7holycrap Life Lessons, Uncategorized

Stop Fighting People and Start Fighting Hell

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I went on a little run tonight in my first town I lived in when I got married, Worland Wyoming. As ran and prayed I asked God to show me what was happening in the Spiritual realm in town so I could know how to pray while I am here. I felt impressed with something that almost changed the paradigm of ministry to people and even what I am trying to do with Christian Television in Denver.

I felt like he said, “it is time for people who follow me to stop fighting other humans and start fighting hell.”

I think there are too many people who stand behind the wall of “what they believe” and throw rocks at all the people they don’t agree with or disapprove of. I really have no idea where that mentality came from because Jesus sure was not like that when he was on the earth interacting with people who probably did not line up with his belief system.

It is much easier to tell people what you are against than to stand up for what you do by leading with love and acting like Jesus. For some reason, we feel that interacting and working with people we disagree with in some way is going to “taint” our “super-holy walk” with baby Jesus. This is EXACTLY the mentality that the devil wants believers to have.

Until we start to see people who are dealing with the struggles of life just like us, we will continue to judge the actions of people we disagree with instead of loving people FIRST and then praying and looking for our role in their lives.

Stop acting like the religious people of the Bible. They were the ONLY ones who Jesus argued with in the Bible, by the way.

I want to be known as the one who doesn’t agree with everyone but loves LOUDER and FIRST with EVERYONE I come in contact with during my life. That’s what Jesus did and that is what I am going to do. Want to join me?

7holycrap Life Lessons, Uncategorized

I Got Mad for the Orphans Today…OOPS

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Today I got angry. I know this surprises everyone that I actually lose my cool every so often (haha) but today was especially interesting. I got angry about the orphanage that Yolanda and I oversee in Nepal. Sometimes, I can get negative about people that I think would and should support what we are doing but don’t want to get involved. I mean, they are ORPHANS for crying out loud!

The interesting thing was that I preached a message at a church a few weeks ago about not having to defend God, the Bible and what He wants to do on the earth. I said, “We don’t need to defend the Bible, we need the Bible to defend US!” (Plus, I knew that was from God because it was too good for me to come up with such a clever line) I had lots of passion and meant every word I said. I am not sure why, but I threw all that good teaching for EVERYONE ELSE out the window and got ticked for the sake of the orphans!!

I need to remember and listen to all that good teachin’ I am happy to give others and remember that our kids in Nepal are HIS kids and not our responsibility. We are just to do our part, present the vision and trust God for the support. We have already had others who are fully behind what we are doing and I know that God is going to bring even more people to us to take care of the kids.

Today, think about something you are worried about or gotten angry about because you thought you were defending the less fortunate or even God, for that matter. Remember that He has way more power than you, has been around a lot longer and has the ability to actually protect YOU and not the other way around.

Ok. Now I feel better getting that off my chest. Have a great weekend!

7holycrap Holy Crap, Life Lessons, The Book

A Moment of Transparency with the Holy Crap Book

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I really can’t believe that my book is coming out on June 7th. It has been such an incredibly long and arduous journey getting my thoughts out of my head and into a manuscript. It has taken me 7 years to write and get my book to a publisher and the whole time I was sick was only 5 years.

Now that I am finished with the first phase of getting a finalized manuscript to the publisher I am thinking about what my book could mean to people who read it, good AND bad. I have had to come to grips with the fact that some people are not going to like what I have to say maybe because it is not at their literary level or it is too simple (for those people who want a deep theological discussion, which it is not) or that I strike a nerve in people and their relationship with God by talking about something that really hurts. I have ALWAYS said that if you don’t want to be criticized then don’t put yourself into the public eye. The problem with that philosophy for me is that my story, and what I felt like I learned through it, is more important to share with people who are lost in their hurt with no where to turn than for me to worry about public scrutiny.

Many people may think that I am completely secure in who I am because I joke a lot, talk a lot and like to be the center of attention all the time. I am telling you that there is a real struggle inside when thinking of dealing with hurtful words thrown at me when I am pouring out my heart in a book like Holy Crap. I know that God has been and is my strength but it is still something I know I will deal with as long as people are reading my book and giving feedback.

I guess this blog is a micro version of what my book will be for those who read it; transparent thoughts to help people relate to what I have been through and even currently go through. If God was big enough to get me through the hardest season of my life then He will be able to carry me through this next phase of the story.

Holy Crap! It’s almost time to share my story with the world! I pray that my book will bring healing where there has been hurt and hope where there has been despair. Thanks for coming along on the journey with me!

7holycrap Life Lessons, Uncategorized

God Messed Up My Run this Weekend

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I have not been running as much as I should the past few months. My life has been so crazy with getting everything going at the TV station that I basically run out of time at the end of the day to go home as run. Although I have a gym membership, I am not a “treadmill” kind of person and living in Colorado affords me many opportunities through the entire year to run outside. So this past weekend it was 55 degrees and sunny on Saturday afternoon so I decided to go for a run.

My normal mode when I run is to start out slower than I end so I focus on a ½ to ¼ mile run as fast as I can back to my car. My run started like any other with pacing myself slower when I started knowing that I was going to get a good clip in at the end of my run. The problem was that God had other things in mind.

I was listening to the new Natalie Grant album “Be One” that is mostly worship. If anyone knows me, I normally use my runs to pray for people but this was different. I was just getting ready to do my last ¼ mile of my run at top speed and I felt God tell me, “turn your music off, and pray for the land to be redeemed as you walk on the trail back to your car.” Immediately the beginning of the scripture in Deuteronomy 11:24 came to mind “Every place where you set your foot will be yours…” I have had enough times where I felt like God was telling me something and I disobeyed or was slow to drag my feet and comply but this was not one of them. I immediately turned off my music and walked back to my car praying instead of my “fast as I could run” clip I had planned, and it felt great.
I have also been listening to Crowder’s song “Lift Your Head Weary Sinner” the last few weeks and it has been giving me a heart for people coming back to God and not worrying about any kind of shame from their past. I think this is part spiritual and the strongholds that the Devil has over towns and people just living in deception that they can walk in freedom. I am now going to be much more alert and aware of when God is telling me things and asking me to be obedient in praying to redeem the land and where I place my feet.

I want to challenge you to not just go through life today and make it business as usual or to let your routine run your life. Sometimes it’s important that you let God “mess up your run” and use you for eternal things in the spiritual realm that you could never dream of or imagine. It may be something as simple as praying over a ¼ mile stretch of running trail that God has greater purposes for than for exercise. Have a great week!

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 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 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.