Forged By Faith

Psalm 70:4 NIV Our lives are a product of what we focus on, what we pay attention to, what we allow to get to us. But so much of the time the things we focus on are the temporary problems we face or the sudden upheavals around us. So it's really no wonder that it seems like so many people are just miserable anymore. There's a whole lot of negativity around us and when that's all that we focus on then we're allowing ourselves to be filled up with that junk. And only seeing the bad in life will weigh us down and drag us into a place that we don't want to be. As I shared yesterday, I've been there. I'm still there. But I'm working on it. It's all too easy to start veering off in the wrong direction. After all, we're surrounded by plenty of nonsense that is just waiting for us to let it in so that it can start bringing us down. With all of this technology surrounding us today we have an endless stream of news and updates right at our finger tips. We...

Psalm 51:12 NIV This one kind of ties in with yesterday's post. I've noticed something about myself recently and I seriously want to work on it. I realized that I've become pretty cynical, or maybe jaded is a better word. I think it comes from spending too much time trying to figure out why people are doing what they're doing, and why the world is seemingly spinning more and more out of control because of it. But I just feel this lack of joy and peace all of the sudden and that's definitely not the way I want to spend my time here. So something needs to be done. I think I've become a victim of not practicing what I preach. I have talked so many times about not being distracted by the world around us, and yet that's exactly what I've done. I know that it isn't, but if hypocrisy were an olympic sport, I'd be the record holder! But I guess the same goes for all of us. We all say the right things but maybe our actions don't quite match up all the...

2 Timothy 2:4 NIV This is without a doubt one of my favorite verses! It's one that I think about constantly. It always helps keep me focused when other things are trying to trip me up. I really think that this is one of those messages that we all need to keep in mind these days. We're constantly surrounded by people and things that are trying to get our attention. But the truth is that nearly all of it is nothing but a pointless distraction. All the anger, all the filth, all the social unrest, all of the divisions and disagreements only pull us in the wrong direction and make it harder to do what we're here to do. We're here to serve Christ. Not those around us. Not the latest headline. Not the newest outrage. Not the opinions of the masses. Not the world's desire to run wild and carefree. But so often those are the very things that we focus on the most. We spend more time worrying about what some politician is doing than we do thinking about ways that we could be m...

Ecclesiastes 3:12 NIV This one really hit me this weekend. Back in 2018 I decided to make some changes and start taking better care of myself. So I started working out, lifting weights, and eating better. And one of the people that I have learned the most from suddenly passed away Sunday. John Meadows helped me learn so many things about not only exercise and diet, but also about being a good person, helping others, and living a life that's full of joy no matter what's going on. I've read so many posts from the people that he had coached and connected with and they all have nothing but good things to say. Pretty clear that he made a massive impact in so many lives, mine included! And I've been thinking about that a lot the past couple of days. The way we live sends a message. The way we treat others, the things we say, the things that we're passionate about really do have an impact. Each of us have the chance to lift others up. We can encourage people to grow, impro...

Exodus 14:12 NIV This is another one that has really stuck with me as I've been reading through Exodus. And it's one that I've been guilty of more times than I can count, even recently. Here the Israelites are complaining to Moses about the journey they're on and how much harder it is than they want it to be. God has brought them out of slavery in Egypt and is leading them to the promised land through the desert. Little food. Little water. Little comfort. And obviously dwindling hope. Tell me you haven't been there hundreds of times! We are really bad about complaining. No matter what the circumstance is that we're facing we can find something bad to whine about. I don't know if it's because we always want what's easy. Maybe it's because we're used to seeing the bad in everything. Or perhaps it's combination of both along with a myriad of other things. Whatever it is it only blinds us to the fact that God is faithful and that He has prove...

Exodus 20:3 NIV I've been reading through Exodus for a few days now and read about the golden calf last night. If you haven't read it you really should! Moses had gone up Mount Sinai to talk with God and receive the commandments. And while he was gone the people waiting for Him got kind of bored and decided to make an image of a god that they could worship. Then God tells Moses that he better get back down the mountain because the people done lost their minds and need to be straightened out. So Moses heads down to take care of business, smashes the Ten Commandments, chucks the statue in the fire, and lets the people know what they've done in going against God. That's just one of those stories that always seems to click. It's something that we're still doing today. It's something that's sadly even more common in our modern world. But we may not even realize it. We might not notice that we're worshipping idols ourselves. That's because we think of ...

Colossians 3:17 NIV All for Christ. That should be our goal. That should be our reason. But so often we get busy living for other things. We make other stuff our priorities. We get distracted and fall into all sorts of different ways of thinking. We worry about things that don't matter. We do or say things just to please other people and pacify their desire to remain unchanged. We get caught up living our lives for reasons that are far short of what we're actually here to do. All because we see these lives and our time in them as all that counts right now. But that's not really the case. There is more than this. There is more than worldly comfort. There is more than being popular or fitting in. There is a lot more. But we're told that those things are what matter. So we get lost in this world of numbers. How many friends we have. How many followers we have. How many likes we get. How many people see our posts or comments. And so we adjust what we do and what we say in o...