9 Sept 2014

God is good! For the better part of 10 years I've spent my time mired in self pity wanting but afraid to move on, follow a passion look forward instead of backwards now I am why because  a few month ago I got on my knees and asked God to work on me. Is that work done NO! I am a major work in progress for sure please join me and read along as I detail my journey one day at a time.

I'm a huge Dylan fan, a lifelong appreciation that began the first time I heard "Rainy Day Woman#13&35" and has continued on past the naming of my second son as Dylan Harlan Hansen. Along the musical journey with Dylan I discovered CS Lewis

C.S. Lewis Daily

TO PETER BIDE: On bereavement.

14 July 1960

Joy died at 10 o’clock last night in the [hospital]. I was alone with her at
the moment, but she was not conscious. I had never seen the moment of natural
death before. It was far less dreadful than I had expected—indeed there’s
nothing to it. Pray for her soul. I have prayed twice daily of late for us
four together—you and Margy and me and Joy. I shall continue for you two.

I can’t understand my loss yet and hardly (except for brief but terrible
moments) feel more than a kind of bewilderment, almost a psychological
paralysis. A bit like the first moments after being hit by a shell.

I’d like to meet. Perhaps I could come up to town some day when you are in
town and take you to lunch at the Athenaeum. For I am—oh God that I were
not—very free now. One doesn’t realize in early life that the price of freedom
is loneliness. To be happy one must be tied. God bless all three of us.

To this day I don't know why I couldn't just cry the day my Momma died.

Scripture

Titus 2:2

Tell the older men to be sober, dignified, sensible, and healthy in respect to
their faith, love, and patience.

Observation

When I die that would make a really sweet as tombstone

Application

One moment at a time just live in that moment and say what would Jesus Do

Prayer

Almighty God thank you for where I am this morning don't let me forget it either

22 August 2014

Today is Day 1 in a 40  day countdown to ending my career with Farmers Insurance. Officially October 1 2014.

It's been a bumpy ride which I raged against almost from day one,  dreaming of a return to San Diego almost every single day. However the blessings of friends experiences and lessons learned leave me with a peace and sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

The next chapter in my life opens soon

—1 Corinthians 13:12

Promises, Not Explanations

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely C.S. Lewis Daily On time [The demon Screwtape writes:] The humans live in time but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present—either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure. Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we sometimes tempt a human (say a widow or a scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real knowledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time—for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.

26 August 2014

Scripture Today's  Reading From Pastor Greg Laurie

God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. —2 Timothy 1:7 Sometimes when we hear that a person is "spiritual," we think of him or her as being out of touch, not living in the real world, or (how shall I say it?) weird. But nothing could be further from the truth because the truly spiritual man or woman will be a very practical person as well. A Spirit-filled believer will live a life that honors and glorifies God. Ephesians 5 tells us, "Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord" (verses 18-19, NIV). When we think about being filled with the Spirit, we might imagine some wild emotional experience. And though being filled with the Spirit can and sometimes will include emotions, it won't necessarily be that way always. What exactly did the apostle Paul mean when he used the term filled? One translation of the word pictures a steady wind filling the sails of a ship. So the idea is that the wind of God wants to fill the sails of your ship as you are moving along the sea of life. In another place in Scripture, the same word is translated permeated, picturing the truth that God wants to soak and saturate everything that we say or think or do. To be filled with the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit is a part of all that you're involved in. He's a part of your prayer life. He's a part of your worship life. He's a part of your business life. He's a part of your vacation. He's a part of everything that touches your life in any way. That is what it is to be a Spirit-filled and Spirit-led believer. Is this some big, one-time experience, never to be repeated? No, because the original language implies this is something you should be receiving over and over and over again. Be continually filled with the Spirit.

Observation

So this begs the question am I Spirit filled; is my life's sail aligned in such a way that God is its driving force. I think not!

Observation

I cannot fulfill my calling to bring those whose paths I cross to Christ in my current state

Prayer

God the Father Almighty take my life and make it yours all for you and for your glory. Since you know the future and have already gone before me  what shall I fear? This must become my daily mantra Lord convict me.

September 1-5 2014

1 Sep 14

Its actually Sept 5 as I write these devotions 

so much for self discipline

Today I am thankful for the fact that I am alive and have the opportunity to increase my trust and grow my faith in God, every other blessing I have received is undeserved and for that I am humbled and convicted.

Mondays Verse

Proverbs 22:6

Scripture

Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t

depart from it.

Observation

My failure to do this is my motivation for changing beginning with me.

Application

Take nothing for granted praise God in everything I do and dont look back

Prayer

Lord I need your holy spirit, soften my heart clear my thoughts and let me accpet your never ending grace

2 Sep 2014

Psalm 119:64

Scripture

LORD, the world is full of your faithful love! Teach me your statutes!

Observation

I must present myself with sober mind and willing heart in order to receive the corrections I must make.

Application

Daily second by second self discipline

Prayer

Lord keep your holy spirt upon my tugging at my heart influencing every breath I breath every step I walk

Extra Manna from Greg Laurie

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. —Ecclesiastes 12:13

Jesus said it like this: "Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need" (Matthew 6:32-33, NLT).

3 Sept 2014

C.S. Lewis Daily

The Christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact

about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all

desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy,

pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we

have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security

we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an

obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a

symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have

no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant

inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.

4 Sept 2014

A bit of catching up on my reading that I felt the need to share

The Power of Prayer

He said, "Let Me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" —Genesis 32:26 Never underestimate the power of prayer. When you are praying according to God's will, your prayer is unstoppable. And how do we know what God's will is? By careful study of Scripture. Jesus made this promise: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). We gravitate immediately toward the latter part of that verse: Ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. We love that, as though God were some sort of genie. But that isn't the case. We tend to forget about the first part of this verse: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . . If we are walking in fellowship with God and studying the Word of God, then we will start praying according to the will of God. And then we will start seeing our prayers answered. First John 5:14-15 says, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." Therefore, we should never give up or back down. We need to keep praying. That is why Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). In the original language there is an ascending intensity to the terms. It is like starting off with some politeness. Then you get more aggressive. And then you aren't letting go, like Jacob, who wrestled with the Lord and refused to let go until He blessed him. Don't give up.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

2 Timothy 1:13-14

Common English Bible

====================

Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching that you heard from me with the faith

and love that are in Christ Jesus. Protect this good thing that has been

placed in your trust through the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

05 Sept 2014

Scripture

Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and

on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to

obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every

day until the end of this present age.”

Observation

If I believe I therefore must follow

Application

Poop or get off the fence

Prayer

Lord take this life and make it yours