Life in Abundance..to the Full..

Ok, so I realize that there are probably a million other things I should be doing right now, besides typing on my blog, but I've done a lot this weekend, and this is my down time, so there!

Speaking of this weekend, I must say that I had a good time. I didn't get into any trouble, or lose my sanity for that matter. Friday after work, 'remix' came by to hang out. We played PS2, which of course I had to lay the smack down on him! It was actually fun though....cheap too! (see I'm trying to stop spending money). Saturday, I had class, which was cool, yet boring. We have create this webpage, so the ITS guy came in to teach us how to create a webpage. Needless to say we spend 2 hrs. 45 mins, learning how to insert a picture! That is ridiculous! Afterwards though, I headed to Lenox Mall, picked up a dress shirt, then headed to the East side for my softball game.

Speaking of the softball game...

I'm trying to figure out why I can't get the ball over the fence. Seems like everytime I hit it good, it falls 5ft from the fence. We had a double header on Saturday night. The first game was against a team I really wanted to beat. I don't know how, but everytime we play these guys we make the craziest errors. I say we because we are a team....so needless to say we lost the first game by 2 runs (7-9), but the second game was a joke. We play a whole lot better, and won by 5 or 6 runs. I actually enjoy playing with that team though, but to be honest I'd probably play with anybody, that's just how much I love base/soft ball. After the game, I grabbed a bite to eat and headed home, because clearly it was late, and church begins at 7:30am.

Speaking of Church....

So for the last 6 or 7 weeks Pastor has been preaching on how to accomplish "Destination Life....in abundance...to the full....till it overflows. So for almost the past 2 month we have gone through the below sequence of events. I'll try to explain, yet keep it short.

1. Everything begins with the WORDS that we intake, in what ever way, shape, form, or fashion. The goal is to implement good Words into our lives, via the Bible, christians, and positive people. If we take in good word(s) we are able to progress in a positive manner, yet if we take in bad word(s) we progress in a negative manner.

2. Words lead to Thoughts. From the words that we intake, our thoughts and/or way of thinking is formed. If we have good words instilled in us, we can produce good thoughts, and vice versa. And you really have to think about this one, or at least I do. I think about thoughts that I've had about certain situations, whether good or bad, and I can always trace them back to words that I was told or had read somewhere. Crazy thing about it is that it works both ways, for the good and the bad.

3. Thoughts lead to Emotions. From what I took from this was that the more thoughts we have about a particular situation, the more our emotions about that situation are formed. It leads from our short term thoughts to our "way of thinking" i.e. our emotions. So to continue with the theme, if you have good thoughts, they lead to good emotions, yet if you have bad thoughts, they lead to bad emotions.

4. Emotions lead to Decisions. I think this statment is so true! I can actually remember decisions I've made in the past, and still today, and they are always based off of my emotions. When I make bad decisions, the reasoning is because I had bad emotions about whatever the situation is. And quite often those bad emotions are attributed to bad thoughts that I have inside, that were all started by bad words that came into my soul. Needless to say, I know now, and when I know better I do better.

5. Decisions lead to Actions. Now I know there are a lot of people out there that can relate to me on this one. Often times we make up in our minds (decisions) that we are going to do something, and now matter what the outside world tells us, we are bent on doing the thing that we were set out to do. Don't get me wrong, this can work in a good or bad way. I think the goal is to make more positive decisions that will lead you to making more positive actions.

6. Actions lead to Habits. You know how sometimes we say that we are going to do something "only one time", then a week or two later we find ourselves consumed in the thing that we said were weren't going to do anymore? We'll that is what this message was about. If we can get to the point in our walk with Christ where our actions are geared towards His will and not our own, we can develop good habits, and become more consistent with the things we do in lfie. I can relate this so much to things like exercising, reading the bible, or becoming more economically sound. This is an area I know I definitely need to work on.

7. Habits lead to Character. I know we always here that you can judge a man by his character, but what we fail to see is what is behind a man's character. I didn't realize this until I actually sat through the entire series. A man's character is based on so much more than just the word character. The word holds so much more, it holds your actions, your decisions, your emotions, your thoughts, and the words that ultimately come into your soul. A man's character now holds so much more weight than it use to, and I thank God for it.

8. Character leads to Destinataion. This was today's message. How to get to the point in life where you are in the destination that God has for you. All based on the previous 7 steps, your character, which comes from your habits, which comes from your actions, which comes from your decisions, which comes from your emotions, which comes from your thoughs, which comes from the words that are instilled in your soul. Today he ministered on how in Jerimiah, God made mention that He knew us while we were still in the womb, which means that He had a plan for our lives before we were even born. Yet it is our choice whether to follow these steps according to His word, instead of the words of the world, in order to reach destination life, "in abundance, to the full, until it overflows.

*All previous is biblically based, and if you'd like to discuss more...holla at me*

Well, I need to get some stuff done around this place tonight, so I'll catch up with you's guys later.

See ya later!

God, I'm Listening!

KJD