Stand Out

Have you ever noticed how some people tend to stand out in a crowd? They will walk into a room and everyone just seems to notice, "there's something different about them, I don't know what it is, there's just something." That something is almost always an inner fire that exudes from them to the point where it's contagious. It's contagious because when you stand next to a fire, you feel warmth. If you get close enough to the fire, you'll even catch on fire yourself. The reason everyone notices that person that stands out in a crowd, is because people want that fire too. They want the person on fire to talk to them, to notice them, to warm them, to get that same fire. Most people don't seek out the fire. They stand there, waiting for the fire to come to them. Waiting for the one person that has that fire that they so desperately want, but are too afraid to find out how they got it in the first place. Dare to stand out, to be different, to be yourself. Be that person that stands out in a crowd, be the person that people want to be around. Lift people up. Encourage them. Ignite them. Make them want what you have. It doesn't matter how wet their wood is, your fire will dry them out until they catch on fire too.

Celebration

If a funeral is the celebration of the passing of a life, then that must make a sunset the celebration of the passing of a day. Some days (and lives) are better spent than others, some have great significance, some have the potential to be significant, but never quite live up to their potential. Some days (and lives) have such an impact on the world that they are worthy of an amazing celebration. This particular sunset happens to be on Good Friday, and it is a celebration worthy of the significance of the day and of one particular life that made such an impact that we still celebrate it 2,000 years later. There are so many days (and lives) that have been wasted because we didn't recognize their value. What is your life worth? What is your day worth? You can't get either one back after it has passed. Only you have the ability to change the course of a day (and a life) by the way you influence the world around you. How do you want your life to be celebrated at your funeral? Did you act that way today? The way to have a celebrated life, a life that makes an impact, a life that changes the world, is to make each day worthy of a celebration. God seems to think so, for what other reason would He have made sunsets?

Harvest

As I was driving on this beautiful spring day, I passed a corn field that wasn't harvested last fall. The farmer took his time and effort to work the ground and sow good seeds, and God provided a wonderful growing season. The farmer had faith that God would provide, and God did provide what should have been a bountiful harvest. But for whatever reason, this field was left alone, no action was taken to reap the harvest. Now, what was once a bountiful field ready for the harvest is now a field of dried up, picked over skeleton corn stalks that has been picked at by the crows and brutalized by the winter. No longer alive, but still standing in quiet deperation still waiting to be saved. How many fields do you pass by every single day? How many people living quiet lives of desperation do you simply pass by? The harvest is there, being picked at by the crows, the rodents, and the stress of its environment when it could be saved, we simply need to reap the harvest that God has provided. If we don't save them, who will?