20/15 Vision

Ever heard of 20/15 Vision? It is one step above 20/20 vision, it means what you should be able to see only at 15 you can see at 20/20. As a young child I took create pride in always being able to achieve 20/15 on my eye exam.

Lets go to another person with excellent vision. Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus. Mary was not married and impregnated by the holy spirit. This puts Mary in a difficult situation. Good Jewish women did not have sex before they were married, to not be a virgin and not be married would at the least make you a reject and the scum of the earth in Jewish society, at worst it would have got you executed. So Mary a godly woman is now walking around pregnant and un-married. She suffers the stares and the mumbling as she walks by, she suffers being ostracized from her friends, she suffers the doubt and mistrust from her parents. She is treated as a sinner although she is a saint. Yet in Luke chapter 1 verse 49 she says "The Mighty One has done great things for me." So wait a minute you live your whole life godly trying to please the lord, and in doing his will you end up being the recipient of everyone's scorn and all he leaves you with is the "I got impregnated by the holy spirit" story and your saying the lord has done great things for you.

It gets better as Mary comes into term Rome decides to take a census, so she is forced to travel on a camel across the desert as a pregnant woman. My wife is pregnant and in term pregnancy she is not comfortable on our bed I can not imagine that Mary was comfortable on a Camel. If things could not become any worse she goes into labor while the only hotel for the night is booked. She is forced to give birth in a stable, not a warm bed, not a hospital bed, not in comfortable birthing center but in a stable. As I have been educated in birthing process I have seen how nasty birth can be, its bloody full of fluid and she is doing this in a stable. It stinks, its cold, there may be animal manure around on the floor is full of hay which is absorbing every bodily fluid that comes out of her, the hay sticks to her as she is trying to move about. It would be a bloody sticky mess. Then to make matters even better her newborn, whom she knows is the son of God is placed in a manager, a feeding trough for animals. I can tell you that as we become term my wife has cleaned, sanitized and decorated every environment that our child will touch, and Mary had to place her son in a manager. At the end of the night after Mary is visited by a few Shepherds the bible says that Mary "treasured up all these things."

I have to admit that at this point I might have been angry, I might have been bitter, I am carrying the son of God and this is the best that I can get a stinky stable and a manager, yet Mary treasured all these things. Why do you think that is? I think its because Mary had 20/15 vision. She could see farther from where she was then most. She realized that all these things were just minor inconveniences, they were war stories of an incredible adventure. She knew her destination was to be the mother of our savior. Ever taken a family vacation, I am talking about the ones taken in the car, you know the one's where its like 34 hours and you have four of you and all your luggage all stuffed in into a small sedan. Your knees ache, you are tired and groggy but you can't sleep, your going insane from boredom and you little sister is driving you crazy. Yeah that kind. They are miserable and tiring yet we do them again and again, why, because journeys are always difficult but destinations are always awesome. That's what Mary had in mind she realized that her journey was on the way to an awesome destination.

The bible says that with out vision people perish, that's because if you don't know where you're going than the focus is no longer the destination but the journey and journeys are miserable. If the journey is what your focus is than your life will be miserable and with out hope, will become angery and bitter and quit. You will make your destination what ever road side stop offers you some marginal comfort but you'll never be satisfied. Who wants to live their life at a gas station, lives are lived at destinations. With this in mind I encourage all of you to have a destination in mind. Prepare a vision statement for your life. I know for a fact that's what I am going to do. I am going to spend a greater part of the rest of this year creating some solid vision statements for my life, so that I have destination in mind, so that I can have 20/ 15 vision, so I can see farther the most and maybe just maybe I will be able to achieve more than most. Live the adventure.

Scared Stiff

Can I be very honest with everyone? Today I am scared; I am quite literally shaking in my boots. Its one thing to say "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" it is another thing entirely to actually have to do it. I am scared because today I come up against something that I can not do in my own strength. I lack the skill, I lack the experience, I lack the wisdom, none the less it is mine to do and no one else can do it. I really wish God would just take this away from me. I wish that I would wake up one morning and it would all be over. But it won't. The bible says we are "Co-heirs" with Christ, that means we get to co-inherit heaven with him, it also means we get to co-heir in his battles with him. It means some times God doesn't rescue us, sometimes he helps us fight our way out.

Let me take you the first chapter in Joshua. Moses has Just died. Joshua is now in charge of leading Gods people into the promised land. It is not as easy as it sounds, it is not a short walk across the Jordan and then over the hill into a beautiful and fruitful valley. It was a very long walk across treacherous terrain filled with hostile peoples, some in fortified cities, with armies greater than his own. Now Joshua had been in skirmish or two in his life but this was all out war, not to mention he was leading the Israelites. For those not familiar with the story the Israelites complained and wanted to quit several times before they finally got to the promised land, they were not what you would consider a hardened soldiers. So Joshua has just been put in charge of a nation and its destiny which by the way involves a massive war that will be fought by a bunch of potential quitters. Do you think he was scared!?

The lord speaks to Joshua just before they enter the promised land. He says two things I want to note. One "Be Strong and courageous" (he says that twice) and "Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go". So do you think he was scared? I do, I don't think God says things like that to people who aren't scared.

So what is the morale of the story? The morale is Joshua won and the people inherited the land. Despite his fears he won, despite what he lacked he won. Maybe your like me this morning maybe you are faced with an obstacle in which you in your own strength can not overcome. As is the case with me and with Joshua that obstacle, that battle is not going to go away, you are going to have to face it. In that situation the words that were spoken to Joshua are also spoken to you and me. Be strong and courageous do not be terrified, do not be discourage for the lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Remember Joshua won, after many scary long battles Joshua won and so will you. Live the Adventure.

Why Not Me!? Why Not Now!?

If we go the first chapter in Luke we find the story of the parents of John the Baptist. His parents are Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was priest and the bible says that both Zechariah and Elizabeth were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lords commandments and regulations blamelessly. The bible continues to say "but they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and they where both well along in years."

Now I put these two statements together here for a reason. Israel at the time a theology known as the "Retribution Principal" the principal was quite simple, it stated: That God blesses the righteous and curses the wicked therefore those who lived blessed lives are obviously righteous and those who do not lived blessed lives must be wicked. In other words your suffering was your fault you brought it on your self due to your own sin.

How horrible it must have been for Zechariah and Elizabeth. They not only had no children they also had to deal with the fact that they were looked down upon by friends and neighbors who believed in the retribution principal. Elizabeth dealt with the women taking behind her back; Zachariah had to deal with all of his priest buddies trying to figure out what his secret sin was. Think of their Sabbath services, they are sitting in the pew as rabbi teaches on how God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. Not only would people look down their nose at them while affirming their own righteousness they must have been asking themselves the question "why me?" They must have been frustrated to say the least, to say the worst they may have had moments of anger and bitterness towards God.

Ever felt like these Guys. Maybe you don't have people taking behind your back but maybe you suffer, maybe you suffer despite the fact that you live righteously, maybe suffer though you keep the commandments and regulations with out blame. Maybe you sit in your pew frustrated. Maybe as you hear the preacher talking about the promises of God and how they are available to those who believe you sit there and ask your self "why me" why am I not getting the blessing?!

It can not be emphasized enough that the kingdom of God is more like an army than a family. Let me explain that a little. In a family if children are good and they follow the rules they are more likely to get better gifts and more privileges from mom and dad. It must also be said that in families that rewards can come at fairly regular and predictable intervals. These times might be in holidays, birthdays or right after report cards. In the army soldiers who are good are asked to go through more difficult training and to go on the more difficult missions, in essence the better you get the more difficult and more dangerous your life can become. Also in the army there are no regular intervals; periods of rest, relaxation and reward are based on the needs of the army. Some soldiers (especially the good ones) must go on long difficult missions

Such is the case with Elizabeth and Zachariah, the bible says they where off in years. They had suffered the results of being barren for a number of years. Their mission was difficult; however they gave birth to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ. There timing of reward was based on the needs of the Lord's army, if John where born to early or to late he would have been of little impact. Also if John had not been born in such a miraculous way it may have diminished evidence of God's hand in his birth.

So if this is you. If you are following the Lords commandments with out blame and yet continue to suffer than take heart. The reality is John the Baptist's parents where highly favored among the lord, they were some of his best soldiers that's why he chose them for such a difficult mission. Such is the case with you. Your are one of his best soldiers. God appreciates what you are doing. Live the adventure.

Does Size Really Matter

Does size really matter? I am referring to size the of your obstacles, or the size of your problem. Does it really matter. I was reading about the Israelites the other day they where in captivity. They were slaves in Egypt and they have been for the last 400 years. God sent Moses to them to tell them that he was going to free them from Egypt and send them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Sounds good right, sounds good to me I will take milk and honey over captivity.

So I am going to make a long story short the Israelites got to the promised land....Well they almost got there. You see they were about a two weeks journey from the promised land and God tells Moses to send some spies into the land to see who lives their how strong they where, and to see what the land was like and if it had a good crop.

So Moses selects 12 men, 1 from each tribe and he sends them out. What they find there is awesome. The grapes where so big that to carry one cluster they had to carry it on a pole between two men. 1 Cluster between 2 men that is crazy. The land was everything God said it would. Oh yeah there was one little catch, the sons of Anak where there.

Sons of who? The sons of Anak, to keep it short the sons of Anak where a race of Giants. Goliath was a son of Anak. Goliath was 10 1/2 feet tall, it gives you guys an idea of how big they where. So these guys where huge. I must ask again does size matter? To the Israelites it did they went back to the camp and said and I quote "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit." Then came the but. Here is another quote ".
But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there." Then they said "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." They began to chicken out. Why? The sons of Anak were to big. Does size matter.

To the Israelites it did. In fact the whined and cried and moan until God got so sick of them he sentenced them to wander the desert for 40 years. In fact that generation that whined and cried none of them entered the promised land God told them he would not allow them to enter until "everyone of you lies dead in the desert."

Here is the moral of the story God calls every single one of us to something awesome. Just like the Israelites, we all have a promised land to enter. Also just like the Israelites there will be sons of Anak which stand in your way. They will be big huge problems, things you don't think you can beat. However size doesn't matter. We must remember God called them to promised, it was their destiny to live their and rule over it. We must also remember our destiny's are our God ordained mission. we used to have saying in the army "mission first" that was your first priority the mission. God is looking for warriors people to go and expand his kingdom, people that want the promised land, and people that are willing to fight for it. That particular generation of Israel didn't so they got to hang out in the desert. It wasn't all bad they were provided for and they were safe, very little war takes place while they are in the desert however there is not a more mediocre existence than wondering the desert. If you want the best of God, the promised land you have to be willing to stand up against your own individual sons of Anak. God can get you through it, with him you will succeed but you have to be willing to fight to step out on faith and Live The Adventure.

SHOOT EM UP BANG BANG

I have a confession to make, I am an action guy. Want my top 4 movies try the 4 Die Hard movies. Long drawn out elequent and poetic diaglogues do not impress me, give me a one liner. Here is some dialogue from the t.v. "According to Jim" That I can relate to:

Wife: "I don't want to see a movie where something gets blown up"

Jim: "If something doesn't get blown up it ain't a movie"

You know what else I love Action Video games. My favorite video games are those in which youre surronded by a thousand bad guys and each level there just becomes more and more of them. I love to see just how far I can get and how many bad guys I can kill.

I think we can learn alot from the action video games and the movies. The hero never gives up, never quits, never thinks its impossible. There are no odds in which he is not willing to come up against. If he is going out he is taking as many bad guys as he can with him and saving as many as he can with his own life.

As christians we would do well to live this way, never give up and never quite and never be afraid to battle the odds. In addition you know youre life will eventually end so take out as many bad guys as you can and save as many good ones ( I am talking of removing demonic strong holds and saving lost souls remember our battle is not against flesh and blood. So don't kill anybody). Live the adventure.

MOOSE DISCLAIMER: Jake Godlewski does not support violent video games that endorse or condone violence done to the innocent or criminal activity AKA: Grand Theft Auto is bad so are games like it.

I'M A VIRGIN!!!!!

When is the last time you have heard that announced with pride from the roof tops. When was the last time you have seen a man puff up his chest and say "yep, never had sex" or a guy wearing a bright yellow bracelet that says VIRGIN. I have never seen it nor heard of it. Lets be honest, and I am talking mostly to the guys, virginity is not something we wear with pride. Its more like an embarrassing cumbersome burden that must be carried until marriage. The sooner we can legally get rid of this burden the better. I mean you're not even a real man until you've had sex. Those who have not had sex are quasi-men, semi-manly, kinda of manly, but not really manly, right.? I disagree.

Who do we consider men, who are the toughest of the tough, the bravest of the brave, the manliest of the men? How about Army Green Berets, or Navy Seals, or Pro-Athletes? Most men would consider these among the toughest of the tough and the manliest of the men. What makes them the most manly?

What makes them the manliest is the fact that they are conquers, they kick butt and take names, they do what few can. In fact of every 100 aspiring college athletes only 3 will become pro, out every marine who enters seal training less than twenty percent will be able to complete it, out of every 100 candidates for the Army's Green Berets only 7 will dawn the coveted green beret. These are sobering numbers but they are what make these men the best of the best, the toughest of the tough and the manliest of the men.

Let me share a few other numbers for you. 95% of all Americans have had sex before they were married, 54% of teens claim to have had sex at least once in their lives, 81% of the males in America have sex before age twenty. This is the thing we classify how manly men are by the obstacles they can overcome, the things they can do that others can't. According to these numbers in the struggle against premaritial sex 95% fail, the majority before they get out high school the rest shortly thereafter. The bottom line is staying pure is hard, in fact it is satistically harder to stay a virgin until marriage then it is to become an Army Green Beret or a Navy Seal, and just 2% less difficult than becoming a pro athlete. By these numbers I would say being a virgin makes you a certified butt kicker not a wimp. Take pride in purity you're achieving a feat few others can. Virgin is not an embarrassing classification but rather a title that should be worn with pride. Its right up their with Centurion, Spartan, Gladiator. I AM A VIRGIN!!!! scream it from the roof tops, puff up your chest and say "yep never had sex", dawn a bracelet that says virgin, your a certified butt kicker, you're the elite, you are doing what others can't. For the record I stayed a virgin for twenty six years, until I got married, and I am proud of it! Live the adventure.

Elisha Noah Godlewski

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce my son Elisha Noah Godlewski. He is not born yet but he his on the way. I think I might be the typical proud father, I like this picture because he is smiling. I remember leaving the Doctors office that day thinking "yep, my son can smile" as if smiling was some tremendous feet. I am also proud when he kicks or makes movement. Its not so much what he is doing it is the fact that my son is doing it. I also look forward to meeting him, this is a puzzling because I don't even know what he is like, in fact really I won't be able to socialize with him for about another twenty years. It doesn't matter though because he is my son and I am interested in him and proud of him for whatever. Doesn't matter what he is or is doing he is mine.

This leads me to my point you are gods, gods love is not based on performance or what you can do for him its based on one thing and one thing only, you are his, you belong to him. That's it, nothing you did or will ever do matters to him, he isn't attracted to your personality or your looks, he likes you for you because you came from him.

That's awesome. It gives us the freedom to screw up, fail, make bad decisions, say things that are stupid and know gods love isn't going anywhere because it was never based on that to begin with. Live the Adventure.

Wher have you been?

Where have you been, who is this. You mean there is something actually different than a picture of oranges up on the screen. Crazy. Okay so I have been gone awhile. In fact its been so long I had troube finding my own site.

The questions looms; where have I been and what have I been doing and why did I stop my blog. The very simple answer is I have been living the adventure in real time. This blog has been adamant in expressing one thing, life is an adventure and like all true adventures it has its very high high's and its very low, lows. In fact the reality of the situation is that in most adventures there are more downs then up, there is more time spent in grave danger and extreme hardship than there is time spent in the sweet moment of victory.

We have seen enough adventure movies to know one thing the sweet moment of victory is well worth all the hardships that the hero must suffer to get there. In the hero's sweet moment of victory we all marvel him and wish we where them and wish their story was ours. So where have I been, I have been one of the low lows, I have been is the scene in the movie where nobody wishes they're the hero, the part of the adventure we wish we could skip, but with out this part (the hard part) it would not be an adventure and the hero would not be a hero. While I am not a hero yet, I want to be, I want to man who stands at the end of the story in his sweet moment of victory. I want all you out there in blog land to be a hero as well. I encougrage you if youre down then get back up, if youre struggeling don't stop just keep moving, the hero that quits is not a hero. I am including a song in this weeks blog its an oldie but a goodie its words in this season of my life have rang truer then anything I have heard on christian radio, I hope it encourages you as it does me. Don't back down and live the adventure.

Do You Like Oranges

How many of you like oranges, I know I do. In fact my favorite Juice is tropicana with lots of pulp. Its almost like drinking a solid orange I love it. Let me ask you another question how many of you like hot humid weather. I don't ethier in fact I hate it. Its funny though oranges grow best in hot and humid weather.

I was taking a walk and saying my morning prayers. The first thing I did was thank God for the beautiful weather. I sure that I am not the only one, we all thank God for beautiful days. But the cool 75 tempatures do not bring florida oranges. The same is true with green grass, everybody likes green grass but how many of us curse the rainy day.

My point is this thank God for the good days, thank him also for the bad days because of the good things they bring. Live the Adventure.

Soldierz

I wanted to discuss the idea of soldiers. While within a given army all soldiers are belong to the same army, and that army has one collective mission. Each soldier generally has a individual mission that he must do in order that the army as a whole can complete its objective.

While I was in the army there where are a few different groups of soldiers. There are those which us combat guys deemed as Pougs. Pougs we said sat in the rear with the gear. These are typically your admin guys, supply guys, and your techies. These types of Soldiers you usually stay in the back far from battle, very far. They may be in the same country but they are miles from a gunshot. Often times they will be in air conditioned buildings, they are always nearby supply chains, having quick access to food, water, showers, beds. They lead the most comfortable and safe life that can be lead by a soldier.

Then there are you combat arms guys or your front line soldier, these are the guys who are always near the battle, Where ever a gun shot is fired they are there. They are typically not close to any supplies. They often have poor food, no showers, and get little sleep. They are very uncomfortable and rarely safe.

Then you have the roughest of all soldiers, your special forces. These guys never sleep, they go into the roughest climates on earth, for days at a times, often with a small ruck sack. They bring no rain gear, no sleeping gear, very little food. There ruck sacks have room for mainly ammo and equipment. They are in small teams with little support, at the drop of a hat they are asked to go to the far corners of the earth and not tell friends or families where they are going or when they are coming back. They are elite and highly favored by their commanders, they are however rarely honored what they do is done is secret, if they get a medal their not allowed to tell you why or how they got it. Their great deeds and hard lives are lived in secret.

Who are you and where do you want to be. I must tell you that all soldiers no matter how rough or dangerous their role is play a vital part in the army, with out one of their missions the army as a whole would not survive, the army's mission would fail. I also must mention that no one is truly safe and that all units in the army face danger, some just more than others. I must say the army of God is set up the same way. There are those who's lives may be a little easier that doesn't mean their less spiritual or less saved or not as holy . It also doesn't mean that there better or more favored than you it just means there mission is different. We all have different missions and different burdens to bear. We must remember we are a team serving one purpose heading towards one goal, the kingdom of heaven. What ever mission God has chosen you for whether very easy, or very difficult it is your mission, bear it with pride. That's what soldiers do. Soldiers of God...Live the adventure.

Where else would you rather be

This is a special post as I write to you today from the E.R. room my wife is being treated in. Relax, its not serious. At 12:20 in the morning a day of pregnancy nausea where she couldn't hold anything down had taken its toll on the girl and she requested to go to hospital. I must admit that as I lay my hand on my wife's stomach to pray for her as we took the long sleepy drive to E.R. I became a little discouraged. Its 12:20 at night I know the hospital stay with will take us to at least three if not four. I loath aproaching the check in desk and telling them that I don't have insurance, I loath even more the exorbant hospital bill that will follow. A voice in the back of my mind says "have faith". Another voice quickly retorts; I am tired of having faith, tired of praying tired of believing when will I just get a brake, I always feel like I am ice skating up hill in a snowstorm, can't I do something, can't I go somwhere else.

Then I hear the voice of God, its always different from the thoughts in head, its louder yet more serene and it always speaks sense that you can't deny. He said "where else would you rather be" it took me but a second to realize I love this stuff. Don't get me wrong I am not looking forward to another bill nor a sleepless night but I look forward to what it brings. At the end of this there will be a child and God only knows how awesome he/she will become, the mighty things they will do. Its the same with life yes its hard especially right now but where else would I rather be. I am in the midst of the adventure God has sent me on how cool is that. What do I want to retire, sit on the porch and experience the easy life? You have got to be kidding me I want the adventure I want to see it and do it all, but no adventure comes without peril and sacrifice, child birth will be no different, nethier will the life I live. The greater the adventure, the more awesome the story, the more difficult the circumstance one must endure. There is only thing left to say...Live the Adventure.

Legacy

I have been thinking alot about what I want to be rememebered for. I remember a man that died while I was in Iraq. When he his fellow soldiers stood up to give testimony about him they all said one thing. "He was pretty good a sports". I do not want the defintive memory people have about me to be "he is good at sports". The fact is I am terrible at sports so I don't have to worry, but the point I am trying to get at is I want to be remembered for something deep, something that will impact lives, not something superficial. I want to be remembered for how I handled adveristy in my life, my reactions and responses to difficult times, I want my memory not to be an example in good times, but for what to do when times are not so good.
It is this desire that allows me to perserve some days.when I get frustrated or discouraged and just want to quit, or when the godly life seems to tiring and I want to go astray, there is always the nagging thought in the back of my brain when people hear my story and they hear this part what will they hear; how I perservered or how I quit, will they hear how godly I acted or will the hear how selfish I was? I must remember that every day and every moment even the difficult ones is my legacy in the making. I must ask with every decision I make how do I want to be remembered.
What do you want your legacy to be, remember every moment of every day is your legagcy in the making, how do you want to be remembered. Live the adventure.

Maybe God Doesn't Hate You After All

In Judges 10 we once again read how unfaithful Israel has once again fallen into the hands of an evil foreign power. In their distress they call out to God they say (and I am paraphrasing) "We have sinned against you, we have turned to worship other Gods, Help us. God replys "time and time again I have saved you and yet you still turn to worship other Gods, Tell you what cry out to your other Gods, Let them save you" Israel persists even throwing out their other Gods then It says remarkably in Judges 10:16

"Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel's misery no longer."

He could bear their misery NO LONGER. No longer? You mean he was having a tough time dealing with it before, you mean he wasn't enjoying Israels misery even after they had betrayed him yet again? What? That doesn't make sense? Could it be that God does not delight in the suffering of people? Thats Crazy!

Crazy but true. The fact of the matter is God does not hate you, when you suffer he suffers, he hates seeing you in distress. There is a lot more we could take about in that verse but for now I just want you to let that thought simmer. God doesn't hate you, talk to him tell him your problems ask for his help, maybe you'll find that God can bear your misery no longer. Live the adventure

Knowing war

I was reading in the Judges 3:1-2

These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):

Why is it importan that a nation would know war. Ever seen this on a bumper sticker:
"No Jesus, No Peace"
"Know Jesus, Know Peace"
Let me submit to you another expression.
"No War, No Peace"
"Know War, Know Peace".
To establish a Kingdom takes a fight, so does keeping it. Obviously the country that can not war will be easily invaded. In addition a country that does not know war only has one option to keep its self secure, that is diplomacy. While diplomacy is a great tool for keeping the peace it has a great weakness, compromise. The problem with compromise is that you have to give something up, you give up where you stand on a certain issue so that opposing side will give up where they stand and war can be averted. A country that can not defend itself will always compromise the problem with always compromising is you lose what you stand for, you quite being who you are and believing what you believe and become what ever they want you to be. Thats why a country needs to know war, because sometimes we have to fight not because diplomacy hasn't worked because on some issues diplomacy is not an option. The same is true in christianity, we must know war, we must be able to defend our faith, there are some issues on which diplomacy and compromise is not an option. Live the Adventure.

Comparing Apples

An Interesting comparision. As I round the end these two books I am reading 90 minutes in Heaven and 23 Minutes in hell I am coming to an interesting comparison. The man who went to heaven describes his exeperience as unending joy that only got better as time went on, while the man who went to hell described his experience as unending fear,suffering, and hoplessness that only got worse as time went on.

I reminded of a verse ephesians 3:19 and to "know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Its paul speaking to church about the love of Christ. What does being to filled to measure of all the fullness of God about. Its about not having want, if you are filled to the "measure of all the fullness of God" the you have the "fullness" of God and what does God want for, nothing he has everything. So when we know this love that surpasses knowledge we have everything we'll ever need.

I say this in my comparsion of hell because the man that went to hell had nothing but want, the man who went to heaven had so much he had want for nothing. All good things Come from God, This can be easily seen in heaven and hell. Where God is abundance, joy is in abundance, where God does not exist, joy does not exist. The bible goes to some lenght to warn us of hell, quite often this is used as a way of scaring people into becoming Christians. Don't get me wrong hell is a real place and if you're not a christian you will find your self in hell, However I don't think Jesus teaches on hell to scare you are force you love and serve him, I think he does it because he loves you and he knows whats best for you, and he knows that when you are with him you will have unending joy. His warning us of hell is completely selfless its based on his desire to see us live the lives more abundant. " I lay before life and death, I beesech you choose Life". Live the adventure.

Toothpaste?

We all get angry, for many of us when we get extermely angery we tense up we clench our fist, were not neccesairly going to hit someone, but their is just so much energy being built up it has to go somewhere. Tensing and clenching fist is a way to release that energy. Keep that in mind.

Now I want to share with you an analogy I once heard.Words are like toothpaste they come out of the tube easy once out its almost impossible to put them back in, when its said its over. So when you get angery I suggest you don't hold any tubs of toothpaste. Live the adventure

Time

Do you have the time?
You know this book on hell is really having a impact on me. I must admit as the reality of hell seeps into my system it is having a greater impact the reality of heaven. Today I was reading on the return of the man. Once the man had returned to earth he would lie awake at night horrified not by his memories of hell but of the people that he could of warned and didn’t.

I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone out there hell is real. It’s a real place people really go there. I wasn’t meant for people, horrors of hell were designed for demons (fallen angels) it was made to punish them. However if we do not accept Christ we are not allowed in heaven, we must go somewhere. I do not wish to scare people into accepting Christ, it typically doesn’t stick. Typically people’s lives will change only as long as they are afraid after the fear wears off they return to old habits. However I would not be a good man if I did not publish a warning. If you ask how can God send good person to hell I must answer that he doesn’t, we choose to go. We choose to not accept his love. By the way it is love that he offers, so many people see Christianity as rules and that’s not the case. His commandments are to protect you, they are to ensure the life more abundant. Everything that you do that is contrary to the will of God, you are persuaded to do by demons. These demons only want your destruction, they want you to join them in hell they want to rob you of your rightful place which is the presence of God. You should read the testimony of the man sent to heaven he speaks of sights, sounds and colors that earthly words can not describe, he describes his first moment in heaven as filled with great joy, joy unequaled on earth, this joy only increased the closer he got to the pearly gates. That is your place, that is where you belong, not hell.

I want to take this moment to tell a story. It is a story that is quite a horrible memory for me. Every time I recall it I cry, I am actually crying right now. It’s a story a man I met in Iraq. His name is Sgt. Walker. Sgt Walker was a good man, he was fun to talk to, he was good to his soldiers, he cared about the troops. The man was in intelligence, he networked with Iraqis to gather information on terrorist cells. He would often be found in the late hours of the night and we hours of the morning, in command center transmitting and desciminating information. When asked why doesn’t get some sleep, he would say “a soldiers life depends on this information, knowing what I know could bring him life and death I have to get it out”. He was truly a good man. I remember having a conversation with Sgt. Walker, I talked to him about Jesus, he made his jokes as many do. He told me that he would accept Christ on his death bed, he said the way he figured it he would continue “Drinking and whoring around” until he was about to die and then accept Christ. I told him it typically doesn’t work that way, many people end up cursing god on their death bed rather than accept him. I let the argument die. I wish I hadn’t. The next morning was horrible I will never forget it. I saw his commanding officer come running out of his barracks he ran to the aids station, then four medics came running out with a stretcher. They came out two minutes later on the stretcher lay Sgt. Walker. The man had died. Not in battle, not because of bullets or bombs, he had died due to heat stroke. He hadn’t drank enough water the day before and he died in his sleep. He never had the chance to repent. I say this story because we never know. As Christians speak with passion at every opportunity, don’t miss them and please don’t let the argument die, you never know when its that persons last chance, had I known that Sgt walker would be dead the next day I would have fought harder, tried more, I didn’t, I was the last Jesus that man ever saw. To those not saved you never how or when, don’t put off tell your death bed, or tell tomorrow, or even when for another hour, you really don’t know. Its not promised. Do you have the time? Live the Adventure.

Reflections from Hell

I a reading two books right now, one is called “90 Minutes in heaven” the other is called “23 Minutes In Hell”. I have read just a few chapters in each book. The accountants of both heaven and hell are already causing me to reconsider my present value system. In reading hell’s horrors and heavens delights I am beginning to take stock of my life and what I consider good. In particular the story of the man sent to hell has really got me thinking. The man sent to hell missed the smallest of things, blue oceans, cool breeze’s, moments of interaction with his wife and others. You should read how this man described water how precious it had become to him, it made me swish the water around in my mouth today just trying to appreciate it more.

I think I take advantage of the little things, things like water, like interactions with my wife and with others. My day gets all huffy when I am stuck in traffic, when I don’t make as much money as I want, when times are just a little hard. This man who was in hell, in the absence of everything good, he longs for human interaction and cool breeze and beautiful view. He didn’t remember the days there was no traffic, nor did he remember how much money he made, or even the times where life was easy. He longed for peace, and rest, a pretty view, his wife, and a glass of water.

I have all these things in abundance yet I don’t always appreciate my life.
The things this man longed for are reflections of the goodness of God, that is why when he was Hell he didn’t have them. I think we should all take a moment and rejoice in the good things of God, really take a moment and enjoy them. You may never find yourself in Hell but it would be a shame to find yourself at the end of your life missing all that would was good in it. Live the Adventure.

My Car Shall Be a Car of Prayer.

I AM BACK!!!!. Its been a long time no see. For those who read my blog regularly I apologize for my two weeks with out posts. The fact of the matter is I have hardly had time to sleep much less blog. I have been taking college courses online. In these courses they take a 12 week course and cram it into 6. well what happened to me was I had received my books three weeks late. So I am trying to cram twelve weeks of class into three. The teachers were gracious in allowing me to turn in work late however every assignment still had to be done. I have been waking up at 5 and going to bed at midnight every night. Its been exhausting, however I did get it done I took finals Saturday. So now I am back.
Well enough history I am excited to talk about my next adventure. As you have probably noticed with my return to corporate America life is busier and there is less time for everything, even prayer. I am a man who thrives off prayer. If I go with out a quiet time for too many days I can physically feel the difference. So in order to increase prayer I am going on a 31 day military campaign. The objective is to turn my car into a car of prayer. This won’t be easy. My natural tendency every time I get into my car is space off. I have tried to pray while driving before however often find myself in la la land. That is because my habit is when I am in my car I space off, I day dream that’s what I do in my car. Its almost as if my car is owned by that. Well its time to break that habit, its time to take my car back for Jesus. I want my habit to be when I get into my car to that I instantly find myself in place of prayer, rather than a place of semi-unconsciousness. So in order to do that, for the next 31 days if I am in my car I am praying, I don’t care if it is just a run to Wal-mart to pick up some milk, If there is 30 seconds in that car than there are 30 seconds in prayer, that’s going to be my new rule. So I am going to do a couple of things to make this work. First I am cleaning my car I figure if I am going to ask the holy spirit to dwell there it ought to be clean. Second I am keeping on my accountability through the twitter, I am going to update my twitter every time I drive I will be putting where I went and what I prayed for. Alright bloggers, I am Glad I am back and look forward to posting the outcomes of this awesome adventure. Live the adventure.

Last Nights Open Flame

We had the second edition of Open Flame Last night. If your wondering what the video above is about it was our fire last night. For those of you who don’t know Open Flame is our youth service where at the well it happens every other week at my house. We have fire, cook hot dogs, roast marshmallows, make smores its awesome
Well last night I got rained out so I took the projector and played the video above on my while we listened to fire crackle over the church’s sound system. We cooked hot dogs on the stove and instead of smores we made chocolate chip cookies and had milk. The message was awesome everybody got involved and then we watched Transformers on the big screen afterward. It was an awesome time despite the disasters.
Why do I post all this. Its just because I love it. I don’t think there is some huge spiritual lesson behind it. I just love doing what I am doing. I love having fires or watching them on a projector. I love giving messages to young people and having discussions with them in my living room. I love hot dogs and smores and hot dogs and cookies, what ever the case may be. I am just loving life right now. Anyway. Live the Adventure.

Great Kings

I had an interesting thought that last week. I read an excerpt from the Chronicles of Narnia, they were referring to Lion the king. One character said to another character in that no one could approach the great king with out “their knees knocking”. They said he wasn’t safe, that he never hurt people but he wasn’t safe. It got me thinking about the true nature of kings. I have often heard that prayer should never be a chore because we get to approach a king, or sometimes people refer to it as the president. This is the thing in today’s world most when most of us think of kings and presidents we get the picture of our political leaders. Our political leaders at least in the free countries of this world do not have the power to take lives nor throw you in prison for the rest of your life without trial. We think of our political leaders as safe, their powerful but safe.

I want us to picture the medieval kings of old, or the kings of Babylon, or even modern day dictators, people who have the power to do what ever they want. If they say you are dead then you are dead, if they lock you up, no one lets you out. Approaching them becomes a lot more exciting scenario. Think of what you would discuss with this type of person and why, how passionate would be to risk approaching men like these. How exciting would that be if you had an audience with a Suddam Hussein or Adolf Hitler and you were pleading a cause with them. How would that feel.

If it were me I would be prepared, focused, my blood would be pumping, my adrenaline rushing, I would speak with boldness not because the bible told me to but because if I did not I would not grasp their attention nor sway their decision.
This is what our prayer must be like. We must realize whom we are approaching. While Jesus does not contain the evil of these men he does contain their power and far greater. Approaching him should be like approaching any powerful and dangerous leader, it should command the same thinking and the same approach. Live the adventure.

Fight Night

Once a month on a friday night a"The Well gets together for fight night." Actually its called watch night. Its our once a month late night prayer session. Where we fight the Devil and seek our lord for our church, our city, our country and the world. As our pastor would refer to it "its hot nasty stinky prayer." Its a fight. In other words is its good, its good like climbing a fourteen thousand foot mountain. For those of you who don't about fourteen thousand feet mountains or 14er's as us mountian folk call them, they have peaks that are above the tree line. The tree line is the point at which you are so high there is not enough oxygen for tree's to grow. Tree's not being a very active creature you can imagine how little oxygen there is up there. Anyway back to being good like climbing a mountain. climbing a mountain of that height is pretty difficult. Your body is weak you gasp for air, your constantly taking breaks due to exhaustion and when you look at your progress you may have gone ten feet. Its a strenous process. So you must ask why people do it. The view and thrill you feel at the top is unlike anything on earth. In other words when you push through the difficulty you recieve the awesome blessing of being on top of the world, where few people ever go. Its worth it. Thats what friday night fights (or watch night) is like, difficult at times but if you push through its worth it.

Well on to the moral of the story. This last friday one of the things I got to pray for was some new facilitys that we needed for our various services that we do at the church. One of them being Watch Night. I was excited because this is something that I have been passionate about we really need a new spot for Watch night. Well as I began to pray I realized that I didn't seem to have anything to pray, I tried to push through but at times I wondered if I was even making sense. In short is was an ugly prayer,quite ugly. So I had to take a moment afterword and reflect. Why was that prayer ugly, I was passionate about it, I wanted to pray for it. In fact I have prayed for this in my own quite time why was it so bad. Upon reflection I realized the prayer is fighting and fighting is rarely pretty. forget what you see in the movies, fighters generaly do not look like Bruce Lee. The fact of the matter is they often look ugly and ungraceful and even take their share of hits. The winner is the one who is the toughest the one who perservers. So it is with prayer, its not always graceful and you take your share of hits. The winner is the one who will last the longest. To lasting the longest. Live the adventure.

Baby steps.

Hey there long time no see. Yeah its been a while since my last post, I have 3, 5 page papers due this week all of them single space, in addition I wrote a miniature play for my church I have been and am currently pretty busy. I did want to take just a minute and share what God has been doing in my life. I meant what I said in my last post, that God would make me ready. That he would make me the type of man that would be able to chose a life of the dangerous and the uncomfortable to do the things God has called him to do.

So in order to do that I am focusing on the little areas, where am I selfish just a little bit. I am focusing at being slow to anger when I get frustrated and trying to be less offendable and more congenial towards others. It’s a small step, its not doing a forty-day water only fast, nor I am praying in tongues three hours a day, but I don’t think doing those things will take me to the next level. I don’t think those things alone will make me the man I want to be. I think getting to who I want to be takes baby steps, small sacrifices on a continuous basis. This process makes sacrifice and the subduing of the flesh habitual rather than eventful. In other words when I sacrifice its not some big noticeable event, its what I do everyday, its my habit and what I default to in every situation. So that way when God asks for the big sacrifices I will do so willing and without hesitation because that’s just what I am used to. Live the adventure.

Holy Land Experience

This weekend I visited the Holy Land. Not the one in Israel the one in Florida. There is a theme park here in which the story of Christ is acted in a very real and live setting it was a great time. We where treated as kings thanks to my good friend Claudia who works there, she got us in for free and even got us food vouchers. There is one exhibit there that has really got me thinking, its called the “Scriptorium” its like a Museum of bibles. They have scrolls there that date all the way back to before Egypt which is pretty amazing but they didn’t impress me. My favorite part of the tour was section dedicated to the reformation. It was amazing to me to hear the stories of these men who where so passionate about the word of God that they where actually martyred for translating them into a language the people could understand.. I even saw one bible there called the “Matthew Bible” also known as the “Martyrs bible”. Its called that because its pages are actually stained with the blood of the men who printed it.

An impressive sight to say the least. As I saw this blood and listened to the drone of our automated tour guide the thought occurred to me that these men where not to different from me and you. Many of these men where highly educated with good paying Jobs, the story of all these translators where very similar they would first lose their jobs, then they would be threatened, then they would take there work into hiding where they worked frivolously to complete it before their very lives where taken from them.

This has got me thinking because I have often considered myself one who would be able to give his life for Christ. I don’t long for this but I think I could do it. Even if I did however I do not think that my sacrifice would equal one of these men. It would be the difference between dying in a car accident and dying of a slow cancer. I would live a life of comfort then in a moment my life would be taken from me. These men became criminals and lived their lives in fear, they suffered the systematic removal of their rights and privileges. Each step they took would be harder than one before it, yet they continued, when they were banned and outlawed they continued.

To chose between life and death is easy, when you die its over no more pain, to choose to live a life of suffering then eventual death is a much harder decision to make. I had ask myself if I could do it, if the rights of America where to cease and they did not allow me to work and I had to move my family underground could I do it. The question scares me because my yes did come easy or readily. My prayer over the last few days is that God would make me able, that he would train me to able to say yes quickly and without hesitation. I don’t want to have to make the decision I do however want to be ready if the need ever arises. Lord make me ready. Live the adventure

Bumper Bowling

Today I realized that my life is a lot like bumper bowling. I am the bowling ball. I am a highly driven, passionate person with a goal in mind. I want the strike. The strike is all that God has intended for me. I move with great speed and generate a lot of force as I barrel down the lane. There is just one obstacle; the gutter. People are imperfect we where born with a tendency toward sin, this is the imperfect throw, the one that sends a passionate highly driven bowling ball towards the gutter and ultimately missing his Strike. That’s why I am thankful for the bumpers. That’s right God was wise enough to put people in my life that act as inflatable tubes that keep me out of the gutter and headed toward strike I so desperately seek. I just wanted to take a moment to thank my bumpers. I wanted to thank my wife, my pastor, and my friends both at the well and abroad for being my bumpers. Thanks. A note to all out there in blog land if you don’t have bumpers get them, bowling with out them could be a disaster. Live the Adventure.

The most favored (part 2)

The most favored Part 2. I must apologize as I re-read yesterdays post I realize that I made no mention of this being a two part series. So yesterdays post may seem to leave you hanging a bit. The reason I wanted to talk about discipline as necessary and not always punishment is because as I contemplated Hebrews 12 yesterday I had an interesting thought. If God Disciplines those he loves does the more discipline or more hardship one suffer mean that one is loved more. Let me digress for a moment and say that I do believe that God plays favorites, that some people are more loved or more favored than others. I also want to take a moment and say that even the smallest most minute amount of Gods love is far greater than anything a person could ever give you, remember that Christ gave up his life for the those he loved even just a little.

Back to the question does more discipline mean more favored. Does it mean the more hardship you suffer the more you are favored? I think so. Think about it, if there is some really nasty task one which requires much hard work, or perhaps getting really dirty and stinky, or will make you uncomfortable or is a bit humiliating and you needed help doing it who do you call, the guy you met last week or your best friend that has been with you through thick or thin? Who does a general call with his most difficult missions the officer he knows and trusts or the one he doesn't. Read your bible, read the stories of Joseph, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, the Johns. They all had lives full of hardship, yet these men are the biblical greates and there is not a Christian on earth who considers these men not favored of God.

So back to the question are the more disciplined the most favored? Absolutely. So treat hardship as discipline God is treating you as sons, dearly loved and trusted sons. Rejoice when things get harder and things seem difficult more often it just means that God is giving the more difficult missions. The ones he only gives to best friends, those he trusts. Live the adventure.

The Most Favored

Today I found myself contemplating Hebrews 12. It speaks of discipline. It says to treat hardship as discipline and that God disciplines those he loves. I want to speak a moment on discipline. Discipline is often thought of as punishment for wrong. I was in the military for 4 years, one thing I remember was P.T. Its full name is physical training. It happens everyday. Its one our daily "disciplines". I hadn't done anything wrong yet everyday at 6 a.m. everyday I would be in formation waiting for the order to do the push up.

It wasn't a punishment, it was a discipline. A discipline we had to endure not because we were bad soldiers but because it was vital that we remain in good physical condition in order to be ready for combat. We see this through out the scripture. Look at Moses he spent 40 years in the desert. Why because he killed an Egyptian, I don't think so. We must remember that when Moses killed the Egyptian it was out of defense of a fellow Hebrew. Moses was not exiled for forty years as punishment, he was out in the in the desert for 40 years because he was the one chosen to lead Israel thru the desert over the next 40 years. It was a necessary discipline to keep him alive in spiritual combat. Its important that we see that Because if we see discipline merely as punishment than we are always trying to figure out what we did wrong in order to receive when in fact you didn't necessarily do anything. It just may be a discipline necessary to keep you alive in future spiritual combat. Live the adventure

The Chance to Be a Hero.

So I was watching Law and Order yesterday and on this particular episode a 7 year old had shot a 6 year old. Now in this instance the 7 year old was shooting at some drug dealers whom he had witnessed murder some one the day before and the six year old just happen to get in the way. The police knew it there was just no evidence to prove it, the DA was charging the boy. The prosecutor and the police where particularly torn up on this case as they didn't want to send a 7 year old to jail on murder charges. The police scrambled to find anybody else they could charge with the crime, they couldn't find anyone. The attorney assigned to the case pleaded with the Chief District Attorney to find another option, he gave her none. So this prosecutor is given the most difficult of her life. The media is watching. Her boss is watching. The Fate of a 7 year old boy is on the line.

So the show comes to a scene where the prosecutor is asking the counsel of another lawyer friend of her's. She is telling her friend of all the woes she is facing, how her career and political future are doomed and she doesn't know what to do and wishes she had never gotten the case. Her friend looked at her and said "I don't know why you're complaining you should be glad you got this case and not someone who doesn't care, it's a tough case, but you have the chance to be a hero".

The line gave me chills. It's a tough case but you have the chance to be a hero. How many of us wish we had the chance to be a hero. Yet how many of us fail to recognize that our present adversity is the chance for us to become a hero. We spend our whole lives cursing our every adversity and then wonder at the end why we achieved nothing. Heroes are born out adversity. Want to be a hero? Live the Adventure.

True Love.

So another marriage building Blog. Yesterday we got on the topic love and respect. The most essential need for a man is respect while the most essential need for a woman is love. The general concensus of the men in the room is that it is easier to respect than to love, while for the women much easier to love than respect. I had another observation yesterday, the topic of love languages has come up on a regular basis. Love languages are the the ways you communicate love. You feel loved when some one touches you, or when some one gives you a gift, or maybe with kind words, sometimes when they do nice things and other times when people just spend quality time with you. Everybody has a different combination, what I have noticed over the past few weeks is that every couple in that room has a love language that is very difficult for their spouse to speak. In other words if one likes to be touched the other hates touching. If one likes to spend quality time the other could not consider that a bigger waste of time. Why does God do that. Why does he put people together who have to stretch in order to serve and show love and appreciation. Why does he give women a need for love and men have such a hard time giving it and why do men have a need for respect that women have such a hard time giving. I was pondering this last night. My thoughts came to me and my wife, I am an advid cuddler she hates it. I wondered what life would be like if she were also an avid cuddler. I realized that life may not be as good as one would think. I may have all the cuddeling I could possibly want but I don't think it would mean as much. Love is sacrifice. The fact that my wife has to stretch her self to make me feel loved makes every touch and cuddle more worth it. The respect of my wife can mean more to me than the respect of one hundred men, it is easy to get the respect of men, it is not near as easy to get the respect of the women you care about, it makes it all that much more valuable and worth it. I think Jesus is sending us a message, love is sacrifice. The best love we can give God, our spouse, our friends and our family is that which we had to sacrifice to do so. Live the adventure.

Like Christ.

To be like christ. It is the mission of the modern Christian to be more christ like. The ardent Christians pray a lot, reads a lot, worships a lot, spends a lot of time with God so they can figure out who he is so they can be more like him. I had a revelation that may help. What is God like? God is like a man its his focal point that is different. Let me explain. Jesus was a perfect reflection of God. If you read John chapeter 14 verses 5-9 You'll see that Jesus tries to repeatedly explain to the disiciples that if you have seen me you have seen the father. So to figure out who God is let us look no farther than Jesus. Jesus acted like a man, Jesus was a man and he related to men. The twelve disciples loved him, not because he acted like this ominpotent all powerful being, but because he acted so human. The gospels are full of emotional texts about jesus; "The lord wept", "and he had compassion on them". He cried, he laughed, he joked, he gave hugs, people came up to him and talked to him and he talked back. Regular people had regular conversations with God. God was no more than a spritually perfect regular joe. This is cause for pause for me as I see him hanging on the cross, in his final moments in the most pain of his life he does 3 three things that astonish me, he prays for those who persecute him, He comforts his mother and his friend, and he preached to the criminals beside him. How does one so human do something so amazing, so anti human. People often take the easy route saying he was God. It seems we dismiss it as it was easy for him. I don't think it was so easy for him. It says he genesis we are made in his image, meaning with his personality traits, when we add this to the fact the God is so relateable and so human it tells me that at my core me and God are not all that different. If our personalitys are similar and it is not easy for me I can not assume it was easy for him. So how did he do it. How can we be so similar yet act so differently? This us being like in personality is esstiential because it is out of our personality in which we react. Jesus reacted on the cross, the things he did where not well thought out actions, they were reactions that stemed from who he was by default, they stemed from his personality. This tells me that I could act like Jesus like Jesus acted, I could be like him in default. The personality is there. So why don't I, what is different? What is different is the focal point, were do the persoanlitys focus. Jesus thought only of others, often I think only of myself. Like Jesus at my core I am loving and compassionate, I wish to serve and protect but to often the personality is focused on me. I am loving and compassionate towards me, I wish to serve and protect me. How do we become more like Christ? We don't need to change who we are,we need to change what we are focused on. Focus on others, be like Christ, Live the adventure.

Wax on, Wax Off:

The classic line of the 20th century; "Wax 0n, wax off". It comes from the movie Karate Kid. In the movie young Daniel son wants to learn karate. Mr. Meeogie agrees to teach him. His first lesson; wax on wax off. His first lesson was polishing cars, his second lesson was sanding the floors, his third was paint the fence, fourth paint the house. Mr. Meeogie ends up with a completely re-done house and young Daniel son ends up exhausted and frustrated. He was supposed to learn karate not become some one's personal slave. As Daniel begins to walk out, to quite Mr. Meeogie say's show me "paint the fence" as Daniel mimicks painting the fence Mr. Meeogie takes a swing at him, its blocked by Daniels "Paint the Fence". I, along with so many out there feel called to do great and awesome things for God yet sometimes it seems like one problem after another. Sometimes I feel like I am Daniel I wake up early in the morning and head over to Mr. Meeogie's house, I have excited smile on my face, I think I am about to learn karate and I get there and I get handed a bucket and a brush and told to "paint the fence". Mr. Meeogie was a wise teacher, so is God and God like Meeogie sometimes has us do things that seem completely unrelated to our great callings in life, their difficult, tedious, not fun. sometimes they are down right disappointing. Let me lift your spirits by saying Daniel became a karate champion. We will become spiritual champions but it all comes from "paint the fence". To waxing on and off, to painting that spiritual fence. Live the Adventure.

Live the Adventure

You know about 2 and half weeks ago, I went prayer walking. Thats a long walk I go on and prayer the whole time. It helps keep me focused. On that particular prayer walk I was seeking the lords direction. I was an Independent Agent working for an insurance company, I got paid soley on commission. I had done okay for myself for the first few months and then all of the sudden my sales stopped. I would have days full of appointments and everyone would cancel, I had a 63% closing ratio on my sales yet it seemed impossible to make one. I would try and try it seemed as if I was spining my wheels. I finally came to a point where I hadn't made a sale in 3 weeks, that means I hadn't got paid in that long either. To make matters even better my wife had recently lost her job.I had been fasting for about 21 one days and had a sense that it was time to leave my job. After much prayer and wise counsel with 25 dollars in my checking account I decided to quit. I did. What has consipired over the last few weeks and especially today is a glorious testemant to God. About a week and a half ago neither my wife nor I had any money in our pockets, in fact our checking account was 383 dollars over drawn and our house was out of toilet paper. I decided to take another prayer walk shortly into the walk I begin crying out to God, on and abondened road yelling at the top of my voice I screamed God I need money, I need money. I tell you no lie when at that moment a friend called to ask me how I was doing he later wired me 500 dollars. But wait it gets better, today at 8:30 in the morning the door bell rang and there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to find a ups package sitting on the porch. Inside I found a money order made out to me for a thousand dollars. I do not know the woman who sent it nor does my wife. If the person exist (if its not some angel) than it was only through the holy spirit that she could have recieved my name and addresse. I must say this, that if you take anything from this realize that amazing stories are not confined to the pages of the bible that they happen here and now. God has destined all of us to live lives of the miraclous and the amazing. It takes guts, its dangerous, and its hard, these last few weeks have been difficult, but its worth it. Forget the fact I just got a thousand dollars that I didn't work for, I just saw a miracle. I just saw the boundaries of the possible penetrated and the boundless possiblitys of an almighty God. I love living the Adventure.

In Theory and In Practice

I was humbled this last tuesday. I have recently been attending a marriage building small group. Its been great and is definitely making my marriage better. But on to the humbling part. Before my wife and I got married we went to this same class but only went to a couple of sessions. The session that we had last week I remembered from before. I also remember that when I had went through the last time I had a lot of theorys of how marriage should work, the situations that would come up, and how I should and would respond. I had read the scriptures and I thought I was ready and that I would make a great husband. I found myself wondering what had happened last tuesday. All the things I thought that I would do right I did wrong, the situations that I was so prepared for blind sided me. With all my book smarts about marriage I thought I was prepared but in reality I was the same as everyone else, making the same mistakes, and getting into the same stupid arguments. So what had happened. Things are different in theory than they are in practice. The same thing is true with the last two years of my life. In planting this church I have run into situations that until I had encountered them I had only read of them. Once again I had lots of theorys but I have not done these last two years gracefully. In fact they have been quite dogged and clumsy. It reminds me of combat. When I was on my way to Iraq there was a lot of talk about the situations we would encounter and how bravely or not bravely we would handel them. While I was there I saw veteran Sgt. Majors cower in fear and timid privates act bravely. Things are different in theory than in practice. There are a couple lessons one can learn from this. First is the lesson that nobody does it perfect no matter how much they know, to steal once again from the Matrix "nobody makes the first Jump" everybody screws up and every one acts less admirably than had hoped when the right situation occurs. The second and most important is you don't know as much as you think, youre not as great as you think, youre not going to do as well as you think. Everybody can use more practice. Thats why God sends us through so much stuff and through such long seasons. We all need lots of pratice. So here's to lots of practice. Live the adventure.

You're Being Watched

Somebody always has their eye's on you. Somebody is always watching. They may never hear your conversation, never speak with you but their watching. Today I had a job interview. It was at a place I had worked at previously, after the inital screening I was called into the interview. I was hoping that it would be someone that I knew to make the process easy. It wasn't. The next part is amazing, the man I had never met, nor spoken to, reconized me immediately. He told me he remembered me from when I had worked there before, he said he remembered me as an upstanding person and good salesman. He then went on to say that at this point the interview was really informal he was going to make the recommendation that I get hired. Amazing isn't, live your life carefully someone is always watching. Live the adventure.

Seasons.

I was astonished yesterday by listening to the sermon by the pastor’s wife Sola, as she read the facts and figures of the life of Paul. My Jaw dropped when I heard there where seven years between the Damascus experience and his public testimony and another 4 years until he was in ministry, totaling 11 years between him having an encounter with God and full time ministry. 7 Years after Paul see's the light and hears the audible voice of God he finally speaks out. I think we as Christians need to revamp our vocabulary. For those of us who have been saved long enough to know the lingo "seasons" is a word we tend to throw around a lot. For those of you who don't know about seasons this is the term we used to define the different time periods God sends us through. There are many season's, we have seasons of learning where the lord teaches a lot, then there are seasons of blessing where your on top of the world and nothing can seem to go wrong, then there are seasons of trial where everything seems to go wrong, there are seasons of greatness where you're doing big things and there are seasons of obscurity where nobody knows who you are or what you are doing. Every season has its purpose in taking you to your destiny. I have a problem with the word season, in my mind it’s not an adequate measure of time. When I think of a season I think of summer, winter, spring, and fall. Each of these seasons is a few months long, so because of the relationship of the word seasons to the actual climate seasons I think of the seasons of God being rather short. To add to this mental illusion the 7 years that Paul lives in a season of obscurity is covered in just a page or two in the bible. So once again I am seeing seasons as being short. This does not seem to be the case. When I look at many of the greatest of the bible they all had seasons, long seasons where they weren't living their lives of greatness, these seasons lasted years and not months. The greater the calling it would seem the longer your season of obscurity would be. This is a cause for pause for me because over the last few days I have been putting a lot of thought into the youth ministry program here at the Well. I am just a few weeks away from getting this up and running so my mind is often on what am I going to teaching what are the pillars of this ministry going to be. I often am trying to find ways to teach students how to be great how to stretch themselves and become more than they are right now, while this is important I am starting to believe that teaching how to live life through extended periods of obscurity is even more so. The small details of character, what you do when no one knows who you are or what you are doing is paramount. While I don't like seasons as a measure of time I do like the fact that they adequately describe life’s transitions. It is not one day 102 degrees and 90 percent humidity, the grass is green and the tree's full of life, and then the next all the leaves are orange, the grass is dead and the temperature is a cold 50 degrees. The changes of seasons of the year are gradual so are the seasons of life, typically they don't happen over night. So often I compartmentalize my life I see this vast difference between living in obscurity and living in greatness. I see it as differently as the dead of winter and the peak of summer. While the circumstance will be vastly different this won't happen over night, the change will be gradual in fact I think I will hardly notice it. I say this because I don't think the greatest of the bible really noticed when they were moving from obscurity to greatness, I think they did so gradually living their godly habits day to day. Regardless of their outcome, they had determined that these things were good to do and they were going to do them. By going about their godly routines focusing on their fundamentals they suddenly looked up and saw that they had done much but this was not their focus in the beginning. So it will be with me, my students, and with you. Focus on living godly day to day and then one day you'll look up and find your self amongst greatness. Live the adventure.