Illuminate

I was in my car heading to the office this morning and I heard a song on the radio that maybe some of you know or maybe you don't know. It is called Grenade by Bruno Mars. It is an interesting song. The guy in the song talks about how he would take all this pain for this girl but yet she is unwilling to do the same for him. He wonders if she really even loves him. Here is an excerpt of the chorus of the song... To give me all your love is all I ever asked 'Cause what you don't understand Is I'd catch a grenade for ya Throw my hand on the blade for ya I'd jump in front of a train for ya You know I'd do anything for ya See I would go through all this pain Take a bullet straight through my brain Yes I would die for ya, baby But you won't do the same   Songwriters: Brown, (Undetermined); Kelly, (Undetermined); Philip Lawrence Ii; Ari Levine; Bruno Mars; Wyatt, (Undetermined).  © ART FOR ART'S SAKE MUSIC (ARTHOUSE); ARTHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT, INC.; BUG MUSI...

I think we all have felt a feeling of being broken. It is one of the worst feelings in the whole world. We feel like we cannot move on, there is nothing we can do. It may have been something out of our control or maybe we caused it to happen to ourselves. It says in the word of God in Psalms 34:18, "the Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit". God does comfort those with a broken life. That is not really the point I am trying to get to. The question I am asking is when was the last time you were broken for God? When you are broken you are unable to do it yourself and all you can do is rely on someone else. Can I tell you that is where God wants us to be. Because when we are broken before God, then he can really use us.  There are so many passages that talk about in our weakness he is strong. When God does something in our time of weakness it gives him even more glory. In Matt. chapter 5 Jesus is talking on the side of a hill to a bunch of his discip...

As a teenager I always wondered if God could use me. I mean I was only so old and I had only so much to give. Some times I felt that older people would look down on me because they thought I could not do the task because I was so young. God changed that mentality when I looked at a verse in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 . Paul a spiritual giant, is talking to a young (probably in his twenties) pastor he left in charge of a church. What he told him not only encourages and challenges me but I hope it does the same for you. It says, "Don't let anyone look down upon you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity".  There is so much I could talk about in this passage but the biggest thing here is God is telling you that it does not matter how old you are he wants to use you.  That is right, you. As you go back to school this week it can get real easy to think that you are not wanted or needed because of ...

This past week I was doing devotions with my wife (OYeah), and we were reading about genuine peace. So many of us want peace in our life but yet all we find is turmoil. I wonder if this is because where we are looking for peace? At the end of the devotional there was a quote by a certain Corrie ten Boom. Yeah I don't know who that is either. But the quote really struck me when I read it and it kinda stuck in my mind. The quote is "Look around you and you'll be distressed; look within yourself and you'll be depressed; look at Jesus, and you'll be at rest!"   I know so many times when I look around me and look at myself I can feel like my life is out of control. I don't have all the answers and it can seem like nothing is coming together. But when I begin to look to Jesus everything seems to be ok. It is like I am a little child and he is my father and he is telling me that it will be ok. I know in my heart that he knows the answers, he knows my past, pr...