accomplishment Solution Building

Doubt Can Be Important to Finding the Truth If We Don’t Stop There

April 19, 2023April 19, 2023 by Mark Eastman

It’s a Building Block for Greatness Not an Obstacle to Overcome

Earlier this month was April Fool’s Day, and there have been some pretty elaborate pranks pulled over the years. Like the big spaghetti harvest of 1957, or the flying penguins in 2008, or the baseball pitcher in 1995 that could throw a 168-mph fastball.

Some of us are more gullible than others. We can be too trusting and be taken advantage of by others. Some are more skeptical and untrusting, believing that everyone is out to get them. Both of these come from a combination of who we are naturally and from experiences.

Somewhere in the middle is the balance where we should be.

April Fool’s Day reminds me of a story that my brother once told me. He was taking classes at the community college in the neighboring town. He had gone shopping and his way back home stopped at McDonalds to have lunch with some of his friends from school.

Of course, he had to take his bag full of shopping treasures in to show off to the guys he was meeting.

As they were finishing their lunch, he saw somebody out in the parking lot that was leaving, who he needed to talk to So, he jumped up and ran out to catch them.

While he was still out in the parking lot, his buddies came outside and were leaving. They all said goodbye and went their separate ways.

On his way home he realized he had left his bag in the booth at McDonalds. So, he turned around and went back. When he got there someone was sitting where he had been, and they had his bag. He asked them for it, but they said it was theirs.

Then I asked my brother, “What was in the bag?”

Crap…like I’m feeding you.

A story that could turn believers into doubters.

Maybe Doubting Thomas, John 20:19-31, was told stories like the one my brother told. Because we know that if he couldn’t see and touch Jesus’s wounds, he wasn’t going to believe. He thought his friends were feeding him a bunch of “crap”.

It’s not like the other disciples hadn’t seen the wounds before they told Thomas. It’s not that Thomas didn’t believe after he saw. Thomas was having trouble wrapping his head around Jesus really being alive.

A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!”

Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”

Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”

We haven’t been able to see and touch those wounds or witness Jesus being killed and coming back to life. This is where we are called to faith.

Struggling with and overcoming things makes us stronger on the other side.

Seeing our doubts disproved makes us stronger.

Another story that is hard to believe is about giraffe mothers kicking their newborn babies. This has got to be a joke, right! Why would they do that?

As if the eight-foot fall of a baby giraffe’s birth isn’t traumatic enough, as the baby lays there, the mother kicks it, sending it flying. This process continues again and again. Then after a few more times, the mother is happy to see the baby standing and goes over to it and…gives it yet another kick.

This time the young giraffe gets up quickly. Mama Giraffe is delighted.

Why would a mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So, unless the baby giraffe learns quickly to get up and stay up with the pack…its chance of survival is slim.

It’s up to us to get back up each and every time we’re knocked down.

The prodigal son thought he had it all figured out. He got his inheritance early and went out and blew it. After finding himself in a place he hadn’t expected, he decided to go back and ask for forgiveness rather than continuing to wallow with pigs.

Whether we don’t do something because of doubt…or we do something, and it ends up being the wrong decision, we need to remember…

As long as we are still breathing, it’s not too late.

In either case we will be stronger and smarter afterward.

Don’t let your doubts or fears hold you back from the great things you’ve been put here to accomplish.

Figuring Out How to Accomplish Goals

February 6, 2020January 6, 2020 by Mark Eastman

The word "Goal" with a dart hitting the center of a target on the letter "o"

The Focus Needs to Be on the Accomplishment, Not the Setting

We all have visions of what our dream life will look like and it can be frustrating and depressing when things don’t turnout like we planned.

In my last post I referred to Hallmark movies and how people tend to like them or not. The more I’ve thought about this the more it seems that those who like them are generally positive and those who don’t…not so much. (Keep in mind that I have done no scientific study about this.)

As I look back over this past year and my goals that were not accomplished, it’s disappointing. Sure, some goals were, but many weren’t. I find myself beginning to get negative. If I’m not careful I start believing that I can’t really do those things anyway, who am I kidding. It’s just some unrealistic fairytale dream, like a Hallmark movie.

Giving up is like dying while you’re still alive. Don’t give up!

So, it’s a new year full of new opportunities and possibilities. I don’t know about you, but I’m setting some new big amazing goals for 2020. What, you might ask, is going to make this year different than the rest? The others are in the past and can’t be changed. This new year is a clean page to write whatever I want on.

I have to be careful when putting my dreams on a new page. There are so many they begin to overlap and run off the edge. There are so many big wonderful things to do, it’s easy to continually dream more and bigger. What’s hard is clarity and focus. This year we’re going to clarify our mission and narrow our focus. One tool we’re using for this is Donald Miller’s, Business Made Simple.

A goal without clarity of mission is like a small boat without a rudder.

There are tons of goal setting systems and programs out there, I know because I’ve used many of them. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of them. Many of them I’m still using. What I am saying is that I need to clarify my mission. I’m tired of ending up wherever the current takes me. Goal setting is an important part of accomplishment, but the mission needs to come first.

I can set goals all day long, but if I’m not clear about the mission, I may be setting the wrong ones.

If I hope to accomplish that which I have been put here for I need to start with clarifying my mission first and set my goals accordingly.

If all goes well, we hope to have the new Solution Building web site operational later this week.

This Is the Best Tired I’ve Ever Been

July 11, 2019 by Mark Eastman

Being Exhausted Is Great If You Can See Positive Results

Being worn out at the end of a day of hard work is very rewarding. I’ve experienced this feeling after doing construction, working on mission trips, developing business systems, or writing blog posts. We’re made to experience this sense of exhausted exhilaration after an accomplishment.

Working through pain and fatigue to accomplish a goal is a superpower.

What we need to remember is where our superpowers come from. Corrie ten Boom uses a story about a woodpecker to make this point. “A woodpecker pecked the trunk of a tree, like they do. At that very moment lightning struck the tree and destroyed it, and the woodpecker flew away saying, ‘I didn’t know that there was so much power in my beak.’ I ask you, do you have the Holy Spirit, or does the Holy Spirit have you?”

Just like the woodpecker, we can do great things. But when lighting strikes, we need to remember Who split the tree.

Having superpowers doesn’t mean that every great thing we do has to be big. God can take the small things and use them for great. Pastor Lee told a story about a teenage girl who had grown up in a bad situation. After having tried to commit suicide she was meeting with a pastor. While sitting in the pastor’s office she saw the church’s youth pastor and his new wife holding hands and walking to their car. When they got there, he opened the door for her. The teenager said to the pastor, “That’s the kind of family I want.”

The actions of this young couple was a form of superpower and they weren’t aware it was being used, but it was. The small actions that had a big impact. We have the same kind of opportunities to use our superpowers every day, but it does no one any good if we don’t use them.

Actions speak louder than words.

There was a group of college students that grew up…shall we say spoiled. They hadn’t been expected to work any up to this point. While at college they signed to go on a mission trip without really knowing how hard and physical it would be. After returning from the trip while walking across the parking lot to their cars one of them said, “This is the best tired I’ve ever been.”