God's Gifts...

     Presents. That's what most people are thinking about this time of year. And that's perfectly fine when you are focusing on the right type of presents. If you focus on the presents you will get for Christmas, then you're missing the point of the holiday. The point of the holiday is to focus on the presents you've been given. Specifically, the birth of Jesus Christ here on Earth some 200 years ago. It's only because of Him that you are where you are now, so it only makes sense that we should think about what He did while here. And though as a Christian we should think about Him every day, Christmas is a time where we can specifically focus on His birth.

     Christmas can also be a time to remember all the presents you've already been given. Not the presents you've received from someone here on Earth, but those that you've received from God. In case they aren't obvious to you, you can always ask Him to help you see them. And when you do, remember that your very ability to ask Him is a present He has given you. Because Jesus died for your sins, as a believer you have the ability to talk right to God as if He was sitting next to you. (Truth is, He is always next to you because He is everywhere) And it's that gift that becomes invaluable in our life...

     You see, there's always two ways of doing things: your way and God's way. In the moment, your way may seem the best, but in the long run God's way is always best. Sure there's hard things you have to go through when you go God's way, but there's even more hard things to go through if you choose your way! That's another gift you have: the ability to choose which way you want to go. You can go your way if you want to, but if at any time you want to go God's way, He's right there ready to help you get back on track.

     God's plan...isn't always exactly what you might expect. But I think that's the point. Sometimes we expect too much, and get less...but other times we expect too little, and get a lot more. But when we learn to take exactly what we get, because it's what God wants us to have, we'll enjoy life the most. Now, that doesn't mean that what we get is sub-par, or even on par, with what the world has to offer. Anything and everything in God's plan for your life is always way above-par compared to the world. And in my own life I found that to be very true.

     In my own life, going God's way...has lead me to my amazing girlfriend, Karis. I'm very glad to have her as my girl, and to think that she's even mine...well that's only by the grace of God. I chose to follow God's plan in this...and I plan on following it through to it's end. I mean, after seeing some of God's plan, why would I ever think mine was good?

So many things to be thankful for...

     Sometimes you don't realize all that you have to be thankful for until it's taken away. That happened for me at CMI. I was away from my family, my home, my girl...and yet all of it had it's purpose. I'm very thankful for all of the classes I was able to take at CMI, for all of the instructors and students I was able to meet, and for all of the helpful things I was able to learn. And yet...I'm also thankful that I was able to come back. And coming back...well that was something else entirely.

     And that brings to my family and my girl, Karis. Turns out they had been planning a surprise for my return for quite some time...and I wasn't expecting it at all, which made it all the more enjoyable. And then, as if that wasn't enough, I got to spend all of last weekend with my family, Karis and her mother. And that was a blast. Karis, her family, my family, my friends...they have made my life a real joy to live in. And each one of them has been placed in my life by my savior...Jesus Christ.

     There's so much to what Jesus has done in my life that I don't think I would even be able to begin to explain what He has done. And really...everything that I have in this life is because of Him, and so to say that I'm thankful for His presence in my life is really an understatement.

     This last year that I've had this blog has changed a lot in my life. And my thanks go out to all of you who have had a hand in changing it. Can't wait to see what the next year holds!

Shadow Boxing...

     Did you know that shadow boxing is in the Bible? It is. No really, it is! Paul talks about shadow boxing in 1 Corinthians 9, verses 24 through 27.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring itinto subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

     "Not as one who beats the air." Paul was not a man who beat the air, what we would call shadow boxing. Rather, he fought a very real enemy, two in fact: Satan and his very own flesh. Paul constantly strove to keep his flesh into submission so that when he was in the world his walk would match his talk.

     As some of you know, wrestlers and boxers can talk a big game, but what really matters is if they can bring that game into the ring and defeat their opponent. They train beforehand with their coach, they exercise, eat a proper diet. Every boxer strives to keep his body under his command and prepares for his match so that he can come out on top. In the same way, we must be like boxers. No, that doesn't mean talking a big game. It means that we need to keep our body under our command and prepare to win.

     How do we do that? We eat a proper diet: the Word of God. We exercise: we use the Word in our lives. And we train with our coach: we work with and talk to God. And then we step into the ring with our fleshly desires. Its coach...is Satan. He's observed you. He knows your patterns, your weaknesses, your strengths, and he's telling all of that to your fleshly desires. Your enemy knows you as well as you do, if not better. But, you have something they cannot undertsand: the power of God.

     As you train with God, you begin to here His voice better, to learn what He sounds like. Then, when you're in the ring, amidst all the sounds of the crowd, you can hear His voice helping you know what to do. God knows what punches are coming, and He'll tell you how to dodge each one, if you'll listen to Him. Of course, you can't always dodge the punches, and when you get hit, it's then you learn to get back up, keep on fighting and watch more carefully for that type of attack.

     In my own "match" I've found an interesting truth. Every time you get hit, and you let yourself think you are going to lose, your flesh gets bigger. But when you dodge punches and land some blows of your own, because you're following God's guidance, your flesh gets smaller. Over time, successful rounds can reduce your fleshly desires to a really diminutive size, but that takes a lot of two things: 1 listening to God, your coach, and 2...you guessed it...time!

     Your fleshly desires and mine will never disappear this side of Heaven. But we can beat them down to a manageable size so that we don't have to fight as hard to keep them in check. And when we do, it's amazing what wondrous things God will show us. For me that includes how the girl sitting next to Him, the one rooting me on, is actually more amazing then I first thought. And you know what, after the match is over...I get to spend time with that amazing girl. But in order to finish the match, I have to continue to refresh myself with the water of the Word and listen to my coach's instructions.

     I could go into a lot more concerning how the Christian life is like a boxing match, but I think this post has done a good enough job of making that point. I'll leave the rest up to God.

Coincidence? I think not!

     Coincidence. A word that usually implies that two things happened at the same time due to random chance. It's officially defined as: Of events, the appearance of a meaningful connection when there is none. However, as a Christian we understand something other people don't. And that, is God. Romans 8:28 says:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

God causes everything to work together for good. Causes is an active tense verb...that it implies a continuous action. So, right now as your are reading this post, God is causing everything in your life, and in the lives of every other Christian on the planet, to work together for good. Yes, that means the coffee you just spilled on your shirt because your cat jumped in your lap can be used by God for good. It will probably make you late for something, which could, in turn, save you from something bad that could have happened had you been on time. Cool, huh?

     When we learn to see everything as something God is using for good in our lives, we have more joy. Now, some of the things you run into don't seem like they could be used for good. But here's the thing about good...it's defined from God's perspective. God's ultimate plan is for you to have a loving relationship with Him; one that brings glory to Him and molds you into the image of Christ. And in the long run, those hard things you deal with can create Christ-like attributes inside you.

     Now, God does not wish us harm. He sees your ultimate destination and how you will grow from it. When Satan comes to God and asks, "Can I do this to so and so?" God already knows what will happen because of Satan's plan...and He chooses to either let it happen or to tell Satan no. And if He lets it happen, you can be sure He has your best interests in mind, you just may not feel like it when you're in the midst of the trial.

     You're probably thinking, "If Jason is writing about coincidences, then there must have been a coincidence in his life recently." You are absolutely right. Although I wouldn't call it a coincidence...just God.

     God's been working a lot in my life these last 10 weeks of CMI, and it's been interesting seeing how He's using the topics here to teach something that doesn't seem like I would learn here. That being said, yesterday I felt as if I had pretty much lived the entire day already...sorta like deja-vu, but more concrete. It's something I've experienced a lot, only in smaller amounts, and come to call a "flashback." The basic idea is, I have a dream about something and then forget about it, only for the dream to come true down the road, where I instantly remember the dream and have a complete understanding of what's going to happen in the next few seconds.

     Anyway, I walked through most of yesterday being able to know a little bit about what would happen next. And whenever something like that happens, I know I'm either going to make an important decision, or I just made one. Turns out this time it was neither...God simply wanted me to see that I didn't fully realize what He was doing. He pulled out two different things that I thought had no correlation and put them together. I get it now. What is it? That you don't get to know.

     However, what you can know is this: if you are seeking God with all of your heart, have no doubt that you will begin to see His plans and path for you. And when you see them, follow God down that path: it's the best one.

CMI, Thrashball, & The End

     Bet the title has you confused. Don't worry, you'll get it soon...just keep reading.

     Children's Ministries Institute is coming to a close on it's 153rd class. During these last three weeks we'll be learning more about the strategy and development of a Christian ministry and the essentials of leadership. These classes are key in fulfilling our calling as Christians, for each Christian is a disciple. And disciples must be able to lead. So, without good leadership skills, how can we really do a good job at...well...at doing our job?

     It's been an interesting nine weeks so far. I came here aiming to learn more about teaching kids, to prepare myself to work full time in ministering to children, and possibly serve in the future as a ministry director within CEF. Then I started classes here. And very quickly I found that wasn't what God had for me. So I thought that maybe He was calling me here just for training for work outside of CEF, possibly as a pastor. But then we entered the leadership modules, and I found something else.

     Most of the people working in CEF work with computers because they have to. I work with computers because I want to. I found this as we started to make presentations, PowerPoint files, newsletters, and flyers for ministry purposes. Fellow students were drudging through their computer based homework, and frequently asking for my help. So, unofficially, I became the student body computer expert. Which gave me a thought. "What if I could work full time with CEF and only do computer work?" Well...more like God gave me a thought...because at the time I was just thinking about the delicious food in front of me.

      So...I came here aiming to learn more about teaching kids, to prepare myself to work full time in ministering to children, and possibly serve in the future as a ministry director within CEF. I'm leaving here having learned more about raising kids & being a godly husband, and preparing to serve full time with CEF in Oregon as a computer tech of sorts. That pretty much covers the CMI portion of the title...

     Thrashball is a sport within the Gears of War video game series. It's not a series I'd recommend to everyone, as the games are all very violent, but amazingly, they're the only series of video games with practically no sensuality. And yes, even games like Mario and Sonic have more sensuality than Gears of War does. Sad really, since Gears is rated for 17 and up and Sonic and Mario games are usually rated everyone.

     Anyway, Thrashball is pretty much a full contact version of football...just with a completely round ball. But it's not the sport I want to focus on...it's one of the players. A man known within the series as "The Cole Train." Regardless of his situation, Cole is always excited. ALWAYS. Here's a clean clip from the game of what he sounds like:

     Yeah...as you can see, he's just a little excited. Lately...I've been about that excited too. OK...I've been REALLY excited. You see...there's this amazing girl named Karis and I get to see her for the first time in three months on the 12th of November!

     So...as the end of CMI get's closer I'm starting to get more and more excited. Not only because I get to see Karis soon, but also because I'm starting to see where God's leading me after CMI. I know God's plan is the one I'm going to enjoy the most...and I can't wait to see just what He's going to have me doing this next year.

Life, defragmentation, and the love of God...

     If you're any sort of normal person, you probably don't understand the process of defragmentation. Well today you get to learn what that process is, how it relates to life and then a little bit of info that might help you understand more about the love of God...

     Defragmentation is a process used to "clean-up" your computer's hard drive. You see, when you save something to your hard drive, the computer magnetically writes it onto one of several discs within your computer. However, the more you save on your computer, the more "fragmented" your hard drive becomes. Basically, the computer starts to save similar files to different locations on the discs instead of saving them close to each other. Defragmentation reverses this to a large degree. When you start defragmentation on your computer, it goes through your hard drive, finds files that are similar, or large files that are split up, and moves them around so that you can access them faster, because they are all grouped together.

     Here's a real life example. Let's say you have 10 employees in your business. Each one has their own file of information. If you keep all of their information in a file just for them, all together in a place just for employee info, you can find it faster and look over it much easier. However, if you start to put one employee's info in the financial folder, or place each employee's folder in a separate place that's not at all related to the employee, then it's going to be very hard to find the info you need quickly or effectively, and it will impare your ability to work. If you were to "defragment" your employee files, you would go and find each piece of info you have, place it in a folder based on which employee it concerned, and then place all of those folders in one file cabinet drawer.

     Recently, I realized that humans have a similar process that allows us to quickly find out what God has been doing in our lives. You have to defragment your memories! Unfortunately...those memories don't stay all-together in a new spot on your brain, it's only temporary, but it still brings all of the similar memories together so you can compare them. That process...is journaling. You see, when you write things down in a journal (or a diary if you prefer) it places your key thoughts onto the page. And in my case, my journal is filled with entries concerning what I've seen God doing in my life. So I can quickly look back through and see where I was at a certain point and what I thought God was doing then.

     Now, I said that the process is temporary. That is because you can read your journal and recall memories, but those memories don't always stay together, even though we might like them to. So you have to continually go back and review all that God has done. I think God did that on purpose ;)

     In my own life, this has proved very helpful. You see, by journaling, I've come to see why some things have happened in my life and how God has used where I've fallen to cause good. It's also part of how I've been able to see just what it is He has planned for my future. Using my journal entries as a base, I can recall the memories connected to them, and construct them all into a clearly defined "structure" of information that shows me what's changed in my life and where I'm headed next.

     It's from "defragmenting" my memories that I was able to piece together what made me sure God has called me to marry Karis. I was able to connect all the answered prayers, all of the things I've learned about God because of her, how much she has inspired me to become more like Christ, how much I've become more like Him, etc. God has done so much in the last 11 weeks that to not be sure is pretty much to deny the obvious!

     And it's through this courtship with Karis that I've come to realize a little bit of the love that God has for us humans. For those of you who can, remember what it feels like to look into the eyes of the one you love and talk with them. That's how God feels when you talk with Him. God is love. So every feeling that you feel towards the one you love, is a feeling that God has as well. So next time you pray, think about that. You are looking right into the eyes of the God who loves you more than anyone else and talking to Him. It really changes how you pray.

     So there you have it: defrag your mind, realize how you've changed and where you're headed, and pray like you are in love (because you are) God bless!

Finding Nemo...

     Last night we had a "Beach party" at Children's Ministries Institute. After an hour of games we sat down to watch a movie. Well...movies, actually. One group was set to watch Soul Surfer, and the other, Finding Nemo. I know some of you may ask, "Dude! Why didn't you watch Soul Surfer?" And it has a simple answer, I will not willingly submit myself to any temptation. Anyway, I ended up watching Finding Nemo...and I'm glad I did.

     The movie was rather encouraging, which was unexpected, since I've seen the movie so many times now. But God can use anything to reach us when we are listening for His voice. There were a couple things that really stood out, but I'm just going to talk about two of them here. First, the title. "Finding Nemo" is actually a statement. It means to find nothing. Nemo is a compound of the Latin phrase ne hemo meaning "no man." So, to find nemo is to find nothing. And that's what I've found...at the end of myself.

     Its always easier to give up when you have no strength left. When you come to the end of yourself, you find nothing. There is nothing left of yourself. But God...He's right there, ready to give you everything. You just have to "give up" your life and do things God's way. Psalms 37:4 says,

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will you the desires of your heart

      The word delight here is rather confusing. Because the Hebrew word implies softness or willingness. Like how you love someone so much that you are soft to what they say and want to do. So really, the verse is saying something more like,

Love the Lord and be soft to what He says, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

     These desires are in your heart which means that sometimes, you don't even know what they are. But when God reveals them to you, you realize just how true it is and how much you want that desire to be filled. I know that this is true in my own life. It's only been 2 months, but God has revealed my heart's desires by bringing Karis into my life. My heart desires to love her, care for her, protect her, serve her, to help her be all that she can be and cause her to glorify God in every area of her life. And so, it was that in finding nothing in myself, I found everything in God...and He brought me Karis.

     The second thing that stuck out was the consistent element of trust that is built on in the story, finally climaxing with Marlin trusting his son, Nemo, to save Dory and the rest of the fish. In a way, the scene is very similar to one I've seen in my own life. Except that instead of having a discussion between a father and son, it was a discussion between the Spirit and my flesh.

     In the movie Marlin says, "You think you can do these things, but you just can't!" Nemo responds, "Dad, you have to trust me." Marlin remembers all the times in the movie where he caused pain because he didn't trust someone, and finally relents, "You're right. You can do this Nemo."

     In my own life, I feel like God has called me to marry Karis. Actually, I'm sure He has. (Don't freak out, she knows this already ;) But despite being sure, sometime ago I had felt as if I wouldn't be able to be the husband she needed me to be. It was then that my flesh said, "You think you can do this but you just can't!" God replied saying, "Son, you have to trust me." I remember all the pain that my own mistakes had caused me, times when I hadn't trusted God. So I finally found "Nemo," and gave up. "You're right, I can do this. Because of You."

     It's still a battle to trust God in everything, but I know what's down the road, and the joy I'll find knowing that I trusted Him from here to there. And so I continue walking forward, trusting God to guide my steps, to direct my path, and to give me the strength to protect the girl walking beside me. She's not mine yet...but I plan to grow to be as much like Christ as I can before she is :)