Have you ever thought life sucks or can I just run and hide or I hate my life?

There are definitely times where I have thought these things... Yet, then I listen to some good ol' music (like the song below)... and it just makes me think. Even if I am completely frustrated with the world, I am so glad that I have been able to experience things. It's hard, but I am thankful for the hard times, because they truly do make the good times better. The hard times help you appreciate what you do have and what is in front of you. Now, I wouldn't want to have all bad times or hard times... but, I think it's good to experience them once in a while so that I can truly be thankful for the awesome things in my life and not just take them for granted.

Life is Wonderful

it takes a crane to build a crane
it takes two floors to make a story
it takes an egg to make a hen
it takes a hen to make an egg
there is no end to what i'm saying

it takes a thought to make a word
and it takes some words to make an action
and it takes some work to make it work
it takes some good to make it hurt
it takes some bad for satisfaction

ah la la la la la la la life is wonderful
ah la la la la la la life goes full circle
ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
ah la la la la
ah mmmm

it takes a night to make it dawn
and it takes a day to you yawn brother
and it takes some old to make you young
it takes some cold to know the sun
it takes the one to have the other

and it takes no time to fall in love
but it takes you years to know what love is
and it takes some fears to make you trust
it takes those tears to make it rust
it takes the dust to have it polished, yea

ah la la la la la la life is wonderful
ha la la la la la la life goes full circle
ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
ha la la la

it is so
and it is so

it takes some silence to make sound
and it takes a loss before you found it
and it takes a road to go nowhere
it takes a toll to make you care
it takes a hole to make a mountain

ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
ha la la la la la la life goes full circle
ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
ha la la la la la la life is meaningful
ha la la la la la la life is wonderful
ha la la la la la

it is so wonderful
and it is so meaningful
it is so wonderful
it is meaningful
it is wonderful
it is meaningful
it goes full circle
wonderful
meaningful
full circle
wonderful

lyrics and music by jason mraz

Life is all about hard situations and trials. It's all about falling and realizing how and when we make mistakes. It's imperative that we learn when we go through these things. It's imperative to pull ourselves back up and start climbing again... looking up to God for strength and guidance.

Throughout my life, I have realized that I am not on my own, that I do not have to face anything in this life by myself. This fact has helped me get through many situations in my life. When something happens, when I realize something, I turn to God. Honestly, He may not always be the first person that I go to, but in the end, I do. What's great... is that I have many friends that will remind me to turn to God or ask if I have prayed about things in the times that I don't go to Him first.

God has always prepared me for situations that come up. Regardless if I want Him to or not, He will speak to me and tell me what I'm doing that's wrong. He will take away the feelings or pleasure that I have for the sin/situation/person that I am dealing with. It's to the point that He will make it as easy as possible to actually be obedient to Him. Sometimes I need help, because I get so disillusioned and I need His help so that I can be obedient. Honestly, there are more times than not that I need His help, in one way or another, to be obedient to Him.

Joy Williams - Hide
From the album Genesis

To anyone who hides behind a smile
To anyone who hold there pain inside
To anyone who thinks they’re not good enough
To anyone who feels unworthy of love
To anyone who ever closed the door
Closed their eyes and locked themselves away

Chorus:
You don’t have to hide
You don’t have to hide anymore
You don’t have to face this on your own
You don’t have to hide anymore

So come out, come out
Come out wherever you are
Anyone who’s trying to cover up their scars
To anyone who’s ever made a big mistake
We’ve all been there so don’t be ashamed
So come out, come out and join the rest of us
You’ve been alone for way to long

Chorus:

And if you feel like no one understands
Come to the one with scars on His hands
Cause He knows where you are and where you’ve been
His scars will heal you if you let Him

Chorus:

You don’t have to…
You don’t have to hide
Come out, come out wherever you are
You don’t have to hide
Come out, come out
Come out wherever you are
You don’t have to hide
You don’t have to...

Here is an excerpt from a Steve Jobs commencement speech to a Stanford graduating class on June 14, 2005:

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

For me, it's trusting in God. Once that is put in there, this is a perfect quote. Sometimes it's so hard to see the mistakes you make as you are making them. Sometimes, it just takes time to realize what's going on and other times people can just tell you. No matter what, you and I have to connect the dots in our past and not try to figure out how we can try to make them connect in the future.

Last night SS was talking about patience and how it's something that no one ever wants to pray for because of all the things that may enter your life to test the patience that you're wanting to build up.

Today on Air1, KJ52 said, "Our society has no patience. We have fast food and different things to make us instantaneously happy. Sometimes we treat God like He's a microwave. We ask Him for something, and we expect it instantly when that's not how He always works." Yeah, I totally do that... this truth is so true in my life and it really shouldn't be.

Well... I am trying to think of something not so deep so that I can blog something really short after my last two novel-length posts....

Do you ever wonder why the most annoying songs get stuck in people's heads... or how even the best song can cause a shriek factor once it or a part of it is in your head for even just an hour.

I can't get do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do out of my head... just that one line - repeating over and over again. For this reason alone, I can not blog about anything else... It has overtaken my mind! It needs to come out...ASAP.

In case you guitar players want to learn how to play it... here's a link to the chords:
http://www.guitaretab.com/m/mann-manfred/11107.html

I have changed drastically over the past 2 years. I look at where I was and where I am now...and I am astonished.

Two years ago, I was living with my parents. At times, I would take on my dad's anger problem and/or my mom's depression problem. I knew that in order to become emotionally and spiritually healthy, I had to move out of their house... I had to suck it up and start paying more bills.

Then I was blessed to live with B&MC and the kids. There, I was able to be encouraged and held accountable in the Lord on a higher degree. It was great. I was healed in some areas and my eyes were opened in others.

Since maybe November/December of last year, my eyes have been opened to more. I was blessed to go through a healing class at church, and that really helped me see more of the areas that I need healing for in my life. While I am going through this process, I have to be able to see and work on things that my eyes have become opened too.

God has given me more freedom and He has blessed me with many ways of being used. He has given me confidence in the workplace that I never thought I would possess. He has given me authority and wisdom that I am able to share around me... I do not like to be called Dr. Phil at work, but I am blessed when someone tells me that they come to me because I am one of the two good influences in their life and that is why they want me to help guide them.

There are times that I am beyond drained, but I see many people around me that are even more so. I see people that are seeking, crying out, because they have never been treated as if they deserve happiness in life. I see people that are starting to seek God on a different level. I see these people, and I thank God for allowing them to be apart of my life and for giving them to me as friends.

During this time, I have seen God start to shift where my ministry lies. I remember back in bible college how everyone stated what they were going to do afterwards. Some were going to be pastors, others missionaries, others worship leaders...... and when one guy said he was going to work in a corporation, the pastor said, "awesome, may you be well used. You may have more chances in that atmosphere because some people will never go to a church or a church function."... I immediately thought, wow... that's great... but I hope he doesn't backslide within the next year"... Now here I am, and I am blown away because I am being given those same opportunities. I am blessed, there are many people around me that go to Central Christian Church, including the guy I share a cube wall with. It's great because I am constantly reminded of it. We can talk about Christ and hold each other accountable when needed. It saddens me because I haven't been able to work with the youth very much. I feel like God has given me more of a "selective" ministry. I feel that I am called to hang out with the girls in the group home more and with Courtney and Michelle... It's not that I love these girls more, it is just that it seems like that is where God is leading me.

I think many times serving can often be mistaken. You don't have to serve in a church or a ministry in order to be effective for God. I am able to serve God at work. I am able to serve God by loving my family. I am able to serve God by being a friend to broken people. I am able to serve God by serving/loving my roommates. I am able to serve God in youth or children's ministry. I am able to serve God in many ways. Just because I am not serving as often in one ministry does not mean that I am stopping all together.

Also, during this time, I have been able to see that I need to focus within to get healing. Sometimes, you have to do things for yourself so that you can move along in the healing process. At times it can be rest and times it can be seeking other times require praying and kneeling...

I have realized that I should also be more fit and healthy over all... I have decided that I am going to do the half-marathon in January. I need to take care of my "temple"... I want to take something that I hate and hope that it can become something I enjoy (running...) My final goal will to participate in a tri-athalon in 3 years. I can do it.

So, I have felt that some people may be worried about me lately, and I just wanted everyone to know what is going on. Just know that in every learning process, failures or stumbles are just things that cause us to get back up and press on with. There things that we can learn from. There are times that we may not know where we should go from here... but it's those times that we have to trust that God is in control and that He will correct it if it needed to be.

Today in the 4s and 5s I taught on Joseph and Potiphar. Joseph was first treated like a slave, and was obedient and happy as a slave. He was then treated like a son, and he was obedient and happy as a son. He was then given authority as a leader, and he was obedient and happy as a leader. All he did in every situation was his best.

That's all we can do too. We can try, we can press on, and we can do our own personal best... Let us all press on as we seek to become like God's Son.... let us do our best in our endeavor - life.

Balance....

Sometimes I am just reminded of how we are called to be as Christians in terms of witnessing...I have many friends that live different types of lifestyles, and they are awesome... Some realize where they are, others have no idea, and others have been hurt by Christians.

There are people that will go on about how if you keep doing this or if you make this decision or if you don't start doing this.... then you are going to go to hell. It is entirely messed up. There are no excuses for this type of behavior. Yeah, it may have a time and a place once in a while, but it should not be the norm. I am reminded of when Jesus warned people not to be one that turns others away from Him and the consequences He states for that action.

We are called to be a light and salt to this world, but we have to be careful that our actions lead others to Him ~ not away from Him.

Many people don't understand how God can talk to us and they would especially not expect for God to talk to us about them... Again, not that it is always wrong, but we need to make sure that it's something God wants us to share with them and it's not just something that God wants us to pray for or be encouraged with....

Love can be and is so oftenly mis-shown... Gary Chapman and .... I forgot his name right now... wrote the whole series of the "Five Love Languages". It's good to know the way that people around you receive love...because then we can focus on that in loving them..and we can also not attack their love language when trying to witness.

I think it's also good to not be judgmental to others, no matter where they stand. As Christians, we have our own set of guidelines, and truthfully, it's all on how we interprete the Bible....let's be honest, many of us disagree with each other on different things. :) Anyway, people that are not living to follow God do not put themselves under the same guidelines, and I don't think that we can hold them accountable to our standards. We can not enforce "laws" on them that they do not recognize themselves. We can of course say, "well, I am not going to do that....." This is true for other believers as well. There are some things that are obvious, but with those grey areas... It's still up to interpretation, and sometimes God calls us to do things that He's not calling others to do.

I hope that this post doesn't upset anyone or offend anyone, because it was not meant to be in that tone. I just want everyone to evaluate how you are and really think about it. This is really strong on my heart right now because of different situations that have come up lately. I'm sick of the excuses that people give... I know that we all have them....but when it effects others in an eternal way... it's serious stuff.

We need to have the balance and focus on the love...

My friend, Cammi, at work asked if I could pray for her dad today and if I could pass the info along for others to pray as well. Here dad went into testing and probably has lung cancer. This is very hard on him and his family.

*Sidenote: She came to church on Sunday and she told me that she finally found her church home.

Lord, I just want to life up Fred to you. I ask you Lord to be his Healer and that you will take away any and all cancer that may be in his body. Please heal him and everything that may be wrong and restore him back to complete health. May you give him and his family courage and strength to make it through this time. May the entire family turn to You and recognize that You are in complete control. Draw them to Yourself during this time Lord. Thank You Lord for always willing to take our requests upon Yourself and thank You for being a God that we can go to. I praise You Lord and ask You to be with Cammi, Fred, and the rest of their family. May You have Your way in her father's life. Amen.