In my 34 years of living I’ve done a lot of stupid things and even though I try not to do stupid things every now and then I do. I’ve also sinned a time or 2,( ok you got me I’ve sinned alot) but I’m thankful for what Jesus did on the cross and paying the price for my sins. Yet why I try not to sin I do make mistakes but I’m thankful for a Merciful and Forgiving God. So I thought why not make a list of f things that people do they may not be sins but they are stupid.
Playing video games all night and you have to be at work in the morning
Riding your bicycle of the roof off your house
Not telling you spouse you love them everyday
Surfing on top of moving car
Playing in traffic
Shaving off you eyebrows
Anything you do after saying “hey watch this”
Watching reality TV(ok it may not be stupid but you watch enough of it, it might make you stupid)
Texting and driving
Not asking for help or advice when you never done something before.
taking gum of the bottom of a park bench and chewing it (and thats just nasty)
Do you have some things that you think are stupid that may not be sins, share them.
If you don’t already know, earlier this year God granted me the opportunity to adopt my lovely daughter Adriana. We weren’t sure how we would pay for it, but we knew God never starts anything he doesn’t plan to finish. So about a week ago I tweeted “Does anyone know of a way we could raise money for an adoption?” I got several great responses that my wife and I had planned to look into. The next day I got a call from a friend asking how much we needed. I told him and he responded, “Give me a couple of weeks and don’t worry about it”. So we didn’t. Within less than a week, God used my friends to make it happen. They came up with the money!
Words cannot describe the thanks we want to give to our friends who just gave us the money to proceed with the adoption. We just want to say thank you!!! It means more than you could ever imagine. I want to praise God for what he has done in your lives to make you want to share with us like that.
When I think of my friends it reminds me of this:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved”. Acts 2:42-47
I know God will continue to use this amazing group of people for His Glory.
Like most of us in this world we couldn’t wait till we were grown and on our own. Why? So people couldn’t tell us what NOT to do. Well today I going to change things up and give you a list of things you should NOT do this week. I know sometimes we get so caught up in what to do we forget what NOT to do.
Do not take the easy way out – You’ll never learn anything new, nor will you get better this way.
Do not give up – Even the best of us at times wants to quit but those are the times we need to keep pushing on.
Do not do what you’ve always done – Even if this has worked for years change it up or you’ll keep getting the same results and in this ever changing world you’ll soon be left behind.
Do not stress out – I know with bills, dead lines and everything else going on it’s hard to not do this, but if we give our best in everything we do it makes this easier.
Do not ignore your family – I know life is hectic. You’ve got work to do around the house and your family loves you for that but they also just want to spend time with you.
Do not be cocky – Yeah I know……… your the Lebron James of what you do. Let your work speak for its self – not your words.
Do not eat out everyday this week – Sure its the easy thing but take a nice healthy lunch with you – your body with thank you.
Do not be in a pain in the butt – Always treat people with kindness, respect and honor.
Do not watch 30 hours of TV – read a book, go for a walk, and do something beside being a couch potato.
Do not ignore what God has called you do to – yes it risky, your not sure what might happen but that’s why it’s called faith.
What do think are there somethings that you should NOT be doing, share you thoughts or your own list………….
Recently, I bought a pair of Vibram FiveFingers and admittedly they are some very different looking shoes. Almost everywhere I go people stop me and ask questions about them. “What are those?”, “WOW! Are those comfortable?”, “Where did you get those?” and more. As you can imagine the questions just keep coming – all because my shoes look different.
That got me thinking. As a Christ follower we are called to look different. If we look vastly different from everyone else, then people should be asking us questions. They should be asking us “Why do you that?”, “Why don’t you act like that?”, “What’s that all about?”, “Where do I get what you have”, and on and on. As a believer we should be living lives that look so different from the world around us that people stop us and just have to know why.
Think about it. Every time you do something different, get something different, or see things differently, people always ask you questions. So, let me ask you this… Are you being asked questions about your life? Does your life look different like my Vibrams or does your life look as ordinary as a pair of regular white sneakers blending in with the sneaker world around them? Do you stand out?
Please share your thoughts today about how your life looks different.
Doesn’t walking around naked sound like a great idea? What if we all walked around fully exposed for the world to see? Nothing hidden – no clothing to cover up what we don’t want each other to see. There wouldn’t be any control top anything or undergarments that make us look like there’s less of us. Things that pulled this up that down or over to the right. People would see us for who we really are.
At this point you might be laughing or thinking that I’ve decided to go pro-nudist. But, just think about it for a minute, what if we all really did walk around naked? People might be more apt to take care of themselves or at least they would be less likely to point out others flaws when theirs are so readily exposed. I know the last thing you want is for everyone to be able to see your flaws. Of course, I’m not really talking about physical nudity. I’m talking about exposing our hearts and minds that we so often hide from the world. We hide our imperfections, our scars, our struggles, and our battle wounds in order to make others think we are perfect or at least to make them think we have it all together. But, when we hide our imperfections the light of God can’t shine through us. God wants us to expose our imperfection to each other and share our struggles and the not so good things we have done. It is HIS grace and mercy that has saved us, not our attempts at trying to look perfect for others. By exposing our imperfections He is glorified and others see He Is Good because they can see the work that He is doing in us.
Share your thoughts what do you think should we all walk around naked…………….
Lately people are asking me have I been working out again and to which I simply reply “yes I have how did you know”. Then they go you can tell you getting bigger looking fit. Sometimes they even ask me to what kind of workouts I’m doing or what I’m eating. Now why would I talk about this am I trying to brag or show off? While my lovely wife might say that I am it’s not the case. See God speaks to each of us in different ways and one of the ways He speaks to me is through my love of fitness and living a healthy lifestyle and one of the things he showed me was when you’re working out people can tell and the same goes for working out your faith in God. When you work it out people can tell. They ask question they want to know what your doing. They want to know what makes you stand out from the norm. So I ask can people tell you’ve been working out your faith.
With high school, college and soon pro football wrapping up their seasons, I am reminded of all the time we all have taken rooting on our favorite team. We have all put our hope in them winning, perhaps even betting it all on the arm of some fly by night quarterback. What I’ve been guilty of and know many of us have is what I like to call “Friday Night Faith”. You’ve seen it time and time again. We buy our ticket, we watch with such sincerity, and we cheer like we have been suited up in practice all season.
The great thing about faith like that is it’s contagious; the bad thing is it rarely transfers to our faith in God. I honestly believe if we cared for our lives like we do our “boys” or our “team” winning another game; we would have faith that is unshakable. God would honor our faithfulness, just like wearing that old jersey makes your team win and the other one lose (don’t wash it that thing till we do lose either). I am praying that my Friday night faith carries over week in and week out. Will you join me??
“What if”, “if only”, “if”, terms that seem to pop up often when it comes to getting things done. Think about it. Do you need to exercise? “If only I could find the time”. Do you need to manage your money better? “If only I could make more money. Do you need to be a better leader? “Ifonly they would just listen to me.” Do you need to share who Jesus is with someone? “What if they don’t believe.” Is God asking you to give? “What if I lose my job?”
What if we stop making excuses and do what God has called us to do? If only we would take the time to see how truly Great our God is. If God has called you to do it you better believe it can be done!
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
Take the fear out of the equation and replace it with God!
Recently I have been feeling different. Not bad…just different. Like most people I am sometimes on the mountain top. Other times I have been in the valley. The trek is often the most difficult part.
I spoke with a friend on a subject that I feel best summarized what the trek is truly all about. My friend’s name is Stephen Mclean and he was telling me about an upcoming appointment. He was going to meet with a gent who’s purpose and passion is to see companies and individuals go from “good” to “great”. I immediately wanted to desperately sit in on this meeting. I imagined most of us would!
I found myself thinking about greatness and the equivalents thereof. I imagined figures and their “great” contributions to the record and history books! People such as Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Babe Ruth, Leonardo Da Vinci, Serena Williams, Paul Rodriguez just to name a few. All these people found out what they were great at! This is the “marvel”. I know that to be true because that’s what we do with great people or great accomplishments we marvel at them. We sit and wonder and we hope and pray that we, too, will hit our stride on the trek and move into greatness as well.
We should all be seeking to be great. God speaks to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 and says to him how he will take an ordinary man, and change him into an extraordinary man…(I will make you a great nation, I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.)
See, even God desires to see that you become a man or woman who will be great. He wants to move you into a place of great influence. Just like the great men and women of the past that we marvel at…. we, too, should spark a little marvel and effectively embrace the greatness we are called to.
Be blessed and know God wants you to be GREAT at your passion. He designed you to fulfill your dreams !!!
Husband to the beautiful @melissaparker, father to 2 amazing kids, Pastor, Fitness Professional, Leader Developer and saved by Grace. Who loves to have FUN! and chicken and waffles!
With high school, college and soon pro football wrapping up their seasons, I am reminded of all the time we all have taken rooting on our favorite team. We have all put our hope in them winning, perhaps even betting it all on the arm of some fly by night quarterback. What I’ve been guilty of and know many of us have is what I like to call “Friday Night Faith”. You’ve seen it time and time again. We buy our ticket, we watch with such sincerity, and we cheer like we have been suited up in practice all season.
“What if”, “if only”, “if”, terms that seem to pop up often when it comes to getting things done. Think about it. Do you need to exercise? “If only I could find the time”. Do you need to manage your money better? “If only I could make more money. Do you need to be a better leader? “If only they would just listen to me.” Do you need to share who Jesus is with someone? “What if they don’t believe.” Is God asking you to give? “What if I lose my job?”
Recently I have been feeling different. Not bad…just different. Like most people I am sometimes on the mountain top. Other times I have been in the valley. The trek is often the most difficult part.
Husband to the beautiful @melissaparker, father to 2 amazing kids, Pastor, Fitness Professional, Leader Developer and saved by Grace. Who loves to have FUN! and chicken and waffles!
