21 Values

from Flying Free
by David Cox

Forty years ago THIS WEEK my parents dropped me off at college and kissed me goodbye. It was in freshman orientation week at Gardner-Webb University in the bubbling metropolis of Boiling Springs, North Carolina. What a GREAT experience! I was barely 17 and loving life!

Exactly four decades later, here I still am...and still loving life! It has been a journey that has been twisted and turned in a thousand different ways and been full of highs, lows, and incredible experiences with thousands of people. Below are 21 irrefutable values that I have developed and that have developed me. They are not up for debate any more in my life...they are part of who I am. I have had fun trying to reduce my life-lessons down o these:

1.  Priorities change. Most of the things that seemed urgent and critically important to me as a younger man are not even on my radar now.

2.  The landscape of people around you changes. People (loved ones, parents, children, spouses, friends, work associates, etc.) grow up, move on, die, get angry & leave, or otherwise move out of your life at some point in the seasons of life. Or, YOU are the one who does the moving. Some of these departures break your heart wide open. Some of these departures are welcomed and even necessary. You are not going to please everyone.

3.   We really don't have a clue about what tomorrow will hold. We kid ourselves when we think we have the future all figured out.

4.   The vast majority of us can live on so much less than what we currently have/use. Most of us are spoiled and don't even know it. And living within (or under) one's means is far under-rated.

5.   The things we store up now - for the most part - are not treasures we will be able to take with us into eternity. So why not lay it up for later? This sounds good, but few adopt it as a value or life-commitment.

6.   Success as we measure it here in our world is not the way our Maker measures it. Not even close.

7.   Life isn't fair. God is certainly just, but life isn't fair. And at times, you will drive yourself crazy trying to make sense of it. In our Western civilization, we have adopted the pseudo-philosophy that tells us if we live right and do the right things, everything will work out OK. It just isn't a philosophy you can count on...because it isn't Truth.

8.   Everybody needs to be loved. It is built into the created design of our DNA. Sometimes the crust of life - formed by the likes of abuse, negativity, fatigue, hardship, tragedy, trauma, sickness, death, etc. - buries one's recognition for love, but the need is inherently present and craves to be satisfied. Few things give more reward in this world than being loved & loving another human unconditionally.

9.   Celebrating the successes of others is vital to your own life and health.

10.   Children are a staggeringly wonderful blessing. Few things/relationships in this world are as rewarding, few as difficult. You cannot guarantee a child's direction simply because you love Jesus, pray a lot, and give yourself wholeheartedly and faithfully to your child. Ultimately, your child is her/his own person and choose for herself/himself.

11.   If you have one real soulmate in this lifetime, you had one more than most will ever have. You can manufacture a lover, you can choose a spouse, and/or you can have/bear children with another person. But a soulmate is ultra-rare, and to be deeply cherished if you are fortunate to have (had) one.

12.   EVERYone believes in someone or something. I believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus is Faithful. No matter what. And His Word will never change. There is NO substitute for who He is, whether it be here in this world, or the next. He is the ONLY Savior of the world. His resume is unique and one-of-a-kind. He holds the keys of life after death. His own actual/historical death, burial, and resurrection separate Him from all others who have claimed to be God.

13.   The revelation of God in you is going to look different from season-to-season. Move with Him. Your personal calling (ALL of us are called) or purpose in life will shift, in all likelihood. Getting stuck is common and stunting. Be thankful for your past, but never look back except to praise God and learn from it. Flexibility in movement with the rhythm of life and the Holy Spirit is crucial.

14.   No matter your faith, a lot of days are simply a matter of surviving. You cannot have momentary victory every day of your life...There will be seasons and days and moments of defeat. At times, we are tempted to base the whole of our lives on this current moment when in reality, the healthier approach is to look at the broader/bigger picture.

15.  God is no respecter of persons. Men and women are equal in the eyes of God and there is no superior gender. Much of what we have ascribed to the genders in my generation/lifetime is manufactured & cultural, not necessarily Biblical. The call of Jesus to love, cherish, lead, evangelize, share the Good News, preach and proclaim, and otherwise shout His awesome Name from the mountain tops is the same or ALL people. Women (generally speaking) in our world have been under-valued, under-appreciated, and treated like they are somehow less than men. This needs to be fixed and I want to be part of that reparation process.

16.   Heaven's heroes will likely be unknowns from each generation. That is to say, those who are doing the greatest work for humanity do so with little-to-no limelight or fanfare.

17.   Life is a gift from God, and it seems to go by quickly. Yet, it is also (potentially) a marathon. A real key is the balance of pacing for the long-term yet living every day like it's your last.

18.   Joy is also a gift of God. We all have a measure of it. It should be well-used every day. It can change you perspective about almost anything by simply choosing it over and over again each day.

19.   Disaster, calamity, pain, crises, heartache, trauma, disease, discouragement, and so on are almost certainly going to visit you in your lifetime. If you can survive those moments, you can use them as stepping stones into a more well-rounded and well-informed future. Getting through those moments/seasons is crucial. Sometimes those moments are fatal. If you are clinging to Jesus, you have hope, regardless of the outcome.

20.   Religion itself is nearly useless. A relationship with God in Christ is priceless. God is not in many of the places today where people claim to know Him. Also, God gets blamed for so much stuff that He has absolutely nothing to do with.

21.   You don't know as much as you think you do. Neither do it.