Modern Devotion

I wrote a blog entry for www.livetwentyten.com. Live2010 is a campaign that we are doing at Red Mountain Christian Center to help people spend 20 minutes in prayer a day and ten minutes reading their bible to read through the whole bible in 2010.

Here is a portion of that blog entry:

2010 (MMX) is a common year that started on a Friday and is the current year. In the Gregorian calendar, it is the 2010th year of the Common Era or of Anno Domini; the 10th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century; and the 1st of the 2010s decade. There are a lot of interesting things happening this year, like Chevrolet releasing the Volt, a new electric car, or even greater things such as the Space Shuttle program will be retiring NASA and replacing it with Project Constellation (go read some of more 2010 changes here).

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The first three numbers; 0’s, 1’s and 2’s. Simple numbers that almost all 2 year-olds know. This idea of 20 minutes reading and 10 minutes praying brings a few thoughts to my mind, neither of which are trying to figure out whether the proper pronunciation is twenty ten or two thousand and ten. Although I think twenty ten is correct .

.

We live in a day of technology. An ingenious software called YouVersion is celebrating their users collectively reading 1 billion minutes on their iPhones, iPods, Blackberrys, cellphones, the mobile web and the internet atwww.youversion.com with 41 translation and 22 languages, again that is 1 BILLION minutes, or 16.7 million hours, or check this out, 19 CENTURIES. What about listening to the bible in audio format in your car or on your iPod. To give you an idea I read from Genesis through Deuteronomy in as little as a few weeks listening to the bible while driving to and from work in about 15 minutes each way. People also use all kinds of bible software like Logos that Pastor Jeff, myself and others use that allows about three hours of Bible study/research in as little as a few minutes...

Go read the rest here!

...read more on "Modern Devotion"!

MADE Week 4

This is week 4 of RMCC's series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.


This week I get to coach Coug in the area of relationships. Of course like normal, he is terrified and freaks out at the thought of having to meet 'others'. He get's a first hand encounter of Lifegroups. Enjoy!

...read more on "MADE Week 4"!

MADE Week 3

This is week 3 of RMCC's series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.

I got to coach Cougar about stewardship and how it applied to his life, talents, time, money and resources. He is growing and learning. Two more weeks and he should be Made more into the image that God has for him.

...read more on "MADE Week 3"!

MADE Week 2

This is week 2 of RMCC's series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.

This was a great week discussing worship and how worship is more than just singing... even blogging can be a form of worship, smile!

...read more on "MADE Week 2"!

MADE Week 1

Our church is doing a 5 week series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.

This videos is week 1, hope you enjoy.

I still debate if I shoulda gone the Hollywood route, not bad acting if I do say so myself. Maybe not a Pierce Brosnan but maybe in the likes of Brat Pitt or Denzel Washington, minus the skin tones. I could be a star. What do you think, comment me and let me know if I got the marks of Hollywood.

...read more on "MADE Week 1"!

Conversations of LIfe - 1

This is a conversation of a good friend of mine, a student in Atlanta Masters Commission, RC. He is a great kid (a 21 year-old man), with an awesome heart, loves to bike freestyle and MTB, and even enjoys disc golf.

AIM IM with RC 7/3/08 4: 11PM

RC hey bud.
SM hey man
SM outta cali yet?
RC nahh
SM or stayin for the 4th
RC yea
RC how's the disc golf?
SM went good, nice to get out but a little warm, you ever play?
RC I'm jealous, of course, we have the third hardest course in the nation in my hometown
SM that is awesome

RC hey, I have a couple questions for you...
SM sure..
RC you're married, right?
SM yes
RC ok, How did you KNOW that your wife was the girl for you?
SM God, i know that was the answer u were expecting to hear
RC haha, well, I mean, what made it click in your head? like, there had to be something that just TOLD you that she was IT
SM i had made a vow that i would not date until it was the girl god wanted me to marry
and then when we wanted to date i prayed about it and knew that was what i was suppose to do
many said we were young and didnt know, but i knew
RC how old were you?
SM then, 19 when we started dating
RC not bad... yea...I'm just asking cuz, well, I met this girl... and I think she's perfect... well, more than perfect, if that makes sense
SM if there was one thing that you could change about her what would it be?
RC where she lives, lol, hmm... lets see... I'm really not sure... dang
just curious, what is the point that you are trying to make? cuz I think you have one...but I don't know what it is
SM haha, sometimes we look at people and wish we could change things about them. No matter how perfect she may seem now, sooner or later you will find something u wont like
RC mmk
SM you must be able to accept those things that you cant change
RC i was just about to ask how you handle that...
SM the truth is you cant change someone else, you can only change your perspective of that which you dont like
RC wow. thats good
SM that will help you not only in marriage but in every relationship you are in!
relationship/friendship/etc
RC yea... dang, thats good ;0 you're the freaking man...
SM in changing our perspective it allows them to keep their own personality and character
and be themselves and allows them to live more whole
RC wowww. yea, I need to get to AZ.
and chill with you for a while
SM when we try to change them we force them into our box of perfection then they always are trying to live UP to our standard and then they end up feeling like a failure
and in marriage that is not healthy, she then feels like she is hurting you then makes you go on a power trip and puts u in control and not in a healthy manner
RC wow.... i never would have thought of something like that
SM marriage isnt about power, its actually about submission, "wives submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives"
RC loving is submitting, yea?
SM in loving our wives we submit to their needs, they submit to our spiritual authority
two different kinds of submission
RC wow...
SM control authority and spiritual authority
RC yea
SM that will get u mileage in a relationship
RC it makes so much sense!!
SM good, and know that girls never make sense, haha
RC haha, yea, I got that one
SM dont ever tell them that, thats not good either, haha j/k
RC yea, that would be bad
wow... dang dude... how'd you get so smart? like, I'm still shocked. for lack of a better term.
SM ran to a wall a lot and too many drugs, lol, no idea
i dont see my self as smart as much as i would say i am an observer
learn to watch your world and learn from it
RC ahhhh
SM be experiential and allow everything to be a moment of Ahaa!
RC I like that.

SM i want to blog this conversation, is that cool with you?
RC I am down for that... whats your blog site?
SM www.shaunmayfield.com
RC haha...you have a blogger account with your own domain name! Awesome!
SM haha, i figured i better get it before someone else does
RC haha, yea. I don't know what I would do without friends like you.
SM awe, thanks man, that is very cool, im glad we got to know each other in ATL
RC haha...yea. I'm very glad for that. I'm gonna blog this convo too, just so ya know
SM sweet man.
RC You honestly don't know how much this meant to me... I honestly feel a whole lot better..cuz I was worried about so much...
SM that is so cool
RC yay for friends who are there for each other!!
SM haha, woot!

I shared this for a few reasons.

1. Take a good look at how you see people and understand the ability to change our perspective on someone else's 'lack of' and realize that we can either focus on the 90% negative of who they are to us or we can look at the 10% positive and focus on that and begin to change the only one we control... ourselves!

2. Marriage is about love and submission. Wives submit to the control authority, ultimate say so goes to the husband... HOWEVER, and a big however, before any one presumes I am chauvinistic. (Just ask my wife, I am not allowed to be chauvinistic ( that's a joke, get it?!?)) When husbands truly love our wives we then submit to there needs, emotionally, physically and mentally, there creating a balance.

3. I am not smart, as matter of fact, I consider myself to not learn as well as others and I am self-admitted learning disabled (no doctor proof as of yet). However I have learned to observe the world around me. This point deserves a blog on it's own and will quite likely lead to a blog/book/short story of some kind to show how my outlook on life is all from observing; it is what I have coined reasonable deduction (common sense+mathematical calculations+not allowing ignorance to blind me). Be a watcher, soak up your environment, breathe slowly and observe the motion, hear the dialect, watch the mannerisms, be a learner, be a CREATIVE!

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Dorothy and Earl

I wish I had a picture to show you there beautiful faces. Dorothy, 75, and Earl, 82, are precious and proud.

As we sat to eat at Arby's for lunch with a couple pastors and interns we were being the typical annoying loud people in the corner that most would be upset at us. As Ryan jumps up to do a little dance this quiet elderly couple look over and instead of a frown or look of disgust Dorothy made the comment, "we once were able to move like that, praise God for you young folks". She began to ask us if we were believers in which we responded yes. She was happy and began to get emotional and filled with joy that young people were laughing and having fun and that we loved God. I spent a few moments talking with them as they introduced themselves to me and asked for prayer because they were not doing good. See Dorothy had just had a double by-pass and a stint put in and didn't know how long she would be around. She swore Satan was trying to shut her up because she said she is bold and will never stop telling people about Jesus. She said that Earl is in worse health and that they need each other. I said I would pray for them. Earl said that as soon as they saw us they knew we loved God and that they could feel the presence over us.

As they were about to leave they came over and began sharing the love of God with us loudly and boldly in the middle of Arby's. As she talks Ole' Earl is trying to chime in and give his perspective of seeing a bunch of Christian 'kids' and how happy and moved he was. She then said how much she felt the spirit and shared some scriptures with us. Then with her boldness in that small 75 year old frail frame she said we need to pray. I notice Earl's old weathered hands reaching for his hat and I figured cool, I guess we will pray right now. Dorothy began to pray, not one of these little prayers, "Lord bless these youngens". No, it was a prayer of passion, she truly was praying over us and asking God to use us and care for us. Then we blessed them and they left.

We hurried back to the church because we had staff prayer at one and I told them I would pray for them so I did and began to think and meditate on what happened. I'm not sure everyone that I was with truly got what was happening. Here is some complete strangers yet not caring about anything or anyone around and some were probably missing what was really happening.

Here area a couple saints that are probably close to finishing their race in life and are so filled with God's spirit that they care nothing about public opinion. For many of us we are so worried about what others might think and it changes our actions. I would hate to think that I would become bold when I realize my life is almost over and I have nothing to lose. The bible says that we shouldn't worry about tomorrow because there is no guarantee that tomorrow will even come. If that is the case how come most Jesus-followers don't have the boldness to approach people, don't have the boldness to pray for people in public, to raise our voice for indecency, to not stand up for the impoverished, the hurt, the broken, the neglected, the needy, homeless, drunk, abused and invisible people that are all around us living in the shadows? May God put a burden on us that causes us to hurt like He does, to be broken for the lost like he is! Prior to Dorothy and Earl leaving they talked to another elderly couple and asked them how they were doing and she asked the gentleman who's watching over him and she said, "Is God?" He responded I hope so, and she said, hope so, you better know, do you know Jesus? I realize that todays approach is far different than yesterdays direct, "do you know Jesus?", and that most salvations come through relationship but are we willing to be up front with people, to talk to total strangers?

Pray for Dorothy and Earl, I know they would appreciate it, but also most importantly pray that you get their zeal and energy to do Kingdom Work in your day to day life journey.

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Foggy Days

Here in Arizona, rain, fog, snow, hail, etc are not the norm, however sun, sunny, and hot are. The last few days, five days to be exact, we have experienced rain and it is a great thing for a parched desert. You can recognize the life spring forth from the plants and you begin to have a greater sense of freshness. This morning as I loaded up my 4 month old daughter to take her to her sitter, everything seemed pleasant and norm. As I left my house and go a mile away I started to notice that my visibility was daunting and that there was not clear views ahead. It got so bad that as I sat at a red light I could see the fog blowing across the street as if the house to the right was set to fire. The visibility was reduced to less than a quarter mile and road signs were not readable more than a 100' away as you can see in this picture.

Many times I will have students approach me about their own life and their effectiveness. Almost having a sense of failing because they can't see the outcome of their influence. It is important to know that we don't have to know the plans, we don't have to see the big picture to know that God will lead us to his table. Jeremiah 29:11 says how God knows the plans for our life and His plans are not to hurt us or harm us but to give us hope of a bright future.

I realized in the fog that I was able to see far enough to be safe, that brought comfort however sometimes in life we may not have the visibility in life to know that we are safe. We have to put our faith in God and trust Him in His word that He will never leave us or ditch us or abandon us.

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Every Step Counts

After years of remodeling our house, adding 500 square feet of livable space and 130 square feet we can call it finished. Front yard is all finished and I must say one of the best in the neighborhood. Now the backyard. I was digging the footer for pouring a concrete step off of our patio that is only about 32' long. After I would dig the dirt I would wheelbarrow it out to the middle of the yard and dump it out then spread it with the rake. Nine wheelbarrow loads full and still only about half done is quite a lot of work.

One thing I noticed is there are a lot of dirt clogs in the dirt, some are very hard as well. As we were raking some leaves over this Thanksgiving week I noticed that I would have to step each step onto a dirt clog to break it up. Now this is probably from my OCD which sometimes seems a bit overwhelming when you feel trapped by some idiosyncrasies that seem to make no sense to the rest of the world. What I realized was the thought that came to my mind, "make every step count". I realized that many of the steps as I look like I am ballerina prancing across my backyard I am actually being very productive. I then delved deeper into this thought, how does this metaphorically speak of my life, ministry, family, etc? See I feel that when we begin to make each footprint the most important one then our life begins to bring on new meaning. It is easy to go through years as a Christian and feel that it was all for nothing, sure I am saved and my inheritance is waiting in heaven but what have I counted for here on earth in this time, in this life. I beg of myself to begin a new course of making every step count. Let each move I make be one of significance, of influence, of leadership, of development. Let my life begin to count for something. See the power of this is when others see our footsteps. When the next person beginning their journey can look forward and see what is ahead and what makes sense. Or for yourself to be able to look back and see that there are a lot of dirt clogs broken up, that your prancing through the yard became significant.

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The Unrelationship Release

Account form my Addictions Class -
"As we discussed attachment disorders I realized who I am. I have an addiction. My addiction isn't like most other peoples. I am not addicted to food, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex (rolling eyes). I watch movies that have relationships that I didn't have. I watch movies that have stories that I didn't live but that I can live vicariously through them. The story on the screen gives me what I never had, an escape into everything I didn't have. I have issues and didn't have what I needed. It has caused problems with me and my relationships.

I always run and hide from people emotionally. I don't connect with people because they will end up rejecting me so I might as well not give them the chance. The class was over and I went to my car to begin the drive home and well.. I started crying, not the crying like I am doing now (soft tears rolling down my cheeks). I heard an animal crying out like it was being killed. Screams and crying came out of me like I didn't know I could even do. I sounded like an animal that was screaming out in pain because I was in pain. The hurts of my past were here present. I didn't have the attachments that I needed growing up, I didn't have the relationships that I needed when I was growing up. It has caused me to not engage in people or give people my time, see I was empty and what I didn't need was someone to come into my life and hurt me. I cried and broke down and began to feel the healing. The abused, broken, hurt, neglected animal raging and crying out wanting out. I provided him the escape that he needed. I let him go and felt relief, and now I am working on letting people in and my relationships are changing. I am a recovering attachment person. I am now trying to reach out to people." - From the words of an unnamed woman with a deep heart

Many times we talk with people or even yourself that deals with attachments disorders, or shall we call it an attachment issue. Disorder sounds pretty heavy. Many people are dying inside because of the relationships they never had and try to live out relationships through movies, watching others, and whatever else forms they find. It is no surprise to me that the church is the bride of Christ, and not the groom. The groom chases his bride, loves his bride and kneels to one knee to propose. Those that don't have earthly relationships has the amazing opportunity of Christ wanting to love you and cherish you. He wants to be your groom, to chase you and love you and kneel to one knee and propose to you and be with you forever. Let out the animal of hate, the crying animal of unlovingness and be enthralled in the best love relationship this world will ever know. "Will you take my hand in Holy Matrimony? Yes Jesus, I do."

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Sometimes I Never Feel Good Enough

Demands. Expectations. Needs. Realizations. Schedules. People. Lives. Hurts. Pains. Goals. Ambitions. Oh and a baby.
My perspective.

It seems with all the things that are demanding of my time all seem to have the need from someone else. It seems I am being pulled into every direction that is requiring my time. It seems like I can't make certain people happy. Unfortunately the people that I let down are the people that matter the most.

Unbalanced. Preoccupied. Selfish. Lazy. Blurred. Unfocused. Narrow-minded.
Their perspective.

Call me what you want. The truth is none of those are true but peoples preconceived ideas and perception unfortunately define you more then the one who knows you best... yourself. Too bad people around me can't look into my life and be able to communicate with me their thoughts and what they are thinking of you. That would help but nonetheless, this is the life that we are given and need to figure out how to work with those parameters.

Well regardless, I am going back to my demands, expectations, fulfilling needs of being unbalanced, preoccupied, selfish lazy, blurred, and narrow-minded life.

See ya.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through him who gives me strength.
God will equip me and guide be to be balanced and not marginalized.

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Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World

Seven Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World
by Seth Godin

1. You run out of time (and quit).
2. You run out of money (and quit).
3. You get scared (and quit).
4. You’re not serious about it (and quit).
5 You lose interest or enthusiasm or settle for being mediocre (and quit).
6. You focus on the short term instead of the long (and quit when the short term gets too hard).
7. You pick the wrong thing at which to be the best in the world (because you don’t have the talent).

By “you,” I mean your team, your company, or just plain you, the jobseeker, employee, or entrepreneur. The important thing to remember about these seven things is that you can plan for them. You can know before you start whether or not you have the resources and the will to get to the end. Most of the time, if you fail to become the best in the world, it’s either because you planned wrong or because you gave up before you reached your goal.

Even worse than quitting in the first six cases: not quitting. Settling. Sticking with it but not succeeding.

Is it possible that you’re just not good enough? That you (or your team) just don’t have enough talent to be the best in the world? Sure, it’s possible. In fact, if your chosen area is the cello, or speed skating, then I might even say it’s probable. But in just about every relevant area I can think of, no, it’s not likely. You are good enough. The question is, will you take the shortcut you need to get really good at this?

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/2007/04/the_seven_reaso.html

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Wow, may I never decide to quit, may I never accidentally quit. If I run out of time I will reset my clock. If I run out of money I will beg. If I get scared I will turn on the lights. If I am not serious about it then I will recast my vision. If I lose enthusiasm or interst I will try a new cuisine, possibly a cultural delicacy. If I focus on the short tem goal instead of the long term goal I will look up, if that short term gets too hard I will stop take a breath, a good drink of cold water then look up and go. If I pick then wrong thing because I am not talented I will surround myself with anyhing, everything, anyone and everyone that can help strengthen that talent. I WON'T QUIT, EVER!!!!

I am, I will be a speaker, advocate, lobbyist, activist for the God I believe in, not the Christianity that has been created through ideologies but through the mere understanding of his greatness.

Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised' Hebrews 10:35-36.

God has created me to be who he wants me to be. What ever part of the world in space and time that he wants me to affect I must fulfill. I mut be confident in who God has made me to be. I can't throw that away. Just like in the 7 reasons we fail, without perseverance we are useless. God can't use me if I am not available to be used. If I quit I have limited God and his ability to use me in this place and time to affect my world. Perseverance is in a simplified definition; continued pursuit. Will I pursue God, will I pursue his passions, will I pursue his desires, will I chase his wants? Will I? I must, I have to, I must pursue everything he has for me but not just selfishly, I must pursue him as a living sacrifice. To take up my cross daily is to sacrifice it. God's promises are coming, they are on the way to interact with us in the intersection of finishing the race and doing it with confidence and not quitting. That is the life I want to live.

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Your (you are) Genius (Genie-in-us)

Every single person has in them what it takes to be something, to be someone.

You must take courage to find your genius, when you find your genius you will see that it comes out of your environment.
Have the courage to find your environment where you rub your magic lamp and your Genie-in-us comes out. God gave you the magic. What God gives never comes back in void. God is faithful in everything he says. He has equipped us to be something someday. Our soul for being, our heartbeat for existence is not to settle with mediocrity or to simply be comfortable. Once we know our environment we can begin to take it over. We will simply begin to master it and learn its features. When we know our environment well then we begin to over come it. Michael Jordan was a beautiful genius in his environment. He was the magic to the Chicago Bulls. He was the best person to ever touch the court. Because of his ability and agility to overcome his environment, his courage gave him the MVP and the title of the best player ever.

The saddest thing is that we limit ourselves so much by not believing in ourselves. We hold back our full potential. Maybe somebody one day, one time came down on you or told you that you didn't amount to what you were up against and that took everything you thought you were and it was crushed. You never picked up the pieces and put them together. You stayed there, became stalemate and let the environment overgrow you. IF we don't master our environment the environment begins to take over. I have never in my life seen a garden keep itself weed free, I have never seen a clean house stay clean, or let alone a bedroom. Nature goes bad, our courage to overcome yields its control. We need to step up, take courage and be strong to fight for control over our environment. Then we can be the genius that has been in us the whole time. Our untapped magic is there in everyone, when we see people that are a genius over their environment we think they are a miracle, a perfect package. It is not a miracle, it was one who showed courage over their environment, then the magic comes out and we become a genius.

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God and Our Lack of Worship

Today was a good day. I began to look into some deep philosophies of worship for our youth X/perience:worship: series coming up in March. In one essence I was freaked out, in another I am very excited. God is amazing and as I studied what worship is I learned that worship is initiated with God. Yeah, crazy. He created us in His image to worship him. Him creating us in his image began that worship experience, the initiation process. I think about the students in our youth ministry and see the shallowness, my very own reflection on the shallow pond. Chris Stapley said that it used to be a narrow and a mile deep and now it's a mile wid and an inch deep. I thought about it and thought about it. It came to my mind that our students aren't getting it. They are not getting that God has created them in His image and initiated the worship experience. How/Why/Won't we go after God? What stops us from chasing, pursuing, not stopping until we have caught God and wrap our arms around him and not let go, we say, "God, I'm not letting go until I have X/perienced everything from you."

I imagine it and see it in my mind already. I am not even a father yet. Chez being 3+ months pregnant and already seing me as being a father. I can also picture a father and his young child. The child begins to chase after daddy and he steps back each time as the child is going to grab him. Of course this is an impossible reach for the young child. One step of the father is equal to ten or so steps for the child. The dad also knows that he can run away and hide and the child after a minute will most likely give up, sit down, and quickly be distracted by something and forget all about dad. WOW, is that where our teens are? Could it be that they have lost sight of God, may God have gone too far away and now they have gotten distracted? Well the father knows this and knows not to get out of sight and make the game impossible. Every once in a while the father will stop and allow the child to catch him and the child is exuberant and excited to finally catch his dad. Now I have experienced God in such a real way where he, for what ever reason has allowed me to catch him and I had such an amazing experience with Him. So has God hidden form the teens and they have missed him and found something else? I don't believe so, I believe that the difference between us and toddlers is that as Jesus said, "Suffer not the little children to come to me", then he blessed the child. As adults or even teens we are much more carnal and more self-centered. I truly believe that our reasons for not X/periencing God is because of our self-centered mindset. The psyche of our mind says my needs first before what God wants. Maybe some of us, the teens, have began to focus on themselves and forgot the need and obligation of our being is to worship the One who created us. So maybe I can begin to focus on the reason of my being.

My prayer: How do I convey to a group of teens that God is so worthy of our sacrifices?

...read more on "God and Our Lack of Worship"!

Not Forgetting God

I have been moving out of one house into a new house and it is amazing how many things I have found that I didn't realize I even had. Every time I cleaned out an area I found more and more stuff. Some junk and some forgotten things that brought back memories. I realized that I had to throw out a lot of junk and clean a lot of things up. I realized how many things I forgot about. How dumb am I to forget about so much.

Then I realized that memories never "leave" our brain. Everything that we have ever heard or seen or known is in our memory. In psychology you learn that your memory is literally infinite. So you never "forget" you just have "memory recall failure". It's like going to a door and trying to get in and you have tons of keys on your ring and you can't figure out which key it is. Our problem is linking the memories. you just have to get the right link. I realize sometimes vital information or good memories get put on a shelf or behind that door and what was only suppose to be for a moment becomes "lost".

My question to myself is what does it take for people to really want to experience God. What holds us back? Why are we so calloused to the spiritual things of God? Some guys asked Jesus once, “Which of the commandments (or laws) is the most important?” In other words they were saying that they knew there was no way they could uphold all of the laws with perfection. So which one should they definitely try to nail? Jesus replied, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hinge all of the laws of the prophets.” Maybe our calloused hearts began one day when we put God on that one shelf. You know that shelf that is right by your door. Maybe you said to yourself I will pick it up later. Later never came, and now we are comfortable without him. God became irrelevant because we lost focus on him. He just began to collect dust and was meaningless to us. Not because we don't need him but because he isn't the first and primary focus in our life. See after we put God on the shelf only intended for a moment it turns into a day, then a day turns into a week, then he gets covered up and forgotten. That's Jesus' challenge to us, to never put him on a shelf. Jesus knows that if we love our God with ALL of our body, soul, and mind we would never forget him. Furthermore if we love him first then love others all other things fall right into place.

...read more on "Not Forgetting God"!