Experiencing Darkness

I write this after doing some reading about a friend I have known since high school. She talks about her new life changes and how she is happy about this New Life she is living. Before this she described herself as experiencing darkness. I know we all go through time in our life that we just don’t understand why or how we even got to this place. It saddens me to see friends go through these struggles. I have a good amount of friends but I have some friends that I have an inner deeper connection with. I understand or know more about these people and their pasts. I feel for their hurts even when years have passed and I haven’t been connected with them.

This brings me to what I was thinking about a couple days ago while listening to the JJ Heller again. The actual song is the one I last posted about on this blog. Most artists I listen to usually have a message with their songs. They’re trying to share something with us. This song JJ Heller sang just sinks in my heart. I can listen to it over and over again, because the message is real. You see I truly believe Christ is the reason for every single day. Some may think I am crazy but I have seen so many lost lives. I have witness tragedy for the last 18 years of my career. I have had friends go so many different directions and wrong ways. I have watched a younger brother and sister leave this earth. But you know what Christ doesn’t care about all of the past. He has a home for us and a place that He will love us for who we are. That is the message, that is the reason I feel we all need to live for today. We can try to fix our own problems or hide from our issues. But if we give it all to Him he will truly help us through this day. Another song JJ sings is called “Your Hands” another incredible message for us. My Prayer is that the Darkness is truly moved and that you see the Light that is waiting for you.

 

 

Me for Me

I am so thankful this Christmas Season that my Lord loves me for who I am. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else. He sticks by my side and doesn’t fall away. He sees all of the good and the bad put still chooses to never leave. Music is really something that helps me think. I came across this JJ Heller song and it just really hit it on the head. This is a song about all of us. This is a song if you are believer. This is a song for all non-believers to understand what I and so many other Christians believe. If this Christianity is true or not I can tell you it’s truly a blessing for me to believe that there is something bigger than me. He doesn’t look at my faults. He looks for that relationship. Relationship is all he asks and looks for. Give it a try and be open for change.

As this season comes and go I want to say Timmy and Katie’s I love you and miss you. I look forward to what the New Year brings. I look forward to all of the lives that will be changed. I look forward to more growth. I look forward to seeing your Legacy living on. Lord allow me to be the Hands and Feet if that’s what you desire of me.

 

The Unknowns

I was reading my Daughter Blog and she was writing about all of the unknown things of her future. It really got me thinking. Thinking about how much we don’t know. We don’t know what our future holds for next year, next month or even tomorrow. We can make plans and then tomorrow comes and it’s completely changed. What’s nice about being a Believer is that we know God has our life planned out. He knows our tomorrow and understands our yesterday’s.  My daughter being in college thinking about her future and the unknowns doesn’t through me off. It interreges me with the thought of how many people out there are just walking around with all of these unknowns. These unknowns for Believers can be paralyzing but then I think of the nonbelievers.

Proverbs 16:1-4

The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.  All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight; But the LORD weighs the motives. Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established. The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Joshua 22:4

Love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

These two verses I read and meditate on and then I think about them as if I was a nonbeliever. Wow, that could really seem unfathomable. To be committed to this unknown, so called God. I’m supposed to be obedient to His commandments. The Bible seems so far fetch for the nonbeliever. They look at placing their faith in this God which is talked about in this book they call the Bible.

Yes, we do place our Faith in the Promises that God has laid before us in the guide we call the Bible. The bible is an amazing tool that is loaded with scripture that can help you on your journey through life. But without taking that leap of Faith and asking Him into your Life you will continue to be lost. Don’t be one of the people paralyzed and left without answers. Take the Leap of Faith

I am so proud to have a wife, daughter and 2 sons that have a personal relationship with their Lord. To be able to know that we believe in a God that understands our unknowns. To have Faith that He will guide our path.

To my daughter that is away at college, it’s ok to have fears of the unknowns. What’s exciting is that tomorrow some of those unknowns will be answered. Just like Aunt Katie said in her documentary. She wouldn’t want to know what the future holds because it takes away from the excitement of today and what is to come.

Psalms 119: 105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

 

The Present Day

The Future is in place but so is the Present.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”"
Jeremiah 29:11-14

How is your Present looking?

Without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22

For so many of us sit thinking about the future and what it hold. We focus more on tomorrow and next week then  Today. Just dealing with today can be extremely difficult and we look forward to what tomorrow brings before today is even over.

Before we look forward to our bright future we need to make sure the Present has the same glow. The Present is what we all live in. Our families are counting on us so continue the good fight of this Present Day.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” –Einstein

“You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”–Lincoln

“The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.”  –Lincoln

 

Strong Men tend to make the same Mistakes

I am reading a book called The Samson Syndrome. This is a great book I would highly recommend.

To give you a look into this book I will name off some of the chapters:

Strong Men tend to Disregard Boundaries, Strong men tend to Struggle with Lust, Strong Men tend to use Anger as a Tool and the one that sticks in my mind is Chapter 7 which is Strong Men tend to make the Same Mistakes.

Wow so Strong Men tend to make the same Mistakes.

Romans 7:16-18

But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful natures I want to do what is right, but I can’t.

Am I one of those Strong Men that will make the same Mistakes?

I can’t afford to make some of my mistakes again.  If I can’t afford to make the same mistakes then I need to make sure I learn from my past and use the help and support that I have been given.

Author Mark Atteberry suggests:

• Hook Up -with friends that will hold you Accountable
• Give Up- your Rationalizations “Stop your lame excuses and Change your Way”
• Line Up- your life with God’s Word
• Power Up- with the Holy Spirit- read His Word

As I still read through this book I have really found some chapters that have hit home more than other. I have learned is there are so many places that we as Strong Men fail.

We have got to be those Strong Men that are the Pillars in our home, churches and communities. As we become those Strong Men then we need to strengthen up the next generation to follow.  We as men fail all of the time, so let’s hook up with the One that has Never Failed or let us down.

 

Controlling Weeds

A Weed is “A plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden”

While I was reading this last week I came across some information about weeds. How weeds seem to come up in our lives. Some of these weeds we have had for years. Remember to pull the root out when pulling weeds or it will reappear. The same goes for the weeds we have in our lives.

We as people and Christians need to examine our own lives for weeds. Weeds may be hiding then all of a sudden appear and become troublesome. These weeds can be challenging to remove but we must deal with them when they appear or they can spread fast. Weeds come in many different forms. Sometimes we don’t even realize that these weeds exist. These weeds can be challenges, setbacks, negative beliefs, gossip, complaining, addictions, or anything that removes you from a closer relationship with Christ.

Ways to help us control the weeds in your Lives

Study of the Scriptures

2 timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Prayer

Prayer is our time to talk to God and ask him for help with examining our lives for weeds. This is our time to pray about those weeds that seem hard to get rid of. Some of those weeds have deep roots and take time to remove. We can also  use prayer to lift our praises up to him and thank him for our successes.

 

Fellowship

We keep the soil of our life moist by having fellowship with our Lord Jesus and with other fellow Christians. When we have fellowship with other Christians, we encourage each other to do good works and to live our life God’s way. We care for each other and by doing so we are pulling weeds and preparing our lives for a great harvest.

Weeds don’t need planting in well-drained soil; they don’t ask for
fertilizer or bits of rag to scare away the birds. They come without
invitation; and they don’t take the hint when you want them to go.
Weeds are nobody’s guests: More like squatters.
-  Norman Nicholson.

 

Reality Check Ahead

What has changed in your Life to bring you closer Christ?

What has changed in your Life to take you further away?

What would have happen if Katie decided to be angry at Christ for bringing on this tragic situation?

Would Katie’s story reach the same amount of people and have the same effect?

I could go on and on asking Questions. But really what I am after is for you to sit back and think. What has changed in your life? Are you a better Follower or are you just cruising around like so many others Lost? Did you just get all caught up in the moment and not realize that you were witnessing God’s Hands at work in a person and a Family. Katie’s Story is real.

I was reading the other day and Came across this verse. I then went into the “Message Bible” which is in Contemporary Language.

This is Romans 12:1-2

1. So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him

2. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

So this is what Katie did exactly. She fixed her attention on God. You could see the Change from the Inside out. As it says above “God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

I ask you to please take a step back and do some thinking on or before the 29^th of April.

• Are we a walking testimony that shows Christ in us?
• Or are we just caught up in the Culture of today wasting our Lives?

My Prayer is that my Sister Story continues to Change lives and enrich others. We all have a story; I pray your story has to do with Christ and how he has enriched your Life.

The best Reality Show is us being used to Further God Kingdom

Thanks Katie fixing your attention on God

Katie’s Prayer Documentary Film

Reality Check Ahead

What has changed in your Life to bring you closer Christ?

What has changed in your Life to take you further from away?

What would have happen if Katie decided to be angry at Christ for bringing on this tragic situation?

Would Katie’s story reach the same amount of people and have the same effect?

I could go on and on asking Questions. But really what I am after is for you to sit back and think. What has changed in your life? Are you a better Follower or are you just cruising around like so many others Lost? Did you just get all caught up in the moment and not realize that you were witnessing God’s Hands at work in a person and a Family. Katie’s Story is real.

I was reading the other day and Came across this verse. I then went into the “Message Bible” which is in Contemporary Language.

This is Romans 12:1-2

1. So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him

2. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

So this is what Katie did exactly. She fixed her attention on God. You could see the Change from the Inside out. As it says above “God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

I ask you to please take a step back and do some thinking on or before the 29^th of April.

• Are we a walking testimony that shows Christ in us?
• Or are we just caught up in the Culture of today wasting our Lives?

My Prayer is that my Sister Story continues to Change lives and enrich others. We all have a story I pray your has to do with Christ and how he has enriched your Life.

The best Reality Show is us being used to Further God Kingdom

Thanks Katie fixing your attention on God

http://www.katiesprayerthefilm.com/

 

Believing in the Unseen God

Have you ever been ask by a non- believer

“How do you believe in an Unseen God?”

2 Cor 5:7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Please watch these Videos from Louie Giglio the Indescribable Series. I have this film and know that if you aren’t a Believer and can’t believe in an unseen God after this then I personally feel you really need to examine yourself. I know it is long but it is completely worth ever minute. Come back and watch it when you have time.

 

Bearing Fruit

Can’t Bear Fruit if you’re not healthy

Good Fruit

John 15:1-5 (Message Version)

“I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.

If we are Joined with Him we can bear Fruit, but we Can’t Bear Fruit if we’re not healthy. If we don’t take time for ourselves and get ready for the journey ahead, then what can we expect to bear beside disappointment. The more we succeed, the more people will demand of us. It is up to us to repair ourselves.

“Work time is giving—rest time is receiving”

Even Jesus took time for himself. He took time to get away. Maybe it wasn’t to go out for a run. He still took time to recoup so He could continue to do the work.

Mark 6:31 (NIV)

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

The Moral to Bearing Fruit in our Life for God or whatever we are trying to accomplish isn’t to Work until we Drop. But instead invest time in keeping ourselves healthy so we can continue the work and then we can see the Fruit He will Bear as we abide in Him.

Are you Healthy?

Do you have healthy Boundaries? (Great book to help with Boudaries)

http://store.cloudtownsendstore.com/boundariesbook1.html

 

Quiet Time

I would say a lot of my Quiet Time doesn’t happen because I choose to not make it a priority. I am always on the go, especially if I have projects going around the house. I will work from dusk to dawn. I am like so many, I have 3 kids from 17 to 10 year old and they all play sports along with youth groups and many other activities. But with all of that, Quiet time is really just me not making it a priority. I choose to make other things the priority.

One of my personal goals is to find more daily time for Quiet Time and getting in the Word. The next time I feel the urge to check my e-mail, instead I can spend five minutes just thinking instead. Focus on my current surroundings or thinking of what God has done for me today.

Rev 1:3 (NIV)

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it,

Mark 1:35

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

My plan is to be more in the Word, to be reading more and learning more about what God has planned for me. I have time available but I choose not to use it. So why don’t I start?

So many people out are hurting. So many people are going through struggles. Why I ask aren’t you taking this time to sit and get some solitary time with your God?

Jeremiah 33:3(NKGV)

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

How are you doing getting in your Quiet Time? Are you taking time to Reflect on yourself? Are you taking time to think about where you are going? Or are you like so many just flying by the seat of your pants. Worried and stressed about tomorrow.

Take the Time to Reflect with God and get Quiet Time