Achuckallen

Instigating Better

Do Good

When You are Overwhelmed

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Have you ever felt like you cannot win? I’m talking about that feeling you get when you’ve tried and struggled and worked your way through a day, and everything falls apart. Me too. So many of us are living in the middle of OVERWHELM. But here is what I would encourage you to do. If you want to escape overwhelm, here is how to do it. It worked for me, and I am confident that it will work for you.

1. Stop whatever you are doing and make a mental note of what you are grateful for right now. I know it sounds so simple, but I’ve learned how powerful the emotion and expression of gratitude can be. It will reset your soul like no other experience. Gratitude isn’t just for contemplative people. Gratitude is for every human on the planet. When you are overwhelmed, lean into gratitude. Take note of two things you are grateful for. It will reset your soul on a trajectory of peace and contentment.

2. Help someone. It’s not about how much you help or what exactly you do. Jesus said that people that aspire to great must learn to serve others. If you feel like there is nothing that’s going right in your life, do something to help someone else, and I’ll promise that your attitude and your heart will turn around and reset your day. It’s like magic. Serve others and watch how it changes your perspective and reality. Acts 30:35 makes this point clear, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, when He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

3. Stop in your tracks and ask the Divine for Wisdom. We are a people that are overwhelmed with knowledge. I recently read that in 2020, all known knowledge is doubling every twelve hours. In 1982, inventor R. Buckminster Fuller estimated that up until 1900, human knowledge doubled every century, but by 1945 it was doubling every 25 years. And by 1982, it was doubling every 12-13 months. This may sound a little quaint since experts now believe that by 2020, human knowledge doubles every 12 hours. But the real question is, “How is it making us smarter?” We have more information and more knowledge than any generation in creation’s history. So, where is the wisdom that is needed to overcome our overwhelm? It’s right here in an ancient book, proven accurate a million times and then a million more. The Bible teaches us in the book of James, chapter 1 that “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” Did you read that? Ask for wisdom and you are promised to be given wisdom.

Most of this world is overwhelmed right now. You do not have to stay that way. Stop and be Grateful. Slow down long enough to serve someone. Discover enough humility to ask for help by asking the Creator, and Sustainer of the universe for WISDOM.
That is the key to OVERCOMING OVERWHELM.

—Chuck

Careful Criticism

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If you went back to President Bill Clinton’s first term and continued into President George W. Bush’s terms, then-President Barak Obama’s terms and President Donald Trump’s term, you would find two commonalities. First, you would discover that at the changing of the party platforms, radical changes took place. Second, you would find that the party that lost became progressively louder in the disagreement and criticism of platforms and policies.

Please don’t hear me say that we shouldn’t disagree and even disagree with great concern. I will say, however, that we must get a few things done that require some cooperation. The country must move forward and stop spending all of our energies fighting battles among ourselves. At some point, America will experience a significant and horrible challenge that will require left and right, donkey and elephant, black and white, to rally around our most core beliefs and work together.

Following that last paragraph, I am contemplating a complete rewrite. The left is warming up their keyboards, ready to fire off a blistering assault on my alleged intelligence. The right is preparing to continue the string of recent notes of joy that have called into question my faith, my sanity, and my patriotism. But I need to move on.

I titled this article “Careful Criticism.” One of the many problems in our Capital is the full-time politicians and their assault on whoever the “other party” is. It’s a problem because we are electing and paying people to do nothing but gripe, criticize, and complain. We have full-time whiners and news pundits, but very few get-it-done leaders are remaining. You pick the side, and you’ll find whiners, critics, and gripers. At some point, we have to discover some common ground and start moving forward. If we don’t, we will whine, blame, and criticize our way into a debt we cannot pay, a fight we cannot win, or a mistake from which we cannot recover.

I get it. Blue doesn’t want to agree with pro-life Red. Red doesn’t want to agree with green-deal Blue. I am not suggesting that anyone step away from their convictions. I am suggesting that there are areas in which we must fight to discover SOME common ground and press forward toward a better union and better Republic. Again, I am in no way suggesting we lay down convictions. I am suggesting that we lay down our anger, vitriol, and incivility. I mean that we rise as the great nation that we are and elect women and men with love for this country that exceeds their love for power and television time. Come on, America! We are so much better than the childish bickering that seems to keep our airwaves filled with more lavish and unstable hate-speak. To do that, we must stop electing career politicians. We must stop supporting anger-filled pundits, even if they agree with our ideologies, and we must elect leaders filled with integrity, decency, and character. We must also elect leaders that agree with serious campaign finance reform and term limits. If we do not, the stagnation of constant criticism will be rewarded with an ever-growing civil war that will occur every four-years yet change very little. At some point, we will have to elect women and men that have courage without anger. We must accept that no one is clean enough not to have some checkered past. We could use some common sense and some people that have experienced the need for grace and correction. We really could use a few leaders that have received and learned how to extend some grace and discipline.

Whatever it takes, we must move beyond the name-calling, foolish tirades, and attention-grabbing camera bluster of so-called leaders that get nothing done but partisan criticism and positioning. Maybe you should run for an elected office. Perhaps I should run for an elected office. But then, we would be under the microscope of criticism, and maybe someone might ask the question, could we handle the heat in that oven-like kitchen?

America, we must be careful with our criticism. It seems to be at the heart of our battles. We can disagree, and we should oppose other ideations of this land. We are a Republic founded on diverse people, which had, and still has vastly diverse thought. But we are Americans, for goodness sake. Let’s act like it!

Chuck

Four Lessons I Learned from COVID-19

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First, let me freely admit that I greatly underestimated Covid-19! I thought I would be a little sickly and get over it in a few days. Boy, was I wrong? I was one of those folks that had almost every symptom you can have. I was down and out of commission for the better part of two weeks. Over the course of those two weeks, I learned four critical lessons that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Hopefully, they will benefit you, and prayerfully you won’t have to have Covid-19 to learn them.

Here are the FOUR LESSONS from COVID-19

1 You are not in charge! You may think that you are, but you are not in charge. Here are three points that make this point.
– I did everything one should do to avoid Covid, but it found me.
– Every medication and every treatment might have been helpful, but God Himself chose to determine my timetable with this wicked enemy. – The only way to health is to stop trying to power through it.

Friends, this virus is the real deal. My encouragement to you is to recognize that we shouldn’t live in fear of Covid-19, but we should honor the fact that any of us can contract this thing, and we are all potential victims. I’m not too fond of wearing a mask. I hate the politicization of wearing a mask even more. I despise the need to cancel live worship and groups, but I would never want anybody to struggle as I did with this stuff! I’ve read and listened to so many varying opinions on masks and distancing that I really am not certain of “the science we are to follow.” I am however, keenly aware that if there is any way to keep people we love as safe as possible, why not give in and ride this thing out? In other words, just wear the mask.

You are not in control. As the Stoics were fond of saying, “The single most important practice in Stoic philosophy is differentiating between what we can change and what we can’t. What we have influence over and what we do not. If we can focus on making clear what parts of our day are within our control and what parts are not, we will not only be happier; we will have a distinct advantage over other people who fail to realize they are fighting an unwinnable battle.”

2 There is a Purpose Within this Virus. For the last nine days of my fight with Covid-19, I started my day with a Gratitude Journal. Inside the journal and number one on my list each day was this statement, “Thank You for Covid-19.” No, I’m not as dumb as I look. I read more, learned more, prayed more, and grew more during Covid than I had in the previous six months. The Divine allowed my time with Covid to redeem my plans for 2021. He allowed me time to rethink almost every part of my life. I was determined to accomplish several things in 2021, but a few of those things have changed significantly! While I do not believe this virus was Heaven created, the Divine is certainly using it to accomplish much. What, I wonder, has He been teaching you? If you aren’t sure, then learn this lesson and slow the pace of your day down and listen for His still, powerful voice.

3 Solitude is Healthy! I speak for the many people that are introverts by nature, but also for people that are around people all the time. Solitude is necessary to think clearly. It is needed to meditate and pray consistently. Solitude can allow for serious planning, and most importantly, solitude will drive you to get off life’s hamster wheel and speak with your Creator and listen for Him to speak into your life. Covid-19 forced me to enjoy and now crave solitude.

4 Everybody Really is dispensable! While I continued working from home, I had people that continued the good work and the good word of Sugar Hill Church. I had friends that prayed for me, covered my bases, and did all manner of caring for me and feeding me. Thank You! I watched as my team functioned wonderfully. I saw them lead and lead well. I was blessed by how they were both concerned for me, but also how they were even more concerned about the health and ministry of our faith community. I felt missed but never required. I felt blessed and never completely essential. Jenny was amazing, as usual. She put up with my whining and griping and moody ways. The girls all checked on me, daily and my dearest friends were more concerned for me than they were for themselves when they had Covid. I discovered, and I’ll bet that you would as well; that you are not indispensable, but you are deeply loved and cared for.

There are dozens of additional lessons learned during my battle, but I’ll stop for today. Thanks to all of you that prayed for me and shared your kindness with my family!

Peace, Chuck

The Complexity of Reason

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I doubt if it is safe to jump in the
water yet, but here goes.

Looking Back at the Election, I would Like to Offer Two Big Thoughts:

1. President Trump actually has no one to blame for his lost bid for a second term but himself. You cannot continually exhaust people with tirades for four years and expect a country in desperate need of logic and grace-filled leadership to continue to support you. I know that will ruffle my fellow Republicans, but I believe it to be an honest assessment of the last ninety-days of the 2020 election.

2. The Democratic teams of leadership, like Stacy Abrams out-survived the republicans. They put together a strategic plan that provided for legal means to register, gather, and count votes. While I am sure there was voter-fraud in many places, I do not believe the election was “stolen.” If like me, you were on the losing side, you want to believe that was the case, but wishing it to be so is not the same as proving that it is so. I agree with Lindsey Graham when he stated, ” I was told of 10,000 cases of illegal votes and asked for proof of ten. I received none.” I think that has been a truthful statement across the country. The bottom line lesson for republicans? Learn from Stacy Abrams. She is a brilliant human.

Here are Two Thoughts on the Attack on the Capital.

1. For those of you that wish to absolve yourself of the riotous lunatics that busted out windows, swung from the gallery of the Congress and stormed the Capital of the United States of America, I totally understand. I heard people trying to justify this insidious action by comparing it to BLM and Antifa’s actions last summer. Is that really a reason to raid your own capital? Those who participated in that action or attempting to deny its stupidity truly express their own lack of knowledge, wisdom, decency, or patriotism. I believe that 99.99% of the people in Washington were there to protest peacefully. I do not believe that the President intended to insight any violence, but we must speak loudly regarding evil, or we will continue to wallow in it. It may be an ancient saying, but it is appropriate for this year, “Two Wrongs Never Make a Right.”

2. While I do not believe that President Trump instigated violence or intended to do so, he does bear some responsibility for this mess. To continue the barrage of insults to his own party leaders that have been so faithful to him over the past years, simply for encouraging him to act like an adult encourages other people to join the fray. Vice President Pence has been far more loyal to the President than any human on the planet. To call and browbeat state elected officials isn’t cool. To continually argue against your own people allowed those that were “on the bubble” with the President to jump off the wagon. Again, see my statement regarding Stacy Abrams. I think the Republicans got outsmarted, out strategized, and outmanned. As a result, they lost. End of story. Rather than “sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” maybe the Republicans should see it this way, “sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” Mr. Trump, you were the President. Your words carry far greater weight than us regular folks. To claim theft and enrage millions of supporters with claims that carried no legal proof was to play a significant role in what occurred at the Capital. Every side has nut jobs. Ours were public and needed to have been reprimanded by the President within seconds of the first act of violence.

I know I’ve made simple claims and elementary statements in this post. Still, now more than ever, the United States of America needs voices of logic, reason, and civility from our leaders. When our voices are shut down simply because we disagree on who we voted for, we have lost our opportunity to express decency and civility. Vocabulary.com states that REASON is defined as, “Reason usually has to do with thought and logic instead of emotion. If people think you show good reason or are reasonable, it means you think things through. If people think you have a good reason for doing something, it means you have a motive that makes sense.” Boy, oh boy, we could use some reason right now. This constant hatred and childish bickering MUST STOP! The right and the left and the middle must put the American people’s welfare – ALL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE – ahead of party lines, party platforms, personal preferences, and petty divisions.

REASON. This great land will return to a voice of reason when we all lay down our pitchforks and words of mass destruction. When we speak to folks with which we disagree with civility tones and seek to understand more than seeking to be understood.

Reason. It’s pretty simple. Then why do we seem to work so hard to make it complex?

Peace, Chuck

4forFRIDAY New Year Edition

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4forFRIDAY January 1, 2021

Happy New Year!

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, only for your enjoyment. Thanks Again!

ALSO, PLEASE JOIN ME NEXT WEEK. MONDAY-FRIDAY FOR THE 5 ESSENTIAL. ELEMENTS OF A FAR BETTER YEAR ONLY ON MY FACEBOOK PAGE AND ACHUCKALLEN.COM

Start Your New Year in Scripture: Join me for a 31 day daily reading through the Proverbs. Just head to my Facebook page for your reminder. Each Friday, I’ll give us all an overview of the wee’s readings.

I invite you to join me for a 31 Day Bible Reading Plan starting Friday, Jan 1, 2021. It’s so simple and can be done on your phone, tablet, computer, or in a real-life Bible! Just read one chapter of Proverbs each day (there are 31 chapters) Each Friday I’ll present a review of that week’s chapters via FB. Download the You VersionAPP for your device for free and select the New Living Translation.

A Great Read to Assist in Your New Year Goal to Read More Scripture in 2021. “Pray the Bible” by Donald Whitney

Donald Whitney outlines a simple, time-tested method that can help transform our prayer lives: praying the words of the Bible. Praying the Bible shows readers how to pray through portions of Scripture one line at a time, helping us stay focused by allowing God’s Word itself to direct our thoughts and words.

A Reminder – DWELL – The single easiest way to Memorize Scriptures

This is so great. For a few dollars each month, this subscription service provides temporary tattoos, watch and phone wallpapers, cards and helps to memorize one power scripture every month.

A Really Solid Read: 3 Habits That Can Give Your Brain a Break to Restore High-Level Thinking

This is a good read, especially for folks that are working remotely or are assisting student learning remotely. Here’s a snippet:

A Quote from David Whyte

“Inside everyone is a great shout of joy waiting to be born.”

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.

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

Happy New Year, A-Chuck

America Must Change These 3 Things

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“God Bless America, Land that I Love”

Today’s article is not a political musing! This article is about the three essential changes that America MUST correct if we remain the most prosperous and blessed nation on the planet. There are hundreds of other issues to address, but if I could somehow influence our leaders, I would start with these three.

I would consider myself a patriot. I unashamedly love America. I tear up at the National Anthem. I marvel at our beginnings. Throughout this great land, we have had some pretty bad seasons and some pretty remarkable, heroic recoveries.

We need one of those recoveries right now. We can’t wait much longer. With the new transition of President-Elect Biden, we cannot afford to spend our next four years bickering and feuding over silly, partisan crap! Lord knows that’s what we’ve spent the past three decades doing. Bush fought with Dems. Clinton fought with Elephants. Bush fought with the left, Obama fought with the right. Trump fought with everybody, and now I fear Biden will go to war with the Republicans and hopefully combat the far-left socialist wing of his party. But we have to stop fighting among ourselves and discover some wholesome goodness to attack together.

These three things are non-negotiable as we attempt to recover from a long year of COVID-19, racial unrest, civil unrest, riots, looting, and economic hardships for families across almost every sector of American life. By the way, if you disagree with these three, that’s more than okay. The question I would ask you is, what are three of your ideas to make America all she can be?

1. We Must Find Common Ground to Build On

I don’t say this lightly, but I cannot say it loud enough. We must come together for the greater good. Our broken political, educational, spiritual, and financial systems are dying from a lack of common purpose and the greater good. There was a day when we rallied around a familiar opponent and joined together to conquer that obstacle. Today, that obstacle is ourselves. We are the house divided, and the walls are crumbling. Not because of presidents, members of Congress, or senators, but because of our lack of common purpose and open, shared accountability.


“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions
of its members.”
—Coretta Scott King

The common good is and should be
focused on three areas.

Education. Put our kids first, and get our educational systems in the top three in the world in science, math, reading, and technology. If a traditional education path isn’t for a kid, then have skill-based education that can raise a generation of steelworkers, welders, artisans, artists, and builders. Education must become a central theme of rediscovering the wonder of this great land!

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is the first step for people to gain the knowledge, critical thinking, empowerment and skills they need
to make this world a better place.”
– Nelson Mandela.

2. We Must Solve Our Desperate Debt Load

Never before have we faced a reckoning like the one we face as we look at a continually escalating debt. As of this writing, the national debt of the United States is more than $27,265,000,000,000. That is more than $218,000 per taxpayer and almost $90,000 per US citizen.

Payday is coming, but we MUST reel in our spending. I’m not a nationalist in the sense that we should button down everything except what we spend in the States, but we cannot continue to fund the world. Pet projects are at the heart of this crisis. The reason pet projects exist is the ongoing political system in Washington. If your future and sustainability are dependent upon reelection, you will – by human tendency – please who you need to for reelection. Term limits and complete transparency on pork-laden bills of legislation much stop!

“We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we
haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt
because we spend too much.”
― Ronald Reagan

3. We Must Recover our Patriotism and Honor

When we were fighting the Nazis and were drawn into World War II, we knew our enemy. We rallied around an American pride that leads to Americans fighting for Americans and fighting a common enemy. In the war on Communism, we knew who we were attempting to defeat. In the war on terrorism, we knew we were in a common fight. The days following 9/11 brought us to common ground.

But what if we need common patriotism as opposed to “common complainism?” I know that’s not a word, but you got the picture. We are at war! We are at war with a world that does not see the freedoms and American ideals as essential. We are in a battle for our republic and the democracy that it upholds.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”

Somehow, someway, we must engage a different bank of leaders. America is in desperate need of leaders without political aspiration, but aspirations of selfless service. We need to return to a people with a vision for freedom and equality, but not at the sake of losing the soul of our country.

Loving your country shouldn’t be a label by which you are considered old fashioned, out of touch, or simple-minded. Loving your country should call out the best of us and mold us into leaders that influence what is good, healthy, and wise.

Why not return to the days of American exceptionalism? Why not return a sense of pride in our great country? The answer? PRIDE & SELFISHNESS. We seem to all want our rights, the credit, and our due. The truth is that we need to return the “In God We Trust” to our hearts and actions, not just our currency. Jesus had a good word for our leaders and ourselves. “Whoever wants to be great among you, let him become a servant to all.”

“In the beginning of a change, the patriot
is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot.”
—Mark Twain

I know there are so many things to work on, but this country is worth it. She is worthy of laying down our logos and our egos to serve our children and their future well. She is worthy of course-correcting our out-of-control waste and spending. And she is most undoubtedly worth serving others in the name of righteousness and goodness.

When I think of race relations, economic challenges, political upheaval, civil unrest, riots, looting, and a pandemic, I realize how urgency has taken center stage with these issues. But friends, we must start attacking these issues shortly or we will crumble as a society. Our kids and grandkids need us to fix our mess.

-AChuck