Happy Friday!

Sometimes, life’s complexities distract us from the BEAUTIES of what we have. I cherish those intermittent moments when I am blessed with EYES TO SEE my blessings! Yeah, I’d love to tell you guys that I walk around happy and thankful everyday… but that would be a lie. Sometimes, I FORGET how blessed I am. Even in my darkest times, when I seem to have nothing… I still have EVERYTHING! My God, I am a BLESSED PERSON!  

Since my family is supposed to be going on vacation soon, I’ve been working like crazy at positioning our ministry to function OUTSTANDINGLY in our absence! We all know about the pre-vacation CRUNCH… six months of unfinished business carried out in ONE WEEK!  

The good news here is that many times, as we clear up some of our mess, we start to see LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! This is what happened to me last night… I SAW THE LIGHT… and it was BRIGHT! (rhyme)

In that moment, I realized how blessed I am… how many good people I’m surrounded with… and how much God is still using me to REFRESH PEOPLE! I saw new hope… and moved a step or two beyond my recent burn out. I felt new water pouring into my heart, washing away the debris of recent disasters!

During this enlightenment, I recaptured the PROFOUNDNESS of my DIVINE PURPOSE AND CALLING… I felt a VIBRANCY running through my spirit… I felt LOVE and POWER racing through my entire body! It was… and it still is this morning, an epic experience!    

Everyone wants to know that their life is making some kind of real difference in this world. As we age, we long for SIGNIFICANCE! Take a look at the following verses… they represent a day in the life of Jesus… and a model for the attainment of significance!  

Matthew 9:35-38 

Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. (Jesus lived to help people find real life)

And he healed every kind of disease and illness. (Jesus reached down and pulled people from death and misery)

When he saw the crowds, (Jesus looked beyond himself to SEE the real state of his followers)

He had compassion on them because they were CONFUSED and HELPLESS, (their problems were so great and they didn’t have anywhere to go for help) like sheep without a shepherd. (Jesus gave his whole life to offer hope to the hopelessness)

He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Jesus wants his followers to do as he did)

I guess here’s what’s happening to me right now: as I’ve been meeting with the leaders and future leaders of our ministry… and as more and more or our macro initiatives are delegated out to well able people… I’m able to see GREAT HOPE in the profound fruitfulness of our next harvest… and this BRINGS ME TO LIFE AGAIN!

Our newly forming DREAM TEAM is coming together NICELY… and so, I’m going on vacation with my amazing family… we’re going to RELAX and REPLENISH… and then come back home to build up momentum towards our FINEST HOUR YET!    

Questions: How are YOU going to better position yourself for significance? What kind of overdue changes will you need to go ahead and make this week, this month, or by the end of this year? Are you on the right team? Are you currently suffering some degree of burn out? If so, what are you going to do about it?

The harvest is still great… and the laborers are still few. Let’s assemble around eternally significant initiatives and go out of this life in a BLAZE OF GLORY!

I pray that todays blog adds tremendous value to your amazing lives! Please leave you comment… I love the interaction!

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Happy Monday!

Journal: Lovely weekend. Saturday… we made two birthday parties and a graduation party… and I still managed to blog and write in my book and sermonize and hang out with my family! Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! We had the biggest technology glitch of our lives at Destiny Family Center… STRESS CITY for about 10 minutes… a PILE of kids we’re on the platform ready to sing songs they learned at vacation bible school… and no sound on the video! It was SUPER embarrassing… I think a few tech team members might have had an ACCIDENT or two! I know I did! LOL 

The service turned out PHENOMENAL… life changing for EVERYONE! The message, “I Still have a Dream” really seemed to RESONATE with so many people! The feedback was instant and keep coming throughout the entire day! 

My birthday party was UNREAL! So MANY people showed up… the food was DELICIOUS… everyone was SMILING and interacting… new friendships were formed… people were catching fish… and boating… and playing horseshoes… and! Wayne Howard, one of our newest DFCers… he’s the manager of Smoothie King and brought free smoothies for EVERYONE at the party… I had TWO!

Great day… the LOVE was therapeutic! 

Monday is my day off… today should be an interesting one! First, I’m planting my beautiful birthday plants! Then, I’m visiting two guys in jail… short of a miracle, one of them is looking at something like 25 to life… and depression seems to be taking over his heart. I pray that I’m able to give both these guys LIFE TODAY! Then, over to Charlottesville so I can pray for a man that’s having a pace maker installed. The day ends with a dear friends birthday party at Cheeseburger Paradise… FISH TACOS BABY!

Oh, and I think we’re planing to free Coree’s pet Red Fox at some point… that should be fun! And I hope to squeeze in a few hours of writing… an hour of swimming… and a few potty breaks! LOL

I feel so much anticipation this morning… like my life is building up into a GIANT QUANTUM LEAP! These have been months of change… aggressive CHANGE! And whenever I try to figure it all out, I get confused… it doesn’t really make sense. It’s so easy to wonder where God is and what God is up to. I’m tempted to make some crazy moves… to act aggressively… to take matters into my own hands.

And then I realize that God is so brilliant… his ways are so much higher than my ways! So I resolve myself to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD! I keep meditating on his LOVE FOR ME… I spend hours thinking about how good he has been to me these past 38 years! And as I TRUST, his peace calms my agitated heart…

My fears FLEE AWAY… and my CONFIDENCE RISES! New visions come… and HOPE FILLS MY HUMBLED HEART. From the ashes, I see NEW LIFE and BETTER IDEAS… I climb up to my knees and then to my feet… with a message he has given me… a feeling really… a feeling that becomes a message… as I let the message in, it takes over my life… and I am UPGRADED… I am TURNED INTO ANOTHER MAN… a BETTER MAN… a SUPER MAN!

Oh, the pleasures of walking with God… the PEACE of knowing that ALL THINGS work together for our good! Sometimes, life doesn’t make sense… and in those times, we must TRUST GOD even when we he does CRAZY THINGS WITH US! 

These are my random journal thoughts for the day… I hope you’re inspired to TRUST GOD WITH YOUR OWN LIFE… on a much higher level, to ANTICIPATE something EPIC! 

Please leave a comment before you leave… it will only take a minute! I just prayed for you guys… so have an AMAZING DAY!

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Good Thursday!

The happy sun us beginning to rise this lovely morning… hey, my mimosa tree is starting to bloom, how pretty! Mr. Hopper (the bullfrog) is still singing… he’s been up all night… go to sleep little guy! Over the past few days… just after sunrise, I’ve been getting sprayed with some kind of fluid. Looking up to the branches overhead, I’ve been concerned that this “morning shower” may be coming from a squirrel going potty on my head! I even smelled my arm a few times to see what it smelled like… and it didn’t have a smell. Yesterday… when I looked up, there was a beautiful brown bird flapping her wings after bathing in the pond. Shhhwoooo, thank God!

Our God is so beautiful in so many ways. Sometimes, I can see him reaching out to me in everything that surrounds! He rides on the sound of the waterfalls… his awesomeness is felt every time Mr. Hopper, bellows out his song. God moves me with the sound of the fish every time they jump out of the water… he gives me an orchestra of birds every morning… he splashes my world with the colors of many flowers! Every song on Pandora radio increases the reality of his love towards me! And I love him back! 

Romans 1:19-20 They know the truth about God because he has made it OBVIOUS to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. THROUGH EVERYTHING GOD MADE, they can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

I thank God for my family as they sleep this morning. I pray over them while they rest, asking God to give them dreams about their future! And when they wake, they will know the effects of a praying husband and father! I pray for my friends today… that God will bless you with great peace. That he will give you all the character and vision, and all the energy you need to make a very big difference with your life today! I pray for your health… that you will make good food choices and feel healthy and be healthy! I pray for the PEACE of God that passes all understanding to FILL YOUR MINDS all day long!

Please keep praying for me… that God would bless me with GREAT WISDOM (1Kings 3:8-9)… and GREAT ENDURANCE (Galatians 6:9)… and all the RESOURCES (2Corinthains 9:8) needed to turn my amazing dreams into living realities! Pray that God would give me unusual favor with people… and that the people in my life would be emotionally mature and spiritually astute! Pray that God will inspire people of means to BLESS us in our personal and ministry initiatives

Pray for Destiny Family Center… that our people would have more joy and vision than ever before. Pray that we will attract more new people than EVER before… that we would see more transformation in peoples lives than ever before. Pray that we will have more cultural diversity than ever before! Pray for faithful workers… and more than enough money to hire key necessary positions, make desired renovations, and purchase everything we need for all our immediate initiatives. Pray that we will have great unity and a great awareness of God’s presence! Pray huge financial blessings on our members… and a burning desire for giving back large regular portions of these blessings to the ministry of DFC. 

Pray that the Balsamo’s will be able to finish our sunroom/ home office addition. Pray that I will have more than enough money to hire an editor and find the right agent or the right publisher. That I will be able to get my book UP to the level where it will be ADMIRED by the right people. Pray that God will greatly enlarge my authors platform… that thousands of new folks from all over the world will read my blog and LOVE it every single day!

Pray that I will receive speaking invitations to influential churches and influential conferences. Pray that I will be more focused, organized, creative, revelatory, powerful, spiritual, humble, forgiving, and loving than ever in my life! Pray for a new release of the gifts of the Spirit… for prophetic insight and healing power. Pray for my wife and my kids… pray a blessing on our coming vacation. Pray for peace and protection from EVERY attack… that we will be victorious in EVERY battle!

What are your requests today? Please list them as comments and I will pray for you as you sincerely pray for me! Love you guys and gals… have a super duper day!

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