The Fog

Some days I feel like I am maneuvering through the fog. I don't know where I am going, the road may seem familiar, but I cannot be certain for sure if it is. Though I may have been down the road before I still move apprehensively not knowing if something new will be in my path. I travel uncertain of what lies in the whiteness that is in front of me, separating me from my destination. The blessing in moving through the fog is that I am moving at all. That I still get up and move through the fog without having to fight myself is a miracle in itself. That is progress in my discipleship walk, I think. Discipleship is allowing yourself to be led blindly to someone else's purpose for your life, at least the faith part is. Thank God for foggy days and the revelation that comes with them.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike

Loving the Right Way

I was reading in Philippians chapter one this morning about loving each other. In The Message version of verses 9-11 it says it so well that I am sure I will be thinking about it all morning.

9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

You know it is great to love people and to be all lovey and stuff like that in church, but is it sincere or is it the sentimental gush that Paul mentions here. I understand what it is saying to use your head and to test your feelings so that the love I share is sincere. Reading that this morning has me going mentally through each of my relationships with people and testing my feelings. Is my love for that person sincere or is it a basket full of sentimental gush? It is truly my heart's desire to be able to say that I love people sincerely and intelligently. I want to be able to say that not only do I love much, but I love well.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Walking Through Philippians

I am reading through the book of Philippians tonight. I have read through this book times before, but tonight there is just so much that is jumping out at. I love how faithful God is. It always seems that I am in a spot in my life where I am crying out for a good word of comfort or direction and He always takes me to His word and gives it to me. I mean I can have read the passage over and over and over again a hundred times before and then read it when He leads me and it is like I am reading it for the first time thinking "I didn't know this is what it said!" He really is faithful to meet me right where I am at.

One of my favorite verses is in the first chapter of Philippians. 1:6 (NLT) "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." I like it in The Message version as well: "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. "

I like the verse in the NLT because it uses the word "finally." The word finally, to me, represents the fact there was a process involved in the undertaking of some task that had to be completed. To me it gives justice to the fact that most processes involve work that sometimes includes struggle. I know that the work that Jesus has begun in me has been a struggle at times, especially when it involved me changing. Change is not an easy thing for me, especially when I had to learn to redo things in my life after I had been decades doing them the wrong way. I had to learn to trust my destiny and life to someone else that I couldn't see. If that doesn't involve struggle then I am not sure what would.

I like the verse in The Message because it has a more celebratory feel to it. It tells of a "flourishing finish" to the work that Jesus has begun in us. When we have accomplished all that we have been called to accomplish, or we have been found faithfully working to accomplish what we have been called to accomplish when Jesus returns we will be greeted with a "flourishing finish" to our work--a celebration for a life time of work that has been successfully completed. I also like this version because it is more definitive in the words it uses to describe the author's certainty of the fact of Jesus' faithfulness to watch over His work in us. "There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind..." sounds more secure in the knowledge of a fact than simply "I am certain..." To me the first method of explaining certainty is more emphatic than the second.

Beyond the wording of the verse in the two different versions, it is one of my favorite verses simply for what it says. It says that Jesus has made an investment in our lives, and just like any good investor, He is going to diligently watch the investment to make sure it accomplishes what it is supposed to. His investment is going to achieve the purpose He had planned for it. It is exciting to me to think that Jesus believes in me that much and that He cares about my success in His kingdom enough to personally watch over what I have been called to do. When I stumble He doesn't sell all the shares He has invested in me, but rather He redirects them to get me back on track to make me profitable again.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

My Sunday....Downtown Disney

We celebrated my niece Rebekah's Birthday this past Sunday at Downtown Disney. She celebrated with all of her cousins at Libby Lu and then walked Downtown Disney until it was time for lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. I was lucky enough to be able to share the time with them and my Canon Rebel XTi. Here is the little video I put together from the pictures I took that day. Enjoy--we did!!




Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Matthew 18:3 Revisited

I just finished a post with Matthew 18:3. I think it was more of a mind clearing than a post. I needed to get that all out of my head before I could post what I was really thinking on that verse. Here it is in the NIV :3 "Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven." And now in The Message(v2-5): "For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me. "

Think of a little child. Innocent. Pure. Trusting. Loyal. Naive. Ignorant. Those last two descriptors aren't meant to be to mean spirited--they are meant to be positive and in the same light as the first two adjectives. The innocence and purity of the whole becoming like a child thing really isn't as hard as it may seem. Dedication, will power and self discipline can all lead to those things if they are applied to our lives. The parts that seem almost unattainable are the trusting, loyalty, naivete, and ignorance. How is that we are supposed to become like a child in these situations. How do you unlearn hurt, pride, anger, and fear? How do you learn to trust when you have been let down so many times before? Beyond that, how do you learn to trust someone and something you can't see? How do you unlearn the outcomes to situations you have played out in your life time and time again? How do you rely on someone to take care of you when you have fended for yourself for so long? These questions are the battleground that has to be crossed before someone can become like a child again.

The Message version breaks it down nicely. It says we have to become "simple and elemental" again. Childhood broken down to its elements. That's tough. I can tell you I would love to be there completely. I would love to be at that point in my life right now. I am ready to resign from being an adult. Just when I think I have reached that point though, something comes up in my life when I feel the need to become the navigator and all mighty in my life again. I feel at times like a hypocrite because it is almost as I know what it says in the Word and I can preach it and believe it for you, but when it comes to me I always miss the mark. It's normal, I know. But I am not one for normal I want to be extraordinary. Really at this point in my life I just want to know God is in charge and be content with it. I want to be able to resist the urge to take control back because I don't feel things are going the right way or going fast enough for me. I want the childlike faith I know exists in me to be the only faith I have and live. Pray for me and I'll pray for you because I know I am not the only one.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Right Now..

I have been accused of being childish on more than one occasion. It was probably well deserved as I have often wished I had some of my childhood and childlike instincts back. It was good to be a kid. I didn't have to deal with all this yucky adult stuff that I am facing right now. Paying bills, finding the faith to hold on to the dreams and calling God has given. Finding the faith to believe that what seems impossible is indeed possible. At least when I was a kid I knew what I was going to be when I grew up. I find myself now at 31 asking myself what I am going to do with the rest of my life. Rather I find myself asking God what He is going to do with the rest of my life. When He speaks is usually when I need that childlike faith to believe that it will all come to pass. Being a kid was great. I knew I was going to eat but didn't have to worry about where the groceries were going to come from. I knew I had a place to sleep but didn't have to worry about the mortgage that had to be paid to make sure I could have that place to sleep. I flipped on the light switch and the lights came on, I didn't think about the light bill being paid. I had new clothes to wear but didn't have to wonder what was going to be sacrificed in the budget that month to be able to have the money to buy the clothes. I want that kind of faith and trust again. In a way this is a testament to my mother, the single woman that raised three kids alone in a middle class neighborhood and kept us in the lifestyle we were always accustomed to. We knew money was tight at times but I don't think we ever really knew just how tight it was or the sacrifices she made for us to have what we had. I want to be a child again. I need that faith. I know it will all be OK because it always is. But this time I want to feel it.

"Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 18:3

Some Days...

Some days I just want to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers. Not because I am depressed or upset or going through some other form of emotional distress but because I am a Christian. I know that seems like a horrible thing to say, but sometimes it is true. Being a Christian in itself is not what makes me want to hide it is some of my brothers and sisters in Christ that make me want to hide because of their actions and words. I speak love and think love. It has taken me a long time to get here for me to be able to that. I was always about justice before I was about mercy. I think it is better to extend a hand to someone to help them or welcome them than to preach at them and tell them how horrible of a person they are. I saw this video this morning when I was going through my RSS feeds. It is from MMI. I will not say that I agree with abortion or that I think it is the right thing to do, because that is farthest from my beliefs. I will say though that this video upset me and made me a little angry. Maybe it was because of the content and I think it was partly because it was a little kid that was the center of the video. I felt like I was a little kid again having my gifts exploited. Anyhow, here is the video. Try not to want to go and hide.

glumbert - Young Preacher

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Ignored and Overlooked

Ignored and overlooked. As a kid on the playground none of us wanted to be the last kid picked for the team. None of us wanted to be passed over or passed by. We wanted to be a part of the action that was going on around us. We wanted to be a part of the group--to have something to belong to. We had a need for association. As we have grown up, has this need changed or diminished? Maybe to a degree it has, as we are more selective of the groups that we look to associate ourselves with. Thinking in terms of society, I still can't imagine one of us that wants to belong to a group that either of those two labels applies to. Overlooked for a promotion because of our gender. No that's not good. Ignored in political realms because we don't have a high voter turnout percentage. That's not a good feeling either. How about ignored because we are in prison for committing crime or worse yet crimes. What if I was in prison because I committed the same crime over and over and over and got caught each time--should I be ignored or overlooked? I don't have a job right now because I am sick. What if my life was reduced to holding a sign on the corner because I have exhausted all my other means of support? Would you ignore me because it was my fault? Ignore me because you have your own problems? Overlook me because I am overweight so I must be eating somewhere? One of the things I have heard most from people who have AIDS is that the thing they miss most is being touched. Would you let someone who is sick with AIDS die without being hugged simply because their disease carries a stigma just as big as its death sentence? Overlook them because of what they did to contract the disease? Pretty tough questions. These are roaring through my mind right now. Especially now. I don't have a job. I am not made of nor was I born into money. Yet I have so much more than I need. I have the luxury of deciding what, when and where I will eat. I hear God calling again. I know He is going to move again in my life soon. I feel it.

Matthew 25:37-40 (The Message)"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Looking To Get Away

I am looking to get away for a couple of days. Not because I am burnt out or fed up or anything like that, but because I am longing for silence. I feel my insides yearning for quiet and alone time. I love my family, but we love a busy life. There are times in my day when I am alone and the house is quiet but in that quiet time there is too many distractions that I am familiar with. I need a break. I need a mountain to climb or a garden to escape to with no distractions of any sort. I want to be quiet and just be able to listen to what God is saying to me and to my spirit.

Steve Harvey In A New Light...

I used to listen to Steve Harvey when he had his morning show on the Beat in LA on the way to work. I was always impressed when he started his show with praise to God for the day and an encouraging word to those who were locked up. I found this video of him and it just brought back those memories. How amazing would it be if Jesus got this kind of ovation everywhere He was talked about?




Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Man's Two Best Friends

I have had this picture in my collection for a while. I absolutely love it. I don't know either of the subjects in the photo but I think this is a real cool picture. I know I want another dog, but I think I am starting to want a kid too (just for moments like these).

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike

Chameleon Christianity?

In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul describes how he became "all things to all men." This has become a passage that has stirred up some controversy in the church. Controversy because some use it as a right to make the church look more like the world in an attempt to "by all means save some." I have no doubt that the Paul was trying to make a point about ministry in these verses. I have not cleared up my own personal theology as to what that point is however. I can understand that it might mean that he adapted to the culture of the people he was ministering to. Maybe taking up their habits of dress, study, speech. But if we are to reach the current culture does that mean taking things like rap music and putting words like Jesus and God in it and calling it christian? Is there a line that should not be crossed when "becoming all things to all men?" This is just something that is going through my head right now. I found this video last night; it is pretty straight forward and it is most likely what started my thought process along these lines this morning. Enjoy.





Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Broken...And It's OK

I was going through my files to see if I had a picture to help me describe brokenness. I did. It is a picture of me. I am learning more and more about myself lately. I am learning all the masks I had to wear and chose to wear. I am learning to take them off. I am learning that underneath it all I am broken. What I am learning even faster is that it is ok to be broken; in fact we are called to be broken in our discipleship walk with Christ. Like the fish and the loaves. Blessed. Broken. Given. That is my quest, my highest goal each day.

Be Blessed. Be Broken. Then be Given.

Mike

New Categories

I am starting two new tag categories for Measurement of Mike: Need a Pick Me Up and Reasons to Laugh. I am doing so because both of those apply to me; and since it is my blog its ....well...you know. So I thought I would find some funny videos that actually made me laugh or at least make me smile. Enjoy them!

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike

Gym Flatulence

What a great way to start off a video series that is intended to make me smile a little today than with a gym fart video.






I used to have a fart machine when I was a manager of a Walmart Store. I used to take it into new associate orientations and management meetings. I absolutely loved it. Real or a bad joke, this video made me crack a smile. :)

Don't Scare a Brother...

The title says it all....

Reason #82328372837 Not To Get Married

This is one of about a billion reasons I will never be a security guard in a cemetery....let alone one that has to do foot patrols at night! Are you kidding me?!?! Who does that?




I imagine I would be one fast fat boy running too, if granny ghoul was calling me over!

Classy Upchucking

Way, way, way back in my worldly days I had a moment where my friends at the time said I received the award for the classiest barfing session. Had I not been bent over in a bush and in a small group no one would have ever known what I was doing. :) This reminded me of that . . .




Of course I wasn't on TV speaking in tongues at the time either. ;)

Diamond In the Rough

This absolutely blew me away. A great way to leave a series of video posts.



Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Question of the Week

It is so easy to let our first impression of someone be the only lasting impression we will have of them. Sometimes though this first impression isn't the best impression and we run the risk of losing out on a great person in our lives because we stop at the flash picture of them. Imagaine what we might be blessed with if we went beyond that first impressiona nd kept looking for somethign to like in everyone we met. Then imagine what our outlook on life would be if we not only applied this to the people we met but also to the situations we face in our lives. The question for the week is this: "What if you looked for the good in everyone and in every situation?"

Lets not just use this as the question for the week but lets choose it as a quest for challenge this week.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike

Quote of the Day

"Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness."
- Chinese Proverb

Quote of the Day

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
- Maya Angelou

Quote of the Day

"The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails."
- John Maxwell

Quote of the Day

"There may be peace without joy, and joy without peace, but the two combined make happiness"
- John Buchan

If I am Me...?

Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey host the wildly popular Rick and Bubba Show, a drive-time radio broadcast that originates in Birmingham, Alabama. Animators once made a cartoon out of their two characters and invited Rick and Bubba to provide the voices. Rick was the voice of Rick, and Bubba, the voice of Bubba. Bubba, however, couldn't seem to please his producer. He suggested that Bubba change inflections, volume, and other details. Bubba grew understandably impatient. After all, he was voicing himself. He turned to the producer and objected, "If I am me, how can I mess me up?"--as told in The Cure for the Common Life, by Max Lucado

Take away point:

Be yourself. So many times we are faced with people and circumstances that try and fit us into the molds they want us to be shaped like. We have been called to be who God wants us to be. No one knows us better than us, except for God. As long as we are walking in His direction and following His voice we will be all we ever need to be.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!

Mike

Hearing It Again for the First Time

"The only mistake is not to risk making one"
--Max Lucado, The Cure for a Common Life

Risk is never something that is on top of my list to undertake in a day's time. I never wake up and roll out of bed wondering what risks I am going to take throughout the day. I don't plan risks in my life at all. If anything I try to avoid taking risks at all. If there are risks involved in any of my day to day business, I do my best to manage them. I try to control all of the unknowns and be prepared to deal with any situation that arises from them. The hard part of all this though is that this is not possible with the walk I have decided to take with Jesus Christ. being a disciple and trying to live by what we have been taught often times means following the leader into realms uncharted and unforeseen. It means doing things that often are not in plans I had for the day or even for my life. I often wonder sometimes as I am doing my best to follow the plans that God has for me, how much I would have accomplished for Him and His kingdom had I started followed long ago when I heard the call. I wonder sometimes what I would be like if I had simply flowed with the risks instead of becoming better at managing them. I am learning that one of the good things about following Christ and taking the risks that come with that walk is that failure is almost never an outcome unless I try and take over the lead. He has called us to do His will and accomplish His purpose for our lives, which means that His glory is dependent on our success. If we fail where does His glory come from? If we remain in His will and tuned to His call then, no matter the risk, we can't fail.

Be Blessed and Be a Blessing!
Mike