Everything that I Have Ever Done

It was hot outside.

It was not just the temperature that was hot that afternoon. It was the dust in the air combined with the heat which seemed to suffocate the activity out of everyone and everything. It was unbearable to be out in the heat at this time of the day, and she wished that somehow this task could have waited until sundown, but sundown is when other tasks would need to be done.

With a heavy sigh she picked the heavy pot back up into her arms and started moving back into the direction of the well. How many trips had it been today alone for water? She had lost count to be sure.
Even though she was used to handling herself around men, she could not help but tense up when she saw Him sitting there at the edge of the very well she would need to draw water from within the next few moments.

She debated about going up to the well or walking back to the village. Before she could take another step, this man spoke with a gentleness in His voice that stopped her dead in her tracks.

What was it he said to her just now?

"May I have a drink please?"

She could tell by His dress and His accent He was Jewish. So why would He "Lower" Himself to speak to a Samaritan? Surely He could not have been that thirsty?

He was Jesus, and He was thirsty for the thing that God is always thirsty for... Us.

He spoke to her that afternoon of "living water" and "Springs that flowed life from within" and it was His amazing attention to detail which drew the hook. He cared enough about her to mention He knew exactly where she was in life.

I love that!

He is aware of what we are going through in our life TODAY!

She became so overwhelmed by Him and His message to her that she ran back into the village to tell everyone else about the Messiah who sat by the well.

Her use of words arrested my attention for it is within the wording I find a very powerful encouragement to every single one of us this morning!

"The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" ~John 4:28-29

It is not the audience she goes to that takes me off guard here, but rather the message  she delivers to her audience.

Please notice she does NOT say, "This man told me about a promotion He was offering me to come to Him with" or "This guy has a list of things that this free gift is going to require of me in order to prove I really am grateful for that free gift".

Nope.

The message is simple and powerful.

"Come see a man which told me everything that I have ever done!"

I need you to think with me for just a moment.

What was it that led her to the well that day and to the place in life where she found herself as well?

I would like to venture for just a moment that it was in fact the , "Everything I have ever done" that put her at the well on this day with the stranger from Galilee.

Each of us have an "Everything that I have ever done." by the way and each of us must decide what to do with that.

Most people decide that there is just enough dirt contained in the "everything that I ever did" to  feel the need to hide it away like a dead corpse and never discuss it.

Still others see nothing good in the "Everything I ever did". It is full of pain, regret, and shame and if we could just forget every night spent, and every penny wasted and every hurtful word and action given and received then we would be OK.

It was the "Everything that I ever did" that brought her to the well on that day, and it was the "Everything that I ever did" that brought her to a place where she was ready to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ!

"Everything that I ever did"

What does this statement mean to you?

What does that call forward from your soul?

Have you ever tried to hide the answer to this question with denial?

The truth is that we are no different than the woman at the well in the fact that each of us has an "Everything that I ever did" and it is the "Everything that I ever did" that brings us to where we are with the relationship decision with Christ.
 
Last week I posted about learning to say "Thank You for My Wall". , and in that post I took a very transparent look at the wall I believe God used for the greatest good in my life. It has been one which He used in a powerful way to bring me into a true relationship with Him.
 
For some, the "Everything I have ever done"  that brought them into a relationship with Father is a jail house floor.

For some, the "Everything I have ever done"  that brought them into a relationship with Father is a prostitutes life.
 
For some, the "Everything I have ever done"  that brought them into a relationship with Father is a religious hypocrisy.
 
For some, the "Everything I have ever done"  that brought them into a relationship with Father is a drunken stupor.

It is the "Everything that I have ever done" that God uses to help us discover our need for Him! Had her steps been any different would she still have met the Master?

Your "Everything I have ever done" is one of the most valuable things you own. Whatever that list contains, could you give this list to Father today and allow Him to turn an anchor into a full main sail on your ship?

If your path had been any different would you know Him like you know Him today?

Thank Him for your "Everything that I ever did" and lay claim to Romans 8:28 today, and know that He is working everything for your good!

Climbing with you,
~Dan
 

Thank You for My Wall!

 

This blog deals a lot with the walls (allowed circumstances) of our life and the matter of perspective in those circumstances.

 

Part of the process of gaining true perspective is to understand just how short that life truly is. Some call it "Getting a grip on the reality of reality". It is an understanding of the fact that life truly is a vapor. (See: Just a Vapor )

 

The thing is about this reality grip is that it forces you to acknowledge the walls that we try so hard to deny or even to hide. (See: My Most Recent Wall )

 

This past August in the post ( Experience over Sight ) We looked at the blind man in John chapter nine. I want to go back to this story but I want to look at an entirely different aspect of this story.

 

In this story I find the entire story of "The Man and The Wall".

 

 

The Story behind the story

 

"And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing."  ~John 9:1-7

So the man is discovered to be blind and just as in our day and age, whenever a misfortune happens in a person's life, the very first thing we tend to do is ask the question, "What have they been doing wrong?
Good people speculate on everything from his sins to the sins of his parents. Notice Jesus' response to the question because this is the same as in anytime a circumstance is allowed by God outside of our own doing.

"...but that the works of God should be made manifest in him...."

Wow! So that the Labor of God should be declared or presented in him!

 

This man was created for the sole purpose of displaying God's love and labor.

 

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ~ Ephesians 2:10

My wall (Allowed by God Circumstances) is the most valuable thing that I own in this lifetime.

It is not a setback, it is in fact the introduction card for me to see Father on a completely different plane and understanding. One that He desires me to see Him on.

If you are in the middle of the fight of your life as you read this post I want to say to you above any other thing that I could hope to say.

"Don't give up!"

NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT!

The day that we can look at the walls in our life in the way that God intended for us to see them will not only be the best day of our life, but it will be the start of our new step of relationship with Him!

I chose the picture at the top of this post for a reason. The wall behind me is actually a church.

One of the biggest walls that I had to struggle with and climb was the wall of religion.

I lived a majority of my life faithfully pursuing a God who wasn't. The God I was told about was far from the God that wanted to have a relationship with me so badly that He sent His only son Jesus to give His life on a cross for me, raise from the dead and empower me with His Spirit.

The picture of God that I had painted for me was more like The godfather than God the Father. HE loved me? yes, but He also was waiting to break my legs of I crossed Him. If I did not give Him 10% He would TAKE it from me in doctor bills, and hurt my family. It was not about a relationship, it was about walking on egg shells.

He was like an impatient parent. He loved me enough to produce me, yet was always annoyed whenever I was hanging around.

I longed to be loved and desired just for who I was made to be.

My thought was that if I did more than the average bear for Him, then I would score the heavenly picnic basket of God's approval, love, and acceptance.

This was a wall that loomed larger than life on my path.

I found myself in a religious environment that extended value, love, and acceptance based upon activity, productivity, complete agreement with the leader, and service.

It was during this time of struggle that I looked up at that wall and cried out to God and asked, "Father, why did you move me into this mess?"

The answer came immediately into my spirit.

 

"Dan, I moved you here in order to show you that the mindset and motivation that you answer to now is exactly how you see me.

I am nothing like what you see presented to you on a daily basis...nothing like that."

I began to weep and just love my Father for who He truly is. He had used my wall to introduce Himself to me and invite me into a relationship with Him.

My wall is precious to me!

It is more valuable to me than most of my life experiences.

I would go through it again if that is what it would take to bring me into the relationship dynamic that i now enjoy with Father.

I bet that the blind man had an appreciation and value that he placed on mud after that day.

When he climbed his wall, interestingly enough, he was no longer valued by the "religious" crowd and they could not get him out of their place of "worship" fast enough!

In verse 34, the leader of the church comes at him puffed up and surrounded by pay rolled backup and basically shouts, "Who do you think you are? We have degrees and doctorates and more years under our belt being busy doing things in God's name. Who do you think you are to try to assume that you might know something about God that we don't?"

I LOVE verse 35!!!

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" ~John 9:35

Jesus was not welcomed in the "religious" mess either. He heard about the man and then He went and found him, and when He found the man, He spoke to him.

The wall that this man faced had led him to a relationship with Jesus!

WOW!!!!

It is a principle that is so simple and yet so profound!

Father loves you with a reckless, ever reaching and crazy love!

He is crazy about you and personally designed your path with every wall in place to pull you up into a relationship with Him.

Once the Holy Spirit leads you into this truth, you will forever live your life with the unconscious and automatic whisper of the words...

"Thank you for my wall"

Climbing with you,
~Dan



The pictures for this post as well as for the upcoming new website were taken by:

/http://www.devinnoelphotography.com/

Daddy's Hand

There are five unique senses that God designed us to utilize to experience His creation and the life that He has given us.

Sight, Hearing, Smell, taste and touch.

Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to experience life with each of these five senses to some degree or another, and when I say fortunate I do mean blessed in every sense of the word.

This is itself is a massive privilege!!!

I think that every one of us has a time when those senses are invaded that forever will imprint a memory in our minds that associate that sense with a certain moment in time.

A taste. A smell. A sound. A touch. A sight.

We were at a military air museum in Pensacola Florida a few weeks ago and the kids were in awe of every thing in sight.

I was too because I did not feel as though I had enough time to take in all of the restored military aircraft and read every fact that was meticulously displayed. That was when my sense of touch was impacted forever.

My hand was by my side when I felt him put his hand in mine. His chubby little fingers gently squeezed my palm and I hear him say in his broken little words... "Daddy?"

I looked down into his blue eyes and I was gone. The sense of touch, sight, and hearing were forever imprinted with the presence of my son.

I reached down and scooped him up into my arms and just breathed him in. Holding him close I kissed him and told him that I loved him with everything that I was and that I was so proud to be his daddy.

I do not think that he will ever remember that "moment" but I will forever remember it. because all five of my senses were imprinted in that "moment".

His hand pressing into mine ignited my sense of touch and his words speaking my name inflamed my sense of hearing. Looking down into his eyes looking into mine stirred my sense of sight and pulling him into my arms and kissing him allowed me to smell his skin and his hair.

This was my child and I was his father.

We have a Father.
 
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." ~Romans 8:15 

I want my kids to behave well and make the right decisions in their life, but there is absolutely nothing that I need them to do for me with the exception for just receiving my love for them.

Father is very much like that to us. He longs to teach me about Him, and His creation and He longs to feel my hand in His and to hear me call His name. Daddy. He patiently uses everything in my environment to lead me to an understanding of who He is and how much He loves me.

It is all about a relationship with Him that is what He created us for. He longs to scoop me up in His arms and hold me close. He smells me and in that smell He inhales the aroma that hits His nostrils and it is sweet to Him because it is the aroma of Jesus of within whom I live, and He loves that aroma. He drinks it in!

The senses of God are stirred by us looking up and saying, "Daddy!"

It is in this knowledge that we live. It is not a license to just live the way we want to. It is a freedom of invitation to truly see Him as He desires to be seen by us. His anger and wrath was poured out on the cross and it was carried for us. It is only reserved for those who refuse Him in an eternity of the absolute absence of Him. He is not angry with you. He is not a distant removed Dad who is mostly mad or sad with you and the ways that you fail Him. He is your Daddy!

Today...

Take Him for who He is. Look up and place your hand in His and just speak His name through your broken words of a speech that seems far from adequate.

"Daddy!"


Then feel Him scoop you up close and feel as He draws His breath and understand that this is Him breathing you in. The relationship is yours to enjoy!

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." ~Galatians 4:6 

Take advantage of what you have to its fullest today.

It has been paid for, you are His and He is yours. Do not struggle against His love by trying to be worthy of it.

While you were actively sinning, Christ died for you. There is nothing that you can do to merit His adoption of you.

Enjoy it! Open up your heart to Father today and just receive His love for you! He will teach you and yes, chastening (Instruction) will come in that relationship, but know over every there thing that He made you valuable to Him. He is jealous for you and He wants you more than you could ever hope to want Him.

Engage His senses today while you are able to. I can promise you, the results of knowing who you are to Him will always produce a knowledge of what He is to you!

Climbing with you,
~Dan

Moments

At first glance it was just a pumpkin.

I have to admit to you this was what I first thought it was. My family and I were taking a weekend getaway in Florida and stopped at a little church run "Pumpkin farm". Two of my children were having a blast in the bounce house and one was not. 

My youngest son was about a million miles away from the required height that Florida has placed upon its bouncing. He was sad the state of Florida would not  let him bounce and he was handed over to me for "Your turn" time. Which means the end of a mother's rope has been reached.

I walked with him around the different pumpkins while holding him to my chest. These are really the awesome times because it is during these times that my 18 month old (Yes I do know how old he is ) son fulfills his life's purpose.

Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that your 18 month old son has a life purpose?

Yes. It is amazing because his life's purpose is so huge in comparison to his little frame.

His life's purpose in my life is to expressly picture Father's relationship to us. 

How do I know this? Because this little boy has expressed this and taught this more to me in 18 months than any other living soul I have ever met.  

We petted the little farm animals, held rabbits, hummed a song that was on his mind and ran through the Rolodex of words that he knows.

All of us have had experiences like this with someone we love, but very few of us would say that we fully recognize the point in time where an experience that we share transforms into a MOMENT. Right in the middle of a pumpkin patch, my son and I shared a "moment".

Have you ever shared a "Moment" with someone that burned into your very heart and mind and forever changed the way you viewed them and yourself?

It was a "Moment" that stopped your world in its tracks and made you suddenly desire to never leave that instant of time.

What is a "Moment"?

I was going through some manuscripts that I have been working on recently and came across something I had been putting together for a novel I am tinkering with. This novel is one day going to be an adult version of the story, "The Man and The Wall" and it is going to be a story of two men who die at the same time and discover heaven.
Both men lived the "Gift" of life very differently and as they cross over they are finally able to see all of the unanswered questions about the "Whys" of their life answered. What you are about to read is a rough draft of a chapter containing a conversation between one of the men, Thomas, and a citizen of Heaven named Lance. Lance is helping Tom understand the concept of eternity.
(The experience discussed was taken from the very first all alone Daddy/ daughter date I shared with my little girl) 

“Let me see if I can help you with this,” Lance suggested as he jumped down from the fence rail he had been perched on. Walking toward me he bent down to pick a long blade of grass that he pointed at me like a teacher’s baton.

“I guess that this would be the best way to describe it to you.” He quipped and he placed his fingers in a thoughtful pose on his chin, crossing his other arm on his chest.

“Time”, he said as he began slowly pacing back and forth. “Most people never fully grasp how powerful of a gift that time was until time is gone.” Stopping in mid stride he turned to look me in the eyes, “Was there ever a moment in time where you fully recognized it to be the gift that it was?”

“It was a brisk January day…”I immediately said. “The sun was high and it was thirty two degrees outside. I remember the temperature, because as I was helping her into my truck I remember thinking to myself that I hoped she wouldn’t be too upset with how cold it was.” I said as I looked over to Lance.  I continued, “It was our first date, and I was nervous. I did not know what to do. It had been so long since I dated, and I did not want to do anything to mess this up with her.”

 “She must have been very important?” Lance reflected.

 “She still is”, I corrected him quickly with my sentence softening into a mutter, “even if she is still on the other side.”

“I remember how awkward it felt after I closed her door for her after helping her into the truck.”   I was instantly taken back in my mind to that very moment, and it was as if I were there again. Only this time I was watching myself in that moment of time from a distance.

 “What am I going to do now?” I asked myself quietly as I rounded the front of the truck to the driver’s side. She looked through the windshield at me and just smiled. I could see her lips mouthing words that I could not hear outside the cab. “She is talking in there right now, and I had better get busy listening”, I breathed as I opened the door and got in.

“What happened then?” Lance asked, now listening intently to my memory as it unfolded.

“Well, I got into the cab, and as I put the keys into the ignition I looked over at her, and our eyes made contact. I knew at that moment that this was what it was all about.” “Time, this was what time was all about you know?”

Lance broke the thought by asking, “I thought you said you had been married for ten years?”

“I had been, but this date was different. She was going to turn two years old in about four weeks, and this was our first date together, just me and my daughter.” My eyes instantly began to moisten.

“Daddy daughter date huh?” Lance grinned. “I never had an opportunity to have any of those.”

“Well let me tell you Lance, they are the most bitter sweet times that you would ever have had.” I exclaimed. I could see a puzzlement sweep across his face. Clearly he had not been expecting me to make that claim.

“Bittersweet?” he asked, “How so?”

“Because if you are halfway on the ball you realize that this time in life is going to come to an end quicker than it starts and you had better get your head in the game and love her with all that you have.” I said.

Tears were now slipping down my cheeks as my mind spun back to that January morning. We pulled out of my In-laws driveway where I had picked my little girl up, and as we drove out to the store I had looked over and asked her if she would like to listen to some music.

She had said “Wess atty!” ,which in two year old speak meant “Yes Daddy”, With her nose scrunched up as tight as she could get it, revealing an irresistible toothy smile.

“You know Lance, the only CD I had in my truck was a Dean Martin album and the song that she wanted to listen to over and over again was “That’s Amore”.

She just sat in her car seat bobbing her head from side to side with the can-can music on that song, and I asked her if I could hold her hand. Here we were driving down the road, holding hands listening to Dean Martin, and it happened. I picked up on something that I had missed before.

Time.

 We form regrets in life when we look back on the time we should have valued while we had it. This moment with my daughter was absolutely sacred, and I was able to recognize it. I had seen time not just as an enjoyable moment with someone I loved, but as His gift. I do not think anyone walked any slower through the dolly aisle at Wal-mart than us. I mean we made every single talking baby doll talk, and we looked at every single toy shopping cart like you would have looked at your first car when you bought it. We went to the flower section of the store to get mommy roses before they skyrocketed in price at Valentines Day, and my little girl got a single rose to carry while I carried moms. The rose crushed tightly in one of her hands, and my hand crushed tightly in the other.

“The picture my daughter and I took that day with each other went on my chess board.” I smiled as he again looked confused.

“Chess board?” he asked. “ I thought you were in a truck on a date with your daughter? Did you play chess too? Where does a chess board fit into this?”

“I had a glass chess board in my office that was specially made for photos to be inserted in the white squares. I put pictures in there that reminded me of the good moves that I made in life.” I said. “That day and that realization were a very good moves, and ones I wanted to be reminded of.”

Lance then stopped walking casually with me and turned to face me. Putting his hands on my shoulders he looked into my eyes and said, “Tom, you understand perfectly what this place is then. This place is that moment you recognized as the most important thing in life. Not a moment of time, but of true value. This moment is eternity, and it will never pass. This moment is the rest of your life. It is a perfect gift, full of perfect things. Things which will never, ever come to an end.” Lance turned away with one arm fully around my shoulders and the other arm making a sweeping gesture before us as we stood side by side.

“Tom, welcome to eternity!”

The Moment.

That is what it is truly about. Recognizing the gift of the moment while it is held in your hand.

Live your moments today. All of them.

Who is standing right in front of you? Look at them deeply before they disappear because they are your moment.

What are you eating today? Don't be in such a hurry to consume your food that you miss the taste and the texture. It won't slow your day out of control to take a moment and just enjoy the food you are eating. It is alright to take the "Moment" and fully engage in whatever it is you are doing, and allow yourself to connect with whomever you are with.

What sounds do you hear?
Listen. Listen intently, love intentionally, engage fully and share your attention patiently.

Live your moments today!

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" ~ 2 Corinthians 4:17

Thank you for sharing a "Moment" with me today!

Climbing with you,
~Dan

"Called out from Within"

I love this video for several reasons, but I think I would like to give you the main reason this was a video that I had to share with you this morning.

What I watched was a piano sitting by itself.

It had potential packed into it but untouched it remained just another potential packed paper weight.

May I just say that every single one of us are just as full of potential as that lone piano. You may not understand that and you may even resist that but the fact of your potential being within you is absolutely true!!!

I want to say something here that you may have a hard time believing, so I want you to read it TWICE and I want you to read it SLOWLY.

YOU ARE STRONG AND YOU ARE POWERFUL AND YOU ARE PACKED FULL OF POTENTIAL!!!

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." ~Ephesians 2:10

We read this passage and we miss two words that stand out boldly to me as I read. "WE" and "HIS".

God does not, nor will He ever make junk. You are NOT junk! You are in fact HIS workmanship. What we need more than a "Feel good" speech is the Holy Spirit of God to have the freedom to lead us into the truth of how the Father sees us!

"Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance." ~Acts 2:28 
We tend to sit like that piano until Father brings just the right people along to help us bring out the "sounds" that we are capable of making.

They are notes of potential and as I saw the first person come to the piano and begin bringing out a sound I thought of my parents.

They are not perfect but God used them to begin pulling out of me "Notes" and "sounds" that would forever fill the rooms that God has placed me in. They plucked on my heart, will, and mind with godly principles and teaching that forever shaped me. If you have ever been blessed or encouraged by one word written on this blog, I need to direct your attention to a father who worked tirelessly and a mother who gave without limits to instill in their son a love and desire for Father.

Then I noticed as the one person was pulling out sounds from the piano others began to come along at just the right time in the music and they each began to take their place in various places of that piano and in their own way, they began to also pull sounds from that piano

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."               ~Proverbs 27:17

As I watch these "friends" pull out sounds of potential from this piano I have to just stop and thank God for every single person that He has brought into my life that helped me produce a sound. Some sounds revealed strings that needed tightened or repaired and others revealed that what I thought was a sound produced only by a certain motion could be magnified by another motion. My life's potential is brought out by the friends that He brings my way.

The word friend use here is the same word as: Brother, Companion, Fellow, Husband, Lover, Neighbor.

The truth is, a friend is anyone He brings into our life that reveals in us the ability to make a more magnificent sound to Father.

Please note the wording used here. "Iron sharpeneth Iron". The word  "Sharpeneth" means to "Make Sharp, to Strike". Not every friend God brings will come in the form of a good friend. Some of those friends strike us, but it is in the striking that we are driven to discover THE BALM, Jesus Christ!

This past week I received a message on Face book that for some odd reason was sent to me one year ago and it did not deliver to me until just last week.
As I read the message I discovered that it was full of some of the most hateful poison I had ever received in a written form. It was from a pastor that I used to work with in the church.
Talk about mixed emotions. I was filled with joy because Father held that message until I had reached a place of healing from a wounding experience, yet at the same time, as I read the words and I was filled with sadness for the individual who had written the hate filled words about me and my wife and my children. They were in a place where they were trying to tell others about a God that they did not truly know.
I asked Father to help him. This person truly was a tone and a  hand that Father had used to strike me very hard when they were close enough to the piano to add their tone to mine and it was necessary! I am in that man's debt because he was used in spite of himself to add a sound to my life that exalts Father even more!

Father used that man to help me truly meet Him. I knew about God, but I did not truly know Him before that meeting ever took place nearly four years ago. I did a lot of things in Father's name, but I never knew truly Him. Where would I be without that harshness to drive me to Him?


The last thing I noticed about the video was that as these "Friends" were busy pulling sounds out of the piano, they were adding their own voice to the voice of the piano.

Each person had a different tone and it was as individual to them as the movements that they added to the pianos potential.

 I sit at the piano of potential and begin to pull from it what I know I am able to pull and I ask Father to bring into my life those who can add their own skill in order to produce the best possible sound available!

To those of you who pull sound from me and have pulled sound from me, I thank you and I praise Father for bringing you to my piano!
 You are beautiful!

This little video is an amazing visual reminder about how Father brings people into your life to add to and pull out things that He placed within you. He placed potential within you to produce a sound that is unique and all your own.

You express Him!

Let Him pull that expression and sound out of you today!!!

He is waiting to hear your potential and He has placed sound pullers all around you. Don't fight them. Allow them to do what Father brought them to you to do in the first place.
 
"Make a joyful noise unto the LORD..." ~Psalms 100:1

"Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms." ~Psalms 95:2
A joyful noise is the ultimate result and desire that Father gives us the potential to produce.

He waits. He listens, and if you stop the business long enough to hear the still small voice, you will here Him say, " I cannot wait to hear your voice!"

I cannot wait to hear your voice!


Climbing with you,
~Dan

Running for the Future



 

I have found a new love in my life and it is beginning to impact everything about me.

 

Every morning my new life waits for me!

 

I make my way to the back door and I find my new shoes waiting. I have started running a while back and every morning since that first time and it has changed my entire world. This past February I began to really take a look at where I was physically in relation to where He has been taking me with Him. I was at a family reunion and was talking with my uncle Bill about where the Lord was directing me and he spoke something that fell deep into my heart.

 

"Dan, your message in life is extremely important and I am seeing God take this to places that you cannot even begin to imagine. You need to ask Father to bring people into your life that He will use to help you with the delivery of this message and then ask God to bring people into your life to help you understand how to improve and maintain good health and strength. A message is useless if your do not have the physical strength to deliver that message."

 

I began to ask God for those people to be introduced into my life and I continued to dream and work those dreams. One of the things that has taken place is running. I run every morning and the time with Father is amazing!!! I bought real running shoes a while back and this cracks me up because I have never had real running shoes before. My tennis shoes have always been from Wal-Mart. The velcro strap "Danny Tanner" style y'know? These new shoes are the real deal!

 

I love these shoes because every morning, they carry me straight to Father's throne!

 

I run and  as I run I meditate, dream, speak, cry, and pour my heart out to Father.

 

I was running last week and Father settled these words on my heart, "Dan, you are not running for things now, you are running for things that I have for your future." I slowed to a jog as I took that in. Things you have for my future? I began to ask Him to show me what He had in my future and as He has begun showing me directions and paths He has for me I am amazed.

I don't see how these things are going to happen with this message but I don't have to.

 

The only thing I need to do is run.

 

So I run.

 

Have you ever been there?

 

The understanding that there is a lot more in store than you can ever fathom?

 

I love the way Paul puts this in his letter to the Church at Phillipi.

 

"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh.

If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:   Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; 

Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.   Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." ~Phillipians 3:1-15

I run for my future.

 

I have the now and not the "what could happen" so I use the now to prepare for the "What could happen."

 

You have the now.

 

God sits outside of time itself and that is what eternity is. It is the present.

 

What are you doing with "the now" that you have been given?

 

Paul was pressing toward the mark. He was in the "Now" pressing for what was ahead.

 

This was really brought home to me when one morning while getting ready for work I heard a bumping shuffle in the hallway outside my bedroom door. I opened the door and looked down the hallway and this is what I saw.

 

My future.

 

We all have a future that we run for today. The problem is not the future though, the problem is our view of the future through the lens of the present.

 

If the present is a burdensome task, then the future is dreaded because all that it brings is even more burdensome tasks



 

The awesome part of it all is that our future waits for us to catch up to it. What dreams do you have? What has God placed on your heart in regards to what He has for you?

You are His workmanship and He has created you for a task that only you can do. Express Him through your own gifts, talents and abilities.

That is your future!

There are people who He has orchestrated into the musical score of your life that you will interact with and He desires you to express Him in those divine appointments.

 
 You press toward that mark! You press toward a day that is not visible yet and for results that are not seen yet. Others are watching and learning to "run" for their tomorrow by seeing you run today.

Is it worth the pain?

Is it worth the circumstances that seem to cause you grief?

Is it worth the putting aside of what feels good to you in the now?

I would submit to you that it is worth it. It does not matter what happened yesterday and it does not even matter what the future may hold as much as it matters what you do with Christ today.

He is pulling you to Him even now and He calls you to run with Him.

It has been a loss of nearly forty pounds for me since February and my health is on track to provide me with the strength that I need for the message that He has for me to deliver in the future with whatever way that may hold passage to. I run not for today, but for the strength to walk in a tomorrow with Him!

 

I have found a new love in my life and it is beginning to impact everything about me.

 

Every morning my new life waits for me!

 

I make my way to the back door and I find my new shoes waiting. I have started running a while back and every morning since that first time and it has changed my entire world.

 

I was running last week and Father settled these words on my heart, "Dan, you are not running for things now, you are running for things that I have for your future."

 

I don't see how these things are going to happen with this message but I don't have to.

 

The only thing I need to do is run.

 

So I run.

 

 

Climbing with you,

 

~Dan