New Journey

This past Wednesday, I embarked down the road of my latest journey….that’s becoming healthier. It was strange the way I was finally pushed down this road. Early Wednesday morning, around 4:30, Breana woke us up saying she threw up in her bed. Well while Simone was tending to her, Jacob woke up. He was adamant in not going back to sleep. So around 5:15, I could hear this voice that I have learned to listen to and trust, telling me it was time I started to lose some weight. Without arguing, I began to pack a bag and headed to the gym. Once I got to the gym, I glanced at the time and asked myself “why are you here”? It wasn’t a question that would lead to me talking myself…yes that sounds strange, bare with me…out of going to the gym, it was a self awareness question. In other words what are my motives for finally getting my ole busted self to the gym, why now?

Lately I have felt my body change a little. I know my metabolism is supposed to be slowing down the older I get, but for the last 2 months my metabolism has done the opposite. I have more energy, my mind is sharper, and my strength is like it was 5 years ago. So with all of the physical changes, I believe it was time for me to take advantage, I mean who knows how long this is going to last. So normally the day after I return to the gym from a lengthy sabbatical, during my work out I feel sluggish and rusty. Wednesday it felt like I hadn’t missed a day. I warmed up on the stationary bike for 10 minutes, did my cardio workout on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes, and then did 100 sit ups and 50 leg lifts!! I was like where in the heck did all this energy come from?

So Thursday morning when I woke up to go to the gym for day 2, I was expecting reality to hit me like a ton of bricks…..nope, same results, same energy. Now don’t get me wrong, my body was sore, but nothing like I expected. I have the strength and energy to push through the soreness and get the task done. I haven’t felt like this in years!! My long range goal is to lose 20 pounds by the 2^nd week of June. My immediate goals are to lose 2 pounds a week.

So to answer my question to myself “why am I here”, why am I now finally at the gym with the intentions of losing weight? What will be different about me sticking to this goal? To tell you the truth it’s a combination of things. With my body feeling good, and my mind sharper, my motivation comes from my brother, who has battled his weight and now looks like a beast!! He is a living testimony that if you put your mind to something and stay dedicated and disciplined, you can accomplish your goals. He now weighs under 200 pounds for the 1^st time in like 15 years, and I’m proud of him!!

So now my journey begins, I hope in 6-8 months I too can blog saying I weigh less than 200 pounds for the 1^st time in 10 years.

Join me in this journey, leave words of encouragement, give me your inspirational story, and challenge me to continue pushing forward with my goals!

Engage 2011 Part 3

There is something special when another human being tells you that you are doing a good job. I mean they are just words, but they go a lot further than just our ears, they travel to our hearts!! We experienced this Monday night while at Engage….but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Monday morning was just about as beautiful as you can get when it came to the temperature and cloud cover. If I remember correctly, when I walked out of the cabin around 7am Monday morning, the temperature was around 39 degrees. I mean absolutely beautiful!! Before we all gathered to eat breakfast some of the guys decided to get in a quick game of football. The guys quickly found out that I was quicker, could catch the football, and could also throw the football way better than they assumed I could.

After breakfast we got a kickball game together where it was the boys against the girls. Needless to say the boys pulled out a close…..yeah right….victory. During which, Julian managed to kick the ball into Michele Martinez’s head….only Julian could pull off something like this!! After kickball we got another games of football on, which was very fun and exposed my lack of agility. We then ate lunch and had some free time.

During free time some people choose to swim while others choose to walk like 5 miles around the entire state park. I choose to walk the 5 miles and look at the scenery. I enjoyed the conversation of the students along with being in the presence of God while admiring nature.

There was dinner and then God started moving. Right before we ended worship on Monday night, Ana told me she felt like God was saying he wanted to heal some people right then and there. It was the confirmation I had been looking for. I did a brief teaching on community and how we need each other. How we don’t have to fight this fight by ourselves. But that wasn’t the best part.

Everybody wrote their names on a slip of paper then placed that slip of paper in a hat. Then we passed around the hat again and picked names. The name you picked you had to write a letter of encouragement or what you see God doing in that person’s life.  Everyone was given 30 minutes to write their letters. Then we met back up in the cabin and exchanged letters. Besides the birth of my two kids, this was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. The community that I had just told them about was thrown through the window, they were genuinely loving on each other….it was amazing!!!

Afterwards we worshipped and God began to heal people just like he wanted to. Students were praying for each other, challenging each other, encouraging each other….again, beautiful!!!!

Some students came to Engage with a bunch of hurts, scars, and excess baggage that God wanted to take from them.

Some came with their own agenda’s, to get away from all the drama, problems, and stress of everyday ordinary life, but ultimately God’s plan for these students broke in on the here and now.

Some students left Engage free…closer to each other….and closer to God, which was the reason and goal for Engage. Engage was an awesome retreat, but just as God could be felt in Hattiesburg, MS, he can be felt while in the classroom, or workplace.  We must strive to make sure that God is in the correct place in our lives, and that is at the center, with everything, every hobby, every concern, revolving around him.

Community, God's presence, football, kickball, 5 mile walks.....now I call that living in the here and now!!

Engage 2011 part 2

I ask myself all the time, why do I find myself calling out to God when it is a convenient time or situation. Why do I sometimes find myself calling out to God only when I feel I need Him the most. Then I find myself saying, wouldn’t it be easier if God was an active part of my live everyday life? If I was dwelling in God’s presence every minute of every day, when I’m at work, or at home with my wife and kids, or hanging out with some friends at a Hornets game, wouldn’t that be easier, wouldn’t that make more sense? Instead of throwing up a desperate prayer to God, then feeling guilty after, knowing I should be making Him the center of my life. Instead of having a God box and a work box and a friends box and a hobbies box….you get the picture….we have one box, where God is the center and everything in our lives revolve around Him.

This is what Chantal talked about last Sunday night while at Engage. About how we limit God and do we believe that miracles can happen today. She then challenged the students to stop talking about how the world needs to change, and start changing the world….Love God, love others!!! She talked about how God is still moving and speaking, but we have to be ready to move and listen.  She talked about how we need to be ready to tell people why and how we love and follow Jesus. How we may be the only representative of Jesus some people may encounter, and we have to be ready.

A lot in a 15-20 minute gathering….isn’t it? These are issue we will struggle with for the rest of our lives!! But the way Chantal made these issues practical and tangible, I think is what stuck to the students. It wasn’t communicated in a condemning way, she didn’t talk down to the students, she was trying to figure this deal out and process it with them. It’s like we were a part of her message. We felt that she too is figuring this out and at the same time challenging us to figure it out with her. We were invited into a journey with her. Now if you have heard Chantal teach, the girl can teach!! But on this night, she wasn’t teaching, it was a personal story, it was real, it was from the heart.

Some people that night made a choice. They weren’t going to limit God to a box. They were going to let Him permeate their everyday ordinary lives. It was awesome to see the student make this decision!! It lead to awesome small group discussion, which was initiated by the students, which set the bar for all day on Monday.

Man the stories about what happened on Monday……….

That’s for another blog!!!

Engage 2011 part 1

This past Sunday, we had the privilege of taking some mind blowing adult leaders and some awesome students to Paul B Johnson State Park, which is around 10 miles south of Hattiesburg, MS, for our 1^st ever spring retreat called Engage. The purpose of the retreat was for students to “disconnect” from their everyday lives, and engage God and each other, returning home refreshed and refocused.

Planning for an event of this nature takes approximately 6-8 months. So we started planning for Engage in early August 2010. At first it was difficult to find a place for us to “retreat” to. Then we stumbled upon Paul B Johnson State Park. It was a good location because it was a 2 hour ride from church, and plus it’s the woods….the woods are awesome!! So needless to say a lot of planning went into Engage, but it all slapped us in the face the week leading up to Engage. That’s normally when things hit you in the face, weddings and graduations to name a few. So as we worked like busy little ants, I was amazed that I hadn’t lost my “shalom” yet.

So as Sunday March 6^th rolled around, we were ready. We loaded up the school bus we normally use for all events, and met in the youth room for a “rundown” of Engage. Just looking at the students all in one place, I knew God wanted to do some amazing things. So we spelled out some brief rules and expectations and before long we were on our way to Engage.

While traveling north on interstate 59, we ran into our first snafu. The lovely Ms. Pam’s van tire blew out. So we turn the school bus around to see what we could do for Ms. Pam. As we were driving towards her I was thinking “great, our very 1^st Engage and this is how it’s going to start”!! I could hear my wife's, Simone, words ringing in my head…Grant you are so pessimistic!!! Maybe it was God convicting me….who knows!! But I made a decision, this is not going to set the tone for this retreat. This will not be the “staple” of this trip!! So we arrived, changed her flat, and we were back on the road in about 20-30 minutes. I could feel God while changing Ms. Pam’s tire….He was with us….because He isn’t some “thing” on a list, He is a life that we live!!

So we finally get to the park and I mean the view from the cabins were beautiful…they were right next to a lake. We unload the bus, get in our cabins, and wait for dinner.

After dinner was the gathering, good worship lead by Emily Martinez, then a good message by Chantal Trosclair……..

But that’s for another blog!!!!

A check list or a way of life?

Priorities…

As many of you may know, the other night we had to bring Breana to Children’s Hospital because she was running a 103.9 fever and her pulse rate was close to 140 beats per minute.

As Simone talked the aftercare hours nurse, I was checking her temperature and pulse again. I already had a settled that if Breana’s temperature reached a certain degree, we were taking her to the hospital despite what the Doctors said. That number was 103.5. Well needless to say when I took that thermometer out of her mouth and it was 103.9, I didn’t have to think to hard or too long, we were taking her to the hospital.

So I scrambled to my phone to call my mom and let her know we were going to bring Jacob over for her to watch and why. As my brain was working and processing all the different things that were going on, we were already in the van dropping off Jacob. At that point all I was concerned with was getting my daughter who was suffering to the hospital in a quick and safe manner.

I remember driving the van and all the thoughts were racing through my mind. What is wrong with Breana? Man what if her temperature spikes even higher, are we ready to deal with whatever the hospital finds? What if the hospital says she has some incurable illness, how will we deal with that?

I remember pulling up and dropping Breana and Simone off at the entrance of Children’s Hospital then parking the van. We sat in the ER waiting room for what seemed like hours. As the minutes passed I found myself focusing on one thing and one thing only….Breana’s well-being.

All the problems and deadlines and situations from the day stood still as I gazed at my daughter lying in the arms of Simone, in a very still, very motionless state. All I cared about was getting the best treatment, if that was even necessary, for our daughter.

But as I sit now and reflect on that, I also find myself falling back and reflecting on my relationship with God. Do I view God as just a priority? Is God 1^st on some list, and if I don’t spend a certain amount of time studying and serving and talking and praying to God….is He not a priority in my life?

I had an awesome conversation about this very subject with a friend a couple weeks ago. For all my life I had to put God as #1 on my list of priorities and make sure that I had my quiet time with Him and read my Bible and did my devotionals. And if I didn’t accomplish all those things every single day, at a moment’s notice God could, if He chooses, to smite me.

I find myself moving from a priority list, to a life style where God is at the center, the core of my life. He is not just some item on the top of a list; He is intricately woven in my everyday ordinary life. I feel just as connected to God when I am playing with my kids and having a conversation with friends as I am when I am reading and study and preparing for a weekend message.

So is God a priority in my life? Absolutely…but He also gave me a beautiful family, awesome friends, a love for football, and a BBQ pit, which I love grilling on!! I think….now continue to follow me here…I think that when God is the center of our lives and we don’t stick Him in a box under the bed, we don’t have to worry about prioritizing God, we are living out of the life that Jesus displayed for us when He walked this great earth.

So when we were in the ER waiting room, isn’t it possible that at that very moment we were spending time with Jesus. We were concerned and caring for our daughter, a daughter that God Himself gave us and entrusted us to rise up and be a follower of Jesus?

I do believe so….I could feel His presence, in the midst of my concerns and crazy thoughts of what could be doing this to my daughter, I could hear Him saying, I am with you Grant, do you trust me? And when I said yes Lord, I trust you, even at this moment….I believe Jesus was at the center of my life, He was no longer some item on a list…..

Priorities…..