Thirsty Thursday: The Right Mindset
Psalms 1:1-2
Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night
This passage has been one that I put to memory years ago and has been a blessing every time I think about it. David writes about what we are not to do, but he doesn’t leave it at that. It is the state of mind that follows the actions that hits home. “But his delight is in the law of the LORD”.
It is so easy to focus on what NOT to do. When I use this approach I tend to just fill my head with those thoughts even more. This is not what God calls me to. I am to delight in the LORD and meditate on His law day and night. When put into practice it works beautifully because I no longer focus on the bad things I can do. I begin to make a shift to understanding what God has for me. It is an awesome way to spend the day thinking about the things of God, rather then what the devil is tempting me with.
With all that said, it takes a daily reminder for me to continue in this state of mind. It does not mean I am sinless in any way, but it is one step closer to overcoming the sin nature in my body.
Thirsty Thursday: Being a servant
My inspiration for Thirsty Thursday this week comes from my buddy Gene Pensiero. If you have not checked out Jesus is Extravagant you need to. Today he posted an excerpt from a book written by Charles Spurgeon. It was about being a steward.
This resonated with me this week because of what is happening at The Well Community Church. On October 5, 2008 we will be launching The Well at Sunnyside HS. I will be joining an awesome group of STEWARDS that have a passion to serve the people in southeast Fresno. It is in the heart of being a steward that we dive into this opportunity.
With that said I ask for prayer; for the team, the logistics and feelings of inadequatcy. God is bigger then anything we can think up so we just need to trust in the strength that God provides.
Simpsons Are Taking Over The World
Here is the first step. Control currency.
MADRID (Reuters) – A one euro coin has turned up in Spain bearing the face of cartoon couch potato Homer Simpson instead of that of the country’s king, a sweetshop owner told Reuters on Friday.
Jose Martinez was counting the cash in his till in the city of Aviles, northern Spain, when he came across the coin where Homer’s bald head, big eyes and big nose had replaced the serious features of King Juan Carlos.
“The coin must have been done by a professional, the work is impressive,” he told Reuters.
The comical carver had not taken his tools to the other side of the coin displaying the map of Europe. So far, no other coins of the hapless, beer-swilling oaf have been found in circulation.
“I’ve been offered 20 euros for it,” said Martinez.
My Weekend
It started out getting up at 7:45am on a Saturday morning. [I know...what was I thinking] But, some fun times lay ahead of me. My brother and I, jumped into my car and headed up to Hume Lake. On the way we picked up my cousins, Janelle and Cody, and were on our way up the hill. Another cousins family has a cabin up at Hume and they had planned a “Cousins Weekend.”
We arrived shortly after 10:30am to the lovely smells of the pine trees and clean mountain air [what a relief to be out of the valley air]. All in all, there were 11 of us at Hume ready to have a grand ole time just hanging out. After lunch we decided to go on a hike; we chose to hike up to “Little Brown Church.” The majority of the hike was not too bad and then the last 100 yards was a quad burner which seemed like it was going straight up.
We made it to the top, took some pictures of the group and set off on our next mission; GEOCACHING. For those who are not familiar, geocaching is a GPS game of sorts where you get a set of coordinates and look to find the “cache.” These “caches” contain random things people left behind and a log book of all the people that have found it. The one we found had actually been found the day before. It was fun especially with my younger cousins.
Next, we hiked back to the cabin, put on our swim trunks and headed to the lake. The four guys swam in the lake [total about 500 yards] out to some rocks that are just below the water. Looking from the shore it looks like you are walking on water!!
After the swim we decided to play some beach volleyball while in the Olympic spirit! It was here that I saw this guy. He is a pretty cool cat and can play the snot out of the guitar!
The rest of the day we ate some awesome hamburgers and beans, laughed about things we had done as a family and just enjoyed each others company. Oh, and my cousin Cody learn why you don’t go to sleep on the couch at 8:00pm while everybody is still up. Lets just say shaving cream!!
So that was my weekend. It was good times hanging out with my cousins and appreciating the fact that we all get along and can do a fun weekend like this. Pictures to come soon of all the madness once I get the pictures from my cousin.
Go Singalong
If you like Phil Wickham or just good music go download Singalong. Sign up for his newsletter and you get to download the whole album free. Thanks Phil!
I miss Google
There is one thing that I miss about hosting Wide World of Mike on Blogger. That is Google Analytics. WordPress does not allow you to track your stats via analytics which I think is poopie! WordPress stats is OK, but Google is just…well Google; enough said.
Maybe this means I need to switch to a web host so I can feed my Google Analytics hunger once more. Andrew, maybe we can talk about hosting my site?
Thirsty Thursday: Grace
This morning I flipped through my journal and read some entries I wrote when I was in the Dominican Republic last summer. I love looking at past entries periodically because it gives me a pretty clear picture of where I have come from in my walk with Christ. It’s not all peaches and cream, but it allows me to see the seasons God has brought me through.
When I looked through my journal today I noticed a few words that just jumped out at me.
“LET GRACE BE GRACE”
These words struck me today because that is exactly how God intended Grace to work. There is nothing you or I can do to deserve God’s Grace. This concept is so simple yet so profound. A perfect example of this concept is found in John 8, when Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders with the woman caught in the act of adultery.
When the religious leaders bring the woman to Jesus they are trying to trap him into contradicting his testimony or not obeying the law. Jesus starts writing on the ground and then tells the men, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone.” At this the men begin to leave.
After all the men had gone this is Jesus’ response to the woman. “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” The woman answers no. And this is where we see the beauty of Grace that God bestows on us.
“Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin”
Brad Bell taught on this passage a couple weeks ago at The Well Community Church and made me think about that last line Jesus said to the woman. Brad’s response was confusion because God gave this woman Grace and it was never recorded in scripture that she asked for it. There lies the wonder and beauty of Grace.
LET GRACE BE GRACE
“Crappy” Olympic Training
Here is a story from ‘Reuters’. It is from the “Oddly Enough” section of their website. Enjoy!
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Two-time Olympic discus champion Virgilijus Alekna encountered an unusual problem at a final pre-Beijing training session in Lithuania at the weekend — his practice venue was covered in dog poo.
“Dogs were doing what animals usually do, defecating and peeing,” the professional bodyguard told Lithuanian daily Lietuvos zinios after the stadium he was using to train was used for a dog show on Sunday.
“There were lots of dogs and they have left lots of things behind … and nobody even tried to collect them.
“I have no idea how can I train in such conditions … and who would clean the discus after every throw.”
Alekna said he was looking for another training ground, probably in Kaunas, about 100 km from the capital Vilnius.
The 36-year-old won the discus at Sydney in 2000 and Athens four years ago.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
