Thursday, March 26, 2009
iPhone OS 3.0
It's ridiculous that I'm this excited about it...but finally. Copy and Paste and MMS Messaging...
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
God's Continuing Pursuit of Us versus Our Pursuit of Him
I am pathetic. I don't know what pursuit really means. I pursue to get healthy and fit, and I always tend to fail. I pursue wisdom, but feel dumb. I pursue friendships and relationships and I seem to fail extremely at this. I let other people's moods, responses, words effect my pursuit. What I've learned recently about God, is that none of that effects His relentless pursuit of us.
I was reading "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer this morning on a plane, and here is what Tozer had to say: "To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul's paradox of love...Now, as always, God discovers Himself to the "babes" and hides Himself in the thick darkness from the wise and the prudent...We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without a doubt God will quickly respond."
Later today, I got on my friend Matt's blog, and saw this quote by Brennan Manning: "“And the God I’ve come to know by sheer grace, the Jesus I met in the grounds of my own self, has furiously loved me regardless of my state - grace or disgrace. And why? For His love is never, never, never based on performance, never conditioned by our moods - of elation or depression. The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. It is reliable. And always tender.”
God is obviously speaking to me on what pursuit is about. Most importantly, how I am pursuing Him. Do I give up? Am I weak? Am I still a "babe"? God is a very BIG God. I restrict Him to what my view is. I am worried what He will think. I am worried if He will be proud. Bottom-line is that He just wants me to seek to find Him, as He has already found me.
Most importantly is that God is the representative of what pursuit is all about. May I learn to pursue in all areas of my life, like God has pursued me.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Lessons from a Boxer
In leiu of Corrie's blog of "Lesson from A Bird", I'd like to input my blog of "Lessons from a Boxer". Especially, if that Boxer was Rocky Balboa (on my top 5 list of movies), however, what I am writing about is about my dog, Sadie, who is a Boxer.
In an impulsive decision, I bought Sadie on New Years Eve evening with my girlfriend Corrie. My uncle had always loved boxers, and it rubbed off on me. In fact the first dog, I purchased, which was in 2001, was a boxer, named Cavi. I lost her to do my small apartment. However, I decided to go the route of getting another one. Here is a pic of her
after her first week at my house:
Shortly after getting her, I realized just how hyper she was. Her energy levels, were not normal. In fact, I have a 7 foot fence in my backyard that she figures a way to jump over.
Sadie however, was the sweetest dog I have ever owned. She would do anything to be petted, loved on, and hugged. She loves attention. You barely whisper her name and her tail begins to wag over 100 mph. She grew up under the mothership of my other dog, Joey, a basset hound. They have gotten along phenominally well. However recently, I ran into a problem.
A old YL kid moved into my house for a couple of months, before moving to college. He had a Rotweiller/German Shepherd. Well, you guessed it, that dog attack Sadie, not just once, but many times. Since then she has been on complete defense. I should have protected her better, but I let the problem get out of control. She began to realize she was a 55 pound dog, and realize there are other dogs who should could "take" easily. Including, small, sweet, Joey. She has been on the loose to attack Joey now. So this has become a huge problem.
Here's my first observation...First, we are all like Sadie. We are brought up in the innocence of being a child of God. God takes joy in our little boy heart and loves just how much we love life, and love when people love on us. All of sudden, somewhere into our life, something comes into our life, be it a person, a sin, a desires, and many other issues. We then go on defense immediately to protect ourselves. Not realizing that our Father will protect us. We try sheltering ourself from the things that will hurt us, but then it becomes our own pride that hurts us. We live on the defense.
So back to my story....I then decided to take Sadie to a dog park (where over 30 dogs were). The minute she walked into the park, she tried to eat everything that came in her way. I lost control. I had no idea on how to fix this problem. She was out of control. Then along came a huge 300 pound African American man, who gave me some advice (the Holy Spirit...haha). He said that anytime that Sadie acts that way, that I need to pick her up and put her on her back and hold her down until she submits to me. So I tried, and boy did she ever fight back, even against me. Doing whatever she could to not submit. The interesting thing I found, was that she finally submitted. When she finally submitted, she was allowed to have freedom, and actually enjoyed the dogs, that she thoughts was hatefully attacking her.
How we are like Sadie! We want to go through life defending ourself. Against friends, family members, and even our Father. What ends up happening is that we still get hurt, because they're are still things out there that are stronger than we are. All God wants to do, is simply submit to him. In our submission, we experience freedom. In our defense, we experience imprisonment. I believe God's ultimate goal in our lives is for us to learn that He is control. That He becomes more in control and we become less (Jn. 3:33).
Since this day, Sadie has learned and continues to learn on a daily basis, that she is not in control, I am. Now I must learn from her, and do the same with my Master.
Life is so simple. I just make it complex. God has designed this as a journey, and this journey requires a leader, and I must learn I am not that leader...He is.
By the way, right now, Sadie is laying dead asleep beside Joey after a great meal she just consumed. Ah, life with freedom!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
When I'm 80
So I walked into a McDonald's this morning, so I could get a cup of coffee (by the far the best regular brewed coffee). When I walked in I saw 8 men sitting there. So nosey me, I grabbed my cup, bought a newspaper and sat near to where they were sitting. They were having great conversations, that most 70/80 year old men have. What they are going to do with their busy day...What their wives are doing today...what vegetables they will grow this spring in there gardens...who's gonna when the College Football championship (Oklahoma)...and the infamous question that every older person talks about it is, when are we gonna get some rain? Then they did something, that most older circles probably don't do. Every single one of them, pulled out there Bible's and began to go through a Bible study right there in McDonald's. Then I heard each of the mention things they were going to pray through as a group. One guy said, "Pray for my granddaughter, she's a great gal, but she really needs to meet Jesus." One guy said, "Pray for great grandson, he's having a hard time learning in school." So I sat there listening to all there prayer requests like some type of idiot, and then I felt compelled that I should write a list of things that I wanna be like when I'm 80....so here's the list:
1. I wanna be a man of God. Men in the community to go to for wise, experienced, yet humble advise.
2. I wanna hang out with kids half of my age.
3. I want a slew of grandkids and kids.
4. I want to still be married to the woman of my dreams, and continuing to love her when I'm old. Take her to the movies, out on dates. Not just sit at home, but continue to live life with her til I can.
5. I want people to see my older hot babe as a couple that's an example.
6. I want to have a tractor and a garden.
7. I want a pickup truck of at least 20 years old at that time. (that would make it a 2040 model) ha ha.
8. I want to go skydiving when I'm 80.
9. I want a normal fishing spot that I go to with somebody once a week.
10. I want to be in a bible study with some men, in which we've been coming to the same spot for 30 years.
11. I want to be involved more than just a "pew-filler" at a good local church.
12. I want to be more in love with Jesus as I am now.
13. I want to be able to cry.
14. I want to be able to cuss and no one cares cause I'm old. (Old people get away with that. They can say whatever they want and no one says anything...cause they're old)
15. I want a small house because I gave so much of my own money and things away.
That's as far as I went, but I encourage you to maybe write down, what you would like to be going on when your 80.
By the way, as I got up and left this morning, I walked over to those men, and said Thank You.
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