The Fork of Life

You’re traveling down the road of life and you come to an intersection. You’re only options are to go left or go right. Continuing straight is no longer an option – it’s barricaded. The detour signs are up and now you have a decision to make. Which way will you choose? Will you go left or go right? When life throws a curveball at you, how will you handle the situation?

When facing trials, I like to find the source of my detour.
Who put this bump in my road?

God often puts bumps along our journey to test our faith. The book of James opens with talks about trials.

James 1:2-4

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers,

whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith

develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work

so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

God puts obstacles along our path to test us. When facing a problem, which way will you choose? He wants to know if you are with Him or not, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. The choice that you make will either make you stronger or break you in half. Will you focus your eyes on Him and trust in His plan or try and do things on your own?

When I look at hardships in my life, I see them as a positive thing. God is trying to mold me into the person that He wants me to become. He really is testing me to see if I have what it takes to become great and make a difference for Him. If I choose the other path and fail the test, He can always go elsewhere and find someone who can.

The Devil also throws roadblocks in our way as we travel down the path of life.

James 1:13

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’

For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.”

Temptations, therefore, come from the Devil. Matthew 4 has the account of the Devil trying to tempt Jesus with sin. Imagine fasting, not eating, for 40 days. I don’t know about you but I would be really hungry. The Devil saw this as an opportunity to tempt Jesus with food. “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread (4:3).” Jesus, however, resisted his temptations. He actually tells the Devil to leave.

Jesus had a decision to make amidst the temptation. Should he eat some food and fall into the temptation or trust in God’s plan and provision? Make or break situation. Obviously, Jesus did not succumb to the temptation because we know that He lived a perfect, sinless life. But how do you handle the Devil’s temptations? Do you ponder them? Do you dive in head first? Or do you flee and run the other direction?

Ps. 25:15

“My eyes are ever on the Lord,
For only He will release my feet from the snare.”

Lastly, how many times do we bring trouble and strife into our own lives? Out of my laziness, I put off fixing my headlight and chose to drive around with only one and risk the ticket. Thank God that didn’t happen.

In looking at our own lives, how many problems do we bring on ourselves? Skipping our time in the Bible or in prayer – the friends that we choose to have – the places that we choose to go – don’t you think these things could become a hindrance?

By sticking yourself in these bad spots, you make it very simple for the Devil. I can see him looking at us and thinking, “This is too easy. I don’t even have to do anything. They do it to themselves.” We have a hard enough time fighting through temptations, so why bring troubles on ourselves?

When problems come, realize the source. Is this sent from God, the Devil or did I do this to myself? And when you find yourself amidst the trial, focus your eyes on God and let Him guide and direct you. He wants to make you, not break you.

FOCUS ON YOUR TEMPTATION – YOU STUMBLE
FOCUS ON GOD – YOUR TEMPTATIONS TUMBLE

Was Joseph ever called Jesus' baby daddy?

In this season of Christmas, I like to watch Christmas movies. Without snow and sometimes rather warm weather, the only thing that gets me in the mood is shopping and movies. I have compiled a list of movies that I would like to see before Christmas arrives. If you have any good ones, please share them with me.

-Elf
-It's A Wonderful Life
-Santa Clause
-Home Alone 1 & 2
-Family Man
-The Grinch
-Fred Claus
-Christmas with the Kranks
-Charlie Brown Christmas
-Jingle All The Way
-The Nativity Story
-ABC Family Christmas movie

No Re2grets

The intramural football season at UCF was coming to a quick end. All season long, The Franchise, had fought hard; not only in the games but against both the refs and administrators. We were a hated team. Nobody liked us. We had something to prove. We wanted to win.

The playoffs had begun and we easily had advanced through the first couple rounds. Our semifinal showdown was set for Pi Kappa Alpha, aka Pike. All the practices, hard work and game plans would be put to the test. We had our work cut out for us. However, we did feel confident. The motivation of playing a frat team was fuel enough. They were what we wanted. A frat team has a swagger like they are the best thing that has ever happened to this planet. Not only did we want to prove something to the UCF staff, we wanted to show those frat boys what we could do.

All these events were taking place during the month of November but to get a clearer understanding, we need to venture back to the summer of that year. My mom likes to make vacation plans early like most people do. She asked if I would like to visit my cousin in NYC and without hesitation, I said yes. Who would pass on a trip to the Big Apple in November? As great as Florida is, it’s nice to see the fall colors, feel the cold wind rip through your clothes and be in a big city full of mass chaos and excitement. Little did I know when I signed up that this vacation would start the same day as our football game.

Herein likes the conflict. What should I do? My team needed me. It wasn’t like I was the back-up punter and had a little role on the team. I was the QB - The one that touched the ball every play - The one that the offense ran through. I made the decisions - Who got the ball and how it would get there. They needed me there. They needed their leader.

I loved sports and I loved both playing and winning with The Franchise. It brought so much happiness and joy. I’d like to say that I really weighed my options and thought about it but I’d be lying if I said that. I was going to NYC and I was hoping my team would pull of a victory in my absence.

My flight left on a Thursday afternoon in Tampa and the big game was later that day in Orlando. I remember flying into La Guardia, dropping off our stuff and heading down to eat at the ESPN Zone. My buddy called me later while I was in the middle of Times Square to share the news with me. We had lost and it was ugly. I felt bad. My team needed me. As much as I can sit here and sulk in the lost and the people that I let down that day, I have no regrets about it. As I’ve told them once and Ill say it again – I would do it again if I had too.

Certain things in life you have to do – no matter what the cost. It’s a now or never thing. You get one shot. One chance to experience it. Who knows when God will shut the door and leave you questioning - I wonder what would have happened if…

**we had many more semifinal appearances and many more shots at frat teams of which we never lost another game**

Ba1ck In The Day

Ah, childhood memories. The good old days as we often call them. How we wish we could just go back to being a kid again.

Freedom - No worries – Just live and have fun

Memories from my childhood:
Hitting a baseball over my house and onto the street when I was 2 - Scoring the winning touchdown in a make believe game of football with my grandpas - Summer vacations to Indiana - Playing hide and seek with my grandparents at the park - Playing playground kickball with Mr. Mills - Traveling all over Florida to play soccer - Ski trips to Tennessee and Colorado

All my memories involve either sports or my family. Sometimes both. Everything else is fuzzy. I really can’t remember things outside of these areas from days in middle or high school. I don’t know if I erased them from my memory or they are just tucked way back and I can’t seem to find them. Does anyone else have this problem?

Why is it that good memories from our past are so alive and vivid in our head that we could retrace each and every step from that particular moment? I could replay a soccer game in Orange Park when I was ten like it happened this morning. Or relive sitting in a hot tub while it was snowing with my family in Tennessee. Good stuff is so easy to remember.

The dark things in our past however– the things we wish we never were a part of – where do they go? Does God take them from us so we don’t have to live in that hurt and pain anymore? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that I had this terrible childhood or awful school experience. There were some things that I’m glad that I can’t remember any longer. I just want to know why. Where did all those things go?

As Psalm 103:12 says,
“As far as the east is from the west,
so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
He removes all of our sins the moment that we accept His free gift of eternal life. Does this count for all the bad memories? Does God wipe those all away too?

It almost seems like God is putting us one step closer to the glory and magnificence that we will see one day when we step foot into Heaven. Heaven, like our childhood, is a place of freedom - no worries - just live and have fun. I couldn’t think of anything more fun than hanging with God. I’ll still be able to score touchdowns, play hide and seek and go skiing. Now He is the one throwing the touchdowns, hiding from me and sitting with me on the ski lift. How cool.

Back from that bunny trail and to the question – where does all the pain go? I actually want to believe that God takes it all away. He took it all on the cross. All my sin. All my past. Why wouldn't He take all my hurt and pain? Why do you think He suffered so much?

Cake and ice cream - YUM!

Mitch: Yo Steve, what’s going on? You going to be in town for Bible study on Wednesday night? We’re having a special guest, maybe Pastor Jeff or someone like that.

SteveO: I don’t know, Ill try to be there.

Yea that’s what I told SteveO the other day. I was ready for Bible study and I was telling everyone about it, including my family. I had no idea who it was going to be. I just knew it was going to be fun.

Wednesday night rolled around and I went to church as usual. The plans were all set. I was going to go Routman’s house and then go pester some girls at Starbucks. I got to the house and saw no cars in the driveway which was weird. It wasnt't until I got to the door that I realized something was going on. I heard a lot of talking – girls talking – which is not allowed at Men’s Bible study. I walked in the door and SURPRISE! What a cool thing to do.

I hate being the center of attention. I think a lot of people do, but surprises are great. All your friends go through all that trouble to keep it quiet, make sure you don’t know and throw a good party. It makes you feel special. It celebrates all the friendships that you have. All the people that you care about and likewise care about you are there to have fun, laugh and of course EAT. So at the end of the night spending time with my friends is always better than listening to some special guest.

I thank you all for a great night. It was a lot of fun. Just remember, though, that you have a birthday coming soon too. Don’t think I’ll forget about it. So be ready for a big SURPRISE!

Listen to The Box…

Ok, so lately I have been doing a lot of work with kids. This ranges from coaching the junior high golf team, substitute teaching for the elementary kids, helping out at the middle school group and coaching church league soccer teams. I love working with the kids but they can be a humongous pain sometimes. They don’t listen. They are kids so what can you expect. We were all kids at one point. Some of us are still kids but that’s beside the point. No matter what you do they just won’t listen.

You raise your voice and they get louder.
You threaten them but they aren’t scared.
You split them up but they’ll find someone else to make trouble with.
You make them run but they don’t care, practice will still be over at 6:30.
You tell them to stop doing something and they listen for about 5 minutes and then start it again.

Kids just don’t listen. That’s why I had to get some advice from a friend. He created The Box. I use this whenever I substitute teach and it works pretty good. Its like a time-out without putting the kids in the corner. I draw a box on the board and obviously title it THE BOX. Any kid that is out of line throughout the class will get their name put in The Box. I then explain that you do not want your name in The Box or you will be dealt with when the teacher gets back. Scary, isn’t it?

Once a kid gets put in The Box, you now have their attention. If they are quiet the rest of class, they will get their name removed from The Box. If they are still being a distraction, their name will remain and they will face the consequences.

Oftentimes in our own lives, we don’t listen. We go through the busyness of our own lives and never stop and listen. How many times have we missed hearing something because we were talking, we were doing something else or we weren’t expecting to have to listen? Our ears weren’t open.

We have three options as we go throughout life.

1. Clear our mind, open our ears and listen to God.
2. Get put in The Box where He will have our attention or Else.
3. Not listen at all; become deaf.

I wouldn't encourage the third option.
It’s not until we actually make Him our primary focus that we can actually hear what He is trying to speak to us. Sometimes I don't listen. I get put in The Box and that’s uncomfortable. It’s no fun to be in time-out.

You can’t play,
You can’t talk,
You can’t live.

When I get put in time-out, it’s a place where it’s just me and God. One on One with Him. He talks and I listen. I can choose to not listen but why would I want to do that? He knows everything about me. He knows what I’m going to do tomorrow, what I did yesterday and what I’m going to do when I finish writing this blog. A time-out with God then isn’t such a bad thing but you still have the option to not listen. Why be stuck in time-out when you can always be in that relationship outside of The Box?

Don’t make God put you in The Box to get your attention. Let Him have your attention all the time. It’s what He desires.

He talks and I listen – I talk and He listens. It's a good relationship.

Game night has been moved to Monday afternoon

Let’s have a little fun. I learned about the game Mad Gab a couple weeks ago and was completely stumped. That’s not a normal thing to happen to Mr. IQ (see Indian Rocks yearbook 2001). Back to Mad Gab – it is a game where you read the words from a card and your teammate has to figure out what you are saying. We played that you had a minute to guess as many as you could. Sometimes we would get 3 or 4, sometimes 6 and then the occasional goose egg. They get tough alright! Here are some examples:

Jewelry Robbers – Julia Roberts
He Sledge Her – Heath Ledger

Not too hard right? Well I have gathered a list of 15 Mad Gab clues for you to take a stab at. The answers will be in the comments section of the blog. No cheating! Good luck with them and let me know how you do.

1. May Cuss Suck Jest Chin
2. Gnome Ore Deers
3. Weigh Cup Toothy Fax
4. Dawned Hutch Mi
5. Mash Who Sun Tide
6. Date Roy Pea Stuns
7. Who Why Inn Sir Fur
8. Toe Beam Hack Wire
9. Lie Finch Urine Spa Less He
10. Hairy Putter Randy Saucer Is Tone
11. Up Arrow Tin Issues
12. Hype Bleed Dinner Scen
13. Hefty Chew Fit Swear Hit
14. Bick Ma Nun Cam Puss
15. Wide Own Shoe Seamy Hen Amour

More Mad Gab fun online - http://www.playmadgabonline.com/

SWM seeking SWF

This is a fictitious opening question. Please do not think my best friend has a girlfriend or is even close to having one. Don’t hate me for saying that weave.

Why does my best friend have a girlfriend and I can’t even get a date? Don’t worry, you’ll find one soon. The right one will eventually come around. These are common responses. Do you know this for sure? Am I magically going to meet the girl of my dreams one day or are you just saying that to make me feel better so you can go have fun with your girlfriend? I do appreciate the positive attitude about my situation but let’s be honest with ourselves – we have no idea when, where, who or how so why bother acting like you do.

There has been a lot of talk lately about relationships.

Who’s dating who?
Who likes who?
Who’s pregnant? JK

My eyes were opened up this very week about the simple, little things that girls talk about and even sometimes worry about. Everybody wants to settle down, get married, have kids and share a life with someone special. Everybody! (Maybe not the kid’s part, but you do want to spend your life with someone). Sounds simple enough right?

Your Mission should you choose to accept it, Inspector Gadget – find one single, yes I said single, guy or girl to spend your entire life with.

How hard can it be? We oftentimes make it hard on ourselves. We make excuses. Bad excuses.

Well what if she doesn’t like me like that?
Why would she like me? Why not so and so?
What if the timing isn’t right?
What excuse is she going to throw at me?
What's her history?
What if she’s a psycho that I don’t know about?

Everybody needs a relationship. Guys want it just as bad as girls, although we sometimes don’t admit that or act like it. But we do desire relationships too.

This leads me into my main thought. I believe you only need one good relationship to work and that is your relationship with God. The other day I was asked why I didn’t have a girlfriend which was a fair question. My response was something like I’m just working on my relationship with God. I probably tried to say something sarcastic like I’m just hanging with God, I don’t know. You get the point. My friend thought that was a good excuse but it was the truth. If I can’t get my relationship with Him right, how the heck am I going to get one with a girl right? You girls are…I won’t even go there. Haha

When we were first created, we were created in the perfection of God. We had everything we could possibly have imagined until Adam and Eve messed it up. Thanks guys. We became disconnected at that point. Nowadays, when a baby like you or me is born, what is the first thing we do? We cry. We come to life and we have immediate feelings of disconnection.

We need someone to love us.
We need someone to take care of us.
We need someone to nurture us.
We need someone to be there with us.
We need someone to be there for us.

We go through life searching and searching for that love - whether it's in drugs, sex, alcohol, money, possessions, multiple relationships - but it always seems to slip through our grasp and we can never fully taste or feel the true love that we need.

This whole time that we’ve been searching, there has been someone sitting and waiting patiently for us to call on Him and get that true love that we most desperately need.

Some have it and need to fine-tune it.
Some have it but need to continue to work on it.
Some need it but haven’t found it yet.
Some just don’t want it.

Whatever your case may be, everyone needs that love. I John 4:8 says, “…God is love.” If you’re running from God and searching for love, you’ll never find it. You can’t go away from God and expect to find love. It just doesn’t work that way. If God is love, you have to go to Him for it. The relationship with Him is the only relationship we need.

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”

He knows all. He has a plan for each one of us. He has someone picked out for you already. Someone that will perfectly complement the person you already are. Scary I know. I strive to continually work and improve my relationship with God, because I know he has a purpose and a plan for my life. In the event that a woman gets sent my way – awesome – but if not, I know that I have the true love of the Father, always.

For all the USF fans...

I had to put this picture up for the girls. I hope you can actually make it past the picture and into the good stuff.

This is for all the USF fans out there. I’ll admit that I like seeing you guys win. It hasn’t happened much but it is a good thing to be part of a winning community. Saying that I am anxiously awaiting the War on I-4 showdown on October 13th when UCF rolls into town. Should be a great game.

Anyways, let’s get to the point. The past couple of weeks I have noticed the USF fans with this hand motion. The one like Matthew McConaughey and Mack Brown are doing in the above picture. PLEASE STOP DOING IT. The University of Texas has been doing this for years. In fact, they have been doing it since 1955. If you want to read more about the tradition that someone is already doing – go here.

I love that USF is winning. Keep on doing it. It brings excitement and electricity to Tampa. However, in between classes and partying think of some other hand motion to call your own. Don’t steal Texas’ long standing tradition.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

I spend my Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons on the golf course. How lucky right? I am very lucky to do that but more importantly, it is who I am with. Accompanying me on the course are 11 junior high golfers. Some of these kids have never played golf before and some have been playing their whole lives and it shows.

After warming up on the putting green, the kids come over for their usual pep talk. This is when I get real nasty with them, tell them everything they do wrong, everything they need to work on and what’s going to happen if they don’t fix it. I wish I did that. It might spark a little fire under them. Instead we talk and joke around and just enjoy the company of each other. We then proceed to the tee box where I tell them who will be on who’s team. They love finding out who they get to play with and who they get to possibly beat that day.

Before we get going for the day of golf, I always ask one of the kids to pray. I wish you could be there to listen to some of their prayers. They are so innocent and to the point.

“Please don’t let us get struck by lightning today.”

“Please don’t let us get hit by a golf ball or a golf club.”

“Please don’t let us hit our balls in the water and let us play good.”

“Please don’t let us get mad if we don’t do good.”

My kids are great. When they say these prayers, they truly mean them. They say it with their whole heart knowing that they will be taken care of by God. Sometimes we pray things but don’t necessarily believe they will happen or ever come true. Or we pray and we aren’t specific with our prayers. Learn from my boys – be specific and believe because God does hear them and He will take care of it.

The Boxing Match that I didnt want to fight...

I know that everyone has those days that just suck. Well I had one of those on Monday. So take a minute and step into the ring with me...

Round 1 – Me vs. the Alarm Clock

5.45 am and all I hear is the stupid alarm clock making noise. Not something that I or my body wanted to hear. I had to live up to my word and keep my promise that I would be at the gym at 6. What was I thinking??

Round 1 WINNER – ME

Round 2 – Me vs. My Contacts

Just like me, my contacts do not like early mornings. All they want to do is stay in their case and “sleep” longer. I don’t think they have ever seen 5.45 in the morning before so I think I caught them off guard with this one.

Round 2 WINNER – My contacts

Round 3 – Me vs. My Office

Compliance meeting from 9-2. Wonderful! This isn’t your normal sit and listen to your manager and interact meeting. This is a listen to monotone man on the computer for 3 hours and then discuss it for the next 2 hours. Definitely not my cup of tea. And to top it off, I’ve already been up for 3 and a half hours before the 9 am meeting even started. This equals me being tired.

Round 3 WINNER – My Office

Round 4 – Me vs. 2 pm

Like I just mentioned my meeting lasted until 2. I, however, had to be at Indian Rocks at 2 to get everything together for our golf match in Bradenton. Before I go any farther, I was unaware that I would be traveling down to Bradenton for the match. I didn’t think I was allowed to drive, which by the end of this blog you will understand why I wished I didnt drive. Anyways, I got to school at 2.30 and everything was together by 3.

Round 4 WINNER – 2 p.m.

Round 5 – Me vs. Ironwood Golf Course

I left the school in a hurry without any clue as to how to get to my destination. Luckily, I called a couple people and got directions to the place and made it just in time for the match.

Round 5 WINNER – Me

Round 6 – Me vs. Rain

We got to the golf course right on time, as well as did the rain. It was a downpour. I thought great, Ill get to go back home. Their coach had other plans. He wanted to wait it out. We ended up waiting an hour and fifteen minutes before it stopped raining. The course was now obviously covered in water. Not your ideal conditions to play golf in.

Round 6 WINNER – Rain

Round 7– Me vs. My Dry Cleaned Suit

Nothing like getting back dry cleaned clothes. So fresh and so clean. Since I wasn’t aware that I would be driving my team to the golf match, I didn’t bring a change of clothes and didn’t have time to run home and grab any. Due to the weather conditions, I definitely was not going to win this one. Therefore, the dry cleaned suit wins by default.

Round 7 WINNER – My Dry Cleaned Suit

Round 8 – Me vs. Bradenton St. Stephens

We lost. Simple Enough.

Round 8 WINNER – Bradenton St. Stephens

Round 9 was cancelled because I was crying in a corner. JK, I actually cant count right and forget about number 9. Oops!


Round 10 – Me vs. Food

I hadn’t eaten since 12 noon. I was starving at 8 when we left the golf course and so were my kids. I told everyone we would stop at McDonalds and they were excited. Only problem was that only one of the seven kids had money. That is a big problem when you are going to buy food.

Round 10 WINNER – Draw

Round 11 – Me vs. The Cops

We all know who wins when you’re up against the cops. Just to let everyone in on the story. We had just got into the car and I was driving across a bridge which had a speed limit of 50. After crossing the bridge, the speed limit drops to 30. That’s a big drop. Anyways, I was talking to the kids about things we need to work on and really wasn’t paying attention. I was driving but really not watching my speed. Big mistake in a different city. I came flying through the 30 mph zone only to get pulled over. Lucky me!

Round 11 WINNER – The Cops, they almost knocked me out

Round 12 – Me vs. Cable Box

I look forward to two things on Monday nights. EE and Prison Break. I did catch the end of EE which was exciting. However, I missed Prison Break. That’s the good thing about DVR. I can do stuff and still catch the shows I like. The only thing that you need to DVR something is a cable box and power. Last night, we didn’t have power. Therefore, there is no Prison Break. Based on the day, I should have just known.

Round 12 WINNER – Cable Box


Let’s go back through and look at the scorecard. I won 2 1/2 rounds and lost the other 8 1/2 so it’s pretty safe to say that I lost this fight. The good news is that there will be other fights and there will be other days.

Things to learn from my day:
1. Don’t go into a fight unprepared
2. Expect the unexpected
3. Turn the bad into good, somehow
4. The devil will throw anything and everything at you to get your focus off of God
5. PRAY

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

How does an onion cry?

This past weekend in church, we talked about loving one another. What a yucky subject to talk about. Pastor Ray gave us a list of about 30 verses that had the words one another in them. Things like love one another - forgive one another - encourage one another. Some friends, after pointing out the ones I needed work on, decided to challenge me to blog about one of the verses. I picked Galatians 5:26 which talks about not provoking one another. Simple enough right??

I did a little research on my new buddy, provoke. In the NIV translation, provoke is found 42 times in the Old Testament. Most of those 42 times, the verses are talking about the Israelites provoking the Lord to anger. Here are just a couple examples:

Psalm 106:29 - They provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

2 Kings 17:11 - At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the LORD had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the LORD to anger.

Jeremiah 25:6 - Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you."

Ezekiel 8:17 - He said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!

As you can see, they were always provoking the Lord to anger.

As I said earlier, I did some research on provoke. Provoke has 2 different meanings. One of them is to anger, which I just talked about.
Some common other uses of that meaning:
annoy
bother
bug
enrage
incite
infuriate
irritate
madden
nag
offend
upset.
The use of this word, provoke, leads to very violent emotions. Typically when you infuriate someone or offend someone, it doesn’t lead to good things.

However, the other meaning of the word, provoke, is completely different from the first - to start. To start? Hmm. What does that mean?
awaken
begin
challenge
electrify
elicit
evoke
excite
generate
inspire
kindle
motivate
pique
promote
rally
rouse
stimulate
stir.
All things that will make you think. Here are some Biblical examples:

Hebrews 10:24 - And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

Luke 11:53 - And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things.

How could one word have such different meanings? One is to stir up anger and the other is to get people to start thinking. Let’s look at one more word – provocation. Provocation means an act that causes a response. This is truly what provoke means. Whether is stirs up a feeling or gets someone to think, it still leads to a response. One way or another, if you provoke someone, you will get a reaction.

-provoke (or incite) a fight
-provoke (or evoke) laughter

Whichever way you look at the word, provoke, it will lead to something. The Bible talks about the word in the context of anger. You definitely don’t want to provoke someone to anger but rather provoke someone to start thinking and be different.

Jokes are a good example of provoking someone. We can go overboard with our jokes -
Yo mama's so fat she makes Free Willy look like a goldfish.
If someone told me that joke and actually meant it, I would be mad. I would get angry and probably follow up with a joke myself. One that goes like this -
Yo mama's so fat she fell in love and broke it
- or -
Yo mama's so ugly she made an onion cry!
You get the point. Yo mama is fat and ugly. Just kidding. If you say those things and mean them, you provoke the person to anger.

Point being – first, watch what you say – second, whats the attitude of your heart? – third, if you think you messed up, ask for forgiveness – fourth, have fun and live – finally, provoke people to think rather than anger.

Are you a NERD like Me?

Candy – the first thought that pops into my head is yummy. I couldn’t get enough candy as a kid. I absolutely loved Sour Patch Kids and Skittles. I also loved getting to go to 7-11 after school. I felt like I just hit the jackpot. What could be better? No more school and now I get candy.

The other day I got a phone call from let’s call her Belle (picture the girl from Beauty and the Beast). Well Belle was having some troubles so I went down to help. When I got there, Belle was eating NERDS. Nerds are another one of those candies that I love. I think the only candy I don’t like is black licorice. I don’t know why but it’s kinda gross. Back to the story – I hadn’t had Nerds in such a long time so I needed to fix that. She offered so I took a few. I couldn’t say no because you can’t say no to someone who offers you food (and candy is food).

Between handfuls of Nerds, Dairy Queen was brought up. One of my favorite things about going to Indianapolis every summer was Dairy Queen. I would always get a Nerd Blizzard. So much sugar and ice cream and even more sugar. Great for a little kid like me. This brought up the NEED and Ill say definite need to get a DQ Nerd Blizzard. What a brilliant idea. Go back to the glory days of being young and free and our only worries were getting our homework done and video game time.

The DQ Nerd Blizzard event took place tonight after church. Dairy Queen doesn’t do the Nerd Blizzard anymore which is a shame. After tonight, I can understand why. We stopped and picked up a Jumbo size box of Nerds. Took the box into DQ and kindly asked them to make some for us. The first mistake was having them put half the box of Nerds into each Blizzard. There were so many Nerds in them. The second mistake was ordering a Medium size. Like I said, there were so many Nerds in them. It looked like it was a box of Nerds with a little bit of ice cream in my cup. Oops!

I don’t know what happened between the time that I was 10 and now but I don’t like all that sugar anymore. I ate probably ¾ of the cup and my stomach was so sick feeling. I could just picture my stomach down there looking up at me saying I hate you for doing this to me. Why would you ever think you could handle that much sugar? You aren’t 10 years old anymore.

As much as I love the Nerd Blizzard, I think it should go into retirement just as it has at Dairy Queen. There is just way too much sugar and I honestly can’t handle it. So thank you Dairy Queen for all the great memories with the Nerd Blizzard.

Take this verse however you like.
Ps. 107:18
- “They loathed all food, and drew near the gates of death.”

All the Small Things

Matthew 5:14 – “You are the light of the world.”

Every Wednesday morning while in elementary school, I prayed to become a Christian. I was the type of person that prayed the prayer every time it was offered. I liked what they said and I wanted to follow who they were talking about. However, my true day of salvation that I marked it down as was at children’s camp when I was 7 years old. I don’t remember the exact day but I do remember vividly praying the prayer, walking down the aisle and being escorted into the back rooms. What a great day.

At the age of 7, you can’t really get into too much trouble. I know everyone is born into sin but what can you really do at 7?
Steal a crayon.
Write on the walls.
Then lie about it and blame it on your sister.
It’s not like your going to be involved in drinking, drugs and sex at such a young age like so many people in our world today. This brings me to my question…

What would it be like to live in the life of an unbeliever for one day and how would they view Christians??

My struggle is how much impact do I have on the world.
Does a simple handshake and how are you doing mean anything?
Does a smile really brighten up a total stranger’s day?
Is praying over my food noticed?
Does my attitude reflect Jesus Christ and is it visible?
What kind of impact does carrying your Bible into work really have?

Do non-Christians really see these things and what do they think? If I were to pray for my food, do they look at me differently? Will they watch me the next time to make sure I do it again? Will they watch my actions; listen to my conversation as I eat dinner? What do they really think?

Being saved at 7 has its ups and downs. I don’t really have that ugly past sin life like others have. You know the ones that can tell you how bad their life was and then God’s grace was poured into their life and completely turned them around. Parts of me wish I could have a testimony like that but we are all the same. We were all sinners, lost in this darkened world and had a choice to make. No matter what our past, we had a choice that very moment. Do we follow God or the ways of this world? If you chose God, it doesn’t matter what our past is like – God wipes it all away in His forgiveness. His doing on the cross freed us from our pasts.

Getting back to the main question – what impact do these “little things” have on the world? A friend of mine the other day said that in her days as an unbeliever, those things really did add up. The smiles and hello how are you, really do mean things in the lives of unbelievers. Back in my UCF days, I went to listen to a speaker named Mark Cahill. If you haven’t read his book, One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven, you need to. It’s great. Anyways, Mark was talking about planting seeds. A smile, a hello, a prayer – these are all things that can plant seeds. It gets the person thinking. They begin to wonder what is so different about him than the rest of the world. As Pastor Ray put it on Sunday, we need to be the light of the world. We need to attract people to us and shed some light on the darkness.

I wish I could spend a day as an unbeliever. Be able to walk around and see the world in view of their eyes. See how the Christians treat them. See how much love is truly given to them. Feel the loneliness of this world. Feel what it is like to have no hope and no joy.

You know the old saying, I wish you could walk in my shoes for a day – well I wish I could….

Cook me something woman...

Totally kidding about the title. That wouldnt be a servant. That would be a slave. Anyways....

Busy – (adj,) – full of or characterized by activity

As I sit here in the wee hours of the morning, I am thinking about the schedule that I have somehow gotten myself into. Everybody likes to be doing something because boredom for me puts me to sleep. Obviously busyness keeps me out of trouble but it also can get me tired. I think the point of those couple of sentences is that no matter what I do, whether I’m bored or busy, I’m still going to be tired. Busyness = fun. That’s why I like the busy schedule.

Starting tomorrow, my schedule will look as follows:

Saturdays - Coaching 2 soccer teams in the morning
Country church @ Indian Rocks

Sundays - Transport elementary kids @ Indian Rocks
Encounter @ Indian Rocks

Mondays - Work (yes I do that)
Evangelism Explosion

Tuesdays - Work
Junior High Golf practice @ Indian Rocks
97 West @ Davis Island

Wednesdays - Work
JH Golf practice @ Indian Rocks
Mid-week service @ Indian Rocks

Mens Bible Study

Thursdays - Work
JH Golf practice @ Indian Rocks
Soccer practice @ Indian Rocks

Fridays - Work
The Spot @ Indian Rocks

I’m sure I forgot some things in there but oh well. Clearly there is hardly anytime for me to go to the gym or even eat for that matter. Some would say you’re crazy for trying to do that much stuff. I love it. It keeps me, one, out of trouble and, two, it is a great opportunity to change kid’s lives and my own.

Matthew 11:28 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

God calls us to have a servant’s heart. With the proper attitude and motivation, I know for certain that I will not grow weary and I can find rest in the arms of the Lord.

Malnourished friends and anorexic marshmallows

This goes out to all those people that like to be sarcastic but know that sometimes there is a fine line that we often dance around.

So I have been blessed with a group of friends that enjoy being sarcastic. I mean who doesn’t like to be sarcastic? If you can’t joke around and have fun, then what the heck are you doing? As much fun as it is to be sarcastic and joke around, sometimes it can get ugly and down right mean. With one of my malnourished friends, we joke around so much with each other that we had to make a deal that we would never take it personal. We, as people, joke around to have fun. You always heard, or at least I always did, the only reason you make fun of people is to make yourself feel better. Blah Blah Blah. I do it to have fun, because I know the moment I say something, its coming right back at me. Usually, it comes back even harder. And this game goes on for quite some time. Either we get tired of it or have nothing left to say. At this point, it’s time to reload the ammo and start it all over again. It’s a fun game. Try it sometime.

Now that you know the rules and the way the game is played, let me dive into the real matter. It all starts with a comment and then snowballs from there. One comment or one sarcastic remark can blow up into something huge. Like I said earlier about “the deal”, my friend and I aren’t supposed to take anything personal. However, sometimes it feels like I’ve gone too far. I know you’ve done it before where you have said something and then immediately wanted to take it back. Unfortunately we can’t do that. I know my friend knows that I am only joking but sometimes you never know. A smile covers up a lot of stuff. What if that was a touchy subject for the person or what if you’ve said something so much that they actually start to believe that it’s true. I know that if I said you smelt bad, you probably would laugh it off but what if I said it all the time. You would start to wonder.

My point is that sometimes we as individuals can get carried away. We honestly can’t know everything about everybody. Certain people will be more affected by things we say than others. Obviously we never want to cross the line in our joking around. We dance around it and trust the other person doesn’t actually take us seriously. My hope is that I never cross that line. I mean, we are here to have fun, enjoy life and eat as many anorexic marshmallows as possible. We don’t need to be hurtful with our fun. We laugh at each other but in the end, we just want to be laughing together.

Live for the MOMENT

Lions, Rocks and Strawberries - What do they all have in common??

Ever feel like you’re just running and you can’t stop and take a break?
Life is moving so fast that you just need a time-out.
You need a vacation, a day off.
You need a day to simply smell the roses.

Let’s say I give you a plane ticket. (You can pay me back later)
The airplane will take you to an altitude of 38,000 feet.
Then you will be asked to look down.
The ground is your life.

What does the snapshot of your life look like?
What is going on in your life?
What is keeping you busy?

Think about your life for a second.
Are you so involved with work that you don’t have time to have any fun?
Are you so involved with yourself that you don’t let anyone in to get to know you?
Or are you so involved with Christians that you miss the people crying out for help that are right in front of you?
We get so involved with the everyday busyness of life that we oftentimes miss opportunities that God places in our lives. That brings me to my story.

Imagine you are running.
You ask what am I running from.
There are humungous lions running after you!
There is absolutely no way you are going to outrun these lions.
They are way too fast for you.
And face it, you aren’t much of a runner anyways.
Luckily for you, there is a cliff ahead with a rope on it.
You make it to the cliff.
You grab a hold of the rope and slide down to avoid the lions.
Phew! That was close. The lions were right there.
You begin to wonder, what the heck am I going to do now?
You look up and the lions are ready to devour you.
You look down and there are gigantic, jagged rocks just waiting for you.
They aren’t trying to kill you but they will if you fall.
What do you do?
Do you climb back up the rope and face the lions?
Or do you let go and let the rocks win?

Think about it...

Neither.
You look directly in front of you and eat the strawberry that God has placed on that cliff for you to enjoy at that very moment.

Life is full of worries and distractions, busyness and boredom.
Stop looking back and dwelling on the past lions in your life.
Don’t look forward at the rocks that may exist.

Take advantage of the things that God places in your life each and everyday.
Make a difference NOW.

Eat the strawberry and seize the opportunity.

Long Live the Quirks

Quirks are fun and I figured that they have to live forever. I think they are so good that they are going to be my first blog so Enjoy!

-I always brush my teeth the same way. I start with the bottom left move to the top left and then to the top right and then the bottom right. I conclude with the middle and can’t forget about the tongue.


-If you are a passenger in my car, your seat has to be in the right location, meaning out of sight with the corner of my eye. The last thing that I want to do is be able to see you when I’m driving.


-I feel that if I miss the beginning of a sporting event, say a Bucs game, and then they lose, it’s my fault. So all I ask is to be there for the opening kickoff or the first pitch.


-I have a fascination with airports. I would be more than happy to work at an airport whether at the ticketing booth or at the Burger King or at the duty free shop. I don’t know why but I like airports.


-I cannot and will not eat mashed potatoes. I hate them. However, I love French fries, baked potatoes and hash browns.


-Immediately after I open the car door to get out, I lock the doors. Oftentimes this isn’t good for the passengers.


-When I go to the beach, I always have to put suntan lotion on my face before I leave in fear that if I did it in public, I may miss a spot. Obviously it wouldn’t be a good thing to walk around with a white blob of suntan lotion on your face.


-My fan has to be on full blast at night or it is difficult to fall asleep. That or if there is no fan, it has to be cold in the room.


-Ever since I’ve been back from Kazakhstan, I’ve had this fear that someone is standing at the door and he is watching me. So everytime I walk through the house, I have to look at the door and make sure there is no one there. Also if I see the door is unlocked, I have to go and lock it.


-I like to pick boogers and eat them. JK. I actually like to flick them. Kidding again. Ever get that urge to punch someone in the face? Well I know this isn’t Christ-like but I get that urge often especially with stupid people or people that are cocky. I cannot stand them, but they have nothing to worry about because I would never do that. It would be both fun and funny though.


-I love toothpicks. If I see a toothpick in a restaurant, I grab one and play with it for quite some time.


-I love grass. In between plays of a football game, I will grab a piece of grass and play with it in my mouth. I know that sounds gross because of the insecticides and poop, but it takes my mind off the game and keeps me busy.


-Finally, as much as I like sports, I do not own a football or soccer ball. Weird huh?