You Steady My Heart

I love to plan. I love to create a list and mark things off as they are accomplished. I believe in vision casting and planning for the future. I think its biblical.

And yet, I've been reminded lately that as we plan we must hold those plans loosely realizing God may have other ideas. Sometimes the best thing we can do is determine our next step. Not our tenth or eleventh step but the next one.

I'm thankful that God promises to guide us and never leave our side. If we focus on Him instead of the unknown worry goes away. He steadies our heart.

I love this new song by Kari Jobe and the truth it conveys! This is a great reminder for me today.

The Most Important Thing

One of the greatest lessons in life that I am still learning is that the most important thing I can do every day is…spend time with Jesus.

This is neither a luxury nor an option rather it is the most important thing we can do as believers. It is a necessity. Everything good in my life is outflow from my relationship with Jesus. Spending time developing my relationship with Him makes me a better husband, father, friend, son, brother, neighbor, minister, and person.

It seems so simple yet experience reminds me it is not easy. My biggest hindrance is myself.

·      My busy schedule makes it easy for me to make excuses.

·      My wondering mind often makes it hard to focus.

·      Sometimes guilt even makes me feel like I need to do a better job at my to-do-list rather than spend time alone with God. Time alone with God doesn’t seem very productive to many church members.

And yet, this must be our focus. We must make this a priority.  It is the most important thing.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

Yesterday I turned 44 - Now What?

I have now lived an incredible 15,696 days on this earth. That’s a lot of living; 22 years married to my high school sweetheart/best friend, 3 amazing daughters, a ton of unforgettable moments, living in five different states, visiting 10 countries, and making plenty of mistakes along the way.

Now that I’ve lived 43 years and one day, what’s next?

Here’s my thoughts:

·      I want to love Jesus more. My hearts desire is to grow my relationship with Jesus more than ever in the days I have left on this planet. This must be my first and highest priority.

·      I want to love Julie more. God blessed my socks off when He blessed me with my wife and best friend. I more than married up and I want to love her with all that I have in the days, months, and years ahead.

·      I want to love my daughters more. I have lived long enough to realize the most important thing I can give my children is my time and to live out my faith in front of them. So many things are competing for my time. There are many fun and incredible options. But, nothing compares to loving and pouring myself into these amazing girls that God has given us.

·      I want to love others more. Our world continually invites us to live for ourselves. And yet, God’s word encourages us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. May God help me to see the opportunities in front of me each day. May I have the His heart for those who cross my path.

·      I want to continue learning. I may have lived over 15,000 days but I still have a lot to learn. I want to read, study, and be stretched. I never want to stop being a learner.

·      I want to continue taking risks. The older I get the harder it is to accept change and challenges. Its easy to set back and get comfortable. I don’t ever want to be in that place. I want to continually take risks – to be challenged – to try new things – to go new places – to push myself beyond my comfort zone.

·      I want to be used by God. I want to impact lives for Christ. I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. I want to be used up for Him!

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