Aware

Are you Aware? Do you know what's going on? Or do you just wander aimlessly focused on yourself and your own desires?

The lyrics to the song "Aware" by Salvador put it so simply.

"Oh it is you in me that I fail to see
Make me aware, make me see
That everything I am is not all about me
So Take my world and turn it around
So that the obvious can finally be found
Make me aware, make me aware "

The bridge to the song puts it even better -

"I have been missing so much
Not recognizing your touch
Acknowledging that you’re the reason
I am even here
I have been missing so much not recognizing your touch
Make me aware, make me aware "

What are you missing? What am I missing? This life is not about our sinful desires. No, it is about working for our creator. We need to take some time to acknowledge that the creator of the universe has sent his Holy Spirit to come and be with us every day.

Awareness comes from spending time with God and focusing on Him throughout the day. When the Holy Spirit tugs on your heart to talk to that person or help out that individual, will you listen? Or will you walk away and just focus on yourself?

Will you become aware?

I Am A Warrior

Are you a Warrior?

The Lord's Prayer

VERY VERY CUTE!!

Food Court Musical

This is great

NEW

I just received a new pair of hiking boots in the mail that I ordered online. I needed them for a hiking trip I am taking in May ( http://www.yosemitesummit.org ). I was so excited that as soon I got them I had to open them up and try them on. Check them out.

Pretty nice huh? I only paid like $30 for them.

What is our obsession with the word "NEW"



No, No, No, Not that kind of GNU.
N - E - W, NEW.
Although he is kind of cute. lol.

Seriously, when I was a kid I used to love waiting for the mail to arrive for something I had ordered. Ah, who Am I kidding, I still love to receive something new. If I get a new shirt or pants, I have to wear them within a week of getting them.
Isn't that like the unwritten rule?
In our society if something isn't new, its old.
And old is bad?
The word "new" creates an excitement around it. When advertisers put up a sign that says "like new," it sounds a lot better than "slightly used" or "barely used."
It is a buzz like the hyenas in Lion King create when they say the word "Mufasa."


And I quote
"Mufasa" , "ooooohhhhhhh, gives me chills" "Do it again" "Mufasa" "Oooooohhhh" "Mufasa, Mufasa, Mufasa."

Having New things is great! We need to remember that in our daily time with God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come."

We need to put aside the old ways of living and concentrate on the new ways of God. Treat God like you do a new item of clothing or a new toy. Let Him continually give you a new touch from Him. Allow Him to teach you new things about His character and your character everyday.

Steering Wheel

I was thinking as I drove into work this morning about the steering wheel. We can go anywhere we want all we have to do is turn this simple mechanical device and we head in that direction. When I was a teenager we used to love to find icy parking lots or empty wet fields and test the limitations of the steering wheel / tire combination. Yes I am talking about donuts

No, not those donuts


I am talking about donuts you can do by getting up a decent speed and purposely turning the wheel as hard as you can in one direction and slamming on the brake. What a great time we had testing the limitations of this theory.

If we own a car, we own a steering wheel. But who controls the steering wheel of our lives? Do we drive and let Jesus be our passenger, only stepping in when there is an emergency? Do we purposely let our "Cars" spiral out of control so that we can just turn to Jesus to take the wheel?
The problem is that we make a mess and then turn to Jesus to clean it up.

Jesus ain't no janitor

He is supposed to be the driver, not the passenger. If we relinquish control to Him and let him drive our lives, there won't be a mess to clean up.



So....Who has your wheel? Is God really in control or is he merely your passenger? Or even worse, is he just your janitor?
Take your hands off the wheel and let God take control!!

Brain Farts

Its amazing to me how I can have days when my brain is storming with ideas and then there are days when I have nothing but brain flatulence. Yes, I'm talking about brain farts. A topic that is not talked about enough. Biologically speaking a brain cannot fart. But, existentially we all know it can. Brain farts are those periods of times when our brain storms fall silent, when our train of thought derails, when the computers in our idea centers all crash at the same time. We experience meltdowns of epic proportions. What does brain fart stand for you might ask....
Well, it could be a Fleeting Absence of a Rational Thought or FART for short. Even now, my brain ceases to function. Well, sorry for my rambling, expect more blogs soon.

"Stop the World"

I was listening to Matthew West's new album "Something to Say" yesterday and a song really touched me deep in my soul.

We are all so very busy everyday and we don't take time to spend time alone with God. I really love this song. Here are the lyrics

The TV is talking
The telephone's ringing
The lights are all on and the radio's screaming
A million distractions are stealing my heart from You
I'm tired and empty
This life is relentless
It weakens my knees and breaks my defenses
It's wearing me down and I'm desperate to hear from You

Stop the world I wanna get out
I need an escape away from this crowd
Just to hear You speak to me

I need to be still before I make a move
I need to be humble with nothing to prove
I need Your Word to show me the truth
And I need time, precious time

Stop the world I wanna get out
I need an escape away from this crowd
Just to hear You speak to me

Stop the world I'm ready to listen
Show me sign, give me a vision of Heaven
I can hold on to
Stop the world I need some time with You

Before I can find my voice
I need to hear Your voice above all the senseless noise

Matthew West

That pretty much says it all. Take time for God today!

Treat life like a duck treats water

Life is what you make of it. We can't let every little bad thing that comes into our lives affect us so much. If we do, it will eat at us like a rat nibbling cheese. Life is never easy, it is a constant changing animal. We need to learn to attack life like a duck treats water. A duck looks to water for three things, Nourishment, cleanliness and recreation. A duck needs water to survive just like we need to embrace life with all we have. That doesn't mean that we go full force and try every extreme sport out there. No, it just means that we live our lives fully for God everyday. We seek to honor God with all we have every hour, minute, second and millisecond. Secondly does water stick to a duck? No. We have all heard the phrase like water to a duck's back. Thats how we need to treat negativity around us. I recently finished a seasonal third shift job and it really gave me some perspective. As a pastor I sometimes live in a secluded world of church and home. But having a job in the secular world gave me a chance to witness the imperfection that is out there. When people come to church they are on their best behavior, they act nice, they don't swear, they are at their best when they think God is watching them. The reality is that God is with us all the time. He sees all. The amount of swearing and lack of discipline I saw while in the secular workplace really broke my heart and helped reshape my ministry. I had to combat that negativity every night at work. I had to let it roll off my back and not affect my eternal soul. Let me tell you, it was not easy. I felt it creeping into my soul and I know my wife could tell. Therefore I am coming back to the "Living Water" like a duck splashing in the water. I am cleansing myself in his Holy tide.

Lord help me to be more like you and treat life everyday like a gift from you.