Light of Positive

Hello Everyone and I hope you are having a good week.  For me this week has been very challenging and caused me to really look at my faith in another light.  A quick synopsis is I flew to Mexico for work again and all 4 flights got delayed by at least 5 hours really putting a wrench in plans and causing some long days.  My family also faced the loss of a close family friend after a month long battle with cancer, a good friend of mine had her father suffer a stroke, and another friend is seeing their mom's fight with cancer slowly ending.  Let's just say it has been a week that can really make you reevaluate your faith.

With all this happening around me it has really made me look at my life and evaluate it.  I have had a song really stick in my head this week.  This song is by Matt Maher called "Hold us Together" and the below lyrics really stuck with me.

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life'Cause even in the dark you can still see the lightIt's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright


It is so easy for us to get caught up in the bad in life which seems to always happen at the same time.  These lyrics show that with a relationship with God you can still see that light.  Now it is very easy to go away from that light and find every way to block it out.  We focus on the bad parts of the day.  It is something that we all do without even noticing it.  We start to ask why and push back on the Lord.  We try to step out of the plane that the Lord is piloting and deal with it on our own.  The pastor at the funeral I was at on Saturday made the statement that He is the one that will lead you through this.  How true is that?  And when you allow him to be that pilot on your life flight we are able to have him help us.  Some people in hard times turn to alcohol, drugs, or maybe just shut everyone else out.  I encourage you in times of sorrow and hardship to look at him.  Make him your release.  Yell at him and let him know your frustration just like you would with your best friend.  I have had many talks with God throughout the week and they all haven't been peachy.  

Now with the different events that have taken place this week it has affected my outlook.  A movie I watched this past week on a flight really gave me a gut check on this.  It was called "About Time" and was a decent movie.  The message it portrayed was one that hit and stuck with me.  The movie allowed the main character to time travel.  He used this a lot to change different events in his life and by the end of the movie was using it very sparingly.  He used it every day to relive that day focusing on the positives.  Eventually he never needed to time travel as his outlook had changed.  As I cannot say for a fact but I am pretty sure that anyone reading this cannot time travel.  I challenge you and challenged myself to look at the positives.  Take a minute to list out the joys of the day.  Maybe it is a beautiful sunrise/sunset you see, maybe it was that accident you avoided, or an accomplishment at work or home.  Each one of those situations could cause you to look negatively.  Another sunrise means another day at work, that accident avoided was probably because someone else made a mistake when driving or a major accomplishment at home/work could mean more work that comes along with that.  Each situation in our life we can look at two ways: positive or negative.  When being able to take the positive view your day turns around.

Just like in the movie he would have to relive his days.  This week evaluate your day every night and "relive" it.  Evaluate the good and positive moments that you may have overlooked.  Then try to focus on those positives in your daily activities.  Soon you will be at the point where your mind goes to the positives instead of the negatives.  Your attitude will change and your day will become a blessing and not a punishment.  This week make it a positive week.  Even with all the negatives around you be the light that those who do not have Christ can see.  In the lyrics above, he states that even in the dark you can see the light.  For some they do not have that light of Christ in their heart and you may need to be the light that leads them.  Take that responsibility serious as your light can lead them to the eternal light of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Patience

Hello again everyone with the Olympics just starting I am sure you are struggling with most Americans staying up late to see who won (if you didn't just watch any news station all day and already seen it).  This week has been a busy week for me but has been very encouraging.  Last week I discussed God being the pilot and having full trust in him.  I wanted to incorporate that blog with this one as God showed me how patience is key in letting him be your pilot.

God showed me patience in a very cool and exciting way this week.  As many of you know my family and I work with a non-profit called "Motown Soup".  A quick background on this is it is a non profit organization run by the social outreach director at Trinity in his spare time.  Numerous volunteers, including some of you, assemble soup, dessert, and dip mixes which are then sold in a number of different ways.  All the profits are given back to the communities that it is sold in to help support the homeless and feed the hungry.  This organization has really touched my life and is very close to my heart along with most of the volunteers.  The group has grown tremendously in the past few years with $65,000 being donated this year alone to go over $350,000 over the past 9 years.  Now with this group we have grown from selling at a limited number of craft shows to online sales and just recently to a store in numerous malls in Metro Detroit.  Now I promise this isn't just an infomercial for Motown Soup but it does all tie in.

With the growth of the business a number of new opportunities have come across our table.  Opportunities to partner with different organizations, opportunities to sell at different stores, and numerous other business opportunities.  I personally will get very frustrated sometimes with this as I view things a bit differently because of my age and I see the growth this ministry can achieve.  My patience for growth has let's just say been limited.  I want to grow fast and push every opportunity.  Now the Lord has had a different plan.  He has definitely helped the group grow but sometimes not as fast as myself or the group would like.  The Lord has let us grow at a steady pace and always provided the volunteers to support the growth in business.

This really goes back to my life.  I am a goal oriented person and it is hard for me to be patient.  I have my professional and personal goals in front of me and most of the time look past possible downfalls because I want to check that item off my list.  The Lord has really shown me that I need to live for the day and slow down.  Be Patient and focus on him.  I notice when I start to focus on my goals so much that I push him to the side.  He becomes an after thought instead of the reason for that goal.  It goes right back into letting him be your pilot and being on his flight.  That airplane is not going to get there any faster because I want it to.  So we may hit a good tailwind and things move faster but at the same time we may hit a large headwind slowing us down.  Just like in life we have to take these speed ups and slow downs and be patient with the Lord's plan.  Let him control your life and don't try to overtake the reins for yourself.  I will continue to push to grow but I want to try to focus on him in it all.

I challenge you this week to not have your own agenda out there but have Christ's agenda.  Put together your plans if you want but make sure you don't lose focus on him.  Be patient with His plan and look at the big picture.  Just as if Motown Soup would of grown with some of these partnerships maybe we would of not been able to keep up or possibly we would of made some bad business choices moving away from the goal of the group.  So be patient with his plan and he will bring it all together.  The Lord showed this plan this week with Motown Soup as we will be featured on Fox 2 News on February 20th at 8:30 am to share our story.  This is something we have been pushing for years and it is finally a reality.  Being patient with his plan shows trust in Him that He knows when you are ready for these changes.

God's "Flight"

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone.  I hope you are all going to enjoy some time with family and friends today to watch the big game or maybe just the commercials.  I wanted to talk today about faith in God.  Let's start with a story.

This past week I was traveling for work down to Mexico.  On this journey I have 4 flights for the entire trip.  Now I am not sure if all of you have flown or not but obviously there are times when you are cutting through the air and you hit some turbulence and the plane drops a bit.  You get that gut check real quick and realization that you aren't just floating through the air.  Well throughout the years I have always been startled by the turbulence and as I get more flights under my belt it gets a bit easier to take.  I started thinking relating this situation back to my faith in a few different ways.

You have probably heard the analogies before about God being the pilot of an airplane we are on.  I completely agree when you step onto a plane you put full trust in that pilot.  If something happens to him or his co pilot most likely you are not trained to bring that plane safely to the ground.  Just like in the airplane God is the only one that can successfully carry you from place to place, journey to journey.  Yes we can go out on our own and try to fly our own plane but it can be very rough.  God is the one who when we put our full trust in Him he finds the right route and guides you.  When we step away from him it is very easy for the plane to slightly drop or even start moving quickly towards the ground.  Keeping our faith in him and trust in his plan we can sit in the back of the plane and have no worries.

Another item that I realized from this trip is looking outside at the world that you travel over during your trip.  The higher you are up in the sky the smaller the buildings below you look.  These can be buildings that would take you hours to walk around due to their size but from the sky they look like a spec of dirt and even disappear as you go farther up.  This made me think of our ride with God and the highs and lows in our relationship.  Think about it this way.  Each one of those buildings below is distractions, sins, or problems we see on earth.  Some are bigger than others but they are everywhere.  As you get closer with God and continue to climb those distractions, sins, or problems beginning to become smaller.  Every step closer in your relationship with God let's the plane go higher.  When you are on a spiritual high these worldly temptations are very small and some might even disappear but as you go through a valley they become easier to see.  It is hard as we all will go through ups and downs in our relationship with God just as we do in any relationship we have.  Working to grow that relationship with him will make the times you fly low not as bad as you are flying higher with God.

The last item that I wanted to talk about today was the turbulence.  If you know me I hate roller coasters and I used to hate flying.  Now with my current position I can hate flying all I want but I don't have a choice.  Therefore as you can imagine some turbulence on the flight or when a wind gust grabs the plane really freaks me out.  Like I said earlier though as I fly more and more it has gotten easier.  Do I still get a bit unsettled, of course, but do I feel like the plane is about to crash now, not usually.  This past trip made me really think about that with God.  During our "flight" with God we will hit turbulence and some is worse than others but it will not crash your plane.  As you grow with the Lord and continue to dedicate your life to him that turbulence will not be so unsettling.  Just like I have gotten more at ease with the turbulence I hit with flying so will you and I feel more at ease the closer we get to God.

I hope that the next time you see a plane in the air or you set foot on an airplane you think about your walk with God.  Think about the faith you are putting in that pilot to get you to your destination safely, think about the buildings below disappearing, and think about how the turbulence you hit is just a bump in the road.  Then turn those thoughts towards your faith life.  Think about your faith in God to get you to your next destination Heaven, think about your worries and distractions disappearing the closer you get to God, and remember that the closer you get to Him the easier the turbulence will be.  The turbulence you hit in life will not crash your plane but just test your trust in Him.  God loves each and everyone of you.  Let him be your pilot everyday of your life.

Lane Jumper

Well patience has been my biggest lesson this week.  Let's start with a quick story.  This week I had to travel to Peoria, Illinois to visit one of my customer's.  I left normal time on Tuesday and looked at the weather before leaving as there is a stretch which can be pretty treacherous.  Everything was clear and I was making good time,  looking forward to getting into the hotel a bit early and getting a nice workout in and catching up on some homework. Well just over half way there and 10 miles from Chicago the traffic sign says 10 miles 156 minutes.  Must be a misprint right.  Yeah I wish.  I was stuck in a huge snow storm and it took me over 4 hours to go 10 miles in complete whiteout conditions.  This trip did not end there as on my way home I hit white out conditions throughout my entire trip and had some of the worst roads I had ever driven on.  I thank the Lord for the safe travel as for others this trip caused many issues.

While sitting in the huge traffic jam and storm on Tuesday my blog for this week came to me.  No one was moving, the semis were putting their trucks in park and walking around.  4 lanes of traffic were completely stopped with no route around.  You just had to wait it out, you had no choice.  Well one lady was not so patient.  She constantly jumped lane to lane for the next 4 hours.  I never changed lanes and she was always within two cars of me even though she was determined to get out.  This really got me thinking about each one of us in our lives.  How we get caught up in moving quickly and not sitting down and being patient.  When we get stuck in a traffic jam are we the first person to jump from lane to lane to find a way out.  Have you ever thought that God may be slowing you down for a reason?  It is very easy to get impatient and keep moving as their is so much going on in life and most of the time we all feel we don't have enough time in a day to get everything done.

Patience is a virtue and it is not easy to always be patient.  Our society teaches us not to be patient.  When you go to a fast food place and you don't have your food almost instantly you are taught to be upset.  It is so easy to not sit back and take the time to relax.  Life puts road blocks in front of us daily with some being bigger than others. Have you ever thought to take that time and instead of getting upset and pushy to sit back and look at the blessings you have?  This time can easily be spent freaking out on a situation you cannot control or it can be a time to reflect on your relationship with God.  Did you ever think maybe God wanted you to slow down?

I can tell you I am normally the person who is mad at the fast food people or trying every way around that road block but this week I realized that I couldn't change my situation.  I was still antsy to get moving and get to my destination but was able to relax and focus on my relationship with God.  I want to challenge each one of you this week to slow down when a "traffic jam" is put in your life and look towards him.  Don't be the one who is moving lane to lane to gain nothing but use this time to gain a deeper relationship with him.  Relax and have some time with God.  We have a hard time getting a break from everything that is going on so when you get a break that wasn't expected use it for the best.  Strengthen that relationship with your Father.

Colossians 3:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

Treating others with respect

In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the prophets.

—Matthew 7:12

I hope everyone has been having a good week.  So much has happened for me this past week and the one item that really stuck with me is something that I experienced just the other day.  Have you ever thought about how you treat others?  Do you treat your friends, co workers, family, or significant other with respect?  Is this respect at all times or only in particular situations?  

Trust me I understand it is hard sometimes to treat other's with respect.  It is hard to go against the grain with the way that the world says you should treat others.  Unfortunately, I am seeing this more often than not.  That disrespect pushes people to that edge where they may turn to drinking, drugs, or slip into a depression.  People turn around and start to beat themselves up for the mistakes they have made in their life.  They get upset at the weight they are or the situation they may be in.  Have you ever turned this around and thought about how you would feel if people were treating you the way you treated others?  This is very difficult to do as you get caught in the moment of people laughing a lot of the time because they don't know what else to do.  Is that the person you want to be remembered as?  Think about the way the world starts to view Christians.  I just got done reading the new book by Kirk Cousins the quarterback of the Washington Redskins and he said it in a way that I never thought of.  Here is a paraphrase of the words that he wrote.  When you are a Christian you are putting on the jersey of God.  Just like any sports team this jersey has the team name (Jesus, Christian, God) on the front and your last name on the back.  When you look back at your day are your actions representing that name on the front in the best way possible?  What about the name on the back?  Are you leaving the legacy that you want?  

Each one of us no matter our education, physical attributes, or family history can leave a lasting impression on thousands of people during our life.  Think about the amount of people you come in contact with in one day.  Do you smile at them, say hello, hold a door for them, or encourage them?  Having a positive attitude and representing that name on the front could change someone's day.  Maybe your smile to one person will turn into a smile for another and everything begins to multiply.  It doesn't have to be anything crazy but showing others you respect them and that they are special.  

I struggle with these items each and every day.  I have noticed by starting my day in God and listening to Christian music throughout the day allow me to be more positive and build others up.  That necessarily won't work for you but I challenge you to go out and find what will get you focused on God and respecting others.  I want to challenge you this week and think about putting the jersey of Christianity on each day.  Remember the name that you have on your chest with your actions throughout the day and the way to talk to others.  If you see someone disrespecting another stand up and put an end to it.  If we show respect to all those we meet in our lives we can make a change in this nation and truly show that Christianity is more than what people see from the outside.

1 Timothy 4:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.

New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

So what is your resolution this year?  Is it the typical hit the gym, or eat healthy?  Have you already broke it?  While celebrating the new year and looking forward to what 2014 would bring my way I really got thinking of the excitement which surrounds this one day a year.  It all surrounds the new start, the forgetting of the past and looking forward.  It truly is great to put everything in the past like the choices you made and look forward.  To look at the new life and your dreams you have for yourself.  But what really got me is why do we only celebrate this once a year on a specific day?  Why do we choose this night to be around our best friends and not have time so many other nights?

When you look at a new year it is perfectly similar to the new life we receive from Jesus Christ.  Every day is new year's eve for Christians as God clears the past and pushes us to look forward.  Have you ever thought about living your life this way?  The joy looking forward to what is new.  If you can treat everyday with a new beginning and put new goals in front of you.  Let's focus on those goals being faith goals, growing your faith, reading the bible, helping the less fortunate, or turning against your sins. Just like on New Year's eve we need to surround ourselves with other believers.  Having a solid group who pushes you to know the Lord more will help you keep your resolutions.  This group shouldn't be someone you see that one night a year but people that you see and talk to so often that they are family.

I challenge you this year to treat every day as a new year, as in Christ it is.  Surround yourself with a good Christian group and have them hold you accountable for your resolutions.  Be the person you want to be in 2014 each and every day.  With the gift the Lord gave each and every one of us, each day is a new year for us.  Take the happiness and joy you have looking at the new year and use this everyday in your life as a Christian.

Worth Dying for?

Have you ever thought about that title?  Are you worth dying for?  I would believe that 99% of people out there would never believe they are worth dying for.

I was listening to the song "Someone worth dying for" by Mikes Chair which really got me thinking about the life that I live.  Do I believe I am worth dying for? Do I live a life where someone else should put their life on the line for me?  As I was thinking I did not think I was worth dying for.  I did not see my life as something someone should give up their dreams, or worldly family for.  I am a sinner and even though I try to be wiser with my decisions everyday I am still a failure in living up to the perfection God has put in front of me.  The true person we should look at dying for everyday is Jesus Christ.  He lead a perfect life yet we choose to push him to the side.  I think this song and message has two sides and want to challenge you with both.

The first side is believing that you are worth dying for.  If you believe this statement or not one person already believed that you are worth it.  He put himself through terrible pain and sacrifice for you to realize your worth.  It wasn't a quick death or a simple sacrifice.  It was the torment and pain he went through for years all coming to a peak right before he was crucified.  You can see some of the persecution Christ received in these passages from John. 28 Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled,Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”[c] 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”[d]  This decision by the Lord was not a split second reaction to jump in front of a car or pull you from a subway but his grand plan.  You see the stories in the news all the time about an individual sacrificing themselves to save another if it is by pulling them out of a burning building or pushing them away from an oncoming car.  These are great acts that were performed on a split second reaction.  I am sure that these normal individuals did not believe that day they would be the one to save someone or even sacrifice themselves.  Christ knew about this from the beginning of his life.  He knew his mission and knows the worth of all humanity.  He believes you are worth dying for and you should too. 

The second side is Christ worth dying for.  You have seen stories of this in the news before also.  The one that comes to my mind is the situation at Columbine High School when a gunman approached a girl and asked if she believed in God.  Her answer "Yes".  Unfortunately this was the end of her earthly life but the start of her eternal life with the Lord.  She answered the question I posed at the beginning of this paragraph and stood up for her faith.  Would you do the same?  Maybe we shouldn't look at it to this extreme as I pray that you would never be physically killed for your belief.  Do you stand up for your faith at your work, your family events, or your times with your friends?  When others question your stances on abortion, going to church, giving to others do you just sit there and agree? Or do you stand up and explain why you believe what you do?  It is so easy for each one of us to sit back and not share our thoughts because it may create an awkward situation or might change someones view of you.  When we sit back and don't express our faith we are saying Christ is not worth dying for.  We allow ourselves to be bigger than him.  You might not literally be dying for God by standing up for him and your faith but mentally you are making that choice.

I challenge each and every person that reads this blog to look forward and decide how you can die for Christ.  Is it a co worker who is challenging your faith, or a family member that does not know God?  As you grow in your faith it will continue to be easier to make these daily decisions and the sacrifices to die for him.  Also remember that before you were born Jesus had already decided to die for you.  He went forward and mentally and physically was persecuted for you because you are worth it.  Society always pushes against every person for not being skinny enough, not having defined abs, not having a socially accepted job, and many other things but that is not where your worth comes from.  Your worth comes from the love of the Lord.  His love makes everything worth it especially you.  Waking up in the morning and knowing that you were worth dying for will affect your decisions throughout the day.  You don't want to waste someones sacrifice for you because you are putting yourself first.  

I hope you can take something out of this blog and it will help you look at your faith in a different way so you can continue to grow it.

Someone worth dying for music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-pz1rc900