So there comes a time in life when you can just look at something and be so proud, or should you be….. In my life I am proud of many things…my kids, my wife, my life at some points…but not the proud of hey…LOOK AT ME… look at my kids, look at my wife, look at what I have accomplished. Although at some points in my life that has been the battle that I have had to turn over to God.  For 8 years of ministry while I was a youth pastor, I have to admit, I tried to accomplish alot of things instead of letting HIM accomplish whatever HE wanted to.  I would give him the reins but keep my hands on them…not cool!  So about 3 1/2 years ago is when God put me in a spot of saying…bro…its not about you…AT ALL.  This does not mean that I am not proud….cause I am.  This does not mean that I do not work my freakin butt off to accomplish what God has set before me.  This does not mean that I do not look at my life and say…DANG ….GOD, you sure have given me the exact career that I have always wanted…because he did…but it was not because of me at all.  You see God gave me a gift to see if I would use it right, and am soooooo humbled that for once in my life….I can look back and say…I did something with no motives, except knowing that it is what He wanted to accomplish. I have upset some people over the way, and some people do not like to work with me when it comes to concerts….all I can say to that is if GOD gives you something so close to what you know HE IS GIFTED YOU AT…. YOU BETTER NEVER GIVE THAT GIFT TO GOOD WILL!! Let me unwrap that for you…if someone you are working beside gets in the way of what you know has to be done for God…LOVE THEM LIKE CRAZY…but do not worry if DOING WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF YOU upsets them….one thing I do not want on my plate is knowing that the meal was half eaten and it got Cold. Unwrap it a different way…..sometimes God’s people are lazy because they just say……God will do it….When God is asking us to do our part.

God has given us each a gift or more to see if we are going to use it for Him…. For example… How many times have you heard….Man…EMINEM is a terrible rapper!  Really….does he suck at rapping…no, in fact I would go as far as to say, he is the most skillful/best flowing/lyrical genius to walk this earth….besides all of my BOYS from the 116 clique…and REACH RECORDS(is that because I have a biased opinion)!  But why some people say he is terrible, is because He has taken what God has given him to do  and used it to build himself up and not use it to glorify God.  If he would spend about 5 minutes with Lecrae, Trip Lee (see below), and many of the other artists of Reach Records…he would see guys who could be making millions in the secular industry, but have given themselves in submission to the God who created them. The difference between Eminem and these guys are…they have recognized that they need to use what God has given them for His glory.  They are proud of their Lord.

So proud of him…that Trip has written a song about it…. The song could be taken from the scripture Jeremiah 9:23-24   which states “This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches,²⁴ but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.”  Here is the song…if you want to listen to it

So let me take a minute to Brag on my Lord…. God, you have done something in this past weekend that I will be forever grateful for, you allowed me and my family to continue to spend time on earth in relationship with my brother!  You did not allow a heart attack to take my best friend out of this world.  You said NO…not this time…to something that has taken so many people away from their loved ones. I cannot tell people enough how proud I am to have seen you intervene right away!  I am proud that you have put people on this earth like Harlan and Gabe’s Pastor Richard who were there to immediately know the decisions that needed to be made.  They used the gift of discernment that you gave them and helped save my brother’s life.  I am proud of my sister in law Marla, and the love that she has for you, and for my brother.  I am proud of my dad, but only because you have changed Him into who you have wanted him to be all along.  He just wants to laugh at Satan and say…you tried…but God said no!!! I am proud of my wife, and the ability that you have given her to think of what can be done to alleviate the stress of the situation and want to go down and stay with the girls if that is what was needed.  I am proud of my mom, but only because you are giving her the strength to minister in Africa, while so much is going on at home!  I am proud of myself, only because you have opened my eyes to love sooooo much more …. I cannot tell you how much I felt your presence this weekend and am forever changed again!  I am proud of just getting off the phone with my brother who is going home instead of being Eternally Home…..YOU want him here!!!!  God, I could just about lose it everytime I read something on Gabe’s facebook page…in fact I think I have….I never realized I could love someone so much, until I realized how close we were to losing him….I am proud that you have helped me see that!!  You have helped me through so much this weekend God…I am forever PROUD OF YOU!  I am proud of the strength and calmness that you gave Gabe this weekend!  I am thankful that you did not allow an artery that was 100% blocked and called the widow maker, to make my sis-in-law a widow, and my nieces to lose their father!  I am PROUD OF WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO CONTINUE TO DO THROUGH GABE TAVIANO!!!!

I am proud of you, that you have helped change the eternal home of Aaron Cunningham!!!!! DANG PROUD!!!  I am proud that you have given me the freedom to be me, and that  you are ok with that!  I am proud that you have made my wife my PRIORITY on this earth after so long of making ministry over her!  I am sooooo proud of what you are going to do in my neighbor Joe’s life and for giving me the relationship with Him…I would not trade it for anything.  I am proud of the company that you have completely given me to work with everyday….and for the people that are Jacob and Cliff Reiser!  I could go on and on and on….I am proud of the safety that you give my kids, and the love that they have for others….I am proud that you have given me 3 gifts that I will never let go of …well, I know I have given them to you…but Thanks for letting me have them here on earth!!!

I am going to ask all of you to pray for one thing this week….as we are heading out on the Rock and Worship Roadshow….I am going to ask you to pray for my BOY TRIP LEE!!! as he helps tons of people see that they can BRAG ON THEIR LORD…. here is a pic of Trip, that my brother Gabe took in Columbus! (you can hear the interview with Trip on Gabe’s Blog at http://www.gabetaviano.com/people-of-faith/trip-lee/ )

I know alot of this may seem like I am rambling…well I am so deal with it I guess….