I have not posted in awhile mainly because of business of the goings on at Hope House. But I saw this video a few months ago and it has really caused me to think about how Jesus has taken my chains but I always try and take them back from Him. Here is the video link if you want to watch it before I say my thoughts. It is 8 min. long but I would highly suggest everyone to watch it. It's called Jesus Loves Barabbas by Judah Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bU-Rf_k24Q&feature=youtu.be
Every time I watch it I get all emotional because its true! I am Barabbas. I am shackled and have chains on my shoulders. Heavy burdens and sins that weigh me down, that I trip over, that hurt my back, that choke me. The chains distract me from my every day life. I then stand on this platform of forgiveness and grace with Jesus and He says "give those chains son" and I tell Him "NO" then I walk down the platform with the chains still on. That does not make any sense now does it. If anyone said I would take those burdens from you, you would think yea I would give them up. ITS JESUS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD standing there asking for them, He can handle anything and yet I still hold onto my burdens and sins. Why??? It's because I think I can get out. I don't want to be a burden to Jesus, I don't want Him to have to deal with all my crap even though He has paid for it already. So I then try to go along life with these chains holding me down and getting in my way.
I try and deal with them by my own strength and power, but the sins keep coming back up and the burdens distract me. This happens until the point of exhaustion... until I have nothing left... That's when I finally give them to Jesus, when I can't go on an I "need" Him. I mean I always need Him but at this point I really need Him. He gratefully takes my chains upon Himself and I feel great. I start feeling more confident. I walk up straight. I have more energy. I am getting closer to Him. It eventually gets to the point where I start asking Jesus to give me back my chains. "I mean come on Jesus I feel great! I'm healthy now and I don't need Your help anymore." I take them back from Him. At first it's fine I think "I got this." But then eventually I am back in the same state as before on my knees in front of Jesus asking Him to take them again.
It's a hard task because I have pride and even sometimes I just forget His power. My pride says you can handle this yourself. You are a good person do you really need Jesus's help? The answer is always yes. Sometimes I just forget what Jesus has done and what He can do. I just go along with the flow of the world doing my own thing. I need to remember He heals the broken and loves and cares about those in distress. He died so that He could take these chains from me so I would not have to carry and bear them myself! What an Awesome Savior!
I am learning to allow Jesus take my chains and keep them. Sometimes its a daily struggle to allow Him to take them, but I am so much better off when He has them. I can focus more on my daily tasks and I am not weighed down by the chains but I am set free. I can grow closer to Him and learn more about Him through what He has done for me. "It was only Jesus, It will never stop being Jesus, Jesus is enough!"
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Blogging About Jornaling
Two weeks ago I was talking to
Becky about how I can never remember what happens the day before and Becky said
“why don’t you start journaling?” and I said “I don’t know, I don’t like
writing but I probably should.” Later
that day I went out and bought a nice leather journal and started that night. Never
in a million years would I have thought that I would be blogging about how I
like journaling. I have never journaled
before mainly because I hate writing. I
never enjoyed it in school and I’ve never done it on my free time. I also didn’t understand why would you
journal, I mean come on you should remember what went on in the day right? It would also take time and I would rather be
sleeping, hanging with friends, or playing League or something.
It
turns out journaling is actually super helpful!
First off I would like to say I actually like writing in my
journal. Yes I am actually saying that,
I LIKE WRITING. (If Carmen, Michelle, or
any of my English teachers read this I bet your minds are being blown right
now, and no sorry my writing has not gotten any more grammatically correct
:p) It is enjoyable, yes it does take a
lot of time to formulate my thoughts and remember what actually happened in the
day but it’s totally worth it.
Journaling has helped me close out my thoughts at night. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping because of
everything that has gone on that day so I end up staying up thinking about
those things. When I journal I write all
those down and it formulates my thoughts and then I can come back to them later
if I need to. Journaling also helps me
remember things, even by the end of the day I forget so many things I needed a
way to remember what happened that day.
It has become more prevalent now because when I am doing ministry I want
to remember the moments when I have a good talk with a kid, I get to share
Jesus, or even when I get a “makeover” by 4 1st-3rd
graders, (that’s a whole story in itself).
Now I will always remember that moment now because I wrote it down. I also want to remember how God is working in
my life and those lives around me.
I am excited to be able to look
back and read what I was thinking and feeling down the road. I honestly wish that I started doing this
earlier and I would suggest to everyone to start journaling because it helped
me a total non-writer and I think it could help you!
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
40 Day Daniel Fast
Today marks the end of my 40 day Daniel fast that I have been doing. For those who are wondering what I could eat for those days it was only: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and water. I would just like to share some thoughts about my 40 day fast.
When I was fasting it was always a constant reminder of that God will provide for my needs. That was many times a day for me because I never really ate meals but kind of ate a little bit constantly throughout the day. I was always being reminded that I am doing this to be closer to Him; that is one thing I will take out of this is the reminder of every time I pick up food to thank God for what He has given me and remember how He provided and will provide for my future needs. Branching off of that when I was eating I never felt satisfied and that was probably the thing I missed most. I was not always hungry or full and I don't mean satisfied as in super full like I was just at a Buffet and I stuffed my face. I'm talking about the "man that was a good meal and I'm not hungry or full just satisfied." It made me think about all the people who don't have enough to eat and feel the way I did or worse. Maybe they even do not know what being "satisfied" with food is. I am so thankful God has placed me where I am today where I don't go hungry and I have enough. I am so satisfied in Him; He is all I need nothing else. I also learned to be healthier. This has really opened up my eyes to show me that I need to eat more fruit and veggies in my "normal" food eating habits. Its not that difficult to go to the store and extra time or two to pick up the health stuff.
I have learned a lot of things through this fast and I would challenge everyone to spend some time fasting this year. It does not have to be food, it could be social media or even fasting from being sarcastic. When we cut out these things that take up our time and energy (grocery store visits were so much easier and faster because of the less options) we can then focus more on the relationship that matters most. The one who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
When I was fasting it was always a constant reminder of that God will provide for my needs. That was many times a day for me because I never really ate meals but kind of ate a little bit constantly throughout the day. I was always being reminded that I am doing this to be closer to Him; that is one thing I will take out of this is the reminder of every time I pick up food to thank God for what He has given me and remember how He provided and will provide for my future needs. Branching off of that when I was eating I never felt satisfied and that was probably the thing I missed most. I was not always hungry or full and I don't mean satisfied as in super full like I was just at a Buffet and I stuffed my face. I'm talking about the "man that was a good meal and I'm not hungry or full just satisfied." It made me think about all the people who don't have enough to eat and feel the way I did or worse. Maybe they even do not know what being "satisfied" with food is. I am so thankful God has placed me where I am today where I don't go hungry and I have enough. I am so satisfied in Him; He is all I need nothing else. I also learned to be healthier. This has really opened up my eyes to show me that I need to eat more fruit and veggies in my "normal" food eating habits. Its not that difficult to go to the store and extra time or two to pick up the health stuff.
I have learned a lot of things through this fast and I would challenge everyone to spend some time fasting this year. It does not have to be food, it could be social media or even fasting from being sarcastic. When we cut out these things that take up our time and energy (grocery store visits were so much easier and faster because of the less options) we can then focus more on the relationship that matters most. The one who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
The Bible Challenge!!!
So I was
challenged by Philip Bigos to talk about a verse in the Bible that I like
within the next 48 hours otherwise I would owe him a new Bible. So I choose
Romans 10:13-15. Here is my video.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Detroit's "Dog Problem"
Researchers show that there could be over 7,500 stray dogs, or should I say dawgs, in the D and over 18,000 stray cats. I would disagree with the number of stray dogs I think that's totally false. Now on the other hand yes there are at least 18,000 stray cats, now they are all over the place and that is differently a problem but that is besides the point. Everyone always is hearing of Detroit's stray Dog problem and I would like to go on record saying that it is false. Why might you ask, because of a few reasons:
1. Apparently almost everyone owns a dog in Detroit. I have come in contact with many people in the area where I live and I would say that of the kids about 80% claim to have or have had a dog. One girl exclaimed this past week that she had 5 dogs at one point and then proceed to say that they all died but she has another one now. Many doors that I go to top pick up kids for the different events we host I hear barking, sometimes multiple barkers, on the other side of the door. It is just so weird to me that literally everyone owns a dog or has owned a dog or owns multiple dogs.
2. None of the dogs have collars and most are dirty. When you see someone from the neighborhood walking their dog, well I guess you can't even call it that because its usually just a person walking and their is a dog nearish them with no collar or leash. The dog comes when called and listens to their owner which tips me off that they own the dog even though most times im not sure. The dogs do take after their owners and tend to walk in the middle of the street even though there are sidewalks on either side of the street. (This is a post for another time, drives me nuts) I almost hit about 1 dog a week on my drives too and from work. Last week when I was driving one of the kids home I came across, and almost hit, what I assumed was a stray dog. It was dirty, walking in the middle of the street, no collar, and then proceed to poop in the middle of a neighbors lawn. I say to the guys "good thing I didn't hit that dog" and one of them replies "that's my dog." Well naturally I did not belive him but sure enough he gets out of the van and calls his dog and it runs toward him and instantly wants to play fetch.
3. Detroiters do not listen to Bob Barkers advice of getting their pets spade and nurtured. This would help control the dog population of Detroit which is high. The people who own the dogs do not get their dogs fixed and therefore they end up having puppies which means more dogs without collars on the streets. This makes the non-issue look like and exponential one because of the more and more dogs that are around.
My conclusion is there really is not a dog problem, someone owns the dog or is taking care of it, at least is attempting too. Im not sure where these researchers get their numbers from but they need to be knocking on doors and asking if that dog is someones. Except the fact that the dog could be blocks away from his home because the owners let them run free. Now yes a lot of it is on the owners to keep track of their dogs and not let them run free, keep them clean, get them fixed, and properly feed them. But their owners love their dogs and do the best they can to take care of them and show them love.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140202/METRO01/302020010
1. Apparently almost everyone owns a dog in Detroit. I have come in contact with many people in the area where I live and I would say that of the kids about 80% claim to have or have had a dog. One girl exclaimed this past week that she had 5 dogs at one point and then proceed to say that they all died but she has another one now. Many doors that I go to top pick up kids for the different events we host I hear barking, sometimes multiple barkers, on the other side of the door. It is just so weird to me that literally everyone owns a dog or has owned a dog or owns multiple dogs.
2. None of the dogs have collars and most are dirty. When you see someone from the neighborhood walking their dog, well I guess you can't even call it that because its usually just a person walking and their is a dog nearish them with no collar or leash. The dog comes when called and listens to their owner which tips me off that they own the dog even though most times im not sure. The dogs do take after their owners and tend to walk in the middle of the street even though there are sidewalks on either side of the street. (This is a post for another time, drives me nuts) I almost hit about 1 dog a week on my drives too and from work. Last week when I was driving one of the kids home I came across, and almost hit, what I assumed was a stray dog. It was dirty, walking in the middle of the street, no collar, and then proceed to poop in the middle of a neighbors lawn. I say to the guys "good thing I didn't hit that dog" and one of them replies "that's my dog." Well naturally I did not belive him but sure enough he gets out of the van and calls his dog and it runs toward him and instantly wants to play fetch.
3. Detroiters do not listen to Bob Barkers advice of getting their pets spade and nurtured. This would help control the dog population of Detroit which is high. The people who own the dogs do not get their dogs fixed and therefore they end up having puppies which means more dogs without collars on the streets. This makes the non-issue look like and exponential one because of the more and more dogs that are around.
My conclusion is there really is not a dog problem, someone owns the dog or is taking care of it, at least is attempting too. Im not sure where these researchers get their numbers from but they need to be knocking on doors and asking if that dog is someones. Except the fact that the dog could be blocks away from his home because the owners let them run free. Now yes a lot of it is on the owners to keep track of their dogs and not let them run free, keep them clean, get them fixed, and properly feed them. But their owners love their dogs and do the best they can to take care of them and show them love.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140202/METRO01/302020010
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