Bap-ti-tized

Bap-ti-tized.  That's what my 5yr old son calls it.  I type this holding back the tears of joy because tonight, that 5yr old boy is getting baptized!  A couple of months ago he told us with giddy excitement that He loved Jesus and he asked Jesus to live inside him!  I was so excited that I ran around the house yelling and screaming "woo hoo, praise Jesus!"  Proverbs 22:6 says Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.  Before I had kids, heck even when my 1st born was young, I thought that meant I needed to teach my kids right from wrong, the ten commandments, and to obey the law.  Fortunately, I came to understand the truth before they were all grown up.  You see, "the way" is Jesus.  Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me."  Jesus, not the law, is the "way" we should train our kids to go.  Once I started seeking Jesus for a relationship, my family naturally followed....including my 5yr old son.  He knows the truth because we talk about it all the time.  We are so excited about truth in our house that we cant talk about anything else.  We are being transformed as we renew our minds in the Word.  Thank you God for loving me, and my family!  Thank you for my son, who is also your son; adopted into your royal family!  May he reign in life by the power of your Spirit!

Why Are You Striving These Days

  I love the lyrics to this Tenth Avenue North song By Your Side.  I posted them below, so read them and let them sink in.  Life is so much better when you understand the gift of grace and God's love that is available to you.  Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9 

Tryin's Lyin'

When I was 13 I had a really bad accident where I played a good game of chicken with an ATV.  I won the game, but it turns out it wasn't really a win for me!  A cracked knee cap and a fractured femur later, I ended up in traction for 6 weeks and a body cast for 2 months after that.  After my fracture had healed, I started going to a personal trainer to help me get my strength back so I could get back on the basketball court.  I had to get back in shape so I could practice my Michael Jordan moves!  (I still stick my tongue out when Im driving to the rim :-p)  So, anyway, back to me getting in shape- my parents hired a hard-core personal trainer to help me.  Her name was Ladawn Hladick.  She was really sweet until it was time to workout, and then she got her trainer face on!  She was gazelle intense as Dave Ramsey would say.  She was on a mission to get me back in shape, and wasn't taking any excuses from me.  She was always pushing me beyond what I thought I could do.  If she ever asked me to do something and I said, "I'm trying", she would always say, "tryin' is lyin', just do it."  That was 19 years ago and I still remember it to this day.  Ladawn was right because if I was saying I was trying, I already had doubts in my mind that I could not do it.  She was challenging me to change my perspective.

What doubts do you need to let go of?  What do you need to stop "trying" to do, and just do?

Change your "Should" to a "Must"

Last night, I was at a men's group we call Truth Group, and a good friend of mine named Steve Mielke was there.  It just so happens that he is a Team Beach Body coach (order you Beachbody supplies here and let my good friend Steve help you succeed).  He has been encouraging me to get myself back in shape for longer than I care to admit.  I always tell him, "I should do that workout" or "I should start drinking Shakeology", but I never do any of those things.  Last night Steve told me I need to start changing my "shoulds" to "musts".  WOW!  Some great wisdom from the best Team Beachbody coach I know.  Turn my "should" to a "must".  Brings a whole new perspective doesn't it.  I decided to take a look at the long list of things I have been saying I "should" do and start converting them to a list of things I "must" do.  It's really just a hard look at my priorities.  The way Steve said it just really clicked in my mind.  Hope it helps you too.

What "shoulds" do you need to change to a "must"?