Tonight seems like a night for writing. I haven’t in a while (seems this is a constant start to my blog – note to self, blog more) and had some stuff on my mind relating to a song by Rudy Vaughn. While you may have never heard of him, his music tends to speak to the heart. Check it out at www.playchasemusic.com. Some of this post was also inspired by the movie “Morning Glory” as well. So here it goes (and as normal on this blog – these are thoughts strait from my head so if it isn’t as grammatical/polished as some other writings I ask you look past that to see how God wants to use it to speak to you – not to us but to HIM be the glory)

Have you ever noticed how much things on earth really don’t matter? Cars, houses, iPods and the like in the long run don’t really matter. While at a retreat that I went on a few weeks ago and we were talking about life as a rope. Our speaker had about 100 ft of rope and one of the ends was about 2 inches and frayed. He said that we live life making decisions based on the here and now (which in some context isn’t a bad thing) but we should be making choices based on eternity. It has started me on a journey of renewed focus.

I feel like for a while I have tended to make a few more decisions based on the frayed end of the rope. So often I used to chose the temporary over the eternal. Then I started to ask the question, why does it matter? Why does it matter if I have money, fame, status, popularity, or anything like that. I couldn’t think of a reason. I guess this is what it means to fully understand (again) what Paul says about throwing off all things so we can run to Christ. God is our focus and we should make it our focus to follow him no matter what.

I look back at life and see the times where I have chased the silver and gold in my life. Status I wanted to achieve, things I wanted to have happen and tried so hard to make work, but in the end I’m finding that following God matters the most. I replaced God with sliver and gold. Tonight while watching “Morning Glory” and listening to the song “Silver and Gold,” it served as a reminder that in the end, it will leave me empty and void. I will not be viewed by God in light of how popular I was, how high I was in a company or what things I started, but by how I loved others. How I loved God.

Admittedly, I’m not great at this. I don’t love as much as I want to love, I don’t care as much as I want to care, I don’t always give my all. I think we could all say this about ourselves but that doesn’t give us an excuse. I want to love others because I see them how God sees them. This means being there, helping them, calling them out in love (which is super hard to do if we don’t do it through the eyes of God).

I think we all have a relationship with God that has times where we end up a few feet (or more) off from where we want to be. In my own life I can see where I have focused more on the silver and gold instead of God. As silly as it is looking back, some of those things were my pursuit. I want to pursue God more than my silver and gold. I want to live sold out for him.

So where are you pursuing silver and gold? It takes many forms but at the root of it, silver and gold is anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God. The “I don’t have time for God” excuse doesn’t exist in a world where we put God above our silver and gold. I would rather go through life and only learn how to love God than anything else.

So lets make a change. Don’t just identify the problem but go after God with a new passion. We can walk this road together, we don’t have it together, we have to rely on grace but I pray that God would give us a passion for him like none other. A passion that doesn’t allow for anything to come before God.

I want more of God, and the point of this blog isn’t to tell you to pursue God because I am doing it and think you should. I just want you to think about it. Where can you pursue God deeper? How can you do this? Give it prayer and then go after it.

May God’s blessing be upon you.

Kyle

Wow what a few crazy couple of weeks. As I get ready to start school in a few hours I should probably be asleep but for some reason I can’t seem to make myself tired so I wanted to write. Writing has become something I enjoy more and more as of late. It’s so cool and I’m really excited about what is going on in my life personally and those around me. Where do I even start with what is on my mind. There really is no beginning or end, just random thoughts going through my head (so bear yourself for a nicely disorganized post ).

I’m pretty excited to be back up at Toccoa Falls College. While coming back up here means the return to school, I love being back in the mountains. I have already met a bunch of new people and gotten a chance to reconnect with some old friends. Of course, this transition has been a little rough because even though I can go back home, I now live a majority of the time up here. I had thought that moving back up would be easier the second time, but let me tell you it is not at all. Leaving my family has bee tough. Leaving the security of home is tough. Not nearly as tough as last year though. Don’t get me wrong, I love where I am, but as with anyone I still miss people back home.

I’m excited that Dive Deep is exploding in front of me. From favor on our ministry to potential partnerships, wow. A year and a half ago when God gave me the idea to start Dive Deep, I never ever thought the ministry would grow like this. It is a literal roller coaster ride and I am overwelmed by what God is doing. I not only get a chance to be front seat to watch what he is doing with the ministry, but also what he is doing in our staff. I don’t think words can convey what I’m feeling at the moment, but all I know is that God is driving and we are along for the ride. I think this feeling is the joy that we are told about in the Bible.

Have you ever felt like you can’t get enough of God? Like have you ever felt like you want so much more of God and have no clue where to start digging in? That is kindof how I am feeling at this season in my life. I want so much more of God. For a while I think I fell into a semi contentness (I don’t even know if that is a word) with my faith because I was unsure of what was around the next corner. I didn’t want to leave the safety net that I had constructed, but that all changed over the summer. My trust has been strenghthened and I am so hungry for God. I’m like a starving child who desperatly wants to be fed more and more. I want to be an all consuming fire and someone who lives out my life for God in everything. There is something vastly different in my heart and I think it is this hunger that is new to me. I have always wanted to grow deeper but never had this feeling. I can’t even explain it. I just want to sit at the feet of God and just be in his presence all the time.

Another thing I’m excited about is the new atmosphere I feel on campus. Last year this was a very dark place. The enemy had so many strongholds here that the presence of God was seemingly absent from this campus (I know He was here but we as a campus were not reflecting it). This year, its different and I know God is in it.

God, you know what your doing. We don’t. I don’t. I just know that I get to sit and be a part of it. Oh my brothers and sisters how I wish I could put into words how good this feeling that God has given me is. I want you to have it too. It is one of the best feelings in the world. It’s love, grace, peace, and joy all wrapped into one emotion.

I challenge you to go after this. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest searching your heart for area’s that you haven’t given God and give them up to him. Then just ask him what it is that he would have you do. I pray that you would experience this outpouring of the overwhelming since of God so that you could share it with others.

May God be with you and over you brothers and sisters. Thank you for your continued prayers and if there is anything I can pray for you about let me know.

To God be the glory,

Kyle

It’s funny how much I hear that phrase. I joke about it with the people around me, my family, my friends and even people that don’t know me. I actually don’t mind being called crazy and recently I have been thinking a lot about this in relation to faith. More than once I have heard someone tell me that I’m crazy for believing that or I don’t have a clue what I’m getting into.

As a Christian culture it seems like we don’t believe anything crazy. Somewhere along the line we decided that crazy wasn’t ok anymore. We had to fit into this stream where all the fish are the same. But I think we are mistaken. God doesn’t want a bunch of cookie cutter Christians.

In Revelation 3:16 we are told that:

“So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth”

God wants us to chose a side and I believe that this means we have to become crazy. So what exactly does that mean for us? It means that we believe in the God who does miracles. We believe that HE is in control. That HE is love and loves EVERYONE and wants for all to be saved. We have to be willing to believe that with God we CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS.

But belief is not where it stops. We have to actually DO something. This means that if we want to do something that will glorify God, maybe something like feeding a whole family or sending a card to someone, we don’t need to wait for God to say yes or no, we need to do it. We have to being living like we are crazy and take risk. We have to be willing to love those who no one else does, with no return for ourselves. We have to begin to do things because we can, not because we get something. If we were to become a people that give to others that could never ever give back to us, then maybe we would all become crazy.

Dare to be different. Dare to do something so crazy that the world turns their head. If we begin to do this, we will begin to see a change in our world.

On another note, Dive Deep Ministries (the organization I am blessed to lead) is getting ready to launch into a year that is all about giving ourselves away in a bigger way that we are able to and more than we can get in return. I would love for you guys to check it out because it is going to be awesome. But hey, why wait?

“Risk more than others think is safe, Care more than others think is wise, Dream more than others think is practical, Expect more than others think is possible.

Dive Deep,

Kyle