This blog post is about trials and suffering in our life. I have come to the conclusion through reading this book, How can a good God let Bad things happen? and through going reading James that I just need to trust God and depend on him for everything in my life.
I have to remind myself that he is in control of my life and he wants the best for my life. I have to trust through whatever I'm going through in my life right now and know God is good through this hard time in my life. With trust in God we can hold of to a certain level of faith in him, which will lead to maturity in Christ. James 1:1-3 discusses in length. James reminds us to if we endure or persevere during a trial we will gain this wisdom in maturity.
In verse 12 of Chapter one, James says if we gain this wisdom from enduring during a trial then we will receive the "crown of life" or eternal life in Christ Jesus. This is why Jesus calls us to cling to him during the hard times despite what the world may say or call us to do.
We must die to our self and give up/control to God in our lives daily. We have to wean out every desire to fall prey to worldly ways during hard times and desperately, depend on God in our daily abiding relationship with him.
So, to sum up this post I just have to trust him because he in control and wants the best for me. If I trust him I will grow in faith and maturity in Him. Anyways, when life is hard God is all I have sometimes.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
God will in our lives Part II
This blog post is about God's will in our lives. I just read a book called Just Do Something in which he the author challenges us to take a risk and not worry about what is or isn't God's will in our lives.
He reminded me that I can't worry too much about my future, I need to just focus on growing in relationship with him. He wants us to just seek his kingdom in everything in life and not trivialize what he wants to to do or not do with our lives. His will for our lives is to renew us and conform us to his image- Romans 8:28-29. He wants us to grow us in him daily and not worry about our plans for the future.
The will of God is to just use wisdom daily, obey his commandments, study Scripture, love people, think of others before ourselves then we will be in his will. God wants us to be want to be as long as we glory him, 2 Corinthians 10:31. God's will for us is to just refine us through his Holy Spirit. When we grow in maturity in Him, he will eventually lead us to the girl he wants us to marry.
He challenges us to not be complacent in whatever circumstances we are in in our and live in contentment. He moves us to take a risk and make a decision with life decisions if we are loving and serving him. In Ephesians 1:11, it says God works all things according to the counsel of his will." He will is for us to love him and he will bring us through anything in life. He mainly just wants us to grow in Christlikeness and be more like Jesus daily and seek his kingdom impacting it for others.
He reminded me that I can't worry too much about my future, I need to just focus on growing in relationship with him. He wants us to just seek his kingdom in everything in life and not trivialize what he wants to to do or not do with our lives. His will for our lives is to renew us and conform us to his image- Romans 8:28-29. He wants us to grow us in him daily and not worry about our plans for the future.
The will of God is to just use wisdom daily, obey his commandments, study Scripture, love people, think of others before ourselves then we will be in his will. God wants us to be want to be as long as we glory him, 2 Corinthians 10:31. God's will for us is to just refine us through his Holy Spirit. When we grow in maturity in Him, he will eventually lead us to the girl he wants us to marry.
He challenges us to not be complacent in whatever circumstances we are in in our and live in contentment. He moves us to take a risk and make a decision with life decisions if we are loving and serving him. In Ephesians 1:11, it says God works all things according to the counsel of his will." He will is for us to love him and he will bring us through anything in life. He mainly just wants us to grow in Christlikeness and be more like Jesus daily and seek his kingdom impacting it for others.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Suffering Post Part II
This blog entry is about suffering, hard struggles, or trials that people go through in life. Jesus suffered on the cross so he knows even the hardest trials that we may face in this life. He suffered so that he would know what we go through in our life. He suffered the ultimate price, his death so that we may have life and life in him. I've been reading this book How can a good God let bad things happen? Throughout the book one of the main themes is one of the things that I've been trying to do lately in my own trial or struggle to trust him with everything in my life and this trial I'm going through. He wants to remind us that he will never let us go no matter the frustration or trial we are going through in our life at that moment. He wants us to depend on him in our trials, struggles, or weakness and he will make us strong. In Psalm 31:9-14 is filled with David's cries of grief and at the end of the Psalm he tells God he trusts him with his life. 14 says "But I am trusting in you, O Lord, "You are my God!" God also uses suffering to help us grow and conform us to his image as it says in Romans 8:28-29. James talks about suffering as a process for us to grow in Christ. James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." James talks about trials as a testing period for our faith to grow and mature in Christ. I think that has also happened in my life as well. I presented/surrendered my frustration regarding my job situation and he helped me wait to this job in the fall that didn't work out but I presented myself to him and he gave me patience. Jesus has helped me grow in maturity through presenting to him this fall and through my growth in Christ this summer. The definition of Christian maturity that we talked about in Discovery this summer is you are able to trust God more quickly and with bigger things/situations than you did before. God has increased my faith cup through the summer to the fall and then it grew throughout the fall by presenting and abiding in Him trying to find a job and my place in this world. I think I have gained perseverance as James says in verse four by not giving up my job search. He has made me more mature and complete than I thought he would by growing me in faith and trust in him. James says in verse 12 that those who do persevere in trials will receive glory in Christ, eternal life. I for one am excited when I will graduate to be with Jesus whenever that will be. Until then, I have to remind myself to depend on Him for everything I'm going through in my life and give him control, reminding myself of James 1:2-4.
Friday, January 14, 2011
God will in our lives Part I
In this blog post I will be investigating God's will in our lives for our future and on a daily basis in general. In a book I started reading called Just Do Something Kevin DeYoung talks about the will of decree describing how God is in control of our lives.
His will for us individually is to obey his Word/abide in him daily. He wants an abiding, daily desperate dependence on Him for everything in our lives. His will for us personally is very unique and he shows his personal will through his peace, changing circumstances, revealing himself to us. The cool thing is about his will is that no matter how far we stray from his will he will always lead us back to where he wants to be or where he wants to go.
A point about his will I enjoyed that if he just seek his kingdom, then he will take care our needs. Too often, I and many others hope God will somehow reveal his will to me right here and now. Our grandparents generation never thought about God somehow revealing his will they just worked in the family business and married someone in their hometown. It's also hard to discern God's will sometimes in life with which job to take or which person to marry and so on...
I was challenged in reading this book so far to take a risk in regards to God's will and not obsess about the future but focus on God growing us inwardly. I think that is what God was trying to do last spring when he led me to D-focus last summer by changing my circumstances. He showed me his personal will for me, for me to inwardly grow in him day to day and use those things I learned this summer to keep growing and maturing in Christ.
At this point in my life being done with college I've had so many choices to make as far as which jobs to pursue or what I would be better at. It's crazy that our generation has just so many choices to make. Through reading the first couple chapters of this book it's simple that God just wants us to focus on him, growing us in him, and his kingdom.
His will for us individually is to obey his Word/abide in him daily. He wants an abiding, daily desperate dependence on Him for everything in our lives. His will for us personally is very unique and he shows his personal will through his peace, changing circumstances, revealing himself to us. The cool thing is about his will is that no matter how far we stray from his will he will always lead us back to where he wants to be or where he wants to go.
A point about his will I enjoyed that if he just seek his kingdom, then he will take care our needs. Too often, I and many others hope God will somehow reveal his will to me right here and now. Our grandparents generation never thought about God somehow revealing his will they just worked in the family business and married someone in their hometown. It's also hard to discern God's will sometimes in life with which job to take or which person to marry and so on...
I was challenged in reading this book so far to take a risk in regards to God's will and not obsess about the future but focus on God growing us inwardly. I think that is what God was trying to do last spring when he led me to D-focus last summer by changing my circumstances. He showed me his personal will for me, for me to inwardly grow in him day to day and use those things I learned this summer to keep growing and maturing in Christ.
At this point in my life being done with college I've had so many choices to make as far as which jobs to pursue or what I would be better at. It's crazy that our generation has just so many choices to make. Through reading the first couple chapters of this book it's simple that God just wants us to focus on him, growing us in him, and his kingdom.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Suffering Post Part I
I've been reading this interesting book on suffering lately and I'm really intrigued by it. I guess because God has used some times in my life where I suffered mentally inside. I just realized this summer and thinking about that instance in the past that God used that situation to conform me to his image.
The main themes I've seen in this suffering book I've read is kind of similar to what God has taught me this summer that we can trust him with everything and he is in control of our lives. Some other things I saw saw the author talks about how God is with us until the end of time and his grace never fails. We have to hold on to him when things get frustrating or hard.
He wants us to desperately dependent on him like God also taught me this summer. I just need to depend on him daily with everything and surrender/give in supplication things in my life for him to conform to his image. God is the same whether we're going through a good time in our life or bad time. The author of the book I'm reading talks about this section in Job 2:10 where Job says if we can take the good in our life why take the bad in our life? It is awesome how Job has faith in God and praised him despite his wife saying the verse before "Curse God and die!"
Mark Tabb says we should cling to God when we are trying to accept the good from God and bad. We should keep hold of God even when he does not seem to be the God of love. We have to cling to him, in the he is who he says he is all the time, even when we can't see the least of the God we know is there. He just wants us to desperately depend on God for everything that we have! He will never let us go if it's something that we can't or won't be able to handle in life. I'm thankful for that.
He wants us to depend on him for everything!
The main themes I've seen in this suffering book I've read is kind of similar to what God has taught me this summer that we can trust him with everything and he is in control of our lives. Some other things I saw saw the author talks about how God is with us until the end of time and his grace never fails. We have to hold on to him when things get frustrating or hard.
He wants us to desperately dependent on him like God also taught me this summer. I just need to depend on him daily with everything and surrender/give in supplication things in my life for him to conform to his image. God is the same whether we're going through a good time in our life or bad time. The author of the book I'm reading talks about this section in Job 2:10 where Job says if we can take the good in our life why take the bad in our life? It is awesome how Job has faith in God and praised him despite his wife saying the verse before "Curse God and die!"
Mark Tabb says we should cling to God when we are trying to accept the good from God and bad. We should keep hold of God even when he does not seem to be the God of love. We have to cling to him, in the he is who he says he is all the time, even when we can't see the least of the God we know is there. He just wants us to desperately depend on God for everything that we have! He will never let us go if it's something that we can't or won't be able to handle in life. I'm thankful for that.
He wants us to depend on him for everything!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Rose Bowl trip of a lifetime
I can't describe the road trip of a lifetime to Pasadena, California. It was just so sweet of a trip to Cali to watch the Frogs come up with the big win. We started off the trip just trying to make it out of Texas. At the start of our journey, it sleeted like crazy in El Paso, Texas. It was so freaking cold on that side of Texas! I flowed on the road trip, busted some raps and baseball caps! We snuck past the Border Patrol along the way of our journey.
We finally made it to Pasadena to the place we're staying at around 11 in the morning. We stayed with a family on YL committee in Pasadena. It was awesome because their son's name was Luke the same name was I. He's going to walk-on to the TCU football team next year. He got to meet and take a picture with some of the TCU football players as they got out of the stadium. The family's name we stayed with was the Benuska.
They were all really awesome to have us over there. They made breakfast for us both mornings we were there. On New Year's Eve, we went over to Amy Moore's dad's house he rented and hung out there for a while. The house was awesome, supposedly a producer of a soap opera owned it. New Year's Eve countdown was anti-climatic, everyone was real tired though it was early.
Gameday was there on New Year's day! I got up early and couldn't sleep just thinking about this historic game in TCU football history. I was glad to be a Horned Frog later that day when we won the Rose Bowl! While we were taking the bus to the stadium/tailgating area this old Wisconsin fan starting talking a lot of smack before the game even started. I heard later in the night that Wisconsin fans were doing chants during the national anthem, chants against TCU saying F TCU, chugging their beer flasks. This further cemented my disdain for Wisconsin fans and the Big 10 in general.
The game was great throughout, with Wisconsin scoring first on a field goal and Andy Dalton connecting to Bart Johnson to get the lead. The Frogs ended up leading 14-13 at halftime. TCU didn't allow Wisconsin to score again until 2:00 left in the fourth with a Monte Bell run. The Badgers went for a two-point conversion and the biggest play of the game happened Tank Carder came across the middle to knock down the pass play the Wisconsin QB.
The Frogs just ran off the clock the rest of the game with redshirt freshmen running back Waymon James to clinch the biggest win in school history. It was our first perfect season since 1938!
The trip back to Texas as another long 23 hours home. It was great seeing California for a couple days. I hope to go back one day and see more of the LA area. A great part of my back from Cali was seeing a cool friend from the summer Eleanor Bolanos at an In N Out in Arizona. It was ironic that it was by her house so she just drove there and met my friends and I. It was cool she got to meet my friends I road tripped with to see the Frogs win the Rose Bowl!
Overall, the trip was one of the best of my life! Though I wish we could've won our bowl game last year when I was a senior but our stumbling block helped our program grow. Now, we're going to the Big East in a year where we have a chance to compete for a championship. Hopefully, our new QB will have grown by the time 2012 rolls around with our newly renovated stadium now. We ate In N Out burger twice, once in Cali and once in Arizona! Great chocolate shake and burgers!
My pictures are on facebook, check them out. Anyways, it's a great time to be a Frog!
We finally made it to Pasadena to the place we're staying at around 11 in the morning. We stayed with a family on YL committee in Pasadena. It was awesome because their son's name was Luke the same name was I. He's going to walk-on to the TCU football team next year. He got to meet and take a picture with some of the TCU football players as they got out of the stadium. The family's name we stayed with was the Benuska.
They were all really awesome to have us over there. They made breakfast for us both mornings we were there. On New Year's Eve, we went over to Amy Moore's dad's house he rented and hung out there for a while. The house was awesome, supposedly a producer of a soap opera owned it. New Year's Eve countdown was anti-climatic, everyone was real tired though it was early.
Gameday was there on New Year's day! I got up early and couldn't sleep just thinking about this historic game in TCU football history. I was glad to be a Horned Frog later that day when we won the Rose Bowl! While we were taking the bus to the stadium/tailgating area this old Wisconsin fan starting talking a lot of smack before the game even started. I heard later in the night that Wisconsin fans were doing chants during the national anthem, chants against TCU saying F TCU, chugging their beer flasks. This further cemented my disdain for Wisconsin fans and the Big 10 in general.
The game was great throughout, with Wisconsin scoring first on a field goal and Andy Dalton connecting to Bart Johnson to get the lead. The Frogs ended up leading 14-13 at halftime. TCU didn't allow Wisconsin to score again until 2:00 left in the fourth with a Monte Bell run. The Badgers went for a two-point conversion and the biggest play of the game happened Tank Carder came across the middle to knock down the pass play the Wisconsin QB.
The Frogs just ran off the clock the rest of the game with redshirt freshmen running back Waymon James to clinch the biggest win in school history. It was our first perfect season since 1938!
The trip back to Texas as another long 23 hours home. It was great seeing California for a couple days. I hope to go back one day and see more of the LA area. A great part of my back from Cali was seeing a cool friend from the summer Eleanor Bolanos at an In N Out in Arizona. It was ironic that it was by her house so she just drove there and met my friends and I. It was cool she got to meet my friends I road tripped with to see the Frogs win the Rose Bowl!
Overall, the trip was one of the best of my life! Though I wish we could've won our bowl game last year when I was a senior but our stumbling block helped our program grow. Now, we're going to the Big East in a year where we have a chance to compete for a championship. Hopefully, our new QB will have grown by the time 2012 rolls around with our newly renovated stadium now. We ate In N Out burger twice, once in Cali and once in Arizona! Great chocolate shake and burgers!
My pictures are on facebook, check them out. Anyways, it's a great time to be a Frog!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
the year 2010
The year 2010 was a great one for me.
From the snow days in February, where in Fort Worth it snowed 6-7 inches for two straight days and school got cancelled. Some dubbed that time as DFW snow days.
In March is my birthday usually then after that was the great Duke vs Butler game with Duke pulling through with the win. In May, I graduated from university TCU. Every was proud of me from my parents to friends to relatives. I finally had made it after two years of community college and three years at TCU. I walked across the stage next to a player named Daryl Washington who would go onto play in the NFL this year for the Arizona Cardinals and start at linebacker.
God led me to Dicipleship Focus that summer where I grew in Christ a whole lot. God led me to an awesome small group that summer that consisted of Dan Anderson, Keegan Evans, Carlyle Aguren, Jeremy Savage, Marty Martens, me, and Ray Pettigrew. I titled the group "If you're a man you're a man." I had the best cabin, we performed the skit "Little Boys in White T-shirts," which was banned by Ann. I've gotten to hang out with my best friend from the summer this fall Carlyle Aguren, which has been awesome.
God showed me how much I need him, to desperately dependent on him for everything. He reminded me that he is in control of my life through everything. I've gone through some hard times this fall with job searching and trying to find the right place or job for me but I know God is in control and I have to keep presenting and abiding in Him.
To cap off 2010 the TCU Horned Frogs win the Rose Bowl after a great season, becoming 13-0 with the win. It was so awesome for us to come up with the win. Our seniors became the winningst group in TCU history with 44 wins. Andy Dalton was the all-time winning QB in school history.
He represented himself so well on the big stage that was the Rose Bowl. In was cool in his post-game of how he talked about how they were playing for the little guys of the world and quoted first Peter 5:6. It says humble yourselves and you will be exalted. I think that's what Andy and our seniors did they didn't complain about not getting into the title game, they worked hard all year and it paid off. I am grateful for 2010!
From the snow days in February, where in Fort Worth it snowed 6-7 inches for two straight days and school got cancelled. Some dubbed that time as DFW snow days.
In March is my birthday usually then after that was the great Duke vs Butler game with Duke pulling through with the win. In May, I graduated from university TCU. Every was proud of me from my parents to friends to relatives. I finally had made it after two years of community college and three years at TCU. I walked across the stage next to a player named Daryl Washington who would go onto play in the NFL this year for the Arizona Cardinals and start at linebacker.
God led me to Dicipleship Focus that summer where I grew in Christ a whole lot. God led me to an awesome small group that summer that consisted of Dan Anderson, Keegan Evans, Carlyle Aguren, Jeremy Savage, Marty Martens, me, and Ray Pettigrew. I titled the group "If you're a man you're a man." I had the best cabin, we performed the skit "Little Boys in White T-shirts," which was banned by Ann. I've gotten to hang out with my best friend from the summer this fall Carlyle Aguren, which has been awesome.
God showed me how much I need him, to desperately dependent on him for everything. He reminded me that he is in control of my life through everything. I've gone through some hard times this fall with job searching and trying to find the right place or job for me but I know God is in control and I have to keep presenting and abiding in Him.
To cap off 2010 the TCU Horned Frogs win the Rose Bowl after a great season, becoming 13-0 with the win. It was so awesome for us to come up with the win. Our seniors became the winningst group in TCU history with 44 wins. Andy Dalton was the all-time winning QB in school history.
He represented himself so well on the big stage that was the Rose Bowl. In was cool in his post-game of how he talked about how they were playing for the little guys of the world and quoted first Peter 5:6. It says humble yourselves and you will be exalted. I think that's what Andy and our seniors did they didn't complain about not getting into the title game, they worked hard all year and it paid off. I am grateful for 2010!
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