Overwhelmed!

Has the Spirit ever done that to you? Has He sent you thoughts in such a rush that you can't help but feel humbled and overjoyed? Well that's happened to me just now so sit back because this may take a while.

This all started hitting me a little while ago as I was getting ready for bed. I've prayed with my wife so that she can go to sleep because I don't know where this is going. It started with the thought of being blessed and verbalizing that when I greet people. In Texas we don't just say "Hi"; we ask, "How are you?" So I was visualizing myself answering, "I'm blessed" and the reactions that I might get.

From there, I became overwhelmed with thankfulness and joy for all that God has done in my life. From the time I accepted Christ, about 5 years ago, I've lived a whirlwind of existence. He's healed me of depression, made my relationship with my ex-wife friendly and cordial, my children have accepted Christ as their Savior, I've developed great friendships, I've married the most awesome woman in the world (you might argue but I've got a great case), I've had financial blessings, I have a great mentor, and the list goes on and on.

God's Word is so awesome. I haven't even managed to read all of it yet and I still believe that every word is true. He tells us to not worry because He knows what we need (Matthew 6: 25-34.) Yep, I've seen that come to pass. Good job, plenty of food (I've got the gut to prove it), great friends, a loving wife, etc....

He tell us in Romans 8:28 that He works all things for the good for all who are called according to His purpose. Check! I accepted Christ; He healed my depression, He uses me as a small group leader, He took away my anger, He renewed my relationship with my children (they've both accepted Christ). He used the sin of my divorce to humble me so that I could use that pain to speak into the lives of others headed down the same path.

His word tells us to make disciples of all nations. This means that we are to tell others about Christ. This is a difficult one for me. I have a struggle verbalizing my faith unless someone asks me directly. Recently, however, I was convicted of the need to verbalize my faith by an atheist when he said, "How much do you have to hate a person to not tell them about eternal life if you really believe it to be true?"

I was convicted by this in such a way that I schedule lunch with a friend to tell him that I know the way and I wanted to share that with him. It was difficult, but I did it and God did His part. This is how it went down:

I'd been inviting my friend to the men's conference held at my church this past weekend (Jan. 23-24) for a couple of weeks. I shared Christ with him on the 16th and invited him and his family to church that weekend - they didn't show. I persisted about the men's conference and he didn't go - he went on a date with his wife. Her therapist had told her that day (Jan. 23) that she needed to find her faith and my friend told her that they would be attending church that weekend. They showed up (the pastor spoke on PorNo of all things.)

Now you might believe in coincidence, but I don't. I witness to my friend and then his wife is told that she needs to find her faith and then they show up to church. God works for the good in all things.... Oh yeah; and I've been praying for them for years. God is good!

So, all of these thoughts started because I feel so blessed. I am blessed - beyond measure. I think God just really wanted me to get that tonight.

We serve and mighty and awesome God. He keeps stretching me and every time I follow through He comes through with His part. He doesn't need us to do what we can do in our own power - that stuff gets done. He needs us to get outside of ourselves so that we step out so far that the only way things will work out is if He shows up. What an awesome and humbling place to be. Believe me the stretching isn't fun but it's well worth the effort. God never said that living for Him would be easy - only worth it.

Well, I'm sure that this came out as jumbled as it came into my head. I hope that it speaks to you. I'm just overwhelmed with how great God is and I had to get it out.

Live for Him and enjoy the ride...

Someone is always watching (and listening)

If you've ever wondered if people are paying attention to you, here is a great example.

This is a guy who was just a complaint waiting to happen. It could have been Bay Area Fellowship just as easily as it was Lifechurch.tv. Sure the lady could have been more courteous, and no he wasn't fair in condemning the church (or Christianity) based on one person's actions, but this is why we have to be aware of our actions and our words at all times.

Someone put it to me this way once; "Does your driving speak louder than the fish (ictharus)stuck on the back of your car?"

It's not that we won't fail. We know we will; but do our lives reflect, during the week, the person that everyone sees at church on Sunday?

Enjoy the ride...

Hey, church people!!!

Do you have a sense of humor?? I hope so because this is funny. Check out this link.


By the way, if you don't have a sense of humor I don't want to hear about it. In the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy, "That's funny! I don't care who you are, that's funny!"

Enjoy the ride.

New discovery!

I've discovered that, even if I stop watching TV, there is still plenty of stuff to occupy my time. Amazing! I just knew that I would have more hours in the day.

We purchased an antique table last year around April. I've been working to refinish it ever since. Until 2 weeks ago I'd only finished the 2 leaves and now it's practically done. I only have to finish the table top. Who knows how long ago I might have finished it if I'd cut the TV out sooner.

I've also kept up with reading my Bible daily. Nothing has really jumped off of the page like the verse did last week but I'm still in His Word and that's a good thing.

How about this discovery: I don't get nearly as annoyed with my kids when there is no TV for them to interrupt. Wow!!

Here's another one that is great. When we (the parent's) cut back on TV the kids seem to do the same thing. My kids spend most of this past Saturday outside because I was in the garage working on the table. The two oldest help with the table until that got boring and the neighbor's cat caught their attention.

So far the no TV thing has been great and I don't expect that to change. If you feel like you spend to much time in front of the tube, give it up for a couple of weeks and see what you think. I think that you'll find it to be a great decision, too.

Enjoy the ride...

Jiu jitsu

Brazilian jiu jitsu to be exact. (My wife calls it who-hits-who.) Yep, I'm 40 and I've taken up martial arts. What was I thinking??

Actually, I know exactly what I'm thinking and I'm having a blast. I took up kickboxing for fitness a few months ago. I wanted something new and lifting weights and riding my bike just weren't doing it for me. I needed something more active.

The kickboxing is great. It's far from monotonous and working out is fun again but, I've always wanted to learn a martial art and jiu jitsu looked like fun.

It's a blast! You remember wrestling with your friends when you were a kid? This is the similar but you learn techniques for submitting your opponent. Arm and leg bars, choke holds, etc... Top that off with the fact that it provides a great workout. There are times when my ribs don't seem to expand enough for me to get the air I need into my lungs.

So, yep, I'm 40 and I'm having fun wrestling with other grown men. It's just another adventure in life. One that I've passed up for years and now I'm really enjoying it.

Have you ever wanted to try something new? Today's the day - go do it.

You might as well enjoy the ride.

Dedicating the kids...

It's amazing how quickly the Lord starts speaking to me when I start spending some time with Him and studying His Word. I accepted a challenge to read through the Bible this year, and the day after I started He showed me the scripture that I wrote about in my last post. I know that, depending on where my heart is, I won't see or hear things that clearly each day this year. What I do know is, if I continue on this path, I will hear more from Him this year than probably any other year in the past.

Today was another example; the Lord was really working on my heart regarding my kids. I felt Him telling me that I should dedicate them to Him. As much as they may get on our nerves, our children are a gift from God and should be raised to glorify His name. What better way is there to love our children than to place God first in our lives and let Him show us how to love our kids. With God in His proper place in our lives, He will overwhelm us with His love and that will flow out of us to our children and everyone else around us.

So tonight, when we pray together at bedtime, we will dedicate our children to our God. In doing so, we will also rededicate ourselves to raising them in such as way as to honor and glorify His name. This is a win/win situation if there ever was one - for the kids and for us - and God receives His glory.

Enjoy the ride...

The "eye's" have it!

Isn't God's Word amazing! It will speak to you in new ways each time you read it. God is so good.

I was challenged a few days ago by the Director of Bay Area Fellowship's Men's ministry (MoB - Men Of Bay Area) to join with him in reading through the Bible in one year. I accepted that challenge and God showed me something new today. The thing is, I've read this before, but today it really jumped off of the page at me. It's from Matthew 6:22-23a; Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.

This scripture is from Jesus' sermon on the mount when he's preaching about money. It's buried within that section between Jesus telling us that we shouldn't store up treasures here on earth and that we can't serve two masters.

But why is He talking about our eyes within this section on money? Is He addressing envy? I'm not sure. Whenever God's Word speaks about our eyes, in the context of what we see, as a man I tend to think it's addressing lust. If that's the case, this scripture would really seem out of place. Or would it? Jesus knew that the love of money leads to all sorts of problems.

I think the point may be that our eyes can lead us in all sorts of dangerous directions and if we love money more than Him then we're much more likely to follow our eyes wherever they may lead.

So maybe that scripture is speaking about lust to me and envy to the next guy. Maybe it's speaking to the person with "stuffitis." Whichever it is for you, and it could be many more issues that I haven't listed, I encourage you to guard your eyes and guard your heart.

I'll give you another scripture to bring it all home for you. I'm sure you've heard part of the second verse before - it comes from 1 Timothy 6:9-10; But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

God's word is so good. I hope this speaks to you in some way.

Enjoy the ride...

No TV???

This just might be more difficult than I thought. It's Jan. 3 and a Saturday. I was gone most of the morning and when I got home for lunch I was exhausted. I just wanted to eat my lunch and sit in my chair and relax. Problem! My daughter wanted to watch TV. Sure I could have said no, but her brother and sister were with their Mom, so she was alone, and I didn't have the heart to send her to the other room. Sure, I could have gone to the other room but I'd been working outside so I didn't want to lay in my bed and the floor is just too hard.

Anyway, this is going to be tough. When you cut out something that takes up so much of your time it can be difficult to find things to fill that time. Plus, if the kids are watching TV then I have to be elsewhere. I don't multi-task well, so I can't sit in front of the TV and do anything else but watch it.

This is definitely a work in progress. I'll get it figured out. I have some projects that need some attention.

I had a bad day with the weight loss thing, also. I exercised but didn't do so hot with my meals. Sausage kolaches for breakfast and a burger for lunch (homemade, so less greasy) and a grilled chicken salad for dinner.

Obviously, it's all a work in progress so I'll keep posting to let you know how things are going for me.

The "Doing life together" post is still in the works. The words weren't coming today. I'll post it when it all comes together.

Enjoy the ride.

New Year, new goals

First of all, I'm not a goal setter. Never have been. At least not in the sense of writing them down and checking them off as I accomplish them. I know, for some of you, this is a big stinking deal. Sorry, it's just not something that I was ever educated about. I was well into my 20s before I ever heard the concept of writing down goals and it has just not stuck with me.

So with that said, I'm going to be posting these few simple goals for all the world to see. Hopefully, this will provide me with some accountability. So here they are in no particular order:

1. Read through the Bible this year. (The director of the men's ministry at my church challenged me on this one so it's not my idea.)

2. No TV (with minor allowances for Extreme Home Makeover, family movie nights, and UFC fights - not the reality show; so I'll get 1 hour a week with occasional bursts to 4 hours.) This is a big deal for me - I've wasted a lot of time in front of the TV. This should free up plenty of time for #1.

3. Drop my weight to 200 - 210 and maintain it in that range. I remember how good I felt at that weight. And at 40, with cholesterol issues, I need to make some changes. (Any help with a diet plan would be appreciated, if it includes burgers that's a plus.)

4. Regular blog updates of day-to-day happenings in my life and on these goals. I should have plenty of time since I'm cutting out (mostly) TV.

God bless all of you. I hope that you had a safe and happy Christmas and New Year.

Next post: Doing life together. I started it on 12/2 and I think that I should finish it.

Enjoy the ride...