McDonalds Generation

I myself have grown up eating fast food. I love the taste of a greasy cheeseburger, over salted french fries and a large lemonade. Now you might be asking, lemonade, really??? Yes I try and get one healthy thing a midst my fat free burger and fries. The greatest thing is that no matter what time of day or night, you can drive up to a fast food restaurant and receive your meal with in 5 minutes or less. Options, we have plenty, especially in Texas. If you don't like what you see on one corner, drive a little bit further. There are restaurants on every corner, right next to the all the churches. Patience has been completely wiped away and left the excess salt the napkin could not get rid of. As I pondered this beautiful scripture I was having the hardest time wrapping my head around it. There is no mystery, it's just so darn difficult to do when everything around us says, give it to me now. If you want to look up where the nearest Whataburger is, Google has it! And yes for all you northerners Whataburger is a burger chain in Texas. Think about this for a minute, Philippians 4:6 says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Too many times in my life I have prayed Lord, should I take this new job, while I was sitting in the interview. Or Lord, should I buy this new car, while sitting in the car dealership. We want answers to life's questions, problems and mysteries right now! Our generation has lost what it means to be anxious for nothing! I have a hard time driving in the car with no radio on because my thoughts drive me crazy. I hear so many voices, what I need to do for work, oh I forgot to call Mr. Customer back, I need to follow up with... you fill in the blank. The phrase "silence is deafening" is more than true to me in my life right now. Especially when I am trying to hear clearly the word of the Lord for my life and my family. What do you think Paul meant when he said, Be anxious (do not be worried, have any anxiety about anything) for nothing, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication (definite requests) with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God! Do you think that if we as a generation started to pray about every decision we made the world around us would change? I know from personal experience that if and when I pray and bring my concerns before the Lord, I don't carry around the baggage of stress. The worry of am I going to make my monthly commission quota, how am I going to pay my bills, should my wife go back to work, should I take this new job that requires me to travel more, should I quit my job and move to Africa, well I'm kidding about the Africa piece. But you get my point, what can you lay down at the feet of Jesus that you are carrying around. I really like the way the Amplified version of the bible says verse 7, And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with it's earthly lot of what every sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. When I think of tranquility, I imagine a Japanese garden with rocks and water gently flowing, loud enough to hear the water rushing over the rocks, quiet enough that you have to be next to it to hear. I want you to imagine this, picture your heart, now picture your heart with a wall of protection surrounding it, that wall is as high as the sky and as deep as the ocean, that wall is peace! The God of peace will enter your heart and protect it with his peace when you surrender your anxiety to him in prayer. I want to encourage you this evening as you read this or even in the morning, take a moment to silence the voices that are fighting for you attention. Turn off the radio and tv, turn your cell phone on vibrate and just sit and rest. Let your mind focus on the Lord, let him guard your heart with the peace that truly passes all understanding. I promise you will not be disappointed. With Grace,

Rear View Mirror

Have you ever found yourself starring in your rear view mirror while driving? I spend on average 3 hours a day in the car driving back and forth to the office and running appointments. I realized that I spend a lot of my time looking in the rear view mirror. Constantly I am looking to see what cars are near me, how fast are they going, what kind of car are they driving. I will speed up or slow down to keep someone else from moving forward. All the while not paying as much attention to what is in front of me as behind. As you can imagine this is extremely dangerous. It is important to know and understand your surroundings but not to the extent of not paying attention to what is ahead! The reality is, it's easy to get side tracked by what everyone else is doing, the speed they are going and how they are driving instead of staying your own course.

Have you ever jumped in the fast lane to pass a car that was traveling slower than your desired speed? Upon entering the fast lane you realize a car behind you is going faster than you anticipated, now your accelerating up to an unsafe driving speed to get out of his way. You struggle to move out of the fast lane because your speed is prohibiting you from moving back to the pace you were at before that slow poke got in your way. When you exit the fast lane your heart is racing, hands clenched to the steering wheel and in a place you never wanted to be. Now your checking your rear view mirror to make sure there are no cops chasing you. The only problem is you actually liked driving that fast, the speed made you feel strong. In your heart you know there could be a couple outcomes of driving so fast, maybe nothing happens, you could get a ticket, crash and worst case scenario die. Such is true with sin in our lives. We often times jump into something we just want to try, and it takes us down a path faster and longer than we ever initially intended. The end result could be just a ticket, a small crash or we perish living that life style. All along we just intended to jump in the fast lane to pass one car. Sin is powerful, the end result for all of us that continue to live in sin is death.

During one of my adventures to the office a couple weeks ago the Lord started speaking to me about living in my rear view mirror. Not only was I looking in the rear view mirror of my car, I was living in the rear view mirror of my life. I was focused on my mistakes and short comings, the disappointments and failures instead of the wonderful blessings and successes. I was allowing my short comings to consume me, therefore living a paralyzed life in the past. Knowing well and good that the Lord has accounted for all of my mistakes I have struggled with forgiving myself. It's was easier for me to live in the past then look forward to the wonderful things God has in store for me.

There are a couple scriptures I would like to share about looking back. In Genesis 19:15-17 the story talks about the Lord destroying Sodom and Gomorrah as we read, ["At dawn the next morning the angels became insistent. “Hurry,” they said to Lot. “Take your wife and your two daughters who are here. Get out right now, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the LORD was merciful. When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, “Run for your lives! And don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”] The story goes on to say that Lot's wife did not obey the commands of the Lord and she was destroyed for Looking Back.

I am not saying that you should not ever reflect on your life or enjoy the memories that have been created. What I am saying is don't dwell on the way you use to live, the mistakes you have made or the disappointments that have brought you to your knees. Fix your eyes on the future, the blessings you have right now in your life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Do not let your past control your future, you do not have to live in your rear view mirror. God is powerful, majestic and wonderful, he has designed us to fix our eyes upon him and his beautiful kingdom. When we do this, we receive his power to move forward and write new history. I want to end on this beautiful note, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery but today is a present. Live now in the moment, rejoice and remember these final words, Romans 8:38-39 "And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord." God Bless