He's got the moves.

I was sitting in church last night during worship *side note: I don't believe music is the only kind of worship, but I know when I say "worship" most everyone thinks of music, so yes, I am referring to music right now*. I'm not used to sitting during this time of the service, they do things a little different at my brother in law's church though; stand for a couple songs, sit while the pastor prays, and then stay seated while singing a couple more songs. I'm guessing it's because 95% of the church is elderly. So anyways, I'm sitting in the very back row like usual, because I'm a rebel like that (not really), and I'm just sitting there.. An older man, around 70 yrs. old, starts to cough a lot, and then he stood up. I was not putting much thought into a 70 yr. old man coughing, like I said 95% of the church is elderly, I figured he was standing up to go out and clear something out of his lungs, or get a cough drop or something, but instead he stood up and starting worshipping God, raising his hands and dancing. Watching him dance was so sweet and innocent. I know that sounds weird but, I've grown up in churches where there was plenty of "show" to the point that it was hard to know what was real or not. This man was real, he wasn't doing this for show. He was just worshipping God, and not only that, but at a time when he clearly wasn't feeling good. Maybe it was just a little cough, and he's old so that's normal, but he is surrounded by people his age who have an excuse to sit and relax after singing a couple songs. He chose to stand up, and dance for Jesus. I kind of want to be old so I can no longer care what I look like and be free to dance. But would that really change? I am just as capable to not care now as I will be in 60 years. Why not start now?

365.

I'm reading this year long devotional and it kinda sucks. I know, that's really mean. I'd hate for anyone to ever say that about something of mine, but, it is a book with 365 days worth of inserts from this authors other books, so it's like a page from a different book everyday. Every now and then there is something that hits me, over all though it sucks.
This made me want to write my own 365 day book of my writings. That would take quite a while though because it's not THAT often that I write something inspirational enough to put in a book for others to read, besides the fact that I'd be afraid mine would suck like the one I'm reading.
We'll see what happens..
By the way, I am not saying what devotional book I am reading because I already feel bad for being so mean..

A lovely day.

I was talking to my brother, Luke, yesterday and was telling him how I have mixed feelings about this holiday of “love”, also known as Valentine's Day. I don't hate chocolates (except I think boxes of mixed chocolates are stupid! Just a personal opinion though), I don't hate flowers, balloons, etc. It doesn't bother me to see a man, like my dad, who I know is in love, give his wife flowers and a card filled with nice words (or probably just humorous, coming from my dad), it doesn't bother me to see a lady leave her husband a comment on facebook about how grateful she is for him and how much she loves him, knowing she's partly doing it today because it is Valentine's Day.
What I don't like is the fact that stores are covered in red from candy to diamonds, cards filled with words to make a woman (or man) feel like a million dollars, and men picking up flower petals off the ground, because the “smart guys” already bought out the rest of the flowers. If you truly show your love with flowers, if that is what lets someone know you love them, then buy them flowers! But if that's really the case, why not buy them flowers everyday? Maybe every day is a lot, just don't narrow it down to one day a year. And don't just buy flowers because it is “the thing to do” and “the day to do it”.
It's funny seeing how girls are so ecstatic when they say “my boyfriend surprised me with chocolates and flowers! He's the best!” when really, if their boyfriend didn't “surprise” them on Valentine's Day with those chocolates and flowers she would be pretty mad!

I don't know the “real, deep” meaning behind Valentine's Day. Most people say it's about love, others have negative meanings. My feelings are that it is a holiday with good intentions. There is nothing wrong with love. But, I say, if we are gonna go all out on one day to show someone we love them, why not do it everyday? This doesn't mean you have to buy candy, flowers, jewelry, etc (the list goes on..), after all, you can't BUY love.
If calling a day a holiday brings out the love in you, then let's make every day a holiday.

I am thankful that the people who show me they love me on Valentine's day are the same people that show me they love me every other day of the year. I am blessed!

Dress Up For God

Does God view you more or less when you come to him dressed your best?

I wonder what God would think if we put on our most expensive, least wrinkled, nicest piece of clothing we owned and told him it was for him, I wonder if he would look at us any different than if we came to him dirty and naked.

How do you think God sees you? I have often wondered why we dress up in our “nice” clothes to attend a typical Sunday morning “Church” service in a typical “Church” building. And when I have questioned different friends about this the most popular answer is, “You should want to look your best for God. You’re going into his house, and should want to look your best for him.” Seriously? I mean if you don’t really think about it that does sound like a good reason. But does God seriously scan through everyone sitting in “Church” on Sunday morning and say, “Ooh, John is wearing my favorite suit! I love the way it looks on him! And for that, I will give him the new shiny crown that the angels just finished polishing.” God looks through our clothing, through our skin, and straight to our heart.

If you went to Church one Sunday and you knew that nobody was going to be there, just you all by yourself (and God, of course) what would you wear? Would you put layers of clothes on to “look good for God” or would you come naked? After all he sees you naked anyways.

Sometimes we act as though the clothes we wear define who we are. It’s wrong to judge. But let’s be honest, if you saw someone in a Spiderman costume your first thought would be “Spiderman”. If you saw someone in a police uniform your first thought would be “policeman”. So automatically when you go to church and see a well dressed person your first thought is probably “good Christian”, and if you go to church and see a lady that looks like she just came in off the streets your first thought is probably, “huh? I wonder why she came in here”.

As much as we may tell ourselves we are dressing up to look our best for God, I think a huge percentage of the time that is a lie. God sees you at your rawest, worst moments in life. He knows the deepest, ugliest things about you. If you had a big bruise on your leg and were going out with some friends you would probably ditch the shorts or skirt and wear a pair of pants. Not to deny that the bruise is there, just to cover it up for the night. Sometimes it seems as though we as Christians put layers and layers of clothes on to cover up our bruises, and yeah, it may work for the people that see you at church, but it doesn’t work for God. And if in fact you were honestly putting on your best clothes for God, wouldn’t you want to do that all the time? Because we are supposed to worship him with our every breath, shouldn’t we be wearing our top notch clothes when we get the mail, workout, or sleep? Shouldn’t you want to always “look your best for God”?

I’m not going to judge you if I see you at Church on Sunday in a prom dress or a suit, but just remember, God looks at you through the inside. If you want to look your best for God start with the inside and work your way out. Examine your heart before your closet.

He is one of the few that can talk to me before 9:00am and I won’t complain.

I am not, and pretty sure will never be, a morning person. Five days a week I ride in the passenger seat of Luke’s truck on our way to work, and I can’t remember the last time we spoke even one word to each other during those rides.

This morning we passed the usual three to six persons that take their daily walk on our road. Some of them wave, most of them wave, but some of them do not. As we passed by the dedicated exercisers, I waved, and waved and waved and… Hey! That guy didn’t wave back! Does he know how much effort I put into raising my hand to wave to him when I would much rather take a morning nap? (Which I do sometimes.)

It is quite tiring to lift my hand for a wave that early in the morning. To be honest, I don’t even wave my hand back and forth; it just goes straight up and then straight back down.

I’ll admit I was a little embarrassed. I’m sure if Luke and I could have a conversation that early in the morning he’d say something like “rejected by an old man!” “loser!” “haha.”

Seconds after I was rejected a wave by that old man, we were coming up to a lady walking with water bottles in hand, and she was ready to start her morning off right. I didn’t wave to her. I feared rejection. Instead of waving I closed my eyes and decided to start my day off right with a little nap! Because the seven to eight hours last night was obviously not enough...

Then I started thinking (I hate it when that happens, it interrupts me every time!) I’m really glad that the first time God was rejected he didn’t decide to call it quits and take a nap. If he did than I wouldn’t be where I am today. Literally, I wouldn’t exist. What is even more unbelievable is that he knew he would be rejected, and not just once, not just a wave. His whole creation would be rejected over and over again by the millions.

If I knew that old man wasn’t going to wave back this morning I probably never would have waved to him in the first place. But why? What would I lose by waving to that man and “receiving nothing in return” from him? I’m not sure what I would lose, but I could gain some things like: humbleness. I mean, I waved. Why does it even take me so much effort to wave? I should be awake and happy that I am. Maybe I could learn to appreciate the next person who does take the time to wave back. I will learn to appreciate God for knowing years before I was born that I would reject him, and he still chose to create me.

#1

I'm not sure how often I will update this. But I figured I should have a dedicated spot for my writings, the ones I let out of my documents folder.