Loneliness Is a Killer

Cry Unheard....You can eat right and have a healthy exercise program, but if you don't have honest heart-felt dialogue with others; your broken heart won't make it. In Dr. Lynch's third book, A Cry Unheard , he discussed why Jim Fixx, the original guru of running, died prematurely of a myocardial infarction.



Unfortunately Jim Fixx was truely the lone runner. This man could have been the ideal physical specimen of cariovascular fitness excellence. His book, Complete Book of Running, started the 1970's jogging craze, and he died suddenly at the age of 52 while jogging alone on a remote Vermont road.

His autopsy showed that one of his coronary arteries was 99% clogged, another was 80% obstructed, and a third was 70% blocked and that he had three other apparently silent heart attacks in the months or weeks prior to his death. This desparately lonely man had just gone through his second divorce. His acquaintances acknowledged he was a lonely person and a lonely long distance runner.

The researchers have discovered many premature deaths that they believe could be the result of a breakdown in dialogue and communication due to these individuals' inability to express the language of their own heart. In their isolation they lost their community connections.


Current research today agrees that loneliness can kill. Lonely people have blood pressure readings as much as 30 points higher than non-lonely people, said the study leaders Louise Hawkley and Christopher Masi. Blood pressure differences between lonely and non-lonely people were smallest at age 50 and greatest among the oldest people tested.


What are we to do with the pain? I love people ... all kinds of people, but there have been times in the last few years that I avoided people and isolated myself. Many people have admitted to me they have hit points in their lives when this was true for them also.


I am learning the power and wonder of solitude. There is a great difference in loneliness and solitude; although I am alone in both.

Dr. Charles Stanley explains the difference well:

Solitude surprises us with God’s fresh words for us.

The most wonderful surprises from God will emerge from that special time you spend sitting at His feet.


Sometimes He will give you essential knowledge that will protect you from the danger that lies ahead in your life.


He will remind you of His promises and guide you to new milestones in life.

How can we turn loneliness into solitude?
No one wants loneliness, but all of us want solitude that is blessed by God in so many awesome ways.



How can we exchange one for the other?

• 
  First, we can see this opportunity as a gift from God. Instead of focusing on the absence of people, we can focus on the presence of the greatest friend any person can have.



• Second, we can understand solitude as a wonderful opportunity to get to know God.
  
  http://www.intouch.org/atf/cf/%7B865500FE-874B-487B-A95C-C0B327D0A690%7D/PDFLP61.pdf
  

Yesterday I didn't showcase anyone for unusual generosity as I customarily do on Wednesdays on this blog, but I decided not to interrupt this series on "loneliness." Keep the comments coming. I believe we are opening up some areas of dialogue to encourage thriving vibrant Christian living.


Some of the situations that preceded my lonely times were sudden and I felt their force. In the Bible in the book of Mark Jesus is (suddenly) sent by Holy Spirit to the desert. Mark sums up that 40 day desert time with the comforting truth that angels ministered to Jesus during His time alone in the desert.

I live In Christ... I hold onto this truth: as angels ministered to Jesus, they will minister to me. I pray that any loneliness can become solitude to God's own sons and daughters.

Is Joy A Choice?

Yesterday was a bummer. Someone made an error that costs me time, money and stretched my patience. When I encountered them and saw how devastated they were over their error, my heart melted. Mercy came over me . What could have been an awful moment became a powerful love thing. God is amazing how He shows up to turn things around.

Thriving in my circumstances is a stretch when so many surprises pop up....negative surprises. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'm reading a book by Tim Hansel, The Hidden Adventure. He lives in constant pain after an accident.

"Every single day since my accident, I am forced to consider how I might choose joy as a daily attitude. It's a constant choice. Some days the pain is so overwhelming that joyous is not what I want to be. Sometimes it's a demonic battle for me to choose joy for the next minute, much less the next day. And as I've said, choosing joy doesn't alleviate the pain, the ambiguity and the doubt. it just gives a way to live with it."

"I have lived with this truth for decades: Joy is a choice. I don't have to wrestle with physical pain often, but other pains and disappointments knock on my door often."

Hansel recalls a conversation with Dr. James Dobson,

"Tim, why, after all this, why do you choose joy?"

"Because I have to," answered Tim, "Sometimes I think I'd literally go to pieces if I didn't. I know that if didn't choose joy my life would atrophy. The confidence that God is in control keeps me choosing it."

I agree with Tim. Knowing that God is with us and in control of all, we can choose joy. This week I've misplaced some important papers and several things are not going "my way." I am deciding to choose joy. I encourage you to choose joy...no matter what. If God does this for Tim, He'll do it for us.

"The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

Showcase Wednesday: Never Run on Empty

"Running on Empty" is a key concern for all of us in 2008. The gas prices have all of us rethinking how much driving we can afford. We all work on staying healthy and fit for fear of "running on empty" in our energy and emotional resources.


A life truth you can bank on is: generosity keeps our "tanks" full. Generosity with a clean heart will ensure you'll never run on empty in life. People who are quick to give their resources to help others thrive.

Thrive Christians Blog is declaring Showcase Wednesdays begin today.

My first Generosity Champion is Yvon Prehn.

This brillant writer, editor and consultant generously gives her wisdom away on her website:
http://www.effectivechurchcom.com/templates/cuslionsvoice/default.asp?id=29745

She offers relevant, cutting edge advice for writers, church leaders and media ministers on her blog:

http://effectivechurchcom.wordpress.com/

I am creating a newsletter for a prison ministry in my church. My research for this project drove me to find Yvon's sites. I wrote a comment on her blog thanking her for the solutions she has beautifully provided on her websites.

To my surprise she responded in an email with more help. Her warm response took my breath away. She wrote me just after the earthquake hit yesterday. Now, friends, I'm not sure what I would be doing immediately after an earthquake, but writing a stranger in SC who is concerned over creating a newsletter is not what comes to mind.

She did request prayer for the electrical power to stay on so that she could load many more documents that she felt would help me and others. Wow!

Read a portion of this generous Christian professional's mission statement:
"The way I summarize the Great Commission and apply it to church communications is to define effective church communications as communication that accomplishes two purposes:

To help people come to know Jesus as Savior.
To help people become mature disciples of Jesus.

Another way to say it, is that our communication is effective if:

It is enabling people to get closer to Jesus.
It is enabling people to become like Jesus.

The essential requirement for me and upon which I base my ministry is the desire to fully fulfill the Great Commission. To be the very best at doing that, excellence in communication strategy and communication creation are important, but not primary."

For years I have been concerned with many Christians' flippant attitude about church and ministry publications, web presence and communications. I am a serious Bible student and I see, like Yvon, that we are called to COMMUNICATE the gospel to the world. Shouldn't we invest much of our resources to be the best communicators in the world?

Go Yvon!!!

Here is a brief overview of Yvon's ministry:
Currently Yvon writes blogs and books and creates training materials on church communications. She also teaches about church communication ministry, skills, and strategy at seminars, conferences, and national conventions all over North America. She is the founder of Effective Church Communications, a ministry whose purpose is to enable churches to create communications that will help them fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Yvon has worked in communication ministry as a writer and teacher for over 25 years. She was a newspaper reporter and religion writer for the Colorado Springs SUN for nine years. When desktop publishing was first invented Yvon was a top-rated, national trainer in desktop publishing for Padgett/Thompson, the nation’s largest one-day seminar company. She worked as a communications consultant in Colorado Springs and was senior editor at both Compassion International and Young life International.

Yvon is the author of twelve nationally published books; she has written for many of the major Christian magazines including Christianity Today, Discipleship Journal, Today’s Christian Woman, Youthworker Journal, Ministries Today, Computing Today, Clergy Journal, Church Office Computing, Pulpit Helps, and Your Church. She has been the communication columnist for Christian Computing Magazine for 15 years.

Her most recent books include The Heart of Church Communication, What Church Leaders Need to Know about Church Communications, and Ministry Marketing Made Easy! In addition to these books, she has a number of shorter booklets, how-tos, training CDs and other material available on her storefront at www.lulu.com/yvonprehn.

Yvon has a master’s degree in Church History and has done additional extensive graduate work in theology and communications. She has taught high school English and was an adjunct professor in church history at Regis University.

In addition to her formal experience in these areas, Yvon gets the opportunity to practice church communications in very practical ways. She and her husband Paul have worked in many different areas of ministry in the church, especially in single adult ministry, adult education and small group ministry wherein Yvon has taught and created many church communications and marketing materials. She and Paul live in Ventura, California.

Yvon’s seminars and written material have helped thousands of people in ministry maximize their church communications and enabled them to use them to help fully fulfill the Great Commission.

Acts 20:35.......

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'

Blog Power

Recently a post titled "Why Blog?" brought the most responses of any blog post to date. Today I hope to answer why I blog. I have a renewed passion to craft my thoughts into written words.

Writing became important to me near the end of my senior year in high school. Two of my friends had struggles in writing. The graduation requirement of satisfactorily completing an essay had thrown them into a panic. I worked with both of them on their essays. I ended up with only one night to write and complete my essay. I rushed through the night and completed what I concluded would be acceptable to the teacher.


My friends lit up with relief and joy when they each got B's on their essays. My mouth dropped in shock when my essay was graded "incomplete." I tearfully stayed late for class to talk with the teacher, Mrs. Smith.

Defensively I asked Mrs. Smith what was incomplete on my essay? I told her I had read my friends' essays and felt mine was equal to theirs. Mrs. Smith looked long and hard at me.

She then paused for an uncomfortably long time before she said, "Sue and Beth have never written anything up to the level of their essays. Somehow I believe you had something to do with this sudden talent emerging in both of them. Your incomplete grade is because I believe you have more inside you than you wrote in your essay. I believe you are a writer with a gift. They don't have that gift. Take the weekend and mine deep within you and write. Surprise me. This time you won't be distracted with the needs of your friends."


I never left my room for two days except to eat and necessities. Mrs.Smith was pleasantly surprised with the essay, but not as much as I was. I discovered the joy of writing. That began a pursuit of digging deep and finding "gold." I never write with confidence, but I never quit digging. Mining doesn't guarantee gold with every dig, but the hope of a nugget makes the work worth the effort.

Blogging is wonderful because I don't have to worry about publishing .... I just write. As a Christian I devote myself to whatever I know God is calling me to do. Life has been traumatic with caring for many ill family members over the last fifteen years. I have written in my journal continuously. That crude unedited writing would not be suitable for readers. Now, there is time to dare to write with the hope of a reader.

Blogging has pushed me to edit, process and dig deeply. My only hope is that Holy Spirit flows like the ink, in me, the fountain pen. Should I ever mix that up, no life will come from my writing.

So here we are full circle back to the question that opened this post: Why Blog? Because I desire to write. I pray to hear God and be His fountain pen. May Holy Spirit flow the ink that gives life to the reader. May they thrive more in their Christian journey because of life-giving grace on this blog.

King Solomon gave us these words: Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

Today we might offer that same thought with these words,

A person's words can be life-giving water; words of true wisdom can be as refreshing as a bubbling brook.

Why Blog?

I dedicate a small part of every day to give my best to this little blog.
I will never take your reading time for granted.

I've been surprised at the paybacks of this daily writing investment. I have corresponded with terrific people all over the world.

I spend an hour a day reading blogs that fuel me with lifegiving wisdom and delight.

I invest in blogging because the payback is far greater than the cost.

I embrace life passionately and wide open. The blogging experts emphasize staying on focus. I believe this post is on center of focus for thriving Christians.

As a blog reader I am blessed with many faithful cogent writers.

Writing this blog is pushing the sides of my "box" flat. Led by Holy Spirit, I'm dancing with my words on my flattened box.

Blogging is new or unknown to many Chrisitians. I hope to stir up the writing gift in some of you. Could God be calling you to shine His light into a dark, hurting world? Your voice is unique and no one else can express His Love like you can.

Now, I turn the question of "Why Blog?" to a business marketing networking expert, Scott Ginsberg, Through my work I discovered this terrific young man. His successful business as writer, speaker, blogger and consultant began with a small business college assignment. I recommmend his website: http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/2008/07/15-compelling-reasons-to-start-blogging.html .

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Why Blog?

1. Do you WANT to change the world?

2. Do you WANT to grow your business?

3. Do you WANT to attract new clients?

4. Do you WANT to become better known?

5. Do you WANT to lower your customer acquisition costs?

6. Do you WANT to reduce your average sales cycle?

7. Do you WANT to sell more products?

8. Do you WANT to build a following?

9. Do you WANT to deliver constant value to your fans?

10. Do you WANT to boost your Google Juice?

11. Do you WANT to be interviewed by the media?

12. Do you WANT to share your philosophy with the world?

13. Do you WANT to have a platform on which you can define, refine and broadcast your voice?

14. Do you WANT to increase the depth and breadth of your expertise?

15. Do you WANT to attract new opportunities that just come to you out of the blue?

I hope you see my point. See, if you answered “yes” to any of those questions, THAT’S why you should blog.

And, after HEARING all those questions, if you’re STILL not convinced that you should blog, then you probably shouldn’t blog.

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Jesus calls us to avoid isolation... John 17: 15-18 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. … [18] As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

Trust me, the blog world has everything: good and bad. Jesus shows us in this Scripture that we are to remain “unpolluted by the world” but the place we belong is “in the world,” right in the middle of it.

I have been blessed by some non-Christian readers who have encouraged me to keep blogging. They have pointed out what was meaningful to them. Blogging is one means to stay involved everyday with people who need to see the light of Jesus in us.

Ready to Blog?