In today's readings, we read of the story of Abram (soon to be Abraham). In this story, God tells Abram to leave his home country for God will take care of him. Talk about being fearless.
We also read about the beatitudes. Maybe a fitting beatitude should be; Blessed are the fearless, for they trust God.
That's really it for today. Like I said, "writing without expectation"....
Dead Lord,
Please use me like You used Abram. Use me so that I can do Your work here on Earth. Lord, help me be fearless in the new year. Banish "fear" and "scare" from my vocabulary. I know that through You alone Lord, I will have all that I need.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Monday, January 4, 2016
Childish
Who am I? I am childish.
At least, that's what it says in Genesis 8:21, "Every inclination in man's heart is evil from childhood."
This struck me with how it applied with the leadership lesson from John C. Maxwell. The lesson is that we see others through the lens which we are predisposed to from our past experiences. If we never grow up, if we never shift our thinking from the way of children and more toward the way of the Lord, we will always see the worst in people. The Lord doesn't want us to view each other through the lens of evil that seems all around us. Rather, the challenge, I think, is to emulate more of Christ and see love and mercy through each other.
Imagine if we all saw love and mercy. Imagine if we all saw our fellow man in the light that Christ sees us. We would be slower to anger, rich in kindness, more likely to forgive. And maybe just maybe, we wouldn't be so cynical about the actions of others.
Perhaps being fearless means that we should live like Christ and try to see the best in our fellow man. Maybe being fearless means to love more than others think is wise - to do what others dismiss as foolish.
Dear Lord,
Please help me see others through Your lens of love and mercy and not the lens of childish evil. Lord, help me be fearless in living like You. Allow me to do as You did in loving others with unprecedented amounts of pure love.
At least, that's what it says in Genesis 8:21, "Every inclination in man's heart is evil from childhood."
This struck me with how it applied with the leadership lesson from John C. Maxwell. The lesson is that we see others through the lens which we are predisposed to from our past experiences. If we never grow up, if we never shift our thinking from the way of children and more toward the way of the Lord, we will always see the worst in people. The Lord doesn't want us to view each other through the lens of evil that seems all around us. Rather, the challenge, I think, is to emulate more of Christ and see love and mercy through each other.
Imagine if we all saw love and mercy. Imagine if we all saw our fellow man in the light that Christ sees us. We would be slower to anger, rich in kindness, more likely to forgive. And maybe just maybe, we wouldn't be so cynical about the actions of others.
Perhaps being fearless means that we should live like Christ and try to see the best in our fellow man. Maybe being fearless means to love more than others think is wise - to do what others dismiss as foolish.
Dear Lord,
Please help me see others through Your lens of love and mercy and not the lens of childish evil. Lord, help me be fearless in living like You. Allow me to do as You did in loving others with unprecedented amounts of pure love.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
Who am I?
Who am I?
A question asked by Pope Francis and Speaker Boehner. A question asked by many throughout the world. A question that has stumped me for some time now.
In reading the story of John the Baptist, we see that John asks the same question of the Lord. "Who am I to baptize the Lord?". But Jesus tells him to go ahead and baptize him so that righteousness is fulfilled.
And then something really cool happens. After John baptizes Jesus, the heavens open up and God proclaims that Jesus is Lord. How neat.
So who are we? We're part of God's master plan. We're His servants on Earth so that His plan may proceed. Much like John, we must listen to our Lord and accept His plan for our lives so that we can open up the world to see His glory.
It sounds scary to open up to God's plan and it very much is. But here's the thing... if we live fearlessly and follow His plan for us and accept who we are, I'm confident that God will always have our best interests in mind.
Dear Lord,
Who am I? I'm your servant here on Earth to help achieve Your will. Please show me your plan for me, Lord. I'm ready to live fearlessly for You. I'm ready to live fearlessly so that others may see you through me.
A question asked by Pope Francis and Speaker Boehner. A question asked by many throughout the world. A question that has stumped me for some time now.
In reading the story of John the Baptist, we see that John asks the same question of the Lord. "Who am I to baptize the Lord?". But Jesus tells him to go ahead and baptize him so that righteousness is fulfilled.
And then something really cool happens. After John baptizes Jesus, the heavens open up and God proclaims that Jesus is Lord. How neat.
So who are we? We're part of God's master plan. We're His servants on Earth so that His plan may proceed. Much like John, we must listen to our Lord and accept His plan for our lives so that we can open up the world to see His glory.
It sounds scary to open up to God's plan and it very much is. But here's the thing... if we live fearlessly and follow His plan for us and accept who we are, I'm confident that God will always have our best interests in mind.
Dear Lord,
Who am I? I'm your servant here on Earth to help achieve Your will. Please show me your plan for me, Lord. I'm ready to live fearlessly for You. I'm ready to live fearlessly so that others may see you through me.
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Fearless
I saw an interesting Facebook post. The author of the post challenged his friends not to set a mostly meaningless list of resolutions, but to set a word that will define their year. My word: Fearless.
Being fearless means doing what isn't easy. It means challenging the status quo. It means looking life in the face when life is scary. It means taking the road less taken. It means letting go of what holds me down so that I can be used to the glory of God.
There are two paths in the woods of life. One that bends with twigs and weeds sticking every which way. And one that's grassy and begging to be taken. I prefer to run through the narrow trails. To have my legs cut up and my shoes muddy. Because once you're in the middle of that trail, there's no turning back, you only stay on the path and keep running until you reach the end of the woods.
The same is true for life. There's no turning back, only focus on conquering the less comfortable path. No matter what lies in our way, we must be fearless and leave it in our wake.
"I - I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference."
#Fearless2016
Dear Lord,
As I begin my fearless journey into 2016, please always be at my side. I know that I will choose to take the more difficult path, but so did You Lord. Lord, please let me follow in Your footsteps and grow ever closer to You. Please allow me, through your grace, to be Fearless in 2016.
Being fearless means doing what isn't easy. It means challenging the status quo. It means looking life in the face when life is scary. It means taking the road less taken. It means letting go of what holds me down so that I can be used to the glory of God.
There are two paths in the woods of life. One that bends with twigs and weeds sticking every which way. And one that's grassy and begging to be taken. I prefer to run through the narrow trails. To have my legs cut up and my shoes muddy. Because once you're in the middle of that trail, there's no turning back, you only stay on the path and keep running until you reach the end of the woods.
The same is true for life. There's no turning back, only focus on conquering the less comfortable path. No matter what lies in our way, we must be fearless and leave it in our wake.
"I - I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference."
#Fearless2016
Dear Lord,
As I begin my fearless journey into 2016, please always be at my side. I know that I will choose to take the more difficult path, but so did You Lord. Lord, please let me follow in Your footsteps and grow ever closer to You. Please allow me, through your grace, to be Fearless in 2016.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Day 1, Chapter 1, Verse 1
Lately, I've been asking myself, "Who am I?". Much like the Holy Father and many other political and religious leaders, I simply find myself at a lack of understanding (and perhaps and unwillingness to accept) who I am. Who am I to be a leader? Who am I to have my thoughts and opinions matter on things. Who am I but a sinner with a broken heart? Who am I?
So as I make my yearly resolution to read through the Bible in 365 days, I decided to start a blog. One of the favorite lines I've ever read is so simply eloquent... "Writing without expectation". So I begin this blog without expectation to be profound or make sense. I write without expectation of writing every day or even making a single post to this blog come February. But here it is.
Truth is, it's possible (and really, my hope) that no one will ever read this. But God is funny in the way of using us in unpredictable ways. Maybe I'll write something noteworthy some day.
In my first group of readings (Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs), there was a verse which has never stood out to me before. Proverbs 1:5 says, "Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance."
Perhaps that's what 2016 should be all about. Letting the wise (or those who think they're wise) listen to God in order to receive their guidance for life. After all, we're all on this Earth for a specific purpose.
Dear Lord,
As I begin to work my way through Your word to us, please let me better listen. Please let me seek Your guidance so that I can better answer the question "Who am I?". Lord, I'm not perfect, but please let me be used to advance Your message here on Earth.
So as I make my yearly resolution to read through the Bible in 365 days, I decided to start a blog. One of the favorite lines I've ever read is so simply eloquent... "Writing without expectation". So I begin this blog without expectation to be profound or make sense. I write without expectation of writing every day or even making a single post to this blog come February. But here it is.
Truth is, it's possible (and really, my hope) that no one will ever read this. But God is funny in the way of using us in unpredictable ways. Maybe I'll write something noteworthy some day.
In my first group of readings (Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs), there was a verse which has never stood out to me before. Proverbs 1:5 says, "Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance."
Perhaps that's what 2016 should be all about. Letting the wise (or those who think they're wise) listen to God in order to receive their guidance for life. After all, we're all on this Earth for a specific purpose.
Dear Lord,
As I begin to work my way through Your word to us, please let me better listen. Please let me seek Your guidance so that I can better answer the question "Who am I?". Lord, I'm not perfect, but please let me be used to advance Your message here on Earth.
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