NO! Are you out of your mind!

I can't seem to get my head around how so many people give up so easily.

Why even start something that you are not willing to put enough effort into completing?

Let's be more specific... Why profess to have faith in God and say that you give your life to Him, but after things get a little hard, start to pout and say I quit? I'm sorry, but I just don't get it.

Every since I was a small child, there was one characteristic that I learned and kept with me. That is to never start something you are not planning to finish. And once you have started, no matter how hard it gets, don't give up without a fight. Really it's to fight to the death.

Your never a failure, until you stop fighting. If I was trying to become a famous designer and I pursued it for years and years, but then I died before ever making it. No one could say that I failed. I simply died before succeeding. But I died trying. The most important thing is to never stop fighting.

Many times people will come at you with negative words to discourage you. And your own thoughts will try to create this negativity as well. So you have to know when to be nice and when to be strong. For someone to give up on their faith or on a dream, something had to happen along the way to discourage them. And normally it was someone or something that happened or came into their life and started to pollute them. That is why we need to be careful with who we call friend, and with who we start a relationship with.

Whoever and whatever I allow into my mind will certainly plant seeds, and if not soon, then later those seeds will sprout and bear their destructive fruit.

So what should I do with people who come to me trying to discourage me, or trying to break me down? I can tell you what I would do. I would tell them to get out of my face with their negative words or discouraging words. And if that person is trying to get me to turn my back on my dreams or my faith, I would tell them " Are you out of your mind!"

There is a time to be nice and a time to be strong. Even Jesus Himself did not play with His faith. He was very sharp with those who tried to discourage Him. For example when Peter tried to stop Him from going to die for us, He said to Peter "Get behind me satan!". I guess you wouldn't say that was polite. But he had to protect his faith.

There are some things that are more important than feelings. Our future is one of them.

Just one of those days...

Sometimes you have those days where a minute feels like an hour. It seems that if anything can go wrong it will!

No one wakes up in the morning hoping for a bad day. But bad days do happen. Their just seems to be days that no matter how hard you try to turn it around, there is another "surprise" just around the corner. It's awful! You wake up and the iron is broken, now you have to go to work or school wrinkled. Then you get to the bus stop and some "wonderful" person speeds by kicking water up onto your already wrinkled shirt. Then you get where you are going, only to find your superior is in a bad mood today, so she is giving attitudes like free lollipops. So you go through the dreadful day at work, and trying to be positive, you say "this day is going to end well". But when you leave the job, someone picks a fight with you on the way home, because you brushed against them on your way off the bus. By this time, you are thinking, could it get any worst? Oh yes it can! You get home expecting to find some peace of mind. But no no, not today. The family! Yes, it could be the wife or the mom or siblings. But someone has to start complaining or nagging or asking what seems to be 1000 questions, when you are not in the mood. So of course, an argument starts. By now you are thinking, "when will this day end?"

The good news is, it will end! No matter how bad of a day it has been, you can close your eyes at night and wake up and start over. Who knows the next day could be the best day of your life.

We can't avoid problems. It doesn't matter how hard we try. If we don't go looking for them, they will find us. So we can't be afraid to face problems and hardships. Of course, it is never pleasant to go through a frustrating moment, but it can build character. If you just put the past behind you and start each new day afresh, you will learn a lot. It takes a lot of will to lay down after a horrible day and say, "tomorrow is going to be a great day!" Because normally after a bad day, you dread the thought of tomorrow, assuming it will be the same or worst.

Please understand this. Everyday will not be good, but we can go into each day expecting it to be. And if it is not, then we can expect tomorrow to be. But we must make sure that we also do what it takes to make it good. Because sometimes the day goes wrong because of our own decisions.

And the same applies to life itself. Problems do come. But we have to decide how we will deal with them. We can either get down and discouraged, or we can pick our head up and say "come on problem, I'm gonna deal with you". The choice is really ours.

Remember Jesus said, "in this world you will have tribulation (problems), but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world". If our Lord overcame, can't we? Think about it.

P.S. Have a GOOD day!

What if I had...?

There's a nice song called "I don't wanna go through the motions" that I have been thinking about in the last couple of days. I actually haven't heard it in a while, but I keep thinking about it.

You may ask what is the point? Well, it's not really the whole song that I keep thinking about. It's really just one line. The singer says "I don't wanna spend my whole life asking, what if I had given everything... instead of going through the motions".

How deep is that line? "What if I had given everything?"

I know one thing. I don't wanna spend my whole life asking that question. But many people will.

Right now all over the world there are people doing this 21 day fast from secular distractions. And some will do it right, and really go all the way, and be truly filled with God's presence and receive the Holy Spirit and change inside.

But others will just go through the motions, meaning just do it any kind of way. Just caught up in the hype of everyone else doing it. That is sad. Because on the 17th when nothing happens for them, they will be left asking, "what if I had given everything...instead of going through the motions"?

And the same rule applies to life. Many people talk so much about what they will do, or what they will change. But they are just going through the motions. They are not really ready to make the commitment to change at all.

And that is why we have so many defeated people in this world. Especially those who are Christians. They say they believe in a great God, but they just go through the motions, they don't act on their faith in a bold enough way to make something happen. It is almost as if Jesus is just a comforting fairytale king to them. It's as if God were a bandage for a bleeding wound. The bandage covers the wound, but doesn't heal it.

It breaks my heart to see how many people start stuff and don't finish, or worst off, are not even willing to start something because it is "too hard". They just go through the motions in life, and that is it.

Listen dear friends, this 21 day fast that we are doing is not a joke. It is not just for the old or for the young. Not just for members or just for pastors or bishops. This is not just for people who are very holy or have been in church for many years. This is for everyone!

There is death and devastation all over the world right now, and the signs of the end are evident. Now ask yourself this question; one day when you have to stand judgement, do you want to spend ETERNITY asking "what if I had given everything...instead of going through the motions?"