The Anchor

Presentation skills...The most abused "corporate course" ever! I believe you agree with me. Just mention the needs for training courses in the company and this will surely pop up on the top of the list. Frankly, it is quite true as everyone feels vulnerable and weak standing there alone to tell a story and do it right. One of the most impactful tips is the Eye contact with your audience, not only a generic contact but I find myself always having one or two main persons in the audience to refer to in this "eye contact" trick. This person is whom I call "The Anchor"...and usually he is your boss or someone knowledgeable and influential enough in this session. This Anchor person eye contact might signal to speed up, slow down, raise your voice, or just nod with a smile confirming you are on the right track! Take care as the rest of the audience might be amused with your talk, or just sending you fake smiles and head nods "out of courtesy" regardless your message is clear or not...yet on the other hand, the anchor knows the message you need to get through and will make sure that you deliver it. This Trick is a must have for me!

What about our "Presentation of life"? Don't you believe that we are living a non-stop on stage moments...where we are exposed each and every second, being watched, being assessed, and receiving confusing signals about how our performance is developing. Do we pose for that moment and seek an eye contact with our one and only "Anchor" or just go on based on the applauds we receive from the generic audience? Do we check if our message is reaching a goal or we are just sending words with no consistent meaning..empty words leaving the audience confused.

David knew His Anchor..knew this Presentation Skill Tip when he wrote:

I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 16:8, 11 NIV)
جَعَلتُ الرَّبَّ أمامي في كُلِّ حينٍ، لأنَّهُ عن يَميني فلا أتَزَعزَعُ.
تُعَرِّفُني سبيلَ الحياةِ. أمامَكَ شِبَعُ سُرورٍ. في يَمينِكَ نِعَمٌ إلَى الأبدِ. (16 المَزاميرُ:8, 11)

Dear Lord, Let us seek our Eye contact with your Ever Righteous ways..Let us sit and reflect if we are riding the right path..if we are sending the right message..Your eyes O Lord shall keep our feet free from falling and we shall sing again "My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net. (Psalm 25:15) for You only have the Power I need when I feel LONELY out there, lost, on the Stage of life.

Presenting throughout your day, Remember your ANCHOR!

Check - Up

Health is definitely one of the few possessions any person would cherish dearly in life and care for with utter attention. No one can feel your pain, ache or problem except you...and it is you, once feeling any unease, who decide it is time for a close check up...time for a doctor visit. It still amazes me is when some people recognize the pain, yet decide NOT to go to the doctor. You see them not feeling well, and they might even talk about the "not in shape mode", but still they resist the idea of a check up. Their reasoning in 90% most of the time "I know what I have, and I know what the doctor will tell me...he tells me the same every time..stop this and that, eat well, sleep well, change your lifestyle...I know it all!...Don't worry I ll do it myself." That's the moment they realize how a doctor visit induces a Reality check and a CALL for Commitment that some try avoiding under the pretentious reasoning of knowing it all...and a run-away from a sooner than later intervention...where a later intervention...might be just a little bit TOO late!

I admit I do the same with my heavenly Doctor...I shy away from sitting closely one to one with Him, allowing a needed check up. I might know what is going wrong in my veins of faith or my muscular tissues of inner peace, but still I prefer not to ask for this check up..as I just fear commitment, I fear Change I can't handle, I fear failing to follow His prescriptions......and to avoid it...I simply act "normal" and don't tell Him about it...Better keep it for myself..I know what He will tell me...!!

David knew the Heart of His creator..and knew that only Him, the Doctor of it all, can work His healing and show the way...He calls Him to test his heart..and thought:

 "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24 NIV)
اختَبِرني يا اللهُ واعرِفْ قَلبي. امتَحِنّي واعرِفْ أفكاري. وانظُرْ إنْ كانَ فيَّ طَريقٌ باطِلٌ، واهدِني طَريقًا أبديًّا. (139 المَزاميرُ:23-24 AVDDV)

Only then I realized a big difference: when one leaves the doctor clinic, he faces the change alone...and is asked to commit alone..a road that might seem tough..and better to avoid. While with HIM, we are never left alone...we leave His clinic with the promise and fact that He walks with us and talks with us..."You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts from far away. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, you know what I want to say, even before the words leave my mouth. Your Spirit is everywhere I go. I cannot escape your presence.You will take my hand and lead me. Your strong right hand will protect me". (Psalms 139:2-4, 7, 10 ERV) I thank you For showing me the way...for Saying I AM THE WAY..and FOR YOUR SPIRIT who makes my walk to healing a commitment..it makes it YOUR Commitment..and Unfailing commitment..and that's THE big difference!

Did you do your check-up lately? May be December is a good month...

Soul Scars

We human beings like to communicate, chat and tell stories. Nothing beats a nice story-telling "dating back to childhood days" among some friends, and preferably if it has some humor in it. I found that we use, even scars, yes Scars and wounds, to tell stories. Funny enough, I can put "scars" stories into categories. There are these "Pride Scars" that hold behind them an heroic act, where you probably got it jumping off the roof to save your little brother who was about to put his hand in a 2 meters tall hungry dog. There are the "Comedy Scars" leaving their mark on you after "smartly" walking into a glass window thinking it was just not there. And then...there are the "Painful Scars", the ones you wish they didn't leave that mark to remind you of an incident painful to your heart, or shameful to share. These are the ones you neglect, try to hide and never give an answer back when asked about them...the one reminding of a loss, a fight, a hatred, or an haunting past.

But most of all there are the "Soul Scars" and these are unseen to the eyes of your surrounding, yet they haunt you down and THEY are the one that keep telling you their stories over and over again. You know, these inner scars don't have a surgical solution but have a God who He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds, curing their pains and their sorrows. (Psalm 147:3), a God who says, “I live in a high and holy place, but I also live with people who are humble and sorry for their sins. I will give new life to those who are humble in spirit. I will give new life to those who are sorry for their sins. (Isaiah 57:15)

Jesus encounter with the Leper in Matthew 8 is an undeniable incidence of hope in His Healing Touch..a touch reaching out the soul before the body..the soul that comes kneeling and asking His will...receiving a touch full of might..the only real touch that could contact such an infested body:

Then a man sick with leprosy came to him. The man bowed down before Jesus and said, 

“Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.” Jesus touched the man. He said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” Immediately the man was healed from his leprosy. (Matthew 8:2-3 ERV)

وإذا أبرَصُ قد جاءَ وسَجَدَ لهُ قائلًا: «يا سيِّدُ، إنْ أرَدتَ تقدِرْ أنْ تُطَهِّرَني». فمَدَّ يَسوعُ يَدَهُ ولَمَسَهُ قائلًا: «أُريدُ، فاطهُرْ!». ولِلوقتِ طَهُرَ بَرَصُهُ. (8 مَتَّى:2-3 )

Here I Kneel...for YOU to Heal!

Change of Seasons

Change of seasons has its rituals here in Europe. Welcoming winter requires some life adjustments to the city and its inhabitants, not only referring to some Christmas decoration on the streets, earlier hour for turning on the light posts and Anti Slippery snow ready tires, but also about the preparations put in place to receive such a harsh season. what was truly catching my attention is how they dealt with greenery and trees, the beautiful sight of "dead" colorful tree leaves displaying a splendid array of red to orange colors will soon all fall to leave naked thick "scary" branches. They know end of Autumn comes with heavy winds to bring down the leaves, but also shake off the dead branches. For that, they go around trimming and cutting off loose branches to avoid that this beautiful autonomy looking tree doesn't turn into a life threatening block falling on the heads of pedestrians or crushing down cars. Cutting away and Trimming the tree to Make it safe and ready for the trials of Blowing winds and loads of Snow!

You know that you and I are branches hanging to the Tree of Life, Branches extending from our Lord. I love tis passage in John 15, where Jesus talks to us about the power of abiding in Him, Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine/tree, neither can we bear fruit unless we abide in Him. But the second verse of this passage might be shocking to some:

"Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off, takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit." (John 15:2 AMP)
«أنا الكَرمَةُ الحَقيقيَّةُ وأبي الكَرّامُ. كُلُّ غُصنٍ فيَّ لا يأتي بثَمَرٍ يَنزِعُهُ، وكُلُّ ما يأتي بثَمَرٍ يُنَقّيهِ ليأتيَ بثَمَرٍ أكثَرَ. (15 يوحَنا:1-2 )

Yes, We will be cleansed and trimmed to bear more fruits, we will go through tough cutting to be ready for the winds to come and for the snow to carry. God, Through His loving Hands, knows how our dead branches can crush the ones around us, how falling leaves can leave a mess and slippery grounds on our path of life. It is tough yet His caring hands and Holy Spirit will allow and take us through to bring us to make you and I bear richer, and more excellent fruits. 

Heavenly Father, Here I am..Make me ready for the change of seasons...ready to stand firm and strong abiding in You when the wind blows and winter tests..for in Spring by your glory I shall flourish your Love to the world and bring shade to the ones in need.

Let the trimming begin my friends!