Hey!!!!!!!

Is for horses.....?

No I was trying to say hi...
It's been a long time. I haven't been blogging really, I don't even know what real blogging is. I just think a lot and decided maybe it would make sense to share my thoughts. lately I have been doing more video blog stuff so I will post those here how about?

I don't know if anyone reads this anymore but my video entitled "When the world shits on you, grow" is the first one I am posting. It came to me after some really difficult struggles. I realized that adversity can be fertilizer for growth. How bout that??

This second video was similar.. It's longer and unedited but I was thinking about growth again but in a slightly different way. After having reptiles when I was young I used to watch them shed their skin. While they were shedding they were very vulnerable and generally more volatile as well.. The two V's lol. Once they would finally rid themselves of that old skin their color was so bright and they were vibrant and active again.  This brought to mind a great analogy for growth in us silly humans and how sometimes we need to leave things behind to truly grow.. So enjoy! Love!

Shine your light like only you can!

A raw diamond before the jewel cutter does his thing

 We are all unique!!

What do you mean I didn't just blow your mind!? You mean you've been told this before?

Ah crap I thought I was onto something here........

Yes we have all been told we are special, unique. Sometimes by parents who say thank goodness there is only one of you. Sometimes we hear it so much that we shrug it off. Yeah so what I'm unique. what does that really mean?

It just kind of hit me today while driving and thinking. An analogy that I just had to share. I was thinking about how as Christians we are to shine God's light.  Matthew 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. 

Now that's all well and good. So we are unique and we are to shine God's light to glorify Him. Awesome. Then suddenly like a baseball bat with peanut butter on it, it hit me.

We are very much like diamonds! Shiny and sharp!

I know it sounds cute, like something on a hallmark card. But think about it. Diamonds don't initially look like what we see in the store. They are rough at first. Each one is unique, maybe a little raw but light still shines through them.. Let's say then that we are the diamonds and that the light that shines through us is God. If no single diamond is the same than neither then is the way the light shines through them.  In that way he wants to use our uniqueness.. Yes I promise you that being unique is not by any means a mistake on God's part. Even though sometimes the world wants to fashion us all into the same shape and have us all shine the same light. It tries to convince us to hate our uniqueness. We don't want to stand out. What an evil thing to convince someone that the physical, spiritual and mental shape they are is anything short of a miracle.

Just like diamonds that each channel light in a slightly different way we each do the same thing for God's light. So yes you are unique, nothing new there. But that uniqueness means you have a special perspective on God. A way to share him that no one has ever or will ever have again.

And that's just the beginning.  The journey ain't over for you there my rough diamond friends.

The other amazing thing is that once a diamond is found it is then taken by a Jewel cutter to be turned into an even more magnificent jewel. One that will show light in a way that nothing else can. It makes it more clear and yet still keeps it unique. Could we look at the jewel cutter as God.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yes we are over our lives shaped and formed by God to then shine his light in the fullest way possible. With clarity and after the removal of all the dirt and dust the world puts on us. In the most unique way possible he wants us to shine. I looked into diamond cutting and learned a bit. For example;  The diamond cutting process includes these steps; planning, cleaving or sawing, bruting, polishing, and final inspection.

It's so amazing how sometimes God speaks through the simplest things. I looked at these steps and realized again it is very much what God does for us.

Planning;   Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  God has put a lot of planning into each and every one of us. There is nothing that has happened or will happen to you that God has not taken into account.

Cleaving or sawing (Shaping); Jeremiah 18- 1: 6 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:  “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”  So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

  Then the word of the Lord came to me.  He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. So yes God is talking about Isreal but how different is it for each and every one of us. God is the potter, the creator. He and only he is the one with the plans and because of that the only one who knows how to properly shape you. Sometimes in order to start to take shape things need to be stripped away from us. This can be painful and can cause us longing for the change to stop. Trust in God.

Bruting; Bruting was interesting. I had never heard of it before. It means continuing to shape the diamond but this time against another diamond. Like God uses us in fellowship with others to shape us more and more. There are some things we learn that can only be learned from others. We need to listen and always be willing to take advice, God may be shaping us further. In this way we are to serve one another to continue encouraging in each other this shaping by God.
Galatians 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Polishing; I couldn't immediately find a bible verse that directly talks about polishing but this one is pretty clear, no pun intended. God continues to bring forth the full brilliance of his light through us. He has made his cuts. Some of these being painful and scary and now he wants to make us even more clear and clean. He wants to make us as clear as possible to let as much of his pure light through unhindered by our own dirty surfaces ie: Pride, forgiveness, hate and all the things that inhibit his light.

Final inspection; Psalms 74:6-7  For not from the east or from the west  and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,  but it is God who executes judgment,  putting down one and lifting up another.

Once God has done all his work with us it is then when our life here on earth is finished that he will look at how we shined his light. He is the only one able to judge and knows what colors he intended to come through us. 

We can also be assured that we will not be left an unfinished jewel by our Father.

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Okay so this covered more than I intended. I just wanted to say we are unique and that we each shine God's light in a unique way, a way that God intended, a way we should be proud of, all your little idiosyncrasies, the things you may hate about yourself, these are all things God is working on, polishing, and reshaping so that you will shine the purist form of his light possible .  We are all crafted by the hands of God and he will shine his light on us. Through the unique ridges and cuts he has formed in us will come the revelation of God's light from unique angles.

A finished diamond now shining all the colors from the light spectrum

Waiting to be ready VS the reality… You were born ready!

I haven't been posting enough.. As per usual.. So lets get this party started...

How often have I said, I have goals, things I want to achieve, even maybe things God has called me to do but...... I'm not ready yet. Have you ever said that? Oh yes I would love to _________ But I'm just not quite ready. You can fill in the blank with something you feel you should do but don't because of not being ready.  

What are we really waiting for? Maybe to be comfortable, for fear to go away first..

Now if you're not ready to start your car because the keys aren't in the ignition yet, that's a logical need for readiness, and the solution is simple.. Put the keys in the ignition and then you are ready. But if the keys are in the ignition and you just aren't "feeling" ready to start the car because of fear..  That's the kind of "Not ready" I want to talk about and I think it's pretty common. It stops us from achieving some amazing things we are meant to achieve because we have fear, apprehensions and doubt. We justify not doing because we aren't feeling ready.

What does it really mean to be ready?

I Googled "being ready.", and what I found was very interesting indeed. One of the first hits was this..... Check it out and maybe Google it yourself.
 
Main entry:  COME
part of speech: verb 
definition: advance, approach
synonyms:  Appear, arrive, be accessible, be at disposal, be handy, be obtainable, BE READY....


I love the fact that when I Googled BE READY the word  COME came up. First it was crazy to me because I knew Jesus said this a lot.  Instantly I knew looking into this was linking me to things God wanted me to know. Already I had found out that BE READY was a synonym for COME. 

So it begins......

Could being ready to serve God have something to do with Jesus calling us?
But when Jesus calls us don't we have to choose whether we are ready or not?  Whether we are prepared because If we aren't prepared it could be VERY VERY scary!

Maybe? 

But maybe Jesus expects that when he says "COME." we will BE READY, be obtainable, be handy,  to quit making excuses, break free of fears and live out our faith. 

I can think of a bible story that seems to fit well with this.

Let's look at when Jesus Walked on the Water and told Peter to, "come." 

Matthew 14: 25-33

• ²⁵ Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
  ²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
  ²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
  ²⁹ “Come,” he said.
  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
  ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
  ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

It's interesting to see that Peter in some ways was testing the situation by saying, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.”. I also don't think that it's wrong for us to make sure it is Jesus before we follow. To literally say, "Lord if it is you tell me to come." might be a good practice to get into. But once we know it is Jesus and he tells us to come, are we really prepared for what that means or are we going to revert back to the old, "I'm not ready yet."

We can take a lot out of Peter's courage and I think we should be more like him, he wasn't being foolish, he was being obedient to Jesus. The other disciples were there as well and had the same opportunity to jump out of the boat, out of their comfort zones but they certainly weren't willing to do it. Peter had heard the call from his master and teacher, Jesus, and it was enough.

I want to be able to say that.. I heard the call from Jesus, and it was enough. 

It seems to me it wasn't about him being ready or not ready. When Jesus said come, he went. On rough water no less.. 

The story doesn't end with Jesus and peter dancing together on the water though. And maybe when we are obedient and follow Jesus the outcome will be similar. Note that Peter didn't shout to Jesus, "Lord, promise me I won't sink before I get out of the boat." That would maybe help some of us be a little more ready. A guarantee of success.. Maybe Peter wouldn't have liked Jesus' response. "No Peter, if you walk out to me, you will sink. You're faith isn't quite strong enough."

The story isn't about success or failure though. It is about faith and obedience. And because Peter had those things, look at his testimony and the strength that this moment between him and Jesus has built for generations of Christians.

So does this all mean when we follow Jesus we might sink, be afraid, fail?  Read again what happened to Peter.  
³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

So after taking the step of faith and obeying Jesus, he began to fear. I think we have all thought to ourselves, "What have I gotten myself into?" Probably going through Peter's mind at that moment.

Maybe fear is part of it? And maybe sinking is too? 

So the story didn't end with Peter and Jesus dancing the night away on the water but.. It didn't end with Peter drowning either.. I'm sure for a moment Peter thought he was done, felt desperate and stupid for getting out of the boat, but Jesus was right there.. Take comfort in that..  Follow Jesus when he says "Come." and don't worry about the outcome. Because even if fear over takes you, or a storm, or an angry person, or sickness.. ALL you need to do is cry out, “Lord, save me!” and like the verse goes on to say.
³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Immediately!!  Jesus didn't wait for a minute to teach Peter a lesson. The lesson had already taken place. Jesus is calling you, Jesus is also there, ready to pick you up.. JESUS HAS IT COVERED! All we need to do is obey. 

Do you have the faith to not worry whether you are ready or not? To just obey your master and teacher. If you do, I have a feeling you also better be ready to build an amazing testimony for Jesus!


Let's also remember that sinking and being picked up by Jesus glorifies him as well.

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.


Even if we follow Jesus and sink we can say, "I stepped out in faith, I was weak, but Jesus was strong and I am still here. Despite the storm, the waves, because of his faithfulness to me, his love, his strength, I am here. Thank you Jesus!"

The real truth of the matter remains. Most Christians have no desire to walk on the water when there is a perfectly good boat anywhere nearby. But maybe.... Maybe I would if Jesus could promise me a successful, peaceful experience with no fear.. Until then I'm just not ready, until then I will stay in the safety of the boat.. 

WAKE UP!! Hear the call of Jesus on your life and answer that call! 

In Christ, we are BORN READY! 

and Remember
you aren't alone on the water.

Philippians 4:13
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

LOVE MORE!!!

                How many of us would read this and be able to only love some of these neighbors?



Hi there,

So it's 3am and I guess I'm still someone who doesn't sleep normally. And I sure am still someone who probably thinks way too much. But That's me and maybe it's a good thing. Because I feel like some people don't think enough.

I wanted to write because I just saw something online that broke my heart. An old lady on a school bus being harassed by kids. You may have seen the youtube video. I know things like this happen every day. It seems that we care so much more when these things get caught on tape and we wonder how we can help this person. 

WE CAN HELP THESE PEOPLE! They are the people we see everyday that we judge. That we pass by and don't smile or say hi to. There will always be bullies. And we react to these videos by saying mean things about the kids or the ones who inflicted harm. I just think we are fighting fire with fire. I want to see people fight hate with love. Love your neighbor as yourself. See them for the beautiful unique beings they are! No one like them will ever EVER exist again. They need to be appreciated like a fine work of art.

I wrote a little poem/observational story about a guy who I used to watch clean up after people at Wendy's. I should have read this to him and maybe I still will. He was a light. Please be kind to each other. We are all valuable beyond measure.

I went to Wendy's for lunch.. Wendy's is not good for you (the food) but somethings at Wendy's are good for you..

There is a man at Wendy's his name is Ken.. I think Ken is the nicest man I have ever come across.. He is an old man, looks maybe sixty something. He has bright eyes, not old eyes..

Ken works at Wendy's cleaning up after people and handing out mints..

Every time he sees me he asks me the same question.. Maybe Ken is forgetful or maybe he likes my answer.. He always seems very interested either way.. He asks "What do you do?" I tell him "I make movies". He says "You can do that around here?" "yes", I say.. "But not very much". He pats me on the shoulder and looks excited at the prospect of movies being made in simple little New Brunswick.. "need any actors?" he asks jokingly.. He always talks about how we've acted in films together..

A part of me knows Ken is too simple and too humble to really care much about movies.

He smiles and walks over to another table with people I don't know.. I wonder if he asks them the same thing and I wonder what they answer. I see them smile and I know they like Ken too.. I wonder where he goes after he leaves Wendy's..

Ken cleans the tables with a smile, hands out mints and asks people what they do.. He's a servant, he's an old man and he's a child.. With a heart bigger than the sun and twice as warm.. He has more in his eyes than in his words and I am glad I went to Wendy's for lunch..

Please love each other. If you're reading this. Just take the time today to smile at someone who may need it or say hello to someone. You never know when that person might really need some light. Please don't judge. Not based on looks, personality, style or anything you don't understand. Ask yourself how you would want people to treat you.

We are all scared but we don't have to be alone.

Be thankful, happy, amazed!

 

Have you looked up lately?

I can't help but be amazed by the universe.. It's huge! I mean...... HUGE!!! I guess you could look at it and realize that the problems we let plague our days in comparison are sooo insignificant relative to it's size.. Or you could look at it and think how important or lucky we really are to even be alive.

As a bit of a reference to the size of our universe here's something interesting..Voyager 1 is a shuttle launched by NASA to study our solar system, it's also currently the fastest man made object. It travels at a staggering 17.07 km/s, or 61,452 kilometers per hour (38,185 mph). Yet even at this speed it will not reach the nearest star to our solar system (Alpha Centuri) for 134,433.2 years...

Think about that for a second.. That's the next closest star to our sun..

Based on current estimates, there are about 1,000 stars to every grain of sand on Earth!! There are an estimated 100 to 200 billion galaxies. So taking a conservative number of 100 billion stars per galaxy gives an approximate total of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars. (Which is 10 sextillion)..

That should have blown your mind!!!Remember that we are talking about getting to the closest star which is roughly 4.3 light years away.. The universe itself or at least the region visible from Earth (the observable universe) is about 92 billion light years across.. And most theories about the nature of the universe agree that it is most likely expanding constantly at the speed of light.. Which means it truly could be infinite.

I know this is a lot of stats and probably most of you won't read all this but the point is we are but a spec, a tiny yet beautiful planet in this vast expanse that we call the universe.. We are the perfect distance from our sun for life.. We are more than lucky.. Life is a miracle. Take a deep breath and thank God for the gift of it all, most of which we can't even comprehend.

So if you are driving to work and you spill your coffee, please just look up at the sky and remember how small and lucky you are to exist at all..

What stinks!?

Ever wake up in the morning and wonder, What the heck is that smell?!

If you think I'm speaking of midnight toots I am not! I am speaking of what happens when water doesn't flow.. And no I am not talking about having to pee either. I am using a metaphor here ya goof!

Does your life look like, or smell like this?

When water gets trapped and can't flow it becomes stagnant. Define this word Joel!

Okay.

stag·nant/ˈstagnənt/

Adjective:

(of a body of water or the atmosphere of a confined space) Having no current or flow and often having an unpleasant smell as a consequence. Showing no activity; dull and sluggish: "a stagnant economy". Not advancing or developing.

So when you wake up in the morning and smell something, could it be something stagnant? Maybe you live next to a pond, or maybe the smell is coming from your life?

I know I've been waking up with some stinkyness lately. Probably for a few reasons, but mostly I haven't been flowing, moving, doing.... Yes I wake up and literally move and do things, but am I doing anything that I am "Called" to do? With out these things our lives begin to lack activity, become dull, sluggish. Not advancing or developing.

Do you think before water flows it decides whether it should flow or not? Luckily for water gravity just kind of takes over. Sometimes I think it would be good if gravity forced us to move as well. Does water worry about being successful in it's flowing? Whether it will flow to where it is meant to be? NO. It just flows when it has freedom to.

WE HAVE FREEDOM TO FLOW! WHY DO WE CHOOSE NOT TO?! WE WILL END UP STINKING IF WE DON'T!!

We don't even have to worry if we will flow properly to where we need to be. GOD has taken care of that. So why do we become stagnant?

FEAR????

Oh my my! I hate the word as I hate what it encompasses. It holds us back when we think it is protecting us. It is the master of all deception. A fun little acronym for fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. When we were cave men/women and ran away from a saber tooth tiger, that was good fear. When we don't try something because we might fail, don't say something because we might be wrong, sit at home instead of going out because something bad might happen, that is a bad kind of fear. Again it can lead to being a stinky dude or dudette! Who wants to be stinky?
When fear stops us from doing something we are called to do the deception has stopped us from bringing life to others and ourselves. Just like a river that stops flowing..

So where does the stink comes from?

I read a little about it online (also know about it because of my degree in stinkology) And it's because simply put, things in the water begin to die and decompose when the water doesn't flow. So stagnancy leads to death.. I don't mean if you don't move in your life you will die.. I mean if you don't move in your life you will feel less alive. Your life will suffer and it also won't lead to you bringing life to others. Your river will be all damned up.

We are meant to flow!

A river flows and brings life to all around it. Even most communities are built around a moving body of water. It is such a great symbol for a healthy life! And when a rock falls in a river and stops some of the flow, the river doesn't wait and think about what should be done or out of fear stop flowing. It flows around and sure enough it gets to where it needs to be.

That is so much like us in life. We get all fearful of whether we are going the right places or moving when we are supposed to. A rock falls in front of us and in stead of flowing around it we stop flowing all together. We start to stink and then inevitably we aren't bringing life to ourselves or others.

We have to trust in God! That when we flow God will take care of us getting to the dead trees and vegetation. That even if it feels like we aren't going where we are supposed to sometimes, God can use our water as long as it's flowing..

So my advice to you and to me and to the frogs and the monkeys.... WE NEED TO FLOW!!

Here's a new acronym for ya.. FLOW, Freely Living Optimistically Waiting..

Live freely and have hope that God will do with you what needs to be done.

Romans 8:28 NIV

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

So FLOW! (Freely Live Optimistically waiting). Don't let FEAR (false evidence appearing real) stop you from bringing life to others or living what you are called to do! The last thing we want to be is stinky lifeless people right?

This is the picture of what your life could look like..

Light through glass

Ever been inspired?

I love the sound of water, birds in the spring, the breathing of a person I care about.
I love summer grass when it's a little too long, the bark on an old tree, a narrow root ridden path in the middle of the woods.

Ever just feel love like it's a blanket? It covers you and then you feel like everything is going to be okay... Even at 5am.. Even when nothing around you is perfect. I've been feeling very ill the past week or so.. After many amazing accomplishments. This tends to happen to me. Right now though I just feel like it all makes sense, in a muddy water kind of way. eerrrr?

Why am I up so late? Because I feel love and I needed to write about it. Love.. Even the hateful are surprised by it hitting them in the face. It's powerful. I need sleep but, what could be more important. I have to write about it now.

love as defined by Wikipedia;
Love is an emotion of a strong affection and personal attachment. love is also a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection; and "the unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another". Love may also be described as actions towards others or oneself based on compassion, or as actions towards others based on affection.

love as defined by the bible;
1 Corinthians 13
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Can it be argued that love isn't the pinnacle of human emotion and quite possibly also the core of what it means to be human. Let it fill you up and flow through you. inspire you to do, not only for others but for yourself, beyond what is deserved or expected. Wake up to the gift of life and don't take it for granted. Stop looking at the world around you like it's a normal every day occurrence but a miracle that we can barely grasp. LOVE. Don't try to contain it, share it. Love contained is like a cure withheld. Don't love less but more. Love through smiles, hugs, hand shakes, gifts, listening, patience, kindness, goodness, forgiveness, being. These are ways of showing love. And if you're empty of love ask God for more. Try it.

I guess I was just inspired and needed to post this. To encourage. You can't love too much but you can always love too little.

It flows freely through birds who sing it

flowers who spring it

children who bring it

though hate can try, undone to make

unrest of soul, the heart won't break

through the birds

through flowers

through children

through the very air we breath

exhale is all it takes

through you it lives