Judgment Day

The thought of Judgment Day for many of us makes us nervous, even fearful. This past weekend I had the opportunity to be at Manresa, my yearly respite, my silent retreat. Located in Convent, Louisiana along the Mississippi River, the quarters used to be Jefferson College. Now they are home to Manresa Retreat House, a silent retreat from Thursday evening to Sunday noon led by the Jesuits, a Catholic order of brothers. The 150 year old trees with the moss swaying in the wind are one of my favorite memories of the weekend.

Now, back to Judgment Day. I have become an avid journaler, usually just about every day now, during quiet times in the morning. This past weekend I reviewed my journal entries of 18months truly feeling Jesus’ presence at my side. Some entries I winced in memory. Others brought tears. The journaling consists of the day’s highlights and also my prayers and conversations with God. As Jesus and I reviewed these pages, I became passionate about how I would live 2011 for Him.

On the plane back to Austin, I laughed. I realized that Jesus had given me some extra tutoring. Seems like he knows I wouldn’t have done well cramming for Judgment Day if I didn’t review my work more frequently.

The Newspaper Stand

Wouldn’t it be nice to live life free and not allow others to have power over you? A story I heard is a great illustration of just how to do that.

A couple friends were walking together when one of them stopped at a newspaper stand and asked for the daily paper. The attendant was extremely rude to the man, shoving him the paper and sneering at him as he gave him change. The man tipped his hat to the attendant and told him, “Have a great day!” His friend was appalled and said, “Wow, that guy really treated you poorly!” The man, now with his paper, said, “Yes, he does that every day.” His friend said, “You ought to get a paper from somewhere else.” The man smiled and said, “This is the closest newspaper stand to my house. Why should I let the attendant’s poor outlook on life cause me to walk one foot more to get a paper.”

Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of attitude? Can you think of a time in your life when you’ve burdened yourself just so you didn’t have to deal with someone with a poor outlook on life? Why not start living today free!

Adler's lifestyle.....Your lifestyle

Alfred Adler coined the term “lifestyle” to mean how a person views himself or herself and how that person views the world. According to Adler, by the time you are six, your lifestyle has been set. For many people, including myself, this means feelings of inadequacy. Just think about it. At six, you’re not very good at anything. For me, with 3 older brothers, I lost at just about every game.

So you carry this “baggage” into your adult life and into your relations. So what’s a person to do? Well, then there’s God. If you take that step of faith and give your life to Christ, the rules change. Rather than assessing yourself based on what you’re able to accomplish or what others think of you, you suddenly know your value.

He loves you. Rom 8:38-39 Nothing shall separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus
You are valued. Matt 6:26 Look at the birds of the air…Are you not much more valuable than they?

(Bible verses courtesy of Gary Sinclair).

So what’s your lifestyle? Are you still a people-pleaser? Are you still a perfectionist?

Today’s a perfect day to change. Give yourself completely to Christ and experience the freedom he’s promised.

Anxiety - Doing Mind Judo On Satan

A few years ago, I found myself becoming anxious each afternoon. It came at a time when I was growing spiritually. After a few weeks of daily anxiety, usually about 1:30pm, I realized that I did not feel close to God those early afternoons. When I was in prayer at other times of the day, close with God, I could not feel anxiety. Putting two and two together, I found that, although I couldn’t prevent anxiety, I could shorten those anxious moments by using anxiety as a personal message from God to be with Him.

As I relayed this to a pastor friend of mine, he smiled and said, you’re doing “mind judo” on Satan. I hadn’t thought of it in that context, but now think “mind judo” whenever I feel anxious. Then I turn to my Father and pray.

Playing Hide 'n Seek with God the Father

My friend Warren shared a story about God the Father playing hide ‘n seek with us. David Ferguson of Intimate Life ministries shared how God the Father waits for us to awake every day. It is with these two sources, that I share with you a story for all of us who struggle with relating to God the Father. Maybe because of our earthly father. Maybe because of something else….

Imagine, you wake up from a wonderful sleep. As you’re still rolling around in bed, with sleep in your eyes, there’s a tap at the door and it your heavenly Father. You can tell in a second that He adores you. He tells you to come get breakfast and then you two will go play outside. He makes you a wonderful breakfast, laughing with you, making jokes, always with that gleam in His eye for you.

After breakfast, you and He go outside to the yard out front. He says that you two are going to play hide ‘n seek. Before you can utter a word, He has you close your eyes. As you stand still with your eyes closed, all of the fears of the world converge on you. The world feels dark and scary. You feel so lonely, so fragile. As you imagine that you’ll never be able to find your dad, the emotions become too much. You open your eyes and scream out, “Daddy, where are you?”

The yard is large. There is one tiny twig of a tree standing in the middle of it. From your view, you can see the large towering figure of Him standing behind it, extending from both sides of the tree. With all of your energy and tears running down your cheeks, you run to the tree. You look up at your Father and touch his arm. He opens his eyes, looks down at you, and says with delight, “You found me!”
And what a rush of relief, delight, and love you feel.

You have your Father and He has never left you. He wants you to find Him, but you must open your eyes and look. Your Father TRULY delights in you. Believe this.

2 Words to Stop at the Door

There are 2 words that should be red flags for every Christian: Always and Never. They cause a warped view of the past and are a danger for the present. They are what John Eldridge calls "agreements" with the devil. For instance, "He always is mean to me." Or "I never get to decide where we go." If you hear them from someone else, they are probably agreeing with an Entity that is not Our Father. If you hear them in your own mind, then question it. The thought, in all likelihood, did not come from Above.

The Bible says that we are to capture every thought and view it through a Christian lens (2nd Cor 10:3-5, see below). When you hear Always and Never, be alert and question what you're hearing.

2 Cor 10: 3-5:

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Return of the Blog

After a 9 month hiatus, I am restarting my blog. I am currently in my 8th of 15 classes required for a Counseling Degree at Liberty University. At this rate, I'll wrap up coursework in mid-2012 and then begin my internship and practicum. This Summer I took an intensive on the campus of Liberty, located in Linchburg, Virginia. This area of Virginia is beautiful. While there, I traveled the Blueridge Parkway and visited Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson.

Denise and I are leading the DivorceCare group at LakeHills church here in Austin. We have both found this group particularly special as they minister to each other during this tough season of their lives. For those not familiar with DivorceCare, you can find out more about it at divorcecare.org

Happy Sunday to you!