Simplicity in Christianity

Lately God and I have been discussing how he wants me to approach Him. I've been looking at all of the crap.....I was going to change it but we'll keep it at crap.....so I've been looking at all of the crap that we cloud our relationships up with. Now I realize that we have some valid things from our past that can cloud up our present relationships including our relationship with God. Now please ask yourself if that is what He wants. Does he ask us to keep all of our baggage between Him and us or does He ask us to surrender it ALL to Him and have faith that we are safe in our relationship with Him to do this? If you are pondering this question then I highly urge you to stop reading and start praying for His guidance or go pick up your bible and browse through it. I recommend the last half of Matthew 28:20. Oh, He is so good! He wants us to let all of it go. Give it to Him, He will not let you down. He will not abandon you, He will not ask anything of you that you cannot provide, you are perfect in His eyes, I mean He is the one who made you. He created you to be exactly who you are and then He asked you to be you and to pursue Him and love Him back. It is an unconditional love. We have proven this by being the sinners that we are. Back to the beginning of this train of thought. It seems so simple to me that we just love Him and accept His love in return.

How much time do you spend with your closest friend every week? How much do spend with God? Don't get me wrong here because there is self conviction in this. Any of you who know me know all about my imperfections....but He made me so I'm feeling alright. Here I go getting all side tracked again. Back to simply being with God. Why is it that we complicate this beautiful thing? Is it our nature to keep on digging until we find what WE are looking for? Is it that we have complicated our own lives so much that we feel the need to complicate our relationship with God? Lets look at a theoretical relationship between a "courting couple". I'm still trying to figure out what that's supposed to look like in the Christian community so bear with me. Each side of the couple comes into the relationship with baggage. It could be our society saying that we need to have physical intimacy beyond what God has commanded, it could be that we feel the need to make it a dramatic thing, maybe there are romantic expectations from movies or music (I know I can't come up with any of those lines on the fly like that!!!). Then there are the past experiences like not having a father show me what a man is supposed to be or how he should treat his spouse, his queen. Or maybe there is the overbearing parent that you can't do anything right for. The opposite is just as bad, what if your parent made everything that you do into a great success and you never had to really work for success. Then we're into previous romantic relationships and the pain that comes from those that is brought to the surface. My chest gets tighter even thinking about it. Oh Lord please help us through all of these complications and turmoil. These relationships are right in your face, tangible, hard to ignore relationships in part due to there impatience. Our Father however is very patient. He waited for almost 29 years to bring me to Him. I have no doubt in my mind that He had every bit of it planned out to make me the man that I am so that I can now pursue and love him with the ferocity that I now do. Thank you Father.

So I come back again to pursuing God with a simple heart. I don't know if that is what everyone should do but I do know that He has pressed that on my heart more and more. He created a miracle in me and you. His love is a miracle. Lydia's laugh is a miracle. A hug from Kerri, Breavus, Dave, Mom, Gary etc. is a miracle. There is a love there that is so true. I don't need to levitate, be healed or catch a feather to realize that God is AMAZING and that every moment with Him is a blessing beyond my comprehension. I have no way of understanding His heart or His love for me but I sure can love Him and that is so simple for me. I just have to use any of my senses to realize that. I can look out the window and watch Tyler playing with a leaf while an easy breeze brushes across the trees, I can see the radiant colors of the sky, the flowers, and the leaves. I can smell the honeysuckle, the river, the pre-rain, or a familiar friend. I can taste a sweet apple, the nectar from a honeysuckle, or even a carrot ;o). I can feel Lydias soft skin against my nose as we cuddle and laugh, a familiar hug, the warm sun on my skin as the wind moves across it while sailing, the water beating down on me in the shower, the grass under my feet....no wait, the mud squishing up between my toes (that's a fun one!). How about the sound of the wind moving through the trees, a loved ones laugh, that song that brings back such wonderful vivid memories, lapping waves against the hull or a baby chatting away in baby talk. This is my favorite....are you ready.....the way that your heart feels when God is there and you have opened your heart to Him, the way you feel when a fond memory comes back, how it flutters when the beautiful woman that you love walks into the room, when yousee a friend that you have a deep love and affection for, the warmth that comes with a hug from Mom when you really need it. Oh thank you God!!!

During this part of my trip I pray that these are the things that bring delight to my life. Let us pray. Please say this with me don't just read it, speak it to Him.

Father thank you for loving me. Thank you for making the promise "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Thank you reminding me of all of Your miracles in our daily life and I pray that you apply pressure to me when I start to take these for granted. Father I pray that you remind me that none of these are trivial and that they are all grand statements of Your love for me. God you are so great!!! Please help me when I struggle with trying to understand You, I know that I can't and I'm OK with that. Please forgive me for letting my past cloud my now and our relationship. Father please let me forgive and ask for forgiveness where it is needed so that I can pursue You with more clarity. Father help me let go of those things that prevent me from growing in my relationships here in your kingdom. I realize that those relationships are so important and I am still scared of the pain that can come from them. Father please help me replace that fear with faith. I pray for all of those who are saying this prayer. I pray for my enemy's and my heart for them. I pray that you let me be OK with the things that I don't understand that are from you Father. Father I love you. Father I love you. Father I love you. Amen