Proverbs 27:1

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Proverbs 27:1

This is in my opinion one of the best verses in the whole Bible because no one knows what will happen besides God. We are all leaning on Him because He determines every second of our life and until you figure that out you’re going to have problems. You may think something is going to happen for sure but I’ve figured out that is not the case because things can easily change in life. A sport player’s career can end in an instant with an injury, a family situation can quickly change with the loss of a job and I could go on and on with how many things could change but I’m pretty sure you guys get the picture. So many people boast about what they’re going to do and accomplish in life but the funny thing is that they don’t know what is going to happen. Like I said before, people think they have control over life but what they don’t realize is that all it takes is one little thing to change and their plans go awry. If you’re pushing your own agenda you’ll never know the outcome and it’ll be what you created. If you push God’s agenda you won’t know the outcome until it happens but it’ll be what He created. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure I want the second option haha. There are those who think believing in God means you have to follow a bunch of rules and it’s boring. Yea, you do follow the rules but not just to follow them; you do it because you want to please your heavenly father. On top of that, the funniest thing is that the farther you get into God the more free you feel. I feel I’m the closest to God I’ve ever been and despite all the things swirling around me I just feel more free than I every have in my life. To put this into a metaphor- I feel like I’m always in the eye of the storm, which is all calm, and no matter what is going on around me I have a God who loves me. So rounding back to the verse don’t boast about what you think is going to happen tomorrow because you have no idea what will happen. Just leave it to God and enjoy every second that he gives you today 🙂 

Let it Glow and some advice about Relationships, Life

This song encapulates one of the main parts of Christianity that I believe in… this part is letting your faith show.. Shine God’s light to the world because THEY NEED IT!!!! We live in a broken world where so many people try to find happiness in all the wrong places… but they fail to see the one that can give this all to you. Only God can give you true happiness. I’ve learned at this point in my life that I’ll never be satisfied with possessions or money or any things of this world because only God can give me true happiness. I mean, he knows us better than anyone else and he knows every fear, every want, and every thought that we have. He will give us his blessings and there are so many of them. I look at the friends I have, the experiences I’ve had, just everything in my life. I am amazed at how blessed I am and sometimes God just has to remind.
I went to youth group last night and the message was about wisdom in relationships. What really stuck out to me was the part where the pastor pointed out that you can’t carry everyone’s burdens and sometimes you just need to say no- then point them to Jesus. That kinda made me realize that I do carry a few too many of other people’s burdens on my back. I am the kind of person that people confide and trust in so naturally I have a ton of people come to me with their problems. I tell them that Jesus is the only thing that can solve their problems and I pray for them but deep inside I feel like I have the obligation to help them with their problems. To be honest, it drains me emotionally. I just feel like I put so much out helping others with their problems and when it comes to my own emotions I get all tired out. The message just stuck with me that I need to realize that I can point them to Jesus and probably can help them in some ways; however, I don’t need to feel obligated. I can’t do anything on my own and the only way I can help them is what God shows me to do.
Another observation is that most people don’t really try to make the most of a day and I believe this shouldn’t be the case. God gives you everyday and it’s a gift. Don’t waste it and just feel like you have to survive it. ENJOY the day the Lord has given you because you don’t know the number of your days. Just let the joy of the Lord spill out into your normal life. I really believe in this because I wasted so much time during junior high and my freshman year of high school. I just tried to survive through life without God and it failed. I’m graduating high school in 3 1/2 months and I’m honestly wondering where did the time go? So that’s why I live everyday to it’s fullest. I just let God’s joy flow through me and I go make my day. I don’t want to waste a second more of my life because it is so precious and beautiful. You honestly don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.
So live life hard for God. Sure, you’ll take your knocks, and sometimes you’ll wonder why you’re doing this, but eventually you’ll see it. Enjoy everyday to the utmost and live for God all your life because he has given you every second you breath. Be thankful and GLOW for Him!!!!

The Lost Get Found

So this one of my favorite songs in the world because it just shows the rewards of keeping the fire that God has put inside you. I went on a missions trip last summer that absolutely changed my life in so many ways that it was crazy. This song just compounds everything that I learned, the most important of which was don’t let that fire God has given you burn out. Don’t fall into the patterns of this world and start slipping away from him because someone could be watching you. You could be the one of the people or the person God is using to bring that person’s heart to Him. Show that you love God and aren’t ashamed of Him. People should be able to tell just by your joy and your actions that you’re different than the norm! I honestly pray for every Christian in the world today to not let their fire burn out. Live life loud for the God that saved you from death and will continue to guide your life to the last breathe. When you do this; other people see it. Don’t let that fire inside of you burn out because that’s how the lost get found.

Poverbs 20:24

Proverbs 20:24 … A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?

I think the meaning of this verse is that you can think you know where you’re going in life but only God really knows where we are going. I can totally relate to this because I am trusting God as to where I’m going in life. Right now, the only thing He has told me is to become a history professor… I literally have no other plans for my future. I’m just listening to him and waiting for more direction. Please don’t think I’m saying you can’t have plans for the future; I applaud those who have heard God’s voice and have more pieces of their possible future put together. However, you’ll never know exactly how your life is going to unfold. How can anyone understand his own way? The simple answer is we can’t lol. We think we understand the whole painting but we only see a little part of it because the painting of our life that God is forming can’t all be seen at once. Another thing is don’t let the feelings of insecurity sneak up on you and overwhelm you because they can ruin your life in a hurry. Just let God flow and pop those feelings like bubbles 🙂 The fact of the matter is we don’t need to understand our way because our steps are directed by God… and I feel completely safe with Him taking over my life 🙂  

Lights, Camera, From the Top

So the title of this blog just popped into my mind a few days ago… but I’ve slowly been writing this for a few weeks lol. I just have been busy OUT OF MY MIND the last few weeks. I do go to community college through a special advancement program even though I am a high school senior. Plus I’m applying for tons of scholarships and colleges so I do apologize for not putting out a “legit” post so to speak for so long. Hopefully you enjoy this one because I’m still super-busy but I somehow managed to get it out… I think God wanted it done lol because without his help this blog wouldn’t be up for anyone to see. So time for me to stop talking and the actual blog to begin 😀

                You may be asking yourself why the title: Lights, Camera, From the Top! The reason is because all of our blessings in life comes from the top (God). Everything that we do around other people is caught on those people’s mental cameras and finally whatever we think there are lights on us. This is because people should know we are Christians. If you aren’t sure that people know you’re different than the world you need pray to God and find ways to live life loud for him 🙂 If you are living for him then you know the pressure… and that means people are going to judge us on a higher scale whether we like it or not.

The thing everyone needs to realize is that we all make a difference in the world. Are there some people how can impact more people than you and I ever could? Yes. However, the thing is that we can impact whoever is in our lives in a way only we can because God has set us up for those specific opportunities. Dang that was a loaded sentence haha; reread it again if you must! I think many people just think that what they do doesn’t matter. It does!!! Like I just said, God has ordained your life before you even were born. He wants you to live for him and make a difference in the world. Too many people sit back on their haunches and make excuses… really? Jesus freakin’ died for your soul; you should be giving him absolutely everything that you can muster. It’s not a matter of should you make a difference-it’s a matter of when and how are you going to do it. It’s a matter of giving up yourself and surrendering to God and letting him take control of your life all the way down to the last little bit. We can’t make the decision to live for God on our own terms because without his help on his terms we can’t do it. What if everyone decided to not hold back? What if we all promised our brothers and sisters in Christ to have one another’s back and not be afraid to live life loud? What ifs should be we wills (that sounds funny for some reason lol). I’m seeing this idea carried out and to be part of it makes me so excited 🙂

As Christians, we can’t stop the expectations that people are going to have of us because of our faith. So we should just rest in God because we don’t have to worry about the standards others impose on us. I know I’ve been saved by God’s grace and it is MORE than enough for me! So when people put those expectations on us and we feel like we have a bulls eye on our back we need to forget about theirs and follow God’s standards. That is where reading the Bible comes into play. You’ve most likely heard this before: you NEED to study in God’s word. It is IMPERATIVE that you do it every day. We not only get renewed by the words of God but we learn his laws and rules that he has given us; therefore, we just have to follow those. Once you learn what God wants you to do then you can figure out the false expectations that the world has given us as well as the true ones. We just have to live God’s principles out and then we don’t have to worry at all because we are following him with all our heart, soul and mind 🙂

Every blessing that we have been given comes straight from God! He has given me so many blessings and they become more apparent day after day. My schedule has been absolutely out of the roof for quite awhile now but the blessings pervade my busy schedule and remind me of whom God is. I just checked the calendar and I’m graduating from high school in less than five months… it’s absolutely crazy! I tend to reflect on things and I have realized that my high school years have been so freakin’ awesome!!! If I counted every blessing God has given me in my high school years we would be here quite awhile. The first thing is that I have made SO many friends in high school and every single one of them is incredibly awesome 🙂 Another thing is God has blessed me with enough smarts so that if I mix them with hard work I can get pretty high grades. To be honest, I really don’t know how in the world I have a 3.8 GPA lol. I honestly thought it was lower but somehow I’ve done well enough… hopefully physics doesn’t wreck it… my number one college I wish to attend right now is a very rigorous academic school. We’ll see how that goes 🙂 I’ve also been lucky to have been able to participate in many different sports… as those of you who know me know I have played club soccer for eleven years. I also played for my local high school as a sophomore and probably could’ve made the team again this year but I just felt God is pulling me in another direction so I’m not going to turn out. But I was the captain of my club team the last few years and it was the best team a guy ever could’ve had. Good guys, always playing 100%, so many good jokes lol… what else can you ask for? I consider myself a pretty good soccer player- not good enough to play in college but I’ll probably be a really good intramural player and hopefully play in local men’s leagues in the future. I used to be good at baseball… then I got benched because I couldn’t hit the ball lol. That was when I gave up baseball even though I loved it I was a pretty good basketball player in my day… partially cause I was taller than a lot of other people when I was younger. I had some skill but I would be close to the basket and would make some little juke and then take a short shot to score. Once everyone got taller than me I couldn’t play the same position anymore lol and it just wasn’t the same. Thus why I don’t play basketball anymore; however, I was playing at the YMCA the other day and I really felt some of my skill coming back… better watch out 😉

The biggest blessing in my life however has been the change God has brought in me. I really am a changed person… I’ve said this so many times on my blog but to look back at who I was and to look at where God has brought me in my spiritual journey now… it blows my mind away. The most wonderful thing is that I know God was planning this all along. Even when I was off screwing up my life and honestly wasting so much time that could’ve been put to such better use God knew the plans he had for me 🙂 Even when I ignored God’s instructions in my life and lived my own way he was just sitting there and waiting for me the whole time! He is the greatest friend that I could ever have because he walks with me through every second of my life and through the ups and downs and through everything 🙂 He deserves every part of me and I will gladly give it all to him because when you take everything away and go down to my core he is my core. Every single blessing that I have comes from him and he just makes my day every day. If you want God to change your life simply seek him. He wants you as his kid; if you are willing to surrender your whole life he will take you places you’ve never been. I just feel that my life is God’s work of art and I honestly feel like God has just gotten started. I really can’t wait to see where he’s going to take me!!! The Bible says love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. I will do that every day that I get to live for the rest of my life :)X100,000

 

P.S. I finished this at 5:30 this morning lol… hope God spoke to you through it 🙂

Oh, and I owe you guys one 🙂

Love the Lord y…

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Always remember that God will protect you and guide you. He will put people into your life to help you but he always is the one you should run to. Give him everything because He has given you everything and he will love you more than anyone else can 🙂 What a God we serve!

If Satan knocks you down, GET BACK UP!!!

This is one of my favorite songs ever. No matter what it is in life it is NEVER too late to get back up again. God has a plan no matter what you’ve done or where you’re heading. There are always bumps in the road in life; they are inescapable. I recently made a very bad choice and disobeyed my parents. The punishment was certainly appropriate. However, I got an additional punishment for something they believed I did when I didn’t. I can’t change that punishment though and I need to realize that if my behavior is satisfactory in that area I have nothing to be ashamed of. I just need to serve the sentence and not worry about what I’m doing in that area cause what I’m doing is working fine. I certainly respect my parent’s opinion; however, I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and I simply find it completely untrue. So like I said, I just need to follow the parameters of the punishment because it has been given to me. I was a fool to do the original thing because it was very disobedient, but I’d be even more of a fool if I didn’t take this lesson and run with it. I’m not going to make that same mistake again. I’m not letting that choice ruin my future. I am simply going to avoid taking the same path and will turn on the one that will be please my heavenly father. I want to run to his heart and not worry about anyone or anything else because that all doesn’t matter. We are all only human; we will make mistakes. We are not perfect and that is the beauty of it all. We need God to guide us… but he can only do that if we commit ourselves to his plan and get our game face on! It’s so easy to give up and just stay down and do whatever Satan wants us to do. I don’t want that life though; if I mess up I want to jump up and leave it behind. We get knocked down by Satan (like I did) but you have to have the initiative to not give up and get back up to fight 🙂

Surrendering to God(republished with a little tweak at the end)

*This was a post from before I got a lot of traffic. I thought it would be a good one to republish because I was reminded of this 🙂

It’s still so amazing to me that God gives us FULL forgiveness for anything that we can possibly do. With him is full redemption because he loves us as his children SO much and doesn’t want us to go to hell. God wants to give people a way out of the darkness and into the light; he wants you and me more than anything.  Of course, we have to put our full hope in God and realize that he is the only thing that can change our lives. We can’t earn anything on our own because Jesus is the way, the truth and the life; nobody can go to God unless they go through him.  All we have to do is accept his gift and surrender our lives to him. Surrendering our lives to him is a daily thing; you seek to promote him in all your daily activities. For all my friends in school (like 95% of you lol) studying is for God. You can’t study too much or too hard because you’re doing it for him and he will give you the strength to make it through. Sports, all the glory goes to him for whatever accomplishments you make. When I step on to the soccer field whether for practice, game or just fooling around with the ball I want to play the way Jesus would play. I play as hard as I can in whatever is going on because if Jesus was a soccer player he would never quit. I try to play as clean as possible because Jesus wouldn’t foul players (I still definitely fall short of God’s mark when it comes to fouling lol, usually 2-3 times a game). If I score a goal I immediately point to the sky because God is the one who should be getting the glory for my success. He has given me all these abilities and all I do is give them back by giving him the glory for my success. As the captain of the team I lead like Jesus would lead- being a servant, covering for my teammates, not getting in somebody’s face when they make a mistake and being an encourager.

Principle is this: Surrender to God everything you have and you have no idea where he will take you. {This last bit in the brackets is what I added today} [That’s what I’ve been doing this year and you know what, I’m not perfect. I recently screwed up and made a really bad decision. Was the original punishment appropriate for what I did. Yes. Was the additional punishment based on something that was assumed and untrue an unfair punishment. Yes, but I can’t control that. I can’t let Satan distract me, I just need to get back to where I was with God. After a few days, I know I have! Stuff will happen… but you just gotta cling to God]That’s the most awesome part of it all 🙂