I don’t really know what to write today, so here we go:
Love each other. With love that says, “I understand we are all messed up people”.
Spend time with Jesus.
Love the Bible.
And let all that pour out in your life today.
Because without love we are nothing.
I was talking with Abby the other day about how being transparent has become a great ministry for me, and it’s really been a surprising journey.
See, it wasn’t always this easy. I used to struggle a lot, thinking that God wanted me to share my story with people and be transparent, but I’m an introvert. There were many prayers that sounded, “Why God?, why me?”.
It’s hard to break down my pride and share my story about how God is fixing a messed up guy like me.
But it’s the best thing I can do.
Read moreI’ve been talking with a few hurting people lately, and it’s been reminding me of some great times in the past where I was hurting for myself and other people. Here’s some quick things that God has been reminding me:
Read moreThe other day, I opened my email inbox and found something I wasn’t expecting- someone had sent me a personal email confessing some ways they were really messed up. All I could do was remember the redemption that God has given me, and I’m so pumped for this guy because I know God can and will do the same for him.
Read moreI have so much freedom in Christ. Over the past 4 years God has slowly been teaching me about freedom and I finally feel like I’m in a place where I actually grasp it mostly.
I may sound like a broken record to some of you, but here’s the deal: When you submit to God’s authority in your life, and actually listen to God and do what he says, there is great freedom.
I have never ever felt such freedom before in my life.
I know my needs are going to be taken care of.
If I need advice, I know where to find it.
I don’t get stuck on worrying about much of anything for too long.
And I’m happy. If I’m not happy, I can go to God and he will give me the strength to get back to happy.
Simply put, I wish everybody around me had this freedom I have. I wish that everyone knew Jesus like I do. And I know that I can influence people in my life to know Jesus.
So let’s go.
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” -Galatians 6:10
This is a quick nugget to remember through your day.
Do good to all others.
Every single person.
Even those whom you don’t agree with(I know I’m struggling with that right now!).
Just do good
in love.
Sitting there, by my bed, I couldn’t help but worry about what I might be missing on Facebook or another blog. But the reason I was there wasn’t to catch up on the internet, no, it was to catch up with Jesus, and quite frankly, I wasn’t doing the best job.
That’s when I remembered something I had read sometime prior. Urgency vs. importance. I think it may have been in “The War of Art”.
I was poking around on my church’s website yesterday, and I came across an awesome analogy on purity. It’s been rocking my world:
“The idea of caution tape, a weak little piece of plastic just seems lame right? Go to a rock concert, it keeps mobs in certain areas. Go to a crime scene, the public dare not cross it. Go to a construction site, grown men know better than to pass under or through that tape! We must begin to mark off boundaries in our lives, so to effectively keep us away from the enemies slick schemes. Once they are in place, we must not cross them!”
This ultimately drives home the point that I love to make. When we keep ourselves so far removed from sexual temptation, we aren’t even tempted to be tempted.
Read more“The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me. (1 Galatians 23-24)
This text has been ripping me up for a day or 2. This has been my prayer, just hoping, knowing that Jesus has forgiven me and hoping men have too.
I know that before I knew Jesus I tried to rip Christians apart sometimes. I can vividly remember arguing with someone in 6th grade who claimed to be a Christian.
By 12th grade, that persons life was out of control. Over 6 years, they had changed for the worst.
Now, I know it probably wasn’t all my fault, but I certainly was part of his demise.
Thankfully, the good news is that God is in the business of redeeming people. There’s still hope, even though I have no clue where he is in life right now. I’m just praying that I might be the light that turns someone else the other way, towards Jesus.
Because that would be awesome.
It just takes one.
So, over the past few days, I’ve read a book called “The 4-Hour Workweek”, by Tim Ferris. And while I don’t subscribe to everything he says, I got a ton out of it, the first of which I’ve been test-driving for a couple days now.
I have begun checking email only twice a day(at 12 noon and bedtime). I only check twitter at those times too(except for DM’s), and I only check Facebook once a day(usually in the morning-ish). I’ve stopped checking my blog except when I post, as well as other things. If you need to contact me for something time sensitive, give me a call on my cell. If not, an email will probably do just fine, and I’ll get back within a day or 2.
Basically, I am being intentional in limiting the things that I use to waste time.
So what’s happened?
Read more