Change…Part 1

Part 1 of 2

Who loves change?

I must say, I certainly do…without change I would go crazy.

If I didn’t have the promise of school starting at the end of August, Summer coming the following year, or Spring showing creation that there is in fact still life after a long winter, I wouldn’t want to be here!

But couldn’t the seasons in themselves be a routine? Spring comes after winter, summer after spring, fall after that, and then start all over again…so if it isn’t the seasons what keeps the change coming?

Maybe it is the change in the attitude people have towards life? Well not to be pessimistic but unless something or someone changes a person they usually don’t change by themselves. So what is it?

I think there is only one real answer. The Bible says that, “God is the same yesterday, today, and forever”…He never changes, but what if He started out as always bringing new things? “Behold I make all things new” Jesus says this in Revelation. I know, I know, He is speaking about the new heaven and new earth, but seriously Jesus changed everything when He came to earth.

I can only come to the conclusion that He makes all things new in our daily lives!

I believe this is why deep down every man or woman loves change. They were never meant to get stuck in a routine, living out life doing the same thing, day in and day out. Every person has a secret thrill they want to have before they kick the bucket. They seek these out, because they long for something outside the daily rituals they are dissolved into, they are sick of the sealed envelope of life sending them off with a blank letter inside, they want meaning.

They look to sex, drugs, alcohol to find thrills. They go on safaris, bungee jump, skydive, etc. any thrill they can think of to escape the fact that their life has been deemed…gasp…boring…gasp! They don’t even know that they will never find meaning, not will they ever fill the envelope with something worth reading till they find a writer and some ink.

So the writer is God…but who, what, or where is the ink?

Venting on Issues!

This may come as a shocker to some of you, but I’m very opinionated. I’m never afraid to state my opinion. So in this Blog I will state some stuff that has been bugging me lately. Please note the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I love everyone who reads this and it is not pointed towards anyone. My opinion is not always correct unless it is coming straight from the Bible. In this case it is not my opinion, but God’s.

I don’t expect people to put stock in my opinion either. I for one care very little of what people think of me. I only care what God thinks of me. I listen up when God speaks through someone else, to me. I love when He uses the most unlikely people to talk to me. It keeps my mind from putting Him in a box. It makes the God of the universe unpredictable.

I  dislike very much when someone says “God said I was supposed to…”. As soon as you pull that card it is impossible for anyone to say otherwise. We cannot and will not argue with the “Word of God”. But my problem is when people change what God said 2 months later. If God said something he doesn’t change it because something came up. He knew what was coming and nothing surprised Him. He isn’t gonna change His mind ’cause you hit a bump. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn’t change His word.

When I give my opinion I get angry when it falls on deaf ears or an already made up heart. If you come to me for my advice then you better be ready to hear my answer and not ignore it. Don’t argue with it! Shut-up and hear it! If you asked for it then listen to it.

I know that I am very bad at this sometimes but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is true. When you go to someone for advice just listen. Take the statement find the truth and the good and get rid of the lies and bad.

My generation sucks at listening, me in included!

We all think we are all-wise, we go to our friends for the advice. We think that the older generation is crazy and senile. We think that it was different for them cause this is a new age. Ever heard “there is nothing new under the sun”? That quote is still true! They know what we are going through. God gave us an endless amount of wisdom through them and we don’t even bother asking for it!

I hate immature couples. I’m not talking about the 14 and 15-year-old couples who still have to have their parents drive them around on dates. That is just dumb. I’m here to talk about couples who are of age but still act like they’re 16 and need to just grow up. I find it a terrible representation of Jesus. He is not about a couple who won’t act like mature adults. Am I saying that Jesus doesn’t like when grown adults act like kids? No. But I think there is a time when we have to become real adults and those times of childhood become less frequent.

I love my generation and I love giving people advice, but I see problems that need to be changed.

We are called to World Shakers. We cannot however change the world if we are deaf to wisdom, immature, and follow a God who changes His mind all the time. Never lose your zeal but also never lose your ability to change when change is needed! I love anyone who reads this and nothing is pointed toward anyone. Just some stuff that was on my heart.

Give me some feedback!

You Need An Attitude Adjustment!

You have an attitude!

When you jump up and down ’cause it is your birthday, or when you cry ’cause you didn’t get your way, or when you simply lay in bed and listen to the latest Owl City CD. You laugh, cry, yell, and cringe. You always have an attitude. We all do!

My biggest problem is when someone tells me I am wrong I get really ticked. I sometimes yell and get angry, or I just simply shut off. I find that the first is sadly more usual than the second. I tend to hurt people more than I want to, I say something offensive and then I find myself apologizing soon after.

I don’t defend these attitudes at all. I actually am repulsed by them. I wish that the world was just sunshine and rainbows all the time. I wish the world had no injustice, sad tears, anger, or fear. But sadly these are reality. So what is the solution?

Well, simply put it’s Jesus!

He is the answer. We all have days or even minutes we wish we could take back. But we can’t. We have to keep looking forward. But how do we make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again? Again it’s simple, we have to place Jesus back into our heads. We go to Church and Youth Group and we fake our way through the services. We act like we love God and put Him above all else. But when we get through the weekend and monday comes around we forget all the promises we make to Him on Sunday. It’s almost as if we never spoke them at all.

We need to get Jesus back into our heads throughout the week!

Our attitudes are powerful. They can change the atmosphere of an entire room within seconds. We are never free of them. We have tried to control them throughout our lives but have failed miserably. Usually when we fail we succeed in hurting someone close to us. We try to stay happy all day when inside we are actually angry. One day, we let out our anger on someone that is close to us and they get hurt.

We need to get the mindset that only Jesus can help us change our attitudes.

Realize that I didn’t say help us control our attitudes! I said change our attitudes. Jesus doesn’t want us to mask ourselves and be fake around people. He wants us to show who really are but he want that to be changed person through Him.

So what do you say? Is it time to stop being fake and let Jesus change everything inside you including you attitudes?

Pride: True or False

Why are you prideful? Are you prideful? Am I just swinging a bat missing completely?

What if I said that some prideful people were just covering up their low self-esteem. Some of you may say it’s foolishness to say such a thing. Prideful people are proud of themselves, they are completely self-absorbed. Some of you may say I’m nuts but bear with me for a second. I am known to be a touch on the prideful side, okay, quite a bit on the prideful side.

Let’s take a ride into the past. Shall we? About a two years ago I was one of those people who thought they weren’t good enough. I would lay in bed at night thinking that I had come up short in various areas. To keep people thinking I was okay I put on a face to show people I thought highly of myself, sometimes too highly. While people thought I had it together, in my mind I thought I was a wreck.

I then went to Dibor, which is a leadership school that teaches you how to be an all out man or woman of God, a warrior for Christ. While in Dibor I was challenged to believe what the Word of God says I am. The word of God says I am victorious, I am a Prince, and I am an Heir to the Throne. How can I believe these things and still think that I am not good enough? God began changing my DNA and how I think about myself.

Now I error on the side of being to prideful in a real sense. The sense that I think I am better than everyone else. I think that my Scottish roots play a part in that. Now it is a daily thing for God to suppress me and to show himself through me. Isn’t it funny how that happens? We get out of one thing just to fall into another.

As people we put so much stock into what other people think of us that we often miss the real opinion we should care about, that is Jesus. I cared so much that other people would see me as strong that I would put up a false bravado. I now care very little about what people think about me in comparison of what God thinks about me.

How about you? Are you truly overly prideful? Or are you just setting up a false bravado?

Screen Generation.

Seven years ago Facebook changed the way we interact with one another. Six years ago YouTube began to transform the way we view the world. Eight years ago Google started a new way to find what you want to know. Four years ago the iPhone changed the way we use our cellphones.

Today in America we rely on technology.

Whether we are riding in our cars listening to Facebook updates in our new Chevy, or in our home watching some idiot hit himself on YouTube, or even sitting in the bathroom texting our best friend about plans for the day. We can’t live without it.

This is not a bad thing. from Franklin with electricity, to Edison with the lightbulb, or Bell with the telephone. Men all through history have constantly been finding things to improve or discover.

Why should we expect different from this generation?

Some religious people actually believe that the advancement of ourselves is a bad thing, for an extreme example, the Amish. They have actually cut themselves off from technology as a whole. They hold to the fact that the Bible states that. “We as Christians should be in the world but not of it.”

On the other side however there are men like Bill Gates the founder of Microsoft and Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple, that state that without these advancements we would never improve as a society.

There are however people in the middle like Lauren King a mother of three who says that there is such thing as being over reliant on technology. We need to control ourselves and our time. She thinks that it is bad when one of her kids doesn’t know how to read a map because the GPS in her car always tells them where to go.

I tend to side with Lauren. We need to watch how much we use technology. We need to step away from relying on technology and instead, use it as a tool of self betterment.

In our world today kids have killed themselves or other people over video games. We have become a society that is absorbed in technology and letting it rule us, instead of using it, as an aid to furthering ourselves. We must evaluate ourselves and see if we are addicted to the technology, or if we still have control over our usage. If we are addicted, we need to have enough strength to step back and take time off from such things as; Facebook, Google, YouTube, and even *gasp* the  iPhone.

When we decide that we have had enough, that we are not held down by this technology, maybe God can start showing us how to use it to better our society for Him. We are so self-absorbed by what we want and need, instead of what He wants, hence the names; FACEbook, MYspace, YOUtube, and iPhone. We can’t even bear the thought of actually being without these things even for a moment.

When will we start crying out for a change? Not be a generation of screen watchers but be a generation on fire for what is right and moral in God’s eyes. To not care so much about what your friends are saying on Facebook or the newest app on your iPhone. But care more about what the Word of God says and how it applies to your life.

It is time for this generation to shout a battle cry! For us to actually live up to the name of World Shakers.

When will we divert your attention from a computer screen to the real live person who is going to die without you telling them the truth about Jesus? When will we start using the  technology around us to further His truth and love?

Dreams?

What are dreams?

No I am not talking about the ones you’ve had since you were a kid. Where you dreamt to be superhuman or an astronaut. I’m also not here to talk about the dreams that you have when you grow up, to be a CEO in a major company, or a lawyer reciting the lines from A Few Good Men, “What do you want from me? I want the truth. YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!”

I’m not here to talk about nightmares either. When you wake up and you pee your bed ’cause you drank too much water and you were scared out of your wits.

I’m talking about dreams, normal, every night, or how ever often you dream, dreams. Notice I said night. No guys, not DAYdream when your boss is going on about something that has nothing to do with you. Just  normal dreams when you sleep, if you can possibly call them normal.

I dream every night.

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t. But what do those dreams mean? In the Bible many dreams had interpretations. Do ours? I dreamt that I was an officer in the military during the Civil War am I supposed to pull some kind of meaning out of that? I doubt it.

But I have dreams that I don’t understand why I had them, if there is no meaning. For example, the other night I dreamt that Danielle (the lovely friend I wrote about in my post entitled “Hope”) had hung out with me the day before she died. The only difference is that I knew she had died and that if I didn’t stop her from driving it would happen again. The entire dream I was frustrated. I would say “Danielle, how are you here?” she would reply “Daniel, I never left. What are you talking about?”. Anytime I would ask her not to drive she would laugh and say, “Don’t worry about me.”

I knew that line.

She told me that the day she died. I was getting more frustrated. At the same time I had no idea how she was here. I somehow knew that I was going to wake up soon. So I grabbed her and gave her a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek and held her for like 10 minutes. When I woke up I was sad that I couldn’t save her even though it was a dream. I was frustrated that I had such a vivid dream that I couldn’t control.

I immediately started looking for a meaning. It didn’t have to be profound or anything, just something to ease my conscience. My thought was that God would never give me a dream like that without some kind of meaning. That would be torturous and unlike Him, right?

I scoured my brain for reasons that could have triggered this dream. I did research on what dreams are, why we have them. Can we control them?

Fact #1: “A small percentage of people dream in black and white. It isn’t until they wake up that their brains put color to them.” This is a useless fact, but interesting.

Fact#2: “We cannot control our dreams, they are completely in our subconscious and therefore involuntary actions.” Useful, at least I know I am not torturing myself.

Fact#3: “Recalling dreams is actually very unusual. Only a small percentage of people can remember that they did in fact, dream.” Useful, I state again, “I don’t remember the last time I didn’t dream.”, sound familiar? (Look to the top of this post, you’ll find it.)

If recalling dreams isn’t usual, yet I always remember mine, does that mean something?Am I a prophetic dreamer?

I doubt it. I have never had one of my dreams mean anything of value or defined. But this dream really bugs me. Why do we dream about things that make us sad or angry? Who gives us dreams? Is it God or the devil? I have come to the conclusion that God knows and that is good enough for me. When, or if, He lets me in on the meaning behind them, I will listen intently. But if that never happens then oh well, it’s not like I can stop dreaming.

Anybody got any ideas? What is the reason for dreaming? Who does give us dreams? Anyone want to become a dream interpreter and from here on out tell me what mine mean? What are some of your dreams that that you dislike or like?

It’s Your Life!

Are you the owner of your life? Do you have the right to do what you want? I discussed this with a coworker the other day. (For now let’s call him Tim.) We discussed the topic of a sports figure leaving his team to go to another. The sports figure had no reason, the team was likable and was on its way to a championship (for all you sports fans this was a rhetorical situation, I am not referring to Lebron James or anyone specific).

Tim defended that this figure had given his time and energy and had no further obligation so what he did was his choice. Trying my best no to interfere I let him continue.  Tim said, in his southern accent,  ”Whatever is best for you, you do it!.”

I then interrupted him saying “In everything or sports?” wanting to clear up the sudden outburst my co-worker had just declared. I hoped he would say just sports but he replied “In EVERYTHING!”, even slowing the word down for me to understand.

This took me back for a second but I was quick to respond, “What about divorce? If you decide you don’t like your wife you divorce her? Abortion? You don’t have time for a baby so you abort it? How about stealing? You need food, but you have no job cause you’re a bum so you steal? Are these all okay since it’s best for me?”

Tim didn’t miss a beat, he once again said “In EVERYTHING” holding steadfast to his belief.

I can’t agree less with the man. But I also cannot help but admire his faithfulness to his belief. Tim is an atheist. Here is a man who cares as little about Christianity than the next game coming on, willing to defend what he says, no matter what. Much more so as a Christian, shouldn’t I be able to defend my beliefs without fear?

Me and Tim went onto other sports related topics but that idea won’t leave me. Will I continue to stand up for me ideas or beliefs?

Will you?

Hope

“When was the last time you felt at the end of your rope? I haven’t blogged in a while. This isn’t because I forgot or anything, it’s because I didn’t want to blog. I felt that my words weren’t worth anything. I was going through a time where I felt that I wasn’t making an impact on anyone’s life. I started drawing further into myself. I secluded my soul and felt demoralized. I had little if any motivation.

During the summer I made my schedule as busy as I could so that I didn’t have to face myself. I upped my work hours by 100% and tried to make plans to be out with friends almost every day.

I tried reading my bible but got nothing out of it.

I tried worshiping but found I had no will to sing.

When youth group started up in September Pastor Christopher spoke a message entitled Praying Like Lions. He spoke about how we pray like pansies. We don’t chase after or stalk our prey, instead we are lazy and half-hearted. He spoke how sometimes all we need to do is pray harder to get that last push.

After hearing that message I decided it was time to pray. Some may think that to pray is elementary and I agree. I should have thought to pray way before anything else. I cried out to God and although I don’t think that yelling is the only way to pray (God himself spoke to Elijah in a still small voice in a soft wind), it worked for me. God started to change my thoughts. In that moment he gave me a heart for what was right and a heart for people who I couldn’t ignore.

During the weeks following that message there were plenty of hardships. As I pressed into God the enemy pressed into making me stumble.

At first he tried lust, which I must admit worked plenty of times in the past; this time however it failed. He even tried drinking and drugs which to me is easy to decline.

In the beginning of September I started talking to an amazing young woman. She quickly became my best friend, and we talked all the time. I had told her everything I was going through and she constantly encouraged me to dive deeper into God.

Our friendship was just that; a friendship. There was no want for anything deeper on either side. We shared a lot in common, including much of our personalities.”

Sadly, our friendship was cut short when Danielle Westlake passed away in a car accident on 11-18-2010.

I don’t the devil any credit for taking Danielle away he didn’t have the power to do that. I also don’t blame God for it, he is far to loving for that. The only thing I can blame is our sinful nature. We brought sin into a perfect world, that caused imperfection. That is why bad things happen to great people.

But that is a different subject altogether.

The enemy took this opportunity to push me into depression. He started saying that I should have saved her, that I could have been in the car and helped her if I cared more. The worst part is that I believed him. I started on a downhill slide I couldn’t get off. I started blaming myself for not being with her, for not making sure she didn’t drive.

Months have gone by since that beautiful friend left us. But I think of her everyday.

It wasn’t until last week I decided to take an hour and give it to God in worship. I had a 2 hour break between classes, so why not?

I went into my awesome church sanctuary and blared the worship music to the point that I couldn’t hear my own voice. Jason Upton was on shuffle and on came the song Fly. (For those of you who have never heard the story behind Fly I encourage you to watch this video.) Angels actually sing with Upton in the recording, and as I began singing and heard the enemy say “Shut-up! You betrayed your friend! How dare you try to sing with angels!

I cried uncontrollably believing the lie that I had failed my best friend. Then I heard Upton singing “You have been set free/You have been set free/Nothing, nothing, nothing/No weapon could ever hold you/Fly.”

I have never heard God say anything so clearly, and I still don’t know if it was just my spirit man or God himself, but I heard, “I love you Daniel, Let Danielle be with me, I’ll keep her safe until you get here, It wasn’t your fault.”

When the God of the universe tells you it isn’t your fault, I think he knows.

Now I wasn’t weeping because the tormented me with sadness, but I was weeping because I was free!

Since then I have had new chances to know who God really is, and a new prospective on his heart. I don’t claim to be perfect; that would be foolish. Instead I find perfection in the One who is perfect: Jesus Christ. He has given me hope in the darkness, strength in my weakness, comfort when I’m weary, and shelter in the storm.

The desert is never a fun place to be, but when you’re finally out of it you’re indeed made strong through God.

I once had it prophesied over me that “You are like the stone in David’s sling, David only needed one stone to take down Goliath. Just like David, God only needs one stone to take down giants. Daniel you are God’s one stone. With you he will take out giants.” I didn’t believe that when it was first said but I believe it now. God can do anything through me.

I don’t know where I heard this quote or if I made it up, but I love it all the same.

“When one is stripped of all else and must search himself, how many excuses will he come up with before he sifts through the darkness inside him?”

I plead with you do not wait to sift through your darkness. God is ready to take you through it, just reach out and grab His hand. Get through it now rather than later.

Daniel Silent?!?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to just enjoy the presence of God? Instead of always bringing a list of things you need or want from God, you just enjoy meeting with him and being with him. Well God has really started to challenge me in this saying “Daniel when will you stop coming to me looking for what you can receive from me and instead begin to just want to be in my presence.” I heard one of the greatest ideas from a message by Jason Upton I have on my iPod. I had heard it before but this just gave me an even deeper knowledge of the idea. In the message Jason says that he was with a Pastor and the Pastor was praying over Jason and he said “Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am. Be still and know. Be still. Be. For B is the beginning of Beginning, it is the beginning of Belonging, it is the beginning of Beautiful, and B is the beginning of Beloved and you are my Beloved.” How great an idea that is to just be still and know that He is God. Or to just BE in his presence. I don’t think I am quite to the point where I just Be in God’s presence but I definitely think I am getting closer and I can’t wait to be there. Another thing by Jason Upton is his song In the Silence is slowly becoming my favorite song in the season I am in. The chorus is quite easy and it just goes “In the Silence, You are speaking. In the Quiet, I can feel the fire, And it burning, Burning deeply. Burning all that it is that desire to be silent, In me.”  So if I could leave you with one thing it would be to simply Be Still, Be.

Will You?

This is just something that God gave me during our worship session on Friday morning.

Will you make Me your everything?

Your every thought?

Your every action?

Your every desire?

Will you allow me to transform your life?

I am you Savior, your Friend, your Daddy.

But I want to be more

I want to be your Lord

I want your all and I won’t relent until I have it

Will you exalt Me above everything else?

Will you hold Me as Holy, as consecrated

And as the most precious thing you possess?

Will You?

Only you have the answer, I will not fail to recognize it ——

So come on, take my hand

Let Me take you to new heights with Me

This is the Summon. How will you answer?

Well that is it. Hope it speaks to you. I know it spoke to me.