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Contest (with a prize) | Help Us Find A New Header Image!

Monday, February 23rd, 2009 By 20 Comments

42-15655084Happy Monday Everyone!

Ok I was going to sleep in till at least 6 today and Coree called my cell @ 5 from his bedroom asking for something to drink! He said that his throat hurt and he needed to wet his whistle… and by the time I got back downstairs, I was WIDE AWAKE. So much for catching up from last weeks sleep deprivation. (dozing off… lets out a few snores… jerks his head… looks around… starts typing again…)

You guys want to help me find a new and exciting header image for this blog site? I’m REALLY bored with the current one… it needs to be replaced THIS WEEK or I will not be able to come on here to chat with you guys anymore! LOL

So… I’m going to let a fellow blogger pick the new image… the winner will receive a SMALL reward… and BRAGGING rights of course! Here are the parameters of this contest:

  1. The image needs to be a minimum size of 665 pixels wideand 171 pixels high.
  2. I’m looking for something HAPPY… COLORFULL… MODERN… SPRING… INSPIRATIONAL…. maybe ADVENTEROUS.
  3. Don’t forget about the black and grey blog site background… the image will need to blend with the entire site.
  4. You can suggest photo’s and digital images.
  5. Jonathan suggests browsing through www.sxc.hu or www.istockphoto.com… or you can just use Google images, or you can submit your very own images.
  6. Cut and paste the LINKS to your suggestions in the comments section.
  7. Submission deadline is 5pm Friday. 
  8. The winner will be selected by our header contest panel and announced on this coming Saturday’s blog!

Everyone send something… let’s have fun doing this project together! Oh… make sure you go back and read Saturday’s blog… amazing bloggage! Chat with you guys later…

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Congratulations Bethel Harvest Church!

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 By 2 Comments

Good Sunday Morning Everyone!

I got started at 5am today… I feel so happy right now… alone in my office talking to God, enjoying the reality of his nearness once again! After serving Him for 18 years, I’m amazed at how often he still MOVES ME! He is everything you and I need for a beautiful life! Oh, how he loves us so!

Today is a big day for two very dear friends of mine. Pastors Marion and Stephanie Dalton, founders of Bethel Harvest Church of Lexington Kentucky… they are celebrating their 10 year church anniversary. As many of you know, this couple has given tremendous mentorship to Emily and I throughout the past 14 years. I just wanted to pause a moment to HONOR this HOLY moment of theirs! I pray that this day is everything it should be… and so much more! My heart has been burning all weekend… burning with anticipation over what is next for them. Congratulations you guys… congratulations BHC leadership and BHC membership… this is a prophetic milestone for you all!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ9Gtl3h8os&feature=related

As I do every Sunday, I’ve posted a few video’s, in hopes that it will stir up an awareness of God… and lead you into a moment of spiritual awakening. I hope you enjoy them both (two songs from my friend Jason Upton)… and I pray your day is nothing short of AMAZING! Come to Destiny Family Center at 10am… it’s SUNDAY again!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD7gh5-Vqe0

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When Your Faith Remains Strong…

Saturday, February 21st, 2009 By 5 Comments

Good Saturday Morning Friends!

A few days ago, I posted a blog: Stop Flipping Out… Relax! Today, I want to respond to a bloggers comment as my teaching point.

In the referenced blog, I talked about turning our mountain making fears into mountain moving faith. I made a very transparent statement about how I respond to my own challenges at times, and I talked about the importance of growing up in FAITH. Here’s a quote from that blog:

“So often, I turn little problems into HUGE ones as I refuse to let God work them out. In panic, my judgment becomes clouded… I fret and fear… I allow the small problem to take my entire mind captive. Before long, I’m unable to see the good things happening in my world… I become trapped in a realm of hopelessness… I grow weary, I breakdown, and burn out.”

Blogger Des, known for his own blog as christianranter.worpress.com wrote the following reply to my above referenced post:

“Now since you said that you and your wife are opposites; is she the one who does more of the faith thing and you’re the fretter? I know that’s the case in my house and it drives me nuts as she always ends up being right about stuff I worry about.”

Ok, here is my reply to Des’ question…  

Des, I used to be so much stronger in the faith realm… I was fearless in the face of opposition… and over the past few years, I’ve weakened in my mountain moving skills. This is one BIG thing I am working on for this season of my life.

Emily has one of the most UNSHAKABLE FAITHS I’ve ever encountered! Emily lives everyday like a bulldog on a juicy stake! She NEVER waivers from a promise of God… she believes that EVERYTHING will work out… and she HELPS to keep me doing the same!

It really is amazing how God puts people together for synergistic purposes! The two of us equal far more than the sum total of our two individual components! As for me, I am aiming to REBUILD my FAITH and get back to WALKING IN THE MIRACULOUS once again.

Through the relentless pounding of the crashing waves of this stormy half decade, I have become far too circumstance oriented… been tossed around way more than I should have allowed. Instead of CALMING my storms and COMMANDING my mountains to MOVE, I have spent far too many days crying, “Why me?”

Just realizing this sets me on a new path of opportunity! I celebrate ENDURANCE and I praise God for keeping me alive in the fiery furnace! I’ve learned so many priceless lessons… and I am coming forth as GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE!

1 Peter 1:7 says this, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

Wooohoooo!! This is a mighty ENCOURAGING BLOG TODAY! Hope you love it… pray that it ADDS great value to your amazing lives! See you tomorrow in person @ 10am- Destiny Family Center… tomorrow is SUNDAY!!

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Personal Environment: Building A Retreat!!

Friday, February 20th, 2009 By 5 Comments

retreatGood Friday Morning Everyone!

So I left the house early yesterday morning and got home at 8:30pm… Emily had painted the walls and ceiling in the family room and everything was put back as if nothing had been touched. Very cool experience I must say… just like I walked out the door and came back in with a different color behind the pictures. She got rid of the BRIGHT yellow and went with a lighter, softer yellow. I love the colors she’s chosen for our house over the past year. It’s so HAPPY in here!

This reminds me of something I was taught at a business conference about 12 years ago. If you want to change your life, start by changing your environment! Eliminate the clutter… get some happy paint… hang inspirational art… play inspirational music… invite inspirational people. 

In a world filled with negativity, mediocrity, and dreamlessness… we have to take BOLD steps at securing our personal space. Our personal environment includes: our home, our bedroom, our office, our cars, our yard, and anywhere else we spend OUR TIME. Even though we can’t control what others do with their personal space, we CAN and SHOULD exercise authority over what we do with ours. We should make our space happy and inspirational. We should make it clean and uncluttered. We should create an environment that causes us to DREAM BIG and ACHIEVE BIG! One that gives us PEACE on stormy days!

Renovating your environment is not expensive! It does take a determined effort and an up front investment of TIME. It may require you coaching some of your friends and family about how to act in your PERSONAL ENVIRONMENT. You may have to post a few NO SMOKING SIGNS… or NO GOSSIPING, NO COMPLAINING, NO MOCKING, NO DESTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION… and whatever else you deem to be an environmental contaminant. This process will most definitely have you taking a few trips to the land fill. You might even have to start inviting a different crowd of guests. But in the end… you will have a space that CAUSES YOU TO LIVE LIKE YOU SHOULD!

In Psalms 101, the writer describes his commitment to carefully police his own personal environment. It’s a very aggressive 8 verses with such sayings as:

“I will lead a life of integrity in MY OWN HOME.”

“I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar.”

“I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil.”

“I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors.”

“I will not endure conceit and pride.”

“I will not allow deceivers to serve me and liars will not be allowed to ENTER MY PRESENCE.”

Please don’t get confused my dear bloggers… I’m not calling on my readers to develop some kind of holier than thou disposition. Please don’t go about making the world feel like they are not clean enough merit your company. This blog is not meant to nullify love’s mandate to walk in humility and stoop down to serve the perishing. It is a call to build your very own PLACE of RETREAT… a place where you can REST and be REFRESHED every day of your life… an inner circle of prayerfully selected dear friends with similar standards and ambitions… so that you can go further, faster… and live and thrive to the utmost!

What a super blog this is today! Maybe you should consider reading it 3 or 4 times… until specific ideas come that bring about a glorious plan for your environmental renovation!

It’s my pleasure writing and interacting with each of you… I’m praying every morning that God will make this your season of blessings! Thanks for reading…

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Stop Flipping Out… Relax!

Thursday, February 19th, 2009 By 5 Comments

calm-downGood Morning Bloggers!

Last night… a bunch of church friends gave Emily a beautiful birthday party!! It was a blast… the birthday cheer was amazing… the cake was AMAZING! I prayed earlier that God would do something really nice today for every party guest! So brace yourselves… its coming!

I woke this morning… in the same vein of revelation I was in all day yesterday. For some reason, I’m inspired to talk again about turning our problems over to God. This is such a challenge for most of us… it is for me. So often, I turn little problems into HUGE ones as I refuse to let God work them out. In panic, my judgment becomes clouded… I fret and fear… I allow the small problem to take my entire mind captive. Before long, I’m unable to see the good things happening in my world… I become trapped in a realm of hopelessness… I grow weary, I breakdown, and burn out.

If we want to experience more peace, and more happy outcomes in our lives… we’re going to have to change the way we RESPOND to stressful situations. As soon as we notice ourselves heading down this destructive path, we should seize control of our emotional state… and STAND UP IN A SPIRIT OF FAITH.

This is not easy at first… but well worth the effort. The only option is to live the rest of our lives tossed to and fro with every wind and wave that comes our way! To live in fear is to live in the slavery of what MIGHT go wrong. And the more we submit to fear, the better we become at pointing out destructive possibilities. We have been training ourselves to find every possible opportunity for failure… we welcome destruction because it’s what we think about most of the time. Whatever we focus on and monitor often GROWS VERY BIG!

So today… we must stop doing this to ourselves! We must RISE IN FAITH… RISE IN LOVE… RISE IN THE BOND OF RELATIONSHIP we have with our Heavenly Father. We must train our minds to point out the possibilities for success… in EVERY SITUATION! When problems arise… call them opportunities for PROGRESS! Refuse to come under the darkness of FEAR. Be confident, not in your human strength or your clever alliances… but in the fact that you belong to God Almighty!

Psalm 33:13-22

 13 The Lord looks down from heaven
      and sees the whole human race.
 14 From his throne he observes
      all who live on the earth.
 15 He made their hearts,
      so he understands everything they do.
 16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
      nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
 17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
      for all its strength, it cannot save you.

 18 But the Lord watches over those who fear him,
      those who rely on his unfailing love.
 19 He rescues them from death
      and keeps them alive in times of famine. 

 20 We put our hope in the Lord.
      He is our help and our shield.
 21 In him our hearts rejoice,
      for we trust in his holy name.
 22 Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
      for our hope is in you alone.

Ok… that’s it for today… hope this blog adds great value to your amazing lives! Chat later…

 

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