ImNoBetterThanU

     I have been consistently pursuing a healthier lifestyle for several months now. This includes but is not limited to: healthier eating, more exercise, more rest, and more "me" time. Aside from just feeling better, my primary motivation is to have better health in general for Andrew's sake. I know the time will come when I will get to spend more time with him and I am not getting any younger. I want the precious time I do get with him to be the best it can be. If he wants to go to the park for four hours I want to be able to "hang" with him. As he gets older he will likely get into other sports or active lifestyle hobbies and I want to be able to do those things with him.      The progress I have seen in 2014 has been tremendous. It is a direct result of my dedication and consistency. This is also helping my finances, the gym comes out to approximately a dollar a day and so I can redirect money from other "entertainment" activities to chip away at...

    Recently I spent an entire month reading 1 John 1 through 3 John 1:15 every day. I also now put the books/chapters I am reading each month on my iPod and have them play on repeat while I sleep. In typical Jeremy fashion, I digress...      Some of my favorite verses out of those three books are 1 John 1:5-7 . Oftentimes I think we read through the bible just as you do the newspaper or a magazine article. The thing is all scripture is God breathed and is living! So what do these verses mean?      I believe they are talking about our lives when no one else is looking. Or the way we live with our circle of friends when not in public view. If you live differently at these times you are walking in darkness; hiding from the light. This is why it is so important for us to be careful of who we spend majority of our time with. Am I saying we should only hang around other Christians all the time? Absolutely not. It is the great co...

     So last Thursday kicked off the Alpha Summit 2012  at Gateway Church . To me, personally, this is more than just an annual conference. I was raised in the church and was on fire as a youth. I went to Peru doing missions and was all about sharing the gospel message and introducing others to Christ our Lord. Then as much a cliché as it is; I went wayward as the prodigal son had centuries before me. However, it was on May 15, 2009 (during the first Alpha Summit conference) when Pastor Robert Morris  spoke, that I surrendered my life to the Lord. I decided that evening to stop smoking, stop living out actions of sexual immorality, surrender my pride, and die to self. It was the most important evening of the last fifteen years of my life. I have grown much since then and fallen at times as well.      In the last couple weeks I have picked myself up and brushed myself of and I am on the journey once again. Then came Alpha Summit. A...

     Last night at VII  Pastor Stephen spoke on deceit. A powerful message...      I would like to think of myself as a man of integrity and actually would pride myself on my integrity. However, as you can likely tell from my recent posts I have struggled with some sin over the last few months. I rationalized my blogging about my struggles as my "confession". The thing was I was being disobedient whereas I clearly heard God telling me to go to pastoral leadership to confess these things. I had avoided it by going to other leaders in the church. Well today I finally did it! I actually confessed it all to two pastors and last night to other leadership in the church and I have to tell you James 5:16 is in full effect. I am hundreds of pounds lighter. In fact just two hours before I began writing this someone at church came up and said, "you look great!". He then went on to tell me he could tell something was not right in my heart an...

     So I realize I have not posted in here in several months. Other than some poetry a few weeks back. I assure you it has not been out of a lack of desire. Writing is so therapeutic and and I enjoy sharing whereas I know God may choose to use my writing to impact someones soul in a positive manner. I also realize when I was posting more often I was in a rough season showing true transparency on here. Well, you will be happy to know a renewed season of hope and joy followed those posts.      Now onto present day life. Over the better portion of the year 2011 I have felt fantastic. My ministry to youth has exploded in so many ways and the best part is it has been effortless on my part. By making proper choices and being obedient God has done all the work. I am also physically healthier than I have likely ever been in my life which is incredible considering my past of sexual immorality, drugs, and alcohol. I find the link between our Spirits, minds, and bo...

Are you a talker? ...or are you a thinker and a doer? I think oftentimes we talk a lot about what others are doing and how great that is? I also believe that oftentimes we talk about what we are going to do and do not do it. You may feel led to go pray for someone for healing. Do you do it? I know recently I was talker...and that was all I did. I can personally tell you of an instance where I was a talker and not a mover and shaker. Now with this being common in our society you may be asking what the big deal is. Well for me, at this time in my life I feel that I am to be going boldly out into the world to be a part of the walking revival that is taking place. What revival you ask? Well, if you know me personally that is all the more reason that I should be doing my part! I sincerely feel that I am being called to be much more bold in my life in reference to not only sharing the gospel, but simply showing Christ's love to everyone I come in contact with. Just earlier th...

Lies, deceit, secrets, deception... I think we can all agree that none of the aforementioned are going to lead to any positive progression in our lives. Yet we are human and our fleshiness will lead us all there at some point in our life. The key is moving on past it; not allowing those times to drag you down. You must also make a choice to turn your life around (repent) and stop those actions. You must realize that regardless of what you have done in the past you can be free and live the life you were designed to live. Oftentimes people believe that because of their past that they can never be a part of any kind of ministry or make a positive difference in the lives of those around them that they come in contact with. That is a complete and total lie. In biblical historical times David is viewed as one of the greatest men of his time; and throughout all of history to this day. However, go read 2 Samuel 11-12 . A mighty man of God, a...

Let me start by telling any and all readers happy new year. So December was a truly rocky month for me emotionally, spiritually, physically, psychologically, and physiologically. What? You think I am a mess? Well, we all are if you want to be honest with yourself. One thing I can say is that over the last year I have made huge strides to being more healthy in all the aforementioned areas and I am. However, life is a continual process of progressive sanctification and I am aware of that. I know that at this time last year and especially just 18 months ago I was doing drugs, getting drunk often, and very promiscuous to top it all off. Well, thankfully I can say those  days are behind me, but now time to work on resolving other problems...again this growth should be  progressive.  This brings me to an issue with which I have gotten much better than I was, say fifteen years ago yet still need some work in this area. Whereas my i...

I have to be honest...more often than not I do. What will it take for us to learn? Personally, I believe I need another trip to a third world country as I did when I was 13 and I went to Peru. We get caught in this fictitious reality that the world is as WE see it. We have to realize that in the time you will read this post someone died from lack of clean water, someone else is waking up in their home because it is raining on them due to having no roof, someone else is being beaten (possibly to death) because they chose a religious view contradictory to what their government feels is "acceptable"... All of this being done while companies and organizations that could help to solve and/or eliminate these problems spend millions (and some billions) of dollars advertising in hopes of making more profit. It simply does not make sense to me....but some of you will say "who cares". I do... Additionally, while you are reading this there are Americans  putting their lives o...

I sit back and watch. It pains me at times but I know that life is full of tests and one thing that only we control of ourselves is our integrity. I also know that trust, whereas it takes time to build, can be completely taken away and removed in seconds. That is why I continue to be "that guy" at work. You know the guy many people talk about and call a brown noser? Why do they call me that? I can tell you why. Because, I do what I am paid to do. I show up to work on time. I actually work while I am there. I do not take excessive breaks, lunches, or meaningless trips to the printer/copy machine. I do not take personal calls (nor give out my work number). I do not email on personal matters at work. Nor, do I surf the net while at work.  ...and this all makes me some sort of a freaky nerd? Tell you what I will gladly accept that label.  One thing that consistently shows at EVERY place I have ever been employed is that my performance and results are among the leaders every ti...

I think that when people call in to an organization for assistance in reference to a matter; they instantly assume that the person that answered the phone is the cause of all their problems in life. Sure it is a major pain to call in using your valuable time, sit on hold, and then have to explain your entire story to the representative that is there to assist you.  However, you should not scream, yell, cuss, and/or argue with the aforementioned individual there to assist you. Keep in mind, that that individual is a consumer just as well and has likely experienced the same issues that you are dealing with. Additionally, it is possible that this individual has likely never (I repeat NEVER) heard of you, seen your account, or even had the slightest knowledge of your existence prior to answering your phone call.  I would also bet my annual salary that there is a 90% (probably higher) chance that the person at which you are dealing out incomprehensible amounts of hate and anger had nothing ...

Well, here we are. My first blogoversary! I figured with this I should begin writing again. It has been far too long since I have regularly posted entries in here.  Well the last year was definitely filled with all kinds of change, adversity, etc.  January:  at the time I began writing in this blog I was just coming out of a state of pretty severe depression that was a result of a time in my life of obfuscation. I had never experienced depression before (whereas I am a predominantly happy go lucky kind of person) so it took me a while to even figure out what was wrong within myself. During that time I also began consistently experiencing migraine headaches that would last days. It was what some would call a low-point in my life. The turn around began when I flew into Texas for the holidays. I was able to visit my mother and sister and try to get my thoughts worked out. It worked...I went back to my home in Virginia after the holidays with a new sense of motivation.  February:  I decide...

This entry is something I came across that I thought I would share. I am sure it is nothing you have not heard before but still great information... "I can't believe you think I said that," I complained to my wife. "I was simply trying to explain that I don't have the same feelings about that issue as you do." Her response left little empathy for my position because of the tone in which I responded to her. We resigned ourselves to agree to disagree. We all see things through our own set of glasses at times. Men view things differently than women. Bosses see things differently than employees. One ethic group will see a situation totally different than another. Our life experiences, our past treatment of circumstances and our personalities all contribute to how we view situations in daily life. Perception is often each person's reality whether that reality is true or not. Your perception of a situation is going to dictate your response more than the actual...

I want to challenge you all today to make yourself aware of your surroundings. No I am not tripping on acid; just stay with me here. Really tune in and focus on everyone around you today. Keep track of how many excuses are made by individuals. Maybe a co-worker was late to work, maybe your spouse forgot to run an errand for you, or maybe you did not go to the gym (again) and make excuses for your self. The possibilities are endless as I am sure you can imagine. Anyway...my point is this; I think we will all realize (and further affirm) that excuses are abundant in our lives. How we got to this point with such a lack of accountability is beyond me. It is like the old saying about the frog. Throw him in boiling water and he will fight and jump to get out. Put him in cool water and slowly turn up the heat he will swim around gleefully until well done. I think this is how our society has gotten to where it is because the change has been so gradual over several decades. I digress... What we...