Gone

I am sitting here in my green recliner chair thingy, that I got for free from a good friend at church. I'm listening to some Switchfoot. Great band.

These lyrics just played.
"Gone, like Frank Sinatra. Like Elvis and his Mom. Like Al Pacino's cash. Nothing lasts in this life."

I don't know why they decided to use Frank Sinatra or even Elvis's mom for that matter, but it makes complete sense. Nothing really matters in this life. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Yeah, God gives us things to enjoy, but he also defines these things as idols if they become "priorities." All the things we put our focus on do not do us a bit of good. Focusing on the Master is what's good. And that, my friend, is life!

If we believe he can give life, and that we are living, then we must begin to live. Going through our every day routine while doing nothing to show God we are alive, is well, technically being dead.

Help a stranger. Love your neighbor. Give to those who can't give back. And trust in God, the one who created trust.

Since last time...

Hey followers, I know there's only two of you right now, but I'm on the recruiting trail. This blog thing is going to pick up because I now have internet and the means to go about it more often. Please bear with me! Here in Missouri, the last couple of days it has been windy. Like Chicago windy. I've only been to Chicago once, but I understand that wind is what that town is known for. Well...that and Michael Jordan, the Superbowl Shuffle, and our Prez. But anyway, wind causes things to waver. My car on the highway, my hair, trash on the ground. All these objects get tossed around like they have no control. So,... It brought me to James, no not Lebron James, or Jesse James, or any other famous James, but the book of James in the bible. He talks about wind a little bit. I will leave you with this. But when you ask him, make sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. James 1:6 Don't doubt God. He is the creator of the universe and everything in his hands. "Mixing prayer without faith is like mixing water with electricity. You'll be shocked if it works." I'll post sooner. I promise.

Tidbit of info.

I'm sitting here at my sister's computer thinking about what to write and I cannot think of anything. One of those days I guess. This week I am slated to work 49-50 hours, and it has wiped me of any brainpower at all. Put that with the very minimal brainpower I already have, and I am toast...a burnt piece of toast.

Here are some goals I am looking to attain by the end of this week:

1) Become a big brother and enter into one more community service project.
2) Begin P90x for the third time.
3) Go gazelle crazy on reading the bible. Silence and Solitude are vital. (BUSY is short for being under Satan's yoke). No matter how busy life can get, it can't take away from God's time. Don't let Satan do this to you.
4) Sell my TV. I haven't turned that thing on in a week and it feels great!
5) Call the St. Louis Cardinals and ask if I can try out for the upcoming First Baseman opening.

Until then, stay strong. Pray for me, and I will pray for you.

Were these boots made for walking? Were they?

Today I had the opportunity to deliver a treadmill. You know, those things that run on for a while, until you realize you have bought way too many clothes and you need a place to hang them so you hang them on the treadmill in a way so that you can't run on it anymore. Yeah...those things.

Well anyway, we delivered it to a couple who happened to be architects.

Their house was rather architectury. It was full of right angles and sharp turns and lots of doors and triangles. It was a nice house with a two car garage and pillars on the front porch and a room with a big projector to watch anything you'd like. I don't watch a lot of TV so that room wouldn't make me or break me. Unless, of course, I had to pay for it, then it would most definitely break me, because I don't make a lot of money. I've heard girls like money, which is probably why I don't go on too many dates.

But anyway, the man who purchased this machine, was suffering from Parkinson's disease. I don't know the different levels of the disease or if there even are any, but I could tell you it was affecting him pretty bad. You could tell he was uncomfortable with the whole idea of taking another step because he was afraid to fall. He had two feet, but it had crippled his ability to walk and it was something that makes you say "Man, I have it good."

It was sad to see, but I feel I can be like that at times as well. Maybe not in a physical sense, but spiritually, I might just be suffering from some sort of walking disease.

And it really made me think. It crossed my mind as to why I would have thoughts about some guy with a debilitating disease and how it could possibly relate to me, but I will let you decide if me thinking was a good idea or not. Tough call I know.

Here it is: Is it even possible to walk even when we feel like we can't? Do you think God would have let Peter out on the water if he had an inability to walk? Are we ever uncomfortable with taking another step because of a fear of falling? Weird questions, huh? But I promised I would write about things I thought about during the day and this is in fact something I thought about when I got home tonight.

And my answer is this: I think God would have absolutely found a way to get Peter out there on the water, and it was all because of his faith. He realized something in Peter that allowed him the opportunity to do something crazy (walking on water is crazy). He sees that in us too or he wouldn't tell us to keep the faith or even tell us what faith is. To me, that means faith is there, we just have to want to grab it.

God commands us in the bible to walk many times, and from what I read, it implies we don't need feet walk. I don't even think we need arms. Maybe not even ears, I don't know. There is one thing we do need though: we need faith, and that is given by God to people who really want it.

So if or when you pray today, pray for faith or pray for ways in which your faith can be tested or pray for strength when your faith is sinking. Or pray for faith when you feel like you can't walk anymore. Or pray for the power to work in you to feel hungry for it again.

Because I firmly believe we need to faith to guide our feet, and not feet to guide our faith.

Other random things I learned today:

1) Cookies from McDonald's are just like every other cookie known to man. You eat too many, and you get sick. Don't eat them. They are not good for you. Or me.

2) Max Lucado is one great author. I'm reading It's Not About Me right now. And whoa, it's really not about me.

3) Once you go without watching TV for a whole day, it doesn't seem so bad at the end of the day. Try to limit yourself to only 30 minutes a day. And instead read a book or do a pushup or do a pullup. But don't eat a cookie.

4) When asked to do something, you don't always have to respond with a "Why?" Sometimes it's better to just do it without asking.

5) Try to phase one thing out of your life that is prohibiting you from spending more time with God. Ebay it. Craigslist it. Do anything.

6) Anything that you can't give away actually owns you.

7) Books I have read this week: Father Fiction by Donald Miller.

8) Books I will soon be reading again: Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

I hope you liked it. It helped me alot to think. Love to all. They won't be this long every time. I promise.

Lemons are sour.

Well, here is something that I will try again. I've tried blogs in the past but I've always thought blogs were dumb and silly and really not that cool, but that's because the things I was writing about were actually the things that were dumb, silly, and really not that cool.

One of my favorite quotes is this: When life hands you lemons, just make lemonade. But I mean, in all reality, in order to make lemonade, you need so much more than just lemons. You need a pitcher, you need the sugar, you need the spoon, and you even possibly need a stand and a sign so you can make a little cash because we all like money, don't we? The lemonade is the finished product. Everything else is in the middle, and is a part of something bigger. They are the ingredients that make the end so much better, so...

So I am going to write to you about my life because I think just like the lemon analogy, we all can agree that there is so much more to life than just the finished product (lemonade). We all can agree life is filled with ups, and life is filled with downs. And we all can agree that our life can be filled with many different things that can influence how we end up, how we finish.

I will tell you about stories that I encounter, memories I remember, goals I plan to obtain. And things that have helped me along the way. I will talk about my faith and how it's helped me. And beware: I will even mention God a few times, because he is the source of my very being. I will be honest, sometimes brutally honest. I will talk about books I read, things I see, and songs I hear. And by the end of this, you will probably know way too much about me.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you follow me.