My goal as a pastor is to try and help people have the amazing life that I know that God wants each one of us to have!  It’s not about rules and regulations, it’s about relationship with a God that created us, loves us and desires to bless us!  Northwood is working hard to become the kinda place where you can discover and grow in this incredible and amazing relationship!

I have decided to take the blog in a new direction starting today!  I am going to try and blog everyday with the dual purpose of motivating and encouraging you that read and in keeping myself accountable to you!  I have things in my life that I need to work on and make better – areas that I can improve in, that would cause my life to be more enjoyable to me and others!  If we are all honest – we all have areas of our life that we need to work on!  Starting today I am challenging each of us to really start thinking about these areas for improvement!  I am serious – right now, make a commitment today to take 10 – 30 minutes to really think about your life and how it could be and should be better!  Think about what you can do to make it better!  Once you start thinking in the right direction – make a list of things that you will begin to work on!  Feel free to comment by clicking comment under the title up above and let me know where you are on your journey and how I might be able to help!

P.S.  A big thing that may seem small that I am working on this week is less carbonation- it really needs to be no carbonated drinks and a whole lot of water!  Did you know that we are supposed to take our body weight and divide it by two – to get the ounces of water that we need to drink?  So far, so good today – I am already floating!

I was born and raised in the South and I am proud of it!  I am not one bit ashamed to admit that I love Grits!  Being raised in the South has many advantages!  One of the greatest advantages is that we have words in our vocabulary that explain things with one word that takes folks from other parts of the country to explain with several!  While some of these words have never found their way into Mr. Webster’s fine, but limited volume, they have and continue to be of great importance to communicating life changing truth!

One of the words that you tend to hear a lot around the south is “y’all!”  The word “Y’all” is more than likely referring to more than one and is usually talking about a group of people that have something in common!  We might offer an invitation that says:  “Y’all come on over to the house and we will break out some Moon Pies and RC Cola!”  Which means:  More than one person is going to have a good afternoon!

I think Jesus may have been raised in the Southern part of Nazareth, because He had a lot to say about “y’all”!  He wanted everybody to be together, unified and as one!  Many of the instructions that Jesus gave have been translated as “you” (singular), but if you look at the original languages, many times you will find that He is giving instructions not to an individual, but to a group “you all” (plural).  The truth is Jesus was very much into us all coming together as y’all to be blessed by Him!

Just think what Jesus could do and would do if we became “y’all”!

If it is true that you can’t focus on everything and clearly this is true!  What do I need to focus on?  This is most likely different for every person, depending on where you are and what time of life you find yourself in.  I do think that there are some things worthy of our focus, no matter where we are or what time of life we happen to be living in.  We need to focus on finances, family and friends and faith!

Finances are important because the world we live in is driven by money.  This should not be the case, but it is and I see very little that will change that.  The truth is:  We will either fix our finances or our finances will fix us!  Much of the turmoil and frustration of life comes from a lack of finances.  You can’t live for very long on what you don’t have!  So, we must learn and discipline ourselves to live on what we do have!  I believe that it is God’s desire to bless each one of us and allow each one of us to live a life that blesses others!  Focus on your finances by knowing what is coming in and controlling what is going out!

Family And Friends!  The truth is:  “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!”  We all need to spend more time thinking about who we are and what we need to do to be a better family member and friend and less time thinking about what someone else needs to do.  Focus on yourself and the role that you need to fulfill and it might just amaze you at how much better your relationships will be.  Remember:  God has given us each other for a reason!

Faith!  Everything is built upon what you believe!  Belief is so much more important than most of us are willing to give it credit for!  What do you believe and what difference is your belief making in the way that you are living your life?   If we will take some time to focus on God and His will for our lives, we will experience some miracles that cannot be explained!

Fix your focus this week and enjoy God’s work!