Wild At Life

     I once read a book called Wild at Heart. In it the author John Eldridge quoted another book that said: "Do not ask yourself what this world needs. But ask yourself what makes you alive and do it. Because what this world needs is people who are alive."*  That truth just struck me with a clarity and simplicity. It set my jaw with a new determination to "fan my flame," so to speak. It also reminded me of another quote from William Wallace, "Every man dies. Not every man really lives."
     I think the biggest reason no one ever "really lives" is because they don't know how. They are just lost are feel forgotten by the world. No one ever told them to ask themselves what makes them alive. But, more tragically, is those that glimpse their "life" and don't pursue it with reckless abandon. See, if you want to awaken your life you have to accept it is far from easy. Most likely others will laugh at your plans. I.e. I want to change the world but I have told maybe two of my friends. Because I know that if I want to keep my dream alive I'll keep it to myself. I'll just rest in the fact that with God nothing is ever impossible. Remember that. Nothing. Is. Impossible.
     So go find out what makes you alive. Go and live with all your heart. . . the world is waiting.

~TDH

*Not an exact quote

Y'all'd Isn't A Real Word

Giving up. Stoping. Halting in your tracks. Surender. It's not very easy is it? (Unless we are out of energy and conviction...) More often than not, we want live at the wheel. I know I'm that way. I'm pretty much a power junkie. (Well, I'm getting better at losing my inner nazi.) But if there is any situation I happen to find myself inside I prefer to be in control of anything I can be. And with a four-year-old little brother God has been showing me how to fail at that. Well... He has been showing me that my control just sucks. I think I know why . . . I'm finite.
     I start and end,
          bend and break,
               fail and fall.
I'm what y'all'd (Is that a real word?) call human. And I think I found out a cure for my inner power nazi: trust. Not just any trust though, a trust in the One and Only God. Oh, did I mention that that is pretty hard? A lot harder than sending a camel through the eye of a needle--if you get my drift. But, thankfully, we have a God Who is bigger than any ego Babble can throw at Him. All you got to do is ask. Pretty simple but amazingly hard. Go ahead: say "I'm done God; have my life," and mean it with your whole heart. (Don't make me do that, I'd feel dirty for lying to God like that.) But you could just say, "God, I'm tired of messing up everything. . . can You teach me how to give my life to You?" And then just try giving up something every day.

~TDH

A Motto, A Light

Steadfast. Immovable. A wall unwavering--convicted. That’s who I want to be. A Christian that will tell it how it is, but with meekness and fear: 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear.” This verse is, basically, the foundation for my life. I like to think it has about four parts. First it tells us to put God first in our hearts--sanctify Him. Then next would be that Christians need to be able to defend themselves, to everyone. But, my favorite part of this verse is the reason we are giving an answer is because we have hope. A hope that sets us apart and brings someone on the outside to ask us where on earth this hope comes from. But we cannot ignore the last part of this verse: defending our hope with meekness and fear. Which, in essence, means that when we defend our truth we respect the “outsider” as an image of the Holy One, and express love the whole time--respectfully. All these aspects of this verse bring me to the belief that this needs to be the Christian motto. If we have answers, but no hope who will want it? If we have hope, but no meekness who will ask? If we have hope, answers, and meekness but no Holy God it holds no ground. Every part of this verse is crucial and each part needs each other. Let us never forget that. Also, let us take this verse and live it. Let’s have answers, hope, a Holy God, and respect. Let’s be salt and light. Let’s have a motto that works. God. Hope. Answers. Respect. Remember, you were put on earth for a reason--to shine. So shine with purpose, and never forget to stay true--unwavering. 1 Peter 3:15

~TDH


p.s.
sorry this is kinda late

A Life Lost. Eternity Gained.

(Warning: this is a morbid post. Proceed at your own desire to realize that humans die.) 

Do you ever wonder what others will say about you when you finally die? Well I sure do. In fact I think about it often. Why? The Bible says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). Our lives are simply short, yet we act as if we will live forever; but we won't. Everyone (except for Enoch and Elisha) has died. And there is no exclusion for you (or me). But we have no rational reason to be afraid of death anymore--because "Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality" (2 Timothy 1:10). In Christ we are immortal. But that is a topic for another time. Which brings me to my next point--time. While Christ has dressed us in immortality, we still only have one life on this Earth. Many, including myself, have used James 4:14 to say that this life is so short that there is no point in putting anything that will last into it. We think of it like an investment. But yet we ignore that it is, in fact, an investment! Let me use one of my favorite examples found in the Bible--the parable of the 'talents:' "To one he [the master] gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. . . And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’" (Matthew 25:15-28). This parable is a wonderful example of how time on earth is an investment in greater things. We need to remember that this life matters more than we can fathom. We need to live with an abandon and never look back upon the worthlessness of comfort and security. Because this life is where the stakes are cast, and where we sit upon the edge of eternity passionately showing the narrow road to those who are so desperately lost. Well, that is what we need to be doing. Are you living with abandon for the gospel? Let's stop holding back. What do you have to lose anyway?
Just everything.

~TDH

The Final Word.

My favorite quote is by Jim Elliot. Who was a missionary murdered by the Aucca Indians in Ecuador. It reads like this: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." It just reminds me that life is fleeting and that God's gospel is not. "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death" (Revelation 12:11 emphases mine). A life 'lost' for the gospel is the best-spent life imaginable.