Stepping Forward

"I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out-plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." Jeremiah 29:11

Recently I wrote about a potential change that would be taking place in our lives. At the time I did not know what this change was, what it looked like or what any of the details would be. Well I still don't know what those details are, however I know for several months now God has placed a conviction in our hearts that is becoming so loud it is hard to bury.

3 years ago, we were called to follow some friends of ours to Perry, Oklahoma to partner in planting a church. Megan and I had no idea what this would lead to, shortly after the planting process was underway we felt a strong conviction to move our lives to Perry. We were living in Stillwater at the time. We could have easily stayed living there and still been active within our church. But we knew we were suppose to plant ourselves within the community. So we obeyed and moved into town.

Along with converting a 1932 Hotel into our place of worship, we were converting it into a coffee shop. We knew that some day we would be called to serve in this coffee shop full time, but no idea when this would be.

I am writing this very uneasy, nervous, and scared. I am feeling these things because I know it is time for us to make this step of faith, it is time for Megan and I to commit ourselves fulltime to the ministry that takes place at HeBrews and Church on the Square every single day. Do I know what this looks like? No. Do I know how it will happen? No. Do I know we are being called to make this step of obedience? YES!!

I write this today to tell you that I have never felt such a strong conviction outside of the day that Jesus Christ came into my life. I go every single day experiencing the conviction that has been placed in my heart. I recently heard a good message from a friend of ours here in town who spoke about obedience, he made the statement that it's not about the results, it's about the faith to be obedient.

To those of you who will read this, I am asking for support. I am more than serious about this. I am looking for people who will pray with us and over us. I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful, but I am not looking for those who say they will be praying for us. I am looking for those who will call us and pray with us, who will grab us by the hand and pray over us. Who will write us prayers via message. This is real, God is real, our obedience is real.

We have no idea what will happen, will I be able to support my family financially or will I have to surrender that to God? Will we lose our house? Will we go with out? I don't know. But I know I will be successful as long as I am obedient. We may lose the world but we cannot lose God's Grace.

"Your obedience will give you a long life on the soil that God promised to give your ancestors and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey." Deuteronomy 11:9

Believe It!!

I am not sure if I have shared this before, but one of my passions along with my beautiful wife Megan's is to help people find their full potential whether that is in their spiritual life, finances, relationships, jobs, and certainly their fitness.

In my current job, I am in and out of convenient stores everyday. The thing that just floors me each and everyday is the choices I see people making when it comes to their nutrition. This has awaken a developing passion of mine which I hope to be exploring more in the future. A year ago I decided to pursue my personal training certification and succeeded.

Today I can say I don't have any paying customers but that is not my focus, I do however have a couple of people that I am dedicated to bringing out their full abilities. Janelle Keith is a DJ for The House FM, a christian radio station in Oklahoma. She has been running with Megan and I for a few weeks and completed a 5K this weekend with amazing success.

I have to admit one of my short comings has been me telling JK, as I call her, to not allow herself to think she can't do something. Well guess what? I have to preach to myself as well. I have to constantly remind myself that I was meaningfully, and specially designed by God. Yes it is hypocritical for me to utter those words to JK or anyone else I train with and sometimes not believe it for myself, but it is me, it is true. I too fall short.

I know I am here for a purpose and I know I can do all things through Christ. That doesn't only apply to me it applies to one and all. What is holding you back today? Take some chances, it is worth the risk.

Unquivering Faith

To say you have faith is one thing, to live life with faith is another. This week I have been reading from 1 Peter. I didn't really know much about this book of the bible but read through James and decided to keep going. Well Peter is basically writing to the Jewish Christians who were being persecuted at the time due to their faith in God. Peter eventually would fall as well.

I know many of us will never experience this kind of trial in life but we all will experience difficult decisions, rough relationships, tragic loss, and maybe huge leaps of faith. Reading in 1 Peter starting with verse 6 through 9; "So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."

I believe we have all been called to step out in faith, whether it is in your job, your relationships, your finances, etc....We are not called to a life of constant comfort. What is he calling you to be faithful in?

I will be filling you in on our steps of faith in the coming weeks, so please stay tuned.

Sunday Sunrise

For the last few weeks, Megan and I have been meeting with two other people at our local football field/track with the commitment of 35-40 minutes of good, intense, and trust me sweaty cardiovascular workouts.

With the permission of the other two participants and my bride I will be posting video updates of our workouts along with the full list of our workout that day with hope that maybe others who find this blog will be motivated to join along with our journey to encourage and educate the world that anyone can change their lifestyle and change their attitudes towards fitness.

I will go ahead and warn you that some of my content will be spiritual so if that bothers you don't say I didn't warn you. I hope that you will find this page to be an encouragement for you.

Todays workout:

Warm Up (All done in 30 sec intervals)
High Knees-Wide Knees-Jump rope-Butt Kicks-High Knee Skips-Arm Circles-Hugs

Circuit 1 (All done in 30 sec intervals)
Prayer Squats-Heisman Jumps-Squat Jacks-Mountain Climbers
repeat

Circuit 2 (All done in 30 sec intervals)
Burpees-Frog jumps-Butt Kicks-Planks
repeat

Mountain Runs (repeat twice)
-Using the stairs in the football stands, run up some side, run across the top, down the next aisle and repeat throughout entire set of stands. Repeat this 1 time, we did a victory lap today.

Abs
Bicycles-In & Outs-Hip Rock & Raise-Leg Climbers-Mason Twist

Today I would like to give a big Standing O for a friend, Peter Warden. I first met Pete when he was working for Billy Gillespie at Texas A&M Men's Basketball program. Pete then followed Gillespie out to Kentucky for his brief coaching stint at the basketball mecca.

Since then Pete has followed God into other industry but I believe with the full intent of one day getting back into Division I basketball.

Without further adue I am excited to say that Pete is headed back into college basketball with Coach Gillespie and will take the reigns as the Director of Basketball Operations for the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. So for you Pete I will for a brief second throw my pistols in the air for your Red Raiders.

Congrats my friend!!!

Two Shoes & A Stroller

I realize the first rule of maintaining a blog is, maintain the blog. So I want to apologize for my absence and in the same words say hello again, it is good to be back.

Since starting this blog I wanted to dedicate these words to the motivation of positive change in my life, and certainly those who come across this page. Whether that is physical change, emotional change, spiritual change...etc.

Now I want to turn the spotlight not on my episodes of change, but showcase others who are experiences incredible change in their lives.

I start by throwing my fist in the air to celebrate with my beautiful bride. See just six weeks ago My Love fought and battled through 30 hrs of labor to welcome our amazing, little, blue-eyed pooper, Liv.

One day after receiving the all clear from her doctor Megan could not wait to lace up her shoes and head out the door for her first, post delivery run. This is something that has been on her mind for the last 4 weeks. It was driving her crazy that she could not step out that door and pound the pavement.

Well today is to you my Sweet Pea, I am so proud of you for unpacking the stroller on your own and introducing our baby girl to the beauty that is running. I am so excited for you and can't wait to run that 5K with you in September.

Hop on the Ride

So over the last few weeks I have learned that change can be quite an emotional roller coaster. One minute I am feel up the next I am crashing hard. It's funny how we are a consumer group of people who are constantly looking for new and fresh but it seems that once we get it, it is almost as if we wish we had the old one back.

I understand that I am probably not making a lot of sense right now but I think most of you will more than likely grasp what I am saying since you have experienced it as well. Over the last few weeks I have been training for a new job which will be a great opportunity for me as well as very challenging opportunity, so my emotional radar has been all over the board.

My faith is being challenged to grow and depend more on God and the strength that he has created in me. I encourage you if you are going through emotional change right now, take a moment try to eliminate all the dreadful thoughts and have a solid moment with God. He knows all that you are going through. Most of all listen to what he has to tell you.