Some of the greatest epiphanies in my life didn't come from deep thought or intentional meditation. The moments that have revealed the course for the next little bit of my life came in moments when I was simply present. My first book came to me title and all while I was going for my daily swim. My second book came while I was teaching a group of 50 teenagers. I realized something I had been looking for in a person had been sitting in front me for 3 years.
Read MoreI have never felt wrong about telling the truth. I have however been afraid of how others perceive my truth. Truth however is the most liberating things to speak and live. In every relationship I have ever had (both platonic and romantic) the veil came off when all of the cards were on the table. When there were no longer life changing truths hiding in the darkness and the truth was out there, there was no longer a need to walk on eggshells or to be afraid of perception. Perceptions was no longer reality, because reality was now perception, because reality was cemented in truth. It mattered not what things looked like because this person has already accepted you inspite of the things that otherwise cause us to be dysphoric.
Read MoreOne of the things I do when I need encouragement is revisit places, spaces and situations. Sometimes I revisit the places I was standing when God gave me a promise or where I saw him do the unthinkable. By revisiting those places I get renewed since of vision and faith in what could, should and will be. It's easy to stand in the spot that God revealed deep truths. It's comforting to be in a place where you watched healing happen. It's wonderful to be in the pool that God breathed a prodoundity into me that I could have never written on my own. It is incredible to sit in a place and realize you're sitting across from everything you've prayed for. There is no place like being where something ground breaking began.
Read MoreI had a conversation a month or so ago that didn't quite go the way that I expected it to. As a matter of fact it hasn't quite fit into any of 67634 scenarios I imagined. Maybe because the conversation isn't complete, which sounds bonkers because it's been closer to two months since we sat down. Something happened though that I didn't expect, and it shook me to my core: I went numb. I couldn't feel any of my emotions. It was weird at first but it soon became unnerving because I was knocking a number of milestones off my list but I couldn't recall how I felt in those spaces because I didn't feel. Everything was bleh, which made the experiences inexperienced. I was there I did them, the honors were conferred to me but I missed them.
Read MoreI think it is very interesting how our relationship with God, as we do this thing we call life, shapes how we perceive various things. For close to 8 years I have been an intensive student of love. I have read tons of books on boundaries, marriage and dating. I have read hundreds (probably more like thousands) of articles on relationships, and how people perceive one another. I have become so good, that often I can tell you why a relationship happens the way it does. I have read books that express the importance of the each phase of the relationship, I have explored the 4 types of love that we find in the greek. Something that didn't come from extensive research, or picking and prodding the minds of the greats, was this idea. This idea came from my communion with God one day.
Read MoreNot a secondhand emotion, nor is it simply defined by chemical reaction. No desire can come from the oxytoxicin your body releases for being around someone who is a check mark on your list, but to love is a concious decision. No we don't choose with whom our bodies find themselves drawn too like the ocean is drawn to the moon at high tide. We make a choice to allow ourselves to be loved. To pocket the deafening screams of shame, and place vulnerability on display, in hopes that someone too, might love you. Love though is not driven by the reciprocations of a beauty wrapped in gorgeous skin, no love gives in spite of. Love pours itself out not that it might be caught but that it may be received.
Read MoreLove has nothing to do with looks, but everything to do with time, trust, and interest. Now attraction has everything to do wih looks, but what attracted you is not going to sustain you (most days). Of course there are few a few of us ( I mean a very minute percentage) who could care less about a potential partner's presentation to the world. Most of us are drawn in by some surface level attraction or ideal that we find attractive.
Read MoreI am a huge advocate for stepping out and adventuring. Just last summer, I went ATVing in the Mohave Desert, swimming in the colorado river, white water rafting in the Chattahoochee river, tubing in the cahaba river, and I'm about to hop on a plane and head to Australia to see what that what that oyster hold for me. A life well lived, has to be lived. Sitting in safety is cute and everything, but it doesn't make for stories that dazzle your grandchildren. Sitting in safety leads to many regrets, and I'm comfortable having a list regrets. I would rather have a list of mountains conquered, than a list of shoulda, coulda wouldas.
Read More. You probably could have guessed that the first item of business on any list about fulfillment would start in prayer. The difference between what you can do and what God can do begins and ends in your prayer closet. If prayer isn't your thing I am willing to bet that it is the one ingredient that your casserole for success is missing. Prayer has the power to shift and shake everything you know. Prayer can take you from the lowest of the lows to sitting among kings, presidents and other highly esteemed people
Read MoreI got together with over 50 people and asked them what they thought made a good life. Here's what we came up with. So here's the list and I am going to blog my way through the list. Wh =o knows I may add some along the way. This should be fun!
Read MoreIt's a no brainer that you have to raise the bar from the standard that was set and met. I don't care if you have to climb mount Everest figuratively to get to a better life, if thats the task, thats what you need to do. The well being of you and yours is the most important. As Yourself do want to be remembered as that uncle who allowed his family to struggle of that Father who handled business and was the grew father, provider, worker, and influence on others.
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