Happy 4th of July

the 4th of July is probably the greatest holiday for the American people. sure, you don't get gifts, but you do get to hang out with loved ones and celebrate the greatest experiment the world has ever known.

Being a red blooded American I absolutely love the fourth of July. being a self proclaimed pyromaniac I also absolutely love shooting off fireworks.

I'm so thankful that every year we are able to celebrate the sacrifice that was made to make this country great. Sure, there are things that are messed up. Sure there are things I don't agree with. But for all the mistakes and trouble and problems this is still the "Land of the Free and the home of the Brave"

God Bless America!

Some times God's not talking...

but usually I'm just not listening...

"the fire"

A poem

I stumbled on this while I was going through some old .doc files. It's a poem I wrote after my Grandmother passed away this winter. Turns out some of the saddest days of our lives can also me the most beautiful.

It snowed today in Brooklyn, a family pays their due

A friend for life lies peacefully, our hearts are cut in two

With sadness in our hearts, we let her pass away

And wonder to our self, why she couldn’t stay

We wipe our tears with laughter, from the days gone by

Of memories and stories, of her and you and I

And though our hearts are heavy, though tears will sting our eyes

We whisper now “I love you”, and say our last good byes

The winter morns her passing, and sends one final gift

And while the world is freezing, a snow’s begun to drift

Beauty despite sadness, in our memory will be

And despite our morning, remember a beautiful scene

It snowed today in Brooklyn, and it will be a while

So until I see you, I love you grandma...

Life: it's good

ever have one of those moments when everything just clicked? Even if you were in the middle of crazy stress and things you sit down and realize how wonderful life is and just want to be lazy and enjoy it for a while. I feel like that.

I've got a crazy two weeks ahead of me, and have had some crazy days last week, and just events in general lately have been starting to take a toll on me, but right now I feel amazing. Even though I know I've been kinda stressed I feel great, relaxed (if a bit tired) and just ready for whatever comes next.

It's one of God's small gifts, the little moments that we get to sit back, relax, and realize how amazing life really is.

"I see trees of green, red roses too,
I see them bloom for me and you,
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world,
I see skies of blue, clouds of white,
bright blessed days, dark sacred nights,
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world."

I do believe this is part of what God had in mind when he said "life more abundantly"

Tired

I'm tired of 'Church'.

I'm tired of people who go to 'Church'

I'm tired of playing for 'Church'

I'm tired of hanging out after 'Church'

I'm tired of going to 'Church'

I'm tired of having to walk through a door to get to 'Church'

I'm tired of spending so much time in 'Church' that I'm never out doing something for the lost

I'm tired of going through the same pointless conversations with myself because I'm to stubborn or lazy to do anything about my weakness', my sins, my failures.

I'm tired of willingly giving less than my best to some one who gave me everything.

I'm tired of double standards

I'm tired of cameras

I'm tired of dull worship

I'm tired of fake people

I'm tired of being fake

I'm tired of wishing life seemed real, but never stepping up to the plate to make it real

I'm tired of chasing after a life that is meaningless

I'm tired of be congratulated, admired, thanked, recommended, thought highly of, or complemented

I'm tired of life

Where is this life leading if not toward Christ? I'm tired of myself, and I realize it so often, but my nature is to be lazy and stubborn and I fail to make any steps in the right direction.

"This might hurt, its not safe, but I know that I've got to make a change
I don't care if I break, at least I'll be feeling something
Cause just OK is not enough, help me fight through the nothingness of life.

I don't want to go through the motions,
I don't want to go one more day
with out your all consuming passion inside of me,
I don't want to spend my whole life asking,
"what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time, I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let your love, make me whole, I think I'm finally feeling something
Cause just OK is not enough, help me fight through the nothingness of this life

I don't want to go through the motions,
I don't want to go one more day
with out your all consuming passion inside of me,
I don't want to spend my whole life asking,
"what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions?"

_Matthew West: the motions



Its time for the Church to step up and step out, to start being real. Its time for ME to step up and step out. I'm tired of going through the motions.

If you read this I'm asking you: Call me out, don't be timid, don't be shy, I'm ready to be something more than what I am, and on my own I can't do that. I'm tired of a life that isn't 150% sold out to God, and I know I'm surrounded by people who feel the same way.

FWDed to the blog.

I'm not a fan of email in general, unless i'm trying to buy stuff... so I'll post this here:

..........................

I'll bet this was a surprise to NBC.

NBC POLL
Do you believe that the word God should stay in American culture?

NBC this morning had a poll on this question.
They had the highest Number of responses that they have ever had for one of their polls, and the Percentage was the same as this:

86% to keep the words, IN God We Trust and God in the Pledge of Allegiance 14% against

That is a pretty 'commanding' public response.

I was asked to send this on if I agreed or delete if I didn't . Now it is your turn. It is said that 86% of Americans believe the word God should stay. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having 'In God We Trust' on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why is the world catering to this 14%? AMEN!If you agree, pass this on , if not, simply delete.

In God We Trust!