no complaints here

Too often we have more faith in the way things are done than in the One who does them.

How much more perfect can you say this idea? I could apply this to so many things in my life right now. The One has taken me to the mountain tops as well as the valleys. A wise friend reminds me often that we need to be faithful to the process....and this is just another way to say that very thing.

I am so excited about where my life is right now. I'm happy, healthy, surrounded by incredible friends and family, dutifully employed (if that makes sense) and in love with life. Over the next few months, some things in my life will be changing and that gets me even more excited.....a good friend's wedding, a big move, new opportunities on the horizon, living debt free....to name a few!

I haven't blogged in a long time but I think of things to write on my blog almost every single day. Thinking and putting those thoughts into words are two very different things. For me, thinking is far more easy.

Come along for an exciting ride!

what is your legacy?

A recent reading of a blog inspired this post. Sometimes I am so drawn in to a blog that I want to scream it's message from the rooftop and make everyone read it for themselves. But since that is impossible, I figured I would just blog about it myself. 

This topic has come up in conversation between friends and I, at my office, in several Sunday sermons and many other places. Perhaps this is God's way of telling me it's something worth pondering.  

What is your legacy? What does that even mean? Webster defines "legacy" as: anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.  But does that definition really encompass the true depth of the question? Who will be your legacy? What will be your legacy? What will people say about you when you're gone from this world? Who has made you who you are? Who do you give credit to for the things/experiences in your life? What moment in your life do you remember as the most dramatic, life-changing event? What made it this way?

I have to agree with the author from the blog below. It's the people and relationships in my life that have made me the proudest. And it's these people who I want to gather and speak of the good things when they celebrate my life during my passing. Throw a huge party, invite everyone I've ever known and have a good time. Don't mourn my passing but celebrate my life, because after all, life really is a gift.

Please take a minute and read the post below. I've linked the original post below this text in case you wish to follow it on your own. I hope you benefit from his writing as much as I have.

Enjoy!

Someday I'm gonna die. I'm gonna leave this earth for good and head off to somewhere better and sweeter. This may sound a little strange, but sometimes I think a little bit about death. I guess stranger though, is that I think about my funeral. I'm not much of a funeral-type. I suppose no one really is, but if hospitals are difficult for me, imagine funerals. I can't even fathom working at a funeral home. I've heard people talk about being there for people when they need it most. I can get behind that, just don't expect me to sign-up for it anytime soon. Then again, I am working toward pastor hood someday, so I may as well get used to it. I digress...

There was this scene in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn or maybe Disney's "Tom & Huck" where one of the boys fakes their death and then sits in a perch up above the ceiling and witnesses their funeral through a crack in the wall. They're eating up all the sweet things people are saying about them. That scene always stuck with me. I don't daydream about my funeral for the same reason that those riffraffs did though. I just picture myself in the same situation. I'm in some spot up above (heaven?) and I can look down and see everything. More importantly though, I can see everyone. And that's why I enjoy this daydream. You see, I see something in this room that makes me happier than just about anything. Maybe not happy...but a deep, deep contentment. I see everyone who's ever played a role in my life, all in one room together.

I see my family circled around, laughing at that time I missed the bus and sat at the bus stop for 3 hours thinking it was just running a little late that day. I see my best friends since childhood. Andy and Brett, exchanging southern accents with my best friends from Eastern Kentucky, Michael and Josh. I see my freshman year roommate, Matt, free-styling for my junior-year boys, Adam, Daniel and Zach. I see all my high school boys dishing out our old crazy encounters with the current group of crazy high school boys I minister to. I see my current mentor and wise counsel, Taido, lost in deep theological conversation with my previous mentors, Stephen and PJ. Actually, they're all probably laughing about some SNL skit involving a few dudes on a boat, but don't tell anyone that. I see my wife with all of her best girl friends, together at last, planning a Sex and the City night at her place. In the middle of all of this, I see my legacy. These people. These friends.

If there's on thing I'm "proud" about, it's these people and the relationships we share. More than anything else in this world, I value relationships. My relationship with my Maker. My relationship with my love. My relationship with my family. My relationship with my friends. These are the people that make me me.

I just got back a few days ago from a Colorado ski trip in the Rockies with our high school ministry. Somehow I convinced my dear friend Zach to come down from Chicago to join me on the trip. (He's actually unemployed...so it really wasn't that hard!) Zach jumped in immediately and began forming friendships one-by-one with these students. By the end of the week, they were asking for him to move to Arkansas. We had our first meeting with the students since the trip last night and I cannot express to you the joy these students had in seeing Zach one more time. Zach was actually supposed to leave town last night. But with the students begging for him to stay a few more days (and me doing a little pleading myself!!), Zach decided to stay a little while longer. Sure he'll get something great out a little more time in the Natural State. But the real winner is me and those that get to experience a little more of him. That's just it. That's everything.

Here's the thing: Zach and the rest of the people that God has put around me are my legacy. They're all I got. Even more, they're all I could want. I get no more joy than watching my friends enjoy each other. Nothing satisfies me more than watching my family happy together, you know...really happy. I love that God made me that way. I love that God has blessed me with such good people. I can only pray that you have half of what I've had. It'll be more than enough. It'll be everything.

read for yourself

life....twists and turns

It's been a while since I last posted. The weather has officially turned from "cold" to SPRING and for some reason, I got inspired to post today.

One of my best friends in the entire world, found out Monday that she's without a job. For the last 17 months she's been out on her own, with no family or friends near (geographically). This has completely turned her world, as she knew it, upside down. She doesn't know where to go, what to do or what is next for her life. As we talked Monday, I was reminded of this great "proverb" and thought I'd share. With an unstable economy and jobs running scarce, the only thing we have is the hope offered in Christ. When everything else is gone or fails us, He will be the only thing that remains.

'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did. When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.'

"The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

What are you grasping onto? What has taken hold of your life? If everything important was taken, where would you go and who would you turn to?

I just came across this incredible article on Relevant Magazine's Web site. It struck a cord with me and perhaps it will do the same for you. Webster defines "love" as: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

The author (Jim Palmer) paints such a clear picture of what we were truly made for.  Love is an act and not a thing. Enjoy!

Define love. What exactly is it? Is love a thing? Can you hold it in your hands? Is it an emotion that comes and goes?

Is love that dreamy romantic state that intoxicates you? Is love something you fall into, and out of?

We know for sure that love is the greatest single need and desire of humankind. Everyone wants and seeks love. Love is considered the highest expression of humanity, religion and spirituality. Love has the power to heal, set people free, make whole and put one at deep peace and joy. There is only one force proven to be more powerful than hate--love. Love has inspired the greatest works for art and motivated the greatest movements of compassion and justice. Pierre Teilhard Chardin said, "Someday, after we have mastered the wind, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness the energies of love. And then, for the second time in the history of the human race, we will have discovered fire."

And yet you can't define love. Try as you may, but then at the end of your definition you must footnote an acknowledgement that love is deeper and wider than whatever you came up with. You're getting closer if you say love is like God. Love is the Ultimate Reality. You can't define God or love, but if you could, you would be bumping into the same thing. In fact, the Bible says, "God is love," which is why I capitalize the word (Love) when referring to it in this sense. Those three words radically changed my understanding of God. 

To read the rest of the article, go here.

who were you meant to be?

God doesn't give you the people you want,

He gives you the people you need....

to help you, to hurt you, to leave you, to love you

and to make you into the person you were meant to be.

This could not be more true.  Sometimes I have to read this several times before it actually sets in.  The people in our lives make us who we are today and who we're meant to be.  Thank you Jesus for giving us family, friends and everyone in-between.

Obsessed with today....

Today was a glorious day.  

Those five words do not give today a very accurate description but it's all I could come up with.  Waking up for church, hearing an incredible sermon, enjoying a relaxing morning, spending 45 quality minutes walking on the Trinity Trail alone (with the exception of my iPod), sharing a glass of ice tea at Starbucks followed by a football game.  

My walk on the Trinity Trail this afternoon was INCREDIBLE! I spent 45 minutes outside in the 70 degree weather on the first day of February with no interruptions.  I cranked the volume on my iPod (Mamma Mia filled my ears) and since the walkers were few and far between today, I sang along while walking.  'Dancing Queen' really moved me today! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and I had nowhere I had to be at that moment.  The whole way home, I was smiling ear to ear.  

Thank you Lord for giving us warm sunshine, relaxing weekends and healthy bodies to be outside and enjoy days like today. Amen!

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. 

-John Piper

I have...

I found this on another blog and thought it was interesting enough to post on my blog.  The object is to bold all of the things I have done.  It's interesting to see what I've done compared to those things I haven't done.

Started your own blog

Slept under the stars

Played in a band

Visited Hawaii

Watched a meteor shower

Given more than you can afford to charity

Been to Disneyland/world

Climbed a mountain

Held a praying mantis

Sang a solo

Bungee jumped

Visited Paris

Watched a lightning storm at sea

Taught yourself an art from scratch

Adopted a child

Had food poisoning

Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

Seen the Mona Lisa in France

Slept on an overnight train

Had a pillow fight

Hitchhiked

Taken a sick day when you're not ill

Built a snow fort

Held a lamb

Gone skinny dipping

Been to a Broadway show in NY

Ran a marathon

Been in three states at once

Ridden in a gondola in Venice

Seen a total eclipse

Watched a sunrise or sunset

Hit a home run

Been on a cruise

Seen Niagra Falls in person

Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

Seen an Amish community

Taught yourself a new language

Had enough money to be truly satisfied

Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

Gone rock climbing

Seen Michaelangelo's David

Sung karaoke

Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

Visited Africa

Walked on a beach by moonlight

Been transported in an ambulance

Had your portrait painted

Gone deep sea fishing

Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

Kissed in the rain

Played in the mud

Been to Grace Kelley's grave in Monaco

Gone to a drive-in theater

Been in a movie

Visited the Great Wall of China

Started a business

Taken a martial arts class

Swam in the Mediterranean Sea

Visited Russia

Served at a soup kitchen

Sold Girl Scout cookies

Gone whale watching

Gotten flowers for no reason

Donated blood, platelets or plasma

Gone sky diving

Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

Bounced a check

Saved a favorite childhood toy

Visited the Lincoln Memorial

Eaten Caviar

Pieced a quilt

Stood in Times Squares

Toured the Everglades

Been fired from a job

Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

Broken a bone

Been on a speeding motorcycle

Seen the Grand Canyon in person

Published a book

Visited the Vatican

Bought a brand new car

Walked in Jerusalem

Had your picture in the newspaper

Read the entire Bible

Visited the White House

Killed and prepared my own meat

Had chickenpox

Saved someone's life

Sat on a jury

Met someone famous

Joined a book club

Lost a loved one

Had a baby

Seen the Alamo in person

Swam in the Great Salt Lake

Been involved in a law suit

Owned a cell phone

Been stung by a bee

Not sure I would go as far as to say that I wish I had done more of these things.  Some are not favorable and some aren't really a big deal.  But, I do believe experiences like those listed above make us the unique humans we are. I feel I could bold a fair amount of experiences considering I've only had 25 years.  Here's to much more "bolding"...