You are taken care of!

Sometime we feel over looked, not important, forgotten. When we feel this way we sometimes doubt God, and ask or yell at Him asking Him "Where are you?!" and it seems like he doesn't hear us or answer us.

I just got back from San Francisco. I got to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. We biked all the way to the Redwood Forest, which is not too far away. After a long bike ride we got to the hugest, oldest, prettiest Redwood forest. You look up and they just tower over you.

The Redwood forest is located on the Pacific Coast from central California to southern Oregon, lives up to 2,000 years, weigh up to 1.6 million pounds (730,000 kilograms), grow up to 367 feet (111.2 meters) tall, diameter up to 22 feet (6.7 meters), bark thickness up to 12 inches (30 centimeters), foliage is single, non-overlapping needles .5 to 1 inch long, reproduction by seed or sprout, tallest tree located in Redwood National and State Park, they are the tallest trees in North America.

Earlier I talked about how we feel small and over looked and even by God we may feel like this. As I looked up to the top of these trees, I thought, we think that we are not taken care of and He takes care of these trees and has taken care of these trees for hundreds of years. Why would we doubt that He is not going to take care of us.

It says in Psalms 139:13-18

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well. 
 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  
 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be. 
 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand —
    when I awake, I am still with you.

HE THINKS OF YOU!

It also says...

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life"
 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."   Matt 6:25-36

He takes care of the birds and the flowers. He loves us more than the birds and the flowers, so
HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU.

You will grow tall. You will grow strong. You will grow with roots in the Lord if you take His gift of life. Be a Redwood tree, stand tall and do not worry.

Who do you follow?

Sometimes it feels like it is us versus the world. We get bombarded through the media with how we should look, think, and act. It is easy to loose who we are and what makes us joyful with these distraction.

We are easily put down, told we aren't good enough, we get jealous, lonely, angry and depressed. It is the world. The world is a dark place. In a previous blog I talked about how this is Satins playground, it is. We people please, we try and be "perfect" with the "perfect" life, the big house with three cars, with a good job. There is still more than this Earthly need, but we look at people are we tell ourselves that we aren't good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, but we are only comparing ourselves to other broken people.

We will continue to be depressed if we are following other broken people that look like that have it all together with a "perfect" life.

Why do you try to be someone who are aren't, they are already taken? Why is it so hard to follow the God of the universe that loves us to an infinite level and thinks about us more than the grains of sand on the beach?

Who is this God, who is Jesus Christ and why would we want to follow Him instead of people and the world?

 
God is all knowing...
"Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
    his understanding has no limit." (Psalm 147:5)

God is approachable...
"The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth." (Psalms 145:18)

God is creative...
"...where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalms 121:1,2)

God is compassionate...
"As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him" (Psalm 103:13)

God is truthful...
 "-in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time," (Titus 1:2)


God is NEVER changing...
"Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." (James 1:17)

God is patient... 

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
    and clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3)

Why wouldn't we want to follow someone that has these qualities?

WHO DO YOU FOLLOW?

You decide...

Did you know, if you listened and payed attention you can make every person you come in contact with you can make everyone feel SPECIAL?


We don't know people like we think we do, we judge more than we should, we worry when we shouldn't and we let the little things bother us.


I went to Denny's for breakfast two days ago, one of my friends that was with me was being sassy right away with the waitress. We had no idea how she was feeling, could have been a great morning, or a bad morning, but either way the sass was unneeded and could only do damage.


I was working a men's retreat at a Young Life camp I work at some Saturday's, and because of my mood, I got to pump these guys up for a challenging ropes. I was asking a lot of questions about them, people like talking about themselves. Some of the guys really opened up to me, a small group of some guys were the last guys in line and while waiting, we just started talking about their victories in the addictions and how they are getting through their marriages. I encouraged them to continue to stay strong without their old addictions, communication between them and their wife, and  just reminded them of how strong they are.


I could have been in a bad, tired, it's hot mood, but instead I took the chance to really love on these guys. I will probably never see these guys again, but if I do, I sure hope they remember how special they felt. I want these guys to feel different and important because they are. I got to ask hard questions and I got teased but I just played with them merely because guys can't only have serious, just not how most of them work.


When I come in contact with someone I want them to walk away feeling absolutely adore and loved.

Waiting in a long line in the grocery store, in class with a cranky teacher, listening to your mother tell you what to do even though your 35 years old, your roommate getting upset about the smallest things, your wife not listening to you, what ever annoys the heck out of you find a way to make them feel special, find a way to love them even if you think you can't I bet you can, in the smallest way, shine light on the situation. Be patient and have grace, listen and care.

Stop and think and go against how you feel and make someones day.

 

You are His Beloved....

Listening to the lie "I'm not good enough" keeps us imprisoned.

This lie is from Satin, and we have 66 books, in the bible, that tell us that we are more than enough. These lies come from deep hurts that we have covered up over and over because of sin.

We go through our life and sometimes we ask, who are we and why are we here? Most people say to glorify the God of the universe, because He sent his son to die on the cross for our sin.

But have you ever thought that you were created just to be loved. You were created to be loved, and because we are loved, we are filled and we want to glorify him and love others and shine, but that's not why we were created. You don't create things and give them a job right away.
God created Adam and Eve and told them to rest first, to soke up him and his love, and once they were rested they could work. GOD JUST WANTS TO LOVE US!

Telling yourself, myself, that "I'm not good enough" is keeping us prideful and keeps a wall up between you and Christ. We will never be enough for other people but we are more than enough for the God of the universe.

Who are you? Who do other people say you are? Who does Christ tell you who you are?

God sent you to where you are. -Isaiah 61:1.
You are the flavor of the earth, you spice things up. -Matt 5:13
You are a light, to brighten up the darkness, for the glory of Christ. You are not dim, you are bright- Matt 5:14
You are God's friend. You are different and attractive.You are wanted -James 2:23
You are God's little child. You will never fall out of grace, ever. -John 1:12
You are God's heir. His princess. You are held to high standards, out of love. -Gal 4:7
You are His chosen people. You are wanted, adore, loved, and cherished. -Col 3:12

You are enough, more than enough. Do not be chained down to the lies from Satin. You don't need to do good works, you just need Him and he will do all the work. He will shine through you, and through this you will only want to glorify him through love, but you do not need to impress him, because you are already enough the way you are. Run into his wide open arms and embrace his huge, his love, his joy.

'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."
2 Corinthians 6:17-18,
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"
1 John 3:1

Patience is a Virtue.

I think two of the hardest lessons my father has taught me and continues to show me is patience and grace.

The last couple of months I have been struggling with depression, something I may always struggle with. Most people do not know how to love someone that has depression, we have our good days and our bad days, and you never know what you are going to get. It gets frustrating for everyone including Christ. A friend that I hold very close to my heart, asked me what I wanted from her and all I want and need is patience and grace. With these two verbs you will show me love. You do not have to do little acts of service, even though I love those things, it is not needed. All I need is patience and grace. It gets tiring when all your friends are expecting one thing but not telling me what they want or need, because I will contently fail, and contently failing doesn't put anyone is a good mood.

What is patience? It is a big word that many people seem to not understand. "the quality of being patient,  as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like." It is selfless. Accepting things where they are, even if it is not them or not where it is suppose to be, to stand side by side and taking step by step, together. Jesus continues to do this with us. We will always fail Him, but he will always be patient with us, because he loves us no matter what. His patience for us and with us is just a small way he shows us his love, but it is an important way he shows us his love. 


What is grace and how is it different from mercy? To me the best way to explain this is through a small story. 
A father asked his daughter to not eat a cookie out of the cookie jar while he goes to get his shoes on in the other room. When the father walks back in the girl has a cookie in her hand with crumbed on shirt. The father gently asks his little girl if she ate the cookie, she looks at him with a looks of "I know I have disappointing you"
Grace: the father says "that's okay, I still love you" and goes outside. 
Mercy: the father says "that's okay, I still love you, and because I love you I want to get you some ice cream so lets go get some ice cream,"
Grace, is letting go and forgetting where as mercy is letting go and praising you for it with a "reward" 


I only want patience. I just want you to work with me, not against me. One way that can help anyone and everyone is open communication and honesty. Open communication and honesty will only make patience and grace come that much easier.

Life goes in season, and some are harder than others. Have patience, grace, honesty and open communication.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

The Lord is my Shepard. 


Never understood this until I found myself running from myself. For so long until i found myself by myself. Into a corner, surrounded by FEAR and whispers of lies, finding myself tasting the poison of this toxic chemical. Falling deeper and deeper into a pit of despair and pity. 

Begin to hope...less. Until there was no hope, and fear become my boss, laying burdens on my soul, leading me to believe the "life is to hard".
Fear has put its self where God is meant to be. 

Fear is a lie. Fear is a prison.

I run. I run from my pain, into pain. I run from my past, into my past. I run in circles through my head, because my heart and my head are always fighting. My heart knows the truth and my mind listens to the lies, so I run. I run into despair, hopelessness, pain, everything not of God. I blame so I believe I am the victim. I run.

Like Jonah runs from God. He ran to get away from what God wanted for him, Jonah was told to preach at Nineveh, and he went the opposite way, got on a ship and rowed away, but God sent a big storm, making the boat crumble. His friends started to throw things off the side of the boat to make the boat lighter. He fell asleep and his friends said get up and pray to your God. Johan, scared, was determined that the storm was his fault. "If you get rid of me the storm will stop", he told his friends to throw him over too. But instead of drowning, he was swallowed by a whale. 
Jonah was in the whale three days. God commanded the whale, and it vomited the reluctant prophet onto dry land. This time Jonah obeyed God. He walked through Nineveh proclaiming that in forty days the city would be destroyed. Surprisingly, the Ninevites believed Jonah's message and repented.

 We run. From what God wants from us, out of fear. We run, because we don't really put our full trust in Him. We let our fear, our prison keep us tried down, like a bird in a bird cage. We want to be safe, so we run from God.

We run from life. From the giver of life. The root problems aren't going anywhere if you continue to run.

What are you running from? What are you running too? What do you fear?

Your choice to choose...

You know that hard moment when your parents give you the decision of what to do, like stay at home and be with them or go out with some of your best friends the last night you're in town. Or the moment that you want to stop running because your muscles burn and you think you can't get any further at the same place everything, and you feel like you can't get past that point, so you choose to stop.

Choices may be one of the hardest things God has given us. Free will is a powerful thing but so is your heart to make the right choices. It is always so much easier to fall instead of getting up, or continuing to sin than to get out and get help. The willingness to be free is one of the most powerful things God gives us, in our control.

I hate the fact that He give us this choice, to choose Him or choose sin. Why are choices in general so hard for us, do you think we naturally make the right choices, or do we have to go against our will more of the time?

Do our decisions reflect our values? When we follow our heart we get caught up in emotions. My good friend told me once "Emotions will never make logical sense. We all have many reason for feeling the way we feel but if we are focused on our excused we get stuck in our head." We decide to go against our values to see what really is important to you. Like do the little things really bother you, can you live with them, or do you not deserve them what so ever.

"Somewhere along the line of development we discover what we really are, and then we make our real decision for which we are responsible. Make that decision primarily for yourself because you can never really live anyone else's life." -- Eleanor Roosevelt  


Our choices we make may cause pain and distraction and we have to be all in or all out, in our decision because being half in and half out will only drag out that hurt more and more. We are responsible for our decisions and all that it brings with it, the pain, the joy, a decision is dangerous sometimes.

So if our choice goes again our value and our heart, a war brakes out between our flesh and spirit. This is where the pain and hardness comes in,  because you know what you WANT to do and what you SHOULD do. Choosing want you should do is not going to be any easier after than what you want. Both are hard and bring this feeling of missing out sometimes, or that the other one would be easier half way through. But the decision is made and you have to be all in, in that decision that was made.


Galatians 5:13-35
Life by the Spirit

 ¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.  ¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
 ¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
 ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Making the right choice will show the love you have for the other person, in the way you are respecting them by choosing to live by the Spirit.

Notice the when you took verse 16 and 17 together the main point is not war, but the victory for the Spirit. Christ is the God of the Universe and if you choose Him you will win if you choose to live by the Spirit.