Things I've Learned.

As I walked to go get my breakfast and coffee this morning, my mind started wander and I just got to thinking about things that I have learned or observed about my life over the past month or so and thus it became the inspiration for this post.

I have really missed Texas Country music and I have been more than happy to set Randy Rogers as my Pandora station.

Poopie diapers are not as bad as I thought they were ... September 19^th, 2012 is a day that will go down in the record books as the day I first changed a diaper with #2 in it thanks to Luke Phillips.

Coffee without Splenda and flavored creamer doesn’t taste good … I don’t care if it ends up destroying my insides … It’s the only way I can drink it.

Fall may be my favorite season ... The weather outside is amazing and the leaves will start to change in a couple of weeks!

I love skyping my sister and nephew ... It brightens up my day to hear “DANGER!” said over the computer by an almost 2 year old. 

My parents were right … I am supposed to be a teacher. I really enjoy teaching. I wasn’t nervous while I taught, but while I stood up to speak it felt like a really safe and peaceful place for me to be.

I have a messed up back ...  I went to the chiropractor finally and its never good when you lay on your stomach and when the dr looks at your back and says “Oh this isn’t good.” So I get to make the trip to go see her a couple of times a week for a while to try and fix me.

I don’t think I am going to grow out of my kid phase of life ... I have two large Styrofoam cut outs of Thor and Ironman in my room and I may or may not give them high-fives or fist bumps when I walk by them.

I love going to the top of the climbing wall at camp to look at God’s creation in order to remind myself how small I really am.

I never knew that a simple game of Ping Pong, or “Table Tennis” for you more refined individuals, could brighten up my day ... Another staff member and I are keeping a tally sheet of all the games we have played and as of today through 5 weeks of games I am up 36-18. I am doing research to try to find a tournament to play in somewhere in North Carolina.

My beard is weak but my mustache is strong. 

Layin 'em down.

So I teach two lectures on the book of Acts starting Friday and then again on Monday and it has been a battle to study and prepare for those 6 hours. If I am going to be honest I have to tell you that the past month has been a battle. For the past month I feel like I have just fought with God on everything in my life right now. Whenever there was a decision that needed to be made what I wanted to do was the complete opposite from what I felt like God wanted me to do. When I made the choice to do what I wanted, there was peace for a minute until God reminded me that I was supposed to take a right instead of the left. When I made a choice to do what I felt like God had asked me to do, there wasn’t any peace at all because it wasn’t want I wanted and I was upset about that. For the past month there have been tears shed, frustrations and times of prayer where I have just been honest with God about how frustrated I am with him. The past month has left me tired, mad and out of it mentally. I am sure that I haven’t been much fun to be around.

It wasn’t until I started studying the movement of the Holy Spirit and the preaching by the apostles within the book of Acts for my lecture that I figured out why this month has been so hard. It’s been so hard because the expectations I had for my life don’t match up with the reality. This revelation came to me as I was looking at Acts 1:6-8 which says, ⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In these verses Jesus’ disciples are asking him when the Kingdom is going to be restored to Israel and as they do this they are thinking it is going to be something very physical. They are expecting the Romans to be overthrown, kicked out of the nation of Israel and that the Messiah will reign as king and leader of the people. This is what the disciples were looking for and what they were expecting, but that is not what the Messiah’s kingdom was going to look like. His kingdom was something very different. It was spiritual not physical and the enemy was sin and not the Romans. But since this was their focus, Jesus responds by telling them that they are not to worry about the fulfillment of their expectations, but instead they should lay down those expectations and be ready to do what God has placed before them to do. And for the apostles it was to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel of Jesus throughout the Roman Empire and facilitate the starting of the church. (I am one who is pretty happy they obeyed)

These verses hit me like a dump truck because I was in the apostles’ shoes. I was hanging on to expectations for what I thought was going to happen in my life and wasn’t willing to come to grips with where I was and what that God has asked me to do. For the past month God has been challenging me to lay down my expectations and then destroying things when I wouldn’t and try to take matters into my own hands. It’s been so rough because I haven’t wanted to give in. Finally God broke through in a way that I understood … he spoke into my Bible-nerdness. He has asked me to lay down my expectations and follow him. He has asked me to not worry about desires in my heart, but to trust him and focus on the task that is before me and that task is being present and active within the community at the ESBS.

I know that he is a loving God that I can trust with everything and I know that is true because … Well he is in charge of everything. I know that this is a time where I can grow in my trust and dependence of him. And so I guess Jesus this is me laying ‘em down as best I know how. In the deepest part of my heart I really don’t want what I want out of life, but I want what you have for me. I know that it might not look conventional or glorious, but that’s ok. I know where you are leading me is for your glory and not my own, and that is what I truly desire. I want to see you exalted and I want to see your name proclaimed. I want my happiness to be found in doing what you have asked me to do. I trust you and I was to be obedient. 

Friends.

This past weekend I had the privilege of being a groomsman in my friend Clint Bonn’s wedding. Clint and I met my sophomore year at Texas A&M and have been friends ever since. He is a good man that pushes me in my pursuit of Christ.

As I drove back to Houston from San Antonio, I thought about friendships and thought about the friends that I have been blessed with. Throughout my life, from elementary school to present day, I have made some awesome friends. I feel like every major developmental time in my life has included friends that have helped me walk through that. I am so thankful for the friends that I have because they are there to challenge and encourage me when I need it, they are there to listen to me when I need to process and of course they are always ready to have some fun no matter what the situation is.

The friends that God has put in my life are truly a gift from him. I feel completely blessed by all of you and I thank you for your friendship and investment in my life. I want you to know that you are an important part of my life and I don’t take your friendship for granted. I hope that I have and will be able to continue to encourage you they way that you have encouraged me.