For the good...

I have been a follower of Christ for quite some time now. I have actually been a Christian longer than I haven't been. Wowsers, when did that happen? When did i get old. It is hard to believe that I have been walking with Christ longer than I haven't been. I read my bible a good bit, and I believe it. I truly have faith. I have gotten really good at telling people to believe God at his word. I have even on occasion, had to do the same thing. But what is crazy to me, as much as I have seen work and seen his hand, I still doubt. I believe the Lord gives us opportunities to live out what we say. He is such a gracious Father that he allows us to live out what our words have already said. In Genesis the 50th chapter, it tells the story of Joseph and how he chooses to bestow grace instead of bitterness. It truly is an amazing story. His brother sold him to slavery and lied and were deceitful, yet Joseph doesn't choose to act out in bitterness and anger, but love. Joseph finds out that his father passed away and his brothers think that Joseph is going to be angry with them. But Joseph in essence tell them that what they meant for evil that God used for good. Wow, that is a heavy statement. What they meant for evil, God will use for good. I have had an opportunity lately to see if I truly believe that. It is one thing to read it and to say you believe it and a whole other thing to walk out. In the midst of storms it is easy to forget that what the enemy has meant for evil, our heavenly Father will use it for good. But as i put one foot in front of the other, I am believing it more and more. Because this is what I know, the enemy will not win, God keeps his word, and my calling is to trust Him. So I am going to trust him. I must trust him. I know that what the enemy has meant for evil, my God will use for good. I am going to walk it out. I must walk it out. God still reigns. Lord let my life reflect my resolve.


- N'Christ

Dare devil...

     So, I have been blessed with two of the most amazing little kids ever. I know a lot of people, or should I say most people say that about their kids, well they should. But, I really believe that my kids are special. Before I had kids, I thought that whenever I was blessed with kids, that I would be the one, teaching them life lessons and showing the way of the righteous path. Which don't get me wrong, I have been teaching my kids a lot of things, but I have been surprised, how much I have learned from them. Everyday, the Lord seems to give me another lesson through the innocence and the faith of my kids. One of these lessons came one morning when I least expected it.
     It was a Saturday morning and, usually our Saturday mornings are pretty laid back and then we have the list that the wife gives that we try to finish before the end of the day. Well, this particular morning, I had Jackson duty. Which means, i try to keep him from digesting, or doing something that might be harmful to him. Which sounds simple enough, but if you are the parent of a crawler/little boy, you know what I mean. So Jackson and I were hanging out on our bed, and I was folding laundry, yes, I was folding laundry. He was doing what a baby boy does, smile, laugh, and enjoy life. So, he was doing what he does and he started heading for the edge of the bed, I did not think anything of it, because I thought to myself, surely, he will stop before the edge, why would he not? I mean, doesn't he realize that the floor is hard and that if you get in a fight with it, it usually always wins? So, before I could blink, this dare devil tried to take a dive of the bed, I don't know if you have ever had one of those moments when the world moves in slow motion and you have a million thoughts fly through your head, but that was this moment. I thought, my wife is going to kill me if I let this kid get hurt, I also thought he could possible have a permanent dent in his noggin if he falls off the bed and I also thought, what is this booger thinking(nothing because he is only 9 months)?
     I pulled my super dad maneuver, caught him and just about had a heart attack. When I grabbed him, he had the nerve to smile and laugh at me as if it was the best time he has had in his short nine months. At first I was a little flustered, but for some reason, through my little dare devil, something became even more alive and vibrant to me. The passage in which Jesus says, that we are to have faith like a child. See, I realized that Jackson took a soaring leap off the bed because he trusted his Father. He knew that I would catch him. He didn't think that, if I take this leap, this, that or the other could happen. He just leapt, and left the results up to his Daddy. What a word, because, call me crazy, but I think that is how our Heavenly Father wants us to trust him. Could you imagine the impact we could have on this world if we would just leap and trust. I know the temptation is to count the cost, but what if we just trusted? What would happen if we lived lives that reflected our trust of a Father that truly is trustworthy?
     I decided in that moment that I want to live a life not so safe, I want to let go, leap, and trust. Just like my little dare devil.

Ordinary Girl...

The other day, for some reason or the other I was looking at new music on Itunes, that part is not the unusual part, the part that is out of the ordinary is I clicked on new songs by...wait for it...Hannah Montana. The reason in which that should be weird is one, I am a male; two, I am over the age of 13; and third, it's Hannah Montana. Anyhow, I clicked on the new release for the new season of Hannah Montana and the song is called "Ordinary Girl". I found this title a bit ironic, in light of the current media frenzy that is surrounding Miley Cyrus. There has been a lot of talk about her racier new image, the fact that she is a Christian and yet is dressing and acting just like every other girl pop star out there, there seems to be nothing that is setting her apart from everybody else. The Christian circles have added to the frenzy in saying that she is unfit to be a role model and that she is "dressing like a lady of the night", I put it a little bit nicer than they worded it. So now I am thinking about all of this and I click 'buy', because I was intrigued. I listened to the song and instead of the response of, "what a bad example, what a let down," my response caught me off guard; my heart went out to her. Just a little disclaimer before I lose you: I do not think it is appropriate at all for young girls to promote their bodies instead of their talent, or do I think that anyone bearing the title of Christian should look just like the world. Now that we have that out of the way let us continue, shall we? My heart truly did break for her. I thought to myself, here is a seventeen old girl, who loves the Lord, yet has stumbled, and the community of believers that is suppose to encourage and help her back up has thrown stones. As I think about the response some followers of Christ have given, I had to ask my self a very piercing question, "what would Jesus do with Miley Cyrus?" Would he persecute her or love her? Would he call her names and boycott her or would he lover her? Would he help her up if she fell, or would he kick her why she is down? The Jesus that I read of in the Bible, when faced with an opportunity to persecute someone caught in sin, gave them love instead. Well, if we bear the name of Christ, shouldn't we love people the same way he did? Shouldn't we, instead of kicking those that have fallen, help them up? This was a question that haunted me. I don't want to be the person that picks out the spec in others eyes while I have a tree sticking out of mine. Lord, please don't let me be that person. We are called to stand up for what is right, but we are also called to Love. So how can we do both? Well, instead of telling all of our friends how horrible we think this struggling seventeen year old is, maybe we write her an encouraging note. A note about how we understand how hard it is to live out your faith in the public eye; that she should hang in there. Or maybe we pray for her everyday; pray that the Lord would make her path straight. I don't know all the answers, but I do know that there has to be a better way. It is amazing what you can learn just by listening to a song. Who knew that God would teach me a lesson from Hannah Montana? I pray that when given the choice whether to throw the stone or bestow love on someone that does not deserve it, that we will choice what Christ chose. Instead of casting the stone, he got up on the cross and gave his life, so that I could be a part of what he is doing. I pray that I will choose love. Let us all choose love, for that is the way the world will know us.

Anxious...

Have you ever had those times where you are on the cusp of something new and you are beginning to get that butterfly feeling in your stomach? The closer you get to the new adventure, job, or whatever, slowly you feel that excitement start to turn to anxiousness. Then that anxiousness starts to turn to fear and before you know it this new whatever has turned to from a blessing to a burden. It happes so suttlely, that you don't realize that it is happening. It may begin with a question of your qualifications or if you truly have what it takes to do this next thing, then Satan gets a hold of that and places doubt in your heart and that is the beginning of the journey towards fear and staleness. Because being anxious at it's core is not a bad thing, it only turns bad when we let fear creep in. So what do you do, what can you do? I am going to say...trust! Not in your own abilities and skills, but trust the one in which the world cowers at his voice. Trust God, because he in which has called you, will be faithful to complete what he has called you to do! Trust!



Much love,
Nick

Antidote...

I am a people watcher, I think I have mentioned that before. Now, when I say a people watcher I am not talking about being a creeper. When I say a people watcher, that means that I watch people, how they respond to other people, the faces they make, and just their personalities. I think I have always been that way. With people watching you begin to pickup on what is bothering people and the needs of people. Which when confronted with other's issues, you are forced to make a decision, either ignore the problem or help with the problem. I would have to say, it use to be a lot easier to ignore the problem. I would always ask myself, "what can I do?" Or I would make myself feel better by saying that someone else will help, even if I don't know who that is or when that would be, that would make me feel better about myself. But the older I get and the more I am trying to become, or should I say, the more I am made to look like Christ, the harder it is becoming to look the other way. May I say, that makes my life a little bit more complicated, because you can't help everybody. Isn't that what the popular thought is these days, you are only one person, what can you do. I have to say, I have used that as an excuse for a long time, but then I came face to face with a situation that changed things for me.
I had the privilege of teaching an abstinence class a few weeks ago and I always ask the kids some questions to start out the classes. One of the questions I asked the class was what is their family goal. Meaning, what would there perfect family look like. Most of the answers consisted of women who look like Beyounce and good in the question, but one of the answers i received from the students perplexed me and the class, he said his perfect family would consist of him having a dad... yes this was a pin drop moment. You know, one of those times you could hear a pin drop because of the silence. Not only that, but he got emotional as he said it, which in turn, made me a bit emotional. When that took place, I could not let it go. See most of the time when I am faced with a situation that needs some attention, I typically can give a reason as to why it is not my responsibility to do anything about it. I give the excuse of how busy I am or how that is a blessing for someone else. But this time, none of those excuses or rationalizations seemed good enough, this time, I was the antidote to the problem. I have to say that I don't have this totally figured out, but I have made it to the place where I am willing to let the Lord use me in the midst of others' mess, to be an antidote, because I know the antidote to all issues, the one true antidote, Jesus.

Quitter...

You know, there have been a lot of things in my life that I have not been proud of. There have been a lot of failures, a lot of things that I gave up on and a lot of situations in which I have given up on myself. I remember once, in school, we had to run the mile run, which to all my chubby kid friends out there, the mile run felt like punishment straight from Satan. We had to run it in the fourth grade and I was determined that I was not going to come in last this time. So I started out strong, even in the front of the pack, but soon I faded to the back of the crowd and with each step, my body begged me to stop. So I remember my third lap that I was going to stop, that I couldn't go on. So I ran across the finish line only completing 3 out of the 4 laps that I was suppose to. I was dishonest, I did not finish, I was a quitter. I also remember that in high school, I was an excellent student, what I mean by that is that I made good grades. The thing of it was, that I made good grades without really having to try to hard. I was one of those kids that was just good at school. But even though i excelled in my first three years of high school, my final year there, I was tired and i was over it, so in a way, I quite. I was still there physically, but mentally I checked out. Luckily for me, my grades were so strong my first three years of high school, I managed to make it out pretty well, but yet, this was another time that I had quit. Why did i seem to not be able to finish anything strong. I read in scripture all the time how Paul calls the Christian walk a marathon and not a sprint. May i say that makes me so nervous. The reason is that I know how I have finished a lot of things in my life, not well, not well at all. Will this Christian life have the same outcome as so many other things in my life? If i ever wanted to finish something well, it is my Christian walk, it is my walk with the Lord. So I have come to a resolve in my life, that I am going to finish, not limping over the finish line, but running and running well. Nothing in my life has ever been so worth it. Because me finishing this race well impacts my family, friends, and people that I minister to. So i refuse to be a quitter. Even if i fall, even if I stumble, I am finishing this race. Even though a lot in my life I have been a quitter, I am not going to quit this. I am going to finish the race and I am going to get the prize, that is my resolve, that is my goal and that is what I am living for. The good news is, I am not running the race alone, I have the hope of glory living through me, so how can I fail if I am running with the king of kings and the Lord of Lords? So I am not longer going to be labeled as a quitter, even though that is what I have been all my life, I am going to cross that finish line, because it is the cross that spurs me on...

Play on...

So i have the wonderful joy of being able to play basketball a few times a week with a great group of guys. The cool thing about this group is we are all very different. It is three other guys I play with, their jobs all have to do with finance in some shape or form, so i guess that I am the odd man out. But anyhow, we are all different, which makes a very cool dynamic in our basketball games. I always play against on of the guys. We are always matched up against one another. Our teammates may rotate, but we always play each other. I am going to have a moment of real honesty right now. He wears me out. What i mean by that is, I do everything I know how to do on the defensive end, but he always finds a way to score. I even foul him a good bit, but yet he always finds a way to score. The crazy thing is, not only does he wear me out, but he can literally shot the ball from anywhere on the court and make it. Despite my best efforts, he dominates me on the court. Let me go ahead and let you in on a little secret about me, I don't like to lose. I know you are thinking, who likes to lose. But I am really competitive and for me to go out on the court and play basketball and to only come away with a win, 5-10 percent of the time, is really, really, really frustrating. I love to win, but i think I am learning more in my losses than my few wins. I am beginning to feel that the lesson is in the journey not so much the victory. I can't believe i just said that. But let me see if i can explain. See, the easy thing to do when I lose would be to quit, and to maybe change the teams where me and my nemesis would be on the same team, but that would be the easy thing to do. That would not build character in me, I have learned in my losses that I have to play on. When I lose time and time again, I have to get back in the game and play on. I have realized that the more i play, the better I get. Did you catch that, the more I play the better I get. Sounds a lot like our Christian walk doesn't it? I mean there are times in life where we walk by faith and fall flat on our face, there are times when we fail, there are times when we fall back into that sin that entangles us so easily. But the lesson is, not to quit or to give up, but to play on. I think James says it best, in chapter one of his letter, beginning in verse 2, he says this, "count it all joy my brother, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." I don't know about you, but I don't want to lack anything, and in order to get there, there are going to be trials, there are going to be losses, and there my be some stumbling, but I know at the end of it all, i am going to look more like Christ because of it. Isn't that the point anyways. So the question I have to ask myself, in midst of my failures and "trials of various kinds" am I going to have enough faith and resolve to Play on...