A New Me

It has been a while since my last post.  It is just that life has gotten pretty busy with starting at a new school and the development of a new relationship.  It has been such a blessing to notice the spiritual growth I have achieved, especially in this last year.  I have finally come to accept Jesus’ love for me and that it is truly unconditional.  I do not say this to say I have a license to sin, but rather I say it in the sense that I know Christ will not judge me.  For the first time in my life I cannot really describe my feelings.  I have lived the majority of my life, ALL OF IT, based on my emotions and this is the first time that God is in the lead.  I will be honest and say this new relationship has me scared because I want so badly to be the man of God I need to be.  The beauty is I can tell this person has been placed in my life by God.  There is a connection that only he can spark and this has happened.  Many of my old thoughts and ways of thinking have been destroyed just by how she looks at me and that she loves that I love Jesus the way I do!

I am noticing God’s timing, pacing and foundation all over this life.  It is remembering to surrender to him daily.  The new me is understanding I don’t have to win every debate, I don’t have to be right all the time.  God has humbled me for the good.  I can see why my paths crossed with my new close friend last year.  I learned so many things about relationships from her, by working together everyday in the same room.  I know life will throw bumps and is always stirring drama, but as long as I keep my eyes focused on Jesus and let His love pour into me, the overflow will cover all of those I love.  Amen

One Love, One King, All Christ

Gotta Stop Blocking My Blessings!

Here is the truth family, I keep God and my blessings as bay.  There is so much “potential ” in my life for me to glorify the kingdom of God and yet I choose to be selfish and act like a child.  The word potential is not a good word and it is usually not a good thing to hear someone has so much potential, especially in coaching.  When you have an athlete that has so much potential and you talk about that, it usually means they are missing the mark and they do not realize the champion in them.  The more I learn about Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit the more I understand the perfect example of team.  As an acronym team means “together everyone achieves more” and what better team than 3 who are so in tune with their mission they are considered one.  The goal of every championship coach is to have his team perform as one.  Being a good Christian means I need to be coachable.  The same type of things that upset me about an athlete with “potential” are the exact same spiritual things I am doing to God.  One of the things I catch myself doing, even after serving for Jesus is I can become very selfish.  I have this innate feeling that will overcome me that I need to do this my way because my way produces results now or the dreaded I will do this one last time because I am a sinner.  When we do things like that, being selfish, we Block our blessings.  God’s will is going to be done no matter what we do, however, how can God trust me with the blessing of a wife or success in His name if I can’t handle the small victories He gives me everyday.  My spiritual awakening of actually noticing I was blocking my blessings came on 6/23/2016.

This brings me to my favorite story in the Bible.  When Jesus restores Peter with love.  He gives Peter three times to say he loves Jesus to replace the three times he denounced him.  This story and the prodigal son story hit home for me.  It is so pleasing to know that God the Father runs to us when we come home.  My heart has turned back to my younger days of first following Jesus and how strongly I shared that with friend, family and foe.  I find myself in a state of complacency and laziness at times now.  Even then as I think back, I was always so selfish to medicate a feeling that I did not want to or know how to (back then) give to God.  As I go back further into my childhood I just remember how much fun it was to play with my friends, to be running up and down the street, climbing trees, playing basketball and cops and robbers.  That was the life and we enjoyed every blessing that came our way.  Joy is what I had when I was little and around my friends.  The joy of being outside, the joy of playing and the joy of friendship were beautiful.  This is what God wants from me, He wants me to experience His Joy and from that I can receive and give Love.  Joy is the foundation and Love is the action of experiencing Joy.  I have had times of my life, with God, where I was Joyful and showing love but they were very conditional times.  You see as I am growing in Christ and with men of God speaking into my life I am more aware of my blessing blocking.  If you think about it how could God trust me with a wife and children if he cant trust me to turn to him for the small things in life.  I was given a great example by my friend about my walk as well as all Christians.  The example she gave me was most Christians are eating candy, it taste really good and you want it all the time, but the truth is that it is horrible for you.  There is nothing good nutritionally for you.  This is what most of us as Christians do, we know the right language or the right way to look or how to hide in the darkness without anyone knowing.  We get stuck in that routine and we just become more and more numb to life.  I am tired of that, I want to eat healthy and nutritional.  I want to eat the meat and potatoes and vegetables of the word.  When we are eating candy it is easy to give into the temptations of the world and be crushed by them.  I know now to walk in Christ as a Champion means not to be a thumb sucking cry baby who turns to self-righteousness in moments of weakness.  No it is preparing for His Glory to be shown through our life and choices.  The more we turn to Him for everything the less our blessings can and will be blocked! Amen

One Love, One King, All Christ!

Love Abounds

Love Abounds

There is no better time than to start now
Let us not wait until the trumpet sounds
For we know every tongue will confess and every knee will bow
And with this truth our love abounds

Let go of your thoughts and trust with your heart
Those whispers of lies come from the darkest backgrounds
When left listening to those lies we are ripped apart
But turning to Christ in us our love abounds

Grace and Peace, we should desire these both
As our lives transform there is this rumbling on the grounds
This rumbling shakes us clean and begins a new growth
Oh, how with Grace and Peace our love abounds

I am because of the Great I AM
In the end, through adoption I am crowned
My protection is complete by Christ the Lion and the Lamb
And as we surrender our love shall abound

The more I choose to give God praise
The more I know I am no longer lost but found
We can truly play in our Father’s gaze
Knowing the more I serve the more my love shall abound