Tough to get started

It is hard to make some significant changes in your life and stick with them longer than a week. These changes can range from activities like training for a race, dieting or even hobbies.

Some changes I would like to make, and would like some input on are my prayer life and study of scripture.

Prayer requests can seem overwhelming, so I'm thinking of making it more manageable by picking different days of the week to pray for different groups. I need to put more thought into, but let's start with today. Tuesday I could pray for my wife and children, that should be plenty for one day, and I want it to be a good time not a burden, so I will try to keep it thin. Better idea, let's start out just listing some different things. NLR sends out an update with prayer requests each week, my household, my family, my extended family, government, military, schools and other authority, there is also my church group that meets once a week that has different requests. And let's not forget my friends and then we need to leave room for other things that I'll add on later.

So Tuesday let's leave as my household.
Wednesday can be family and extended family
Thursday can be government
Friday can be NLR
Monday can be church

Now I purposely left out Saturday and Sunday because being the weekend those days are pretty chaotic. I also need to watch Friday, but if I'm busy Friday then I could move it to Sunday. I want this to be achievable, and again non burdensome. Now that I have a general idea I need to make it doable. So that means picking a specific time to set apart each week day to do this. Mornings or evenings come to mind at first, so I'll start and try to do this in the morning with my quiet time. I could even put this on a card to reference for each day.

Time to move on to the scriptures. Mainly I would like to focus on memory. I already have a good habit of nightly reading and morning quiet times, but I'm not memorizing the scriptures. So recently my church has a life response section that start with memorize and meditate on a passage of scripture. Well, I've started to do this in the evenings, but haven't been putting enough effort into it. I'm thinking I need to write the verse more often, because simply reading it isn't enough. I'm thinking of working on the memory during lunch at work, I have time for that except Thursdays and Fridays when I have lunch with some friends, but hopefully by that time I can just recite it during the drive.

What do you guys think? Any tips on making this easier and more enjoyable?

Also, I thought I would provide a link for Fellowship Bible Church http://www.fbctulsa.org

What about the change, what about the difference

If you don't recognize the title you should listen to more music by Steven Curtis Chapman. But the song has a point. It actually wasn't even the song that brought it up.

This started when I was reading in Act a few days ago and it spoke of the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 10). Later on you read how a group was saying they were baptized by John and not the Holy Spirit (Acts 19). In these instances there was a dramatic and noticeable change. They received power. So why don't we now?

How is the church different from the world. Through out the Bible God's people (both Israel and the Church) are to be different. I think having a nation with so much religion as being standard we just don't get it. For some reason people believe that by going to church they are Christian, or because their parents are Christians they are somehow automatically Christians. It seems that the Christians are not doing a good job showing people Jesus but are being sucked into the world's system. So with that out there I have to ask myself... am I part of the problem? Probably. What can I do to change? How can I show Jesus to those around me?

These are a few questions I need to work through, and would suggest others to ask themselves also.

Sorry for the hurt I caused

Last night I was looking through the life response notes from church, and the question I was reading dealt with how things could be different if we focused more on how sin effected God rather than its effect on others.

It relates to Psalm 51:4

But I can really see this, we focus so much on the effect of our sin on others or ourselves, and we fail to see how it is a sin against God. We have hurt God. We have hurt our relationship with God. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. He sacrificed Jesus so that our sins would be forgiven, yet when we sin we gloss over how that effects God. But we should feel a strong conviction, and then confess our sin to God so that we can restore our fellowship with Him.

A fun moment with the one you love

Yesterday just was not the best day with my son. I got home after a busy day at work and the house is a wreak and my poor wife is really having a hard day. So I quickly learn that our little boy has been somewhat of a monster that day, and now Julie is just exhausted.

Well, I'll skip over all the boring stuff because that is not what I want to focus on. The moment to be remembered that day was after the baby went to bed Julie suggested we make cookies. Well, as we got started she decided to go with brownies instead. Well, I really enjoyed this time with her. We were in the kitchen make some yummy desert together. I think it is these times that are worth remembering. They are real fun, and add a lot to marriage. They are the moments that bring people together. Or maybe that is just for me. Do others feel that closeness?

I say maybe it is for me, because early in our marriage we discovered what makes me feel love. It is activity. Well, if you know much about my life when I dated Julie you can understand why I loved her so quickly. We were always doing things together. During the summer we worked together, we did a mission trip together, and we just spent a lot of time together. But now that we are out of college and into "the real world" these moments are fewer and need to be treasured.

Generic Update

Well, it is already July. There is so much to do and so little I'm getting done.

I took off last week for an anniversary trip to Chicago. It was great, had a fun time with my wife. Our poor son spent the whole week with his grandparents and was ready for us when we returned. Apparently that day he wasn't very happy.

So, on this grand adventure, I failed to have my quiet time even once. I think that is pretty sad. We were not rushed or anything, but we just always wanted to get out and do things. I think I really missed out on some great time with Jesus, and that saddens me. But now I'm back in my routine and ready to spend time with my friend.