Glorify GOD

everyone has hobbies and as christians we are supposed to take our talents and gifts that god gave us and take them to the streets and use them to glorify god. Some of us can sing (a talent that i lack majorly ahhaha) or maybe its dancing, or writing.How do you glorify God in such ways? im glad you asked lol. glorifying God using your talents and hobbies is seeing the importance of GOD in the things you do daily. For example, in Revelation 11:13 "At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven."  The survivors of the earthquake saw the importance of God. Or in Romans 1:21 "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."  Recognizing who God is (He is God)...causes us to praise and give thanks.  This is glorifying to God, too.

This leads me to ask my next question, which is going to completely contradict everything i just said. If we don't glorify GOD is it a sin to have a hobby? well me here is my logical answer: Who made you?  If you believe God did, then you're already giving Him glory. Who made you to be different than me?  If you believe God did, then you're giving Him glory.  If you believe that God made your differences good ones and my differences good ones with the intention that we would use them to do good, then you're giving Him glory.  That's what it means in 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  We're not to use our gifts and talents and abilities and interests to further evil in this world, but to witness to how great our God is to give us such wonderful gifts.

So, for example, let's say God made you a fast runner.  You can use your fast running to steal stuff and run away quicker than the cops can run after you...or you can run in the Olympics and credit God with the great gift.  

So be faithful,  with this marvelous gift of joy in whatever it is you are gifted at.  Enjoy it thoroughly, giving thanks to God for the strength and skill to do it.  Ask Him to reveal ways you can give Him glory in the doing, in the relating, and in the testimony your life gives.

GOD gave me

God gave me His Son.

God gave me His love.

God gave me His grace.

God gave me His forgiveness.

God gave me His mercy.

God gave me His compassion.

God gave me courage.

God gave me a brain.

God gave me strength.

God gave me gifts and talents that although many may possess is still unique in its own.

God gave me family

God gave me friends.

God gave me shelter

God gave me food

God gave me my church.

God gave me the ability to know right from wrong

God gave me peace.

God gave me me!

What have I given to God to deserve all of these things?

community

Community is a real buzz word, biased bloggers and journalists, and advertisers throw it around like a hot potato. It brings them a lot of money, but they dont really know what it means. I really dont think any of us have a clear view of what it mean, me being a part of that crowd. I mean the word gets thrown around like OJ Simpsons court trial.

Community: agreement as to goals. Simple as that. I don’t consider facebook a community, or myspace or any other form of web connection. are we a community as soon s someone posts a video of themselves or a status so we can see what they are doing? i think facebook i sa communtiy barrier..where do we draw the line of separation between actually having a community and an organized web based page. My best example of a community to you is this: have you ever been to a reds game? or even your own high school football/basketball game and one of the players just scores and the crowd goes nuts!!! 20,000 people cheering for the same team you are. and as you are walking out of the stadium some random person looks at you and says “good game.” thats community. A group of people getting together with common interests and one belief. This isnt about me, i can inflate my ego on my own time. This is about us getting together to do something great/powerful/moving and worthwhile. This is our future? what should we do with it? post a comment or video sharing our thoughts or act on those thoughts? you tell me

What does it mean to be a part of the church?

For some reason humans have this odd desire to want to be in the "in" crowd. I mean i dont about you guys but if i see police lights around the corner, im walking down the street to see what happened. We all have this need or feeling of wanting to belong somewhere,a nd for some thats a church and for others its elsewhere and thats cool. But being a pzrt of the church means radically changing the world around you. Paul, the one who wrote 2 Corinthians, refers to us as "ministers of reconciliation," now doesnt that just roll right off your tongue. But what that means is WE are called to live out gods will and show the people of this 21st century what jesus is like and we do that through the way we live adn how we treat each other. I know this sounds backwards, but as Christians, we are supposed to seek what is wrong in the world and be gods hands and feet to it. If everyone was perfect there would be no reason for forgiveness right? As christians we arent suppose to just go with the flow and drift but to notice thigns that arent ok, and to sacrifice our lives to make them better.In todays economy and world structure, its not hard to find things that arent ok....i can walk out my back door adn tell you 10 things that arent ok right now. You know what my biggest fear is? Letting people down, and not living up to the person that i could be because i know i could do better or become a part of something bigger, greater, and stronger. I dont want to look back and think man i didnt make a difference in someones life or man i wish i could have been a part of that.I dont want to see anybody regret those decisions either, thats why we have a choice right in front of us to take the poath of god and let him show us where he wants us to work in the world. Everything I said in this note is a church....church isnt a place where we just show up every sunday....church is the congregation who leaves sunday and makes a difference in their own community.

Love. Relationships. and the rest of the world

oh how i love reminiscing on the days that boys thought girls had cooties and that we didn’t want to talk to them or have anything to do with them, but now as we grow up its like women can control guy’s lives from how we act to what we wear. hahahah. but i was told by one of my closest friends “if you plan on getting into a relationship, go in with the intention of getting married. If you dont then whats the point in doing it if you dont want a long lasting relationship.” plus i was always told that you will marry your best friend. Ive never been to concerned about relationships. If something came up great, if not great, my life goes on. But one thing ive always had trouble with is getting into a relationship with my best friends. I love them to death, and i dont want to sacrifice my friendship over a relationship, but its like when you hang out with them you have 29348374 to say and you only say 1 thing over and over and over and over again. You hang out and every move they make catches your eye and you wish they would say something and you leave wishing you would have done something: give her a hug, kissed her or whatever but all you can do is kick yourself now. There is a difference between “Hot” and “Beautiful” and i really dont know to describe it, except that you have to experience it. When a guy can see a girl and say “wow shes beautiful, rather than shes hot”, then he’s seeking a relationship worth lasting rather than a fling. I really dont think i should be talking about this subject because i, along with everyone else in the world has a hard time defining love and its soemthing i have yet to find other than my friends love and family. But i have seen a lot of relationships falter due to not knowing each other completely and trust issues and it kills me inside because when you get into a relationship you are giving that person your heart, not to break. so i guess what im saying is that if you’re in a relationship im happy for you and i hope it all works out, but i hope you have the best intentions. If you arent in one, dont stress cuz its cool to be single to take time to get to know you and to know other people. I really dont think anyone is meant to be alone

My OCD Life

I’m not the type of person who is real OCD over things, although I am best friends with someone who is and i drive him insane because there is no order in my life. I don’t know if this OCD or a routine that i continually thrive to do, allow me to explain: every morning i wake up and on my way to the kitchen before making a bowl of my oh so delicious reese’s puffs i flip open my lid to my laptop, then turn the tv on sportscenter, and then begin to get breakfast. Now at night it starts with a different routine: I sit on my computer for a while, brush my teeth, change, and make sure all the lights are out and the doors are locked. If i dont have a visual image of me locking the door, it will drive me insane the whole night and i will most likely lose sleep over it, or if i leave the deck light on.

This recently had me thinking about how important time is in our lives. On a Friday afternoon I was heading out to hang out with some of my friends and as I was heading out I was kind of doing a “grab everything you can without stopping” kind of thing because I was in a hurry.(and im pretty sure that was a run-on sentence) I get 15 minutes into my drive and i start thinking “Did i lock the door?” this is gonna drive me insane, so of course i turn around and check to see if the door is in fact locked, and indeed it was. I was frustrated with myself but i couldnt live without knowing that my house was in fact sealed up. All i wanted to do was go and have a good time with my friends and one little thing kept me from doing that. In turn this also had me thinking, if I’m spending so much time on the things that don’t really matter, am I changing the world? or making a difference in someone else’s life? I think we are all hard on ourselves when it comes to certain things, but i give myself a hard time because I have yet to publish a book. But on that Friday night all I wanted to do was spend time with people who care about me as much as I care about them, and I couldn’t because of a dumb lock on a door. Wherever you are in life, just stop what you are doing and spend some time with those you love. It’s something we take for granted everyday in life and if the love from the people who love you isn’t enough, then what is?

wants and needs

Im going to list some things off and i want you, in your head, to define them as a "want" or a "need"

New Coat
Water
Telephone
Shoes
Bed
Car

Out of this list there is one thing you actually need. Water. I dont know where exactly we took a wrong turn and the world became materialistic, but the only thing we should "want" is God and then GOD will take care of our "needs". There is a Proverb that says where your heart is is where you lye, meaning that if your heart is on materialistic items and not on GOD then you are headed down a path of destruction. I like having nice things, Nike shoes, Fur coats, and a nice car but i have to watch myself to not get wrapped up in all of this because in the end its not going to matter what i own because i cant take any of that stuff with me.

point #2: if we didnt need GOD, we wouldnt need love. GOD IS LOVE. without GOD we couldnt experience love and we would ahve to say that everything was an accident. Imagine walking up to your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend and telling them "i love you, but all this was just an accident." i couldnt do it. Have you ever talked to a teenager who just fell in love with someone,, they are ecstatic and cant stop talking!! its like there mouth is on overdrive hahaha...but thats god working. without love i dont believe we would be alive.

God knows what we need before we ask. we "need" his Love and his ways to live a promised lifestyle, but we have to "want" it first. Life isn't easy for Christians, but a life lived for god is a promised life in heaven. "want" GOD's kingdom and his word and he'll be there with open arms.

Time machine

if i had a dollar every time someone said "man i wish i could go back and (enter action here)." I would be rich. obviously we can't go back in time, or forward for that matter so why don't we live like we did go back in time? Like right now was your second chance to do everything that you have ever wanted. It kinda makes me stop and think about the future and all the opportunities i have missed. this could make for an interesting life, or movie...oh wait, Brad Pitt already did that in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

im going to leave you with one final thought: apathy isn't something you are pulled out from, it is something you crawl out from

p.s. i know this is short but it's been on my mind for a while

things that you wont learn from your parents

My parents left out a few lessons that many other kids learned from theirs. Certain common habits that i just never developed. Over the past 5 years of my life, i have become more interested in people, just watching passers-by and watching how they react and the choices they make. But one thing that still blows my mind is how young guns (a.k.a toddlers hahah) can pick things up from parents that werent even taught to them. Just by the parents actions and words we lean so much, which you have probably been told before. Some people havent been so lucky with a set of parents who live a grateful life and didnt teach them anything or cared for them enough. fortunately, mine do.

Some people grow up in a self-destructive home, and they learn to explode to troubling circumstances. If i had been taught to approach life with more of an impulse i would have a self destructive life as well. So thank you mom and dad for not teaching me these things and allowing me to view the world how it actually is:

1.) to blame and complain:

    My dad has always been a "do something about it person." if something went wrong you can bet your hard earned dollar that he was going to do soemthing about it.

This has recently showed me how many people in my past, present, and future will continue to blame and point fingers to other people as if it were there fault. I mean they will point out all the faults in that person rather than bring the best out in them. We see this in our culture today on the news you hear " Today (enter fiasco here) in Washington." Americans are always looking to find Who's to blame? who should fired? who should be charged?

2.) that i should not believe anything without question

    My mom grew up a christian and i did as well, but not int he same way, because i didnt believe or understand the term "christianity till i was 14. So i went to make her happy. there were no absolute truths in my childhood. I was allowed to discover the world on my own adn make my own mistakes and my own choices. without having done that, i wouldnt have grown any stronger and became the person i am today or as close to god as i am now,

3.) who im supposed to be

     never once has my mom or dad told me that i have to be an all-star, be a husband, get married, and have children. I mean yeah, who doesnt want that. But they always put my dreams ahead of theirs. there really was no master plan for my life for a long while. i didnt know what i wanted to do until the end of my freshmen year in college, adn my parents were ok with that. they supported me in everything i did. 

Basically what im saying is that some of lifes greates lessons are the lessons we arent taught and figure out on our own....look closely into the world and try to find truth in your life :)

Love 

Austin

coffee on a sunday afternoon

all day today i was in this mood where i was like"man, i really want to be inspired or having something to make me say yeah! lets go do that." I wanted someone to tell me what to do and to guide me. But no one was there, i tried calling people and no one picked up the phone. then it hit me that we dont necessarily have to be inspired by others to do something great. If you have an idea, let the whole world hear!!!! (as casting crowns would say hahaha) the inspiration we are looking for has always been in us, i mean its always nice to hear it from another person and get pumped up. But do you think you were incapable of doing that before he/she said that? if your answer was no, then i would love to hear your explanation. I would like to affiliate this with the weekends and weekdays. I know im switching gears on you, but bear with me. whats it like when friday comes around? do you get that "yeah! no work/school" feeling? youre motivated to go out and do things on the weekend. but when monday rolls around everyone loses that motivation and power to do great things. why? i dont understand it. Does GOD call us to only do great things 2 days out 7? no. we should live everyday as if it were a weekend, be inspired, motivated and ready to tackle anything that comes your way. So to my friends and family i ask you that you make this monday a different monday. wake up tomorrow as if it were friday and tackle the world with an open heart and open mind full of motivation and inspiration. Love you all

God's Wonders

How many of us have been through a tough time? everyones head should be nodding up and down right now. well take heart. there are better days ahead! God wants and will bring you through it and restore everything that you have lost. it is essential to maintain a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. Be quick to acknowledge God's goodness in your life, keeping in mind that everything is a blessing to you while still praising the holy one and HE will continue t fill your life with joy, immeasurable love, and peace. im gonna take you on a journey to explore yourself, some parts in which you are familiar with and others not so much. every move you make is about using your head, your heart, and your soul. this is about growing, learning and improving. The more you trust God, the better off you will be.

Our God is a progressive God and he wants us to keep pursuing happiness and never be comfortable with where we are at in life. no matter where we are in life God always has more in store for us. to often people get to comfortable in their life and stop pressing forward. i've seen it a million times. they stop exercising their faith, and like a body builder who stops working out, they go flabby. one of the main reasons this happens is because people dont understand what they have on the inside, what they are made for, what their God given potential is. 

years ago in my high school days of my baseball career we would run suicides until we threw up. it wasnt fun let me tell you. but sometimes my dad would sit in on practices and i was fast but i was never the fastest on the team. so one day we started to do our suicide and i got a good jump off of the line, i was ahead of everyone else. but then 3 people blew by me like a race car. so after practice i met up with my dad and he said "are you going as fast as you can?" and i replied "yes". but now that i sit here and think about it, was i going as fast i will, or as fast as i could go? think about that: everyone possesses tremendous potential, but if we only allow ourselves to go as far as want ourselves to go then we will never accomplish anything. you see the potential was already put in us by our Almighty God and whether we choose to use it or not, does not diminish us, but it does impact our future. so i chellenge you to take a step of faith and stretch yourselves out and go beyond what you will do, and do what you can do. thhst it when you will see the greatest things in life happen to you.

the world in a false pretense

I have 2 tickets to go see Nickelback and i can't use them. Only if this was true. i don't have tickets to go see nickelback. why did you click on this link? was it because the wording? the style? Well too many times we go through the day and expect things to jump out at us with flashing signs and arrows to point us in the right direction. A lotof us, including myself, go through days blinfolded and unaware of my surroundings, and odn't bother to help anyone but myself. no one is going to put a big flashing arrow up in the hallway at school that says HELP ME!!! we see it, we just choose not do it, whatever the doing may be, helping someone pick up their books, paying for the perosn behind you in line, standing up for someone. It doesn't matter. Life isn't always sugar coated. Like i said in the last note, don't be blinded, no ones gonna tell you to do something just realize what needs to be done and do it. I am going t try to write one of these every month to keep people honest, and maybe, hopefully change someones life, or day. we all need someone to hod us accountable. so i need someone to hold me accountable.

Pro's vs Joes

Ok, so I was sitting in on a pick-up game of basketball at the church, there were quite a few people there. I saw everybody gazing and glaring in awe as player after player shot the basketball and swooshed it through the hoop. But this isn't what surprised me. What surprised me was that, that basketball game kinda looks like some peoples faith and walk with GOD. We sit on the sidelines and watch other people do the work because we are to afraid of what might happen to us if we step out of our comfort zone. Does this sound like you? WE CARE TO MUCH ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK ABOUT US!! News flash! Life isn't about what we want, it's about what GOD wants. If we live our life for GOD so many things would be different.This kind of reminds me of my night at work tonight. There was this elderly lady who was struggling to get up and couldn't find the strength to stand. I could have just ignored it, but i walked over to her and asked if she needed help standing. She said she was fine but i helped her anyway. In situations like this, why do we wait fo other people to do the job fo us? It doesn't make sense to me. We are not benchwarmers, we were meant to go out and spread the word of GOD and to change the world, whether it be through actions or word. Get off the bench and stop being a spectator and do something.

Graduation

i'm sitting here 2 days before my graduation and just reliving some of my greatest moments in life, and thinking how i got where i am today. But to be completely honest with you, i don't know if i want to graduate haha. It's all cool and all, but there are some things that i don't feel preapred for and somethings i'm gonna miss in high school. on the contrary i'm not gonn amiss the drama, the teachers, the stress, etc. But this has nothing to do with what i'm writing about lol. As i look back, i can think of all the times i have succeeded, but it owuldn't be possible without the my friends and family. 10 years ago if you would ask me if i would be standing in this position right now to be as successful as i am, i would tell you no. Everybody who is around me who sees me on a daily basis, tlaks to me on a daily basis has a huge impact on my life. 8 years ago i struggled with the fear of failing and not living up to the person that my parents wanted me to be. It ate me alive because i always felt like nothing was ever good enough, granted sometimes i still feel like that (thsi note is really random btw, but it's just my thoguhts shoved together lol). But anyway, 2 years ago was the hardest time in my life, and i wasn't sure how i was going to deal with it, but somehow my parents always knew what to say and what to do. My parents are my heroes. Let's skip 2 years, just because i want to. My senior year, the year i have been waiting for, finally is here. I'm gonna breka this down into sections for you. I can't remember what happened between august and october, those months just flew by. December to january i was busy training for baseballa nd track, until i had something happen to my chest. I don't evne know that was wrong but it put me out sports for my senior year, but it also made me a better person and created better opportunites. January to now i met an amazing group of people, who i would die for. We sahre some great moments. Even though i haven't known them very long, it feels like i know everything about them. i love you guys!!! I am getting ready to graduate 2 days from now. WOW!!! a big transition in life. this is going to be different, but at the same time challenging, i just hope and pray that whatever i may go through in life i take GOD with me. Without him, none of this would be possible. The old saying is that "Through Christ all things are possible", it's true. I've seen some amazing things done in my life with no explanation. But i justy wanted to throw some thoughts out there for the year in a wrap-up thingy. i'm gonna stop now cuz this is forever long. C YA!!!!

friendship

I was talking to Sam about being bored and he mentioned writing a paper on friendship, and i said no way! well i can't sleep and now here i am writing it


Websters dictionary defintion of friendship is "the state of being friends", or as Aristotle would say " a single cell dwelling in 2 bodies". but it goes deeper than that, far deeper, so deep than you can almost feel it burning beneath your skin. Similar interests, loads of fun, love and respect for each other, this is why it's so hard to define friendship. You can't define it, you have to see it. these are just general traits to having friends, to really get the full efffect one must have true friends.

These true friends are people that you trust won't hurt you. some people form these friendships based on the experiences they have had with them. they say a person who has found a faithful friend has found a pricelsess treasure. On the contrary, psycologically speaking friendship is born when when we are born. When we enter this life and begin to talk and we begin to make friends. friendship cannot survive without help from others.

Finally, the people we choose to be friends with dates back to when we were younger, since we could depict right and wrong. The people we surround ourselves with make us who we are today, they make our personality, our moods, our feelings. Some people don't believe this but take yourself out of the picture and see how much of an impact you have on your friends or visa versa. i am going to leave you witht this final thought, find friends who are compatible with you on a emotional, spiritual, and psychological basis.

Don't correct me on this. there's so many errors, but it's so late and i really don't care right now. i finished it, and it's short i'm sorry

frienship: the sequel

ok, so as many of you may know, i worte a note on friendship just to do it, because i was half asleep and i was bored. well, over the past 2 weeks, i had one of those moments when you're just like " i just said that" or "i just did that yesterday". well again over the past 2 weeks, actually my lifetime, but this is actually when it hit me in the face, i experienced this dealio. i'm not gonna beat around the bush and try to tie things in to one another, i'm just gonna be staright up. when the world seems like it's a mess and things are falling down on you, and you need someone to turn to, your best friend is always there no matter how far.

i was listening to nick, the coolest dude ever, talk in class one early morning and he said that some of his most memorable life changing moments, or whatever you would like to call it all happened on his kitchen counter surrounded by his friends, not sitting in a church. i'm not saying don't go to church, thats not what i'm implying at all. but i had that experience several times with my friends. i remember when bobby called me and we met up in huber just so he could vent, and when we tried to go to jim's doughnuts, but instead just chilled in the parking lot and vibed and listened to each others problems. i guess what i'm getting at is that you don't have to extraordinary things to be a friend, you can just chill in the parking lot of walmart and listen to what he has to tell you, or meet up ath his house and just chill and watch a movie. when nothing is being said, thats when the most is being said about who you are and what kind of person you are. think about it and respond.

The worlds epidemics

in the past 3-4 weeks a lot has happened. michael jackson died, farrah faucet died, and ed mcmahon died. there are more than this but i don't know there names. but i was sitting in the condo on myrtle beach and listening to my grandma and aunt talk about farrah faucet and ed mcmahon dying, which i knew nothing about until they said something. a couple moments later my granpa walked in the room and said that stars always die in threes. well, the next morning come to find out michael jackson died to make it 3 that i knew of.

i'm taking this note somewhere to the extent that everything happens for a reason and if you can't finad a reason think of it as an epidemic. probably my favorite book and the only book i've read was "the tipping point" by malcolm gladwell. he describes how everything is triggered by something or some force and tells how it builds and carries out of control. wel when i was sitting there watching tv and trying to beleive that michael jackson had died, i remebered that my grandpa had told me that stars die in threes and i questioned why? the 2 reasons that i came up with are 1.) God has plans for everyone 2.) the world is an epidemic and things happen very suddenly with no answers. Something in "The tipping point" that really got my mind spinning was, why do we sneeze when we see other people sneeze? it's confusing, i mean is it just habit or is it a virus. idk. so to think that evertime a star dies, there are going to be 2 more following him/her which would make it an epidemic, but at the same time coming from a christian stand point god knows everything and he has the final say in everything. maybe you can help me out. what do you think? is the world an epidemic based on unknown causes or is it gods plan working out?

everything is a gift

oday on this 2009 thanksgiving day i spent a lot of my time thinking and asking myself a lot of questions like what exactly am i thankful for? then i started going through a list in my head and came to a conclusion that i am thankful for everything that i have. all these things i have and all these people that are in my life are gifts from god. i like to think of everything as a gift. that last breath you just took was a gift. we aren't gauranteed anything, nothing is given freely. this might sound like a harsh note. it's not meant to be. but we take a lot of things for granted. for example, we have clothes over backs a roof over our head and food on our plate. those are just simple things, when you get more specific you have ipod's, cars, laptops, etc....in proverbs 11:24 it says "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty." i know this one of my shorter notes but be thankful for everything you have. i know i am.

P.S. i just felt the need to write this to speak my mind, and what not. this kind of goes along with the christmas deal. "christmas isn't your birthday". be happy with what you have. if you can give something instead of asking for something take advantage of it.

the mind body and soul

so as this may be 6 days late, i was trying gather my thoughts before i say what i have to say. as people, we have several options and we can make this life however we want it. the mood we wake up in tends to control how our day is going to be. well, the same goes for a new year. we have the opportunity to leave things behind us and go into a new year with big expectations and leaving all of our sorrows and pains in the past.imagine a life with no worries. only in dreams right? well these worries can be controlled by our thinking. everything is thought generated, our minds, our body, and our mood. i f we continously say that we arent going to do something and keep thinking that in our head. then over time our actions will start doing what we are thinking. so what i am getting at is if we go into this year thinking positive thoughts and leaving everything negative behind us then our actions may soon speak louder than our words. just a thought for today.

Live.Laugh.Love

after spending this first week back at school i found it to be very stressful because not only did i pick up another class but i picked up another job. total i was working 65 hours of school and work combined. i was overly stressed to the point where i thought i might as well just give up because im just going to fail anyway. but tonight a few things struck me 1.) God will never give you anything you can't handle 2.) even when you dont realize it god is always there. 3.) friends are forever

I know a lot of you have heard the first saying preached over and over again but its so true.....i was on the verge of a mental breakdown tonight. i snapped at my parents about 6 times within 3 days. i'm going to be completely honest in this note. tonight i was about to cry becasue i've had enough, but after just settling down and talking things out and realizing everything is ok, i am very relaxed now. i mean yeah im probably still doing to much work but its laid out to where i can handle it. god loves you and will never give you anything that you cant handle. i spent a lot of time this weekend just praying and thinking of how am i ever going to get through this semster. now i dont have to worry.

For the second point, this is one we all tend to fall into becasue we get in bad moods and blame god for everything thats going on. we have choices in life and if we choose to make bad choices then there will be consequences, thats just a given. but every time you do something stupid he is always there to take you back and he is always there where ever you go, so you never go through anything alone. im going to use a lot of my personal stories and a lot form this weekend just becasue i sit back and thing about it and i learned a lot this weekend. i didnt think there was hope, but by the end of sunday i felt like all my prayers have been answered and every bit of stress was just lifted off of me. your never alone.

to all of my freinds you are truly amazing, and i am sorry if i ever snapped at you or if i was rude to you in anyway. you make me who i am today, and formed me to be a better perrson and i cant thank you enough for doing so. thank you so very much for being there for me :)

i just wanted to get my thoughts out on paper

my thoughts on steroids

i believe in god. this may be really staright forward, but not like some people believe in gravity. but i really Belive in him and he is a big part of my life and everything in it. i was alwasy made to go to church, but never actually understood the whole concept of going until i was about 17. we moved from church to church a lot and i didn't really get to settle down anywhere at one specific time, so my faith was never really that strong as it is now. i don't think you can make someone believe in something that they don't believe in or don't want to believe in. it's kind of a personal experience.

when i was young my parents and grandparents bought me a lot of kids devotionals and bibles and little things like that. i never had the need for them or ever gave them the time of day to read them. i have alwasy been very independent. i never knew what i believed. i knew that there was a god but i i didn't understand some of the little things which led me to question him and then doubt myself. for example, have you ever asked yourself why things happen the way they do? or asked yourself why me? i still do that a lot and i have come to a conclusion that we aren't alwasy supposed to know the answers in life. god has a plan and he knows that it is all going to work out for us.

but anyway, i was getting way off topic. it seems like now-a-days, i may be stereo-typing here, people only have faith or go to god when something bad happens, because thats whe we need him the most. i've been there several times. so why is it that we do this? it is so easy to think that when things are good that we don't need anyone, and that everything is ok and we can do things by ourselves, but we can't. as soon as we realize that we fall so hard tot he ground. everyday of every minute, of every second we need to praise god. im not syaing im perfect and do this either. i ahve a lot of imperfections in myself. but this one way to start. being tight with god is something that has to be the top priority in our lives, and if it isn't then you have to ask yourself what am i living for?

so s i end this long and very random not that i had to do, to get some things off my mind. let me leave you with this. having any type of faith in god is enough to start a foundation to build a house on a solid rock.

7 irratoinal thoughts that keep us from moving forward

i was sitting in english class one day and the topic of exploitation arose among the class. we then began to discuss how we are exploited in life and in the work environment. instantly my mind wondered off into its own little fairytale world and i thought if we are constantly being accused of something then what else is holding us back from being the best we can actually be in life. i came up with 7 reasons why people aren't as successful as they can be:

1. If someone crticizes me, there must be something wrong with me:
this idea that we are perfect and we don't need anyone else's help needs to go out of heads adn flushed down a toilet. just because someone crticizes you doesn't mean that there is something wrong with you. it is actually a fantastic thing tio have differing opinions on something, it shows that you are different. imagine living in a world where we all thought the smae thing. it wouldn't be fun.

2. I always have to ahve other peoples aproval
you kight this one in younger age kids enetering highschool or currently in high school. approval is a drug and can run your life if you dont stop trying to please people. trying different thiungs that you like and experiencing new things is a part of growing and learning. you dont have to be good at them.

3. It's not my fault my life didn't go the way i wanted
i have bead news for you....this is your fault. if you think this way then yes it is your fault because you have it in your mind that your life is terrible. you can make your life whatever you want it to be. your thoughts control your actions and actions then become habits.

4. i wont try anything new unless i will be good at it
Many people suffer from the fact that they are afraid to fail or that things will get to hard. like i said in the last one trying different things is an experience in life and allows your body to grow and it teaches you different things.

5. I am inferior to everyone else
this is just the way you feel. you have talents and abilities that set you apart form anyone else in life. you can choose to be anything you want to be in life.you have to work on builiding up your self confidence and realizing what you are good at.

6. I was rejected therefore sopmething is wrong with me
rejection is normal in life. everyone goes through it. you are just as worthy as the bnext person who reads this.

7. If i feel happy about something, then something will go wrong
if you can make yourself happy and stay happy, then i pat you on the back. you deserve all the ahppiniess in the world. your past is your past so forget about it. do not mix today with bad memories fromt he past. wake up every morning thinking this is going to be grand day.

thought for the day

No matter where in life, you will have to deal with those who strive on drama, love to start it or keep it going. This is a simple fact of life. Thousands upon thousands of human beings of both genders love to create issues where none need be and are unnecessary if not destructive.In order to be fair I would even say that all of us at one point or the other in our life have been guilty of this. As we mature however and grow in our vanilla life we by necessity need to become aware of those tendencies in ourselves and others, and work hard to avoid this. i sat down and thought about all the possible ways to avoid these issues if you are attacked or confronted. this is what i came up with:

1.Listen politely and with an open mind to see if it is really worth arguing about
2. Walk away if you get irritated
3.Grow a tough skin and not worry about it
4. kindness always works. the more someone keeps attacking you, keep being nice. it will drive them insane.

we have all been in a situation in which we feel that we cannot control but we have just as much control as the other person with our words and our actions.

A Life worth living

we have all experienced those days where we just want to give up and give in and have no hope left in our multi cell bodies. these are the days that you just feel like breaking down and crying your heart out. I've been there. trust me. life is so much more than living from day to day. life is hard but wonderful. its like a warhead. its bitter sweet. some things in life we have a choice to ignore and toss to the curb and others we have a choice to take action on. attitude is everything. everything that nourishes you wears out but the spirit within. people can crush your well being, your heart, and your trust. but if there is one thing that people can not touch its your spirit. no matter how you feel that day your spirit will always live within you. you can’t eat enough or work enough or shop enough or laugh enough to make the emptiness within go away forever. you have to use spirit and learn to live with it. spirit is there for me. i just need to stay receptive and open to receiving it.

Life is a movie

consciously and unconsciously we live by the metaphor that life is a movie. often times we ask ourselves "is this the part when.....?" or more often times people sit back and let their lives get directed by some other person. if we let someone direct our movie, or life, as if we had no control over what was going on, then we really wouldnt get anywhere in life would we? life is in abundance of different plots. the next scene is on its way and you are the star. you get to choose what happens in the movie and who plays a major role in it. i know this note is short yet again, but its straight and to the point. are you going to run your life or are you going to let someone run it for you?

Doing what you love

i remember when i was a kid and work and play were two complete polar opposites and the idea of working then, seemed so surreal.in these ages there were 2 stages 1. when adults made you do things it was called "work" and 2. the other 80% of the time that you did what you wanted that was called "play". Now growing up everything is becoming more realisitic and the idea of working is much more in sight than before. to make ends meet we have to work to support our family and kids, but not all the time do we love what we do. it is just understood that as we come home to our parents we assume that they love their jobs. so let me clear this upin a few words. if you have to like something to do it well then the most successful people liek what they do, metaphorically speaking of course. well a simple answer to all of the young adults out there. DO WHAT YOU LOVE. simple right? doing what you love can maximize your life in many ways such as, enjoying your time more, you will have more passion for what you do, and you will have a fulfilling life. i am saying this because many people are indecisive about what they want to do with their lives and how they want to spend the rest of of their lives. well here you go. a simple answer to all your problems.

Sermon on the mound

Intro:

baseball. americas greatest past time. whoever tells you that baseball is 90% mental and 10% physical is correct because if you dont show up mentally then you have already lost the game before you started. it is a game of endurance and skill. if you dont have the braun and the toughness then go back to the dugout and let someone else take your place. this game comes down to inches between running to bases and calling balls and strikes, and you wonder why i love it so much?

Pg1:

Crack!!!!! by one swing of the bat i hit the ball and took off running to first base like a cheetah. this was and would be my last hit of my career. once i heard the ball leave the bat i knew it was going to go over the fence. i reached first base and looked and it fell 6 inches short!!!! i was very disappointed.

Let me take you back a couple of years. baseball has always been my sport. i love it. there is no other game like it. i dont think you can get a rush from any other game than baseball, when you have bases loaded and the game is tied and the count is 3-2 and your up to bat to win the game. its exhilerating. ive been playing wince i was 5 and ever since i could pick up a baseball bat. i would give anything to just be able to play again.

on top of being a hard core baseball player, i incorporate my religion in what i do best. it helps me focus and stay relaxed. i prayed before every game and said a little prayer in my head before i went up to the plate. it clears my mind, and the only thing im focused on is me and the pitcher. i believe that incorporating GOD into my daily routines has helped me immensely because it helps me realize that i dont have to leave him at home. he can go wherever i go and still play miracles in my life wherever i am at. God loves baseball.

Like God, baseball has always focused on relationships. coach to player and player to coach. it is as simple as fathers playing catch with their sons. i know this is speratic, but building a relationship with god will then tie up loose ends with any broken relationships.

we all get up in the morning and choose what pants wea re going to wear and what shirt that goes with it to make sure we look good right? at the same time we are putting on another shirt that not everyone sees on a daily basis. we put on shirts of kindness, compassion, love, and joy every morning wehn we wake up. but these shirts dont come easy and arent given to you. they have to be earned by learning how to act in this way. many people will wear 14 shirts in one day and others may wear 1 and thats ok because when all else fails wear your love shirt. that is a given for anything. it doesnt matter if you love your job, your friends, your family, or your pet you can always wear the shirt of love adn build from the bottom up. man i need write a book hahahahahha.....

speaking through my actions

Christ said we are supposed to forgive others from our heart. Forgiving is one of the few moral concepts that corrupted people are concerned about. They say they want others to forgive them, but what they really mean is, one: they want their sin to be supported instead of opposed; and two: they don't want to pay a price. So what is forgiving? forgiveness is a powerful thing that not all of us quite understand. we'll be on the phone and say "i fogrive you, but....." or " i love you, but....." some people see this as blind faith. you see forgiveness doesnt work this way. forgiveness is an act of setting something free. i had an experience with that late tonight and realized that instead of getting mad, all i needed to do was set it free. once you forgive someone then let it go and dont bring it up again. once your thoights get invaded by that action then sin rationalizes with you and it erases all moral knowledge and responsiblitiy. forgiving is not ignoring sin, its just a way of handling it without creating chaos and havoc.

livin life pt.1

when i was a kid we had a simple calculator that just had addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division signs on it. but now as i get older we are require dot have these scientific calculators and graphing calculators where if you punch in one formula it does the work for you instead of having to hand write everything. half of these people who use these calculators dont know where these numbers came from or how they did their work. in this it seems like the logical understanding is lost. where am i going with this? good question. a lot of people just repeat prayers without thinking what it means to them and hope for an answer back like a calculator. so instead of just going through the motions and doing no work, think about what you are saying and really work on it and make it good and meaningful and believe everything you are saying. we cant take prayer for granted. its one of the most powerful gifts given to us.