Tuesday, May 22, 2012    

Practicing God’s Presence

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I am starting a new four week learning series this Sunday at church called Holy Habits. Our first session is on Practicing God’s Presence. As often happens, as I have been putting the final touches on the “lesson” God has been challenging me…and sometimes it’s a painful process!

The main principle in the lesson is that we are supposed to life our everyday lives with God. It’s so easy to compartmentalize our lives and have our “God Time” and our “Every Day Life” be separate. But that’s not what God wants…He wants to have a “rich relationship” with us and He wants to be part of everything we have going on. But that is SO much easier said than done!!

It’s so much easier to do my 30 minute devotional in the morning and “get God out of the way”. Taking Him with me throughout the day is another matter entirely. How about that meeting I have…does God care about that? Yep! How about my stray thoughts during the day…does He care about those too? Yep.

You get the picture.

So how do you practice God’s presence in your life? How do you keep Him front and center in everything you’re doing? I’m open to any and all suggestions, ideas, and practices (and I’m looking forward to the class this week to unpack this even more).

And if you’re not doing so well at it, join the club! The good news is God is willing to help you and me along. If you’re struggling with this one let me know and we can work on it together and pray for one another.

31.03.2008 Church, Discipleship, Ministry, Spiritual Musings 3 Comments

Calling All Comments…

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

This particular post has one goal…to encourage more interaction on Journeyman Journal. I’m calling for more comments. Now I must confess that I will continue to blog even if nobody reads or cares because it’s therapeutic, but having interaction on the site makes the whole experience richer for everyone.

I recognize that there may be several reasons that I don’t get many comments on the site. I can think of three main reasons off the top of my head (if I missed any, please comment on it):

  1. You don’t know how to leave a comment.This one I can solve for you since it is a very simple process. There are two ways to navigate to leave a comment: a. Click on the post title above (in this case, “Calling All Comments…” or b) Click on the “X Comments” link at the end of the post. Either will pull up the individual post and there is a place at the bottom to leave your comment. It’s that simple.
  2. You’re too shy to leave a comment. I’ve actually heard this one from a few people who think they don’t have anything to say or add…or are just plain afraid to give it a shot. I promise it’s painless and I will usually respond to your comments…that’s kinda the point…I want to hear what others think about what I think. Agree. Disagree. Call me an idiot. You name it…I’ll take it.  :grin:
  3. Nobody is reading the blog. :shock: I surely hope this isn’t the case…I hope my thoughts aren’t just going into cyberspace. I truly value your thoughts and opinions. This isn’t intended to be a one-person show.

Need a few ideas? Let me know how you like the new site design. Politics? Broncos? Your insights on God’s Word. Examples and stories from your own life. Basically…anything is fair game.

So am I begging? Maybe. I am on a journey and I’m hoping there are a few others along with me. God is speaking into my life and I love sharing what He’s doing. Feel free to comment on my journey and add stuff from your journey too. And don’t worry, I don’t bite…hard.

30.03.2008 Blogging, Misc Ramblings 6 Comments

WordPress Upgrade Day

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

Today was the day I took the plunge on upgrading my blog. I did two major upgrades:

  1. Upgraded to WordPress 2.5 (just released this weekend). For those of you who don’t blog this might not mean much. WordPress is the software that makes this website possible. This latest upgrade has been in the works for awhile and so far I love it!! I was surprised how easy it was to complete the upgrade. I did it manually in under an hour and most of that time was deleting and uploading files. If you’re curious about this please let me know…would be happy to help anyone out looking to do the same.
  2. Upgrade my blog theme. This one you can see for yourself and it took much longer than the software upgrade. I was going to wait until Journeyman Journal was a year old (coming up), but I just couldn’t wait. Let me know what you think of the new look. I still have plenty of tweaking to do, but so far I am pleased with this change as well.

I’m sure this is only the start…again, let me know what you think!

29.03.2008 Blogging, Hobbies 3 Comments

Date Night With Lindsay

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

LindsayLast night was date night…with Lindsay. It’s one of those things I want to do a lot, but “stuff” always seem to get in the way and it just never happens. But we made time for it last night and we had fun.

First on the agenda was a movie. I let Lindsay pick the flick so we went to see Penelope. not exactly a “guy movie” but that wasn’t the point. It was actually a fairly decent movie with a common plot line. It’s about a girl born with a family curse…she is born with a pig face. The most notable feature is her snout nose. The main point of the movie is that we need to like ourselves. Overall a good lesson and Lindsay and I even talked about it a little on the way to dinner.

Dinner was also Lindsay’s choice and if you know her at all you know that the list was short…something that serves steak. So off to Traildust Steakhouse we went after a quick stop at a bookstore to find a book they didn’t have.

Lindsay loves this place for two reasons: 1) They serve steak on the kid’s menu and 2) they have a wicked long slide. It was Friday night so the place was busy and there was a kid’s birthday party going on too. Lindsay hurled herself down the slide 4 or 5 times before dinner came and another 5 or 6 after we ate. We talked about pretty inane stuff for the most part: what she wanted to do for her birthday, her friends, what she wants to be when she grows up, etc.

I love spending time with her. It’s awesome to not only love your kids but to genuinely like them. I am proud of who my daughter is growing up to be…and I told her so. She stands up for her own beliefs, makes friends easily, and is conscious of other’s feelings (she even wants to have a small birthday party because she doesn’t like anyone to be left out if she has a lot of friends there).

I don’t know about Lindsay, but I had a great date. I just wish Anita had as much fun on her date with the boys…more work to do on that front!   :wink: 

29.03.2008 Family, Misc Ramblings 2 Comments

Knowing God

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

My people are being destroyed
because they don’t know me.
Hosea 4:6a (NLT)

As part of my morning devotional I have started reading the “Minor Prophets”. First on the list is the book of Hosea. I’ve read it before and it is certainly interesting reading. God commands Hosea to go and marry a prostitute named Gomer (hide your snickers please) as an illustration of how Israel prostituted itself with other gods. He also tells Hosea to even have children with Gomer the prostitute. Not what you would typically expect…but God is trying to get Israel’s attention.

In the process God makes His “case against Israel” in chapter four. In making His case God makes the above statement…that the primary cause for His people being destroyed is because they don’t know God…they don’t have a relationship with Him. This truth holds today. We see it every day…people falling away and having their lives destroyed. Why? Because they don’t know God. They don’t have  personal relationship with Him.

By the way, you can call yourself a Christian and not really know God. God isn’t saying we need to know about God…we need to know Him personally and intimately. I don’t know about you, but this is a reminder I needed today!

27.03.2008 Devotional, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Just Listen

Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

If only you would listen to His voice today!
Psalm 95:7b

This was in my devotional reading this morning and it hit me like a ton of bricks! I ask God every morning to speak to me through His Word…and He certainly came through today. I need to hear God’s voice and I must confess that there are times when I don’t…and I wonder what the problem is.

This verse seem to intimate that if I’m not hearing His voice it isn’t because He’s not speaking…it’s because I’m not listening. I should probably even change my morning prayer and instead of asking God to speak to me I should ask God to help me listen…to hear His voice…to listen more carefully and more intently.

So that is my prayer today: Father, let me listen to your voice today….really listen and hear what you are speaking into my life through your Word and through your Spirit. Amen.

26.03.2008 Devotional, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings 1 Comment

A Good Music Day

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

On my way into work I typically listen to talk radio. It’s usually either Laura Ingram or a local sport’s station. This morning I just wasn’t into it the talk so I turned on some tunes. I have Sirius radio so I have lots of options, but that doesn’t always mean you’re going to get good music when you want it (although it does increase the odds).

Have you ever had one of those days when you just can’t find anything you want to listen to? Or one of those days when you’re just not in the mood for music? I’m no audiophile so those days come fairly often. I’m kind of picky and have three main categories for my music interests:

  1. Contemporary Christian (and I do mean contemporary)
  2. The 80′s (it is my generation) 
  3. Classic Rock (especially the later stuff)

This morning I could NOT go wrong. I was either really in the mood or the stations were hitting on all cylinders this morning. For 30+ minutes I was rocking and rolling to some good stuff! Everything from Lynard Skynard to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Joan Jett. There were some good 80′s tunes in the mix too.

It certainly set the tone (pun intended) for the rest of my day. I may be back to talk radio tomorrow morning…or I might just see if this morning was a fluke or not…rock on!!

25.03.2008 Hobbies, Misc Ramblings, Recreation 1 Comment

Happy Easter!!

Tuesday, March 25th, 2008

I realized this morning that I had let Easter go by and hadn’t blogged about it. How could this happen? Two reasons:

  1. Easter is a B-U-S-Y day! Packed church services and spending the remainder of the day with family. It’s a good kind of busy, but it doesn’t leave much room for blogging…I do have a few higher priorities.  =0)
  2. This Easter felt different than most. Easter Sunday is usually one of those “special” religious days. I mean, just about everyone goes to church on Easter Sunday (our church had roughly 50% more attendance this past week) because it’s a special day. But this year it didn’t feelspecial to me. But that’s not a bad thing. It didn’t feel special because I feel like every Sunday is Easter Sunday…I am growing in my walk with Christ and His sacrifice is on my mind and in my spirit more than once a year. And I’m not alone in this regard. My fellow blogger and cousin, Rachel Adair had the same comments in her blog yesterday. You can read it here.

I hope you had a great Easter yourself. Time with God. Time with family. Time to remember the ultimate sacrifice made just for you. Always blows my mind…I know someone who died for me. He died for you too…

25.03.2008 Blogging, Jesus, Spiritual Musings 1 Comment

Elam’s Departure

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Jason ElamYesterday was the end of an era for the Denver Broncos as Jason Elam ended his 15 year career with the Donkeys and moved to the Atlanta Falcons. It was a sad day for the Orange and Blue.

I have only the fondest of memories of Jason’s tenure with the Broncos. It just won’t be the same without him. I remember the Rich Karlis days and sweating every time he stepped on the field. Not so with Mr. Elam…or “Mr. Reliable”. I remember Elam lining up for the 63 yard kick and watching it sail through the uprights. I remember his countless game winning kicks and having absolutely no doubt that he would make each and every one of them. He is a class act both on and off the field.

This just shows how cash strapped the Broncos are this year (or at least how strapped they feel). I didn’t think this one was going to get away from them; I figured they would find a way to keep Elam, but it just wasn’t meant to be. It’s going to be a strange year for my beloved team. I’m not sure what to make of all their moves so far and it doesn’t give me a “warm and fuzzy” heading in to the draft either.

Losing Elam sucks for the Broncos and their fans, but I can’t say I fully understand Elam’s reasoning either. I mean come on…the Falcons?? Sure it’s your hometown. The Falcons? Really? I mean, really?? At least he didn’t go the Javon Walker route and move to Oakland. Jason has more class and brains than that.

I wish him the best and say once again that it just won’t be the same without him. I wish he could have finished out his career here and broken a few more records along the way. This is the way of the NFL…bummer!

ON THIS NOTE: I found a great fan blog for the Denver Broncos called BroncoTalk. Check it out if you’re a fan.

22.03.2008 Broncos, Sports No Comments

A Rich Relationship

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

“Life is not measured by how much you own…a person is a fool
to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Luke 12:15, 21 (NLT)

I read this passage in my time with God this morning. In the story a man comes to Jesus and asks him: “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.” (Luke 12:13). In typical Jesus fashion, He turns the discussion from the topic of greed and hording wealth to our personal relationship with God.

I absolutely love the language Jesus uses here when he talks this relationship. We are to have a “rich relationship with God”. Now of course Jesus is making a play on words here since He has been talking about riches, but the language still strikes a cord with me. It intimates a deep, close, personal relationship. I don’t know about you, but yearn for that!

And let’s not forget, we are talking about God here…not some guy we work with or run into every now and then.  The Creator of the Universe. More specifically….MY Creator. He spoke the world into existence. He’s more than my mind can even hold onto.

And He wants a rich relationship with me. He wants a rich relationship with you! Wow! We were made for this relationship. On this Easter weekend we remember that He even died for this relationship. It means that much Him.

I pray that I will grow in this rich relationship. And I pray that you will too.

22.03.2008 Devotional, Jesus, Spiritual Musings No Comments

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