Category: God

Categories
God Life Music

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

I’m falling even more in love with You
Letting go of all I’ve held on to
I’m standing here until You make me move
I’m hanging by a moment here with You
I’m living for the only thing I know
I’m running and not quite sure where to go
And I don’t know what I’m diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with You

When you choose to follow, believe, trust, and love Jesus Christ above every one and every thing you choose to throw pride into the enemy’s darkness and emphatically exclaim that you can no longer go on and be a slave to this world. You can no longer say and do what the world’s agenda tells you so. You choose to die to the world, and let death bring Life to yourself. It’s a new Life, for you are reborn. Death brings Life – just like it did on that cross. Jesus Christ conquered death and created Life from it. He can take the dead man out of you and make you anew. If you believe. If you trust. If you hang by a moment with Him. It’s in the lyrics. It’s in the Truth:

Romans 6:4-5 (NLT, 2ND Ed.)
4  For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new Lives.
5  Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to Life as He was.

John 12:24-26
24  I tell you the Truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels — a plentiful harvest of new Lives.
25  Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
26  Anyone who wants to be My disciple must follow Me, because My servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves Me.

Categories
Animals Astronomy Career Driving God Nature Travel

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

A fresh new week of blogging begins – right here – right now !

I.  Year-Long Standard Time – If we stayed on Standard Time all year long and eliminated Daylight Saving Time from March through November then life would be so much more simple – and timely. Here in America’s Riviera in the middle of June when our days are at their longest and our nights are at their shortest we would have a sunrise of exactly 5:30 AM on Standard Time. That means that daylight would begin showing its presence shortly before 5 AM !  All the way up the Atlantic coast in Portland Maine the sunrise would actually occur just before 4 AM with daylight appearing before 3:30 AM !  While farmers everywhere would absolutely dig such an early sunrise in June most Americans would simply not appreciate it. So the next time that you scoff at losing an hour of sleep on that one weekend in March when you have to ‘spring forward’ just remember what life would be like without it. You would be up at the crack of dawn – the crack of 5 AM in June !  Next week I will explain to you what life would be like in December for most of us if we stayed on Daylight Saving Time all year long, but right now it is time to move on to my next thought …

II.  Public Speaking 101 – Tonight at my weekly Toastmasters club meeting I’ll be giving my 2ND major speech since I joined just a little over 4 months ago. This is what it is all about. It will be a 5 to 7½-minute speech mostly comprised of a subject matter that I knew little to nothing about just 5 weeks ago. I’ll be standing up in front of my new friends and speaking directly to them with minimal usage of notes. Much of my speech will be based on actual experience rather than written material. In fact my notes are essentially one giant outline rather than an actual speech. It does include a few supporting facts and figures that I’ll be referencing during my speech. I’m also on the active hosting rotation at Life Pointe Church on Sunday mornings. I lead Communion, I pray, and I speak to my brothers and sisters from the big stage armed only with a wireless microphone and my notes. Who would have guessed that this would ever happen in my Life ?  That I would be standing up on a stage at a church in a movie theatre on a Sunday morning ?  I’m also facilitating and leading formal information briefings at work on most Thursday mornings. Who would have guessed that I would be involved in all of this public speaking at an organized club – at church – and in my career. All of this is brand new as of the past half a year or so. Each public speaking opportunity has found a way to complement and enhance one another, and I am so amazed at the progress that I have made in this once dormant area of my Life. Once upon a time I was the most timid dude I knew. Public speaking was just never going to happen – no matter what. It was just totally impossible to occur. But then something miraculous happened some 43 months ago. God saved me. He took the dead man out of me. He said “Follow me.” I did.

III.  The 400-Mile Road-Trip – I’m still 3 days away from my next road-trip over to the Naples area, yet I’m already planning my next big road-trip for the final weekend of April. I’ve got a 400-mile (at least) road-trip planned that will take me up to Lion County Safari in Palm Beach County. After a fun-filled day at the park with the animals big and small I’ll be following the old historic U.S. Highway 98 over to the eastern shores of Lake Okeechobee. Around the Big Lake ‘O’ I go until I reach the coast-to-coast ‘7-0’. That’s Florida State Road 70 near the city of Okeechobee. I’m taking it all the way to Fort Pierce where I’m spending the night at a hotel. The next day it will be a nice scenic Springtime drive from the Atlantic shores of Fort Pierce Beach down to Palm Beach County solely along Florida State Road A1A and U.S. 1. It’s a huge chunk of southeast Florida that I’ve never seen before, and I’m so looking forward to discovering what’s there for me in my quest to find my ultimate vacation and retirement destination.

Those are my Thoughts on this Tuesday night. I thank you for your time, and I hope that you continue to spend a little bit of your valuable time each day supporting this blog and living Life with me.

Until we blog again (tomorrow) … REMEMBER THIS !

Categories
Animals Driving Food God History Music Travel

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s not hold nothin’ back.
– Can we talk here ?
– Today I ate Lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse.
– It’s transitioning into a weekly tradition for me.
– It’s my favourite of all of the new eating joints that have opened recently.
– Homestead has come a long way over the past few years.
– We are turning in to quite the eating mecca down here in suburbia.
– I dig that since eating food is one of my favourite hobbies.
– So next Friday night I’ll be seeing what should be a GREAT concert.
– It’s Toby Mac, Skillet, and House Of Heroes.

– All three acts rock my face off !
– I’m seeing them over at the Germain Arena between Naples and Fort Myers.
– I’m actually driving over to Naples early in the morning next Friday.
– I plan to spend the entire day over there and visit various places.
– The Naples Zoo and the Collier County Museum are on my short list.
– I’m also spending the night over there following the concert.
– I thought about driving back home after the show, but then I reconsidered.
– It’d be a 2½-hour drive in the dark across Alligator Alley (I-75).
– I’m not into that.
– I’d rather relax in a hotel room and get a good night’s sleep.
– And then the next morning I can see more of Naples before I head home.
– It’ll be like a short little vacation for me.
– I want to do those at least once a month.
– I’m already planning a nice little road trip for a later weekend in April.
– It’s fun to get out on that open road and visit places and see things.
– I used to do it far more often back in the day.
– Homestead Air Reserve Base reopened 16 years ago this weekend.
– That’s when I moved back down here to Homestead after a 19-month hiatus.
– If I had to do it all over again then I’d do it all over again.
– It’s straight-up and down six o’clock in the evening as I type this.
– That means that Life Group is just an hour away.
– Life Group has been the crown jewel of my work week in 2010.
– I get excited about it every week.
– It’s fellowship done right.
– Have a great night my friends.
– Celebrate Life !

Categories
God Holidays Life Music

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

You know even when you follow, believe, trust, and love Jesus Christ above every one and every thing – you’re still going to have days that just don’t go your way. You can call them ‘bad days’ if you wish, but never forget that you’re not alone. God is with you always and forever. He sees it all  – the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

Just because you’re living a new Life – separate and distinct from your previous life – it does not mean that all of the bad things went away the moment that you stepped away from your old ways of the world. You’re still human, and you still have the problems that normal humans have. It’s how you react to those problems that sets you into motion and defines how you Live your new Life. 

There is always one nucleus to every solution to every problem. That nucleus is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. If you believe. If you trust.

In honour of Saint Patrick’s Day I present to you Christian Rocker Kevin Max. Here he is with an “Irish Hymn” on this very special day where everyone can be Irish simply by wearing the green !