blessings in disguise

blessings in disguise probably sounded like a really lame post for a blog....like it has been used over and over again but I thought it best fit the point of the post. I received a little book from a younger friend that I have....one of my buddies. Sam is 8 years old and is all energy. He sat down and wrote a story for me the other day just because he could...Here is the story...

David's Electric Guitar
by Sam

One day, David was playing his guitar and then it exploded! David was hurt in the process. He lost all his toes. So he went to the Hospital. The Doctor was a hippie dude, and when David was wheeled in he said "Groovy Man!". The doctor/hippie tried to sew Davids toes back on but he failed. So when David wheeled himself out in his wheelchair, holding all of his toes....All of the sudden there was a fairy named Faith. She came down and blew on the toes that were in David's hand. The toes magically came down out of David's hand and attached themselves to David's feet. The fairy said"don't try to play your electric guitar with 5 amplifiers plugged into it please! And so, David never played 5 amplifiers in his guitar again.

The End

This might sound stupid but that story blessed me...immensely. Just the thought of a little kid taking the time to write out a story for a teenager that is 8 years older than him because he wants to give him something is just wonderful. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we as teens should be investing in the younger generation. They are the people that our kids will look up to in respect. If they are going to end up being our child's role models and our children are going to be their little buddies, I think we need to spend more time with them. We need to make it a point o invest in them...not just focus on our own little age group...I hope I am making at least some sense. I'm sorry some of my thoughts are rather scatter-brained and sometimes incoherent. Anyway, in the midst of all my ramblings if you all could try to pick up something from it all. Thanks for reading! Comments make me happy!!

Do we want to change the world?

I have been listening to some really awesome music lately that deals with being world changers...waking up out of our own little world that only has a population of...well...me. Anyway, I have been thinking alot about what is being said in these songs. and I was just curious on all your feedback...the titles of the songs are listed below

"My own Little World" - Matthew West

"Keep Changing the World" - Mikeschair

"I will Follow" - Chris Tomlin

"NY2LA" - Pressplay

"Set the World on Fire" - Britt Nicole

Here are a few songs that have really encouraged me lately...there is one more but I'm kinda scared to share it...I have a problem sometimes being willing to stand for what's right even if it does mean that I am disobeying God...I'm scared I'll get laughed at, beat up, or ignored. This song has been great!!

"Never Say Never ft. Jaden Smith" - (yeah, I know but hey he's not that bad) Justin Bieber

Anyway, I love comments so if you guys could give me feedback that would be great!! I love you all!!!!!!!

Hey all yall'! I wanted to post just asking a question. Is "secular" music wrong? I know I had mentioned in an earlier post that I found it hard to listen to secular music. I am not asking this rhetorically but with a genuine interest in knowing what all you guys thought on it. Well, I have begun to think that some of the "Christian" music of today is really lame. I think we need to stop putting the label "Christian" on certain music just because the lyrics can represent a "Jesus" allegory. I have listened to many "secular" songs that you could associate with a allegory out of the Bible. In fact, I have listened to some bands that don't have really good lyrics that could be used for a biblical allegory. I think it is kind of sad that, just because the music that we listen to has a "Christian" label, we think it's okay to listen to it. In all reality, "secular" artists are putting out way better music (I didn't say lyrics OK....just sayin'). Yes, there are many Christian bands that can put out good music as well as good lyrics. I know for a fact that music isn't neutral, no matter whether it is under a Christian label group or not. I have listened to bands like Demon Hunter and some other bands that you have to have the lyrics sheet in order to even understand the words. Ok, sorry, I'll shut up before I bash any more bands. Your coments would make me really happy!!!

Do Hard Things

Just the title really ought to make you think....I think...and I know others think so to....Anyway, I, along with my girlfriend and several other friends, went to a Do Hard Things conference. In case you are unfamiliar with Do Hard Things, I have the link below

http://www.therebelution.com/index.php

Do Hard Things is based around a rebelution against low expectations. This word rebelution comes from a joining of two words, revolution and rebellion. The overall point of the conference was to encourage teens to get off their butts and do something...something that would help fulfill Christs calling for your life. So, with that being said, I would like to share some areas God has been working on in my life recently.

First off, I think I have been wasting to much time as a individual. I mean, I don't sit around and play video games all day, but I think that I could be managing time more wisely. It says in Philippians that we are to "Strain forward to what lies ahead". Judging by the way I interpret the scripture, I don't think he wants us to sit in a Lazy boy and kinda chill until we feel like doing something. I think of straining as doing something that might hurt a little bit, trying to make a difference in the world, being on fire for Jesus, and loving everyone with God's type of love.

At the Do Hard Things conference, Brett mentioned that teenagers are the most despised age group in our society. Why is that? It's because most teenagers are to busy going to parties, playing video games, having premarital sex, and watching stupid TV shows to even care about what's happening in the real world. There is a line that needs to be drawn. The way that the guys at the DHT conference described it was that "The ceiling is where the floor needs to be." That is so true! Yeah, I learned alot and I'm sorry I can't express it very well. I apologize!!

Sorry, I think I have probably been a bit harsh but that is what has been on my mind. Thanks for letting my thoughts spill out. Hope somebody gets something from this jumbled mess of words. LOL

David

Friends

Sorry again for not having posted in a while....I really need to work on that!! Anyway, I think this post is kinda directed to all of my friends that I have known for a little while....like over a year or so. With that in mind, I guess I can continue.

I think it is so important to choose you friends wisely and I have found that true friends will really stick with you even if you screw up. I feel extremely indebted to all my friends that have dealt with me over the past couple months. To be completely honest, I have been a pretty lame friend at times over the past few months. I just need to apologize for that. I think I have been ignoring some friends that have been there for me whenever I needed them and that is really sick! You really can't see how important true friends are until you take them for granted for a little while...I guess that might just be me but I don't know. So yeah.

I cannot stress how awesome and patient my close friends have been over the last couple months. I really believe that, in order to succeed in life, every person needs to have (1) a good relationship with Christ, (2) a good authority figure, and (3) people just need to have good, supportive friends that will encourage them in Jesus. Again, that just might be my opinion but I think it is a reality that we all need to embrace. Our friends, the people we hang out with, are who normally shape our world view and the way we look at life. Since our friends shape a lot of the way we look at life, we need to choose friends that will be true friends...friends that will stick with us even when we screw up....friends that don't care how we look or whether we are intellectuality better than the norm....just good, Jesus loving friends!

So yeah, I apologize to all my friends that I have taken for granted over the past few months. I really messed up but - after all my fallings and all my failings, you show me the one way that Christ would be doing this! I love you all!! Thanks for being your awesome selves! You guys are all amazing!!

Thanks!! :)

What love is....

First off, I am really sorry I haven't posted on anything in a while (like two months while....sorry)

Okay, so a group of people from church have been going through a Bible Study called "Equipped to Love" by Norm Wakefield. It's talking about the difference between a wordly kind of love and a Christian type of love. It struck me as we were going through this particular Bible study how much our culture relies on the worldly type of love over the christian type of love. If you think about it, our culture really doesn't know how to genuinely love. Here, let me try to define both different types of love.

Worldly love - How can I get what I want, when I want it and how I want it. How can you make me happy.

Christian Love - How can I give you what God tells me is what is right. How can I make you happy.

If I think about it, I see the worldly type of love displayed in music, movies, novels, and everyday conversation. We are such a selfish generation!! If more people would just implement the Christian type of love we would have less pain and suffering. Let's take a look at some examples.

Divorce - Caused because one or both partners didn't get what they wanted, when they wanted it, and how they wanted it.

Suicide - Caused because the person wasn't happy or didn't think there was any point to living because nothing could make him/her happy.

Abortion - Caused because somebody got something that maybe under different circumstances they wanted but they didn't get it when they wanted it.

Murder - Caused because somebody didn't get what they wanted

Robbery - Caused because someone doesn't have what they want and they selfishly want it.

All these are examples of worldly types of love.

Here's something to consider; what do you think would happen if half the population of Missouri would start implementing a christian type of love? Can you imagine what a change that would have on the world over the course over two or three generations. It would be amazing!! I can only imagine what different things would change in our everyday lives.

I hope that this has been a little helpful.....a little

This was kinda what was just on my mind.....ttyl

David

Thoughts on Encouragement...

I was talking with one of my friends the other day and I brought up encouragement in general. We eventually narrowed the topic down to our parents ( who would have thought;). We continued talking and started sharing different thoughts about encouraging. I related to her the following...

You know, I once learned a song on my electric guitar; I was so excited about it because I had been working on it for a long time and I had finally gotten it down pretty well. I asked my mom to come listen to it.....that didn't go very well. So later on after my dad got home from work I asked him to listen to it.... I guess he gave a OK response..."oh...neat" and then just kinda forgot about it. A couple weeks later I had learned how to palm mute on my guitar ( if you don't know what that is just ignore it) I wanted to share it with someone so I called my dad in, showed it to him, then he changed the subject and asked about something I had done earlier.

I'm not slamming my dad at all, I just think that we (as a general rule) need to be more encouraging. When your younger sister shows you a picture that she drew, complement her and take a genuine interest in her drawing. When Your friend tries to tell you about her new hairstyle, ask questions about it...take a interest in what she is interested in. You will have so many people that want to be around you if you are a encouraging person! I know someone who is the definition of sweet. She is always encouraging someone in some way or another, whether by giving a hug or asking a simple question. so, when your little sister/brother shows you that painting or the song they just learned, don't think " Man, I have so many better things I could be doing right now!" and just ignore them. Instead, take time with them. Maybe we can actually be an example to our parents of an encouraging person ( I don't know...just a thought)

Hope some of this made sense...this was kinda all just coming on at one time so sorry if it meant nothing....sorry!

David :)

Relationships

Yeah, you probably saw the title and were like " Oh my gosh!! What is this weirdo going to talk about now!?"... Well, I came across a paper I had written about a month ago about relationships and I am kicking myself for not putting on here sooner. So hope this helps somebody...

In this paper I am going to try to address how relationships between boys and girls can be very healthy (contrary to the opinion some people that I talk to). In this paper I want top focus on the positive more than the negative because in time past I think I have been guilty of thinking that all relationships between boys and girls were bad. That was a very unhealthy way to live. I constantly found it difficult to carry on a decent conversation with a girl when they asked me even a simple question. It was very embarrassing when all I could do was mutter and give short answers. I was not only being rude, but I was also adapting an idea that would make it very hard to if not IMPOSSIBLE to get married in the future. All that to say that I am going to try to be very positive about relationships between guys and girls.

My first point that I wanted to mention and the one that I think is the most important is the ability to carry on a conversation with people of the opposite gender. In today's world, it is nearly impossible to work in a place with only one gender group. It would be very hard to get a job if your boss was someone you found it hard to talk to. I mean really, if you were a guy and you had a boss that was a girl wouldn't you find it difficult to them if you had practiced for 18 years not talking to people of that gender!? In order to succeed in today's day and age ( including getting married, dealing with your workmates, and dealing with your customers/employee) you really need to be able to develop good relationships with people of the opposite gender than you.

The second point that I wanted to mention is the great benefit of knowing how a different gender group deals with certain issues and situations. Hint: this will come in VERY handy when you get married!! It is very interesting and beneficial when you are discussing a project and are able to get insight from different gender groups. Girls tend to focus more on detail while guys are more apt to to focus on the efficiency of the project and how they can get it done to the best of their ability. I have found it extremely beneficial to consult people of different gender groups before starting a project. You will receive a variety of good ideas that will come in handy and possibly be better and more efficient than your original idea.

So, in closing I am going to try to balance everything out. While relationships between guys and girls are VERY important, they can also be dangerous. The good definitely outweighs the bad but I think we still need to be careful. Finally, please...PLEASE don't be standoffish toward people of the other gender but embrace them as brothers and sisters ;)

Thanks for reading and hopefully this jumbled mess of words actually meant something to someone.

Identity

I'm Sorry I haven't posted in a while...I guess I just really didn't have anything worth saying.

Sorry...Switching topics (not like I stayed on that one very long!!), we have recently been doing a study on identity at our church. Our pastor has been walking us through the different ways we form our identity. A couple of them were - Peer identity (which is the main one I want to talk about), family identity, and Spiritual Identity. Like I said I really want to address the peer identity.

My pastor explained it this way - Peer identity is when you are standing in the middle of a circle and getting pounded by snowballs from every direction. The snowballs being thrown at you aren't necessarily clean by any means, but they have all the dirt and sticks and stones packed into them. It's all just one big ball of dirty, snowy, sticky stuff getting thrown at you from every direction....(sorry, that is the best I could explain it)

Now if we think about that for a second that is a very good illustration of peer identity; because in real life we get different ideas thrown at us from every direction. We have ideas being thrown at us from people who aren't christian - ideas being thrown at us from our christian friend - ideas being thrown at us from our older friends - ideas being thrown at us by people that work with (or for)...the list could go on.

What is really important for us to realize is that we tend to embrace different things inside different crowds that we are in; for instance, if we are inside a crowd that dresses a certain way we will probably dress that way when we are around them. If we are in a crowd that talks a certain way, most likely when we are around them, we will talk that same way ect... I think teens of today rely so much on fitting in that they really don't have a real them...do you kinda get what I'm saying? I mean, for me, I have trouble with that all the time. Around certain people, certain music and movies are cool; but around other people, the same movies and music are not so cool anymore.

I have three awesome friends that are really teaching me about this identity principle. They are real. It doesn't matter who they are around: the same music is cool - the same movies are awesome - the same scripture passages are incredible. I have disagreements with one of them ALL THE TIME when it comes to music. I don't really disagree on anything with one of my other friends but her opinions are very original and what's more important......SHE DECIDED WHAT SHE LIKED AND DISLIKED.....I know that sounds radical (maybe it's just me) but they all don't really rely on different peoples opinions. I'm not in any way saying that they are unteachable. In fact quite the opposite is true. The one that I disagree with all the time on music...well I'm the one that first introduced her to some newer Contemporary Christian Music.


Anyway, I think some valuable lessons we can learn from these people are

1. - You really don't have to fit in. ( I mean to a certain degree yes; we are told to be in the world but not of the world)

2. - It's alright to be yourself. (You don't have to be somebody different for each group of friends that you hang out with. It's alright to like what you want to like because you like it.)

and 3. - Still be teachable. ( I have run into so many people that do not rely at all on different peoples opinions but are so unteachable that they really won't associate with you unless you believe what they believe. Please don't be this way - in a way this is worse than being double-faced (figuratively speaking, of course)

I hope this jumbled mess of words has actually made sense to some people...God bless

David L.

Stand in the Rain

If you haven't heard "Stand in the Rain" by Superchick yet, scroll down and listen to it. ( this post will make a lot more sense after you listen to the song!)

Stand in the rain...just that statement in and of itself is powerful. Don't be concerned about getting wet or muddy. Stand Your ground. Don't slip or be overcome by the tempest raging around you like Peter. Never let your eyes wander but keep them focused on Christ and you won't drown. When you fall down be willing to get back up again. Don't let the devil deceive you with the lie that says "Stick to the status quo". Be willing to get out of your comfort zone and move forward. Don't be afraid to cry. Be willing to rely on God for anything and everything. Don't give up. Continue to push toward the high calling of Christ so that you can hear "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Think about that. You were once lost but now you are found. What's lost CAN be found. "I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me!!"

Sorry, hopefully you got something out of all my scatterbrain comments.

God Bless
David

If...

"If today was your last day and tomorrow was to late could you say goodbye to yesterday?" ............wow, that'll make you think. I hope that this video will influence you just as much as it did me. I WILL be trying to live my life as if today was my last day!








This is the first secular song that made it on my top ten list. I was flipping through the radio stations down near us one time and I heard the ending of this song. I started thinking about what this song was saying. I could be killed in a car accident on the way home that evening or get shot in a burglary that night. My mind was flooded with incidents that day that, if I knew I was going to die that day, I never would have even thought about doing or saying. I had been disrespectful to my parents several times, gotten annoyed at my younger sisters, complained about the weather, and gotten ticked off at other drivers. I know for a fact that if today was my last day I would not do any of those things. God can work through anybody including secular artists that use bad topics for most of their songs. I am NOT endorsing nickelback in any way whatsoever.
I pray that you accept the mindset that, in fact, today could be your last day.

God bless,
David

Stars

The other evening my family and I were discussing stars. I brought up the subject because I had just listened to a very powerful song by switchfoot called "Stars". I just wanted to share the song with you. I think if you pay attention to the words over the music you hopefully will understand the depth of what is being said. The stars show me who I really am. The music is a little hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv-5snutHG0

Winterjam - legalism

This past Friday I went to a Winter jam concert ( so totally awesome!!). In case you don't know what that is, it's a concert where between 5-8 christian bands all perform on the same night. I saw Newsboys, Third day, Tenth Avenue North, Fireflight, Sidewalk Prophets,Newsong, and Robert Pierre this year. Anyway, After Tenth Avenue North finished playing one of their songs (I think it was Hold My Heart. Scroll down to the bottom and listen to it from my playlist) The lead singer started talking a little bit about his background. Here's how I remember it.

"I need to be honest with you all tonight. I'm still recovering from growing up inside a christian school. When I was growing up it wasn't about enjoying God and living life for him; it was about being a better christian because if you didn't do such and such you weren't a good christian. It was all about being a "good" christian. All that we tried to do was know more than the other person to where we could prove them wrong if we didn't agree with what they said....

That was really thought provoking for me. I came from a legalistic background also; so it's easy for me to relate to what he was saying. We were to the point that we wouldn't listen to any music besides hymns, my sisters only wore skirts, and it was wrong to eat processed foods of any kind.
We were also judging people that did wear pants, ate processed foods, and listened to contemporary christian music. Now it says in the bible that we are not supposed to judge unless we wanted to be judged ourselves. Our excuse was that we were just stating the truth. It never registered that people didn't ask to hear about what we deemed "truth". I seriously needed to keep my mouth shut and just let other people think differently from me. I was the definition of pride back then. I am still trying to get over that but I do struggle with it on a consistent basis. We left that church because of an insignificant doctrinal difference and started going to a church where the 3 pastors were the definition of humility. I have learned so much and hope to learn a ton more. An encouragement to everybody - stay humble and don't follow my example. Sorry, I kinda got carried away. Hopefully through all my jumbled mess of words you caught something.

Hope this is worth something. - David

Walk

I volunteered today at the "Baptist Home", a local nursing home that houses over 70 residents. I could not help but thinking how blessed We are to have a life. I was joking around with some of the ladies that were there and they asked me to run, jump and do a foot twist thing that I do. I thought nothing of it and went ahead and did it. After I went home it struck me that they wanted me to do it because they can barely walk...my bad most of them walk only with the help of walkers. We are so blessed to be able to have the freedom of being able to walk. I never really thought about it before but that is a huge blessing in and of itself. I will really have to be more grateful about things like that that I take for granted.

Thanks for bareing with my scatterbrain. - David

Lead Me

My friend and I have been trying to learn a little bit of swing dancing lately. She has caught on pretty quick but I'm a little bit slower. Now, the interesting part of swing dancing is that the girl just follows the guy. What I mean is that the girl has no idea what the guy is about ready to do until he does it. There is communication going on the whole time whether it be through looks or the different signals. But, when it comes to my part as the "leader", I tend to become lazy. I often think to myself, "It would be so much easier if she led!!". But, in real life that can't be the case. Guys are called to be leaders. We are called to protect and provide for our families. Not just sit around watching TV and letting our wives run the house. We guys (I'm speaking for myself also) need to take an active role in our families. Married or not. So as an admonition to myself, I'll try to be a better "leader" in dancing. Scratch that. In my whole life.