Who's In Your Corner??

OK, so a friend of mine used to be a professional mma cage fighter.  And I mean he was the real deal!!  This was his full time job.  His career!!!  He was on a very strict 10,000 calorie PER DAY diet.  Read that again, 10,000 calories PER DAY!!!!  How would your nutritionist feel about that????  He would eat and train from 6am to 10pm Monday - Friday and on Saturday and Sunday he would watch 6 hours of film of his next opponent!!  He was on his way up in the fighting world when he was dealt a devastating blow!!!  Type 1 diabetes.  He felt like it was the end of the world for him.  He lost the only livelihood that he had ever known.  He was obviously forced to quit fighting and he lost everything.  Married with young children, it was a catastrophe for him.  I'm happy to say that this young man is getting back on his feet and has found a profession that he loves and will do very well in.  During his fights, he always had his trainer in his corner.  I can only imagine some of the advice he gave him between rounds.  One thing that he told me was that when he was in his corner between rounds, while his trainer was talking and telling him what to do, all he would do is listen and breath.  He would never say a word.  Hold on to that.  All he would do is listen and then do exactly what his trainer told him to do.  How many times in this fight that we call life do we just need to listen, not say a word and do exactly what our "trainer" tells us to do?  I guess that depends on who is in our corner.  Can I venture out here and suggest that it's God who is always in our corner??  No matter what life is throwing at us, He is there.  God is always in our corner, working on our behalf.  Through the trials that we go through on a daily basis, our Heavenly Father is there.  ALWAYS.  When life deals us the uppercuts, the devastating left hook, the repeated jabs right in the heart, He is there.  He loves us so much and wants to see us through the good times and the bad but most of us just refuse to go to our corner, listen, breath and do exactly what He says!!  When life wrestles us to the ground and just seems to have no mercy, God is there to keep us going.  But we have to TRUST Him.  When it's the toughest of tough times or the best of the best, God is there.  I LOVE that about Him.  You see, no matter what troubles I have in this life, I know that this is not my permanent home.  This is but a season.  Our home, for those of us who call Him our Savior, is eternity with Him.  An eternity with no more tears, no more pain and no more fear!!  How awesome is it that the God of the Universe, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, The One who placed the stars in the sky wants to be in YOUR corner and mine???  I could ramble on and on but I couldn't begin to tell you how much that means to me!!  So sit back and think just a little while, who is it that's in YOUR corner???

Running??? Are you Serious??????

Ok so I have no idea what is going on here.  I'm the guy who, every time my friends talk about running so many miles or running marathons or 1/2 marathons, will immediately speak up and say, "have fun man, but I have absolutely no interest in running."  I've never enjoyed even the thought of running.  My thoughts were: "Why would I want to run with no destination?"  or "Why run if you're not being chased??"  HaHa or countless other reasons why there was no way in any way, shape or form that I had any desire to run.  So that brings me to today.  Here in a few hours, after a possible short Sunday afternoon nap and letting lunch settle, what is Mr. Goofball here going to do????  I'm going running!!  I have no idea why I've felt the drive to run and I have no idea where it came from but we've mapped out our route through the subdivision, our cool down walk and we're ready.  We do plan on waiting until the cover of dark as not to scare the neighbors with all the ugly, pained faces we will no doubt be making!!!  HAHA!!  Actually, maybe that makes it a better idea to run during the day!!!  LOL!!!  I'm not going to tell stories on here and say that I'm committing to running every day or 3 times per week or anything like that.  All I'm saying is that we'll see what happens!!  Maybe I'll run/walk 1/2 the route, get tired, come home and not run again, who knows???  Maybe I'll love it and start running regularly but whichever it is, I'm sure I'll keep it posted!!! 

We all fall short...............

This has been a tough few days!!  My faith and integrity were put in question this week by someone who really has no idea who I am, about a situation that was twisted and taken completely out of context.  Hurt??  Yes, it hurt really bad.  I went through a number of emotions but mostly, it REALLY hurt.  So as I sit and reflect on what happened I realize, even more than before, that we ALL fall short of God's original plan for us!!  We ALL sin and we ALL need forgiveness.  While the person did not know the entire situation, they reacted with the information that they had.  They had that information, not maliciously, but by not being involved with the entire situation, but only a small part.  At first was I mad??  Yes.  Furious??  You bet!!  But like I said before, it mostly hurt.  It hurt because if this person really knew me, they may have chosen to calmly talk about the situation instead of a violent lashing out!  If they really knew me, maybe they would have known that there was more than meets the eye in this situation.  I know that I make mistakes, I miss the mark, I fall short often!!  I know this and I'm thankful that Jesus took all of my sin and yours upon his shoulders on the cross.  I'm thankful for everything that God has given me.  I'm thankful for my wife, my beautiful little girls and I'm VERY thankful that God loves me and He loves you even though we ALL fall short........................

Prayer...........................How would you like to be ignored????

So a very good friend of mine gave me a great analogy on prayer a while back and it really stuck.  Let me try to set this up.  God is ALWAYS with us.  OK, let me say that again.  God is ALWAYS with us.  Even when it seems that He isn't, even at times when maybe you're doing something that you just might not prefer Him to see you, He is there.  OK??  Point made??  He's there.  Now that we have that established, let me propose a hypothetical situation.  Suppose you were with someone that you love with all your heart constantly and I mean ALWAYS.  24/7, day and night, you went everywhere with them, in their car, to their job, breakfast, lunch and dinner!!  Am I being clear enough??  So let me ask you this.  What if, even though you were with this person all the time, this person that you LOVE with every bit of your heart, they only took time to talk to you on Sunday mornings, sometimes before their meals and once in a while at night before they went to bed?  This person just forgets that you even exist all the rest of their time!!  How would that feel?  You see, God is always there with you and He wants a relationship with you.  Not just for us to sing to Him and pray to Him a little at church.  Not just the occasional before dinner prayer.  God wants to be part of our lives, not only that, He wants to be the center of our lives!!  Doesn't He deserve that??  My very favorite verse in the Bible is Philippians 4:6. In the Living Bible it reads "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers."  Do you see that?  PRAY about EVERYTHING.  See God doesn't want us to worry.  We don't add one hour to our lives by worrying.  He wants us to hand it all over to Him and let him take care of it but we have to TRUST in Him that He will take care of our needs.  Not always on our time but on His.  He wants what is very best for us and He wants a loving and caring relationship with us.  So, really, how would YOU like being ignored????

Who are YOU??

This is my first ever blog post and may not make a whole lot of sense but just let me ramble.  I read the Bible.  I love God.  I follow Jesus and I won't apologize if that bothers you.  I'm the husband to a beautiful woman and I have two little girls who I love with all my heart.  I am a member of First Christian Church in Union, MO.  I serve on our worship team and it is an honor to me that I'm allowed to do so.  I love singing, I love attempting (LOL) to play guitar!!  I pray a LOT.  A very good friend of mine gave me a really good analogy on prayer, but I'll save that for my next post.  I love fishing when I get time.  I used to be pretty good at golf but no longer have the time to play as much but I have a great time when I'm able.  I am a HUGE Green Bay Packers fan. Got the tattoo to prove it!!  HAHA!!!  My wife may not believe this but when I'm at home alone, I actually enjoy doing laundry and even dishes sometimes, it relaxes me.  I've been in the car business for 11 years and I'm the sales manager at a Ford dealership.  I love my Grandmother.  She is such an interesting person and for too long I took her for granted.  Sometimes I beat myself up for not spending enough time with her and I need to make that a priority before it's too late.  I lost my other Grandmother a couple years ago and I truly regret not spending more time with her.  I have a lot of really good friends.  Some of my friends, I really look up to.  I'm sure that some of those that I look up to are reading this right now and if that's the case, you mean more to me than you know.  You afford me opportunities that I truly appreciate and I intend on making the most of those opportunities and using my platform to serve God the very best that I can!!!  You know who you are.  I love music.  I REALLY love music.  All kinds.  I love classical music but really only when seeing it performed live.  I like some country music, 70's and 80's rock, but my favorite music is contemporary Christian music.  I took guitar lessons for a while and I wish that I still had time to take them.  I really love playing my guitars when I have time.  I really need to MAKE time but it's tough.  My first love is vocal music though.  I had a full scholarship for vocal music and really did well with it but I was young and goofed it off.  I was going to be a music teacher.  Sometimes I beat myself up about not staying the course but I truly believe that God had other plans for me, at least at that time in my life.  I probably wouldn't have met my wife and my life would be completely different than it is.  I could really ramble on and on and on but I'm going to cut this one short.  So, there it is, my first post.  There will be more, many more I'm sure.  Did I mention that I love God??  Well, yes I did, but I can't say it enough!!!   By the way, who are YOU???