Tonight I hosted the first House of Worship at mi casa.  Invited a few close friends who I knew were very interested in this and although if no one showed up it would still be amazing yet there were 13 of us praising Jesus, the only one who deserves our praise.  Earlier this week, it was tough for me to imagine how to even begin this night and I just laid it in God’s hands because he is in control of this vision I have, and it was more amazing and truly a memorable night.  Thanks for all of you who shared this experience with me, I am looking forward to more of these nights.

I pray that these nights create a stronger community and deeper relationships with each other and with our Lord and Savior.  I pray that the community and relationships we build from this grow with the desire to go out in the world and illuminate God’s Glory onto the world, and that these nights will light a fire in our hearts to share Jesus with everyone we connect with at any level.

I heard somewhere, don’t quite remember where but it goes something like:

How have we become so afraid to share Jesus with others that we often times crawl into our corner and completely ignore the topic around others all together.  If there were someone standing in the street and I saw a car coming toward him, but he didn’t see the car, I would do everything I could to scream out to him and tell him about the car blazing to hit him.  Why are we not like this when it comes to something far more important than a car coming after you, Jesus is there for us always yet we so often forget or refuse to let others know of his gift.

How true and profane is that?!?  We should want to tell someone about our Savior Jesus like a car is coming to hit them and they don’t know it and more!

Take that and chew on it for a bit.

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

I was driving home today and there was a huge storm all around me, lightning everywhere, very intense lightning, but it was not raining or windy around me.  It reminded me of where I am at in life right now, this insane storm around me changing every second of the day, yet I still had strength, courage and guidance.  God has put his hand in my life and I have seen it more magnified in the past week and a half then ever.  It’s amazing how safe we are in his hands and how trust is so very hard sometimes, yet has such an overwhelming return.  God is awesome!

Lately I’ve been feeling like things have been crashing down all around me.  Yet, at the same time I feel I have been settling it all in better position than they were before, protected.  Life moves so very fast that once you stop and look at everything going on around you, you realize that this is beyond you, something bigger is in the works and helping you through it all.

In the last week and a half I was in an accident where my car was totaled, I’ve made an offer on my first house, I’ve been given the opportunity to fly up to Penn State for a 3rd interview on site for a fantastic job and I’ve met a girl beyond my dreams.  All of this while I was sick and feeling physically terrible.

No one was sent to the hospital from the accident, thank God.  I don’t have a bruise on my body, not even an ache from the accident, yet looking at my car it seems I should be paralyzed or not even breathing.  Insurance is working beautifully and my loan is taken care of.  This has created an opportunity to buy a better car for less than my previous loan balance.

My housing search and pre approval went flawlessly and I found a house I am absolutely in love with, perfect location, perfect potential, perfect timing.

If I wrote a profile of the company I would like to work for, the company for this job has hit all points.  If I get this job, I would be programming from home for an increase in pay, for a company I absolutely love in a great team environment.

I thank God for protecting me and giving me strength to push forward through all this, and knowing he has plan for all of this makes me feel at peace.