Our new book Crazy Like Foxes went up on Amazon yesterday and is already getting great reviews – I encourage you to read it, especially to help get you through these troubling times. The book demonstrates the transformational power of Jesus Christ and shows just what is possible through allowing Jesus to take the lead in your life.
One chapter deals with naysayers. You know the type, they are those negative people who shoot down anything and everything as being doomed to failure. I’ve never understood the mindset of naysayers, but have been exposed to their negativity almost at every turn.
Did you know that every business I ever founded was met with negativity? It might be more understandable in the beginning when I had not demonstrated any success, but even after building multi-million dollar companies I was still met with negativity whenever I had a new idea. I was told I was crazy and I said to myself, yeah I’m crazy alright, CRAZY LIKE A FOX! I was especially targeted when I decided to go fulltime in the ministry with the Jesus Alliance.
Did you ever wonder why they do it?
It reminds me of a college professor who was known on campus for the difficulty of making good grades in the philosophy classes that he taught. He did not conduct one test for entire semester and the final exam was the entire basis of each student’s grade for the semester. Most stayed up far into the night cramming for what they knew would be a very difficult test. When they got to class the exam consisted of one question which the grumpy professor wrote on the whiteboard:
WHY?
The students had one hour to write an essay and when the he told them to begin all of them were writing furiously, except for one student. He scribbled something on his paper, got up and left the room with a defiant look on his face. The others deducted that he just gave up without a fight and was willing to accept a failing grade from the jerk professor.
The next morning the grades were posted and one “A” had been awarded and it was the young man who’d finished the test so quickly. The exams were piled on a table and the other students rifled through them until they found the exam paper of the student who received the “A”.
In response to the question:
WHY?
He had written one word:
“BECAUSE!”
I mean who knows why people have negative mindsets, but they do. Our new book devotes an entire chapter outlining our approach to dealing with the negativity that we all face daily, but it can be summed up by simply not listening to them. I refuse to take advice from someone who is not more successful than me, or at least someone who has accomplished much in their life. I mean who wants to take advice from a failure?
I had breakfast with a very famous man yesterday and he told me he was fasting. Then he went through the breakfast buffet and loaded up with bacon, eggs, toast, fruit, and oatmeal. I laughed and asked him what kind of fast he was observing and that I wanted to get on it. He laughed and said he was fasting from watching the news.
Wow! Great idea. I read this morning where 88% of the coverage of President Trump was negative. Another article indicated that former President Obama and his most trusted adviser Valerie Jarratt are launching a campaign to derail Trump’s presidency. I guess he isn’t content with his failed presidency and now wants to destroy Trump’s efforts to restore sanity to our country. It seems they will continue with their relentless negativity for the next four years.
I pray that President Trump remains strong and doesn’t listen to the naysayers. The same holds true with the rest of us. Get on the “fast” and just don’t listen to the propaganda and fake news . . .
Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Have a great weekend and go to Honey Lake Church or somewhere this Sunday.
March 3 2017 – Click here to listen