Excuse my Grammar

ASAP

2010-05-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like maybe as a culture we send too many e-mails. The web has made communication too easy and maybe it allows us to mask what we really want to say. Over the last few months I have noticed a trend, people will subject the e-mail with the phrase "Please respond ASAP". Now honestly I am not just sitting in front of my computer all day just waiting for an e-mail to come through so that I can respond. I have e-mail on my iPhone but I make it my point not to check it. So if we are really honest with ourselves, putting the letters ASAP in an e-mail is almost contradictory to the purpose you were trying to accomplish in the first place. So would it not be better to just give me a call or just shoot me a text ??

How many times have we sent up a quick "urgent" prayer to God asking for something that we need in a fast moment ?? It is easy but it takes little to no faith and we think God is Santa. We should view God more like we view a good dad. A good dad wants to sped time with you and get to know you then when you are in need you will not even need to ask, he just provides. So try it this way for a few weeks and see which method works better for you.

The power of a Name

2010-03-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

I feel sometimes like when I read the Bible that I kind look down on the Israelites for being idiots. They continually forgot how God just brought them out captivity and gave them freedom and life !! How could they have forgotten that just two chapters back they were slaves and now they are complaining and whining about not having their "normal" dinner of a medium rare T-bone steak and potatoes and green beans !! We laugh and point fingers at the people who have dead over a thousand years, but we do the same thing every time something happens to us and we can't fix it or make it better. A situation arises that seems monumental and we so easily forget that just a few chapters ago in our own life, God brought us out of a situation that was much worse.
So remember this, in every situation, in every event, your Father's nick-name is Jehovah Jireh which simply means, "God will see to it". So next time the bills come in, or that relationship is in shambles, or your job is down sizing, or you did something stupid and need a way out, or just need to know where your next meal will come from; remember who your Fathers name and the track record that he holds.

With Everything

2010-03-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

When we don't pay our taxes the government comes after us like we killed someone, but when we don't give our everything to Jesus no one is chasing us but Jesus... So remember that your life is his and when it's in his hands there is nothing better. Live free and stop looking over your soldier.

Dirty Old Shoes

2010-03-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

I was in Memphis TN a few years ago when I saw something that caught my eye. It was a dirty old pair of Converse All-Stars hanging from some saggy telephone wires. The shoes were literally hanging in the middle of the street so when you passed by on this little two lane road you saw them easily. Being from a pretty simple town in Northeast Alabama I had to ask someone why there were shoes hanging on a line over the road. After the chuckles stopped, one of the guys explained to me that in certain areas it can mean that there are drugs being sold. This blew my mind !! I thought it was some kind of joke or something but no it was a legit deal. In that moment I realized that I grew up very sheltered, dang homeschool...

But the purpose in that embarrassing story is to ask a pretty tough questions. When people see you, what do they associate you with ?? It is very easy to give a Sunday School answer or even lie but ask yourself the tough questions, does your life reflect what you want it to or are you a shadowy figure of something else ?? We have allowed ourselves as a culture to just be grey and not set our selves apart !! It is easier to blend, it is easier to just sit back and watch, but it takes a person comfortable in their own shoes to really stand out of the crowd. As people know that shoes over a line mean drugs, I want them to know that Brad equals compassion, love, grace, care, Jesus... nothing else will do.