Powered by Bravenet Bravenet Blog

Tag Board

This tag board is currently empty.

Please type in the four characters shown in the black box.

Tuesday, November 24th 2009

9:33 PM

Showing Grace Yet Being Firm: 11/24/2009

  • Mood: Tired
  • Music: The Reason - Hoobastank
Cold today.  It was a beautiful day in the hill country and a productive day for my little law practice.

Showing Grace Yet Being Firm

Today I was able to experience two sides of life as a believer.  The first was being able to use the grace God has shown me to save another from trouble.  I can't go into the details for confidentiality purposes, but I had the chance to wreck someone's life today for something they did that was wrong.  I labored over it for about a week wondering what to do.

I was given the opportunity today to address it with this person.  Earlier today I had prayed for God to help me show someone grace.  And so I did when the time came.  It was amazing to me how good that felt.  And I made sure that person knew it.  I told her that God grants me enough grace everyday to pass it on to someone else.  I just hope she pays it forward.

The other side was not so pleasant, but absolutely necessary.  I had to be very firm with someone who tried to strong-arm me.  The sad thing is that it was an elderly woman.  She essentially tried to accuse me of not doing my job.  However, what she didn't know, what she can't ever know because she isn't a lawyer, is that I actually did an amazing thing this morning.  I did the very best thing I could for my client.

And so when this woman called me out on it, I stared her right in the eye and told her that I really didn't care what she thought.  I told her that I was doing the best thing I could for my client and that I didn't care if she was paying the bill or not, I wasn't going to let her bully me into anything.  She backed off, reluctantly. 

But even as I type this, as uncomfortable as it can be to deal with people like that, I am happy that I didn't let someone who was ignorant of my faith in God and my ethical approach to my job bother me.

Each morning before work I pray to God to help me do the best thing I can for everyone involved in my cases.  Today God definitely answered that prayer.

Until tomorrow...

Come Believe.

0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Friday, November 20th 2009

6:13 AM

11/20/2009: Rejoicing in Everything

  • Mood: Happy
  • Music: Acoustic Cover Version of "New Sensation" (was that U2)?
Warmer today than the beginning of the week.  Cloudy after lots of rain last night.  Fitting weather for burying a long time family friend today.

Rejoicing in Everything

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."

Habakkuk 3:17-18

This particular topic has been on my mind a lot lately.  I guess mostly because we've had some stuff going on in our lives recently that has made it difficult to get by on a daily basis.  From money to health to fatigue, my wife and I have had a tough few months since September.  Which explains why I haven't posted much in the last several weeks.

However, I have been diligent about one thing:  I have not given into despair or anger during this time like I used to do.  I have been reminding myself every day that no matter what God throws my way, good, bad, hard, easy, it's all to be rejoiced because GOD created it.

Today, as we bury a family friend, it's time to reiterate that same attitude, which stems from my  Faith in the Lord.  This death and memorial service is to be rejoiced, just as my family's tough times are.  That extends to anyone who reads this.  No matter how bad things seem, even if you lost a very close loved one, your home, your car, all of your possessions, the Bible tells us, GOD tells us that we are to REJOICE in that.

Because out of that bad thing, whatever it is, something good will come.  It may take years, months, or days, but you will see that God had a very distinct purpose, which He has always known of, for putting you through such a travesty.

Until tomorrow...

Come Believe.
0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Saturday, October 3rd 2009

9:29 AM

October 3, 2009: Giving

  • Mood: Intent
  • Music: Ambient music from the satellite
Saturday.  I'm working and it's raining today. 

Giving

I need to tithe more diligently. 


"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?"

Luke 6:46


When I do not tithe or give as God has commanded, everything in my life suffers.  When I pay attention and make sure I tithe and give more, everything, including income, just begins to fall into my lap.  I cannot explain it in any other way.

I pray that God will give me the diligence to pay attention to this facet of my faith more earnestly.

Until tomorrow...

Come believe.
0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Monday, September 14th 2009

8:20 AM

September 14, 2009: Getting Help

  • Mood: Hopeful
  • Music: Chris Tomlin: God of This City

Nice cool day...almost as if autumn has already arrived, although that's not until Sept. 22, I believe.  Today's run will be enjoyable.

Getting Help

God is there to help us.  Today I realized that I am having some internal problems and issues that have plagued me for years.  In the past I would let them get the best of me and displace my personal issues on others through anger and blame.

Today, through my close relationship with God, I was able to see that my issues are just that: my issues.  Blaming someone else is an easy way to avoid admitting that I'm not always strong and that I may be "faulty".  I need some help.  I may need to see  a counselor to work through some of this stuff.  Doesn't mean I'm not a good believer, a good husband, a good dad, a good lawyer.  It just means I have some stuff to work through.

In many ways, going to see a counselor is like getting the help we need from God.  We need to be able to unashamedly pray to God and ask for help.  So I do that now: 

     "God, please help me deal with my emotional issues.  Whatever it is in my body that causes me to get depressed or feel inadequate, please help me deal with that in the way that only You can.  I pray that instead of taking my issues out on others, I can admit my faults to others, before You, and receive your blessings. I pray that my emotional issues do not cause me to exacerbate problems such as financial woes, normal sources of stress, and work issues.  I pray that I can turn to my wife and my children and my friends as sources of support, and not see them as sources of more pain.  I know that as long as I have You, I have nothing to fear.  I pray these things in the name of Jesus, Amen."

I would also like to share these words, which I have posted on the main page as the weekly Bible verse:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

2 Peter 1:3-4.

God is great.  If this believer had to attest to only one thing, it is that today is the first time in my life I could honestly admit that I suffer from chronic depression.  God has helped me to see that.  God has helped me to see that my depression issues are not my fault, and that I can still function as a healthy member of society. 

As I always say in my blogs, being a believer doesn't mean life won't be hard.  But as in this case today, I can affirm that being a believer sure does make the hard things in life easier to deal with.  Because as the passage from 2 Peter above states, through God's divine power, of which I have knowledge, I can escape the corruption in the world, such as the lingering thoughts inside my head telling me to get angry with others for my own faults. 

Thank you, God.  I love you, I trust you, I believe in you, and I know you exist with all of my heart and soul. 

Until tomorrow...

Come Believe.

0 Comment(s) / Post Comment

Friday, September 11th 2009

10:49 PM

September 11, 2009: Remember

  • Mood: Reminiscing
  • Music: Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Raining all day.  Somber weather for a somber time.

Remember

As I watched a special session of Congress meet on the evening of September 11, 2001, and as I watched President  Bush address Congress and the nation, I vowed to do something with my life.  I vowed to do something that would serve my nation and fellow citizen.

I became a lawyer. 

On September 11, 2001, I was a senior at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University).  That morning I walked into the Student Rec center under a crisp, blue autumn sky.  I was going to work out before class.  I saw the first burning building along the row of tv's in front of the treadmills, each with a bouncing co-ed on it, eyes glued.  By the time I hit the last tv, the second jet slammed into the second tower. 

That night my parents (my wife and I were living with them during my final semester of college), my wife, my kid sister, and I watched the news and President Bush's address.  I knew that I had to do something with my life. 

I graduated a few months later, magna cum laude, with an English degree.  Six months later I was on my way to the Texas Department of Public Safety's State Trooper Academy.  I had spent six months getting into the program.  I was one of almost four thousand applicants.  They chose less than 350 of us to enter the program. 

I spent a week at the academy and realized I didn't want to be a state trooper due to the strain it would put on my marriage.  I would have loved the job, but not the resulting divorce.

Two years after that I started law school at St. Mary's.  I graduated in 2007 and have been practicing on my own for almost two years.  Since September 11, 2001, my wife and I have had 4 children, the oldest is now 5.  It has been easy to forget in that time just what I vowed to do on the evening of September 11, 2001.

Today I realized it all over again.  But as I read my Bible this morning, I realized that the vow I made 8 years ago didn't include God.  I wasn't living in the Way back then.  I was achieving great things, but I was lost.

Today, I again vowed to make my life about helping others, but with a bigger purpose.  Today I vow to continue to minister to others in any way I can about God.  About Jesus.  About the Word and the Way. 

I pray for the dead of 9/11/01.  I pray for those who fight against evil know.  And I pray for myself and for you so that we can be better and bigger ministers for God.

Until tomorrow...

Come Believe.

0 Comment(s) / Post Comment