Month: March 2021

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Celebrate on the Way to Your Dreams

The beauty of the sunset caught my eyes tonight like most nights. We picked out or I should say God picked out a house for us that faces west. It faces the coastal mountains here in the Umpqua Valley of Oregon. On these spring days the sunset is just breathtaking. God created the world saying, “It is good.” I feel that today. After a day of creating, God gives his stamp of approval. He lays out a beauty at the end of the day just to show off a little. God celebrated every day and every work. I struggle to do the same. Often, I miss what is good that God has done through me. I walk in false humility, “Nothing good to see here.” How do you celebrate on the way to your dreams?

Seeing What’s Wrong

I see what is broken or morphed and totally miss out on the good that God has created all around me. He is good and the works of His hands are good. He has given us good works to do. It is not a sin to acknowledge that. The question becomes, how do we honor what God has done instead of wallowing in our self-righteous false humility?

You are Holy

As the sun sets while I am typing, I just want to tell you good job. You have done well and you are more prized than you give yourself credit for. God loves you and knit you together in a certain way for such a time as this. You are not an accident or malformity. You are a righteous son or daughter of the King because of what He has done and not because of our works. It’s okay to celebrate on the way to your dreams.

I miss this beauty in-between the sunrise and the sunset. I can get trapped by the low, gray clouds or burnt by the scorching sun, easily swayed by the world around me. If you aren’t, well props to you. This man is swayed, and I have found that a few things remind me of my identity in Christ and keep me on the center line of Christ and His Glory.

List of Your Identity Helps to Celebrate on the Way to Your dreams

I must keep a list of my identity in Christ. I have to say the words out loud because I often feel like the opposite of what He has said I am when I trust Him with my life. Write a list of the areas you have the strongest doubt. Neal T. Anderson wrote a great book on this that will help you called, Victory Over Darkness. This powerful, life-changing book will help you if you struggle with your identity in Christ.

Godly Friends

I need people to speak the truth of the Gospel over me when I don’t believe it for myself. We need friends the most when we don’t have time to build those relationships. If you don’t have Godly friends in your circle at the moment, that’s okay. It happens to all of us. Start today in building relationships. Join a small group, attend church, reach out to old friends. Everyone is lonely right now. Don’t give up on trying to attain a tight knit group; it will be worth the price.

Silence and Solitude Helps to Celebrate on the Way to Our Dreams

Getting alone with God allows His Spirit to be heard. He is speaking, are you listening? We are busy running around chasing dreams. I’m worried that we are too busy to hear our Father whisper His plans He has for our lives. Get alone with God and listen to who He says you are to celebrate what He has done through you in the day.

Worship

Worship is to celebrate Him in all we do. He was there in the mundane and the big moments of the day. Did you slow down enough to see Him in it? As we worship through word and deed we see Him in all things and can celebrate what He has done.

Well done today, you did your best. God is big enough to handle your worst moments and your best. Your undying faith and your wavering doubt. Some moments you will walk away proud and others with your head low, but in it all I want you to hear your Father saying, “It is good, give it to me and sleep.” Be blessed on your journey as you follow God and do what He has told you to do. It’s okay to celebrate on the way to your dreams.

What helps you to celebrate the journey?

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4 Keys to Navigate Change While Pursuing Your Calling

Spring is in the air. Yesterday it was in the mid-sixties in Southern Oregon and today it is dreary with a chance of snow tonight. Fall and spring are my favorite times of the year. Summer is too hot and winter is too dark. Maybe that says something about my personality; I am not really settled. Change is constant and very few things are a lifetime. Deep rooted callings and values are much more concrete, but those values play out in our vocation often differently at different stages. Change is inevitable when we chase dreams and if we aren’t ready for them, we can get caught standing still when we should move or moving when we should stand still. We need to navigate change well to reach our dreams.

My Navigating Change Story

I have been part owner and operator of a pizza restaurant for seventeen years in June. The last five years, I have served full time at a church and spent the last year and a half as the Spiritual Development Pastor. It has been a challenging, yet rewarding journey doing both. I have recently decided to resign from my pastoral position and that has not been an easy choice. In fact, I may pastor again someday, however, this is the right decision for now. Change; it’s messy and hard when you have two good choices. I have found that there is some crucial ingredients that make change a lot easier for me and I think they will help you as well.

Navigate change with these 4 tips.

Trusted Circle

We need a trusted circle of friends. I’m not talking about all of your friends, rather a group that you are 100 with and they are the same with you. This group is needed for counsel, encouragement, or to smack you in the back of the head when you’re being an idiot. We are all idiots sometimes. If you have not spent the time to build trusted friendships, it’s not too late to start now. Who can you take a chance in trusting? In the end that’s what it’s going to take, faith. If someone breaks your trust, forgive them and try someone else. Building a circle of friends is not easy, however, it is a must to navigating change in the best way possible. Open yourself up to the possibility that you don’t have all of the answers and others could be helpful.

Prayer Helps Navigate Change Well

Pray a lot to navigate change the way God intended you to. Not stupid fake prayers, rather real, raw ones that are honest. There are going to be times that you are angry with God. Tell Him. There are going to be times that you are overcome with gratitude. Tell Him. Your thoughts are not hidden from Him. Let the good and the bad ones always drive you to the feet of Jesus and He will restore you. Change will not be easy when you have put your heart and soul into something and you will need Him to guide you through and protect your heart from offense and pride. Pray to your Father in Heaven to navigate change with grace.

Surrender to Navigate Change

When you are running a marathon there is a saying that says, “Let the hill come to you.” It’s tempting to zoom up the hill and run out of energy or walk because it’s hard. Letting the hill come to you means that you maintain a steady stride and don’t force anything. When you are making a change, it will be easy to want to procrastinate to avoid the pain or to quit suddenly and speed up that hill. Surrender to God and the process and let the change come to you. Change is a gradual turn in the corner, not a jerky motion that scares your family and leaves you depleted. Surrender to the uncomfortable time frame to navigate change in a healthy way.

Talk and Listen to Navigate Change Well

I’m a verbal processor so no one needs to tell me to talk. Maybe you’re not and I want you to know that the people close to you can’t hear your thoughts. No one feels the same about change. I embrace change and my wife hates it. We have talked a lot about that and how our lives will look. Unity happens the more we share with each other and then compromise. If you are compromising without sharing where you stand, stop it. Talk about the uncomfortable things before they become a fight. Talk and listen to have healthy relationships as you navigate change.

Change is challenging and change is exciting. Embrace the sun and the dreariness on the way to the life that you envision. One thing I know for sure is that change is on your horizon and it’s up to you to make that change a beautiful thing or one that you hate. Stay curious about what God has for you next and be blessed on your journey.

What helps you to navigate change?

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5 Keys to Overcoming Rejection to Reach Your Dreams

Rejection feels like the end of a dream. It feels like someone’s disapproval of our art is everyone’s disapproval. I feel foolish when I am rejected. I wonder why I am not enough in the moment. It feels isolating even though all of us have come face to face with rejection. We are all at one time or another not chosen or told what we love doesn’t matter. In those moments when you feel rejection deep in your soul I don’t want you to quit, heck I don’t want to quit. I want you to overcome rejection.

When rejection comes everything in you is going to scream that the pain is not worth continuing. It feels personal, I know it does, but rejection says more about the rejector than you. Man that’s a lot easier to type than believe. It sounds like a famous break up line, “It’s not you, it’s me.” It sounds cheesy, but it is true.

Life is a mix of art and science. There is rock solid truth and a bunch of art. Art is in the eye of the beholder. I love the country. It’s why I live in a town of under 1,000 people. You may live and love the city. Two different points of view. I mean I’m right and your wrong. 😉

Rise and fight for your dreams by doing these five things.

Identity in Christ Helps us Overcome Rejection

Our identity comes from God, the one who created us. He names us and the name He stamped us with is Royalty. When we surrendered our lives to Him, we were given His identity. We can take rejection as who we are, however, we are royal priests and not less than in some way. When you are feeling the pain of rejection remember whose you are to rise from the ashes.

Stillness

I tend to try to prove people wrong when I get rejected. This is terrible fuel. I want to move on quick, but we need to still our hearts so we don’t run on that junk fuel. Sitting with Jesus in silence helps me to hear Him. In our sitting with the Spirit of God, we can hear Him whisper to us our true identity. We can feel His love towards us and He will cause us to dream dreams again. Sit with Jesus and rise in His strength to overcome rejection.

Worship

Sometimes, when I’m rejected I get a little ticked at God. I know I’m a smart guy. I don’t know if you do that, however, I do it because I’m ticked that He made me in a certain way. Not logical, but it’s where I go. When we worship God at points when everything in us doesn’t want to, our hearts turn to Him in adoration. When I worship God I stop looking at my circumstances and I’m reminded of why I run after dreams. I run after dreams because I’m running after HIM. Worship Jesus and get the power to run again.

Dust Off

I was reading in the gospel of Luke and was reminded of when Jesus sent out the disciples to heal and cast out demons. Jesus gave them instructions and told them if they are rejected to dust themselves off and go to the next town. You aren’t going to be received by everyone. You aren’t going to be understood by most. We should dust ourselves off and move forward. If we don’t we end up sitting in our state and miss out on what God has for us ahead in the next “town.” Dust off and serve the next one.

Focus on Legacy to Overcome Rejection

I have three wonderful kids, okay they are wonderful most of the time. I want them to shoot for the stars and they are bound to have some pain leaving the atmosphere for those stars. One thing that gets me to grind toward dreams is that I’m not doing it for me. I’m sowing seeds into the next generation. Your kids watch you. They are little sponges soaking up what we do more than what we say we will do. We want to raise kids that are overcomers and fighters, not ones that bend to someone’s opinion of something they have done.

Rejection especially in the early stages of chasing after a dream feels bigger than it really is. I know it hurts and honestly rejection I faced in my childhood still hurts when I think about it today. Rejection only defines you when you allow it to. Remember whose you are and rise from rejection to work towards those dreams. Rise and get a reward from it instead of wallowing in it. Rise and move forward into the brighter future stronger for it.

What helps you rise from rejection?