Playing it safe.

I received a text this morning from one of my best friends that said, “you know, Joe – I don’t want to be like all the other guys – I want to be set apart, different.” That’s a powerful statement! Something I desire for myself as well.

Living the Christian life is not about always doing the easy thing. It’s not about our comfort or about always getting our way. As followers of Christ, we are called to be set apart, to shine, to make a difference, to live out our faith in Jesus.

I needed this reminder today – how about you?

Here’s one of my favorite video clips from Francis Chan dealing with this same topic.

You Are For Me

I'm not sure I've ever had more stressful/difficult things to deal with all at one time in my life. Don't get me wrong - I love the project I'm working on but the enormity of the task can easily become overwhelming. All that is complicated by the difficulty of still trying to sell a house/business while living out of boxes.

I think its easy to feel sorry for ourselves. It's also easy to lean toward having a negative attitude about things in our world. The other night as I was driving to the rent house I was praying for God to help us sell our home in Missouri and help us work things out with housing here in Tennessee when I looked over to see a homeless man sitting on a park bench. He was bundled up with blankets while all of his earthly possessions sat at his feet. It was if God said, "Joe, you have a roof over your head - that's more than a lot of people have tonight."

Feeling sorry for myself & choosing to be stressed out over things I can't control will simply render me helpless and useless for the Kingdom.

As I drove in to the office this morning - I plugged my iphone into the car stereo and listened to Kari Jobe. This song in particular brought clarity when I needed it most.