Tag: Love

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Saved That One

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what’s going on around you? It could be something in your immediate sphere, i.e. a personal problem, challenge with someone close to you, etc. Or it could be the enormity of what’s transpiring on a much broader scale, i.e. in our Church, our country, or the world. Especially with the latter, the thought often is, “there’s nothing I can do”. 

Here’s a story that involves starfish to refute that point. Btw, a quick internet search indicates that while starfish are living creatures, all 1,600 species, they aren’t really fish. Anyhow, there’s a boy who’s walking down the beach after a storm, where numerous starfish have washed up on the shore. Every couple steps, he bends over, picks up a starfish and throws it into the water, with the hope of saving its life. He’s walking on the beach for quite a while, saving (hopefully) dozens and dozens of starfish. 

Coming from afar in the opposite direction, is an old man who can see what the boy is doing over the course of several hundred yards. Having taken note of him, he says as he approaches, “hey boy, what are you doing?” The boy, startled, looks at the old man, being caught by surprise and having a laser focus on the starfish he is endeavoring to save. He looks back down, picks up another starfish, and throws it into the ocean.  

So engrossed in what he’s doing, the boy didn’t look to respond to the old man, but kept walking, picking up the next and the next starfish. The old man yelled out to the boy again, this time in a voice sure to get his attention, “hey boy, what are you doing?” The Boy responded this time, saying “these starfish washed up on the shore in the storm. I’m picking them up and throwing them back so that they can live”. 

The old man chuckles sarcastically and says as he’s passing by, “boy, look up and down this beach. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of starfish. You’re never going to save all of them”. Without losing a step, the boy picks up another starfish and yells to the old man to get his attention. When the old man turns, looking straight into his eyes, the boy throws another starfish back into the water and says, “I saved that one, didn’t I”. 

“I saved that one, didn’t I”. Think about it. A smile. A handshake. Asking someone how their day is going. Buying a colleague a coffee. Calling a friend out of the blue. Visiting an elderly relative. I’m reminded of the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:35-40 or Mark 12:28-34) and Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), where Jesus tells us what is most important….love God, love our neighbors, and share our faith. 

Not only can we make an impact…one soul at a time, but if more people made such an impact, think about the Church, country, and world we would have. 

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

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Weekly Blog

The Unimaginable is Achievable

What’s been your experience with tragedy? Mine was pretty dramatic. I refer to it as the (3) 2X4’s that came across the back of my head. I lost my family as I knew it, I lost my business, and I lost a lot of money along the way. I was a control freak and I couldn’t hold it together anymore.

One March night in 2006, I literally fell to my knees, crying out. I had a life changing experience with our living God that is hard to describe without getting emotional. For the first time in my life, I felt the presence of God, the unconditional love of God, and didn’t feel alone. Having been surrounded by people my entire life, I finally felt like someone had my back. I learned the following lessons that evening and since:

  • The world’s promises have failed absolutely everyone, including me.
  • We’re not meant to go through life alone; God is the only answer for our lives.
  • In understanding and internalizing God’s unconditional love and forgiveness…
    • The unimaginable is achievable
    • There can be heaven here on earth
    • You can live a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment

The above story may sound crazy to you. But it’s true. Having been overwhelmed most of my life, it happened to me. And for the last 15 years, I’ve embraced my God given purpose and have been living a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment.

The above can happen for you too. It really can. It’s time to go big, to be all that God has called you to be. I invite you to attend this free webinar to see how you can accomplish the same things for your life. It starts here.

REGISTER NOW

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

 

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Weekly Blog

Do You Ever Feel All Alone?

Have you ever felt like you’re running the race of life alone? You may be surrounded by lots of people every day. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to have several good friends. But still, you feel alone. You feel isolated, unable to turn to anyone who truly understands what you’re experiencing.

Yea, I hear you…because I’ve been there.

Not long ago, I read a study that indicated that 50% of adults complain of loneliness. Can you imagine the numbers for teens and young adults? Some observations. First, with social media, our smart devices, the internet, and other technology, while we’ve never been more connected, we’ve never been more isolated. Statistically speaking, people have fewer friends today than decades ago.

When things get challenging, we often are most isolated, doing it to ourselves. That was true for me. I was surrounded by all kinds of people, but felt all alone. I was an island unto myself, not sharing with anyone what was really going on. I remember after the fact, talking to an old buddy, explaining what occurred during my tragic times. He apologized for not being in touch, to which I responded that it probably wouldn’t have mattered in that I wasn’t really willing to communicate the real truth to anyone.

Sharing our true feelings, our challenges, our “secrets”, takes vulnerability, which leads to trust, the foundations to authentic relationship. You know…we’re not meant to go through life alone. We’re meant for community. We’re meant for relationship. With the exception of my wife, where that vulnerability and trust exist, the only place I’ve been able to find it is in my men’s group, where I get tother with the same 3 guys every week to learn more about our faith and grow in fellowship…sharing real life. I’d encourage you to find or start a small group. For ideas, visit https://steubenvilleconferences.com/discipleship-quads/.

There’s another way I’ve found authentic relationship. Can you guess who or what it is? Can you say JESUS? In John 15:15-16, Jesus tells us “I have called you friends…it was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you”.

Jesus wants to be your friend and is there for you. That may sound strange for some, but it’s true. It’s been true for me for the last 15 years. Fortunately, by God’s grace, I learned some critical things that allowed me to leave the loneliness, now being surrounded by the best people I ever have, including JESUS.

If you’d like to make the same transition in your life, I have a message for you today. It’s never too late to become the person God made you to be.  I invite you to attend this free webinar to see how you can accomplish the same things for your life. It starts here.

 

REGISTER NOW

 

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

 

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Weekly Blog

There’s More to Life

How long have you known, in your heart and your gut, that there has to be more to life, that you were meant for bigger things? (BTW, the above applies to just about everyone regardless of whether they’re struggling, wildly successful, or somewhere in between.)

Yea, I hear you…because I’ve been there.

In reading my weekly posts, you know my story. I had some relative success, building a business from me and a part-time secretary to over 100 employees. From the outside, it looked like I was on top of the world. On the inside, I was struggling. My life was running me as opposed to me running my life. The question became, “why”. Why continue doing what I was doing? It wasn’t making me truly happy. Can you relate?

There’s an expression that may ring true to you, that is “you can never have too much of what you don’t need”. Regardless of what I had achieved, it wasn’t enough. And I’m not just talking about the material things. It was doing things too. I refer to them as the 4 Ps…prominence, possessions, pleasure, and people. I was at a place where nothing was going to fill that God sized hole in the center of my chest.

As the story of my life continues, during a particularly challenging time, absolute tragedy struck, which forced me to my knees. Emerging from that experience, I learned several lessons, not the least of which is that in understanding the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, the unimaginable is achievable.

The statement immediately above may be difficult to comprehend, or even believe. I’m here to tell you it’s true. I found that there’s a different, better way to live….a life of GREATNESS. Having found it for me, I want it for you too. In understanding my God given gifts and identifying my purpose, I’ve learned to live the life God designed for me, the only way of life that was ever going to provide me with peace, joy, and fulfillment.

It’s time to go big, to be all that God has called you to be. I invite you to attend this free webinar to see how you can accomplish the same things for your life. It starts here.

 

REGISTER NOW

 

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