Faith and more

so, its been a long time since I blogged anything here. Most of the comments are spam and most are inappropriate for this topic.

Its been almost two years, heck maybe three.
In that time, i have gotten married, started a major business, been broke, gone on missions, served Jesus, doubted Jesus, Believed in Jesus, Cried to Jesus, Begged Jesus, lost a dear loved one, watched new life come to life, and so much more.

I've been trying to get to confession. Its a lot harder to find one at the right time.
There has been a burning in me to go, but the devil always finds a way to mess up the schedule. I find my biggest issue besides the normal lust and mean things, is the inability to completely forgive. I also find that my attitude because of how stressed things have been is also a huge issue in my life.

I thought it would be easy to build a company with the right values, that grey ethics would no longer looms its head, that all relations with employees would be simple. But no, I know better know. Heck, the best we can do is just live it out. And thats where I am. I own a startup company that is doing ok, hasn't broken even yet overall, but is gaining its place in the industry. The competitors are always a pain in the butt and the employees are harder to deal with than I expected, not because they don't care, but because I think I expect to much and then get disappointed easy. My partners are not always there, the brut amount of the work is on my shoulders, which I don't mind too much, but balancing things has been tricky.

Why do i write all this? In hopes that a person out there who feels the same way can realize how normal it is, and that things can and do get better. Maybe not the worldly ways we want them, but God does have a great plan for each of us. I spend many days wondering what it is, and many other days just saying, do as your will. Either way, His will shall be done.

Which brings me to faith. Faith is amazing because it is a witness in itself. Don't be afraid to show your faith, you don't have to push it on others, but you sure can allow others to see it in your life, your actions and so much more. People can tell, and see it and react to it.

Have Faith my friends in InterWeb land, God has got your back, and every other possible angle out there.

Living in a world of choices

As I reflect upon a recurring theme of Deut. 30, He has given us two choices: Death and Life.
Which one we choose is always the major questions, for sometimes we choose a false good. We can easily be disillusioned or deceived by the evil one.

There are times in our lives where we believe we have the answers, but really we don't have more than a clue to the real answer.

This is the world we live in, a world of choices.
Which do we choose, and where will it take us?

For me, I was thinking about a reaction a coworker mentioned, they said that they personalize things too much, but their psychiatrist helped them find a solution.. to just not personalize things. Well, the initial problem they found with personalizing things was they got frustrated, perhaps because they believed they would have all the answers? who knows..

At the time I went along with it and said, sure.. I mean, hey why not.. it seems simple enough as a solution. But lets look again at the situation.

By personalizing things, the person was passionate, full of zeal and worked hard and did good for the good reasons, once this individual changed their pattern to a cold approach, they still were frustrated, and started not liking so much what they were doing. could it get better or worse?

well, I think the solution lies in knowing the truth. The truth is to choose to live and we can only live through Christ Jesus. So the other solution, unmentioned here is choosing to personalize, but lift up the frustrations and the burdens to our Lord, and let Him take up the load. Be zealous but be calm, be on fire, but be at peace.

What does this mean for the rest of us?
How do you implement it? Is there a big enough reason to care?

of course there is, what this means is that the joy of the Father is yours to take. He promised you a choice, so choose the right one.

If everyone chooses the easy way out, and continues to believe they can leave God out of the equation, then like this individuals passion, your life will go cold. You will be hallow, a body with no spark in the soul. You will continue to live your life but the sun will never shine. The Church walls, all great and spectacular will be empty and cold, with no life within them. It will be as if an eclipse has fallen upon your world.

But if you choose to live, if you choose life always, then the sun will forever shine, the flowers forever bloom, the church halls filled with music and might, the stain glass lit with color upon the floors and ceilings and your love will know no bound.

So next time you hear someone talk about shutting down, lessening the personalization, no longer believing in God or the power of the Holy Spirit, or just being dragged by the current of society, shine your light upon them, destroy the darkness, bring them Hope. In all of us is the Hope of the world, for in our hearts, in our souls, as the Creator has created us in His image, our Hope lies in him, the light of the world.

Amen.

To serve or volunteer: not just semantics

Let me start with a thought on differences,

When it is time for the coming of Jesus.. we will know that God works in so many different ways in so many types of faith, but all pointing to the universal truth, and come the day, all will know Jesus the same way, because he lets his children learn where they will so they be nourished

its so beautiful.. and so confusing

Because human nature is to tell everyone about the good you've experienced, and we are all about defining absolutes, that the happiness we found is the right way; Instead of seeing it like a Picasso painting, it is relative and abstract, happiness is a personal gift of the Spirit to everyone.. and our uniqueness is what allows such desires to grow in different ways at different times..

So what does this mean?

Well, I think it is rather simple.
We are all on the same but different levels. We all will and do experience joy, love and happiness.
But sometimes at different degrees. One find conviction, another only moral responsibility.

When one volunteers, they are doing so aside from their main work, the y are doing so to be a responsible citizen, to do it with passion in the heart and to do it cause it is the moral thing to do.
Perpetual volunteerism does not exist, because the human desire of needs to survive and live defeats the needs of the higher desire, for a number of reasons, from ignorance to intentional blindness to relativism.

But if one serves, they are convicted, they do it not out of pity or responsibility, but instead at a higher level, they do it to be accountable to the cause. It is not done to the side, but done at the foreground with the passion and conviction int he heart. Perpetual is achievable because the nourishment is at a higher calling, it is God's own nourishment, and the servant becomes an instrument for God, seeking no self needs, but that only to serve our Lord and His people.