Nugget of Wisdom: The Significance of Scars

I still have a scar under my lip from a childhood accident.  I used to let my facial hair grow over it to hide it, because I didn't want people to see my scar.  As I matured, I realized that the scar that I once wanted to hide was better than the pain of an open wound.  I've been hurt many times, but my life changed when I learned to stop being wounded and accept the scar.

Many of us, due to familiarity, would rather maintain old wounds than receive new scars.  We will stay in situations where we are wounded repeatedly instead of walking away so the scar can form.  A scar may not be attractive but at least it signifies closure.  So, thank God for scars!  They are indicators of your ability to survive and move on.

Scarred,

Byron Jamal

Nugget of Wisdom: Revealed in the Stretch

The traditional rubber band can seem small and unassuming, leaving one to ask, "How can this little thing be of any use?"  It seems like an appropriate question only until it is stretched, applying stress until it is pulled beyond its original dimensions.  What once was small in diameter augments exponentially, exposing more of its purpose and potential.

Much like a rubber band, your worth is discovered when you are stretched, not at rest.  Often, our first inclination is to think of stress as something negative, but when we are stretched our true potential is unveiled.  A life with no stress or "stretch" is one where you continue to operate limited by the familiarity of where you are, hindering your ability to discover how far your purpose was meant to expand.  There are times for rest, but your potential is made known in the stretch.

Being stretched,

Byron Jamal

Nugget of Wisdom: Don't Let Your Title Be Your Total

Throughout time God is called by many names: Creator, Lord, Yahweh, etc.  The reason for so many names is because God is so diverse.  That's why when Moses asked God who he should say sent him, God answered, "I am who I am...Tell the people that I AM has sent you" (Exodus 3:14).  God just is.  God is so divine there is no title that can fully capture all of God's nature or character.

We are a spiritual beings, connected to the eternal.  Like God, your divinity demands diversity, so don't let your title be your total.  Whether you are a doctor, pastor, artist or parent, never allow a label attached to you (whether positive or negative) to define you.  You are bigger than any one box or title to which you can ascribe.  There is more to you, but you will only limit your potential by settling for the titles that can't contain your total.

Just am,

Byron Jamal, CEO
The Call Path
www.thecallpath.com

Nugget of Wisdom: True Beauty is Sensed Not Seen

An elementary school principal notices that one of his 3rd grade students always brings an egg with a blue ring around it to school.  One day, the girl trips, drops the egg in the hallway and begins to cry.  When the principal finds out he goes to see about her.  He walks up to her and asks, "Why are you crying so hard?  You only dropped an egg?"  Between her sobs she replies, "I’m not crying because I dropped it.  I’m crying because I didn’t know it was rotten inside.”

Many of us are easily smitten by things that are perceived as externally beautiful.  We can end up like this girl, carefully carrying fragile eggs that are rotten inside.  We are enticed by the exterior and pray the interior can live up to the standard.  When it doesn't, we realize we have a beautiful rotten egg.  Be more anxious to take someone who loves than someone lovely, someone who expresses beauty than someone who is solely beautiful.  True beauty cannot be scanned with eyes; it must be sensed with the heart.

Sensing beauty,

Byron Jamal

Nugget of Wisdom: Seeing Beyond Conditions

The Bible is littered with stories about people who have conditions: the adulterous woman, the leprous men, the paralytic, the beggar, and the adulterous woman. We know none of these people's names. This is often how we treat other people, based on their condition not their name (purpose or true worth/identity).

You can take assurance in this truth: Yes! God sees your condition, but God knows you by your name not your condition. While people are often quick to judge you based on what is seen, God sees but handles you based on what God knows of what you are and will be. What would happen if we thought more like God and allowed our love for the person to override our judgment of the person's plight? Live knowing that God knows your name!

Seeing beyond sight,

Byron Jamal

Are You Listening with Kirk Franklin & Friends Haiti Relief Song

This song was recording at the 2010 Stellar Awards as a reaction to the disastrous effects of the earthquake in Haiti.  Kirk Franklin stood up during the BMI Trailblazer's Award and urged all the Gospel artists to come together and support Haiti with a song that assisted Haiti's rebuilding process.  This song was recorded, produced and released in just a little over a week.  Enjoy, and continue to pray for Haiti!

You can donate at UnicefUSA.org.

NH teacher, 100, Gets Degree a Day Before Dying

The story that follows should inspire and motivate anyone who feels like it might be too late to achieve a lifelong goal.  The truth is that the main force that is holding you back is YOU!  So get out of your way!

CONCORD, N.H. – It was Harriet Richardson Ames' dream to earn her bachelor's degree in education. She finally reached that milestone, nearly three weeks after achieving another: her 100th birthday.

On Saturday, the day after receiving her diploma at her bedside, the retired schoolteacher died, pleased that she had accomplished her goal, her daughter said. Ames had been in hospice care.

"She had what I call a 'bucket list,' and that was the last thing on it," Marjorie Carpenter said Tuesday.

Ames, who turned 100 on Jan. 2, had earned a two-year teaching certificate in 1931 at Keene Normal School, now Keene State College. She taught in a one-room schoolhouse in South Newbury, and later spent 20 years as a teaching principal at Memorial School in Pittsfield, where she taught first-graders.

Through the years, she had taken classes at the University of New Hampshire, Plymouth Teachers College and Keene State to earn credits for her degree. With her eyesight failing, she stopped after retiring in 1971 and was never sure if she had enough credits.

Her wish for a degree became known when a Keene State film professor interviewed her a couple of years ago for a piece on the college's own centennial, which the school celebrated last year.

The school decided to research her coursework and see if it could award Ames her long-sought diploma. The offices of the provost, registrar and other departments worked quickly in the last month to determine, that indeed, it could.

"She wanted to be the best that she could be," said Norma Walker, coordinator of the Keene State College Golden Circle Society, an alumni group for classes that graduated 50 or more years ago.

Walker said when she mentioned to Ames during a recent visit that the college was working on the degree, Ames started to cry and said, "'If I die tomorrow, I'll know I'll die happy, because my degree's in the works.'"

College officials, including Walker, drove the document to Ames' bedside on Friday.

Walker, who first met Ames in 1997 at an alumni gathering, said she enjoyed listening to her talk about her students and how she encouraged them to read.

"She's the kind of person that every parent would want their first-graders to have as a teacher," very loving and caring, Walker said. She will read Ames' diploma at a memorial service this Saturday, "if I can do it without crying."

Paula Finnegan Dickinson of Gilford, who was Ames' student back in 1956 and became an educator herself, regarded her as a mentor and dear friend.

"Mrs. Ames, along with Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff, became our friend," Dickinson said, recalling the "Dick and Jane" series that was used in class reading groups. "With her enthusiasm, these characters came to life. ... Mrs. Ames showed us how reading opened the doors to other experiences we in Pittsfield might never have known."

Nugget of Wisdom: Taxi Before Takeoff

I remember boarding a plane one day and waiting for it to take off at its appointed time.  Time is approaching, but we still aren't leaving. Finally, the captain tells the passengers, "Sorry for the delay.  We are getting ready for takeoff."  However, we don't just takeoff then; we taxi to the runway first.

Your destiny can be much like a plane ride, taxi before takeoff.  We feel like once all of the obstacles and hindrances are moved out of the way, we should be able to just take off into the heights of our purpose.  However, life is rarely like that.  For most of us, we still require transition time from where we boarded or gained understanding of our purpose and actually takeoff into it.  Don’t be so impatient to get off the ground that you takeoff before you taxi.  You could end up doing more damage to your destiny than just being delayed.

Preparing for Takeoff,

Byron Jamal

Live On Purpose, With Purpose

A glass of water is sitting on a counter. You see it. It's just there minding its own business. You slide your hand across the top of the surface and knock the glass on to the floor, shattering it into sharp shiny pieces, spilling its contents. Someone standing across the room observes the whole thing. You look up at this person who is staring at you like you have lost your mind. They ask you, "why did you do that?" Your reply, "It was an accident."
Sounds kind of silly, right? How do you accidentally take aim on an object and using force, knock it over and then say it was an accident? It's safe to assume that to most rational thinking people, this would not be considered an accident, but intentionally done...on purpose.

What can be deemed as most valuable and precious in this life, does not happen nor is it sustained by accident or wishful thinking. If you have a good relationship, a prosperous business, or good grades in school, it's not simply due to a string of good luck. It's because you made a decision to be successful in that particular area of life. In a recent discussion I had with a friend about where he was in life, he talked about how his whole existence has been filled with obstacles, disappointments, and heart ache, and he felt a sense of despair, not really knowing what to do. My response to him was that if he was beat down by the cares of life, he needed to make a decision if he was going to stay down because of it, or if he was going to get up in spite of it. 

Have you ever seen someone trip and stand? The truth is, anyone can fall, but NO ONE accidently gets up. What things do you say and do, on purpose? Perhaps, the better question is , what things do you say and do with purpose? There are things we all do that are planned and calculated, but too often the words we've spoken, or the actions we've taken have been on purpose, but not with purpose.

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Let 2010 be the year you are productive (yielding fruit), not just busy.

What company exists with a mission to just be busy... to have alot of traffic in their store, alot of shoppers on their aisles, and no one buying anything? How long can they stay in business? If you are going to go through the trouble of making an effort, AIM at something that matters! We can all be ensared with the trap of busy work, but this isn't the year to carelessly exert time and energy, or invest in things that will not produce anything. One element of life that is faithful if nothing else is, is TIME. It doesn't matter what happens to you today, however tragic or wonderful, the saying is so true, "Time Waits For No Man." Time will keep trucking even when your will or desire breaks down.  
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This year, The Call Path makes a promise to you to be instrumental in inspiring you, not only by  showcasing individuals who are living in their purpose, but also having important discussions with you about yours. 


Anthony Edward

Nugget of Wisdom: What is True Love

In order for newborn baby birds to eat, their mother will eat some food and regurgitate it into their mouth.  When they get a little older, she will bring them whole food.  She takes out of her own mouth something that she could use for her own sustenance and gives it to the ones she loves. 

Many of us look for love in what is given, but true love is in what is given up.  It's not in the gift; it's in the sacrifice.  Love is shown when we can take from our own mouths and feed others so they can grow and develop, remembering that someone once had to feed us too.  Anyone can give a gift, but love is validated by a gift that has greater worth than the price tag.

Sacrificing Love,

Byron Jamal