Let me also make it clear that by no stretch of the imagination am I a Godly man. I am far from it, even though I try harder and harder every day to be closer to Christ. I'm just an average guy who is looking for love in this world like everyone else. My heart thrives on that connection with people whether it be my family, my friends, my co-workers, even that touching conversation with the stranger on the bus.
I try to stay as healthy as possible but some days I just feel like being lazy on the couch and eating all day. Sometimes I feel like going out and drinking my brains out and dancing until early hours in the morning but sometimes I feel like praying to God and telling him how my day has been. Sometimes I feel like reading scripture, just because.
I've always had a profound faith in God and a strong connection to Christianity. I've held onto this relationship in times of weakness and greatness. It's one of the only things in my life that has never changed in my heart. Sometimes, it might be buried but that desire to have a relationship with Christ has simply, never gone away.
So yes, I think it's important to feed our spirituality with scripture and prayer. Yes, I feel like our relationship with God needs undivided attention at times. Yes, I feel like our relationships with others feeds our relationship with a higher power and vice versa. Our relationship with God impacts so many other areas of our life. It is part of our faith, we know that our higher power provides a strength beyond this world. He is the reason I don't have bad days. I have good days, just some are better than others. So Steve, the whole point of these comments is that God is good and we must recognize that. Pray like you've never prayed before. Love like you've never loved before.
However you are able to express that great, but hopefully you will share that happiness with others. His word has many languages, just choose one. 
God bless you all.
Kyle
Second thought:
Sure, our spiritual lives and social lives are connected and we see that everyday in so many ways, both directly and indirectly. The point is that we need to nurture our relationship with God and our social lives alone will not do that, whether it be relationships with our pastor, our partner, our kids or our friends.
Yes, we must challenge ourselves to live by a higher standard. As Christians we understand we cannot ever replicate the life of Christ, but we use his actions and words as an example to live by and that standard of living is a great one, higher than that of anyone we know. That higher standard includes authenticity, but it also includes recognizing our flaws and striving to work toward bettering ourselves, instead of just dismissing our mistakes as "human". That is how we become complacent in our actions. As Christians we must set good examples -- that is part of our duty, that is part of the life we've chosen.
The essence of His teachings are filled with love, forgiveness, acceptance and even authenticity but don't ever forget that his forgiveness is not permission to settle with the world as a flawed human being. I'm glad that you liked my statement about being a flawed human being, but the most important part of that was the follow-up....."trying to live my life after His.".
Enjoy life. Love to live and live to love.
Kyle
What is inauthentic Christianity? Aren't we all Christians who understand our faith a little differently? Don't all of our little individual paths equal a collective road to Christ? For the most part I would say that most Christians are authentic people who have their own struggles with figuring out the best way to achieve a relationship with God or their higher power. Very few knowingly choose to follow the flawed views of any organization because of the fact they're oppressive or simply wrong, for that matter.
I believe that in order to preach tolerance, we need to be more tolerant ourselves. We need ultra-conservative in this world too. Should everyone believe the same thing, think the same way, share the same relationship with God?
Again the best things we can do as Christians are to apply Jesus' teachings to our lives the best we can and as we understand them. This takes lots of practice, thought, mistakes, experiences, counseling, learning, sharing, listening, giving, praying and so much more. It is a process.
We are all in different places in this process. Encourage each other. Share with each other. Be tolerant. Many paths, One God.
Kyle
I was looking for verses in the bible which focused on the values of dedication and commitment. I found a very interesting comment which I wanted to share with you:
"(Dedication is) Hard to find because Christianity is about God's faithfulness to us, not our dedication to Him. He holds unto us, we just trust Him. All that human dedication will do is eventually prove to us that we can't do it our self."
Peace.
Kyle
"Call on God, but row away from the rocks."
Indian Proverb
Simply, we must pray and communicate with God but we also must do our part. Use the brains and hearts God blessed us with. Don't drive 120 miles an hour and then pray not to get into an accident. Don't thank God for such a great relationship and then cheat on your partner. We must do our part.
We must always do our part and God will take care of the rest. Peace to all...stay warm!
Kyle
Albert Einstein said ""When the solution is simple, God is answering." One of the smartest men in the history of the world is telling us that God doesn't always have to be so complex. It doesn't always have to be a big puzzle.
I feel a strong connection with God but I know at times my connection is weakened by my failure to respond to His call. Sometimes my relationship with God is in turmoil simply because of my own doings or lack thereof.
Jesus called us His sheep, He said that we know His call and He is our Shepard. "He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice" (John 10:4). This is true, we are Christians because we know His call but do we always listen? How often is God speaking to us, but we are not listening?
Just like William's story of the man who waited for God to save him in the village that was flooding. Even with all the help that God sent, the man simply, missed it. Why? What was he expecting God to be. What was he expecting God to look like? Is God around us more often than we realize but we miss him because we are looking for something else?
We must work harder everyday to refine our understanding of the Holy Spirit and the essence of Christ. The better you know God, the easier it is to see Him. Christ is all around us.
Peace to all.
Kyle
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
Mother Teresa
I think Mother Theresa was communicating two very important messages in this quote. First, what we might consider "small" can have a HUGE impact and also, every person has value. EVERY person counts. EVERY action counts.
Mother Theresa is a holy person. She spent her life saving the abandoned, diseased and elderly dying in Calcutta everyday. She dedicated her life to this because she said "that each one of these individuals needed to be loved, not because they are poor, but because they are people. The rich need love too." When you think about it, her collective work had such a positive impact on the world but what I think was more important was her desire to have a positive impact on the lives of each person she met. Her life's work reminds us of the value of each person. We must recognize that our interactions with every person have a bigger impact than we'll ever know.
Remember when Matthew tells us that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.
Sometimes the smallest things in life make the biggest difference. Start with focusing on making small changes with YOU everyday. Try and smile more. Try and say thank you. Waive hello to a stranger. Give 1 hour of your time to a local charity. Spend 1 minute in silence, meditating on your relationship with God. These are all small things that can make a huge difference.
God bless and enjoy your weekend.
Kyle
This morning I was talking to a co-worker about using the holiday greeting “Merry Christmas”. I respect the sensitivity around holiday greetings and their individual meanings, so I understand why people may get offended if their holiday is not recognized. The birth of Christ is special to us but there are other holiday celebrations that are just as special to others and we should respect that by using general greetings like Happy Holidays – then that covers them all. There is nothing wrong with being inclusive. With that said, I use Merry Christmas as a greeting of joy, so as happy as I am during the Holidays, this will be difficult for me.
My co-worker went on to say, “NO WAY. I’m going to say Merry Christmas because Jesus was a cool dude. Like Martin Luther King. People don’t worship him as God but they still celebrate his birthday – why can’t we do the same for Jesus?”
Haha I thought that was awesome. It reminded me also, I want to be remembered as a cool dude. I want to be remembered as a Christian so I better start acting like one.
Have a great week and God bless.
This morning I read a devotional focused on matters of the heart. It’s too often that we overlook the need to work on the motivation of our hearts because we are too busy perfecting what everyone sees. We often get tangled up in working out, studying, having a great family life, moving up the corporate ladder (which are all very important things) but sometimes we neglect our true character which in actuality is the determining factor of our relationship with God.
"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). What a blessing this is. I don’t know about you but especially during the Holidays, I am thankful my God starts and finishes with my heart instead of focusing on my waist line or counting how many times I went to the gym. It really makes sense though. Our hearts are our life source. Our life begins with a heartbeat and it ends with one.
Once we are able to recognize how important the matters of our hearts are, the quicker we will be able to connect our actions with our intentions. This brings up a good point, our actions must also follow our intentions. How can the criminal have good intentions? If you intend to do something than do it. I love that saying that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. How often do we “mean to do something else”? How often do our actions reflect what is in our heart and vice versa? We must work on two things: First, let’s work on character. Work on discovering what our values and principles are. Indentify them one by one. What is integrity? What defines YOUR integrity? Second, create a moral identity. Try to align your values and principles with your actions the best you can. This is a daily task. Start with simple things. If honesty is something you believe is part of your moral identity, don’t lie! Don’t tell stories! Don’t gossip! Don’t fib! I know it’s easier said than done for some of us, but it’s step by step – day by day and today is a good day to start! The more we are connected ourselves, the easier it is for others to connect to us. Have a great day.
Peace Kyle.
My best friend (who later became my partner) used to say this to me when I was growing up. "Kyle, just let go and let God." When I was stressing to hard, especially about things I could not control he would say it to me and it is something I've carried with me forever, "to let go and let God".
It means exactly what it sounds like. Let it go and let God handle it. Control is the hardest thing to give up but sometimes if we just let go of the illusion that we have control, we actually gain a better grasp on the things that matter. I'm not saying we should lose control - that's something completely different.
We've been talking about how much we can do to better our own lives everyday, which I believe is true, but you should see what God can do with your life if you would only let him. Let go and let God.
The Holy Spirit is the spirit of all spirits, the energy of all energies and when it flows through you, miracles happen. I'm telling you, this is a simple truth. Think about it, when you put your energy toward something, your focus, your will - how likely is it to get done? You may have done things you thought were never possible?
Now try putting the will of God, the might of the creator, the energy of the most positive being on Earth toward something - what do you think will happen?
This is not hocus pocus or magic, it is the power of faith and the greatest source of energy on this planet, it is the power of God.
Here is a beautiful prayer to help you do this (William shared a version of it in an earlier post)
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can and
The wisdom to know the difference. Amen
Now go out and try it.
Have a great day, Kyle
"Just because someone doesn't love you like you love them doesn't mean that they don't love you with all they have."
Wow, that's a hard one to swallow isn't it? Especially when we think about all the hate in this world. Isn't that bizzare to think that even homophobic people may not know any better. Yes, ignorance is a reality. It does not mean these people are inherently evil, it means they are ignorant and really MIGHT, just MIGHT believe that their way is the right way. Can we fault them for this? No. What we should be doing is creating change by OUR actions. We need to remove the stigma, change the fear and show others that being Gay does not make you a bad person. The same with Christianity. Unfortunately, others have represented Christians in a negative light and as "real" Christians it's our duty to show others what it means to be "really" Christian. We could just ignore this fact and choose to worry about our own lives by surrounding ourselves with only people who accept us but how does that help the greater good? Being Christian comes with a responsibility of helping others. No matter who they are or what they believe.
This statement reminds me that every person is their own person, with their own experiences, their own capacity, their own character and that is fantastic. It's fine to expect things from others, but do so with the understanding that the only thing we can really expect from anyone is for them to apply themselves fully in life. This type of understanding seems essential to practicing true tolerance. That's what we want others to expect from us right. That we do things the best way we know how to to the best of our ability. If we don't want others to judge us, why do we judge them? "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." Romans 2:1 Remember what Jesus said about casting stones.
Instead we should be showing the world what it means to be Christian. We should show our communities that Gay does not equal evil or sinner or prostitute or drug addict or cheater or whatever other ridiculous stigma that has been attached to us. How do your actions represent Gay people? How do your actions represent Christians? I'm not saying we should accept hate, I'm saying that true tolerance has helped me to walk a higher road. And that's how change will occur. We create the higher road by walking it ourselves. How can we expect others to take a road that we haven't traveled ourselves? That's just it - we can't. We need to lead the way.
We could use this approach in so many ways to change our relationships. This is one of the secrets to happiness. Use the ignorance of others as an opportunity to represent yourself in a better way. Become a better Christian, become a better Gay (haha if there is such a thing) but more importantly, become a better person.
Now apply this to the relationships in your life and watch them transform. The expectations we have of others sometimes is ridiculous. Show others what it means to be a better partner, a better friend, a better co-worker. This was the whole theory behind "turn the other cheek". How can we stop violence by being violent? Remember, maybe this is all they have been shown. We must show them, by our actions, that there is another way and it works. This is how things change. Things DON'T change by creating a list and demanding that it be done. Change happens in the heart. That's why it's so important to win the hearts of people over their minds. We create change by being agents of change and we're agents of change through our actions. Peace creates peace, love creates love, change creates change.
"Just because someone doesn't love you like you love them doesn't mean that they don't love you with all they have."
Peace to all and God bless.
Kyle
