We can learn a whole lot, from so little, from the small things, the things that we may not think twice about. Well take notes and pay attention, because its happening all around you, I promise.
Tonight’s blog doesn’t have a whole lot to do with a spiritual experience yet everything to do with one at the same time. Today I was talking to my mom on the phone and she informed me of something my brother did recently and it brought me to tears. Now before I even begin, know that this isn’t about me, my brother, or anything in-between, this is all to God’s credit, for his mercy and love for that I don’t deserve, that none of us deserve.
The background is this; high school football I started praying with some guys at the 30-yard line before football games. Why the 30, I don’t know, there wasn’t a real reason for that, but it was just a time, real quick, when guys who wanted to say a quick prayer could do so. Fast forward to today, the same things goes on at my high school and my little brother now gets to lead the same thing I did before football games. Awesome? No, awesome is an understatement! This is where the story picks up from what happened today.
I was texting my brother last Friday, as he was riding down to a football game that they were picked to lose, no one giving them much chance to be victorious. He shared with me a verse, out of random. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” Our conversation followed like this:
Me: “So you have something to share before you pray tonight?” (at the game, on the 30)
Typically the prayer at the 30 was just a quick word of I love you guys, lets play hard, then we say the Lord’s prayer (football typical I know). So I thought he was going to share this verse.
My brother: “No, its my verse of the week”
Me: “Oh cool, like a devotional?”
My brother: “Kind of, at the beginning of each week I put a verse on my locker for guys to come by and look at if they want, just whatever God lays on me to put up”
Me: Wow! That’s awesome, I didn’t know you did that
The conversation went on but not too much more came of us talking about that, just me telling him I was proud of him and what a testament that is for Christ, in a 5A public school locker room with rough kids, most of which don’t know Jesus. I was blown away at the maturity of my 17 year old brother, and how much a man of God he is becoming every single day. The story gets better, that wasn’t what brought me to tears but this is.
Today my mom and I were talking on the phone before I went into YL and she asked me if I heard about what Davis did Friday night? I figured she was going to tell me about some play he made or something he did that was big in the game. NOPE! She said that before the game, when they got down to the 30, as they prepared to pray, waiting on Davis to start the prayer, he shouted at them, he shouted 2 Timothy 1:7 at 40 guys, with many others close by hearing him shout the words that were written to us. They won the football game 24-23.
Now I know my brother, and I know that he is a funny, fun loving, sarcastic kid. But I also know, or I thought I knew that he had a serious relationship with Christ. What I didn’t know, is that my brother would get in front of 40 guys on a knee, on a football field, with plenty of people watching and listening, and shout a verse that God put on his heart. That’s bold! That takes courage. Fitting that Sunday’s message at church this week was about Courage… coincidence? I don’t think so, rather an example from God a message He is trying to get to us. I heard the message on Sunday, and I was moved, it hit me hard that I don’t take enough courage in God to do things every day for His kingdom. But I got it tonight, I get it, I’m listening God, keep showing me your words. For me it took a story about someone I love more than words can imagine standing up and professing his faith through the words inside the Bible that beg us to be powerful for God’s name. It took a 17 year old high school student to get it to really settle in my head, to really weigh my heart, to really grab me and shake me to take courage and live a life for God no matter what the circumstance or my surroundings. So here’s the challenge, here’s my point. What is it going to take for you? What is it going to take for you to stop living lukewarm instead of being bold, being dangerous, being on edge, for Christ’s sake? It wont be the same for all of us, some will read my little story and thing, eh whatever, and that’s fine. But sooner or later, something will happen in your life, I promise you that, something will happen and the question will remain… What is it going to take for you to take Courage in Christ, and live the greatest life anyone has ever known?
Much love
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
What did you do today?
Hey everyone, hope this finds you doing well and enjoying life to the fullest. That’s actually what this blog is about, living your life to the fullest.
Today I received an email informing me that a professor at my school passed out in the hall and was pronounced dead shortly after at the hospital here in Abilene. This man was 55 years old, he has a wife, and two kids. Yeah, I’m blown away at the tragedy and can’t even imagine what that must be like for his family. It is shocking, saddening, but most of all in my mind, scary.
I don’t want to downplay the fact that this is awful tragedy, and that there is mourning to be done. However I do find a great point in this and it is something I have been thinking about for a week or so now.
Matt Chandler spoke at my church here recently, he is a well known preacher and I had the opportunity to write down some thoughts while he preached two Sunday’s ago. He talked about some great things and I could write numerous blogs on what was said (I just might actually) but he mentioned something that is at the heart of everyone at some point or another, being satisfied.
This was exactly why I started blogging about my life, because I was ok (satisfied) with where my relationship with Christ was at, and that’s not ok. Matt used an illustration that I want to try and share, I hope I can do it justice.
We all have a bar that we set in our life, this isn’t an actually bar, but a imaginary bar of standards we have. We go through our day-to-day lives and we have this bar that probably isn’t set very high. Mine; do the right things, say the right things, live the right way. Sounded pretty good to me, but how LOW is that in reality? How easy is it for me to lay in bed at night and weigh the events of the day and say, yeah, I got over my bar today, overall I did good. I’ve been trying to figure out where my bar REALLY stood and where it SHOULD be at over the past two weeks. I’m still not sure honestly, I know that I don’t set it high enough in many areas of my life, and that’s something that I can only improve on, because good enough is never good enough.
God DEMANDS more. How lucky are we, how lucky am I, that 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 says what it does: ““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weakness, in my insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, I am strong.”
What I learned from the tragedy today and remembering the illustration of setting a bar for my life is this. That every day, I need to set the bar so high that there is no way I can get over it, but it should be my goal, the only thing that matters, to reach that bar and get over it. I am weak, I am not able to live this life on my own, I don’t have the ability to do it. Thankfully God wants me to be weak, and to let Him be strong through my weakness.
So live your life to the fullest, don’t let a minute go by that you will want back at the end of the day. We are called to live boldly, courageously, and with strength. So go out into the world, change someone’s life or impact someone’s life I should say because your life has been changed through the dying of Jesus Christ and so has theirs. Tell you people you love them and that you care about them sincerely, don’t live superficially in a world with enough of that already. Go beyond the surface, you never know what is underneath. Trust in a PERFECT God who loves us, even in our faults and mistakes. Lastly, don’t let an opportunity get away that you never know if you will get it again, we don’t know how long our time here on Earth is, so make the most of every second you do have.
Much Love
Austin
Today I received an email informing me that a professor at my school passed out in the hall and was pronounced dead shortly after at the hospital here in Abilene. This man was 55 years old, he has a wife, and two kids. Yeah, I’m blown away at the tragedy and can’t even imagine what that must be like for his family. It is shocking, saddening, but most of all in my mind, scary.
I don’t want to downplay the fact that this is awful tragedy, and that there is mourning to be done. However I do find a great point in this and it is something I have been thinking about for a week or so now.
Matt Chandler spoke at my church here recently, he is a well known preacher and I had the opportunity to write down some thoughts while he preached two Sunday’s ago. He talked about some great things and I could write numerous blogs on what was said (I just might actually) but he mentioned something that is at the heart of everyone at some point or another, being satisfied.
This was exactly why I started blogging about my life, because I was ok (satisfied) with where my relationship with Christ was at, and that’s not ok. Matt used an illustration that I want to try and share, I hope I can do it justice.
We all have a bar that we set in our life, this isn’t an actually bar, but a imaginary bar of standards we have. We go through our day-to-day lives and we have this bar that probably isn’t set very high. Mine; do the right things, say the right things, live the right way. Sounded pretty good to me, but how LOW is that in reality? How easy is it for me to lay in bed at night and weigh the events of the day and say, yeah, I got over my bar today, overall I did good. I’ve been trying to figure out where my bar REALLY stood and where it SHOULD be at over the past two weeks. I’m still not sure honestly, I know that I don’t set it high enough in many areas of my life, and that’s something that I can only improve on, because good enough is never good enough.
God DEMANDS more. How lucky are we, how lucky am I, that 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10 says what it does: ““My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weakness, in my insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in difficulties. For when I am weak, I am strong.”
What I learned from the tragedy today and remembering the illustration of setting a bar for my life is this. That every day, I need to set the bar so high that there is no way I can get over it, but it should be my goal, the only thing that matters, to reach that bar and get over it. I am weak, I am not able to live this life on my own, I don’t have the ability to do it. Thankfully God wants me to be weak, and to let Him be strong through my weakness.
So live your life to the fullest, don’t let a minute go by that you will want back at the end of the day. We are called to live boldly, courageously, and with strength. So go out into the world, change someone’s life or impact someone’s life I should say because your life has been changed through the dying of Jesus Christ and so has theirs. Tell you people you love them and that you care about them sincerely, don’t live superficially in a world with enough of that already. Go beyond the surface, you never know what is underneath. Trust in a PERFECT God who loves us, even in our faults and mistakes. Lastly, don’t let an opportunity get away that you never know if you will get it again, we don’t know how long our time here on Earth is, so make the most of every second you do have.
Much Love
Austin
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