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A National of Haters

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A Nation of Haters by AChuckALLEN

I read the following statistics in one of my favorite newsletters from Dr. Jim Denison. In the stats, one significant truth leaps off of the page. That stat? That we are nation that is not only radically divided, but we are a country that is rapidly growing in hate.

A recent survey found that 61 percent of Democrats view Republicans as “racist/bigoted/sexist”; 31 percent of Republicans feel the same way about Democrats. Fifty-four percent of Democrats consider Republicans to be “ignorant”; 49 percent of Republicans feel the same way about Democrats. And 44 percent of Democrats consider Republicans to be “spiteful”; 54 percent of Republicans feel this way about Democrats.

“Only 4 percent of each party consider the other party to be “fair.” Three percent of Democrats and 4 percent of Republicans consider the other party to be “thoughtful.” Two percent of Democrats and 3 percent of Republicans consider the other party to be “kind.”

In 1958, 33 percent of Democrats wanted their daughters to marry a Democrat; 25 percent of Republicans wanted their daughters to marry a Republican. In 2016, 60 percent of Democrats and 63 percent of Republicans felt that way.

Why is our political culture so vehemently divided? Is there anything we can do to change the vitriol of our day?“

If you are over 50 years of age, you might be tempted to think that this is generational and it must be those “millinneials.” If you are under 40 years of age, you might think that the problem must be the old guard. If you are under 30 years of age, you might think that it’s our time to fix this mess. And if you are under 20 years of age, you might actually have the guts to change this mess. All of that rant is simply my beliefs, but seriously…We are on the edge of implosion as a nation that is theoretically “Under God.”

Here are four ways that I think each of us can contribute to the solution of this nation of growing haters:

  • Stop taking any source of national news as truth. Please note that I said ANY SOURCE. If you lean right, Fox News is gospel. If you lean left, CNN is gospel. Instead of commentary, find the simple facts and ask the Lord of all Creation for wisdom to know the difference.
  • Engage the people in your spheres of influence and relationships with positive talk about what is good in this world, in your world and in the present moment. My grandmother was on point when she said, “if you don’t have anything good to say, it’s your fault.”
  • Go do good work! Help serve hungry people. Mentor marginalized kids and families. Give your time to worthy and honorable charities. Prop up and join organizations, churches, schools and businesses that are attempting to make the world a better and safer place, without postering for political camera time.
  • Start your day with gratitude. Nothing will change your attitude, conversations and actions more than sincere gratitude. I start every single day by writing down three things that I am grateful for right in that moment. They aren’t often lofty or benevolent, but they are sincere. And by the way, my gratitude is always pointed to the one that provides me life that day.
  • Go change the part of this world that you can influence for good.
  • Don’t grow weary in doing good.
  • Please don’t get sucked into the vortex of negative, hate-filled speech.
  • Determine to make your day awesome, regardless of the rest of the world’s fights.

PEACE, AChuck

4forFRIDAY with AChuck

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This Week’s 4forFRIDAY June 26, 2020

I love to share good reads, learnings, listens, and reviews with friends and followers. So, thanks for joining me on my 4forFRIDAY BLOG. Each week, the 4forFRIDAY offers recommended Reads, Listens, Learnings, and Reviews, simply for your enjoyment. Thanks Again! 

A Great Series from Apple TV: DEAR…,

The incredible power of people writing to people. I was so captured by Lin Manuel Miranda, Oprah, Big Bird, Aly Raisman, and more as they read through letters that had been sent to them as encouragement and gratitude. It completely reshaped how I see communicating with folks that have inspired or encouraged me. I think you’ll like this series.

A Fun Summertime Playlist from Spotify: Feel Good Summer

Just plain old fun summertime music. It’s not Christian, but if you like a little classic rock, Beach Boys and Natalie Cole, The Temptations, etc., then you’ll enjoy this playlist!

An Interesting Show: The Everglades; Preserving Paradise

Every now and then, I’m captivated by the earth and in particular, Florida…my home state. This special on The Everglades was fascinating to me.

A Brand New Planner from Michael Hyatt and Co. The Pocket-Sized Full Focus Planner

I’ve been a hybrid planner guy for about a year now. I utilize technology for evergreen calendaring but a paper planner for more specific goals, monthly/weekly/daily planning. This is the very best that I’ve seen yet.

My Spiritual Journals, Power Routines are now available at the Sugar Hill Church Store and Amazon. Instigating the habits of Gratitude, Scripture Reading, Journaling and Guided Prayer is a powerful way to CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR LIFE! Pick up your copies of POWER ROUTINES at Sugar Hill Church or Amazon.

A Quote from Ronald Reagan

“Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing.”

The Weekday Podcast is a 5 minutes/day, 5 days/week Cup of Encouragement, straight from the Scriptures.

New episodes are available Monday – Friday on the
Sugar Hill Church APP or at WeekdayPodcast.com 

I’ve also launched a new Podcast with two friends, Corron Boston and Mau Mennesses. It takes a shot at discussing God in Race Relations. You can find it here: Race Forward: God and Race Relations

Go in Peace, AChuck

If I Were 17 Again

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If I Were 17 Again by AChuckAllen

Even with the odd graduations of 2020, it would appear that we will be going back to school this fall. As a result, I started thinking about the things I would do differently if I were about to start my senior year at South Gwinnett High School again.

I enjoyed my high school years, well at least a couple of them. My dad moved us several times during my four years, but I wound up attending three schools, but two schools for three years. I know, it was odd.

I have fond memories of my short time at Southwest Dekalb High School, which I attended for one fall and then we were off to South Gwinnett. There we stayed for almost two full years and we made a stop in Lubbock, Texas. I attended a few Summer School classes attempting to avoid sitting out a year of varsity football. That summer turned out to be a great year and held one of my favorite adventures of high school. I was 15 years old, living with Mom and Dad in Texas. I would have had to sit out a football season and so, moving back to Georgia was my highest priority. So, I left Mom, Dad and the sweetest little girlfriend, Deanna and drove myself (remember-15 years old) from Lubbock, Texas directly to Camp Bow and Arrow for football camp with my teammates – The Not So Mighty South Gwinnett Comets. That trip at 15 years old included a night of sleep in the back of my Monte Carlo in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Sometimes being stupid will cause you to grow up in a hurry. So, after that little bypass, here are my re-wishes.

If I could relive a few of those senior days, I would have:

1. I wish that I had been less of a butthead and been a nicer human being. Especially to kids that were struggling.

2. I wish I had been a real Follower of Christ, not a convenient Christian with no spiritual guts at all.

3. I wish I had played every single play like I was one yard away from winning the Super Bowl. I loved playing ball!

4. I wish I would have said yes to Troy.

5. I wish I would have focused more on literature and actually listened to Mrs. Adair. I didn’t particularly like her.

6. I wish I had started intentionally reading earlier in life…like as in at 17.

7. I wish I would have made that one tackle that got away from me while playing the coldest game of my life at Elbert County. That dude was big.

8. I wish I would have kicked the guy playing over me as I was long snapping while at Habersham County in the privates. I don’t even know his name, but I still hate him.

9. I wish I would have treated my Mom and Dad with more respect. When you are 17-18 years old you really are an idiot.

10. And finally, I wish that I would have honored my coaches for the painstaking efforts they poured into me. I’d still try and run through a wall for any of them..especially Coaches Strickland, Johnson, Carter and Sawyer.

We don’t have the luxury of reliving our past, but we can pass along our hard earned knowledge to those that come behind us. So, feel free to share these and your desired mulligans with the kids that will start their Senior years this Fall.

Go in Peace, AChuck

4forFRIDAY with AChuckAllen

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This Week’s 4forFRIDAY June 19, 2020

I love to share good reads, learnings, listens, and reviews with friends and followers. So, thanks for joining me on my 4forFRIDAY BLOG. Each week, the 4forFRIDAY offers recommended Reads, Listens, Learnings, and Reviews, simply for your enjoyment. Thanks Again! 

My New Favorite Sub: Jersey Mike’s

My Favorite Sub Sandwich These Days: Jersey Mike’s Italian on wheat served Mike’s way and with mayo. Add a bag of Baked Lays and a Coke Zero and Bam, you smell like onions the rest of the day, but you are comfortably full!

A Song that Has Truly Moved My Heart: The Blessing & Waymaker

One of the most worshipful songs that I have ever heard. You’ll be blessed. I’m listening through these two worship songs as I’m reading through Scripture and working through Power Routines.

A Fattening, But Oh So Good Sweet Treat: Brownie Brittle

I love this stuff. I love it too much. If you are the person that likes the corner pieces of the brownie pan, then you will love Brownie Brittle.

A Really Good Article: Stop Saying These Words

I found this article to actually be encouraging in the midst of so much despair. Enjoy.

My Spiritual Journals, Power Routines are now available at the Sugar Hill Church Store and Amazon. Instigating the habits of Gratitude, Scripture Reading, Journaling and Guided Prayer is a powerful way to CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF YOUR LIFE! Pick up your copies of POWER ROUTINES at Sugar Hill Church or Amazon.

A Quote from Maya Angelou

“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible.”

The Weekday Podcast is a 5 minutes/day, 5 days/week Cup of Encouragement, straight from the Scriptures.

New episodes are available Monday – Friday on the
Sugar Hill Church APP or at WeekdayPodcast.com 

Go in Peace, AChuck

The USA & Baseball

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The USA & Baseball by AChuckAllen

I’ll freely admit it. I love baseball. I still think that baseball is America’s game. But I cannot stomach the fact that this beloved game has become a snapshot of the 2020 version of the American life.

Just think about this…Grown men that play a boys game for millions of dollars. And just to be clear, the league minimum is a salary of $536,500.00 per year. Back to the point. And people that own franchises worth billions and certainly millions…How do we put the two groups together and somehow, they cannot seem to be able to agree on how to play 50 baseball games per team. That’s before you even get to the challenge of where you play those games or a postseason.

One more time, just to be clear. How do we gather players that are millionaires and owners that are billionaires, with the intent to determine how to bring joy to millions of Americans and potentially make more money? I know what you are thinking. Chuck, there is more to it than that. Okay, I’ll give you that possibility. But, and that’s a BIG BUT, we are still facing this conundrum: How do spoiled men, acting like spoiled kids play 50 baseball games against other spoiled men, acting like spoiled kids? Oh! And how do we get a select group of wealthy people to become the grown-ups in the room and recognize that America NEEDS BASEBALL right now? Sorry, I got fired up with the emboldened capitals.

This is truly a snapshot of the present day, USA. Everybody wants more, while not particularly caring about the greater good and greater needs. And there you have it. Once again, proving that every single problem being faced in the good old USofA is a matter of the heart. A matter of who has control of our heart, when better said.

Come on Baseball. Shock us all, and do the right thing!

—AChuck

I’m Offended!

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I’m Offended by AChuckAllen

Everywhere I turn, somebody has been offended. Each time that I watch the news, there are people offended and often another group of people taking up their offenses.

Come on, folks! We live in a world of diversity. We have diverse backgrounds, education, skin color, and spiritual maturity. As a result, we live in conflict. There it is! That awful “C-word,” CONFLICT! But, I don’t think we are dying from conflict, we are slowly dying from misdirected and mismanaged conflict. Wherever you are and whatever you do, is done in the sphere of diversity. And, wherever diversity exists, conflict is close behind.

We, as independent people, love our freedoms, especially when everyone agrees with us. But then life happens. Someone sees the world differently that you do, and BAM! Our diversity then becomes conflict.

We seem to be able to work together. Why then, can we not think together? Because conflict always exists, whether we verbalize or stuff it. The simple recognition that God created us uniquely should give us the catalyst to understand that we look differently, respond differently, and lead differently. Why in the world would we believe that we would not think and speak differently?

I am attempting to control my heart, and I’ve asked the Divine to guide me through this season. You know why? Well, thanks for asking. It is because I have no hope of understanding my heart, much less, changing it without God’s Spirit directing it.

We must stop being offended about everything that someone does or says. Remember that conflict is always present, so don’t take the bait. Refuse to buy into the lies that everyone has a deep and dark agenda to rob you of some freedom or right.

Ask your Creator to do a work within you that will soften your heart with empathy and sincerity, and see how differently this world of conflict is from the life God has directed us to live. Ask your Creator to thicken your skin, so you will not be the victim of everything somebody says.

The foolish, binary thoughts that we must live on the fringes of our ideals with simple yes/no questions leaves no room for us to create our own thoughts and convictions. If all we do is regurgitate someone else’s opinions, we are buying into the lies that the far right or far left has all the answers. That’s a steaming pile of poop!

Lay down your idealistic, emotional boo-boo’s and battle weary pitchforks long enough to develop an “up close” perspective. The further removed from something, the easier it is to take up an offense that was never about you. The longer we remain distanced from the problem, person or statement, we seem to be more offended. The closer we get to the statement, person or problem, the easier it is to develop sympathy, solutions and empathy for the person, problem or activity.

This overly simple, three step, mental activity will save you years of heartache and the temptation to become a statistic filled with rage and no healthy way to release that anger.

1) Live in the Spirit as He lives in you. 2) Offer grace and the reality that you may not know the whole story. 3) Discipline your soul to NOT pick up an offense unless it is personally directed at you and you can deal with it in love and preferably in person. Otherwise, let it go, let it go, let it go!

The real battle isn’t what, or who are offended by, the real battle is between your ears. I’ve discovered that when I am grateful, thoughtful, transparent, and grace-filled, I can lay those offenses down so much easier. How about you?

Go in Peace,
AChuck

Don’t miss a single day of my Weekday Podcast. Just 5 minutes/day and 5 days/week will deliver to your inbox a “Cup of Encouragement.”

A Message for America

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A Message for America by AChuckAllen

What a stinking mess we have in America today! I am talking with folks from radically diverse backgrounds, faith systems, educational experiences, and social status, and this is what I keep hearing: “Why is everything so hard and so bitter in America today?” They may not articulate it in those exact words, but that is at the heart of so many people that call this great country, home.

Maybe you have been sheltered in place so long that you have your left or right political bent welded to your soul, but me? Well, I am on the hunt for a voice of reason in this political season of hatred. I cannot believe that the advisors and ego prompters that most of our national candidates have around them are encouraging this silliness. There is no possible way that Americans truly want our political voices to remain so binary that there is no voice of reason remaining in the contest.

We can do better. We must do better. And, by God’s grace, we will do better. Our very constitution and way of American life are literally at stake. Think with me about your Congressional district; 1) Are there any voices of reason, or are the candidates wallowing in the same mud puddle? 2) Have each of the remaining candidates locked their campaign with the presidential candidate? 3) Have your options for Congress left you thinking, “Is that really the best that my country offers? 4)) Is there any person running for a national office that has been able to stay above the fray of the media bate to trash the other opponent?

Let me say it again: We can do better. We must do better. And, by God’s grace, we will do better. Making the changes that are required in the House, Senate and the White House requires more than your vote. Your vote is vital, but your action is what will make this nation the city on the hill that President Reagan spoke of. His reference taken from the Scriptures is where we will find that voice of reason.

The origin of the phrase, “City on a Hill,” is found in Matthew 5: 14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.“

If you want to make the changes necessary to return to and become that city on a hill, then write your leaders, pray for your leaders. Speak up to your leaders. But, please speak with the voice of reason. Have a convictional, and original thought regarding your part of this great republic. What do you think about the appointment of judges? What do you think about abortion? What do you think about healthcare, Obamacare, and national healthcare? What do you think about our national debt? What would you do about immigration?

You cannot complain and whine about the political and societal mess in America unless you codify your opinions and beliefs. Don’t be a screamer with someone else’s opinions. Form your own. Then speak to the problems with solution and well-founded, original thoughts.

Let your light so shine!

–AChuck

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