What does faith and trust really look like?

"This I do know, if God chooses to heal me, then God is God, and God is good.

If God chooses not to heal me and allows me to die, God is still God, and God is still good. To God be the glory."

- Zac Smith (Husband and father of 3 that went home on May 16, 2010)

Ummm, excuse me....Who are you??

Who are you?

Seriously, who are you?

No….not what you do for a living or what school you attend. But who are you, really?

I know who I am.

I’m Derek. I am a child of God, eternally loved. I like to play sports. I like to connect and develop relationships. I like to help those in need and challenge others (any myself) to live lives we’ve always wanted to live. I like tennis. I like playing with little kids. I like being goofy. I like making people laugh. I like to sing, dance, and just have fun. But most of all, I enjoy spending time with friends and family.

We’ll notice most of these are “I like” statements. Nothing too complicated here. We could even put “dislike” statements. Whatever helps us define who we are.

These statements tend to focus on our core foundation. They are attributes and abilities not having changed a whole lot. Now our cirumstances may change, but these qualities tend to remain consistent.

Having this foundation, we can understand the difference between who we are, and what we’re actually doing with our lives. For instance, we can use our ability to connect with others for selfish reasons or in service. Therefore, I don’t believe any of us are inherently good or evil…it’s about the choices we make.

So, who are you?

The Life You've Always Wanted to Live

John Croyle is an amazing person. A star on the University of Alabama’s football team in the early 70’s, he was All-SEC in 1972 and only lost one regular-season game under Coach Bear Bryant. After graduating college…he had a choice. Play pro football or choose another pathway in his life. After talking to his coach, Croyle decided to pass on professional football to start a Christian home for wayward boys. Huh? How was that even a choice??

Seeing John in person, you can tell why he made this decision. He spoke with passion…with focus...with purpose. John Croyle knows what he wants out of this life and goes after it with a drive like no other.

3 questions have helped John direct his paths and I'd like to take the opportunity to explore each in the coming weeks.

1)      Who are you?

2)      What are you?

3)      What are you on earth for?

My hope is that by taking a glimpse at the questions above together, we can direct our own lives with the same focus, drive, passion, and boldness John Croyle lives day-in and day-out.

One for the Sleepless Nights

I’m struggling today.

I’m struggling with pride.

I’m struggling with sadness.

I’m struggling with being content.

Currently, I’m in a hotel room outside of Dallas, TX. I’m an auditor so we occasionally get to travel. However, this is the first time I’ve traveled since December. Things are a lot different since December.

I’m facing pain; the pain of wounds that my actions caused for several months. I made some immature decisions that I have to grow up from. We’re not forced to grow up; it’s a choice.

I can choose to grow or I can choose to crumble. I can choose the ways of my past of getting lost in tv, playing on the internet…numbing my mind from the pain and brokenness of this life. But I’m not going to.

I’m choosing to accept the pain. Accept my pride. Accept my sadness. Accept not being content…because the numbing is not working anymore. Sure, I can starve the pain and brokenness for a little while, but it’ll be back.

God doesn’t want you and me to live in pain. God doesn’t want you and me to live in brokenness. God wants us to seek him and sometimes that takes time. Growing pains will come, but we’ll be stronger when the day breaks in the morning.

It’s easy to talk about the day break, but it’s harder to deal with the pain until then. But I choose the comforts of the Holy Spirit over the comforts of this world. That way I can find true growth...true joy...true life.

The Magic Formula for Happiness - What Really Matters

What do we expect from God?

The decision to accept Jesus into my life has been the most important decision I’ve ever made. This decision has given me a reason to live freely, in addition to hope and comfort, especially in time of need, At the same time, I may have expected a little less pain, sadness, and brokenness in my life. I almost intended the decision to accept Jesus to “fix” me and be able to wake up the next day and be completely perfect.

Donald Miller challenges us in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, with the following passage, “And when you stop expecting God to end all of your troubles, you’d be surprised how much you like spending time with God.”

Happiness is a choice. The world around us has a plethora of options to seek temporary happiness through whether it be popularity, materiality, drugs, sex, or another. But this happiness is only temporary. It’s gone in the morning, just as easily as it was to make the decision the night before. Instead, I challenge us to accept our pain and choose to find true happiness through ourselves. We can then find that true joy comes from these type of choices. Does it suck at the time? Yea, but it’s worth it.

Brokenness and pain surround our lives, but it’s our choices that define whether we find true happiness and accept God at his fullest.

The Magic Formula for Happiness - Relationships

Within the context of dating relationships, I have been a victim of the “freshness of dating” syndrome. And what’s not to like about dating? You’ve got someone you can find comfort in, snuggle up with on a cold winter night, and just spend life with in companionship. The problem lies when the “freshness” tends to wear off and we’re faced with the messiness and hardships of our lives.

A lot of problems with my own relationships came because I expected happiness to come from the relationship...instead of myself. I expected someone else to be perfect and bring me joy when…that’s just not reasonable. What ends up happening is you lose a fantastic person due to something that wasn't their responsibility.

When God calls us to marriage within Genesis, it is stated the, “two became one.” It’s not saying the ½ and a ½ made one, but two whole people came together into one relationship. I’m not saying that we have to be perfect to go down this road of dating, but rather I’m challenging us to not expect the other to “complete us.” When we expect relationships (or even marriage) to be the source of our happiness, that's when problems tend to arise.