Complacency Kills...

What a dirty word...

It makes me feel guilty...

I have recently been involved in a study using the book Do Hard Things, (check it out!) in one part of the book, the guys talk about the complacency of teenagers in America. My favorite part about this is that everyone knows it. When we hear the word complacency, if we want to admit it or not, we are all complacent to some degree, few among us are really reaching out of their comfort zones to reach people. Why do we do this? Why do we like comfortable?

This may seem like a dumb question, but is comfortable really comfortable? Have you ever not been complacent for a moment or two and actually done something a little bit hard? The reward is amazing. Its like working out, the burn in your muscles is intoxicating, minus all the sweat and pain, its amazing! People are actually addicted to exercising. Do you think if we stepped out of our comfort zones more often that we would be come addicted to sharing God's love with others by doing hard things?

Its hard.

I am weak. I don't pretend to have all the answers or be perfect. I often know the good i ought to do, and pass up the opportunity to do what i know i should. I am flesh. But on thing i do get is that I, we, are not doing our part. We are complacent. Prematurely satisfied with the low expectations of this world. We are in our comfort zone, everything is ok. We aren't challenged and we aren't rewarded. Nothing lost and nothing gained. This may feel ok in life, but, if you're like me, when you read it, it looks like crap. It makes me upset with myself, i can do better! It motivates me to do something...

Most of the time when I think about this, it stops with that, i don't do anything, i chicken out. Don't be like me, I'm trying not to be me as well. I've got to get it together. I'm selfish. I've got to lose myself. You know its true, please take this to heart.

Give it all to God, He never asked for you to share...just a thought

Love

-t

Eh, skipping out on Bio110 studying...sorry Mr. Sigmond..

School, isn't it a wonderful place? I mean really, I have spent almost thirteen years doing this, and still have a few more to come. Along with school comes different things, some we are prepared for and some we are not. Relationships, grades(bad or good), opinions, loopy teachers, loopy friends, you get the picture. Then you have the more social side of things, facebook, myspace, twitter, and all that Jazz, texting, parties, clubs, sports..it never ends.

Where is God in all this? Do we think about him alot when we talk about this part of our lives?

Does God end up being that friend on facebook that pops up in your chat and you get off cause you don't have time to talk to them? When is the last time you read God's tweets? Do you know what He is up to? Or do you need to send him a long message that looks something like this, "Hey bro, long time no see, your status caught my eye in my news feed and i thought about you.....blahblahblah"

Its so easy to get caught up in life, the bells and whistles and fun stuff.

I challenge you start a message on facebook, like you were going to send it to a friend, a great friend, that won't judge you for what you say, and write to God, tell him what's been up, ask him questions, whatever you choose to do....

He is real, He loves you, and He wants to be a part of your life.....

Lovechangelive,

-t

Crazy Daddy Love...

Seek first your Father in heaven and all the rest will be added.

Epic Fail.

Ill be the first to admit that I fail at this constantly, thanks God for grace and mercy.

I get so caught up in the "all the rest" that I forget where my focus needs to be. I am constantly, almost everyday, having to come back to my Jesus. To come back to Him and let Him love on me some more. Is this wrong? I don't believe so,

Do you ever find it hard to love God? I do. Having an intimate relationship with anyone should never be easy. It requires constant work. Moreover, sometimes life just down right stinks, its hard to love the one that we tend to try to blame for everything. Reading that and admitting to it is hard, even for me as I am writing it, but its true. I blame God for everything that goes wrong, "why God? why me? why are you doing this to me?" If i have said or thought that once I have a thousand times. I am ashamed, but I am loved. Its never hard for God to love us, and He always will.

Think of the story of the prodigal son, isn't it a great example. I get the impression the son was finding life on the farm hard, he needed a way out, he wasn't in love with his life, or his father. He took advantage, took his inheritance, and left.

~I do that alot, take advantage of all that God has given me, then decide to take all of it, and live my life apart from him, ignoring his guidance~

Fastforward>> ahead, He comes back home after he hit rock bottom, he was helpless and broken, no where left to go but back to his father. You know he was weary of what his father would say, would he receive him? Would he be angry or even disown him?

We learn from the Word that His father ran out to meet him, joyfully and warmly, as the morning welcomes in the sun... No joke, the man was jumping around acting craycray because his son had come back home. Did he ask questions? No, instead he prepared a feast with the best food he could find, and loved his son just as he had before he had left him to go his own way.

What a testimony, if God just loved us that much, wow...but He loves us an unimaginable times more than that, its unfathomable.

God always loves us, when we walk away, when we blame Him for our struggles, even when we run in the complete other direction, he is running out to meet us in His wondrous embrace, to clothe us in his majesty and to lavish his never ending love on us. I cannot even begin to describe his love in words, its crazy.

Its never hard for God to love us...

Ill end with a prayer request,

Please keep my professor in your prayers, his mother-in-law was killed this past week in a very tragic accident, it has been and will continue to be a struggle on him and his wife and kids, we have all lost a loved one and know the pain that comes with that. Im not sure on his faith or beliefs, pray for that as well, this is a time when many people walk away from God and blame him for things.

To Mr. Neathery...I Pray that God's love will be the prominent strand through all of your struggle and loss and that his ravenous love will be revealed as He holds you in the palm of his hand where his Love brings peace, and his breath gives hope.

Thanks daddy...

L.C.L.

-taylor

Where does my identity come from?

Earlier today i had a chance to catch up with a friend. Satan attacks my friends. I don't enjoy Satan, but i Love Jesus, mainly cause he always wins, unlike carolina, anyways...back to seriousness, (im a little ADD today)

My friend who i will call "stacy" is a very Christ centered woman. She loves God with all of her heart. She has a few friends that are seeking out the peace and the love that they see in her. Seeking out the Christ that stacy lives. She talks to them, she is a friend to them. They come to her with needs, with questions, when they just need someone to be there. i have alot of respect for stacy for what she does for the kingdom.

Unfortunately, sometimes Satan can use these lost sheep to pull stacy down, not that they are bad, but satan has a way of twisting words and confusing the truth, God's truth.

Today, one of these friends told stacy something to the effect of, -You are just a perfect little christian girl so your life is all perfect, my life will never be perfect enough, i might as well stop trying to do right.-

I don't know what this friend was looking for, maybe just fishing for someone to say, "you can do it, you are perfect," im not really sure, all i know is that Satan twisted that around and had stacy questioning the authenticity of her witness to not only this friend, but everyone.

She thought she was portraying something that was causing her friend to think she was perfect. Now maybe you have never found yourself in this situation, maybe not even close, but i can tell you that these words will mean something to you. Just as they did to her, and to me.

Your identity and authenticity does not come from your interaction with people, how you minister to their needs, what you do for them, what they think of you, or anything even close to that. The only one that validates your faith is God. Your identity is between you and God first and foremost. He is the one that you have to be authentic with. If your life is on a hill of multiple blessings and your life is "good" and seems like everything smells like roses, then, first of all thank God, second, watch out for the valley you are coming up on(its sure to be there), but theres no crime in telling people about good things that the Lord is doing in your life. Obviously without gloating.

God has given us all times of rejoicing and times of suffering and crying out. We also know that our actions or our works don't make our breaks. Its not about how good or bad of a time we are having in our lives that we need to be sure and show the world, rather its the Christ that lives in us, the love of Jesus, the most high that should shine through, in good times and bad. The message isn't if you live good you will have an easier life, its about showing God's love, grace, and mercy prevailing through the thick and the thin, the good and the bad.

Im not sure if what im saying makes sense to anyone else, but please know that in God you will find yourself, dont look to your friends or actions or anything else to authenticate your faith and your witness.


Pray for stacy


-t

lovechangelive...

Taking for granted and giving 10%

First off, i know its been a long time since i have posted anything, lots of life happening, hills and valleys, but hopefully i can share more and more of what God is showing me in my walk in the months to come. Perhaps i will share some very personal revelations that  have occurred in the past weeks, but in the meantime, I have this note to offer, something that i have recently come across in  a bible study....

What is your ministry? Do you perhaps take care of the children one Sunday a month, play or sing in the worship band, run audio or visual? maybe you are a greeter, a bulletin folder, a pastor, a teacher, a leader, a director, what ever you do...are you really doing it? are you truly being your ministry?

In the past week i have been doing a bible study that is part of the Lifeway threads series, the book is titled "blemished" It studies the book of Malachi. one thing that has my attention is the fact that the people were sacrificing animals that were maybe blind or crippled, whatever the case, they weren't the best that were available to give. 

how often to we walk into do our "job" at church? We wake up Sunday morning and dread taking the first step out of be because we know we have to deal with those noisy kids again, or that old sound system, or those complaining people? But I have a question, when did doing work for the Lord include our preferences or agenda? I am just as guilty as the next person, at my church, I run the video projection system, and some weeks, i really don't wont to have to worry about It, maybe i have other stuff to do, but its not about me. its not about the fact that its another thing to do. its all about serving the lord, and if i am gonna offer something up to my God, the Lord of all creation, I want it to be un-blemished. 

God knows what our 10% jobs look like, but do we know what his 10% looks like? Think about that. everything God has every done has been 100%, (that's probably way underestimated). He created us. if that's not enough, he sent himself, his only son, to the world to show us his love in yet another way, and then took OUR punishment for OUR sins to HIS cross. but that was only 50%, then he rose again after three days, holy cow! i think that puts it over the top donchathink?

God loves you. 100%. Next time you walk into church to do your "job".... remember that. You might want to think about giving more than "10%"

facebook.com/tcmoser

lovechangelive...

Companionship...

Recently I was thinking about the movie, Facing the Giants. I always think back to the part in the movie when the couple is in the field talking, and enduring struggles in the marriage, trying to have a baby, as well as the coach trying to keep his job... The question they present to us; "Will you still love Him(God)?"

I continued with that thought, I as a Christian know that God will always love me and i will always love Him, but i wondered what would be something that could happen to me that I would be that angry with God because of my suffering. To rephrase that, (watch your toes cause ima steppin')...What do i hold more dear to my life? What do i long for more than an intimate relationship with my creator?

I searched my heart, to the deepest part...I realized something, but i didn't know what it meant quite yet. 

So what do i think would be my will you still love him moment? 

If, and when, i get married to the girl of my dreams, to have her taken from me. To have the one thing that i desire most, that companionship and share that love with a person that i've waited so long for, and to lose that.

A day or so later i finally realized why God placed all of this on my mind and heart. I need to put God above that desire. I need to desire that companionship and intimacy with God before anything and everything else, my desire for a mate in life was the one thing that i held closer to God.

So what's your "will you still love him"? What do you hold closer to your heart than your Father God? It could be money, if you couldn't afford to feed yourself you would be mad at God...It could be a mate like mine, a job, a car, whatever the case,...If all that was taken away, Would you still love Him?

I challenge you, if you struggle with this especially, to read the book of Job. Job lost everything he had. His family, his fame, fortune, health. His life was by all means broken. But he never turned from God. He still loved God through it all..

Moreover, I challenge you to make that your prayer, "God break me. Fill me with your love and compassion. Wrap me in your arms so that i may find rest and renewal in your awesome majesty. God, break me, make me all that you are asking. God, BREAK ME!

How He Loves

Im sure you have heard the new song, "How He Loves" by John Mark McMimllan if you haven't, stop reading, go to iTunes and buy it!!! This song has become my favorite as of lately. The words are so blunt and true. To not give anything away and to force those of us who know it to go listen to it again im only gonna talk about a little part of it. However, though this may be a small part of the song, its a huge part of life.

"How He loves us, Oh how He loves us..."

I know I have said this before, but let that sink in ...


The God of the universe loves you, he loves me, he loves us...


Now think about all the times you have lied....


Think about all the times you did the wrong thing even thought you knew it was wrong.....


Think about that time you stole that thing, and never told anybody....


Think about all the times you have turned your back on God....


Now repeat these words.....


"How He loves us, Oh how He loves us!"

Thats all i really need to say, but ill finish with this, I love you too...please email me if you ever need to talk about anything....Im praying for all who read this...that you may come to know God's love in a real and deep way, for those of us that know that beautiful love already, that you may know it more, that you will wrap the outstreached arms of the Lord around your weary soul and find yourself lost in the unfailing love he has lavished on us....


-Blessings