When Something Bad Happens

As I begin this 4-part series today, I want to make sure you notice that the saying above is not, "IF bad things happen..." but, instead it is, "WHEN something bad happens...".

Friend, as bad as this may sound it is a fact of life that the longer you live you WILL experience something "bad" happening in your life. That's just part of being alive. Many of you have already experienced bad things happening in your life and, for some of you, maybe even too early in your life.

As I put this together there were many tornadoes that ripped through parts of our country last week that destroyed the lives of many people due to destruction and/or death. Storms come and go in our lives and it's not always the kind of storm that is defined by wind and rain.

As we go through this 4-part discussion we will ask ourselves if we will let these episodes in our lives DEFINE us, DESTROY us or STRENGTHEN us. For those of you that either have been or ARE going through bad times, what impact is it having on your life? Are you handling it - did you handle it - in a way that you wanted to? Hey, don't get me wrong - NO ONE wants anything bad to happen in their life, right? But, again, it is a fact that these things WILL come and we DO have a choice as to how we handle them.

Before we get into this whole discussion let me first of all say that I am NOT here to judge anyone on how they have handled or are handling a crisis in their lives. Too many people find it too easy to do just that - lay down "judgment" on something that they, themselves, either are not going through or have never gone through OR think everyone should handle the way that THEY handled it in their own situation.

We are all different! We all work through and handle things differently. This series is simply designed to be a means of encouragement to those that have been or are going through tough times due to "bad" things happening. It is also meant to be a way to encourage us all to PREPARE for these times before they arrive!

A football team (or any sports team) does not wait until the start of a game to prepare for that game. They begin their preparation MONTHS and MONTHS before that game is even scheduled to take place. The time for us to prepare ourselves for the "storms" that WILL come into our lives is NOT when the wind is trying to blow our door down!

The time to prepare is NOW. And, friend, if you've been there, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love you to share your story with me. I won't use any part of it unless you give me permission to do so, but you may just want to share with me, alone. I'd love to hear from you.

Remember, it's not IF but WHEN. Sure, it'd be great to avoid all things "bad" that may come along the way but, then again, we'd miss out on a lot of good as well.

Think about it and join me again tomorrow.

Until then, be sure to...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike