The Blind Side

Have you ever seen the movie "The Blind Side", Its a compelling true story about a young man named Michael Oher. He was abandoned by his mother and later adopted by a family that put him in private school and found he had a gift for football. Though he was very big, He was a gentle giant with a good heart and nature. He was great at protecting and providing security for the left side (the blindside of the quarterback.)

We must begin to make a conscious effort to protect our blindside. The only way we can do this is by understanding where our blindside is.

Here are just a few: anger,isolation,anxiety,addiction,boundaries or lack of boundaries. If any of these go unchecked it will cause us to make bad decisions that will cause us to get tackled from the blindside.

The Blindside of your decisions:
* Stop making decisions that lead to the decisions of making bad decisions.
I remember the time a young man wanted to change his life and entered the Minnesota Teen Challenge. Now his decision making process didn't start out good, He had a desire to change, but never took or received to heart the new life he was being offered. On a daily basis he would talk about the drugs he used or how bad he was on the streets. One day a serious problem took place that he was directly involved in. When we as staff tried to correct him, help him, minister to him, He wouldn't receive it. And left storming out the door. Three weeks later we received a phone call  from his family stating that  he was found in a hotel room overdosed on herion with the needle still stuck in his arm. His wrong decision cause him the ultimate decision of life.

James 1:19-21 


Don't glorify or justify your decision

*Glorify: Always boasting bout your life, what it was like back in the day, How you were this or that.

*Justify: I have a right to be like this because of what somebody did to me in the past. If they get to do it, I get to do it.

Jeremiah 17:9-10 
"The heart is the most deceitful things there is, and desperately wicked. No on can really know how bad it is, Only the Lord knows. He searches all hearts and examines deepest motives so he can give to each person his right reward. According to his deeds, how he has lived."

Examine your decisions

*Are these people good for me?

*Why do I feel this way?

*Is thinking about this all the time good for me?

Lamentations 3:40
"Let us examine ourselves instead, and repent and turn again to our Lord."

2 Keys that protect your blindside:

Take daily inventory of your heart. (Lamentations 3:40, Proverbs 3:5-6)
  -Just like a business takes inventory of its stock, we must take inventory of whats in our hearts.
  - Watch out for pride, our pride can limit our ability to be honest when taking inventory.

Lets use these keys to protect us from the blindsides of out life.

God loves you and so do I

Live A Thank-Filled Life

In order to live a thank-filled life, we need to be grateful for our life. And there's a difference between the two.

*Grateful: Warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefit received.

*Thankful: An act of expressing gratitude or appreciation

Be grateful for the blessing and benefits in our lives.

Create an atmosphere of being thankful


Psalms 100:4
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.

Lack of being thankful will cause you to be in darkness

Romans 1:18-22
¹⁸ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
 ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools


Being thank-filled will produce acts of thankfulness and peace


Colossians 3:15-17
¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.


God loves you and so do I