It's Never Over

So tonight I was watching and listening to the Indians game. I turned on the game at the point where we were down 8-0, which quickly went up to 10-0. I gotta say that I wasn't overly thrilled with the team's prospects for the evening. In fact, most of this season hasn't been all that promising....which is hard for me to say as I'm a die hard Tribe fan.

Well, what happens you may be asking? Yep, the Tribe bullpen finally has been pulling themselves together and get us into the 9th inning with us down 10-4. They've gone 5 scoreless innings to get us to that point. So, the Indians get a few players on base and I'm still ho-hum about it. Then they score a few runs, and I'm starting to try not to get my hopes up. Then, all of a sudden it's 10-9 and we've got the bases loaded! But, then I realize that Victor Martinez is up, who's in the middle of a 0-18 slump. So, what happens, YES the improbable! He gets a base hit which scores two runs, and the Indians win!

So, why do I bring that up in a blog that is supposed to be uplifting for Christians on their journey? I use this as a great example of why you shouldn't hang your head down low no matter what is going on in your life. You could be getting attacked by the enemy in 20 different ways. You could be the subject of most country music songs where your Truck just broke down on your way to bury your dog who died of a broken heart after your girlfriend left you! Yet, there is the promise of Our Father that he'll be there taking care of each one of us. He's there in it all with you, and although you feel the entire weight of the world if you give it over to Him, he'll help you through it all.

My family has recently gone through something similar. Last week I didn't write here because I was focusing on my wife's lost purse. Had to check credit reports and put alerts on our accounts. We had to stop all her debit cards, checks, and file a police report. That had me all freaked out, and I didn't handle it well right away. I tried to take care of it all myself and was extremely frustrated. Once I gave it up to God and allowed him to work in the situation everything went smoother. So far nothing has happened to us through all of this. I praise Him every day for that, and will continue to do that. It wasn't just luck that the deposit of money we were going to do wasn't in that purse. It was His grace that allowed it to be this way.

So, in conclusion if I try to do this all myself then not much good comes of it. Just like with the Indians tonight. If every player tries to hit a home run, then no one is on base for the rest of the players to hit in. They were down 10-0 people, and they won the game! What kind of odds do you have against you, and would it be easier to get through what you are with His help?

Changing Some Focus

Do you have anyone in your life that just makes you want to do this:

Traci and I were looking at the week we had coming up and discussing things, then praying together as we do every Sunday night when in the discussion we were talking about someone that was going to lead me to go crazy all week. So, I asked for prayer in dealing with them. When she heard the request she looked at me and asked if I ever prayed for the person as well as myself in dealing with them. Man, talk about getting hit with something big eh?

So, here I've been thinking about this since she said that. Sometimes we're way too focused on ourselves aren't we? No matter how much we as Christians try not to be a part of what the world is doing, it still gets us one way or another. Here I was asking for prayer in dealing with someone when I should have also been praying for that same person! It was all about me wasn't it? Well, I'm going to resolve to be better at that from now on. Sure, I still need prayer for dealing with some things that will come up, but they also need prayer in order to some day become a Christian themselves. All it took was my wife to nail me for all of it to sink in. I'm sure that no one else has had the same thing to happen to them right? Next time you have someone who you need prayer in dealing with, remember to pray for them as well....it'll help bridge that gap. All in God's timing that is.

Tend The Fire!

Man, I’ve recently been in a rut lately again. It happens every here and then, almost like the changing of the seasons. It’s a gradual slide that leads me here. I’m sure you’ve all been there at one time or another where you just let something go one day, which turns into a week, etc. It’s very easy to do, and most people I talk to have done that from time to time. It’s almost like a diet right? You take that one day to break the diet because one day won’t hurt, or you are at a special event and you can’t be the ONLY person there not eating all the great foods, right? Now I think we’re all on the same page.

Well, my rut hasn’t been food, it’s been a spiritual life kind of rut. As I said before, I don’t know how it happened, and it’s not really severe at this point even as I’ve learned to figure out early when it’s happening and how to fix it. You see, that spark I had is heading towards just a smoldering brush fire. I don’t always do the things that is necessary to keep the fire fully burning. I took a day off from my devotions, I spent all day watching sports one day, I focused entirely on the kids instead of God, something like that happened! So, one day probably I lost my focus, and that probably lead to two days, three, or four days in a row. Before long, a rut began!

So, how does one get out of a rut like this? Well, the first thing is realizing it. Secondly you have to go and find a way to build back the momentum. For me, the rut isn’t deep at this point, but it will get worse if I don’t get moving – something I’ve already started to do again. If you ask me, it starts with my prayer life. Some days you pray so you can feel all warm and cozy inside. You tell yourself if I pray to God about this then make my decision myself on the issue I at least can say I prayed about it – I know no one reading this has done that, right? That is like throwing a piece of newspaper on the fire you built. You get a couple seconds of flame, and then it goes right back to what it was before.

Ok, now that we realize there is a rut, it’s time to build back that fire. Time to focus our lives back on God. As I said yesterday as Elder of the Day, prayer is integral. God put Sunday as the start of the week to get your attention people! Prayer, Worship, Teaching all is there on HIS day to help prepare you for the week! He’s helping to fill us up with him so that the events of the week don’t take his His place in our lives. Start your week off right by spending time with him in church or outside of it, as long as you dedicate time to him. Then, start off each and every day in prayer. As I said yesterday, it doesn’t have to be on your knees at the bedside (although that is awesome if you can do that!). Instead, pray when you get ready in the morning, or do your morning work out. Pray in the shower, or the car on the way to work. What is important here is the focus that you are giving your day. Invite him to be a part of your day and to walk with you all day long. He’s there anyway, but when you focus on Him being there your day has a totally different look to it.

Next, throughout the day as you have a free minute, as you use the facilities, or as you struggle, find time to seek God! He doesn’t have the answers people, He IS the answer! Doing this will help you build momentum through your day and week. You’ll find that you are more in tune to what God’s doing in your life, and what He has in store for you. I know that recently I’ve gone back to doing these things and the momentum is coming back to my life. I’ve learned over time to see it slipping earlier in the process than ever before. I’ve learned to put more logs on the fire if I want to keep an ongoing, lasting flame. I now do what I can to tend to the flame, do you?