Stress is a Deceiver

Have you ever been robbed by stress? I mean have worry, fear, shame, or regret ever waged a war and seemingly overtaken your mind? Have you felt trapped? I've been there. Too often, and as recently as last night. This morning I woke up and felt it. Tense shoulders and neck, energy depleted, hope forgotten. I've let that rob me before. I've let it steal my joy. It's taken moments of my life, and they're gone, and what have I gained? Nothing...worse than nothing, it's taken a toll on me.

This morning I fought. I went for a run, and I ran and I walked, and I praised God for who He is in the middle of green rolling hills, and boulders, blue sky and white and gray clouds and all the splendor of His creation. My run started slow, and I believed I wouldn't get very far. It's been a while, and I got winded more quickly than I used to, but I kept going. The weight fell off about half way through, and the tenseness was gone. Stress is a deceiver. If someone would have asked me if I could get out there and enjoy the run and go as far as I did this morning, I might have laughed. This morning I was victorious, and yeah, I didn't conquer the world, but I didn't stay inside and get dragged deeper into the realm of worry, fear, and hopelessness. Right now I don't know where I'll end up, I'm unemployed and in the process of starting a business. There are real fears, there are real worries, I've made real mistakes, but this morning they didn't stop me from living. Life is scary sometimes, and sometimes it's painful, and sometimes it just sucks, but each day you and I have a choice. Even when it doesn't feel like the choice is ours, it is.

If you've been stressed remember stress is a deceiver. It will leave you feeling like you can't go on. Like you have nothing more to give, but there is more in you than you believe, and there is a God who is for you, and for me and He is calling us to lay down our burdens, and just believe. He's calling us out of the darkness and into the light, but we've got to get up and go.

Persecution

I recently read a couple of articles about the persecution of Christians happening around the world right now. A militant group known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) was said to be beheading children, raping and murdering mothers and daughters, and committing the most herendous acts of evil this world has seen in a long time. I prayed last night, that God would rise up and defend the innocent who cannot defend themselves. I prayed for justice. Honestly, in my heart I would love to see people like this destroyed, paid back the full measure for their crimes. I would love to see justice.

I thought about Jesus last night as I prayed. I thought about how he was brutally executed, and how, somehow he prayed "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Why? Why would a just God pray such a thing? "They know not what they do?" Really? I think they knew exactly what they were doing. So why? Why did he pray for the Father to forgive them as they were murdering him?

In Acts 7:60, we see Stephen say something similar after he is stoned by his peers, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." Again, why? These people wrongfully took his life! They just killed him by hurling rocks at him!

I think part of the answer is perspective. I believe Jesus and Stephen shared a similar perspective. Before Stephen was stoned he said that he saw Heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Imagine that! Our hope, unseen, suddenly realized. Imagine the cares that would fall off of your shoulders. Imagine the freedom. Imagine the peace. Imagine the perspective of the brevity of life on Earth, and the reality of eternity with God. Doesn't it change everything? Would you worry about revenge on your enemies? Or would you realize the extent of grace you've received and pray like Jesus and Stephen?

Deuteronomy 32:35 says, "I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them. Indeed the LORD will give justice to his people...(NLT)." Until that day, may the hearts of our enemies be softened and may they put their trust in Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, for they know not what they do. May His chosen, persecuted people, keep their eyes fixed on their wonderful hope and not let men steal the peace that is theirs.

Living Water

I started this blog wanting to do it every week, and I do hope to get there at some point, but you know, with a full-time job, leading worship at Wellspring, a 2-year old and a newbie, and all the other stuff life demands, it's not easy to stop for a minute!

Today I had a blessed time at church, and I truly rejoiced in who God is, and I just have to write about it, because I don't want to forget too soon!

Lately I've been feeling tired, and overwhelmed. You might not know me, but I'm a dreamer. I always have been, and I hope I always will be, but lately I've just felt like in order to live, I have to watch my dreams die. Do you know what I mean? I've got a family, I've got bills to pay, and the needs, and the demands seem eternal. Lately, I've been living under that weight. I've been worried that the rest of my life is going to be paycheck to paycheck, and that I'm never going to achieve the things I want to achieve. If you've never been in that place, let me tell you, it's depressing.

But, today I led our church in praise to the God who turns mourning into dancing, and whose love never fails. Today I sang, "In You, In You I find my peace," and "In You I put my trust." Today I sang, "I will trust You in the pain, when I can't see past today, when it's hard to lift my hands to praise You, I will trust You." Today, my soul agreed with that, and in faith, I rested from my worry, I rejoiced, and I was happy.

I wasn't happy because I found a way to achieve everything I want to, and live the life I want to live. Today my dream to play music for a living, really doesn't seem any closer than it did before, but today I was reminded that my hope is not in something so small. If I wrote music that topped charts, and went on nationwide tours, and inspired people, but didn't know my God, it would all be worthless. But if the rest of my life is spent making offers on cars, or doing some other job to pay the bills, while I continue to grow closer to the LORD, that'll be alright. My life is not about achieving my dreams, but it's about enjoying fellowship with my God, and that is my sustenance. Anything else is just water, and I will thirst again after it, but He is living water.

I'm not saying I'm giving up on my dreams, but just that I'm not going to look to them to make me happy, or anything else, because they won't. God showed me a long time ago that I am only satisfied in Him, and today, I'm making a commitment to be satisfied in Him.

Great Description of a Christian

John Newton's Description of the Christian Life

I love this quote, copied/pasted from the Keeping Christ Central Blog:

I am not what I ought to be.
Ah! how imperfect and deficient.

Not what I might be,
considering my privileges and opportunities.

Not what I wish to be.
God, who knows my heart, knows I wish to be like him.

I am not what I hope to be;
ere long to drop this clay tabernacle, to be like him and see him as He is.

Not what I once was,
a child of sin, and slave of the devil.

Though not all these,

not what I ought to be,
not what I might be,
not what I wish or hope to be, and
not what once was,

I think I can truly say with the apostle,

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

—Cited in Letters of John Newton, p. 400.

Everything

I was listening to this song by Matt Wertz and it got me thinking about who God is, and who I am to Him, and it blessed me. Hope it does the same for you.

I Will Not Take My Love Away by Matt Wertz

I will not take my love away
When praises cease and seasons change
while the whole world turns the other way
I will not take my love away
I will not leave you all alone
When striving leads you far from home
And there's no yield for what you've sown
I will not leave you all alone
I will give you what you need
In plenty or in poverty
Forever, always, look to me
And I will give you what you need
I will not take my love away

God is the giver of life, the sustainer of life, our provider, our shelter, our comforter, our hope. God is everything, but sometimes we don't let Him be. Let Him be everything for you.

Rich

Relationships

I'm going to let you in on what's been on my heart the past couple of days. Relationships. None of them are perfect, most of them are severely flawed, some get by with God's grace, some appear to be better than they really are, and some, few, are actually healthy. Over the past few years I've noticed something about myself, (I've finally achieved an ounce of maturity-haha!) I've noticed that I find it easier to think about other people's problems, than it is to think about my own. In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about being judgmental, and he asks a humorous question: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the plank in your own?

Do I do that? Do you?

Well, I guess one way to tell is to ask yourself, "What do I need to work on in this relationship?" and then ask, "What does my spouse need to work on?" If your list for your spouse is bigger...there's a problem, and you probably ought to really start asking yourself what you can do better, and forget about your list for your spouse!

If you're like me, you are realizing you are guilty! You too are a hypocrite. It's not okay, but it is normal. Why do we do that? Why do our other peoples' short comings get more of our attention than our very own short comings? Is it because we are too ashamed of our own actions to face them? Is it because it's hard to be honest with ourselves? Does it help us feel a little better about ourselves to pick other people apart? Ooh, here's an interesting thought, could it be that there are demons that point out every flaw of people around us, so that we're too busy worrying about other people to have the time to deal with ourselves? Wow, maybe the enemy is more crafty than we realize...I mean if almost everyone was busy judging someone, then nearly all relationships would be dysfunctional, and to find someone who actually realizes how wicked they are, would be a rarity. Everyone would be too proud, divorce would be far more common than commitment, love would be lost, hope would be lost, and everyone would want prozac! (This is starting to sound a little too real).

God, let me be humble, and work on that plank in my own eye. This is a fallen, twisted world, and relationships here are a joke without You. My relationships would be complete failures if it weren't for You. Help me Lord to see the areas in my life where I can do better, and give me the strength to do it. This world has enough judgmental people in it, don't let Your people be that way too. Don't let me be that way. Instead, let me sympathize with the weaknesses of my loved ones, and pray for them. When I see someone making mistakes, remind me of how I have done the same, and help me to love them. God, You alone can change the world, but thanks for choosing to do it through us, Your people. Your ways are beautiful, give us a healthy lust for your work.

Why The Rich Life?

Hey my first followers! I love you already for reading my blog! As you may already know, my lovely wife has an awesome blog where she records our family life, and well, I guess she inspired me. This one is going to be quite a bit different than hers, as for the most part, I don't intend for it to be about our family. I think she does well enough with that, and besides as interesting as we are :), who wants to read 2 blogs about our family?

So, I found that the first thing you do when you create a blog is choose a title for it...right away this is more difficult than I thought! I could have thought about a title forever, but the first thing that came to mind worked so I went with it, The Rich Life. How cool is that? I know you're all envious of my creativity!

After reading my subtitle, you probably know my blog is not going to be about making money, or having money, or loving money. Instead of being about getting, this blog will be more about giving. There have been times in my life where I have had an abundance, and times where (in American standards) I have just scraped by, and I can say from a little experience, that joy doesn't come from having deep pockets ( I know you've never heard that before). In fact, I have experienced a more deeply rooted joy in the difficult times in my life, than in the times of abundance.

I believe material wealth is deceiving. Those who lust for it are deceived because they think it will fulfill them, and those who have it are deceived because they think they've reached the top. I want to strive for better things, and I want to live The Rich Life. (Insert really cool Mission Impossible/Action- Like music here).