WHAT YOU BELIEVE DETERMINES WHAT YOU ACHIEVE!

CHARLES, TINA AND THE TEST

Play along for a moment. Charles is sitting on a squeaky park bench in the middle of Stanley Park. The bench has the paint peeling off the back and Charles skin is peeling from being out in the summer sun too long. Charles is watching his black Labrador run laps around the stone water fountain twenty feet away. The dog shall remain namelss to protect his identity. Charles is 35, tall, slim, with a cowlick on the right side of his head. He works as an accountant for the firm of earnest and witty. He likes Thai food, specifically fresh salad wraps with peanut sauce and drunken noodles with steamed broccoli and black pepper. He’s never been married, keeps his apartment immaculate, and watches Seinfeld re-runs while enjoying buttered popcorn. He’s has the same two buddies he’s kept since high school that have made a covenant to meet with him and mourn their lives at least once a week.

Enter Tina. She is 31, a dental lab assistant recently transplanted from Wisconsin where she finished her graduate work. She is 5 foot 6, long brown hair and hazel eyes. She’s walking her, what a coincidence, tan Labrador around the same stone fountain. Seems the stone fountain has become the mecca for lab dogs. She lets the dog run free and she sits on the park bench right beside Charles. Right smack beside Charles.

Now here’s the point. Charles likes her. He’s looked at her twice and he’s definitely decided that he likes her. What Charles believes will determine what Charles achieves. He wants to get to know Tina but what Charles believes in his mind about himself will determine whether he will ever get the chance to see Tina again. If Charles thinks low of himself he won’t ask her out. A missed opportunity since Tina has noticed him and thinks he’s cute. If Charles thinks, “Hey God has blessed me, I’ve been faithful, I’ve really done well in my life, I’m stable, good looking and would make a wonderful companion then that belief will move Charles toward Tina. An introduction will be exchanged that could change the future for both of them. It all depends on Charles’s faith.

FAITH

The world calls it belief, I call it faith. It’s the essence of a truly vigorous and glorious life. Name me anything of significance that was ever achieved without faith?... I’m waiting…. Think for a moment or a lifetime and you’ll realize there’s nothing. If Charles does ask Tina out and they get married it’s because he had faith in himself and faith that God brought Tina to him. If he doesn’t ask her then he lacked faith and he paid for it. Faith is the bedrock rock solid undeniable common denominator in all great achievements in the world. How much you believe determines what you achieve.

So I’m the pastor of the Ferndale church. Nice to meet you! Thanks for reading this far I guess we’re doing well here you and I. My aim in life is to bolster your faith! I want you to leave my church stronger and more courageous than when you left. If Charles came to my church I would let him know that there is a God that loves Him, there is a God that is leading him, and that he should throw a doggie snack at Tina’s Labrador and then start a conversation. I would tell him to stop worrying and leave the results with God. I would tell him that Tina might be the one or might not be the one but if He trusts in God’s power all He has to do is ask her out and leave the power of heaven to make the proper arrangements. If God wants Charles to get to know Tina she’ll accept if the Lord doesn’t think this is the one she’ll decline. Either way faith has been exercised. If Tina says yes then Charles should pray and thank God for a new friend. If Tina says no than Charles should pray and thank God for saving him, but either way praise and thank God – that’s faith!

A solid faith gives you strength beyond your current abilities. It gives you the power to reach out and do things you wouldn’t normally do and achieve things you would never think possible. That’s the power of trusting in a loving and all powerful creator that you have faith in and He has faith in you! I have been amazed in my life at what God has got me through. Now I live fearless! I truly mean that! Ask anyone that attends my church. I live fearless! I know there is a God! I know He loves me! I know that everything that happens to me is led or permitted by God! So in my life whether good or bad I do a lot of praying and a lot of thanking the Lord!

So come to my church already! I’ve got a sermon I know you’ll be blessed by. I want to boost your faith and strengthen your weaknesses. Take the risk, seize the day, and go for it! Charles did and today they’re happily married with three children and six dogs. The labs had pups.

Pat