It's raining here today! Some may say that is good, and yet some may say that is bad. Rain has advantages and disadvantages. Good and bad. Just like anything in life. Often times we only get wrapped up in the bad and forget to look at the circumstance that we are in and try to find good. You know, life is like a big knife. A knife can be useful if you pick it up by the handle. However, if it is picked up by the blade it can be painful. Too often we continue to hold on the blade and bleed and cry because of the pain, when all we need to do is turn the knife around, grab the handle and use it for good. It's your choice. Continue to bleed or say enough...I'm going to use this circumstance in life for good. See, Satan wants you to focus on the pain and lie to you and say that it will never get better. But that's not true. God can take the bad and use it for something good. It is our choice though of whether we are going to let Him or not. So, your choice...blade or handle?

"You must be ready for everything life can throw at you." What a stupid, unfair expectation to place on people. There is no way that you can truly do this, so why stress yourself out. However, there are somethings you can be ready for. Be prepared, be prepared (you know, the little goat on Hoodwinked). I'm leaving tomorrow for Jal, New Mexico with the Xtreme Team. (www.radicallysaved.com) We have a week of teaching, preaching, training, equipping, and breaking. As always, I'm very excited to get to share my Jesus with people, but I have to be ready. I always work out harder on my BowFlex before I go. I always pray harder before I go. I always find out a little something about the town I'm going to, before I go. We know we are going into a battle this next week. Satan doesn't want anyone else to give the control of their life to Jesus, so he is going to fight hard. As followers of Jesus Christ, we all should know that we are in a battle everyday. Just as I prepare before a week of ministry, we should prepare ourselves daily for the battle that we are going to face. Start now. Pick up your Bible. It's that book over there...the one with the dust...under the newspaper...good job. Start reading. Right now we, friends and I, are reading through 1 and 2 Samuel. Reading the Bible will help prepare you for what you will face. Now pray. Yes, I know you like to talk. Just try talking to God. It is simpler than dialing the phone. Point is...prepare yourself. Don't wait till you are neck deep in trouble before you cry out to God. I went once to an outreach totally unprepared (didn't touch weights at all) and nothing broke, popped, or ripped like it should have. I wasn't prepared. So, prepare yourself for the things you know are coming up...like spiritual battle. Just like it is not all muscle that breaks things when we do what we do, it is being prepared with God's Power...just gritting your teeth and holding on won't take you through these battle either. Trust in the LORD with all your heart...through Christ who gives me strength...for those who revere My name, the sun of righteousness will shine upon you and you will receive healing and will leap like a calf released from the stall.

Oh man! I almost forgot...to enjoy summer that is. I can't believe that the calendar says that it is September already. If only I had....oh, never mind. I can't live in the past, right? Instead, as the leaves and the temperature change, I need to also. I have found that the only, yes only, constant in life is Jesus Christ. You can get out of taxes, and death...well just one word...rapture! So, the only constant is Jesus/God. The Bible says that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Um, that means He doesn't change. It, the Bible, also states that He doesn't change like shifting shadows. Again, He doesn't change. However, He expects us to change. Whoa, you say. That's not fair. He doesn't have to change and I do. Well, yes. See we have to change to His image, His likeness. We were, after all, created in His image. We have just made the choice to cloud that image to the rest of the world. So, we have to change. Just like the leaves on the trees, we have to change. And it must be visible. The reason leaves change color is because of a wonderful process called death. For us to change into the likeness of Christ we have to also go through the death process. Not physically. I'm not advocating suicide! I mean spiritually. Jesus says that we must pick up our cross daily and follow Him. Crosses meant death back when they used them. Jesus also made it clear that nothing else in life, including family, jobs, money, clothes, etc., should mean as much to us as He does. To change into the likeness of Christ, to regain that clearer image of Him...we must die. I challenge you. Die this week. Let those leaves of your life start changing color. Let the people around you start to see that there is something going on in your life.

Back to school! The sound of sorrow for many kids and yet the victory chant of many parents. To me, it just means the chance to get back to something normal. Something that might bring a usable schedule back into my life. I have found that summer is hard. It creates a chance to relax, but maybe not get you to the place where you need to be. Either spiritually or physically. Just like the lines on a road, boundaries are good. Living our life outside of boundaries, what many call 'freedom', we are lost. If you don't believe me, next time you drive, take your car over one of the lines on the road. Either one. Doesn't matter. Yeah, see. Boundaries are a good thing. Jesus has boundaries set up for us in scripture, not to restrict all our 'fun', but to protect us from on coming traffic. So, school starts in 2 days, for this parent it is certainly a victory chant...but for different reasons. I'm glad that I can come back into a schedule, some boundaries, a place where God can protect me and teach me. Maybe we need to all look forward to school this year.