It's Wake Up Time.

The faint distinction of sonar is going off in my head. No I am not underwater or watching the Hunt for Red October. It is my alarm clock. If you have an iphone you know the limited choice in tones. I roll over, debate hitting the snooze button or turn the alarm off and getting started with the day. I get up (thankfully) look out the window at the cold, dark, and quiet morning. It's wake up time.

It is an interesting process for humans, waking up that is. If you watch dogs, they simply get up and start running around, but humans need a good while to wake up, to clear their minds, open their eyes and get going. Every morning is quiet around the office. (I like my mornings quiet.) It is a good time to reflect and think, plan, and organize the day. None of these previously mentioned items can be accomplished while you are sleeping. Sleep is good for the renewal and refreshment of body and mind, very necessary. Yet from a performance stand point.....not the best. Knowing I will sleep over a third of my life away, is enough for me to get up and get going. (most mornings)

This principle parallels with all aspects of our lives. Some of us sleep too much, sleep walk, don't sleep enough, or day dream. Some of us walk through every routine of life with no real productivity or performance. The kid who sleeps in class or church, or the A student that simply goes through the motions just to pass and be eligible for sports. (that was me)

Regardless of how you look at it, we need to wake up. We can't be affective or productive in any way, if we are simply going through the motions and literally or figuratively sleeping our life away. It reminds me of my favorite verse:

Ephesians 5:14

For it is light that makes all things visible.

This is why it is said;

"Wake up of sleeper, let Christ's

light shine upon you."

I love how simple this verse is. We need to apply this to our lives, I need to apply this to my life. If we live with Christ, we are an alarm clock, we are light. We need to make it our mission to wake people up, to give them the opportunities to let Christ's light shine upon them. This is simply not happening if we are hitting the snooze button every day. Think about it, the easiest thing in the world is to hit the snooze button, it takes extra effort to wake up.

All too often we blame our lack of productivity and performance on not setting our alarm clock or our alarm clock not going off. How many times did you say this as a kid when you were late to school. "My alarm clock didn't go off." Please, we are responsible for our alarms not the other way around. No more "five more minutes mom," stuff. Time to wake up, time to share the light.

It is wake up time. (Also a very good Tom Petty song.)

Everybody likes Milk.

Where the student ministries building is located, it allows me to walk past part of the pre-school campus of Capital Christian School. While walking through today I got to witness one of the things that I may miss most about being a kid. Milk/Nap time! At the same time everyday these kids get a carton of milk, shortly after this snack of vitamin fortified, calcium and mineral rich delight they get a rug square and a pillow and pass out for a half hour or so. Oh to be a kid again where we can sleep when we want to, and have milk served to us.

This milk/nap time spurred a thought in me. Why do they get milk? Why not apple juice or something else? If you take a look at milk it filled with vitamins a, d, b12, riboflavin, phosphorous, and of course calcium. All of these things combined are better than captain planet, they make the most nutrient dense natural substance in the world. Something we call, "Milk." Or you can pronounce it "melk" if you are from the Northeast.

Basically, milk promotes strong bones, growth and development, energy and movement. What a fantastic drink. It reminds me of eating dry cereal, and how it is pretty good, but when you add milk to it, the cereal becomes an amazing meal capable of being consumed for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, dessert, anything! Milk provides taste and draws out the taste in cereal. After all Milk is the mother of the wonderful american treat......ice cream!

1 Peter 2

¹Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. ²Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

What a great passage to help understand the importance of our personal devotion to God on a daily basis. Just like milk that children drink, spiritual milk is important to the maturity, growth and development of us as women and men of God. My favorite part about all of this is the simple fact that we learn that the Lord tastes good. Kind like milk and cookies, except this milk has more than vitamin d and calcium, it has "vitamin holy spirit." Yes I just wrote that. ( I am middle school pastor)

It reminds me of a story. My brother Jordan used to love cookies and milk. Yet he had a problem with spill his glass right when he was about to enjoy his snack. The look on his face would say it all, disappointment. So sad, till my mother would with a fresh glass. Kid was excited to drink his milk! Just like Jordan we need to be excited about what we are putting into our soul, what we are feeding our mind with. What we are challenging our spirit with.

So very simply, with the same importance that we recognize in giving our children the vitamins and minerals and substance needed for their growth and development, we need to be applying to our spiritual growth and development. This being spiritual milk. Prayer, devotion, worship all milk. Whether you prefer, 1, 2, whole, skim, hemp, soy, yak, lactaid for the intolerant, or goat milk, it doesn't matter.

Drink some Milk!!!! "It does a body good."

What I learned about Gossip.

I am a very privileged person to not only be a part of a church staff where the team mentality is overwhelming but a church staff that truly inspires each other. Today I was sitting in church, in the front row where I like to sit. ( no i don't say that, because that makes me an awesome Christian, I just like the front row) I was listening to Rick Cole deliver a message on gossip, it hit home. Not so much that talking behind peoples backs, but he touched on a topic that I think all of us can relate to. Sometimes we talk about people, and that's ok, but sometimes we gossip. Basically it boils down to us being relational people, and it is natural to talk about our relationships. Yet it is very important to recognize in what way we are speaking about people. Pastor Rick gave us four questions to ask when somebody talks about someone else. He can offer way better insight on this topic, seeing that he spoke on it. So if you are interested you should definitely check out the latest message by clicking the picture below. Good stuff. I am certainly grateful that I can be inspired on a weekly basis at the church that I am a part of and while I am serving. The message should be up.