Seek Him first

Matthew 6:33 says" Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all things will be added onto you".

That verse means a lot to me for a couple of reasons:

#1 It's the verse that God gave me while I was looking for a wife. (He provided) http://emilykate3130.blogspot.com/ Check out her posts! She's amazing!!!

#2 It's the verse that God gave my pastor while in the waiting of a huge milestone for our church. (THE MOVE) the close of one chapter and the beginning of a new!!

From Chesterfield to THE CLEM!!!!

During my short existence of life (yes, 30 years is short) I have yet to realize that God's plans our better and bigger than anything that I can ever imagine or plan. No matter how many times I tell myself that, I still fall in the same routine bad habit of trying to do it myself. And every time God's shows me up, every time!

And it's not one of those things where I'm mad that I got showed up but relieved and mostly excited.

My wife and I, along with our church, are transitioning into a place that God has called us to be, Mt Clemens!! And along the way we have tried to plan our every move, and every time God has continually showed us that His plans are bigger and better than any of ours. What a relief!

His word say's "Seek Him first," and that is my plan for this year! To seek Him first in everything that I do.

Iron Man

I chose the title of this post because of my son's (Rocky) crazy obsession with superheroes. (Although his obsession may be my fault) It's great to see him get excited over the same characters I got excited for when I was a kid. SUPERMAN was and is my favorite comic book character!! Just Sayin'! But as I watch him, I wonder how he see's me. So many times I ask myself am I the man that God is calling me to be. Am I serving Him in all areas of my life? Well, the answer there is NO. There are so many things that I need God's help with.  Ask Emily (wifey) she'll have a list for you. But God thankfully is continuing to reveal these things to me! As he did tonight.


 Emily and I were sitting at dinner and I remembered a book that we started reading together. Not sure what made me think of it. But as soon as I thought about it, I instantly remembered that we had only gotten to chapter 3 before our lives (only as busy as we make them) got in the way. This for me is another failure at an attempt to be the Man that God has called me to be. I am to lead my family. How can my wife respect me when I forget something as simple as to read a book with her. I know she has remembered it and has been waiting for me to say "let's read our book tonight!" Well tonight we are!! 


And me being the Man I am suppose to be should be prioritized in the following order: God, Emily, my son's.


So many times I think we, as men, get things backward. We get comfortable being everything to our kids and not living up to being a husband. I want to make sure that I live out the example to my boys of being a husband that my wife can respect and that she deserves. This is a must if I want the same for my boys. If I want to be there IRON MAN I need to be my wife's IRON MAN first and before that I need to be GODS!


I DO NOT want to live my life up to a low expectation! I want to exceed the expectations of my family because of who I am in Christ!

Small Group - Big Results

So last night was small group night and we wrapped up our study on James! 5 week study drawn out into 9 weeks due to vacations and holidays! As we were wrapping up one of the last questions was "why is it important to pray for others?" What an awesome question that allowed us to spark conversation into looking back in the past (2) years and see the awesome things that God has done within our group and how He has answered our prayers!!

It was so refreshing to see the journey that God has taken us on! To see how God has taken our prayers and answered them no matter how big or small they seemed. All we had to do was lift them up to Him and place them in His hands. And be faithful and see them come into fruition.

We have seen things like group members receive jobs, relationships with co-workers be transformed, sick family members healed, etc.....

But the most amazing thing was to see how God has transformed our lives through our small group. The relationships that we have with God has grown closer because of our relationships with each other growing closer. It's funny to put into perspective and truly see that God is a relational God, not interested in us living our lives separate from others but together with others and with HIM.

Excited to see what God has in store for us next in our small group, growing closer to God, and seeing Big results!

@ the end of the day

A lot of thoughts go through my mind at the end of the day. What time do I need to wake up in the morning? What time do I need to be at work? What do I need to take care of at work? What do we have going on during the evening? Questions.......questions.........questions..

Here's a trick, clear your mind! Focus on one thing! God! Give him your thoughts! Cast all of your cares unto Him and see Him move in your life!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Ranger Code

Along time ago I use to recite the following words "With God's help, I will do my best to serve God, my church, and my fellowman; to live by the Ranger Code; to make the Golden Rule my daily rule." Little did I know that I was planting a seed that would grow and God would bring to my attention years later.

I grew up in church and every Wednesday I would  participate in Royal Rangers. (those of you who are AG know what I'm talking about) But if you do not basically it's a lot like boy scouts that puts emphasis on God!

Lately, God has been really showing me areas in my life that need a lot of work. It started with listening to a Joyce Meyer podcast and she was talking about how we complain how God doesn't move in our lives but we sit on the couch 40 lbs overweight and wonder where God is at?!?!?!?

Those words really hit me, wow! God wants to move in my life but maybe I am not fully giving every area of my life over to Him! At that he started reminding me of the Ranger Code. To be physically, spiritually, mentally alert! He started revealing to me how my life isn't balanced.

He started showing me that I need to be physically, spiritually, and mentally fit!! And all this time I thought that Royal Rangers was just a part of my life for that period when I was a boy. I never thought that I would be revisiting or that I would have remembered the Ranger Code, but I am glad that I participated in Royal Rangers! I am glad that that seed was planted!

And am I excited to see how God is going to stretch and mold me into a balanced life and an even more intimate relationship with Him!

My sons' mother rocks

Although Mother's Day is over I wanted to end the day by writing about the most important woman in my life! My sons' mother! Also known as Emily Kate, Babe, Hottie, or quite simply my wife! Although most of the time I am pretty good with coming up with nice ways to acknowledge these hallmark holidays, today I was at a loss. It was already set up for failure from a Mother's perspective. My family planned a 90th birthday party for my grandpa, a huge accomplishment absolutely, but what it meant was spending a few hours in the car driving a few hundred miles and spending a day focusing on everything except Mommy.

Thankfully my wife is understanding and didn't make to much of stink about it, a few comments here and there, but I don't blame her. If it were Father's Day I doubt I would have been as understanding as she was. I tend to be a little selfish sometimes. Anyway after a long day of traveling and visiting with family members we made it home and I couldn't help but see a little bit of disappointment on her face. Not a whole lot of acknowledgement for her today although it was much deserved. We did decide to devout next Saturday to her but it still must have been pretty hard to get through the day today.

So I have decided to post a list of things that I love best about my sons' mother!! I love you Emily and hope you realize how much I know I don't deserve you but am happy that I got you!!

I love best.........
The way you remind me how important it is to be consistent with our kids
The way you have a schedule and routine and you rarely deviate from it
The way you love our sons
The way you focus on parenting, making sure that you don't create another idiot in the world !!
The way you keep our house clean, it shows how orderly your mind is
The way you always make sure that we have clean clothes to wear
The way you don't settle for less, you know what you want!!
The way you trust me to provide for you
The way you teach our children
The way you laugh
The way you think your the funny one.........maybe you are.....maybe
The way you listen to me when i come up with a new idea or dream
The way you encourage me to be a better, father and husband
The way you light up a room when you walk into it
The way you have a magnetic personality that people are drawn to.
The way your honest and say exactly whats on your mind
The way you treat everything as black and white, there are no grey areas with you
The way you d-party it up! ( if you know what this is then I'm sure you love it best about Em too!!)
The way you use your creative mind to decorate our house
The way you put all of our needs before your own.
The way you love me!!

None of these are in any particular order but they are just a few reasons why I love you best and how my sons are so lucky to have you as their mother!

Happy Mother's Day Emily!

a life plan already chosen

It has always been a relief for me to know that my life has been planned by God. I don't need to have a master plan I just have to follow my master's plan! He has a plan, a perfect plan for my life and the only thing I have to do is listen to Him and obey. That's it! How come something that is so easy to say, and so easy to write is so hard to live out.  Even though it is a relief, my flesh takes over and I start to pile on surmountable amounts of pressure and ask God to fix it when I realize that I can't do it by myself. And He always reminds me that it wasn't Him that piled things on, He allowed it but it was the result of my own actions and decisions. It can be as easy as I say it is or write it is. Just listen and obey. That's it. It is hard to listen when the white noise of my own selfishness clouds my thoughts. If I focus on God, pray to God, worship God, spend time with God, then the easier it is to obey and the less pressure I pile on myself. God's plan is far better than anything that I could ever imagine or come up with on my own. My prayer is that my choices would be simple, obedient of Him, and thoughtful of others. I do not want to be consumed by myself but consumed by an awesome God! And the plan that He has for me will be lived out because my choices and decision are not selfish but obedient and honoring to God!