What do you seek after?

Thank you LORD for everything. We have all been given so much, sometimes too much in my opinion.

Those things often times get in the way of our focus on the LORD when it should be doing the exact opposite.

We have so many 'things'. We spend so much time, money and effort accumulating stuff that we lose sight of the bigger picture. We lose sight of the fact that GOD has blessed us so that we can give back and bring glory to HIM.

What drives you to wake up and go to your job or to school or whatever it is you do? Is your drive so that you can have more stuff? What is most important to you? Is there some sort of imaginary point that you have in your head that if you get there, you tell yourself(and GOD) that you'll be content? Or if you're like me, you think things like, if I just have that one thing, then I will be happy and I won't want anything else. Have you ever gotten that thing you wanted? I bet it didn't satisfy you.

In Ecclesiastes 5:10 it says, "The one who loves money is never satisfied with money."

At one point last year, I really wanted an iPad. I love reading so I got it in my head that I had to have it so I could read on basketball trips in the dark. I told myself I would be content if I just got this one thing.

In Corinthians 1:7(MSG) it says, "You don't need a thing, you've got it all! All GOD's gifts are right in front of you." So I challenge you to write down what your priorities were today. What were you seeking after today?

2 Corinthians 4:18(MSG) "There's far more than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today and gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see will last forever." Seek after GOD because through HIM there is joy and what you get through a relationship with HIM will last forever.

Oh and by the way, I did not get an iPad. I purchased a 4 dollar light that attaches to my book.

Let me explain myself

I think there could be confusion when i say that i just became a christian last year. I don't want my family and friends thinking I didn't believe in God growing up. So let me explain a little better.

I grew up in the church. I loved going to church events and I loved hanging out with people from the church but I never quite figured it out what it meant to be a christian. I thought that as long as I didn't sin as much as the next person, that my spot would be saved in Heaven. In  Galations 2:21(MSG) it says that "If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily." So obviously this is not the way that we are called to live.

I started reading the day that I decided that I was going to start a bible study. I knew I was nowhere near where I needed to be to help my peers out. And there seemed to be a recurring theme in a lot of the books i read. A relationship with the Lord is way more important than trying to do things "right." In "the Christian Atheist" by Craig Groeschel, he labels "rule-keepers" as half-christians. People who know what is right but just have not entered into a relationship with the Lord yet. 

I found that when I established a relationship with the Lord, my life changed. Not because I was worried about doing all the right things, but because I no longer desired to live the way I had before. I "died" to the way that I used to live. 

I never stopped believing in God. I just wandered away for about 2 years. My High School basketball coach told me that the first thing I had to do was find a church when I went to college. I honestly thought that I would be okay and that I could handle myself. I was wrong and he was right. I don't think I have told him this before but I need to call him and tell him sorry for not listening. (Once again, God even works with stubborn people like myself)

The most important thing in Christianity is having other people in your life that will encourage you and challenge you in your faith. Your faith is either growing or getting smaller. 

I'm not at all saying that I have everything figured out. Far from it actually. But it's the people in my life who help me stay focused on the Lord when things aren't going as planned. God has put a countless amount of people in my life just this past year that challenge me every day to continue to grow. I feel like God has opened my eyes to these things for a reason. I know that their are a lot of people that can relate to my story and I hope that this will help some people out. If there is anything I can do to help with your walk with the Lord, let me know. I hope that through this, people will see their calling to something more than just rule-keeping. 

Galations 2:19-21(MSG)What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

  

Why in the world am i writing a blog?

Why in the world am i writing a blog? That's an excellent question. 

It all started a year ago when my mentor asked me to go on a missions trip with him. I said yeah that would be cool but I had about 50 reasons why I didn't want to go, so my answer was no. He said, "hey, you need to come on this missions trip, get your passport." Honestly, i thought he kinda being too pushy so I was getting extremely annoyed. I kept telling him no and then finally he called and basically told me that I NEEDED to go get a passport because I needed to go. Despite all my doubts I finally got a passport and ended up going. (Thank you Jesus that HE even works in the hearts of stubborn people like myself)

We had many conversations about Christ and what was going on in our lives. He asked me questions like, "How's your relationship with the Lord?" These types of questions made me extremely uncomfortable and that's how i knew that something was wrong with my faith. He asked me what church i went to and i told him i really didn't go to one. He told me that he thought that i should start a bible study. My instant response was, "No, i just can't do that." He asked why and i didn't want to say it out loud but it was because i was ashamed of what i would look like if i really put my faith out there and did work for the Lord. So that was about the end of that conversation when i shot him down like that. (Once again, I'm so glad GOD works in stubborn and lost people like myself!)

Fast forward 3 months and I'm headed to Alva for my 3rd year of school. Before that time i would not call myself a christian. I was not at all living a life that was pleasing to HIM. The conversations that Roscoe and I had shot all through my head and i felt a strong conviction to text my basketball teammates and tell them that i was going to start a bible study. To my surprise they were very accepting of this idea and that made me feel absolutely alive and excited. Right there in my car on the way back to Alva Oklahoma, somewhere between Medford and Cherokee, I gave myself to the LORD. I said, "Do in me what you want. I am yours and from now on I am going to live for YOU." That day on August 12th I became a christian. There are many more parts to the story but I don't want to bore you with the details. 

so that's how i got to where i am today. In this blog I will share more details on the adventures of leading a bible studying while having little to no public speaking abilities. GOD has really been working in my life and I feel like it would be a shame to not share my story because I know so many can relate to what I'm going through. 

My prayer is that this is used as an open discussion and things that i say will have an impact on someones life so that they will enter into a relationship with the LORD.  I hope that we can grow in our walks with the LORD together and that we can see and act upon the opportunities that GOD puts in our lives. There is a life full of joy and fulfillment and all we have to do is say yes when he calls. 

Philippians 3:7-11 (NIV) But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.