Just some thoughts..

I lie in wait for the day you come

My heart writhes with so much pain

I wish every second that you were here with me

Maybe life would be different

But now it’s just a shade of grey

I ache to hear your voice

I long to see your face

The thought of your touch sends me to agony

Knowing that you’re still not here

I miss you more than words can describe

Yet I don’t believe I know you yet

I’ve waited for you day and night

Knowing that you may never arrive

But if I am to be left alone

Then I pray that I may die quickly

Just the thought of that makes me cringe

You’re not just any guy

You’re special

You hand will fit perfectly in mine

You may drive me crazy

But it’s always for a good reason

You will be easy to love

And hard to forget

Because the day I find you

Will change my life

I will hold in my heart forever

Just waiting

When you get here, I’ll be ready

Ready to fall so deeply in love

When you see me, you’ll smile

And my heart will skip a beat

When you hold out your arms

I’ll be right there in your embrace

When you whisper that you’re here

Tell me that you’ll never leave me alone

The Way I Feel About Church, And Church People - pt. 1

Most people don’t see church the way I do. And somedays that is a good thing. But many times it is a bad thing. It is a good thing because most people haven’t been through the pain and agony that will rip you apart, and can be found in any church out there. But it is also a bad thing because people are blind to it. Most church goers are stuck in their own little world where God is perfect and makes everything work out for good. Don’t get me wrong, He always does. But it certainly doesn’t happen the way they think it does.

It comes down to three types of people who attend church. The unconscious “I go because I have to”, The wannabe who wishes they were better but won’t do what it takes, and the one who is sold out for God.

Let me start with what a lot of people unconsciously do when they come to church.

The first thing you do when you walk in the door is wonder where the coffee and doughnuts are.

Then you see Ashley across the room wearing a dress that makes her look like a prostitute. You think to yourself “Why doesn’t anyone do something about her?”

The next thing you know, you’re talking to one of your friends, gossiping about Ashley, and what family member has angered you. Clearly you think you know what they should be doing, and you would love to get the chance to tell them.

You walk into the service and hope the music isn’t too loud and that the worship leaders can really sing and won’t ruin your day.

You hope to sing something exciting that gets your blood pumping and maybe give you that chance to raise your hands, to make it look like you are praising God with all that you have. But really, you’re just trying to make yourself look good.

Then the offering comes around. You throw in a few bucks you have in your pocket, because this is the one part of church you always forget about. Sometimes you may throw in a $20 if the person next to you seems important. Once again, just to make yourself look more righteous.

The pastor gets up. You stare at him for a while, wondering about where he got his shirt or his haircut. Then you hope he doesn’t drone on today. Afterall, you’ve got a Steeler’s game to watch.

7 minutes in, you start dozing off. Brad sitting next to you, sees you doing the head bob, and he pokes you. You jolt up. And now you’re wide awake. You’ve missed the last 10 minutes cause you were day dreaming about your new video game you just purchased. Now you have no idea what the pastor was even talking about.

He makes a few good points, then it’s time for communion. “Why do they do this every week?” you wonder. It’s such a routine that when you take your piece of bread and juice, you gulp them down without even thinking about the reason behind them. The God of the universe sacrificed His life for you. And you can’t even repay Him by staying awake or focused to get closer to Him.

Sometimes after that, the pastor gives an altar call. Come forward if you have any burdens. Well your aunt died this week. So you go forward to ask for prayer. Kneeling at the altar makes you look even more humble. Yet that indeed you are not.

You leave the church, go home and get distracted with everything else in your life. You have no desire for getting any closer to God than going to church. Cracking your Bible open is reserved for once a week.

----

If you know me pretty well, most likely you are not the person above. But maybe you are part of that person. 

I know I was for a very long time.

Just think about it. Don’t be offended. Because I am not saying that everyone is like that.

But the truth is, the majority of church goers are.

Will be continued...

Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had the most beautiful smile. She always seemed to be happy. She was quiet around her family and loved to talk around her friends. She wasn’t popular, but she knew a lot of people. She didn’t have many friends, but she had a few that she held very close.

She would dream about the day her prince charming would come. He clearly wasn’t any of the guys she knew. They were all very strange and weird, and they all liked sports way too much. But still she would dream about how they would meet. How he would take her hand, sing her favorite song, and take her to a mountaintop and ask her to marry him. That was really far off though. She had all the time in the world to find prince charming.

One day, while she was at school, something happened to her and she fell very ill. Her beautiful smile would vanish and she would moan in pain. All of a sudden, one by one, each of her friends started to abandon her because she couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. She was no fun to be around. They didn’t know that all she wanted was to feel well again. And that if she could, she would try and make them see just how much she needed them. But it never happened. For 3 years she suffered in pain and agony. Then finally, God gave her relief.

Things started to turn around. The girl was becoming a woman. She began to realize that friends would be your friends no matter what you were going through. And that the people who still cared about her were her true friends.

However, bitterness and anger were lingering in her heart. She wanted to go back and change everything, even though that couldn’t happen. She was mad at the people who were rude and arrogant towards her. There were times when these same people would even attack her family right in front of her. Quite often, she would just sit and cry. She hoped that maybe she could disappear from this cruel world. Then one day, she got away from many of them.

She went off to college where she made three best friends. She didn’t know that those three would later on be the only people to really care about her. They would help her out of a huge problem she had which involved a devilish man dressed as prince charming. They helped her overcome a lot of huge issues. They always made her laugh, and they did everything they could to make her smile again. They were the best friends she had always hoped for. Even though she had even more anger and bitterness now, she just kept covering it up…telling everyone she was fine and over it all. She even convinced herself.

A week before her 18^th birthday, she met someone wonderful, someone who today she calls her best friend. They got along very well together. One day she decided to trust him and tell him about her life. He told her that she was a reflection of his past, and that he could help her overcome her anger. But he made one thing very clear, to not trust him, but to trust God instead. Only God could help her and she should trust Him with her life. He said he could point her in the right direction, but from there she would have to find the path she was meant to take. He made her see that even though she thought she could forget her past, and want to start over, it would never happen. It would always be there. But until she could stare defeat in the face and say that she was better than that, and that she was here for a better purpose, nothing would change. She would be stuck in the rut of being unhappy. And ultimately never be able to love someone because she didn’t trust anyone to be different than those who had betrayed her in the past. She would always be angry whenever something small went wrong.

The girl knew this. She had been confronted many times with this issue. Each time she thought she had resolved it. She had the outcome of being happy again and trusting people, but only for a short while. She only did it to make other people happy, and to make it seem like she was reaching the ultimate goal.

But she never did. She never really understood that she was so focused on the end, that she’d cover up the middle to get to it. Her smile faded. Her joy wasn’t in it. She had no desire to deal with the past. Afterall, it seemed to have ruined her life. She would rather run far away and forget everything. Hit that reset button she always talked about.

Then one day she realized that running from her problems wouldn’t solve anything. She was always being haunted in her dreams by her past and her fears. She knew it was time for a change. It was time to take what had potentially ruined her and dig it back up. It wasn’t buried that deep so it wasn’t hard. But once the memories started flooding over her, she wanted to quit again.

Her best friend urged her not to. He said it was going to be painful. It was going to hurt. But it was going to be worth it.

It took her a very long time to sort things out in her mind. She really didn’t think it was worth it.

She knew there were things she had to do, people she had to go to that she had hurt in the process, and ask for forgiveness. There was no way she wanted to do that.

But one Sunday in church, she made up her mind. There were two people from the past she knew she had to talk to in order to be at peace before she could move on. She had everything planned out how it would go. 

She talked to the first person. It was easy.

Then all of a sudden, one of her college friends crushed her. She wanted to give up immediately, because the second person she had to go to was involved in the situation. She didn’t want her heart to be broken any more. Ready to give up, she shut herself up for a few days. But God kept telling her over and over again, “You promised me you would go to this second person. You are so angry, and I understand this is making it worse. But you can’t be mad anymore. Go. Do it.”

She had her opportunity, and she took it. Finally she was at peace. But now she had this other situation to deal with. She thought she would just ignore it. Look past, and not worry about anything. But the girl realized that she was even more of a bitter person now that she was before.

Her anger came out in everything. No matter what she was doing or who she was with. You could always tell something was up. She would explode every night. She couldn’t get control over herself. God seemed to not be helping her at all. She would read her Bible, searching for answers. She would pray and ask God to help her. She was always so uneasy about everything.

Until she realized, the problem was her. Her smile faded because she let it. She was always unhappy because she let herself be unhappy. She was angry because that was how she felt alive. And the only way she could change? Well, let’s just say I know what I need to do now.

This isn’t just a once upon a time. Fairytales have a happy ending. And I have the choice to make it a happy ending for myself. This is my story. And that is where I am at.

The story isn’t over yet. I have so much I need to do. And I can only do it with God’s help.

---

And what happened to prince charming? Well, I’ll find him one day…

Save Me From Myself | A Song By Me

I’m lost in a world of darkness

I’m filled with a load of guilt

I cry out to you full of sadness

Wishing the pain wouldn’t hurt

So I cry, save me from myself.

You are all I need.

Save me from myself.

This is my desperate plea.

There’s only one thing I ask

Only one thing I need

It’s to feel Your love…

And to know Your peace

I know of Your love and mercy

I know Your unending grace

But the only thing I long to feel

Is the warmth of Your embrace.

So I cry, save me from myself.

You are all I need.

Save me from myself.

This is my desperate plea.

There’s only one thing I ask

Only one thing I need

It’s to feel Your love…

And to know Your peace

Will I ever know the depths of Your love?

And can You truly satisfy?

The only thing left is for me to let go

And surrender to You my life.

So, save me from myself, my Master.

You Lord, are all I need.

Save me from myself, my Master.

This is my desperate plea.

There’s only one thing I can ask, Lord Jesus.

It’s the only thing I need.

It’s to feel Your love…

And to know Your peace.

Being single in a boyfriend/girlfriend world: Part 1

What do you think is the most over used word in the English language?

Want a hint? It's 4 letters.

We use it for everything.

It can be the key to a relationship.

It can also be the way to describe the way you feel about a pair of shoes.

That's right. L O V E.

Lets play a game that I'm sure you all have at least once in your life.

Which sentence does not belong?

I love that car! I love this food! I love country music! I'm in love with Brad Pitt! I love Jesus!

That's a tough one.

(not)

3 years ago, I started to write my thoughts about love and what it really is. The longer I went, the harder it got. Did I actually learn anything? Sure. But I became sick of the concept that everybody loves everything!

Think about it. If everybody loves everything, then everybody loves nothing. Because it would become obsolete. So there must be something special about love that I've been missing.

That's been my thought for quite a while.

Being a wedding photographer, I get to meet a lot of people who are "in love."

I read a photographers blog once about how she was always being asked how she liked being single when she was always meeting new people who have these incredible love stories. Her response was that she was just getting more experience so that she would know the in's and out's of relationships so that she would be ready when the time came. And that she could really tell a difference in those couples who had God at the center of their lives.

I've already noticed this. And I've only done 3 weddings.

You can tell when people are truly happy. And when they are just happy because they need to be. (which sometimes actually turns into unhappiness on their wedding day...just saying.)

Those couples who are really happy, usually love God and have put Him first in everything. He's their number one. Not their spouse. And they know that only He can keep their relationship in a lasting position.

The question to ask them would be: How do you love God first, and then love your husband/wife?

And then as a single person, what should I be doing to prepare myself for the future?

...to be continued.

You Are More

There's a girl in the corner

With tear stains on her eyes

From the places she's wandered

And the shame she can't hide

She says, "How did I get here?

I'm not who I once was.

And I'm crippled by the fear

That I've fallen too far to love"

But don't you know who you are, 

What's been done for you?

Yeah don't you know who you are?

You are more

Well she tries to believe it

That she's been given new life

But she can't shake the feeling

That it's not true tonight

She knows all the answers

And she's rehearsed all the lines

And so she'll try to do better

But then she's too weak to try

But don't you know who you are?

You are more

'Cause this is not about what you've done, 

But what's been done for you.

This is not about where you've been, 

But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel, 

But what He felt to forgive you, 

And what He felt to make you loved. 

You are more

Do you ever feel like a song that you stumble upon was written about you?

Well I do with this song.

Sung by Tenth Avenue North, You Are More has become one of my favorite songs.

To be honest, I really got annoyed by this song because KLOVE played it on the radio over and over again until I knew it by heart, but I had no clue what they were singing. It was just another tune.

When I started listening to country music and pop/hiphop a lot, I lost touch with a lot of the Christian music I once loved.

And I'll be the first to tell you, I am FAR from perfect.

But when I heard this on the radio recently, and I actually listened to what the words were instead of singing along mindlessly, I was surprised.

You see, there are many many things people don't know about me. And it's going to stay that way. But let's just say for a moment that those lines that I "bolded" in the lyrics above were actually spoken by me. What would you do?

If someone you know, (and I can guarantee there is more than one person) thinks like that, the best thing you can do is try to prove them wrong. Tell them they are more than the choices they have made. Tell them they are more than the entire SUM of their past mistakes. Tell them they are more than the problems that they may create. And then, point them to Jesus. Show them how they have been remade. Because until that person comes to that realization, life just heads downhill. You can't change. You can't move. You just slowly die.

So what are you waiting for?