Wow. A friend of mine shared this on facebook and I had to share it. What a great message! One of my favorite lines:
So how bout you start studying her heart and stop studying her booty or maybe invest the same amount of time in her as you do Call of Duty!
This morning I was using Examen.me for my quiet time and the first thing you do is write out your prayer to God before you see the scriptures you are reading. This is part of my prayer I wrote:
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:
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.
I just stumbled on a post by Tim Schrader about a gay pride parade that took place in Chicago and how some Christians showed up for a demonstration unlike most. Here’s a little excerpt but you can read the whole thing here.
While the most vocal “Christian” presence at the parade was in the form of protesters with “God Hates Fags” signs, Nathan and a team from the Marin Foundation took a different approach… they chose to apologize.
The volunteers wore black t-shirts with the phrase “I’m Sorry” on the front and held signs with messages of apology, on behalf of all Christians, for the way the church has treated the gay community.
Then there’s this story he links to. I recommend you read it all.
My favorite though was a gentleman who was dancing on a float. He was dressed solely in white underwear and had a pack of abs like no one else. As he was dancing on the float, he noticed us and jokingly yelled, “What are you sorry for? It’s pride!” I pointed to our signs and watched him read them.
Then it clicked.
Then he got it.
He stopped dancing. He looked at all of us standing there. A look of utter seriousness came across his face. And as the float passed us he jumped off of it and ran towards us. He hugged me and whispered, “thank you.”
I hope one day soon the world will know us Christians for our love for one another and not for what we are against. The church as a whole has failed miserably at that in the past.
I saw this video for Sienna minivans and loved it. I know this is kind of a stretch to pull something serious out of this but bear with me. Watching this video made me think about how culture portrays peoples life as over when they become parents. However, I gotta say that I LOVE being a parent. Other than submitting my life to Jesus, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I like that this family is proud to be cruisin’ in their “SE” instead of an SUV. I like that they are kinda cool and having fun AND parents. I don’t miss my party days one bit. I still party but the safe fun way. I have a party every week with my LifeGroup friends.
If any of you are still around reading this then you realize I hardly ever blog anymore. I usually just share what I’m thinking/doing/whatever on twitter. Twitter limits you to 140 characters and that works great for my simple little mind. However as I was getting ready to twitter I realized I was excited about too much stuff coming up and decided 140 characters wouldn’t do. So here you go. Here’s what I’m currently looking forward to:
If you have ever made a mistake and needed forgiveness then you need to watch this and start reading potsc.com. So just so we are clear, that means you. Yes you have made a mistake at some point in your life. People of the Second Chance is all about grace and forgiveness. Take for example Michael Vick. What is your first thought of him when you hear his name? Do you want him to succeed in the NFL or because he made a stupid choice he should not succeed at anything?
We as Christians are supposed to be Christ like. That’s what we do we should do. Christ forgave. PERIOD! He is the one true Judge knowing our motives when we do things. Yet He forgives. Jesus said “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35 NIV) Do you do more loving or more judging?
Watch this video if you can handle it. If your heart doesn’t break and you don’t feel motivated to do something then I’d check the status of your heart. I am praying that one day our culture will wake up to all the easily curable problems humans are facing all over this world and will step it up. I am thankful for Bono and his work and others who have great influence and are using it for something other than making money.
We have been sponsoring a child through compassion ever since I heard a girl’s testimony who a compassion child and the difference it made in her life. Please if you can afford $30 a month sign up below.
Ever since I was 8 or so I can remember having a computer in the house. Now for today’s culture, that’s no big deal at all, nothing special. However, in 1986 or so that was rare. I’m thankful my grandfather wanted me to have one so that I could get started on one at an early age. I have always been obsessed with technology and computers.
That is one of the reasons I love twitter. I remember being a kid and going on a trip and meeting people and being sad because we would never hear from each other again. That doesn’t happen now. Now you share IM screennames, twitter each other, read blog posts, follow on facebook/myspace. The world is a much smaller place now.
Watch this video about Ashton Kutcher, twitter, and Malaria. There is a line that he says that I loosely quote, “now we are in a time where a single person can have as large of a voice as huge news network.” I am thankful that we have this technology. I know a lot of traditional churches fight technology, but those same churches are usually the ones that circle up and show their butts to the world. How is it wrong when people are genuinely coming to Christ through technology. Just look here, here, and/or here. Amazing stories of Christ at work through technology. Especially this video. God’s hands and feet are being shown to the World through twitter.
So watch this video then ask yourself, “What message does God want me to share with the World?” (literally… the world)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU[/youtube]
This really puts Christmas into perspective. What’s your thoughts?