When the world is blocking Christ (Lunar eclipse reflections part 1)

         The world we live in is a dark place. Sometimes it seems like everything around us is determined to block out the light that we so desperately need to see, move, and live. A few weeks ago while watching the Lunar eclipse with my girlfriend, and my dad the Holy Spirit reminded me of a word picture he once gave me for my life. "If Jesus is the Sun, then you are to be like the Moon"  We were made to reflect Christ to the world, designed to take the light we receive from Jesus and shine it into a dark world. For years I have tried to live like that. Doing the best I can to share the light: the love, hope, grace, truth, and blessings Jesus has given me with those I interact with.

        What I noticed during the lunar eclipse is that as the shadow of the earth started to block the moon, part of the moon grew darker. To be real with you, my life has felt like that lately. Between stepping down from ministry, having 2 flat tires in 2 weeks, and feeling disconnected from a community of believers the world has been getting in the way of places I normally looked to see God's light in my life. It seemed as if the world was going to block out the light of the Sun and keep the moon from shining. However when the moon was mostly covered by the earths shadow I noticed it didn't stop glowing it just changed color, it turned red.
 The Earth as big as it is, with all of its distractions, with all of the struggle it can bring with it, can't block out the light of the Sun and that's when I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying to me. He was breathing some life and hope back into me. "No matter how big and dark the world may seem, It can't keep the light of the Son from reaching you." 

        Side note: just like the moon we have a normal light that we shine, but during times of change, stress, and struggle. The light we shine changes, and that's okay. As situations change its okay to change with them, just make sure you keep shining. Even when your light sees dulled, or shifts color, its still a light that needs to be seen. 

        When does the whole world turn their attention to the Moon? During crunch time when it looks like the world should block out the light it reflects that's when people take notice.  No one wrote an article about the moon continuing to shine under normal circumstances. people didn't make the moon shining like normal into news. It's when something unusually happens and when something challenging happens that people take notice. To those of you in the middle of a struggle, feeling like the world is blocking out the light of the Son be encouraged! Nothing can keep you from the Love of God. (Romans 8:39) It might just be that God is going to use the circumstances in your life to refine you, to make changes to the way you reflect his light to the world around you. Also don't worry you're not the only one in the middle of a struggle.

Praying for blessings for ya'll

L.J.

discussion questions:
1. How do you change when life gets hard?
2. How do you keep shinning when life gets hard?
3. What do you do to stay encouraged?

New Year Goals, don't let Failure stop you.

So This year I didn't make any New Year resolutions. "Why not?" you ask. Because I know I will probably fail to keep them and I hate! Hate! HATE! failing. Which is funny considering how often I fail at things, come up short, or fall short of all the expectations I have for my life. The more I thought about how much I hate failing I realized because of my hate or maybe its a fear of failing I've stopped trying as many bold and crazy new things. Some where along the way I think part of me stopped searching to experience more of this wonderful gift of life God gives us because the more I explore and learn and try new things the more I realize how prone to mistakes I am. Every new thing I have ever tried I have messed up at one point or another. Some of them for make for funny stories liked Dropping a motorcycle during a test drive. Some of them have left some scars. Some of them I don't even want to think about. But I've learned for each failure I've moved forward I've learned and grown smarter for the next attempt. I was listening to a podcast from Perry Noble (the link is below) He mentioned how when a baby gets up and takes its first few steps and falls Parents get all kinds of excited, They break out cameras and call it walking, even though its really falling forward. It encouraged me to get up and try some new things and to keep working on some old things. I thought about how far I've come with God even though my walk has had more falls than I care to count. Even if it was only a few steps and a fall forward at a time that's all a Father needs to get exited about his kid taking a few steps. (It's also all you need to march a football down a field for a touch down)

This year instead of Resolutions (lets be real who actually keeps those for long) I decided to add some Goals to this year. Goals: "the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result."  Goals are different than resolutions "a firm decision to do or not to do something." Decisions change and I now how easy it is to loose resolve. A resolution to lose weight doesn't stay the same when faced with a maple bacon doughnut, or birthday brownies. Goals however can stay the same even if you get knocked off track for a bit. I want to move in the direction of the Goal and even just some progress in that direction will be a small win.

So this New year I want to encourage you to make some Goals reach for something new, know that God is walking with you. Know that like the good loving Father that He is God is excited for you to take your new steps even if you stumble and fall He just wants to see you get up and keep trying. He believes in you, and So do I. p.s. Give yourself some Grace we're running a Marathon and not sprint If your still alive you still have a chance to get back up and take another step (I'll be making a post about getting back up soon)

Here are my New years Goals and steps I plan on taking to accomplish them feel free to borrow them:

• Spend more time with God
• Set my morning alarm clock 10 mins earlier to wake up and have more time to pray
• Go to a remote / isolated place once a week to pray
• Sidenote: this has worked for me in the past If you're not wired that way don't feel like your life should look like mine 
• Spend more time in the Word
• Set a devotional on the table where I eat breakfast to star the day in the word.
• p.s. You can get one on your phone, check the bible app.
• Confession: I've never been great at sticking to daily devotionals, pray for me.
• Read More books
• Love / Encourage More People More often.
• Do one unusual act of Love or encouragement each week
• Ask friends to ask you if you've accomplished that each week.
• Get Healthier
• Eat at least one vegetable every day (baby steps)

Here is a Link to that Sermon from Perry Noble its Pretty Good I'd encourage you to check it out:

http://newspring.cc/watch/thejourney/how-to-have-the-best-year-of-your-life-2014