When you are searching for direction, scared, or in need of peace pray this…

My Lord God

I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think I am following

your will does not mean

that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that my desire to please you

does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire

in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything

apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this

you will lead me by the right road

though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always

though I may seem to be lost

and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear,

for you are ever with me,

and you will never leave me

to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

So you think you can breakdance

I thought I was hot stuff in the 80’s breakdancing.

But I was nothing compared to the guy in the orange shirt.

Check this video!

great quote

Man is not disturbed by events, but by the view he takes of them.
- Epictetus A.D. 55-135

snow day

Here in the South snow, for most of us, is a BIG deal!

But I’ve noticed something, snow does effects people differently.

My son, Nole, loves snow days, going outside sledding, snowmen, etc…

My wife she stays inside all day, getting cabin fever.

I like the snow too.  It’s a great time to relax and spend time with the family.

How do you spend your snow day?

when crap hits the fan

Don’t ask me why, but it seems like I grow the most when the crap hits the fan.  It’s as if God allows my so called perfect little life, what I feel comfortable in, to get all mix up.  At times, I feel like God throws me in a blender along with all my comforts and just turns it on high.  Allowing everything I know to get disturbed and disrupted!  I believe He does this so that we turn our eyes back on Him.

I guess you could call me a carrier Christian.  I’ve been a Christian since I was seven. I became a serious Christ follower in my early twenties, and have been in some form of ministry my whole adult life.  And on occasion the crap of life gets so high in my life that it hits the fan and it’s at that moment God grabs my attention and says WAKE UP FOOL, your going the wrong way in life!

As crazy as it sounds you just got to let go and say OK God what next?  No doubt it’s scary as h*!! to let go of all that is safe and secure, but I realized something over the past couple of days, when did God in His word ever say a Christians life would be safe and secure?  He didn’t.

So here I am with no clear-cut direction from God on what’s next for my family and I, we wait…

Scared? Yes!  Confused? Yes! Wanting all the answers now? Yes!

But God has my attention for a reason. I guess the least I can do is be still and listen to what my Lord has to say.

when does revival happen?

When we:

Let go of control

Lie in Gods hand

Lay our souls bare

These past couple of days I had to do these things to allow God to do a work in me.

It is my prayer that you do the same right now.

Let’s be real with God for a moment.

Let’s allow authenticity in our life.

Let’s rekindle our hearts with God’s desires.

Making good on a promise

Like most parents I say to my children “that’s nice dear”, “yes I’ll do that”, or “wow, that’s really neat.”  I say these things not really giving them much thought, because to tell you the truth my mind is on something else – something that I deem as more important than listing to my kids.

From time to time, just answering your kid without any real thought to what you just said will come back and bit the parent.  Two weeks ago my boys asked if we could all camp downstairs in the den by the fireplace, like a campout.  I told them not tonight but maybe next time Nathan comes we can.  Well it’s two weeks later, Nathan’s here and Nole, my youngest, said “tonight we get to camp out in the den.”  Man, I was hoping they would have forgotten about that promise.  I can fee the back pain already that I know I will have if I follow through with this.  An hour or so goes by and Nathan, the oldest, says “dad. I can’t wait until we camp out tonight.”  So guess what.  I’m camping out tonight.

My sons have shown me a valuable lesson. Even though I have broken countless promises to them, they still believe with everything in them that I will be with them tonight in the den for this amazing campout.  This has some major spiritual implications to me, too many to begin to name.

This brings me to this question, can I have the same trust in my Savior, as my two boys have in me?  I believe that I can.

placing your chips on one bet

In the fifteen minutes that it will take me to right this blog and post it, I will be fifteen minutes closer to death.

It’s an unpleasant fact that we are all going to die.

However, as a Christian we have hope in a new kingdom and new earth.

As Christians, we have put all our chips on that bet.

Some will live to 100.

But most of won’t.

We all have an expiration date.

When we go to church, partake in communion, or go to small groups, we are saying I’m still in.

My chips are on God.

Yet many don’t take this seriously.

We get lazy and don’t go to church.

We don’t do fellowship with other believers.

In a sense, we think God will hold our bets until we are ready to cash them in.

However, it doesn’t work that way, God is rolling the dice.

And when our number comes up, it’s over.

Therefore, for me I want to live a pleasing life to the Lord.

I want to hear “well done good and faithful servant.”

Will God let me in if I don’t go to church or do the things that please Him, probably so, because I’ve accepted His Son as me Savior.

But I want to be pleasing to Him.

Pleasing Him is the least I can do when I am placing all of my chips on Him!

back in the day

Today on my way home from work I heard a song that took me “back in the day.”  It was “It must have been love” by the great Swedish band Roxette.  My Sirius Radio said it was a hit in 1990.  However, to me it seemed liked yesterday I was roller-skating to the song.  So here I am twenty years later in my truck with Nole, my seven-year-old saying, “that song sounds so old”. Way to go Nole make your dad few like an old man!  I love “back in the day” songs.

What song puts you back in the day?  Better yet how has someone made you feel old?

Did God take the week off

This week I have felt a lot of uncertainty in my life.

I have been seeking clarity.

I have been seeking wisdom.

I have been wondering if God took the week off.

Is He listing to my prayers?

If so why haven’t they been answered yet?

Then a friend told me to read Matthew 7:7.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

After reading this I realized something God says ask, seek, and knock.

And He will give me what I ask of.

He will help me find what I’m looking for.

All I have to do is knock on God’s door and He will be on the other side ready to help me any way possible.

I am reminded God’s timing is not on my schedule.

He knows best.

And if it were up to me I’d probably screw things up even more.

So God I’ll wait on you!