I’m a homeowner!  It’s finally official, I signed the closing papers today and I am now an owner of my first house.

It’s been quite a bumpy ride, a lot of testing of handing over control and trust of my life to God, and He is good!  It’s a crazy feeling, thinking of that house and saying, “I bought that!?”.  This is a big step in my life and I pray that this house will have the light of God bursting out of it, that it will be a place of direction in people’s lives and a place for growth and foundation.

I meet with my contractor on Monday to plan out the schedule for the construction on the house.  I’m having the following done:

• Carpet in the basement
• Refinish the stairs
• Carpet the bedrooms
• Update the flooring upstairs
• New windows
• New Furnace / AC / Thermostat
• New door

I’m also having a house warming party where some friends and I will get together and write prayers and encouragement on the floors and walls before they are finished and a party to paint the house.  I plan on moving in to the house 2 – 3 weeks from now, for the time being I am blessed enough to have a sister and family to let me crash at their house temporarily.

Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement.  God has definitely been at work throughout all of this.

Romans 12:3

³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not
think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think
of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure
of faith God has given you. (NIV)

I’m young and still growing.  It fascinates me how often we take pride in ourselves and in our talents and skills but do not give that pride to God, the one who gave it all to us.

In my opinion, and let me know how you feel, pride is not a bad thing – when in the right place.  If we raise ourselves up on our own pedestal we are actually standing upside down underground, but if we raise God up in us for what he has blessed us with, light shall shine down upon it.

I got stuck in a rut today with a situation and I got in that mode where I am right and everyone else is wrong.  How thankful I am for having loving people to kick me down off my pedestal and remind me of my place.  “Think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you”.  This could be broken down as:  Think of yourself with a serious, sensible and solemn opinion with complete confidence or trust God has given you.

Looking back on all the times I was unhealthily proud, was I ever judging myself in accordance to a serious or sensible opinion of who I trust God has made me to be?  Definitely not.  I had an overly zealous opinion of who I think I WAS.  Period. Why would I ever want to be like that?  As a Christ follower with all my desire to glorify God, why would I ever want to have an opinion of myself that made me look foolish and disconnected from the Holy Spirit?  My answer is never, and because of that I think an important question, and more importantly is the answer to that question, is: What can I do to not do that or be like that again?

As a saved man in this fallen and broken world, I am fallen and I am broken.  My mind, while in connection with the Holy Spirit, is free from sin.  But when I act upon my body’s will I am enslaved to sin.  Take note in Romans 7:22-23…

Romans 7:22-23

In my mind, I am in happy agreement with God’s law.  But the
rest of my body does not concur.  My bodily members are at war
with my mind (which agrees with the law), and I have become a
prisoner in this war to the rule of sin that reigns supreme in my body. (The Voice)

So the very important answer to this question is this: do exactly what Romans 12:3 says, keep a solemn opinion of yourself in the faith God has given you, but do this constantly.  I suppose a simple way of doing this is when you catch the slightest glimpse of an ungodly opinion coming out of you ask yourself, “is this an act of being a prisoner to sin or a servant to God”.  Try to remember to always be raising God up in your actions and in your thoughts.

I pray that our minds, servants and obedient to the law, Your law God, be the master of our bodies.  That we will notice when we begin to fall back into that imprisoning cell of sin, God, may you give us strength to climb out as you are always there for us, I pray we will be aware and perceptive to grab your hand and climb out from the pit of all sin, and specifically prideful sin.  Lord I pray that you break us from our sinful and fallen minds so that we can grow and be the light of this broken world with you and for you.  Not for us.  Amen.

Children’s view of beginning and end is non existent, I envy that.  I get so wrapped up on the beginning and end that I spend bulk of my time thinking about the beginning and end or what’s next? rather than living in the moment right now, to the fullest!

Too often I feel that we focus on the beginning of something only to wonder how long it will last or when it will end just so that we can think or talk about the beginning of something all over again.

This could relate to a multitude of things, a few examples? k…

“Can’t wait till 5 o’clock rolls around so I can get off work.”
“Next Friday I close on my house!”
“I’m sooo hot at Rock the River and this speaking is loud, how long should I stay?”
“Waiting is so agonizing, how long will I have to wait”
“When I get this thing I will be ready”
on and on…

Don’t get me wrong, I think looking forward to things is a great thing and it’s partly what keeps us moving on some days, like these beautiful Mondays .  But I also think there’s a lesson we can learn here from yet again, a child.

I like the verse where Jesus talks about having a childlike mind and childlike faith:

Mark 10:15

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Although this verse is in a slightly different context, I think it still serves for multiple contexts, I think there is a connection that can be made.  Think about how a child plays with their favorite toy, swings, eats, watches a movie, or plays with their celebrity (in their eyes) uncle! There is no end in their mind.  They do not think like: “I’ll probably play puzzle for the next 5 minutes and then move on to playing with my blocks” or “I need to play really hard because pretty soon we’re leaving and I won’t be able to play anymore” or “I love playing with my uncle and have to play with him and show him everything in the next hour because he’s leaving then.”… No, they are in the moment to the fullest, which is how we should be.

I was at Rock the River yesterday and caught myself thinking, “How long am I staying and should I just leave now or leave in a little bit?”.  My question to this is, and my question I am trying to ask myself frequently is, “Am I living in the moment, right now?”

It’s a very simple question and it’s very easy to remember and constantly ask yourself and I think it is going to help me enjoy the not so ecstatic events in my life and make all events fullfilling and enjoyable.  I think I will begin building deeper relationships with some other friends that I never would have opened up because I will no longer be thinking of the next ecstatic event but will be living it all in the moment right now!

idk, I know this will help me because I have a lot of really good high energy moments and I have a few low energy moments where I’m only present physically for no particular reason.  I hope this helps me be more conscience of my mood and presence wherever I may be.  How we act affects our relationships 1 of 2 ways, positive or negative, there is no neutral reaction, if you could be aware of weather you are creating a negative reaction based on your mood would you be more inspired to do something about it!?  I would.

There is no part of me that wants to create a negative vibe ever!  Yet I do, occasionally, but this should help me, maybe it’ll help you too.

Let me know what you think in the comments, on twitter (@coffeencoke).  Also you can subscribe to my posts via the rss feed, or if you create a login you can subscribe and get email notifications.  Just fyi