Living Hazzardously

Little pieces of our journey with Jesus

Pages

When the sun shines at Sam’s Place

by Leave a Comment

The sun rose quickly but was not seen, the smoke that filled the air that morning was suffocating and thick. The sun’s rays hit the sky and created a reddish glow and although the sun was there, you could only feel the heat in the air… the air… it was choking, burning and I felt weak… I thought “Am I sick?”

The AC had just been started a week earlier, and I can’t even imagine how it would have felt that day without the windows closed and AC on high. It’s an old building, I imaged how bad it would have been if the smoke had hit only a couple weeks earlier… The AC was heavenly.

The guys still ventured out from time to time but I noticed the front door squeaking less often that day. I heard one person say the air quality was the “worst recorded air quality in world history”… Was that true? I don’t know. What I do know is I was working outside all day and it was taking its toll… Buggars, I know, we don’t talk about body functions but I knew the mucus system was in overload that day, nasal passages swollen and smoke being filtered, still not enough…. It was a long day, but I was glad we had done so much to control the indoor air quality for our Guys at Sam’s Place… I will take that as a win in every way.

Thanks to some grants that helped ease the costs and made it possible: Blandin Foundation, IRRRB, Bigfork Valley Community Foundation, Spring Lake Heating and Air and more… we pooled together to make the lives of our guys safer, just in the nick of time.

I worked hard installing the 19 indoor mini-split heads, days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, the planning, research and finally the implementation…

Is it cool now? Yes.

Is the indoor air cleaner? Yes.

Are there BIG smiles from ear to ear? Yes.

Is it safer for our guys that use inhalers? YES!!

And so that story goes. A big win at Sam’s Place. Thanks to all our local supporters, grant opportunities and people that simply care, and show how much they care by HELPING Sam’s Place succeed! Making life a bit more bearable and allowing our guys to focus on getting life back on track, one cool bedroom at a time. 

In the service of the one that gave it all, C.

My secret is I have battled anxiety for years.

by Leave a Comment

Many times we hear how everyone needs therapy for anxiety, but is that what we really need? Is therapy a good idea? Is therapy a dark hole that consumes us? Your opinion matters.

Recently I have been looking into this matter a bit deeper, it actually started on a Monday morning at Sam’s Place in our wisdom study… Proverbs… 

Pr 14:23 

In all labor there is profit,

But mere talk leads only to poverty 

Talking non stop about our problems can keep us so focused on our problems that we can never get past our problems… I am a very “feely” guy, I can empathize with almost anyone and it’s almost like I can feel the pain they feel, BUT… There also comes a time when sympathy is counter productive. Talk is cheap. Speak with your actions. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps… 

You absolutely can not change the past, but you can direct your future… to be stuck in the past, looping over and over and never moving ahead is a deadly trap of anxiety and depression. 

The bible says to take every thought captive. So ask yourself this question: Do you want your thoughts to control you? Or do you want to control your thoughts? Anxiety has two basic components 1- thoughts and 2-feelings… Can you change your thoughts? Can you change your feelings? If the answer is no to either of these questions, you believe a lie… the answer is definitely yes. You can change thoughts and feelings. Are all thoughts good? Productive? Positive? Are all feelings good? Productive? Positive? This answer is absolutely NO. 

God gives us such a clear direction in this area of “WORRY”  or “ANXIETY” ohh I know, you have been told “It’s not your fault that you have anxiety.” Please ask yourself this question: Can you  have anxiety when you have positive & productive thoughts?

But maybe, you have been told anxiety is a chemical imbalance …. But it can not be measured? so how much “imballance”.

Has anyone ever said that anxiety will just go away by continuing to entertain negative thoughts about what might happen? Or is the focus always “Take a pill and call me in the morning”… Is the “cure” to anxiety thought control?

Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe there is a place for the little pill, but I have yet to see anyone “cure” anxiety by taking a pill. I have seen the pills destroy lives, numb emotions and make people so dependent on big pharma that they will never get off the pills… but I have personally had success helping others, I have personally seen others have success and I am currently seeing myself experience success by believing in GODS word… and especially one small verse… This changed my life. I was on the edge of the cliff, literally anxiety was ending my earthly life and God revealed one verse to me… 

“and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” in this verse we are not talking about anxiety directly but rather it is about spiritual war fare, it talks about the power of war that is not physical but rather in the spiritual world…  but the command is still… “TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE”  so, controlling thoughts is reasonably assumed as attainable?  YES! And if we are capable of taking crazy, run away, overwhelming thoughts captive… Well, I believed God’s word! I did it… this was and still is not easy, it takes days, weeks, months and years of discipline at the minute and hourly level. 

I know it’s not easy, but neither is eating an elephant, if you decide to eat it in one bite! So take it one day, one minute, or maybe one decision at a time. Make that effort once, and repeat… have you ever noticed that one person that is always a joy to be around? Do they only think about themselves? NO… A wise man once said “It is impossible to be anxious unless you are thinking about yourself” so does that mean the answer is to not think about yourself? No, that is not the answer, let me explain with a self exercise:

Please close your eyes for 10 seconds or so and think about an elephant, big grey, long tusks, standing in the corner of the room, ears waving, kicking up dust… now close your eyes and picture it, get as many details as you can in 10-30 seconds with your eyes closed, do it now, don’t open your eyes, just picture your elephant, I will wait, please don’t read the next paragraph until you have done this simple request, don’t cheat yourself on this…. 

Ok, you did that? Now picture the elephant again, but this time when you close your eyes… dont think about your elephant, dont think about anything else, just stop thinking about the elephant for 5 seconds, remember, don’t think about the elephant, close your eyes and force yourself to not think about the elephant… 5 seconds only and then continue to read my post… ok go!

It’s impossible to “not think about the elephant” but if you are good at controlling your thoughts, you know the trick! The trick to not thinking about the elephant is not will power, it’s simply thinking about something else, try it! Need an object to think about? Think about a giraffe, or pick anything… Ready? Think!… 

See, you did it! Replace your “self thought” that creates anxiety with “thinking about others”

Today? Take that thought captive, just once, ask how it felt, and then repeat! Repeat this until you make it a habit. You may need some help from others, find a good Christian friend that understands this concept and practices it and they will help you learn the secret to overcome anxiety… It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. 

Meanwhile, I will pray you find success, like I have… not perfectly but maybe  just a little bit and then “REPEAT”

In service to the KING! C.

You CAN, a tribute of honor to those that DID

by Leave a Comment

I wrote this to our guys at Sam’s Place and decided to share it with you as well.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of imperfect people made a bold decision to choose freedom and build a nation based on resilience and the pursuit of happiness.

Today, right here in Bigfork, you are fighting that exact same battle.

Recovery from addiction isn’t about being perfect; it is about taking responsibility, practicing how to build personal grit, and making one small change today for a brighter tomorrow.

One small choice, that is how it started for Jess and Myself, The right choice, one at a time.

You are building the foundation for your own personal “Declaration of Independence”. 

Every morning you wake up and put one foot in front of the other at Sam’s Place, you are choosing to reclaim your life. 

When you overcome just one hurdle, when you turn away from that negative person in your life and replace the person that would lead you to using again with someone that makes better choices and then lean on this community, you are proving that you can beat the power of addiction.  You can win, if you want your life back!

This nation’s 250th birthday reminds all of us what’s possible. America was built on the belief that hard work matters and that transformation is always within reach. You are the master designers of your own future.

Keep showing up for yourself. Do you have the courage it takes to say no? Do you have the courage of our forefathers to get life back on track? Do you want to survive, or thrive? 

You have the strength to rebuild your life. I know each of you can make that better choice today, because you are not the first to battle this and win, thousands of guys have gone before you to show you the way.

Happy Birthday America, and here is to your bright, free from addiction future.

In service to the savior, C.