Get Back On Course

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Life can and will take many twists and turns as you move along the path that it takes you.  To have a successful life, know who you are, what your purpose is, where you are going, how you are going to get to where it is you want to go, and which route you are intending to take.  And finally, when you expect to get there.  Dreams and goals without completion dates are “if” goals and you will never reach them.  There is no room for success when you are working to complete “if” goals.  Answering all of these questions and doing all of these work efforts  and drawing accurate answers and plans to and for them is what the Bible tells us is appropriately “Counting The Cost.”  It is critical to decide where you are going and accurately and completely deciding you are going to get there….before starting your journey.  If you “try” to get there you won’t.  If you just give the effort to reach your dreams and hit your goals a good old “college try,” you won’t get there.  Achieving success in not an accident…it is not an act of luck.  No,…success is indeed a planned event.  The better and more complete your planning is, the more prepared will you be to succeed.  Consequently the greater, the more complete, and the sooner will you actually succeed!

Success will occur for you whenever Opportunity and Preparedness come together.

When you are properly prepared, the opportunity to succeed will meet you!  It will find you!

Lots of people try to succeed without proper or sufficient preparation.  When the storm clouds of adversity come against you, the weakness of the flesh succumbs to fatigue and it becomes easier to quit or give up than it is to persevere, and push ever onward and upward.  Physical, mental, as well as, spiritual strength and stamina are demanded to be used.  If you are weak, you will give up on yourself, your family, and your legacy.  Quitters never win!  And consequently they (the quitters) will continue to pay the price of failure for the rest of their lives.  You will pay the price access in your present.  You will pay the price of failure in your future.

I am always surprised at how easily most people give up on themselves.  Small dreams do not demand much commitment.  Little “stick-power” is required to accomplish “little dreams.”

When “the Dream” is big enough the facts don’t count because mighty dreams draw out the best in all dreams and dreamers.  If real success is defined as the progressive realization of a worthwhile dream or goal, then big dreams will draw out the greatness of the commitment to one’s goals, purposes, and causes.

The Holy Scriptures tell us: “All Things are possible to those who believe.”

Flexibility and adaptability are two key personal character traits that are required to work your way through those ups and downs, detours, and course corrections that must be made in order for you to correct your drifts off course during your journey to success.  It is a given the you will drift off course several times a year.  The continuity of correcting your direction, speed and, staying on line through the recognition of proven “way-points and compass bearings”—known historical course markers (travel directions given to you by your personal mentor) are the proven way to travel in order to successfully reach your desired destination.  You will get what you want IF you stay on course and do what you are counseled to do.

Late one dark and stormy night from some forty miles out in the Gulf of Alaska, I was returning to port from a very long and highly productive deep sea salmon fishing trip.  I was fishing with three friends.  What I encountered on this trip illustrates exactly the point of this discussion.  It was around midnight. It was pitch black.  The sky was without light and I could see no other craft, boats, barges or flotsam.  There was a high wind blowing grey waves and sea spray over our bow and creating a zero visibility condition.  I was driving the boat, the skipper was filleting large salmon and packing the fish in ice, another buddy was helping the skipper, and the fourth member of our party was helping me stay on the charted sailing course as we all fought our way back across the ocean to the safety of our harbor dock slip.   Because of the bad weather stormy environment, the entire return trip to the dock was made without sight.  I could not steer by sight. Some navigation buoys were lighted, many were not visible because of the high surf.  The weather conditions required me to drive the fishing boat in total faith, trusting that the sea charts and other navigational equipment were correct and accurate and I could totally trust and rely on them (with my life at risk ) to get me to where I wanted to go.  Remember what God tells us FAITH really is: “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things yet unseen.”  Faith sees beyond that which is easily visible…into the unseen world.

So for two long hours we pounded our way through the heavy seas relying only on the charted course illuminated on the sea charts.  After a long fashion we made it!  We stayed on our known course and we made it safely back to home port!

Allow me to tell you that operating in total faith will never be experienced unless your dreams and desires are great enough to empower you to act in the face of your own fears, worries, or concerns.  

Action cures fear!

Several months ago I came across a beautiful story told by Ms. Sandy Snavely talking about staying on course that tells well about the demanding need to stay on course as you are traveling along your own road to success…what ever the case may be.  Allow me to share it with you, in hopes that it clears up some hang-ups you may have in your own mind, and open some new avenues for growth in your life and in your business.

A story please……

“Hey you….Get Back on Course!”

My husband and I love to sail.  We named our 27-foot sailboat the Sensuous Sea because it represents for us how seductive the water can be to our sense of adventure.  When the water is calm and the wind is stable, sailing is a profoundly rich experience.  Yet there are times when the water turns evil and the wind breathes terror through our veins like an invisible enemy.

One day, while heading up the Columbia River on our way to Astoria, a sea condition appropriately known as a “widow—maker” interrupted our peaceful voyage.  Five to six foot waves slammed against us, one right after the other, and we immediately steadied and readied  ourselves for a  long rough and bumpy ride.  

Suddenly, my husband, Brad, heard a sound that appeared to be coming from the bow.  Straining to see forward through the water that the wind whipped around us, he discovered that our anchor had become dislodged from the pulpit.  It was banging against our hull.  With each thud, the danger of beating a hole into the fiberglass hull increased, threatening our safety.

Bud then did the most frightening thing I have ever seem him do.  With neither a life jacket nor a life line, he made his way forward to the  point of the bow, leaving me in the cockpit to man the tiller as he retrieved the anchor.

One of my strong-suits in sailing has always been my ability to keep our boat on course—until that very moment when my husband’s life was hanging precariously over the edge of the boat.  Wave after angry wave crashed over him, like great sea gypsies trying to snatch him away from me.  Steadying my focus on Bud, I immediately began to plan what I would do to rescue him if indeed he went splashing overboard. The sound of my husband’s voice shouting to me through the storm broke the vice-grip hold fear had on me and snapped me back to reality and reason:  “Get back on course!  Point her towards the marker!”  

Prying my focus off of my husband and setting my sights back on the navigation marker was the most difficult order I have ever been called to obey.  It was against all of my instincts to turn my back on what seemed to be the need of the moment, and trust the rules of the water.  As I heeded Bud’s command, however, I was able to get us back on course.  Bud fastened the anchor into its holder and we were once again headed in the right direction.

We both learned a valuable lesson that evening: Danger lurks around every corner, and we can be distracted from our real goals, tempted to change the rules to solve what seems to be life’s  more immediate crises.

But there are sound principles designed to bring us safely to our destination if we are willing to trust them and not be swayed by sudden fears.  We must be determined to study the charts, follow the rules, and steady the course or we will end up over our heads in deep water when life’s storms hit.

A closing thought: YOUNG OR OLD?

There is no such thing as being too young or too old for God to work with.

An elderly lady was once asked by a child if she were young or old.

“My dear,” she replied.  “I have been young a very long time.”

There is no such thing as being too old or too young to be used by God or to succeed.

Peace And Love to All of You………………………….Poppa Bear

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