Days without God

Sometimes I get so focused on my life (wife, kids, job friends and more) that I live days without God. Yeah, God has put these blessings in my life, but they should not replace the One that created me. Have you lived days without God? What about weeks, months or years? What about ever? People today are more open to spiritual things than ever. There is a God-shaped whole in all of us that can only be filled by....guess who? Yep God.

At Awaken we are starting Community Groups. Community Groups are groups of people that meet in homes throughout the week where people "do life" together. We eat, hangout, be real with one another and ask questions, read the Bible and learn more about the God of the universe. We realize that no one is perfect, so no one has to act perfect. Hangout with a bunch of single people or maybe honestly your marriage sucks and you need to "do life" with other married people. We all mess up and need to lean on one another.

Live life with God and bring other people along with you. Your life was never meant to be alone. Even with just you and your family, you need people to come beside you and "do life" with you. Let me know if you are interested in a Community Group and we'll get you plugged into one.

Staying busy: Update on life.

I am usually a daily blogger, but have taken a few days off because I have been staying busy.

Family: Our family is doing well. Faith is getting out of the house more which is good. It gets lonely being in the house with two little kids all day. I am glad she can get out a little more and have some freedom. Kylie is speaking a lot and singing songs that I have never heard before. She is going to the potty a lot always making us laugh. Abigail keeps growing teeth (is that the right phrase?) and being sweet as ever. I have been able to spend a little more time at home the last few days which has been so refreshing.

Church: Awaken is going extremely well. Still looking for our next location since we grew out of the house we were meeting in. I get tempted to go to weekly meetings, but need to be patient and see how things go.

Job: I am in the interview process at a job and hopefully we can get on there so we can pay our bills.

God: God is doing some amazing things in the life of my bride and me. He keeps drawing us closer to Himself in a way that has never happen. We look forward to see what He wants to do with our lives.

When We Go

I have been falling more in love with Jesus the last few months. I have learned more of what it means to walk by faith. I feel like I am closer to God. I have been praying a lot more. As this has been happening, I have been thinking a lot about life. What is my purpose? In that, I have been thinking of what happens when I go... when I die... when my purpose is over... what happens when Jesus comes back? What happens when all of humanity comes to an end? What happens to all of the people that are left that have not tasted the joy of Jesus Christ? Is there really a hell? Seriously? Are you telling me that there is such thing as a separation from God for eternity?

If so, then how shall we live? Do we stay in our safe homes and have our safe families tucked away in our comfort zone. Do we avoid eye contact, much less initiate conversation with a stranger at the store? If the first paragraph is true, then Christianity in America has to change. Christianity in my city has to change. Christianity in my church has to change... Christianity in my life has to change.

So what happens now?

Justice... ThinK

Rough Life

I was talking to a guy tonight and he told me about his rough life. His dad tried to kill him a few years ago and his girlfriend died. Although I could not relate to these life changing events in his life, I could introduce him to The Life Changer.

I shared the love of God with him. He put his faith in Christ and is excited to trust God with the rest of his new life.

Life is hard

Life is hard sometimes. I often have my ups and downs in life just like the next guy, but I like to evaluate the ups and downs. When I get through the good or bad times in my life, I look back and see how I responded. If I responded without faith, I realize it and repent. If I responded by faith, I praise God and pray that He would continue to fashion me so that my life would look more like Jesus.

I am in a season right now where times are tough and God is in the process of building my faith. When times are hard, people either turn to faith or fear; they trust God or they don't.

I am learning that I have no fear when I realize the sovereignty of God. And when I realize His sovereignty I am satisfied in Him. And when I am most satisfied in God, He is most glorified in my life.

Today I choose faith. Today I will trust in God's sovereignty to get me to tomorrow. It's my only hope. How about you? How do you respond in tough times?

Get a job.

It is amazing to find someone who really cares about their job. Here is an example: I called to get a lower interest rate on my credit card. I would actually call and hang up because it was hard to understand some people. They would speak in an accent and sounded like a robot. I tried to be nice, but they were just "doing" their job. It is amazing that many people hate what they do. Here is some advice: Quit and go somewhere else. I encourage people to follow their dreams. If it requires education, then go and get it.

Many have the mindset that "I'm here, so I got to work". I believe God wants us to live the abundant life, a life of fulfillment. Ultimately that is in Him, but also, I am sure He would want you to be in a job you like. Go get a job. Start serving, volunteering or researching things you are interested in. Get good at it, and then ask someone to hire you.

Back in the swing of things... kinda

Well I started back to work yesterday. It felt good to get back into the swing of things...kinda. I t may take me a week to really get back into action. It feels weird getting off for a week.

I got a friend of mine Bryant coming to speak at the youth group tonight. I am pumped about that. I was obviously not able to study much last week with the baby.

Quick devo: "Go to God in time of need" I am continuing my study in Matthew and am in chapter 26. He is praying right before he is betrayed an he goes to God three different times to pray about the same thing. That is pretty cool to note, because sometimes we will cry out to God and then leave our prayer time and try to fix things ourselves, instead of going back to God over and over again.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

"I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known....My shadow's the only one that walks beside me...Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me." Billie Joe Armstrong, lead singer for Green Day, says a few statements that are so true for millions of people today. People are searching. Real people are really searching. Where are some answers for my life? Who will love me? We will listen? Who will give me their attention? Let me ask a question and let's be perfectly honest with ourselves. Can they come to any church in America and find what they are looking for? True Christianity would say yes. Our Americanized, "do church", ritualistic religion that we have made says "NO"! Times have got to change. Our social clubs need to burn, our selfish natures need to melt and our hearts need to be broken. Come on! Seriously, what are we doing? Pastor Wake up! Youth pastors... wake up! Christ following bankers, teachers, doctors, policemen, construction workers, secretaries; can we all get real for a minute? Our God calls us to make the most of every opportunity; so what are we doing? People die. People really die! Let's start really caring about people. As we go throughout our days. The gas station workers, waitresses, co-workers, the hundreds of people we come in contact with daily; love them. Please, let's get real.