I've started a new blog

I have a new Blog that I will be now updating more often and I have upped the quality. So please feel free to visit that one for new posts.

http://cwrede.wordpress.com/

I believe its time for a change

I have been in a funk the past couple of weeks. I wish there was a way that I could pin point where this funk is coming from. I come to a point where I need to re evaluate life, and how I am doing it, what decision I make, how i make them. I think there a few key things to helping me get back to life the way that I want to live my life.

First back to basics...Three parts to my being that need to be addressed.

Spiritually, Spirituality is a very importnat aspect of who I am. IT seems like I can get on a roll, I can praying, doing my devotions, and seeking God for most things in my life. Everytime I get on a roll, I hit a wall. The wall means, I have hit a halt in my spirituality. The first few days of hitting the wall are hard, but it gets easier. I no longer long to spend time with my savior, I no longer rely on that daily bread to address my day. This is something that I need to get over. I need to stop hitting the wall and be overtaken by it. I need to hit the wall and bounce back fast, get over self pity. And get back to my God. Its really that simply, rely on that daily bread from the lord to get me through my day. I have tried living on my own and it results in a funk or even worse.

Physically, taking care of my physical well being is important to me. I have lost over 70lbs in 15 months. I notice the change that has come with that. I have discovered new disciplines about myself. The physical well being I have discovered is very nice and I love it. It is simple control your eating and excersize. Its not hard but it is a discipline.

Mentally, I need to be mentally sharp. I am in school, sharpening my brain. Being sharp mentally will enhance my physical and spiritual life. Being mentally sharp also makes me useful in work, church and school along with my personal relationships.


(Part two coming soon)

I think its so awesome

Today I talked to an old dear friend. Jason and I are at similiar places in our lives, we both are involved in church plants. While talking today I realized how well the Lord can put two people in a relationship in a time and a place (For me it was 7th grade and Jason was the youth pastor of the youth group I had previously attended). We met and Jason has been an important influence in my life. I really enjoy the amount of love, wisdom and grace Jason has extended me through the years. 

Now as I am an adult, me and Jason are in similiar places in life. We can discuss how God is working in similiar ways, even though I am in Azusa, California and he is in Camas Washington. We can discuss these things and I am so grateful that God cares enough about me to put this kind of person in my life. 

I look forward to all of these types of relationships that God has put into my life and how they will help me grow as I get older.

Clarity amongst the coluds

God is good, thats all I can really start this post of by saying. I am finding that as I grow in my relationship with God he reveals things to me, that can really only be from him. Lately I have tries to focus my concentration on him, and in this I have really grown. I have come to realize areas of my life that hinder me from connecting with God. My best example is my family. I love my family, I have the perfect one for me, I love every member of it so much. But as a family we never really talk about anything until it blows up as a major issue. This is something that I noticed lately and had a "revelation" about it last night, at church. I normally come to God when ish hits the fan or I am extremely lost. In the past four weeks or so I have come to a place where when things cross my mind I bring them to God. It has become so awesome I find myself growing in ways that I did not realize that I had to grow in. I am so thankful for God taking me and shaping me.

I think its awesome that he is always there for me to talk to, in the awesome, in the good, the bad, and the ugly. I just gotta remember that.

Interesting things I saw while shopping in Portland today

First everyone and their mother-in-laws cousin are out shopping today because everyone in portland has been snowed in for two weeks. Here are some sights/experiences of the day.


-The mulleted bleach blonde santa clause in cut off jean shorts (keep in mind snows still on the ground)
- The stroller with extra wide off road tires being utilized to its fullest potential in the slushy parking lot
- The old dude whose car slid off into a ditch...he got out kicked the snow, then sat on the hood of his car and scratched his head.
-The fierce wal-mart shopping cart driver who was sure that her cart when pushed with all her might (she weighed a buck-twenty at most) could conquer 3 inches of slush
-My personal favorite was at wal-mart...

I went to the jewelry counter by myself and was greeted by a very sweet lady with four or five teeth and a whole lot perfume and eclectic jewelry. I was inquiring about a watch battery when she told me that wal-mart was the place to buy my engagement ring for my fiance, she said "These diamond go through a ragerious "spelling phonetically on this one" process, they find them diamonds in the mud and they dont look like anything special then they ship em to the diamond cleaner who makes em all nice and shiny for your pretty little girlfriend" I told her I really appreciate her thoughts and her heads up on where to buy my diamonds but I dont even have a girlfriend at the moment. Then she took me by surprise. "Thats cuz you aint bought a ring yet"... then she really put the icing on the cake and said "You dont have to buy me a ring to go on a date with you, your cute enough to score a free meal off of"(she then smile and winked) shocked and speechless that I just got (hit on or dissed by the 50 yr old wal mart employee) I said "oh never mind, telling the correct time isnt that important anyways this watch can do it twice a day as is" then I smiled and waved good-by to sheril.

Oh how I miss portland, such a fun group of people.

27Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained bythe world.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Mohandas Gandhi

Influential people

The influence in my life. I look at those who deserve to have an influence in my life because of the things that they have done. This of course is not a complete list but its just some I could think of off the top of my head. Let me know who you look up to and why

This list consists of Ghandi for his dedication to his cause and the passion and zeal he had for peace and changing the world, Michael Jordan for his dedication to perfecting the gifts and talents that he was given and dedication to being the best, Mike Ditka for showing compassion for people (I know these two terms arent used very often but really Mike Ditka started a foundation to assist in medical bills for permenantly injured NFL players), Nelson Mandela for his dedication to elimainating racial oppression within a government to establish a democracy; as well as his undying hope to see what he started finished even imprisonment lasting over twenty years, Martin Luther King Jr. and his willingness to dream, Eleanor Roosevelt and her stepping outside of the mold to use her gifts to make a difference, Walt Disney and his ability to call to establish excellence for the sole purpose of bringing joy to people, Jackie Robinson and his strength to endure an oppression, The Wright brothers and their refusal to give up, Mother Teresa and her unwaivering dedication to the poor, how about any soldier that has served in the armed forces and their willingness to serve even though they were/are not respected, how about Josiah Jimison and the heart of a servant willing to sacrafice for laundry love, Charles Lee and his passion for saving just one... Heres some quotes to chew on

-Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. -Mother Teresa

-Those who excel in virtue have the best right of all to rebel, but then they are of all men the least inclined to do so. -Aristotle

-When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me". -Erma Bombeck

-Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. -Henry Ward Beecher

Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. -Saint Augustine