To Catch a Train

We've all seen that famous scene in like every old western movie. The hero, to save the damsel in distress that was just kidnaped by the bad guy, ride his galliant steed and catches the train. Just in time to jump from his horse to the cabbose.

Now, what would have changed if the hero would have waited by at the next check point and as the train sped by, just jumpped and tried to land on the Train? I don't know about what is going through your head right now, but I think that certian scene wouldn't make it to print because it would have failed.

When you are going the same speed as the train, it is easier to jump on.

Too often new believers tend to jump when they are not ready, which usually leads to a huge fall. The Holy Spirit is moving at a great speed and we just can't jump on, we have to be going the same speed before we can leap.

Lately I have been looking at the small things in my walk. I have started reading and studying a lot more. I want to be going at full speed so that when I jump, I can land on what I am suposed to and not end in tragedy.

Out of the Valley

In our walks with Christ we tend to find ourselves on mountians or in valleys (or somewhere in between). When we are on those mountians, we feel that we are as colse to God as we can get while on this side of eternity. And when we are in those valleys, we feel so far away that we might not ever get picked back up.

Now over the past couple of weeks I have been in a very deep valley. I have felt so distant from God. And no matter what I tried or how hard I climbed, I could never find myself on the upward slope of the next mountian.

This past weekend, I sought the cross and I clung to it. And now I think that I am finaly on an upward climb, and it feels great. I just hope that I don't stall out on a ledge. I want to make it to the peak of this one.Something is about to happen.

Wisdom From Hitch

So I am alone on another weekend, but hey I am used to it. So what else would I do with my alone time but watch movies.

I was watching Hitch. Will Smith plays a match maker who gets this nerdy guy and this actress together. Well in his montelogue athe the very beging of the movie, Hitch says something that we can all learn from.

"Life is not about the number of breaths we take, it's about the moments that take our breath away."

That is a great line. Let us really break that one down.

Breathing is an involuntaty action that we just do, we don't have to think to ourselves "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out". Too often, we tend to concentrate on those small things that happen to us (that we really have just as much control over as out breathing). We focus on what we should have done to avoid it, what might have been, and how to fix the whole thing. But when we focus on the small things, we miss those things that take our breath away, we miss the big things.

This weekend I was supposed to be in Dallas at the Passion Conference. So many little things came about to keep me from being there. And I have been focusing on the small things about it. "If I would have only done this" or "If I hadn't done that". I was focusing so much on the small things, I think that I have missed that moment that was meant to take my breath away. I know that there is still tomorrow, but I know now to stop focusing on the things that I can't control and to look for why I am here.

DON"T FOCUS ON THE SMALL THINGS, GO AFTER THE BIG ONES!

Its All About Perspective

So when I went to Greece, my team and I visited the Acropolis. On top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon. Well I handed my camera to Anna and asked her to take my picture. From where I was and the angle of the camera, the parthenon looks so big.

Well Zeb then asked me to take his picture. From where he was standing and the angle of the camera, the parthenon look small (almost like he is about to push it over).

It is all about perspective!

When we start to look at our spiritual leaders, we tend to think that their faith is so big. That they have the closest relationship with God, and that their prayer life is incredible. But maybe it isn't that theirs is as big as we think, but maybe it is that ours is so small. When we start comparing ourselves to others, we always tend to find something that we aren't doing as well.
I want my faith to withstand comparison. I don't want to be small spiritually.

Prayer Request: Things are About to Blow

In just over six months I graduate for the University of Arkansas at Monticello. I will be a college graduate. So what, may you ask, is the problem?

I have no clue what I am going to do after this time of my life is over.

I know that God has something huge for me. And I am ready to go to where ever he is calling me, but the thing is I have no clue where I am headed.

The fall of 2004 was when I got to Monticello. There is no doubt that this is where God wanted me, and he has made that apparently clear. But he has also made it clear that I do not need to stay here.

These last few months I have been trying to figure out what God has for me next. Where do I go? What am I going to do when I get there? How am I going to get there? These are the questions that I can't seem to get any more light on. There are many opportunities, but there can only be one descision.

Last night might have been the start of something huge. At first I tried to ignore it, but the more that I wrap it around my brain, the more that I think that it is a huge possibility. We are on the verge of something huge, and I want to be right in the middle of it when it happens.

I might be going to BOSTON.

Pray for me, Travis, Jack, Karen and Micheal. Pray that God will make it apparently clear what we are to do about this. Pray that if it's not us, that God will raise up those who are supposed to go. And more than anything, pray that God will prepare the hearts of those in Boston for whoever he sents.

Boston get Ready!

We Need to Get Our Passion Back

Passion- any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling

Man can we get passionate at football games. When our team scores a touchdown, we scream and holler. When the refs call bad calls on our team, we usually start yelling at them because they didn’t see what we saw. When our tam gets behind, it takes all that we have to not get down on the field to play ourselves. And I can’t even begin to explain that felling that you get when your team wins the game that they weren’t supposed to win. All this for a football game, that, in three years, will have no significance.

Why aren’t we this passionate about the works of God. Why do we stay silent when someone makes a life change? Why, when the spirit moves us, can we not lift our hands and shout for what God is doing in our life? How can we just sit back and watch and not want to join in?

We need to reevaluate what our passions are. We need to get out of the “I have to” mind set and get in to the “I get to” mind set. In a schedule centered society we need to break the mold and start to do things that we want to do. Because it means so much more to someone when you get to give them a gift than when you have to give them a gift.

GET PASSIONATE!!!

Sold Out For Real?

The last time I was on a high dive, I was scared out of my mind. I was in Scropenaria, Greece and I was on a plank 14 feet above the Agean Sea. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. With my knees buckling I had a descision to make,

Was I complety sold on the Idea of jumping, because once I jumpped, I was going in.

I am ready to see a change on this campus. I am ready to see a banner fly high:

"ONE Race, ONE King, ONE Kingdom"

In order for this to work, everyone has to be completely sold out for the idea. Just saying it and not doing anything about it won't change anything. But more that doing something, we have to change ourselves and be willing for the plunge.

The thing is we can not jump and then expect not to land. Once we take off, its final (and there is no going back). To unify this campus we all have to be willing to change and we all have to be completely sold out to jump. And the reward is so worth the fall.

After finaly jumping off that plank and landing in the water I was so refreshed. The water was nice and cool after a long day of work. I was sold out for what I was going to recieve from it.

I am sold out for this campus. The question is:

WHO WILL JOIN ME IN THIS JUMP?