Wow.. 2012. Who would have thunk it! A new year with new adventures already under way. For me, this rising sun brings a city skyline silhouette. Classes start up soon for me in the Windy City and I am very much looking forward to it. As it turns out, this is becoming my first step into the real world as an adult man. I know I've been "an adult" according to age for a few years now, but feeling like a responsible adult is another thing.. and it's starting to set in. I'm really on my own on this one... with the Almighty at my side of course. If it weren't for His provision, I wouldn't be stepping into this new realm of life at all. Praise Him for the road ahead... even if you don't know what that path looks like, because you can be assured that it is going to turn out for YOUR BEST. Because God never works things out for anything less.

Viewing through a broken mirror

Happy Tuesday Ya'll. So much that is going on in my life and heart, and yet, none of it I feel like sharing right now. Odd. sorry I will say this much. Matthew 22 makes it clear that we are to Love the Lord with all that we are. Second, we are to Love others as ourselves. "Ya,ya we've heard this one before" you might say, "I do love God and I love people as much as I can in a day." Well that's nice, good to know you were listening in Sunday service. But I come with a different purpose.

The challenge? One that has been turning my life upside-down this past month.

How can I really love people (or God for that matter) as myself if I don't really love... or LIKE myself?

IDENTITY: What is it to you? Wanna know what yours is?.... look at the fruit of your down-and-out nights all alone. What do you say about yourself TO yourself when nobody else is listening. Now, what does GOD say about what your saying? Is is true? Is it just your imagination? Is it Satan squeezing in?

What's the difference between who you are and who you really are?

Up, up, and away..

Took four planes in two days, for trips that I will write about at a later date.
But the thought came to me as the plane sailed over the clouds I so obviously am intrigued by.

To a cloud, the world is not seen in detail! Instead of all the crazy life happenings and stresses of the little things, Clouds have a "big picture". How blessed would I be if I took time to step back from all my anxieties and looked at the big picture, remembering that I am not in control but that My God is.

The coolest part about it is that even in the darkest of circumstances, in looking at things in the long run, I'm able to see God's fingerprints and that there was light all along the way!!! I just didn't recognize it at the time, or wasn't looking for it.

...like a starry sky upside-down. Heaven HAS come to Earth.. He's in You

In Chaos and Pain

The Long journey has come to an end, and yet it is only beginning.
Coming up to the school at a quarter past ten Friday night was a fulfilling moment. Having many miles behind, along with a blown tire, gas money, and a "Pay it forward" opportunity, the trip and all the happenings before it were just one big post-it note from God saying

I'm STILL here.

It took me two days to get everything in its proper place, but I finally got fully moved in. I have plenty of brothers in the room with me (six to be exact)so I was trying hard to keep everything condensed in my desk and under my bed. I'm likin' the roomies so far. We're all very different, but it is awesome to know that we are all family in Him.
Did a lot of errands and orientation meetings today, so I'm pretty peopled out. But I'm seriously considering a good run on the treadmill before bed. That way I can still be "with" people... er.. watching them from above as they play soccer... Just not so surrounded. I wish I still had my Tenth Avenue North music. They were always my favorite running companions.
Then it's off to the showers that I cleaned earlier this afternoon. 7:15 comes earlier than you expect it.


..."I'm still here"...

Conversations with God

Oh Lord, Oh God.
What is man that You would care about him?
What is man that You would love him?
Don't you see? Don't you see the terrible being man is?
"OF COURSE; I SEE EVERYTHING."

{{For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.}}-Prov. 5:21

Well, God, don't you see how black my heart is with sin?
"NO. IT WAS WASHED BY THE BLOOD OF MY SON, SO IT IS ONLY WHITE AS SNOW."

{{Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.}}-Isaiah 1:18

{{I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.}}-Isaiah 43:25

But... but God.. don't you see....
....
......
Don't you see what a terrible creature I am?
"YES.... AND I LOVE YOU."

{{But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.}}-Romans 5:8

{{For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.}}-Romans 8:38'39

"I LOVE YOU"
"I LOVE YOU"
"I LOVE YOU"
"I LOVE YOU....MY DEAR SON... I LOVE YOU."