Dan Byl

Yes thats right, today is the day that we all get a lesson in grace. God doesn’t give us grace he gives us opportunities to learn and display grace.

I didn’t post anything this morning. I am sure that many of you thought things like, jerk, is he sleeping on the job, what’s his problem.

So now you get to
hear me say I am sorry for not posting something for this lovely monday.

“I am sorry for not posting anything for this lovely monday.”

things shall resume as before tomorrow morning.

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What holds us back? What stops us from taking that leap of faith, or even just starting the next chapter in our lives? We have this amazing instinct that kicks in that is really there just to ensure self-preservation. In other words keep us from hurting our selves or getting hurt by our surroundings and people in those surroundings.

That instinct is fear, a great tool but if not given to God a wonderful hindrance a times. That feeling you get when you stand on the edge of something, we walk to the edge look down and with out a doubt say or think, wow that’s a lot higher then it looked from down there.

I am really scared of moving into something unknown, I put on a hard exterior and I walk out everything as confidently as I can, or an least as confident looking as possible, don’t want people to see my fear. The old saying, “walk like you own the place and people will think you do.” It’s ok to be afraid but it’s what we do with that fear that matters.

Some of us get stuck we don’t move, we cant go forward and cant go back. Some people put on façades just to deal with the fear, and still others fight. I would say that my tendency is to fight. The only healthy way to deal with fear is to surrender it to God, we need to allow him to walk us through the things that are making us afraid. We need to trust that he sees the big picture and has everything well in hand.

There is a kids song that says “he has the hold world in his hands,” we need to keep those words in the front of our minds. Its ok to be afraid, I think that God allowed us to feel this way so that he could be the dad that we all want him to be.

I know as a kid I would go to my parent’s room if I had a bad dream. As we Get older God fills that role in our lives, because I don’t think our folks would enjoy us barging into there room in the middle of the night, because we don’t know what to do with the rest of our lives. But God doesn’t mind.

We need to give those fears of being hurt, to God, we need to allow him to free us from the stuff that holds us back, from relationship, from moving into what God has for us. We hold onto memories of being lied to, betrayed, used and abused, and then when something that could resemble our past arises we run for cover. We shut doors, build walls and we stick our heads in the ground like an ostrich. (that has to be the least poetic word in the English language, it really killed the flow of that sentence…)

we do this because it makes us feel safe. But it is a false sense of security, if no one gets in then we don’t get hurt, we can’t live like that. We have to allow God to free us from fear. I know that these things are all easier said then done. I am not going to presume to have all the answers. This is still a journey I am on, and it kicks my ass on a regular basis.

But pressing forward, trusting in God, giving him our fear, putting ourselves out there and giving God room to prove him self, is key. Only when we give our fears to God are we able to be who he has called us to be.

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I went to this conference at a church a couple of weeks back, and it was scary. I know that if I wasn’t a Christian and I walked into that sanctuary I would probably have turned around immediately and run for the hills and would never go into a church again.

Its like we are searching for some sort of high. We go to these conferences on the weekend, and we shake, we shake our friends, we shout, we praise and we get all funky. And then Monday rolls around and we are right back into our routine, going to work, getting mad at our spouses, ignoring our kids and, looking forward to the next time we get to go to a conference.

Non Christians or Heathens, go out on the weekend and party, get drunk forget about the worries of life. They hang out with friends have a great time. They get their groove on. then they get back to the worries of life and look forward to the next time they can kick back relax and indulge themselves with the simple pleasures of this world.

How much of a difference do you see? I don’t see much. We just say church confrenses are “better” cause well, we aren’t “sinning.” We are pursuing God.

Our hearts are remaining unchanged by these highs that we chase. I know that I have experienced God in the most real and undeniable way but it wasn’t enough for me to change my life. It wasn’t enough for me to follow God unabashedly. I fell away when the high disappeared its like a drug, we chase a sensation, and unfortunately as humans our emotions are fleeting and ever changing.

We are a very selfish race, we will take, take, take, if you let us. That is why when we don’t have that high, when we don’t feel like God is making us feel good, we run off and do our own thing. We act like everyone else in this world, fickle and forgetful. We forget what God has done for us, we forget what He has asked from us. He created us to serve him, not so he could make us feel good all the time.

If we go through life chasing a high, those feel good moments; our walk with Christ will be short lived. We need to remember that God loves us and that being in a relationship is a two way street, we need to give back.

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I have been reading the Pleasures of Loving God by Mike Bickle, In this book he talks about the first and greatest commandment,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

I think that Geri Pauls Touched on this, this morning. That until we understand that God loves us this way we wont understand our worth and we wont be able to love God fully.

If we begin to follow this first commandment then the second which is Love your neighbor as your self will flow out of this.

Only when we become planted in the rich and fertile soil which is Gods love, will we even begin to grow good fruit.

I for one am only beginning to understand what it means to be loved by God. Only now that I am unemployed and feel like everything that I would get my identity as a man from has been stripped away am beginning to understand that he loves me for me and not because of what I can do for him.

So my question is, How does God love you? And do you really know who you are in christ? If you lost everything today, would you still believe that your are worth it?

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I cleaned this up for the more sensitive viewers.

(Oh Canada we stand on guard, for thee)
I told this god where i was from
he said oh, Canada
kinda laughs it off, real funny huh?
yeah, uh, come on

(O Canada)
1-2, 1-2,
mic. check, 1-2, 1-2
yeah
(O Canada)

uh, yea
from the land of the lost
Trans-Canada crossed
patriotic and a honor
with a hand on my heart

from the greatest of lakes
to the greenest of greens
to the rockiest mountains
and everything in between

o-o-o Canada
oh you’re no fan of us?
cause our movie and TV shows are so amateur?
yeah, we laugh at off, that don’t really bother me
look, we aint serious unless you really gotta be

humorous attitude like kids in the hall
like Jim Carey Mike Myers yeah we claiming them all

its the great white north
home of the funniest actors
the front of the joke
with an abundance of laughter

the red and white flag
keep it high keep it visual
people see Canada and get stereotypical
think we finish every sentence with buddy or bye
and if it aint that its either do, eh or guy
(Canataka A)
yeah we consider it people
and smoking –leaves–
we consider it legal

still doing rap like the 1990’s
but that’s how we like it off timed and grimy

I know where I’m from and i told ya before
north of America hard to ignore
every time i go away i tell them for sure
im from Canada o-o-o Canada

(O Canada)
O Canada o-o-o Canada
(O canada)
I’m from Canada
o-o-o Canada

the class makes a sick beat, we call it a classic (x4)

I’ve been around the globe and
heard of confusion
honestly a lot o’yall are ignorant and stupid

yes, we have microwaves, tv’s and cell phones
unintelligent #%$@ we invented the telephone
we made Yahtzee
the light bulb, hockey
and bred the greatest playa’s Gretzky to Crosby
we all got at least one drinking buddy
and after one drink, all of us think we’re funny

our national mascot’s a damn beaver
O Canada we love our beaver
home o’Hell’s Angels the North-CMP
home of Gordon Lightfoot and nasty tv

the underground rail road
Georges St. Pierre
right here is where he calls home

our health care system
y’all know its free
keep a girl –rocking– with a full mouth of teeth
I wont even get into the music on the streets
they say hip hop is dead
naw its up north with me
I could do this all day its a part of my routine
but supper’s almost done and tonight poutine

I know where I’m from and i told ya before
north of America hard to ignore
every time I go away i tell em for sure
I’m from Canada o-o-o Canada
(I’m from the east coast of Canada)
o-o-o Canada
(I’m from the east east east coast)
yo yo!
see I’m from Canada so sometimes the words come out of my mouth like this
get used to it

(O Canada, we stand on guard for thee)

By: Classified, Album: Self Explanatory

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a romantic comedy or everything that is wrong with this world?

This had to be one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. It is a depiction of what is wrong with this world, and we eat it up. We don’t stop to think what is the message of this movie. We laugh at the sexual innuendos, and the men are pigs jokes.

The idea this movie is trying to communicate is that men are only interested in one thing. We are predictable, and if a woman wants a man she just has to follow some simple rules, and they can have what they are after. If a woman wants a guy she needs to cater to men’s sexual needs and if she does this she can have any guy she wants, if of course she is not ugly.

I talked with a couple friends who watched this movie and they said that they really liked it. This is not a diss of those friends, but I think we shut off our critical thinking side of our brain. I don’t know if we should be doing this. There is a saying, what goes in must come out. So why do we watch what we watch, why do we let these things into our minds, and hearts unchecked?

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