Who wouldn’t want to be a part of a group of people like that!  No wonder the church grew so rapidly.  It was such a “radically” different culture than any other that existed back then.

Sadly to say, today the church is so different and traditional that it no longer has that “natural” attractiveness.  We have succumb to gimmicks, methods, marketing, shows, and compromise to get people into the front door of the church.  We almost have to force ourselves or to gear up to attend church on a regular basis.  The first century church met everyday!  It was a highly relational culture that grew deeper every time they met.

I’m not sure what your past or current experience has been with the church, but all churches are not the same.  There are a lot of great churches today that really model the first century church.  I always say we need to be a first century church in the twenty first century!  I also know a lot of people have been hurt by a church or had the wrong perspective of how a church is supposed to function.  We just need to forgive and move forward.  What’s important is what we do from here.

If you haven’t been to church for a while, or been thinking about it, I want to encourage you to give it another shot and be open to new concepts and paradigms of the church. It really is an awesome place!

There is no doubt this is one of the toughest times we are living in. What makes it more difficult is the uncertainty we face everyday.

Uncertainty of our jobs, finances, home, and our future. But there is hope, we don’t have to be dismayed or despaired.

Here are a few positive benefits that we can all gain from living in uncertain times.

1. UNCERTAINTY BRINGS VICTORY

-God continues to use uncertainty to bring victory.

-GOD IS NEVER UNCERTAIN!

-Compared to the stories in the bible, it is never going to be that bad for us.There are countless stories where the outcome of their situation seemed impossible or uncertain.

God always came through miraculously and powerfully.

2. YOUR STORY IS GOING SOMEWHERE

-You are the main character in your story. Not some unknown extra in the background.

-God knows you by name and knows every detail of your situation. The ending is always awesome!

-Your story is going somewhere. It is going to help someone in the future as they look back at your story.

3. ZOOM OUT; NOT ZONE OUT

-See the bigger picture of what God is doing in your life and the areas He is trying to shape you in to prepare you for your next promotion and blessing.

-We need to give ourselves grace. Not take ourselves or life so seriously. Trust in God to give you direction.

-Remember one bad day, is just one bad day. The great days always outnumber the bad.

For instance:

365 days per year x 80 years (avg lifespan) =29,200 days of life

Even 1000 bad days, will still give you 28,200 great days of life!

-Put yourself in the best and safest place, which is in the Hands of God. His hands are good, His hands are perfect.

Hope this encourages and inspires you to not give up. Someone is depending on you greatly!

In our group there was a guy named Vernon who was unchurched but came out every Saturday to play with us.  He also wasn’t working consistently and I knew it concerned him because he already had two kids with one more on the way.  Life wasn’t going to well with him, plus all of the other dramas that were happening in his life.

As we developed a friendship and got to know each other better, he became comfortable enough where he started coming to church on Sundays.  He would bring his family with him which was really great.

A few months later he and his wife accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Now the whole family comes to church every Sunday including his mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and all of their children.

Since then, Vernon has shared a couple of times in church short messages in our morning service, landed a good job with steady hours, more pay, and a promotion in the near future.  A complete turn around and transformation in his life in only a few months.

Recently we were able to water baptize the whole family and do a small group meeting every week.  One of the most amazing things that happened this past Saturday was Vernon got baptized in the Holy Spirit and received the gift of tongues (spiritual language).  We prayed for him right in the park where we play basketball.  He didn’t care if all of the guys were watching or what they might think.  By the way we switched parks, now we average between twelve to fifteen guys every Saturday.

I was reminded again of the amazement of God and His power to do what He wants, when He wants,  anytime and anyplace.  I was really stoked for Vernon, you could see he was touched by the Holy Spirit in a very special way.

I am also discovering that to reach unchurched people effectively, just do what you enjoy doing, cultivate friendships, love the person for who they are and where they are at.  Jesus will take care of the rest in amazing, miraculous ways and move supernaturally even at a basketball court.

Ha, talk about a slam dunk!  Jesus dunked this one with all authority!

Remember, Discover Your Dream; Pursue It with Passion!

As I think back on the last 24 years of marriage and family, I thank God I did not give up or do something majorly stupid.   I did a lot of minor stupid things, some you gotta scratch your head and say “what the hell was he thing?”.   Thank God we were able to get through those times and recover.

Being a husband and father, roles I was never trained or educated to take on was pretty intense learning curve for me.   Times I wanted to quit, give up, runaway, sell the kids, change family, you get the idea.   Wow, wow, Holy Cow! (is there such thing as a holy cow?)

Presently our two daughters have graduated college, our older daughter has a major in business and a minor in Mandarin.  She currently works for a non-profit company in the funding department learning how to write grants.  Our younger daughter graduated in culinary, started a small catering business with her friend and eventually wants to open her own restaurant.  My wife recently started her Real Estate company and is doing pretty well for the condition of the economy.  We live in pretty nice place, central to everything (don’t have to fight the crazy traffic).  Our church continues to grow with a great young staff leading the way.

Who would ever know that all of these wonderful things could really happen and being revealed in miraculous ways.  It is even more radical if you knew our background and all of the hard times we had to endure.

I just want to encourage you that no matter where you’re at today, the mistakes you’ve made or about to make,  difficult past, negative voices…  THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Our past should never dictate our future.  What we go through in life is always in preparation for what’s up ahead.  Promotion, Provision, Prosperity, and an incredible Inheritance!

THE BEST IS YET TO COME… For Sure!

1. Freedom

2. Creativity

I remember as a child playing in our sandbox that our dad had built for us. I could stay in there for hours, playing with my Tonka toy trucks, bulldozers, cranes part of a huge construction project. Or playing with my army men, tanks, army trucks blowing up stuff, hiding in foxholes, shooting at the enemy. Those were great days.

I had the freedom to play whatever I wanted and create whatever scenario I wanted. Even building sandcastles was fun at times.

As we get older in life we are put into boxes (cubicles or offices) but I don’t know if it is as much fun. We still spend hours in these boxes, we don’t even have the freedom or opportunity to be creative. Is the money and sacrifice worth it?

The church is in some ways the same thing. We made this box that is supposed to fun, free, creative and at the same time have all of these rules and regulations. We even have specific times and days in which we are to experience the original purpose of the church.

I’m beginning to understand why the first century church met every day. It was dynamic, vibrant, thriving. There was no other environment like it in the world.

Very different from today, the 21st century. Its no wonder when you suggest meeting everyday like they did, majority of the people will go “whoa, cannot do that” it will infringe on my lifestyle. You can see it on their faces and feel their vibes.

The church as well as the marketplace needs to find what their sandboxes are for them. We are dealing with a generation that didn’t have the privilege of playing in their sandbox because of the one parent family and taking on adult responsibilities to help out.

I hope at least the church will be proactive for once (we are so reactive compared to the world) and create sandboxes for people to experience Freedom and be allowed to be Creative for the Kingdom.

eXpress their voice in a Raw & Uncensored way. (innovative808.com)

Get the message?

I’m both of those people.  I don’t mind working, I just don’t want to work so many hours in a day.

I can do more productive things if I didn’t have to work so much, like save the world from rude people, feed the full so they don’t become hungary, make the earth a greener place by spray painting everything green, recycle foam lunch containers by washing them and using it for the next person. (I was thinking of this idea as a business)

Just a few examples of the many things I could be doing if I didn’t have to work for a living.  Someone once told me “I work to live, not live to work”.  True that!  You feelin’ me yet?  Ha!

Whatever the case, I’m thankful that I have such an awesome calling and get to do it as a career.  Regardless of the stressful times, bad days, critisisms, persecutions, and back stabbings.  It is still the best job in the world.

I’m just trying to find a way where I can work just an hour a day and make a six figure income without to much effort from my mind or hands.  If anyone out there wants to help support my cause, I can help support yours with the extra free time and finances.

Don’t get down on yourself in this economy, it will get better like all of the other times.  Laugh, Live, and Launch… a blog or rotten egg!

These are just a few of the ways we can get a little anxious or worried about the end result of the situation.  Some people worry so much they end up in a panic attac or stress out!  Uncertainty is difficult to comprehend and accept.

I’ve been in many of those situations and still find myself in them til this day.  I don’t think it will ever stop, its just part of life.  Its what makes life interesting and keeps us being creative in resolving our situations to make us stronger as a person and leader if we respond the right way.

But do your know you don’t have to worry or stress out when you find yourself in a similar situation.  Whatever new endeavor you’re going through, discovering or entering in; remember this line:

“It may be new to you, but not new to God.”

In other words, God knows everything even before it happens or before its said.  The bible says He knows what you’re going to ask Him way before you decide to inquire or make your requests known.  God has all of the answers and direction preplanned and predestined for you.

Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

So why do we need to ask God for anything if already knows the situation?  Two important principles right off the top, first asking breeds humility.  It is an act of humility to ask for help, ask a question, or ask for something you need.  Second, asking takes faith.  You have to believe in a different result.  You risk being denied, ridiculed, wrong, labeled weak and many other comments people may make about you.

There is nothing new that God is unprepared for or suprised by any news or situation.  God has every answer to your problems, questions, directions.  Ask Him today, trust in His answers regardless of how radical they may be. 

I mean really who are you going to trust,  someone who has been around for 2000 years or yourself, which has been around how many years????

Most of the time I try to have a positive outlook and perspective knowing that it always works out and usually better than you would’ve imagined.   Honestly though some days it just sucks, you wonder how you going ever get through the day without cracking up or jumping off a two-story building.  (Ha! I to chicken to go any higher).

I have the tremendous privilege of  pastoring a church in Hawaii at a cool place called Dave & Busters.  It is a restaurant, lounge, video games, pool tables and nightclub.   I want to come with a positive message every Sunday without being fake or not being real about my own situations or struggles that I’m fighting in my own life.

One thing I know for sure is that as long as I wake up each day, I need to live it the best that I can.  Philippians 4:8 tells us what to focus our thoughts on to have peace in times like these.

Thanks for reading, any advice hollah back!

The egg in the nest is now cracked, what do we do now?  How will we ever recover from our economic shakedown?  Recoup the losses?  Get back to the normalcy in our lives?  Not allow worry to consume us?  Some of the questions we may all be asking.  The media are saying even violence and suicides may rise because of whats happening financially.

There is hope!  It is the same kind of hope that has been around for the last 3000 years.  A hope that is real and does not disappoint.  A hope in the one and only Almighty God.  Yup! God!

Unfortunately people have a lot of misconceptions of God.  Some good, some bad, religious, and non religious.  What ever the case, we need to acknowlege God is a real person that is alive and well today wanting everyone to turn to Him so He can help us especially in times like these.  With God, there is no confusion or mystery in finding solutions to our circumstances.  His timeless, proven principles have been around for the last 3000 years and have always worked!

God’s principles are forever solid and unshakable.  Pick up a bible and start reading today,  talk to a friend who knows God and can help you understand His love for you.

Whether it be memories, emotions, past experiences, artifacts (some worth more than others, other peoples trash is treasure to some), or just stuff.  It is a slow, subtle building up and piling up that happens day to day.  Until one day we look around and say “dang! where did all this stuff come from?” or “Man, I gotta lot of crap in my life!” (especially if you’re an infomercial junkie).  The anal-organized people like myself will say “I need to get organized” meaning,  I gotta clean up all the crap in my life or put’em on craigslist.

For some unexplained reasons we wait or procrastinate to clean up till we have a special guest or someone we want to impress is coming to see us.  But by this time it is either overwhelming or its going to take us hours to clean just to bring back some kind of normalcy.  The crazy thing is that after we clean, in a few weeks it is right back where we started.

On a physical level,  “Clean as You Go” means to throw away things you don’t need,  put things back where they belong, give away things you no longer want on a daily and weekly basis.  Monthly you can do a more thorough sorting, cleaning, and giving.  You will find that you’re not playing “catch up” everyday just to catch up!

But do you know that on an emotional level, we do the same things that we do with our stuff ?… we accumulate and let it pile up!  Some of the emotions, voices, or unpleasant memories we keep are from 20 years ago (for you younger peeps, 5 to 10 years ago).  We allow the false perceptions, lies, half-trues to clutter our minds and emotions, some even get deep into our soul.  There is a huge difference between true and truth, but because of the emotional clutter we accumulated,  we have a hard time discerning what is true or what is truth, what to believe, who to believe, what to keep, and what to toss.  It is overwhelming when change or transformation is needed.  We all need to change at some point in our lives.

If we choose to make “Clean as You Go” a habit on a emotional level, Life will become so much less complicated, stressful, and difficult.

When you apply this simple leadership principle “Clean as You Go” you can rid yourself of all the clutter that piles up in our life whether it be a physical, mental or emotional so we can truly enjoy life and the relationships around us without the extra weight or baggage, that we got so used to taking with us wherever we go.  That’s why you will notice you sometimes naturally react in a negative way in certain situations, old unpleasant emotions start to bubble up, and the very person you said you’ll “never become”, you are now that person.

We say we don’t have enough time to clean, but in reality we have time for partying, xbox, booty hunting, tv, eating or anything but clean because we don’t understand how it will hurt or bite us in the future.

You can Free Yourself today by taking a few simple steps:

1.  Take the time to cleanup and clean out all of the emotional stuff that you no longer need or want. Get rid of them!

2.  Ask someone close to you that you trust, to help you process to bring truth and a clearer perspective to some of your beliefs and life theories.

3.  Each day, “Clean as You Go” in all areas of your life so it won’t become overwhelming and a burden when the time comes when you “have to” do it.

When you have a chance check out my new in progress website:  revelation808.com

Til Next Blog if I don’t get Bogged,

PD (Daven Hee)

Going booty hunting now!