the son...

my son

while I was running today I realized that the sun is getting stronger by the day. That this winter might one day come to an end. There may be life eventually.

Love, WITH sin...

Your capacity for love is a direct result of your ability to repent.

You love people. Good. But do you love them as much as you should? Do you love them as much as Jesus did?

Jesus was WITHOUT sin, and therefore had an entire life of love to pour out to the world.

You are WITH sin, and therefore are held captive from our ability to love.

You hold grudges, you hate people, you do violence to one another and yourselves. We slander our selves, each other and God, by the way we live and the things we say.

We put ourselves first.

That's why we think love is this pretty thing of rose peddles, candles, teddy bears and hugs.

It's when you repent of your anger against others and God, grudges, hate of yourself, that you really find a place where you can start LOVING people.

Fact is love is hard. It's picking someone up, dusting them off and slapping them to get them to move. It's telling someone not to be stupid with they're life (even at the risk of offending them). It's putting others before yourself, even to the point of death.

Loving people enough to realize that you're NOT (actually) that important (in the grand scheme of things). Realizing you can't be all things to all people, but knowing that if you ARE who God called you to be, then you will have the ability to SPEAK to all people.

Repent.

Give up those things which are holding you captive.

Ask God to point out areas of you're life that you are un-repentant of.

Submit to Godly authority.

It's THEN that you'll start to begin to see what love is REALLY like.

Getting bumped

I'm living a new reality; having got married, gotten my wife pregnant, bought a house, lost a baby, become a pastor (and all the ups and downs that come with living life in general)... all in a year and a half.

So you can't REALLY blame me for being a little introspective.

So when someone recently said to me, "what you put in is what spills out when you get bumped'. I took it to heart and was like, 'what spills out of me when I get bumped?'

Well...quiet rage, a desire to 'work' my way out of the situation, a need to 'control' the situation, a backlash of vibrato against fear, not admitting fear, pride about the things I've accomplished (as a way of controlling the situation), shutting down emotionally. Needing to 'be a man'.

I actually think the question should become more like, ' so Mike, what do you do when it hurts?' Well I wish I had an easy answer (now that I've dealt with some real pain, lived some life, acquired some scars from life...)

If I was pushed to answer, I'd have to say: Don't try to work the pain away.

Here's the key:

Embrace the joy and linger with it.

Embrace the pain and endure it.

It's in facing it head-on that you get to the other side. It might be scary and seem dangerous to look at, but to look away is not the way we're instructed to do it.

It takes courage to do it. A friend of mine said it really well,

'Courage doesn't mean FEARLESS, it can mean totally fearful, but doing it anyway'.

If there's one thing that I've learned from the last year and a half, its that life is one fight after another. It's not in knowing that the next fight is coming, it's in knowing how to KEEP fighting...

What builds you up? What things inspire you? What things make you want to get out of bed in the morning?

It's the act of pursuing those things that you get to KEEP fighting!

The hope in all this comes like my gray hair... it's that I become less of who I am by nature, and more of 'who I'm suppose to be'... hopefully that need to be a 'man', or need to control the situation, fighting the pain, or emotional shutdown are not what spill out when I get bumped. Rather, it'll be emotional vulnerability, acceptance of pain, giving control over (or seeming control) of those situations I can't control, that I see spilling out.

Now, you know the question was comin' your way...

What' spills out when you get bumped??

Lessons in film #1

Lesson of the day:

When you're shooting outside in the winter, make sure you're model doesn't fall off the tree backwards...

Project 30Belly

So I wanted to go for a run this morning (yep, I thought I was crazy too...) and walked out the door to THIS!

And I know what ya'll are going to say..."the snow wasn't as bad as they said it was going to be!.." bla, bla, bla.

Okay, I agree with you, but this is a drift in our front yard.

You're next question is, "Mike, why would you even THINK of going for a run the morning after 'the worst storm in 20 years'?"

Well? Because of this.

Yep, Project 30Belly.

(Yes, that is a chalk board. And it IS in our kitchen...)

K, so I'm turning 30 in March, and while most people don't think I have a 30Belly to loose, I'm in the market to loose some of that winter fat (Plus I think if I don't have a belly now, I'm more likely not to have one when I get to 50...Kapeesh ?)

So, here's the deal. I want these 6 things to stick ('cause they're all good to do), so I'm adopting them slowly...

1. Just say NO to Sugar (Fairly innocuous, but easier said than done)

-One step at a time. One craving at a time...Yep, just like killing any addiction

2.Work out 5 days a week

-Serious

-I just downloaded this app to help me train

3.Do crunches EVERY day

-Yep, it's the only way I know how to flatten you're stomach for the long hall

-Here's the program I'm using, it's not everyday, but it'll get me there

4.Just say YES to fruit and veggies (maybe INSTEAD of sugar?)

-Yep, easy, simple

-Detox on the body and minerals + vitamins

5.Kiss your wife (husband, kids...Gramma?) every day

-Easy to do, and creates intimacy in you're relationship

-serious

-Studies have proved the connection between intimacy and physical wellbeing

-Nice.

6.Drink 6 1 litre water bottles a day

-thats a LOT of water, but it's a measured target to hit

-it lubricates joints, detoxifies, helps brain function, prevents aging, increases effincey in body operation and increases energy...

-JUST DRINK WATER

-most people are dehydrated

-most people think they're hungry when they're actually thirsty...

By the way, when I was on my run I was probably one of the only people in Hamilton to see this

or this

Reality is, no one's going to do it for me. I'm the only person who can do it.

AND, I just have to do it. Not give myself the choice NOT to do it.

Get up in the morning and get out the door...

I feel like a million bucks now...really

And I'll sleep better tonight.