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Daily Thought – God Will Make A Way

Well everyone… today was hectic! That is about the only way I can describe it. I had around 30-40 calls, logged a bunch of toner, and had to deal with a lot of paper jams. Then when I left today at 4:00 PM, there were already calls stacking up for me. So, I predict tomorrow to be a busy day as well. For some reason I am not tired like I thought I would be, but oh well. I guess I will write in here to help me pass the time before I go to bed.

As you all who read this has probably noticed, there is a daily thought on the top of most of my posts lately. I have decided to add this and dedicate some of my journal to that thought, to help myself, and maybe anyone out there reading it.

As I said before, my daily thought for today (tomorrow) is God Will Make A Way. I have to say that my life for the past year has been living proof of that. God has done a lot of things that, alone, I could have never done. He is wonderful and it is amazing to think about all He has done for me. So if you end up in a situation that you can’t face or get through, remember these two things. 1. God will always make a way 2. Because He will never give you more than you can handle. Many times I have to work at remembering that… I end up in situations that I think that I can’t handle; I just remember that God is there to help me along, and I know that everything will be all right.

I want to leave you with a song…

God Will Make a Way
Don Moen

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways, we cannot see
He will make a way for me

He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness, he’ll lead me
Rivers in the desert, will I see
Heaven and earth will fade, but his word will still be made
He will do something new today

Well, I am going to hit the hay, as they say in the south. So leave me a comment or drop me a line at my e-mail address or on AOL.

Later,
- J -

Good evening everyone! Today has been a great day. I have been working on my new Apple PowerBook G4. For those of you who are techies, yes… I am using a Mac… Anyways, today has been a nice day off and I am having fun with my new toy.

Well, tomorrow I go back to work. I have a feeling that it is going to be a busy day tomorrow, due to the fact that some departments were not off today, which means there will be a lot for me to do tomorrow.

Well, I am really tired, so I will try and make tomorrows post a little more interesting and longer.

Later,
- J -

Daily Thought – My Audience of One

Hey All,
Thanks Tiff for leaving me that comment, it brought a lot of encouragement to me! Anyways, here has what has developed lately…

I have tomorrow off, yay! My main computer that I use isn’t working at the moment, and my laptop’s keyboard is slowly shorting out. I guess I will be sending this back to BestBuy to get them to fix it. So if your are reading this post and notice that an “f” is missing, just keep reading… Yeah, the “f” key is going out. Well, tomorrow I am getting another laptop! Yeah, I know most of you are thinking… two laptops, are you out of your mind? No, the new laptop I am going to expand my video editing. Which it is a good thing that I am getting that, that way I can use it for my daily things while my current laptop gets sent to Sony to be fixed.

Well, for those of you who read my posts, you will notice that I have some type of daily thought… Today’s is – My Audience of One. Stop to think about those four words. Story time again… Before Big Daddy Weave ever sang that song, my school principle used to say this to us, “You are not living for others; you are living for your audience of one.”

Always after hearing him say that, and hearing the Big Daddy Weave song, this picture or metaphor comes to mind. I see my life as a stage, and I am the main character. As I stop on the stage and look to my audience. My view is cluttered with people, thoughts, and physical things. I need to wipe those things from my mind, and all that is left in my life is my audience of one, that one person being God. I don’t live for others, I live for my God.

So anyways, keep that in mind today as you walk through your day and make decisions… Who are you living for, it is your audience of one?

Later,
- J -

Daily Thought – Walking in the shadow of the Cross…

Hey All,
It is time for a story. My youth pastor once told us about a man that he used to know. He remembered that when he prayed, he said something along the lines of, “Let me walk daily in the shadow of the Cross, that I may not be seen, but you may be seen through me.”

Ever since he told us about that, I have kept that thought in my mind. I want to walk in the shadow of the Cross. I walk around at work and see these lost people, but I don’t know how to even begin reaching out and witnessing to them. Tonight, I also realized that I have friends that are very close to me, that aren’t Christians. How can I let someone that I care about so much, slip away from God?

For me, life has been going pretty good. Work has been going great, and my friend and I are going out to the mall tomorrow evening. Things are just so-so with life I guess, nothing really great and nothing really horrible.

Keep me in your prayers, for those of you who read this, about my witnessing. Also, leave me some comments! Anyways, I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Later,
- J -

Well, my weekend was great! I always enjoy going to church and hanging out with my friends. Also, I got paid today, yay! So, over all, things have been going good. I have some library books that came in, so I need to go get those tomorrow. And there really isn’t anything else great going on.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Sunday we sang one of my favorite worship songs. This really is my prayer daily, and I find it to be a powerful song. So for those of you who don’t read it, as usual, I will post the lyrics.

Power of Your Love

Lord I come to You
Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace,
That I found in You

Lord I come to know
The weaknesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love

Hold me close, let your love surround me
Bring me near, draw me to your side
And as I wait, I will rise up like the eagle
And I will soar with you, Your spirit leads me on
In the power of Your love

Lord unveil my eyes
Let me see you face to face
The knowledge of your love
As you live in me

Lord renew my mind
As your will unfolds in my life
In living every day
By the power of your love

Stop and take a good long look at the words, and you will see what I mean. I hope that everyone has a great week! Leave me a comment!

Later,
- J -

Good Evening everyone. Well, things have been going great! I got in 32.5 hours this week, which I only budget for 20, so I am pretty excited. So that is my happy and sort of unserious news. The following is my “deep thought” section…< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

As a Christian, do you ever stop to take a look at the world around you? Do you stop and think about how many people that you encounter in a day are probably going to go to hell, and die without ever knowing the love of Christ? Maybe it was because I was raised in church and lived a sheltered life, but it has finally hit me what that feels like to think about all that. I look around each day at work and see the lost people, and wonder what I can do. Attending a Christian school most of my life, it sort of “dulled” me to the fact that their are so many lost people around me. I think that most people go to a Christian school never realize it, until they go into the real world. I mean, at a Christian school, everyone “claims” to be saved, so it is hard to reach someone that believes that they are saved. It hurts to see these people I work with, be lost without a savior. I think though that they think that religion is a joke. Also, I have a boss that is a Christian, but… when he is around his buddies, he is one of them through and through. How do you reach someone like that? I guess it is something I have to take to God. I’ve decided to take out a few books at the library about how to be a effective Christian in the workplace. Hopefully I will be able to reach more people, so I will keep you all posted.

Well, that is my small speech for the evening. I hope that everyone has a wonderful weekend… I will be posting sometime again this evening.

Later,
- J -

Good evening everyone! Well, things have been going great lately. I have been getting some extra hours in at work, so I will have a bigger paycheck this week! Yay! Anyways, as you can see, I am not used to having any amount of money. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

So tonight in Small Group we talked about God’s grace. It made me stop and think about what God has done for me, and the wonderful grace that he has extended to me. It also made me think about the church that God has provided me. This year God taught me not to take going to church for granted, but to appreciate every time that you get to attend. I am thankful every day for God leading me to < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Crossroads Church; I couldn’t have chosen a better church. The people there are awesome and the ministries are so great! I really feel at home at Crossroads, something that I haven’t felt in a long time. Anyways, there is my small sermon for the evening.

 

I was thinking about this song today. Another favorite song of mine, that tells how I feel a lot of the time. Especially after the entire church changing situation, this song has meant a lot to me.

 

The Warrior is a Child

Twila Paris

 

Lately, I’ve been winning battles left and right

But even winners can get wounded in the fight

People say that I’m amazing; strong beyond my years

But they don’t see inside of me, I’m hiding all my tears

 

They don’t know, that I go running home when I fall down

They don’t know, who picks me up, when no one is around

I drop my sword, and cry for just a while

Because, deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child

 

Unafraid, because his armor is the best

But even soldiers, need a quite place to rest

People say that I’m amazing, never face retreat

But they don’t see the enemies that lay me at his feet,

 

They don’t know, that I go running home when I fall down

They don’t know, who picks me up, when no one is around

I drop my sword, and cry for just a while

Because, deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child

 

Well, I am going to get off of here for the evening. I have work in the morning… bring and early. I will try and post again sometime!

 

Later,

- J -

Wow… this has been a busy week! With working 8:00 – 2:00, I haven’t had much time to post. Well, everything is still going great at work, and things at home have been good too. There really isn’t much going on right now. I have to go to bed, so I can get up early for church, so I will try and post some more tomorrow…

Later,
- J -

It is interesting how God works in your life. I thought things were great that I was just working for Xerox Connect. Well, God always surprises you with those things you don’t expect. I was e-mailed late last night with the information about my job. I work for Chase Manhattan, which is a mortgage/credit card company. Then to make it better than that, I work at the < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Easton branch, which if any of you know, I am only 5 min. from there.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

After finding this out, last night I was so happy. It just keeps getting better. I get there this morning and I began my training. All I primarily do is change toner cartridges everyday. Hey, I know it sounds stupid and obscenely easy, but when you are getting paid good, who cares! I am also doing basic printer maintenance. Well, it still gets better yet.

I began to talk to my boss, Mike. Well, Mike asked me what I have been doing recently. I told him about some of the stuff I do at church. He asked me where I attend now, and I told him. I come to find out that he goes to a Baptist church on the west side and is  a small group leader. I was defiantly surprised to find this out.

How much better can it be? I get a job, near my house, paying good, doing barely anything, and with a Christian boss. But wait… there’s more…

I got a call from the consulting company I am employed through. They are sending me tomorrow to Chillicothe to do a printer/PC installs. It is an all day job, but pays more than what I make at Chase, and they are paying me to drive clear down there and back.

So as you can see, I currently sit on Could 9, and it is going to be pretty hard to knock me off. Well, I am going to get off of here; I have things to do before bed…

Later,
- J -

I was searching on Rhapsody (http://www.listen.com), for different songs that have meant something to me. I found a song that I held onto during the hard times in my life. I thought I would post the wonderful words of this, to possibly encourage someone that reads this journal – < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Life is Hard (God is Good)
Pam Thum

You turn the key
And close the door behind you
Drop your bags on the floor
You reach for the light
But there’s darkness deep inside
And you can’t take it anymore

But sometime livin,
Takes the life out of you
But sometimes livin,
Is all you can do

Life is hard, the world is cold,
We’re barely young, then were old
But every fall tear, is always understood
Life is hard, but God is good

You start to cry, ‘cause you’ve been strong for so long
But that’s not it feels
Oh you try to pray, but there’s nothing left to say
So you just quietly kneel

In the silence of all that you face
God will give you, His mercy and Grace
Jesus said it was never an easy road to travel
He only said that you would never be alone
When you last thread of hope, begins to come unraveled
Don’t give up, He’ll walk beside you on the journey home

And He knows…
Life is hard, the world is cold,
You’re barely young, then you’re old
But every fall tear, is always understood
Life is hard, but God is good

My friend Mike Russell sang that at a camp meeting I worked at. It was only days later that my grandpa passed away, that song brought me so much comfort, during that time, and through the other trials I’ve been through since then. I hope that it may bring encouragement to someone else in their walk.

Later,
- J -