All of us face challenges from time to time, and I’ve grabbed hold of an important principle that we should apply in those kinds of times. It’s the Anti-Deer-in-the-Headlights Principle.

When difficulty comes, sometimes we stop—frozen in our tracks—and the difficulty becomes DANGER!

When I was a kid we had a large field of alfalfa behind our house. The groundhogs loved it. From our back window I could see them crawling through the alfalfa and I’d sneak out into the field with my Dad’s single-shot .22 caliber rifle and crawl on my belly until I was in position. Then I’d whistle loudly and it would startle the groundhog. He’d stop. Then he’d raise on his hind legs to look for where the sound came from. BANG!

Imagine if you started to drive across the railroad tracks and your car stalled on the tracks. Would you just sit there wide-eyed? Or would you get out and get moving? Then why do we so often stop in the swamp when we get bogged down by stuff?

Forward momentum is of utmost importance. There’s a song on the radio that says “If you’re going through Hell, keep on going, don’t slow down, if you’re scared don’t show it, you might get out before the Devil even knows you’re there.” But not if you stop.

It’s a weird quirk of humanity that in times of trouble we stop, frozen in the headlights, dead on the tracks facing the oncoming train.

Next time you find yourself in difficulty, hit the gas! Don’t stop. Accelerate through the problem and let the forward momentum carry you to safely to the other side.

I’ve thought alot about the topic of Abundant Living. It has captivated me for years. Jesus said “I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.” I accept that. But in truth, I’ve not felt that I was living abundantly, and didn’t really know much of anyone who was—my vast regiment of Christian friends included.

A couple of years ago we adopted “Living Abundantly” as a core value within our company. We didn’t know what that meant, but somehow thought it worthy of our embrace, if not outright pursuit. Periodically I’ve taught on the topic, usually defining it by what’s its not. I’ve always known that abundance wasn’t measured in bank accounts.

Abundant Living is the ultimate byproduct of right thinking as I teach it in the Enhancing Your WORTH (Wheel Of Right THinking) seminar God gave to me and that I’ve begun teaching our team, will be rolling out to my small group this winter, and will take on my first Latin American teaching road gig in the Spring. When you think rightly about God, Self, Purpose, Future, Relationships & Behaviors you become a well-balanced person and abundant living is the natural product you experience.

Yet what is it? I think I am beginning to understand.

2010 has been a very difficult year. It started (as they all do) with robust plans for “world domination” (or maybe partial control of my life), and then began to come loose in a few areas. Confusion in the capital markets has provided for challenges in both the financial and real estate sectors—the exact intersection at which I live my economic life. An executive with our company who I trusted so much that I gave him signature authority over every aspect of our business surprised me by proving to lack character which ultimately leaked into his poor performance and the imbedding of critical problems within our company that would have sunk it if I hadn’t pulled the plug on him when I did. Months later our trust is severely damaged and we’re still cleaning up his messes. Meanwhile another big-talking, executive-level, employee similarly proved himself to be “all hat and no cattle” in execution of his responsibilities; another mess the more competent and under-rewarded few had to resolve. Amidst it all: my wife’s father continued his slow descent and died just last month.

2010 has been a hard year. It seems like we’ve been “inside of the ten yard line” for months, but can’t manage to put the ball across the goal line; lots of activity on the drawing board but very little production actually being “shipped” by the factory. Argh! That gets old.

That said, it has also been a great year. In many ways I have never felt better. I told my business partner last week that “I’ve never felt stronger.” My health is good. I haven’t lost all the weight I wanted to by this point, but my level of fitness has increased tremendously. I can kick butt. This morning I spent two hours working out HARD including running significantly UPHILL between the front gate and my house (about 1/3 of a mile down and back) six times. That’s nothing by Chris Ballard standards, but two miles with half uphill is big for a fat guy staring down the barrel of 50. Sitting here in my sweat as I write this, I smell bad, but I feel good.

In the midst of everything I’ve found myself marveling at how good I am doing. I’m kind of amazed really. I’m well. In some ways a lot of Hell has broken loose around me, and I smell a bit like smoke and my hair is singed, but I am well.

As I sat on the porch this morning drinking my coffee, petting my attention starved Border Collie (who thinks I am God) and praying, I told God how thankful I was for how He had helped me and stood with me during difficulty. It occurred to me that this contentment, peace, confidence—call it what you will—in the midst of the storm is living abundantly! Life happens. People get sick and die. People let you down. People hurt you. Economies change. People wrongly accuse and attack you. Sciatica sets in. Business models shift. And in the midst of the chaos, there is peace. It passes all understanding.

I still don’t know much about Abundant Living. But I’ve had a glimpse of it. And I like it.

May you have some, too!

Wrong thinkers would have us to believe—incorrectly—that the world is a soft, squishy, fuzzy, place of peace, platitudes……..sort of nirvana-esque. ‘Taint necessarily so. The real world is a place of “against.” People against people; systems opposing people; philosophies in conflict with philosophies; ideas at odds with one another……it’s a messy, chaotic, and somewhat dangerous place. Always has been, and always will be.

I go squishy soft when I’m in the presence of a baby, don’t you? Fat babies, sleeping babies, crying babies, laughing babies, slobbery poopy babies……..wow! Who wouldn’t love a baby?

I was reading in the Gospel of Mathew this morning and noticed that the very first thing that happened to baby Jesus was someone tried to kill him—when he was a baby! He hadn’t preached an offensive sermon, violated any religious code of conduct, or challenged authority. The most offensive thing he could have produced up to that moment was a really malodorous diaper. Yet right after his birth, the government marked him for death.

Hmmm.

Soft? Fuzzy? Squishy? Peaceful? NO!

Against.

What I take from that lesson is this: in this world you will have much trouble (Jesus said that). It is a place that is “against” occupied by people who are “against” and any notion of permanent ease and peacefulness this side of Heaven is folly. But I also know that Jesus said “I have overcome the world.” Even in this dangerous place we can live in joy, with happiness and confidence.

I’m going to have a great day. It may or may not  be an easy one, we’ll see. But it’s going to be a good one and I will rest my head on my pillow tonight and sleep soundly knowing that I have done my best to make it better, to make a difference for others, and maximally use the life He’s given to me.

Even in the darkness you can choose to walk in the light.