Thank you for the good and the bad in my life. I trust you. I know you know what your doing.

When I hit submit and went to the next page, this is the first verse that appeared.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
-Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

I’ve heard Perry say many times if you want to know God’s will for your life you need to be reading the Bible.  I want to confess that I have wasted so many years thinking activity with/for God was so important, but He wants intimacy not activity. Whatever your doing for God make sure you are spending time with Him first and foremost. (I’m preaching to myself here)

Also just as some encouragement, I have never been a reader. Never enjoyed reading anything. I’ve always known and believed it is necessary and agree that “leaders are readers” but never disciplined myself to be one. But as I have fought through the awkwardness of sitting down and thinking of 1,000 other things while trying to read, it has slowly gotten better. God can change you into a reader.

8I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while.9 Now I’m glad-not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

11 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.   – 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 (MSG)

Things I love about these verses:

• Pain can either guide you to God or away from him. It’s your choice (vs9)
• If you choose to go towards God then you gain from the pain and their is no loss. “God never wastes a hurt” no loss means it was all beneficial. Every bit of it. (vs9)
• We never regret that kind of pain. I’m going through a divorce. I hate it. So does God.(Mal 2:16) I don’t want it. It hurts. It’s not my choice, but this pain has ultimately brought me and others closer to God so I don’t regret the pain I feel. (vs10)
• If you choose to move away from God then you will regret it and you wasted a huge opportunity to grow closer to the best friend you’ll ever have (vs10)
• Look at the fruit that comes into your life if you will draw near to God in your pain (vs11)

It reminds me of proverbs 24:
No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; Soon they’re up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces. (proverbs 24:16)

If you constantly seek God with all your heart no matter what problems happen in your life you’ll ultimately be ok. It’s the second you give up on God or turn away that you end up flat on your face full of regret.

Anybody else have any funny stories like that they want to share?

I get in the room and he is laying on the bed crying, “I want Pikachu!”  He was playing his Nintendo DS and was sad because he lost Pikachu character on the game.  I had two choices.  Say, “Ah it’ll be alright.  It’s just a game.” or “Son, you’re a great Pokemon player and I’m sure if you try hard you can get him back eventually.”  I chose the second.  He immediately picked up his DS and started trying again.

I love how when you pray and read God’s Word you are changed.  PERIOD.  If I had not just left quiet time w/ my Father, I honestly probably would not have reacted the same way as I did.  Also I think it’s great to note that God is concerned about the little things in our lives.  I don’t really have a vested interest in Luke’s Pokemon playing.  But I do care that he was genuinly hurt.  That’s the same for our heavenly Father.  I don’t have “In A Pit With A Lion…”with me, but if I did I would quote the part where Mark talks about the floating ax head story in the Bible.  Go read the book.  But only if you’ve read the Bible today. It’s more important.

14 I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

I’m glad He knows what He’s doing, cause I sure don’t!

7 Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure!

8 Dress festively every morning. Don’t skimp on colors and scarves.

9 Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one!

10 Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it, For there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think In the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed.

11 I took another walk around the neighborhood and realized that on this earth as it is— The race is not always to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor satisfaction to the wise, Nor riches to the smart, Nor grace to the learned. Sooner or later bad luck hits us all.

12 No one can predict misfortune. Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds in a trap, So men and women are caught By accidents evil and sudden. Wisdom Is Better than Muscle 13 One day as I was observing how wisdom fares on this earth, I saw something that made me sit up and take notice. 14 There was a small town with only a few people in it. A strong king came and mounted an attack, building trenches and attack posts around it. 15 There was a poor but wise man in that town whose wisdom saved the town, but he was promptly forgotten. (He was only a poor man, after all.) 16 All the same, I still say that wisdom is better than muscle, even though the wise poor man was treated with contempt and soon forgotten.

17 The quiet words of the wise are more effective Than the ranting of a king of fools.

18 Wisdom is better than warheads, But one hothead can ruin the good earth.

Verse 9 – I’m looking forward to my date night with my wife this Friday! I am falling in love with her all over again since moving to Houston! 

Proverbs 2

It was just cool because I’m not gonna lie, I am stressed.  I am preaching this Wednesday for the first time @ Truth.  I also have had to communicate to the band, vocalist, tech team, creative team, etc about everything going on this Wednesday.  So this morning I prayed that I wouldn’t stress and that God would give me knowledge of what to say to the hurting students.  Then in quiet time the Bible said:

1 My son, if you accept my words 

and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom

and applying your heart to understanding,

3 and if you call out for insight

and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver

and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD

and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the LORD gives wisdom,

and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.