The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Monday, August 3, 2020.

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:9

Set It Off?

“I’m about to set it off in here!” When I heard those words, I knew it was time to leave. I was picking up some lunch when I heard these words across the restaurant. It seems that there was some sort of mistake with this lady’s order, and she was not pleased. The person she was addressing seemed nice enough and as if he was trying to work the problem out, but this woman was having none of it. She was ranting, raving, yelling, and looked like she wanted to fight. When she yelled out that she was going to set it off, I realized that these ribs were good, but not that good, so I left.

As I drove away, I wondered what had made the woman react that way. Mistakes happen, people get orders wrong all the time. It is usually a quick fix. What I realized was her reaction was not about the food. It was about something completely different. She was caught in the grip of anger. When we get angry, what starts as a small thing always gets worse. Anger always intensifies, escalates, and worsens a situation. Anger shouts for more in a bad situation, encouraging us that nothing is enough until we have gone all the way. The funny thing is when anger lets go, we typically look back, knowing that we could have and should have handled the situation differently.

Friends, all of us have been angry in life at one time or another. We have gone off, said things we wish we could take back, and did things we regret. They felt good at the moment, but when the moment was over, we realized we were wrong, made things worse, and often times had to go fix it. Anger, while satisfying at the moment, turns us into fools. It blinds us to better ways, takes away better options, and leaves us with our worse self. Next time something goes wrong, ask yourself, should I set it off, or do I just need this to be made right? Setting it off might blow off some steam, but it may also destroy your life.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Friday, July 31, 2020.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18

It’s All On You

A friend of mine wanted to teach his children responsibility. So he assigned them three tasks. He assigned one of them to take empty the bathroom trash into the main trash. He assigned the other one to empty the main trash into the trash can. The last child had to take the trash to the street on trash day. It went well for the first couple of weeks, but after a while, the system started to break down. One child or another would forget to do their parts. After a while, the house began to smell. My friend refused to step in because the point was to teach the children responsibility.

Eventually, the smell got so bad that their mother gathered the family around and asked the children a simple question, “Do you smell that?” Each of the children started to blame others. Each one pointed out what the other had not done. Each one stated why they stopped their part. And each one also admitted that the house smelled terrible. So their mother told them they each needed to do their part because she was not going to live in a trash dump.

Friends, sometimes our world can be like a trash dump. It can stink from the smell of racism, sexism, cynicism, war, crime, and all manner of other things. It can make us nauseous to live in. The thing is, fixing it is up to us. It is up to us to each do our part to make the world the place where we want to live. We have to take out the trash, clean up the mess, and keep the world the way we want it. If we want to live in a world of peace and harmony, it really is all up to us.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Thursday, July 30, 2020.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

Guarded

I am always amazed by people who always keep their cool. I don’t mean the people who always seem to have the right thing to say, the right clothes, or who never get upset. It is not the Arthur Fonzarelli cool that amazes me. It is the calm in the middle of the world, falling apart cool that amazes me. It is the people who in the face of bad news, crisis, and catastrophe who don’t break a sweat, don’t freak out but instead seem to have a Zen-like calm that lets them move forward with grace and confidence, or stand perfectly still in the midst of shifting sands.

I have found that those people all have one thing in problem, a safe heart. Our hearts are the central core of our being and have to be protected at all costs. When our hearts are safe, things can go wrong, a crisis can come, and chaos can abound on the outside, but they never get on the inside. A guarded heart doesn’t let anxiety, fear, or panic overcome it. Rather it continues in all times to have joy, peace, and hope.

Friends, all of us will have times of crisis and panic. We will all have times when we feel that the world is coming at us too fast, throwing too much, and we are not strong enough to deal with it. It is in those moments that we have to rely on the peace of God to guard our hearts. The peace of God is transcendent. It is not swayed by circumstance, situation, or problems. The peace of God is like insulation for your heart. Chaos, crisis, and turmoil bounce off the peace of God and leave your heart steady, secure, and able to always have love, hope, and joy. So don’t let the troubles of the world freak you out. Wrap yourself in the peace of God, knowing that it will keep you safe at all times.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Wednesday, July 29, 2020.

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. James 3:18

In The Garden

My wife has taken up gardening as a hobby. It isn’t really my thing, but she loves it and is quite good at it. What she especially loves is showing off her crops. My wife will take anyone that visits our home out to see her crops. She shows them the tomatoes, the peppers, the mint, and the rosemary. She will give people tomatoes right off the vine so they can see how fresh they are, and gather fresh spices to show people how much better food is with natural ingredients. It is fun to watch her show off her accomplishments.

While visitors are typically impressed with what she shows them, they never get to see the whole garden story. While they see the finished product, what they don’t get to see is the bags of soil drug in from the car. They don’t get to see the days of waiting for the seeds to turn into the smallest of sprouts. They don’t see the careful changing of soil, moving of pots, and frantic runs into storms to make sure the most delicate of her crops don’t get destroyed by the weather. In short, people get to see the results, but they rarely get to see what was necessary to reap the harvest.

Friends, what I have learned from my wife’s garden is, a harvest always requires work. When you plant seeds, you can’t set it and forget it. You have to tend them, nurture them, and protect them as they grow. If you are going to plant seeds of peace to get a harvest of righteousness, you are going to have to protect your peace, nurture your peace, and guard your peace. This means that when something threatens your peace, you have to get rid of it because you can’t risk your harvest. So every day, check your garden. Make sure your seeds of peace are well cared for. That way, in due time, you can show off your harvest of righteousness.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. 1 Peter 3:11

The Chase

There is nothing I love more than a good movie car chase. The first one that I remember seeing was in the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit. As the name gives away, the film revolves around a multi-state high-speed chase between a Texas County Sheriff chasing a man called, The Bandit. For the length of the movie, Smokey chases The Bandit across highways, byways, dirt roads, and through a baseball field trying to catch him. By the end of the movie, Smokey has destroyed his police car and several other police cars, but he still has not caught the Bandit. So what does he do, you might ask. He continues the chase as The Bandit pulls off again.

I always wondered what drove Smokey to chase The Bandit across most of the southern United States and then continue chasing him up the eastern seaboard. Then one day it hit me like a ton of bricks. He chased him because he wanted to catch him. He wanted to catch The Bandit so badly that nothing mattered except catching him. Smokey has made up in his mind that there was going to be nothing that would stop him from catching The Bandit simply because he had decided that it was that important.

Friends, in this life, you have to chase peace the way Smokey chases The Bandit. Many of us are wasting days and hours worrying, stressing, and trapped in chaos because that is who we think life is supposed to be. I want to let you know you can have peace in your life. You can have peace that allows you to be still and know that God is God. You can have a peace that allows you to go through trials and not be concerned because you know the outcome is assured. You can have a peace that others envy, that few understand and that keeps your wits about you no matter what is going on. There is just one thing, you have to be willing to chase it down. But when you catch it, it will be yours forever.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Monday, July 27, 2020.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Colossians 3:15

Driven

It has been said that Michael Jeffery Jordan is the single most competitive person on the planet. His teammates can tell stories about how MJ wanted to win at everything. He wanted to win scrimmages in practice. He wanted to win the hands of poker on the team flight. He would even compete with members of the stadium staff to see who could bounce a quarter off the wall and have it land closest to the wall. Every day of his life, MJ got up, decided that he was going to win and competed to do so. Then one day it happened, he retired. After years of professional and personal competition, Michael Jordan hung up his sneakers and called it a basketball career.

Michael took a job in basketball operations with the Washington Wizards and lived happily ever after coaching and developing basketball talent. Actually, that is not what happened at all. Within a year or two, Michael came out of retirement and continued to play basketball for another few years because he couldn’t let go of the need to compete. Competition was ruling his life. I can imagine that during his “retirement,” he would lay awake at night wanting to compete so badly that he was driven to come back and do it some more.

Friends, all of us are driven by something. For some it is competition, for others it is money. Everybody has something. The problem is those types of drives will never leave you satisfied. You will always want more, never have enough, and continually be driven by what you desire. There is only one thing that you can be driven by that will give you satisfaction, peace. When you are driven by peace, you learn when to say when, how to step back, and you can find contentment in any circumstance. Friends, we were not made to be on a constant quest for things. We were made to be in a continuous state of peace. So take some time every day to get away from what is driving you and find some peace. One day, all of the driving and chasing will be done, and you are going to need to know how to have some peace.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Friday, July 24, 2020.

I have so much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 2 John 1:12

See You Soon

There is a video on the internet of these two little boys hugging. It is on a busy city street, and they can’t be more than three or four years old. They see each other and start the toddler run towards each other. When they reach each other, they just hug and laugh, and you can see the pure joy on their faces from being with each other. The video garnered widespread attention because the toddlers in the video are of different races. What I love about the video is it shows that even from an early age, there is joy in being in community with one another.

Over the last few months, we have found that there is power in community. We all need time and time apart, but we also now know that we need people. We need to see each other face to face. We need to hug, shake hands, and laugh with one another. Watching screens, exchanging texts, and talking on the phone is great for keeping us connected, but our joy is really only complete when we can be with one another.

Friends, Paul knew, as we now know, that there is power in being face to face. We can sometimes take for granted the words; see you later. Those words can become rote, trite, and just something we say because we have the expectation that we truly will see each other later. The last few months have taught us that seeing and being with each other is truly special indeed. May we, from this time forward, truly treasure the opportunities to see friends, families, and loved ones face to face so that our joy can be complete.

See You Soon (hopefully),

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Thursday, July 23, 2020.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14

It’s Up To You

If you have ever lived in multi-family housing, you know what it is like to have a bad neighbor. It doesn’t mean that all of your neighbors are bad, but it only takes one. That was the case in an apartment that I used to live in. Typically, I try to live on the top floor, but when I moved into this particular building, that apartment wasn’t available, so I had a neighbor that lived above me. She was great. She was quiet. We never had a problem. The dirty Harry moved in.

I called him dirty Harry not because his name was Harry, but because he was loud and dirty. We never had trash in the halls until dirty Harry moved in. There was never loud music late at night until dirty Harry moved in. The building had a great smell until dirty Harry moved in and brought a very unique aroma with him. So after months of peace, I now had the worst neighbor ever and a decision to make. I had to decide if I was going to make a stink, or if I was going to find a way to make this work.

What I discovered was you can make anything work. I invited dirty Harry to watch the game one evening, and we just hung out. We chatted, ate, and stopped being strangers and became neighbors. After we a while there was less trash, the smells were not there, and thing got quieter. Funny thing is I’m not sure anything changed other than Harry, and I became friends. He may have become neater and cleaner out of respect for me, or I may have overlooked things because he was my friend. Either way, we found a way to live in peace. Friends, life is too short to live in strife and confusion. When we make an effort to get to know people as people, we start to overlook flaws, become more kind to each other, and peace abounds. I learned from my friend Harry that you can live in peace with anyone, but it is up to you.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Wednesday, July 22, 2020.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Overflow

A lot of things can happen at a gas station. One time when I was getting gas, there was a full-on concert going on at the gas station. I don’t mean someone was playing their music loudly from their car, there were three guys and a girl with instruments playing by the curb. They had set up a small stage, microphones, speakers and were going for it. The funny thing is they were outstanding. So as I was pumping my gas, I got sucked into the concert. The next thing I knew, I felt something splashing on my legs. I looked down, and there it was I had overfilled my tank, and the gas was overflowing out of the car.

After I wiped off the car and drove off, I was a little upset that I had wasted gas. After all, gas was not cheap, and I didn’t have a whole lot of extra money to spend. Then I looked at the trip computer in my car. Typically, on a full tank, the car said I could go 363 miles. This time was different. I looked down, and the computer said I had a range of 401 miles. What I always thought was a full tank was not completely full. There was a little more space for fuel than I thought, even if there as some overflow.

Friends, I want you to know that the fuel of life is joy. For where you are going, you are going to need more fuel than usual. You are going to need the overflow of joy to get you through tough times, hard places, and difficult spaces. The great thing about God is he has enough joy that he can fill you, overflow you, and still have plenty left to do it again. In this season, don’t stop at full. Really open yourself up and let God fill you, and then overflow you.

Be Blessed,

Rev

The Daily Dose with Dr. Daryl L. Williams

A Word every day to get you on your way!

Here is the Daily Dose for Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing. Proverbs 10:28

Change Your Expectations

I had a brilliant friend in high school, but he got terrible grades. Exam after exam, he would just barely pass, but he was one of the brightest people I had ever met. It was terribly confusing to me, so one day, I asked him about his study habits. He looked at me like Allen Iverson at a press conference and said, “Study?” It was as if the concept had never broached his mind. He literally was not studying for the exams. He would just come in and take them and hope for the best. So I asked him why he wasn’t studying.

You see, he really was brilliant. All throughout his academic career, he was always the brightest person in his class. Things just came to him naturally, so he didn’t have to study. Now in our high school, the stakes had gone up, and there was more information that needed to be retained, but he hadn’t changed his habits or his expectations. He still expected to get the results that he had obtained before, even though what would be required to get them was vastly different. He could do the work, he just needed to start doing the work. So he did and spent the next four years on the honor roll.

Friends, when we do the right things, we should have the right expectations. And when we do the wrong things, we should have expectations that correlate with those actions as well. As believers, what worked for us before, may not work anymore. Now, we are called to live righteous lives. We are called to live in ways that are pleasing to the Lord and encouraging our fellow man. It may be difficult from time to time, but because of it, we can expect joy in all circumstances. So change your expectations, because when you live righteously before God, joy is on the way.

Be Blessed,

Rev