Check the Tablet.

I love cool quotes, abstract thinking, and some controversial beliefs but...

I have realized lately that all of those quotes and beliefs tend to sit differently based on the heart it comes from.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible talks about God writing on the tablet of the heart. The past few days the thought most pounding my mind has been...

"The profoundest of words written on a dirty tablet are hard to read."

So it is the same with my heart...

"The most sincere beliefs spewing from a janky heart can sound corse and rebellious."

I will keep the tablet clean so that the author may finish His story.

Old Friend.

I was reminded today of an old friend.  Funny how growing up you don't realize those that are so essential to your life until years after they're gone and someone reminds you of them...

Cassie was that friend.  Today a simple statement sent me into a world wind of memories.  She was an inspiration to missions, my best friend in college, and the one friend I never felt dumb around.  She was the one I called at the end of my rope one night when the end was all I wanted.  When I needed to share the biggest secret of my life, I told her.

I am only 23 but in the past few years I have realized that the "Cassie's" in life don't come around too often.

Lesson for today for me?  Appreciate the ones I have today because they may be tomorrow's memory...

Life.

With the current economical situation surrounding all of us, it's hard not to have a rotten attitude.  It's also Monday and so many people talk about how bad mondays are...  People, me included, will always have/find a reason(s) to validate a crumb attitude.  Don't let them/us.

But this Monday, my Monday will make a difference in someone's life.  I choose to wake up and be ready for every possible "day ruiner".  I choose today to see the BIG picture and say, "In light of eternity... what does it matter?"  The truth is that which maters then must matter now and that which matters now is today.

So as I blast off into an "All Day Call Day"  for NYLC 09, I am choosing to run... in the direction of the fight.  Choose today to fight for the plans and purposes of God and don't be defeated every time you face opposition.

Indispensable.

Every year in the U.S. we spend more on trash bags than the total sum the rest of the world spends on all other goods. - Rob Bell 

So in a society where we spend more, to throw away more it's too easy to do the same with relationships.  For much of my life I kept most of my friendships and even my family on the outskirts of my heart so if I needed to I could quickly vote them off the island I kept so guarded.  I did this as a defense to keep from being hurt and it worked.  Sounds safe right? 

The only issue was I couldn't/wouldn't let people touch my heart or my feelings in order to preserve my safety.  I moved out and ran away more times than I can remember and hurt my family so bad just trying to make people, and myself, think they couldn't hurt me.  

I was able to quit pushing people away, when i quit running from me...

I had so much hurt and bitterness suffocating my emotions, that was a sickness I couldn't cure.  I still remember one night laying on the floor at Oxygen, Jeanne's Youth Group in Atlanta.  I was crying from my gut because I was so broken.  

By the end of that night, I realized by keeping the world at bay I had kept God there with them. So, I begin living out that realization by opening up and allowing people to see and feel both the junk and the jewels of in my heart.  

It's still not easy.

Just because you learn the lesson doesn't mean you don't repeat the grade...  I still have to go back and work through havoc I reeked in a lot of relationships, but God is faithful.  

Now, does that mean now that the world is no longer dispensable in my eyes that I too am indispensable to the world?  No.  But,  I read a quote today on a friend's wall, that's something quite common here at MCATL, it said, "Let the world feel the weight of who you are."  

I may get thrown away a million times but I will choose to let love make it's mark every step of the journey...

How Much...

How much will my sin cost you?

How much will your sin cost me?

I grew up hearing my father (a Senior Pastor) speak this quite often and I must say it is now ingrained in my head.  The thought is simple yet very life changing.  

For example...

Someone robs a department store and thousands of merchandise is theirs for free.  Then the department store must raise prices, hire security, or place video surveillance to recover and prevent the loss.  This costs them more money...  

How do they recover the loss?

Prices go up and the consumer pays for the stolen merchandise that the thief got for "free 99"...

Same with our ethics and morality.

When we lie, disobey, deceive, steal, lie, gossip etc... It cost someone.  Now as Christians, yes, Jesus Christ came and paid the ultimate price for our sin...  But the principles of God's Word outline consequences for sin.  

We always ask why does God let bad things happen to "good " people...  Maybe God doesn't...  I don't know the answer but the thought runs through my mind, "maybe it's our sin that costs those 'good' people."

I know its theologically so debatable.  I know.  I'm not answering questions or offering solutions.  Simply saying our sin has costs and those costs don't end with us...

Today we have the ability to set those running after us for success... further, faster, quicker.  We can pay the price for a higher standard and more intense character.

The race is still going and we "get" to pay-in for others and not cost them.

First.

Destroying the dream in order to protect it...

This was the thought I had when I visited the MLK Jr. Memorial today.  I went with some friends here in Atlanta but found myself being escorted away by...

a nice guy named Ben.  We didn't talk long (my group called out for me) but he was telling me about his life (homeless and on dialysis) and a little bit about the area.

He was telling me about how soon the "projects" next to Ebenezer Baptist Church would be tore down and new "condominiums" would replace them. 

Obviously, this was a good thing.  Cleaning up the area next to the church and MLK Jr. Memorial is great.  Then Ben said "the apartments were called the King Apartments."  

Ok so all of that to lead back to the point of this...  Someone had to come back and tear down what was once considered part of "the dream".  Can you imagine tearing down apartments that bore the name of one of the greatest men to live (King Apartments)?

But I guess someone "got it".  THE DREAM wasn't for a specific place, time, or people...  Although those apartments were once nice and reflected greatness but now they were run down and reflected something that was.  It's easy when something was part of greatness to leave it there and admire it.

I thought about things in my life that were once dreams that now no longer fit THE DREAM of my life.  Whether a specific place, time, or people I have to be willing to destroy and remove things that are no longer apart of THE DREAM.  Can't get hung up on what was great at one time and forget the overall purpose of why I am here on this Earth...