused to deny Him - has unlocked the doorway of our identity to our destiny. Now it's time to pass through. This doesn't mean that you have to stop doing what you are doing now. Your job, your family, your hobbies, your challenges - they all play a role in how our identities are making it possible for our destiny to be achieved. All God asks is that we take Him along with us on the journey of letting identity - His identity for us be all it can be to make His destiny happen in our lives. As you go about your normal day, I suggest that you think about how your identity as God's Child makes it possible for you to bring God into your activities. It's not like He isn't already there - He is. It is more like He wants you to notice His presence and watch as His power multiplies your efforts as you let your identity fuel the progress you make towards the amazing destiny He has spoken into existence in your life. 

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. ********** “Identity is the doorway to destiny.” As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 189. Why is knowing our identity so important? I believe it is because we will never really know why we were ever created until we know who we are. I once read somewhere that when we know who we are we will know what to do. Unfortunately too many of us spend all our time doing in order to try and determine who we are. That's so backwards to the logic that now makes so much sense in my life. Doing to determine who I am is such a waste of time since the results, good or bad, will never be enough to define the identity of a victor. The doorway to our destiny is our identity. Knowing who we are doesn't automatically make it so that we will find success in everything we do associated with our destiny. Going through the doorway that is our identity helps put things in perspective for those of us seeking to know who we are. That's why identity has to be based on something more tangible and lasting than how well we can do something in this life. I believe destiny is way too important to let it be defined by the successes and failures we will see in this life. If destiny is as important as I'm beginning to sense it to be, than having such a minuscule amount of time here on earth to complete that destiny seems to be such a waste. It has taken me over five decades to begin to get in touch with my identity. Granted, I'm a slow learner, but what a waste of time. If destiny, as we know it, is so important to God, why would He wait so long to make it so that I could get in touch with my identity in ways I now know is impacting my destiny? One thing I do know, God doesn't waste any time. Either these five decades of learning will make it possible to achieve my destiny in the time I have left here on earth or God's plan for my destiny is something that will go with me when I pass from this life to the next. Either way, I just can't lose. That's the power of an identity given to us by God. That's the power those of us seeking to live the life of a victor has at our fingertips. All I know is I'm so much more at peace knowing that my identity is the doorway to my destiny. I don't have to focus on the "what" when it comes to my life as much as God has let me concentrate on the "who" that defines my identity. I am His Child and that makes me a victory. Can I ever say that enough? Holding on to and applying this identity is what makes destiny possible in the first place. Trying to make my destiny happen without living in the fullness of who God has made me to be is an exercise in futility. Our Bible reading today paints an interesting picture of identity and destiny. You know me inside and out,     you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,     how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;     all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared     before I’d even lived one day. Psalm 139:15-16 (MSG) There is no one who knows you like God does. He literally knit you together in your mother's womb. I had someone quote this verse to me and showed me scientifically how true this is. He said that our DNA is literally knit together - half of the DNA ladder comes from the mom and half from the dad. We start as two cells coming together and life begins as the two strands of DNA connects in a way that gives us each and every trait that the world sees us to be. Our very identity is knit together in our mother's womb. Isn't that amazing? God knows who we are. Let's start listening to what He says about us. Our destiny depends on us coming into agreement with Him

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. ********** "Hope is essential in order for us to live free, particularly when life’s circumstances seem to be robbing us of worldly freedom at every turn." As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 184. I hope you are in a place where hope isn't all you have. For the vast majority of us, there is enough going right in our lives to make hope something that we don't have to put a lot of thought to. And, that's a good thing! It is when the bottom falls out of our lives when hope becomes something that is key to literally getting out of bed in the morning.  My wife and I have a nephew, named James who lives not too far from us. He married an amazing woman, named Gini and started a beautiful family. They, like so many of us never thought hope would play such and important role in their lives until their first child was born.  Kiley was came into this world September of 2004. She made her enterence into the family as my wife's brother's first grandchild. Now, that's a big deal. To top it off, it was my wife's parent's first great-grandchild. There is such a rush of feelings on so many levels when that first comes along.  Not long after Kiley was born, James and Gini started noticing things that troubled them about her development. They did all they could to just chalk it up to normal but pretty soon their concern pushed them to dig a little deeper into what might be going on with this precious little girl.  After a bunch of tests and a lot of prayers the doctors delivered some devastating news. Kiley had a chromosome issue called Angleman's Syndrome. Angleman's comes with a pretty scary prognosis. Seizures, difficulty walking, no verbal communication, eating issues, sleep disorders and arrested mental development to name a few. In what seemed like an instant, this amazing family was turned up side down. Don't you know that hope took on a real and profound role in the lives of these parents when they learned the news about their daughter? Not long after they found out the diagnosis, James and Gini began what has become a highlight of my week. Every Tuesday family, friends and people all around the world link together at 7pm California time and we pray for Kiley's healing. As of this post, over 600 Tuesdays have come and gone. Some amazing miracles have been witnessed, like Kiley walking, significantly less seizures than expected and Kiley's amazing ability to feed herself just to name a few. Although these are incredible answers to prayer, we still wait for her to speak and to be completely healed.  At a prayer time not too long ago, we sat down and did a little inventory as to what has happened over this past decade or so in prayer. As I sit back and think about our amazing conversation, I now see that most of what we have been through is an amazing journey can be boiled down to a transformation in the area of hope.  At the beginning of our prayer time, hope looked a bit like desperation. And so it should have! We were desperate to see God move in ways we carefully laid out to Him in our community and personal prayer times. Healing was the hope we all grasped for and hung on to. Gini has told me more than once that if she didn't have hope for Kiley's healing she's not sure she could function each and every day with this extremely difficult diagnosis.  As time went on, and the complete healing we all cried out for didn't come, there was a lot of feelings that had to be dealt with. Was God withholding his healing hand because of something we had done? Was there hidden sin in our lives He was waiting for us to eliminate before He moved so decisively in Kiley's situation? Could it be that we just aren't praying enough or in the right way?  I hope you can hear th

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. **********  “Feeling stupid isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What is bad is if we believe we are stupid.” As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 12. There is a big difference between feeling something and believing that you are that same thing. Sometimes feeling like something negative is a great motivator to do the work required to move out of that place so that we don’t have to feel that negative feeling again. Problem is that, often times, victim thinkers take on the identity of that feeling. This is what allows victim thinkers to stay in the holding pattern of life. Identity is what makes or breaks a victor. Victors know that they aren’t stupid. Yes victors will do countless stupid things in their lives. Sometimes they will do the same stupid thing over and over again. What sets the victor apart is their willingness to be open to change. They are willing to look at themselves as the cause of their stupid actions and find it in themselves to reach out and make changes that can change their ways. Victors aren’t satisfied with; “This is just how I am…” They know that their identity is much more than what they do. Victors have chosen to let their identity be formed by things eternal, not by the temporal things they are a part of on this side of Heaven. Today’s verse points out how to live like a victor. It says; “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” Colossians 3:1-2 (The Message) If you are serious about living like a victor, act like a victor. What does that look like? It requires a shift in perspective from the things going on around you to a gaze toward heaven. The Message says that your upwards gaze is “where the actions is.” Though you may do some stupid things today, Christ didn’t die to make any part of your identity to do anything with stupidity. In the middle of the realization that you just did something stupid, do something radical - own up to it and make amends where needed. But, don’t stop there. After you own up to doing something stupid and repaired any relational damage that might have occurred, then act like a victor and claim your rightful place Christ bought for you with His life. You are God’s Child and that is what makes you a victor. God doesn’t expect you to be perfect today. He does wants you to realize who you are in His eyes and to value the place God wants in your life for all it is suppose to be. Today you have a chance to live the life of a victor by shifting your gaze. If you focus on the things you do today to bolster your identity, victim thinking will be the result. If, however, you choose to fix your gaze on Him, victor living is not only possible, it is guaranteed no matter how many stupid things you do today.

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 my belief that in that place of submission to the spirit, the power of my will, intellect and emotions can be what it needs to be to bring about maximum healing to those I have victimized in the past." As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 181. Oh how I hate the word submission. How do you feel about this, much maligned concept?  Much of the hatred for the concept of submission has come about as a result of the Evangelical Church fighting society in ways that just didn't need to be fought. The Bible has a much misunderstood verse that says something to the regard, "wives submit to your husbands." As the society changed in ways to allow the much needed inclusion of women in all aspects of the ability for our society to move forward, this verse has become the rallying cry against organized religion. As much as the women's movement fought against this verse some on the Church fought for it. Sides were drawn and division has happened in ways that has caused permanent damage. I am beginning to see why God speaks out so vividly against division in this world.  I believe the problem with submission is our misunderstanding of what it means, particularly in the area of interpersonal relationships. Submission has so little to do with bowing down as a mind numb robot that the women's movement was fighting against so rightfully so. No, submission isn't about bowing down, it is about being raised up under the safety and protection of someone or something that wants the best for you.  Submission isn't about authority or competency. It isn't the helpless little housewife coming under the authority of the competent husband that the women's movement saw this word to represent. It's about the victor (man or woman) coming under the protection and finding much needed security in the relationship with another who loves them, so much so, that they would do anything to help them be all they could be.  Our souls are much like the women's movement. We have gotten the word submission all wrong. It is right to fight bowing down to authority in identity crushing ways. Our souls are there to help us from ever coming under the bondage of anything that jeopardizes the drive for freedom God has placed in each and everyone of us alive today. Where the women's movement has it right is that if marriage is going to threaten a woman from being everything they were created to be then marriage might not be right for that woman. Throwing out marriage completely as some in the women's movement seem to advocate is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We too can't do the same by abandoning the power of submission to the spirit when we don't fully understand what submission is all about.  Here's what the Bible says about submitting to the Spirit of God. So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 (MSG) It is that place of submission when the soul finds it's power to help us be all we can be. It isn't when we are putting on airs - pretending to be something more than we are so that others will like us. It isn't when we use the soul's power to amass more and more in our lives so that we can look to be more in an effort to feel like we are more. Those are victim thinking tactics that have failed us all in so many ways in the past. Let's not repeat those results again! Submitting to God's strong hand is such a beautiful and appropriate picture of what it looks like to let our soul's come under the authority of something that has our best interests at heart. Carefree living doesn't happen when our souls are run to exhaustion by us working to pro

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. ********** "Urgency in our lives brings us face-to-face with “have to” statements. Those statements are fertile ground for victimization and the possibility of victim thinking." As quoted from the book “Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society” by John H. Hovis Page 176. The urgent things in our lives seem to really cause havoc. Everyday we deal with important things, and we seem to do that quite well. It is when we are in the middle of the important things of life when the urgent hits and then things can get pretty dicey.  You know what I mean by that. It seems like just when we are on a role, dealing with our typical busy day that something will come up that demands our attention. It doesn't matter how important the other things in life are at the moment an urgent matter appears. When the urgent shows up all our best plans go out the window.  What's even worse is when several things come up at once that can be labeled as urgent. It is during those times when it feels like we are going to explode. It is those competing urgent events in life that can really drive us to the point of exhaustion and near on insanity. Particularly when it seems like all we deal with is urgent events. The words "have to" really come to life when we are forced to operate in the realm of the urgent. Those things that rise to level of urgent in our lives make it as though we have no choice but to deal with the situation immediately. "Have to" speaks to obligation. This fact, whether real or perceived, usually comes at a great cost to our personal lives, particularly so in the relationships that we hold so dear.  Urgency makes it so that we can cause great damage to ourselves and to the important people that love us so. We can take on such a "have to" attitude in dealing with the urgent that or focus makes us ignore the important ways that can cause victimization whether we know it or not. It is when we remain in that place where the urgent demands our attention for prolonged periods of time that victim thinking can really grab hold in our lives.  Crazy thing about the urgent things in our lives is that they might not be as urgent as we really think. Dwight D. Eisenhower had this to say about the urgent vs the important, "What Is Important Is Seldom Urgent and What Is Urgent Is Seldom Important." Figuring out the difference between the urgent and the important can be such a difficult task to complete. I believe learning how to discern the urgent from the important is one of the most important skills we can ever cultivate in our lives.  How can we get the discernment needed to recognize when we are being drawn from the wise focus on the important to the, often times, foolish over preoccupation with the urgent? I believe that there are two things we can do to help cultivate this discernment. The first one is spelled out in today's Bible reading.  "But God told Samuel, 'Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.'" 1 Samuel 16:7 (MSG) We have to be able to see as God sees. He isn't swayed by the outward appearance - it is what is going on on the inside of people and of situations that God pays attention to. The urgent usually comes with such force and appears to be all consuming. It is only when we take time to step back, seek God and look on the inside of what is really going on can we ever be able to rightly discern the urgent from the important.  The second way we can begin to recognize the urgent from the important is to listen to our words as we describe what is going on in our life. If we are using the words like "have to" to describe all we need to do