What are you praying for?

When my cousin Jer was a kid, he used to pray "...Bless Appa's car, bless Amma's van..." we used to chuckle while he prayed because it was so cute and sweet.

There was an innocence in that prayer though and somehow as adults its hard to recreate in our prayers.  Sad but true.

We want to sound like scholars while we pray to Our All knowing Creator.  I am not sure what we are trying to prove to him but there is something inside of us that feels like we need to show God how far we have come from our childish days and ways.

The thing is sometimes I get lost in the adult sized prayers. Yes, I agree that as we mature in Christ,  we have to change the way we live, act and speak.  However, I also believe that we should remember that we can never and dont need to impress God. He has already loved us with His life.

The change in us should be evident to the world in our way of living, talking and acting. God already knows about the changes He is making in our lives.

The best part is no matter what comes out of your mouth, He knows your heart so you can't fool Him by sounding righteous on the outside while harboring something on the inside.

The innocence in my cousin's prayer reminds me of what it should be like when I approach The Throne of Jesus and sit at His feet. I have no pretense, I have nothing to hide, I will say all that's in my heart since God knows it all anyway.

When we love Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul, we will see that impact on our lives, actions and words. We will end up praying in a way that is humble and humbling.

Love God and the rest will follow.

Flashbacks...

We see flashbacks in movies and TV shows, its used to remind the viewer of something that changed the course of the storyline for a character or the  story as a whole.

My entire life I have enjoyed having a photographic memory. It helped in school a lot! As I get older I see it fading a bit but I still hear "you remember a lot of a details, huh?"

The downside of this type of memory? sometimes it can put you in places you never were in the first place but have imagined what it might have been like to be there.

This morning as I was walking to the train station, I saw a young man lying in the middle of the road.  There were two women and a man surrounding him and  cops were just showing up on the scene to direct traffic.

One of the women was stroking his head and speaking to him so I am assuming he was conscious. His face was bloody. I am not sure what happened in this instance but it immediately catapulted me to the middle of a road on Jan 1, 2012.

I wasn't there when Dan got hit but when I saw this, every part of my being suddenly went to that moment. While sorrow took over for this young man as well what Dan was feeling during that time,  My Father in Heaven reminded me of something else with another flashback of sorts.

Dan smiling the last time I saw him.

Suddenly I was filled with HOPE,  I pray for that young man, that he would meet Jesus just like Dan has through the entire journey. 

While God is a just God, He is all about lovingly restoring us if we bring our broken spirits, bodies and minds to Him. You might ask why do bad things happen to us? The thing is the phrase "every cloud has a silver lining" is not just a phrase.  If you believe in Jesus, He promised that He is using All things for the good of those who believe.

So while this morning has already been a heavy morning for some of us, we need to remember that Jesus never stops working on our behalf and for our benefit in eternity.

So no matter what comes to you today, you know my mantra.

Love God and the rest will follow....

Freedom of?

As the fourth of July comes upon us, a sense of "patriotism" surges within the masses.

I place quotes on the word patriotism because just as soon as it appears, it disappears.   We hear it said all the time, " we don't appreciate the freedom we have in this country."  In many ways I agree with that statement.

But in the recent days, I feel like parts of our society is running rampant in the freedom aforded this country.  When a child is given an inch, the tendency is to try to take a mile and with that comes consequences.

In the pursuit of happiness, we have lost our identity in what our forefathers wanted for this country.  Have you ever considered what it meant for them to leave their native land and take to sea?  All for their wish to spread the Gospel of Jesus.

There is a monunent between Hyannis and Boston.  The Monument of the Forefathers.  Its not taught about in schools,  I studied several versions of American and European history and this monument was never discussed.

The thing about this monument is that it reveals so much about the real reason why these people came in search of a new world. Its clearly stated, in stone, might I add that they came in pursuit of religious freedom and to spread the Gospel.

Don't tell me this country wasn't founded on The Bible.

It was founded because of The Bible!!

Those people loved God so much that they wanted to make sure the Good News was spread to the ends of the Earth so they physically and monetarily exhausted themselves. What followed for them was a brave New world but somewhere along the lines,  something went awry.

Now this country has become about erasing God from our daily lives, trying just enough to make it through the task, taking from the hard worker and giving to the lazy man, "caring" for the ones who know how to beat the system while the ones who need help get beat up by the same system.

All the while,  men want to be women and women want to be men.

If for one second we don't see how this would grieve the heart of Our Creator then there are bigger problems than any of us realize.

All we have to do is allow Jesus to reveal His love to us, then the way we look at this world will fix itself.  In His time and provision,  He will reveal what His world should look like and at that time if you are on the right side then you are set for eternity.

Love God and the rest will follow.