What do you want on your tombstone???

In the past few weeks there have been a few funerals too many.  Its never easy to see someone leave this life and go ” On to the next one.” I think the first question people tend to ask is, WHY? Why has this happened.  We many never really know or understand why. That is possibly one of the most difficult realities to grasp. Another thing that happens is, as we hear stories about the dearly deceased, we often say, “Wow, he/she really made an impact in so many lives.” Its in those moments, that I begin to evaluate my life and wonder, what would be said at my funeral and what would be placed on my tombstone?

Recently, I was at a funeral, and I began to ask myself those very questions. Here are a few things that I realized. I realized truly how short life is. The bible calls life a vapor, here one day and gone the next. And we see that its so true. It really hit me that life is precious and tomorrow is definitely not promised. I think realizing that,  it really helped me to again appreciate the simple things in life… (fresh air, health, family, freedom, etc )

I also realized that the things that we often place so much value on; the things that we strive so hard to obtain,  that when the smoke settles and it all falls down, probably dont matter as much as we first thought. What matters to you? What are the things that you are investing your money and time into that really are not a priority to God.

When your body is laid to rest, what will you be remembered by? “He was funny” or “He was dope in Madden?” Or do you want to be remember as someone that Loved GOD with all your heart and loved others. I think if we center our lives around that, when we “cash out” our lives, the “deposits” that we made in others will be a greater legacy than the 50″ LED TV and the World War 2 Pendants we left behind.

I just want to please God. I want to hear those words, Well done good and faithful servant!!! I want to live my life for others. I want to appreciate people while they are here on earth. My grandmother always tells me, “Give me flowers now, while Im alive to smell them.”  Lets apply that to our lives, now. Tell someone you love them, thank someone for making an impact in your life, forgive someone that you have been beefin with. Do it now, cause tomorrow is not promised.

On my tombstone I want it to read, “He did it for God, He did it for others”

How much have you grown?

I can remember when I was younger, my goal in life was to be taller than my dad. I used to think that my dad was the tallest person in the world. And like most children, I desired to be just like dad. I can remember going to my grandparents house in the summer with all of my cousins. My grandfather used to line us up against the wall and with a pencil, he would draw a line right about our heads onto the wall. We would stand back and see where the line was now compared to where the line was the last time we were measured. And always to my surprise, I was taller! I didnt think I was growing,  I couldn’t tell at least. But a lot of times we dont understand how much we have grown until we get around people that havent seen us in a while. We are with ourselves all the time. And also, we are often our worst critics.  So we dont often notice that we have grown.(or at least I am)

I had a major growth spurt my junior year of High School and I was loving life. I was expected to be tall, especially since I was one of the only blacks in a predominately hispanic school. lol But there were 3 things that happened to me during that growth spurt.

1. Hunger- I found myself always wanting to eat and always hungry. Thats necessary for growth. Not only physcial but also spiritual. The more we are for growth, the more God will fill us. The bible says that, blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.

2. Tired- I noticed that when I was growing a lot, I was always tired. I found myself sleeping more than normal. Now these are not good signs for parents to see. (always eating and tired) (sounds like symptoms for something else) But spiritually if we are to grow like God wants us to we must become tired of where we are at and desire for change and growth.

3. Stretching- This was something my coaches would always preach. “If you want to grow, you must constantly be stretching” And that’s what I would do. In the morning, afternoon, and in the evening,  I would stretch. This would help your body to be prepared for growth. The same principle applies in the spirit. If we want to grow, we must be willing to be stretched.

I’m ready for another growth spurt.

-WORD ON THE STREET-

What I learned from God Yesterday……

Yesterday was an amazing day for me. For some time now I had really been praying for God to show me what needed to change in order for us to receive the growth that He wanted to give us. I thought i knew, but like MTV Diary says, “You think you know, but you have no idea.” I thought we were on the verge of an explosion, and maybe we were. But I think God had to break my hip first. God told me so clearly yesterday, the age old saying that, If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always be what you’ve always been. 

I realized we had been doing ministry, but we havent really been ministering. God showed me that we ( when i say we i mean my wife, myself, and our youth leadership) (but everything whether we like it or not reflects the Leader of a ministry) have been having great services, bible studies, events, fellowships, and even great turnouts. But we hadnt really been getting into the lives of the people like we should. I mean really, really getting into the lives of the people. I think so many people try to reach out and try to disciple, but If things dont go how they expect, they let them be. But in actuality, that wasnt how Jesus discipled. We needed to go the extra mile like Jesus did. 

Jesus didnt disciple according to a schedule or by limits. But it was a lifestyle. I was thinking of how many people are living a lukewarm life but were coming to our youth services. I started thinking how we have become satisfied with them just attending our services, when that was just the tip of the iceberg.   Or even the people that we haven’t seen in a while. I started wondering, Who’s reaching out to them? Why haven’t we seen them? Do we just call them? or have we been to their houses, their jobs, their schools, searching for them like Jesus did when he left the 99 and went after the 1. We need to disciple them. Jesus walked with them, ate with them, hung out, taught, cried…….everything with them!

It took the exhorting words of a good friend to get me to realize that we had been missing it all this time. Not intentionally but the bottom line was this is the missing piece to what God wanted us to see. After I came to my senses God again told me so clearly that, Now that I saw what He wanted me to see, now he can give us what he had wanted to give us. So right away I called a meeting with our leaders to transmit what God had given us and were ready to change and grow. I feel like we had been maintaining and having little spurts of growth, but I think now, God is gonna explode us.

Funny thing is right after this, I kid you not, 3 really close people to me rededicated their lives to the Lord. Its funny how God works. 

It feels really good to be vulnerable. Knowing that there is always room for growth. Until next time this has been the….

-Word on the Street-