"In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of will. Belief must come form the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And i must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God."
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6 (not referenced in My Utmost For His Highest)
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 22
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Your Body
"I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not 'set aside the grace of God'-make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is ABSOLUTE and LIMITLESS, and the work of salvation through Jesus is COMPLETE and FINISHED FOREVER. I am not being saved-I AM saved."
"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:27
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 5
"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:27
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." Romans 12:1
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 5
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Overcome
I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a DELIGHT to meet the OPPOSITION.
"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 4
"In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 4
Hands and Feet
"Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again.[...] I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet."
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 3
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 3
Thursday, December 2, 2010
His Almighty Power
"Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power."
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 1
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 1
Imperfect
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Philippians 3:12
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9
"I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants."
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 2
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9
"I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants."
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, December 2
Only One
"There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life."
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, November 30th
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, November 30th
Changing It Up
It's been a long time since I've even thought about posting. Since I am not a true writer at heart, it slips my mind a lot and I don't always have great things to say, but recently the wheels have been turning. I've decided that since I'm not really the best at writing critical or analytical post, I'm just going to give a thought for the day, and you take it for what its worth, think about it, and comment if you like. There may be a little blurb explaining the context, but I don't expect to write an argumentative essay on it. Hope you enjoy! Comments are great!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Got Jokes?
I know it's been awhile, but here are some funny jokes that need to be heard... enjoy!
EVER WONDER ...
Why the sun lightens our hair,
but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara
with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline
'Psychic Wins Lottery'?
Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what
they do 'practice'?
Why is lemon juice made with
artificial flavor, and dish washing
liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all
your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the
slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored
cat food?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle
for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black
box that is used on airplanes? Why
don't they make the whole plane out
of that stuff?!
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments
when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is
Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call
the airport the terminal?
FROM: http://www.cleanjoke.com/humor/Ever-Wonder.html
EVER WONDER ...
Why the sun lightens our hair,
but darkens our skin?
Why women can't put on mascara
with their mouth closed?
Why don't you ever see the headline
'Psychic Wins Lottery'?
Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?
Why is it that doctors call what
they do 'practice'?
Why is lemon juice made with
artificial flavor, and dish washing
liquid made with real lemons?
Why is the man who invests all
your money called a broker?
Why is the time of day with the
slowest traffic called rush hour?
Why isn't there mouse-flavored
cat food?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle
for lethal injections?
You know that indestructible black
box that is used on airplanes? Why
don't they make the whole plane out
of that stuff?!
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
Why are they called apartments
when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is
Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call
the airport the terminal?
FROM: http://www.cleanjoke.com/humor/Ever-Wonder.html
Friday, August 27, 2010
Weekly Wisdom
Along with a daily verse, I get a weekly wisdom as well. This weeks wisdom spoke directly to me. I have been lacking an acceptable prayer life, and it shows my true maturity and heart at this moment. I have lacked a desire to approach God. I've been cruising, partially due to a busy schedule, but we know that is not an excuse. But here is what was sent to me for this week. This is from christnotes.org. Enjoy!
What are you praying for? Are you asking God to give you more stuff--a bigger house, a new car, a bigger salary? What you pray for indicates what is important to you.
It is a great lesson to examine what the people in the Bible prayed for.
King David, in Psalm 27:4, prayed, One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. He asked God for just one thing: that he would dwell in God's presence. David clearly knew that in God's presence he would receive everything he needed (see Matthew 6:33).
Paul also didn't pray for worldly things. Instead, in Philippians 1:9, Paul prayed that the church would walk in love: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more. Paul knew the importance of love, and so he made it a point to pray that the church would grow more and more in love.
Furthermore, he prayed that believers would be strengthened spiritually: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (Ephesians 3:16).
In short, your prayers can tell what you consider to be important. If you are only praying for worldly stuff, then you are neglecting what is of lasting value: knowing God, dwelling in His presence, walking in His love, and being strong spiritually.
Therefore, decide to adjust what you're praying for. Learn to listen to your prayers, because they locate your level of spiritual maturity.
What are you praying for? Are you asking God to give you more stuff--a bigger house, a new car, a bigger salary? What you pray for indicates what is important to you.
It is a great lesson to examine what the people in the Bible prayed for.
King David, in Psalm 27:4, prayed, One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. He asked God for just one thing: that he would dwell in God's presence. David clearly knew that in God's presence he would receive everything he needed (see Matthew 6:33).
Paul also didn't pray for worldly things. Instead, in Philippians 1:9, Paul prayed that the church would walk in love: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more. Paul knew the importance of love, and so he made it a point to pray that the church would grow more and more in love.
Furthermore, he prayed that believers would be strengthened spiritually: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being (Ephesians 3:16).
In short, your prayers can tell what you consider to be important. If you are only praying for worldly stuff, then you are neglecting what is of lasting value: knowing God, dwelling in His presence, walking in His love, and being strong spiritually.
Therefore, decide to adjust what you're praying for. Learn to listen to your prayers, because they locate your level of spiritual maturity.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
What's church for?
I was listening to a sermon from Cornerstone Church, and the pastor said something along these lines...
"Back in the day, church was used for replenishing and restoring people because they were so broken down from being used so much by God."
I wish that's why I went to church. Nowadays, I go to church to be redirected not replenished. I don't go about my week trying to pour out God's love to people. It seems like it's a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there, and maybe even a constant stream every once in awhile. I get a picture people crawling, limping, and struggling to push open the doors to the church. People beaten, broken, dirty, bloody, hungry, thirsty, pale, and sick. They enter questioning why they keep doing this, why they are being martyred, beaten, abused, and persecuted. I think I would be constantly questioning what is going on. But maybe they just come in silent. They come in humbled, broken (emotionally), understanding a portion of what Christ went through, wiser, stronger, and lesser so He will become greater.
Are we being persecuted, stretched, broken, challenged, educated, faithful, righteous? If we're not, then church doesn't seem like anything other than a quick "check" of where we're at. I want church to be a necessity, not a "maybe." "Are you going to church?" I want to be so used by God that I have to go to church in order to survive. I want church to be a survival essential; fresh water, food for my soul, and a roof over my head.
It's a bold statement. But I'd rather be thrown into it than sit on the sidelines. If God throws me into it, I want to be so unready that I can only rely on Him to live through it.
Lord, rock my world. Use me. Throw me out of my comfort zone. Break me so that I can only rely on your for everything. Here am I. Send me.
"Back in the day, church was used for replenishing and restoring people because they were so broken down from being used so much by God."
I wish that's why I went to church. Nowadays, I go to church to be redirected not replenished. I don't go about my week trying to pour out God's love to people. It seems like it's a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there, and maybe even a constant stream every once in awhile. I get a picture people crawling, limping, and struggling to push open the doors to the church. People beaten, broken, dirty, bloody, hungry, thirsty, pale, and sick. They enter questioning why they keep doing this, why they are being martyred, beaten, abused, and persecuted. I think I would be constantly questioning what is going on. But maybe they just come in silent. They come in humbled, broken (emotionally), understanding a portion of what Christ went through, wiser, stronger, and lesser so He will become greater.
Are we being persecuted, stretched, broken, challenged, educated, faithful, righteous? If we're not, then church doesn't seem like anything other than a quick "check" of where we're at. I want church to be a necessity, not a "maybe." "Are you going to church?" I want to be so used by God that I have to go to church in order to survive. I want church to be a survival essential; fresh water, food for my soul, and a roof over my head.
It's a bold statement. But I'd rather be thrown into it than sit on the sidelines. If God throws me into it, I want to be so unready that I can only rely on Him to live through it.
Lord, rock my world. Use me. Throw me out of my comfort zone. Break me so that I can only rely on your for everything. Here am I. Send me.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
What do you smell like?
Last night and earlier today, I was out playing basketball and then running a workout, so just exercising/working out. Well after basketball a couple of us went to a Bible study over at a friend's house (more from that coming later) and I realized how terrible I smelled. Even today after running my workout, I could smell the sweat and odor after being in 94+ degree weather. Obviously I didn't smell like a fresh spring water creek, or a mango smoothie, or a vanilla scented candle. I stunk. Duh. So my physical smell was pretty vomit-worthy. But in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 (read 14-17 for context) it says "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" This got me thinking... yes I prolly smell like death after playing a couple hours of basketball or running a workout in the blazing sun, but what spiritual aroma do I give off? Do I smell of a fragrance worthy of resembling God? Honestly, I don't really know if this is even true, but it just made me think of it in terms of smell. Similar to the question, "do people see God when people see me?" Do people "smell" God when people smell the aroma I give off? Or is it more of an unpleasant odor? Is your fragrance that of a heavenly, gentle fragrance? stay with me here for a second... when you go out for the day, do you put on your "Deodorant"? Are you reading God's Word in order to present a good smell to people? I know lately I've prolly been stinkin it up both spiritually and physically speaking, but do you realize how you smell? What do you smell like?
it may be far out there, but its just a thought...
it may be far out there, but its just a thought...
Monday, July 12, 2010
Call me Doc
It's been ever present this summer. The anticipated and very important question to a man in his early 20's, "So...do you have a girlfriend?" I can say that at 23 years of age, deeply involved with school, track, and many other things in between, and the answer is no. Do I wish I had a different response to that question? Of course. Who wouldn't?! Yes I understand that some people God call to a single life, but I do not feel God pulling me in that direction. Which leads me to the unavoidable questioning replaying in my head, "Where is she?" or "What direction do I have to go to find her?"
You could say that for the past couple of months I have been more "open" to the idea of dating. I have thought about certain girls in my head over and over, but to no avail. And sitting back and realizing the effort and stress that I have been putting on myself is unbearable. It's not healthy. It's not helpful. I don't like that this sounds very immature, but nevertheless it's what I've been struggling with. I now realize what I need in life. I need my path to be straight towards the Lord because I know his path with lead me to the greener pastures, higher hills, and sweeter water. As I diverge from the path the Lord has for me, I realize that I get further away from her. She is on my path, waiting for me; hopefully a lot more patient than me.
Patience is a virtue. Yeah I know you've heard it, but it's the truth. It's one of the hardest things to handle, but yet the easiest. God has it under control. I need to remember that. So really I shouldn't have to worry about patience but when I try to take things into my own hands, this is what happens.
I've got the wrong "g"-word stuck in my mind. I need to forget about girls and focus on God. How simple and so high school. Oh well. Better late than never.
Some days are tough though. I think about her a lot, whoever she is. I want to be with you so bad; so much so that I'm willing to take these hard times without you to magnify the times when we finally get together. I'm thinking about you a lot, but hopefully patiently and faithfully praying for you more. So I challenge you to challenge me. If you think of it, talk to me, txt me, message me, or whatever... am I being patient?
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13
G
You could say that for the past couple of months I have been more "open" to the idea of dating. I have thought about certain girls in my head over and over, but to no avail. And sitting back and realizing the effort and stress that I have been putting on myself is unbearable. It's not healthy. It's not helpful. I don't like that this sounds very immature, but nevertheless it's what I've been struggling with. I now realize what I need in life. I need my path to be straight towards the Lord because I know his path with lead me to the greener pastures, higher hills, and sweeter water. As I diverge from the path the Lord has for me, I realize that I get further away from her. She is on my path, waiting for me; hopefully a lot more patient than me.
Patience is a virtue. Yeah I know you've heard it, but it's the truth. It's one of the hardest things to handle, but yet the easiest. God has it under control. I need to remember that. So really I shouldn't have to worry about patience but when I try to take things into my own hands, this is what happens.
I've got the wrong "g"-word stuck in my mind. I need to forget about girls and focus on God. How simple and so high school. Oh well. Better late than never.
Some days are tough though. I think about her a lot, whoever she is. I want to be with you so bad; so much so that I'm willing to take these hard times without you to magnify the times when we finally get together. I'm thinking about you a lot, but hopefully patiently and faithfully praying for you more. So I challenge you to challenge me. If you think of it, talk to me, txt me, message me, or whatever... am I being patient?
"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." Romans 12:9-13
G
Friday, July 9, 2010
"True Love" by Phil Wickham
Phil Wickham - "True Love"
Come close listen to the story
about a love more faithful than the morning
The Father gave his only Son just to save us
The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heaven's eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died
Search your heart you know you can’t deny it
Come on, lose your life just so you can find it
The Father gave his only son just to save us
The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heaven's eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died
Now, Jesus is alive
Jesus is alive X4
Oh, He is alive
He rose again
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died
Come close listen to the story
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Blessed Beyond Belief
I know it's been awhile, but I've been slowly digesting my life lately. Besides, why rush? So anyways, I was informed that my dad's side of the family was having a reunion. This came as a shock because my dad's side doesn't get together very often. The event wasn't the only special part either; the location was key.
As long as I have been able to remember it, Brooktondale Nazarene Camp is home to my grandfather's ancient cabin. It seems like forever ago, my sister and I were sleeping in the triple-decker bunk beds. I remember times when we'd go to Sunday School and not no any of the kids. It was lonely, but it was an experience I will never forget. It's the moments like walking to Church from the cabin, or going to the mess hall to get lunch and dinner, or watching the older kids play basketball because my puny little body couldn't engulf an orange, rubber sphere. I remember thinking that the wooded area where the other cabins were, was a haunted, creepy place. I rarely went in the woods, even though there was a sweet playground maybe 50 feet into the woods.
So this camp has history. I've been to my grandpa's cabin a couple times and it changes every time. The painting scheme, a new roof, the furniture arrangements, etc. But he's still got that same refrigerator running for 50 years or so. But little did I know that history would be made during this short weekend vacation.
Now I have to be honest, but I was hesitant to come at first because it was so short notice and the last few times I've been to Brooktondale, it hasn't been the most exciting thing ever, but that was only a short moment in my thoughts. Because within the first five minutes I remember why I love my family. It is so good to see people that I haven't seen in awhile because you have so much to talk about. So conversation never stops, and I didn't mind at all!
As I have grown and matured mentally and spiritually, I've realized how important my family members are to me. They are not just some people that I get to see every once in awhile and have to give updates on my life. They are amazing, caring, brothers and sisters in Christ who genuinely care about my life and well-being. And this is something that is never really taught, it just makes sense, but it was reinforced again on this family vacation.
I had the opportunity to walk in on a discussion at the adults table, mainly led by my grandpa (no shock to anyone being a retired pastor). As I quickly focused in on the topic of conversation, a fuzzy picture of my grandpa's yearning heart slowly became clearer. He was asking my dad and the family members what they thought of the possibility of him working as a Chaplain at a nearby hospital where he spent recovering from brain cancer. By the Lord's power and grace, grandpa has beaten cancer 7 times, i think. I forget because the Lord keeps blessing him with more strength every time something else comes up. But I guess growing up working as a prison chaplain strengthens you quickly.
But as I sat there and listened to him speak, tears running down his face, I remembered what I had realized at an earlier meeting at my house a couple years prior. When grandpa is around, I want to soak up everything he says. I feel as if he is my present day Paul. The man has so much wisdom, I am so humbled that I do not speak until I am asked anything. I remember realizing not only how much wisdom he has, but how much passion he has for God. He was telling my family members that he can't walk through Walmart anymore without trying to carry around a heavy weight in his heart, questioning whether the person buying that box of cereal knows Jesus. Or whether he'll be checking-in to heaven with the guy that he's checking-out with at register #4. All he wants to do is be all about Jesus. Does that describe me? Do I want to be all about Jesus? Does it show to other people that God is my rock and foundation? I can answer those for you... prolly not. And I know i'm being hard on myself, but guess what? Our God was, and is perfect. Our most "...righteous acts are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6) I go into walmart worrying about myself; what I need; what I want. He goes in worrying about their souls. Wow I've got a lot to learn.
And then came another amazing experience. We got the whole family together for a campfire. But it wasn't just going to be a regular s'more eating fire. It was a fire that refueled the spark in my heart. It started out with a little praise and worship, which was difficult for me because of the age difference. Three generations were present at the fire and I know music has change just a tad during these generations, so it was a challenge. But then I realized that it's not about being able to sing good songs that everyone would know or could sing along to, it was the message of the songs, the words, the truth behind the songs. But after worshiping the Lord, we went around to each family, and asked them to tell us what God has laid on their hearts in terms of prayer requests and praises. Once they were finished, they were prayed for by another individual. And as the requests started to fill my mind, some blew me away. Some things I had heard for the first time. It was befuddling to hear the things that I had not known about. But when it was all over with, and my uncle said the last words, it made me realize how unbelievably blessed I am to have an amazing family. To hear him say that even though we haven't seen each other for two years, they still caring and praying for every single person sitting in those chairs. I haven't talked to my cousins and aunts and uncles in awhile, but I know that they love me, and I hope they know that I love them. I have a new burden on my heart for my family. And even though I may not be prayed for, or I may not remember to pray for them sometimes, we all serve a God who is all-knowing and all-loving, all the time. Praise the Lord for that truth. God is love. Always.
I will never forget that weekend. I will never forget the love that my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, siblings showed towards me. Those kind of moments change people.
Thank you Lord for the blessings of having a Christ-centered family. Continue to keep my head on straight, putting you first, and putting your kingdom above any other possession. Help me stay strong. Amen.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY
As long as I have been able to remember it, Brooktondale Nazarene Camp is home to my grandfather's ancient cabin. It seems like forever ago, my sister and I were sleeping in the triple-decker bunk beds. I remember times when we'd go to Sunday School and not no any of the kids. It was lonely, but it was an experience I will never forget. It's the moments like walking to Church from the cabin, or going to the mess hall to get lunch and dinner, or watching the older kids play basketball because my puny little body couldn't engulf an orange, rubber sphere. I remember thinking that the wooded area where the other cabins were, was a haunted, creepy place. I rarely went in the woods, even though there was a sweet playground maybe 50 feet into the woods.
So this camp has history. I've been to my grandpa's cabin a couple times and it changes every time. The painting scheme, a new roof, the furniture arrangements, etc. But he's still got that same refrigerator running for 50 years or so. But little did I know that history would be made during this short weekend vacation.
Now I have to be honest, but I was hesitant to come at first because it was so short notice and the last few times I've been to Brooktondale, it hasn't been the most exciting thing ever, but that was only a short moment in my thoughts. Because within the first five minutes I remember why I love my family. It is so good to see people that I haven't seen in awhile because you have so much to talk about. So conversation never stops, and I didn't mind at all!
As I have grown and matured mentally and spiritually, I've realized how important my family members are to me. They are not just some people that I get to see every once in awhile and have to give updates on my life. They are amazing, caring, brothers and sisters in Christ who genuinely care about my life and well-being. And this is something that is never really taught, it just makes sense, but it was reinforced again on this family vacation.
I had the opportunity to walk in on a discussion at the adults table, mainly led by my grandpa (no shock to anyone being a retired pastor). As I quickly focused in on the topic of conversation, a fuzzy picture of my grandpa's yearning heart slowly became clearer. He was asking my dad and the family members what they thought of the possibility of him working as a Chaplain at a nearby hospital where he spent recovering from brain cancer. By the Lord's power and grace, grandpa has beaten cancer 7 times, i think. I forget because the Lord keeps blessing him with more strength every time something else comes up. But I guess growing up working as a prison chaplain strengthens you quickly.
But as I sat there and listened to him speak, tears running down his face, I remembered what I had realized at an earlier meeting at my house a couple years prior. When grandpa is around, I want to soak up everything he says. I feel as if he is my present day Paul. The man has so much wisdom, I am so humbled that I do not speak until I am asked anything. I remember realizing not only how much wisdom he has, but how much passion he has for God. He was telling my family members that he can't walk through Walmart anymore without trying to carry around a heavy weight in his heart, questioning whether the person buying that box of cereal knows Jesus. Or whether he'll be checking-in to heaven with the guy that he's checking-out with at register #4. All he wants to do is be all about Jesus. Does that describe me? Do I want to be all about Jesus? Does it show to other people that God is my rock and foundation? I can answer those for you... prolly not. And I know i'm being hard on myself, but guess what? Our God was, and is perfect. Our most "...righteous acts are like filthy rags..." (Isaiah 64:6) I go into walmart worrying about myself; what I need; what I want. He goes in worrying about their souls. Wow I've got a lot to learn.
And then came another amazing experience. We got the whole family together for a campfire. But it wasn't just going to be a regular s'more eating fire. It was a fire that refueled the spark in my heart. It started out with a little praise and worship, which was difficult for me because of the age difference. Three generations were present at the fire and I know music has change just a tad during these generations, so it was a challenge. But then I realized that it's not about being able to sing good songs that everyone would know or could sing along to, it was the message of the songs, the words, the truth behind the songs. But after worshiping the Lord, we went around to each family, and asked them to tell us what God has laid on their hearts in terms of prayer requests and praises. Once they were finished, they were prayed for by another individual. And as the requests started to fill my mind, some blew me away. Some things I had heard for the first time. It was befuddling to hear the things that I had not known about. But when it was all over with, and my uncle said the last words, it made me realize how unbelievably blessed I am to have an amazing family. To hear him say that even though we haven't seen each other for two years, they still caring and praying for every single person sitting in those chairs. I haven't talked to my cousins and aunts and uncles in awhile, but I know that they love me, and I hope they know that I love them. I have a new burden on my heart for my family. And even though I may not be prayed for, or I may not remember to pray for them sometimes, we all serve a God who is all-knowing and all-loving, all the time. Praise the Lord for that truth. God is love. Always.
I will never forget that weekend. I will never forget the love that my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, parents, siblings showed towards me. Those kind of moments change people.
Thank you Lord for the blessings of having a Christ-centered family. Continue to keep my head on straight, putting you first, and putting your kingdom above any other possession. Help me stay strong. Amen.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
"Garden" by Needtobreathe
Just take a moment to think about these words... here is the full song= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjp-5O4XrHY
Needtobreathe= "GARDEN"
Let the songs I sing bring joy to you.
Let the words I say confess my love.
Let the notes I choose be your favorite tune.
Father let my heart be after you.
Father, let my heart be after you. I know it is not all the time, but I pray it will be always after you, and no one else. Amen.
Needtobreathe= "GARDEN"
Let the songs I sing bring joy to you.
Let the words I say confess my love.
Let the notes I choose be your favorite tune.
Father let my heart be after you.
Father, let my heart be after you. I know it is not all the time, but I pray it will be always after you, and no one else. Amen.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
"What's Next To Do?"
June 8th entry in Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest":
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tired to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself--begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..." (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know..." (John 7:17).
Be determined to know more than others. If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tired to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself--begin to have spiritual discernment.
When you know that you should do something and you do it, immediately you know more. Examine where you have become sluggish, where you began losing interest spiritually, and you will find that it goes back to a point where you did not do something you knew you should do. You did not do it because there seemed to be no immediate call to do it. But now you have no insight or discernment, and at a time of crisis you are spiritually distracted instead of spiritually self-controlled. It is a dangerous thing to refuse to continue learning and knowing more.
The counterfeit of obedience is a state of mind in which you create your own opportunities to sacrifice yourself, and your zeal and enthusiasm are mistaken for discernment. It is easier to sacrifice yourself than to fulfill your spiritual destiny, which is stated in Romans 12:1-2. It is much better to fulfill the purpose of God in your life by discerning His will than it is to perform great acts of self-sacrifice. "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..." (1 Samuel 15:22). Beware of paying attention or going back to what you once were, when God wants you to be something that you have never been. "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know..." (John 7:17).
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wiped Clean
It's been about an hour since I've gotten my mac back from the Genius bar at the Apple Store. As I was working on photoshop two days ago, the little "rainbow wheel of death" mouse icon came up. And then a clicking noise follwed... not a good sound to hear. So I took it to the Genius bar at the Apple store and they said what I had feared the most... hard drive is fried, gonzo, toast. "So now what?" I asked. "Well it will be about $215 for the hard drive, and about $85 for installation." Not what I wanted to here. But he wasn't finished talking. "...but you don't have to pay anything. It's all free." I don't know how, I don't know why, but obviously I'll take it! Where do I sign?!
And as I was sitting here rebooting all my applications, I realized how it relates to my faith.
To be honest, I have not been the man has called me to be lately. I'm struggling to find the desire to read his Word or to spend time with the Lord. I seem to hit this slump when I come home because i don't have a set schedule to my day. My job hasn't started and my class is at night, so I have all day to do whatever I want. I need structure. You would think with so much time I should be soaking up all the time I can. Well I'm not. And I know I should.
So today is a day of rebooting for both myself and my computer. I'm starting clean. I've been taking to the "genius bar", fixed and made clean, and I'm ready to start all over again. I know it's pretty corny and maybe far-fetched, but it's how my mind works. I know i'm not the smartest, or very normal at times, but it's how I was wired. And the coolest part is that we're all made new, cleansed, wiped clean, at NO COST to us. All of the cost was paid on the cross over 2000 years ago. Praise the Lord for his unending grace and mercy.
I wish I could say that I've always been strong and had a faith that is unwavering, but it would be a lie.
Here's to God's grace, love, and mercy. I get another chance. And so do you. Praise the Lord.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
And as I was sitting here rebooting all my applications, I realized how it relates to my faith.
To be honest, I have not been the man has called me to be lately. I'm struggling to find the desire to read his Word or to spend time with the Lord. I seem to hit this slump when I come home because i don't have a set schedule to my day. My job hasn't started and my class is at night, so I have all day to do whatever I want. I need structure. You would think with so much time I should be soaking up all the time I can. Well I'm not. And I know I should.
So today is a day of rebooting for both myself and my computer. I'm starting clean. I've been taking to the "genius bar", fixed and made clean, and I'm ready to start all over again. I know it's pretty corny and maybe far-fetched, but it's how my mind works. I know i'm not the smartest, or very normal at times, but it's how I was wired. And the coolest part is that we're all made new, cleansed, wiped clean, at NO COST to us. All of the cost was paid on the cross over 2000 years ago. Praise the Lord for his unending grace and mercy.
I wish I could say that I've always been strong and had a faith that is unwavering, but it would be a lie.
Here's to God's grace, love, and mercy. I get another chance. And so do you. Praise the Lord.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Season In Review
Today, my 2010 track season came to a close. This isn’t one of my favorite feelings, but it’s an encouraging thought. Summer is here, which means summer classes, summer jobs, and summer fun. The latter is the one I’m looking forward to the most, but the first ones are of higher priority.
With the track season ending and summer freedom being 4 days away, I am looking forward to a challenging couple of months. While it is easy to be encouraged and growing in an atmosphere like Liberty, it is time for my faith to be put to the test. Without my close friends here to challenge me daily, how will I react on my own? Not that I don’t have great friends at home, because I do, but it’s different when you live with them and they are there constantly keeping you accountable. And it’s not just my friends who challenge me. My coaches are very helpful in my walk because I see them everyday too. I wish I could explain or that you could experience what I experience in my daily life with my coaches. They are so focused on God, that most of the time we’re talking about spiritual-related things rather than track. I love it. It is so encouraging to my faith to know that my coaches care about how I am doing spiritually, not just track-wise. How many teams in the country got together last night to do a church service since we were going to miss church this morning because of the track meet? I don’t know of many that would do that. I hope there are more, but I’m not aware of any.
This year was a big year for me - not necessarily track oriented either. Yes I did have some big improvements, but I had some major eye-opening experiences over the past 8 months. In our Tuesday night group we talked about what were learned this entire year and it was awesome to hear some of the things people were saying. For me it was a couple of things. I learned a lot more about love and I learned that God doesn’t have to “bless you” in a positive way in order for you to be used.
I think there are a lot of people who have that one person in your life that… tests your patience and anger. I’m sure you probably have someone in mind or had someone like that that you know. Well for me there was this one guy, let’s call him Joe. Joe was not around often, but when he was around, my attitude immediately changed sharply. I was very negative and had hatred towards him. Joe was an interesting fellow, and not to go into many details, but he seemed like he wasn’t always there. Sometimes he seemed mentally stable, other days you questioned his sanity. Either way, he seemed really sketchy to me and I had a negative attitude towards him. Had I ever let him have a chance to prove my impressions wrong? No. It was all in a matter of 5 minutes that my attitude completely changed for the better. All of the sudden, Joe asked to stay at the house that I live in with 5 other guys because he needed a place to stay. My immediate response: NO WAY!!! But my roommates were quick to call me out on it. As I stood there in disbelief of my actions and thoughts, I thought about the wristband WWJD. I remembered the story about the Good Samaritan. I thought about how I would help almost anyone; go above and beyond to help anyone that needed it…except for Joe. God had broken me down. He was calling me out on my attitude and my heart. And then a couple weeks ago during Tuesday night, someone pointed out the verse that talked about how it is easy to love someone who loves us back, but that isn’t true love. True love is to love everyone just like Jesus did. When the crowd was cursing Jesus’ name while he was on the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It was then that God made me realize that I need to love the people who hate me. It’s what God would do. Guess what happened? When we stayed over, I sat with him, ate with him, and chatted with him; and I loved every second of it. I knew that God would be doing the same thing. He would be sharing God’s love and truth with him. We had a worships night with bonfire at our house the first night he was there and it was unbelievable to hear afterwards what he was thinking. He was shocked because he didn’t know we were like this. All he wanted was friends. All he wanted was people to love him. All he wanted was someone to listen. He wanted to be wanted. And it really broke my heart that he just wanted friends. While I have a group of 30+ friends, he is alone when he is home. While I take my friends for granted, he is cherishing every moment he has with us down here in Lynchburg. It rocked my faith. It challenged my real sharing and showing of love. I wasn’t truly showing God’s love. I was doing what any other person was doing – loving those who love me back. How easy is that? Sometimes I have probably done it by accident. That’s not true love. It was a very humbling and heart-examining experience.
Now it’s the Big South Conference Championship. I ‘m in the lead by a bunch of points, and should easily win the decathlon by 600 points. I get to my favorite event, the pole vault. I don’t do anything stupid or uncharacteristic of my usual pole-vaulting scheme; just a normal or possibly a more conservative approach than normal. I end up no-heighting. I get 0 points in my favorite and best event in the decathlon. As I see the bar closely following me as I descend to the mats, I feel under control. I feel stable. I’m not super angry, I’m not reacting negatively or freaking out. I have this peace about what just happened. “There’s nothing else I can do. Let’s move on to the next event Geren” I thought to myself. I immediately began to ask God to comfort me. I don’t know why God let this happen, or what God was going to do through this, but I gave it God. It wasn’t the fact that God would use this energy to fuel me to beast a javelin throw out to 187 feet, a 10 foot improvement, as a blessing. It was after the decathlon had finished that I realized how God had used me. When the coach from another team came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on handling my attitude and controlling my behavior after no-heighting, I realized how God had used me. God used me to bless him by no-heighting. Right then I had another humbling experience. I felt terrible to think that God would only bless me in a positive way. Who am I to think that God would only let me do well in order to bless Him? I think if Job was alive today he would correct me. He had everything taken away from him and he did not sin against God for one moment. He trusted God completely. I hope that I can be that strong some day.
You don’t know how God is going to use you, so don’t limit yourself. Don’t think, “Oh God can’t use me today. I’m not feeling well. I’m not healthy. I’m not ready to perform.” It’s in moments like those that you are asking God to rock your world. Don’t put limits on God. You also don’t know how God is going to speak to you until you are listening. We spend a lot of time talking to God, but how often to we spend time just to listen to him? “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Sometimes we need to shut our mouths and listen to God’s still voice. So SHHHHH!!!! Listen. He’s talking to you.
With the track season ending and summer freedom being 4 days away, I am looking forward to a challenging couple of months. While it is easy to be encouraged and growing in an atmosphere like Liberty, it is time for my faith to be put to the test. Without my close friends here to challenge me daily, how will I react on my own? Not that I don’t have great friends at home, because I do, but it’s different when you live with them and they are there constantly keeping you accountable. And it’s not just my friends who challenge me. My coaches are very helpful in my walk because I see them everyday too. I wish I could explain or that you could experience what I experience in my daily life with my coaches. They are so focused on God, that most of the time we’re talking about spiritual-related things rather than track. I love it. It is so encouraging to my faith to know that my coaches care about how I am doing spiritually, not just track-wise. How many teams in the country got together last night to do a church service since we were going to miss church this morning because of the track meet? I don’t know of many that would do that. I hope there are more, but I’m not aware of any.
This year was a big year for me - not necessarily track oriented either. Yes I did have some big improvements, but I had some major eye-opening experiences over the past 8 months. In our Tuesday night group we talked about what were learned this entire year and it was awesome to hear some of the things people were saying. For me it was a couple of things. I learned a lot more about love and I learned that God doesn’t have to “bless you” in a positive way in order for you to be used.
I think there are a lot of people who have that one person in your life that… tests your patience and anger. I’m sure you probably have someone in mind or had someone like that that you know. Well for me there was this one guy, let’s call him Joe. Joe was not around often, but when he was around, my attitude immediately changed sharply. I was very negative and had hatred towards him. Joe was an interesting fellow, and not to go into many details, but he seemed like he wasn’t always there. Sometimes he seemed mentally stable, other days you questioned his sanity. Either way, he seemed really sketchy to me and I had a negative attitude towards him. Had I ever let him have a chance to prove my impressions wrong? No. It was all in a matter of 5 minutes that my attitude completely changed for the better. All of the sudden, Joe asked to stay at the house that I live in with 5 other guys because he needed a place to stay. My immediate response: NO WAY!!! But my roommates were quick to call me out on it. As I stood there in disbelief of my actions and thoughts, I thought about the wristband WWJD. I remembered the story about the Good Samaritan. I thought about how I would help almost anyone; go above and beyond to help anyone that needed it…except for Joe. God had broken me down. He was calling me out on my attitude and my heart. And then a couple weeks ago during Tuesday night, someone pointed out the verse that talked about how it is easy to love someone who loves us back, but that isn’t true love. True love is to love everyone just like Jesus did. When the crowd was cursing Jesus’ name while he was on the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
It was then that God made me realize that I need to love the people who hate me. It’s what God would do. Guess what happened? When we stayed over, I sat with him, ate with him, and chatted with him; and I loved every second of it. I knew that God would be doing the same thing. He would be sharing God’s love and truth with him. We had a worships night with bonfire at our house the first night he was there and it was unbelievable to hear afterwards what he was thinking. He was shocked because he didn’t know we were like this. All he wanted was friends. All he wanted was people to love him. All he wanted was someone to listen. He wanted to be wanted. And it really broke my heart that he just wanted friends. While I have a group of 30+ friends, he is alone when he is home. While I take my friends for granted, he is cherishing every moment he has with us down here in Lynchburg. It rocked my faith. It challenged my real sharing and showing of love. I wasn’t truly showing God’s love. I was doing what any other person was doing – loving those who love me back. How easy is that? Sometimes I have probably done it by accident. That’s not true love. It was a very humbling and heart-examining experience.
Now it’s the Big South Conference Championship. I ‘m in the lead by a bunch of points, and should easily win the decathlon by 600 points. I get to my favorite event, the pole vault. I don’t do anything stupid or uncharacteristic of my usual pole-vaulting scheme; just a normal or possibly a more conservative approach than normal. I end up no-heighting. I get 0 points in my favorite and best event in the decathlon. As I see the bar closely following me as I descend to the mats, I feel under control. I feel stable. I’m not super angry, I’m not reacting negatively or freaking out. I have this peace about what just happened. “There’s nothing else I can do. Let’s move on to the next event Geren” I thought to myself. I immediately began to ask God to comfort me. I don’t know why God let this happen, or what God was going to do through this, but I gave it God. It wasn’t the fact that God would use this energy to fuel me to beast a javelin throw out to 187 feet, a 10 foot improvement, as a blessing. It was after the decathlon had finished that I realized how God had used me. When the coach from another team came up to me afterwards and congratulated me on handling my attitude and controlling my behavior after no-heighting, I realized how God had used me. God used me to bless him by no-heighting. Right then I had another humbling experience. I felt terrible to think that God would only bless me in a positive way. Who am I to think that God would only let me do well in order to bless Him? I think if Job was alive today he would correct me. He had everything taken away from him and he did not sin against God for one moment. He trusted God completely. I hope that I can be that strong some day.
You don’t know how God is going to use you, so don’t limit yourself. Don’t think, “Oh God can’t use me today. I’m not feeling well. I’m not healthy. I’m not ready to perform.” It’s in moments like those that you are asking God to rock your world. Don’t put limits on God. You also don’t know how God is going to speak to you until you are listening. We spend a lot of time talking to God, but how often to we spend time just to listen to him? “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 Sometimes we need to shut our mouths and listen to God’s still voice. So SHHHHH!!!! Listen. He’s talking to you.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Riding Home
It’s been a long, hot, and physically demanding weekend. Beginning with a 6-hour trip that ended up being around 7 and a half hours due to our bus drivers overactive bladder. While I didn’t really mind it too much because it gave me more time to sleep, others got annoyed and reasonably so. This weekend was a very important weekend. A lot of history was on the line. Just like the triple crown in horse racing, it is a very difficult task to win the triple crown in track and field - conference championship wins in the Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor track seasons. But this weekend, Liberty University Track and Field made history. Not only did the Lord bless us with a triple crown, he blessed us with the double triple crown. Both our men’s and women’s team accomplished this difficult task this weekend. But as it says in the book of Job, “the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh.”
First of all, a disclaimer… this is not me wanting a pity party or for you to feel bad for me. This is only for the glorifying of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
In the Big South, there are some very challenging competitions and races, but in my particular case, the decathlon is not the most challenging competition, personally. While I strive to do my best, my ultimate goal is not to settle for a Big South Decathlon win. My goals are to further my competition past our conference meet. Sometimes I don’t always take the weaker competitions seriously, which is something that God has taught me a lot about this weekend. After Day 1, I was sitting in first place, and looking forward to a very helpful Day 2. Day 2 includes some of my favorite events. Not necessarily my best events, but events that help me gain ground against my competitors.
The decathlon competition is all based upon a point system. A certain distance equals a certain number of points. The farther you throw or jump, the faster you run, the higher you jump, the more points you get. Each event has a specific formula, which I am not aware of. So it is important to do your best to get the most points possible. Well halfway into the competition of Day 2, I did not complete a successful jump in the pole vault – aka a “no height.” When you “no height” you gain 0 points. At this point in time, my dreams were shattered of winning the Decathlon. But in the end, I did win in many ways. As I lay on the pole vault mats, looking up into the sky, removing the fallen bar from my lap, I was in utter shock. This is the first time I’ve ever “no heighted” or “no marked” in a decathlon before. Instantly a weird, eerie, and unfamiliar feeling fell over my mind and body. At that moment, God was using me to glorify him, but I didn’t know it. I could not get over what had just happened. When I look at all of my events and all of the multi-events that I have done, I can use one word to describe them – consistency. I take pride in the fact that I can usually be pretty consistent. I don’t seem to have these huge PR (personal record) days or the opposite end of the spectrum. So when I see 0 points next to my favorite event, it hurts. So my dreams of cruising in the number one spot, relaxing and strolling across the finish line without having to worry about my time were over. I’m sitting in 6th place, many points behind the leader, whom I was ahead of by a large margin minute’s prior. “God, I don’t know what you’re trying to teach me at this point, but I know you’re sovereign and what happened, happened for a reason. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” That was one of the hardest prayers I’ve ever had to pray to the Lord. Inside I wanted to score big, I wanted to win. But then I thought back to one night at my coach’s Bible study that he has at his house. He was talking about one of his friends who played the guitar and sang for either a Christian group or some popular band or something, but that’s beside the point. He told us about this man’s attitude about glorifying God. He said, “Lord, if you want me to glorify you in any other way other than with the guitar and music, then let me do it immediately.” So I prayed, “Lord, if this is the way I can glorify you better, then by all means I give this up to you. I don’t know what it means, but my ways are not your ways. Use me Lord.”
On my very first throw in the javelin, I felt this building of adrenaline/anger in my body. I’ve felt an adrenaline rush before, but I’ve never felt this overflowing rush before. On my first throw, I took every ounce of adrenaline and anger I had in my body and unleashed it into my javelin throw and into a uncontrollable yell. “AHHHHHHHH!!!!! GET OUT THERE!!!!!!!!” I screamed. I didn’t even care how far it went. I just knew that I gave everything I had in that one throw. And thanks be to God because I threw over 2 meters past my PR. 57.04 meters was my new PR. After that one throw, I moved from 6th place up to 2nd place. And with only the 1500 meter run remaining, I knew I would have a chance to win if I ran a huge PR. I never doubted God, but to run 12 seconds faster than I’ve ever ran before is a huge and near impossible challenge. So at the firing of the gun, I ran my hardest, leaving everything I had on the red oval. 3rd place. To God be the glory. I was 77 points from 1st place, and just a few less from 2nd place. But that’s not the important part. That doesn’t even come close. What I found out later was that it was not about my success that would glorify God, it was my actions and attitude after my failure that glorified Him the most. Numerous people came up to me, one being my coach, and another being an opposing teams coach, and congratulated me on my display of composure and positive attitude. And it wasn’t until the coach from another team came up to me that I realized the impact of my actions. I don’t know what people thought; I don’t know what people saw. I just hope that I left an impression of them. And it wasn’t until I talked to my mom, who can be one of the best encouragers to me. It may be a simple, “hang in there” text, or it could be a full-blown message about my character and attitude and how I need to correct my imperfections or actions. All I know is that when I read her text, it all made sense.
I am not defined by how far I throw, or how high I jump, or how fast I run. I am defined by God’s love. I am a child of God, and that is the only thing that matters. If I think that I am only worth the amount of points I score at a big meet, or if I threw well, or performed under pressure, it will only bring me down. You can’t define me by a number. You can’t define me by my success. You can’t define me by my failures. You can only define me by the love that God has for me. I am his child and he will do with me as he pleases. I think back to my last post about Job. (Ironic that the last post I had was exactly what I was experiencing this weekend? I don’t think so.) God said to Satan, “Have your way with Job. Do what you want. He will stand strong. He is a man like no one else.” Well, I hope this is the same conversation God had with Satan about me. I want to be the one that God says, “Yeah go ahead Satan. See what happens when you try to mess with my child. See if he doesn’t praise me more after you’re down with him.” I want God to be able to count on me. I want to be like Isaiah. “Here am I, Lord. Send me!”
The Lord is good. He is sovereign. He is forgiving. He is mercy. He is grace. He is love. Remember that. Go out there are be open to be used by God. We serve a God who is both infinitely huge, yet intimately personal with each and every one of us. Again, none of this is to boast about what I did. After all, I didn’t do what I wanted to do, but what I wanted to do, wasn’t what God wanted me to do. Yes it is such a blessing to do what God helped me do, but it’s not about numbers, places, distances, or times. It’s all about Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9 “For no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what God has planned for those who love him.”
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
God Talking To Satan
In order to be on the Liberty track team, they provide us and require us to do a daily devotional. They check them periodically and I need to catch up on my track devotions so I decided to do a few today. Well we just started in Job chapter one, and I found myself reading the first couple of verses as a conversation between God and Satan. I actually found it comical because its a very interesting conversation. And since I'm at the beach, I can picture this conversation taking place on the beach. I can picture God sitting in his beach chair, while Satan comes up to him and starts talking to him. I know it's not in context, but it just seemed funny to me. Don't get me wrong, this is a very very powerful message, but I took it more towards the lighter side today. Here's how it translated in my mind:
God(G) - Whoa. Satan, where did you come from?
Satan(S) - Oh you know, all around. Here, there, a little bit of everywhere.
G - Oh, well have you seen my Job over here? Not a single man like him on earth. Completely innocent and clean, and stays away from evil because he loves and fears me?
S - Hmm... well why does he fear you? Don't you have a protecting shield around him so no one can touch him? And you've given him everything he wants and needs! Family, friends, servants, food, cattle, land, everything! But I know that as soon as you mess with any of it he will turn against you and curse you to your face!
G - (laughing) This is going to be funny. Ok Satan, everything he has is in your hands now. Mess with his stuff and see what happens. Just one thing: you can't kill Job. If you even think about killing him the game is over and I'll pull the fire alarm and start the sprinkler system in Hell.
S - Sounds good to me! Watch me work my magic! (thinking- that was stupid.)
G - I heard that!
All jokes aside, this is unbelievable. God giving Satan a free shot at Job. It makes me think... if God were to have this conversation about me, would I respond as Job does? "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (verse 21)
God(G) - Whoa. Satan, where did you come from?
Satan(S) - Oh you know, all around. Here, there, a little bit of everywhere.
G - Oh, well have you seen my Job over here? Not a single man like him on earth. Completely innocent and clean, and stays away from evil because he loves and fears me?
S - Hmm... well why does he fear you? Don't you have a protecting shield around him so no one can touch him? And you've given him everything he wants and needs! Family, friends, servants, food, cattle, land, everything! But I know that as soon as you mess with any of it he will turn against you and curse you to your face!
G - (laughing) This is going to be funny. Ok Satan, everything he has is in your hands now. Mess with his stuff and see what happens. Just one thing: you can't kill Job. If you even think about killing him the game is over and I'll pull the fire alarm and start the sprinkler system in Hell.
S - Sounds good to me! Watch me work my magic! (thinking- that was stupid.)
G - I heard that!
All jokes aside, this is unbelievable. God giving Satan a free shot at Job. It makes me think... if God were to have this conversation about me, would I respond as Job does? "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (verse 21)
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Sufferings
It's Spring Break time and I'm here at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina and this morning I got up early and watched and listened. Reading God's Word while the waves crash against the beach simultaneously is awesome. There's nothing like spending some quality time early in the morning. But I wish I could have this desire all the time.
As you can see, over the past couple of weeks I haven't been posting partly because I haven't been reading. I've been struggling with my desire to read. I know my walk with the Lord should not be reflected by my emotions or if I feel like reading, but I've had the desire ripped out of me for some reason. I've been trying to get back my desire to seek the Lord earnestly, but it seems to come and goes some days. But I feel like this week will be beneficial to my walk.
Here's a verse that I read this morning that spoke to me this morning, especially since I've been struggling. Hope it speaks to you like it spoke to me.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Have a great day!
As you can see, over the past couple of weeks I haven't been posting partly because I haven't been reading. I've been struggling with my desire to read. I know my walk with the Lord should not be reflected by my emotions or if I feel like reading, but I've had the desire ripped out of me for some reason. I've been trying to get back my desire to seek the Lord earnestly, but it seems to come and goes some days. But I feel like this week will be beneficial to my walk.
Here's a verse that I read this morning that spoke to me this morning, especially since I've been struggling. Hope it speaks to you like it spoke to me.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
We Are Bad
I get an email every day giving me a Bible verse for the day, but every Monday I not only get a daily verse, I get a "Weekly Wisdom" email as well. And I really liked this weeks "wisdom." Here it is from www.christnotes.org:
You are more sinful than you can believe, but you are more loved than you can imagine.
Outside of conservative Christian circles, it's not very common for people to believe that they are inherently bad. Instead, people's logic often goes like this: Sure, I occasionally do bad things, but at heart I'm a good person.
Although it may be tempting to give yourself credit as being a good (or, in Biblical lingo, righteous) person at heart, such a view of human nature is at odds with what God reveals in his word. God makes it very clear that every one of us is "bad." We don't just do bad things; we are bad.
The Apostle Paul exclaims that because of our sin every one of us falls short of God's radiant splendor and glory (Romans 3:23). None of us are good—that is, righteous (Romans 3:10).
Our unrighteousness is not due to the fact that we break God's commands. Instead, we are unrighteous because we are "in Adam," to borrow the language of Paul in Romans 5. Even people who did not sin by breaking a command still died because they were by nature sinners (Romans 5:14).
The bad news is that you're sinful by nature. Even if you lived your whole life without breaking a single command of God you'd still reap death. The bad news is probably worse than you may care to admit.
Fortunately, that makes the good news better than you had imagined. Despite your sinful nature, God offers the life of his very son for you (Romans 5:8-10). God doesn't owe you anything, but he gives you everything. That's love.
Your sin is placed on Christ, and Christ's righteousness is placed on you. You gain what he deserved—life—and he gains what you deserved—death. How great is the love God lavishes on us! (1 John 3:1)
Have a great day!
G
You are more sinful than you can believe, but you are more loved than you can imagine.
Outside of conservative Christian circles, it's not very common for people to believe that they are inherently bad. Instead, people's logic often goes like this: Sure, I occasionally do bad things, but at heart I'm a good person.
Although it may be tempting to give yourself credit as being a good (or, in Biblical lingo, righteous) person at heart, such a view of human nature is at odds with what God reveals in his word. God makes it very clear that every one of us is "bad." We don't just do bad things; we are bad.
The Apostle Paul exclaims that because of our sin every one of us falls short of God's radiant splendor and glory (Romans 3:23). None of us are good—that is, righteous (Romans 3:10).
Our unrighteousness is not due to the fact that we break God's commands. Instead, we are unrighteous because we are "in Adam," to borrow the language of Paul in Romans 5. Even people who did not sin by breaking a command still died because they were by nature sinners (Romans 5:14).
The bad news is that you're sinful by nature. Even if you lived your whole life without breaking a single command of God you'd still reap death. The bad news is probably worse than you may care to admit.
Fortunately, that makes the good news better than you had imagined. Despite your sinful nature, God offers the life of his very son for you (Romans 5:8-10). God doesn't owe you anything, but he gives you everything. That's love.
Your sin is placed on Christ, and Christ's righteousness is placed on you. You gain what he deserved—life—and he gains what you deserved—death. How great is the love God lavishes on us! (1 John 3:1)
Have a great day!
G
Friday, February 19, 2010
Children of God
Almost every day I get a chance to head to the track before practice starts. It's fun because I get to relax and just hang out around the track before the intense workouts begin, but yesterday I got a glimpse of something that spoke to my heart. When I get to the track around 12:45 or 1 o'clock, there are gym classes still going on from Liberty Christian Academy. There are usually kids there once I get to the track because they haven't finished school for the day, but yesterday was different. When I got to the track, there wasn't just one gym class there. There were about three gym classes at once. Just a mob of little children ranging from the big 6th graders, all the way down to the small 3rd graders which one teacher told her class to watch out for because of the size difference. It would be pretty easy to lose one of those little guys or gals, or have one of them get run over. But there was something about this massive collection of children that triggered something in my head. I decided to watch just a few specific kids just to see what they were doing. And it wasn't 3 minutes when I figured out what was so awesome about all of these kids. THEY'RE KIDS! They didn't have a care in the world! They had no cares about what they learned in class that day or all of the homework they have. They were free to run around, play tag, push each other around, roll around on the floor, shoot hoops, throw dodgeball's at each other, or just sit on the floor and relax. They had one goal. By the time they left the gym, they had to release all of their energy.
It reminded me of my youthful days when I could go to game to game, sport to sport, friend house to friends house without being tired. Kid's were crashing into each other, but as soon as they got up they were back to running full throttle, weaving through 3rd graders like a professional driver. It was this energy that was so fascinating and rejuvenating. I wish I had the energy and the ability to just bounce up from a four person pile-up like these little guys. But then God put this verse in my head:
Matthew 18:2-4
"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
As I looked at those kids, I realized that this is how I need to be. I need to "become like little children." These days it's so easy to get caught up in the future. What am I going to do with my life? Work? Money? Car? Wife? I get my so focused on the grown up parts of life that I forget to be like a child. I don't need to focus on all of those things. Yes I need to be conscious of them and have a plan, but I should be trusting that the Lord will provide me with answers to all those questions that I can't even answer until I get to that point in the road.
So here's to becoming more like children. And it's weird to say that striving to be a man of God includes becoming like a 4th grader. But i'm excited to see where that leads. Here's to becoming more like our little brothers and sisters, cousins, and neighbors!
Have a great day! =)
It reminded me of my youthful days when I could go to game to game, sport to sport, friend house to friends house without being tired. Kid's were crashing into each other, but as soon as they got up they were back to running full throttle, weaving through 3rd graders like a professional driver. It was this energy that was so fascinating and rejuvenating. I wish I had the energy and the ability to just bounce up from a four person pile-up like these little guys. But then God put this verse in my head:
Matthew 18:2-4
"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
As I looked at those kids, I realized that this is how I need to be. I need to "become like little children." These days it's so easy to get caught up in the future. What am I going to do with my life? Work? Money? Car? Wife? I get my so focused on the grown up parts of life that I forget to be like a child. I don't need to focus on all of those things. Yes I need to be conscious of them and have a plan, but I should be trusting that the Lord will provide me with answers to all those questions that I can't even answer until I get to that point in the road.
So here's to becoming more like children. And it's weird to say that striving to be a man of God includes becoming like a 4th grader. But i'm excited to see where that leads. Here's to becoming more like our little brothers and sisters, cousins, and neighbors!
Have a great day! =)
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Frustrated
Practice was a little rough yesterday, both mentally and physically. It wasn't physically hurting or tired out, but I couldn't get my body to perform the way I wanted it to. This post might not relate to many people, but I think you can replace track practice with anything you want.
Shot put is one of the hardest events for me because I stand 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 175 pounds. The average shot putter weighs probably about 100-125 pounds more than that and is more likely to be around 6 feet to 6 feet 4 inches tall. So this already puts me in a hole for starters. But excusing these factors, I still am able to throw pretty far for my size, somedays. Yesterday was not a good day. I found myself trying a new type of throwing technique that will ultimately help me in the end if I can complete the technique correctly. That was not the case yesterday. Instantly I found myself getting angry and frustrated when I really shouldn't have been getting angry, but I'm human and I'm usually pretty good at mimicking body movements. I seem to pick up on things quickly and I can get my body to move in the way I would like it to. I like to say that I have a good proprioceptive sense or kinesiological sense. My favorite kinesiology professor has a theory that this kinesiological sense is our "Sixth sense." Anyways, I seem to have this sixth sense which helps me in the decathlon because learning 10 events can be very exhausting if the techniques are not quickly learned. But I usually have a good sense of how my body is moving, but at practice it seemed like I couldn't get it. So I instantly got frustrated with myself and freaked out a couple of times. But then God put a verse in my head that put everything in perspective. Philippians 4:4-"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" and then I thought about the story of Job and the verse that says "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord." And then I remembered the Superbowl a couple days ago. The kicker for the Colts praises the Lord and points to Heaven whether he makes the field goal or not. Instantly I thought to myself, "Do I praise God for my bad times? Do I ever thank him for giving me hard times?" You can't have good if you don't have bad. You can't achieve perfection unless you can do wrong.
As these thoughts crashed to the forefront of my mind, I had to stop, thank the Lord for the struggle, and ask him to help me focus, get my mind and attitude right, and to help me with the rest of practice, giving all the glory to Him. What do I do in times of tragedy? breakdown? weakness? Do I call on the Lord? I'm trying to learn how to now. Care to join me?
Lord, I know that today will bring trouble, conflict, adversity in some way, shape, or form. I pray that I will have the strength to stand up against it with a humble heart and a victorious mindset, with my only strength and help coming from you. Teach me to honor you in the hard times, the times I feel like it the least. I love you Lord and I want to show it. Whether it's during the calm of the sea or a raging storm. Rescue me.
"...But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Shot put is one of the hardest events for me because I stand 5 feet 11 inches tall and about 175 pounds. The average shot putter weighs probably about 100-125 pounds more than that and is more likely to be around 6 feet to 6 feet 4 inches tall. So this already puts me in a hole for starters. But excusing these factors, I still am able to throw pretty far for my size, somedays. Yesterday was not a good day. I found myself trying a new type of throwing technique that will ultimately help me in the end if I can complete the technique correctly. That was not the case yesterday. Instantly I found myself getting angry and frustrated when I really shouldn't have been getting angry, but I'm human and I'm usually pretty good at mimicking body movements. I seem to pick up on things quickly and I can get my body to move in the way I would like it to. I like to say that I have a good proprioceptive sense or kinesiological sense. My favorite kinesiology professor has a theory that this kinesiological sense is our "Sixth sense." Anyways, I seem to have this sixth sense which helps me in the decathlon because learning 10 events can be very exhausting if the techniques are not quickly learned. But I usually have a good sense of how my body is moving, but at practice it seemed like I couldn't get it. So I instantly got frustrated with myself and freaked out a couple of times. But then God put a verse in my head that put everything in perspective. Philippians 4:4-"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" and then I thought about the story of Job and the verse that says "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord." And then I remembered the Superbowl a couple days ago. The kicker for the Colts praises the Lord and points to Heaven whether he makes the field goal or not. Instantly I thought to myself, "Do I praise God for my bad times? Do I ever thank him for giving me hard times?" You can't have good if you don't have bad. You can't achieve perfection unless you can do wrong.
As these thoughts crashed to the forefront of my mind, I had to stop, thank the Lord for the struggle, and ask him to help me focus, get my mind and attitude right, and to help me with the rest of practice, giving all the glory to Him. What do I do in times of tragedy? breakdown? weakness? Do I call on the Lord? I'm trying to learn how to now. Care to join me?
Lord, I know that today will bring trouble, conflict, adversity in some way, shape, or form. I pray that I will have the strength to stand up against it with a humble heart and a victorious mindset, with my only strength and help coming from you. Teach me to honor you in the hard times, the times I feel like it the least. I love you Lord and I want to show it. Whether it's during the calm of the sea or a raging storm. Rescue me.
"...But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
Monday, February 8, 2010
Sanctification
If I were to take a test on my Biblical knowledge, I don't know if I would pass. In my early years, I was never the kid who memorized the most verses(except 5 minutes before Sunday school started just to get the candy), or was the star player in "Bible Jeopardy", or the kid with the right answers to the questions. I was the kid who thought I could answer everything with a very vague answer that had "God" in it somewhere. I was the kid that put on the "church mask" on Sunday, and by the time I got to the parking lot, the mask had already been ripped of. And I wish I could have done differently.
Please don't read this and think that I want or need sympathy, I'm just telling you how and who I was. So this morning when I read the word "sanctification," I realized that I didn't have that definition memorized from Wednesday night youth group. But today I realized how powerful that word really is.
In Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost For His Highest," he first asked me the question of "are[you] prepared to measure up to what that really means?... Are you prepared to pay the cost of sanctification?" I didn't have an answer.
Chambers writes sanctification means "to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God's purpose alone." So now that I know what sanctification means, I know that I am not prepared for it. I wish I was but I'm trying to prepare daily. I'm haven't been doing well lately with being consistent, but I am refocusing.
Are you prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? I know I'm not, but care to join me in preparing?
I pray that you and I will continue the fight to prepare daily and to stand strong against everything that tells us not too. Stay strong.
G
Please don't read this and think that I want or need sympathy, I'm just telling you how and who I was. So this morning when I read the word "sanctification," I realized that I didn't have that definition memorized from Wednesday night youth group. But today I realized how powerful that word really is.
In Oswald Chambers devotional "My Utmost For His Highest," he first asked me the question of "are[you] prepared to measure up to what that really means?... Are you prepared to pay the cost of sanctification?" I didn't have an answer.
Chambers writes sanctification means "to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God's purpose alone." So now that I know what sanctification means, I know that I am not prepared for it. I wish I was but I'm trying to prepare daily. I'm haven't been doing well lately with being consistent, but I am refocusing.
Are you prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? I know I'm not, but care to join me in preparing?
I pray that you and I will continue the fight to prepare daily and to stand strong against everything that tells us not too. Stay strong.
G
Sunday, February 7, 2010
"You Are"
As I sit here on the bus heading back to school, I came across a song that really hit me. The chorus really touched a nerve in my heart. I’ve been praying earnestly for the desires of my heart to resemble God’s. I want my desires to seek things of love, patience, kindness, selflessness, purity, strength, impartiality, and many other worthy desires. I don’t want to seek materialistic things, personal glorification, pleasure and satisfaction, but rather seek things that God would seek. As one of Hillsong’s songs goes, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” I want God to enlighten me on things that need focus on. I don’t want to go through my life and get to the end and think, “wow. I was totally missing the point of Christianity. Why didn’t I know this before?” I want God to reveal what breaks His heart. Which makes me think of another song by Brandon Heath, “Give Me Your Eyes” which I think I previously posted about. Check it out if you can. But here is the song by Tenth Avenue North, “You Are.”
CHORUS:
I give you all of me
for all you are,
here I am take me apart,
take me apart
Lord, I pray that you will reveal to me the desires of your heart. I pray that I will seek the truths of your Word that will help me seek the desires pleasing to you. I love you. Help me show it.
CHORUS:
I give you all of me
for all you are,
here I am take me apart,
take me apart
Lord, I pray that you will reveal to me the desires of your heart. I pray that I will seek the truths of your Word that will help me seek the desires pleasing to you. I love you. Help me show it.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A time for persecution
I just had this thought in my head.
Tuesday nights are great. It's a time of fellowship, prayer, thanksgiving, hurting, and healing. But what if God wants us to do more? We've wanted to go out and do something in the community to really put some actions to our words and thoughts. And I've been thinking and reading how we need to be joyful in our persecutions (James 1:2-4). So should Tuesday night be a time of persecution? Stepping out in faith? Going into the community, "making disciples of all nations?"
I know we need time for development and encouragement, but when am I going to step up and actually use what little faith I have to glorify the Lord?
Weird? maybe.
Just a thought.
Have a great day!
John 3:30 "He must become greater, and I must become lesser."
Tuesday nights are great. It's a time of fellowship, prayer, thanksgiving, hurting, and healing. But what if God wants us to do more? We've wanted to go out and do something in the community to really put some actions to our words and thoughts. And I've been thinking and reading how we need to be joyful in our persecutions (James 1:2-4). So should Tuesday night be a time of persecution? Stepping out in faith? Going into the community, "making disciples of all nations?"
I know we need time for development and encouragement, but when am I going to step up and actually use what little faith I have to glorify the Lord?
Weird? maybe.
Just a thought.
Have a great day!
John 3:30 "He must become greater, and I must become lesser."
Monday, January 25, 2010
Random Thoughts
The past couple of days God has been bombarding my mind with a couple things. I'm not exactly sure what to say about them, because nothing I can say will describe exactly what you're going through or how they affect you, so I'll leave the relating to you. Only you know what comes to your mind when you read these.
1. Faith - I have not stopped thinking about what Francis Chan wrote in his book "Crazy Love." One of his professors in college asked the class the question that goes something like this, "What do you do in your life that requires faith?"
2. God's got your back - John 16:33 "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
3. Give everything you've got - Recently I had a track meet that mentally and spiritually challenged me more than it physically challenged me. As we pulled into the campus of Virginia Tech, seeing the castle-like football stadium, the many classrooms and buildings, the dorm rooms, and all of the extravagant facilities, I realized how big this meet what going to be. As the echoes of the gunshots went off and the events dwindled down near to the end, I realized what type of runner I wanted to be. As I watched and saw one of the runners in the 300 meter dash break the facility record and become one of the world's fastest 300 meter times of the year, it dawned on me. I want to be that runner that when I step on the track, people know this is going to be a good race. I want to run fast, I want to run hard, I want to be a challenger. This may sound selfish or arrogant, but here's why I want to do that. Obviously, I want God to use me to share the gospel with other competitors, but I want to be a good runner because I know what it entails. It requires seemingly impossible workouts, many hours in the weight room, thousands of repetitions at the high jump, long jump, or pole vault pits. I think about all of this as a Gatorade commercial. I want to sweating and breathing heavy. I want to give every single ounce of fight or pain or effort I have. But as the commercial ends, it reads, "For the Glory and Honor of Jesus Christ." I want to be a living miracle. I want to show everyone that no matter what you have or don't have, God will use you. No matter what ability you have, God will use it, if you only let him.
Lord, I'm going to give you everything I got. Help me stay strong, keep you on my mind and in my mindset. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel..." Romans 1:16a
1. Faith - I have not stopped thinking about what Francis Chan wrote in his book "Crazy Love." One of his professors in college asked the class the question that goes something like this, "What do you do in your life that requires faith?"
2. God's got your back - John 16:33 "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
3. Give everything you've got - Recently I had a track meet that mentally and spiritually challenged me more than it physically challenged me. As we pulled into the campus of Virginia Tech, seeing the castle-like football stadium, the many classrooms and buildings, the dorm rooms, and all of the extravagant facilities, I realized how big this meet what going to be. As the echoes of the gunshots went off and the events dwindled down near to the end, I realized what type of runner I wanted to be. As I watched and saw one of the runners in the 300 meter dash break the facility record and become one of the world's fastest 300 meter times of the year, it dawned on me. I want to be that runner that when I step on the track, people know this is going to be a good race. I want to run fast, I want to run hard, I want to be a challenger. This may sound selfish or arrogant, but here's why I want to do that. Obviously, I want God to use me to share the gospel with other competitors, but I want to be a good runner because I know what it entails. It requires seemingly impossible workouts, many hours in the weight room, thousands of repetitions at the high jump, long jump, or pole vault pits. I think about all of this as a Gatorade commercial. I want to sweating and breathing heavy. I want to give every single ounce of fight or pain or effort I have. But as the commercial ends, it reads, "For the Glory and Honor of Jesus Christ." I want to be a living miracle. I want to show everyone that no matter what you have or don't have, God will use you. No matter what ability you have, God will use it, if you only let him.
Lord, I'm going to give you everything I got. Help me stay strong, keep you on my mind and in my mindset. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel..." Romans 1:16a
Friday, January 15, 2010
Isaiah 6:8
Today I read out of my devotional and I've read this verse plenty of times, but it hits me every time in a slightly different way. When I read it this time, I really got this feeling of a challenge. God wasn't direction the question of "Who will step up?" to any individual particularly, but once Isaiah heard what God said, he knew he needed to step up. I want to be Isaiah, I want to step up to the challenge. I want to be accountable. I want to be used. I want to know that I have the faith to step up knowing that if I make myself available to God, that He will use me. In "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan he talks about having faith. I wrote about this a couple days ago, but he challenges people with the question, "What are you doing right now that requires faith?" Well my answer is still nothing, but by reading "Hear am I, send me!" makes me want to step up. I know God will take care of me, but it's forgetting about my personal issues and facing eternal issues.
God I want to be used by you. I want to step up when I know you want me to step up. Help me be bold. Give me the faith to believe that you can do anything through me, but using only your power and strength. I truly want to be used, even though I may not act like it. Here am I, Lord. Send me!
God I want to be used by you. I want to step up when I know you want me to step up. Help me be bold. Give me the faith to believe that you can do anything through me, but using only your power and strength. I truly want to be used, even though I may not act like it. Here am I, Lord. Send me!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Busy being a shadow
Over the past two days I've been observing/shadowing over at the Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network in the Physical Therapy department and I've loved every second of it! So far all I've done and all I am legally allowed to do is watch and learn, and I'm doing plenty of both! So far my shifts have been from 8am to 4:30pm which seems like a long time, but it goes by reasonably fast! Each Physical Therapist's appointments are scheduled hourly so every time a patient walks in, you realize that an hour has went by and it felt like the last patient just got there! But even when the PT I am shadowing isn't busy with a patient, I get a chance to roam around and watch other PT's do their job and help out on a rare occasion if someone drops a pen or I need to get out of the way. Again, legally I'm not allowed to do anything pertaining to physical contact with the patient or any equipment, and nor would I want to attempt to know, say, or do anything because, to me, it would seem like an insult to the PT. They probably wouldn't think that, but I don't even want to take a chance at any liability claims or problems. Anyways, I have had a BLAST just watching and learning. It's absolutely insane how much these people know. Two of the PT's are probably some of the smartest people I know. It just seems like they both have answers to every single problem or patient that comes in the door.
Today involved a lot of evaluations ("evals") which is by far my favorite part to watch. Not that I have any knowledge of physical therapy, but with each patient I tried to figure out what I thought the possible diagnosis was based on the symptoms that I am knowledgeable of. For the most part, I was in the same ballpark and when the PT described the problem in physical therapy jargon I got the main idea. Grabbing an occasional anatomy and directional term here and there helped me grab an idea of the problem. As to be expected, in comparison to the PT's I felt like I was a new born baby just trying to walk while these guys and gals are zipping past me lapping me a couple times. But I tend to thrive on that type of "fight or flight" response. Sometimes the only way to learn is to throw yourself in the situation and figure it out.
My favorite part was definitely the evals though. I loved the fact that, to the PT, the patient that was in the waiting room was a complete stranger and they had to figure out what the problem was. And you don't realize how many different problems there are until you get into a setting like this and every single person has a different problem that requires different and specific stretches,exercises, and/or programs to match their problem. It's mind boggling. But also, it's the thrill of the new challenge every time a new patient walks in the door. Some people with chronic back pain, others with post-operation therapy, neck pains, shoulder pains, foot imbalance, total body balance issues, some learning how to walk or run again, others looking to retain normal or better qualities of life. You name it, they probably see it. But seeing that patient on the initial eval and watching as the PT tries and usually succeeds in diagnosing the issue. It is crazy that within the first couple of minutes of the PT doing a few stretches, exercises, or palpating the area, they have already concluded what the issue is. I can't wait to have that knowledge and perception of physical therapy to help patients get back to normal life. That is why I love physical therapy. Within the first couple of hours observing, I knew that this solidified my love for physical therapy. I want the day-to-day, patient-by-patient challenge to try to help them. I wish you could see the joy on the faces of some of the patients when they here the PT say, "You've come to the right place. I've figured you out and here it is..." For some, after he tells them that with just a few weeks of therapy they will be back to painless, effortless, unrestricted movements, they are filled with joy. They don't stop smiling. They don't stop thanking the PT. I want to make someone feel like that. To give them hope; a fighting chance. I want them to have complete trust that I will help them progressively get stronger, healthier, and back to normal life.
And God's saying the same thing to me and you.
Heal me Lord.
Today involved a lot of evaluations ("evals") which is by far my favorite part to watch. Not that I have any knowledge of physical therapy, but with each patient I tried to figure out what I thought the possible diagnosis was based on the symptoms that I am knowledgeable of. For the most part, I was in the same ballpark and when the PT described the problem in physical therapy jargon I got the main idea. Grabbing an occasional anatomy and directional term here and there helped me grab an idea of the problem. As to be expected, in comparison to the PT's I felt like I was a new born baby just trying to walk while these guys and gals are zipping past me lapping me a couple times. But I tend to thrive on that type of "fight or flight" response. Sometimes the only way to learn is to throw yourself in the situation and figure it out.
My favorite part was definitely the evals though. I loved the fact that, to the PT, the patient that was in the waiting room was a complete stranger and they had to figure out what the problem was. And you don't realize how many different problems there are until you get into a setting like this and every single person has a different problem that requires different and specific stretches,exercises, and/or programs to match their problem. It's mind boggling. But also, it's the thrill of the new challenge every time a new patient walks in the door. Some people with chronic back pain, others with post-operation therapy, neck pains, shoulder pains, foot imbalance, total body balance issues, some learning how to walk or run again, others looking to retain normal or better qualities of life. You name it, they probably see it. But seeing that patient on the initial eval and watching as the PT tries and usually succeeds in diagnosing the issue. It is crazy that within the first couple of minutes of the PT doing a few stretches, exercises, or palpating the area, they have already concluded what the issue is. I can't wait to have that knowledge and perception of physical therapy to help patients get back to normal life. That is why I love physical therapy. Within the first couple of hours observing, I knew that this solidified my love for physical therapy. I want the day-to-day, patient-by-patient challenge to try to help them. I wish you could see the joy on the faces of some of the patients when they here the PT say, "You've come to the right place. I've figured you out and here it is..." For some, after he tells them that with just a few weeks of therapy they will be back to painless, effortless, unrestricted movements, they are filled with joy. They don't stop smiling. They don't stop thanking the PT. I want to make someone feel like that. To give them hope; a fighting chance. I want them to have complete trust that I will help them progressively get stronger, healthier, and back to normal life.
And God's saying the same thing to me and you.
Heal me Lord.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Happy Sunday!
I hope everyone is having a great day! I know I sure am! Just one of those days when you wake up happy and everything is going right! But the reason for this post is because my pastor used a verse today that I really liked and is a constant challenge for me and hopefully a lot of other people too.
John 3:30 - "He must become greater; I must become less." (NIV)
enjoy =)
John 3:30 - "He must become greater; I must become less." (NIV)
enjoy =)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
What Faith?
Last night I finished "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan and there were so many things going through my head. If nothing else I learned that my life needs to change. It challenged me to think about my life and my faith. In one of Chan's chapter videos, he tells us about the question that one of his professors asked him in Bible school..."What are you doing right now that requires faith?" Just like Chan, I couldn't think of anything that required faith. How terrible is that?! All throughout the book there are many examples of people who live there life completely on their faith and trust in God. That shatters my mind, but at the same time it shows us exactly where are relationship with God is. If what we do on a daily basis requires no faith or trust in God, then what the heck are we doing?! What the heck am I doing?! And whatever it is that I am doing, it surely doesn't seem like its for God's purpose.
Take an honest look at your life; your daily routine. What requires complete faith? I hate to say it, but everything for me seems like I can do it. I know what my credit card balance is. I know how much money is in my checking account. I know that my wallet has a few dollars in it for gas money or a bite to eat. I know all of these things and I don't have to trust that God will provide because it seems like I'm providing, or my parents are providing me with everything. But when's the last time I've stepped out completely by faith? When have I ever said, "Lord, I'm going to go to the mall today to talk about my relationship with you." My instantaneous response to that thought would be, "Well I wouldn't know what to say!" or "I might run into someone I know and that would be awkward!" or "People might shut me down." So then I step back and look at my faith...
So my faith is... comfortable. easy. rehearsed. systematic. fake.
I don't know about you, but if I were to die right now and this is what I have to show God, I would be embarrassed. And I don't know about you, but I want God to say "Well done, thy good and faithful one." I don't know about you, but in the end I want to say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)
I'm a track guy. I like to run. But what if I have been running for 22 years, and then yesterday I find out that I'm not running on the right road. That the course I've been running is my own. How can you finish a race you've never been on? Never started? What am I doing? What do I need to be doing? Who am I following? Where am I running?
Please don't miss out on the wonderful things God has for us. Take a step back and look at your life. And ask yourself this question... would your life be different if you suddenly stopped believing in God? or would your heart never skip a beat?
Be bold. Test and make sure you even have faith. And if you do, use it only for the Glory of Jesus Christ.
To God be the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.
Take an honest look at your life; your daily routine. What requires complete faith? I hate to say it, but everything for me seems like I can do it. I know what my credit card balance is. I know how much money is in my checking account. I know that my wallet has a few dollars in it for gas money or a bite to eat. I know all of these things and I don't have to trust that God will provide because it seems like I'm providing, or my parents are providing me with everything. But when's the last time I've stepped out completely by faith? When have I ever said, "Lord, I'm going to go to the mall today to talk about my relationship with you." My instantaneous response to that thought would be, "Well I wouldn't know what to say!" or "I might run into someone I know and that would be awkward!" or "People might shut me down." So then I step back and look at my faith...
So my faith is... comfortable. easy. rehearsed. systematic. fake.
I don't know about you, but if I were to die right now and this is what I have to show God, I would be embarrassed. And I don't know about you, but I want God to say "Well done, thy good and faithful one." I don't know about you, but in the end I want to say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4:7)
I'm a track guy. I like to run. But what if I have been running for 22 years, and then yesterday I find out that I'm not running on the right road. That the course I've been running is my own. How can you finish a race you've never been on? Never started? What am I doing? What do I need to be doing? Who am I following? Where am I running?
Please don't miss out on the wonderful things God has for us. Take a step back and look at your life. And ask yourself this question... would your life be different if you suddenly stopped believing in God? or would your heart never skip a beat?
Be bold. Test and make sure you even have faith. And if you do, use it only for the Glory of Jesus Christ.
To God be the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.
Friday, January 8, 2010
I Dare You!
Today has been a slow day, but a great day! I've been reading "Crazy Love" for probably 4-5 hours now and I can't put it down. And i'm not going to stop until this book doesn't have any pages left. But here's one thing that I've been getting from this book. Obviously there are tons of lessons to learn from each page, but one overlying thing for me... I have been thinking about how I don't have enough faith to trust God. But then I read a part that said "Test God." So now here's my shot. I'm going to test God. I'm going to give, not knowing if God will provide, but how. I want to challenge God to see what crazy way He is going to provide for me. And when He does live up to the challenge, He gets all of the glory.
So I give you the challenge... Test God. I DARE YOU! See if He doesn't blow your mind with how he's going to provide for you when you think it's impossible. And once He does, I hope that leads you to go tell every single person who comes in your path about the amazing way God provided for you.
Have a great and blessed day!
God Loves You
So I give you the challenge... Test God. I DARE YOU! See if He doesn't blow your mind with how he's going to provide for you when you think it's impossible. And once He does, I hope that leads you to go tell every single person who comes in your path about the amazing way God provided for you.
Have a great and blessed day!
God Loves You
Monday, January 4, 2010
False Start
John 13:37 "Peter said to Him, Lord, why can I not follow you now?"
This verse started off my devotions today. And at first glance I knew the answer to the question, but I didn't really know where Oswalt Chambers was going with it. The first paragraph grabbed the steering wheel and I went for a joy-ride.
It's been a long break for me. A lot of sitting around, trying to make the time go by faster, but nothing worked. I decided not to go back to my old work because I will be shadowing a Physical Therapist very shortly and I didn't want to come back to work for 2 weeks. And spiritually, I've been doing ok, but nothing has rocked my brain as of late, so I guess I'm just waiting for the next mountain to climb. This is no Mt. Everest, but a mountain none-the-less. And who knows, I may be making a mountain out of a mole-hill. But I feel like right now I'm in a time of waiting. I've spent all of my time here at home waiting, anticipating the next move, ready to jump to the next challenge. But after reading today, I think i'm just going to keep waiting. Actively waiting, if that makes sense. I've found that I used to just wait by doing nothing and waiting for God to yell at me. But I need to keep searching God even through the times of waiting because He might be whispering to me. I want to be able to hear God's calling, whether He's yelling or whispering. Oswalt Chambers says, "When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don't fill it with busyness, just wait.[...]Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt-wait."
Instantly my brain kicks into my track mode, and it makes perfect sense. Imagine a runner stepping up to the starting line, not knowing how far to run, or in what direction to run? It just doesn't make sense. And how about when we "jump the gun" and start running before God pulls the trigger. In track you get disqualified from the race. Thank the Lord that He doesn't end our lives if we do false start!
In today's world, we're all about speed, efficiency, quickness, I have to have it ten minutes ago. Everything needs to be available at people's fingertips instantly. But that's not how God works. I remember the Bible verse that woke me up from my stagnant days at King's College. I will never forget when Pastor Jim read Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." It hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole time at King's College I was asking God to answer me day after day after day. But I never took the time to listen. I was too busy asking and trying to get an answer and to make a move that I didn't take time to listen to God's advice and plan for my life. It was God telling me to slow down, shut up,listen, and to wait. "Be still..."
God is not going to answer on our time. It's his plan that matters.
So as I sit here and type this, I need to remember to wait. Wait to hear God's next move. And the only way to wait is to "Be still, and know that I am God." Remember who God is. He has got us in His hands. We're gonna be just fine. So wait.
This verse started off my devotions today. And at first glance I knew the answer to the question, but I didn't really know where Oswalt Chambers was going with it. The first paragraph grabbed the steering wheel and I went for a joy-ride.
It's been a long break for me. A lot of sitting around, trying to make the time go by faster, but nothing worked. I decided not to go back to my old work because I will be shadowing a Physical Therapist very shortly and I didn't want to come back to work for 2 weeks. And spiritually, I've been doing ok, but nothing has rocked my brain as of late, so I guess I'm just waiting for the next mountain to climb. This is no Mt. Everest, but a mountain none-the-less. And who knows, I may be making a mountain out of a mole-hill. But I feel like right now I'm in a time of waiting. I've spent all of my time here at home waiting, anticipating the next move, ready to jump to the next challenge. But after reading today, I think i'm just going to keep waiting. Actively waiting, if that makes sense. I've found that I used to just wait by doing nothing and waiting for God to yell at me. But I need to keep searching God even through the times of waiting because He might be whispering to me. I want to be able to hear God's calling, whether He's yelling or whispering. Oswalt Chambers says, "When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don't fill it with busyness, just wait.[...]Never run before God gives you His direction. If you have the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt-wait."
Instantly my brain kicks into my track mode, and it makes perfect sense. Imagine a runner stepping up to the starting line, not knowing how far to run, or in what direction to run? It just doesn't make sense. And how about when we "jump the gun" and start running before God pulls the trigger. In track you get disqualified from the race. Thank the Lord that He doesn't end our lives if we do false start!
In today's world, we're all about speed, efficiency, quickness, I have to have it ten minutes ago. Everything needs to be available at people's fingertips instantly. But that's not how God works. I remember the Bible verse that woke me up from my stagnant days at King's College. I will never forget when Pastor Jim read Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God." It hit me like a ton of bricks. My whole time at King's College I was asking God to answer me day after day after day. But I never took the time to listen. I was too busy asking and trying to get an answer and to make a move that I didn't take time to listen to God's advice and plan for my life. It was God telling me to slow down, shut up,listen, and to wait. "Be still..."
God is not going to answer on our time. It's his plan that matters.
So as I sit here and type this, I need to remember to wait. Wait to hear God's next move. And the only way to wait is to "Be still, and know that I am God." Remember who God is. He has got us in His hands. We're gonna be just fine. So wait.
Prayer please?!
Pray for Andy Schneider
I need help. My close friend needs your prayers. Can you please pray for my close friend Andy Schneider and that God's glory will be shown in and through him. I can't thank you enough. click on his blog to get more information about him, it's not something I can put in a nutshell or begin to explain. thanks!
Love you all
Geren
I need help. My close friend needs your prayers. Can you please pray for my close friend Andy Schneider and that God's glory will be shown in and through him. I can't thank you enough. click on his blog to get more information about him, it's not something I can put in a nutshell or begin to explain. thanks!
Love you all
Geren
Pond Hockey
This is the first picture I took as we got to the frozen lake to play some pond hockey. To me it's a description of pond hockey in a photo. enjoy! and go play pond hockey if you can!
© 2010 Geren Woodbridge
© 2010 Geren Woodbridge
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