Bad Signal

        Every single day we all encounter various people in which we communicate with. Over the years the basic communication from the mouth has evolved from things such as the Morris code into talking over the phone, email, text, video calls, instant messenger, Twitter, Facebook, and mail. These forms of communications has taken up more than half of our everyday lives for just social, business, or even spiritual reasons. Now I think that I can speak for everyone in saying that communication (electronically or verbally) always has mishaps. Sometimes communication goes south when we literally cant understand someone or we choose not to understand them. When we fail to connect to others fully it is because we don't listen. Just having some ones attention does not mean that they are listening to you. And to listen to somebody is to be engaged into the conversation or situation with respect.Ultimately in the end the person should be able to give their honest opinion about the situation. Unfortunately this normally isn't the case with our relationship with God. When we talk to God we normally miss a huge part of the communication, we don't understand first. We need to first understand in order to be understood. To put our own agenda aside to listen to another almost seems unthinkable to us. In order to focus on some one else's agenda you need to be able to focus your determined on an outward force. Now you might think to yourself, why is it so important that i understand God before he understand me? Well that would be like saying why do I need to pay for my takeout before I eat it? When we take the time to calm down and listen to God we get the most of the advice for the situation. Which ultimately allows us to apply that advice to go about the problem in a different way. When you actually listen to God or somebody else you go into a state where your mind is free from the chatter of the world and the agitation of your emotions. Clearing the mind allows you to view your altercation in a whole different light that may have been the right way all along and you didn't even know it. But once we don't tune out of our own little world we get sucked right back into our own world were we stop listening. It is hard to listen deeply especially with God since we cant verbally talk to him in person, because it takes courage to listen. This week I challenge you to listen to God and actually understand what he is saying to you ask him for guidance. Have the courage to not only listen to God but listen to those around you and they will listen deeply in return. So don't let the signal between you and others go bad...make sure its always going strong.




Food for Thought: A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he knows something."
                     ~Alan Lurie

Put the thanks into the giving

        

           When you think of Thanksgiving you might think of the pilgrims and Indians for creating our holiday that we celebrate to this very day. Or you might think (and even get excited) about your favorite pie that your mom or grandmother always makes or you just love the turkey and the way that the holiday feels. My point is that, when it comes to holidays most people are cuddled up to the warmth that comes from their family, gifts, and food. Holidays just becomes about being together as one big family above all else. Now some people may stop and thank the Lord for everything they have on their dinner table at their Thanksgiving feast. But most people just focus on their family for the day and tend to not even think about one member of the family....GOD. It’s great to care so much about your family but know and be thankful for the reason why your there to celebrate the season. If it wasn't for God we would obviously not be here today to celebrate Thanksgiving because God would of never of led our early brothers to discover land. To me that seems so weird, to think that God actually helped people way back in the 1600's! That was forever ago and God helps us today in this "space age" time! As shocking as it may sound to you, God has been in the “guiding business” even when the cave men roamed the earth. So why can’t God sit at our table this year and all of the other years for Thanksgiving. I mean shouldn’t HE be the one annually cutting the turkey? I know God can’t literally sit at your family’s table this year but you can bring him to it. God has provided every single one of us with the opportunity to serve a beautiful meal this Thursday. HE HAS GIVEN US THAT. And in return we shouldn’t thank the pilgrims or the Indians but we should thank the Lord for guiding those men and women. And we should THANK the Lord for not only showing his mercy the days before but for the whole year! Once you sit down to dig into that wonderfully prepared feast stop and think about what has changed in your life for the better and the worst. Give thanks for those things no matter what and you will be revealed what good has come out of all of those things. We tend not to give our thanks that we rarely give to the Lord because it’s hard not to get caught up in our everyday lives and think about ourselves. I’m not saying to neglect yourself, what I am saying is that our thanks should go beyond the Thanksgiving Day. Once you fill your house with everything you are thankful for, make it a goal to carry out those words of thanks because we don’t deserve God but he does deserve our gratitude and plus some! We as a people are the luckiest people in the world, for one...WE HAVE A GOD THAT UTERALLY ADORES US!!! That in itself covers the whole reason for our luckiness. But we also have life, freedom of our religion, our family, and everything else you think of comes from the Lord. How awesome is that!!!! So this Thanksgiving I want you all to enjoy what the good Lord has given you. And when you sit down, if you don’t already, pray. But before your prayer…go around the table and have everyone say at least one thing they are thankful for. I can guarantee that your meal will mean a lot more than just food to you. So let God sit at the head of the table and if your grandpa is willing enough to hand over the knife…have God cut the turkey that will feed your minds this holiday and know that he GIVES that food of wisdom to you with all of his graceful love.



 

Word of the Day: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

                                                            ~Luke 19:10

           

A(acts) of R(random) K(kindness)

              

 

           I turned on the TV last night while babysitting and found nothing on to watch. As I kept scrolling I found that Evan Almighty was on. Now I have watched this movie before but I never really read into all of the lessons that pertain to God! As I was watching this a lot of scenes stuck in my head. This clip posted here was one of my favorites. When I sat down to watch TV I was also going to write this blog and I had no clue what to write about. After I had finished the movie I still had no idea what to write about. So the night went on and after a couple of naps I woke up to scroll for something to watch again. And Evan Almighty was on again! So I thought okay maybe this movie will help me....this clip (and the rest of the movie) gave me today's wisdom. Right now I want you to watch this clip above.

 

 

 

         The clip starts out with the wife of Evan who is upset to see that her husband believes that God told him to build an ark for a big flood just like Noah was told back in biblical times. This idea seems crazy to her because they aren't living in biblical times. But who says you have to be living in biblical times to have a miracle of God happen? Most people look back on the story of the great flood and Noah to say that its all about God having a wrath of anger on the earth. But as "God" states in this clip (aka, Morgan Freeman)....the ark is a love story. Its about believing in each other, if you read back in Genesis 7:14-15 it states "With them in the boat were pairs of every kind of animal-domestic and wild, large, and small- along with birds of every kind. Two by two they came into the boat, representing every living thing that breathes." The animals worked together through the love of Christ, they came in pairs to work together. The animals were committed to God and each other just like Noah was committed to God and the ark. We are all children of God that are one body. We are the body of Christ that is to represent God in the best way possible. If you think of us all as a literal body, each part of the body is vital. If you cut off the hand, the body is gonna have trouble functioning without a hand. It wont be able to grasp things as well with just one hand. And the dead hand is still a hand but it is still lifeless without its body. This is the same idea for us Christians. If we claim to be Christians and are not a part of the body them our faith is dying. We are to be together in this. Being there for each other through bothers in Christ makes one body. And when you hear that the body of the church...its not the building itself. Its the people in it that make it up. We need to come together to become one to build the body of Christ on this earth!! I don't have a challenge for you this week, but I want you to keep ARK in your mind. Act of Random Kindness....see where that takes you. Make ARK a part of you everyday lives....and remember. We are all the body of Christ and we are to be there for each other. Two by two.

 

 

 

Food for Thought: "Let me ask you something... If some one prays for patience, you think god gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does god gives them courage? Or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If some one prayed for the family to be closer, you think god zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

                                                         ~ God (Morgan Freeman)

Romney vs. Obama

         Wherever you go I'm sure you see signs about the election. The signs might be hanging or in the ground or flashing on a billboard. But not matter what they always get your attention about a certain candidate like either Obama or Romney. And not only do you see these persuasive signs lining the road but you hear them on the TV or the radio and ads are plastered all over the Internet. Now these signs might not make or break your voting decision but they always seem to stick in your mind for a little bit. The main goal of a campaign is for a running individual to prove to the whole world that they are all that they need to run things smoothly. I myself have not watched the debates but I am sure several of you have. And I have heard that it was made very clear that Romney often held the holding ground on Obama. I think that's so crazy that even though Obama is the current President of the United States, Romney still managed to leave Obama speechless. After the first debate CBS News had stated "The first presidential debate of the 2012 general election cycle may have been the best night of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Romney entered the debate trailing the president in polls of battleground states, giving him incentive to be aggressive in order to close the gap against President Obama. And he was indeed aggressive, trotting out the much-discussed "zingers" he prepared ahead of time ("As president you're entitled to your own house, your own plane, but not your own facts") and repeatedly attacking Mr. Obama's record. He was enough of an alpha presence on stage that critics quickly took to attacking the debate moderator for letting Romney dictate the flow of the debate - despite the fact that he actually spoke for about four-and-a-half minutes less than the president." When you read most critics reports you read it with the mind set that all they say is not true. But a news report like CBS or CNN, you will most likely believe especially when it comes to politics. When you read this news report though...there is a sense of criticism towards Obama. Reports like this might sway your mind from your original vote just because some one else gave their opinion on it. There are plenty of people in this world that vote without even caring or vote for the candidate that looks or talks the best. Or you vote for the person that you were told to vote for by your parents standards or even your spouses standard. Ill admit, I have never been big on politics and I always thought we never needed a President because we had already had God. Well as much as I want God to physically be the President of the US, that is out of our control. Or is it? This Tuesday many of you will go to a certain place at a certain time to vote for a certain person of your interest. But when you go into that both and shut that curtain, who are you bringing in besides yourself? Are you bringing in the report off of CBS News? Or the report of a harsh critic you read the night before? Or are you bringing the vote that your parents would put down? Some people are told to always vote republican or democrat because their father or mother has raised them that way. But really your father has never raised you that way. God may not be sitting in the plush leather chair of the oval office making the calls for the US, but He is sitting in a much higher seat making the calls for the whole world. For most of you God is probably not the first thing that comes to mind while you are voting... but why can't you bring him into the booth with you while you vote? Even though being President is a materialistic thing of this sinful world which will fade away. The decisions made shape the outcome of our world. This lesson isn't to hound you about making the "right vote" for the better of humankind. Its about showing you the difference of a vote with God and without God. It often seems as if when the Presidents are brought into the light, they automatically get eaten apart by the world and their flaws because so much more visible to the world. And this effects what there are to ultimately do for the world. God is also in high authority and he never lets the the hate of the world attack his heart. The Presidents are no different from us and so they sin just like us. This is why we need to go to God for guidance on elections because God sees and knows the motives of each running candidate. He knows who is fit for the job and he knows what that person will do the next couple of years to keep his world running. For those of you that are voting this week....think with God, not against him. And even if you cant vote, pray for the wisdom of God to take control of every ones heart while making their vote. In the end we shouldn't be casting a vote for the people of this world. We should be casting all of our votes full heartily to our Lord, Jesus Christ to spread his word around the world like a virus.




Word of the Day: "And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires."
                                                                      ~2 Peter 1:4