Who have I become...

Every day there is 23400 commercial ads on tv. Research tells us that the average American consumer see's over 600 ads a day. We are bombarded with people telling us who to be and what to buy. A while back my wife and I purchased TiVo. This allowed us to record shows without seeing commercials. It only took 1 week until we were hooked. I loved having the convenience to fast forward through commercials and not see all this stuff people say I need.
In the world today there is more and more teenagers asking the question who am I? And once a teenager becomes a young adult they ask what am I suppose to do. When the young adult becomes a adult they began to ask who have I become? I have a very simple solution to this problem.
If toys could talk, how silly would it be for a toy to ask another toy who am I suppose to be? The other toy might would say... I don't know ask the person who created you. In a silly way- that's what we do every day. We ask everyone but our created who we are suppose to be and what are we suppose to do. The only person who holds the answer to your denstiny and life purpose is Jesus. He is our creator. We need to stop wasting our time asking the world questions that they have no answers to. The world will be the first person to tell you what to wear, how to talk, how to live and what to do. But all's they can do is guess. Jesus "our creator" has the answer. Go to Jesus.
At times we can become insecure in who we are. We can almost lose our identity in our journey to be accepted. The bible says that we are the clay and God is the creator. He molds and shapes us to become who he wants us to be. Our acceptance comes from Jesus. So if you not sure who you've become, if your not sure what your called to do with your life. Here the perfect start.... be like Jesus. Its simple.. the more you are like him the faster your identity will be discovered. A life without Jesus is like a car without a engine, "your going nowhere fast."

Living a Dream

Lately I have had a lot of dreams I know God gave me. The reason I know they are from God is because I can remember small details in the dream like colors, peoples faces, etc... Now granted, I have had some weird dreams before that have no meaning and were probably from the pizza I ate the night before. I love dreaming dreams. My wife hardly ever remembers the dreams she has. But for some reason, I can almost always remember mine. This past week I had a dream there was a knock on my door and a older lady was crying and said she felt like God told her to give me something. She handed me a check with a lot of zero's on it. I remember looking at the check and telling Kristin- babe... you are not going to believe what that lady just gave me. I pray that dream comes true.. I find myself listening for knocks at the door!

I know most of us only dream when we sleep. But what about when we are awake. Maybe some dreams were never meant to be kept secret. Maybe God places them there because he wants to show you something. Or reveal your calling to you. If we allow our dreams to stay in our head and never trickle down to our heart we are limiting God. I love big dreams.. like speaking in front of 1000's of people or driving that new Ferrari or being able to bless someones socks off. And I have decided that I am turning my dreams into reality. How? By trusting, obeying and hearing God. He put them there so its up to him to make them happen. I'm not saying I'm gonna be lazy, sit on my couch and watch "Wheel of Fortune" until God makes something happen. I know that if I put my hands to work- he will bless the work of my hands.

Lets make our God given dreams a reality and began to live them. I hear someone say this "people who do something, do something!" I want to do something BIG for God and build his kingdom. So here are some of my big dreams. I'm dreaming that God gives me the city of McKinney and every teenager in the city! I'm believing that one day I will rent out the Allen Civic Center.I want to see it packed full of teenagers and see 1000's of students saved and set free. I'm dreaming that our worship team redefines worship to our generation and has their own new and unique sound. I'm dreaming that multi millionaires are raised up out of my youth ministry to fund the kingdom and they become millionaires while still teenagers. My dream is that students live their destiny today not 5 years from now. My dream is that World changers..literally.. presidents, CEO's and Missionaries and raised up and released into the world to see millions of people saved! I could go on and on...
Do I have all the answers and steps to these dreams come true? no... will I ... yes! My goal as a youth pastor is not to use students to build my youth ministry.. its for God to use me to help build their life! I want to help students discover their God given potential and create so much confidence in them no-one could tell them otherwise. I know if I help people reach their potential, God will place people in my life to help me reach mine.

In Gods kingdom the way to advance is not to step on top of someone else head, its to push someone else above yourself. The lower I can go- the higher God can take me. I want to live my Dream! I'm living my dream and calling, it's called my life! I will not complain about what I'm tolerating. If we will allow God to grow us on the inside we will began to see our outside explode with favor and provision!

Live your dream!