The Sailors Family; Missionaries with New Wilderness Adventures.

I want true intimacy. I want a full measure of love! I do. Really! I am not talking just about sex here either. I am talking about my heart. God’s heart and mine with a life lived loved.

Tonight I went to see Australia. OK, it’s not Braveheart or Gladiator but once you get past some of the bad acting, the 40 endings and it being like 18 hours long, it is really good. Lots of good themes, one of which is love. There is especially one moment that really spurred this thought on tonight. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman’s characters share a kiss. Before they kiss they pause and breathe each other in before savoring the touch of lips first meeting. It is a very good kiss.

Scripture often likens one’s relationship to God as the husband and wife relationship. Usually we see this being referred to as the Bride and Bridegroom. For example Isaiah 62:5 says, “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoices over thee.” You get the picture.

Now back to the kiss. For those of you having the privilege to have experienced what I am talking about in its purest form understand the feeling. The elation of love. Now, just for a moment allow yourself to think about that in reference to God. Think about the sharing of intimacy. The embrace of your lover. The warmth and boldness of love shared between what God put together in a marriage is like no other feeling save one. That one is the truest relationship. That being the intimacy, the true intimacy only experienced as you experience God’s heart’s love for you in a personal relationship.

I am really passionate about everyone realizing the depth and breadth of God’s love. Now, I do not pretend to understand it completely but I do know that God’s love is meant to be poured out on you. Beloved, many think over and over that we must serve God. But what He really desires is our hearts. He wants you to live a life of love. Think about Mark 1:11 which says: “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” Before Jesus really did anything he set out to do, the Father told Him that He was loved. Only those who live loved of God can truly experience a life of service.

Boil it down friends. It’s about you and Him (or them) the Holy Trinity. It’s about a life of love. A life of the heart!

Beloved, let God love you. Let Him pour out the fullness of love on you and embrace Him as a lover embraces his desire. Quit trying so hard and invite Him into every aspect of your life. Once you are His, as Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Nothing Beloved..

Go with God and be saturated in His love!

Tags: Australia, God, Intimacy, Kiss, Love

I was talking to a friend of mine a day or two ago about honesty. He was telling me about a situation where he had lied to get out of a situation. I could relate. I have done that more time than I would like to admit. I have probably said it before, but Andy Stanley at a Catalyst conference I was attending once said, “Say what’s right and do what’s right, even when it is hard!” That quote impacted me greatly.

As I was checking email this morning, I came upon this story on Yahoo Sports.. take a look:
J.P. Hayes is as honest as we like to think we are

By Jay Busbee

The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching. John Wooden said that, or maybe it was Spider-Man. Whatever, it still holds true; being noble and upstanding is easy enough when you’ve got people watching, but when you’re alone with yourself, when you could do the wrong thing (or avoid the right thing) and get away with it, well — that’s when you find out what kind of person you are.

By that standard, then, J.P. Hayes is among the best that sports has to offer. He played a nonconforming ball for a single hole of the second stage of Q School last weekend. He realized it more than a day after the “violation,” called it on himself, and thus disqualified himself from Q School … with some severe, career-altering effects down the line.

So how did this go down? So easily, you’ll cringe:

On his 12th hole of the first round at Deerwood Country Club last Wednesday, Hayes’ caddie reached into his golf bag, pulled out a ball and flipped it to Hayes, who missed the green with his tee shot. He then chipped on and marked his ball. It was then that Hayes realized the ball was not the same model Titleist with which he had started his round. That was in violation of the one-ball rule, which stipulates that a player must play the same model throughout a round.

Okay, so, two-stroke penalty, no big deal. He recovered well enough to put himself in position to finish in the top 20 and advance to the third and final round of Q School. The top 25 finishers in that round, plus ties, earn exempt status for the entire 2009 PGA season. So, breathe deep, think about how close you came to disaster, then tee it up for the next round.

Only, while Hayes was breathing deep, he realized something else — not only did he play the wrong ball, he might have played a ball that wasn’t even approved for play at all.

“It was a Titleist prototype, and somehow it had gotten into my bag,” he said. “It had been four weeks since Titleist gave me some prototype balls and I tested them. I have no idea how or why it was still in there … I called an official in Houston that night and said, ‘I think I may have a problem. He said they’d call Titleist the next day. I pretty much knew at that point I was going to be disqualified.”

Now, the easy move here would be to either do nothing or blame the caddy. Hayes rose above both those temptations, putting all the blame on himself and asserting that everybody else on the PGA in his shoes would have done the exact same thing. We’ll never know, but let’s hope so.

Also, Hayes already has more than $7 million in career earnings, so it’s not like he’d consigned himself to another year working the counter at the Quik Stop. But still, knowing you’re taking yourself out of the running for a year of career stability and wealth takes some serious situational ethics.

Would you do it?

Really?

Tags: andy stanley, Catalyst, JP Hayes, yahoo

I am a Warrior King that is, as Dr. Benjamin Mays once said, “…born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive and if he or she does not do it, it will never be done.”

Then there is the great Howard Thurman quote: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I love football, especially the NFL. I was watching a game the last Sunday and finally noticed this commercial. Take a look:

WOW… it blew me away. I know I am living in my calling and passion now. I also know that it is under development. That I am only, 31 and there is a lot yet to experience, learn and walk in.Here is another video in the same vein:

I just want to challenge you to find where you great passion is and with guiding and training, go do that with God’s blessing.

Resources:

Gary Barkalow and the Noble Heart

Desire Conference and Books

Tags: Desire, LADAINIAN TOMLINSON, Passion, Truth

The smell of four day old lemon wafts through the air. The Zaxby’s cup, seemingly proud, stands as if nothing is happening. Its cohorts, the lemon, a zesty number, presently disseminating its essence, and the chicken, impervious to the olfactory sensation smirks as it watches my nose getting bit. Zax, said chicken and mastermind of this plot, toys with me as I check facebook, I mean work on something for the ministry! Now, with my waking eyes watering a bit, I begin to think of what it would take to despatch the chicken and his friends; to remove the olfactory offense from my presence. My heart begins to pump a little faster and the chicken begins to stare at me with unblinking eyes. He seems to know my thoughts, my intentions and I realize that he has already perceived my thoughts.

The phone rings, ah… a plant. Is the Chicken trying to get me distracted? What is the plan of this olfactory plot? How does the chicken know Jimmy Carpenter? My mind reels with the possibilities. My conversation is to the point, my mission now in front of me. Remove the offensive!

I pick up the cup!

Tension is in the air!

For some reason, I feel as though I should take a deeper look. I feel drawn to it. It is almost as if it whispers my name.  My nose comes closer.  The pungency of the lemon is masked with the now truth of the Zax sauce that is smudged on the cup.

Then

I understand. I am too weak.  I must go to Zaxby’s for lunch.

Tags: Lunch, Zaxbys