Waking up this morning I have to admit I was lazy. I really didn’t want to get out of bed. I really wanted to just lay there and relax. As I was laying there I started thinking about my life and goals I have. One of those goals is to be healthy and fit. To be able to run a marathon and not cross the finish line in an ambulance. LOL

This morning I had to get up and go look at myself in the mirror for motivation. I had to picture myself as a healthy fit guy. This made me happy because I could see it. It also gave me motivation to walk to the treadmill and run like crazy. Had I not seen myself as a healthy fit guy in the mirror I wouldn’t have had the motivation to give it my all. It would have just been one of those days where I run/walk on the treadmill and go on with my day.

To many times in ministry we lose the vision. We work ministry but we don’t see it and if we do see it … we don’t see it like God see’s it. What we need to understand is that what we keep in front of us (in our vision) affects us. We can be sitting down watching a movie and here comes a Dairy Queen commercial showing a awesome banana split and the next thing I know … I and everyone else that watched the commercial is planning a trip across town to the Dairy Queen.

In ministry we need to always have our vision at the forefront of our lives. As I have told you all many times before, God has given me visions that blow my mind away (Eph 3:20). One particular vision, of which He has shown me over and over again, is where I am standing ministering to kids on a stage and I am looking out over hundreds and thousands of kids. Their hands lifted high in worship, tears running down their faces, and the Holy Spirit moving through the auditorium in waves. This is the vision God has given me and I know that someday I will see that vision come to pass. I look at my life right now and wonder how God is going to do that through me but I believe He will as long as I keep the vision and am obedient to His voice.

We have to start living our lives in faith. We have to start believing that through God NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. NOTHING!!!

God said in Isaiah 43:19 “I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?”. God is about to do something brand new in you and me. Do you see it?

The “Lean” Bachelors Freezer

I had to post this picture of my freezer. It’s just funny to me. I got my Lean Cuisine meals, my hotdogs and my freezer pops!! LOVE IT!!

If you could caption this picture … what would you put as the caption?

I love following Pastor Brian Houston on Twitter because he always pushes me to be a better leader. Over the last several weeks (actually probably months now) he has been posting “Leadership Goals”. I think they are awesome and so I wanted to share a couple with you. I hope these bless you as much as they have blessed me.

Leadership Goal: To be slower to JUDGE motives, but quicker to DISCERN hearts! Heart issues can MAKE or BREAK a team!

Leadership Goal: Not a culture of OPINION which we FORCE on others, but a culture of COUNSEL which is INVITED by others!

Leadership Goal: Surrounded by leaders who are WISE enough to say NO, but COURAGEOUS enough when they need to say YES.

Leadership Goal: To inspire a crowd with MANY interests, giftings & loves.. to forcefully unite around a SINGLE cause!

Leadership Goal: To enter 2010 with a FRESH approach to pursuing the SAME vision, filled with FAITH for radical progress!

Leadership Goal: A spirit, un-tainted by offense, bitterness, hurt, or regret. A life-long commitment to a FREE spirit!

Leadership Goal: To have a team who say NO to gifts, contacts & favours that have strings attached, & NO to borrowing!

Leadership Goal: Remember that the greatest heights of leadership wisdom are entirely inferior to the power of prayer!

Leadership Goal: To bring CLARITY, not confusion, DIRECTION where there is distraction & FOCUS when things are fogged!

Leadership Goal: FOR our focus, direction & purpose to be clearer to every person in a room, than it was when I walked in.

Leadership Goal: To be a leader who can admit mistakes, show vulnerability, be self-effacing, yet be quietly confident!

If you are a leader you should be following Pastor Brian on Twitter. Click here to find his page and then select “Follow”. Also, if you aren’t following me … well … do the same “here“.

I don’t know if you all follow what’s going on in the World of Disney but recently Nick Jonas launched a solo project called “Nick Jonas & The Administration”. Nick has an awesome passion for music and for people.

In 2005, Nick was diagnosed with diabetes. Over the last few years he has really pushed for research in this area but his biggest push has been to let people (especially young people) know that it’s ok to be different. He has really been an inspiration to millions of kids who have been diagnosed with everything from diabetes to HIV.

Today, he released a music video of one of his new songs called “Who I Am”. I watched the video and I all I seen was reality. The chorus is:

I want someone to love me
For who I am
I want someone to need me
Is that so bad?
I wanna break all the madness
But it’s all I have
I want someone to love me
For who I am

Reality is, that’s the cry of so many people today. Reality is that it’s not just about a disease. It’s about each of us being unique.

So many religious organizations have banned uniqueness. I grew up in a particular organization that had very strict standards. Going to school many people considered me Amish as I couldn’t wear shorts, dance in show choir, have facial hair, go to school dances, etc. I was the typical religious nut.

Then it happened!! I decided not to shave. I decided that I looked better with a goatee. People around me didn’t like it but I didn’t care. It was who I was (or wanted to be). I quickly learned that I couldn’t live my life based on what the “religious organization” expected of me. The approval that I was seeking was Gods (2 Tim 2:15) and you know what … He accepted me with facial hair whereas many in the organization did not.

The world wants to be accepted for who they are. They need to know that God loves them. He may not approve or like what they do or what they have allowed to control their lives but He accepts them with open arms.

The world will never give God a chance unless we let them know that He loves them. When you are in a love relationship things change. If the world falls in love with God … the world will change … cause when you are truly in love with someone … you will do whatever they ask.

We don’t have to accept the sin but we do have to accept the person … the soul. There is junk in each of our lives (including mine). I am a sinner and whether you like it or not YOU ARE TOO!! We all are … we all have sin in lives … but God accepts us and encourages us to change. I am excited that the “Body of Christ” is starting to truly show the Love of Christ.

Accept the person for who they are … and let God take care of the gluttony, smoking, alcohol, disobedience, inappropriate relations, pornography, etc. Let God Be God … you just be “Christ”-like.

Disclaimer: Because I know I am going to get heat for posting this … I want to note that there is a difference between the church and a religious organization. Please note that I am not talking about the church in this post nor am I attacking any one organization. This post is simply pointing out that our role isn’t to judge people … it’s to show them the love of Christ.

All day today I have been meditating on the Word that was brought forth last night by Pastor Brad Liebe at Pathways Church. His message was entitled “Putting the life of Christ into action”. It wasn’t a “new revelation” message but yet message of encouragement to be all that we can be.

His message literally was Romans 12. This chapter, in my mind, is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. It gives yet another glimpse into how we are to live our lives. I am actually going to include the chapter below (via The Message Bible) as I think every christian should read it and model their lives after it. You will find some very strong truths in it. I was going to highlight or just post a portion of the chapter but in reality the entire chapter is powerful and worth posting. Please read it below … and see how you measure up.

1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

3 I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.

6-8 If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”

20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

This chapter is who I am (by faith). I will live my life to be all that I can be for God. To be a witness/example of God. That’s my goal … that’s my life. I want to be … what He wants me to be.

In my last post I shared with you that this was a decade of change. As I was sitting at work on Wednesday I thought … I should launch a new theme on my blog to mark the “Decade of Change”. Everything else is changing in my life … why not my blog.

Never-the-less, this is it! I have gone green. I really like this template cause it’s professional, earthy and yet … fun. As you can see … it’s a drastic change from the old theme.

The theme isn’t the only change that you will see here on the site. I spend a lot of time in the Word. Whether it’s reading the Word of God or listening to a message online or via a podcast, the Word is constantly flowing. With that in mind I am going to be posting my notes from messages I have heard or from my own personal study time. Maybe things I have learned or things I have known but want to share. To me, this is an avenue for me to share the Word with others. It’s a way to get the Word out. ((it’s also a great way to store my notes online)). LOL

Also, as some of you may or may not have noticed. I have become a bookworm. I read all the time and recently was accepted by Thomas Nelson Publishing to be a reviewer for their new releases. I am really excited about this. I am expecting my first book to arrive anytime. I am sure you will hear about it when it get’s here. If you are a publisher and want me to read and review your book … let me know. I would be more than happy to do so.

Never –the—less, it’s getting late and I am super tired. Tomorrow I will be launching a contest here on the site as well. You will want to check it out. It’s not a huge contest but I am sure that whoever wins will be appreciative.

So to my American friends “Good Night” and to my Australian buds “Good Morning”.

As I count the days down to the launch of a new decade I have been really praying and thinking about my life and about the visions and dreams that God has given me. Thinking of everything that needs to change for me to be … all that I can be.

Let’s be real for a few minutes here. Let’s stop acting like we have it all together and all is well and please read this with your full heart.

Some of us, including myself, have allowed people and situations to get in the way of the vision that God has for us. We are running a race and some of us (including myself) keep getting tripped up.

Here I am, a man ordained and chosen to reach the world for Christ …. but allowing people and situations to keep me back from reaching my full potential. Yeah, I have seen tens of thousands of kids give their lives Christ over the last 16 years but God has so much more for me. I am honored that I was involved in the process of introducing them to the King but there is so many more to reach.

It’s time for change. Time to stop worrying about what others are going to say, stop worrying about what friends will say or do, stop worrying about your past coming to haunt you.

I remember being 12 and accepting Christ into my life. Developing a prayer life and being baptized. I was so on fire for God at church but at home … it was hard. I wanted to be the angelic child, the “I got saved” kid but I couldn’t. God wanted me to respect my parents …. But I was afraid of being taken advantage of and being called a “goody goody”. So …. Change didn’t happen until I turned 17 when I allowed God to really got a hold of me. Respect for my parents was required.

I think it’s funny that even as adults we still deal with these feelings. Many of us called it the “Approval Addition”. I believe in many areas of my life I broke that a couple years ago … however I still seem stuck in the area of ‘change’. I know what God wants in my life. I know what God wants for my health. It requires major change. It requires me to stop living my life based on what others will think of me completely. It requires me to stop living my life based how many ‘friends’ I will loose. It requires me to stop living my life based off my past being thrown in my face.

I started this process of ‘change’ about two years ago … it’s been very slow though. Now I come to fork in the road. Either I give it all I have or I stay as I am, disappointed.

I don’t care what I have to do to be all that God has called me to be. It’s gotta be done. This past decade for me has been the worst decade of my life. The WORST!! It ends now. This new decade will be the decade of change. Not just in my life but in the lives of those I come in contact with.

We as leaders, need to understand that it wasn’t the eating of the fruit that separated Adam & Eve from God. It was the excuse. God still called out to them and He gave them opportunity. God is still calling out. He is still giving us opportunities to make things right. As Keith Craft recently said “If you elevate your thinking … you will elevate your life”. It’s time to elevate!! It’s time to rise above.

Keith Craft recently shared a story about a horse that everyone thought was done for. There was no hope. They decided they were going to bury the horse alive so they dug a hole and lowered the horse into it. Then the men started throwing dirty into the hole to bury the horse. Every time they threw dirt in the hole the horse would shake it off and step up on it eventually elevating itself out of the hole. The moral … don’t let people or situations bury you alive. Step up!! God is always there and will (if you obey) raise you above the nations (Duet 28:1-14).

So, in closing … watch out!!!

Graphic idea from ‘Brendan Sceroler‘.