The Dark

Genesis 1:3-5

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

God Separated the Dark and the Light. He claimed the Light was good. But what about the dark? Was it not good? It doesnt say. This bothered me when I realized it. Then I read on.

Genesis 1:16-18

¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Light is good, and Dark is bad. That is what we have been taught. The light side vs the dark side (for all you starwars lovers out there) is a classic fight between good and evil. When God separated the light and dark it perplexed me when he only called the light good. But later on once God placed a light to govern the night he saw that it was good. That got me to thinking (dangerous I know).

We as Christians tend to have a lot of dark in out lives. By that I mean sins we try to hide and attitudes and behaviors we tend not to control. Before God gave a light to govern the dark, the dark didnt serve much of a purpose. But once God's light was governing the dark he saw that it was good.

Lets bring this full circle shall we? If you have sin, unforgiveness, behavior issues you havent given up to the Lord. You're hiding in the dark and it is worthless. But if you let your Dark be governed by the light of the Lord then God can use your Dark for good. But still yet many people struggle to bring their dark to the light. Why is it so hard for us to do that?

Are you afraid of the Dark? If so you should be. Theres nothing in the Dark that can hurt you if you let it be illuminated and revealed by God's Light. Living in the Dark can hurt and hinder you by not letting your Dark be governed by the light of the Lord. By bringing your Dark to the light not only will you be liberating yourself but you will also be enabling yourself to be a walking testimony of God's faithfulness in healing and restoration of his people.

I truly believe it is the will of the Lord that you bring your Dark to the Light so that it may be Governed and used by him for his Glory.

Dont Sell Out

Many have heard the name Rob Bell. An established author. Fantastic pastor. Unreal motivator. Yesterday an article of his was published online by CNN. Here it is...

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/13/my-faith-suffering-my-way-to-a-new-tomorrow/

In his article he says:

"I assume you're like me - really good at making plans and plotting and scheming and devising just how to make your life go how it's "supposed" to go.

We are masters of this. We know exactly how things are supposed to turn out.

And then we suffer. There's a disruption - death, disease, job loss, heartbreak, betrayal or bankruptcy.

The tomorrow we were expecting disappears. And we have no other plan."

I'm a senior in college. The past 3 and a half years of my life have been solely aimed and dedicated (while not as dedicated as it should have been in the start) to progressing my education. Why? So I can get a job, start a family, and settle down. Now as Rob said I'm really good at making plans and plotting and scheming and devising just how to make my life go how it's "supposed" to go. Somewhere along the way I started to sell out from what I knew I was supposed to do. And not in a way that I completely dropped it but I slacked off and shrugged off a lot of the calling I so deeply felt for quite a few years.

I was once told "Dont sell out for the American Dream. You're better than that and you have a lot to live for." I have to think back a few years honestly and start remembering what my dreams are because somehow I let the fog of an American dream take over.

Another motivator I encountered this past weekend was that I was able to watch Elevation Church's documentary "This is How We Change the World" you can watch it here too for this week only. It's mighty inspiring:

http://www.elevationexperience.com/

If you see this blog and arent able to watch the whole documentary before they take it down then you can at least see a trailer of it here...:

http://www.elevationchurch.org/video/wechangetheworld

I went Friday night with Caroline and our friend Sam Kent to watch it and celebrate Elevations 5 year anniversary. It was a great time and I left truly inspired and reminded to follow my calling. I hope you will be encouraged as well. I spent the rest of Friday night talking with Caroline and Sam at Q'doba in Blakeney and then again in the car on the ride home. It was good to be reaffimed by people that are close in my life about my calling.

If you read this and you find yourself realizing that you've lost sight of your dreams or that they've been blanketed by some other vision you've been fooled into following it's time for a shift. Get back on track. Get out of the rat race and into the real race. It doesnt matter where you are in life (whether you take that on a timeline or geographically) You can get back to where you are supposed to be.

My closing words to you today are the ones that were told to me years ago though slightly modified. Gotta make it fit for everyone since everyone who reads my blog isn't from America (Shout out to my Iranian Brothers and Sisters, you guys rock stay Strong!)

Don't Sell Out for a Mediocre Dream that will rob you of a life worth living, you're better than that!

I Love you all, keep me in your thoughts and prayers and if you message me I will gladly return the favor. Have a great week.

Hello there... Its been what 8 months? No big deal.

Heres something I thought of Today....

There are around 300,000 Churches in America... wow. Heres some food for thought. What if every single church took on the task of building at least one home in Mexico much like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHcCBtIcxhQ&ob=av2n

Thats what I would call Impact, somebody take this and run with it.

Lyrics for "Kings of Snow day"

"Kings Of Snow Day"

Verse 1

A Snowday is here
No School we're in the clear
Its time to go and play
On this Purple Backpack Day

Bridge 1

Half the People on their Sleds
The other half are still in bed
Drop your D's and go to Mi's
Theres Zero snow up on the trees

Black Ice all around the streets
People sliding in their Jeeps
We live in Charlotte its ok
We'll Have our snow just for Today

Chorus

Feb 1st Snow Day, Feb 1st Snow Day
Feb 1st Snow Day is Here!

Verse 2

Get your boots and your hat
Pick up your favorite baseball bat
It's time to plan our attacks
So we pack up our hacky sacks.

Bridge 2

Blowing up a big snow man
Punk'n on our neighbor Dan
Making lots of yellow snow
Mugging kids for all their dough

M-80's in the snowball fight
We'll cause Mischeif in the night
Pack each mail box full of snow
Hear the sirens? Time To Go!


Chorus

Feb. 1st Snow Day, Feb. 1st Snow Day,
Feb. 1st Snow Days Is Here!


Verse 3

The Day is almost gone
I hear a calling from my mom
Project these words from my mouth
Welcome to the Dirty South.

Bridge 3

We're the Kings of this snow day
And it's going down our way
Please try not to fear
This only happens once a year

Up and down the road we roam
Snow Day Kings we're here to own
The people here to us condone
The right to have our own ice throne

Chorus 2x

Feb. 1st Snow Day, Feb. 1st Snow Day,
Feb. 1st Snow Day Is Here!

Meltdown

To my 6 Followers....

Forgive me for the extreme lack of Blogging over the past like.... Lord knows how long its been. Wishful thinking: I wanna start getting some more stuff out for ya'll. Reality: I'm taking an 18 hour course load at UNC Charlotte this semester and I'm logging 90 hours of Community service (by my choosing of course I didn't do anything wrong I promise.)

Good and Bad

Good News: I intend to start blogging again.

Bad News: I don't know when.......

Thats all I got right now.....

Since I havent updated in forever.

I havent blogged in a long time... I get that...
Check this... odds are I wont be blogging for a while.....
Suck it up....... Till then glean what you can from this....

Matthew 28:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

NIV

If you can, listen to the song "Go" by Christian Stanfill. Its on his CD "Attention" track 4.

I'm going to quote my good friend Aaron Peters when I say...

"You cant make an Impact without Contact."

Go out. Make friends. Invest your life in them so that they might have Life for themselves.

I Love you All, check back (not often but enough to know that I'll still blog some.)

"Purple Backpacks, Yellow Hacky Sacks"

So this hit new band is taking Charlotte by storm everybody should check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rawFmIkjYU

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purple-Backpacks-Yellow-Hacky-Sacks/127073564371?v=wall

www.myspace.com/purplebackpacks

How Bad?

Last night I was sitting in the first InterVarsity meeting of the year. We hosted Kinetic Church's Worship team and Pastor. It was great. Pastor Dave had a great message but there was one part I wanted to share with you all in particular.

Dave showed a video blog done by Teller of Penn and Teller. Brief rundown on Penn and Teller, they are both avid Athiest who have toured the country doing a sort of comical magic act. They have a TV show on SHOWTIME called Bullshit! where their entire purpose is to expose fakes and frauds. (My personal favorite is when they shame PETA)

Well anyways back to my purpose in blogging. The point of Teller's video blog was to talk about an encounter he had. Long story short there was a man who went to their Vegas show and was apparently used on stage in one of the acts the night before. After the next nights show he was able to approach Teller and was very complimentary of the act. He gave him a Gideons Bible with a note written inside it.

Teller is a man who wants to disprove Christianity and show it as a fraud much as he does for many other things. He said that if Christianity is real and what Christians stand for is real then why arent they acting with a sense of urgency? How bad do you have to Hate somebody not to tell them something like that? "If you're about to get hit by a truck and dont know it, there comes a point where I tackle you, and this isnt even as severe as the consequences of not following Christianity." He said I'm not a fan of religious people but that guy that confronted me and showed that he cared. He was a good man, that guy was a good man.

So to end off this first short blog of my Junior year.....

Guy's we gotta start living it, we cant go on like we have been anymore, either we live it and tell people with urgency the Good News deserves or we just dont care.

The lack will continue much to the dismay of many

I havent Blogged in FOREVER, I know ok....... But I worked 44 Hours this week none of which were in the church office and havent been able to blog a lick. Next week I'm at the Beach all week Woot! So no blogging then at the internetless house. Sorry. Love you guys and hope to be blogging again soon when I get back home.

Youth Trip

So I've been here in Orange Beach since last Friday with the Youth Group. Its been awesome and I love it. That would be why I havent blogged in a while however I've been "in the field" for a while so there will be a good bit of blogging to be done when I get home. Might even put my message notes up on here or something. We'll see. Anyways I spoke last night, and I'm speaking tonight and tomorrow as well so continue praying friends! I Love You All!

*And any parents who might read this. Your Children are fine. I promise.*

Willing to Choose.

Exodus 2:11-15

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?"

¹⁴ The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known."

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

When Moses helped the Hebrew Moses chose God over Pharaoh. He chose to help one of "his own" over the riches of Egypt. Moses Chose to Identify himself with God.

You have to be willing to tell people about what you are, and if you're willing to tell people its going to cost you something in this world. It might even be something you like. In Moses case it was Status and Riches.

We've all given up something for the call at one time or another. But we've also ignored the call at some time or another. Don't ignore the call. Evaluate the cost but anticipate the payout. Because Christ pays out more than you'll ever pay.

No I Didn't

I totally didn't jack Hebrews 11 from Steven Furtick..... Just glanced at his blog for the first time in a week and realized he blogged on Hebrews like 2 days ago............

http://www.stevenfurtick.com/uncategorized/faith-is-substance/

If you don't get anything out of my blog. Get something out of his.

By Faith

Hebrews 11:1

"Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do no see."

Verses 3-10

³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. ⁴By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. ⁶And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

⁷By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

There seems to be a recurring theme here..... Lets look a little further in.

Verses 11-40

¹¹By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he^a]"> considered him faithful who had made the promise. ¹²And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. ¹⁴People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

²³By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. ²⁵He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

³¹By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.^e]">

³²And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. ³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. ³⁷They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. ⁴⁰God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

People keep asking themselves "What can I do with God, What can I do for his kingdom?" I would ask that you ask yourself this...." What Can't I do with God?" If you need more proof that through God you can do anything then I don't believe you truly read Hebrews 11. Glean what you can from it but it speaks volumes for itself.

For real the blogging will begin again soon...

I've been uber busy the past week and have neglected to blog. I should be blogging again soon after I get the kinks of the youth trip out of the way and am not running around taking care of Mom as much. Much Love and keep checking back guys.

Lack of Blogging.

So for the chosen few... I'm referencing those who actually keep up with my blog. I'm sorry for the lack of Blogging the past week or so. The reason being is because I've been out of the church office doing other work, as well as on a youth trip and maintaining a social life with those that I enjoy being with during my summer break. I promise I will get back to blogging Pronto! Its just not going to be till probably Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.... So sorry! But bear with me... Im not like John Bishop and I dont just up a quit my blog..... *low blow* I'm just kidding........ John probably wont even read this so really I could say whatever I want. Like that he immensely enjoys it when people call him "Hott Pants" and "J Nasty"....... Love You John....

No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regret.

The past week has been a very good one. A lot went down and I was running around a lot. I drove down to Charlotte Monday night of last week and crashed at my small group leader's house. Woke up early Tuesday and met John Bishop and Jared Abel for breakfast. Then proceeded to UNCC's campus, and changed my major. I ate lunch with a studly Wynne. I researched a lot of things in the library for like 4 hours, then drove to Carowinds to pick up some tickets for the youth. Took a Mr. Adam Shinn along for the ride and had good time of conversation. I later went back to my small group leaders house for small group, and got to hang with my boys. Love those guys. Then after small group I was sitting around with my Small Group Leader and decided I wanted to drive another 2 hours or so to see somebody very special. This is where the title comes in.

They didnt want me to drive because it was storming which is a valid reason. However I was thinking about it, and if I hadnt gone to see them I would have regretted it immenseley because I had the time, money, and ability to go see them crash and then hang out the next day a little. Again this person is very special to me, so I really wanted to see them. Yes I frustrated them and yes I probably should have just waited till morning but I drove on. I ended up crashing (as in sleeping) in Greensboro at a friends house. This was a blessing in itself because again this was somebody I care greatly about and I greatly enjoyed my ..... like 5 hour stay at their house.

So moving on, I got up around 5:30 and then drove on toward my next destination. I got there and was able to hang out for the morning and eat breakfast and spend some much needed time with this person. I then left arond 11:00 and got home about 2:30.

I tell you all of this because....

I Reserved no resources, I used every means I had (and then some) to get to where I wanted to be.

I did not Retreat even when that person told me to stay in Charlotte and not travel and that I could just come see them another time.

And I wasnt about to not go because of the Regret I knew I would have if I didnt go.

What does this have to do with anything spiritual?

Well in our daily walk with Christ we should live it out in just such a manner. We shouldnt Reserve ourselves we should get out of our comfort zone and love the unlovable, care for the needy, and pour out our lives into those who dont have anyone investing in them.

We cant back down and Retreat from what God has called us to do. We have to boldly go out and proclaim what God has layed on our hearts and live out what he has commanded of us.

And finally we need to live life in a way that would leave us with no Regrets. This last one is hard because we have to always be vigilant and open to the will of God. We have to be seeking opportunities and actually accepting them once they are presented. I was always bad in highschool to pray and ask God for the opportunity to do something, and then when it presented itself I would back down or turn the other way. Not always but I Regret it and wish I hadnt.

So my wish for you all today is that you would live life with no Reserve, no Retreat, and no Regret.

The Magnitude of what you Say

Magnitude: Extent of dimensions; size;

Yesterday morning at Church was a bittersweet time. It was the commissioning service for my friend and mentor Durl. Hes moving for at least a year and we had a commissioning service for him. During the first service I was given the liberty of sharing a 3 minute testimony of how Durl impacted my life. This was a very hard thing to do because he had done so much in the past 10 years hes been here at Mt. Calvary.

As I was sitting towards the back I started to get a little nervous, which is weird for me because I never get nervous when talking to people really. If you know me I like to talk and I'm not very bashful. But for some reason my gut was just wrenching. I didnt know why I felt this way and then it hit me. I fully understood the Magnitude of what I had to say. I was trying to compress 10 years of impact into a 3 minute mini-testimony.

I delivered my testimony after we prayed for Durl and Jaime, and it went fine. I hit very quickly on the big things that were very evident in what Durl had done in my life and for me. Of course with limited time comes the "Oh I should have said" or "I could have said" or "I wish I had said"s but the more I thought about it giving my testimony about Durl's impact was a lot like Giving my testimony about how God shaped and changed my life. That sick to my stomach feeling I had when getting ready to talk about Durl was the same feeling I used to get when I talked about Christ just on a lower level.

I started thinking shouldnt I always get that feeling when sharing about Christ with others? And the answer to that question by the way is yes. But how? I think that I should treat every opportunity with the urgency that I treated yesterdays situation. But first and foremost I should understand the Magnitude of what I am trying to say and the message I am trying to convey.

The Message of God is one that shouldnt be taken lightly. The Magnitude of the Gospel is so high that we should carry it out with the utmost urgency and care.

Share Your Father

Many years ago a buddy of mines Father passed away. My friend and I were both still quite young and I had about 2 years on him and I couldnt be much older than 7 or 8. Well a week or so after the funeral as you could imagine my friend was pretty bummed being very young and now without a Father.

That is when I woke up one Saturday morning to my Dad saying, "Brett get up we're gonna go out in a bit so get dressed." I got up and ready and then we set out to pick up my friend. I had no idea this was coming but we then went to Fun'n'Wheels which if you dont know what it is. It is a place where you can race go karts and such.

Well we spent a good hour or so racing. I drove my own car and Dad drove with my friend riding with him. It was a really nice day and we all had a lot of fun. It really took my friends mind of the situation for a bit I think. After we rode go karts for a bit we stopped then we went back home.

We dropped my friend off at his house with his Mom who thanked my Dad and I for taking him out. After we got back in the car and drove a little Dad turned to me and said. "Thanks for Sharing your Dad today, it was a really good thing you did and I'm really proud of you. You helped your friend out a lot by doing this." Now, no going to Fun'n'Wheels wasnt my idea and no I didnt feel like I did anything special but I did share my Dad when I could have spent the day alone with him I shared him with somebody who desperately needed a strong male figure in their life at that point in time.

You might be wondering why I wrote out this story. well to be honest I was driving tonight and I remembered what my Dad said to me when we had gotten back into the car and driven a little bit.

"Thanks for Sharing your Dad today, it was a really good thing you did and I'm really proud of you. You helped your friend out a lot by doing this."

It kind of made me think about what I would want God to say to me, and how I would want him to be proud of me. I started thinking about how I could go about giving God reason to say that to me and it reminded me of the great commission (Matthew 28:16-20). If I want God to say "Thanks for sharing me with somebody today." Then I need to be telling people about him in the first place! If I want to achieve this then I need to be living out the Great Commission.

If you're like me and want God to be pleased with you and say. "Thanks for Sharing your Dad today, it was a really good thing you did and I'm really proud of you. You helped your friend out a lot by doing this." Then you need to start living out The Great Commission as well. Take this nugget for what its worth but personally I'd like to share my Father with my friends who need him in their lives.

He Must Increase I must Decrease.

Theres something I've been running into over the past week over and over. Its best summed up in the verse John 3:30.

"He must Increase, and I must Decrease."
American Standard Bible

Another Translation Reads:

"He must become More Important, and I must become Less Important."
International Standard Version

Yesterday I was weedeating for a friend, and while I was weedeating I started thinking. What are some ways that I can Decrease and allow for God to Increase in my life? I think thats a pretty valid question everyone should ask themselves every day. It keeps you in check and can help you in bettering your life.

For me This might look like being a better steward of my time and resources. If you would let me, I could sleep 15 hours then wake up and eat and play video games for the remaining 9 hours every day for the rest of my life I think. That would be silly and there would be no glorifying God in it. So even though I dont play THAT much and sleep That long I should still monitor how long I sleep and not "sleep the day away". And I should take into moderation my gaming. That would leave more open time for things such as going to an 8th grade graduation for some of the youth from the youth group I work with. Or being able to wake up early and lead a discipleship group because I got enough sleep and didnt stay up all night playing video games.

We as humans have this instilled desire to promote "Self" and make "Self" Happy so we tend to leverage our time and resources to benefit ourselves. But like John 3:30 says I must decrease but at the same time He must increase. Evaltuate your life see what needs changing and then invest what you need to where you need to. God gave you Gifts and a desire, put them to work. Don't waste them.