LiveFreeLoveHard

Daniel 1:8-9: "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show sympathy and favor to Daniel." These 2 verses are jam packed with precious pearls, so let's get into it... Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, which means one thing, he recognized his body was not his own.  Likely since Jesus had not come yet, Daniel viewed his body  as a living sacrifice.  Today, we are certain that our bodies are the temple of the living God, if indeed Christ lives in you.  As some of you know, I had a terrible bout with alcoholism that ruined many relationships and opportunities for me.  I did not care about my body. I did not care what I was doing to it.  I did not see my body as the temple of the living God.  I was selfish and thought the only person I was hurting, was myself.   And ...

Why aren't we able to receive grace with gratitude?  I believe it's because we think we are actually doing life on our own, getting it done and being successful.  We have become desensitized to grace.  We are the child being hoisted up to see the show and thinking we have grown 10 feet tall, forgetting the very shoulders we sit on.  To put it plainly, we're ridiculous. Grace is invisible and intangible, seemingly, but its the most real force in our lives today.  Do you know that we even need grace to understand the Word of God.  This is the time of grace.  Though I don't believe God is happy about the fallen state of man, I can't help but to believe that He enjoys this time of grace.  In this age, He can shower us with His affection and unmerited favor.  he has reserved our generation for such a time as this.  For such a time when, like milk and honey, His grace is ever-flowing.  I know the Father loves to be good to us.  S...

I can't help but think that I'm the seed that fell among the thorns, but the worries and cares of this world, and the chasing after wealth and position choked the good life out of the seed that was planted in me. Let me explain:  In Matthew 13, Jesus is speaking in parables about the sower who plants his seed along the path, some of it gets eaten up by birds, some of it falls on rocky places and does not take root so it doesn't survive.  Some of it falls among the thorns and gets choked by those thorns and some fall on good soil, takes root, and produces a crop.  He goes on in verse 22 to explain the parable further. Can I be honest here?  I feel like there is so much more I could be doing for God.  I know He doesn't require much from us, and that's why I think we are so easily able to dismiss the great commission, but out of the love in my heart, I want to do more for Him.  Listen, it's not necessarily what we can do for God when we give him space in o...

Today, I woke up tired of the same ol', same ol'.  I get very rebellious when I feel like I'm running on the "hampster" wheel.  Some people do retail therapy, some people pull the covers over their head and stay in bed, when they don't want to deal with this world.  I like to set a bomb off in my life and see where things lie when the dust settles.  That's what happened the last time I felt like this.  I woke up one Tuesday morning and instead of driving to my job at UCLA Health in Santa Monica, California, I kept driving down the 10 Freeway until I reached Las Vegas, Nevada.  The best way I could describe what happened was that I felt like I was suffocating, and I had to make some space in my life, so I could breathe again.  Well, that's fine when you're young, unmarried, and no children.  That is not okay when you're hitched and you have little ones looking up to you.  So, how do I get the same effect of creating space in my life, when ...