If you could ask God one question, what would it be?
The first thing that came to my mind was "Do I make you proud?"
This probably reveals a pretty self centered nature but it seemed like a valid question. If I make God proud I must be doing ok....
What would your question be?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
WOW!
Has it really been that long since I've posted my menial and trivial thoughts to the internet.
I'm a slacker and to all both of you that read this, I promise to do better.
I'm a slacker and to all both of you that read this, I promise to do better.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Obama for President....
And I don't know why. This guy makes me believe in his policies and ideals and I don't even know what they are. I don't think if asked I could give you an educated idea of what he stands for.... besides change of course. I'm almost positive this guy could read the menu at Applebee's and I would sit a listen attentively.
The weird part is I like John McCain. Not this guy that has been riding around in this campaign, the other one. You know the McCain that is a little nutty and doesn't spend all his time pandering for votes. Just plain old John "What you see is all there is and all your going to get" McCain.
Anyway. Good luck Obama! I will be cheering for you..... and if anyone can tell me why, I will be that much happier.
The weird part is I like John McCain. Not this guy that has been riding around in this campaign, the other one. You know the McCain that is a little nutty and doesn't spend all his time pandering for votes. Just plain old John "What you see is all there is and all your going to get" McCain.
Anyway. Good luck Obama! I will be cheering for you..... and if anyone can tell me why, I will be that much happier.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Lesson learned
For those that have known me over the last year and one half there is one truth that can be spoken, A LOT has changed in the last year. Now, I know there are some that would take this at face value and this is what this post is about. This goes much deeper than what you can see.
The last year has had its share of ups and downs. I have felt financial pressure like I haven't experienced in the last decade (that is how long I have been in NC). I have been completely changed and challenged spiritually having been saved in March of last year. I have been tested emotionally and blah blah blah.... I could go on here but you should get the point.
The real lesson has kept itself hidden right up until about 5 minutes ago. My small group is getting ready to take a break, maybe for good, and I was thinking about what may be our last meeting. Then *Bam* I get this idea in my head that almost knocks me to the floor. I will give you the end result of this idea first and we will work our way back to it.
"God is all I need"
God gave me this lesson and I will tell you how I know that. I got an idea so big it filled my heart and I couldn't speak it back to myself. Talk about trying to follow greatness. How do you take the thoughts and words of God and make them your own? And, yeah that is an awesome feeling, in case you were wondering.
This last year has shown me a new side of myself. I used to be so caught up in the "ME" before. I was so focused on the new car and the big house and the 6 figure jobs. I wanted success and things that made me seem so great to everyone around me. I wanted to buy happiness. The worst part is I convinced myself that as long as I didn't look down on people that didn't want the same things I wasn't being a jerk and these materialistic qualities were fine.
Over the last year I have faced all the struggles that I mentioned early and yet I never once went without. We always had food, we always had the power on, we always had everything we needed and a bunch of stuff we didn't. We always had each other and God put all these things in my life. He didn't give me a 64 inch plasma or a PS3, instead He put a whole new bunch of people in my life that didn't care if I drove the best car or had the biggest house. They saw something else in me, something bigger, and luckily I started to see the same thing.
I don't want the biggest salary any more. I don't care about having a new car. I don't get to buy everything I come across and it doesn't bother me. I want different things these days. I want to minister to other people so they can have a powerful and meaningful relationship with Jesus. I want to be a better father and a better husband. I want stronger friendships and relationships. I want more things for others than I do for myself. I want to be able to affect peoples lives in a positive and impactful way and the lesson I have been taught in all of this.... God is all I need.
He hasn't let me go without, even during the hardest of times. God has let me stand on him when I needed and let me fall when the time was right. He has done all of this so I would know that He is all I need; and I get it now. I have been given the gift of caring about others and not just caring about what others think. During all of this I haven't needed anything but God. He has placed everything in my life that I had to have during this rebuilding and I know this now looking back.
Thank you to my small group for being there during this time. I love all of you soo much. Your being in my life for the last year has been a blessing and I mean that with all of my heart. You have been more for me then I could tell you, even when you didn't know it. I would also like to say an extra special thank you to Kirsten. Your time has been my gift and I love you! You never gave up on me even when I was at my best being against you and I will have a place in my heart for you for all of my life.
Finally I would like to thank my wife, not because it is what you are supposed to do at the end of something like this. She has always supported me no matter what I wanted to do and no matter how crazy it seemed at the time. She has always believed in me and honestly believed that I could do anything and everything if I wanted it and made me a better person every single step of the way. If you don't have a person like her in your life I feel a great deal of sadness for you!
I will end this with one final thought. Lean on God when you need Him and when you don't. He uses every single opportunity in your life, good and bad, to build you to more than you thought possible..... just ask anyone that knew me a year ago.
The last year has had its share of ups and downs. I have felt financial pressure like I haven't experienced in the last decade (that is how long I have been in NC). I have been completely changed and challenged spiritually having been saved in March of last year. I have been tested emotionally and blah blah blah.... I could go on here but you should get the point.
The real lesson has kept itself hidden right up until about 5 minutes ago. My small group is getting ready to take a break, maybe for good, and I was thinking about what may be our last meeting. Then *Bam* I get this idea in my head that almost knocks me to the floor. I will give you the end result of this idea first and we will work our way back to it.
"God is all I need"
God gave me this lesson and I will tell you how I know that. I got an idea so big it filled my heart and I couldn't speak it back to myself. Talk about trying to follow greatness. How do you take the thoughts and words of God and make them your own? And, yeah that is an awesome feeling, in case you were wondering.
This last year has shown me a new side of myself. I used to be so caught up in the "ME" before. I was so focused on the new car and the big house and the 6 figure jobs. I wanted success and things that made me seem so great to everyone around me. I wanted to buy happiness. The worst part is I convinced myself that as long as I didn't look down on people that didn't want the same things I wasn't being a jerk and these materialistic qualities were fine.
Over the last year I have faced all the struggles that I mentioned early and yet I never once went without. We always had food, we always had the power on, we always had everything we needed and a bunch of stuff we didn't. We always had each other and God put all these things in my life. He didn't give me a 64 inch plasma or a PS3, instead He put a whole new bunch of people in my life that didn't care if I drove the best car or had the biggest house. They saw something else in me, something bigger, and luckily I started to see the same thing.
I don't want the biggest salary any more. I don't care about having a new car. I don't get to buy everything I come across and it doesn't bother me. I want different things these days. I want to minister to other people so they can have a powerful and meaningful relationship with Jesus. I want to be a better father and a better husband. I want stronger friendships and relationships. I want more things for others than I do for myself. I want to be able to affect peoples lives in a positive and impactful way and the lesson I have been taught in all of this.... God is all I need.
He hasn't let me go without, even during the hardest of times. God has let me stand on him when I needed and let me fall when the time was right. He has done all of this so I would know that He is all I need; and I get it now. I have been given the gift of caring about others and not just caring about what others think. During all of this I haven't needed anything but God. He has placed everything in my life that I had to have during this rebuilding and I know this now looking back.
Thank you to my small group for being there during this time. I love all of you soo much. Your being in my life for the last year has been a blessing and I mean that with all of my heart. You have been more for me then I could tell you, even when you didn't know it. I would also like to say an extra special thank you to Kirsten. Your time has been my gift and I love you! You never gave up on me even when I was at my best being against you and I will have a place in my heart for you for all of my life.
Finally I would like to thank my wife, not because it is what you are supposed to do at the end of something like this. She has always supported me no matter what I wanted to do and no matter how crazy it seemed at the time. She has always believed in me and honestly believed that I could do anything and everything if I wanted it and made me a better person every single step of the way. If you don't have a person like her in your life I feel a great deal of sadness for you!
I will end this with one final thought. Lean on God when you need Him and when you don't. He uses every single opportunity in your life, good and bad, to build you to more than you thought possible..... just ask anyone that knew me a year ago.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Mike's Ministry? Pastor Laffey?
That is right boys and girls, I am looking at pursuing a life in ministry. Before the phone calls and emails come drilling in let me lay it out. I'm not quitting my job to join an underground seminary school. I am currently talking to people in my life that I trust about what I believe is a calling from God for my life. (yeah.... I got that one hit on me first thing in the morning on a Wednesday.)
I keep waiting for all the people that knew me 2 years ago when I was a proud atheist / agnostic and to tell me that I'm nuts but NONE of them have. I can't tell if they are being polite or don't want to chance that this really is a calling from God and don't want to answer to Him if they screw it up! ;) I'm looking for any advice or opinions from the people that read this.
And for my few select friends that haven't been to church and loath the idea of religion I already know the stupid answer from you so save it or I will start posting on the net all the embarrassing things I know about you and you know I am a master of Internet traffic if I need to be.
Anyway - I'm really just dropping this out looking for information. Hit me with as much as you would like. Email is 511keyes@gmail.com.
All right boys and girls, I'm tapping out for now. Talk to you soon.
I keep waiting for all the people that knew me 2 years ago when I was a proud atheist / agnostic and to tell me that I'm nuts but NONE of them have. I can't tell if they are being polite or don't want to chance that this really is a calling from God and don't want to answer to Him if they screw it up! ;) I'm looking for any advice or opinions from the people that read this.
And for my few select friends that haven't been to church and loath the idea of religion I already know the stupid answer from you so save it or I will start posting on the net all the embarrassing things I know about you and you know I am a master of Internet traffic if I need to be.
Anyway - I'm really just dropping this out looking for information. Hit me with as much as you would like. Email is 511keyes@gmail.com.
All right boys and girls, I'm tapping out for now. Talk to you soon.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
My cell phone analogy
So this story is kinda long but so what, shut up and read.
I'm driving home from work last week and I see one of those bumper stickers that has that "Know Jesus, Know Peace - No Jesus, No Peace" stuff on it. I kinda laugh because, as the people in my small group will tell you, since I have known Jesus I haven't known much peace. As a matter of good hard fact, this last year of my life has been one of the hardest on recent record. So I kinda scoff at the notion of knowing peace. (just as a sidebar, I'm not discouraged by this lack of peace, I have faith that whatever God is doing with my life is building me for better things.)
I meet with a friend of mine for lunch today (non christian) and I share my little pitty party of a revelation with him. I will script out the remainder of this so you can follow, most of this is paraphrased because I don't remember it verbatim:
Friend "That is because there isn't a God and you are waiting for him to do something in your life instead of doing for yourself"
Me "I'm not waiting for s###, and how are you so sure there is no God"
F "C'mon, really dude. Don't start that"
M "Do you have a cell phone?"
F "Yes"
M "Does it take pictures?"
F "Your point?"
M "How does that work? You know when you open your phone and hit the little button what happens? How does that 'picture' get from that little lens on the front to that screen on the back? If it broke do you know enough about it to fix it?"
F "No"
M "But it happens anyway! Even though with all of your wisdom and everything that you have taken it upon yourself to learn and be an expert with that stupid little phone can still take pictures even though you can't explain it"
This was met with a conversation that quickly devolved into foul language so I will spare you the rest.
My point is this, just because you don't understand something, doesn't make it impossible or improbable. I am willing to bet that 100% of the people reading this couldn't explain how the words I type get sent off through space to the Internet for all the world to read. But none the less, here it is for you to read.
Some of you may say, "Yeah but I can read about that and learn how it works and maybe even how to recreate it". My response when asked why I believe in God is the same. I can read about him and how he works and maybe if I'm good enough even how to recreate what he did. I'm not there yet but I'm working on it. And I'm not going to spend all my time trying to figure out how everything works just so I can use it. I'd rather spend my time loving everything that God has left for us to find.......
I'm driving home from work last week and I see one of those bumper stickers that has that "Know Jesus, Know Peace - No Jesus, No Peace" stuff on it. I kinda laugh because, as the people in my small group will tell you, since I have known Jesus I haven't known much peace. As a matter of good hard fact, this last year of my life has been one of the hardest on recent record. So I kinda scoff at the notion of knowing peace. (just as a sidebar, I'm not discouraged by this lack of peace, I have faith that whatever God is doing with my life is building me for better things.)
I meet with a friend of mine for lunch today (non christian) and I share my little pitty party of a revelation with him. I will script out the remainder of this so you can follow, most of this is paraphrased because I don't remember it verbatim:
Friend "That is because there isn't a God and you are waiting for him to do something in your life instead of doing for yourself"
Me "I'm not waiting for s###, and how are you so sure there is no God"
F "C'mon, really dude. Don't start that"
M "Do you have a cell phone?"
F "Yes"
M "Does it take pictures?"
F "Your point?"
M "How does that work? You know when you open your phone and hit the little button what happens? How does that 'picture' get from that little lens on the front to that screen on the back? If it broke do you know enough about it to fix it?"
F "No"
M "But it happens anyway! Even though with all of your wisdom and everything that you have taken it upon yourself to learn and be an expert with that stupid little phone can still take pictures even though you can't explain it"
This was met with a conversation that quickly devolved into foul language so I will spare you the rest.
My point is this, just because you don't understand something, doesn't make it impossible or improbable. I am willing to bet that 100% of the people reading this couldn't explain how the words I type get sent off through space to the Internet for all the world to read. But none the less, here it is for you to read.
Some of you may say, "Yeah but I can read about that and learn how it works and maybe even how to recreate it". My response when asked why I believe in God is the same. I can read about him and how he works and maybe if I'm good enough even how to recreate what he did. I'm not there yet but I'm working on it. And I'm not going to spend all my time trying to figure out how everything works just so I can use it. I'd rather spend my time loving everything that God has left for us to find.......
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