life

I have realised there really is a lot I don't know. My opinion is valid to a degree but my knowledge is what counts.

When I say knowledge it is based on what I actually know. The things I actually know are things that I have learnt practically in life. They are the things that will project me into my future.

Knowledge is compounding; As I learn more about life I add that to my knowledge stock pile and it compounds the things I do. The more I learn about life, the more everything gets stream lined and improved. Everything! relationships, work, ministry.

So it is better to commit to learn than try to prove myself. It is better to be a student rather than an expert.

If I learn and apply I will more than likely succeed.

 An idea has no real value until it is achieved. 

There are short cuts to the top

Did you know that the Isrealites didnt have to be wandering around the desert for 40 years. The short cut would have only taken something like 11 days!

Most of the time what we think is a shortcut to success in our lives is just a quick way to rock bottom. 

There are shortcuts in life. 

Integrity, honesty, commitment, hope, faith and love.

The biggest shortcut of them all is plain old listening to God and doing what He says. That will get you to the top of your game faster than an olympic runner on performance enhancing drugs. 

The eve of '09

I'm excited about 2009.

I really believe this year will be a significant year on God's calendar. 

2008 has past. With all it was. 

The beauty of a new year is we can take stock of our lives and look at who we are.   

We can evaluate what it is that defines us. 

We can change what is out of order, re vive old passions, adjust things that need adjusting. 

Don't look back!

Go into 2009 with a gritty determination to be all that God has called you to be. 

a life dream

You have to have a dream, you have to have something you're living for

No matter what opposition you get

No matter what those negative people say

You have to stick to your dream

Those negative people are all wrong

Or are they?

There is a fine line between stupidity and pursuing a dream

An open heart to God is the dream we must pursue.

To be able to obey whatever God says, whether understood or not, just because we trust Him, is the the door to living out our purpose throughout our earthly lives.

Otherwise God just becomes another negative person who stops you from achieving 'what you were born for.'

who we are

I've just been thinking of the importance of who we are through our actions. Not through what we say. I find myself judging  a preacher by his character before I judge his content. Content is important, but its whether or not the person is believable that would cause me to buy in on their knowledge. 

Believability is only found in action. The little things that we think no one takes care to notice. Some how we carry those things like badges on our clothes, for all to see…The only fool being ourselves, to think that the little bad seeds we sow wont turn into massive trees bearing a multiplication of fruit. 

God doesn't respond to need. 

Only to faith. 

Hey!

Just logged in to this account for the first time in ages. I miss it!

Well I think it is time to maybe start writing again...I don't know if anyone checks this anymore. everyone is on facebook now!

Here's something I was thinking anyway-

Learning to take the lessons of the past with us into the future with us is harder than it seems.

If a child burns himself on a hot iron, he won't touch it again, in fact he wont go near it. Because it hurts! 

In life we get burnt, we get hurt. We learn to protect ourselves. We don't go near the things again. We don't take the same risks, we don't step out in the same faith we once did. Because it hurts too much. We remember the pain of the failure, we have the burn scars on our hearts to prove it. 

I picked up a hot iron today to iron my shirt and it didn't burn me. Because I know where to hold it. Imagine if I never learnt an iron has a handle...all the crinkled shirts I would have worn!

Maybe we can apply this to life. We need to pick up the things that potentially can hurt us again, just not the same way. Approach it differently. 

Maybe you'll be surprised. 

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  

Choices

The choices we make in life are the most important things we do.

Making the right choice determines whether or not we have the right future, the future we were created for.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were faced with a choice. That choice was what gave them free will. The choice between wrong and right. The choice between good and evil.

We have the liberty to choose our future, but like Adam and Eve we cannot dodge the consequences of our decisions.

In life, its not just about the short term impact that our decisions will have, its about choosing our consequences. These consequences may take years to come to pass, but their time will come.

The consequences we end up with in life, whether positive or negative, are dependant on the decisions we make now.

Make the right decisions today and secure a positive future.

Stop, pray, think, consider, get good advice from people ahead of you, pray some more, follow your instinct.

Make the right choices. Live out positive consequences!

Check out this great scripture-
Gal 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Here is a cool quote for you;

"You demonstrate your faithfulness through your fruitfulness"

Kong Hee, City Harvest Church, Singapore.

Every little bit

I have this back yard that's full of weeds.
This back yard has been a thorn in my side so to speak. I bought the house I now have with the intention of fixing up the yard, as it was just a big mess when I bought it.
I bought the house two years ago, the yard still hasn't been done. But, alas! I am committed now, that by the end of this year that yard will be finished, gosh darn it!!!
Funnily enough my weedy back yard has taught me something...Which I would like to tell you about. (You can keep me accountable to finishing my back yard, end of this year is the goal!!!!)
When I first bought my house I had all these really big plans for my back yard, water features, bridges, fish ponds and grass, nice soft green grass.
The plan was mammoth, it was world changing. I had read all the landscape magazines, my ideas capped them all.
That was two years ago. And, what I can say is the yard has got greener, much greener...Weeds really do have quite a pretty green about them when you think of it.
The plan was expensive and elaborate. Which is nothing new for my personality type...A great dream, a nice plan, that I must say was a lot of fun dreaming up!
Problem is it stayed a dream, no follow through, another pretty normal thing for my personality type...Dreaming, its a refreshing break from reality.
Reality was I had the classic case of 'the tyranny of the much.' Big, expensive, elaborate plans that will take along time to come to fruition, and in the mean time would make me look like a lazy person every time people come around. People don't really care about our dreams, they care about action, they care about what they can see!
And that's the whole point of the post, the whole lesson I have learnt from my weedy backyard that I am busy cleaning up every weekend. DO SOMETHING! Make it happen! If the plan is so elaborate and expensive that it is stopping you from doing anything then re scale the plan, and do it according to what you do have!
In this world where every thing is instant, those of us who are young want everything now. But, its not reality, things take time! We have to wait!
What we have right now is enough to do something substantial. Something that can make a difference.
If you wait for the perfect opportunity you will be waiting forever. Do whatever you can in your power right now and do it well. Then before you know the dream will happen!

I will keep you posted on the back yard!

Your friends

You are known by your friends.
It seems a little harsh but its true.

What people think of us matters.

God looks at the heart, man looks at everything else.

Our reputation is what goes before us, it is the fragrance of our presence in the mind of those who know us.

In dealing with people, our reputation is all we have.

Protect it.

I have 3 personal rules:
1. I will not be friends with people who complain about other people too much, I don't want to be known as a gossiper.
2. I will not be friends with people who are stingy, because I don't want to be known as a stingy person.
3. I will not be friends with people who complain about their boss too much, because I don't want to be known as an uncommitted person.

Narrow the Focus

There is a man called Fred DeLuca who started a little shop that made sandwiches.

While every other shop in town was selling soups, salads, chicken rolls, cigarettes, doughnuts, submarine sandwiches, cookies and cakes. Fred DeLuca decided to focus on making a type of sandwich called a submarine sandwich.

Fred became really good at making submarine sandwiches, so good in fact that word got around pretty quickly that if you want a submarine sandwich go to Fred's place...a little shop called Subway.

Fred's shop is still making sandwiches.
Its a bit bigger now, so big in fact that it has 12,008 stores across America and is quickly expanding across the globe.
In 1994 Fred DeLuca paid himself at tidy $60 million. Just for making sandwiches.

Don't try to do everything, narrow the focus.

Do one thing and do it well.

(info source; The 22 immutable Laws of Branding, Al Ries and Laura Ries, Page 9)

Who are you

Do you want to know what your purpose is?

Ask yourself...

What are you good at?
What boils your blood?
What makes you cry?
What makes you want to make a difference?
What annoys you?
What do you do automatically without thinking, but find hard to teach others?

What is the one thing, that if the opportunity was there you would give up everything to do it?

The only boundary is ourself.

Phil 4:13 says "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

don't settle for second best, be who you are.

hello

hey I havent done any blogging since easter!!! man!!!! I have no excuses, I guess I have let my myslf get to busy doing other things...so I am sorry, in case you were worried I am still alive!

The savior

The devil paraded before God with his prisoner. Saying to God "they're mine, they've sinned against you, oh Lord" he jeered, "when they sin against you Lord, you have said yourself that must be judged and will not enter heaven, but will come under my kingdom."
Jesus who stood beside the prisoner looked at the prisoner bound and gaged, hopeless because of the fate seemingly awaiting him.
"Child, do you believe in me?" Jesus whispered in the ear of the prisoner "Yes! Yes! Lord I do" said the prisoner, recognising the voice of Jesus standing before him.
The devil scoffed "he is mine unless someone else will give their life instead, that is only fair."
"There is one who gave his life for this one" said God the Father, "He gave His life for all who believe" at this the Devil began to weep, and whimper at the realisation of his lose.
God looked at the devil in the eye, Satan's eyes darting to the to the ground, as he tried to hide the fear he felt as God said "The one who gave his life is Jesus, my Son"

This is the true story of why we celebrate easter.

the penny drops

Everyone wants to be loved, wants to be accepted, for who they are, even if they arent sure of who they are yet.
It takes someone to love us as we are for us to realise who we are.
It takes us to love ourselves as we are for us to be who we are.

be still

Stillness is a door to rooms of the soul otherwise left untouched.
Sit silently for a while and escape into the depths of your heart, you may grow sleepy, but, to dream in waking hours sometimes is to allow peace to flow.

Gravity

What goes up must come down.

The old law of gravity can sometimes be our worst enemy.

Gravity will always take us to the lowest possible point it can, if I was to jump of the roof of my house I may hit obstacles on the way down, like trees, etc, but I wont stop falling until I hit solid ground, ouch!

In life I've noticed that gravity expands beyond the world around us. Our souls have a gravitational pull. The ground we hit will be the lowest points we can go to. The lowest thoughts, moods, emotions, mind sets...And so on...We as humans will always gravitate to something. The power those low points have will make up part of who we are.

If the ground we hit is negative we will always gravitate to the negative no matter how hard we try, even if we have a parachute, we are still going to hit the ground, its not an issue of how but when...

There comes a point in our lives where we all will say I cant be bothered getting up anymore...Because I always end up here anyway, and we begin to accept the ground we hit as normal.

I think the problem is we spend a lot of time trying to get off the ground, trying to escape our lowest points, only to find ourselves on the ground again.

Why not build up the low ground? Why not fill in the holes, level the field and start building yourself a mountain?

What are the real things that you think of yourself when your alone? What do you really think God thinks of you? What are your deepest most darkest thoughts. What are those hidden secrets down the dark no go zones of your soul...These things make up our low ground. We cant just try to escape them, because gravity can be very inconsiderate at times!

Build yourself up...Start with the lowest possible ground. If its there you'll hit it at some stage.

Build a mountain of Gods promises to you through the Bible. Here's one to start with: Ps 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

crap!

I just wrote the best post. Somehow i deleted it by accident...flippen computers...

Oh well I'll try again tomorow. The moment of inspiration has past now.