BEHIND EVERY PROBLEM IS AN OILFIELD

Wisdom Nugget: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

One of the most scary things in life is "closed doors" because you don't know what lies behind them. We are all scared to leave the known for the unknown and the familiar for the unfamiliar. When life suddenly hits you with a closed door (a loss of job, a failed marriage, a visa denial, a business collapse etc) the fear of "so what happens to me now ?" often leave us with that gnawing sense of hopelessness and a paralyzing helplessness.

Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ tells this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool: During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn’t able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy.

Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he’d been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty.

This is the sad paradox of most people. Treasures are hidden in trash, destinies in destitutes, messages in a mess, gain in pain and miracles in mistakes.

THE GIFT OF PROBLEMS: IT’S COMMON

Wisdom Nuggets: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man...’’

Luck Is For Heaven

The first law of PROBLEMS is this: “They are common’’ or not ‘’ beyond the course of what others have had to face’’. Once you settle that within you then there is nothing to be ashamed of. Never be ashamed to admit it and to say ‘’I was wrong’’ when you make  a mistake or encounter a problem.
In Charles Colson's book Born Again, which details his experiences related to Watergate, Colson shares one of President Nixon's problems - he could never admit he was wrong in anything. In fact, Colson says, even when Nixon obviously had a cold - nose running, face red, sneezing, all the symptoms - he would never admit it.

When New York's Citicorp tower was completed in 1977, it was the seventh tallest building in the world. Many structural engineers hailed the tower for its technical elegance and singular grace. The tower was notable for its sleek aluminum sides and provocative slash-topped design. The structural engineer who designed the steel superstructure was William J. LeMessurier, who not long after the building was completed, was elected into the National Academy of Engineering, which is the highest honor his profession bestows.
But one year after the building opened, LeMessurier came to a frightening realization. The Citicorp tower was flawed. Without LeMessurier's approval, during construction the joints in the steel superstructure had been bolted, which is a common and acceptable practice, but does not make for as strong a joint as welding does. Also, he had not taken into account the extra force of a non-perpendicular wind.

He talked with meteorologists and found that a wind strong enough to buckle that crucial joint came every sixteen years in New York. So he did what he had to do. He informed all concerned. City and corporate leaders faced the problem in a professional manner, and plans were drawn to strengthen the joints by welding steel plates to them. Contingency plans were made to ensure people's safety during the work, and the welding began in August of 1978.
After the work was completed three months later, the building was strong enough to withstand a storm of the severity that hits New York only once every seven hundred years. In fact it was now one of the safest structures ever built.
LeMessurier's career and reputation were not destroyed but enhanced. One engineer commended LeMessurier for being a man who had the courage to say, "I got a problem; I made the problem; let's fix the problem." - Craig Brian Larson. Remember, whatever is the problem, you are not alone. It is COMMON.

REJECTION, A REDIRECTION?

Wisdom Nugget: "You have people come into your life shockingly and surprisingly. You have losses that you never thought you'd experience. You have rejection and you have learn how to deal with that and how to get up the next day and go on with it."
                                                                                                            - Taylor Swift

Source: Photo Pin

There was a man who was cleaning up his desk one Friday afternoon when he noticed an envelope that had been opened. Someone must have placed it there while he was on the phone. He opened it and read it, and to his shock and dismay it was a notice of being terminated, being laid-off from his job. His entire department was being eliminated along with his position. After all the years he had given to his corporation, he found himself filled with resentment and the sense of being victimized. The man sat slumped in his chair in utter despair.

He began to think of all the terrible things that were going to happen to him. His entire lifestyle would have to be altered. He thought, "I'll have to sell my house; I'm too old to get another job; I'm useless; I'm all washed up."

At that moment, the man noticed a spider on his desk, and without thinking he brushed it off. He was amazed though as he watched the tiny creature automatically spin a strand to bear its weight and swing gracefully to the floor.
He pondered: If this tiny creature could draw forth from within itself some reserve of resources to meet its emergency, why could he not do as much? For many hours, he sat deep in troubling thoughts that turned gradually to creative mediation.

The man moved from the anxiety of what he lacked to the abundance of the God-given inner resources he had been blessed with. He thought: "My security is not in my job or in my money or in my house but in my connection with the God of grace who has seen me through all circumstances in my life. They might take me off the payroll, but no one can take away the flow of God's abundance in my life."

This man had secretly been longing for an opportunity to tap into his creative ability and interest in writing. Now here was the opportunity before him. A whole new way of thinking possessed him. He felt thankful for the new door that had opened before him and even blessed his termination from his job. He left the office with an enthusiasm and zest for life that surprised even himself. To make a long story short, he had some writings published and earned some money. Now he didn't become a financial giant but more importantly he had a new found faith in himself, and became less anxious about what he lacked in his life.

Remember, like Joseph, every time things get tough, things can always be to your advantage. When one door closes, another will open. Just look inward. BE LIKE THE SPIDER. Rejection is always redirection.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile

Wisdom Nugget: "A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired"

Smile
Source: Photo Pin

“If you can find humour in anything, you can survive it.” - Bill Cosby

Laughter is physically good for you like a vitamin - it relieves muscle tension, improves your memory, boosts your immune system and helps prevent heart disease; among other things. It’s worth it to even fake laughter at your boring friend's "unfunny" jokes. It calms you down, why deny yourself the pleasure? A little drop of healthy humour will settle things down between friends after a bitter argument, faster than anything I know. Irrespective of the weight of that burden, it’s shattered under the strength of a generous dose of healthy humour - humour makes burdens light keeping them from crushing us.

Just in case you're one of those who find almost every joke not funny enough, here are a few pointers to (help) make you laugh.

1. Think of something you find funny. Not surprisingly, the easiest way to laugh is to think of something that you personally find very amusing. This can be useful for those occasions where everybody but you is laughing at a joke. Hear Agnes Repplier, "We cannot really love anybody with whom we never laugh"

2. Smile: If you do want to fake or create a laugh, start with a smile. Scientists have found that genuine laughter is almost accompanied by the contraction of about 15 facial muscles, most of which are the same you use when you smile, it can actually put you in a better mood and make you more apt to laugh. Smiling has been shown to make you feel good; therefore a smile precedes laughter, as you have to feel good before you laugh.

3. Laugh at the appropriate time. Genuine laughs almost always begin at the end of a phrase or sentence.

4. Watch one of your favourite comedies, or ask your friends for a funny movie they have recently watched. You could go watch it with them for more laughs.

5. Talk about something cheerful or funny.

6. Have your own sense of humour too. Make your own joke - something that is truly funny to you.

Laughter is contagious. It’s also beneficial to life and relationships. Laughter reduces stress and tension. Laughter stimulates the immune system. Laughter increases natural painkillers in the blood leading to a decrease in systemic inflammation. Laughter reduces blood pressure and lifts your spirits. Laughter brings couples closer - it keeps a relationship fresh. Jay Leno puts it thus, “You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh.”

Our emotional, spiritual and physical health improves with daily doses of joy in the Lord. So today make sure you take some time to laugh and rejoice. Joy, smiles, gratitude and laughter are perfect medicines for our soul, available to everyone without negative side effects. Why not give yourself a generous dose of laughter today? 

Laugh Anyway

Wisdom Nuggets: "No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds."
                                                                                                   - Red Skelton

Source: Photo Pin

Research has shown that the health benefits of laughter are far-reaching. Bill Cosby said "Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it."

1. When you make fun of yourself, you disarm those who would make fun of you and defuse possible confrontations.
2. Laughter relieves tension, stress, anger, irritation, grief, and depression. Similar to crying, laughter lowers emotional barriers, allowing the release of pent-up emotions. After a hearty session of laughter, you experience a sense of true well-being.
3. Medical researchers have found that laughter boosts the immune system.
4. Laughter reduces pain by releasing endorphins that are more powerful than equivalent amounts of morphine.
5. Humor helps merge the 2 hemispheres of the brain. The left hemisphere is used to interpret the verbal content of a joke. The right hemisphere interprets whether it is funny or not.
6. Laughter adds spice to life. Laughter is to life what rain is to the earth.
7. When you develop your sense of humor, you become more productive, communicate better, and tend to be a better team player.
8. Laughter provides the balance we need to get through the many hurdles of life.
9. Laughter is another form of exercise - According to Dr. James Walsh, "it massages all the organs of the body"
10. Laughter/humor helps you to rise to any challenge and handle the unexpected with ease.

Many adults avoid doing fun things because of what I'll like to call "FOWOT", fear of what others think! The bad news is we let this fear control a chunk of our lives and yet the truth is that no one else is ever thinking about us. They are too busy worrying about what WE are thinking about them - how ironic?

Alan Alda says "When people are laughing, they're generally not killing one another" and Red Skelton concludes, "No matter what your heartache may be, laughing helps you forget it for a few seconds" and its usually a great feeling.