Right Here, Right Now!

As we have been talking about prayer and seeking God at //epidemic this month it is cool to think upon God's presence in our lives. This morning as I was sitting on the toilet I was reading one of the books that I keep near the throne, called "Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. In the section I was reading it was talking about God's presence and that God is here among us and always near us. It said " there is no place that one can go and be any closer in proximity to God or further in measurable distance from God and His Spirit." That is a cool thought. We often talk about seeking after God like it is some mischievous game of hide-and-seek. But that couldn't be further from the truth about who God is and how he interacts with us, his creation. He is not toying with us or even hiding from us, as if he who is lucky enough to stumble upon His hiding place wins. God is here and among us. His Spirit is right before our eyes, waving his hand in our face as if to say, yohoo, are you awake?! Like we would do to some one in a fixed daze. We are just not looking with the right eyes. If we just open our hearts and our minds to His Spirit and His eternal, immanent presence we will be amazed and overwhelmed by His glory and His splendor and the pleasure that He takes in us.
... Gotta run...

Wow, I really love this time of year. The holidays are awesome and in times like these, more so than any other time of the year, the saying at the top of my page is true; "LIFE IS GOOD"! Actually, to be entirely honest what makes life the most good is those little things in life. Like today for instance, I'm driving my daughter to pre-school and she wants to listen to Jewel, isn't that weird, she's only four and wants to listen to Jewel. Well, anyways we're driving along and she starts singing as loud as she can "I will get down on my knees, and I will pray" Then I just smile and think wow, God, this is awesome. Life is good! Lets enjoy this time of year and just look for the reasons that life is good instead of the reasons that life is good, because I guarantee that we will find which ever we are looking to find.

Search me..

In Psalm 139 its says "search me Oh God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way within me and lead in the way of everlasting" ( or something like that) Anyways, that has always been one of my very favorite passages in scripture because the application of the verse has done incredible things for me. To really be vulnerable and honest before God and say "here I am, search through me and show me all the areas where I suck and help me change those things" is a difficult things to do but it yields incredible results. God will do exactly as we ask in those situations. He will show us what we need to work on.
I was thinking about this because this last week my wife and I have been irritable with each other and have been getting into arguments. I driving in my car the other day after an argument and i was thinking and praying and asking God to fix things, all the while just getting more upset with Devyn, thinking she this, she that, and then I prayed this passage. i prayed it over and over, then, all of a sudden, I stopped getting upset with Devyn and like photographs on a cork board, I saw all of these sins that i had been living out recently and I saw myself being a jerk to my pregnant wife who I am supposed to be incredibly helpful and patient with. Then I knew what I needed to do. Gotta Go!....

Search me..

Less Of Me

I have been feeling like kind of a jerk lately. I feel kind of irritable and kind of faithless. I feel like some of my most important relationships have been kind of weak lately. I have just felt kind “not myself”. I was thinking about that this morning and reading and praying and then it came to me. The real problem is not that I have been becoming less like myself, but that I have been becoming more like myself. I have been kind of selfish and I have been missing my time with God, which in turn causes me to become less like Him and more like the me of the flesh. It’s like John the Baptist talks about in John 3:30. He said of his relationship with Christ, “He must become greater and I must become less”. I see that same principle play out in my life so often. When I stop investing my relationship with Christ and stop investing in my spirit I become less and less like the person that I want to be and more like the person I loathe being. I just need to remember that when I feel miserable or I notice that I am getting upset with others with great frequency, it’s on me, not on them.

Happiness

This week in church the message was about something like"Are you Really Happy?" Something like that. I really dont know what was said because I missed the service due to a youth meeting (I need to go back and watch it) anyways It really made me think. I try to have the messages with the youth kind of follow the messages of the main service, so I thought about happiness and I talked with the students about that on Sunday. I concluded this; happiness is a strange thing and it is so hard to understand. What I can understand is this... It is good, we all want it, It is easy to obtain and for some odd reason some people just choose not to get it. They would rather feel sorry for themselves by looking at how bad things are and be unhappy about it. I know that sounds really cruel and insensitive to say, but that is the best way I can understand it. I'll say what I often say to my clients at work and what I got from a John Maxwell book; "Would you rather be a thermometer or a thermostat?" We actually get to decide that every time something starts to bring us down.

Bad Daddy

As I journal this week I am thinking about what God has been teaching me. He has been teaching me so much. I have been so busy trying to get ready for the kick-off of //epidemic and working so many hours at ACT and I have been finding the lessons in our financial position. God has been teaching me so much, I just need to open my eyes to see them. The biggest thing I have been learning and having to work on this week though is my inadequate daddy skills. I try to be a good dad, and it kills me to learn that I fall short. I have been realizing lately that I am often too hard on Shaylee, and then my wife pointed it out as well. I make these expectations for her and hold her to such a high standard. I get way too upset with her when she makes messes. I expect too much from her in pre-school. God doesn’t do that to us. God loves us and accepts us for who we are, and helps us to be better people. I am reading through Paul’s response in Galatians to Christians who are trying to do this to new Christians. God, please don’t let me be like that to others, especially to my beautiful daughter.