tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25632940636944956842024-03-05T14:08:10.462-05:00Adam C. HarperI am a simple creature, seeking deeper things, which I am sure to never understand the depths of.Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.comBlogger171125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-14771128390882684472015-07-20T11:40:00.001-05:002015-07-20T11:40:39.281-05:00Perspective<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perspective can be accurately
described as a “mental view or outlook”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It seems a lot of people have varying perspectives in this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I dare say, everyone has some
perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some aren’t good, some aren’t
educated, some are too educated, others we may agree with, and of course, some
we disagree with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perspective can change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can be a great thing if it is changed to
a better perspective because of information that comes to light in a person’s experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It can be bad if a person is easily influenced
and is manipulated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Perspective is tricky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I love hearing other people’s perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like sitting down and listening, even if I
disagree, it is enlightening to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also enjoy walking throughout creation and taking it all in, I find it gives me
new perspective, or at least, renewed perspective on something I have lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If this sounds fluffier than my norm, to be honest, it
is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, that doesn’t make the
subject heavy or difficult to navigate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me ease into some of what I mean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have lost some of my perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In many ways it is good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have matured in many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Grown up, some may say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not as care free as I once was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of this I have lost some of the
perspective I once had and traded it in for another perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some may say that my perspective has changed
as a teenager’s perspective changes once they move out and have to begin
supporting themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn.instantshift.com/media/uploads/2010/08/beofpp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.instantshift.com/media/uploads/2010/08/beofpp.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I suppose that can be good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The potential problem is losing the freedom of the
child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, when I look at my
children (Arianna 5, and Isaac 3), their cares are few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have very few worries because they rely
on Denise (my wife) and me to take care of their needs for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes the children like to act as a mom
and a dad when pretending and playing, but, from my perspective of having to actually
live out the dad role, I could easily sit back and think how childish their
view of all I have to do is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yet, I sit back and enjoy the fact (for the most part, I
dislike it when they act out my poor behavior) that they want to be like me or
my wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now back to my changing perspective…To be honest, I like
responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is in my wiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since my youth, people have told me, my
gifting has directed me, and every assessment I have ever taken points to me
enjoying leading people, teaching, and strategy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, what do I do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I eat up all the available information I can
to become better at it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Good idea, right?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Actually it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
responsible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes me better at what I
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In narrows my focus, which is a
really good leadership trait.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, I have noticed a potential fatal flaw in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get so busy trying to narrow down all the
issues that I face that I lose the child’s perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To clarify, I lose my carefree perspective
and shift into (what I affectionately call) robot mode.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am so focused on fixing, directing,
growing, strategizing that I take my eyes off my identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I insert leading as my identity, but I am
more than a leader…I am Adam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Adam is a child of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is my Father.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He is the One who is responsible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He is the One thing I should be focused on because I, in my
power, have no ability to have the impact on the matters I care about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can have a profound, unimaginable,
unfathomable impact on every area I care about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My marriage, my children, my church, my friends, my family,
my hopes, my dreams, etc., but if I get myself so focused on what I can do, my
perspective narrows more and more until I believe my perspective is the only
one that matters and I, unintentionally, isolate myself (even though people are
around me, I am too consumed with my own thoughts to interact) and further
drive myself into the belief that my perspective is what really matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I won’t truly listen to other perspectives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t listen to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t listen to the ones I care about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I become truly close minded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, this doesn’t mean I compromise to everyone else’s
perspectives, the point I am trying to make is that I lose my identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get so focused on what I am good at, that I
forget to come to my Father as a child, realizing that He is the One who fixes
things just like I do for my children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It isn’t up to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I sit back
and try to put the weight of the world on my shoulders it probably looks like
my son trying to “be daddy” and I can sit back and understand he just can’t do
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I just can’t do it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He (God) has to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I need to go back to get some care free perspective, because I
don’t believe it has to be immaturity, rather, I think it can be quite mature
to place our worries and concerns in His hands instead of holding onto them
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe it removes a lot of
the focus that has been misappropriated and refocuses us on the areas that we
should be focusing on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I would hate to see either of my children grow up and be so
consumed with anything that they are never present with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may be there, but are so consumed with
what they do that I never get their attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe God feels the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He must be my focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He must be
the source of my perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When He is
the source, my perspective will shine with wisdom beyond my own.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know if this helps anyone else helps out…but I needed
to get my thoughts out there.</span></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-59130545653504503952015-05-31T14:38:00.002-05:002015-05-31T14:43:37.706-05:00Christmas Lights<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have always been rather frank about the fact that Christmas is not one of
my favorite holidays.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love the reason
of Christmas, but all the pomp of it makes me rather …well…grinchy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have always been a “rather have the cake
without the icing” type of guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Exciting,
right? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of
my favorite (oh, if there were only a sarcasm font) festivities is dragging out
all of the decorations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are so
many organizers out there now that most things can be pretty easy to get in
order and hung without too much effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
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Then there are the lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=JN.yCcek5FA77B9fYFmY79zvA&pid=15.1&P=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=JN.yCcek5FA77B9fYFmY79zvA&pid=15.1&P=0" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Whether the outdoor or the tree
lights, they never stay as organized as you put them away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some methods work better than others, but the
point is that Christmas lights are notoriously tangled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an odd phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You put them away organized, you come back
and it is a tangled mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just one year
ago (roughly, if you take them down in a timely fashion…but that’s for another
time) you painstakingly organized them and put them away in a fashion that they
should easily come unstrung and easily hung.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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I find so many things in my life
are the same way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I get something taken
care of and believe that it should be ok now, only to find out that a short
time (in my estimation) later it is a tangled mess again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have found this to be true in leadership,
relationships, work, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not
saying it is the fault of someone else (unlike with Christmas lights, because I
think we all would agree there has to be tree light gremlins tangling the
lights in the attic!) it is just what happens when a matter is neglected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Think about it physically, just
because I exercise for a day doesn’t make me healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, if I exercise myself to health but
do not continue, I will become unhealthy…a tangled mess, indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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We would readily admit, I think,
that the same is true spiritually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
don’t stay on top of the proverbial mountaintop without consistent connection
to God.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, think of this when leading
your family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How often do we take time
to invest in our family?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not
necessarily talking about all the “stuff” we do for our family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am talking about the quality time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we begin our time with our spouse in
marriage and everything is wonderful, only to not spend time with them and
wonder why everything seems…tangled?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do
we start off well with our children, but find ourselves several years down the
road…tangled?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
What about how some of us who are
leaders lead?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we lead and not pay
attention to some aspect of how we run an organization, church, business for
quite some time and when it become tangled begin to blame others instead of
saying to ourselves, “How much time have I really invested here?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br />
<br />
We always seem to come back to the
place where we believe we have left something organized a while ago and wonder,
“How did this get so tangled up?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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Christmas light leadership will
lead us to a place of tangled messes in our marriages, parenting, leadership,
and a whole host of other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It basically
comes down to this, neglect leads to disorder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Think about it…</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Neglect leads to disorder.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Don’t let those vital areas of your
life (spiritually or physically), responsibility, and concern become neglected.
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may not like it, but it is true.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Are you confused?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seek God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Don’t forget we have an enemy that wants to terrorize and kill us (I
Peter 5:8).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you feel disconnected
from someone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe there is someone you
need to invest more time in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is there an
area at work that isn’t going well?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Find
the place that has been neglected and channel some energy in that
direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Don’t get caught off guard like I
do on the day after Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) when I open the lid to
the tote with Christmas lights wondering how this mess got here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“<span class="text"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do not neglect the spiritual gift within
you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on
of hands by the presbytery.</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="text"><sup><span id="en-NASB-29763">15 </span></sup>Take pains
with these things; be <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">absorbed</span>
in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.</span>”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
Timothy 4:14-15</i></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-50127497885293024902014-08-27T12:32:00.000-05:002014-08-27T12:32:48.913-05:00The Visit (pt1)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u> </u></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I have
to be honest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have found this journey
a little difficult at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is still
early on, but there are so many perspectives that I had not taken into
view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I study, a bit ahead of where
we are on this blog, I find myself veering wildly back to what I have always
known and not taking time to stop and soak in the peripheral matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick example of this would be if you had
ever fallen asleep on a road trip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
may wake up as you arrive at the destination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“We’re here!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were a
child, you are just happy to be where you were headed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were the adult you may have realized
that you used a certain amount of gas, the drive was rough as it had been
raining most of the way, you narrowly avoided a few accidents, there was a
beautiful scene as the sun set, seeing those three deer in the field, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a semi truck flipped over, etc etc etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
is a lot going on in the story of Jesus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The more
I find as I begin to unpack, the more I realize that I am the kid sleeping in
the car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am
not sure exactly what the night of Christ’s birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We certainly know there were visitors, but as
I mentioned before, it probably didn’t look quite like the scene that we have
derived from Francis Assisi’s nativity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The magi didn’t come to see Christ for a few years after His birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Shepherds were alerted via angel
announcement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both were miraculous.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
wonder, when Mary and Joseph heard how the shepherds and then the magi were led
to Jesus, what that must have been like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First,
the shepherds, they were never considered to be high class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, it would seem that it was a life
that could support your family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finding
a job as the temple shepherd, as it would seem these shepherds were, would be a
good shepherding job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the hours
weren’t great, as we see these gentlemen watching sheep at night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about that, watching sheep…at
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having to stay alert and awake to
watch sheep and make sure nothing harmed them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pretty exciting stuff there…but when something exciting did happen, it
was highly dangerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was dangerous
for the sake of the wellbeing of sheep.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Ironic that Christ was embarking on
His dangerous mission for His “sheep”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
normal, mundane night and all of a sudden a bright light with angels and
singing…tell me that you wouldn’t find that scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had no way to explain it away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an angelic announcement of the birth
of the Savior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These looked down upon people
were the first to hear the announcement of the Savior.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This all is recorded in Luke 2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They went to Bethlehem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shows that Bethlehem wasn’t some large
metropolis, because these shepherds found Jesus without the use of any crazy
technology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They must have walked into
town, saw a bit of a ruckus and realized that must be where a baby has been
born.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Think about
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You hear the angels proclaim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You decide to go and check it out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly, or maybe not, what they said
was true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could you deny that this
is indeed the Messiah? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Often
times as I read this, it is so static.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
get to the destination that Christ was born and shepherds were involved and I
lose the wonder of what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
perspective of the shepherds is just one angle, but how wonderful it must have
been to be in a field, or on a hill, and the sky burst open with the
celebration of the angel’s song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
angel’s announcement and then the physical confirmation as they walked into the
tiny town of Bethlehem and found the Savior was indeed born as they laid their
eyes on this newborn child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean,
what did these guys say to their wives when they got home?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Did they grab their families and come over
the next day?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine their
child’s face as they shared this story?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What a
tremendous happening…and how often I miss it as a sleeping child on a road
trip, I arrive at the destination without taking in all of the scenery, the
details, and the conversation along the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>May we never lose our wonder.</div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-49045468900184366922014-07-14T21:28:00.001-05:002014-07-14T21:30:11.789-05:00The Back Room<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As we
open up the dialogue today, I want to begin to unpack the birth of Christ a
bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can see the Joseph and Mary are
travelling to Bethlehem for the purpose of the census (Luke2).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyone that has been around a woman that is
pregnant or has been pregnant themselves would know of the limited mobility
when one is in the latter stages of that condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of that, Mary endured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The almighty being woven together with in her
as she rides with the faithful Joseph to Bethlehem, which fulfilled prophesy by
the way (Micah 5:2).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If we
start with the image of Mary riding the donkey as Joseph walks alongside on
their way to Bethlehem, it would behoove us to backtrack just a bit to see what
has happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The angel announces the
arrival of Christ through Mary to both Joseph and Mary at separate times
(Matthew 1 & Luke 1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
announcement took place in Nazareth which is the place where the decedents of
King David settled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The word Nazareth
itself means “Branch Town”, which is important because of yet another prophecy
(Jeremiah 33:15).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
announcement was very important for many reasons, but I would like to key in on
one angle in particular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see
engagements in our modern western culture as a promise to get married.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The engagement can be broken with, depending
on the individuals, little to no repercussions save a bit of emotional
distress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the culture that we see
Christ being inserted, it would carry a great deal more weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To break an engagement would be much like a
full blown divorce, and in Biblical culture, would carry much more scandal than
it would today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
announcement, however, meant the Joseph had a profound role to play in this
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect that for the normal
Jewish male at this time (and for the vast majority of us today) finding out
our fiancé or wife was pregnant with a child when it is not possible that the
child could be ours would cause us to react very swiftly and in a fashion that
would cause a finality to the relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The visit from the angel legitimized the pregnancy, which kept Joseph in
the relationship with Mary and the Son of God, whom Joseph was called to care
for.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I always kind of
wondered if Joseph ever resented being in this situation.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>None
the less, Joseph dutifully did as he was supposed to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no evidence of Joseph resenting the
situation, in fact, he may have been overjoyed with the fact that he was
chosen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We do see in he was considered a
righteous man and wanted to deal kindly with Mary (Matt 1).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just inject the thought because it crosses
my mind when I look at this narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe I speak out of my own weakness and misunderstanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we take these facts to rejoin the image of
Mary on the donkey and Joseph leading her along, they see Bethlehem in the
distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now,
the normal custom was if you were traveling “home”, as we see Joseph was doing
(Luke 2) you would stay in one of the guest rooms at a relative’s house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, where does the inn keeper come in here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are some interesting facts to take into
account as we peel back what we see happening in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see that the word used for inn (<i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Katalyma</span></i>) is the word used for a guest
room in a home, not a “hotel” room <i>(</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pandoxion
</i>or <i><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">pandocheion</span></i></span>).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, there was no room in the family
home for them so they were sent to a back room where the beasts of burden were
kept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since they did not have
automobiles back then, it would almost be as if Christ was born in the
garage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were animals involved, but
it was probably not the nativity scene that we have grown accustomed to thanks
to Francis of Assisi.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Yellow_sunset_at_Tsavo_East_National_Park.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Yellow_sunset_at_Tsavo_East_National_Park.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
wonder what that scene looked like as Joseph began talking to his relatives
about a room and they said all that they had was room in the proverbial
garage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Mary is pregnant and you are
going to put us up in your garage?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am sure, being wearied from the travels he agreed to “crash” there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sit back and admittedly speculate as I
process through this story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can also
imagine after making sure that Mary was settled in, he walked outside and wept
a bit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I put myself in his shoes and
I had the Christ coming and I was to provide for Him, a pregnant wife that I
loved, and just being weary from traveling, and the weight of all of this upon
his shoulders, I could see a tremendous amount of stress rising within him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s just me and maybe Joseph was a
stronger man than I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Suddenly,
possibly as Joseph is collecting himself and preparing to wind down for the
night he hears, “Joseph!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is
coming!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-16779799585292337052014-07-10T11:02:00.002-05:002014-07-10T11:07:42.097-05:00Birth<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think
we all have various moments in time that seem to change everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may have been the passing of a loved one,
a moment of abuse, an automobile accident, the birth of a child, 9/11,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that moment, something happened,
joyous or painful, that changed who we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In some cases it may have actually caused us to act differently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other cases, it just causes us to think
differently, appreciate things more, or we just process things differently
internally.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
have been a lot of events that have changed the world, for better or worse,
throughout the course of history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even
if it happened with much less pomp than other world changing events, the
conception and birth of Christ was monumental because of what was happening and
what it meant would happen in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I read the passages that speak of the Spirit of God moving upon
Mary (Matt 1:18) and the Christ being conceived it brings up various thoughts
of His sovereignty to create life at a whim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn’t just “ordinary” (a term that steals away the wonder of all
that is human life) life, it was God in the flesh being woven together in the
womb of Mary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Magnificent</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I wonder, in the midst of the
Christian stance on abortion, if we just blow by the miracle of Christ’s
conception to get to His birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it
too taboo for us to talk about?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here is an interesting tidbit that
we often overlook, did you ever wonder why Mary (the devout Hebrew that she
was) asked “How can this be since I am a virgin?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard responses that she was young, or
she didn’t understand the prophecy (Isaiah 7:14) like we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you ever answered a question, were told
you were wrong, were given the correct answer, went back to look at the matter
you were asked about and noticed that you were wrong but now understand the
correct answer because you are a bit more enlightened on the matter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You may have reverse engineered the matter
with the different result to see the proper working?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Isaiah 7:14 kind of has that feel
to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It clearly refers to the virgin
birth with hindsight, but if you had read it from the perspective the Hebrew
teachers did rationale and supposition comes in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean who expects a virgin birth if it has
never happened before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see in other
areas that people said, “How can this be (Christ being the Messiah) since He is
the son of a carpenter.” (Matt. 13:55) The Jewish people didn’t understand that
Christ was to be born of a virgin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since
there was nothing wrong with a husband having a sexual relationship with his
wife, they assumed the Christ would be born just like everyone else.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
often wonder how many things like this I miss in the faith.</span><br />
</div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As we study the Scripture, we
understand that the conception and birth of Christ had to be carried out this
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How else could the curse of man
being born into sin be broken unless a man was born of God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Romans 5) Would God conceive with a woman
that had been with a man?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Christ was
to be the sacrifice to pay for the wages of all mankind’s sin, He had to be
pure and untainted by the sin nature of man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All of this came together for the miraculous virgin conception and birth
of Christ.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.heartbeatofcolumbiana.org/Images/16%20week%20unborn%20baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.heartbeatofcolumbiana.org/Images/16%20week%20unborn%20baby.jpg" height="242" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As time
went on, God in the flesh grew within the belly of this young Jewish
woman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine the stresses that
I am sure she endured with people talking, rumors swirling, and all sorts of
whispered accusations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did she tell
her parents?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How did the conversation come
up with Joseph?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who did she tell the
truth of what was going on? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, how
would they even respond aside from laughing at her or calling her a
blasphemer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quietly, she bore this
joyous burden, the burden of a calling, of being chosen for this grandiose
event. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Imagine,
eternal being woven together within the temporal partaking in the restrictions
of time with the purpose of redemption, reconciliation, and reconnection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is so profound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the while, continuing to fulfill
prophecies as the Christ comes to the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-70134041746823217222014-07-07T11:19:00.001-05:002014-07-07T11:19:27.678-05:00The Beginning<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Have
you ever wondered who you would be without your history?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The things that have happened to you, changed
you, and made you the person you are today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was watching a show recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
scene within that show triggered something within me that reminded me of the
way that I was many years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many
people I talk to now have no idea how I was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If I talk about it, I get kind of a “well that’s nice that you have
changed” reaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, they never
knew me the way that I was, nor can they. The problem with that is they can never know of the magnitude of change that has taken place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I bring
this up because as we dive into this journey looking at Christ, if people never understood who He really was, we lose the gravity of what He did. We can sing it in a song, we can hear it in a sermon, but realizing the weight of Christ leaving Heaven and all that came with it to be here with us is unfathomable. I wonder if Mary or Joseph understood as they were visited by angels (Luke 1 & Matt. 1) did it ever really hit them? Imagine, raising the eternal One in a temporal world. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Yet, in John 1, we
see He is indeed eternal.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://vaughnsphotoart.com/uploads/images/catalog_src/the-eternity-of-morning_src_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vaughnsphotoart.com/uploads/images/catalog_src/the-eternity-of-morning_src_1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a> </div>
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Did they understand
the magnitude of His history?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who He was
in an eternal sense?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about those
who grew up with Christ knew Him as He was at that moment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am sure most didn’t “get it”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about what He had seen, created, and
lived through. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we read John 1, He is the Word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the beginning was the Word. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Word became flesh and lived among
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He, the eternal One, came here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find it very humbling to apply this idea to
any aspect that I read about Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
often find myself asking, “why?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean,
I understand it is because of His great love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>However, I find it so far beyond my understanding that I sit rather
baffled and yet accepting. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
There are hundreds of prophecies
that Christ fulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard from
several sources (I know this is supposed to be rather unfiltered, but the
statistic is astonishing to me) that for Christ to fulfill even eight of the hundreds of prophecies that were prophesied over a thousand years or so, the
odds of Him fulfilling just <u><b>8</b></u> prophesies is 1 in 10…to the 17<sup>th</sup> power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is 1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Let that sink in.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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God revealed Himself, His plan to
be carried out in the work of Christ, to prophets of old, over a large span of
time…and Christ fulfilled them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is eternal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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He was there at
Creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is at the end of time now,
because time does not restrict Him.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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So what?</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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If we want to take a look at whom
He is and what He did while walking this earth, we need to understand the
gravity of who He is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is this Jesus
we are talking about? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is
eternal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is God .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe this brings a greater understanding
to the weight of Him coming here to earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe it brings great understanding of His character shown in His
love, omniscience (all-knowing), sovereignty, and many other signs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we dig into Jesus, we cannot forget that
before He arrived on earth, He had history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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While my history was rage, hatred,
and a host of other self destructive characteristics, Christ’s was holiness,
righteousness, sovereignty, and life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
came here to bring us the opportunity to take part in His kingdom, to be a part
of a relationship with Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was planned
before He even stepped foot on this planet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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I find it easy to lose sight of all
that He was before we read of His story here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While His life on earth is profound (I don't want to short sell that point), understanding who He was before the
gospels is vital to understanding the gravity and magnitude of His life lived
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even before the cross, His
sacrifice was profound and His love undeniable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-40686477361160123202014-06-30T11:52:00.001-05:002014-06-30T11:52:18.359-05:00Source<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It has
been quite some time since I have posted on here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been writing down ideas and thinking a
lot about a great many things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
received a note the yesterday as I returned home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The note was brief but posed a thought that I
found interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, I like to
discuss a lot of matters that cross my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, if I rely on only what I see, I can gather a rather tainted
point of view and muddy the waters for anyone else that may read my opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I say all of that to say, I am planning on
going back to the source of my faith, Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The note
was basically a friend saying they would like to see an unfiltered look at
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I pondered the note from my
friend, I find that is always a healthy idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To re-center in the midst of the chaos of life, to refocus, remind, and
reestablish where I hang my proverbial hat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My plan is not to try to come up with something that will wow you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not planning on impressing anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am planning on taking a journey and
inviting you to track with me as I go on this journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feedback, questions, and general comments will
be welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> If you feel it would be helpful to others, share it. </span>I plan for this to be a
start and then to see where what I find will carry us to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><a href="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/path_woods_hole_ma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/path_woods_hole_ma.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don’t
even know how frequently I will post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
imagine it to be at least once a week but not limited to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hope is to post as I feel led.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes brief, sometimes a little longer,
sharing my point of view, and certainly some of my odd humor as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be taking approximately a week to
prepare, pray, and begin processing what is before me as I would prepare if I
were going on a physical journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you
would like to join me, I ask you to do the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God
bless…I look forward to the future.</div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-11571316130815110242013-09-10T20:33:00.000-05:002013-09-10T20:33:31.317-05:00A Plea From a Pastor<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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I have been sitting
back and doing some thinking recently.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
In my pondering, I have realized I
am not desperate enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also
found that I am not nearly humble enough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I love to figure things out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love figuring things out so much, that I
often don’t like to ask for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
guess that means I am rather prideful as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/254/8/2/pondering_castiel_by_liddl15-d5ed1y7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/254/8/2/pondering_castiel_by_liddl15-d5ed1y7.png" height="208" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I really don’t like how it sounds,
but as I have been thinking, I realize that there is a desperate need to be
honest with those I care about and with those that care about me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
You see, I have noticed as momentum
builds in my own life and in the life of a ministry the enemy takes note.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His devious attacks increase and one cannot
help but notice the ways in which he attacks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Opportunities to compromise abound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Compromise doesn’t always come in the form of absolute moral
failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it is just a small
crack here or there.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
Funny
thing about cracks, they spread, they get bigger, and before long they become
rather destructive.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I have no desire to
compromise.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
However, neither have
many of my friends that I have seen falter.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The destructive force that I have
seen wage war against my friends, their families, their children, their lives
thrown into chaos because of moral and character collapse was never a desire of
their heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cracks formed but were
never resealed or corrected, they spread, they got bigger, and they destroyed
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
For those of us who lead in
ministry in some capacity, the consequences for faltering grow even
greater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The destructive force carries
even more weight as we show the weakness of humanness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We grow tired, weak, and feeble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those times when we are vulnerable, it is
best to attack us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This doesn’t happen only to
pastors, of course, it can also happen to their spouses and to anyone for that
matter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Far too many of my friends in
ministry have fallen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fallout has
been painful to watch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There has been,
in some cases, restoration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some
cases, the destruction has become so severe that forgiveness has occurred, but
reconciliation has become a very slow process. </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I see this and I
cannot help but ask, plea, beg you to pray for me.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Pray for my family.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Pray for your own pastor, other
local pastors, elders, church leaders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Pray for each other, for your friends, for their families, and for their
marriages.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
We say and believe that we have a
powerful God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our enemy has always tried
to steal glory from God by manipulating, deceiving, and causing havoc in the
lives of those who follow God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
That is why I write
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As independent, stubborn, and
hardheaded as I am…I need help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all
do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I believe our God is not dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe He is alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe if He is for me than who could be
against me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe He has made me
free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will proclaim this until I no
longer have the breath to proclaim it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
don’t want the enemy to sneak into any area of my life to take away from that
message.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
This is a plea from a
pastor.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Pray for your pastor,
whomever they may be.</div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-88542086791532969312013-08-06T11:40:00.001-05:002013-08-06T11:40:28.894-05:00A Spirit of Expectancy<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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One of my favorite all time games
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little bit older so they understand the concept…kind of.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Isaac (1 ½ ) is a little beyond
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gets the seeking part, but the hiding is still not, shall we say, developed. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Arianna (3 ½ ) gets the idea of
hiding…kind of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She knows she is
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<br /></div>
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It is funny to me to watch them
“seeking”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anticipation mounts as
they keep looking, peek around the corner, excited…and sometimes nothing is
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excitement that is displayed is contagious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They laugh, squeal with joy, run around in circles, and/or fall to the
ground giggling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
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I love it.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I love them.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
They teach me so
much.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I love watching them peeking around
the corner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expectations are high.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s going to happen?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is all so exciting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Playing hide and seek reminded me
of a story that happened about the time of the beginning of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a beggar and he sat at this gate to
the city begging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He sat one day,
begging as he always did, when a couple of guys that had a large part in the
birth of the church (Peter and John) were walking by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The man may have had his hand stretched
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may have asked if they had some
spare change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know exactly, all
we know is that he somehow asked for money. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
From what we read of the story, the
man it doesn’t seem as though the man made any eye contact. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe it was due to the shame in his
situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He may have felt guilty
asking for money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guilt is a funny
thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here he was, unable to
work and relying on others to give him their hard earned money. It is important to note that the beggar had expectancy, but in that expectancy did not have an attitude of entitlement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.henrymakow.com/upload_images/beggar%20cup1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.henrymakow.com/upload_images/beggar%20cup1.jpg" height="320" width="228" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Peter told the man to look at
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the midst of that poor beggar’s
hopelessness, he raised his head and met the eyes of a man who had seen the
life, miracles, death, burial, resurrection and so much more of God in the
flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Think about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine all that Peter saw?</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When the poor man’s eyes met
Peter’s, all he could think to expect was the bit of money that he was used to
getting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the all his mind could
think to expect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
That was it.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Then Peter told him
he didn’t have any money.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Great.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“I don’t have any
money, but what I do have…I give you.”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
The man’s mind might
have raced… “A sandwich?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Water?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What do you have?”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I love this part.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text">“In
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Then Peter didn’t
just leave him there…<span class="text"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="text"><sup>“ </sup>Taking
him by the right hand, he helped him up, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">instantly</b> the man’s feet and ankles became strong.</span> <span class="text"><sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></sup>He <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">jumped</b> to his feet and began to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">walk</b>. Then he went with them into the
temple courts, walking and (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because
walking wasn’t enough</i>) <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">jumping</b>,
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">praising</b> God.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
He expected so
little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, there was a much bigger
plan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
No, I am not talking prosperity or
entitlement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do, however, want to
ask…what are we expecting God to do?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Do we expect to be
transformed, or are we hoping not to be too bored?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I don’t mean to sound too rash
here, but look at what this must have meant to this man’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His life was absolutely transformed
(Physically and as we read on spiritually).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do we expect transformation?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
I believe this story
displays beautifully what we are called to do…</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
…to be free people
leading others to freedom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Peter, a man set free by the work
of Christ and the power of His Spirit, didn’t have gold or silver…but what he
did have, he gave away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This led to a transformed life, and not just of this lame
man but also for all those who were watching…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
“<span class="text">When all the
people saw him walking and praising God,</span> <span class="text"><span id="en-NIV-27007">they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at
the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him.</span>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text">Freedom,
true freedom, is contagious.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="text">So, this poses the
question, what are we expecting God to do today?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are you facing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you on the mountaintop, or in the
valley?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is there and He is ready to
set you free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process may be
instantly or it may take time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the
midst of the long journey, He can give you daily doses of freedom to rejoice in
the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have a great expectation
that a great God will meet you in your needs in a way that will bring great
freedom for you, for His glory.</span></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-45755658192339414962013-07-01T12:19:00.000-05:002013-07-01T12:20:59.702-05:00Worshick, You're Doing It Right.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
little girl (Arianna) is learning that she really loves to sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I enjoy this as I sit in the van and we are
going somewhere as a family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She begins
to sing whatever song crosses her cute little mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it is “Twinkle Twinkle”, sometimes
it is another children’s song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also
likes a few songs of worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
latched onto Matt Redmen’s “10,000 Reasons” when she heard me singing it at
church through the system when she was in the nursery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even
now when she hears it on the radio, “That’s your song daddy” which I find
humorous since Matt Redmen is British.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She then breaks into the song to sing along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently on a car ride, she belts out the chorus…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Bless the Lord O my
soul,</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Oh my soul!</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Worshick His holy
name…”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Peanut, (that’s my
nickname for her) it’s worship.”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Worshick”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“No, with a “P””</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Worshick”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“No, P, puh puh P”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Worshick”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This went on for a bit, but then I
realized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My little girl was singing to
God, she knew she was singing to God...and I am hung up on pronunciations?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/999548_10201342102253435_1060258725_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/999548_10201342102253435_1060258725_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Is it really that
important?</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I interrupted a sweet 3 ½ yr old worshiping
the Creator of all things…to correct how she said a word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not saying that I can’t correct her
grammar ever, but is that really the best time?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Let that little voice belt it out, man!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of
course, this triggered a flow of thoughts for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, I am sure there are so many things I
feel have to be done a certain way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a correct formula for how we need to do things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have I really begun to let those formulas,
processes, and procedures inundate how I worship?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to spend time worshiping my heavenly
Father in a certain way…AND SO DO YOU!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You can’t
worship Him dressed like that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
worship Him with that song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
worship Him with a hat on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t
worship Him with bare feet. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On and on we
can go…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
But where is the
freedom of being His child?</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Here’s what I know, I want my child
to worship God freely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want her to
feel the warmth of His embrace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I want
her to approach Him with the freedom to not worry what others think of her
raising her hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t there to be a
hindrance of what others may think or feel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just want her to always search for satisfaction
in the eyes of her Heavenly Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
She
can worshick Him</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
In
fact, I hope she worshicks Him with all of her heart.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
I
hope she worshicks Him and no one else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
I
hope I am man enough to let her have freedom to worshick Him how He leads her
and not hinder her with my presuppositions.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
I
hope I can lead her to this worshick.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">
Someday,
I hope I can side back and well up with pride as I see her turn over her life
to worshicking Him in freedom.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I don’t think a God that told His
disciple to not hinder or prohibit the children to come to Him minds an off
pronunciation from a 3 ½ yr old.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
pretty sure His Spirit helps us communicate the things we don’t have the words
for (or mispronounce).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have confidence
hearing a child’s voice, whether it a child (physically) or His child
(spiritually), crying out to him brings Him great joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t matter if it has a lisp, stutters,
sounds like Elmer Fudd, doesn’t know the words to the song, is crying, sounds
clear, on key, or can’t quite figure out what the range for the song is until
the chorus goes up…He loves every second of it!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Today, may you worshick Him with
all of your heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>May you not worry
about what is going on around you when that song that really touches your heart
comes on the radio or iPod, worshick…worshick…WORSHICK!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because, He has made us…He knows us…and He is
a God that loves to hear His children crying out to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-76409671906666652622013-05-20T13:50:00.000-05:002013-05-20T13:50:14.121-05:00Inspiration Is A Calling<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
How do you get a person
to a place where they want to learn?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I remember taking a class in high
school on world history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was looking
for an elective type of class and I enjoy the stories of history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t remember dates well, but the stories
behind the information is what makes me enjoy history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our history teacher was not known to be a
very gentle spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact he was rather
gruff, stated the information, and if you didn’t retain it, well, that was your
fault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember even having a run in
with him as he chastised the class for doing poorly on a test that he thought
we should have done well on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
The entire class did
poorly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
There was some sort of prompting
along the lines of, “What do you have to say for yourselves?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quiet teenager that I was, I raised my
hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Harper.”</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcLtVAiP9ewob-JKcIjMp65pi2nf-A2tsh1Uz5dMvP1udPDFFINQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcLtVAiP9ewob-JKcIjMp65pi2nf-A2tsh1Uz5dMvP1udPDFFINQ" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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“You know, you don’t
really inspire me to learn more about history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I want to be inspired to learn.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
What followed, I now realize, was a
conversation on responsibility and duty versus joy and fulfillment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My teacher responded that his job was not to
inspire me but to present information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My rebuttal was something along the lines of asking if he enjoyed
history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He responded, “It doesn’t matter
if I enjoy it, it matters if you retain the information I give you.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I didn’t push it much further than
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found out later that this
teacher enjoyed my company about as much as much as oil enjoys the presence of
water.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I was a terrible student in high
school and only did well in one class that wasn’t a cake class.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My basic classes like English/Grammar, Math,
etc were horrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was relieved to see
a “C” on reports.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did have one teacher
in my Biology class that seemed to get me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He inspired me to care about what we were learning, understood that I
didn’t learn as the status quo, and in that class I had a solid “B”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I keep these two in my mind as I
work on, ironically, being a sort of teacher myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In matters of faith we, who are believers,
are called to make disciples or “learners”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
So how does one do
that?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Well, I can tell you that if our
concept of attracting “learners” is merely to present information, we will
fail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If our attitude about our faith
fits that of the History teacher, I can tell you that most people (like me) are
going to react similarly and ask, “Why would I want to learn about something
that you aren’t passionate about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure
you know the information, but how does that inspire me to want to know the
information?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I think the western church may
unintentionally have fallen into this trap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It isn’t that this group is mean, nasty, and snide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is that they don’t look much different
than anyone else and when they try to give their point of view, they look
rather silly trying to “teach” others to live what they aren’t passionate about
themselves.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
On the other side of things, as my
Biology teacher taught, he was passionate and excited about what he
taught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he saw someone struggling
(like me) he would find ways to incorporate me into what he was passionate
about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His fervor for what he taught
made me want to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He didn’t force
me to learn, in fact there were others that did not respond well to his style
of teaching…but they didn’t respond to any teaching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t that I didn’t want to learn, it was
that I wasn’t inspired to due to numerous things happening in the background of
life.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
point is, as believers, are we inspired?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Are we living a life of passion and from that life of passion, incorporating
others to join in with us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not
asking you to go all Ned Flanders, please don’t misread what I am trying to
say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will definitely have tough times
in life and hove down seasons, but even in our darkest times we can reveal our
passion by relying on Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
The passion in our
lives is the inspiration to the next person we are called to teach or disciple.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Don’t let your walk become duty or
forced, rather, let it be your joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
let the enemy steal that joy, it is our strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise, the students that are watching us
may learn nothing of the love that God has for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We must be passionate students teaching
others to be passionate students as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
That is the great
calling of the great commission!</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Inspiration is a calling! </div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-40194650443496312562013-05-15T14:10:00.002-05:002013-05-15T14:11:43.300-05:00Misplaced<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This past week my daughter, Arianna
(3), unplugged my mother –in-laws cell phone from the charger and was carrying
it around playing with it and acting like she was talking on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About ten minutes later my wife (Denise)
noticed that Arianna wasn’t carrying the phone around anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“Arianna, where did
you put the phone?”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Arianna’s eyes grew…</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“I dunno.”</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://s2.hubimg.com/u/14229_f260.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://s2.hubimg.com/u/14229_f260.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I can
only imagine it was one of those moments like when I was a child and my mom
asked me a question and I realized I had lost something I shouldn’t have been
playing with or had gotten into something I shouldn’t have and gotten
caught.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know that feeling, whatever
it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, “Oh man, I am busted and I
need to think of something to make it seem like it isn’t as bad as it really is”
feeling.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I got
that same feeling this past week as I was preparing to share on Sunday from
Matthew 8:28-34.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passage opens up
with Jesus landing on the other side of the sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He and the disciples get out of the boat and
are met by the demoniacs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
transpires from there is a story of freedom for the men possessed, a conquered
enemy, and a town full of people that cared more for their possessions and
income than a persons’ life or the very presence of God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Caring more for possessions
than God or others…</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
…Love God…Love others…</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
…aren’t those two the
most important commandments?</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had
to really look within myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not,
what I would call, a frivolous man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
drive an old car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of my clothes are
gifts from Christmas, birthdays, or some other event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look for deals, buy used, and enjoy being
accused of being a spendthrift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
it all comes back to the question…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
“If all I had was my
relationship with Jesus, would it be enough?”</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I John
1:1-4 tells us that experiencing God and from that having fellowship or sharing
that experience with others (whether telling your experience or sharing experiences)
makes our joy complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, why do I
find myself relying on so many other things for joy?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do I feel unhappy if I have to let go of
something, or feel that God may be telling me I should let go of something or
not spend as much time focused on a matter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Have I made something else more of a priority that God? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More of a priority that others?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
mean, who hasn’t gotten a little off course in that area?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it is our job or our calling as
believers to cling to what we hear in I John and continually search for that
connection with God, that experiencing of the presence of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then taking that experience and sharing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I kind
of feel like I was called out, kind of questioned, “Adam, where is the time
that you need to commit to me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you
actively looking for at least one person to share your experience with Me? ”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like Arianna, my eyes grew as I knew I “caught”
in losing focus on what truly matters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It isn’t about guilt, although the enemy would love for it to become
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about the great God of the
universe, full of love, mercy, grace, truth, power, justice, and infinitely
more coming here to die for our reconnection to Him and us understanding that
that reconnection is the best thing for us and not a labor or duty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
If we expect the life
God has for us, we must search to experience His presence as a priority.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
If we expect the life
God has for others, we must share our experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Have we
experienced?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, we find that it is
so worth it to experience His presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes we experience and then we get busy and lose focus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those times, we must not approach with
guilt and fear, rather, we enter with joy in knowing God is longing for our
time that we spend with Him and will meet us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As we share with others, there may be a little fear, but don’t let it
cripple you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not saying to shove
your beliefs down someone’s throat. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
suggesting sharing your personal experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Be ready for the opportunity to present itself and react.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Today, take time to reflect and
take time for Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seek an experience
with God and don’t be afraid of what He may ask of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If He is asking you to reprioritize, realize
that He will empower you to do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
enemy will distract, but remain faithful in your relationship with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be encouraged, after all, the God of all
things wants to spend time with you…and that is pretty exciting.</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
...By the way, we never found the phone lol. </div>
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-10891477943771725942012-12-10T13:52:00.000-05:002012-12-10T13:52:02.606-05:00Battling the Empire (Prayer)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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It’s been a while since I have
written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some part it has been
because I have had a few technical difficulties, it appears I am further behind
the times than I realized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other
part is because I have been on quite a journey recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have learned so much that I am sure that I
couldn’t fit it all into one session here, but I am sure you will see the bits
and pieces here and there throughout the next several entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
One such lesson has stemmed from
the idea that I have made my relationship with God very empirical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To try to explain this, it is the idea of a
kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of our relationships with
God would be similar to having a conversation with someone in a medieval time
and asking the random peasant if they had ever met the King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answer would something along the lines of
knowing they had a king but had certainly never met Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, why would He come down amongst the
peasants? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2012/03/prayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/files/2012/03/prayer.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Indeed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Our King did come here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
…but in my interaction with Him, do
I act like it?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
I have recently uncovered a more “Abba/Father”
vein in my journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
This doesn’t make Him any less a
King, but it actually makes me more His son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I classified myself as a peasant in
the grandeur of all that is God (this Father view has also opened my eyes in
that department).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is easy to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can look at Isaiah and see how we may
react in His presence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may “melt” in His
glorious presence. However, we are also invited into His presence now through
His Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are invited into this
relationship that He has built to connect Creator with the creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
That is not the distant king
philosophy, but I get stuck there sometimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I don’t want to forget or lead
astray that God’s holiness is in any way lessened by our ability to come close
to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I do want anyone who
may struggle with this to avoid attempting to draw closer to God, or be
hindered in any way, because we feel unworthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Grace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
Or don’t we believe that?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
When Christ taught us to pray, how
did He start out?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
“Our Father…”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
I don’t think I really viewed Him
as this loving Father, but it certainly changes my perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, I talk about it a lot, but do I apply
it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I really believe it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I act upon that as I pray to Him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are my prayers more like a report to the
king?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or a conversation with Dad?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
When I interact with my daughter,
sometimes she is sitting there and talking to me (kind of at me since she is
almost 3), I stop her and say, “Come here.” And I just wrap my arms around her
and say, “I just need a hug, I just want you to be close.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
I think I missed this…and still
catch myself talking at Him.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
My God is the King, and He is my
Father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am His son, made so by
Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when I talk to Him, there are
certainly times I address Him as the King, there are also times I just need my
Father to hold me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If nothing else, I hope this would
challenge you to think and talk to God (whether you are an avid pray-er or not)
in a deeply loving and natural way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
know there are those that would disagree with me…but I have found a deep,
wonderful, and lasting peace in my time with Him because I have realized that
He is the King, but I am no peasant, I am His child.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
"I think we would more clearly see His Kingdom from a place closer to His vantage point as His children than from the vantage point of a peasant."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-89024688653612531592012-09-13T11:17:00.000-05:002012-09-13T11:17:03.683-05:00Sideways<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Have you ever been walking along and through some unfortunate turn of events you find yourself flat on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you slipped on some ice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe you tripped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever happened…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…there you are…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…laying flat…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">This doesn’t happen often; at least I hope it doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it does, often our mind scrambles for answer, “How did this happen?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if we know, we ask.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.philiphoffman.ca/images/All_Fall_Down_01-750-q60d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://www.philiphoffman.ca/images/All_Fall_Down_01-750-q60d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes it is less sudden.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it is sickness and we lie there, in bed, longing for a time when we felt better.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes we can get up…sometimes we it takes time…sometimes we can’t get up without help…and sometimes…we can’t get up at all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think in the spiritual sense, I have been sideways recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t really figure out what happened, or how, but I feel like I have found myself on my back and wondering what happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like a person who has suddenly fallen and lies there grasping for an answer, I felt that spiritually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wind knocked out of me, I just kind of lay there taking in this new perspective of what I am seeing and wondering how did this change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of a path in front of me, I see the sun breaking through the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a moment, it feels almost paralyzing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I know I should get up, but think I just kept laying there for a bit trying to get my bearings.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since I am the type of person that likes to figure things out on my own, try as I might, I have found that I can’t get up on my own every time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need some help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I need to get on my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have my part to play, but that doesn’t mean I can do it alone every time.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I don’t like that…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…at all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I had a little help this week with some perspective straightening enlightenment from some well spoken gentlemen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kind of feel like they sat me up, and maybe even stood me back on my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, as my line of sight has changed back from the sky breaking through the trees to the path in front of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have realized that I need help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t do this on my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Even relying on myself alone to walk with God is something I know I need help with…I can’t do it alone.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">For me to be the man I know I am to become I must desperately depend on God.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For me to be the man I know I am to become I must have others who believe in God’s plan for my life to pray with me for clarity and discernment as I walk this path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I fall, they help me up, in fact they pray with me for clarity so that I may not fall in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Intercessors.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I don’t like being sideways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sprawled out on my back and wondering what happened?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What went wrong?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to be there, and mostly, I don’t want to stay there.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How are you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you sideways?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe something knocked you down, or you slipped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How long have you been there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Figuratively speaking, reach your hand out for some help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ask for prayer believing that things can and will change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t stay sideways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t how we were designed to be.</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-35250802494681287792012-09-08T20:26:00.000-05:002012-09-08T20:26:40.343-05:00Grow #1: "Why is God Important to You?"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;">We are going through a series at FUSED called "Grow." This is the first attempt at a follow-up vlog to go along with our lesson. <br />
<br />
Focal Point: For God to be important to us, we must experience Him in a truly loving, truly gracious, truly saving way!<br />
<br />
Scripture: John 3:16-21, Psalm 103:10-12, John 4:1-42<br />
<br />
Challenge; How have you felt His love today (or recently)? How have you experienced His grace today (or recently)? How have you felt His "saving" (a daily God-is changing and growing me) today?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PcZJ-9eBxMc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;">
</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-29155851292787406882012-09-06T10:49:00.000-05:002012-09-06T10:49:38.962-05:00Undesired Handprints<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Have you ever watch concrete set up?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">I mean, not sat there the ENTIRE time it was drying…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">…but I think you know what I mean.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">There is often caution tape draped around it, a few boards making sure it stays in place, and everything is set up in just the right way so the concrete is allowed to set up and become the solid substance it is supposed to become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Then some kid comes by and puts a hand print in it.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dadsupercool.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Handprint-in-concrete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://www.dadsupercool.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Handprint-in-concrete.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Why?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Because they know it will set up with the handprint in it, and they will be immortalized…kind of.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Is the concrete ruined?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not necessarily, it may be able to carry out its function, but there is definitely a difference in what the plan was.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">If our lives are a lot like concrete, and we aren’t quite firmed up yet, what is leaving its mark on our lives?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Some things are good, some are terrible, and some things bring fullness, while others suck the life right out of you.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Does the imprint define you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does it change who you are?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I have found that it seems far easier for many people to let the bad things change them and the good things have little to no lasting imprint on them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We let the terrible things in life ruin us.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Is it even possible to find something good in the bad?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">A lot of times, I tend to run off with how much better my life is as I experience God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is never my intention to come across that I never have any bad times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I hope to communicate is that even in the tough times, there are lessons to be learned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those lessons, I can learn to appreciate so much in my life and rely on a strength beyond my own and in that have a greater and deeper experience with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Crazy, right?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Maybe, but I can tell you that I am who I am because of the impressions that have been made in my life (both good and bad).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has taken those situations as a master potter and shaped and molded my life into something that I consider beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It may seem common to others, but to me, my life is precious because He has shown me that my life is precious to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the tough times, through the hurt, He has shown me that the impressions that I don’t necessarily want don’t ruin me…they shape me… and He can work in that and will as I turn those situations over to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I don’t know what it is that is pressing itself into your life now, I don’t know if it is wanted or not, but I do know you have a choice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Let it rule you for the worst, or let it shape you for the better.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">He wants what is best for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has eternal perspective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows what is best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let Him work through this time, whether it is good or bad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s step back and see what He can do in this.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">You aren’t ruined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is still a lot of life to be lived, too much to let something rule you.</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-43307274025864650262012-08-28T08:27:00.000-05:002012-08-28T08:27:05.587-05:00The Dangers of Familiarity<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</style> <![endif]--> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Recently I have begun amping up my work around the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s right, handyman Adam stories are sure to follow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no major improvements to be done, nothing collapsing or caving, just some paint here or there and some cleaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The funny thing is that it took someone else coming and giving my house a good “once over” for me to even notice some of the things that needed attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Why?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Because, I am there every day and my home is very familiar to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little things that happen over time don’t catch my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see them every day and I lose my attention to details.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">My attention to details.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">This is true of my house, but it made me think and then I crossed my mind again as I was reading today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What other things am I looking past just because they are familiar to me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What details am I missing because they are so familiar to me?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">If I think of my family, I see them every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sadly, as I began to think, there are certainly times of neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like my house, there aren’t any situations that are collapsing or caving, but if I do not pay attention and care for the minor improvements it would certainly seem that a major improvement may be on the horizon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Who really wants there to be a need for a major improvement in our family?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t we want to avoid major breakdowns if at all possible?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly there are some that are out of our control, but many can be avoided by investing some time before things get out of hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">I could go on and on, but the point has been made.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I mentioned this idea crossed my mind as I was reading today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel I have been reeling a bit lately, and it all seemed to culminate with an event this weekend that left me more than unimpressed with myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I decided to go back to some basics and read some material that I often turn to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Once again, the familiar things.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Familiarity isn’t bad as long as we do not lose focus, which is one of my glaring weaknesses.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">One of the materials I was reading was the book of John.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In chapter two of John the well known story of Jesus turning water into wine is recorded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kind of blew through it…why?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Because I knew it.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Something struck me, and it seemed as though I should go back and try it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I went back, I tried to envision the whole event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTy0_KeckYGrK-j5amjJXn_P_dblYrGnkvacEkpTANXdv1q9mOJ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTy0_KeckYGrK-j5amjJXn_P_dblYrGnkvacEkpTANXdv1q9mOJ" /></a> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Water…to wine.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">To me it is so familiar, so known, so …I don’t know…surreal?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">I know it so well that it isn’t real anymore?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I don’t know if that is exactly what I want to communicate, but that story, that true story, has become so familiar that it has lost its miraculous wonderment on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had to stop and rethink how miraculous that actually was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one thing, to see it happen, then to understand what happened molecularly in those huge jugs of water as they turned into wine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I began breaking it down in my mind as He raced with me down the pathway of enlightened understanding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This simple miracle that has become some commonplace to me was, and still is, a phenomenal event that has often gotten lost on me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">So, what has become a little too familiar to you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Family, friends, and the truths that we hold so dear are often times the victims of familiarity and from familiarity, neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, I encourage you to take some time to reassess and think about the people around you … and get unfamiliar with them, rediscover, explore, and truly reunite with them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-58334650860473243382012-06-05T07:11:00.000-05:002012-06-05T07:11:05.145-05:00Superman and Swing Sets<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I don’t know if you have ever had one of those times in life where you think, “When did this happen?”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I had one of those moments last week.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I never worked with my dad on much of anything as a child, but I did take note of those men I did work with as a child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their big hands grabbing a hold of the hay bale when my young arms would fail and my small hands ached under the load.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Memories of using a tool I couldn’t work properly with my small hands and so someone would come and help me use it properly, and even just shaking the hand of an adult and thinking about how big their hands were.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I always hoped someday I would have the “big hands.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was almost as if the strength was represented in those “big hands.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strength that I didn’t have, it represented something more powerful than me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to fantasize what I would do with my big hands if I had them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Someday, would I be the guy with the big hands?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working with a child and they would look at me when they couldn’t work the tool properly, or lift the burden with eyes that told the story of someone who needed help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Big hands held an almost superhero effect to me when I was a child.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/542879_458103857550206_100000517883022_1787477_912286702_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/542879_458103857550206_100000517883022_1787477_912286702_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">The day came.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I was working on putting together a swing set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I have mentioned, I am not much of a handy man, putting together a swing set is a far cry from working in the fields and baling hay, tearing out a motor, or cutting down trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My hands are not very rough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have a few calluses, but nothing very remarkable.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">In fact, there is nothing that remarkable about my hands.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">As I was working on the swing set, my daughter Arianna (two and a half years) came up and wanted to help me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, knowing that her “helping” would slow down my process, I realized this was more about wanting to be with dad than actually helping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was trying to do a few things thinking she was helping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I gave her a ratchet and told her to turn a bolt, and she actually did it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The funny thing was… she knew she was actually doing something.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Her smile showed that she knew she had actually accomplished something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This wasn’t pretend anymore.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">She kept on turning, and turning, until it got a little too tight for her little 2 year old muscles to turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She grunted, trying to turn the bolt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looked up, “(grunt) Daddy help.”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I simply put my hand around her two hands, which were wrapped around the wrench and gave it a couple of turns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“There, that should do it.”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“Thanks dad!”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Then it hit me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have the big hands.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I really began reflecting on what that meant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe this seems relatively elementary to everyone else, but it struck me just how important of a role I really have in Arianna’s life and from that so many of the lives around me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not the child. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Yet another facet in the diamond of life.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I have always thought of myself as rather insignificant, at least that is what I default to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with that is, to at least a few people, I am not insignificant at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I am a “big handed” superhero (if to no one else…my children).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">What am I going to do with that?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">My children will probably grow up with there being at least a short stage in their life where daddy is superman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What am I going to do with that?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">This blows my mind.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">We all have someone looking at us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They may not believe we are superman (or woman), but they do look to us for friendship, guidance, respect, love, grace, direction, hope, strength, and so many other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How are we doing in that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are we doing with this responsibility?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">What will we do when life’s journey gets difficult with the “bolts” or trials and those who need us look to us and say, “help!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will we use the God given abilities that we have to help?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Later on in the set up process of the swing set, I was reading directions (guys, forgive me, I was honestly confused and lost and running out of daylight…so I caved.) and Arianna came up and asked, “What are you doing daddy?”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“I am looking at the directions here.”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“Why?” in typical two year old fashion.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“Because daddy isn’t a super fix it man.”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“Yes you is daddy.”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I am not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will never be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, she believes in me and while I am not going to try to convince her throughout her life that I am “super-big hand- fix it man” I am going to try to take the responsibility of being the “big hand man” to her and love her and lead her into the knowledge that daddy loves her and will be the best superman I can be for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will be the best superman I can be for those who God has placed in my path, realizing that I am not superman…but someone greater than superman leads my path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can, and will, give me the strength to lead those He has placed in my path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is the super power. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am the man that realizes (in a very small way that needs more expansion) that fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Just something I have been thinking about.</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-46905870237613058532012-05-17T12:47:00.000-05:002012-05-17T12:47:49.964-05:00Seal the Deal<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I remember the day clearly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was at a soccer game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two of my nephews were playing on the same team.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Somehow, through a turn of events, both of my nephews were in front of everyone with the ball.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My family and I start cheering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile on the field, both boys begin this strange dance of uncertainty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They begin passing it back and forth, the opposition is closing in, and the window of opportunity is closing fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only thing that stands between them and the goal is an equally tentative goalie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The passing continues, the opposition catches up, the opportunity is lost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">“Just finish it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I tried to encourage them a little bit after the game, telling them something along the lines of “Good job, next time just take the shot, the worst thing that can happen is you may miss, but at least you tried.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all want to see the team win, but when it is your “person” (child, relative, friend, etc) you want to see that killer instinct take over and see them do well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point is to seal the deal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have the power to shoot the ball or let the opportunity pass you by, it is your call.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://yumamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SOCCER_GRAPHIC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://yumamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/SOCCER_GRAPHIC.jpg" width="319" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Finish the job.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I bring this up because I recently was engaged in a conversation with a couple of friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were discussing several matters but had navigated our way to the topic of loving people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A couple of us were on the side of love people, be open and honest with them about everything, but above all let people know they are loved and not an agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another friend agreed with us, but also made the point of saying that they wanted to see more people seal the deal.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">That struck me.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">I was taken back a little by it.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">Seal the deal.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this instance, the intention was that a person be led through what has come to be known as “the sinner’s prayer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a prayer that speaks of the truth of Christ’s sacrifice and victory over death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is nothing wrong with this prayer, but does a person’s eternity, relationship with God, and entire belief system rest on whether they pray this prayer (or maybe just say the words)?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">I don’t think I stand where a lot of evangelical Christians stand on this issue, and I may draw a lot of ire for this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll do my best to express where I stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, I see several times where Christ tells a person that their sins are forgiven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t see Him reciting a prayer with them and then their name is added to a tally sheet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am also not saying that you should not pray with a person if they ask you to because they want to become a believer in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, I have seen frequently that the prayer becomes the ticket in our theology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray the prayer and you are free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: .5in;">It is almost as if “the prayer” has become somewhat of an indulgence.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">There is a dark stain in the history of the Catholic Church called indulgences. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To give a very basic description, if you paid an indulgence, you got partial to full remission for punishment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You paid the price, received a note, and all was well between you and God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, it almost seems as though we have a pray “the prayer” and you get full remission from your sins and get out of hell free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that all it is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it less?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am not even sure “sealing the deal” is about heaven anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am becoming more inclined to believe that salvation is about the Kingdom on earth and making disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What is the deal that we are sealing?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it our job?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does “the prayer” show evidence of belief?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>When Christ forgave sins, wasn’t it based on the peoples’ actions that proved they truly believed and not “the prayer?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Should we give up on the prayer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My point is that I am not sold on the fact that you have to pray the prayer in order to become a believer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">So why is this important?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I believe it is important because it has a pivotal influence on how we approach those who do not believe as we do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, if you feel like you have to pray with someone or they will be lost forever and that is the emphasis of your conversation, everything you do in that conversation is focused in on moving people to that question or that prayer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can feel very invasive and take the importance of the person and more importance on your agenda and motive.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Conversely, if you focus on loving the person and showing them that you truly care for them and are transparent with them when they ask you questions, the focus is on the human being that God created and loves and not on an agenda.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We certainly love to share, but it is not a forced agenda.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Is it even our job?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we trying to shoehorn people into our belief system without loving them enough to show the compassion of the very Christ we are telling them they must believe?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our job is to love people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Spirit’s job is to convict and draw, our job is to be available through the relationships we have built with the one’s He is drawing so when they do want to know more about Him (and they may even want to pray) we are there joining them to their King as we have been joined to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-76732981780145025952012-04-17T22:04:00.003-05:002012-04-17T22:07:40.146-05:00A Prayer<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">God, </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> I don’t really know what to do. Before I go there, let me stop and think of Your majesty. You are the perfect architect with perfect plans that can only be laid out by an all sovereign Creator. While I can’t understand the grandness of all that You are, but it is of great joy that I can rest in those perfect plans that you have drawn up. I find myself often lost in the midst of that thought…that You are THAT big. You are…that…involved. My thoughts dart back and forth from this stressful matter to another task that “must” be done and I barely give you a second thought. So, as I stress about events that You are fully in control of…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…well…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…what runs through Your mind, my sovereign friend?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">I can only imagine as You sit above all things, ruling them, controlling them, and doing so without a fright that You may lose control somehow, that you hear me in the midst of my cries and think, “Oh, how I have longed to draw you close to me child, but you are not willing.” When I think of this, I feel an overwhelming shame…but you don’t want my shame, You already took care of that. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thecreativityqueen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Worried-Girl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://www.thecreativityqueen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Worried-Girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">You want my heart.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Am I willing to give it? Really? Am I willing to give You my heart beyond lip service? Am I willing to actually buy into who You say You are? It is funny, as I stop to hear myself talk, I have already turned this into a conversation about me. Why do I so easily do this? If I really focused on You, wouldn’t the me problems become strangely dim? You are worth my focus. You are more than worth it. Help me to stop looking at myself. Help me to stop seeing trials before I see You, to stop seeing issues, stresses, temptations, situations, mountains, giants, or any other hopeless thing…before I see…You.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Reveal Yourself to me. I beg of You. Let me see You. Let me know You in a way only You can show. Please. I don’t want to rely on what others say about You, I want to experience You. Please. Let Your Word come to life. I pray that your breath would breathe into me. That Your Spirit would intertwine with mine and give it life that would burst within me. I need that. Show me this world as You see it. Reveal to me the Kingdom, and how You would use me in it. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Let me not stumble in the snares I fall easily into. My pride. My selfishness. My many shortcomings that are too great to list. Let me be humble, I know it is what You want. You draw near to the humble, and that is where I want to be. I pray for wisdom. I seem to run by it so quickly. In my rush to the next situation, I seldom stop to seek Your counsel. Let me not resist in turning my everything over to You, rather, let me be receptive to Your plans. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Teach me to rest easily in the plans You have and not be so worried and concerned that I may somehow obstruct the All-Powerful’s plans. Let my hopes rest squarely upon You and show me that they are not mine to force. You have created me, the plans You have for my life, and the journey in which all that would come together before time even began…I should surely be able to rest in that.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">I began my prayer with an issue that weighed heavily on my heart, but after talking with you my Sovereign Friend, and realizing …rather, after Your revealing, my problem is not the problem. My problem is my disjointed focus on the things that You already have well in hand. My problem seems small in comparing it to You, when You are in the right perspective.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Let me follow Your standards, and not the standards which men may try to put upon me. I pray that Your path is the one I follow, not my own, or that of another. I thank You for the past miracles in my life, the places that You have brought me from, the unspeakable amount of grace You have shown. Sadly, I ask for even more as I walk through this life. Maybe not sadly, You have always given it so freely. Thank You for Your grace, my Father. I do not deserve a bit of it. Thank You for everything. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"> Sincerely,</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"> A Prodigal Son</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-78389425897343362622012-04-11T09:18:00.001-05:002012-04-11T09:20:03.955-05:00Choice wins! (...and loses.)<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i>(Today's entry is more of me thinking out loud than anything. I apologize that there is no real finality to the process of thought. My hope is that it will get you thinking as well.)</i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">It seems like it happens almost every day. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“What do you want for dinner?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“I don’t care…whatever you want.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“I don’t care either that is why I asked.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">“I really just don’t care. Whatever is easiest for you.”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">So goes the dance of deciding…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…what shall we eat for dinner?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Choices run through my mind of different things to make. Things I enjoy that others may not, things they enjoy that I do not, what have I made 3 times in the past 2 weeks, and what was that one meal I made that everyone enjoyed last month? Not to mention, what is cheap, but healthy?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Choices are all around us. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Some carry a heavy weight (no, not in a food kind of way), and some are simple (what’s for dinner?). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.torahfromsincity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/choices.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://www.torahfromsincity.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/choices.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> Either way, choice wins. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Something based on what we have available causes us to come to a decision on our choices, and that </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">decision has won our pick or choice. Our choice has won. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Those choices can also lose.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">We can make the wrong decision. Our affections can cause us to make the wrong choice. Even though the choice won our affection, thus winning, it can be the wrong decision, thus losing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Not a big deal if it is meatloaf.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">A huge deal if it is family…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…love…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…belief.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">To muddy the water further, it is actually possible to make the correct choice overall but make some incorrect choices within the main choice. This is where we find luke-warmness, tepidity if you will, in life, love, family, and belief. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">So in review, choice wins our decision. Our decision may be wrong or right. Even if our decision is correct, there can be incorrect decisions made after that, which could be incorrect.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Think of it as a path. You may start off the journey on the path making the right decision to turn right, but then there is another turn, and another, and another. Can we make the correct decision every time? Is there a map? Even with a map, I would surely make a poor decision somewhere along the journey.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">No matter how my mind is made up on the choice I have made, I might be wrong, and certainly, somewhere in the midst of this journey of life, I will be wrong. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Newsflash: This just in, I will mess up in my life.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I will mess up in my marriage…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…my job…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…parenting…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…and even in what I believe.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">What happens when I find out I have made a poor decision?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">What happens when the Chicken Parmesan turns into something more like Chicken jerky?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Usually, you are presented with another choice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">The hope is that there is grace from those that are affected by the decision.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Is there ever a time when…well, there isn’t more time to make a decision?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Therein lays a recent debate…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…and actually…another choice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">If there is always time to make a choice, and sooner or later you will make the right choice…is that really a choice?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I mean, sooner or later you will come to this understanding…it doesn’t feel much like choice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">It kind of feels like even if I resist, I must end up making Spaghetti. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">What would that look like for our beliefs?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">If love wins, is it forced?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">A “you’ll love me or I will make you love me?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Choice wins…and loses.</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-35175225549798847522012-03-21T09:50:00.000-05:002012-03-21T09:50:26.566-05:00Now What?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">I am entering a stage of life where I kind of feel like I need to put up or shut up.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">At least, that is kind of how I feel.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I have a great life.<span> </span>I have a loving family.<span> </span>Beautiful wife, adorable kids, a job that is more than a job to me and the people I work with/for (so to speak) accept me, I have all that I need and enough to have some of the bonus items in life.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Up till this point, I was able to find something else to blame for why things didn’t work out, why I thought things could be better, and carried them out with the attitude of “Well if it were up to me, it would be done better because… .”<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Now, I’ve got nothing.<span> </span>I have no excuses, it is time to be the husband that I swore I would be, the guy that would never treat his wife like the husbands I had seen displayed before me as a child treated their wives.<span> </span>It is time for me to be the dad I promised myself I would be and love my kids unconditionally with a nurturing care that a father should provide.<span> </span>It is time to be the man of integrity when faced with the top of the mountain joys or the bottom of the valley trials.<span> </span>It is time to be the man of God that I have been called to and carry out the things that I always said I would when I faced resistance.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://asiapacific.blogs.ie.edu/files/2011/11/past-present-future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://asiapacific.blogs.ie.edu/files/2011/11/past-present-future.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">I know all of this, I know it is time, I know it is time to man up.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">To be honest, I only have one problem.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">How?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It isn’t about being a person out of spite.<span> </span>I think that has been my motivation for too long.<span> </span>For example, “I will be so much better than so and so, because I refuse to be like them.”<span> </span>The problem is that my good intentions are rooted in an impure motive.<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">How successful can that be?</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I am sure that there can be some success, but will you be a more complete person if you reach that goal…or will you be the same spiteful person but in a different location?<span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Now that I am here, I am finding it hard to sit back and just live here, reside here, and be comfortable here.<span> </span>I have found the book, “Abba’s Child” by Brennan Manning has brought me some great insight to living a life that is… basically… lived.<span> </span>What I mean by that is, focusing on the living of the life and not the struggle to become what you feel will work better, become what others expect you to be, and not letting guilt be the steering wheel in life.<span> </span>The trials and victories that he has faced has forged a deep understanding that he shares in “Abba’s Child” that would do us all some good to read.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">So here I am, recently entering into a new season or stage of life.<span> </span>It is time for me to live this life, and live in a healthy spiritual manner.<span> </span>I kind of feel as though I am in this new place and while it is exciting, it is very foreign.<span> </span>It is kind of like starting a new school or something.<span> There is a lot of mystery and unknowns, but I can't think of a more exciting journey than having God leading me and having a supportive cast that He has placed around me. I hope and pray the same for you.</span></div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-48208291365950944812012-03-15T10:56:00.001-05:002012-03-15T10:58:44.785-05:00Collisions & Caffeine<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">A little over a month ago I was driving to pick up my daughter from the babysitter. I was running a little bit early and knew that the sitter wouldn’t be at her house because she was picking up her children from school. I was at a stop light trying to figure out what I should do to pass the few minutes of time when it hit me…Starbucks! I whipped out my phone to find the closest purveyor of caffeine. I found one on the little map and began the short journey.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">At least, on the map it seemed short.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I drove by the location it was supposed to be and didn’t see it. I circled around, and again didn’t see it. I tried again, and no luck. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Where is this Starbucks?!?!?</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"> I was getting a little frustrated (I know, it is hard to believe) at this point because it wasn’t the easiest road to find a place to turn around and get back on the road easily. I was passing by for my last try and I was sitting at the stop light, stewing a bit. I happened to look over at the oncoming traffic (noticing that not one of them had coffee) when I observed a sudden stop by a truck beside me. No big deal, someone just made a quick stop, the driver of the truck saw it and stopped in plenty of time.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">The car behind him did not.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">There was a small sedan cruising along at a nice clip that somehow missed the stopping of the truck and at the last moment saw that traffic had stop and swerved to miss the truck. Did I mention I was right beside the truck? I look up and see this car coming in my direction, there is no time to do much of anything, except continue to look at the rapidly approaching car. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BewfQbymaiC_5eBrW1JKsAx6IrSlTgfabEIoUt_tUnuU6w8or2HEfPEQ2twBS9dt-QQUga3j4cc1VqpcfhToDN4ESAV2TKe-tA2nm_Yxx5Q91hFkVwEpEkEHBght562p6y27o6jpUxE/s400/7crash2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6BewfQbymaiC_5eBrW1JKsAx6IrSlTgfabEIoUt_tUnuU6w8or2HEfPEQ2twBS9dt-QQUga3j4cc1VqpcfhToDN4ESAV2TKe-tA2nm_Yxx5Q91hFkVwEpEkEHBght562p6y27o6jpUxE/s320/7crash2.jpg" width="304" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">WHAM!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Somehow, the speeding car catches the back bumper of the truck. The truck has minor damage, somehow the car looks like it ran into a wall, and the truck wasn’t even a Chevy (like a rock and all, you know.) Random scraps spray into the air and pelt my little, old car. I am unscathed, shaken a bit, but all was well.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">However, I didn’t really care about Starbucks anymore.</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">I have coffee at home, after all.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">There are a lot of things that go on in life, and for me, I always want to look for the next big thing that God wants to do. I want to be a part of it, I want to be involved, and if I am honest…I want to be the guy that God chooses to lead it. So I search with hunger and a near one track mind to see where it is and what it is. Meanwhile, people are having accidents all around me and their lives are being filled with various trials and struggles. Their lives are slamming into each other and there are pieces of their life that spatter my life. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Do I just drive away, thankful that I am unscathed by their tragedy? Their trials? Their “stuff?”</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Many times I think Christians (generally speaking) are so worked up about being with other believers, protecting the church, assimilating people into people like us, and searching for “Heaven on earth” that we forget that there is life going on all around us. It isn’t that these things are bad, or shouldn’t be a priority in our life…but do we have the attitude…</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">“To Hell with you I am looking for Heaven?”</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I am not suggesting it is intentional. I am not suggesting we give up looking for God in the ways I listed above. I am just suggesting that we look for ways to care, love, and show grace to others intentionally. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">Here is what I think happens when we do…</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">The search for “Starbucks”, that is, the thing we think we want from God, or the thing we think He should want for us, takes a back seat. The things that matter to God (people, the lost “sheep”, the poor, prisoner, blind, oppressed) become more real to us, and they begin to matter more to us than the search. In that we end up finding the thing we were searching for. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">God will reveal His plans to us, and His revealing is not based on how hard we search...but how zealously we truly and actively care about the things that matter to Him. The Pharisee's were very knowledgeable of God's Word, but they had no love or compassion. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I was looking for Starbucks, not a car accident. Are we looking for Heaven and avoiding (intentionally or not) the very people that we are to be loving on and representing Heaven to? As we love the ones we are sent to, especially in the times of their collisions, Heaven reveals itself. God opens our eyes and shows us the very thing we were searching for. We were just searching for it in the wrong place. </div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Thank You for Your grace.</div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-78274215996638739062012-03-07T10:56:00.000-05:002012-03-07T10:56:41.527-05:00Buried Life has gotten quite busy for us recently. Our home has become a proverbial race track. Up in the morning, moving kids around, getting to work, working, coming home, making dinner, going to dance class or back to work, taking care of the normal house things, and the unforeseen matters. For example, last night I went to do something very routine on my car…<br />
<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">...it took two hours…<br />
<br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">…confirming that I am NOT (nor ever will be) a mechanic.<br />
<br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">If I told you I was not frustrated last night, would you believe me?<br />
<br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">Neither would I.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">It is a season in life. I am ok with that, but I have felt that I was in a dry season spiritually. I understand that it is ok to have dry seasons in life. However, I had to wonder, when was it going to end? I found myself with some small pockets of free time here and there. When I found these pockets, all I wanted to do was to be a vegetable and relax. The problem is that I was feeling a longing, not guilt, but a longing to be in a place similar to where I was when I had some of my closer times with God.<br />
<br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">I don’t want to go back to those times, but I want to be close again, but how do I do it when I am buried?<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> I began to search my schedule. I began trying to line up my priorities of God and family with what I was doing. Does the direction I am heading line up with the destination I am hoping for of being close to God, being a good husband, and being a good father (and numerous other things). From doing this I realized that things cannot remain this way forever. I understand that it is just a season, but I want to move forward, realizing that there will be bumps and hiccups due to the matters taking place in this season because I don’t want to set unachievable goals. Unachievable goals just frustrate me and make me less likely to continue and therefore, finish.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> I started praying. In all honesty, it wasn’t a lot. It wasn’t some sit down, hour’s long, weeping, kneeling, and pensive prayer time. It was every time I thought about it. I was troubled about it (more than I probably should have been because I over think things). It came to me, I believe spoken to me, that there was a story in the Scripture that related to this.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://briancromer.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/dirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://briancromer.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/dirt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"> In Matthew 25 there is a story of a wealthy man that gave bags of gold (talents) to some of his workers. Those who were the good workers took what was given them and made more. One of the workers buried the money and used the excuse that he was afraid to do much else with it because he didn’t want to lose the wealthy man’s money.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> The story speaks of the sod of the earth as the thing that buries the gold, I began to wonder what is it that I allow to bury me in this life. What are the meaningless things, in the midst of the important things, that I allow to cover me over and not be useful? In some cases we will be busy with very important things. I wanted to be sure to address that possibility. In my case, in the midst of the important things, God began to reveal some things that I had in my schedule that had a higher priority than necessary.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> This is not an exact science, it is a journey and one that we should try our best to enjoy. This journey is a gift. It is the treasure that God has given me to care for. I don’t want to bury it in dirt, or any other worthless thing. I want to invest it in things that will bring glory to God, show His love to my family, my friends, and really anyone I come in contact with. My Intentions may be great, but is the way I am living my life pointing me in the direction of that goal? Or do I continue to intend to do well, but nothing about my life changes.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Once again, this is not an exact science. However, it is an important matter (that I have found personally) if we want to be the people that accomplish the life that God has set for us. If we want to be the best parent we can, the best spouse, the disciple, the friend, co-worker or whatever.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Don’t get buried. Your life is a treasure and should be lived as such. Let the things of less worth go and chase after the important things that will add to this treasure that has been entrusted to your care. </div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2563294063694495684.post-16545144232766066892012-02-20T13:33:00.000-05:002012-02-20T13:33:08.554-05:00Story: Restored Connection (pt7)<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span>(What you are about to read is a selection from a retreat I spoke about a year ago. It is a continuation from <a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2011/12/story-dawn-of-creation-pt-1.html">Part 1 (The Dawn of Creation)</a>, <a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-separation-pt2.html">Part 2 (The Separation) </a>, <a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-desperation-pt3.html">Part 3 (The Desperation)</a>, <a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-plan-pt4.html">Part 4 (The Ability to Connect)</a>, <span> </span><a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-reconnect-pt5.html">Part 5 (The Reconnect)</a>, and <a href="http://acharpman.blogspot.com/2012/01/story-deeper-connection-pt6.html">Part 6 (the Deeper Connection)</a>. It is based on the discussion of our connection with God and comes from </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Galatians 5</span><span>)</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">This connection comes from our understanding our brokenness, understanding the crisis that we come to without God’s Spirit working in us. Seeking a trip to Heaven as the total Christian experience is shallow and ineffective. It is unfulfilling, unfruitful, and disheartening. There is no power in a Christian life that has no connection. When we come to a place of understanding how ineffective it is for us to try to live this Christian life on our own abilities, the better. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">However, what does a life look like that is connected, a life that understands…truly understands, God is doing the work through us? This is where we see the power, the change, and the true connection. This is where we see victory; this is where we find the beauty in God’s plan because He reveals it to us. He reveals it to us, because we understand He must do it. This is where we begin to learn and see how powerful trusting God is, this is the place where we see faith come alive and realize there is so much depth to what faith is. This is where we see a glimpse of the life that God wants for us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">This connected lifestyle is where we feel the presence of God surrounding us, and even though we go through tough times, we truly feel that He is there; because He is, but now we experience it. This is the place where your relationship with God is not just positional but experiential, this is the place where you don’t just call yourself a Christian, you are living with God living through you…you experience Him in your life. With this is great power.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Imagine approximately one hundred and twenty people experiencing this power, which is the number of followers Christ left behind, and from that the world has known of Christ for centuries. What could He do with thirty people in our area? I don’t want to become cliché, but what if thirty peoples heart broke for what breaks God’s heart? They banded together to be the change? What would that look like? What if we lived our life as a sermon to those around us, not by the neat ideas we could come up with but we lived our lives connected to God’s Spirit and let Him live the life through us? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">What would a group believers look like that came together realizing, I mean really realizing, that if God wanted to, He could change the world through them. Do you believe that? The world? Nothing is impossible with God. What if we were hungry for that? I imagine, a group of students that had this hungry, God led desire, could do so much damage to mediocrity and all that the enemy tries to attack us with that we would see lives changed by the hundreds, dare I say thousands? Millions? Who knows, but do we really believe that God, through a connected life could do that?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I have resolved to do continually work towards this connection. I believe God can take me, and all my mess, and blow my mind as I continually seek to be connected and live my life given to Him. I believe that is what he wants from you. I believe He wants to be connected to you, work through you, for His glory. I believe He would love to blow your mind with all that he has planned for you. I believe He wants you to not live your Christian life by the pre-conceived notions, but He wants you to allow Him to live His life through you. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
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</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">I believe In God’s power, and I believe in God’s power through you.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">When the connection that God intended to have with mankind is restored in a person’s life, look out, because there is no telling what God might do through them.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">That, my friend is so exciting…I don’t have human words for it.</span></div>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14285421516395674775noreply@blogger.com0