The best buffet in the world and you aren’t allowed to eat

New York strip steaks, crab legs and anything you could imagine, this was a buffet for kings. Now imagine if you could look but you couldn’t eat any of it? For several summers I witness this happening. I was a cafeteria employee serving the Michigan State football players in the three week training camp before school started up. They paid and had the top quality everything. Some of these life size giants weren’t allowed to touch the food. They came in out of shape and overweight.

The result of there relaxing summer was three weeks of awfulness. They sat down and watched there teammates/coaches devour some of the best food in the world. They would sit there on their specialized diets eating hard boiled eggs, oatmeal and everything bland you could imagine. Some of these players were on watch, they had a team manager directing what they could and couldn’t eat. I might not have seen tears but you could tell on the inside these are grown men cried.

Sometimes we have to test ourselves and keep ourselves in check. Some of these football players came into camp in top notch shape, others paid the price for there actions or lack there of.

*Side note: It was also during this time I witnessed the fastest I have ever seen a person eat a large pizza. One of the players on the diet ordered a pizza hid in the bushes (The hall was right across from the training facility) and ate an entire large pizza in seconds I swear. It was amazing, it was even more amazing to see the strength and conditioning coach almost walk into him doing this. It did not end well for that player.

A moment of self reflection is key for everyone. Just like these select football players needed it, we need it. Stopping right now what is an area you need to change in your life?

Staying in shape isn’t always easy and effort needs to be made for it to happen. I have notice my health started to slip and right now I am about 20 pounds over my ideal weight. Today I need to work towards changing that habit. Just like our health can slip so can our spiritual health.

Self reflection needs to happen in faith. There was one point I was struggling in faith when I first became a Christian and honestly I was scarred to talk to people about faith because truly I didn’t know much about it. I decided to change what I was doing and try to improve on my knowledge and what I didn’t know. We have to reflect on what we truly believe.

2 Corinthians 13:5 (MSG)… Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.

Our faith needs a check up. We need to check to make sure we are saying and doing matchup. Do you have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Following Jesus is not easy and we all make mistakes, but we are all called to work on our problems and improve. Faith isn’t attending a church service. That’s making an appearance to God, not living out faith. The Corinth church had issues but wouldn’t try to solve the issues. Paul would have to call them out. Paul is hoping the people look at themselves, what they are doing and checking does it match up with faith in Jesus?

Take a moment and look at your life? What is it you want to accomplish and work towards that. I don’t know where I would be in faith if I didn’t have that self reflection moment years ago. Life is full of choices just like a buffet. What are you willing to indulge in and what should you pass on? Choose your adventure.

Have a great day.

Overcoming difficulties to succeed

Nothing is ever handed to us. Everything requires hard work and effort. Last night as Hailee and I were relaxing we had The Blind Side on. It’s based on a true story (Not the complete true story), and a great story. This was after watching the first Number 7 seed win the NCAA championship. With my ADD mind this changed my thought to how MSU was looking for next years team and what new recruits our team signed. I found a recruit with a remarkable story.

On sports writer Joe Rexrode’s blog, it mentioned how MSU signed three star recruit Marvin Clark. I didn’t know much about him. I read and it seemed like he was a pretty good player and a good find for MSU. Then near the end of the story their was a remarkable story about his life.

Check it out…

Such a great story to overcome. I have been reading through 2 Corinthians 7 for the past couple of days. It talks about how people were doing the wrong thing and finally repented as individuals and as a church. There have been plenty of times I have regretted an action I have done and have needed to repent. Clark could have gotten mixed up in a bad situation and his life would be going a different direction. He was able to overcome the bad in his life and turn his life to the positive.

Clark has a great story, but we each have a story. Maybe you are happy where your life is at right now, that’s awesome! If you have something you wanted to work on, maybe it’s time to move forward from the past. Do whatever it takes to make that happen. You can overcome.

Have a great day.

Looking like a fool

My name and fashion never come up in the same sentence. I am not an expert in what looks good or how to dress.  The only days I look good are the days I check with Hailee before I go out. In high school I never wore jeans or khakis, I rocked out to jogging pants. This past week I got to where an outfit that took the cake.

It was a multiple color shirt and pants combo. My friend Bella and I found these outfits at Goodwill years ago and decided to where them to volleyball.  I made a wager with a friend that MSU would beat Indiana in basketball in their first meeting this year. MSU lost and therefore I had to where this outfit. Not a look I plan on keeping.

Sometimes in life we can look like a fool with what we say or do. I have been a fool many times in my life. Often times it dealt with faith. When figuring out what faith in Jesus was truly about, then after making a decision to follow Christ I looked like a fool multiple times. I would make ignorant comments about faith and the Bible….

How could a loving God allow evil in the world?

If Jesus is love, why do his people do the opposite?
Oh man, someone is asking me a question about the Bible and I have no idea what the answer is.

These were some of the comments and questions I had with faith. I tried not to look like a fool and probably did.

1 Corinthians 1:19-21…

“For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

I was a fool and confused with what I believed in God. Yet I one point, I thought I knew the truth. Christians were just hypocrites who believed in God’s word but did the opposite. I thought I could prove a Christian wrong with their faith because most didn’t understand it and what God taught. People proved to me that God was a lot smarter than me. I gave me life over to Christ and soon people started asking me how I could believe in it and I had no response. In life we look like a fool sometimes.

1 Corinthians 1:25…

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is strong than man’s strength.”

God is smarter, stronger and more brilliant then I. It took a lot for me to realize I will always have questions in faith. There would be things that confuse me and through all God is still God and I am not. I was a fool and it was more than the clothes I wore.

Throughout history scholars have said people would give up on faith and turn towards something else. Year after year God is still here and over it all. The church is still here even though numbers show more and more people give up on faith and stop going. A smart man once told me, “What I know of God and Jesus is one tenth of one percent and that might be an overstatement, but I know enough to know he exists, he is all powerful and all knowing.”

We all look like fools at times, but we don’t always have too. What questions do you have on faith? What questions have people asked on faith and you had no idea how to respond? Seek the answers, you might not always find the answer, that is where faith can overtake us and it over took me. I didn’t want to believe in Jesus until I had all the answers. I never had all my questions answered, but I still believe in Jesus. Sometimes in life there is beauty in the unknown. What do you think?

Have a great day.

Rejection

Life can be full of rejection.

I was a good student in high school.

I stress good not great.

I left high school with a 3.1 GPA.

I wanted to go to Michigan State, Central Michigan or Western Michigan.

I was a realist and knew that most likely I would start out at Lansing Community College because of cost.

Between my extra curricular activities (Captain of two sports teams, student council member for four years etc) and grades I thought I was good.

One thing kept me from this, the ACT.

I am an awful test taker.

While taking the ACT they give a two minute warning for each section, I would only have 1/3 of the questions answered by then.

The result was a 15 then a 16 on the retake (The ACT is on a scale of 36).

That led to a lot of rejection from schools.

MSU rejected me along with CMU and the only university that would accept me is Western Michigan.

Weak.

Rejection is never fun, but what do you do when you’re rejected?

Do you try to improve or succumb to the pressure?

I went to LCC and originally struggled as they found out I had ADD/ADHD and soon improved afterward.

I graduated with my undergrad with a GPA of 3.6 later that improved to a 3.9 with my master’s.

It’s not easy, but improving off rejection is tough and awesome.

Part of dealing with rejection is do you believe what you are going for?

Are you willing to work through what you could get rejected for?

Paul’s life was about to be summed up for what he was about to face.

He was about to face a huge opposition and he was warned of what was ahead of him.

Acts 21:10-11…

“After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.”

People were in tears over hearing what was going to happen to Paul.

Paul responded stating why weep and break my heart? He was willing to be bound and also to die for the name of Jesus.

He didn’t care about the dismissal of others.

He knew what he stood for.

Paul wasn’t afraid of the rejection that could and would take place.

Paul’s faith in Jesus was stronger than any opposition.

Jesus is someone I would die for.

In life, what do you stand for?

Who do you represent?

Are you willing to die for a willing cause?
We will all face rejection.

How do you respond to rejection?

The response to rejection shows what you are truly made of.

Don’t let rejection own you.

I might be rejected for Jesus and a biblical worldwiew yet I stand for it.

Paul stood and face great punishment for Jesus.

What are you going to do when faced with rejection?

Have a great day.

I don’t need God right now, I am having too much fun

It’s always interesting what you can hear on a college campus.

While working at MSU I worked with this really cool guy.

We were student supervisors together and honestly, it was a blast when we worked together.

We had way more fun than we should of, but always got the work done and done well.

Often at times it would be slow and it would allow us to talk more.

One day we started to talk about faith.

In this conversation we talked and I told him that I used to never attend church and thought everyone was a hypocrite.

Now I was pretty active in the Church.

He told me about the fact that he used to go to church.

He loves God and Jesus very much, but he’s just having too much fun right now and don’t think God would approve of his lifestyle right now.

He told me he know he will eventually get back into going to church, but right now he is happy having fun.

I come across this with talking to people about faith.

They feel like they are far from God.

I have talked to people that have graciously served our country in the military, some of which have confirmed kills in war.

A couple of these people have told me, I honestly don’t know if I will ever go to heaven because of what I have done in war.

They were some people that have confirmed kills in war.

They have trouble living with that.

Some people think because of what they have done, they never have a chance to get to heaven.

It’s a sad story, but there are murders and people who were far from God in heaven.

At the end of Acts chapter 7, Stephen ticked off the religious leaders of the time and they stoned him to death.

One of the people behind the stoning of Stephen was a guy by the name of Saul.

This is what it says about Saul in a brief verse, Acts 8:1…

“And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.”

Approval for his death?

Yes.

Saul was very much against the Church, Jesus and the ministry the early disciples were doing.

He was the one that hated Christians and there ministry.

In the next couple of blogs I will take a deeper look at this man named Saul, how far he was from Christ and what changed in him that made him a faithful follower.

No matter where you are at in your life, you are not as far from God as you think.

If a murderer can still go to heaven, you can too.

It’s not too late and no matter what Jesus Loves You.

Have a great day.

Inspiration

The underdog winning always inspires me.

I am a diehard underdog fan.

You give me a lower seed other than MSU 99.9 percent of the time, I am hoping and cheering for them to win.

This is across the board for sports.

I like the smaller team that is not supposed to beat the bigger team.

They usually don’t win.

For instance, I am a Clippers fan, we lose and it stinks at times.

I will still root for my team.

When they have a big win, I get inspired.

What inspires you?

When I watch a good movie or read a good book, I am inspired.

It makes me want to do something more than normal with my life, to work harder and improve.

I am motivated.

Hearing about John the Baptist is encouraging to me.

People wondered if he was the Christ (Jesus).

This is what John replies with in John 1:26-27…

“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

People were moved by John, his message and what he did.

Yet when they asked he gave all the glory and excitement to the person coming after him?

Are we willing to do that with our own life?

My goal with my blog or whatever you call this, isn’t to shed light on my life.

I want to use what God teaches me in the Bible and through personal events that happen in my life to share Jesus.

My goal with what I right is that you get to know Jesus better through what I write.

It’s not about me and my life, but the fact I can share with you about my life because of Jesus.

I was so, so scared to start writing online like this.

I have been published about 100 times to papers between 12,000 and 100,000.

I was more scarred to write about Jesus then I ever was for a sports story.

I was nervous about people questioning my faith and not having the right answers.

It took a while to realize it’s not about me and my doubts, but about glorifying Jesus.

Jesus is the reason I write.

He is the reason I spend time on here right now.

I pray that if you do not know Jesus personally as your Savior, that you do that.

If you already know Jesus I hope what he gives me to right challenges you and makes you think about trying to be more like Christ everyday.

Jesus inspires me to do what I do.

I want the message to be more about him and less about me.

I don’t always succeed at this, but know through my writing I want to glorify God and not me.

Have a great day.