Real

Hey bloggers,

well today was a wonderful peaceful Sunday... and then I was called into work, Oh well... all is well, I am still living, even after changing garbages -multiple times-.

Anyway, what I have been praying for a lot lately is realness, and when I say it like that I guess it kind of sounds funny, so bear with me.

I think what I mean is I am praying to "be and not to do."

I feel like sometimes we try to do all these things to make us seem like an awesome person, or a cool Christian, or our train of thought is, "hmm... maybe, if I start these hobbies, and dress like that, people will think I am a really neat kid", when the fact is, God already made us this really cool person; A person who is neat and funky, and who has there perks that no one else can offer. The things that we go through in life, shape and mold our characters into the extreme creature that God wants us to be. I don't know why, but for some reason that was just on my heart on the way home from Work.

Be satisfied, be proud, be happy with what You are, and if that's a challenge embrace it.

All I can do is keep breathing,

Colton

DRIVE

I just had an incredible drive home from work. I really just couldn't stop smiling and laughing at it dawned on me. Praise isn't going to God during a worship service and waiting for Him to touch You, or for Him to heal you, or for Him to do anything, really. It's just that, to give Him Praise. It's what WE do, and when we come with our genuine hearts, just wanting to show and scream and sing and dance our love to Him, we are, I don't know... really praising Him.

Just a thought. Here are two songs by Kim Walker, the lyrics are cool but the songs are even better. Look them up!

"Can I have more of You" ---

I give up trying to earn Your love,
I just look above, up to You.
My desire is to see Your fire,
Growing even higher than before.

God I need You right next to me,
For my heart to be satisfied.
I decide how I live my life,
I've made up my mind, I'm livin' for You

Because You are good, beyond measure,
My heart longs to give You pleasure.
You fulfill all my longing,
And all my life I will sing:


God I love You and all You do,
Your joy lives inside and does me good,
Can I have more of You?
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
Oh, my God, You never let me down,
Can I have more of You?

and...

"I asked you for life." ---

I asked You for life, and You sent your son to die for me.
I asked You for hope, You came in the night and gave me a dream.
I asked You for freedom, You broke every chain and gave me the keys.
I asked You for love never-ending and every day You surround me!


And now my faith in You is a mountain that can't be shaken,
Now my strength is found in You, it is joy that can't be taken!

Praise spills from my lips, flowing onto the feet of You, my King.
You deserve all the love and all the honor that I can bring!

Here is my song, here is my heart, here is my love, all for You, Jesus!

Holy, Holy, only You are worthy!

Still smiling,

Colton

Alive to Live

HI-YAH!

So, I am feeling much more... what's the word? Not tired? Needless to say, I slept for 12 hours.

Anyway, last night was excellent at youth group. We talked a lot about Martyrs. People were really interested. The fact that was brought up was, there are so many people willing to die for Christ, and some of us aren't even willing to Live for him. BA BOOM! There is a splash of cold water on the face - wake up call. With that we led into Romans 12, fitting into our own culture without even thinking. You could tell everyone was hungry for God to pour down. So many prayer requests. I just can't help but feel a sense of family growing, especially with the girls, they have such a powerful desire to advance further in their maturity with Christ. And the guys are craving so much to break temptation and chains of sin. It's incredibly empowering to think of even after the fact.

Later in the evening I was talking to my pastor a lot about passion, and my day with my teachers, and just where my heart was. Actually, I am headed to work soon so I am going to count this next part as my blog for tonight.

My pastor and I were talking about Abraham, and how God made him give up his passion, which was his son, when Abraham willingly said, Yes God, I will give you my son, I love you that much, that is when God gave his passion back to him. He let Abraham have his son, but not until Abraham put him on the Altar. So I was kind of thinking about that, and how maybe God was showing me that? I think sometimes we get really set on the success that WE will see, for ourselves. Will people know our names? Will people remember us after we die? Will we make a massive impact? When we think these things our passions turn into plans for success for ourselves and not for God. Of course, God fixes that. So, take that thought for what You will. I am still working on it.

Another thing that we talked about was how this Western World has this outlook that if you are having an incredible walk with God, you are not allowed to be sad, or upset, or tempted. Not true. God says in His word that we will go through stuff like that, and Romans even says that if our friends are upset, be upset with them and comfort them. We talked about that for a while, and I don't know how, but I made the connection of being too serious with life. We have this one life, so have fun. god is not a completely serious guy, He invented comedy, He invented dancing and singing, and everything that makes us happy. It is Satan who has turned all these amazing gifts of joy into sin. So let's take those gifts back, they were here for us initially to have fun with, so let's have fun. Let's not be all stuffy and feel like we are glued down into a law of doing this and this and this in order to get into heaven. That is a load of *crap*, it is about a personal relationship -- directly from you, straight up, to your best friend. And your best friend wants you to live having the time of your life. We are alive to live, to have fun. WOO, feels good.

Another side note of what my pastor and I were talking about last night... when Satan reminds us of our past, we should remind him of our future.

Haha,

Colton

Just a Note

Hey guys, I am super sleepy.

So I shall blog about tonight tomorrow morning, make sure to check out what I wrote this afternoon, still can't get over it. :)

Night guys,

Colton.

YES!

So, usually I blog at the end of the day, but something so cool happened at school today that I will blog twice today.

Out of nowhere at lunch time I felt the need to go to the music room and play piano. I get up there and my teacher is in the room. He says He was looking for me, which was funny, because I kind of felt the need to just talk to him, for no apparent reason. We got talking about my passions, my desires. He dug deep into things that were bothering me, and what really holds me back, what I am lacking, what I am gaining. Basically pulled at my soul in a perfect way. We kept talking about God, and another teacher of mine came in, the three of us just felt like thee guys talking and sharing about God and what we were feeling. In the end of it we were all crying and praying. Haha, I was late for my fourth period, but it was so worth it. It's funny because lately I have really been feeling destroyed for some reason, just not peaceful, and at school, a place where I usually feel terribly alone, I had a totally incredible experience.

There is so much more I could say but I just want to praise God for that, He REALLY does take care of us, and puts people to help us out, in the strangest, but BEST places. I feel like I have a new best friend who can help me out at school now, my teacher! Haha

Well, I am headed to youth group soon. I am so pumped, something amazing is going to happen. I will fill you in when I get home. Pray.

"I want to take You away, let's escape into the music..."

-Colton

I choose You

So, ever have one of those times in your life when you feel like because of everything around You, You are getting drained, You just want to sleep, You're tired of trying? It seems like lazy is your middle name?

Well I think it's safe to say that at points We all go through that season, everything just seems that much more difficult. So I was thinking this, being lazy and tired, then this verse came into my path.

Romans 13: 14 ---

Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Fine then! I guess that's as straight forward as it gets. Haha, the fact that I got an answer to what was on my mind is pretty sweet. But what's cooler is the timing, just when I feel like I want to sleep and not wake up, I get this. Ha, He is good.

You know, people really wear you down. That is a fact of life, nobody is perfect, therefore You can't be with someone every second of everyday and not feel the drain it's taking on your body. School is the same, I feel like my energy is being sucked directly out of my system. Thoughts take their toll. Then I think back to that verse we read yesterday...

Romans 12:11 ---

Don't burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame.

It seriously all comes down to that doesn't it? Make sure you get take that time to be set aflame, and I am starting to realize that it takes more than one shot a day. Know what I mean? So, pray for a recharge, and opportunity to find the time and place to do so.

I guess what's really on my heart lately is giving up when the going get's tough. You just can't do it, no matter how tired I am, I can't do it. I'll get nowhere. God gives us days to relax, so let's use them. He'll look after us, keep that faith. When it gets tough you are doing something right, don't give up and you will come out of the fire that much stronger and brighter, and THAT is the desire of my heart. We will come out refined.

So there we go...

Hey bloggers, want to pray? Youth group is tomorrow night, and the kids are on fire, pray for another encountered, we want to see and feel God's extravagant love.

Break me down God,

Colton

Smiling.

Hey Guys,

So I am home and it feels beyond good. A couple things that were really penetrating my soul while I was away. I had been talking a lot about passion, and how my passion had changed or drifted, I saw a different side of that on this trip. I remembered how much I loved to dance, and perform. I think I was resenting it because of all the things that I didn't like that didn't go along with it. I was talking to a couple of friends of mine about this. One said that I have to combine my passions to be truly happy. I feel like that is a phenomenal truth, and stands strong for anything and anyone. Why settle in this life for anything other then the complete passions God has placed in our lives. Of course, be sure that they are there, and that they are God driven, but don't be afraid of something because of past experiences. See, last year I went through a long rough time, and that is when I flourished in the dance part of my life, it makes sense that I related those two moments together. However now that God has taken me to new heights of clarity I can still use that passion, just in a different, and much more successful way. I feel at peace with this. I know God has something great in store, and I trust Him. I know where my heart is, and I also know He will satisfy it beyond anything I can imagine.

Now, on another note, I was reading this morning and I was so excited, it was time in my schedule to read my favourite chapter, possibly in the entire bible.

Here it is.... I think it speaks for itself. It really is just so... man, I love it!

Romans 12

Place Your Life Before God ------

^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

³I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

^4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvellously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

^6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.

^9-10Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

^11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

^14-16Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.

^17-19Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."

^20-21Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Let the light of your face shine down on me, and let me feel it. I want to feel you, the favour of Your face. Bless me,

Colton.