I Believe in You...Really?

Can you believe that ECU actually won the game? And convincingly.

I am learning so much more about believing in people. Some from the very complex processes through which people prove themselves. Some from the storms of life that you watch people persevere through on their journey. And sometimes, I just learn from watching a single mom speak confidently into her autistic son's open heart and his incredible response of love and respect.

I think that I might need to believe a bit more. Sometimes I think that I become synical (I know I do), even with respect to ministry. But I am seeing that when I believe in people...openly...they tend to come through more often.

People will always have the ability to disappoint you. And they may even have a tendency to do it. However, everyone wants you to believe in them. And when they think that you really do...they exhibit more confidence and try very hard not to let you down. In that case, they then to have a greater success rate.

Interestingly enough, I wonder how Mrs. Holtz expressed her "I believe in my son and his team at ECU" before their game? Was it done with the parenthesis of no real confidence or with genuine belief? I am betting on the latter. And I need to give a bit more of the latter. No one wants to compete in a game where no one believes they can win. Someone has to believe. I need to openly believe in people more. How about you?

I Believe...by Dr. Lou

I feel as though I get so pessemistic, so quickly these days. I'm not sure why. Part of it, I think, is being frequently dissappointed by people or circumstances.

I read this morning about the complaining ways of the Jewish people just 2 1/2 months after being liberated from Egypt and seeing their enemies defeated so powerfully by the hand of God. It was so dramatic that no other people dared to attack them as they were gripped by fear of these God endorsed people. I wanted to scream into the past, "Can't you believe any longer than that?"

Not that I look to ESPN for my inspiration on a regular basis, but I was inspired by the old coach (Lou Holtz) tonight. Each week I hear him give opinion and counsel, without seemingly being afraid to speak realistically. In making his 'picks' Lou picked his son's ECU team to win, but then explained why they probably would not. Somehow, he always finds a way to be positive about believing in individual people.

God taught me that lesson today. You can speak the truth and live in reality...even in difficult circumstances, while still believing in individual people. May God help me never to get so pessimistic that I stop believing in people.