Profound wisdom from a profound place

I am on a mission this year.  Not so sure it could really be called a mission, but more likely called a goal.  I have a goal to read 35 books this year.  I love the way that sounds, the way it just rolls off my tongue.  I love reading and have always been challenged from leaders and other various successful people that one of the habits of successful people is reading.  So this year I am upping the anty so to speak and really challenging myself.  I love the process of reading a great book and wrestling with the ideas and complexities it brings to the surface.  I think I am enjoying just learning how to ask the difficult questions rather than demanding answers to my own requests.  So far I have read 4.

One book I just recently finished is a book reccomended to me by a dear friend.  It is called Tribes by Seth Godin.  One such idea I have been wrestling with lately comes from this book and I want to share a portion of it here.

The Easiest Thing

The easiest thing is to react. 
The second easiest thing is to respond. 
But the hardest thing is to initiate. 

Reacting, as Zig Ziglar has said, is what your body does when you take the wrong kind of medicine.  Reacting is what politicians do all the time.  Reacting is intuitive and instinctive and usually dangerous.  Managers react.

Responding is a much better alternative.  You respond to external stimuli with thoughful action.  Organizations respond to competitve threats.  Individuals respond to coleagues or to oppertunities.  Response is always better than reaction.

But both pale in comparison to initiative.  Initiating is really and truly difficult, and that's what leaders do.  They see something others are ignoring and they jump on it.  They cause the events that others have to react to.  They make change.

I just love those last two sentences!  For that to be said of me!  Wow.  Despite this book being mainly a business book I find it to be extremely timely and having a great message needed by the Church.

Anyhow, feel free to comment and give me your own reccomondations for other books I can add to my list for this year, its growing pretty fast!

  

A new song!

Charlie Hall has a new song called New Year and here is the chorus:

This is a new year,
This is new day,
To rise shine,
Lift up your eyes

This is a new year,
This is a new day
To rise shine,
And point the way
To God’s great life

Whats great and what I love so much is that there is a refreshing cleanse that I have experienced and continue to experience and it has in part led me further down my own path where a new song has been borne.  I'll share it with you via an exercise of my continual work of offering not just my brokenness but my gold and gifts as well.  I don't have a title nor do I necessarily feel the need for one now.  Here it is:

Let Your Redemption come...
Let it start with me.

Let Your Glory be seen...
Let it shine through me.

Let Your Truth be heard...
May it speak through me.

Let Your Grace be felt...
May it come from me.

All I want is You Lord.
All I need is You.
All I want is You Lord.
So please come, please come
and rescue me.

Take My Life...

I am listening to this song at the moment and it has become my prayer!

Here am I
All of Me!
Take My Life
Its all for Thee...

Although I haven't posted anything on here in a long time, mainly due to the fact that no one reads it anyway and I don't much see a point to it any longer, I received a comment from some person I don't know telling me that I am a good writer. Those few words made my heart smile so much! Amazing how that happens. I am understanding more and more the power of my words and the gravity they posses. How incredible it is that such few and inoculate words can carry so much weight and so much power. I suppose I started this blog in the beginning in part to develop my writing and develop the processing of my thoughts better and help myself really connect more with who I am becoming and where my heart is in my journey.

Funny how hard that is at times.

I am not satisfied right now. There is a lot of work there in that statement for me and I'm sure to anybody if anybody ever reads this that would make no sense what-so-ever but nevertheless I long to taste the satisfaction of life that comes from being in the right place and doing the things that I am created to do and be. I guess as I write that it sounds like I am asking for Peace. Peace that I am in the right place and that place is right where I am supposed to be in this moment. Peace that at some point God will bring these visions that are bigger than me into the light and make a way for them to no longer be mere visions but a very real and powerful reality.

Thats my heart right now. And why I sing Take my life, All of Me, Its all for Thee...

vitamin water

I love vitamin water! I have come to realize though that it might not be the best option for me to drink for many reasons, one of which its more expensive than water. Nevertheless, I enjoy it! Essential is the name of the flavor to which I am drinking right now and one I often choose. If you haven't had any flavor of vitamin water then you should definitely try some soon!

In Jamaica

Ok so I have put off thoughts of writing for a while now so here is where I am right now. I love my family! My heart hurts to see their pictures cause I miss them so much. I am enjoying the technology of web chats and just am in a bit of a shock at the realizations of how selfish I am. I read a great book a long time ago that really sticks out to me right now. It was called The Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason. I take so much of my family for granted so much of the time. I am really broken right now. I feel like I have been gaining a lot of weight because I have been eating so much and I am just really struggling with some self image issues. Above all, it is wierd cause I am in a beautiful place like Jamaica and wishing my wife was with me right now. I should have made it a priority for that to happen. I am truly blessed. My family are the jewels of my life and I covet their closeness! Thats all I really have right now.

Thankful.

I was sitting in church this morning and was just extremely thankful that I attend a church that is so terribly flawed. I found myself at first getting frustrated at the flaws I was encountering but then when my pastor came up and began teaching I was enraptured by the Grace and truth of the Gospel that I was a party too. I think most of what I began to think as a response to what I was feeling was how I am exactly like the church that I attend. I too am desperately flawed and need God's grace. Then I just began to fall in love with the fact that I go to a church that is so desperately flawed but at the same time continues to teach the Gospel and offer truth to everyone who walks through the doors. I am thankful!

Are you brave?

I connected something last night that I have been thinking about and wanted to share. I am a member of the Samson Society, and while to many that means nothing, to others it means that we collectively can bypass the insane b.s. that exists around us and cut straight to the heart of living authentically and honestly. There is a safety in relationship that is rarely found outside the Samson Society, but inside, we know that we are truly loved and accepted, and therefore have the freedom to live in true community with one another. My point is that once you've been exposed to that safety, and authentic relationship you're spoiled because it does not exist naturally and with out intent anywhere else. I came to understand last night that the church talks and shares with one another out of what we've been deceived into thinking we've been delivered from, but my Samson brothers talk and share out of where we are and what we're struggling with in our daily lives sometimes even moment by moment.
I grew up in the culture of the Southern Baptist Church and was in church every Sunday and most Wednesdays. I can recount tons of testimonies and sermons where speakers and pastors gave declaration of what they've been delivered from, somehow insinuating that the deliverance has perfected them or rendered their demons powerless over them anymore. All the while more and more preachers and speakers have been falling publicly to sexual and financial sins. Its heartbreaking to watch. For me I guess I fell victim to the trap that those testimonies create. If there is a moment when you've been delivered from something and speak of struggles in the past tense then what happens when you continue to fight the same fights and continue to battle the same demons? What does that say about you? I believe the enemy loves this. In fact, I think its one of his greatest weapons! I believe something to this effect has kept men living in fear and isolation for a long time. Hiding and cowering in the corners of our lives and communities, all the while missing out on the truth of the Gospel, that God is always and constantly redeeming us and delivering us from our flesh.
I don't want this to come as a surprise to anyone, but the media and culture want to deceive us to think that only the few that make the headlines are the ones who are addicted to alcohol, and sex, and pornography, and embezzlement. The reality my friends is that this could not be farther from the truth. There are far more of us that struggle with these demons than anyone realizes. In fact many of the teachers and preachers that shepherd us in the church today are forced to secretly struggle because they have no where else to go or no one else to turn to because of fear. I have posted in the past how I think if we were to all take down our masks and live in authentic community with one another, we would be surprised as to what we discover about those we see and shake hands with every day. The beauty of that though is it would free us to experience how in fact Christ sees us, and loves us. Then and only then would we be able to see others as He commands us to. Then and only then would we be able to love others as He commands us to. A good friend of mine recently told me that living this way is actually a much better definition of what it means to be brave and I tend to agree. I was challenged then by him and I pass that challenge on to anyone else out there struggling, feeling like they are alone, the only ones dealing with the disgusting consequences of sin. The Truth is out there and it cries FREEDOM! You are not alone, you are a restored son and daughter of the Sovereign Lord, and freedom is yours! Are you brave enough to embrace it? Are you brave?

Never Again!!!

Well I pray never again will I ever have to allow my family to suffer through the slavery of living in an apartment again. We finally were able to move out of the hellish apartment we were living in and despite not being able to buy right now we were blessed enough to be able to rent a beautiful home not too far away. What a burden to be lifted off our shoulders. If anyone by chance reads this, please stay away from The Landings of Brentwood in Nashville, Tn. I am not exaggerating when I say that we were experiencing a form of modern day slavery! I don't need to go into any more detail other that, but thank you Lord for our time there and thanks even more for moving us from that place! Here is a shot of our new house with a beautiful Pear tree blooming in front.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year and spent the afternoon at my mother-in-law's house. They have a annual Easter egg hunt and this year was great cause Molly and Riley really enjoyed it! It's so amazing to see them having fun and running and playing! I am so blessed!

New computer yeah!

Well I finally have recieved my new computer and have it up and running! This is a "great success," you see, because I have been waiting for this computer to come in the mail for over 3 months! So lets all join together in one joyous leap of celebration. I love the MAC!