Times they are a changin

School, work, life, these are some words that describe things that are subject to change. You can fail or graduate from school. Work comes and goes. You can choose to die and not live every day.

Change is something that many people fear, yet a the earth would not continue to prosper if it stayed in the same spot for a nanosecond. We are creatures of change, no one reading this did not make the change from not being able to read, to learning how to read. Your hard work changed your life.

My life is changing, internship, graduation, fatherhood. These are words that I fear, yet welcome. Like a salmon swimming upstream, my course is one that I cannot waver from. One thing that the Salmon doesn't know is that the course that he is really headed leads to death, so it is with my life. However, the death that I must die is not physical, rather; what is left of the old Brandon has to die, so that my family can experience the love that it deserves.

God I pray that I may die so that I can live for you, to live is Christ, to die is gain. I want to gain. I want more of you. I want life and life to the full.

It's time to brag on God a bit

Within my five years of knowing Jesus Christ he has,

-Delivered me from drugs (meth, weed, pills, cocaine) and alcohol.

-Delivered me from depression.

-Gave me a specific and dynamic purpose for my life.

-Allowed me to know who I truly am (gave me my identity)

-Given me grace to continue my education up to a senior in college when I dropped out in the fifth grade.

-Through me, brought my immediate family into relationship with himself and some of my remote family.

-Delivered my mother and father from smoking.

-Gave me a beautiful wife.

-Showed me the frailness of human life, but the strength of his presence which is life itself.

-Allowed me to testify about him in front of the poor, the rich, and the middle class.

-Is letting me breathe right now.

He can do all of this and more for you. If you are doubtful have faith, it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. You may have not seen any of these listed happen in your life, but it takes foresight to see the present and shape the world that you want.

A friend once told me if you don't like the world you are living in, change it. Change for the better can only come, however, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Note from the past

I came across this note I jotted down about a year ago I thought I would share the word the Lord spoke to me,

*We criticize others because of our own insecurities. We put on a front and a tough exterior because we are afraid to truly connect with one another. We distance ourselves because of the pain that we too often feel, we don't want to feel. It's okay...the struggle is over..new life begins. Life to the fullest of measure.

*We are afraid to lose control but we never had it anyway. Chaos in motion why worry about the uncontrollable circumstances?

A poem from a friend

This poem was written by a good friend of mine, Pete. I met Pete at while working one day at Movie Gallery we built a relationship and soon he gave his life to Christ. This poem really touches my heart because it shows me two things
1. That doing God's work is worth the heart ache
2. That God is able to turn anyone life around

Enjoy,

Day time nite falls along comes summer, spring, fall; winter being the coldest month of all. It's not who you were it's who you are; it's not what is in the past what you did, yet today what you do the choice is always up to you. Believe in God and let the past go, believe and you will see God as your savior will save you and set you free.

-Thanks for the inspiration Pete!

About me

I have been called many things, done many things. Some I have regretted and some that I have treasured. I am a man, not worthy of any special praise, but that I do get glorifies the one who made me, for what is man? He is a breath; a quiet whisper who's beauty fades away and life returns to the source from which it flows.

Who am I? No-one, for I can be gone in a split second. Never to be remembered, a picture of what once was and now is not and will never be again.

The life I live in this tent; this temporary dwelling place I do with faith in the Son of God. Apart from him I am nothing, I know nothing, nothing.

Zombie Nation

I did not intend for my blog to become a dream journal, but I have once again had a dream that has provoked many a thought and could quite possibly be inspired by the Lord.

In this dream I am in a world where zombies have become the dominate species and humans have become their unsuspecting prey. All humans except of course for me, Brandon the Zombie slayer!

Now the only one left alive I must climb to the top of the zombie strong hold and inject the cure, given to me by the top scientist in my field, into the head zombie lord. I do so and he returns back into a normal human being.

I walk outside the stronghold and see everything and everyone returning to normal. I see people walking around and even a woman putting groceries in her car. The sun is out and everything is peachy.

I still felt like a zombie should be around. In my mind everything was not back to normal. I still wanted to hunt and cure but there was no zombies to be found anymore.

Here is what I think the dream meant - When we go through a negative experience in life we think that it is normal. The things that happen to us in our lives help to shape our view of the world and to us that is normal when to someone else it may not be. For example, if someone had an abusive father as a child that child will grow up to believe that all men are like abusive. If male, he may grow up very insecure and maybe have gender identification issues. If female, she may grow up to never fully give herself intimately to a male and choose an alternative lifestyle.

The zombie infestation is an infestation of the dead. Dead hearts, dead minds, dead emotions. What is that experience that has turned you into a zombie in different areas of life? I believe that there was a contrast between the zombie and the lady putting groceries in her car. I believe you could be dead on the inside and look normal on the outside.

I have the cure... take out the syringe and inject Jesus Christ directly into your heart and start the process of turning from death to life. Eat his flesh and drink his blood and become a new creature.

I AM part 3

Jesus is the great I AM, check out these I AM statements that he used,

1. I AM the bread of life.
* John 6:35: Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
* John 6:48: I am the bread of life.
2. I AM the light of the world.
* John 8:12: When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
* John 9:5: While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
3. I AM the door.
* John 10:7: Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep."
4. I AM the good shepherd.
* John 10:11-14: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me...."
5. I AM the resurrection and the life.
* John 11:25: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
6. I AM the way, the truth and the life.
* John 14:6: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
7. I AM the true vine.
* John 15:1, 5: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

As the burning bush Jesus was less specific of who he (God is) when God became flesh (Jn 1:16) he reveled more of what HE IS. Not being as vague.

Jesus is

I AM part 2

In my former blog I discussed God as being the great I AM. Please read it first before reading this blog.

God is self-sustaining and self-sufficient, this was the revelation that God gave to Moses and continues to give us today, but what if I were to tell you that the great I AM showed up again in biblical history in bodily form? The great I AM was, in fact, Jesus Christ. Jesus was in the Old Testament in the form of burning shrub claiming to be God even before he was born because he is God.

A couple of thousand years after the Moses story Jesus stood before his Jewish accusers in the face of death and said this in John 8:56-59; Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

57"You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!"

58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Jesus is the great I AM

I AM

Moses and the burning bush is a familiar story for most Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The story is found in the Old Testament of the Bible in the Book of Exodus chapter 3. In the story Moses sees a bush that does not burn up on Mt Horeb and he is overwhelmed with curiosity and goes up the mountain to see this great sight.

The sight ends up being God himself in the bush. God and Moses converse about many things, but Moses asks God to give him his name in case anyone asks who sent him. God replies, tell them I am who I am, tell them I AM sent you. It goes on to say that this is the name that God will be remembered by from generation to generation.

The word I AM in the Hebrew is a variation of the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. It means self-sustaining, self-sufficient one. Have you ever heard the question that little kids sometimes ask? If God created the world, then who created God? This answers that question by saying that God is self-sustaining. He doesn't need to eat or drink he is what he is because he is, not because of anything else or anyone else...He is.

This is eternal life...

On October 9th 2008 I lost a friend and a brother in a car accident. His loss was sudden, tragic, and devastating to many people. The pain of his departure has stuck with me until now. Last night I had a dream, he was with me like old times and me and him were going around to different places and people were freaking out. They knew he was dead but I was trying to convince them that he was alive.

You see, he was a devoted Christian until the day he died and the truth is that he is more alive now than ever, and the ones without Jesus Christ in their lives are dead.

By dead I mean they have no life inside of them, no hope, faith or joy.

This is eternal life, that you may know Jesus Christ.

These are principles that I have always heard but last night made them very real to me.

You may have life, but are you living? You may have life, but do you know the source from which it flows?

Fame

John 17:10b: And glory has come to me (Jesus) through them (His Disciples).

The word for glory in the original Greek language "doxa" can mean glory, majesty, or fame. Lets use the translation fame for this blog.

Jesus is praying to God the Father in this chapter and during this prayer he makes several statements about fame and being made famous. Jesus is saying that fame has come to him through his disciples. In my recent blog I referred to the fact that as Christ followers Jesus should be our "celebrity." We should seek to glorify him or make him famous.

We should not glorify (make famous) our selfs, our ministries, our pastors and church leaders, rather Christ and Christ alone.

If Christ is lifted up (made famous) he will draw men to himself.

Celebrity Death

Iran is almost in civil war, North Korea may blast us off the map at any time, the economy sucks, and America's top news story, The Death of Micheal Jackson.

Before I go any further I want to say that I respect the family of Micheal Jackson and I am familiar with losing people close to me. This blog is not an attack on them or the deceased in question, rather it is a rant about the state of America's mentality and media.

I was sitting in a Japanese steakhouse last night enjoying a ginger dressing salad and waiting on a sushi combo platter to come my way when a couple walked through the door and announced the death of Micheal Jackson. The lady behind me gasped in shock and began crying.

I was wondering if the lady behind me was related to him, maybe a distant cousin. She wasn't. It surprises me to see someone cry for someone they do not know. Maybe I am a little cold-hearted or insensitive but I believe that there is something wrong with caring so much about a person that I have never met.

When I was a kid a celebrity hero of mine the late/great Chris Farley died of a drug related massive heart-attack. I was sad but it was not like losing someone close to me.

In America we put people on pedestals, we love to talk about people we don't know, and turn them into some sort of superhuman demi-gods. We have seen the effects of this plague with such celebrities as Elvis Presley, Brittany Spears, Heath Ledger, and now Micheal Jackson. Elvis died of and over-dose, Brittany shaved her head and went crazy, Heath died of and OD and Micheal Jackson may have OD'd on pain meds. All of these people are byproducts of fame gone wrong.

Micheal's dad got him into show biz when he was just a child. It corrupted his mind causing him to marry and divorce, to somehow change his skin color, supposedly molest children, and dangle a baby by its foot over a balcony. Jackson did not contribute anything good to society except some cool songs to listen and dance to.

The sad thing about his death is that he never got to live a normal life. That he was to confused to know the healing power and love of Jesus Christ, and that his end came without truly finding peace.

America wake up! No one is immortal, we all return to the dust in which we came from. We all have that in common, therefore, no one is worth putting as higher than the other. We all have to answer to our creator for the things we did or did not do in this life and Michel is now standing in the presence of the only one that is worthy of celebrity status, Jesus Christ. Michel died in vain, Christ died for humanity.

God is trying to get your attention

If you are a Christian, the presence of Christ dwells within you and if you are not a Christian Jesus Christ is constantly trying to get your attention.

Romans 1:20 says, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Creation is not God himself as Wicca, or Native American religion may tell you, creation is just that; creation. Can you look at the stars and not think about the reality of infinity? Can you look at the ocean and believe that it got here on it's own? Can you look yourself in the mirror then under a microscope and fathom all of the parts of the human body from head to toe, from the brain to the colon and not think that there is an intelligent designer for it all?

God is trying to get your attention.

When you look at all the animals of the world do you see evolution or do you see imagination?

When you see a bolt of lighting do you see liquid and ice particles colliding, or a brilliant light show?

God is trying to get your attention.