Sometimes You Just Want To Know You Exist

There are days when I feel like I am sitting on top of the world. Those days are great because I know that I surrounded with people who love me and people who I love back. Those are the days that I know I am doing something right and doing it good, and people's lives are impacted because of it. Then there are days that I feel like I am in a sea of people and I am drowning in the middle of it and no one sees me. Those are the days that I struggle with who I am and what my place in the world is. I don't feel real and I struggle to find signs that I even exist. I was thinking about this today and I was wondering if I have told the people who surround me that they matter to me and because of their existence my life has been impacted for the better. God used me to speak to friend some words they needed to hear recently. I thought that was awesome, not that He used me, but that He cared enough about that person and their existence to remind them that He did indeed know where they were in life, and to speak a word of encouragement into their lives that they really needed. If you haven't let someone (loved one, friend, the mail man...) know that they exist in a while, do it soon--they just might need to hear it.

Leaving My Footprint

I am filling out my 501c3 paperwork right now. Over the past couple of weeks I have been doing some vision casting and most of my free time has been spent thinking about how I can make the biggest footprint possible in the lives of people that need to be reached. I have been looking far off into the future thinking of ways to be able to do this. It hit me really hard today that I have been taking the wrong approach. The wrong approach in a couple of ways. First off by spending so much time thinking about the future I was letting the present slip by me unaffected and unchanged. I was working on plans for a time that may not ever come and allowing the time that I had been blessed to be able to see get away from me without making a difference in it while it was here. In thinking about the future I had taken the goals and sense of urgency that God has placed in me and run way ahead of Him. He gave me the calling to move in it now and not think of how it can be used later on a broader scale. My part of the vision casting process with God is to follow directions; it is to follow the vision in the direction that it was cast and not to offer suggestions on how it to be cast or where it should be cast. My calling from Christ is to be obedient and to move when I am empowered and not before. I think God's people would be better suited concentrating on obedience than on some of the other things that has taken God and the vision He has given us and pushed them off to the side. Consider me spanked ;)

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

A Golden Anniversary and a Flood of Memories

I am not big on family get-togethers. I love my family undoubtedly, but I just don't like huge crowds of extended family in the same place together at one time. I enjoy while I am there but it is a battle to get there. Well anyway, let me get to the point of the post: Last night I had the priviledge of escorting my mother to her aunt's and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party. It was really a great night. The food was awesome, the venue was great and seeing all the people there was interesting. I had not seen some of my mom's (well I guess they are mine as well) cousins and aunts and uncles in years. It was nice to see them still be able to get out on the dance floor like I remember them doing when I was still in grammar school. They might be a little lees mobile, a little more hard of hearing but they still live in my imagination as they did when I was still a kid--full of life. What made me sad though was that my grandparents weren't here with us to join the celebration. Both of them have already gone to be with God in heaven. But it made me sad to not see them on the dance floor or enjoying the mariachis in the beginning part of the evening. Both of them would have enjoyed it--it was completely their style. I could feel them there diefinitely one short part of the evening when the mariachis played Volver, Volver--it was my grandfather's favorite song. It was a tough part for a lot of us. I think I even saw my uncle crying. Here a video from way back in the day of the Godfather of Rancheras singing the song. Enjoy! I know I will always enjoy it.




Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Books, Their Covers, and Judging Them

Some of my friends and I were having a conversation about the way we wished we looked. The conversation turned to the impressions that we gave to people when we first met them. One of my friends said “you should never judge a book by its cover.” That is a very idealistic and true statement. We should never judge a person by just the way they look. But is that not what we have been taught to do? Doesn’t come in handy sometimes? I mean simply crossing the street because someone is from a different ethnic background as you, maybe isn’t the best or nicest thing to do. But let’s just say that the person you wanted to avoid by crossing the street was carrying a knife. Absolutely judge that book and cross the street. Not all of our life situations are that extreme. I know I have been judged to quickly and have been completely taken the wrong way. I used to be a manager for a very large company. Most of the time when I was at work, especially if was taking over a new facility, I was all business. I am a big guy, have a loud voice and I can be intimidating sometimes. On a first glance or during a first encounter depending on the situation I can be quickly taken as a complete jerk, a hard nosed, no fun guy. When it came down to business I was all about the business and accomplishing goals, that’s what made me good. What separated me from most of the other good leaders that I worked with is that I cared about my associates beyond their eight hours they worked for me. It was not uncommon for me to take someone into my office to just chat. I checked in with them and how their lives were going outside of the job. Not because I was nosy but I understood that their lives at work and outside of work affect each other. Someone has a bad day at home, they come in to work and take it out on our customers. Someone has a bad day at work they go home and kick the dog. It was important for me to teach my associates the balance that I had learned. Some of the associates couldn’t believe I was interested because no one had ever expressed an interest in their lives before. I wasn’t really a jerk as I was a good boss and leader. I guess I said all this to say that some books need to be judged, they need to get that quick once over and be categorized quickly. Once we have judged it by its cover we also need to commit to taking the time to give it an in depth look to see if it can add something to our lives.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing.
Mike

One of These Days

One of these days… This statement is usually followed by something that we wished would happen in the future. Or it is usually followed by something that we have always wanted or needed to do but do not have the time or the resources to get it accomplished. I heard this song today for the first time. I have listened to it on the radio several times before but today is the first day that I actually heard it. One of these days is an awesome statement that can bring about excitement and the thrill of anticipation if it is applied to something positive or dare I say amazing. Just think about it Christ is going to return for us one of these days! I put some thought into this for a few minutes and thought of things that one of these days could be used in a positive connotation to bring out the excitement in me.

One of these days…
My Savior is going to come back for me, If I don’t get to heaven before then.
All the trials I am going through right now are going to turn into victories.
All the promises that God has spoken over my family and I are going to be fulfilled.
This body I am living in is going to be healed just like the bible says it is.
I am going to see my reflection in the mirror and see myself as being made in God’s image.
I am not going to worry about stigma or stereotypes; the only banner I will wear is Love.
One of these days… powerful words after all.

Be Blessed and Be Blessing!
Mike

Vision Casting and Measuring Up

I am writing my 501c3 proposal right now. I have started this a long time ago but put in on the shelf for a while. I am reading now what I had written almost a year ago when I started the process. It was a bold vision, to say the least. But I find myself editing it. Not scaling back the vision but pulling it back in so I can cast it out further. I am writing and even bigger objective for the organization. All the while I am typing I am asking God and myself if I can really be the vessel for God to use to get this all accomplished? Can I measure up to the words on the paper? I am afraid to say no because that feeds my fleshly doubt. I am a little leery to say yes because I don't want to write checks my faith can't cash. Looking at this post I see a lot of "I's" in the sentences. That's the problem. "I" needs to be taken out of the equation. "Me" or "My" shouldn't be anywhere near it either. It is all about Him. God's glory depends on the success of what He has called me and this organization to do. All we have to do is be open to hear Him and to be led by Him. I can vision cast without having to worry about measuring up, that's His job.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

President's Prayer

Today in history was the landing on the beaches of Normandie, June 6, 1944. This was FDR's address to the people of the United States. He led the nation in a prayer for the troops. Here is a video with the prayer as a soundtrack.



This is a president that had the heart of the nation and focused his heart on speaking to God. From what it appears he doesn't use his religion as a publicity or approval ratings attracter. He is not also afraid of his religion and not afraid to practice it in front of the country. There is so much that the president now could learn from this man. I don't want to be political at all, but I could not help but draw the comparison between the two and the tempestuous times they both served in.

Be a Blessed and Be a Blessing.
Mike

Jumping Off the Bridge

This isn't a picture of me jumping off this bridge in Yosemite, I found it online. It could have been me though. I jumped off a bridge like this when I looked to be about this boy's age. I think the bridge I jumped off of was Stoneman. It just brought back so many memories of being a kid. I would never jump off a bridge now. It seems dangerous (not to mention stupid!). The memories though ministered to me as they came flooding back.

I jumped off the bridge then because I wasn't afraid of the water. I wasn't worried about getting hurt because I had seen my sister and cousin do it first. It all boils down though to the fear factor. There was no fear in me about the jump. I am thinking back now to the many things in my life that have kept me on the bridge. Fear of rejection. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of falling. Fear of jumping in. Fear of the unknown.
As kids we have such a unique gift that seems to diminish as we get older. That is the gift of fearlessness. Not so much that we are super brave, but because we are ignorant to all the risk factors that are involved in our decisions and actions. We see and we do. We hear, we trust and we obey. There was no weighing of pros and cons, no risk analysis.
I want that gift back. As I have been on my discipleship walk with Christ, I have abandoned my need to be respected and taken seriously. I want to be childlike. I want to see the actions and character of Christ and imitate them. I want to hear Christ, to trust Him, and to obey Him. I want to be the kid jumping off the bridge of religion into the flowing river of relationship with Christ and true discipleship and live for the excitment of it, the thrill of it. The thrill of trusting and allowing myself to be led and directed.

Be Blessed and Be a Child again!
Mikey

Kidney Donor Reality Show

This has got to be the sickest hoax I have ever seen. What a low we have reached in the world of reality television!

I couldn't get the player to play right in here so here is the link to the page where I read about it. The producers had someone faked that she was dying of brain cancer and had her pick 3 applicants from 25 of who would get her kidney when she passed away. She had to interview the applicants' family and friends and the whole works.

My mom and my friend's mom both need kidneys. This is sickening.

Mike