Inspiration in mowing the lawn

So I was mowing the lawn Monday and God showed me some things.

There's an area that got really thick and I knew there were some creepy-crawly's in there.  The only thing is I couldn't see any of them.  I was worried there was a snake in there, and I know there were spiders and bugs and all sorts of... other things.

That's when God said "I'm that way too."

I was floored.  I had to stop the mower for a few minutes and gather my senses back.

Some of you know, Brandy and I have taken a big step of faith recently.  And I've worried, because sometimes it feels like God isn't there, or isn't doing anything.  Then I read these verses.

 Jeremiah 29:13-14You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

So even though it feels like we are in exile right now, we will find God!  He will bring us back!  He will restore our fortunes!

Praise be to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!  Praise Him forever!

Written while listening to:
Set Your Sails by Future of Forestry
Waves by Resurrection Band

Work

John Piper posted a blog today and I'm going to quote part of it and then add my own comments.

"Then the real power of the encouragement came. Bridges quoted Isaiah 49:4, “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity, yet surely my right is with the Lord and my recompense with my God.”


What powerful words!  Not what  Piper or Bridges said.  No, no, the words of Isaiah.

As long as we labor, it doesn't matter if we fail, as long as we keep laboring!  I don't know about you, but this is not something my boss agrees with.  If I fail at work, I have to fix it.  Trust me, it happens a lot.

And therein lies an interesting correlation.  I have been struggling with my job because I feel like I'm not very good at it.  I've felt like it's time to move on because I'm not bringing God glory in a job that I stink in.

But it would seem that if I keep toiling, He will still reward my work and my recompense will be with Him.  I had to look up recompense.  Dictonary.com defines it thus:

1.to repay; remunerate; reward, as for service, aid, etc.

2.to pay or give compensation for; make restitution or requital for (damage, injury, or the like).

 

So I'm going to keep on keepin' on and when it is time to move on, God will move me. Because the way I see it, God's not going to reward me for success, He's going to reward me for work.

How awesome is...?

So I read through my posts of the last week or so after reflecting on my attitude this week.  I have been in a sour mood.  My last post addressed some of it (not losing weight, feeling lost in my "career", etc.).  So this post is called "How Awesome is...?" and it's going to list 10 things that I think are awesome.

How awesome is...

1.  The sun rising every morning, even when we can't see it, only to realize we are the ones in motion?
2.  The Back to the Future trilogy?
3.  God's grace?
4.  The fact that God not only doesn't give us what we deserve, but does give to us what we will never deserve?
5.  Future of Forestry's song Bold and Underlined?
6.  A child, being born knowing every sound possible to speak every language God created, only to refine it in the first few years of his or her life to speak not only one, but possibly several languages?
7.  Cheese?  I mean come on, it starts in a cow as milk and ends up one of the most delicious things you can put in your gullet...
8.  The fact that God revealed Himself to us to fallible men who were merely obedient to what He told them to do?9.  Snuggling with your kiddo when they're little and not old enough to think it's not cool?
10.  Waking up every day to serve and give and sacrifice, knowing that with a word, God will restore everything you did to serve, everything you gave and everything you sacrificed so you can do it again tomorrow?

Written while listening to:
Bold and Underlined by Future of Forestry
Did You Lose Yourself? by Future of Forestry

When all doors seem closed.

I don't know why but I feel like I'm stuck in a room with all the doors closed and I can't open them.

I can't seem to lose weight.
I can't seem to be sure of what career path to take.
I can't seem to get certain things organized no matter how hard I try.
I can't seem to control my tongue, or bad attitude recently.

I could go on, but I'll spare you the rest.  Why are the doors closed?

Revelation 3:7 says: "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens."

Only God can open the doors in the room I'm in.  And as stuffy as the room may get, as uncomfortable as I my get standing because there's no chair, only God can open a door to a new path.

And so, I wait. And praise Him.

This blog written while listening to:
Be Lifted (or Hope Rising) by David Crowder*Band
At the Cross by Glenn Kaiser

Maybe I'm overthinking it..

Just a quick blog to get something off my chest.  As some of you know, the Back to the Future movies are my favorites.

In the second one, Doc makes a big deal about Marty and Jennifer seeing their future counterparts.  But at the second they traveled through time, that would have become Future Marty and Future Jennifer's past.  So they would have known that Past Marty and Past Jennifer were there, because they were them.

So why, when the Jennifer's see each other is it a surprise?  I would think the Future Jennifer would give the Past Jennifer some advice, you know? "Don't buy such-and-such car, it's a lemon."  Or "Don't buy the kit to sell that makeup, it's a scam."

Like I said, maybe I'm over-thinking it.

God is hilarious aka When Life Gives you Lemons

So I haven't posted for a few days because I've been sitting on some things.

Most of my friends don't know this but I had a doctor's appointment Monday and was planning on talking about why I can't seem to lose any weight.  Well, I was nervous, but I was finally ready to go when Monday rolled around.  But Brandy's dad went into the hospital and I had to cancel!  I still haven't rescheduled, but I will.

I also think God is hilarious, because in my last blog post, I announced that I had decided on a career.  That was Thursday.  On Monday, when all the stuff was going on with my father in law, God started talking to me and now... well, I'm not sure.

I have a different path in mind, but I've only talked to my wife and a close friend and advisor via email about it.  I will postpone an annnouncement until I am sure.  I will say that it's a career I considered in high school that has never really gone away.

Be praying for me.  Also be praying for us because we are trying to sell the Highlander.  We love that car, it's super nice, but when we looked at the budget, that was a place we could cut some money.  Please agree with us that it will sell soon and with some money to spare to buy a cheap car until we can save some money and buy something nicer.

Sorry for the delay, back to our regular programming

I can't believe I haven't blogged for 4 days.  I'm sorry, I've just had a lot going on.

Brandy's dad found out he had a blood clot in his leg.  Yesterday morning, two pieces broke off and one piece went into each lung.  I left work early and we spent the whole day at the hospital waiting to see what would happen.  He had a surgery, came out fine and is meeting with the doctors today to do some follow-up.

My dad also has some stuff going on that some of you know about that he has requested I not talk about with anyone.  Those of you that I've asked for prayer, please keep this in mind.

So I started the new diet stuff one week ago today.  I only eat lean meat, veggies and fruit.  No bread, pasta, potatoes or rice.  I cheated twice - Thursday, I had some homemade peach cobbler my grandmother made and Friday I had some tortillas because we had Mexican and I got Carnitas.  When I weighed in yesterday, I had lost exactly 0 pounds.

That's right, 0 pounds.  I maintained.  I've tried counting calories and didn't lose.  I tried the diet my trainer recommends and didn't lose.  Something must be wrong with me.  I want to give up but I don't want to set that example for my family, to just give up when something is really hard.

But aside from giving up, what can I do?  When you try different things and nothing works, what's left? 

I'm also considering a major decision right now so some prayer would be great.  It's a recent development and I haven't even gotten to really talk with Brandy about it so I won't go into any detail.

Thanks for reading.