The season

I could go on about the stereo type Christmas that many Americans try to adhere to. I could go on about the Christmas I try to adhere to. But I will not. Instead I want to simply give a public thank you to everyone that made it our Christmas party tonight. I wish we had been able to get the word out to more people, as there were many that simply didn’t know, and I wish that those that couldn’t make it, could have.

Christmas is a season about celebrating friends, family, and the fact that we are all brought together by God in special ways. The miracle I saw tonight was many people under one roof, with incredibly different backgrounds, some with ugly pasts, others with amazing pasts, and some that have randomly come together through God’s providence on our lives.

At some point or another some of these people are ones that I have either been annoyed by, frustrated with, or would have rather “un-invited” in the past. But today I celebrated the fact that we were all together, enjoying one-another, loving on-another, and most of all simply having meaningful fun.

Something about consistency

5 Years ago I was fairly flaky about things… the only constant was being with friends
4 Years ago I began getting serious about tithing
3 Years ago I began getting serious about offerings
2 Years ago I began creating boundaries for my day
1 Year ago I got serious about making priorities a reality

Out of all of this, I have always had what I needed, always made it through the hard times, always had wise council through confusion and have always been able to see through the fog.

Becoming consistent in life with my words, thoughts, and actions and making my yes be yes, and my no be no, has brought nothing but peace and love into my life. I never waver on the things I listed above, and the less I waver about life the less messy life is.

Mornings

Well I am going to finally decalre an official miracle has happened in my life. The super-natural event doesn’t come with much fanfare, except that in my own life it’s been amazing.

I’ve been reading, learning, and journaling from my Bible every weekday morning for over a month now! This is the longest and most consistent I’ve ever been.

A little over a month ago a buddy of mine who just recently went through a divorce asked me to join him for his morning coffee time at a Starbucks near by… at first my flesh freaked out 6:30 in the morning! No way.

But then I was convincted, because here I am saying no to two things. 1. My need and desire to be in the Word of God more often. and 2. A time to fellowship, encourage, and be encouraged by a fellow brother on a regular basis.

So I said yes.

Thankfully it was the day that the clocks changed, so it felt to my body like it was 7:30 instead of 6:30… 😛 Good time to start… but that whole spring forward thing will suck 😛

The greatest gift to give someone.

Your story.

Not the abridged version.

Telling people your full life story and iluminating the areas where God’s hand is on it, is, in my opinion, of the best gifts a person could recieve.

The story of how God touches our lives is one of the most touching things a person could hear.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

More to come.