“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind.” (Henry Ford) – as seen recently on the Jack’s Winning Words blog.
Jack went on to write about the Wright brothers discovering that by facing against the wind they were able to fly, because the wind helped provide lift. He also mentioned liking the Bob Seger’s song Against the Wind.
Everybody has instances in their lives when they feel like they are running against the wind; times when they are facing adversity or fears, uncertainty and doubts. Sometimes it’s hard in the midst of those times to hold on to the belief that those periods of adversity serve to lift us; that overcoming the lows in life allow us to soar to new heights.
There is the old medical saw – “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. That is true in medicine and in life. In medicine one’s body develops immunity to certain diseases by surviving them. That is the basis for developing vaccines – using inactive or dead agents of the disease – bacteria or viruses – to cause the immune system to develop defenses well before it is actually exposed to the real agents that cause the disease.
There is a traditional Gaelic blessing –
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Sometimes, in life, just the opposite is true …
The road reaches a deep chasm or faces an intimidating hill.
The wind is blowing against you.
It is a time of cold darkness and storms beat against your face.
It is in those times that you really need to find shelter and help in the palm of His hand.
In life we are all exposed to situations where the wind is blowing against us, whether it is in job situations, our home life, or in relationships. We suffer disappointments, setbacks, failures and breakups. We are running against the wind. It is in those times that our faith lifts us up and allows us to soar above the adversity.
If you feel like you are running against the wind, seek the shelter and help that is always
there for you and feel the power of God lifting you up. Remember God’s promise in Isaiah 41:10 –
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Jesus reinforced that commitment in Matthew 28:20 – “I am with you always, even untothe end of the world.”
Perhaps the better song for those times when we are running against the wind is the Josh Groban song – “You raise me up.”
Have a great weekend and turn into the wind with confidence in your faith .
Posted by Norm Werner 
– as seen on the 
with a grain of salt or do they take your words as a commitment that they can count upon? Do you casually toss of commitments that you later find easy to blow off? How many pairs of shoes do you wear out between the saying and the doing?
something without any real sense that you are actually going to do it. It makes you feel good at the time that you “commit” – Yeah I signed up, I joined the group, I’m part of the “:in-crowd”. But, when it comes to actually do what you committed to maybe you are the one that always has that last minute conflict or change of plans that prevents you from being there.
upon; the person who is always there when needed; the person who is so reliable that we begin to take them for granted. Those are the people that hold things together when the going gets tough. That person wears out many pairs of show doing, rather than just talking.
Jack went on to write about keeping a sunny disposition and the power of positive thinking, which was probably what Emerson was thinking about, too; when he wrote those words. We tend to associate certain things with the sun – warmth and perhaps happiness and smiles and a positive attitude.
shadows we tend to think about dark things, such as unhappiness, depression, fears, uncertainty and doubts. We don’t like being in the shadows; yet many dwell there because they see no way out of the darkness.
Son of God. In fact, if you surround yourself with His presence in your daily life there will be no place for shadows to form, no dark places for evil to hide, no room for the dark things. He is the way out of the darkness.
Gandhi would surely be aghast at the current times. We see daily headlines about businesses, especially big banks conducting their business without ethics or morals. We read about more and more science being devoted to removing humans from the daily activities of life, including driving; and, we certainly are in the midst of one of the most unprincipled presidential election seasons ever. We have national level politicians loudly proclaiming that they are standing upon their principals as they obstruct legislation; when, in fact, the perches that they occupy are those of bigotry, hate, homophobia and racism.
which the faithful can live. The perversion of many religions comes from the leaders within those religions who find ways to manipulate the written messages of their faith to serve their own purposes. Even in Christianity there are church leaders who loudly thump their Bibles as they spit out messages of hate, exclusion and bigotry. Perhaps Gandhi should have included a fourth danger in his quote – “Religion without love.”
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” — Matthew 22:35-40. If you can get those two down as the base of your values, you are off to a great start.
with two this year that have never been on the Home Tour before. Several homes will also feature entertainment by various individuals and groups. Proceeds from the Milford Home Tour go to support the operation of the Milford Historical Museum.
purchased at several downtown Milford locations prior to Saturday – Acorn Farm, Main Street Art, Your Nesting Place and the Milford Historical Museum – or at the homes that are on the tour either day of the tour. Tickets are $15 for Adults and $13 for seniors. This year’s homes are located at 624 N. Main St, 324 S. Main St, 104 Second Street, 957 S. Main St and 1018 Atlantic St. For more on the houses that are on this year’s Home Tour go to the web site 
of indie rock at the new LaFontaine Family Amphitheater, from 7-10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19. Presented by Huron Valley State Bank and the Milford Downtown Development Authority, the concert is curated by Milford’s own Sean Lynch and will showcase three local and regional bands in one night, including hometown band 800Beloved, Grand Rapids-based Dear Tracks and Detroit’s Missionary. The concert is free to the public and will feature all original music. The LaFontaine Family Amphitheater is located in downtown Milford’s Central Park.
On Sunday, September 18, downtown Milford will be turned into a giant parking lot for the 32 annual Milford Car Show – the largest area car show of the year. Cars of all ages and type will be on display with show attendees getting to vote for their favorite cars in several categories from vintage streets rods to modern muscle cars. Over 250 cars are expected for the Milford Car Show which will open to the public at about 10 AM. Cars start showing up much earlier than that ad line up from Main and Commerce Streets all the way down to Central Park. For more on the Car show, go to 
parking lot at the corner of GM Road and Milford Road. Tractors of all sorts show up for this annual event; from working farm tractors to lawn tractors. There have even been a few steam engine tractors in the past.
Failures are a part of life and a key to learning and the building of knowledge and eventually the accumulation of wisdom. Some people experience fewer failures than others, sometimes because they are too afraid of failure to even try. Others may work extra hard at planning to avoid failures, thus limiting themselves to the number of things that they try. Still others go through life blissfully failing at almost everything they try, yet learning nothing from those experiences. Failures happen – move quickly beyond it
that you can never be friends or that you will never get that date. Learn from that failure and move quickly beyond it.
failures is dealing with dead ends and learning to move quickly beyond it.
however, a man or women that others might describe as a beautiful human being will remain a beautiful person in the eyes of the beholder, as long as they never stop being a good person.
coaches or scout leaders or others who had impact in their formative years. For many, their church life – their Sunday School teachers and pastors – help them become good people.
difficult it would be to be a good person, if your life is ruled by prejudices and hate. How easy is it in the rush for material success to just ignore others; rather than being polite and caring and kind? In the back of our minds most of us know what is right, but the demands of our world often overwhelm us and the temptations are often too great for us to take the time to look back there, in the back of our minds, and see what is right.
today may hold, being there to experience it is certainly better than the alternative.
things than to be sitting back and waiting for things to happen to you. It’s also better advice than just being ready to react when something happens to you or in your life. I’ve written a few times about handling problems or crises in our lives, but that is still a reactive thing and not a pro-active thing as is suggested by today’s quote from da Vinci. Are you happening to things?
When you are comfortable with those issues and plans and know where you are going you can swing into action. Are you happening to things?
react to them; but truly successful people seldom let themselves get bogged down in over analyzing the situation at hand. Rather than expending much energy on planning for failure, successful people put their efforts into making success happen. Are you happening to things?
personal nature; and those relationships start by something happening – a chance meeting or a planned introduction. In either case, successful people always take the initiative; they don’t sit back and wait for it to happen; they thrust out their hands first and introduce themselves; they happen to the other parties in the meeting. Are you happening to things?
bigger tables to include more people. Today’s quote is about inclusiveness and sharing and not about just trying to protect what is ours and keep it away from others. It’s about inviting others to share the bounty that you enjoy that helps you in putting another leaf in your table..
The message of caring and inclusiveness is not restricted to just sharing food; it is really about helping other whenever and wherever you can, with things other than food, such as clothing or furniture or counseling services or housing. There are many opportunities in every community in America to be a part of efforts to help others, whether they be church related groups or just volunteer community organizations to provide helps and services for the less fortunate. In our area we have a group called 
opportunity to share, rather than to hide or safeguard the blessings that we enjoy because of our belief in Jesus Christ. Evangelism is often considered something untoward and to be avoided. We live in a secular world, where public displays of faith are to be avoided and speaking of one’s faith best left for Sunday’s. Yet silence about the Good News seems somehow to be contributing to the height of the walls around us rather than like putting another leaf in your table.
that we want to extend to others. Doing the little things to help each day when we interact with others and see needs in others is just as important as volunteering once in a while for one of the many charitable groups in our communities. Each of those little acts of kindness and compassion is putting another leaf in your table.
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