Living in FEAR or living in CONFIDENCE

You are either in Christ or outside of Christ.
You have either met the risen Savior or you haven't.
You are either ALIVE in Christ or dead to this life.
You are either living in Christ's promises or you are living in fear.

The door was locked where the disciples were after Jesus was crucified because they were afraid. They were afraid of others. They hadn't met the risen Christ. Their Savior was dead to them.

After the disciples met Jesus, they found themselves ALIVE, living without any sense of fear. Check out Acts. That's what happens once people meet the risen Christ.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of POWER, of LOVE, and of SELF-DISCIPLINE - 2 Timothy 1:7

In the risen Christ, we have strength.
In the risen Christ, we have confidence.
In the risen Christ, we have no fear.

BOOYAH

Life Lessons: Batman, Subway, and Abe Lincoln

To begin this next phase of writing, let's get some basics out of the way. With time comes new mistakes, new growth, and new maturity. Let's start out with a few key thoughts:

1) Batman is STILL my favorite superhero. That dude is also THE MAN. Note the emphasis on THE MAN. He doesn't have some crazy wicked superpower that came when a spider bit him. He's not an alien from another planet. He's a regular dude like you and me, kicking butt and taking names. Sure, he had loads of money and the best man servant a guy could ever ask for and was trained by a Jedi master. But shoot, maybe when I have way too much money for my own good, I'll use it to fly to China, be trained to kick people's butts and then buy fantastic high-tech tools and toys. IT. COULD. HAPPEN.

2) My new favorite restaurant is SUBWAY. That place is freakin' awesome. First, I feel healthy eating it ( I don't care if it's really not that healthy or they slob on the mayonnaise. WWJD...What Would Jared Do?) Second, it's $5 for a footling. That's an Abe Lincoln for a full meal that's going to leave you satisfied or a snack with an optional meal for later. BALLING.

3) Speaking of Abraham Lincoln, he's OFFICIALLY my favorite president. This dude was also THE MAN. Struggled with depression, lost a kid, led our country through its most tumultuous times AND slayed vampires on the side. That's LEGIT. Forget Obama or Romney....bring back Lincoln!!

We're just getting warmed up people. DON'T YOU WORRY. More is yet to come. Look out for more thoughts coming soon to a computer near you.

Next Step

It's that time...time to begin writing again. It has been over a year, and with time comes new mistakes, new growth, and new maturity. I'm excited. I'm nervous. I'm scared.

I quit writing about a year ago out of FEAR. Fear of failure. Fear of being boring. Fear of saying something stupid. Fear of being a hypocrite. 

At the root of ALL those fears though is simply...fear of OTHERS. Fear of what OTHERS will think. Fear of what OTHERS will say. Fear of what OTHERS will do. What you fear controls you..we were not called to be controlled BY OTHERS.

JESUS is the source of confidence (2 Timothy 1:7). JESUS is the source of strength (Phillippians 4:13). In JESUS, we have NO FEAR (Isaiah 41:10).

 So here we go again. Twice a week, this space is just going to be about life. Life with Jesus. Life with others. Life with mistakes. Life with gratitude. Even though I'll attempt to input a small amount of wisdom every now and then...it's not about me. Anything I've learned, anywhere I've grown, it's through the blessings of Jesus Christ that I'm able to communicate these things.

 

JESUS is the source of ALL things good. JESUS is the source of ALL things wise.

This space is simply to use one man's small life to challenge myself and others.

Let's choose to grow.

Let's choose to reach our full potential.
Let's choose to make a difference.