Tag: Greatness

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Who Do You Rely On?

Who do you rely on? Think about that. Who do you need to rely on? The individuals. The institutions or organizations. What would you do if those who you need weren’t there? What would be the impact on your life?

For kids, the obvious answer is their parents. From toddler to young adult, kids rely on Mom and Dad (unfortunately many only have one). As adults, we rely on one another. For those of us married, your spouse is your partner in life. Your young adult children are often still reliant on you, maybe emotionally, sometimes even financially. The elderly rely on others, including family, for their health and wellbeing. Friends need friends. We need one another.

It goes beyond family and friends. Have you ever considered what and who it takes to get food on your table, supplies to your house, or clothes on your body? The supply chain extends from the raw materials, including our farmers, to manufacturing, distribution, transportation, etc. Add to the above our reliance on government, our employers, institutions, organizations, and more.

All of the above is critically important. We couldn’t survive without others. And although I don’t want to minimize our physical needs, here’s the thing…when it comes down to it, who do you rely on more than anyone else? If you’re like most, it’s those who love you the most…that’s who you rely on. So, the question becomes “who loves you the most”? To many of us, the answer is clear…JESUS CHRIST.

God our Father and Jesus Christ, His Son, love us more than we’ll ever know, no matter what we’ve ever done. That love is so great that God gave us His only begotten Son. That love is so strong, that Jesus Christ subjected Himself to His tortuous passion, ending in His execution by painful Crucifixion.

Here’s a visual for you. While Jesus hung on the Cross, every single face in human history…past, present, and future, flashed in front of His, where Jesus met each of us, the sinners He died for, eye to eye. If any one of us were the last person on earth, He would still have died that same tortuous death on the Cross…just for you. There is no greater love.

Here in Holy Week, as we enter the Triduum (from the evening of Holy Thursday to the evening of Easter Sunday), I’d suggest that more than anything or anyone, we need to rely on Jesus. There’s a lot to that…too much to discuss here in the 600 words I allow myself. That said, I can direct you to where it all begins, that is in understanding and internalizing the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. There’s no better time to do that than during Holy Week. Here are some suggestions:

  • Watch The Passion of the Christ, produced by Mel Gibson, with Jim Caviezel as Jesus
  • Read about Jesus’ Passion in one of the Gospels:
    • Matthew 26:30–27:66
    • Mark 14:26–15:47
    • Luke 22:39–23:56
    • John 18:1–19:42
  • Read the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32

I’d suggest doing each, maybe during different days of the Triduum…taking each to prayer. Here’s where my journey has brought me. In understanding the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, I now know that the unimaginable achievable, we can live Heaven here on earth, and there is a distinct path to peace, joy, and fulfillment. Who wouldn’t want to rely on that? Or He who gives us that?

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

My prayer is that you truly feel the love of Christ during this Holy Week!!! Happy Easter!!!

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for Greatness!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

Big News…What a Gift

Starting in April, we’re going to have several free webinars that will be geared towards helping people with much that robs them of true peace, joy, and fulfillment. This will be followed by an online course that we’ll be offered on an incredibly affordable basis. Like with my books, anyone who can’t afford it, can have it for free. The important thing is getting the message out, as explained below.

Many of you know my story. An abbreviate version follows. For the longest time, I was on the hamster wheel of life…stressed, deflated, exhausted, frustrated…always chasing and incredibly overwhelmed. With what looked like relative success from the outside, I was crumbling on the inside. I wasn’t happy. I certainly wasn’t fulfilled.

Significant tragedy struck and I was literally forced to my knees. Crying out, I unexpectedly and for the first time in my life experienced the presence, unconditional love, and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The experience launched me on an incredible journey that included much needed healing.

Given the lessons learned, including discovering my God given gifts, understanding the specific purpose for which I was put on this earth, and that God made me (all of us) for greatness, I became committed to determine what occurred in my life…including the things I suffered from and how I overcame them, all by God’s grace.

Now living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment, I created a curriculum to help others. That’s my story. What will yours’ be?

How This is Different

To be sure, this is faith-based stuff. But different from most “religion classes” (this is nothing like the traditional religion class), the subject material is incredibly relevant to your life. Not just spiritual, historical, or theoretical…but relevant.

You see, I found a secret that practically no one talks about (in our faith or anywhere else). In short, when I discovered who God truly is, coupled with how He made me and how He feels about me, it rocked my world. It changed my life forever. The lessons I learned include:

  • The unimaginable is truly achievable
  • We can live Heaven here on earth
  • There is a path to peace, joy, and fulfillment

It probably sounds crazy to you, but all of the above is absolutely true. I’m proof of it for the last 15 years.

If you’re like most, you’re exhausted and frustrated. You’re overwhelmed.

Some feel there has to be more to life than the daily grind. And others just want peace in their lives. Here’s the truth:

  • You don’t have to be overwhelmed
  • There is more to life than what you’re currently living
  • You can have a life of peace…joy and fulfillment
  • You were made for GREATNESS!!!

In what I’ve put together, I don’t just speak the above words, but walk you through a process where you understand and internalize these principles for your life. Should you engage, it’s going to rock your world and change your life forever….like it did mine.

Although we’re not yet ready to have folks register, you can check things out at https://mark-joseph-ministries.mykajabi.com/.

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

 

Mark Joseph

 

 

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Weekly Blog

Losing a Classmate

A couple weeks ago, I went to the funeral of a college classmate. Although I had not seen Midge, who died way too young, since graduating 35 years ago, I felt compelled to attend. Not a surprise, there I saw Mary Anne, Midge’s college roommate and lifelong best friend since grade school. My college roommate (Jim) and I had a connection with Midge and Mary Anne, in that we were all from Pittsburgh. We hadn’t known each other prior to college, nor did we see one another between semesters, but we had that common bond that connected us. Interesting how that happens.

Realizing that it’s 35 years ago and my memory isn’t what it used to be, I can’t remember ever seeing Midge separate from Mary Anne. They were inseparable….always together. And always, always SMILING AND LAUGHING. Reflecting on it, I can’t recall ever meeting two more joy filled people during that time in my life. What a great memory.

Fr. Tom, who was the Celebrant for Midge’s Funeral Mass, is Mary Anne’s brother, and as such has known Midge his entire life. During his homily/eulogy, he told stories of her life, always smiling and laughing, always bringing joy to other people. While he also used words like “love” and “courage”, he said his lasting memory of Midge would be “joy”. Independent of circumstance, she apparently never lost that joy during her 20-month battle with cancer.

Over the last 60 days, I lost two other friends who exuded pure joy. They are Fr. Jose Robles-Sanchez and Joy Rapp, two outstanding individuals I knew from our Steubenville Conference Ministry. Again, always smiling and like Midge, always concerned about the other person. Always bringing joy to others.

Being my age or younger, all three died way too young. If we believe what we say we believe (and I do), we know they’re in a much better place. Praise God!!! But what about us? What are we to do? What lessons do we take from losing such wonderful people…so young?

Here’s one of my lessons. We’ve all heard that love is a decision, not a feeling. In unpacking that, I think we can agree it is true. For me, I’d like to make joy a decision, not an emotion. Looking at Midge and Mary Anne, Fr. Jose and Joy as examples, I want to live in a place of joy, independent of substance or circumstance. I want to smile and laugh. I want to bring joy to others.

As evidenced on my website and the things I write about and speak on, I firmly believe that there is a Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment. I also believe that God made each of us uniquely, with special gifts, for a specific purpose. God made you for Greatness!! It’s in using those gifts and pursuing your God given purpose that you can experience joy (along with peace and fulfillment). There’s one more important factor. To experience true joy, again independent of substance or circumstance, you need to know the unconditional love of Jesus Christ (if you want more info on that, please reach out to me). May we all be so blessed!!!

As always, please contact me at [email protected] with questions, comments, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph

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Weekly Blog

What Is Your Super Bowl?

Super Bowl LV was just played this past Sunday. Although slightly different given our year of COVID, it was still the event of the year. There’s no single thing in the U.S. with more buildup, expectation, or pageantry. The commercials, half-time show, features of the host city, star power, big money…these things are only outdone by the players on the teams and what they do on the field.

Both coaches have interesting stories. Andy Reid was the long-time head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, who led them in nine playoff runs, six division titles, five NFC Championship Games (including four consecutive appearances from 2001 to 2004), and one Super Bowl appearance. Ultimately released from Phili, he won his first Super Bowl last year with the Kansas City Chiefs. I’m a big Andy Reid fan.

Bruce Arians and his family have moved all over the country, with him coaching with many teams at both the college and professional levels prior to finally becoming a Head Coach. He was the Steelers Offensive Coordinator, when they beat his eventual team, the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. Having retired from Arizona as its Head Coach after 5 years in 2017, he signed a 4-year deal with Tampa Bay in 2019. Bruce has a big, bold personality and is known for the saying, “no risk it, no biscuit”. I love Bruce’s attitude.

Then come the quarterbacks. I’m not sure anything more can be made of their matchup or them individually…Brady, the 43-yearold who’s arguably the best of all time, now winning 7 Super Bowls and appearing in 10 (more than anyone in history on both counts) versus the young Mahomes who has the ability to make just about anything happen on the field, including the supernatural, winning his first Super Bowl last year.

Add to the above the Belichick/Brady debate…who needed who/who made who? Interesting that the Patriots had a less than impressive season without Brady while he just played in another Super Bowl with his new team.

In addition to the coaches and quarterbacks, both teams have tremendous talent and big personalities, too many to mention. Since 2009, there are at least 100mm people who watch the Super Bowl, with the peak at 115mm taking place in 2015. The Super Bowl is unquestionably a great event. It makes for a great evening, maybe even the entire day. While my wife and I watched alone at home, many have Super Bowl parties. A quick internet search indicates that roughly 28 million pounds of chips, 1.25 billion chicken wings, and 8 million pounds of guacamole were consumed this past Sunday. Wow!!!

Here’s my question for you…what’s your Super Bowl? The Super Bowl of your life. Although I’m a lifelong football fan, it’s my observation that so many of us pray to the god of football. We’ve become consumed by it. Pre-game. Post-game. During the game or at the water cooler the next day.

It might not be NFL football for you. It could be another sport. A hobby. It could be your obsession with what I refer as the 4Ps, possessions, pleasure, prominence, or people (using them, not authentic relationship).

What if as a nation, or as the world, we had as much enthusiasm for Jesus as we do the Super Bowl (or whatever your thing is). What if that were your reality? What would the impact be? Here’s what I know…the happiness that a Super Bowl win brings (even for the players, even for Tom Brady) is fleeting. So are the 4Ps.

I’m reminded of the line, “you can never have too much of what you really don’t need”. Think about that line. Here’s the reality…you’re never going to fill that God sized hole in the center of your chest with a Super Bowl win, a bonus at work, a nice car, or new house.

Jesus is the only thing (One) who can fill that hole.

Back in February, 2019, I posted a blog titled, “Tom Brady Isn’t Jesus Christ”. He wasn’t then and he’s not today, regardless of his 7 Super Bowl wins. There’s only one Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who gave His life for ours’.

God loves you more than you ever know, no matter what you’ve ever done. He proved that to us by sacrificing His only begotten Son. Jesus proved it on the Cross. They gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us, helping us to be all that God made us for…GREATNESS!!!

Super Bowls are fleeting. So are the 4Ps. There’s only one Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment, and it starts with embracing Jesus and living life in the Holy Spirit. The formula is this:

  • God loves you, knows what is best for, and wants to see you happy
  • God designed you a very specific way, with unique talents, for a specific purpose
  • Jesus called on us to love God, love others, and share our faith (Great Commandments and Great Commission)

Embrace the above, do what Jesus says, live God’s will…knowing that He knows what will make you happy and wants you to be so, you’ll be living the Super Bowl of your life on a consistent basis. Not that problems will never arise, but only in knowing the love of Christ, independent of substance or circumstance, will you experience JOY…to me, that’s the Super Bowl.

As always, feel free to contact me at [email protected] with comments, questions, concerns, challenges, or prayer requests.

God Bless you on your Path to Peace, Joy, and Fulfillment!!!

Remember…God made you for GREATNESS!!!

Mark Joseph