Passion...

How do you define Passion? What visions do you have when you think about passion? What emotions surface? How does your thought process change? Does your personality change when you are doing what you are passionate about? What do you have passion for? How many things can you be passionate about?

For me when I am doing something I am passionate about I lose track of time. I feel so much energy and excitement. I honestly feel like a kid...

What if we all lived out of our passion? I mean think about it... How much enjoyment would you have? How much happier would you be? I know I would need less sleep... lol!

Now passion... I am passionate about the Bengals... Very passionate! I will now start spending hours reading, listening and watching the Bengals. I love them! I am not agreeing with all the recent trouble some of them have found themselves in, I am just passionate about them. I always have been.

I say this for two reasons... One because they reported to training camp today ;o) and two because this isn't the passion I am talking about living our lives for... See God has created us to be passionate about HIM. We are created that way! We all have a passion for God, yet we are all created to be passionate about different parts and/or aspects of God.

Do you know what that is for you? What are you passionate about for God? Think about it... For me it is the learning. I know it sounds weird, but hear me out... I am passionate about learning about God. I want to spend the rest of my life learning about God and his character. When I am doing that I lose track of time and my energy level is through the roof. I find joy and excitement about learning something that may be so small about God and the Bible that it challenges my thought process and my behaviour. It is amazing...

My passion for God's character not only gives me energy and transforms me, but gives me a desire to tell others. I want to teach people the truth of God so that they will know how much God loves them. HE does love you! I watched this video the other day that made this point that I will say as much as I can, it said "We didn't' chose God... God chose us". Wow! That is an insight to God's character that gives me energy and brings excitement. It challenges the way I think and my behaviour. Does it yours?

God I pray that you continue to add to my wisdom about you, not for mere knowledge but for your good. I pray that you continue to open doors for me to share your love with others so that they too can see how much they are loved. God thanks for choosing us and personally me.... Amen.

Fruit...

I prefer fruit over vegetables... Sadly I think mostly because of the color. I mean vegetables don't look nearly as appealing as fruit. Are all vegetables green? No I guess corn is yellow... I like corn...

I have this scripture in the Bible that I continually think about. I honestly find myself wondering if God keeps this close to my heart because it is suppose to be my life calling. This could sound weird if your not a follower of Christ, but if you are... Well it is both exciting and scary. Exciting to think that you know what you were created for, but scary because of the call...

There is this part in the Bible where Jesus curses a tree and I can't help but wonder what the disciples (his followers) were thinking. I would be saying "did you see that?" Think about that. Your walking along a path and Jesus curses a tree and kills it. Wow!

You know why he cursed it? Because it didn't have any fruit. None! The tree looked healthy yet didn't bear ANY fruit. Not one apple... How many people are this tree? How many people look strong and healthy, but bear no fruit. It's like their lives are a lie and they have this persona that they want people to see, yet when you get close to them you see they don't have any fruit.

Nope not my calling....

There is this other part of the Bible that talks about the fruit of the Spirit. (Yes it is) This part of the Bible is talking about what happens when the Spirit (God) enters our life, that they will know we are followers by the fruit we produce. Interesting isn't it? God cursed the tree that produced NO fruit and God's spirit produces fruit.

Here is where I think my calling is. Not to produce fruit, but provide people with water so keep the tree healthy. See no matter what I do I can't grow the fruit, nor can I curse it. However I can water the tree to keep it alive long enough for people to allow their roots to get deep in the soil (Accepting God) so that God's Spirit will start producing fruit.

This fruit that the Bible talks about is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. That my friend is a healthy tree...

You know my favorite part of this fruit bearing tree that is discussed here? It never tells you how much fruit. It doesn't give us this amount that we will receive. I can't shake that idea... I continually find myself thinking about this.... This is my calling. To see the fruit they do have!

See we don't know where the tree has come from, we don't know if this tree (person) is coming back from a drought that should have killed it. We need to be looking for fruit. Whether it is one apple or a bushel...

God I pray that you continue to have me wrestle with this idea of fruit. I pray that you continue to bring this idea to me and continue to call me out. Help me look for fruit where people are just walking by. God I want to see the fruit you have given people and help them see what you have for them, so that they can produce more... Amen.

Shanks...

I know an interesting title. What comes to mind when you hear that? My guess in a certain movie....

Well shanks are bad and very frustrating. Shanks lead to loss of confidence, fear and loss of joy. OK so some of you know what I am talking about and others are lost, which ironically could fit into what else the shanks lead too...

I went golfing today and caught the shanks... Yes caught them! Have you ever seen Tin cup? If you haven't you need to watch it and it reveals what the shanks are, it explains how all the sudden you have the shanks.

The last time I had them was I think 4 years ago. They are embarrassing, they don't make sense and for that period of time while you are stuck on the course you want to scream and just get to a range and hit buckets of balls, because while you have them they take you over. You have no idea what is going on and you just want to hit your driver on every shot.

So what does this have to do with trying to become a man of integrity. Well if I'm honest not much, lol! I am just frustrated... And I try to carry myself with Integrity, but also do it authentically and there is the challenge. It is hard to make a conscience effort to carry yourself with integrity so that you know what strainer or grid you run your decisions through, but do it in a way that is authentic. Meaning in such a way that people see your effort and know that it isn't a show, it isn't this false person you are trying to get people to see, that you are who they see.

Which brings be back to the shanks... As I was shanking most shots I had decisions to make as to how I would react with each shank, how would I verbalize it and how would I approach the next shot or better yet shank. I chose the don't take myself too seriously route...

Because honestly I don't. I think it is a waste of time to think I am more important than I really am, now that doesn't mean I think I am a nobody either. I just think it is important to keep perspective. OK enough of that... Where was I? Oh yeah... As the shanks added up the more frustration set in to the point I was afraid to swing club, but of course that isn't an option so I made the decision to trust my experience and swing... Do you know what the results were? That's right a great shot, no not really more shanks... So I continued to let people know as I approached each shot to stay to my left because I didn't want to hit them, lol!

As I sit here a type this I still feel the disappointment and frustration over a round of golf, mostly because I know what I am capable of. So here comes the questions....

How do handle situations when things don't go as you hoped? How about when your performance is way below your capabilities? Have you ever taken yourself too seriously and overreacted over something just because it wasn't your day? Do you think about how you carry yourself? I could go on and on... So what is the point?

The point is whether you want to believe it or not... People are watching. I am not saying you should worry what everyone thinks, I am saying you should care how you carry yourself. See there is a difference. I don't care what people think, but I care if I don't carry myself in a way that shows God's character. Now being human I will fail more times than not and even when I carry myself well it doesn't do God justice. But what I hope is that as I continue to be purposeful in about my actions I can reveal some of God, not to bottle up my emotions but to show my emotions authentically with integrity so that it is for God's glory and not my pride.

God I pray that as the shanks of life continue to come that you help me with my actions, my thoughts, my words and my life... Amen.

Spoiled

It's funny how spoiled we are. For example, our air conditioner has been giving us fits off and on this summer and last night it stopped. So we slept with the windows open and the ceiling fan on high and the whole time we complained about how this seems to happen on the hottest day or hottest night of the year. Now Irony (I will have to post about that word, it is one of my favorite words) here is the day before my wife and I talked about how blessed and lucky we are to have the life we have, yet last night we were complaining about not having air.

It is so easy to lose sight of what is important in life. Have you ever found your thoughts drifting to things you "think" you need? Things you don't have? Things you wish you could do, whether it's a talent, vacation or maybe it is how you wish you looked? I think it is a natural part of who we are as people to want, to have desires or to change aspects of our lives. However, we are spoiled.

I often wonder how much happier I would be as a person if I would look and think about all the things I have in life instead of what I don't have. I would love to be able to start thinking of all the things, all the talents, all the stuff I have instead what I think I am missing. Imagine if we could watch a commercial or walk in a mall and when we see something we want we think about what we have.

Spoiled... How do you define it? What does that word mean to you? What comes to mind? For me the first thing I think about is my youngest daughter, who is 3. I think this is common to think about a toddler whining when we think of "spoiled". But when you put things in perspective we are all spoiled...

We our not just the riches country in the world we (most Americans) are the riches people in the world. Individually you and me are rich in world standards. Most of us do not think about where our next meal is coming from, most of us aren't going to die of disease because of the water we drink. As a matter of fact most of us throw away enough food to feed a family, now that is perspective.

It also speaks volumes to how spoiled we are... We are spoiled enough to be rich by world standard, yet most of us think about what we don't have...

God I pray that your Grace continues to shape my life. I pray that I start to remind myself, I start to think about all that I have when everything else tells me to think about what I should have... Amen.

Long Time Coming...

Man it has been almost a year since my last post. It is amazing how fast time goes...



Well much has changed and much has stayed the same. Well I am about to turn 32, I have about 25 pounds heavier, my little girls are growing much too fast, I have a different job, I built a house and was unable to move into it, I am much more involved in a newly planted Church than I would have guessed, I have made some great friends and for the sake of time I will stop there.



I will also complete School in the fall and I am both excited and depressed. It has been more challenging than I would have guessed, but I have learned so much about God and his word and it has really made me even more hungry to learn than ever before. I can honestly say that I find myself at a point that when I learn something new about the Bible it transcends to many parts of the Bible and my life. My Theology seems to change with every new lesson learned...



OK now down to what this post is really about...



I like to start with questions that help me process my thoughts, so here we go...



Have you ever met someone who makes you think about things in a different light? Or someone how challenges you to figure out where you stand on an issue? What about someone who forces you to to sit and contemplate something? Well during my walk with God I had someone who really did this very well and this person I owe so much too because without him I would not be where I am today and I would not be the man I am today....



Well recently I met someone a lot like the person I just described, the personalities are completely different, but the results are the same. This individual is very bright, passionate about God, very hungry for God and the past few months I have had the pleasure of getting to know him better and I find him doing these same things. I find myself wrestling with things and hungry to search answers. When we get together he always seems to have this theme of what God is doing in his life and as he shares what that is I find myself not just excited for him, but as he shares I find God stirring something in me.



Which brings me to the title of the post "Long Time Coming". It has seemed like a long time that I had someone in my life that made me think that way, it has been a long time since I had conversations with someone who made me wrestle with my beliefs, it has been a long time since I had a friend in my life that trusted me enough to share what God is doing in a way that isn't only authentic, but makes me think about what I believe.... It has been a long time coming...



God I pray that you continue to strengthen our relationship, I pray that our relationship continues to progress toward you. God as you say in your word "as iron sharpens iron, so another man sharpens another". Let this be so with us... Amen.