“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
— Philippians 4:13, The King James Version

Hmm. Not much wiggle room in there.

Many years ago I worked for someone who frequently challenged me to not take “no” for answer. In particular, I remember one time that a task was put before me to get a program to do one thing. For many years I had used this program and was darn sure that I knew its limitations. “It can’t do that,” was my response when I heard what it was being asked to do. No need to take you through the whole conversations that took place between myself, the person making the request, and numerous people I had to question, but in the end, the task that needed to be done by program was doable. It took someone to think outside the box and to ask “why not”.

Numerous times since then I challenged myself to think differently. Just because something has never been done, or because it has always been done a certain way, doesn’t mean that it can not be done differently. I can sit here and think that I can’t talk to this or that person about Christ, getting them to acknowledge Christ as their Lord and Savior. Or I can sit here and I can think that I can’t get this person to have a positive outlook or to change an attitude towards one that would be Christ-honoring. How can I be an instrument of change? Who am I? I spend a lot of energy building barriers of “can not” and “has not” and “could not”, the whole time essentially denying Christ.

And the whole time I’m building barriers, Christ is there, asking one simple question: WHY? Within that one word question is the child-like attitude that I need to have that does not accept things at face value. I CAN DO ALL THINGS. Not SOME or A FEW. Not this or that. ALL THINGS.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
— Romans 8:31, The King James Version