Never Give Up

My Mother told me there would be days like these



Never give up. Victory is just around the corner. We are called to persevere!

James 1:2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

Check this out

Drove by this last night. Wow it gets windy down here!

Hoping For the Right Connection

While traveling through the Chicago O’Hare airport, you get a sense of an uneasy tension that exists. While people are shuffling about at all kinds of paces, heading to some great destinations, the one thing that everyone here has in common is that they are all hoping for the right connection. The wrong connection or a missed connection means disaster for the traveler. Hope of a restful vacation or a big business deal is lost if the wrong connection is made. What was supposed to culminate in a memorable moment is now enveloped in disappointment and loss.

How much planning does someone put into a trip? From the reservations, the saving of the money needed, to all of the hours of thought. All in hoping that the expectations they carry for the trip will go off without a hitch. This all depends on connections.

What has gotten you to this place in your life? How many connections that you’ve made have been the difference in you getting what you want? Such as getting the job you have waited for, the house you hoped for or maybe even the woman or man of your dreams. How successful would you be with out good connections?

I have way more than exceeded my dreams in life, and it is not for lack of dreams. I have had and still do have many. Many of them in fact are huge dreams that will take much more than I to make come true. I have dreams. And with help, guidance, and the right connections, those dreams can become reality.

We are all on a trip. We are just passing through earth, looking for the right connections to be able to continue our journey. We all need someone to help connect us to the source that will guarantee our journey continues.

Everyday I connect with the only source that knows me better than I know myself. The only source that can guarantee I will reach my undeserved destination. It is the one who has made me, who loves me, who has patience beyond measure with an impatient soul. He is the one who created the stars and the heavens, the one who breathed life in to my two sons, and who gives me a reason in the midst of airport confusion…to smile. It is God, The Lover of My Soul.

I am in Orlando at the National New Church planters conference

Orlando is warm. It also looks like an amusement park.

Marlan

Daily Dose of reality

Perspective makes all the difference. We live in a world that is driven by individualism and success. Almost from birth we are saddled with expectations and goals. We are to have the perfect job, marriage, life.

Thursday I was returning from a trip to the Minneapolis Airport. I dropped off a puppy at the northwest air cargo dept. at 5:00 AM to be delivered to its new home in Las Vegas, Nevada. An hour later I stumbled into the first coffee shop I found. Caribou coffee in Rochester, MN

A Mocha espresso with an extra shot of caffeine. that should wake me up. I grabbed a table and looked at the mornings headlines. As my mind started to wake up I overheard two guys at the table in front of me. They were reading E.M. Bounds book, Prayer. The one gentleman said to the other, “There are so many expectations in life. So many things to keep up with, the mortgage, family, car payments, education… Is this really the way that God wants us to live?”

He’s right, there are so many expectations. The world spins so fast that sometimes we just want off. When we see ourselves as the center of the universe we are always in danger of spinning out of control. It is only when we see Jesus as that center that everything begins to balance out. I say "begins" because it happens over time as our relationship with him grows. It takes effort on our part.

Scott Stapp from Creed wrote a song called "You Stand Here With Me." In this song he says, “I’ve learned the world is bigger than me, you’re my daily dose of reality”.

My daily dose of reality is found every time I read the bible. Every time I talk to him. It puts me and my life in perspective. It changes my thinking from I am the center to understanding that God is and that he is in control. Man does that take the pressure off! Have you had your daily dose of reality?

"Stand Here With Me"

You always reached out to me and helped me believe
All those memories we share
I will cherish every one of them
The truth of it is there's a right way to live
And you showed me
So now you live on in the words of a song
You're a melody

You stand here with me now

Just when fear blinded me you taught me to dream
I'll give you everything I am and still fall short of
What you've done for me
In this life that I live
I hope I can give love unselfishly
I've learned the world is bigger than me
You're my daily dose of reality

You stand here with me now

On and on we sing
On and on we sing this song

'Cause you stand here with me

Peace Like A River flows

I can remember as a boy. A bunch of kids from the neighborhood made up a young troop of adventurers who would run all over town on our bikes. We traveled through the streets, the fairgrounds, the dump and back alleys. It was almost as if everyday was another episode of Indiana Jones. We never really got into big trouble. But we lived each day as if the world was open to us for the first time.

As the summer grew hotter we had to find new ways to cool off from the Iowa summer heat. Our travels eventually led us to a great place known as Dunning Springs. Just at the edge of town.

We would race to the springs. Climb the side hill to a little waterfall and step into the water. Leaning into the falls the cold spring water would run over our bodies, cooling us from the summer heat. It not only cooled our skin, but it felt as if the cold water was flowing through the core of our bodies. What an incredible feeling. Refreshed and drenched we would jump on our bikes and continue the day’s adventure.

I realized today. That is the exact feeling you get when you forgive others. All the weight of un-forgiveness is washed away as the spirit of God that lives inside us, flows through the core of our being and sets us free. The heat of the hate and anger is washed away and the freedom that Christ gives us flows through us just like standing in that waterfall. Forgiveness brings Peace Like a river flows.

Oh, The bike back then. It was a 5 speed Schwinn Stingray, with a stick shift. It was the coolest thing on the road. Isn't life great!

Little Wing.

One more turn Please

OK, It just won't stop raining here. We have not seen the sun since it was made! And I am not sure if this is spring because it looks and feels a lot like fall. Maybe we missed summer. Maybe I am just anxious to ride. I recently got a new bike and it is not doing much for me as a wall decoration. It's time to ride. Come on planet. Spin a little faster

You just never know

You Just Never Know. The older I get. The more I see the importance of that little sentence. You Just Never Know. So much of what we know is shaped by our experiences, personalty types, and the lens that we have been looking through for so long.

It is almost as if everyone is at one of those viewing sites at Mount Rushmore with those viewing binoculars you slip a quarter in for an up close look. For a lot of years I marveled at the view I was getting from my Lens. You could see so much! You could determine where you would look and what you would focus on.

Then one day I had a strange idea. "I wonder what other people are seeing". I mean, I just assumed everyone was seeing what I was seeing. After all it was so incredible. There could not possibly be anything more spectacular than the view I had from my lens. "I wonder what other people are seeing". If you have a thought twice it must mean something right?:) So I decided to have a look. I looked through the lens of others around me. I saw it!

Sorry I can't tell you what it was, you will just have to look.

You Just Never Know