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Strength

How Should We Respond to Crisis?

August 1, 2022 by AChuckAllen

AChuckAllen | Monday, August 1, 2022

Every week we are bombarded with another crisis. A school shooting, mass shooting, flood, fire, riot, shortage, war, and the hits keep coming.

How can we respond to these crises without remaining angry, bitter, or hardened? How do we hear about more crises without growing jaded or curled up in anxiety? Fair questions for a country that regularly finds its way into trouble.

As a pastor, coach, and counselor, I’ve learned four things that we can all do to respond appropriately to the next crisis.

  1. DON’T CATASTROPHIZE THE CRISIS
    Fight hard not to let your mind convince you that things are far worse than they are. If we aren’t careful, our brain will convince us that we are like our preferred news outlet. We can be so active in telling ourselves that the sky is falling everywhere. We can make every crisis our crisis. Yes, we should be concerned, moved, and burdened, but you cannot own and exasperate every situation. My friend Julie Homrich would say, “don’t believe everything you think.”
  2. ACTIVELY LISTEN
    In most crises, loud voices point fingers, find fault and politicize the situation. Friends, this is not how to help or how to respond. There is a reason our Creator gave us two ears and one mouth. The single best way to respond to a crisis is to exercise your capacity to listen actively. Yes, affirm your connection to those affected. Affirm their heartache or pain, but at all costs, hush and let them speak. Let them find solace in your presence without your words. Keep this in mind. If you don’t know what to say, please don’t throw a catchphrase or random Bible. Verse their way. Just be there and listen. It’s okay to have a ministry of presence. While meeting the wonderful people of Uvalde, Texas, I heard, over and over again, “you are the only people asking us what we need.” In most points of crisis, words are cheap. Listening is golden.
  3. PRAY AND THEN PRAY SOME MORE
    We Americans are such activity-based people. When a hurricane happens, we get out the chain saws and wet vacs. When a shooting happens, we tend to do the same thing. What in the world? Prayer should never be seen as the last resort. Prayer is the single most extraordinary power on earth and requires zero travel! The minute you see or hear of a crisis, start praying. I’ll never forget seeing a horrific auto crash and hopping out of my truck to see if I could help. I got to the driver and realized they were already in the process of bleeding out. An incredible EMT jumped in, and I started praying for this mom out loud in the middle of highway 78. At that moment, the single greatest thing I knew to do was to PRAY! Before I finished, there were more than 20 people that had gathered around and, in their way, joined me in praying. Five days later, I got word that this dear lady had lost her leg, but she had her life and her toddler in the backseat. Prayer works! Pray, and then pray some more!
  4. ACT WITH GRACE AND SERVE WITH HUMILITY Determine not to join the fray and jump on the whiner train. Here is an equation from my friend Brad Rhoads, “Grace + Intentionality = Transformation” grace extends forgiveness and continuously extends a benefit of the doubt. Grace doesn’t blame. It smooths. And here is an authentic truth – WHEN WE EXTEND GRACE, WE SERVE OTHERS WITH HUMILITY!” According to the poster child of humility, Mother Teresa, this is what humility looks like: These are the few ways we can practice humility:

  • To speak as little as possible of one’s self.
  • To mind one’s own business.
  • Not to want to manage other people’s affairs.
  • To avoid busy-body curiosity.
  • To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.
  • To pass over the mistakes of others.
  • To accept insults and injuries.
  • To accept being slighted, forgotten, and disliked.
  • To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
  • Never stand on one’s dignity.
  • To choose is always the hardest. And best.

The evil in this world will continue to be a struggle from now until we reach Heaven’s gates. We will have minimal power over what they might be or where they will happen, but how we act and react to crises is entirely within our power.

Let us be a people that act and react in and through crises with grace, decency, and kindness. The world has a widening depletion of women and men that will respond in love. If we want to improve this world, let us act in these four areas.

Go in Peace, Chuck

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Filed Under: AChuck's Top 10, Discipleship, Do Good, Emotional Health, Family, Friendship, God and Country, grace, Life and Happiness, Mental Health, Missions, Southern Border, Uncategorized Tagged With: America, America. Equality, American crises, Better Together, Hope, Kindness, Leadership, Personal Development, Spiritual Health, Strength, Voice of reason

9/11 Never Stop Telling the Story

September 11, 2021 by AChuckAllen

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

This weekend, we Americans remember the tragic loss of life and liberty experienced on 09.11.01.

I recalled walking into the Alpharetta office building, where I worked at that time, and seeing the reports that American Airlines Flight 11 had struck the North Tower at 8:46 am.

By the time that I reached my office, just seventeen minutes later, at 9:03 am, the World Trade Center’s South Tower was hit by United Airlines Flight 175.

Given the degree of hate and division in our country, only 20 years later, I am amazed at our incredibly short memories. On September 12, 2001, we were a country unified in serving one another, caring for our neighbors, and honoring our heroes. I pray that it doesn’t take the great uprising of evil to stir our American hearts toward faith and unity…once again.

I also pray that we will REMEMBER how horrible the pain was, deep in our American souls when we saw people murdered on live television and thousands of family’s futures ripped from them as a result of pure hate.

We must tell the story of why we were attacked, how we were attacked, and the way we responded in the moments following the attack. We must remind our next generations that cannot remember, or did not experience the ache which we all felt.

Country artist, Alan Jackson asked the question, “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?” Here are the lyrics:

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?
Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don’t know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white, and blue
And the heroes who died just doing what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and ask what really matters?

Let us be a people that look at ourselves and ask, what really matters.

Peace, Chuck

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Filed Under: ,America, 9/11, AChuck's Top 10, Do Good, Friendship, God and Country, Leadership, Life and Happiness Tagged With: 9/11, America. Equality, Better Together, love, Strength, USA

TOUGHER AND STRONGER

August 9, 2021 by AChuckAllen

Ever wonder if you are strong enough for this world? I mean, have you ever wondered if you can truly cut it? I have. I’ve had so much performance anxiety that I couldn’t seem to put one foot in front of the other. But how are we to get tougher and stronger? How can we do more than survive in a world filled with high achievers, extroverts, and everyday pressures to reach and exceed everyone else’s expectations for our lives?

Here are a few thoughts that might help:

  1. Stop and Recognize that You are Not Alone. The Prophet Isaiah wrote in his book, that we should, “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” But that seems so ethereal that we normal humans might never attain its pomise. But here’s the deal. God, your Creator has promised to never leave you alone, dangling in the wind. That is why He has graciously given us His Spirit to remind us that He is with us and we have nothing to fear. The question is this. Have you worked so hard at trying to understand God, that you stopped just trying to know God? The promises of God are so powerful, but they are only as powerful to us individually as we allow them to be. Trust that you are not alone.
  2. Build Connectivity into Your Daily Life. Want to get stronger? Want to build resilience into your life? Get connected to other people of faith. When we face difficulties, the folks that we’re connected to can help carry us. When we’re hit by fear or anxiety, it is the people we are connected to that give us a proper perspective. They can help us see life in ways we might not see on our own. When we mess up, they are the friends that can correct us and display grace and mercy. They are the people that help remind us that we are deeply loved. And they are the people that display and share that love, in spite of all our failures. These things are hard to do on our own.
  3. Battle Negative Self Talk and Practice Positive Self-Talk. We humans are crafted with a negativity bias. The negative bias is our tendency not only to register negative stimuli more readily, but also to dwell on these events. Negativity bias means that we feel the sting of a negative remembrance or event more powerfully than we feel the joy of a positive experience. That is why we speak to ourselves more in a negative voice than a positive voice. Did you know that the person that you speak to the most is you? If you speak enough negative thoughts to yourself, you will inevitably believe them! How do we beat this spiral of downward emotions? We insert a few key elements into our self-talk. Start by following one simple rule: Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to anyone else. Be kind and encouraging with yourself. If a negative thought enters your mind, evaluate it rationally and respond with affirmations of what is good about you. Think about things you’re thankful for in your life. If at this point in this article, you are thinking that you are not affected by your negative self-talk, stop and think about how many times you refer to yourself negatively, like in “I’m so dumb. How could I let that happen to me. What an idiot?” These were taken straight from my evaluation of my own negative self talk – YIKES!

    Here are a few steps to keep in mind:
  • The Divine made not one single mistake when He created you.
  • Remember That Thoughts and Feelings Aren’t Always Reality.
  • Contain Your Negativity. Stop it before it gets away from you. Negativity is like an avalanche.
  • Cross-Examine Your Inner Critic. Is that really true?
  • Think Like a Friend. Come on now. It’s not that big of a crisis. Let’s talk it through.
  • Shift Your Perspective. What are my present options?
  • Say It Aloud. Call it out and deal with it, rather than stewing on it.

Friends, we have to get a bit stronger and tougher to thrive in our harsh world, but you can do this! In the power of the risen Christ, you can do this! Remember, you are not and never alone!

Build Connection and Community into Your Life! Connectedness ruggedizes us and restores us. And learn the Value of Positive Self Talk that will Counter Balance Your Inner Negativity Bias.

Peace, Chuck

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Emotional Health, Leadership, Mental Health, Personal Development, Power, Productivity, Spiritual Growth, Strength

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