Are you prepared?

December 8, 2022

Today’s quote reminds us to think ahead…”It’s better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back and regret.”  (Jackie Joyner-Kersee)

That’s good advice and should be followed whenever possible; however, life doesn’t always give us much time to look ahead, much less to think ahead. Sometimes life just comes at us, and we have to make decisions on the fly. How can you be better prepared for those times, so that you make good decisions?

I’ve shared here a few times that I often will add to my prayers the sentence, “Help me make good decisions today.” If nothing else that helps put my mind in decision making mode with the added benefit of having touched base with the concept of God and, out of that, with an understanding of right and wrong. I am more prepared.

The strongest reaction to threatening or stressful situations that we have as humans is that of self-preservation. That’s what makes the actions of people like the man who rushed the shooter at the recent Club Q mass-shooting incident so unusual and heroic. Even he admits that he really didn’t have time to think about it. He attributed it to going into “combat mode” but it was really about doing what was right in that instant. Somewhere in his background there must have been some strong teaching or experience that imprinted upon him a strong sense of right and wrong; strong enough to overcome his self-preservation instinct and move him to action. He was prepared.

Another example that most have heard about shows the benefit of taking actions to be prepared. When he was interviewed later about his heroic landing of a disabled plane on the Hudson River, pilot Sully Sullivan told the interviewers that he had been preparing for that moment all of his piloting life. He actually when over various flight emergency scenarios in his mind and had a solution for them in mind when he took off. He was prepared.

Today’s headline is the real question that you need to ask yourself each day. You probably are not going to have to make life threatening or lifesaving decisions like the two examples above, but you will be faced with many decisions that will test your ability to choose between right and wrong. Are you ready to make decisions as needed throughout the day based upon a solid understanding of right and wrong? Upon what do you base that understanding? Are you prepared?

I’ve posed here in the past about those WWJD bracelets that were popular worldwide in the 90’s. One does not have to go on a nostalgia trips and find one of those bracelets to wear in order to be reminded to do the right thing – what Jesus might do in the situation. Just pausing each morning to ask God to help you make good decisions during the day will have the same effect. You will be reinforcing your internal right and wrong compass and you will be better prepared for the decisions that you will need to make. Are you prepared?

Ask God to help you make better decisions today.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Are you ready for chance?

July 24, 2021

Today’s quote come from a post of quotes that I saw recently on the Internet. I’m not sure what you will think about when you read it, but I immediately thought of pilot Sully Sullenberger being prepared when his plane lost both engines shortly after takeoff.

“Chance favors only the prepared mind.” – Louis Pasteur

During interviews following the incident, Sullenberger said that he had been preparing all of his life for just such a chance occurrence and that this mental preparation just kicked in when it happened. I wonder how many other airline pilots spend much time thinking about what they would do if their plane was suddenly disabled? I suspect that quite a few have thought about that scenario since Sully landed his plane in the Hudson River.

I have posted here before about being ready to deal with the unexpected things that can happen in life. A major part of that preparedness is having the ability to not panic, to give yourself time to think, to analyze the situation and to formulate a proper response. That sounds like a lot to do in a split-second situation, but the prepared human mind is capable of amazing things.

We are told that a natural response to a threat is “fight or flight” to lash out in defensive response or to duck or run. Perhaps the better way to phrase the response choices is “react and then think” or “think and then react”. If you can train yourself to have the latter response to chance you will make better decisions and fair better when the unknow happens to you.

Chance happenings don’t always involve unexpected bad things. Sometimes chance puts us in a position for good things to happen and we must be ready to take advantage of those things, too. There are those who believe that good things happen to those who go through life in a positive frame of mind. There is probably something to that, but it may be because those people were already looking for the chance to have good things happen. They actually take some of the chance out of the picture by moving towards the good things.

So, how does one prepare their mind for the randomness of chance? It begins by having confidence in yourself and developing a pattern or system for dealing with problems in life. Some may call it their coping mechanism. For many that coping mechanism is based upon their faith. Faith may also provide a solid foundation for self-confidence. Faith provides a moral foundation for making quick decisions that can guide our reactions to various situations – the right and wrong of that decision making.

Faith may also allow us to make the quick call on whether the situation at hand is even one that we can actually  try to handle or whether it is “in God’s hands”.  We can waste a lot of time and energy trying to fix or react to something that is beyond our control or our ability to control.  The sooner that we come that decision the quicker we can refocus upon the only things that we can control – our reaction to the event.

Maybe before you start out each day (your take-off, so to speak), you can ask God to help you be ready for the chance occurrences of the day, to think before you react and to give you the wisdom and courage to deal with whatever occurs. Maybe just asking Him to be with you during the day will put you in the right frame of mind to deal with chance in your day.  Remember what we have been told – “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13

Chance really cannot stand against those who have prepared their minds through prayer. They can say with confidence, “Bring it on, I’m prepared for you.”

Are you ready for chance?

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Posted by Norm Werner