honestly??

i went to jra on wed. night, curt preached a message that has stuck with me  this week.  it is something the Lord has been teaching me for a while now.   the idea is, do we only expect God to show up in the sensational environments...and if we do, do we miss Him in the ordinary.  in the day to day things of life, do we miss Him.

it got me to thinking...is my blog an accurate depiction of who i am, or is it a highlight reel?  this guy, whom i do not personally know but his is my favorite blog to read, is challenging me on the topic of, honesty and transparency.  so, i went back and looked through some of my post.  and THEN i looked at the gaps between some of the posts, and i thought about that time.  where was i?  what was i doing?  

here is the bottom line, i am not a super smart spiritual person.  i yell at my kids when i am in a hurry and they all of a sudden decide to be the slowest human beings on the face of the planet, i cuss enough to make a sailor blush on certain days, i look out for number one most of the time, there are way more days that i dont read my bible and dont have profound thoughts than days that i do, i love stuff!...cars, tv's, phones, toys...etc...   

i guess that really isnt the bottom line, this is...  i know that without the grace of Jesus, i am nothing.  and i know that you gotta love a God who says, you ARE jacked up...but i can work with that if you would just come on...follow me.  

so i guess my point is this (and it is mostly directed at me...lol) , quit focussing on how jacked up you are and quit portraying something your not!  start focusing on the One who tells you that He can work through you, despite how jacked up you are or i am!  one story in the bible makes me think of this, peter.  peter disowns Jesus 3 times, but later in Acts or the rest of the new testament...you read about peter leading a super natural life.  pretty amazing...

just wanted to be a little open n honest today...have a great weekend!

jacked up.... pt deux

here are some examples of what i am talking about... (this is going to be long...fyi)

Jesus says...

"and why do you worry about clothes?  see how the lilies of the field grow.  they do not labor or spin.  yet i tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, ... will he not much more clothe you, o you of little faith? So do not worry, ...  , and your heavenly Father knows you need them.  but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  each day has enough trouble of its own.(emphasis mine) matthew 6:28-34

how much time do you spend worrying?  i do it all the time...why?  no faith!

Jesus says...

"do not judge, or you too will be judged.  for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (matthew 7:1-2)

do you judge people?  i do it all the time...why? i don't know.  

Jesus says...

"ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  for everyone who ask receives; he who seeks find; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (matthew 7:7-8)

do you ask and expect to receive? i don't always...why?  little faith

Jesus says...

so in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prohets. (matthew 7:12)

do you always treat others the way you would want to be treated?  i dont always...why? i am selfish.  

one note on this last verse...Jesus takes the extremely difficult concept of living life and interacting with people and trying to figure out how to live the "christian life"....and he boils it down to this one simple statement...everything that has ever been told, all the people who were foretelling the coming of God, what they all meant to say is this...treat people the way you want to be treated!  kind of to say, if you can do that.  the world, it will be ok, if you just treat people the way you want to be treated.

pretty simple, huh?  i gotta run...go treat someone the way you want to be treated today.  

jacked up...

i am reading through the gospels...matthew 5 and 6 right now and they have me jacked up.  i think that i know what Jesus was about.  i think i know what living a Christian life is about and then i go back and read Matthew 5 and 6 , then i realize after not reading this very often...that i have it messed up.  i remember that my sin is a big deal to God, and Jesus isn't going to wink at me at the end of the day and say..."it's ok daniel, i died for that, so it is ok ; )"  (i dont know if Jesus gets emoticons or not...i just thought i would put one there in case he does)  

it is still early and i havent completed my thought process yet, so maybe i will post more on this later today...but you should go and read this.  see how you measure up to what Jesus is teaching... i dont measure up real well.  (i think this is one way the Holy Spirit works.)

Bible reading thoughts

it has been a while since i posted one of these...i had a minute, so, here is what i am thinking about today...

in Matthew 4 i read about the calling of the first disciples, and i had to ask...what is it about these guys that they instinctively dropped everything to follow Jesus? you can read about it here. how "holy" and "spritual" were these guys that they gave up everything they knew to follow the One they didnt really know...i mean, surely they had heard of Jesus...surely they must have had some foreknowledge and had seen something amazing in Him to be able to drop everything and just follow...right?

If you clicked the above link, you didnt read this verse. this verse got me to thinking today...a little detail i have looked over. the verse says, he saw two brothers..., maybe they had not been seen before, maybe they just did their job every day just like you and me and had never really been seen or noticed. and maybe no one had ever called on them to follow, to believe that they could actually do what Jesus was going to lead them to do... maybe it wasn't that they saw something so great in Jesus, maybe it was that Jesus saw something so great in them! maybe he even sees it in you and i...

maybe i am reading too much into it, but, for me...this is huge! to know that Jesus sees me is inspiring, to know that he believes in me to do what he is calling me to...that, to put it mildly, is helpful information!

and, in reference to fran and my comments on my last post, this fact seems huge to me. they were doing their job, they were fishermen...and Jesus simply says, come follow me, i will make you fishers of men. i will take what you know, and make it more important, more lasting...i will take your normal job and make it spiritual! no smoke, no big experience, just come and follow me...that's it. that's all you have to do...i will do the rest.... and i believe that you can do it, b/c i see you...i know what you're doing...i see you working and i believe i can take your normal job and if you follow me, i will turn it into something tremendous for my name!

this is where i am at today....you too? (inside joke...lol)

great post

just thought i would share this post from mark batterson . it is about the civil forum on global health sponsored by saddle back church, with their pastor rick warren.  just go and read the post... 

Thanksgiving

i hope you had a great thanksgiving.  it is one of my favorite holidays...just  a great time of reflection and thanks for who i am and all that i have been given.  this particular thanksgiving, i got to catch up on some reading...in between gorging myself at meals!  i read  Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.  great book if you are interested in learning more about following the Holy Spirit in your day to day life.  

i relaxed a lot this past week!  hung out with family, ate a ton and read.  how bout you?  what is your favorite holiday?

facebook...

i turned my facebook back on.  it has been off for a while, i turned it back on a while back and have kicked around using it lately.  i just wasted time on it and myspace when i had them.  myspace was my networking channel of preference, i do not get facebook.  i dont know how to use it very well, we'll see how long it lasts this time....  if you have one, let me know, add me as a friend.