Chapstick and Chapped lips and things like chemistry...

Ok soo......

The past few days have been amazing and not so amazing, however, I choose to see the amazing...

Monday was an awesome day, I tried a new thing me and my accountability buddy from Men's Bible Study are doing, the art of being what a devotional of mine called an "energizer." It is someone who actually takes an interest in others, who makes a conscious decision to jump outside of the "Good morning, how are you? Oh fine thank you," and go for a more "I am doing amazing, how about yourself? Oh just good why good?" God calls us to be lights in this world, to be the salt (Matt 5), now what kind of light would I be if I went around telling people how crappy I was feeling, or how much I didn't want to be moving? Not much light, in fact I might sound like everyone else who is just "fine." So why not break out of the norm? Try something new, I challenge you to say hi tomorrow to someone you don't normally say hi to, and to take a genuine interest in finding out one thing about them. It's actually fun, but more importantly, that person may begin to ask themselves what it is about you that makes you so happy...and that is what I call opportunity!

Tuesday was different, I was told by my boss that she was disappointed in some of my work....which stinks to hear for a person who dedicates himself to doing his best in all things. Aside from that, Tuesday went awesome. I went around the office with my approach from Monday, and man did I get some funky answers, not to mention info about people I would never have known. One guy gave me the sweetest answer. He told me he was doing "swimmingly," which of course turned into a conversation about what that meant. One is doing swimmingly, when he is above the water swimming. A nice metaphor to remind us all that we are all in the water, however, while some of us struggle to stay afloat on our own, others of us (Christians) have the benefit of a lifeboat and some floaties (not to mention floaties to pass around, and did I mention our lifeboat has plenty of room?)

Tonight, Pedro taught on Deut and the people of Israel, specifically on there worship of idols. He really drove home the fact that anything, and I mean anything can be an idol. A job, a person, a game, even ministry itself can be an idol if it isn't God centered. Really it opened my eyes to that old saying you hear many people say about "God being number 1." It is funny, you hear something your whole life, however, never really took it to heart and understood what it really meant. It is like the idea of sanctification. To be sanctified in Christ is to have died to old and be born to the new you. The you that lives his life doing all things to His glory. No seriously, ALL THINGS....I read a devo out of this book (My Utmost for His Highest) that spoke of sanctification and what it meant to be sanctified. To acknowledge that you are reborn, and to deny yourself anything that might hinder your growth in Him. To deny yourself anything that wouldn't be pleasing to him or that would keep you from Him.

On a side note, lately I have been having trouble with chemistry....but I guess that is a story for another post...