7holycrap Life Lessons, Uncategorized

The Day Brian Morris Grew Up

I was wrestling all day whether or not I should write this blog but I feel like it could encourage someone else in their journey with God so I decided it was necessary.

It was my birthday this past Monday and I was blessed to receive money that I was steadily spending in my mind as the checks came in.  I have a craigslist app on my phone that was telling me about all the iPads that were for sale.  I started getting a picture and idea of how much I wanted to spend on it.  I deposited a couple of checks that I had received but had one come in on Friday and wanted everything to be deposited so I could get my money out as soon as possible which was keeping with normal immature Brian fashion.  Yolanda was going to make a deposit for me on Saturday so I could have the check processed right away.  I called her Saturday and asked if she had made the deposit but she said she hadn’t.  I snapped at her and told her I was unhappy about the fact that she didn’t make the deposit.  I stayed kind of upset because Brian needed his iPad in a hurry because it was his post-birthday week and he had cash to spend!!

Last night and today God was speaking to me and I was not in the mood to listen.  I was thinking about a need the Orphanage in Nepal had of a solar panel that helps give power to the house they are in when the rolling blackouts happen every single day in Kathmandu.  They sometimes have twenty two hours with no electricity which stuck in my head when I was there.  When we visited in February I thought it would be so awesome if I could afford to pay for that item, but as always humanly happens, when I got home and back in the “race of life” I had forgot about the need.  So fast forward to this weekend.  I REALLY felt God pulling on my heart to give my birthday money to the orphans and buy this solar panel.  I did what any good Christian would do; I questioned whether it was God and tried to make “deals” with Him.  I was like, “let me just get my ipad and give the rest to the orphans.”  As I tried to do the deal, I felt an even greater pit in my stomach to give away my money.  Immature Brian needed to fill a techno need that only an Apple iPad would fill.  The funny thing is that I was not trying to sell anything or try and talk Yolanda into giving me money to get something that was beyond our budget.  I had the money.  I had the resources to get what I wanted, but I didn’t have a peace in my heart and mind.  So tomorrow, I am going to have Yolanda write the check from my birthday money for the solar panel.  I stepped back and thought, “I want another gadget to add to my current collection when there are orphans on the other side of the world who don’t even have the ability to turn on a light switch to light a room when the town is having blackouts.”

I am not telling you this to feel sorry for me or for you to think I am bragging about what I’m doing.  I just wanted people who know me to know that I feel like today I grew up and made a difficult, adult and obedient decision that will be a blessing to someone else.
It’s funny, but I really feel like my decision started being about money but it really ended up being about obedience and that God set me up to see if I would do what He wanted and give me enough money to bless the orphans in a way I would normally not be able to.

My word to you is that if you have an opportunity to bless someone else and you call Jesus the Lord of your life, then please ask the question whether or not you need to do something.  Before today, I could say these things as a pastor telling others what to do, but now I can say these things as a man of God who had to ask that question and actually act on it. 🙂  I am not saying that I have arrived as the man God wants me to be, but I sure feel like today I am a little bit closer to who God needs me to be to touch a hurt and dying world around me.

7holycrap Life Lessons

Free will versus The Devil Made Me Do It

I was thinking and meditating today on what causes people to make bad decisions in life so I thought I would share some of my thoughts. In the church, we often say that “satan stole” a persons vision, direction, ministry, etc. but I don’t really believe that satan steals as much as we give. It’s funny how much we see the power of free will until we mess up and say “the devil MADE me do it.” We have choices throughout life. Opportunities to make good decisions or make bad ones and if you think about it, if you made a string of good decisions today they don’t automatically translate into good decisions tomorrow. Since im a pastor i know i must be especially mindful of my actions good or bad and the desire for the devil to trip me up personally and professionally. I was talking with our Senior Pastor and we are both in agreement that there are really only four things that cause someone to get tripped up in ministry: the Gold, the Glory, the Girls or the Guys. I am not above any of the Indiscretions that men and women of God sometimes get caught in and I have an accountability group around me to help keep me honest and focused in life. I think it’s sad how many times communities as well as the entire world has watched while pastors and evangelists have made extemely poor decisons based on their desire for money, fame or an illicit relationship not considering the consequences of those actions.
The Bible says it all in 1 Peter 5:8-9:
8 Be self- controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Notice that it starts with “Be self-controlled and alert” so it starts with
preparing your mind and heart each day for the attacks of the enemy. The verses end with the fact that there are people everywhere dealing with the same temptations which says to me it’s important for men and women to have accountability in there lives because we all deal with the temptation to do wrong. If it was just the power of the devil to devour it may say something like… “be alert! The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
One last thought for today; there is one word in those scriptures that I find awesome and it’s the word “like” when it reffers to the devil and being “like” a lion. There is only one Lion of Judah and that’s Jesus and His power is in operation in you if you have a relationship with him. Don’t let the king of fakers, the devil, fool you into giving away something that your free will has the power of keeping with the help of God. And pastors, none of us are above falling and making mistakes so we need to stay humble, alert and not judge when we see other ministers fall and make poor decisions. Let’s all ask God to have our free will line up with His will and stay alert for the days ahead.

7holycrap Life Lessons

Some things I learned from my current Techno Time-Out

I have been on a 30 day fast of my iphone, music and PS3.  People have asked me why take away these three things and you are still on Twitter, Facebook, read your Kindle etc.  I felt that these were the three biggest distractions from me listening to God.  I had one of those “if you want something to change in your life then do something different” moments so I decided to do something drastic for me.
I think the hardest thing for me to be without has been my music.  I love listening to all kinds of music and at all volumes (although, loud in my truck is my favorite)  Music, I have learned, also gets my mind focused when I am doing graphics on my Mac.  It wasn’t until I was without my music these past weeks that I realized this fact.  l also recognized how much time I was spending on my phone.  I have 7 pages of apps and lots of games and distractions but need to curtail these things to a reasonable level and not always have to be checking my Facebook, Twitter or the condition of my Zombie Farm!
This blog was actually motivated out of a breakthrough I felt I had in my fast this morning.  I was praying and reading my Bible and God told me that the reason why I, Brian, need “techno time-outs” is that I can get so wrapped up in what I am doing with the gadgets in my life that I forget to just simply sit back and listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling me.  I am not saying that any of the gadgets I have are evil in themselves, but I do think they have the potential to steal my time and mess up the priority of Christ in my life.  I also had God share with me that it was important for my future that I learn to listen to God in the midst of life.  I am a pastor so I am bombarded with the issues of people almost on a daily basis but this was much deeper and broader than just ministry.  I am not sure completely what it means but I got the message loud and clear.    I preached in DC last week that if I was only known as a funny guy, the iphone/Tech geek, etc. and people didn’t know that Christ was number one to me, then I failed.  I don’t want to fail in this life so I will do what I need to do to make sure I am tuned in to the best of my abilities to the Holy Spirit and what he says to me

7holycrap Life Lessons

Techno fasting

I am typing this blog post from my new iPhone I just got about a week ago. I am tell you this, not just for you to think I’m cool, but to illustrate a point. At this point in my life, I don’t even have to go get my computer to type my thoughts to the world. Now for me, a lover of technology, this can be a great thing and it can be a terrible thing as well. Great because it is fun and something new to play with and learn. Terrible because it can cause me to spend more time being technological and less time being a Christian. I am not saying that I feel we need to do away with technology, but that it can be an amazing tool used in moderation. I can tell you that I spend more time playing with techno things than I do with praying and spending time in the bible. I think this is where I am feeling so strong about a techno fast each week to keep the tools I use to connect and communicate in perspective. I am not sure what day I want to do this fast, but it will start this week. I never want my hunger and thirst for technology to become stronger than my hunger and thirst for God and his presence in my life.

7holycrap Life Lessons

Sample from my book “Holy Crap…finding God’s presence in your pain”

Here is a small sample of a chapter I worked on today about people watching you when you are going through pain.  Remember, this is a “thoughts to paper” draft of this chapter and very rough, but gives a good idea where I am going with the chapter.  Thanks and enjoy!

Holy Crap…finding God’s presence in your pain – Chapter 9

People will watch your Pain

What is it with a traffic accident?  In Colorado there is an epidemic of “gawker traffic” that occurs whenever there is any kind of flashing lights on the side of the road.  I am a true believer that people (although they wont say it) are looking for as much blood and guts as possible when seeing the red and blue lights of any kind of emergency vehicle.  It really is interesting to think about what people would do if they actually did see something gruesome on the side of the road and have to mentally process it.  I think when people see an accident they are thinking a few things; they may want to see if they know anyone involved in the incident, maybe they are thanking God that it wasn’t them in the accident or they want to see the level of destruction involved so they have a juicy story when they get to the office.  I say all these things because I believe that pain and opposition in a persons life can evoke some of those same emotions to the world around them.  Maybe people around them react based on the level that they know the person affected by pain.  I know for my parents, sister and wife that my sickness has really challenged them in their faith and believe in God’s grace and power.  People may also ask how a person is doing just so they can have the “inside scoop” when other people ask how that person is doing.  When they are talking to the person in pain they are thinking in the back of their mind, “I am sure glad I am not going through what that person is dealing with.”  I feel like for the years I was sick I encountered every one of those types of people in conversations or just in knowing that people were watching Yolanda and I from the thirty five different doctors reviewing my case and looking in my eye, to people in our neighborhood to friends and family in the church.  I am not looking down or talking bad about those people looking at me in any of the ways I identified, I am just saying that its a fact that people will look at you and your life when you go through pain.  I really want this book to be able to help people on all levels of pain and crap they go through in life.  I firmly believe that crap happens in life and we have all kinds of opportunities to help others, help ourselves and let Jesus do something more amazing in the bad times than in the good.  When people are looking at you and the life you are living in pain, God has just allowed you to influence and affect the path of their life in a greater way than you could ever imagine.
Before I go into some of these elements, always remember that it is your decision if you want to matter to other people or if you just want to “turtle up” and go into survival mode with your pain.  Survival mode is the automatic reaction to a painful situation, but remember that the first, initial, gut reaction to anything usually not the right thing to do, think or say.  I cannot remember one time in my life when I reacted to something and it turned out well, helped anyone or made me not look stupid and reactionary to a situation.  When I stepped back, evaluated my situation and then ACTED on whatever was happening I always did my best to make the most out of the situation for myself and for others around me.  This is not just you programming yourself to do the right thing when people around you are looking at your life.  It takes effort on your part but it also takes the power of the Holy Spirit in your life to do this.  In the Bible, Phillipians 4:13 says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  It still says that its “me” doing the things, but it is the power of Christ in my life that gives me the ability to live a life that is not only pleasing to him, but encouraging to the people around me.
There is one key thing to remember here; I am not saying I have done everything right with my attitude and actions when I came home from the eye doctors office with reports of moving closer to removing my eye, possibly going completely blind and probably dealing with medication for the rest of my life because of an overactive immune system.  This book, prayerfully, is for you to read and learn from my mistakes and also to learn something from the principles of going through crap and not just getting through it but, in some way, looking forward to them as growing experiences.

7holycrap Life Lessons

Life is made up of decisions…that can change the world

world_little
If you think about it, life is made up of decisions and those decisions give direction to the life you lead.  When you got up this morning, you decided what you were going to wear, what you were going to eat and what time you were going to be at work.  Today, you will have opportunities to get work done, get in trouble or just choose to be lazy.  We need to realize that we can say anything we want about who we think we are but our actions are going to either reinforce these beliefs or dispute them.  It is a reinforcement of the age old adage… actions speak louder than words.  I appreciate the verse in James 2:26 that talks about faith without works being dead.  We can all say we have “faith” in God but do our actions prove this point?  We can say we love our spouse but do our actions show it with the things we do including guarding our hearts and minds from emotionally cheating on them?  Those are some of the daily decisions we need to make that will determine the direction, focus and strength in life.  If we always say, “yeah, I know I need to do better with…” and dont DO anything different with our actions then we will stay stuck in life.  We can say we need to change something in our life, but until we put the actions behind our words we are as good as lying.  I know that God did not create me to be a liar and to be a “man of my word.”  The reason why anyone can say they are a man or woman of their word is that they have the actions to back it up.  The kind of people who change the world around them are true to their word and have actions to back up what they say.  We can never be perfect in this life but need to address the question in each of our lives; are we changing our world today?

7holycrap Life Lessons

timing and tone

I have always preached about this my whole life because I am probably to worst at it. (isnt that always how it is?) I truly believe that the 2 most important things in relationships is timing and tone. With your significant other, with your boss, with your coworker or even with family. Timing and tone are the timing that you use when you are talking to any other person about something that is important to you and tone is the inflection of your voice (good or bad) that you use that can give you an incredibly positive outcome in the conversation or a forgettable one. I remember one time when I was a kid and I came running down the stairs and my mom was at the table doing the bills. I asked her in my best “know it all voice” if I could have my allowance. Lesson kids…poor timing and poor tone. When you say something and how you say it is just as important as what you say. If you can master this, you will either be in heaven and perfect or you wont and you will always be tested to say the right thing at the right time. Never react with you words in any conversation, only think and act. If we will engage our brain before our mouth starts going we will be in a lot better place with everyone around us.

7holycrap Life Lessons

ninja warrior on crack

Today I watched Unbeatable Banzuke.  It is like Ninja Warrior but on crack.  It is so funny to see the Japanese people and their obsession with seeing people compete and some end up in pain.  Glad Im an American and dont have any of those trappings. (uh, does the UFC fight tonight count? Should be a good one with Forrest Griffin and Rampage Jackson)  My point is, dont think that you can judge someone else without possibly having some of those same issues.  

Matthew 7:3″Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Don’t forget it.  A good verse to remember when something is getting ready to come out of your mouth that probably shouldn’t.

7holycrap Life Lessons

the olympics are a pain in the butt…literally

I was watching the Olympic trials tonight and thought of something interesting that was a great life lesson. The time trials for Track and Field were on and I thought that the runners made their running look so effortless. It was like they got up that morning, stopped by Burger King to get a croissant and rolled onto the field and ran their race. Some of them were not even breathing hard. I can remember not too long ago when I would get winded just running up the stairs in my house. 🙂 I compared that to when you see people that have their life together and you think, “wow, I wish my life would be that easy.” You dont know the effort that goes into that person’s life just like I didnt know the effort that goes into those runners and their ability to run like that. A vibrant, world changing relationship with God takes effort and has lots of ups and downs. Just like in running, if you dont feel the burn to work your muscles, heart and lungs you will not make the Olympics. For some reason, we think that a relationship with God should come easy and when we go through something in life we blame God for not making it easy for us. The training of the Lord for us to have a full and successful life has some of the same “pains” as an olympic runner, but just in a different form.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts, Life Lessons

so you think you know pain?

Here is a picture of my eye when it was at its worst.  I was looking at these again with Yolanda and she said she didn’t want to see them.  When we look at them, it really does bring back a rush of emotions from the past and the pain that I was in and our family in general.  We all have pain from our past and sometimes we have little reminders that can keep us trapped in how we used to feel.  I had thoughts of suicide, i asked yolanda one time if she was going to leave me because of the physical and emotional liability I felt like I was to the family, I was out of ministry and my call felt stalled, I was getting about 1.5 hours of sleep each night and would get up at 2:30am to take a bath and pull on my hair because it hurt so bad, we still have lots of medical bills to pay, I went through a period of time where I didn’t want to leave the house and see ANYONE or talk to anyone and I am now taking a pill that is helping my eye but could give me bladder cancer if I take it too long.  These are just a few of the things that I have been going through the past 4.5 years, but I also have to think back on the good things that Have happened like…many people in the church blessing us with food, money and prayers, a church that re-hired me when I could have still been a medical liability for them as an organization (thanks Sarah and Reece), knowing that there are literally hundreds of people around the globe that are praying for me, a wife that loves me and only see’s me as already healed, a new perspective on life that has changed my relationship with Jesus FOREVER, a loving mom and dad that have both offered me there eyes and countless people that God has opened my eyes to (pun intended) that need Jesus and will listen to me because I have actually had my faith tested and I know what I believe.  All that to say this; you have an option whenever you go through something in life.  You can easily look at the negative or the bad, but you need to seek out the positive and not ask God WHY but ask him WHAT.  Not WHY is this happening to me, but WHAT are you teaching me and what do I need to learn about myself and my purpose in this life.