FIREBREATHER

The band thrice basically rocks my life, and Dustin Kensrue constantly amazes me with his creativity and depth. Definatly a band i would check into if you haven't already been blessed by their music. Check it. Lyrics to FIREBREATHER. by thrice.

Tell me, are you free in word or thought or deed,

While the gallows stand and bullets lance the bravest lungs?

We fold our hands and hold our tongues.

Tell me are you free, when the fear falls in you?

Will I fold my hands or hold my tongue?

Or let the flames lick at my feet,

And breathe in fire and know I'm free.

Flames will rise and devour me.

Oh, to breathe in fire and know I'm free Know I'm free.

Don't Tell Me You Love Me

I Love You. What is that? ... To love someone. I love my parents. I appreciate all they've done for me and my sister. I love my sister , i don't want any boy to break her heart. I love my friends. I love my brothers. But it dosen't take a rocket scientist to realize that those are all different kinds of love.

Many people say that the word Love is used to much or just thrown around these days. I'm not sold on that idea. We have an amazing capacity to love one another. I don't think love is used to much. but i do think its used improperly.

What if i told you that Love is a verb. chew on that. how often do we forget that. we treat love like a thing. and unfortunatly love gets generalized. When Love is used as a noun it loses a lot of depth (love is meant to be deep). Now love as a verb on the other hand. that is a whole different story.

If love is a verb... an action word... then we have to show love. Instead of saying i love you to mom, dad, sister, brother, friends, etc. and having little distinction between the kinds of love those are we should show love.

If we show love then you get to experience love at its fullest. Its no longer a thing.. its an experience. you start to feel that all love is not the same. it is verry different. You start to see love in all its depth. like the ocean. When you learn the little things that people around you appreciate you get a world of oppertunities to show them you love them. I know that a simple txt message saying happy birthday from an old friend has made me feel cared for. little things like that show eachother love.

Saying i love you is not a bad thing. But it requires action. Its simply not enough just to say it. God loves us. Jesus loves us. It can become so cliche... so empty when all it is is a bunch of words. But when action backs those words its a whole different story.

John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Now thats love. God dosen't just say i love you. He showed us his love. He lowered him self to our level.. and then died for us. A terrible death. a death on a cross. God told his children I Love You. then he proved it. God knows that love is a verb. Thats the kind of love that changed the world.

My prayer is that we can love eachother the way God intended us to love eachother. With self sacrifice and action. I hope that we can stop with the empty I Love Yous. and start loving the people in our lives in a way that dosen't require words. Love in a way that you can't easily describe it to others, because its so personal and close to your heart that you would have to know you to understand. Our God loves us with action. Let us love one another in the same fashion.

The First Church of McDonalds

First off ill say it was a good weekend. Time spent alone wandering the city streets. Reading through hebrews in a coffee house down town. spending hours on the phone with old friends. Having a conversation i should have avoided at all costs. Sleeping in late. Getting back on track with God. Hanging wit my fun friend all day saturday. Experiencing the dark knight (great movie). And going to an anti semi formal party. Goin to church sunday and then going carroling sunday night. Good times. In fact i felt like i could make a difference in the nursing home. So i went back today. I sat and played a few songs and just listened to stories. It kills me that no one listens to all the wisdom in that building. So i went and listened. It was amazing how you could see that for the first time in a long time some of those folks fealt like they mattered. Like someone was actually listening. The church should be the ones listening. Loving people who feel unloved or uncared for. This brings me to Ronnie.

A group of Students from Charter Oak Church went on a short term missions trip to improve some houses in Blue Field West Virginia. The first night we all walked down the street from the salvation army where we were staying to the McDonalds down the street. We must have been quite a specticle all parading in our matching shirts. It was in line that a fairly young man asked me where we were all from. I introduced my self as Zach and he said his name was Ronnie. Then my brother Alex introduced himself and the two of us began to chat with this stranger. We soon found out that he just arrived from Florida to take care of his sick father. It turns out that Ronnie had had some hard times in Florida and had gotten out of a bad situation by attending church. He found Jesus and his life changed. Now about 6 months after becoming a christian he got a chance for a truly fresh start. A baptism of sorts. A new beginning back with his dad in West Virginia.

He had arived just days before and it was a rude awakening. Things with his father were patchy and he fealt alone. Especially after being sorrounded by a community that loved him so much as their brother in Christ. Now he had to stand on his own and his faith was tested. We arrived on a sunday and he told us that he had gone looking for a church that morning to fill the void left by losing his church. But the church he tried turned out to be snake handlers! One look at that venemous reptile and he high tailed it out of there.

So here he was. Alone in a new city with no friends. No one to help him through things. We all layed hands (all thirty or so of us) and prayed for our brother. On a whim i had brought my guitar with me ( great things happen when were in tune with the spirit :) ) I played some tunes and mark (our pastor) played some tunes and we all sang. We prayed that Ronnie would feel at home in this new place. It was amazing and so there we were. 30 kids. a pastor and a man desperatly in need of love. Praying and Praising the Lord out side a McDonalds on a beautiful summer nite. The last thing Ronnie told us before we left him was that he went looking for a church sunday morning but God lead him to one sunday nite. :)

Ronnie spent the rest of the week laughing and playing eating praising and dancing with us and the other teams there for ASP (apalacian service project... the mission trip we were on). We all grew to love our brother Ronnie dearly and he still keeps in touch and we keep him in our prayers.

(Ronnie is crouching in the front with just a few of his new friends from McDonalds)

My prayer is that we can all be open minded. And have open hearts. We are the body. So let our arms give a warm embrace. And let our feet carry those around us when theyre down and out. As Mathew 25:40 reminds us "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Lets go show some affection . some compassion . just talk to someone. hear their story. its a hard life when you think your all alone and no one is listening. Make someones day. Hear their story. Show them they matter. Let them know that God cares, and as a follower you do to.

Shaped By The World

So as i was driving to church last night i noticed something i've noticed before. There were dozens of trees along the side of the small country road i was driving on. Trees that were old and strong. Trees that may have been there before the road was built. Trees that God created. Trees that were meant to be there. They grew and fluxuated with the seasons, just as God intended. Their leaves went through the changes and each year a new ring was added. That is when i noticed something not so natural about these trees.

Their branches had grown long and in all directions. They were un kept and grew freely far and in any direction. their growth was not inhibited by anyone except God himself. all except for the branches above the road. these were growing in a very unnatural pattern. They formed an upside down L shape. They seemed to grow above the road but only after a certain hight and only to the edge of the road. Then i realized the culperate.

The big rigs! You know the semitrucks that get your goods to the stores and your produce to the market. I realized that from years of those trucks passing through here carrying who knows what to who knows where the trees had to form around their path. The ways of this world inhibited their growth. This is much like many of our spiritual journys.

We often become so enveloped in this world that we don't recognize God all around us. We focus on what the world wants us to do instead of making God a number one priority. So our faith becomes tainted. The world inhibits its growth. Because the world demands things that force us into habits. We become preacupied with the road life put us on to see how were affecting the tree. The tree that God created to grow freely. Are we letting the things that the world requires get in the way of Gods plan?

Matthew 18:7
"Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

Don't let them come from you. I believe that God would much rather have you go Between the trees. Sure it takes longer. But then you'd be focusing on God. Realizing that you are going the longer route because its Gods way. His is a way that seems strange to the world. It's so hard to follow that many of us decide to just settle for the status quo. We were warned that it is a "straight and narrow road" we are to follow.

What if we reimagined what we were doing. Reshaped our lives to be condusive to the spirit and to live as God would have us live. What would that look like? What if i told you that there are more important things than money. than having a spouce. than being efficient. What if i said that there was a time when you didn't need a college degree just to survive?

How often do we let the world shape us instead of living how our God created us? To live uninhibited. to grow freely in the spirit. So mabey its time to relocate the road. make a new road. or even get rid of the road all together. so that we can let the tree grow.

My prayer is that we can all see the habits of this world that close our hearts to God so that we can change. not just our habits but our hearts. So that we can grow fully to be just as beautiful and full as our God created us to be. Nothing less.

Finger Prints

It's funny. how we often don't feel normal. We for some reason feel like were not generally accepted, or that we don't fit the mold. With everyone making plans for college and planning out their dream lives it can become hard to be grounded in the truth. so let me ask you this... what is normal?... I know... It's a setting on your washer and dryer.

This idea of being normal is restricting our imagination. To be all we were made to be. I hate when i know that i should be the black sheep but just decide to be "normal". Like when it comes to dating. What girl wants to date a guy who dosen't want to kiss til theyre engaged? Thats not normal! Or who wants to sit with the "special needs" kids at lunch? Theyre not normal either. I've been afraid to talk to the "goth" kids before because they're not "normal", and i've also been afraid to approach the "popular" kids because i'm not "normal" enough for them. So what does that tell you about normal? That it is different for different people? Exactly.

Now were starting to see the truth. Look at your finger print. They say that no one else in the world has the same finger print as you. Isn't that interesting (strokes chin)? That you are truly a one of a kind. No one else is quite like you. So how can we be "normal" if were all created different? Were all one of a kind. And you know what hits me the hardest about that?... No one can leave the same mark on the world as you.

That finger print of yours is one of a kind. You were made special. To excell in your own path. Not to conform to others. Not to be "normal". If you open your heart to God and let him work through you on that path you will leave a mark on this world that no one else could have. Just as no other man can leave your finger print behind. We are all made to be individuals. Unlike anyother. Not to live up to any other standard.

Jeremiah 1:5
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;..."

My prayer is that we can all be the "black sheep" if we have to, so we can be the unique creation God made and loves. That we can all realize that we are a one of a kind, and see how precous our life is. God gave it to you. Give it back to him. Love and serve the Lord, in a way only you can.

Passion stuck in stone

Totally sold out for Jesus... thats an easy way to describel St. Francis of Assisi. He was a man who suffered greatly for God. He devoted his life to picking up his cross and following Jesus. Its a wonderful story. . . But what does that look like? Now a days it seems to be that you can most easily find St. Francis in the form of a bird bath. Is that how we are to remember our late brother?
A man who was born into a rich family and joined the army. He traveled into battle and was captured. Held prisoner for a year and then went home. With a fever. After being a POW and fearing for his life because of a fever he was finally home. But he was different... broken. He began to realize how fragile our life is.

Psalm 39:11

You rebuke and discipline men for their sin; you consume their wealth like a moth- each man is but a breath. Selah 12 "Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were. 13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more."

He began to intently seek God. In fact he became so connected and intune with God that he saw his calling in dreams. St. Francis began to "rebuild the church" as God called him to do. He physically went and renovated and abandoned church. This brought people in and they began to care for the poor sick and needy.

This infureated his father. No son of his would wast away his inheritance in such a way. So he dragged his son back home and locked him in a closet. Set free by his mother he went back to doing work for God. His father found him and publicly accused him of stealing from him. So Francis took all that he had. even the cloths off his back. and gave them to his father stating that his true father is in Heaven. (God).

For the rest of his life St. Francis lived with the poor in huts and preached the Gosple. He traveled very far and often found himself hungry, hurt, shipwrecked, with no one but Jesus to rely on.

He Not only spread the good news. He lived it. Now thats passion. Infact. He desired to be like christ so badly that stigmata ( the marks of the crucified) miraculously appeared on his body. Now thats being totally sold out for Jesus! To live a life of humble servitude for Christ.

My prayer is that we can all find the passion to fuel our gifts. That we can have the courage to be the "black sheep" and do whatever it takes to fill our peice of the puzzle. But above all. I pray that whatever hardships are placed before us, we may proceed with the peace of mind and strength that Christ is on our side. That He died a horrible death for your sins. And that without Him, all we are to everyone else on earht is just a dash on a grave stone or a bird bath. But through Him we have eternal life in heaven.

What ever it takes. Whatever it looks like. Let it be all for Him.

For a more complete story on St. Francis of Assisi
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06221a.htm

lazer X

So tonite is monday night. the night my small group usually meets. but tonite instead of meeting in our brother Kyle's basement we met with about 60 others at lazer X.

Lazer X is the local lazer tag spot and when my group heard that they were doing a worship nite we had to see what it was all about. So we arrived and entered into the "arena". it looked the same (except more crowded and no one was trying to shoot me). excepth that on the highest level in the center tower was a worship band. they welcomed everyone in and started the nite off with some jump up and down high energy music.

Bathing in the glow of blacklights and strobes it fealt more like a rave than a worship meeting but it soon took a turn. A man in a camoflage jacket wearing a beanie with a huge beard came up to speak. turns out he is a UFC fighter. the security that nite were his friends from the mixed martial arts gym where he trains. so this man who looked more like osama bin laden than a preacher delevered a beautiful talk about seeking God and using your gifts.

We dispersed to listen to some quieter songs and speak to God and then came back to gether to finish the nite off with a kick. It was very different and very exciting. and it made me want to use my gift of music more than i could explaine.

I miss my old worship band at Charter Oak Church dearly. When i moved to the Pittsburg area they welcomed me in and gave me a home at which to use the gifts that God has given me. Its time that i start looking for a new place where i can give back what was given to me.

The Parable of the Talents


Mathew 25: 14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.


It's time i started using my talents instead of keeping them in a hole... wouldn't you say? even though im not that good. God gave me the gift... now i have to give it back to Him. My prayer is that we can all examine our hearts and start to see where God can use our gifts. Or that we will start to see the gifts God has given us. So that we can fill our place in the body of Christ. A body full of hands on lovers.

It's like a four course meal

So it has been quite an eventfull weekend that has took me to the highest hights and the lowest lows. From skipping on clouds (in the most masculin way possible *picture rambo skipping on clouds.. then your on the right track*) to trying to find all the peices of my shattered heart in the gutter. (that one was my fault) but the weekend over all left me with one resounding message.

Dating a girl should be like a four course meal...
Ok so mabey that's a bit odd sounding but check this.

Course 1 : Sallad. your just excided to be at the resturand and dont really know what you should order. The sallad is just an easy way into the meal. Light and you might not finish it. In dating this would be the very beginning. Like when you first meet Her at school. You find a way to be in her group for a project. you exchange cell numbers and start to text her and you have friended her on face book.

Course 2 : Soup. Now thats a bit heavier. This one had more to do whith decision. you didnt just pick some superficial dressing. nope this part actually has some sustanance. Its enough to fill you up so take your time dont scarf it down. Much like the next step in dating. So you've been texting and your flirting in class a bit. your friends start to egg you on. so you decide to hang out ... out side of school. You start to hear her thoughts besides the txted LOLs. your getting to see her intrests and if you have anything in common. is she easy to get along with? is her laugh similar to nails on a chalk board? are you enjoying getting to know her? last chance before the meal. do you wanna mabey change your order? Cause the main course is the most important and it is a commitment.

Course 3 (the main course) : this is where you will spend a lot of time. this is why you came. to really enjoy the meal. Its the biggest of the 4 courses and the most satisfying it will leave you feeling full. Just like the next step of dating. Getting to know her. I mean really know her. There should be some real sustinance here. long deep conversations are the meat of it all and the sauce ( the best part ) is all the laughs. all the times she smiles at you and you feel like everything is just wonderful. You will find that you are left feeling complete. much fuller than before. so then comes desert.

Course 4 : the sweet stuff. lots of fluff. this is the part that leaves you walking away with a happy ending. After the other three courses it dosen't take much for you to satisfy your sweet tooth. You may not take a whole lot of it but its verry good. this is much like kissing. After you know the person inside out . and your sure that you should be with them. When you have grown together and have made the memories. then the kiss. but beware. so many people try to skip straight to desert. this was my greatest struggle. sure it tastes sweet. but it gets bittersweet fast!. if you skip right to the desert then you lose your appetite. you end up leaving and then soon feeling unsatisfied. you will feel like you wasted time and money on that meal ( the one that you neglected to enjoy for the "ight reasons").

Desert will come . some day. but for now im just gonna nibble on my salad . make some new friends and see if im ready for the soup a little later down the road. I'm sick and tired of jumping in head first for desert and feeling empty after two weeks of drama.

My prayer is that we will all start to take dating more seriously. That we will take it easy and make romantic decisions with intention to furfill Gods plan for us in marrage.

Genisis2:23The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman, ' for she was taken out of man."

Really embrace the meal. you will find out if shes the one for you and if she is or not you will walk away feeling satisfied and full.

Miss Franny

So I've ranted about how I feel i need to do something because faith in the seated position just wasn't workin for me. Then today i rememberd about miss franny. My good buddy mark told me about her http://likethemorningmist.blogspot.com/

So Miss Franny went to church on a sunday and heard mark (An enthusiastic yound pastor who has a fire in his belly for Jesus that belongs in the south) preach about getting involved. He preached about how we are called to be active lovers as part of our walk with Jesus.

Now Miss Franny was verry old and when she got home she was racking her brain trying to find something she could do. Thats when she heard a ruckus from out side. She noticed a group of boys skate boarding at the bus stop after school and she knew. But how? How was an elderly lady supposed to show compassion to a group of teenaged skater punks? Thats when she heard one of them say "im hungry".

The next day after school the boys steped of the bus and were greeted by Miss Franny. With trembling hands (but confidence in Gods plan) she said "hello boys... i noticed yesterday that you were skating down here and thought you might be hungry. feel free to stay and skate as long as youd like." she handed them a plate of fresh cookies, still warm from the oven infact. And so it began...

Day after day she would meet the boys with fresh baked cookies and pretty soon it wasnt so akward. the boys felt comfortable in her driveway and came home everyday with an expectation for fresh cookies and a place to hang with friends. But one day Miss Franny wasn't there. The boys were worried about her so they went up the the house and rang the door bell. Miss Franny opened the door and apologized. Said she was sick and couldn't make them cookies today but they were welcome to come in and chat.

It became standard that the boys would now come in and have cookies and chat with miss franny (especially with snow and all) . So they became verry close. Those boys had the utmost respect for miss franny and even loved her. So when she heard that mark was comming to her parish again to preach she asked the boys... "You boys wanna see a preacher with a pink mohawk?"

The boys all went to church with Miss Franny that sunday. At this point mark had lost the pink mo mo but he talked to the boys and miss franny. She told him how his sermon had affected her and showed him proof of what came out of it. So he challenged the boys. "You boys love miss franny right? ... yes, of course...You don't want her to have to come to church all alone do you?"

There it was. the boys started to come to church with Miss Franny. and they found a home . a place where they belonged. It wasn't long before those skater punk kids started to see a little bit of Miss Franny's Jesus in side themselves.

Mark returned a year later (its becoming an annual thing :P) to hear the good news. All of those boys had been saved. Those little skater boys gave their life to Jesus. All because Miss Franny cared enough to show them love.

I love that. Isn't it amazing how God works. My prayer is that we can all have our imaginations opened up for Jesus. God will work through you ... if you let him.

The wallet of Christ

So its the holliday season and every where i go i can't seem to escape the sound of bells ringing. The salvation army is in full force and it is a good thing. Their website gives an idea of their impact-
3,000,000 meals served every year at community and residential centres
79,000 prisoners visited each year in 134 prisons
3,000 homeless people given food and shelter every night in 59 centres
776 local church and community centres
636 elderly people accommodated every night in 17 residential centres
300 youth clubs providing a caring environment for young people
120 drop-in centres offering support and help for people in need
70 day centres for elderly and disabled people
50 nurseries and playgroups
20 Red Shield support centres for military personnel in the UK, Germany and the Falkland Islands
12 people reunited every working day with their families through the Family Tracing Service
6 residential centres for victims of alcohol and drug abuse
6 centres for families and one community home for children
2 centres for people with special needs
2 employment training centres
1 centre for women escaping from domestic violence

As i dropped my 79 cents into the red bucked and recived a smile from the man with the bell I got to thinking. look how much the salvation army is doing. what am i doing?

Mathew 25:35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Who is the you? How many hungry have i fed? How many thirsty have i brought water? How many people have spent the nite on the cold street alone because i wasn't even looking to cloth them. Or the sick ( theyre usually not far from bed) how many of them have i visited. Im not old enough to visit a prison but theres a nursing home right down the street. I would hate being traped there and would hope that some one would come in and want to be my friend and learn from all ive gone through. Yet day after day i find my self getting home from school and thinking what can i do today so im not bored.

When it comes to actually getting my hands dirty i hate to admit it but i've become apathetic. It is so much easier for me to take out my wallet and give a few bucks so some one else can go help. Tithing is important and our missionaries abroad need our financial support. But thats not all that God calls us to give. We are to give of our selfes and be the hands and feet of Christ!

At the judgement i suspect that God will be more interested in what we did than how much we gave. So im going to start looking for ways to get my hands dirty and i hope you will join me. Im not sure what that will look like or come to be, but i do know that God calls us to be hands-on lovers in the world today.

Mathew25:40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

My Prayer is that we can be hands-on lovers to the world. Humble yet confident. "We can do not great things, only small things with great love" - mama t.

Go do small things Today.

I just wanted a kiss

Thats all i wanted. I wanted to feel the butterflies in my stomache. I wanted to get tingles up and down my spine. I wanted to feel like we had a connection to eachother. In that moment I hoped that locking lips would keep us heald togeher... some how bring us closer mabey...

She told me no. "This whole no kissin thing was your idea" she retorted my attempt for a kiss.
She was right. We had made a radical dicision the first week of our relationship. The origion of the word radical has to do with getting to the root of the problem. I saw that kissing for me was like a kid with a learners permit sittin in the driveway reving the engine and then slamming on the brakes before going into the street. How dangerous and wasteful. So we made a decision to not kiss. for a long time.

So now that we didn't kiss i came to a realization. we were just sitting there in akward silence. So we had to find something to talk about. You know wat... i learned a lot in that conversation. Like that she has never moved, and that she can't drive stick, and that she loves to tap dance. Things i never would have guessed. It really got my wheels turning. How many conversations have i missed by wasting time reving up the engine to slam on the brakes. I don't wanna miss another conversation. So im gonna save kissing for later and enjoy the talkin now. The tingles and the butter flies fade away when the kissing stop. But getting to know some one for who they truly are lasts. All the talking has heald us together in a relationship that is as dense as concrete. Not superficial and fleeting like the kiss that i desired. I still desire a kiss... but i desire her more. For who she is. Im glad we decided to be a little radical. Try it. You might just like it.

Romans 13:14
Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Walking With God

It's interesting how the bible relates our relationship with christ as a walk. (note: i used a King Jimmy version for this. the NIV translators changed the word walk to live )

Ephesians 4 calls us to walk with confidence that we are worthy of the vocation in which we are called. Ephesians 5 tells us that we walk in the love of Christ. Ephesians 6:15 tells us to ready our feet with the gospel of peace. So basically Ephesians is littered with refrences to walking.

I'm sure there are many others that i have missed but these three are important. So often we (or at least I) doubt our ability to really live out the gospel message. We decide to take the easy path instead of taking the risk. We decide to be the quiet bystander instead of the black sheep in the name of Jesus. Have confidence that God will work through you. Live your life in search of your vocations. The things God needs you to do for him will reveal themselves when we live lives worthy of those dutys.

We all mess up sometimes. I find myself walking with my head drooped in shame most days. I know that I let sin into my life when i should be devoted to Christ and i hate it. I don't know why I have such a lack of self controll and that makes it easy to feel unworthy and unloveable at times. Remember we walk in the love of Christ. His love is Agape. And unconditional love that is filled with a Grace that we all need. Jesus loves me this i know because the bible tells me so.

Part of the armor of God that i think is often over looked is the shoes. We are to ready our feet with the gospel of peace. We are called to action, to go with intention! Our feet ready to spread the gospel like wild fire. If we walk with confidence basking in the love of Jesus our savior with intention to live out God's will we will find peace. A journey does can become tiring at times but remember your destination. I pray that we can leave our baggage behind and follow Jesus. Do you have your shoes on?