We have looked at Dreaming Big and Dream Killers now it’s time to look at Dream excuses. These are the excuses that come from our own hearts as we try to pursue our dreams. Here are a few.

1. “I’m not good at (Insert skill here.)” - When God called Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt Moses’ response was “I’m not good at public speaking”(paraphrase). God replied “I made your stinking mouth, I’ll make sure you can speak.”(Once again a paraphrase) Moses whined some more and eventually God said “Fine, I’ll send you brother with you to do all the talking, but you are still going.” So in the end Moses excuse was pointless.
2. “I don’t have enough (insert resource here)” - Whether it’s time, money, space, people, or whatever, God is bigger then any resource that you need. The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand went something like this. Disciples - “Jesus, send these people home so they can eat, we don’t have enough food for them.” Jesus - “How much food do you have?” D - “Five loafs of bread, and two fish, that’s not even enough for us to eat!” J - “Father Bless this food, amen. Here you go hand it out.” God can use the small amount of resources you have if you ask Him to bless it and trust His plan.
3. “I’m not good enough for this” - Simply put none of us are. Peter denied Christ. Paul murdered Christians. David was and adulterer and murderer. Noah was a drunk. If you feel unworthy then you are in good company.  Embrace it, be open about it, and trust God to make up for it.
4. “I’m comfortable where I am” - I can’t think of a specific example of this one, but I think it is the underlying issue in all of our excuses. We don’t want to get uncomfortable.

What excuses have you used? What excuses are using to delay a dream God has given you right now? Move past those excuses and into God plan for you

In continuing my thoughts on dreaming big, i wanted to talk about a few types of dream killers(people). You see whenever someone has a big dream there inevitably will be dream killers trying stop that dream from coming true. Here are a few of the big ones.

1. The Comfortable - These are the people who are in your life who are comfortable where they are at and know that your dream would upset their routine.
2. The Jealous - These people are the ones who have forgotten their dream or gave up on it. They are bound and determined to keep anyone else from achieving a dream so they can feel better about not achieving theirs.
3. The Rivals - These are people who have a similar dream to yours. They are similar to the jealous except their motivation is to be the only one succeeding at the dream. They may not be a rival in your eyes, but in their eyes you are a rival
4. The Doubters(a.k.a. The Skeptics) - They are the ones that don’t think it is possible to achieve your dream. Whether it is something they see lacking in you, your plan, or just the validity of the dream in general, they don’t hesitate to point it out to you.

How do you deal with these people when they stand in between you and your dream? What are some other types of dream killers(people).

Just wanted to let everyone know that my wife finally got her new blog launched the other day, thanks to a super special web designer, me. Anyway head over and check it out http://SpringLakeChristian.com

These are some of the things God has been putting on my heart to pray for the past few weeks:

• This guy and his family. I folow his church and have seen him lead worship, so he has been on my heart the past few weeks. Read this and you will see why I have been praying for him.
• Other churches. Specifically NewSpring, Elevation, and Lifechurch.tv. Also the pastors of those churches Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, and Craig Groeschel. These churches have had a big influence on me the past few years and I love reading these guys blogs. They have really encouraged me and forced me to grow with their wisdom and insight. If you haven’t read their blogs yet head over and check them out.
• My wife and her lupus. I am praying for God to heal her and give her relief from the chronic pain that comes with the disease.
• My little minions. I am always praying for them(as well as my wife), but really have been praying for them lately just in regards to their future.
• My new church.God has led us to a great church in the last month. It is less then a year old and the vision and passion God has given them for the lost is awesome. I am praying for wisdom and guidance in serving God and the church, and praying for vision and strategy for the leaders.

So those are some of the things God really laid on me in the past few weeks to be praying about. What are you praying about? I would love to hear so we can be praying together.

I was thinking a few days ago about some life lessons I learned from my dad and wanted to share some of them with you.

#1 Responsibility

When I was 10 or 11 I was really into hockey. No being that I lived in sunny, warm SoCal, ice hockey was not something that was available to me, so I played street hockey, but I loved watching the NHL (National Hockey League, which based upon their ratings i would venture you may not have heard of them ). Well back then the LA Kings had a certain guy named Wayne Gretzky, and they were a pretty good team. They had made the playoffs and were in a game 7 for the conference championship. Now, I don’t know how, but we somehow manged to get free tickets to the game. Needless to say I was stoked. (more…)

#5 Compassion
Yes I hate to say it but I can be an un-compassionate person every now and then, ok, ok, quite frequently. I do not always have the kind and caring thoughts when I come across situations or people. In fact sometimes my thoughts are down right mean. But that is not what God wants for me or my thought life.

#4 Patience
I have 6 kids, patience is something I need…. desperately. Unfortunately for my family it is something I struggle with. God is working on me though. I know one of these days he will perfect His patience in me. It is just simply a matter of how much I fight to hold on to my selfishness and anger. I am learning to give that junk up for His patience and peace.

#3 Purity
Well I am a man (surprise, surprise), so purity is a struggle for me. It has been a struggle in my life since I was young. I finally learned a few years ago that I can’t become pure. I can only rely on Jesus blood to purify me and keep me pure. It is a daily battle between my flesh and God’s will. Most days God’s will wins out, but every now and then my flesh sucker punches me when I am not looking. I am learning to deal with those days and instead of trying to recover from the punch and fight my flesh, I am learning to turn tail and run the other way, right into Jesus’ loving and forgiving arms.

#2 and #1 in the next few days.

Life is a constant state of learing. What is God wanting you to learn.