i got some new blog ideas, but i’m waiting… check it out later today or tommorow.
Archive for July, 2007
MY FIRST….
So my “perfect” record is over… i was jamming driving fast singing “umbrella” when i got pulled over tonight going 63 in a 45 on granada. i saw a car coming fast on me and i thought hey that could be a cop but i didn’t slow down. the cop was like you know you were going that fast? i was like ” ohhh i was????!!!” (def. knew i was) lol he was really nice asked why i was in a hurry i told him i just wanted to get home. he checked my liscence and told me just to slow down cause “that’s the worst getting a ticket a mile from your house.” It pays to be nice i guess plus i have a really good record!! i do think i should have been more honest bout knowing i was speeding though lol
1st day of camp meeting (tim storey)
ok so camp meeting was pretty awesome today (7.29.07). we received an amazing word bout “being like a palm tree” and being “elastic” “not letting things throw off your “momentum”…etc the cool thing is apparently Pastor Raley preached the same sermon idea and used the same verses and everthing last Sunday. So clearly God was trying to get his point across. The night service was unreal!!! Tim preached and it was amazing then he did his thing. he called my dad up and the spirit hit him (sideways), it was awesome. The crazy stuff though came when we all started praisin’ and Pastor Raley told Tim that the anointing was on him strong and that it owuld be impossible to lay hands on every single person…so he had everyone grab their neighbor’s hand and we all got ready. Tim ran down the aisles touching the first two or three people and the whole pew would fall oout in the spirit. when Tim and Randal got to ours they laid hands on me and i shot like a torpedo towards alli and the whole pew went out i think! we were all like WOW and alli was laughing and i was laughing cause she was laughing. Tim ran all the way through then got on stage and for the second to last aisle he had them all hold hands and lift them up and he said “lean foward..now here it comes…” and the whole aisle prolly 100 or more peopel just fell out in the spirit it was insane. he also had the choir hold hands and they went in a wave also. All that was insane but what left me speechless was this little boy walking around the fornt kinda funny… later they showed that he had been wearin’ some kind of plastic leg braces and was able to take them off ad walk around!!! it was incredible!!!!!! he was full of smiles!!!!! then another lady started shoutin’ and i din’t know what had happened till her friend ran behind her holding the lady’s walker cane in the air!!! the lady was shoutin’ and wlaking and dancin’ and marching with no problems where before (as she later told us) she had a lot of troublejust gettin’ around. a lady in 3rd was healed that way too. she came up with a cane and walked away loopy in the spirit dragging her cane behind her lol not needing it to walk anymore. It was awesome to see how God moved i know some of you reading this may think this is crazy or weird but i gaurantee you that God is real and he still is in the miracle working business he never stopped!!!! i really enjoyed the teaching it really made me think and it def. was hittin’ home i really loved how he explained the spirit realm too. “the supernatural is more real than the natural.” “the supernatural goes before the natural.” these two statements were cool. he also when he was praying for people explained how people would fall sideways or one couple made it to a certain spot on stage and fell to their knees he explained “God brought them to their knees so that their family would rise up.” it was crazy stuff!! he would say the lord just touched you or healed you take it and they would fall out and the person next to him. so it was liek God was touchin’ people all around at the same time!! I love the one statement he made bout the heaven’s open and miracles flow and miracles are continually flowing either in or out. he also explained thart when God’s spirit moves it’s like a wave and you have to catch it becasue the next one may not move in the same way. all that kinda made me understand why he will only pray for people for a certain time period. He would say let me move in this for 10 minutes. He was obeying God. He would be like “you feel that wind hitting you?” and it would hit the person and then he would say watch the tape i didn’t even move and he said that a lot like get the tape and watch what i did or like what happened when he would call a specific way the spirit was gonna hit someone. (of course he was saying watch what God did he is very aware and makes it known that it is God and not him) i know this is all over the place but it was incredible and God as time said “refreshed” our congregation and i really needed it. the word and the signs were such an encouragement. Pastor Raley said we had an annointing come over us that would LAST and even in the morning we would still have it present on us. it was crazy awesome. i receive that word Tim spoke bout being burgeon and that the next three years will be amazing and the best we have ever seen. no more debt for a lot of people!!!!
IRONY for my wounds
ok so this is really funny. i just wrote a blog about wounds and scars. i went to do lock up and i brought my dad. while we were locking up i went down a dark hallway and walked over some metal thing in the middle of the path. i finished up and went to come back and caught my toe on it i knew it cut it so i walked back to the light and realized i had a serious situation. i hobbled to the office and tried to stop the bleading but i couldn’t so my dad had to driv eme to the emergency room. it finally stopped on the way there. and i let my mom know who acted like a nurse rather than a mom lol but i lover her she only wanted to help! went in to the emergency room hobbling and had blood all up on my foot and sandal. so the security guy goes “i take it you need to see a doctor” in a sarcastic voice. at tis moment it would have been appropiate to pull a bill engevall’s “here’s your sighn” but given the situation i just wanted help. so the nurse sent me to one lady who asked too many questions who sent me to another who check my blood pressure and asked the pain level from 1-10 i said 1 (BIG MMISTAKE cause now i went down on the priority list) she sent me to another lady who asked a million questions including my religious preference. i said chrsitianity and later said “i didn’t think i was gonna die from my toe” then i sat in the waiting room with blood on my foot and stained blood on my hand for bout 20 minutes or more. finally i get in and a nurse asks some more questions and i waited again for the doctor. finaly the doctor came and looked and said that it was kinda bad only because of the way it cut. the skin was lifted but dind’t come off and was hanging on by a as he called “island” so basically it looked like an air bubble but it wa smy skin. he told us he wasn’t gonna do stitches but i would get a tetnis shot and anti-biotics. i at this point took a pic. he laughed and said “everyone wants to take a picture.” lol so i got proof for when all the pastors say i was a baby for going to the emergency room!!! anyway i learned that if i ever got shot i would be screwed because just getting to the hospital took forever because they detour you all over the place and once in you get sent to everyone and their mother before they will help you all because i said it 1 instead of 10. (i’m gonna blog bout how we treat 10’s before 1’s be looking!!) it was cool though because the doctor’s parents go to Calvary and i think been there for a long time!! so that was pretty cool!!! he was like “that’s a big church.” he also didn’t think my toe was too bad and i was like “that’s nasty/bad” he just said “this is nothing to me.” Sorry i’m random i lost a little blood lol. Oh and the best part was that the nurse had difficulty putting a band aid on because of my webbed toes and that’s ironic because just this week i told someone i didn’t want to get them fixed cause they never casued any problems or bothered me. but the true irony of all this is i blogged bout wounds and scars so i guess God wanted me to really think bout what i wrote lol/ God bless and good night!
examining your wounds
Over the last week i have been thinking about everything that has happened and how i reacted to all of it. When we look at a scar on our body you can usually recall where you were, what happened, and your first reaction to the initial wound. The first reaction will determine whether the wound seals or if it continues to bleed. Your first reaction may also determine the long term visibility of the wound. This is like life. How i reacted to rejection this week was not the proper way. I did my usual wine and complain and make rude comments or jokes at the individual or about them and even dropped some curse words (sorry maybe i’m being to real for all of you perfect people out there). By doing so i allowed the blood to flow from the open wound. The person made a statement that cut deep she simply said “that was really immature” wow what a simple comment but it truly hit home for me. I looked back and realized instead of taking this opportunity to grow and change some things in my life i took it as a another opportunity to cry “poor me why do bad things always happen to me.” Your first reaction to a situation determines the next step and eventually the final outcome (the scar). In life we have scars, pastor Jim Raley preached on this very subject of “revealing your wounds” and it’s true sometimes you do need to allow people to see your wounds. The choice however is NOW when it happens at the very moment how will you react (props to Tomas Greiner his blog about tranquility also inspired this portion). If you seal the wound quickly the scar will be less bothersome to you down the road and you can allow it to be seen. however if you leave the wound open or pick at it (you never let things go, hold grudges, remain bitter) you now will end up with a scar or worse an injury that can disable you and hold you back from things you were meant to do. i leave you with this My mom always told me “don’t burn your bridges” and it’s true. Plus as my brother-in-law always reminds me, “learn to trust and forgive like Christ did.” So next time someone hurts you how will you handle your open wound?
rolling altars
Ok so the title of this blog is pretty literal. I have seen a lot of crazy stuff in the ministry this summer but this might take the prize. we have middle school and highschool youth services on wed. and tonight we had an awesome service in which God really spoke through the youth pastor and it really hit home for me. at the end of the service i see cop cars and so i went to find out what happened. sure enough a 15 year old stole a car. now that sounds crazy but the story is even more insane. we watched video of this kid coming into service…getting saved!!!!! then video of him stealing a purse right form underneath 3 adult’s noses. he then took the keys and cell phone threw the purse to some girls and went outside and stole a car!!!……..Now you may ask why did i tell this story! to be very honest it is funny. but it is probably the most sad story i’ve seen in a while. Imagine being 15 going to church on the bus. and deciding after receiving Jesus in your heart to steal a cell phone and a CAR. One of the pastor’s said “how do you go to the altars and then steal a car?” Think bout this….Stealing a car is no different than any other sin. all sin is equal in the eyes of God. it is all equally just as evil and vile as the other. So how do we go from an altar to steering the wheel of sin. notice i said that we steer. We say “the devil made me…” or “well they did it sooo…” We are in control of a lot more than we think. So how do we hear God’s call to the altar where he offers life… to ignoring that same sweet tender voice when he asks us to sacrifice our flesh and say “no” to something wrong. It’s easy to say yes to a gift but it’s harder to bring your own to the table. Why does God always have to be the one to give when will we learn to be like Jesus and give too? I’ll wrap it up with this i was the one who carried the dvd with the video of this kid stealing the purse to the cop. as i walked with it i thought to myself i am holding this kids future in my hands. I was holding the very thing that would convict him. how often do we as pastors take a second and realize every time we hold a sermon in our hands or heart that we are possibly holding the tool that will convict them but the difference between the dvd and the sermon and bible is that the conviction that comes from those two things is not condemning but liberating!
God’s got it under control
Ok this is gonna be a short one…for those who know me your probably like “yeah right” but for real check this out. Last night before the whole car thief thing lol i was in service and i decided to exclude myself. i sat up in the balcony and just listened to the message. Pastor Al might as well just called me up there and sat and preached to me because everything he said hit home for the kid. but while i was sitting i got a text from my brother-in-law and he asked how i was doing (i had a really rough day) and i told him i was good. i told him i wanted to preach again but that i felt like i wanted to do it to impress cherie also i told him i was scared because i haven’t written a sermon in a long time and i dind’t even know if i could write one again. So i asked him “do you think i should ask” to preach again? he told me “wait let God do it.” So this morning i come into work and the first thing Pastor Jeremy asks me is…hey would you wanna and be able to preach for the young adults? so i immediately said yes and i told him that was a God “thing” It’s exciting and he told me sometime this fall which is even more amazing because i wasn’t expecting to preach again for another year or more. That’s the thing you can expect something But God always has something Better than your highest expectations. as pastor Raley would say “that’ll preach right there.”
a beautiful disaster
Last night @ bout 9pm i just felt like going to the beach. i went out there and some crazy stuff happened. God spoke to me practically audibly. i mean everything was crystal clear. as i sat there people kept walking by with flashlights looking for baby turtles or somehting and i thought to myself can i just get alone?! Then God told me just like you feel now is how it is. He said “i never leave you.” “You are never truly alone.” What an awesome thought to know when God says he will never leave you it is exactly what he said. HE WILL NEVER NEVER NEVER leave you. he is there every second of every day. I began to talk to God in a way i never have. i talked ot Him like my friend. like he was sitting right next to me literally conversing right back to me. I felt bold and asked God, “i know your listening but can you give me a confirmation? (it was very cloudy out) i asked will you open a patch in the sky so i can see some stars? about a minute later there on my left was a huge opening where i could see atleast 6 stars very clearly. i then got bold and thought to myself well how bout you close that spot and prove that was for me. shure enough the storm was moving and over time that spot wasn’t as visible as before. This broke my heart because the God of the Universe was spending time with Me and actually listening and responding to me. Soon i asked God will you show me an angel. i knew it was unfair to ask. so i said well just it would be cool if you could show me something. within minutes lightning was starting off in the ocean. as time went on it got very intense.i relaized that one little lighting show was for me. With all this i began to open up to God. i told him everyhting he already knew but it felt good to talk to him bout it. then i told him i would trust him with a situation and that i would just wait. (i still am not sure but i think he was trying to tell me that the answer wasn’t the one i wanted). I then sang songs of praise and worship. i got up and began to walk back to my car. the phone rang and yeah… i got my heart broken again… my response wasn’t the right one after that. this morning i sit here in pain from getting hurt AGAin i know God wants me to just trust him. He didn’t want me to only trust him before he wanted me to Trust him after the phone call. So i don’t know how i’m going to do it but i’m gonna try to trust Him on this one. Keep me in your prayers.
My First Blog
Hey,
so this is the first offcial blog. i think an appropriate way to start this would be to describe myself and my lifestyle. i’m 19, chillin’ in Central Florida. i go to school in Lakeland, at Southeastern University.i’m studying to become a full time pastor and currently i am interning at Calvary Christian Center under the Youth Pastor(al Force). I am currently single…i like long walks on the beach, i love the “notebook” and i love puppies… lol no i’m j/p but in all seriousness i love God with all my heart and i am trying to discover everyhting He has for me and it is an honor and a privilege for me to share my life with all of you who will take the time to read my blogs and give advice or just get a good laugh at my expense lol. i hope that through blogging i will grow spiritually and i pray that they minister to you and i wanna start them off right by giving God all honor and praise and recognition for anyhting that i type because i live to give him the glory and i step in the shadows as the true light shines forth.
