A Little Reflection
As I sit here at Panera in Valencia, CA I am feeling a little reflective and writing things down usually helps me process those thoughts. There are a few things that are on my mind right now so here goes nothing.
For those of you that don’t follow me on twitter or facebook it might be news to you that I was in a car accident last week. I am still feeling the effects of that through soreness and tightness in my shoulders/neck. But I am happy to be alive and not seriously injured. Here is my quick recap of that event.
I was driving northbound on HWY 99 near Kingsburg when a big rig cut right in front of me. I slammed my brakes swerved to the left to avoid it where I then lost control of my vehicle. I hit the guard rail in the median and then spun back out into northbound traffic where I did a 180 and then hit the guard rail again and came to a stop.
As I reflect on this event I feel blessed and protected by a good God that spared me from more serious injury. I also have a lot more respect for race car drivers. My accident was at 70 mph and it hurt pretty bad. I am not really looking forward to being on the road as much as I am going to be this next month, but I am asking for God’s peace and safety while traveling.
The second thing on my mind is my wonderful girlfriend Amy. Entering into this travel season for work is bittersweet because I will not get to see her [outside of a webcam] for most of October. All sulking aside, it has been nearly 3 months of us dating and it has truly been a joy. I know that I am still in the honeymoon stage where all things are good and my blinders are still on, but I am excited what the future holds for us. I have really done my best [with a lot of God's help of course] to be the leader of our relationship and keep the lines of communication open. This is something I really have to be intentional about and I am still growing in being a leader. We have had “the talks” about boundaries and what that will look like in our relationship and I love the freedom that God gives when those boundaries are clear and honored.
Oddly enough Amy is not really a sports person; she is athletic and likes the outdoors, but not your traditional sports fan [ie baseball, football, basketball]. For those of you that know me just a little bit know that I am a big sports person. For me, March is the most wonderful time of the year! This has been an interesting learning experience for both of us to understand and work within these differences. I have always thought my girlfriend would NEED to be a sports person, but this has worked pretty well. She keeps me honest so I don’t spend every waking hour involved with watching/reading/thinking sports, but she still allows me to get my fill. We went to a few Grizzlies games with Zach and Jeanette and also went to the FSU/BSU game last week with Luke and Jenn. I contend she goes to the games to talk with the girls, but I enjoy spending the time with her still 
We both share a common interest in hiking/camping so that has been fun to enjoy with her. I also introduced her to disc golf which she seemed to enjoy…or maybe she is just a real good faker.
Another big thing in relationships are families. From hanging out with Amy’s family I can see that she has been raised in a loving and Godly family. I enjoy spending time with them and building those relationships. I also really love the way Amy enjoys spending time with my family. This has always been a high priority item on my list and Amy passes with flying colors!
Well if you have made it to this point I commend you…this started out as a quick reflection that led to a half novel so thanks for reading. Comments are welcomed as well!
Mike
Intercessory Prayer
1 Timothy 2: 5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
When I read 1 Tim 2 I just read right over this verse. This morning as I met one of my good friends Jason, and we were walking through this chapter. He has a background in mediation and brought up something really cool about this verse.
Paraphrase: “In a mediation you always want the person that is leading to have equal/greater amounts of power as the highest person involved. This is so that person has the power to call anyone out in the room.”
With this focus in mind he related how Jesus, who is our mediator to God, is in the middle, but is at the same level as God. I just thought that was such a cool imagery of intercessory prayer.
I was encouraged this morning to really take time to intercede for others in prayer. Not just in tough times, but even when times are good to be praying for others.
Pray For The Rumley’s
Today is the memorial service for Tyler Rumley; Jerrod and Jen Rumley’s 5 month old son. I know the Rumley family would greatly appreciate all your prayers especially today as they say goodbye.
However, in this time of grieving with the Rumley’s I am thankful that we serve a gracious God. I know that the service today will be filled with the love of family and friends and will glorify our God. It is not easy to find joy in these moments, but it is only through Christ Jesus that we can find joy knowing that little Tyler is in heaven for eternity!
I challenge you to visit their website as well, www.therumleys.com
You will read the words of a dad that is deeply saddened, but steadfast in the love of Christ.
With this said I just urge you to pray!
In My Head
this is one of those quick thought posts. a passage that has been in my head for about the last week is from ps 1.
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.
back in my junior year of college this passage really challenged me to take a look at where my priorities and such were. i feel God trying to put this on my heart for that reason. so if you see me around ask me about it.
also i have some big plans that i am trying to process through. it is a big life change that i am not sure if i am ready to make yet. but at the same time it would be a great life change. more on this to come as i continue to process.
Unintentional
Today I had lunch with a friend I met about a year and a half ago. I met him through my girlfriend at the time and I am glad I did. When we first met it was an instant friendship and it has grown from there. It just made me think how thankful I am of people that I don’t meet intentionally. I have quite a few friends of friends that I have had the pleasure of getting to know.
Back to my first thought, we had lunch and just talked about life. Neither of us had many answers, but we were able to just listen to each other and share experiences.
The take away point to this is, be aware of those people that you wouldn’t meet “intentionally” because they can spur great relationships.
Oh and one last personal plug….if anyone has a friend [that is a girl] I could unintentionally meet I am down! :)
The Well Talks: Addiction
Continuing on my post from last week about The Well Talks series I wanted to reflect on this week. The message was stellar and I would really encourage everyone to take a listen. You can download the message from The Well Community website or from iTunes. [this week wasn't online when I posted so be patient]
This week the message was on addiction. For me it was definitely a good shot in the gut because it pulled back the curtain on the issue of addiction. In that light I write this post with a honest vulnerability.
Addiction was defined as “an unhealthy attachment to anything/anyone”. Right there it kicks some doors down in my life.
The “unhealthy attachment” that I continue to struggle with is sexual purity or plain and simply put, porn. It is not something I am proud of but I have allowed it to lingere and when looked at honestly is a “comfort food” in my life. It has surfaced when I am prideful and think I can overcome it on my own. Obviously this is not the case and I am thankful to have some great guys around me that I can confide in.
Something else I appreciated was a look at addiction from a neurological point of view. Paul Mavrogeorge is a Marriage and Family Therapist at Link Care in Fresno and was one of our experts on the subject. He described what happens in the human brain when we find pleasure in anything from worshiping at church to finding it through an addiction. The brain deceivers all of those experiences as the same and when we stimulate that part of the brain it needs more over time for our body to feel the same level of pleasure. This concept was very good to hear explained. It really challenged me to think about where I am finding pleasure and focus on how I can adjust those habits.
All in all it was summed up at life group this morning as we talked through the topic of addiction.
1. Grace is a gift and is totally sufficient [Ephesians 2: 1-10]
2. Humble Yourself
3. Obey
4. Be motivated by love
The Well Talks: Economy/Finances
So this last Sunday The Well started a new 3 week series called “The Well Talks”. This a really cool concept that will cover the economy/finances, addiction and relationships. As you have guessed this week was on the economy. This really hit home and made me think for a few key reasons.
1. Where is my heart when it comes to giving?
2. Mad me think about my attitude and priorities in the area of giving.
3. Is debt bad? This was a great discussion at life group this morning. We came to the conclusion that there can be “good” debt, but that same debt can be bad if it is controlling you. As a society we really need to look at debt from a biblical perspective. Check out “The Ripple” - This is The Well’s sermon discussion guide.
4. Finally, this was just a good kick in the butt to really take a good look at my finances. Not only that, but to re-evaluate the role that God has in my finances.
I would love to hear your thoughts about this.
Positive Post Tuesday: SE
Today I believe to be my first venture into “Positive Post Tuesday”. So here it goes. I first want to make a disclaimer and say that this post will be centered around “The Well”, but it will most likely jump around quite a bit.
I have had the pleasure being a part of the launch team for The Well’s South East Campus. We started a campus at Sunnyside High School about 5 months ago and it has been a joy. The team that was assembled for this task is stellar and has really put 110% into everything they do. I has been a lot of work without really getting a break, but that pales [not sure if this is the correct spelling/usage, but you know what I mean] in comparison to the stories that have come out in the last 5 months. There are really too many people to list, but I want to highlight just a few.
First is the campus pastor, Dave Obwald. Dave is the figurative glue that has held all our crazy personalities/ideas together. In his “harmonizing” way he has guided this leadership team well!
The second is the engineering team. Obwald asked me to lead this team when we started SE. I was really nervous/lacking confidence at this task, but my team has been stellar. This team consists of Corbin, Dave W, Joel, Max, Art. As part of the engineering team, these guys were asked to come early and stay late. It has been awesome to get to know each of them and just get to serve the church alongside them.
Last note. I have been really blessed by the message the past months. We are going through the book of John and have gone through the death and resurrection the last few weeks. Brad and the teaching team have really brought the book of John to life in ways that I have not really thought of before. And the beauty of the Word is even if you hear it through video teaching [this is the setup at SE] or live, the message of Christ stays the same!
A Blogging Habit
So for a while I was fairly consistent in posting to this lackluster blog. That was about 6 months ago. Since, I have been averaging about 2 posts a month.
Oddly enough there seems to be a correlation between blogging and my thoughts being a little straighter. I have kinda slacked off on journaling as well so those thoughts in my head have just been swirling with no way to get out.
I light of all that I am going to attempt a rebirth of my blog. I am definitely the type of person that benefits greatly from writing my thoughts on a page. I feel that I can articulate those swirling thoughts in a way that I might not still understand them, but they are viewable none the less; which helps in the processing of those thoughts.
So be looking forward to a bit more consistency, but I will never reach the dedi-blogging status [there is no good way to mix dedication and blogging] of these two guys. GUY 1 and GUY 2.
Conviction
Have you ever had those times where you heard a message or just were reminded about something you need to try and make right? Well I had one of those moments this morning. I was sitting in college hour at Fresno Pacific and this week is relationship emphasis week. [ok now is your chance to make all your jokes about Christian Colleges and ring by spring] OK with that behind us we can move forward. It was a guest speaker, and I can’t tell you her name, but the things she said brought about that feeling of something is not right.
Since my last relationship ended over 6 months ago I feel I have “gotten over it”. I was the one that broke it off and it was not the smoothest of all break ups. Lets just say it was one of those situations that was not mutual. I knew at the time that it was the right thing to do, but it didn’t make the fact of the matter any easier. So this brings me to my current state.
I am definitely a people person and I have thankfully been able to have friendships post relationship with a few ex’s. Obviously this has happened over time, but it is nice not to feel any resentment against those friends. Unfortunately, I don’t get the feeling that there is a want for any friendship on her end. This is my dilemma/frustration. I want to be considerate to her feelings and space, but at the same time I don’t want to just sit and do nothing which I might regret. After this mornings message I am feeling the need to reach out and try to take a step closer to having a friendship.
This is my conviction right now that I am wrestling with. A verse that I was reminded of this morning was Proverbs 16:9 — “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”. My thoughts on this are; this is so easy to read, yet so hard to live.
