I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet, but I just have to share this. I love to run outside. I have really missed doing it this winter. There is a walking/running track 3/4 mile from my house that I run to, it is 0.8 miles around. I normally run to the track, do two or three laps and run home.
This morning I was listening to the music that I stream to my phone and there was a popular song that came on that talks about God taking you under his wings. There is a line where they hold out the phrase "You're not alone" that just hit me in the heart. It made me want to take off sprinting, but then a thought popped in my head. My run today is like the race of life that I am running. Sometimes when I am motivated I just want to take off sprinting, but if I do that, I will soon be wasted and unable to even walk. Just like running through life, if I get excited and just go as hard as I can without thinking about finishing, I will fall flat and unable to move.
Acts 20:24 says, However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.
Thinking that this was a good thought to meditate on, I had a second thought thrown at me less than a mile later. I all of a sudden felt my shoe laces slapping the sides of my legs. Now, for a second I thought about just continuing to run, because I was making pretty good time. I quickly put that thought away and stopped to retie my shoes.
This made me think that occasionally we have to stop and tie up anything that might cause us to stumble during this race. I mean how good will we be if we trip and fall, then who knows how long we will be out of commission. We can't ignore the things in our lives that will make us stumble and fall. Otherwise, the problem will continue to grow until we are so tangled up and tripped up the we may give up and not want to get back up and continue on.
Galatians 5:7 says, "You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?
Keep running the race of life. Find some friends to run it with. Hold each other up. Stay strong. Strive to finish. Don't stop. Keep going. It will be worth the reward.
Sorry this is longer than I wanted it to be. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless...
Friday, March 18, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
New Thoughts: Fulfilling your passion Part 3
Here is the third and final part of my thoughts about fulfilling your passion in Christ. I hope you enjoy it.
Part III: Stepping into Your Passion
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Once your passion has been clarified, there is only one thing left to do. Put on your “big boy pants” and step into your passion full steam ahead. Now doing this includes thought and planning. You can move forward with your passion or ministry with only an idea and not a plan and still be successful, but that would be the exception, not the rule. Put your passion down on paper and then figure out an outlet for that passion. Then start to write down what it will take for this idea to be put into action. At first, the steps seem ever growing and impossible, but remember that through Christ all things are possible.
Once a plan is laid out, then it is time to get your supplies and help lined up. Having faithful and trustworthy volunteers is one of the greatest blessings a ministry can have. If you continue to keep Christ the center of your passion, you will be greatly blessed in this area. Also, if people realize you are doing this for the sake of Christ and not your own gain, the financial backing and supplies will always be there when needed.
No one really likes to talk about finances when it comes to ministry or “Christian” dealings. Whether it is tithing, outreaches, or events. Asking for monetary help has become a dirty topic in churches due to past abuse by Christians. However, as I have previously stated, if you keep Christ the center of your passion, you will be blessed in every aspect as you move forward and people will be happy to support your passion.
Once everything is in place, it is time to BOLDLY step out and start your passion. If you step out in Christ and keep him the reason you are doing your passion, you will be successful and you will find it easy to be bold and make decisions you once thought were tough to make. I have learned that if I am doing something for my passion and I have Christ in mind, people don’t seem to mind if you ask them to do something. I used to hate to ask people to volunteer, because I didn’t want to put them out or want them to say no. I always felt like I was asking them to pull out their teeth with pliers. Now that I have focused my passion to what God is leading me to do, I look at these people differently when I ask. Instead of expecting them to say no, I expect them to be as excited as me and say yes.
You must also own your passion. Not just be a part of it, OWN it. It is your God-given passion, the direction for your life, and a life changing encounter for others. If you own your passion, peoples lives will be changed. If you just manage it or work part of it, you may change some lives, but you may also miss the opportunity to affect others that might have crossed your path had you owned it.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV) is a great example of how we should impersonate God with our ownership of passions: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” If we follow God’s example and put our seal of ownership on our passions, we will be anointed and we will be blessed with his Spirit.
I am personally in the middle of part 2 and 3 in my life. I know what my passion is, but the specifics are still coming into focus. I must continually examine where I am in this process and fight the urge to throw my hands up and give up. Going through this stage of life is a stretching experience, and though it may be extremely hard, you can make it through successfully with God's help.
I hope these last three post's help someone in their journey to fulfill a passion that is in your hear. Some of my thoughts may be jumbled, but that's what happens sometimes when God gives you these thoughts in the middle of the night.
Thanks for stopping by, and God Bless!!!
Part III: Stepping into Your Passion
For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Once your passion has been clarified, there is only one thing left to do. Put on your “big boy pants” and step into your passion full steam ahead. Now doing this includes thought and planning. You can move forward with your passion or ministry with only an idea and not a plan and still be successful, but that would be the exception, not the rule. Put your passion down on paper and then figure out an outlet for that passion. Then start to write down what it will take for this idea to be put into action. At first, the steps seem ever growing and impossible, but remember that through Christ all things are possible.
Once a plan is laid out, then it is time to get your supplies and help lined up. Having faithful and trustworthy volunteers is one of the greatest blessings a ministry can have. If you continue to keep Christ the center of your passion, you will be greatly blessed in this area. Also, if people realize you are doing this for the sake of Christ and not your own gain, the financial backing and supplies will always be there when needed.
No one really likes to talk about finances when it comes to ministry or “Christian” dealings. Whether it is tithing, outreaches, or events. Asking for monetary help has become a dirty topic in churches due to past abuse by Christians. However, as I have previously stated, if you keep Christ the center of your passion, you will be blessed in every aspect as you move forward and people will be happy to support your passion.
Once everything is in place, it is time to BOLDLY step out and start your passion. If you step out in Christ and keep him the reason you are doing your passion, you will be successful and you will find it easy to be bold and make decisions you once thought were tough to make. I have learned that if I am doing something for my passion and I have Christ in mind, people don’t seem to mind if you ask them to do something. I used to hate to ask people to volunteer, because I didn’t want to put them out or want them to say no. I always felt like I was asking them to pull out their teeth with pliers. Now that I have focused my passion to what God is leading me to do, I look at these people differently when I ask. Instead of expecting them to say no, I expect them to be as excited as me and say yes.
You must also own your passion. Not just be a part of it, OWN it. It is your God-given passion, the direction for your life, and a life changing encounter for others. If you own your passion, peoples lives will be changed. If you just manage it or work part of it, you may change some lives, but you may also miss the opportunity to affect others that might have crossed your path had you owned it.
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 (NIV) is a great example of how we should impersonate God with our ownership of passions: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” If we follow God’s example and put our seal of ownership on our passions, we will be anointed and we will be blessed with his Spirit.
I am personally in the middle of part 2 and 3 in my life. I know what my passion is, but the specifics are still coming into focus. I must continually examine where I am in this process and fight the urge to throw my hands up and give up. Going through this stage of life is a stretching experience, and though it may be extremely hard, you can make it through successfully with God's help.
I hope these last three post's help someone in their journey to fulfill a passion that is in your hear. Some of my thoughts may be jumbled, but that's what happens sometimes when God gives you these thoughts in the middle of the night.
Thanks for stopping by, and God Bless!!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
New Thoughts: Fulfilling your passion Part 2
Here is the second part of my thoughts on fulfilling the passion that God has put in your heart. Again, some of my thoughts may still be kind of jumbled, but this was written while I was awake all night meditating on these thoughts that God had given me.
Part II: Clarifying Your Passion
I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
In my life, it was easy to realize my path but not my passion or calling. I am a fourth generation firefighter. I grew up around firefighting, so it was an easy prediction that I would become one. On my way to becoming a career firefighter, I realized I had a want to help people in need. One of my favorite quotes to say is, “I hate to see bad things happen to people, but I want to be there when it does.” I don’t want to be there because I am morbid or have a need to see people in pain, I want to genuinely help these people in need. I hate to see people hurting.
Now, I realized I wanted to help people in need, but my passion was still out of focus. I didn’t know where God was pointing me or exactly what my “ministry” in life would be. I've always just had a feeling that God has amazing things planned for my life and that I will touch many people’s lives. I always just had a generic passion that was never being fulfilled, which became increasingly frustrating. I moved from ministry to ministry, tried different life groups, helped at all the outreaches, volunteered in areas that I knew I had no interest in. I just wanted to find out where I belonged. Then, I figured out that there was a major item missing from my life that was keeping my vision from becoming clear.
I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents who were very loving and taught me how to live with honor and be a gentleman. We went to church two or three times a week the entire time I was under my parents roof. I asked Christ into my heart at a young age and always knew right from wrong. Once I moved out, I strayed for a few years and, after several life lessons and battles, I moved back in with them. Over the next five or so years, I got married to the love of my life and found a church that felt like home. I learned more and more about myself and my relationship with Christ daily, and still do today. This is where I figured out what was missing in my life and was keeping my passion just out of focus. I did not have a PERSONAL relationship with Christ.
I had grown up in church, sang all the right songs, said all the right prayers, but had never completely taken what I was doing to heart. I didn’t read the Bible regularly, I just learned my memory verses. I didn’t spend any time in prayer, I just prayed at church during alter time. Most of all, I certainly didn’t volunteer any of my time helping my local church. These items all rolled up into one are the reason most of us never see the full potential of our passion and also live unfulfilled lives. They were the reason I had never seen mine, and to this day I sometimes struggle with keeping these things a main focus in my life.
I realized around the age of 30 that I have to constantly and consistently stay in God’s Word. I need to spend some time in prayer during the day, preferably not as I’m laying my head on the pillow at night. As I started to do these things regularly and make my walk with Christ the major priority in my life, my passion became focused and clear. A few of the edges were still fuzzy, but there it was staring me back in the face.
This is one of the hardest places to make it to in your journey. The majority of Christians never reach this point. Probably because they don’t realize the commitment it takes to have a personal relationship with Christ, or they don’t want to let go of some of the things that are cluttering up their lives in order to have time to pursue Christ. I fought with letting things go for a very long time, and occasionally still do. However, when I did and sincerely began to pursue Christ and his will for my life, amazing things happened. I began to see my passion clearly and started putting it on paper. Then things started falling into place for my passion to become a reality.
The only piece of advice that I can give someone in this position is this: don't move to fast. Just because your passion is now clear doesn't mean that you go charging ahead. You must still wait on God to help you put all the pieces in place to make your passion successful and life changing.
I really hope this helps someone in their journey. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
Part II: Clarifying Your Passion
I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
In my life, it was easy to realize my path but not my passion or calling. I am a fourth generation firefighter. I grew up around firefighting, so it was an easy prediction that I would become one. On my way to becoming a career firefighter, I realized I had a want to help people in need. One of my favorite quotes to say is, “I hate to see bad things happen to people, but I want to be there when it does.” I don’t want to be there because I am morbid or have a need to see people in pain, I want to genuinely help these people in need. I hate to see people hurting.
Now, I realized I wanted to help people in need, but my passion was still out of focus. I didn’t know where God was pointing me or exactly what my “ministry” in life would be. I've always just had a feeling that God has amazing things planned for my life and that I will touch many people’s lives. I always just had a generic passion that was never being fulfilled, which became increasingly frustrating. I moved from ministry to ministry, tried different life groups, helped at all the outreaches, volunteered in areas that I knew I had no interest in. I just wanted to find out where I belonged. Then, I figured out that there was a major item missing from my life that was keeping my vision from becoming clear.
I was raised in a Christian home with both of my parents who were very loving and taught me how to live with honor and be a gentleman. We went to church two or three times a week the entire time I was under my parents roof. I asked Christ into my heart at a young age and always knew right from wrong. Once I moved out, I strayed for a few years and, after several life lessons and battles, I moved back in with them. Over the next five or so years, I got married to the love of my life and found a church that felt like home. I learned more and more about myself and my relationship with Christ daily, and still do today. This is where I figured out what was missing in my life and was keeping my passion just out of focus. I did not have a PERSONAL relationship with Christ.
I had grown up in church, sang all the right songs, said all the right prayers, but had never completely taken what I was doing to heart. I didn’t read the Bible regularly, I just learned my memory verses. I didn’t spend any time in prayer, I just prayed at church during alter time. Most of all, I certainly didn’t volunteer any of my time helping my local church. These items all rolled up into one are the reason most of us never see the full potential of our passion and also live unfulfilled lives. They were the reason I had never seen mine, and to this day I sometimes struggle with keeping these things a main focus in my life.
I realized around the age of 30 that I have to constantly and consistently stay in God’s Word. I need to spend some time in prayer during the day, preferably not as I’m laying my head on the pillow at night. As I started to do these things regularly and make my walk with Christ the major priority in my life, my passion became focused and clear. A few of the edges were still fuzzy, but there it was staring me back in the face.
This is one of the hardest places to make it to in your journey. The majority of Christians never reach this point. Probably because they don’t realize the commitment it takes to have a personal relationship with Christ, or they don’t want to let go of some of the things that are cluttering up their lives in order to have time to pursue Christ. I fought with letting things go for a very long time, and occasionally still do. However, when I did and sincerely began to pursue Christ and his will for my life, amazing things happened. I began to see my passion clearly and started putting it on paper. Then things started falling into place for my passion to become a reality.
The only piece of advice that I can give someone in this position is this: don't move to fast. Just because your passion is now clear doesn't mean that you go charging ahead. You must still wait on God to help you put all the pieces in place to make your passion successful and life changing.
I really hope this helps someone in their journey. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
New Thoughts: Fulfilling your passion
Ok, so I know I haven't been on here in a while, but I have had these burning thoughts in my head. They have kept me up for several nights, and I finally put them on paper. They are still a little jumbled, but I have divided them into three different sections. Here is section one with the others to follow soon.
Part I: Realizing You Have a Passion
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)
I recently had a friend ask me, “Can someone say that they are made to do something
specific in life?” It took me a second to think about it, and then I had an epiphany. I looked at my life and realized that I had been made for one thing in my life: to help people. I looked at my friend, who is an amazing musician, and said, “Look at your life. Do you think you were made to do what you are passionate about or did it just happen?” He quickly realized that he was made to be a musician. Not just a musician, but a great musician that will bless and enrich peoples lives. So, my answer to him was a resounding yes. We are made to do something specific with
our lives. However most of us never realize our potential or see our passions brought to life.
This conversation started a unique thought process in my life on what my personal
passion is and how people seem to look for a passion but never quite find one. This process has changed how I view my past failures and how I am looking at my future. After a few sleepless nights, several thought filled days, and lots of time in my Bible, my thoughts and actions are starting to line up with what I feel God has built me for.
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet. In verse 14 (NIV) he
states, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” I personally feel this is due to most of us not even realizing that we have a calling or a passion that Christ has put in us. If we never realize what we have been put on this earth to do, how can we see our dreams come to pass?
The first step of fulfilling your passion is realizing that you have one. I don’t care who you are, you have a passion. God has given us ALL passions. All to often people seem to miss what their own passions are and pursue other peoples passions because they seem so much more amazing than anything they could ever come up with. However, following someone else’s passion usually leads to burnout, disappointment, or feelings of failure that lead to negative actions in your personal life.
In the first part of fulfilling your passion you are in a stage that I personally call “The Tunnel.” During this part of life you come to realize that you have a passion inside of you, but you don’t really know what it is. I compare this to being in a tunnel and you can see your passion ahead of you, but it is either too far away or too blurry to know what it is. No matter how hard you try you just can’t grasp it or bring it into focus, and it is always just out of reach. This can be the most frustrating part of life. I know, I was there for several years.
This part of the journey is a great time to learn and grow. Not just about Christ but also about yourself and what your made of. During this part of my life I was taught several lessons in patience, leadership, love, service to others, humbleness, and several other things I didn’t realize were needed to successfully pursue my passion.
Proverbs 22:9 (NLT) states, “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed
the poor.” Notice that this verse is written in present tense. The author did not say they fed the poor, he states they feed the poor. Several times throughout Jesus ministry he says that we need to help those in need, or take care of orphans, or take care of the widows. It seems interesting to me that most Christian passions end up focusing on the same people: Those in need. Whether your passion is to be a pastor, to change oil for single moms, or to help people to their seats at a church service, almost any passion or ministry comes back to helping people. Every Christian should learn to love and help the less fortunate. Often when we learn to help the less fortunate our passions will become evident.
When we realize that we actually have a passion, we must also realize that we cannot
be selfish or self centered when pursuing it. Having your passion focus on you and not on God is a quick recipe for failure. If God is not the center of your passion, he will not bless it. That raises the question, if he does not bless it, will anyone be blessed from it? This is also one of the hardest parts of being passionate about something. Our normal response when we do any type of work or ministry is to pat ourselves on the back, or make ourselves look good so that someone else gives us praise. John 3:30 (NIV) states, “He must become greater, I must become less.” If we truly believe in our passion, we must realize our reward may not happen here on earth but after we see Jesus.
The biggest danger and downside to being in this part of the journey is overreaction.
You don’t know what your supposed to be a part of, so you may try to be a part of anything and everything. You end up volunteering too much or trying out ministries or career paths that you soon find out don’t interest you at all. On the other hand, you may sign up to do anything and everything just because you are excited about having a passion, even though you have no direction. You can quickly have too much on your plate and fall short of the commitments you have made. Without focus and direction you can quickly become overloaded or succumb to burnout, and that can quickly lead you away from your church and spiritual mentors that can help you during this time.
Stay in prayer and in the Bible during this time and you will start your walk down the "Tunnel" successfully.
This ends part 1. I will be putting up part 2 very soon. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
Part I: Realizing You Have a Passion
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Psalm 23:1-3 (NIV)
I recently had a friend ask me, “Can someone say that they are made to do something
specific in life?” It took me a second to think about it, and then I had an epiphany. I looked at my life and realized that I had been made for one thing in my life: to help people. I looked at my friend, who is an amazing musician, and said, “Look at your life. Do you think you were made to do what you are passionate about or did it just happen?” He quickly realized that he was made to be a musician. Not just a musician, but a great musician that will bless and enrich peoples lives. So, my answer to him was a resounding yes. We are made to do something specific with
our lives. However most of us never realize our potential or see our passions brought to life.
This conversation started a unique thought process in my life on what my personal
passion is and how people seem to look for a passion but never quite find one. This process has changed how I view my past failures and how I am looking at my future. After a few sleepless nights, several thought filled days, and lots of time in my Bible, my thoughts and actions are starting to line up with what I feel God has built me for.
In Matthew 22, Jesus tells the parable of the wedding banquet. In verse 14 (NIV) he
states, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” I personally feel this is due to most of us not even realizing that we have a calling or a passion that Christ has put in us. If we never realize what we have been put on this earth to do, how can we see our dreams come to pass?
The first step of fulfilling your passion is realizing that you have one. I don’t care who you are, you have a passion. God has given us ALL passions. All to often people seem to miss what their own passions are and pursue other peoples passions because they seem so much more amazing than anything they could ever come up with. However, following someone else’s passion usually leads to burnout, disappointment, or feelings of failure that lead to negative actions in your personal life.
In the first part of fulfilling your passion you are in a stage that I personally call “The Tunnel.” During this part of life you come to realize that you have a passion inside of you, but you don’t really know what it is. I compare this to being in a tunnel and you can see your passion ahead of you, but it is either too far away or too blurry to know what it is. No matter how hard you try you just can’t grasp it or bring it into focus, and it is always just out of reach. This can be the most frustrating part of life. I know, I was there for several years.
This part of the journey is a great time to learn and grow. Not just about Christ but also about yourself and what your made of. During this part of my life I was taught several lessons in patience, leadership, love, service to others, humbleness, and several other things I didn’t realize were needed to successfully pursue my passion.
Proverbs 22:9 (NLT) states, “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed
the poor.” Notice that this verse is written in present tense. The author did not say they fed the poor, he states they feed the poor. Several times throughout Jesus ministry he says that we need to help those in need, or take care of orphans, or take care of the widows. It seems interesting to me that most Christian passions end up focusing on the same people: Those in need. Whether your passion is to be a pastor, to change oil for single moms, or to help people to their seats at a church service, almost any passion or ministry comes back to helping people. Every Christian should learn to love and help the less fortunate. Often when we learn to help the less fortunate our passions will become evident.
When we realize that we actually have a passion, we must also realize that we cannot
be selfish or self centered when pursuing it. Having your passion focus on you and not on God is a quick recipe for failure. If God is not the center of your passion, he will not bless it. That raises the question, if he does not bless it, will anyone be blessed from it? This is also one of the hardest parts of being passionate about something. Our normal response when we do any type of work or ministry is to pat ourselves on the back, or make ourselves look good so that someone else gives us praise. John 3:30 (NIV) states, “He must become greater, I must become less.” If we truly believe in our passion, we must realize our reward may not happen here on earth but after we see Jesus.
The biggest danger and downside to being in this part of the journey is overreaction.
You don’t know what your supposed to be a part of, so you may try to be a part of anything and everything. You end up volunteering too much or trying out ministries or career paths that you soon find out don’t interest you at all. On the other hand, you may sign up to do anything and everything just because you are excited about having a passion, even though you have no direction. You can quickly have too much on your plate and fall short of the commitments you have made. Without focus and direction you can quickly become overloaded or succumb to burnout, and that can quickly lead you away from your church and spiritual mentors that can help you during this time.
Stay in prayer and in the Bible during this time and you will start your walk down the "Tunnel" successfully.
This ends part 1. I will be putting up part 2 very soon. Thanks for stopping by and God Bless!!!
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