Never forgotten hard work

Have you ever worked extremely hard for something just to have others forget or not even notice? 

I believe that as a Christian it's easy to think that God has briefly forgotten about us. There have been many times in my life where I have done good things over and over again and it never seemed like there was a payoff. I felt like nobody noticed what I was doing. I felt good about it because I knew I was living obediently, but there certainly wasn't much significance in the way that I was feeling.

During those times I was under the impression that I was supposed to receive some sort of positive affirmation from others. God never forgets about us. But Satan deceives us into thinking that by trying to make us worry about the recognition we receive from others vs. always being recognized by God.

Sometimes I just think about certain ways in which God calls us to live. We are commanded to love one another. Well sometimes when I am loving everyone around me I don't really feel like anyone is noticing it. That is a feeling that comes from Satan because we serve a God who is not unjust. 

It's crazy to me that we get worried about others not noticing the good we do when the one person who will always remember always notices the work that we are doing. Our minds are so easily twisted...

God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews 6:10)

I know it might seem like it sometimes because we are easily deceived but God will never forget or overlook our hard work for him. Presently you may not be receiving rewards and acclaim, but God knows your efforts of love and ministry. Let God's love for you and his intimate knowledge of your service for him bolster you as you face disappointment and rejection here on earth. 

Your hard work is never forgotten so please don't ever be discouraged. Keep on pushing! 

Ever-present

I simply want to encourage you all with one thing today...

Before I get there I really want you to think about something. I want you to sit as your read this and evaluate your whole life. Really think it through and try to identify something that is always there. No cheating either...you can't say your family, significant other, or best friend. Don't even try to say your pet either! 

It's harder than you thought isn't it?

Those things I listed above are things that are there but am I with my family every living and breathing second of the day? Am I with Rach every second of every day? Am I with my best friends? 

Absolutely not! I can see all of those people at my expense and theirs...

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)

When the authors of this Psalm wrote this - they could've said that God is present or that God is there...But they clearly wrote that God is 'ever-present' and there is a lot of power in that. 

God is always there at every moment during our days. We have the freedom to pray, to talk to God, to seek God and to pursue God all of the time. I honestly believe that we don't do that enough because we are too distracted.

I am pretty disciplined but even I get distracted very easily sometimes. Why do we waste our time on things that are not ever-present? 

Ask yourself that very question as your reflect on your life...are you distracted by things that are not ever-present or do you give your time, energy, and effort to the one who is always there? It seems like a no-brainer to me. 

As you move forward this week, remember that God is the only part of your life that is always there to fulfill all the needs that you will ever have. Focus on God and don't miss out on his ever-present presence. 

The goodness of God

I believe that most of us are well aware that God created all things. Sometimes we take that for granted and don't really think about how significant God's creation actually is.

What do I mean by that?

God didn't have to create all of the feelings that go along with the things that he created.

I was listening to a podcast yesterday called 'As for me and my house,' and the topic was about sex. As the married couple were talking, they made some really good points that got me thinking. In the confines of marriage they were talking about how God created sex to be an intimate experience with your spouse. That intimate feeling is a gift from God. He made it for us to enjoy with our spouses...I don't think animals enjoy it like humans do. God could've made sex like a handshake but he didn't. He made it so much more than that because the goodness of God is so great that we cannot fathom it.

I know that using sex as an example isn't something I have done before, but it helps make the point here.

Another example that comes to mind is food. Think about all of the amazing flavors and tastes that are out there that God created. God didn't have to make food taste good...he could've made it taste like cardboard.

God didn't just create everything on a surface level...God is way too good for that.

I challenge you to find the enjoyment in the goodness of God beneath the surface. I believe when we start to do that we will really get to experience the goodness of God and his amazing creation...

...As I sit here and write this post...this milky way latte doesn't have to be refreshing and give me energy, the pretty fall leaves that I see outside don't have to be orange, yellow, and red, I don't have to feel excitement after having good meetings today, I didn't need to enjoy the taste of the chocolate chip pancakes and bacon that I had this minoring, I didn't need to feel an extreme amount of love when I talked to Rach on the phone about 20 minutes ago, I don't need to feel any of these things but because of the goodness of God I get to feel these things and enjoy them, and feel absolutely fulfilled.

Really start to shift your mindset about how truly amazing the goodness of God is. We don't have to feel these things but we serve a God who allows us to because he loves us.

eliminating deceitfulness

Satan has the unique ability to make us feel like horrible people whenever we make a mistake or do something wrong. Have you ever made a mistake before or said something that you regret and felt horrible? That feeling is called deception. It's a pretty horrible feeling honestly. There will be days where everything is going really well and then all of a sudden I say something wrong or think wrong thoughts and Satan uses that to make me feel like nothing good even happened.

Deception happens to everyone, and most of the time people don't even realize that it's happening. I know that sometimes before I was more aware of God's presence, I didn't realize that I was being deceived. At the time I just thought it was natural to feel really guilty and that I wasn't that good of a person.

This feeling can be eliminated through encouragement.

That might sound a little too good to be true right? I am telling you that it's 100% true. Encouragement is one of the most powerful ways to make others feel loved.

We need to make sure that we are constantly around encouraging people and we need to make sure that we are being the encouraging people as well.

I know for a fact that I would not be who I am today if I didn't have the encouraging people in my life that I am so blessed to always have there. I am not perfect at all! I suck sometimes and I feel bad easily. I am easily deceived but have constant encouragers around me. Rachel, my family, friends, and coworkers are always encouraging me all the time and they help shape who I am.

I challenge you to really think about this and if you don't have at least 5 people in your life who are consistently encouraging you, maybe your need to find some more encouragers in your life.

On the other hand, we need to take a look at ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are being consistent encouragement. As important as it is for us to be around those types of people it's almost more important to be that for others.

It goes both ways. Be that person that others go to when they need encouragement.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "today," so that none of your may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13)

When we are encouraging one other daily that will being to eliminate us being hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

That is my challenge for all of you as you read this post. Deceitfulness is dangerous and I would love for it to be eliminated for as many people as possible. So encourage one another daily and we will slowly being to eliminate it.

Cast Away

One of my favorite movies is Cast Away with Tom Hanks. It's an older movie but I have seen it so many times. For those of you who have never seen it, Tom Hanks was an employer of FedEx and while flying over the ocean their plane went down. Tom was the only survivor and managed to find his way to an island in the middle of nowhere. 

He was on the island for four years. He never gave up hope. It was just him and his volleyball that he named Wilson. Wilson became his best friend along with any other sign that he might be able to find his way back home. Eventually, Tom made a raft and a cargo liner found him out at sea. 

That probably wasn't the best movie summary that I have given, but I hope you get the point that Tom was stranded for four years and never gave up hope.

Much like Tom in Cast Away, God gives us all sorts of signs that we must pay attention to. 

"God testified to us by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." (Hebrews 2:4)

All of the time God is testified through sings, wonders, miracles, and through gifts. If we are aware of what is going on, we should never drift away. There are enough signs that we shouldn't miss out on them. The key is just being aware. 

See, in Cast Away, FedEx packages were always washing up the shore on the island and those signs reminded Tom of things from back home. There were times when he would get extremely down, but all of a sudden a package would wash up and restore hope. If packages weren't washing up on the shore, there always seemed to be other signs off in the distance. 

A key to Tom recognizing these signs is that he was paying attention to them. He was looking out for any little sign to give him hope. This is something that we need to do. When times get tough and it seems like there ins't any hope out there, it probably means that you aren't paying attention. 

I promise you, that God is always giving you signs of hope. 

We must pay attention to the signs...

"We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away." (Hebrews 2:1)

The moment we stop paying attention is when we miss out on all of the good things that are out there. It's a slippery slope once you stop...It's a slippery slope right into a pit and how are we ever going to escape if we ignore such a great salvation? 

The thing I want you to all understand with this is that we must pay attention to all of the signs that are out there from God. The moment that we start to ignore those signs is the moment we forgot where out salvation comes from. 

We need to be like Tom Hanks in Cast Away...he was alone for four years, didn't have anything, and he never gave up hope. He fought to find every good sign that he could and because of that he made it home. 

Pay attention and fight! 

hahahaha Satan

"Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies

a footstool for your feet." (Hebrews 1:13)

Our outlook on certain things affects out mindset. I know that spiritual warfare is a real thing and it's something that we face every day. Sometimes when we get caught up in what is going on it is really easy to get down and feel like there isn't hope. 

Tonight I want to let you in on a little secret on how I view it. It's a clear-proven fact that Christ already defeated Satan. There is scripture all over the bible to back it up and prove it. It's everywhere. When I recognize that I am under spiritual attack I will laugh it off. It's quite funny because most of the time I am totally alone and I recognize it and I literally have a conversation to myself saying "hahahahaha good try Satan...you already lost...why are you even trying dude."

This sounds like it's really silly but it has helped me make work of spiritual warfare. I am still not perfect - and there are times where I still give in. But laughing Satan off has radically changed my mindset when it comes to spiritual warfare. 

I encourage you to try this out. Spiritual warfare isn't really a laughing matter because it's super real...what is a laughing matter is that Satan tries to deceive us when he has already lost that battle. 

A thirst for God

Our lives depend on God. When we feel lonely, depressed, stressed, or anxious we need to meditate on God's kindness and love.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I can and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night. (Psalm 42:1-3)

This afternoon I 110% hit a stressed and anxious breaking point. Everything that could go wrong seemed to be going wrong. I had a closing meeting over the phone at 4:30 so I had to merge a client and a colleague over the phone. I decided to get in the elevator and the called completely dropped. It was just about 5 o'clock and my client showed up for our 5:40 meeting 40 minutes early and I had a 30 minute drive. I needed my navigation to drive to my meeting and couldn't use it since I was on a phone call.

Everything seemed to be going wrong at this point...my phone was dying and I had no idea where I was going. For those of you who know me, I am normally very calm but I was at the point where I just screamed in the car.

I had been in this spot before in my life and I always know that there are two ways in which I can handle it. I can either continue to wallow in my self-pity and be super negative or know that all I need to do is rely on God and have my soul thirst for him.

The most amazing thing happened during this time. I was on the phone with Rachel and in the midst of me rambling about all the negative things that were happening she told me that we should pray.

As soon as she started to pray I felt all of the stress and anxiety go away. It was the most amazing and super natural feeling ever. It was one of the most refreshing feelings I had felt in a long time. My thirst was being quenched and I was so fulfilled.

In that moment I was reminded of how thankful I am that we serve a God who does that for us and to have such a perfect person in my life to help steer me towards Christ everyday.

I encourage you all to remember that God quenches are thirsts no matter what we are going through always. So no matter how bad your day is going or how amazing it is, the only thing that can truly make you feel fulfilled is God.

Right living

There is a right way to live...we just have to learn to live in the right way.

I am writing this post a little later in the night than I normally would like to, but this is the most fulfilling part of my day so I couldn't go to bed without writing to encourage you all.

I believe that we are trying to figure out the right way to live all of the time. We want to find the perfect routine, we make our to-do lists, and always feel like there is more that we can do. It's like we have a couple pieces of the puzzle but we are missing the corners. 

My hope is that what I share briefly with you tonight will be those missing corner pieces that you need because what pieces do you usually look for when you first start building the puzzle? The corners! 

Once you figure out what the corners are it's way easier to figure out everything else. 

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle towards everyone. (Titus 3:1-2)

I love those verses and there are so many good thins in there that I want to map out for you...in order to understand the right way to live.

1. be subject to rulers and authors - As Christians our first allegiance is to Jesus as Lord, but we must obey our government and its leaders as well. This goes far beyond that as well. Listen to whoever is teaching you. Listen to whoever might be above you at work. 

2. be obedient - simply do what is right. Most people have a good depiction of this because deep down we normally know what the right thing to do is vs the wrong thing. Most importantly though, do what is obedient in God's eyes and live a life that reflects Jesus in all that you do. Live out the saying: 'What would Jesus do.'

3. be ready to do whatever is good - Do good things all of the time. Be polite. Be kind. Be loving. There is so much good out there waiting to be done by awesome people like yourselves. What good are you going to be ready to do when you wake up tomorrow morning? 

4. slander no one - If what you have to say does't benefit the person that you are talking about don't say it. That is judgment and that is gossip. Speak highly of others and if you don't have anything positive to say, then don't say anything. This is a big one because when we fall into the trap of slandering others we don't realize that we might be making the same mistakes. Speak life. Speak love. Speak truth.

5. be peaceable and considerate - Have peace in all the interactions that you have on a daily basis. Be considerate of others. Don't focus on just yourself everyday. Put others needs before your own. People want to be around people who make them feel at peace.

6. always be gentle towards everyone - Gentleness to me is love. When we are gentle towards everyone it becomes easier to love everyone. Jesus was gentle in the way that he lived his life and we should be too. Gentleness is one of the most underrated qualities that a person can have in my opinion. I can't really name too many people that I know who are naturally gentle. I encourage you to really work on that because I believe that it will benefit both you and so many others. 

I encourage you to live in the right way. I hope you realized that all of these things are the corners to our puzzles and the key to living a right live. 

Live what you learn

One of the most powerful and impactful things that we can do is living out what we learn. A couple of weeks ago I had coffee with a gentlemen from the area and during our conversation he was telling me how many people he will meet and they tell him that they are going to do something and they never do. He told me that people are asking for his business cards all the time and he basically doesn't hear from any of them and he recognizes that.

Now imagine what God goes through. Think about all of the times in our lives we have tried to get rid of certain things and tried to stop doing certain things. I remember for me, I would say "this is the last time," and it never seemed like it was. Even on a deeper level...think about this...most of the time people are only getting a taste of heaven on Sundays because all the others days of the week they can never get in a good routine. He won't hold it against us but I wonder what God thinks about that.

There is great importance in living what we learn. What would be the point in learning if we never lived in that way. I feel like life is stale when we don't live out what we learn. Not living in that sort of way is like trying to run up backwards on a treadmill...you just can't do it.

Living what we learn comes from wholesome teaching. But how can we recognize wholesome teaching?

"You, however, must teach what is appropriate to sound doctrine." (Titus 2:1)

When a teaching is sound, it combines correct knowledge and understanding with consistent practice. You can't teach something good one time and then never teach anything good the rest of your life. When I started my blog I made a commitment that I was going to write as many post as I could and I was never going to stop. I could've wrote one really good post, but what in the heck would be the point to only write one encouraging post to you guys and then leave you out to dry? To be a good teacher you must practice consistently.

My favorite professors in college didn't give one good lecture and then chill the rest of the year. Every day they brought it because they cared about our class and wanted to teach us in the best most effective way possible.

Sound doctrine must be found in the bible. Sound doctrine keeps Jesus central, and that results in consistent good behavior and actions.

As believers we must be grounded in the truths of the bible. Not anything from the outside. Our world has a way of trying to make us grounded in worldly truths...I don't care how good some of those 'truths' might sound, none of it will last you for very long. I mean think about all the studies that come out all of the time.

I feel like every couple years a new article comes out about how a certain food is all of a sudden not good for you and then in a few years it probably will be. The world is full of inconsistency but yet we believe it?

Those who are teaching the truths from the bible must practice sound doctrine and help others understand it as well. We need to live what we learn.

I encourage you to live out what you are learning...that is when your life will begin to change and the lives of others around you because they are going to be watching you from afar and thinking to themselves...'I want to live a life like that.'

Your most important qualifications

Who struggles with thinking that they don't have enough skill or knowledge to be able to do their job or anything in life?

I bet there are a handful of people who struggle with that belief. I used to be one of those people. I still am sometimes. I didn't get a finance degree and I am beginning my career at a financial representative. There is so much that I don't even know yet and if I believed that lie in my head from Satan telling me that I wasn't good enough I would fail solely based on the belief in a lie that I didn't have enough skill or knowledge. 

I believe that the world forces us to believe that if we don't have enough skill or knowledge to do a job that we won't ever be good at it. None of us have the perfect amount of skill because we are human and we are simply imperfect. 

Your most important qualification is your character. I will say that again, your most important qualification is your character and NOT your skill set or knowledge. 

In Titus 1:5-9, Paul briefly talks about some of the qualifications that the elders or the overseers of the church should have. Paul says that they must be blameless, faithful to their wives, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain, hospitable, loves what is good, self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. Lastly, they must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that they can encourage others. 

There isn't one word in there that Paul wrote that has anything to do with skill or knowledge. Those are all character traits. Our lifestyles and relationships provide a window into we are as people. 

Who we are through Christ is what will make the biggest impact on others. Not the skills or the knowledge that we have. I could be the best writer in the world, but if I wasn't living in such a way that all my posts reflect than I would never do any good because I was being fake. 

Another belief that I have is that when we have good character, and live in such a way that Paul talks about, the skills and knowledge that we might need to have will naturally come easier to us. The number one thing that we should all be focusing on is who we are in Christ before anything else. Once we have that figured out things will fall into place. 

I am not trying to be big-headed here but I believe that I will do really great things because of who I am in Christ. I trust God with everything and without God nothing I do would be possible. 

I encourage you to not get down when you don't have the most skill or knowledge because that is not what's important. We who we are people is what matters. So focus on your growth every day and I promise you that things will slowly begin to workout in your favor. Even the skills and knowledge, that will come too. 

Constant preparation

I want you to think about all of the things in life that you have ever cared about accomplishing. Those things probably had one thing in common and that is preparation.

I am going to take a trip down memory lane and tell you a story about how preparedness helped me accomplish my biggest goal...

In 7th grade it became my dream to play college basketball. I had gotten connected with the right coach down in Lima and after going through some of his workouts, he saw a lot of potential in me and told me that he believed I would be playing in college someday. That coach is actually the father of Michigan’s starting point guard. I remember coach Q telling me that if I outworked everyone and continued to do the extra work that anything was possible. He would also tell me that all the work I was doing was going to prepare me for my future.

Lima is a little less than 2 hours away from Archbold and my parents would drive me down their for workouts a couple times a week. Those workouts are what made me into the basketball player that I became. I had never worked so hard for any coach and he was the first coach I ever had that believed in the type of player I could become and who believed in working us out to exhaustion. I am not joking when I said his workouts were hard. There were times I could hardly make it to the car because my legs hurt so bad. I also never wanted to eat after practice because my stomach hurt so bad. For those who know me, this was a big deal because I love to eat.

When it came to playing games for coach Q I knew that we were going to be prepared for every situation. We were prepared because of the insane amount of work that we put in and how we did it.

What I learned from coach Q prepared me for the off season as well. I knew the work that I needed to put in all year around in order to accomplish my goal of becoming a college basketball player.

Did you know that Christ wants us to be prepared both in and out of season? Much like coach Q wanted the best out of me and to be prepared for every situation, God wants us to prepared all of the time.

Preach the word; be prepared in and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. (2 Timothy 4:2)

At all times we must be prepared to preach the word. We never know what sort of encounters we might have where we have the opportunity to share the gospel. I believe that we are capable of preaching the word through both our actions and words. You don’t need to be on a street corner preaching in order to be prepared. You don’t prepare for moments like that.

The things that we do on a daily basis are what prepare us to preach the word through our actions and words everyday. Some of the things we have to do is read our bibles, pray, love others, trust in the Lord, and worship. Doing those things everyday will change your life.

Actions speak louder than words. You could stand on the street corner and preach all you want but until you are living in such a way that is obedient and your actions are a reflection of Christ I don’t know info you’re really prepared.

Being constantly prepared is an idea that you can use in all areas of your life. Faith, family, work, relationships, etc.

If I’m not prepared when I go into a meeting or don’t have the right answer to tell somebody what I do, what good will I ever do with my practice?

What good will you ever do if you are not constantly prepared?

Have nothing to do with them

Growing up, there were friends that I had that my parents always let me hang out with and friends that they were always a little bit indifferent about. At the time I never understood why that was the case.

I remember one time in 7th grade there was this dude that I started hanging out with around school. He was cool with me and it seemed like we were really good friends. We were just school friends, we had never seen each other outside of school. One day I asked my parents if he could come over to our house and they said no, at the time I was so upset. I don’t think I talked to my parents for the rest of the day.

A couple days had finally passed and my parents told me that they didn’t want me to have anything to do with that kid. Which sounds harsh, but it’s really not. The Bible talks about how there are people out there that we should have nothing to do with.

I am sure we have all had those people that we spent time with but it probably wasn’t the best use of our time. Mainly because those people were horrible influences. The things they said, did, and thought were contagious. At certain points in our lives it’s easy to conform to those people and their ways.

My belief is that our conforming nature comes from us not being confident in who we are in Christ. That’s where insecurities come from. We conform to fill the gaps that we are lacking because we don’t really know how else to feel fulfilled.

I’m telling you though, once you understand the fulfillment we can feel from Christ it becomes so much easier to not conform to the ways of the world. I am not saying that I am perfect and make the most perfect decisions all the time, but I understand what the right thing to do is and what is honoring and pleasing to God. I strive to do those things because I know that the fulfillment I have through Christ is all that I need. I don’t need the approval of others, I don’t need things to make my happy, I don’t need short term pleasures, I have experienced the fullness of a God to the best of my understanding and that is enough for me! My prayer is that you will begin to feel that as well!

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

We are not supposed to have anything to do with these sorts of people. We will miss out on so many things when we think that those are the people that we need to be around. It’s not cool to be any of those things from the verses above. It’s actually pretty dumb. What’s cool is standing up what you believe in and having complete confidence in Christ. It might stink to not be like everyone else sometimes, but deep down those people notice you doing the right thing and admire you for it, they just don’t quite understand it yet.

Some people might argue and say that those might be the people we need to be around to witness to the most, which is partially true but the Bible also says this: all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

All scripture equips us for every good work. If the word of God instructs us to having nothing to do with such people , I am going to be obedient and have nothing to do with them. I will do this. I will pray for those people because they need our prayers. We can’t change others, only God can them and he listens to our prayers.

I encourage you to not conform to this world and to stand up for your belief in the fullness that Christ has to offer.

Allow me to reintroduce myself

A little over two years ago, I wrote my first blog post and in a couple of days I will write my 500th post. Why am I reintroducing myself? Why the rebrand? It has been so long since I have explained to readers why I write these posts nearly everyday. I am reintroducing myself because in my heart, I want more and more people to see what I am writing. Not for me, but because I believe that what I am writing really can add value to your life.

I also hope that more people learn that I have a blog. Not because it makes me look good, but because I truly believe that everyone can learn something from the words that come to me in each post. It's all the work of the Holy Spirit. Whenever I go back and read through a post, I don't feel like it's ever something that I wrote.

I don't believe that I can bring value because I am a good writer, I believe that I can bring value because every post that I write is based off the word of God.

A couple months before I began this blog, I made a commitment to God to read my bible every day. No matter what mood I was in, I was going to read. I was discovering so much that I had forgotten about. God was blowing me away with things I was finding by digging deeper.

I was so on fire for what I was learning from the bible that I couldn't keep it to myself. All my life, I was looking for that spark and fulfillment that we are "supposed" to feel when we are Christians. I tried reading devotionals, praying more, reading books, etc. Those things were all good for me, but there was still something I was missing. I knew when I started reading my bible that I had figured it out.

I wanted to share what I was reading because my hope is that everyone can start to read their bibles on a daily basis. It took me 21 years to figure that out and I don't want other people to have to wait that long.

I have heard my whole life that reading the bible will really make a difference, but until I made the choice to do so everyday my whole life changed.

My purpose in writing is to encourage others to make the same commitment that I did.

Ending constant friction

I often think of everybody in this world as a bunch of people who just keep butting heads. We are a society full of people who can't agree on things and whose feelings get hurt so easily. It's like there is a constant friction.

What do you see when you turn on the news?

What do you see when you get on Facebook?

What do you see when you get on Twitter?

It's often a mess...

You see people going wild over police officers doing their jobs...professional athletes who get pain millions sitting out because they aren't getting paid enough...and now all this talk about how college athletes aren't even looked at as people.

What if I told you I knew the secret to solving all the issues we have? I do - and it's Christ Jesus.

What is happening in our world is that people are becoming so accepting of the way that this world works. We are constantly changing our beliefs and values just because we feel like we have to and that times are changing.

I am sticking to what the bible says and nothing will ever change that and I am willing to go to the guillotine for Christ.

When we start to conform in one area of life, it becomes easier to do it a second time, and a third, and a fourth, and next thing you know it you are just like everyone else fighting over this constant friction. The secret to ending it is not conforming to this world.

If anyone teaches others and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

If we so simply don't live by the word of God then we are wrapped up in constant friction, which is a battle already won.

We often forget that this battle we face everyday has already been won. Christ won when he died on the cross for all of our sins. So if we already won why do we get so wrapped up in this world and everything in it.

It's like replaying an entire basketball season knowing you already won the national championship. Why go through a grueling 9 month season if you already know the outcome? That simply isn't worth the pain knowing you're already a champion.

My thing for you today is that I hope you understand that the secret to ending the constant friction we are faced with everyday is living obediently by the word of God, not conforming or changing your beliefs just to fit in, and understanding that the battle has already been won.

The trails we leave behind

Growing up in the country we had a couple of four wheelers and some property to drive them on. I loved riding them with my brother and my friends. We would spend hours driving all over the place. There were some good things about them and some bad. The good was quality time with my brother outdoors and our four wheelers were pretty nice. There were also many awesome trails that we got to drive on. The bad was that often times Jack and I would try to make our own trials. We also had the bad habit of trying to drive them through water and places we simply shouldn't have even tried.

My dad did not like when we would break the four wheelers, get stuck, or even get them really muddy. If I was a betting man I would say this made him a little more upset than lots of things. I could write an entire book about all of the times Jack and I thought it would be funny to make some new trials or try to drive through a part of the river. We made him pretty upset and it was rightfully so.

I am not sure if you have ever gotten the chance to go four wheeling somewhere, but usually the trails are pretty easy to see. The same trails have been driven on for years and they're usually pretty nice. I don't know why we ever thought we had to make some more.

When I walk through our woods I can easily see the trials that we have had since we moved in and I can see some of the mistakes that we made when we tried to make our own. When we tried to make our own trails it never really worked out. When we made our own trails that is when we usually made a pretty costly and timely mistake. We were so used to driving on the good trails that we would forget they were there because we would remember our mistakes more times than not.

This is the same way with our good deeds vs. our sins. I feel like at times in my life I was doing everything right but I made one mistake and that is what was hung over my head. Same way with anybody though. We often forget the good that people are doing after one mistake.

A lot of the times that guilt that we feel can make us forget about all of the other good deeds we are doing. The good deeds are always going to pan out because good deeds come from people whose hearts are focused on Christ. I've done good things, and I have messed up, but those good deeds are always there and are going to continue to matter what.

It's just like the story I told you about my brother and I riding four wheelers. We knew that there were trails that we were supposed to drive on and we drove on them all the time, but when we silly and tried to do our own thing, we often forgot about the good trails that were going to be there no matter what.

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever. (1 Timothy 5:24-25) 

Our sins, are mistakes, and mess-ups might trail behind for a little while but the good deeds will never remain hidden forever.

Keep on doing good things my friends. We have the ability to do good things everyday with the freedom that we have in Christ. We are going to have the ability to do good things unit Christ returns and we go to heaven so keep doing good deeds before it's too late.

I know for a fact that our trails will always be in our woods, but if we go a couple years without driving down them they might become a little overgrown and filled with debris. The good will be there, we just have to keep on doing it.

You are never too young

I don't want you to ever think that you are too young to be in the spot where you are at right now. I don't want you to ever think that just because you are young that you won't have an impact. You will always be younger than most other people...think about that. The best way to have an impact is to be disciplined in many, if not all, areas of your life.

I want to tell you a couple stories about people who were younger than me that had an impact on my life.

My brother Jack

My younger brother Jack is the first person that comes to mind for me. I never used to be disciplined about reading my Bible until my later years in college. In high school I was pretty pathetic when it came to reading my Bible. One of the things I remember is that every night when I would walk up stairs I would see Jack sitting in his room reading his Bible. I didn't understand him for the longest time. I always thought that he had better things to do... I couldn't possibly think about reading my Bible instead of watching the big game or shooting some hoops outside. But you know what? His daily habits impacted my life. I see now why all of those things that he was doing paid off.

B - Will

The next person that comes to mind is Bryce Williams. He was one of my point guards when I was as senior in high school. Bryce was a skinny little freshmen who probably weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Since he was probably in 3rd grade him and his siblings were in the gym everyday. I remember thinking that they were crazy. I was in the gym a ton but at their age it didn't make sense to me. I didn't want to be outworked by a kid who was four years younger than me so I was motivated to get in the gym even more than I already was doing. The past couple of years when I would go back and watch occasional Archbold High School basketball games I saw all of that work paying off by his success and the amazing success of the teams that he was a part of.

My younger clients

I am motivated by everyone I meet with but am very impressed with some of my clients who are a couple of years younger than me. To see what they have done with their money and what they aspire to do in their lives at such a young age is so motivating. They are going to be so much further ahead of everyone else their age. Their success at a young age isn't just happenstance. They have made smart decisions their entire lives that have led to where they are at right now.

All three of these examples have one thing in common and that is daily disciplined habits and routines. I don't preach often but I am preaching it right now. Everything that I am today is because of having a daily routine that is centered around God. Being disciplined about my walk with the Lord has led me to being disciplined in all other areas of my life.

Being disciplined will guarantee you success. Mark my words. You can't just do something good for a week and expect it to pay off for the rest of your life. It starts with doing a couple of little things and then your life will be transformed and you will become a machine operated for success.

"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." (1 Timothy 4:12)

The people who motivated me were excellent at setting an example in all that they do. We are called to set an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. My challenge for you it to keep doing those little things and that will lead to success.

Honestly the most important thing is to be spiritually disciplined. Once that is taken care of everything else is going to naturally fall into place because we serve a God who is faithful, loving, and caring. Trust him and trust the process.

What are your aspirations?

What are you aspiring to be? Are you an overachiever that loves to go above and beyond the things that you normally have to do? Or are you in underachiever and just do what you do in order to get by?

I write this because you have that choice everyday. I believe that we all have the unique opportunity to be an overseer. But what is an overseer?

It's a church leader. To be an overseer is a heavy responsibility because the church belongs to the living God. I also believe that we have the full ability to be an overseer outside of the church and that is why I am writing this post today.

"Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task." 
(1 Timothy 3:1)

There is a noble task out there for everybody. That task it to lead other people in a Godly manner. When you do that you are doing everything that you do for a bigger purpose than yourself. I want you to aspire to do things for more than just yourself. I want you to aspire to put others needs before your own.

When you aspire to do such things you are naturally going to become an overseer.

Here are what some of these things look like:
- view others as more important than yourself
- don't judge
- smile when you see other people
- make eye contact
- treat everyone the same

One thing I aspire to do is view everyone equally. I know that I have mentioned it before in previous blog posts but I want to have the same amount of respect for the house keeping lady I see when I workout every morning than I do to my managing director at our office.

When we start to treat other people in the sort of way it's amazing how you naturally become an overseer. Being an overseer is contagious as well. When I see people aspiring to care for other people it motivates me to do the same or to even try and do a better job than they do. It's like a fun, healthy, and fulfilling competition.

I simply hope that this post plants a seed in both your mind and your heart to aspire to be something greater than yourself. Every person created was created by our living God. Aspire to treat everyone like God's special gifts that we are.

The goal beyond the goal

What is your goal beyond you goal? I know and I understand that we have all have goals for ourselves. It's a naturally human thing to have goals.

What I am trying to get to is why do you have goals? It it to achieve success? Help other people? Make a lot of money?

Our goals can be concentrated around all of those things.

I believe that our goals should always be centered around love. When you love what you do, you will achieve success, help others, and sometimes make a lot of money. But what is the point in anything you do if the goal isn't love?

"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." (1 Timothy 1:5)

Love coms from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. Do you have all of those things?

You can't have love with only a good conscience. You have to be three for three with this one....a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.

I encourage you to have all of those things in all that you do and your goals will naturally be centered around love. I mean seriously think about the impact that you are going to have on this world when your reasoning behind every thing is love.

Going into this weekend, I really encourage you to try to have a pure heart, good conscience and a sincere faith in all the you say, think, and do and really pay attention to how you feel. My guess is that you are going to feel pretty fulfilled when you do those things and the people you are interacting with are going to notice a difference.

Next up mindset

I love having a career where I can relate nearly everything I do to my beliefs and why I do what I do.

As many people as I reach out to everyday, a lot of people don't reply or they just say no. I have been taught to have an onto the next one mindset. If I hung my head and got worried or upset about every person who said no, I would really have an attitude problem. That one bad thing would cause me to miss out on the abundance of what is in front of me. There are thousands of people that I coach reach out to and if I got upset about one person telling me no, I would miss out on so much.

I believe that we can relate this so our walk as Christians. There are a lot of people out there who aren't believers and it is our job to witness to them and to be disciples. Think about all of the people you have wanted to talk about Jesus with and I am sure that there is one person that you got caught up in. Of all the people you would witness to that one person was on your mind and probably even in your heart.

I am here to tell you that timing is everything.

When I reach out to people about connecting, you never know what they might be going through. Same in regards to our walks with the Lord. The best thing we can do is pray about that person and simply move onto the next.

When we become so shallow minded and focus on one person, we miss out on the abundance that is it from of us. There are billions of people who walk this earth and we are all like a grain of sand...like like it says in the bible.

"And we pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith." 
(2 Thessalonians 3:2)

Not everyone is going to have faith. Imagine getting so wrapped up in someone with no faith that we miss out on the abundance. The best we can do is that situation is just to pray. Pray for God's timing, pray for their hearts, and hopefully someday that person will come to Christ.

My one thing for you today is just to remember that it is okay to move onto the next. It's not a bad thing at all, there is an abundance out there waiting for us.

Don't be easily unsettled or alarmed

Why do we let crap get in our way? 

Let me walk you through a situation. You wake up for a day that you are super excited for, and everything goes just as planned. You accomplished everything you set out to do. You're basically on your high horse and could not be happier and then somebody makes a comment about someone or something that you can't get out of your head. The comment was most likely a load of crap but for some reason with the way that we think, we can't get that one bad thought out of heads. 

It is so common for that to happen all of the time. In 2 Thessalonians Paul talks about how we should never let any false comments throw us off.

"not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us - whether by project or by word of mouth or by letter - asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 

(2 Thessalonians 2:2) 

Paul is writing to address that Thessalonians to not believe anyone who says that the day of the Lord has already happened. Satan is trying to make us believe that it already has happened and that is completely false. We will know when it happens...trust me. Imagine how much excitement that would take away if we would've believed that the Day of the Lord had already happened? It would've ruined everything that they were hoping for. 

That really got me thinking, how often do we become easily unsettled or alarmed by the false words that we hear everyday. If the Thessalonians believed those false teaching, literally all they ever hoped for in life would be taken away from them. It would be like you knowing what you're getting every Christmas for the rest of your life. I know some people are weird and would like to know that, but imagine knowing every gift you would get for the rest of your life. 

When we believe the silly things that people are saying out there, it's possible for us to loose that hope. I am writing this post because I don't want you to ever loose that hope. I want you to be hopeful  of the things to come until Christ returns someday. I never want what other people are saying to throw you off and cause you to loose all hope in the things to come. 

We are blessed to live a life every day with that sense of hope that the best is yet to come. No matter how good thing are for you right now, know that the best is always coming. 

Don't let the naysayers trick you into believing that the best has already come.