7holycrap Life Lessons

I am a Failure and it Feels GREAT!

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This morning I woke up thinking about prayer that started last week for a little 5 week old baby named Lyneigh. She is a child of a girl and extended family that I helped pastor when I was a youth pastor many years ago. This baby had been placed in the hospital and was not given a chance to be able to breathe on her own because of brain complications that led to her needing to be on a ventilator.

Over the weekend I was checking up on her with her aunt and was told that the doctors informed the family that she would probably not be able to breathe on her own if they removed her from the oxygen. When I read the text, my heart sank and I suddenly lost faith. For whatever reason this news about Lyneigh defeated me. As soon as I read it, I was thinking about going to a funeral for a 5 week old baby, the mental and emotional stress on the mom and dad, and the general sadness that comes from losing a child so young. It was the weirdest thing in my mind. I was still praying for the situation but was making mental preparations for letting myself down by God not answering a prayer that I was praying for this little girl and her family.

But God had other plans. Lyneigh was eventually removed from the oxygen and is living! She and the family have a long road, but it is not to a graveside service but to helping their little girl live a full and healthy life.

Then the strangest thing happened. I suddenly felt like a FAILURE after this good news. I read a post on Facebook from a friend who was being transparent to the family about some of the same things I was thinking and it actually inspired me to write this post. All the years of seeing God move and do amazing things for people/families while I was dealing with my own eye issues and I was ready to throw in the towel. I INSTANTLY had a rush of thoughts like “Why did I doubt God’s power? Why did I give up so easily this time? Is it that I am not spending enough time with God to really know His heart? I laid hands on this little girl and prayed for her but did I really even believe the words I was speaking over her? Was I secretly thinking in my mind after seeing this baby hooked up to so many wires that this was not going to end well and I just needed to try and be there as much as I could?”

Then God told me a very simple yet mind-blowing statement that set me straight and, I think, helped me for the rest of my life with prayers I will pray for others. He simply said, “It’s not about you, it’s about me.” For years and years I thought that if I would just pray the right “spiritual incantation directed at the foul demon of whatever” that I could muster enough power to overtake the enemy. I am not saying that it is not good to pray prayers that get yourself or others motivated but just realize that the volume of your prayers do not increase the chance that God will hear what you are saying and pay MORE attention to you. This little baby and situation has changed me and how I will communicate with God. After God spoke this to me, I understood that my feelings of FAILURE were actually an example of God working miracles from me just by being obedient to pray.  I realized that when I am obedient to pray and just do my part to ask God for His power that I can trust and rely on the fact that He has got the whole situation in his hands. I will no longer just pray to “get something” but will focus on “giving to God” the situation at hand.

Maybe you are in the same boat with me but thoughts you had from a situation that actually DIDN’T have a happy ending like this one. Maybe you are questioning if you had enough faith and it just didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. Well the same is true for you as the statement God spoke to me, ‘It’s not about you, it’s about God.” I can firmly say that we will all probably NEVER know why some are healed and others are not. This is not making an excuse to those feeling the pain and sting of death but just reminding all of us that the only real “control” we have in this life is where we put our trust and hope. I have never regretted ONE DAY of giving God control of my life but I still deal with the questions of why every so often. I don’t see it as a sign of weakness in my faith but actually a sign of strength in who God is to me and being able to sustain me in all situations if I will just let Him.

7holycrap Orphanage Update

Nepal Orphanage UPDATE! Stories of SUPERNATURAL protection and provision!

Update_1I wanted to officially update everyone on the orphanage in Nepal and what has been going on. It has been AMAZING the love, prayer and financial support we have received from people everywhere. We know that this will be a time of rebuilding and also listening to the Holy Spirit to see what new relationships we can make in the community of Kathmandu and our orphanage by spreading the love of Jesus in a practical and needed way. 
I had a call this morning with our orphanage manager and from all the reports of destruction I have some great testimonies to share and God’s amazing protection in the midst of the chaos. First, and most importantly, all the kids, families and their extended families are safe. This is amazing considering we have 36 people in our orphanage (with kids, families and the managers and their kids) and four kids as well that are older and have moved out of the home and THEIR families. We do have some older grandparents that are dealing with health issues but not related to the earthquake and could use our prayers. Of all the horror stories we are hearing coming from Nepal, they are all safe which is a testament of God’s protection.
They have food and water but are still in need of tents for everyone because of the rains that happen this time of year. There is also some structural damage to the boys home and we want to keep all the kids and families together for safety as well as all the aftershocks that have been occurring. We think the manager’s house and the girl’s home are safe with no apparent structural damage which is another testament to God’s protection when we see the condition of many buildings that have fallen or are ready to collapse.
The orphanage is well connected to a church there and we are looking for additional opportunities to reach out to people in the area affected by the quake. 
Our orphanage managers are organizing trips into the areas of destruction to get the older kids out and helping other people. They have an amazing heart to see the kids not just concerned and thinking about their own preservation (which can happen with orphans) but the importance of being “Jesus with skin on” to the community. Our heart is that we don’t treat the kids as “orphans” but as young men and women that have awesome God-given destinies and a second chance at life to make a difference in their world.
The country of Nepal is only 2% Christian and I believe that God can open opportunities for us to influence the country for Jesus after this disaster with the pure awesome and relentless power of the LOVE of Jesus. 
We are going to be getting a better estimate of the cost of tents, blankets and other essential items in the next couple of days but please continue to pray and if you can give that would be awesome. We will continue to accept donations at RockyMountainCTN.com on the home page not only for our kids and orphanage but also for opportunities to show the love of Jesus in the community.
EVERY penny you give to the orphanage for the relief efforts goes to our kids and people in need. There are NO operational costs or other things attached to the money so you know that 100% of your giving is getting to the people who need it. Thanks and I will give another update as soon as I hear more information.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts

The Easter Weekend Day with No Name

  

Everyone knows Good Friday and Easter Sunday but what about today? Saturday, in the Easter weekend, is the day that bridges the gap between Jesus being crucified and raising from the dead.  I mentioned on a Facebook post yesterday that Good Friday is the day of hope in knowing that God is cookin things behind the scenes even when you think things are over. To me, today represents the importance of patience and waitng on God and HANGING ON to that hope of a heavenly plan in the face of silence. I think back on my life and how many times I have made “good” decisions and not “God” decisions because I was impatient instead of waiting on the victory Jesus had for me. My personality is one of impatience at times. Wanting to “help God out” with good actions instead of praying and waitng on Him and his timing. Silence with God is not always a “yes” or a “no” but literally a “wait” which is against our culture of  “now” and instant gratification. Today, think about your life and the things you have not seen come to completion. Just as yesterday was a day of hope that God is working behind the scenes on your behalf, today needs to be the day of learning patience and waitng on the victory! Have a great Saturday and enjoy your Easter Sunday tomorrow! Praying for you.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts, Life Lessons

Asking God for the BIG Things

keep-calm-and-ask-god-for-big-thingsI woke up this am, turned on my Kindle and read a devotion that just changed my thinking about prayer and asking God for things. I know that sounds like an overstatement but this devotion was so life-changing that I felt like it needed to be shared in a blog post. It was in my Smith Wigglesworth devotional and it said, “Begin to believe in extravagant asking, believing that God is pleased when you ask LARGE things.” For whatever reason, this concept has been foreign to me and I am not sure why. When I think of asking God for things the logical thought would be to ask for smaller things, He answers them and that builds your faith to believe for the big things. But I believe that is opposite to what God wants us to do and ask. Asking for things outside of our ability is probably just what God WANTS us to ask for because it is proof that we need HIM to accomplish the goal!
I think something that helped my thinking this am is helping Yolanda with the Children’s ministry at our church. When you are a child you don’t have a concept of what your parents can or can’t do. Plus, you are in a position to ask and believe without thinking you will be able to do anything to get what you are asking for. Simply asking and believing God should be an ageless goal and routine. But as adults, we are tainted by our own abilities to get things done instead of truly asking God then believing what his Word says. On Sunday’s, we normally make time at the end of worship to ask the kids if God spoke something to them and then have them pray over the group. I tell them every week that we are not babysitting them and that they have an ability to ask and believe God without being jaded by living too many years on the earth.
Today, I pray you have a renaissance of child-like faith in asking God for BIG things and then knowing that he takes pleasure in you asking.  When you ask for things that you know you cannot do, then God sees you trusting in HIS power and not in your own. Praying for you my friends and believing for GREAT things today!

7holycrap funny thoughts, Life Lessons

An Owl Pooped on me this Weekend

IMG_7703You read it and are seeing it correctly, a Barn Owl pooped on me this weekend. It was like an explosion of turd all over my jacket and shorts while I was birding with Yolanda this weekend. In life, there are times when we are hit with an unexpected “crap-storm” of problems that come in all different shapes and sizes. The question is how will we respond? At first I was in shock because I had never been pooped on by a bird, not to mention a giant owl! Then I was trying to calculate what just happened to me from standing in a  tree grove, to a giant awesome owl flying over my head to having the sensation of drying bird poop all over me. Isn’t that just like life sometimes? We are hit with crap and try to assess the situation the best we can but it is sometimes hard to put all the pieces together. I walked up to my wife and her friend Nora and said, “I found the bird” while revealing my turd-laden jacket and shorts from behind a tree. As they started to laugh at me, I calmly walked back to my car, got some water on a rag and started wiping off as much excrement as I could so we could continue looking for birds that day.

The moral to this little story is a question; what are you going to do in your life when you get “crapped on?” Are you going to sit and cry and whine that you smell like turd? Are you going to try to get vengeance on the one who did the “pooping?” The owl, who was my aggressor, was LONG GONE by the time I got my bearings and realized what happened. I could have spent my entire day looking for that stupid bird and ruining the rest of my time with Yolanda and Nora, with a HIGH probability of not finding the culprit. Or are you going to wipe it off and keep going? Be encouraged today that things will happen to you that need to be brushed/wiped off and for you to keep going in life. Don’t let something as simple as the “crap” of someone else ruin your day and give them control over your mind and emotions.

Praying for you this week and have a splendid day!

7holycrap Uncategorized

Fire Wave Vision…Sweet Baby Jesus

firewave2I wanted to share a vision I had on a run last week. I was considering whether I should share it or not but felt like it would encourage people. I don’t get a lot of visions so when I do see something like this I know it is important for me and possibly important for others to hear.

God was showing me a wave on a beach with it crashing down and pushing the shoreline. Then it was a wave of fire that was rolling on the ground and burning up things. I saw people who were tangled in old dead weeds that represented past hurts and scars that were keeping them from freedom of movement and making them extremely uncomfortable. The greater problem was that they didn’t even realize they were immobilized by these roots. The fire wave rolled around the base of the people and burned away the old weeds which gave them ability to walk in freedom.
Then my vision shifted to a dark forest that didn’t even have any moonlight with people wandering around and lost. The wave of fire was bringing light and helping people find their way over to the wave for warmth from the cold.
I felt like God told me that when followers of Christ pray for “more fire” that they should not consider the DESTRUCTION fire brings but the warmth and light it gives to people in darkness. The fire of God is a freeing agent for people as well as a warming and guiding light for those who are lost and don’t even realize it. God was showing me that my new position in Christian television needs to be based on the LOVE of God that is a hot fire which has the ability to free, warm and direct people who are in darkness. He also shared with me that the more I pray, the greater the size and scope of the wave which equates to an ability for more people to be helped.

As I type these words, I am reminded of the verse in Hebrews 12:29 that says “for our God is a consuming fire.”
A fire that that refines and burns away hurts to give mobility that would never have happened without it.
A fire that gives ability to see into the darkness around that is so prevalent in the world today.
A fire that provides warmth to keep people from the freezing cold that steals joy.

Have a great week and, as always, praying for you today to feel the warming love of God in your heart and bring healing to areas of you life that you may not even realize need it.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts

Darkness in our World versus the Light of Christ

hope_in_DarknessIf there is anything NOT to do first thing in the morning anymore is watching/reading the news of the darkness rising in our world. With all of the ISIS news, especially about Christian’s being persecuted, it can become sad with a feeling of helplessness. Then today I was looking through and cleaning up notes on my phone and ran across my grandma’s graveside service I did a few years ago. I scrolled down and noticed a line that I felt God gave me while preparing back then and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you.

I was referencing Psalms 23 and the verse that says “…even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear NO evil” and I shared the statement, “don’t STAY in the valley of the shadow of death. Walk THROUGH it.”

Today, maybe you are in a “valley of the shadow of death” that looks familiar and a place you will never be able to leave. Some people feel it’s necessary to “set up shop” in a valley of death in life and leverage that environment while learning to exist IN that valley. Maybe your “valley of death” is the loss of a loved one or maybe it is a plan that you had formulated for your life that just didn’t work out quite the way you had hoped. The verse in Psalms does not say “…even though I LIVE in a valley of the shadow of death….”. The Bible has been given to us to bring encouragement, direction and correction which is all for our good. There is so much truth and wisdom in the Bible if we will only open it up, read it and then APPLY it to our lives. Only then can we see the Word’s full power on display for others to see. The darkness in this world is only increasing and the “light” that followers of Christ are able to bring in valleys of darkness have never been more important than they are right now! We also need to not be so consumed with our own “darkness” personally that we forget to provide prayer cover for those in areas of the world who are dealing with a darkness that many of us will never understand. When we continue to WALK with God’s help THROUGH darkness and pray for others and the darkness they encounter, we have a strategy for success!

Have a great rest of the week and know that I’m praying and believing the best for you.

7holycrap Life Lessons

Proximity Doesn’t make you a Follower of Christ

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I have a really cool metal relief picture of the last supper hanging in my office and counted the number of disciples around Jesus. There are 12 in the picture which includes Judas. In prayer this morning, I was reminded of Judas who betrayed Jesus. I was thinking of how he spent some of the best and closest time with Jesus but still betrayed him for money. I think Judas is a great lesson for those who choose to follow Christ. We can look at Judas and his actions and think, “how in the world would anyone who spent that kind of time with Jesus, chose to betray him and for MONEY non the less?” Proximity to Christ is not what helps us to know his heart. Proximity only can be religiously going to church on a regular basis or even religiously giving your tithes every paycheck or just trying to live a “good life” without really getting to know God. Jesus doesn’t want us to just hang around him. He wants us to really listen, learn and then apply his teaching through the Bible and with the help of the Holy Spirit. That was the key difference with Judas and the other disciples; his focus. There are numerous times in the Bible where ALL of the disciples didn’t understand what the heck Jesus was saying. Eleven disciples were hungry to understand and focused on what Jesus was saying and doing but Judas, on the other hand, was dealing with and keeping his focus on the finances of the group. We need to be careful not to quickly judge Judas and his mistakes before we examine our own lives and make sure that we are not making some of the same fundamental mistakes he did. Maybe we are living a life in proximity to Jesus instead of really pressing in to know his heart and do his will. Attending church, giving tithes and offerings and being a positive influence on society are all important, but if your body is close to “religion” and your heart is far from the “relationship” to Jesus, there is a fundamental problem. I am praying for you today for you to have a fusion of the things you DO for Jesus and who you ARE with him. To truly be a follower of Christ, both are desperately needed.

7holycrap Life Lessons

I Just Threw Away my Dex Phone Book

My new Dex phone book was delivered yesterday. It was like Christmas with the excitement of waiting for that sucker. Of course, I am kidding. Yolanda and I ALWAYS take it and put it into the recycle bin because we have so many other ways to access the information in a big, clunky out of date book.

The phone book that was delivered to my house, by someone, had to have a team of sales people selling ad space, a planning/design team who had to put all the copy together, the factory that produced the paper, the printers that made all the copies, the binding of the books together, the team of people to box them up, the trucks to deliver them to people who would distribute them and that is not to mention the plastic bags that everything was in…and I just took it and threw it in the recycle bin. Now, unless you are a “Power Team” member (said for all you old skool churchies who know what I am talking about) the phone book, paper version, has become pretty much obsolete.

Now think about your life. How many times do we do the same things the same way “just because” and we waste time and resources that could be better used somewhere else? Maybe that is with trying to find peace in your heart and mind. You do the things that you have always done but don’t even know that there is an easier way to find that hope, peace and contentment in life. Jesus offers FULL ACCESS to all the things you are searching for in life if you will just ask. A conversation with Him doesn’t need to be like a big, clunky, out-of-date phone book. It just starts with a “search of information” about what He has to offer. In the Bible, there is a verse in Luke 11:9 that says that if you seek God that you WILL find him.

Maybe you are in a situation right now and you need peace that is above the crap you are in. It’s as simple as saying the name of “Jesus” and watching your situation change for the better. Praying for you today.

7holycrap Jesus thoughts

Some Old Books Contain Timeless Truths

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Anyone who works from an office and has a lot of books will realize something very interesting when you have to move to a new area; you will find books in your collection that are out of date. I have acquired not only books myself through the years but also a full library from my mother-in-law when she died which had ones she got from a pastor friend when he died.

I have always had more books than shelf space through the years and moving into my new office was no different. It was time for me to go through my books and pair down the ones that I was probably not going to use or read anymore. When I was working full time in church as a pastor I would get books from people like George Barna or whoever the “stat” guy/girl was who was talking about why people do what they do in relation to the church and God. I found all kinds of “how to” books on doing things to get people into church but the dates were from 1998, 2003 and a couple from 2010. The thing I realized when I was holding those books is that they were out of date and, in general, irrelevant at this time in history.

Then I came across 2 Bibles that had dates signed in them from 1910 and 1907. Two books that were almost 100 years old and still had relevant truth, timelessness teachings and powerful words to change lives and alter destinies. A book that I try to implement in my life everyday to the point that I have a question that I am going to ask myself starting in 2015. It is the simple statement, “will what I do/say right now give Jesus a good name?”

The teachings of the Bible have shaped me and molded me into the person I am today and will stay with me until I am no longer on this earth. Men through the ages have been known for many things but I want to only be known for living the truths of the Bible out in my life. That is the legacy I want to leave on this earth and to know that I bettered the lives of those I came in contact with from a life-giving, life-changing and life-empowering book, known only as the Bible.