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Thursday, January 28, 2010
Which Way Do You Go Which way do you go when you are at a cross road? For quite some time now I have wanted to ask this question. I primarily work with college aged people who are at the time of their life when they have to make a few life changing decisions. They often come to the old proverbial fork-in-the-road. It’s interesting to watch as they navigate through this uncertain time in their life. I’ve seen some go down the right road, but unfortunately, many venture down the wrong road. Do you know what I’m talking about? Have you ever come to a point in your life where you didn’t know which way to go? You are moving along the journey of life and all of a sudden, you come to a spot where you have two directions to choose from. The FORK! And at this fork, it is unclear as to which direction you should take. There are no clear markings that tell you which direction you should take. And, since you have never been down this road before, you can’t rely on past experience to guide you. As well, there doesn’t appear to be any road signs telling which way to go. Have you ever been there? I would imagine right now you are thinking about one of those moments in your life. They don’t happen all the time, but when they do, they are memorable. You know. You have two choices of colleges to attend, which do you pick? Your friends are going on a spring break trip to a fun college destination, but your church is going on a mission trip, what do you do? You feel like God wants you to give a year or two seeking Him in an internship or discipleship program, but you don’t know how you are going to pay for it, what do you do? You met Mr. or Mrs. Right Now and you realize that the relationship isn’t going anywhere, but you enjoy being with them. You know what you need to do but instead you do nothing hoping the decision works itself out. The FORK! I see young people at these crossroads all the time. And I don’t think they understand the importance of the decisions they make during these moments. They don’t realize that the decisions they make early in their life at these crossroads will determine the path they will journey on for the rest of their life. Andy Stanley calls this, The Principle of the Path. The direction you are headed will determine your destination, not your intentions. The fact of the matter is this: You can set yourself up to make good decisions concerning the direction you head in. Even when you find yourself at a particular crossroad that you have never been at before, there are others who have been where you are. And they know which direction you should move in. Although you may not have had certain experiences before or can’t necessarily read the directional signs you see at your crossroad, doesn’t mean someone else can’t navigate you through. They may have the experience to lead you where they have been before. The key is for you to allow other more experienced people to help lead and guide you at these critical times in life. The question then moves from, which direction do you go, to who do you trust to lead you? I have found it best to have spiritually mature mentors in my life all the time. This is especially critical in times when a decision needs to be made that will affect the rest of my life. When you arrive at your fork-in-the-road moment, you need to make the best educated decision that you can. You can have peace of mind on which way to go, but it starts by making sure you allow the right people to speak into your life. Word… P. Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 4:48 PM 0 Comments   Monday, January 11, 2010 I Don't Feel You Anymore Tonight at church the spirit of the Lord was heavy in that place. We have had an Evangelist in who teaches on the power of the Holy Spirit so the past few days have been an emphasis on seeking God. Tonight at the end of the service during the altar time I found myself at the front of the altar praying for myself. Things are going pretty well and I feel like God is alive and well in my life but I wanted to feel him like I used to when I was younger, at camp or youth group or something. My prayer was, “God, I want to feel you like I used to. I want the tingly feeling and goose bumps on the back of my neck like I used to get when you were near.” My prayer was sincere and I prayed it in good faith expecting God to touch me like He used to. After a few short minutes, I heard Him speak to my heart. It wasn’t what I expected and He started with a question. He asked me, “Alex, what are you doing?” I responded in my heart that I was waiting to feel Him all over me like I used to when I was younger. Nothing wrong with that, right? His answer is one that I think is not only for me, but for you too. He said, “You don’t need to feel me when you KNOW that I am with you. You used to get those goose bumps because that’s what you needed at the time, but you have grown past that. You know the truth and the truth is that I told you I will never leave you nor forsake you. So, believe it even if you don’t feel it. Now get up and let your cup overflow by ministering to other people.” WOW! I believe God is saying that to you as well. You don’t need to seek the feelings any longer now that you have the truth! You know God is with you, even when your feelings tell you otherwise. I mean, you know your parents love you even when they have to punish you. You know your best friend is still your homie even though you are busy with life and can’t be around them all the time. You know you love chocolate even though you are on a diet and trying to cut back. Some things you don’t have to feel, because you just know! The same is true for God’s presence in your life. You don’t have to have the goose bumps and tingly feeling that you once had in order to know that God is still with you. All though there is nothing wrong with these types of experiences. But, perhaps God is saying to you, instead of waiting for the hair to stand up on the back of your neck, realize the truth of and go and minister to someone. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. Don’t allow the enemy to tell you anything other than that! Word… P. Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 11:13 PM 0 Comments Wednesday, January 06, 2010 Random Thoughts for 1.6.10 1. I think we all need to make Psalms 141:3-4 our prayer for the day: “Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed. Take away my lust for evil things; don’t let me want to be with sinners, doing what they do, sharing their delicacies.” (Living Bible) 2. What’s up with the frost on the ground this morning?! I had to scrape my windshield with a credit card. On the way to school today, my 2nd oldest, Michael, asks me if I think that Jack Frost is real. I turned the question on him and asked him what he thought. He said, yes because no one else could cover the whole ground with frost except for Jack Frost. I told him that I thought God did that. He quickly informed me that God uses Jack Frost to do it. I was schooled! 3. Avatar was entertaining at best, too long at worst. Definitely not all that it was hyped up to be and all that everyone made it sound like. I was impressed with the graphics, but thought the storyline was “out there” and too far fetched. Australia – now that’s a good movie. Very under-rated, yet a modern day epic movie. That’s a movie you for sure want to check it out. 4. I really appreciate grandparents! Both my mom and Ang’s parents have been down to help out and to visit these past weeks since Katie was born. I wish they all lived closer! They are such a blessing. 5. Relationships are under attack. Pray for your friends, family, spouse and loved ones and then give them a little bit of extra grace. If you want them to return the favor of grace, humble yourself in their eyes. This is hard but definitely worth it!!!! 6. I challenge you to read through the entire Bible this year. If you start now, you would only need to read about 95 verses everyday and you will make it through the whole Bible. Have you ever done it? 7. Now that I have a daughter, my view on dating has changed. Who needs it!?! More to come later. 8. The way I see it, in this world, there are 2 kinds of people. What are they? (Leave you comment below…) That’s all for today. Until next time. Word… P. Alex posted by Pasta' Alex # 9:20 AM 0 Comments |
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