In Regards To Future Planning, You Will Move For One Of 3 Reasons: Which One Are You?

My Theory Is That Our Living Situations Are Repeatedly Directed Primarily By One Of These Three Priorities: Opportunity, Place, or Relationships. 

Opportunity says:
I am going or staying with the God-given best opportunity.  The location and relationships will have to follow.
ie. "I am staying in or moving back to Michigan because I got a dream job scenario out there."

Place says:
I am going or staying in this area for God.  The right opportunities and relationships will  have to follow.
ie. "I am staying in or moving back to Michigan because I love it and will apply for work once I get out there."

Relationship says:
I am going or staying for these God given relationships.  The right opportunities and place will have to follow.
ie. "I am staying in or moving back to Michigan because that is where I feel most loved by my family community."

Once you start listening, you begin to hear how people often process your plans and their future options using one of these three as their starting point towards a direction.  I don't know how it helps, but it has definitely been a good clarifier to know about myself and others.

Bringing Up Your Past To Bring You Down- Jesus Understands

When Jesus is on trial before his crucifixion... they can't find anything wrong.
The only thing they can do is hold his past words and sermons against Him,

"He said he would tear down and rebuild the temple in 3 days..." 

In a time where people and leaders have to be more conscious about what they publicly say, stand for, or write, we must remember: this is a part of walking the path of Jesus.

With the un-erasible internet and digital media trails, anything can inevitably be dug up and used against leaders today.  This is a different pressure, but not a new problem.  People will inevitably try and hold your words and your past against you.

It is not a matter of having the perfect past, but of God redeeming us and taking us to where He wants us to go.
Of standing strong and pushing through what we don't deserve towards what matters.
Jesus' focus was not about defending his past words but in loving forward to the cross.

To keep from stumbling as Christians,

 we must make every effort to possess God's qualities 

and never forget we have been cleansed from our past sins.

    For this very reason, make every effort to possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ: add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 

      But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

2 Peter 1:5-11

The Reality Lie: Great Man… and a Great Failure…

The Reality Lie: Great Man… and a Great Failure…

                           In the middle of knowing that God loves me and that I have done a lot, there are so many failures along the way.  So many people that fall through the cracks that I had the opportunity to help, where I was in their lives and feel like I was supposed to help. (this was the REALITY of how I felt as I journaled…)

The Reality Truth: Great Man… with Great Failures… And Greater Redemption

                           (This was the truth I can sit on a few days after the journal).  Honestly, this statement of Great Man… with Great Failures… And Greater Redemption is my core faith in the truth of God’s Words going ahead of my feelings and logic.  The Bible says "How much more will grace abound" (Romans 5) over the effects of sin in the world (ie. failure)… God is going to use my shortcomings for His glory for greater redemption more than my failures.  This is a promise for Christ followers.  I must rest in this truth even when my real feelings say otherwise.

But where sin increased, grace increased all the more...

"Just Because I Love You..."

This is what grace says.  "Just because I love you..."

We, Dongell siblings, are accustomed to receiving little cards from my mom which simply read, "Because I Love You."  The card will be sitting next to candy on our beds or some random gift depending on the occasion.  No strings attached, just a gift of love, just because.  It's so small, yet it's so big.  It's helped me define grace.

God's grace to humans is what "Because I love you" cards are to us Dongell siblings.  This is why salvation is so meaningful.  Grace happens before, Grace happens during, and Grace happens after.

When we resist Him, What God gives to us says, "Just because I love you..."
Before we want Him, What God give to us says, "Just because I love you..."
When we choose Him, What God gives to us says, "Just because I love you..."
After we've chosen Him, What God gives to us says, "Just because I love you..."

This is Grace.

I Stopped Tasting & Just Started Consuming

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            As I slowly ate a bite of my high quality Chinese fast food, I realized it was the first time in awhile that I had “tasted” my food.  I had been so busy going and consuming, that my whole meal was going down my throat in one bite.  I haven’t been pausing long enough lately to breathe and taste the flavor on my tongue and lips.  This often simultaneously reflects a deeper problem.  Somewhere along the way, I stop tasting the flavor of life & just start consuming.  It's a crazy place to be.

            We naturally want to taste and enjoy the flavor of food/life.  But we have to combat our natural tendency to just consume.   At that moment of static consumption, it's easy to start losing the flavorful ‘taste’ of life.  I sometimes start consuming and miss the joy.  Lord, help me to feel and sense as I focus and drive.  Help me to always protect a tasteful "life" in the midst of it all. 

Because your love is better than life... I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods 

-Written By One of God's Flavorful Musicians-

SHAKE: This is my journey towards being unshaken

       Wrestler with God.  This was spoken over me as a name in my earlier years as an adult.  It was so true but I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or concerned with how close it resonated.  A positive person doesn’t like to focus on the struggle consistently.  A “Christian shouldn’t be in a constant struggle if God’s burden is easy and light” I often reason with myself.  I am still not sure I can completely tell you why this is a theme of my life (and I feel like many don’t get it), but it’s there.  It’s highlighted throughout my life like the kind of dog or car you start seeing everywhere after you buy it for yourself.  The struggle is highlighted in my inner life and so I see it everywhere in people’s lives and the Bible.  I don’t really see it as good or bad because it can be either but rather as it just is. 

        The struggle is here for my lifetime as a human, so the more important question is how am I supposed to see it or respond?  Am I supposed to fight it and get rid of it more as a problem to fix then a tension to manage?  Or is it a tension to manage more than a problem to fix and I’m supposed to work on it constantly while knowing it's an inevitability. 

What really kills me is riding the middle line in the Christian world.  It is the line between we are all hurting vs we are all meant to be healed.  It is the line right between people who know there is no true life without struggle vs the people who know there is no true life with only struggle.  It’s one I could argue on both sides of the Bible.  Things have been shaken up.  Things will be shaken up.  Things will be unable to be shaken up one day.  So what am I supposed to accept as reality or work towards?  Preparing for a shake or the unshaken.  Asking for a shake or being unshaken?  God, what does it mean for this world to shake?

         It’s almost like David’s Psalms.  He ruins almost every positive great Psalm with something about God’s judgment or enemies.  Have you ever noticed that?  You have a triumphant Psalm about relying on God and his greatness and then right in the middle of it, is something about how he is distraught or how God needs to smite his enemies and bring justice.  I love David’s wrestle.

Healthy Boundaries: I'm Failing When I'm Not Leading By Example

You're Life Has To Lead The Way.

This is one of the best and worst things about leading and teaching people.  I can spend all the time in the world with people and great intentions, but if I don't have healthy time limits or boundaries set in place, I'm also teaching and giving those around me an unrealistic or bad picture of how to live with healthy limits or boundaries.   

I'm in a surgery of the heart time where God is having to tweak and cut out some of these inconsistencies.  Never easy, but always good.

The Lord your God will do surgery on your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

Deut 30:6 

 (Italics Are My Interpretation)

Change

Change is a Comin'.

This year, I've been sitting on this ingenius Formula For Change:   

D x V x  F > R

Which means:  Dissatisfaction x Vision x First Steps > Resistance
Which Means: The combination of Dissatisfaction, the Vision, and the First Steps towards change must be greater than the Resistance for change to happen in a certain area.
(and if you multiply anything by 0 it equals 0, or in this case, Resistance will win if any of those three factors are missing.)

But take note: Dissatisfaction is a necessary ingredient for great changes to happen.

The other day my frustration was growing as the dissatisfaction with my lack of exercise & eating habits was trickling into other areas of life.  I was just having one of those unhappy days.  When I was trying to sit before the Lord, I heard the phrase "Change is comin" in my head.  It brought me back to this idea: there can be a very exciting purpose in the middle of an unhappy and dissatisfying times when approached appropriately because it can mean:
Change is Comin.

Dissatisfaction can represent a breakthrough on the horizon.

There is so much more depth to this Formula of Change that will have to wait for a later post, but Remember: When dissatisfaction is channeled right for God, it means:

Good Change is comin. 

 "Come near to God and he will come near to you...

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.   

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

J4:8-10

Something Hard To Swallow As A Twenty Something… Is That I Am Not Gonna “Arrive” As Fast As I Want

Something hard to swallow as a twenty something… is that I am not gonna “arrive” as fast as I want or for probably another ten years career wise…

If you’re saying, “This isn’t going as perfect as I expected,” it’s probably not the first and definitely not the last time you’ll experience this in your twenties.

I have twenty three year old friends wondering why their lives or money haven’t taken off the way they want and they're asking, “Where is God in this?”  I asked this at 23.  Actually it's five years later and I'm 28 years old still asking, “Why haven’t I ‘arrived’ completely to my dream scenario?” It is so funny…  But not funny at all!  (And please don’t misunderstand, I have a blessed and amazing scenario right now that I love.) 

Most leaders in my field of work that I see as in the ideal scenario of freedom and focus are often 35 years old or older.  For 90% of us, working ourselves into our preferred place will not be in our twenties.  This is hard to swallow.   

Our feelings say we are not gonna last another week without things getting fixed, but leadership wisdom and experience show that where 90% of us want to be will often take time.  More time than our feelings say they’re willing to wait.  We're tempted to think, "My feelings and patience are having trouble with not knowing today or this week or this year, let alone another decade."

Money strain is frustrating.

Uncertainty is frustrating.

It's hard, but you'll make it through.

            If you’re saying, “This is not going how I expected… and its HARD!” This is probably not the first and definitely not the last time you’ll say that in your twenties.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  (written by a guy on house arrest in the middle of his dream calling)

My homepage opens to...

It’s crazy how we can control where our minds first go… do we consider that?

I hadn't thought about my homepage much until I recently commented on my friend having the bible opened on her computer.  She said, "It reminds me to start with God whenever I start my day or get on the internet."

Wow. 

It’s crazy how we can control the first thing we allow our minds to run to… I can forget that.

           

My homepage opens up to a New Zealand newspaper… which keeps me up to date on world news.

I've chosen that for right now, and I am personally glad my page doesn't first open up to my email or Facebook where other people's actions or messages shouting out for me to respond could dictate my first thoughts.  I don't want others to choose where my mind goes when I first start work or my day off.

Do you let the internet world choose where your mind first goes when you get online or do you choose it?

Am I allowing space and choosing to make chances for God to be one of my first thoughts in the day like a default homepage? 

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love 

PS143:8

I Love The Local Spots

What is it about finding a hidden treasure of a place or restaurant that you love and can own as "your own spot" that is so special?  One of my spots in Lansing is Theios and it is nothing special outside of I feel very local there.

I get to people watch and sit in a crowd I wouldn’t normally sit in
…it’s not my normal crowd and I love it. 

There is something special about an escape from the norm.   A place that can be spectacular but not because of any grandiose thing but because you find the grandiose there in everyday living.  This is where more of your dreams incidentally come to fruition by simply doing life there.  I love these spots.

I love it even more when I've met with God in those spots.  Then its cemented as a significant spot. 

It could be a great thought or conversation or moment with friends or a project finally completed, but it’s hard if not nearly impossible to erase the place and moment where you know you have seen or met with God in a real way.  It's hard to erase the places that feel like home.

Everywhere I live I search for local spots.

There he built an altar... because it was there that God revealed himself to him

G35:7

“How did I have so much more capacity in college than I do now?”

Invisible Responsibilities...

We can be so blind to how much invisible responsibilities weigh.

It’s different when the buck stops at you.

When you are the point person instead of living under someone else’s umbrella.

We might ask, “How did I have so much more capacity in college than I do now?”

We didn’t.

Actually, other point leaders above us held the invisible pressures of responsibility while we developed and took on partial responsibilities underneath.

This is the professor thinking through how the class flows in addition to his content preparation.  This is you leading a hundred teens or leaders but under another director or pastor who oversaw all of the conference or church bills and coordination that you would've drowned in.  This is being able to earn and spend money as a teen while not having to carry the full pressure of the whole family and mortgage. 

There can be this false sense of how great we are growing up without knowing or acknowledging how much invisible responsibilities are being held by someone else until we become the point person.  Until we become independent.  Until we become the point leader where the buck stops.

This is one reason why a youth pastor with a group of 300, might start as a lead pastor of a group of 75 people.  It’s a big jump carrying the weight of the whole church family rather than a certain group and ministry budget underneath a pastor’s lead of the entire budget and vision.

           

I think this invisible factor makes life extra hard after college: 

one of the unexpected parts of growing up that people don’t see is the invisible weight of being the point person.

If a senior pastor who did absolutely nothing but carry the weight of his title and expectations, I believe this alone holds an invisible responsibility and greater weight than most could ever imagine or experience anywhere else.

We take for granted growing up being under the umbrella of our leadership… parents, teachers, pastors, bosses, etc.  From underneath, we pridefully tell our pastors/parents/bosses/teachers what they need to do differently, but 90% of the time we would personally fail to jump the gap if we tried because we underestimate or don’t know the invisible responsibilities they carry.

We must be strong and realize as we “back track” after college into building our independent lives and careers, that we didn’t backtrack. 

It’s just now we carry the invisible responsibilities as we continue to grow and mature past where we once were before.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree (with such big branches), so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.

(Mk 4:32/ Matt 13:31-32)

God, help me to accept the growth curve from living under someone else's shade to creating shade for others.

The Lie of 10% More

           The lie many people live is this: “I need 10% more to be happy.”

It was said that a survey was done asking pastors how much more they thought they would need for their church to run healthily or at full capacity and the common answer in one form or another was: “10% more... Ten percent more people, finances, time, etc.” 

            I think this is negative side of “10 percent more.” 

            The negative side of "10 percent more" steals the contentment and thankfulness of life.

 

            The positive side of "10 percent more" can spur us onto growth and conviction...

But too many of us live our lives in a constant negative mindset of "10 percent more" that will leave us chasing and unsatisfied our whole lives.  Instead of acknowledging that God has given us everything we need at this very moment to do what pleases Him… we live with an always 10% unsatisfied life.

To have 100 percent of what you need, to be fully accepted by Him in heaven and on earth at this moment... this is what it means to have God's love and forgiveness.

The difference ironically?

 It's being thankful without needing "10% more" completely convinced that what is, right now is more than enough… 

...while being humbled by the "10% more" still to come because God’s love always continues to stretch us to "10% more" to give us more than enough.  

 Praise be to the God... who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ.

I don't fully get this, but this is what God says is true for Christians.

Qualities In a Woman of God I Look For:

This has changed over the years... some things are the same, some different.  This was running through my head last night and I just put it down on paper for entertainment purposes so don't over read into these.  That said, if I were to ever get married, some of the things I could see in a woman that I would love to be with are:

(in no specific order)

I want to fall in love with the way she carries herself in beauty, modesty, and grace.

I want her to be someone who would give her life completely to God at all costs.
 

I want her to be able to hold her own in a crowd without me having to always be by her side.

NEW: I want to say “thank you” to her and for her to say “thank you” to me for things that   come so naturally in the way that we love others, that it almost feels absurd to be thanked for them.  That we laugh and are warmed inside when thanked by each other for doing the things we already love and naturally want to do for others. 

I want for even hers and my spiritual and life preferences to align in a way that is supernatural.

I want her to be someone who invests in others already and voluntarily.

I want to love her fully for who she is at the present, not waiting for anything to change in her character, but being astounded and awestruck by the idea that it’s possible for her to become even more loving and Christlike than she already is as she grows in God.

I want her to be someone who is naturally well-respected and stands out because of God’s love and joy in her.

Bonus Side Thought:

I have always heard of the concept of girls striving to be a Proverbs 31 woman.  Well it’s kinda cheesy, but I’m totally loving the idea I heard recently of guys also needing to strive to become a “6/11” guy from 1 Timothy 6:11 and surrounding verses.

A Secret to Success as a Maturing Young Adult

A secret to doing life right is this:

Learning how to see and turn every life event into a positive opportunity to meet with God.
"What is my opportunity to get the very most out of this bad event?"

This was the separating response that a study said "made successful people successful"... It wasn't just luck and being at the right place at the right time...
 
Luck wasn't the determinate but rather people's approach to bad and good opportunities. 
There's an art to using tough events as a defining moment while making the most of good events.
The Greatest Danger is not failure but being successful w/out knowing why OR letting failure win.

The Bible puts it this way:
(No matter what the circumstance)
¹⁶ Rejoice always,  
¹⁷ pray continually,  
¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances;
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Let me be honest.
I forgot this approach today in a conflict with a friend. 
The conversation needs to continue but i also realized that God has something He wants to teach me through this no matter what the outcome instead of life just handing me what seems like an unfixable problem.  There's something good to come out of this if I keep pursuing God and looking for it.

And the Bible reinforces this idea in another spot! (Phil 4)
REJOICE ALWAYS  
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 

PRAY CONTINUALLY 
⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

THE RESULT: PEACE
 And the God of peace will be with you.  ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Joyful, Praying, Giving Thanks...

One secret to finding success and peace is Learning how to see and turn every life event into a positive opportunity to meet with God.

The moments we were created for!

My sister has this theory formulating that we all have climactic or pinnacle moments in this life that we were specifically made for!

I love these moments when they happen!

A moment captured to perfection!  A moment where everything is crystalized.  You can retell the story a million times and every time you look at that moment, you admire it’s beauty and color as you shine light on it.  It rejuvenates your soul.   

These moments connect you with God... Especially when God is connected to those moments.

Often it is a moment you have yearned for.  It could be a huge adventure or a quiet moment with a newborn.  It’s your moment.  I pray and hope for more of these in life.  I am praying that this next Sunday is one of those moments as I meet with the young adults of Lansing! I'm praying that this year holds some of those moments.  Now that’s a bold prayer! 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us

-Early Church Prayer- 

(I prayed/journaled this last week and experienced this Sunday in an amazing way as a miraculous size group (100+) of college/young adults crossed over to worship God at our first once a month gathering called SHAKEN.  A dream that has been years in the making saw new light this last Sunday)

Built up and Beat down the same day... What's that all about?

A friend felt impressed to tell me that some of my dreams and heart longings were going to come about sooner rather than later this past Sunday.  That got me all excited and jacked up!  Later that same day, I had another friend call one of my passions, “Kinda weird.”  After that, I had another guy say, “Nah” when I tried to exchange numbers to catch up with him later this week.  Haha... face to face rejection!  Awesome.  I appreciated their bluntness, but it definitely takes some fighting to not let my enthusiasm be deflated in those moments.  I feel like this build up and beat down is a regular part of life but it's also a ridiculous part of life.

Isn’t it funny?  The moment I have momentum and enthusiasm, all it takes is one timely negative comment to lose the edge or steam and be derailed.  Not this time.  Not this time for me.  Not this time for you.  God’s plans seem to have too much momentum at the moment.  We must stand firm.  We must stand firm in God’s leading.  It’s worth it.  We’ve got to ride the train that God’s already at work, and that His plans won’t and can’t be thwarted.

Jesus said, "My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working."

I know that You, God, can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.

A fantastic conversation starter: Roadtrip Stories

Here's a great conversation starter: Tell me your favorite road trip story or story that involves you in a car.

I asked this question around a circle of young adults and realized that this was a great question because everyone had a long interesting story to tell!  Even if they couldn’t drive, they had ridden in a vehicle when something crazy had happened.   

So I'm filing this question away for future conversations. :)

What's one of my crazy road trip stories?

I remember pushing an overheating car til I blew the head gasket and completely killed the car.  I knew the car had something wrong but I thought the car might make it and I had to go surfing!!!

 

The moment I remember most is my friend Evy laughing as smoke came pouring from the hood and I was puttering down the road well below the speed limit.  

To add to the the craziness, another car passed us honking and upset because they got stuck behind us for a little bit.  SO upset that they actually threw something at the side of our car!  

All we could do was laugh and shrug our heads thinking, "What did they want us to do?!"  

You would've thought that the big smoke cloud coming out of our car's engine would deserve a little more patience and grace... 

But i guess not. :)

Good times to laugh and look back on. 

"No, I can't hang out tonight..."

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This is when you start feeling older.

It's the moment I hate because I want to say, "Yes" to every possible hangout.

And I don't want to feel like I've lost it... whatever it is.

But there is a huge lesson of limitation and maturity to be learned here:

I Have to Take Care of Myself More to Be Able to Take Care of Others More.

In college I could go off caffeine, less than 5 hours of sleep, and no alone time for days, 

if not weeks, before I crashed.  And I still managed to get good grades!

But as I take on more responsibility, I see that how I care for myself affects others. 

How we care for ourselves affects our work and those we love.

 I’m having to come to grips with reality.  That for me to take care of others I have to take care of myself… 

(ie. sleep, restful time with God, exercise, and saying no at times)   

…somehow I survived college and my early twenties without doing a good job at this, but I'm having to change as I take on more natural responsibility to love God and others well.

There are some effects of "growing older" that we can avoid, but this is not one of them.  Unless you decide to avoid maturing at all costs, life will require a growth curve of you learning: 

 I Have to Take Care of Myself More to Be Able to Take Care of Others More.

Everyone wants to be wanted

Everyone wants to be wanted.  I thought about this last week as I saw an attractive girl leave the room.  The thing that really stood out about this girl was that she was one of those girls who was definitely trying to be attractive and noticed.  I can’t explain how I knew, but you know the girl I'm talking about.  

I began to think about how deep our desire is to be wanted.  Someone who may have no direct person they know loves them, especially celebrities, could still settle for living off of the buzz of knowing that they will always be wanted to some degree because of their acquired popularity.  A logic that would say: “well even if I can’t find true love and acceptance, being wanted physically by someone as I walk out of the room will still suffice... because inwardly, I really just desire to be wanted."

            My thought quickly changed from "the noticed girl" who had now disappeared, to you and me.  I think absolutely every human being, including you and me, wants to be attractive and wanted by somebody.  Only someone who might’ve had a bad experience with people or pressures would say otherwise, and I believe that even that person still desires to be wanted.  It would just be in a different way than they know or could imagine. 
            Could you imagine not being wanted?  Being attractive to absolutely no one?  Feeling absolutely uninvited and unwanted every single place you set foot?  Not being wanted by any relative, friend, or person?  We have all felt unwanted at times, but to be unwanted by everyone with no hope would be absolute hell.  Literally.
            Seeing that everyone wants to be wanted made me see God in such a beautiful new light today.  His pursuit of us just isn’t a creative idea, it’s essential to the world feeling loved.  Noone can be unwanted because God is in a pursuit of everyone human.  Hell will be a place where you will be completely unwanted because the desire to be wanted and cherished is a direct reflection of God.

If I have… but do not have love, I am nothing.

-God's Words-

How To Stay on Course in the Twenty Somethings

I have two things I want consistent on my flow days and my not so flow days of life.
Today, I was reflecting on two ideas as I went for a run:

FIRST,
The verse that I was mulling over mid-jog was:
How can a young person stay on the path of purity?    By living according to your word. Psalm 119:9

One of my main goals this year is to be a pillar young adult who holds onto God's word because i know that those who cling to what God says, "Cannot be shaken."  Plus, men and women of purity in the twenty somethings are a direct reflection of God's glorious light in my opinion.

Recently at the annual Leadership Summit, Patrick Lencioni  (who is one of today's top leadership experts) blew my mind by defining an organization's core values as the top 3 values "your willing to be punished for".  In this case, I want to love the Word and let it exude so much in my every day life that people might actually feel like I talk about it too much or that I get too excited about conversations where I see the Bible's wisdom jump out of the pages.  To be punished for loving the message of the Bible at my core.

One interesting habit that I found in a recent book called Sticky Faith, was that those who went to their parents and the Bible first when a problem arose were more likely to stay firm in their faith through their twenties.  Love this!

SECOND,
I grew up reading the wisdom of Proverbs and it has shaped me tremendously.
As i was skimming over Proverbs, I was so surprised at how unimpressed Solomon was with riches in comparison to living a wise and righteous life for God.

Better a little with the fear of the Lord
    than great wealth with turmoil. 

Better a small serving of vegetables with love

    than a fattened calf with hatred. 
Better a little with righteousness
    than much gain with injustice.
How much better to get wisdom than gold,
    to get insight rather than silver!
The generous will themselves be blessed,
    for they share their food with the poor.

I pray that as I continue to mature and take on more responsibilities in time management, relationships, and money...

...that I continue to become a solid man of God; a pillar of purity, that keeps in perspective the value of God speaking into my life through the Bible to be a man of purity, and how to keep in perspective the value I put on riches in relation to it chipping away at my integrity and heart focus on God's provision.

Hard Times Make Us God-Inseparable

Oh, to be intertwined with God...

Job used to know God from a distance (“by the hearing of the ear”), but now, after having ben through the grind and clinging to God when nothing else made sense, Job knew God in a much more intimate way (“Now my eye sees you”).  And with that, Job arrived at the most important point: It’s not about figuring out all the of the mysteries of God, but embracing Him and cherishing Him- even when He doesn’t make perfect sense to us.

Francis Chan  Erasing Hell 138

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

The hard times bind us closer to God and He closer to us.
The word "wait" or "hope" used in Isaiah 40:31 comes from a word picture of twisting, binding, or intertwining something like a rope (qavah Strongs 6960).
It's as if clinging to God in the hard times threads His DNA even deeper into our inner core and being.  We must cling to God in the unknown as Job did to arrive at a place beyond having to convince ourselves that God is in everything including the Hard to experiencing and seeing God in everything including the Hard.

The catch?  If we push Him away in the hard times or falter, we are missing some of the most intense bonding times which can only take place under extreme heat or pressure.  I will cling to God when i don't understand Him instead of push Him away.  It's the only way that I will know Him deeper and closer.

Oh, to be intertwined with God.

Livin the Dream- Blessed are those... whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

Livin the Dream.
It is so good to be reminded of the truth that the journey is worth it.
That the journey we're on is not only good enough but BLESSED (happy, fortunate, to be envied) as the Amplified Bible says.

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage -Psalm 84:5-

"Livin the dream"is what we say these days.
As we are strengthened by God to persevere, we aren't just surviving, we are BLESSED.  We are being strengthened and storing up treasure in heaven.

We are livin the dream.

I Can Get It All?!

I Love How The Gospel Makes Everyone's Life Circumstance An Even Playing Field.  Check Out This Verse in Is 56:4-5 NIV

⁴ For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant —
⁵ to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever. 

Although eunuchs in the bible couldn't typically have kids, the Bible states that even without children, eunuchs as God's beloved can experience, "a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever." 

God makes promises all over the Bible for those whose families don't consist of mother/father/brother/sister/children/etc.
Although the Bible is clear that marriage and family is one of the greatest physical and spiritual blessings we can experience here on earth, it also seems to state very clearly that since Jesus came a spiritual family can be just as if not more important (Gal 3:28/Matt 12:49-50/1 Cor 12:22-25).

We Can Experience God's GREATEST BLESSINGS BY FAR single, married, or with kids.  All are a gift.  Live in your current life circumstance and relationships as a GIFT from God because that is exactly what you are living in.

Trying Harder Is Not Enough

Stop Enough to Change Your Life.  Trying harder is not enough.  Many people lie to themselves by hearing the word of God and telling themselves they're going to try harder, but they never stop their lives enough to truly make sure that they are putting into practice what they’ve heard.  They hear the words of God in their head, but never make it a high enough priority to stop the rest of their lives if its left unchanged.  The world keeps going and they keep going with it.  Their character is less important than their goal.  Own it.  Either you are choosing to stop enough to change what matters the most, or what really matters the most for you doesn’t matter the most to you.  Nothing changes if nothing changes.  Either stop to give enough time to what matters the most or own that your living as the world does in certain areas.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 

James 1:22.