Archive | November, 2011

Perspective

Last week I wrote a post about gratitude. The topic and thoughts from it have been on my mind ever since. I guess that makes me have a little more of an open heart when it comes to emotional situations.

I don’t watch much TV. The only reason I have cable is so I can watch sports, I could watch any other show online. That said, last night for some reason I watched 60 minutes. They ran a story, that I can’t get out of my head. The visuals, the words, and the emotions are all completely engraved in my mind.

The title of the package was called, Hard Times Generation: Families living in cars.

The post last week about gratitude, really made me extra thankful for the little things we overlook on a daily basis. Water. Food. Having a computer. Our cell phones. Etc.

What about the big things we over look? .. Like our house or our cars. For the majority of us, we have been so blessed to never have to question where we were going to sleep, or if we were going to be safe while we were sleeping.

That’s not the case for everyone.

They featured stories about different families, one family, the main focus of the story – lived in a truck. Let me say that again, they lived out of a flipping TRUCK! The same kind of truck that delivers your favorite snacks to the grocery store, they lived in. A out of work dad and his two children. I have never seen two more positive kids then these two.

Ariel who is 15 makes two quotes in the interview that completely rocked my world.

When talking about what the kids as school think, when they find out the family lives in the truck she replies

It’s not really that much of embarrassment. It’s only life, you do what you need to do right?

Ok seriously? .. Most of us flip out if people think we are dressed weird. These guys live in a van and could give a rip about what you think. They have each other, and are completely focused on school and what is head of them.

They then threw out a staggering statistic that 25% of all kids live in poverty. Wow.

The second thing she says, that will really put this whole post into perspective was ..

Before living in the truck, I would see homeless people and feel so bad for them. Now, living in the truck I see homeless people and think how much better I have it, and want to do everything I can do help them.

Ok, wait a minute. You’re homeless by all meanings of the word, and you look at yourself as blessed over a homeless person, because you live in a truck. Dang.

Think about that for a second, someone that has NOTHING – see’s people that have even less then they do and wants to help. If we could all only grasp that.

My intention for this post isn’t to make you feel bad about what you have, my complete intention is to maybe help put into perspective just how blessed we all are. If you’re reading this right now, you’re blessed. No matter what your situation might look like, you’re blessed.

Really let this topic marinate on your heart during this season of “giving” .. something that might mean nothing to you, could mean the world to someone else. I don’t even know what that looks like for you, but I know for me, I waste a lot. Time. Money. Energy. All to completely useless stuff. It’s time to stop wasting live, and really put it to use.

If you would like to watch the entire interview, you can see it here.

God bless.

Gratitude

Gratitude begins where my sense of entitlement ends.

This is a quote that Steven Furtick used in his message at the NewSpring Leadership Conference back in September. My pastor Pete Wilson, preached the message this past weekend and it hit me just as hard now, as it did then. I thought since it is Thanksgiving Day, that it was the perfect time to do this post.

Open your heart as you think about these things on this Thanksgiving Day, you might become more thankful for things that you completely take for granted.

Psalm 69:30-31 I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns.

  • Gratitude is important to our God so it must be important to us.
  • God is attracted to grateful people.
  • Gratitude turns negative situations around.

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

  • God has a protocol to how he can be approached.
  • Come THANKFUL. Tell God what your thankful for, before you start asking for new things.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

4 Observations of Gratitude:

  1. Gratitude is never invisible or silent. Luke 6:45 - When your grateful, you’ll TELL them and SHOW them. Quit assuming that people know your grateful and tell them! Unexpressed gratitude is a lot opportunity to give God praise.
  2. Gratitude sustains joy and blessing. What a pedalboard is to the sound of a guitar gratitude is to the blessings in your life. Even when your going through a hard time, gratitude brings you back to a better place.
  3. Gratitude begins where my sense of entitlement begins. You can’t be grateful for something you feel entitled to.  Just to be used by God is a blessing. Truth is, God doesn’t need you! Your blessed just to be used by Him. God doesn’t owe us anything, but we owe him everything.
  4. Grateful people can find a blessing, enlarge a blessing, or create a blessing almost any situation. Negative can find a burden, enlarge a burden, or create a burden in almost any situation. Some people are crap factories. No matter what you put in, crap comes out. Don’t complain about a blessing God gave you that you asked for.

Gratitude is not based on how good your situation is but on how good you see your situation.

There are so many things in our life on a daily basis that we all take for complete granted. This message opened my eyes to things that we as Americas feel completely entitled to, that which we should be grateful for. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to pull the “Aren’t you going to finish all your food? .. There are starving kids in Africa.” card. Yet, there are things we expect to be there each day, that other people couldn’t even fathom. We get mad if a computer is slow, if we don’t have cell phone reception, if the restaurant gets our order wrong, and the list goes on. The reality of it is, we have grown so accustomed to these things, we take them for granted.

Those examples were just materialistic things, we could get even more practical and apply this to people. Do you tell/shot people in your life that you really care about just how grateful you are for them? The next for weeks, over this holiday season is the best time to truly tell people how you feel. Refer back to point 1, Gratitude is never invisible or silent. Take some time and truly tell people, it might be the best conversation you and them have all month.

I have so much to be thankful for and this topic has really opened my eyes to so much. I hope all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

You can watch the full message from Steven Furtick here, and Pete Wilson here.

Elevation Worship – For The Honor

If you are not familiar with the guys with Elevation Worship, at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC – you need to be. They are all-stars when it comes to talent, heart, and music creation. The original music that is flowing from the heartbeat of the church is top notch. That said, they are going to be releasing their 4th album on November 21st. This is going to be the first live album they have released, which will also have a DVD option. This is not going to be your typical album release.

They are linking arms with Compassion’s Child Survival Program to help support the women and children in Kamwokya, one of the poorest slums in Kampala, Uganda. Globally, most children don’t reach their 5th birthday because of completely preventable causes such as diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition and they wanted to be a part of changing that in this community. So they will be giving all the proceeds from the album release day away to bring hope through this cause. You can read all the details of the Initiative here: http://www.elevationworship.com/honorcompassion/

I have had the opportunity to listen to the entire album and can personally tell you it is absolutely amazing. So here’s the deal – November 21st, hop on iTunes or where ever you buy music and pickup this album. You’re going to be helping save a childs life and get a rockin’ worship album all at the same time. To give you a little taste of what you expect here is the trailer for the album.

Updated download link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/for-the-honor/id480674085

Here is a link to their blog: www.elevationworship.com | Follow them on twitter: @elevation_wrshp