I'm sitting here thinking of what to write about this verse that struck me from 2 Timothy this morning. Then, an old song, that I haven't heard since I was a snot nosed teenager going to a small Catholic middle school in Dunedin, FL.
"Go forth, among the people. People, of every nation."
(Don't ask me to sing it. Taking a bat to some bagpipes would sound much better.)
It will all tie together here in a second so go with me on this. Our attitude, especially when it comes to spreading the Truth of Jesus Christ, shines from within us, whether we like it or not. So when we go forth on our mission, what is our attitude?
"....., for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self control." 2 Tim 1:7.
That hits hard. God GAVE us our spirit, our attitude, our drive. We are powerful people, not because of us, but because of God. He gave us a spirit where we are not afaid of the world, we love others no matter how bad they have hurt us or where they have come from in the world, and we maintain self control and self discipline in our lives. So why do we fear talking about Christ, why do we not love everyone, and why do we cave to our own desires? I will give you a hint: his name starts with an S and ends with an ATAN. He is real. Don't be fooled.
So, what are you going to do about your attitude? Is time to cast fear aside, start loving despite ourselves, and batten down the discipline hatches?
Time to go forth........
The Freak
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
There is a season........
Who remembers the song "Turn, Turn, Turn" by the Byrds? It's one of those classic 60's songs that everyone knows the words to, but quite possibly doesn't know where the lyrics actually come from. Some Christ-followers do, but for those who don't, (and it's not wrong if you don't know), they are adapted from the Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3, versus 1-8. What a great commentary on life.
So I was reading tonight in a part of Eccl I had marked a long time ago. I've had a rough day with some business dealings, and those lines caught my eye. I have read them many times before with the tune of "Turn, Turn, Turn" going in the back of my mind, but never really thought hard about them until now. One part, of one verse really struck me as I struggled to make sense of what happened today.
".....a time to keep, and a time to cast away;......." (verse 6).
I can be my own worst enemy sometimes when it comes to relationships, and either holding on too tight to the wrong ones, or not holding tight enough to the right ones.
Disclaimer: This post has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the relationship I have with my wife, or kids!
So, I know and mingle with many people I will call acquaintences, a few I would call friends, some I would call family whether they are or not, and others I will just say are business or good times to be experienced. All of them we can reach out to for God, but not all of them will produce fruit. It's just as Jesus explained about the sower's seed. Whether that seed produces depends on where it falls, and if we try to plant on the wrong ground, we are planting in vain.
Why do we torture ourselves chasing after relationships that, in the grand scheme of what God wants us to do, mean nothing for the end picture of our lives or God's kingdom? Why do we run a rat race making relationships with people that only poison our thoughts? What do we do when we work hard to plant seeds of the Truth, but don't realize we are just chasing our tail? When do we say enough is enough, and move on?
These are questions I have, and answers I long for, and it really comes back to these few words. There is a season...................and all seasons have an end, whether we like it or not; no matter how hard we try and hold on to these relationships; whether we want to realize it or not. Our stress level, our joy in life, our capacity to be more productive all hinge on our ability to recognize the seasons, and adjust to their beginnings and endings. Winter is a season that has a beginning and an end. Life would be very uncomfortable if we decided that we wanted to hold onto winter and wear our thick coats through the summer months. It will have an affect on your life, I guarantee it.
And that is what I have realized today. No matter what I do, I will no longer try to hold on to those relationships that are unproductive, those ones that drain my sanity, money, and time, when I could be so much more productive for God's kingdom. I have done as God has asked me, it's no longer up to me whether someone takes that step with Christ. I will be there for them, I will cultivate as much as I can, but if I am sowing seed among the rocks, I am waisting my time because it will not produce fruit. The season has ended, and I must move on.
".......a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted........" (verse 2)
- Freak
So I was reading tonight in a part of Eccl I had marked a long time ago. I've had a rough day with some business dealings, and those lines caught my eye. I have read them many times before with the tune of "Turn, Turn, Turn" going in the back of my mind, but never really thought hard about them until now. One part, of one verse really struck me as I struggled to make sense of what happened today.
".....a time to keep, and a time to cast away;......." (verse 6).
I can be my own worst enemy sometimes when it comes to relationships, and either holding on too tight to the wrong ones, or not holding tight enough to the right ones.
Disclaimer: This post has nothing, whatsoever, to do with the relationship I have with my wife, or kids!
So, I know and mingle with many people I will call acquaintences, a few I would call friends, some I would call family whether they are or not, and others I will just say are business or good times to be experienced. All of them we can reach out to for God, but not all of them will produce fruit. It's just as Jesus explained about the sower's seed. Whether that seed produces depends on where it falls, and if we try to plant on the wrong ground, we are planting in vain.
Why do we torture ourselves chasing after relationships that, in the grand scheme of what God wants us to do, mean nothing for the end picture of our lives or God's kingdom? Why do we run a rat race making relationships with people that only poison our thoughts? What do we do when we work hard to plant seeds of the Truth, but don't realize we are just chasing our tail? When do we say enough is enough, and move on?
These are questions I have, and answers I long for, and it really comes back to these few words. There is a season...................and all seasons have an end, whether we like it or not; no matter how hard we try and hold on to these relationships; whether we want to realize it or not. Our stress level, our joy in life, our capacity to be more productive all hinge on our ability to recognize the seasons, and adjust to their beginnings and endings. Winter is a season that has a beginning and an end. Life would be very uncomfortable if we decided that we wanted to hold onto winter and wear our thick coats through the summer months. It will have an affect on your life, I guarantee it.
And that is what I have realized today. No matter what I do, I will no longer try to hold on to those relationships that are unproductive, those ones that drain my sanity, money, and time, when I could be so much more productive for God's kingdom. I have done as God has asked me, it's no longer up to me whether someone takes that step with Christ. I will be there for them, I will cultivate as much as I can, but if I am sowing seed among the rocks, I am waisting my time because it will not produce fruit. The season has ended, and I must move on.
".......a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted........" (verse 2)
- Freak
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Reflections
I sit here tonight and reflect on the past few months of my life. The sweeping changes my wife and I have made in uprooting our family and moving from Florida to the snow topped mountains of Tennessee. We live in a cabin now, with only 3 neighbors within a 1/2 mile, one of which is family and the other 2 who might as well be. We are searching right now; searching for our new earthly lives, careers, a church home and routines. But we have settled on not being settled right now. The biggest thing though, is our faith in Christ has not changed. If anything, this ordeal, this life trauma, this re-planting of sorts, has solidified out faith just a little more each day. The funny part is this: life has gotten harder, money has gotten shorter, trials have been more than ever. Yet through it all, I have amazingly seen God work some seriously mind blowing miracles for us, and for our WHOLE family, not just the ones who reside in this little cabin. It has brought us closer together as a family as we work through the challenges of the days. We have been tested, and will continue to be tested, yet we are blessed and God will continue to bless, not only us, but those we meet and come into relationship with here in this new place. It's a whole new world we live in, but a familiar face awaits us every moment and comforts us as we work through each and every challenge, both physically and spiritually.
Christ is with us, with you, and with everyone who calls on Him as their Savior.
Will you or have you called upon him and asked for His friendship?
Pondering,
The Freak
Christ is with us, with you, and with everyone who calls on Him as their Savior.
Will you or have you called upon him and asked for His friendship?
Pondering,
The Freak
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Where's My EASY Button?
"Therefore, be imitators of God.........." -Ephesians 5:1
Where is my EASY button on this one? I need my EASY button please. I need that crutch that allows God to swoop in and make this one a piece of cake.
I have one thing to say to God: "Being an imitator of you is impossible. I can't do it." You know what He said back? "I know it is impossible............for you."
God is not asking us to imitate Him. He is asking us to have a relationship with Him, and only then will we become imitators of Him. Because when we are connected with him, He shows through us. Kind of a convaluted way of saying, "Just connect with Him and watch what happens to your life, your outlook, your reactions, your joy in life, your service to others, your attitude, etc., etc., etc." Give it all over to him.
Only through God's hand can we imitate Him. We will have to work at it at first, but what we are really working to shut down our temptations, fear, loathing, self pity, doubt, addiction, etc. When we learn to shut those things down in our lives and ultimately concentrate on God, only then does imitation become second nature because we are so close to Christ, it's like we are Him.
Follow? Now go find your EASY button and throw it out the window. It ain't gonna help!
Freak
Where is my EASY button on this one? I need my EASY button please. I need that crutch that allows God to swoop in and make this one a piece of cake.
I have one thing to say to God: "Being an imitator of you is impossible. I can't do it." You know what He said back? "I know it is impossible............for you."
God is not asking us to imitate Him. He is asking us to have a relationship with Him, and only then will we become imitators of Him. Because when we are connected with him, He shows through us. Kind of a convaluted way of saying, "Just connect with Him and watch what happens to your life, your outlook, your reactions, your joy in life, your service to others, your attitude, etc., etc., etc." Give it all over to him.
Only through God's hand can we imitate Him. We will have to work at it at first, but what we are really working to shut down our temptations, fear, loathing, self pity, doubt, addiction, etc. When we learn to shut those things down in our lives and ultimately concentrate on God, only then does imitation become second nature because we are so close to Christ, it's like we are Him.
Follow? Now go find your EASY button and throw it out the window. It ain't gonna help!
Freak
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Home Improvement- Chapter 3
Chapter 3- Choosing the Proper Building Material
"For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words." Eccl 5:3
I was talking to a friend of mine today about the business venture he has been working hard on over the last few months. My wife has even helped him out designing a few of the things he needs for it. If you are a college football fan, be on the lookout because there are going to be some super cool things coming out that you will have never seen before, but want to get your hands on because of their uniqueness. I will plug his ideas later on if he allows me (and after I ask him first).
Anyway, after we talked today, I sensed the passion and hardwork that has gone into such an undertaking as starting a new business, or designing a line of clothing, or inventing something. There are two undeniable tenets to being a success at work, at home, etc.: tenacity and dedication. By the way, that does not translate into 18 hour days for 60 years straight.
And through my friend, I have learned one huge fact of success in any facet of life: success comes not from what you know or don't know, how well you talk the talk or don't, or how well you dress or don't dress.
Success comes from dreams; that are shaped into reality; then worked at for weeks, months, and mostly years; but ultimately achieved after allowing Christ to work harder on us than us on our dream. Ultimately, success of a dream is not what comes out of our mouths, but what pours forth from our heart through our character and actions as we strive to be successful at work, home, school, and for Christ.
So what's your dream? Quit talking about it and start acting on it.
Talk is the house made of cards. Action is the house made of cinder blocks.
Lastly, failure is still successful if we learn and grow.
Building with better materials,
Freak
"For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words." Eccl 5:3
I was talking to a friend of mine today about the business venture he has been working hard on over the last few months. My wife has even helped him out designing a few of the things he needs for it. If you are a college football fan, be on the lookout because there are going to be some super cool things coming out that you will have never seen before, but want to get your hands on because of their uniqueness. I will plug his ideas later on if he allows me (and after I ask him first).
Anyway, after we talked today, I sensed the passion and hardwork that has gone into such an undertaking as starting a new business, or designing a line of clothing, or inventing something. There are two undeniable tenets to being a success at work, at home, etc.: tenacity and dedication. By the way, that does not translate into 18 hour days for 60 years straight.
And through my friend, I have learned one huge fact of success in any facet of life: success comes not from what you know or don't know, how well you talk the talk or don't, or how well you dress or don't dress.
Success comes from dreams; that are shaped into reality; then worked at for weeks, months, and mostly years; but ultimately achieved after allowing Christ to work harder on us than us on our dream. Ultimately, success of a dream is not what comes out of our mouths, but what pours forth from our heart through our character and actions as we strive to be successful at work, home, school, and for Christ.
So what's your dream? Quit talking about it and start acting on it.
Talk is the house made of cards. Action is the house made of cinder blocks.
Lastly, failure is still successful if we learn and grow.
Building with better materials,
Freak
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Home Improvement- Chapter 2
Chapter 2- Hurricane Protection
"And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving for the wind." Eccl 1:17.
So I am sitting at the Village Inn last night with a couple guys that I meet with and just talk about life and throw out biblically based challenges to one another. Now I'm really digging my scrumptious cherry supreme pie on Free Pie Day at the Viking Village Inn (that goes out to you C brotha), and I get this yearning for more to eat. So I order the cheese omlette, the hash browns and some really greasy bacon to top it all off. In order not to feel guilty that I am eating too much, I look at C and ask him to order what he wants as the fourth item.
We talked for close to an hour about all the things going on in our lives lately and how the last challenge went for all of us. Grace was the topic. Yah, exactly. We didn't quite hit even par on that one. All kidding aside, we really did work hard on giving grace and working on turning that other cheek, but as human as we are, that's like trying to hold in a burp after drinking a 2-liter of soda sometimes.
So as C and H are talking, I pull out my bible and go back through the first chapter of Ecclesiastes I had read the night before. I remember reading about Solomon's loathing over all he had worked so hard to gather and accomplish and how it was like "striving after the wind." I really started thinking from the shoes of the second smartest man who ever walked the face of this earth. He had it all, including some astronomical number of wives, boundless amounts of money: the Bill Gates or Warren Buffett of that time. It just struck me that despite the fact this man had everything in the world, including the biggest, wisest brain, he sat down and wrote a book about how vane his life was.
Then I threw it out there like a poker ante on green felt: "What wind are we chasing after in life?"
What's the one thing, whether now, in the past, or in the future, we are chasing, have chased or could possibly chase, which would be like trying to grasp at the wind in a hurricane? What do we do about stopping the "madness" and re-focusing on those things which are most important? What do we need to do now that will stop the frantic, swirling chase and help us find the eye of our hurricane, the calm amidst the storm? Lastly, what are those "things that are most important?"
Here's my challenge to you all: find your wind and enjoy life as it whips about you but doesn't knock you down and instill fear in you. Is it time to cut back on work hours and spend an extra hour at home with your kids? Is time to settle down and stop chasing after your favorite TV show while your spouse tries to talk with you about life? Is it time to devote the bar hours at night to digging into the Word and finding solice in scripture and the God who loves you, instead of at the bottom of the bottle?
Where's your storm? Figure that out, and then chase after the eye of the storm. I guarantee God will be at the center of your storm, pushing out the wall and providing solice in a place which is typically brimming with "madness."
Calling on THE Weatherman,
Freak
"And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving for the wind." Eccl 1:17.
So I am sitting at the Village Inn last night with a couple guys that I meet with and just talk about life and throw out biblically based challenges to one another. Now I'm really digging my scrumptious cherry supreme pie on Free Pie Day at the Viking Village Inn (that goes out to you C brotha), and I get this yearning for more to eat. So I order the cheese omlette, the hash browns and some really greasy bacon to top it all off. In order not to feel guilty that I am eating too much, I look at C and ask him to order what he wants as the fourth item.
We talked for close to an hour about all the things going on in our lives lately and how the last challenge went for all of us. Grace was the topic. Yah, exactly. We didn't quite hit even par on that one. All kidding aside, we really did work hard on giving grace and working on turning that other cheek, but as human as we are, that's like trying to hold in a burp after drinking a 2-liter of soda sometimes.
So as C and H are talking, I pull out my bible and go back through the first chapter of Ecclesiastes I had read the night before. I remember reading about Solomon's loathing over all he had worked so hard to gather and accomplish and how it was like "striving after the wind." I really started thinking from the shoes of the second smartest man who ever walked the face of this earth. He had it all, including some astronomical number of wives, boundless amounts of money: the Bill Gates or Warren Buffett of that time. It just struck me that despite the fact this man had everything in the world, including the biggest, wisest brain, he sat down and wrote a book about how vane his life was.
Then I threw it out there like a poker ante on green felt: "What wind are we chasing after in life?"
What's the one thing, whether now, in the past, or in the future, we are chasing, have chased or could possibly chase, which would be like trying to grasp at the wind in a hurricane? What do we do about stopping the "madness" and re-focusing on those things which are most important? What do we need to do now that will stop the frantic, swirling chase and help us find the eye of our hurricane, the calm amidst the storm? Lastly, what are those "things that are most important?"
Here's my challenge to you all: find your wind and enjoy life as it whips about you but doesn't knock you down and instill fear in you. Is it time to cut back on work hours and spend an extra hour at home with your kids? Is time to settle down and stop chasing after your favorite TV show while your spouse tries to talk with you about life? Is it time to devote the bar hours at night to digging into the Word and finding solice in scripture and the God who loves you, instead of at the bottom of the bottle?
Where's your storm? Figure that out, and then chase after the eye of the storm. I guarantee God will be at the center of your storm, pushing out the wall and providing solice in a place which is typically brimming with "madness."
Calling on THE Weatherman,
Freak
Monday, August 23, 2010
Home Improvement- Chapter 1
Chapter 1- Preventing Erosion
I have been reading the blog of a certain pastor in the United States. You may have heard of him: he wrote the book "The Purpose Driven Life," he gave President Obama's Inaugural Prayer, and he is the lead pastor for a well known church out in California.
Now Rick is one of the most successful pastor's of the modern era in spreading the Good News "to all nations." His teachings are a beacon of hope and challenge to many people around the world Yet, they can cut straight to the bone. Like a surgeon performing neurosurgery in a hurricane, God's divine power to use Rick in so many precise and personal ways while life swirls around us like a tempest, I felt as though his last 5 posts were custom tailored for a character surgery.
So let's define procrastination: in the McBride English Dictionary, procrastination is defined as the art of finding every way possible to avoid doing the stuff we don't want to do or that just isn't any fun, until the last possible second. I used to say it was just my way of waiting on "God's timing" to do something. Ahhhhhhhhhh, yah. in the words of Jim Carrey looking for Mary Swanson in "Dumb and Dumber, "Sammy........Swawmy.........Swa.........Sw.........Swanson....-Look on the briefcase, maybe it's on there. - Samsonite! I was way off!"
God has hit me right between the eyes through the fine words of Rick Warren (here's the link to his blog, good stuff: http://profile.purposedriven.com/dailyhope/ ). Slowly, through my fine craft of procrastination (perfected over many years of believing I could ace a paper by writing it the night before because I got a C on the one I wrote a week early), I have been eroding the very foudnation of service to my God, my family, my job, just my entire worth to this world and the next.
And God has been speaking to me for a long time. I'm just so thick headed, I didn't want to understand or had the delusion that I had things under control and thought, "God, I got it from here. Take a break." I used to have a monetary goal for my business on my wall. Now the goal on my office wall reads like this:
"Go to the ant, O sluggard: consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man" Proverbs 6:6-11.
Now I can be really hard on myself. I'm talking debilitatingly hard on myself to the point that I think God doesn't even want me. But that's not the truth either. Procrastinatorial (is that even a word?) tendencies and all, God loves me and accepts me. Now I just have to be willing to let Him put me to the grinding wheel and shape who He wants me to be. Otherwise, the very foundation of my life will erode away like the man's house that was built upon the sand.
Awakened to shore up my foundation,
Freak
I have been reading the blog of a certain pastor in the United States. You may have heard of him: he wrote the book "The Purpose Driven Life," he gave President Obama's Inaugural Prayer, and he is the lead pastor for a well known church out in California.
Now Rick is one of the most successful pastor's of the modern era in spreading the Good News "to all nations." His teachings are a beacon of hope and challenge to many people around the world Yet, they can cut straight to the bone. Like a surgeon performing neurosurgery in a hurricane, God's divine power to use Rick in so many precise and personal ways while life swirls around us like a tempest, I felt as though his last 5 posts were custom tailored for a character surgery.
So let's define procrastination: in the McBride English Dictionary, procrastination is defined as the art of finding every way possible to avoid doing the stuff we don't want to do or that just isn't any fun, until the last possible second. I used to say it was just my way of waiting on "God's timing" to do something. Ahhhhhhhhhh, yah. in the words of Jim Carrey looking for Mary Swanson in "Dumb and Dumber, "Sammy........Swawmy.........Swa.........Sw.........Swanson....-Look on the briefcase, maybe it's on there. - Samsonite! I was way off!"
God has hit me right between the eyes through the fine words of Rick Warren (here's the link to his blog, good stuff: http://profile.purposedriven.com/dailyhope/ ). Slowly, through my fine craft of procrastination (perfected over many years of believing I could ace a paper by writing it the night before because I got a C on the one I wrote a week early), I have been eroding the very foudnation of service to my God, my family, my job, just my entire worth to this world and the next.
And God has been speaking to me for a long time. I'm just so thick headed, I didn't want to understand or had the delusion that I had things under control and thought, "God, I got it from here. Take a break." I used to have a monetary goal for my business on my wall. Now the goal on my office wall reads like this:
"Go to the ant, O sluggard: consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man" Proverbs 6:6-11.
Now I can be really hard on myself. I'm talking debilitatingly hard on myself to the point that I think God doesn't even want me. But that's not the truth either. Procrastinatorial (is that even a word?) tendencies and all, God loves me and accepts me. Now I just have to be willing to let Him put me to the grinding wheel and shape who He wants me to be. Otherwise, the very foundation of my life will erode away like the man's house that was built upon the sand.
Awakened to shore up my foundation,
Freak
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