The question to ponder is, what do you have the ability to see? So many things are based on vision, actually pretty much our whole life is based off of what we can see, and I can honestly say that sometimes I wish I could not see the way that I do.  You see at the top of my blog-site you will see a quote that was taught and ingrained into my head by the great Dennis Moles.  A quote that if we actually grab it, can change the world.  ”Love people until they ask why, and then loving them some more!”  This is what life is about, but you truly cannot love people without seeing them.  The first thing that I learned growing up was something that I wish I could go back and reverse, because if I could, this whole seeing thing, and loving well thing would have happened sooner. I loved well, do not get me wrong…..seriously have been spit on, people picking fights, punched by an adult, and honestly not respected too much, but all of that did not change the way that I felt about the ones that did those things to me….for one it is nothing compared to what happened to my savior, but that in all honesty is not why I allowed those things to happen.  I did not say, hey punch me in the teeth, I want to be like my Lord.  No it was just a characteristic, and gift that God has given me, to let things roll of my back, like a duck with water so to say!  You harm me, I love you….but I really wish I could have loved in the way that Christ intended!  I know alot of you will say, you did Tug, you loved so well, but to that I would say…I could have loved people better, I could have seen them the way that God wanted me to!  What I am trying to relay cannot be said by any words that I can tell you and can be summed up in this verse!

In John 3:3 it states “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God!” 

For the longest of time growing up I would hear this verse, and say that is great, I know that I am born again, and someday I will be able to see the Kingdom of God, in which I thought could only be summed up by streets of gold, the lion laying with the lamb, and even seeing David and other people that I cannot wait to talk to.  Instead it is summed up by not only those things, but Fourth Street, Main Street, my back yard, your back yard, and everyone that comes against your backyard.  The way that you see them now can be completely changed if you actually realize that you really do not see them until you SEE THEM.  How you see them is the next thing!  Do you see them as people, or your way to enhance the Kingdom of God.  For to say God’s kingdom is here on earth means one thing, there is someone that is trying to overthrow it as well. How are we gonna take it back, are we gonna continue living in the aspect of lazy love, or are we going to go out of our way to love each other.  Are we going to see the hurting and feel it is not our responsibility, or are we going to have to feel their responsibility because we can now see them.  Are we going to go around samaria, instead of “having” to walk through it as Christ did when it was frowned on!  Are we going to fight for our King, or bow down to the world’s king!  Satan right now is trying to gain a stronghold in what is meant to be the Kingdom of God! The question is, If you have the ability to see (have been born again and are walking with God) are you really seeing????  To see is to do something about it, to look is to leave it in question!

Hope this challenges you!!

So many thoughts have been passing through my head lately….so many thoughts of wonder, of excitement, of curiousity, of love, how to love everyone well.  How to walk through the mud and the mire while holding onto a God that never changes, how to look up while it seems that so much stuff is going down!  How to run and not get weary and how to wake up every morning at 5 am and push myself physically as I am spiritually!  Alot has happened of recent, and if you have not heard, I will let you know what is going on in my life at this current time…..crazy stuff, and am so jacked to be a part of all of this, yet it is one of the hardest times of my life!  About a month and a half ago I really felt like God was going to be moving in my life in a way that I have never experienced, and in all honesty at that time it even felt uncomfortable!  We had started this new thing with our student ministry called “joes on the road” in which the teens have no idea where we are going until they get here, and that night we were visiting Cornerstone Harvest Church in Lima.  I wanted the teens to experience a complete different style of worship that they have never seen.  Worship was amazing, the message was as well….and then this happened.  A friend of mine that I have alot of respect for, who is an assistant pastor at that church, asked me to sit with him.  I did, and he says, “every time that I looked at you during the service, I felt God telling me this, that in the next few weeks, you are going to have some rough meetings ahead, but do not be afraid for your heart is right, and the decisions that you make will take you to a different level!! I walk out and share this with only one other person, an adult leader, and I was blown away, but had already been feeling God stirring something in my heart, so this somewhat gave me a peace!  Well, needless to say, giving has been down of recent at our church, and the economy has taken its toll and 3 weeks to the day after that service, I am pulled in the pastors office before staff meeting, and he tells me that due to finances, I and the children’s pastor will be getting laid off on June 17….I actually smiled, not out of disrespect, but because the stirring of what God had already been doing is now coming into fruition.   This is nuts, I mean here I am being told that only due to finances I will be out of a job, and I have a complete peace with it!! This is not me, if you know me, I am so worried about being the provider for my family, someone who has got to completely know that all is well, but not this time…at the biggest point in my life where I should have doubt, I have none!  I personally know that this is God, because none of it makes sense!  Alot of times that is the way that God works, when things do not appear to make sense in mans eyes, God ultimately uses them for His glory!!  Needless to say I feel like God is overcoming one of the darkest times (losing a job) with His Brightness.  You see I have been on a rampage for a while now in my studies, and have really been diving into scripture, and I truthfully know that no matter what, if I continue to draw close to Him, He will draw near to me, and He already is! It is like no matter what I do, I know that He is my rock, and He is the only thing that can hold me up….it pains me to lose the direct weekly relationship with my teens and adult leaders, but I am so JACKED about the future that it is not even funny….Here are some lyrics from a song that has really hit home with me…

Well I’ve been hit from every corner

And I’ve been thrown from side to side

And I’m cracked up in the inside

So I come to You for life

Your presence always heals me

So I wanna’ drink it in

You know where we’re going God

And You know where I’ve been

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning around.

Yesterday I felt so angry

And today so insecure

And I hate it that I wrestle with the God that I adore

Your presence always heals me

So I wanna drink it in

You know where we’re going God

And You know where I’ve been.

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And I know less about You

But my heart loves You so much more

You’re the bright in sadness

You’re my brightness

I wish this thing could pass from me

But I’m wanting what You want

So bring me high and bring me low

Just hold me in Your love

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning

And your love is like a rock

When I’m spinning around.

So when my life is spinning out of control there is only one Rock , and that is who I am leaning on!!! He came into the mud and put my life on solid ground, He sent His son to be the mediator and through Him, we can see the Kingdom!  He loves us so much that He wants to share all of it with us!! What do we have to do in return, Fight, Love, Respect, Serve, Listen, be His subjects, and rule His Kingdom right along with Him and how can I do that, if I do not trust the KING!!!

So needless to say, in  my darkest place, I see His brightness clearer than ever before!!

Books that are helping in this time:

The Barbarian Way: by McManus

Jesus for President: by Claiborne

The Bible: studying Psalms in which it consistently talks about Crying out to God

Music that is helping:

Charlie Hall: The Bright Sadness

Jars of Clay: The Long Fall Back to Earth

1. What is something daddy always says to you? Go in your room…LOL

2. What makes daddy happy? sitting by me.

3. What makes daddy sad? i don’t know. .

4. How does your daddy make you laugh? sometimes when he laughs.

5. What was your daddy like as a child? FART…..LOL

6. How old is your daddy? 18.

7. How tall is your daddy? takes her hands and makes about a foot!!! LOL Like the five dollar foot long

 8. What is his favorite thing to do? See Bob and Larry.

9. What does your Daddy do when you’re not around? Goes on a date with Tanner…my 2 yr old son.

10. If your daddy becomes famous, what will it be for? Being FUNNY.

11. What is your Daddy really good at? Doing games to get stuffed animals.

12. What is your Daddy not very good at? putting dogs back in their cage.

13. What does daddy do for a job? feeds people, something on his computer!

14.What is your daddy’s favorite food? Pizza

15.What makes you proud of your dadddy? Doing letters and writing Tanners name

16. If your daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be? DORA…LOL

17. What do you and your daddy do together? Play and Dancing.

18. How are you and your daddy the same? a long time ago you had blond hair!! we watch cartoons

19. How are you and your daddy different? you have pieces of red hair now!!…

20. How do you know your daddy loves you? When you kiss me…and morgan and tanner

21. What does your daddy like most about your mommy? giving her rings…and letting her smile at you

22. What is your daddy’s favorite place to go? to the buckeyes games!!

23. What do you wish you could do with your daddy? play with him, with dora stuff, and princess stuff

24. Where do you like to go with Daddy? grandma and grandpa’s house 25. When you grow up what do you want to be? Dora?

26. Who is your favorite person in the bible? Dora…Lol

27. What is your favorite thing to eat? Pizza?

28. Who is your best friend?? Daddy, and Mommy…and Grandma…papaw Tanner chimes in: and Josh, and Andy, and Clint, and Jacob, and Papaw

29. Where do you want to go on vacation? to the Fair

30. Who is your favorite person? Andy (the old drummer for This Beautiful Republic) Tanner chimes in …Andy the drummer

So I know it has been a while since I have blogged and have even been told…man you got a sweet new blog up..and you are gonna let it fall on its face….and I do not want to talk to someone that has not blogged for two weeks…but I am back…and dang has it been a crazy two weeks! Just a quick snapshot of what God has been doing!!

Last Monday the possible next step for Will Rock 4 Food and our concert ministry was beginning to take shape…A friend of mine Jim Schmidtke (who just happens to be the guy who led Coach Tressel to the Lord)  who I have met through the involvement with THE MAIN EVENT (Columbus and Lima) called me a few weeks back and wanted my take on some concert ideas, and to help him in what a great concert, or what the next steps would be….basically wanted help with the vision behind something!! That something happens to be a concert that would be following a Columbus Crew game in September @ The Crew Stadium!! Now I do not know the involvement or anything we will have as of yet…but we had a 2 hour meeting with the President of Events for the Columbus Crew and it looks pretty good.  I never thought that when we started Will Rock 4 Food in a park in Lima, that God would do so much with it…He has already completed my dream, and now I am just completely blindsided by what is going on!!  So the day of the meeting, we  (my brother Gabe Taviano, Friends and Colleagues Charles Hill, and Dwayne Sayre) got an in depth tour of the Woody Hayes Center (the Ohio State University Athletic Training Center) a tour of the Crew Stadium and got to hold the MLS Cup, and then we jumped the little fence and ran on the field @ Ohio Stadium!!  You can see the pics on my facebook page. What an amazing day….and who knows what the outcome will be, but God!!

Then on Wednesday, we filmed the first 8 episodes of this tv show on WTLW TV 44 that I am co hosting with, Billi Dray.  The show is called the Surge, and is a Christian Music Video show geared towards taking the topics of the videos and doing little 2 minute teaching segments in between… The tapings went longer than was expected, but definitely glad to see what God is going to do with them!!  It is at its first step, and will begin to air in late March….I am new to the TV thing, and was really nervous for the first couple of shows!!  Glad to be able to host this show with a friend, and former news anchor!!  

Then on Sunday we switched all of our youth things around…times all changed and are focusing more on jr. high being separate from high school….which definitely already saw positive effects the first week.  It is amazing how middle schoolers will open up when there are no high schoolers in the room!! It was a great first week of Evolve our MSM, and Crave, which is our HSM.  We also started a joes on the road thing, where we are starting off every Wednesday night with the teens not knowing where they are going and taking them to places in which they will learn many lessons!! Tonights topic was Encouragement…so we stopped at an Older gentleman’s house from our church, and gave him a dozen golf balls and a card, and then went to a students tournament game together, and ended up at my daughters’ pine wood derby….three different ages of encouragement, and three different ways!!  

I have been swamped this week with prep for youth, prep and promo for the upcoming Skillet concert on April 4th at the Elida fieldhouse (www.willrock4food.com)  and being the best dad and husband that I can be at the same time…Lets just say, at night I am drained!!  So if you can pray for the next few weeks and this month that God will provide the energy that I will need to  do what He is directing me to do!!!

Tonight we had the Awana Grand Prix, which is a pinewood derby, and my daughters took home 1st Prize in Design (Reese with Larry the Cucumber…pics on my facebook) and 2nd place overall speed (Morgan) .  I knew or at least was confident that Reese would get a prize for design…but Morgan’s trophy was a shock to me, because every other year my cars have sucked as far as speed goes…I am not the engineer like my cousins Jessey and Joey!! This time what we did worked….plus the red track was fast all night..LOL

Finally I want to give a little shout out to a blog that you all should be following…. it is a blog from a college friend of mine named Mark Artrip!! Mark is a youth pastor at Grace Church u in Powell, Oh.  Mark actually performed at one of the first ever concerts we had (I believe you were there Mark with Godsound)  with Grits! He is a very talented and funny man, and according to his top 25 music albums….we both agree that Justin Timberlake is talented…lol!! I actually like JT’s style of music!!  You can follow Mark at www.markartrip.com   Mark was also the one that said my blog site was sweet, but I am letting it fall…lol….so I said I would blog about him!!  Mark, thanks for helping promote the concert on April 4, and for being a friend, colleague and fellow passionate member of the world of hip hop.  

Until next time!

Tug

I have always been someone to pose the question, where are we going….whether it be to my parents when I was younger…to my wife, when we discuss the option of restaurants when we go out to eat (always ending up in the words “La Charreada”) . I even pose this question to God very often, when I have no idea where my life is going to end up…or if I am indeed on the right track to get there??  This has not been a big issue, until recently…do I really need to know where I am going?

I have the ability with my iphone to make sure I know exactly where I am, and can even be followed by a little blue dot on my screen, depicting every turn I make, and telling me if I get off track!  I can zoom in as close as the street, or zoom out as far as the map will go…and it will still show me exactly where I am at, and where I need to be going.  I love this feature, and it has helped me get from point A to point B in the quickest fashion, but has it taken away some of the fun of trying to find your way to your final destination.

      from the book Still Waters and Skycrapers  

                Albert Einstein once boarded a train in Princeton, New Jersey, bound for Boston.  Upon finding a seat, he immediately started fumbling for his ticket, which he couldn’t find anywhere.  Noticing Einstein’s frantic search, the conductor reassured him: “Everyone on this train knows who you are Professor Einstein.  I don’t need to see your ticket.”  While looking relieved, Einstein carried on hunting for the missing ticket.  When the conductor came back along the train he saw the renowned scientist on his hands and knees looking under the seat.  He tapped Einstein on the shoulder and said, “Please. Professor, don’t worry about the ticket. I am quite sure you have one somewhere.”  To which Einstein replied, “No, no.  You don’t understand.  I need the ticket because I don’t know where I am going.”

               I am sure that Einstein was on a busy lecture tour covering many locations, but there is still something perversely comforting about the idea that one of the greatest minds n history could be so befuddled as to forget where he was going on a train journey.  There may be some hope for the rest of us, after all!

        We all have the stories of being lost!  We all have the regrets of making the wrong decisions, that have even possibly effected some portion of our lives, and we all have searched for the answers to actually try and figure out where exactly our life is heading, but isn’t the train ride enough!  Isn’t the fact that God is saying, Tug, I know you have your ticket, now stay in my seat, and let me take you to where you are supposed to be going!  I mean I can name the countless mistakes that I have made, for instance the time when we left Grace College in Indiana, to come back and do ministry full time, when we should have just stuck it out and finished my degree! I could either get hung up on the decisions of the past, or I could realize that these were part of the process of God shaping me in my journey with Him.  Although these are decisions that I really need to evaluate and possibly get going on reaching these lifelong goals, I would not trade in my ride for anything.  

      You see if God would give us a GPS of our life, and all we would have to do is really go from one thing to another, that would take the joy and pain of following Him out of the picture.  God gives us the opportunity to hear Him as clearly as we want to, and sometimes we hear ourselves over Him.  We jump at this and jump at that, and think that it is God!  We do not have the position that we think God wants us to have, and question the conductor of our life.  He is still in the driving seat, and He sees the road clearly ahead….so sit back put on your seatbelt, and enjoy the ride.  

       Now this is not a ride, that you have no part of, or that you just sit there comfortably….when He tells you to turn, turn.  When HE tells you to slam on the brakes, or push the pedal to the medal, do just that!!  But most importantly, keep your little BLUE DOT on his map, and watch where he takes you!!

IF you are curious to the complete information on the book that was stated above… here is the info

Still Waters and Skyscrapers : The 23rd Psalm for the 21st Generation, by Dave Tomlinson

As Valentine’s Day is approaching…I thought you may want to see this video! Watch with caution! You may actually feel the need to tell someone you love them when you are done!!

So many times we think that people do not need to hear the words I love you…or we use them flippantly and forget what meaning they actually have!  These are words that I cherish and that I hold at high regard….and honestly when I say them I truly mean them.  Maybe you are wearing a ring on your finger and you are like the guy in this video that rants and raves about people in public, but in behind closed doors, your relationship is that of confusion, or not knowing if you actually love that person.  Maybe you are truly thankful for the people that God has placed in your life..but have not went out of your way to show that you love them!! I know Valentine’s Day…is kind of a Hallmark holiday, and we feel like it is our obligation to by people cards, or give them candy….but I challenge you to not do anything if you feel obligated…but only do it because you truly LOVE THEM…..

I can honestly say that I tell my wife that I love her everyday!!  Recently have I truly began to see how important she is to me.. WHY I could never do life without her!!  Here is a short list of things that I love about her…that I can share in public at least…

1.    She is drop dead gorgeous
2.    great mom
3.    better cook than what she thinks
4.    patient with me
5.    does great with the house
6.    persistent
7.    beautiful without makeup
8.    dresses fit to kill
9.    loves to spend time with me
10.    sings amazing
11.    follows God’s lead
12.    loves soo well….especially those who are close to her
13.    appreciates when you take time to notice her
14.    loves to shop
15.    beautiful eyes
16.    good listener
17.    means well with everything she does
18.    wants to know details about everything
19.    her strengths compliment my weaknesses
20.    great driver
21.    LOVES THE KIDS…..NO MATTER WHAT
22.    GREAT HOUSEWIFE
23.    will bend over backwards for you
24.    needs to know you love her
25.    loves to look pretty for me, even though she does not have to do anything to do that
26.    Prays with the Kids
27.    strongminded(sometimes too strong but most of the time it is a good strong)
28.    loves the same kind of movies that I like…for the most part
29.    Forgiving…many times
30.    Loves to be cared for
31.    Loves my attention
32.    LAST BUT NOT LEAST>>>> SHE DOES NOT KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HAVING HER AS MY WIFE

I cannot tell her enough how much she means to me…and truly how blessed I am to have her as my wife!!  So Angie…when you read this…remember the words of the GREAT LIONEL RICHIE!!! ….because I’m Truly…..Truly in Love with you Girl!!

I love you

Tug

I do not even care!! I mean he was a good qb and all…but now we all get the joy of watching this story for the next month of our life…and then watch him come back again…prolly not..but I am just saying!! SORRY MOM! I will now be turning the channel every time I hear the word Brett Favre!!

For the past couple months we have been dreaming together…what the next step is in our student ministry.  The struggles of what time works best.  Is the way we are going at it, really the right way?  Is it in line with the vision of the church as a whole, and at Crossroads.  There have been a couple meetings of 6 parents, 1 elder , 2 students, the lead pastor of our church (Randy Bargerstock, and myself, and what we have noticed is that most of all the focus needs to be based partially on the developmental needs of the youth.  Currently we have alot of our meetings together…with 6th through 12th graders in attendance…and although it is great to have the community…sometimes it is difficult to teach at both levels all of the time…and flat out, sometimes we feel that the teens get lost in the shuffle.  So decision one, separate the two ministries, not completely, but give them their own identity, own time for worship, own name (branding), and own focus (importance) .

The first shift is going to be this…we are moving away from FUSION Sunday nights, in which we tried to have a junior high teaching time…games and worship together and then junior high were dismissed, to EVOLVE middle school ministry.  Evolve is going to be an all out focus on the junior high…during the 10:45 am  hour at Crossroads.  This will be filled with live worship, games, alot of interaction, and relevant teaching.  The developmental need of middle school is definitely different than that of high school, and topics need to be on their level, and something that will maintain a constant involvement of their hearts, their mind, and will get them fired up to Evolve into the Christ follower that they need to be!! The details will be coming soon…and EVOLVE will launch with its first service on Sunday Morning, March 1st…..The leadership team is being assembled as we speak to take this middle school ministry in this direction.  Some designs of fonts have been done…to create the base for the logo that will be developed…please share your thoughts in the comment section below!!  (below the image you will see some details about the high school ministry)

The high school ministry of Average joes has been also a major part of the focus during these dreaming sessions!  We are currently reshaping the way Sunday nights look for this ministry.  The time will be announced soon as to when the night will start…we are currently looking at 6:30-8, or 7-8:30 (any thoughts…share in the comment section)  This will be around the same focus as evolve…Live Worship, Big Games, Relevant Message, and tons of interaction. As for Sunday mornings, we have decided to get the high schoolers involved in many areas of the church!  From Nursery, to elementary age classes (being volunteers), to taking part in the adult bible studies (possibly even the addition of a bible study geared towards their generation).  From singing with the worship team, led by Jason Hinkle, to being greeters as people walk into the church.  From helping with sound and lighting, to being involved in dramas!  Sunday morning and Saturday night options of the teens involvement with the church as a whole are endless…and we are consistently looking at other ways of bettering the intertwining and making the student ministry completely mesh with the church!!  We are currently building our base of volunteers and leaders within this ministry as well!!  Below you will find an idea of a possible name for the high school ministry, this is not set in stone so if you have any better ideas…we are all ears!!  If you do like the name…please let us know that as well and vote for the number of the font that you would like to see as the base of the logo!!

We are also dreaming our wednesday night youth to be joes on the road…where the teens would have no idea where we are going when they get to the church… whether it be to go check out another church,go to a teens game, a families home, a nursing home, a street witnessing project, tour of a jail and anything else could be free game in this…It would conclude with a way of debriefing the experience they have had that night!  If you have any ideas…we have alot of planning to do as far as this one!!

IF we do not consistently dream, and think of better ways to go at everyday life, then we might as well stay sleeping!!

Thanks for your thoughts and interaction on this blog!!

Today has been a great day of waking up, taking Morgan to school…in which I had a talk with her teacher..due to some dang boys calling Morgan and a couple of friends “Stupid and Ugly.”  She is so impressionable at this age, and was really crushed by the comments.  It was a neat moment for her to know how much we cared for her, and what others say about us does not really reflect how God sees us.  After that I headed to the Y and ran 3.5 miles, feeling that I need to step it up from 3 miles to start to shed some more pounds…currently have lost around 53 pounds or so and am actually gaining some muscle!! Came home picked Angie, Bubby and Reese up and headed out to run around town and pay some bills, go to the bank, and then back to pick up Morgan off of the bus at home, and head to the grocery!! Angie’s dad took the two little ones, which made  shopping alot easier!!  After we put away the groceries…we headed over to watch the Shawnee vs Wapak game, which was not much of a game! Shawnee won by quite a margin!  Then headed off to Beer Barrel with Angie’s parents…and the crane game had nothing on me this night.. you know the game that you try and pick up stuffed animals..lol  tonight we won 5 of them, and the kids were so stoked, at one time the crane picked up 2 stuffed animals for us…kids had a blast!!

And now…the kids are in their rooms…bubby is sleeping, the girls are filling out valentines for people…and I am just sitting here thanking God for the most beautiful family in the world!!

How was your day??

Tug

Have you ever been to Disney World,Universal Studios, or have even taken part in a high school, church or other kind of musical that is required to build a set?  I have been thinking about this of recent and was reminded of this on my recent trip to Anderson University…which by the way is a great University!!

I watch movies all of the time, and in fact I have actually never thought of the time that goes into building the set, making it look so amazing that when we watch it at home it looks real…but in all honesty, most of them only look real from the front.  As I have taken some vacations to Disney, and other theme parks, they always want you to feel that you are somewhere that you are not….main street of New York, Paris, whatever city it is, they want you actually to be able to live there for the time that you visit.  Have you ever had the opportunity to be backstage and actually see what they look like….If I am a guessin man and I am going to be… it looks like plywood and 2×4′s…something that you may actually not build a dog house out of because it will rot in a strong storm…or will break in a high wind!!

So I began to think…wow… is that not how alot of people spend their lives…like a movie set, where countless hours are spent trying to make people feel that you are stronger than what you are!  While inside you know that if a certain temptation comes, you will break and if people would actually dig a little deeper into your life, it would actually look like crap, and would people really want to follow or watch your movie if they actually knew what the set truly looked like?

I know this was a complete revelation for me…to actually let people see the crap of my life, so that my set could be authentic…and that it looks the same on the back as it does on the front?  Now there are constant times where I spend time rebuilding, or maybe I should actually say letting God have the tools, but letting people see who I really am, the true me!

For some thoughts from scripture that sort of relate to living real….

Mark 4:1-20 (New International Version)

Mark 4
The Parable of the Sower
1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3″Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

9Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12so that,
” they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!”

13Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14The farmer sows the word. 15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

Any thoughts???
For a fun exercise…if you were played in a movie who would be the actor or actress that portrays you, and what kind of movie would it be???
For me… I would want Kevin James to play me in a Comedy of course!!