Posts

Showing posts from 2013

Beautiful Things

Beauty seen in seemingly ugly things or better yet created, taking beings like us fashioned from the dust into wonderful jars of clay. Even angels look curiously at this mystery uniquely designed in God's imagery these vessels have a special room in His museum set apart from the rest of creation. Though fallen from their shelf value still remains. Beholders often blind to their beauty covered in earthen debris, deemed useless broken, yet still holding hope. Maybe the fragments are more like puzzle pieces cracks, avenues for the light inside to shine through bursting forth like the break of dawn the universe has never seen a better sunrise. Pause in awe of His glory. Divine brushstrokes creating a masterpiece with excellent execution palette supplied by heavenly veins instruments of redemption - through an ugly cross, a death, and resurrection, broken things are made beautiful and His work is not done

Transitions

Life goes on.. I've never really liked that saying. I just don't deal with transitions very well. I like consistency and stability in my life, whether it is with relationships, environments, or situations. It's probably the uncertainties, the loss of something meaningful, or my fear of commitment which makes them hard for me. There are times in my life I look back on and miss or sometimes want back again. I can think of many instances where transitions have been tough for me and they all seem to happen when things are going well. There have been a good amount of transitions in my life over the past few months (I actually meant to write this a while ago but just never got to it). Friends moving. My family moving. Being placed in new positions. And more. With so many changes in my life, I'm seeing more and more how fast time flies. It's crazy. These transitions in life are inevitable. We go through seasons, whether good or bad. But through it all, I've come to ...

Good Company and Good Conversation

There are few things I enjoy more than a good conversation. It was a while since I had one and I feel like they're pretty rare. But when they happen you just know it and it's so good. No distractions. No agenda. Nobody trying to fix anyone. Just life. The good. The struggles. Talking. Listening. Loving. Honest. Open. Real. Beautiful. I had one of those yesterday. A classic coffee house conversation. It was very refreshing. I left inspired and encouraged (obviously enough to write this blog about it). We just talked life. And it reminded me of how thankful I am for the people God placed in my life. Community and relationships are so important. We need people who will walk with us towards the Lord. People who will step into our lives, try to identify with us, understand, and see from our perspective instead of just trying to fix us. People who genuinely care and build us up. People who we know will pray for us, without having to ask them to. People who we can have good convers...

Fighting Bitterness

Image
"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted    and saves the crushed in spirit." - Psalm 34:18 (ESV) Father’s Day is a weird holiday for me, and I’m sure for many others as well. The presence of a father, or any parent, in someone’s life is a huge thing. My dad has been in my life, but his presence hasn’t been very strong. A lot of hurt was caused by him in my family and those scars have not gone away. Even though my father has been around, he didn’t really fulfill that role and as a result, there was a huge void in my life. There were many things he didn’t teach me and things we didn’t do. A countless number of hours we didn’t spend together. Many things in my life he didn’t see. I used to see my friends who had a good relationship with their dads and want that. But our relationship was so far from what one between a father and son should be. In the past, I had a lot of bitterness and anger towards him for not being the father I wanted him to be or what he was suppose...

Performance

I am learning more and more of how my worth and value does not depend on my performance. We are beings who are obsessed with accomplishments. People are defined more by what they do rather than who they are. As an athlete, it's hard to shake off that mentality. I have spent much energy and time working to be better and competing against other people. Coaching track this past season, I have seen many athletes become so wrapped up in their performance and it ends up affecting every other area of their life. Now I'm not saying we shouldn't care about how well we do things or competition is bad. God definitely wants us to pursue excellence. But when that pursuit becomes ultimate, it's a problem.  We will never be satisfied by our performance. We will always want more. And when we fail to meet the standards we place upon ourselves and see others doing better than we are, a great amount of discouragement and frustration comes. We throw pity parties. The way we respond can...

A New Season

It's been a long time. I've been thinking about bringing this blog back for a while. Now I'm finally doing it. And I think the maturation I've gone through over the past year or so will help me do this better. I was looking at my old posts and laughed a little bit because I noticed how immature I was back then, and I'm sure a while from now when I'm looking back at these posts the same thing will happen. I even considered taking those posts off if I was going to restart this blog, but decided to keep them, whether or not I disagree with some of the things I said, because it will be a way to see how God is working in my life and constantly growing me (if anyone is crazy enough to want to read back that far). I want to be more consistent with this than I was before. No excuses about time because we always have time for what we make time for. Plus, I have plenty of free time anyways. A few reasons for wanting to blog: I guess having this platform allows me to ha...