I want to go to Heaven and play!

"I want to go to Heaven and play and run around and give you a big hug. In Jesus' name. Amen."

That is how Dante ended his prayer tonight before he went to bed. The prayer started off the same... "Dear God, thank you for me, thank you for Vince, thank you for Bobbie, thank you my friends, thank you for my... (looks at me) what's it called? Oh yeah, thank you for my family. (looks at me again) And what else?"

I said "just say whatever you want to" which is what I normally say to that question. And Dante did what he normally does... he said whatever he was thinking. Tonight it was "I want to go to Heaven and play and run around and give you a big hug. In Jesus' name. Amen."

What a cool prayer. I mean, when I hear things like that I realize why Jesus said we should be like the children. I never remember praying to God letting Him know that I want to go to Heaven and play and run around and hug Him - but I will now. Yep. My prayer before I go to bed tonight will include that. Because let's face it... I really would LOVE to go to heaven and run around and play and hug God. I would rather do that than have a good night's sleep (my standard line) or wake up happy (another standard line). So tonight I'm telling God what I really want.

I want to go to Heaven and play!

Matthew 18:3
And he (Jesus) said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Be blessed!
Vince

Thought for the day... Courage

Have you ever been in a situation where you realize that you have to try harder than you already are - even if you thought you were already trying hard?

I had that happen to me this week. I've been dealing with a situation for a long time now and trying to do everything right. I've been using advice from others, giving it lots if thought, and trying to put the best solutions I knew to fix it. But somehow, it just wasn't working. I finally passed my problem onto the next person in line who had a simple solution - and one I agreed with! So I thought my problem was finally solved.

But, it turns out that instead of the simple solution, it eventually ended up back at me. That's right - it was now my problem again and I was told to not take the simple way out but to somehow "make it work"! I was even asked "so, what's the next step"?

I was stunned. I thought I had already taken the next step and passed it on. I didn't know what to do next! So I prayed about it. And I thought about it. And I talked about it. And I prayed about it some more. Then, the answer hit me...

Get in the ring.

See, what I had been doing this whole time was similar to what a boxing manager does. I was telling the people closest to the problem how to handle it. I was giving them advice, telling them to use their jabs and stay on their toes. I was giving them water and stitching their eyes. But they were tired, so I threw in the towel. I figured it was time to leave the ring. The problem won.

But now I realize what I had been doing wrong. Instead of throwing in the towel, I need to give them a break and go in the ring for them. I need to go in and lead by example. I need to help knock the problem down myself. I can't just give up and let the problem beat me.

So I accepted the challenge and have a new outlook. I know that if I do what is right, I should not fear anything. Sometimes in life we all have to face something that we know is going to hurt. We know its going to beat us up. But we fight for what is right, we do what is right, and in the end we will win. No, GOD will win!

Romans 8:31 - "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?"

May you all be blessed with courage!

Its not where or when you worship its HOW you worship!

Well vince has asked me to write blogs on the youth group web site.im not sure exactly what to write because he said he would write about spiritual things and I could write about anything. What Im writing about is what I learned at youth wave. To begin with there was so many things I learned at youth wave! It was such an awesome experience! Something that hit me during our daily quiet time was that it doesnt matter where or when you worship its HOW you worship. I was reading the story of the woman at the well. We have all heard the story of the Samaritan woman and Jesus! I know the girls in our youth group have (Vince always talks about woman in the bible when only girls show up to youth group) as it says in Psalm 100: Worship the Lord with gladness: come before him with joyful songs. Enter his gates with thanksgiving. (Vince your favorite song) When Jesus was at the well the Samaritan woman tested him by saying our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Jesus answers her by saying you Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation comes from Jews. Jesus then tells the Samaritan woman that the time is coming when you will worship the father in spirit and truth. He told her this is the kind of worshipers the father is seeking. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:1-26) I think what Jesus was saying is that you should always be worshiping the Father; No matter where you are. God seeks worshipers that are praising him at all times. I think that sometimes our church gets into a routine, a pattern of worship. We just follow a list. We need to worship with our whole heart. Worship is such a powerful thing. The Lord loves us to worship him and as the commandment goes love the lord your God with ALL your HEART, SOUL, and MIND. How you worship, in my opinion, is so important. To me its a very personal thing. Its between you and God. It doesnt matter what the person in the row behind you thinks it matters what God thinks. Worship the way you feel comfortable, dont care what others think! Put your whole heart, soul, and mind into worship!

Ginormous Canyon

I have to admit. When we first planned our trip to the Grand Canyon I wasn’t excited. I knew it would add a few good hours that could be better used directed toward home. We even pushed our Grand Canyon experience to the end of our vacation. I think we both hoped that the kids would beg to just head home and skip the whole thing.

We headed toward the Grand Canyon not because it was a childhood dream or something that we’ve been wanted to experience. Really it was because it was something we needed to do to say we did it. It was unpatriotic to ignore the canyon. Everyone else has seen it so we should too.

We drove up to the South Rim and found a parking place. You can see the walking trails and plenty of people with cameras but I still wasn’t impressed. I couldn’t see anything worth whipping the camera out for. We parked on the road and got the kids out of the car (after explaining in great detail the consequences of getting too close to the edge) and walked towards the trails.

Wow! There it was! It took my breath away. Never in my life have I wanted my eye balls to be 100X bigger than they are. My mind could not process the depth and beauty of the canyon. My eyes could not reach the bottom of the canyon. The zoom on my camera could not capture how vast this amazing wonder. To call it the Grand Canyon is an understatement. I would call it the Ginormous Canyon. It’s Gigantic. It’s Enormous. I’m calling it the Ginormous Canyon.

I now realize now that we weren’t being unpatriotic for trying to avoid the Ginormous Canyon. We were missing out on one of God’s most beautiful gifts to us. You know when the Bible talks about how all you have to do is look around and you will know that God is our creator. Ya – this is one of those signs! No one is their right mind and see the canyon and believe there is no God. They can say there is no God, but they have to know in their heart that nothing could have made something that amazing if it wasn’t God. Never again will I avoid the Grand Canyon. In fact, we all agreed that when the kids are old enough we are going to explore the bottom of the canyon and take a raft! Woo Hoo!