Rev Dan Polecheck

A Prayer For A Thankful Heart Reposted from Debbie Przybylski  Learn to be thankful for every blessing from God in your life. It is of great significance to Him if in the midst of great trials, we can be thankful. There is a way of looking at life from the standpoint of eternity. The reality of eternal life and eternal glory that far exceeds this life is a priceless treasure. Our afflictions are working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. A Prayer for a Thankful Heart Lord, teach me to offer you a heart of thanksgiving and praise in all my daily experiences of life. I long to bring pleasure to Your heart daily. Break the power of the enemy in my life. Defeat Him through my sacrifice of praise. Change my outlook and attitude into one of joyful contentment with my present circumstances. I thank You for… [Name a difficult circumstance in your life presently and thank God for it.] Jesus, I want to be like You who obeyed the Father without complaint. You embraced th...

Eight Ways to Have More Gratitude Every Day  Reposted from Janet Miller In the famous words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” It can be easy to get swept away in the fast lane and forget to stop and show your appreciation for what you do have. A life well lived is one of gratitude and thankfulness. To help you on your gratitude journey, here are 8 ways to have more gratitude in your daily life. 1. Don’t be picky: appreciate everything Gratitude doesn’t have to be saved for the “big” things in life. The habit of being grateful starts with appreciating every good thing in life and recognizing that there is nothing too small for you to be thankful for. Even if it is as simple as appreciating the clear weather or how quickly your mailman delivered your mail last Friday, son't leave anything out when practicing your gratitude. 2. Fin...

Why Serving, Honoring Veterans Became Gary Sinise’s “Lifelong Mission” Reposted from Scott King - contributor to forbes.com Two weeks ago, actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise launched The Gary Sinise Foundation Avalon Network for defenders, veterans and first responders. The nationwide network provides help for veterans and first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress and TBI (traumatic brain injury). The Avalon Network is taking things to the next level, but Sinise and his foundation have long been a resource for vets and first responders. “It’s critically important to me that our military service members, first responders, and their families all know how deeply we are here for them, we are not going to forget them, and we will always do more to protect and support them,” Sinise told Forbes via email. “During the past forty years or so, since my Chicago days working with the Steppenwolf Theatre in the early ‘80s when I was supporting local Vietnam veteran groups th...

17 Inches by John Scolinos Over twenty years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA's convention. While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.” Who is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter; I was just happy to be there. In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate. Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy? After speaking for twenty-fiv...

The little boy put on his clothes for the cold and then told his father: "Ok dad I'm ready" His Dad, the pastor, said: "Ready for what?" "Dad, it's time to go outside and distribute our flyers." Dad replied: "Son, it's very cold outside and it's drizzling." The child looked surprised at his father and said: "But dad, people need to know about God even on rainy days." Dad replied, "Son, I'm not going outside in this weather." With despair, the child said: "Dad, can I go alone? Please!" His father waited for a moment and then said: "Son, you can go. Here's the flyers, be careful." "Thank you dad!" And with this, the son went out into the rain. The 11-Year-old walked all the streets of the village, handing out the flyers to the people he saw. After 2 hours walking in the rain and cold and with his last flyer in his hand, he stopped at a corner to see if he saw some...