when your focus shifts

i love it when i feel something change in me. especially when it's a mental change. a shift in my thought process that makes me feel like i've changed for the better....and it's been happening more and more lately.

this causes two thoughts:
1.) praise God that He is stretching me to grow more and learn to show Jesus to more and more people
2.) man i feel dumb when i learn some stuff. like when i learn something i feel like i should've learned years ago. has that ever happened to you?

i just finished reading Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldridge which was recommended by a friend. it was a really great read. lately i've been becoming obsessed with the idea of pushing away all of  the "religious" junk the world loves to rave about and focusing on loving Jesus, showing Jesus, and trying to be more like Jesus. books like Beautiful Outlaw have been helping me move towards these goals.

as you may or may not know, my first triathlon is just NINE days out. luckily, i've been able to finally get in some open water swim sessions and feel a little more comfortable with the swim start. i haven't been able to get in the mileage i'd like to be getting on the bike, but i still feel comfortable with the 24 mile distance i'll need to cover. although i'm pretty worry-free about the run i'm still a little anxious to be doing the 5k after the swim and bike.

...and that's where my latest mental change comes in: the idea of allowing God to be a part of 100% of my life. literally....100%. not just a part of my job, my Church, my friends and family, my bad days and what i read. this is a big struggle i have been facing. it's easy for me to give God control of certain things in my life, but when it comes to things i feel like i may have better control over....or just don't trust anyone else with...it's mine and i'm in control. i keep reserving God's involvement for more "religious" moments, days when i'm in need, or when i need to help someone. the problem with that way of thinking is i'm leaving God out of big areas of my day to day life; such as training or my fitness in general. i'm leaving God out and it's just setting me up to fail. the irony here is that i don't like to fail. in fact...i despise failing. i don't even like to watch others fail! so why would i go about doing things that are just setting me up to fail!?!

one of my favorite Bible verses is Philippians 4:13 which says this, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." i feel like Paul was a runner. the endurance he possessed as he lived his life for God in EVERY way is inspiring. mainly because of the turnaround he had in his life (from saul to paul) and the fact he was just a regular dude living as much like Jesus as possible. what i learned/realized recently is that verse does not say "I can do 'a lot of things' through Him who gives me strength." it says 'EVERYTHING' and that to me is motivating and encouraging! that verse takes on a whole new meaning to me now that i am reading/comprehending it correctly. with that kind of strength available to me why would i chose to leave God out of any area of life?

here's an excerpt from Beautiful Outlaw:
    "By the way, this is the point of encountering those things in your life you cannot handle -- you are forced to turn to Christ. Did you really think you could be kind for the rest of your life without the inner help of Jesus? One day of kindness is a miracle. What about forgiving? Generous? Honest? Did you really think you could overcome your lifelong strongholds without some sort of Lazarus-like breakthrough? It simply isn't going to happen -- not without the life of Jesus in you.
    This realization was an epiphany for me.
    I have spent most of my adult years trying to find those keys that would enable people to become whole. Like an archaeologist raking for buried treasure, I've combed through the province of counseling, spiritual discipline, inner healing, deliverance, addiction recovery -- anything that would help me get others get better. Like Schliemann when his shovel struck the buried ruins of Troy, the epiphany I have come to is this:
    Jesus has no intention of letting you become whole apart from his moment-to-moment presence and life within you.
    Your brokenness and your sin are not something you overcome so that you can walk with God. They are the occasions for you to cry out for the life of God in you to rescue you. Not God outside you, up in the sky somewhere. Christ in you, your only hope of glory."
      

radical.

radical as a noun is defined as this:  "a person who holds or follows strong convictions or extreme principles; extremist."

welp, i want to be a radical dude...an extremist if you will. i want to be an extremist for love. now, before you shut me out and call me a hippy please hear me out...well, read me out? whatever. i'll be honest...i don't like the rolling stones or the song "american pie" and i am not a fan of the dallas cowboys, but i am still an american, right? more importantly...i'm a child of GOD! oh, did i mention we are ALL children of GOD? so, that doesn't really say much for me. i guess that's a good thing...because i am nothing. i don't want to come across as depressed or anything like that. i assure you i am a mostly happy person (is anyone truly one hundred percent happy) in the world we live in. i say i'm nothing because i am. honestly, everyone is nothing. there's not one person i know that is a true somebody...because there's only ONE of those, ya know?

are you picking up what i'm putting down? maybe i'm being a little vague here i guess. call me a coward or one who wants to encourage you to think. either way...i'm calling you out (including myself).

we are called to do things. i'm not talking chores when you were a kid or lame stuff your boss is demanding  requesting at work. i'm talking "Things" in quotes with a capital 'T' and maybe even bold and underlined and in a larger font! i honestly wish it were as simple as "dude, i'm just gonna love everyone like a brother or sister and be really "nice" to everyone in between and i'll "make it"..." but it DOES NOT work that way. sorry, chuck...but it doesn't (if your name is chuck this is not directed at you...i don't know anyone named chuck).

i'm just tired of reading books and listening to people speak about what we gotta do, ya know!? am i the only one who gets tired of hearing what you SHOULD be doing, or what you COULD be doing better!? i doubt it! so let's step up and start changing the way we live! guess what it'll do...besides change the world? i'll give you one other guess...it'll change your life! seriously...who is ready for a little change!!?!? count me in, friend!

the big picture

making moves. it's something that i've been saying for a while now. i think i originally heard it in a song by the rocket summer, but i've taken stole it and made it my own (that's how art works, folks). i've been making a lot of moves within the past year or so. oh, i guess i should clarify...'making moves' meaning changing something in your life. speaking of making moves...i was able to sleep in (7:30am) today and it was amazing. i ate some cereal (three freakin' bowls), watched some informational television educating us on the difference between monkeys and apes. did you know male monkeys can't see the color red? so, here i sit blogging away with american football playing lightly in the background so my gorgeous wife can continue to rest before we go get lost in the woods trail running.

you ever wonder what the big picture looks like? i do...all of the time. as big as it is though, i lose sight of it all too quickly. it's probably more that i am distracted and looking the other way really. i'll admit it...i am a selfish human that cares about what i'm going through way too much. i turn twenty-six today and i'm having the exact same feelings that i did when i turned twenty-five..."what have i done?" i'm not talking about college degrees, careers, getting married, reaching goals, vacations or anything like that. i'm talking stuff that's helping. what have i done that's helped make a difference? so take a look at the big picture with me. from far away it looks great and has amazing detail with colors you've never seen. as we bring it closer we start seeing the poverty, crime, murder, homelessness, pollution, war, racism, sexism and all other hatred/bad things you can think of. the good: tons of ordinary people are making moves to get rid of things like those listed above. the bad: not enough people are stepping up willing to make those moves. some of us are being lazy and not pulling our weight. so now that i'm a wise twenty-six year old i'm stepping up my game. i'm gonna make freakin' moves like a u-haul (pretty sure i'm making that into a t-shirt). we need to take our blinders off and look more closely at the big picture and pick a spot that needs help (everywhere) and focus on it. we're all artists and we can touch up any part of the big picture as long as we try (wow...i knew that was bad while even writing it). if we don't do anything then guess what happens...you guessed it!

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love. 
-Mother Teresa


How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. 
-Anne Frank


Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does. 
-William James


Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. 
-Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy


The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. 
-Leo Rosten


Live simply that others might simply live. 
-Elizabeth Ann Seton

We can do no great things, only small things with great love. 
-Mother Teresa


Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not. 
-Dr. Seuss

It seems to me that any full grown, mature adult would have a desire to be responsible, to help where he can in a world that needs so very much, that threatens us so very much. 
-Norman Lear


Being good is commendable, but only when it is combined with doing good is it useful. 
-Author Unknown


I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. 
-Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojarhiu)


I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. 
-Edward Everett Hale


The willingness to share does not make one charitable; it makes one free. 
-Robert Brault

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. 
-Sydney Smith


Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. 
-Edmund Burke


If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. 
-Mother Teresa


Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you. 
-Mother Teresa


Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him. 
-Albert Schweitzer


He who gives when he is asked has waited too long. 
-Sunshine Magazine


This is the true joy in life - being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. 
-George Bernard Shaw


Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. 
-Author Unknown


The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. 
-Nelson Henderson


While earning your daily bread, be sure you share a slice with those less fortunate. 
-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.


The difference between a helping hand and an outstretched palm is a twist of the wrist. 
-Laurence Leamer, King of the Night


No man stands so straight as when he stoops to help a boy. 
-Knights of Pythagoras 

Charity sees the need, not the cause. 
-German Proverb


In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy. 
-Karl Reiland


How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
-William Shakespeare

If we could all hear one another's prayers, God might be relieved of some of his burdens. 
-Ashleigh Brilliant


Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light. 
-Norman B. Rice


I expect to pass through life but once.  If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. 
-William Penn


Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee, and do not try to make the universe a blind alley. 
-Ralph Waldo Emerson


The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own. 
-Benjamin Disraeli

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

does david bowie freak anyone else out?

i wonder why so many people don't like change. big or little, some people just don't want it. they're good with a mundane life where everything is routine. don't get me wrong...i definitely like a routine and feeling like i have things planned out, but what fun is it to stay the same?

you know now from reading one of my previous posts that i've made a few changes in my life over the past couple of years. before that i don't think i was really into change. so what changed in me to cause me to like change? is that a paradox? for me, personally, i was just fed up with being overweight. all it took was that one time looking into a mirror and thinking, "dude...what the what? you need change!"

it's funny how people can react to your change though. for example: person A (we'll call him Bill) is living a "not-so-by-the-book-kinda-life" and on a downhill path to nowhere (because obviously a downhill path can't lead anywhere good...know why? cause once you're at the bottom you have to get back to where you came from...and that is up and harder to get to. what?) anyway, person B (we'll call him Lameface, yes that is a real name...i think it's french) hasn't seen Bill for quite a while and then one day hears an update about him and this is where weirdness happens. some people (i wish it were 'most') would say something like this to Bill, "wow-wee bill, what a great thing you've done...you know...changing...for the better. previously you weren't so cool, but now that you've changed...you're pretty cool!" but then there are other people, like Lameface, that realize they haven't done any changing for the better and are possibly a bit upset about that...so they decide to try and knock Bill down a few notches by bringing up his past. you get where i'm going? you pickin' up what i'm puttin' down? sorry i said that.

to help better explain this "i changed but my friend didn't and now he won't stop calling me out on my past theory" i've included some artwork. enjoy.