Most everyone wants change.

But few are willing to do the hard things that change requires.

But real change can’t happen without doing the hard things.

A video I made last week about wisely investing 30 min of your day.

It was supposed to have music, but I couldn’t get it to work. So play your own music while you watch to get the full effect.

“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’.”
-1 Corinthians 15:33

I took this picture when leaving our house one day. You are looking at a Praying Mantis that was right outside our back door. The reason you may have had a tough time figuring out what exactly you were looking at is because this insect seems to be wearing the wrong colors.

Mantises are usually green, but have the ability to change colors to match their surroundings. This disguise helps them hunt unsuspecting prey. As I was checking this scene out (Tiffany thought is was gross), I realized that humans have the ability to change colors too.

In the case of the praying mantis, changing colors gives them the ability to find dinner. When it comes to people, changing colors can cause us to become dinner. Though our skin doesn’t change, our character, personality, and responses can greatly change according to our environment.

Like chameleons we can become different people, altering our identity to fit into others expectations for us. When around certain people we say things we shouldn’t, do things we usually wouldn’t, all because we have allowed others to define how we think we should be.

Some people have lived a greater part of their lives, pretending to be someone that God didn’t create them to be.

But that doesn’t have to be our story.

We can use our ability to adapt in a way that adds to us rather than subtracts from us. By surrounding ourselves with people that are moving in the right direction, have a desire to serve Jesus, are secure in who God called them to be, we can find the courage to be who God made us to be.

We can show or true colors.

And when we show our true colors, we are quite a sight to see.

Because good company BUILDS good character.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:5

I have scars. Scars on my forearms, elbows, eyebrows, fingers, knees, and a ton of other places. They come from falls, spills, accidents, sports, and other things.

But those aren’t the only scars I have.

I have scars that are much easier to hide. You can’t see them with a quick glance or even a long look.

They are deeper.

Much deeper.

They come from cuts that have sliced to my heart, lacerations that have pierced the depths of my soul.

Some have taken a long time to heal. A very long time.

They come from falls, spills, crashes, and bumps on the journey of my life.

But they have been healed. I have become whole.

And I have discovered where the scars are now, and the pain used to be, has come a new strength. Beyond my imagination. A focus, a newfound wisdom and perspective that didn’t come from me.

It came from Jesus.

He gave it to me, when I gave my agony to Him.

When I gave Him my broken heart, He healed it.

We all have been hurt, wounded, and injured.

But not all of us have scars.

Because some of us are still holding on to our hurt, our bitterness, and pain.

We haven’t forgiven.

We haven’t let go.

We haven’t given it to Jesus.

The cuts still bleed.

The bruises still ache.

We hide behind small talk and fake smiles.

Publicly ignoring our hurt, later retreating to private desperations.

But doesn’t have to be this way.

We can forgive.

We can let it go.

We can give it to Jesus.

He will heal us and make us stronger, deeper, wiser, and full of real joy.

But we have to give it first.

I want to thank everyone that takes the time to check out the random writings and scribbles on the diaryofadreamer blog. It still surprises me that anybody other than my wife and family reads my rambles.

We’ve been at this for over 2 years and just passed 500 posts last week.

I hope that you have been challenged, inspired, provoked, and creatively turned upside down. And for those that have had a chance to comment, keep it coming.

I appreciate the encouragement.

Keep dreaming.

Let’s do another 500.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
-Acts 5:41

The scripture above doesn’t seem to make sense. Why would you celebrate after getting a beatdown?
Somehow these people understood that the presence of trouble was not a sign of God’s absence. In this case they saw it as a badge of honor, a commendation of a life lived rightly before God.

Amazing.

I have read this sentence over and over. Every time it blows me away.

These Jesus followers had a life ethic that was solely focused on pleasing Him. The words of Jesus shaped their every waking moment. They understood that Jesus’ scoreboard was the only one that mattered. What appeared to be a devastating loss on earth was a sure victory in Heaven.

These folks knew the difference between scoreboards.

They knew that things are not always what they seem.

They knew that His scoreboard is the only scoreboard in the Game of Life that counts.

But sometimes I wonder if we do.

“For by You I can run against a troop; by my God I can leap over a wall.”
-2 Sam. 22:30

Growing up I loved to draw comic superheroes. I even dreamed that I would be an artist for Marvel when I grew up. One of my favorite characters to draw was X-Men’s Colossus. He was a seven-foot metal man that was for intensive purposes, completely indestructible. He could smash through buildings, survive explosions, extreme heat and/or cold, he was amazing.

I loved making the muscles first then finishing it off with the shiny metal. Cool doesn’t even come close. It was way beyond cool.

Maybe somewhere inside I subconsiously wished (or even believed) I was Colossus. Ripped, buffed, and unstoppable.

Along the way I have come to grips with the fact that my body isn’t made of metal but comprised of flesh. I hurt, I bleed, I bruise, I wear out. One day I will even die. I am anything but Colossus.

I am reminded of my fragility on a regular basis.

That is why I so desperately need God. Need His strength, His wisdom, His power. Without His help I can’t win the battles that are in front of me.

But with His help I can’t lose.

Very insightful post from blogger Josh Aldrich. You need to read this.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Romans 6:23

What is wrong with this picture?

I saw this sign while on vacation. It made such as impression upon me that I stopped the car and took a picture of it. What makes it unique is its paradoxical message.

Though its purpose is to give ‘New Hope’ (hence the name New Hope Community Church) to its community, this sign communicates a mixture of fear, doom, and fateful despair. It is almost as if they are excited to deliver the crushing blow. I mean, they don’t even quote the whole verse!

The entire verse shares more than the pain of negative consequence, but the possibility of new life.

The entire verse speaks of the limits of what we can do, and what God came to do.

He didn’t come to take life, but to give it.

When we only report the fruitlessness of wrong choices, we report old news. Everyone already knows that sin destroys lives.

But a much smaller number has been made aware of the fact that God desires to gift life through His Son Jesus Christ.

When our message is devoid of hope, life, or love we contradict the God that sent us, selfishly serving ourselves. Clumsily handling God’s message we think, “Well, at least I’m letting them know! I did MY part!”

The unfortunate thing is, whenever WE become the focus (or what we did, the credit we deserve, or how we did it) we cease to represent Christ.

He served and saved by passionately giving His everything. His heart was (and is) torn by broken humanity while He delivered His undying message of life.

Desperately concerned for the people, He was not satisfied to simply say, “Well, at least I am letting them know! I did MY part!”

Even then, speaking well and saying the right things was still not enough. He went far beyond His words of life by giving His life.

‘PayDay’ was indeed coming, but He came to pay it for us.

He didn’t just say something to illustrate His love.

He did something to prove it.

What if we didn’t just clumsily say things to put our time in , but what if what we artfully told God’s entire story of hope?

What if we didn’t just tell the story, but we lived the story?

What if we truly loved the world that God called us to reach?

Then, and only then would our message of hope become real.

Throughout human history, people have been trying to reach the sky. Whether studying the stars, climbing great heights, building airplanes or spaceships; sky pursuit has been forever etched onto the human heart. The desire to “Touch the Sky” is bigger than science, adventure, or technology.

At our core, we all hunger to reach God.

To fully grant the fulfillment of this hunger, God gave us two gifts to reach Him:

Prayer and Worship.

We must understand that Prayer is more than nice words and Worship much more than a song. When we choose to passionately pursue God in authentic Prayer and Worship, we satisfy the hunger of our soul, and ‘Touch the Sky’ along the way.

This is the first message in the series called ‘Hungry’. It will bless, challenge, and provoke you. Click here to check it out.

I was on a run Saturday night and I had this thought: “What if we gave our ‘All’ to God?”

We give what we can, sometimes even more than we are comfortable with, but rarely do we give ‘All’. If we were truly honest, we always have something in reserve, just in case God doesn’t come through.

It is similar to what I do when I am running: Gotta keep enough energy in the tank so I can make it home.

But what would we look like if we stopped playing it safe and lived completely abandoned to God? Holding nothing back? Trusting God with everything and having faith that He would bring us home?

As these thoughts were racing in my head, I ran faster. Faster than I planned to. Faster than I needed to.

I pushed myself to the limit.

I bounded through the neighborhood with all my strength.

When I got home I was winded, exhausted, and maybe a little nauseuous.

I looked at my stopwatch.

I had run faster than I had ever run since I began timing my exercise sessions.

I had given my ‘All’ and gone faster than I had ever gone before.

Still catching my breath, a question popped in my head: “What if I lived everyday with this same abandonment to God?”

I could go farther, faster, and with more strength that I could ever imagine.

By giving my ‘All’, God would lead me home.

He has enough in His ‘Tank’.

Maybe now is the time to give our ‘All’ to God and not just our ‘Some’.