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Saturday, October 28, 2006
Toughen Up and Live Over the last few weeks I have heard a couple of statements that spoke to me about developing mental toughness. My pastor said to me the other day that as a young man in ministry I needed to develop the "hind of a rhino". At first this statement kind of threw me for a loop, I mean I know that my butt is a little large, although it is proportionate to the size of my body. And why would he want to reference my rump anyway? Then I quickly realized he wasn't speaking literally. He was saying that I needed to develop a thick skin that could endure tests and trials that I would inevitably face in ministry. That hit me smack in the face. The point that he made preceded by the imagery of how thick the skin of rhino is roots this point deep in my mind. A couple of weeks ago I was listening to one of my favorite sports talk radio shows and they were talking about "manning up". This is when men do things that are masculine and strong. Some might take this to be a chauvinistic point of view (I can just see some female readers rolling their eyes as they read this) but, I didn't take it as that at all. In my perspective, there is a definitely a shortage of strong, confident, intelligent men who truly understand what it means to be a man of God. They lack the fortitude and drive to take the leadership in groups, relationships and life in general. This is a problem! Perhaps if these young men would develop the hind end of a rhino and get a little tougher -mentally and spiritually, good things would and could happen. Perhaps then young ladies would follow their lead and be more confident in their relationships and friendships with these men and with people in general. Maybe this would create a cultural and societal change that would benefit mankind in general. Just think, if you and I decide to be a little tougher the world could be a better place. So toughen up and live. Don't let things easily shake you or sway you in the race of life you are running. The Apostle Paul said in the midst of trials and storms that none of these things move me. He didn't say they didn't bother him, but he said they didn't move him. The problems will come, bad things will happen, you will face adversity. But you can deal with it head on and as a result, it doesn't have to move you. You can do it! Pasta' Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 11:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this post   Tuesday, October 24, 2006 How Ugly are You? I recently read the story of the woman washing the feet of Jesus with her tears in Luke 7. I have read this passage many times before but this time something stood out to me. In case you're not familiar with the story, here is the breakdown, brotha'hood style. This woman crashes a party that Jesus was attending with one of the uppity elders of the church. The Bible says that this lady was a stone cold sinner, so you know she had some skeletons in her closet. So she steps up to Jesus and just starts crying all over his feet. She cries so hard that she is able to wash his feet with her tears. Since his feet were all wet, she takes her hair down and starts to dry the bro'mans feet. The host of the party thinks to himself that this woman is whacked and he expects Jesus to check her and put her in her place. But instead, Jesus is straight up taken back by her heart and recognizes she is completely sorry for all her skeletons in the closet, so he forgives her. Jesus then asks the uppity elder a question that we all need to think about. There are two dudes who were down and out and owed money to the pay day loan store at the end of the corner. One guy owes $50,000 and the other $500. Neither one of them can afford to pay it back so the owner tells them not to sweat the loan and they get a pass. Who would appreciate this hook up more? The answer was obvious to the man, as it probably is with most of us. So it is with the scandalous woman who liked to party, she knew the greatness of the gesture that Jesus took to forgive her sins and empty her closet of all the skeletons she had hiding. Because she was forgiven much she showed great love, but the homeboy who is forgiven little will love only a little. How much have you been forgiven? What sins have you committed that you can't afford to pay for? What skeletons do you have in your closet? Do you recognize that all of us have sinned and deserve to die a spiritual death because of our own sin? (Romans 3:23 and 6:23) The truth is we all have skeletons in our closet representing sin in our life. While it's true some people have and will sin more than others, we all are sinners and fall short of God's expectation for us. We are ALL ugly! How ugly are you? Do you recognize the depth of your ugly sinful nature? In order to demonstrate the great love that Jesus is talking about in this passage, you need to recognize that you are a "down and out low down dirty sinner" and you deserve to die and go straight to hell. It's only by God's grace that you can be forgiven of your sins and washed as white as a new pair of fruit of the looms straight out of the package on Christmas day! Recognize your ugliness and accept God's forgiveness so you can show great love. Can you dig it? Word... Pasta' Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 12:34 PM 0 Comments Links to this post Tuesday, October 17, 2006 No Worries Mate A few years ago some of my friends and I went on a ski trip to Whistler Canada. Whistler is a Canadian resort town known for its world famous ski slopes. Although the population of Whistler is just under 10,000 people, over two million people visit Whistler each year. While in Whistler, we ate at a few restaurants with waitresses and waiters who were from Australia. I remember a couple of them responding to the requests we had to change our order with "no worries mate". When I apologized for changing my order they would say; "no worries". When my friend would make a request for extra napkins or chives on the side of his baked potato, they would respond, "no worries". They really made me feel like my request was no big deal, kind of like they were happy to serve me, much obliged that I would grace their restaurant with my presence. I since have learned that this is a part of the Australian culture. They tend to be more care free, willing to accommodate a request, and not prone to get all worked up over little things. This is what my friends who have visited the country come back saying. I often found that after only spending a few days there, my friends tended to adopt the philosophy: "no worries mate". It seems kind of odd though. With all that we have to deal with in life, relationship problems, impending bills, demands of our jobs, and the struggle to fit in, how in the world can we not worry?! Don't the Australian people have jobs? Don't they have debt? Can life be so simple? My friend, this is the way the Lord intended for it to be. The Bible says: "Give your worries to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will never let good people down." - Psalms 55:22 NCV God knows we are going to have problems and he knows we will have a natural tendency to worry about those problems. But, He also invites us to give those problems and the worries to him. We just have to ask him to take our worries away. The writer of James says, "you have not because you ask not". The writer was talking about asking God for wisdom, however, I think it applies to this situation as well. We just need to ask the Lord to take away our worries and he will. But, we also have another major part to play in this process. This scripture in Psalms 55 tells us that "He will never let good people down". This means that we have a responsibility to live a life that is good and pleasing before the Lord. One version of the Bible tells us we need to live a righteous life. When we are doing all that he asks us to do, obeying his commands and striving to please him this is when we are living a life that is righteous. That kind of life can definitely be a life with, "no worries mate". Pasta' Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 8:32 AM 1 Comments Links to this post Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Hateraide Have you ever known anyone who was always jealous of the good fortune of other people? I mean, jealous to the point where they could not be happy for other people who were experiencing success. This is the case with one of my best friends in the world. He's so talented, he's a good musician, talented athlete, smart, good looking, funny, etc. He's got a lot going for him. Yet, his life isn't going the way he thought or wanted it to go. He knows the Lord but hasn't fully sold out to Him and put his trust completely in Him. This has cost him dearly. I once read somewhere that people will reach about 15% of their full potential over the course of their lifetime. Think about this. All the talent and gifts that we have, all the abilities, goals and dreams that are inside of us, the average person will only accomplish or achieve 15% of all this during the course of their lifetime. That's a lot of lost goals and dreams, missed opportunity and a whole lot of failed attempts. When I think of a statement like this, I find it definitely true when it comes to the life of my buddy. So what does he do? He drinks a lot of "hateraide"! He has a tough time celebrating the success of anyone else. He doesn't want to know about the success of others, especially those that he knows or people he is close to. He often criticizes their efforts or downplays the level of success they are having. A young lady we went to college with has gone on to become a national songwriter and musician; she has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and has even been nominated for a few dove awards. This drives him crazy! Why? Our human nature shows its ugly face in the form of jealousy. Although, not all of us experience it to the level of my friend, our competitive drive often causes us to have ill feelings towards those who are doing well, especially those doing better than us. It's a natural human tendency, BUT, it doesn't make it right. The Bible clearly talks about this in Psalms 36:7-8: "Wait and trust the Lord. Don't be upset when others get rich or when someone else's plans succeed. Don't get angry. Don't be upset; it only leads to trouble." In other words, "don't playa' hate, congratulate". Trust God for your success and depend completely on Him. The Bible is full of people who can attest to the fact that, if you remain faithful and committed to God, you will accomplish all He has for you in your life time, no more and no less. So stop drinking that "hateraide" and celebrate the success of others with them. Word... Pasta' Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 2:29 PM 0 Comments Links to this post |
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