No Haters... -Yo!

This week I was talking to my wife about other people using blogs as a venue to bash others and how I dont want to be like that. I dont want to be a "hater" by "hating" on the "haters", but I just dont want to use my energy and time to complain about what I can identify that is bad or wrong around me, I would rather be the type of person that that uses my words, and my thoughts to indenify and point out that which is good and right. Well, anyways, with all that said, I caught myself several times this week complaing about others and things and even bashing on things that I really didnt know very much about. I dont want to be like that and it is so typical that as soon as I take the time to be like, "I hate it when people are always bashing on something and when they use blogs to be a platform for their hate and their complaints" I then start catching myself being the same way. I guess that just goes to tech me that I ought to be more occupied with myself and my behaviors that are innappropriate than with others. Jesus said to the Pharisees when they were trying to bash on God's people who werent quite godly enough, "Before you point out the splinter in your neighbor's eye, first remove the plank fron your own eye" Of course those Pharisees didnt believe that those unworthy and lowly followers of a man named Christ were even worthy of being called their neighbors, so they were okay with judging them. Or so they thought! Anyways, I guess I just write this to share with you how God works in my life. Maybe it will someday resonate with somebody, maybe not, but I'm gonns just try to keep looking up and trying to be open with God and with others.
-- SEEK GOD!--
- Geoff

REAL

Real stuff is so cool. This past week at //epidemic we just had a few kids because the weather was bad on Sunday Morning. Anyways, I just kind of struck up some conversations and let them rum with some stuff, and next thing you know we stripped away all barriers and these kids were having real honest conversation. Kids talking and being honest about what kind of things they have done and what kind of things they see their peers do and where they draw the line and why they draw that line. Kids were actually being honest with their youth pastor with no shame about times they drank and did other stupid things. And it was so cool, the more I and the others didn't condemn and just listened, the deeper they went and the more honest they all got.
It was so awesome foe me because I have rarely had experiences like that. For some reason people have always had inhibitions about being open and shameless with me. Kids, especially, always seemed to hold back like they were afraid of what I would think or say to them and about them. In all honesty I guess that was all on me. I mean, I always said I was non-judgemental and I always felt like I was understanding and non-condemning, but there must have been something that was saying otherwise to the people that I talked with if they were afraid to be honest with me. Or, actually, now that I think about it, maybe it was because i always worked at churches that had a culture of hypocrisy and condemnation, and no matter how open or understanding I was as long as I was in the setting of those churches, that culture superseeded myself. Whatever the reason, all I know is that I didn't have it then and i do have it now and I like it alot!
All of us should strive to experince such freedom and honesty and openness in our conversations and relationships with others. We should try to develop and be a part of an atmosphere of honesty and acceptance. I ahve truly learned that people love when other people are REAL, but people will only be real when they know that their real self is going to be more than adequate for the person that they are interacting with. It is just so awesome to be apart of a community of people where this is a reality and not just an ideal, as it was in previous experiences.

fear...

"Inside my skin there is this space... Ittwists turns it bleeds and aches. Inside my heart there's an empty room. It's waiting for lighting, it's waiting for you. I am wanting, I am needing you here inside the absence of fear. Muscle and sinew, velvet and stone... this vessel is haunted it creaks and moans. My bones caal to you in a separate skin. I make myself translucent to you in, for I am wanting, I am needing you here inside the absence of fear. There is this hunger this restlessness inside of me and it knows that you're no stranger, you're my gravity..."
that is an awesome song by Jewel and it speaks so clearly about what I have been thinking about so much lately. How many things can I identify in life that I am to some extent discontent with, sometimes insanely discontent, and sometimes appropriately discontent, that I leave unchanged. Things that I let go and let grow because of FEAR. I am afraid of the work and the pain and the potential offense to others that might ensue if I take action and try to change those things with which I am discontented.

God, give me the courage and the strength to overcome my fears and make the necessary changes in my life...

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..