Good morning and happy Friday. How does it make you feel when someone asks you to pray for them? Do you say you will and then don't or if you do is it a short quick prayer to say you did it? How are we as Christians treating our brothers and sisters in our prayer life? It used to make me feel uncomfortable when someone asked me to pray for them. Looking back I see God making me do it and getting me out of my comfort zone. Since those days I've found I have no more comfort zone, at least one that's a problem to deal with. Why are we so apprehensive to speak to our Father on the behalf of someone else. Is it because we'er forced into the light before the throne and we don't want to see ourselves as we are? We are to approach Him with boldness and confidence, not the arrogant kind, but the humble and serving kind. So when you're feeling that sense of being nudged in a direction that feels uncomfortable it's because it is and God is needing you to move. He's got work for you to do and you're holding up the works. When we can get to that place of transparency, prodding and nudging are no longer needed and like a grown up has more responsibility, so do we as children of he most high, to our brothers and sisters. We owe it to them and most certainly to God for all He has done for us. It's the least we can do. We should feel honor and blessed and loved when asked to move. It means we're being prepared to move closer to Him. It's good to tell people you love them. It's better to show them. In love always <>< 

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I love to watch UFC fights. I like to see warriors rise to the top. A lot of my pre game pep talks to my daughter involved the heart of a warrior. So it was no doubt that I would love the movie "Here Comes the Boom". Very predictable and all that corny Hollywood film stuff, but if you look beneath it all you see a lot of heart. Love for people and kids and the right thing being done for the right reasons. I can always get behind that. The heart of things, the center of it all. Our heart is very important to all aspects of our life and eternity. So to me a warriors heart takes on a whole new meaning than it did growing up. Same idea, just focused on other venues. Jesus is who we should have a warriors heart for. A never give up, fight to the death for mentality, but with more compassion to love and serve than to fight. Weird twist isn't it?  The heart and its emotions are a strange mix that if left for us to tend to on our own would surely lead us to destruction. That's why there's a God shaped hole there that only He can fill and if left to Him will be a peace and commitment like never before. But a warrior doesn't surrender, especially not his heart. It's about seeing the right things in life that need to be done for the right reasons that will allow a warrior to give up his life for others.  Now you have a true champion. And the example of this was done on Calvary's hill by the greatest of all time. His life for ours. After you've given your heart to Jesus, who are you going to give up your life for while you're here? In the warriors code there is no surrender, but surrender we must. Surrender today to the will of God in your life and be His champion for someone besides ourselves. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Tuesday. I was just reading about a homeless man who had a diamond ring dropped in his cup by mistake. He held on to it until the lady returned to get it. At this point this story could go in a number of ways. Stop right now and think about how you think it goes. Yes it goes good, he returned the ring and then it got better. The lady's husband set up a fund for him and the wife helped him connect to a long lost sister in Texas who has brought him to live with her. Perfect ending to a perfectly wonderful story. Very worthy of the headlines it received. Here's what got me the most. When asked about his fortune and the way things turned out he said this, "What has the world come to when a person returns something that doesn't belong to them and all of this happens?" Now ponder that along with how you thought this story would go. If you saw him returning the ring and that's all, you saw the world as it should be really. If you saw him return the ring and then all the good stuff follows his good deed, you're seeing as the world does. This man had been in this state for nearly twenty years and he expected nothing for doing the right thing. He got it. He knows how it should be. He's blown away by how this is such a big deal in the eyes of others. Not taking away from the gratitude of the people who lost the ring. They are blessed and became a blessing. That's also how God wants us to be. The people directly involved are not who he is talking about. It's the media attention and exposure by others who think this is a huge deal. It's our perspective in things and for Christians its about us seeing through God's eyes, not the worlds. How great this would have been for everyone if no one knew about it, at least to the extent it got. A small light in dark room is seen by all. A bright light in small room is blinding. Think of all the big rooms we're in. Just be a small light of Jesus and see if the world isn't attracted to Him. Jesus taught us the simple things of life because they are the most powerful ways to reach some someone. This little light of mine, you know the rest. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Monday. We all have made mistakes in our lives. We continue to make them now. The difference between then and now is that we know God better and have closer relationship with Him. When people see our trials and struggles that's one thing, but when they see us messing up and just flat out doing it wrong, that's when judgement comes from the world. Satan then launches full on with the guilt and unworthiness feelings so we will turn back to him. What a powerful message we send when we stand firm in the mess we made and claim victory in the name of Jesus. Who then can stand against us? As the world bears witness to this, you will also see one of two things happen. People will no longer want to be around you or they will want to know the God you serve. It's amazing to me, but not really, how God takes such things and brings people nearer to Him. We are walking billboards for Christ, so when we're doing something stupid and wearing a sign that says Christ follower, it's easy for them to turn on us. It's by the grace of God and the blood of Jesus we can stand firm, confess our sin, and claim the victory over satan. Who does that? Or who just let's it bring us down a little and then come around later after they've walked away in their own victory of not seeing God in our lives? The Egyptians gave their gods power by seeing a nation forget their God and seeing that, in their minds, He had abandoned them. By not honoring God, even when it was bad, they could claim victory and thus gave power to the other side. It's still true today. We each have an Egypt to be lead out from. Small or large it's ours to get through, and when we do, God is glorified. Stand on the rock of Christ today. Claim the victory He's already won. Live the life He's laid before you and let others see what life in the light really is about. In love always. <><