Lord, Give Me Your Eyes

I have a new favorite song in which the Lord has really changed my thinking, by Brandon Heath

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight
Touched down on the cold black tile
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breath in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos
Are those people going somewhere?
Why have I never cared?
Chorus:
Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the once forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see

In his song, Brandon challenges our daily perspectives of the world around us and makes a radical call requesting the very eyes of Abba. Christ, fully God and fully man, was the only human (I use the term loosely) to walk the earth that had the unique gift to be able to see right into the hearts and souls of Men. As I read the scriptures, I am humbled to think how Christ would speak to me if He could see directly into my heart... wait...He can, and does through the Holy Spirit.

I have really pondered about the verses of this song, wondering, would I really want to have what I am asking for as I sing it? Would my heart be strong enough to handle all the raw hurt, rage, pain, shame, unforgiveness, fear, regrets that I would see in the hearts of those around me?
What about those who were depressed, lonely, about ready to give up on life, would I be able to handle starting straight into the black hole eating away at their hearts?

Would I be able to speak and offer hope. This amazing gift of salvation and freedom, could I express it?

Lord, I want your eyes, but then again, I don't! Lord thank you for the Holy Spirit. He is our eyes. He will speak the words through us. He will lead. He will comfort. He will encourage.

Lord help me to listen to the hurting world around me, give me your ears, give me your heart to feel your Spirit tug, then give me your eyes.

You Said Ask...

Abba Father

I kneel humbled in your presence, filled with your grace and awe struck by your unyielding love. O Lord I am without words to express how wonderful you are mountain maker, soul creator. You set the Earth on its axis, taught it to spin and numbered its days. You spoke life into existence, your very words composing the building blocks of all things. Your alone are eternal and worthy to be praised for all of time!

Lord you said ask and I'll give the nations to you...
Allowing us to be your workers in foreign lands that our mind's eye could never conceive. Using our dirty feet to go and calling them beautiful, using our vial lips to speak and calling them anointed, filling our impure minds with dreams and desires for your kingdom and calling them renewed. Lord purify our hearts and set them apart, holy vessels to be filled with your Spirit. Lord guide our paths that they might be straight and follow that perfect and narrow path blazed by your one pure Son. Lord take our lives and clothe them in the righteousness of your Son, that we may reflect Him alone to a world in longing.

Lord you said ask and I'll give the nations to you...
But do we know what we ask?
Foxes have holes but the Son of Man had no place to lay His precious head; O Lord that we might be blessed to be homeless for your sake!
O Lord all who followed you, the first twelve, all lost their lives for your message. O Lord who are we to want to hold on to that which is but a vapor here today and gone tomorrow; may our existence be only for you! A gift of the nations cost your Son His only life, may we be ever so humbly honored to give ourselves to Him in return.

Lord you said ask and I'll give the nations to you...
May we understand what it is that we ask for! Lord remove the scales from our eyes that we may see a hurt and perishing world all around us! O Lord that we could be used to reflect even the tiniest measure of your never-ending grace! Lord crush our hearts with the burdens of the world, for only a broken and contrite heart can you use. Lord give us ears to hear the cries of those all around us! Lord pour us out and make us like clean and empty earthen vessels ready to be filled only with you! Use these vessels, O Lord only as you direct them, for your Holy Spirit is the hands guiding the pot. Pour us out Lord, a holy drink offering for you!
O Lord, we ask you for the Nations.

How do you Feed the King of Kings?

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." --Matthew 25:35-40


You and I see them everyday, if you don't, you either need a new pair of spiritual glasses or perhaps to just look in the right places.

The homeless, the poor, the starving. Those living on the streets all around us. It is the man on the corner with the sign proclaiming that he is a starving Vet in need of a hand, the woman and children selling water illegally out of ice chests on the side of US 19 on a hot summer's day, the man in line ahead of you at Wendy's through tears bartering his childhood baseball for a hamburger.

You see them, and you feel sorry for them, perhaps passing them a few dollars, but otherwise ignoring them.

-You want to help, but how? If you give them cash you are afraid they will simply spend it on booze or drugs, feeding a habit or maybe just trying to escape the life that has become the scary reality all around them.
-You want to help, but how? If you take them home and offer them an overnight rest on your couch, what if you wake up to an empty house, your stuff cleaned out and sold in a pawn shop.
-You want to help, but how? If you don't pay this bill they will turn off your electricity!

How can you ever hope to take what little you have been blessed with an help others?
How do you feed the hungry, provide drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, look after the sick, visit the prisoner?

From the Broken Pieces Comes a New Creation

Its 5:30am. I have been wanting for weeks to wake up this early and have a morning quite time; today, God granted my wish. Yesterday some of you might have read my blog, and got a bit concerned for me. Although I the last thing I wanted to was a raise up the pity flag, I had to have an arena for the frustrations that have been building within me for the last several months...

I lost my focus, my purpose, my drive. I took my eyes off what mattered most, my Savior, and put them on myself; of course, this led to the current state of affairs.

Last summer I was challenged in Romania, when I was encountered with the fact that outside my small world of an 8-5 job and soaking up sunny Florida, there was a hurting world all around me.

But in the last 8 months, what have I done about it... nothing.

Time for a change. Far too long my focus has been inward. As of today, I no longer exist. I want to become a transparent vestal, a pot, created and formed for a purpose. I want to be filled, overflow, and pour out in service all that He blesses me with.
Its all on the line. My time, money, focus, thoughts. I want them all laid on the alter of sacrifice for His Kingdom and His service.

Lord, break me, make me new again, fill me up, pour me out, break me again, then use me to be a healing hand in a hurting world.


"I'm here again, a thousand miles away from you,
A broken man, the scattered pieces of who I am,
I tried so hard, thought I could do this on my own,
I have lost so much along the way.

Then I see your face,
I know I'm finaly yours.
I find everything I though I lost before.
You call my name.
I come to you in pieces, so you can make me whole."
--Pieces, by RED

We've Lost the Funk...can you feel that funk?

Okay, not to be one of those emo type that dumps random emotions into a blog.. but this is your warning, do not read further.

The opening line of the book I am writing states "Some time ago the hamster fell off the wheel…and frankly, I cannot remember when, but it has been a few years. I have grown tired, lax, and lazy. My zeal and pizazz are zapped by the daily gridlock and grind some of us in the city call “life.” Like a ship with mighty sails and no rudder, I aim to travel far, but find myself looping the bay in circles following the shoreline afraid of what deeper waters might hold..."

Frankly, I cannot think of a better way to express how I see my life right now. Yesterday I missed yet another friend's wedding; this being the third such even I was invited to in the last 6 month and was MIA despite my RSVP. I have been missing church, social events, and have become a reclusive homebody. I hate it.

I don't know what caused this, but I have lost the Funk, or rather gotten a bad case of it. If you are reading this, chances are you know me. I am a fun loving energetic person with a zest for life. I enjoy new things, road trips, and weekend adventures. I love to bike, having lost over 50lbs in 6 months doing said biking. However, in the last 6 months I have given up most activities that used to bring me joy, and began to live at home. At first it was due to the horrible migraine headaches that plagued me on a daily basis, but even those have subsided with the last one appearing over 2 months ago. During that time of extreme pain and frequent dizziness I was advised not to drive and became the homebody that I have slumped into today. Blockbuster employees see me more often that some of my friends. I drown myself in my work, and future dreams, often forgetting to live in the present and cease today for all the magnificance that it might potentially hold.

I just want my life back, but have no clue where to get it back from. I have changed, I fear for the worst.

Is there a way to go back? I know the lost time cannot be reclaimed, but where has my joy and pizazz gone?

I guess in short, I am simply asking for your prayers, and understanding as to the lack of my general presence in the social circles we all frequent.

24,528,000 Minutes

From the day you were born, you were destined to die. I mean, not to be negative, but the one absolute certainty that we can all count on(besides paying US Government taxes) is death.
24,528,000 Minutes, if you are lucky, to do with your life whatever you please. 24,528,000 Minutes to make friends, build relationships, and live your life to the fullest. 24,528,000 Minutes that starting counting down the minute you were born, each passing moment, another chance to make a choice or a decision that could affect the next 1o years or more of your life.

Well, that’s a random number, where did you come up with that. . .
60 Minutes in an hour
16 Hours awake a day (giving you 8 generous hours of sleep daily)
365 Days a year (I am not figuring in the extra day for leap year)
70 Years (assuming that you are cognitive around age 7, and live till 77)

24,528,000 Minutes in one life

So, what are we here for? What is the meaning of this short brief life that we are given?
It is like asking someone what is important in their lives. Then ask them how much time they spend pursing things these things.
By most accounts, Solomon was the wealthiest man of his time, with the most wisdom, and the most lovers. He spent his entire life living what most of the us would consider to be "the good life" but at the end of his life, he was found crying out before God.

"Meaningless! Meaningless! . . . Everything is meaningless . . . wisdom is meaningless . . . pleasures are meaningless . . . toils are meaningless . . . a chasing after the wind" --Ecclesiastes ch. 1-3 (select excerpts)

Solomon came to the ultimate conclusion in at the end of his life that whole some of man was to keep a right relationship with God:
"Now hear is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." --Ecc. 12:13

Jesus Christ later further elaborated on the whole duty of man when teaching his disciples .
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." --Math 22:37-39
Then, He gave his final commandment to us after His death and resurrection, just before he ascended into heaven.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." --Math 28:19


So, here is my challenge to you:

What will you do with your 24,528,000 Minutes?

How many of your minutes will be spent "chasing after the sun" and pursing "vanities of all vanities?'
How many of your minutes will be spend in selfless devotion and pursuit of Jesus, chasing after Him like a marathon runner striving to reach the goal of the prize of completing the race. How many minutes will you use to have an impact on the Kingdom of God? What will you tell God when He hold you accountable for how you used your minutes?

Each one is important, and the clock is ticking . . .

Opportunistic Man-Eating Lions

"For I know the plans I have for you, " declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity."
--Jeremiah 29:11-14b

Verse eleven of the twenty ninth chapter of Jeremiah is one of the most popular verses that Christians hold onto, right next to John 3:16. We hold onto it like precious gold, pegging all of our dreams of prosperity in verse eleven, stating believing that will only allow the best of things to come into our lives. The entire context of the verses around and the book of Jeremiah is missed.

The Penalty For Sin
Judah has been ransacked, the temple of the Lord has been destroyed, the people of the Lord are in Babylonian captivity, working as slaves to a tyrannical dictator, torn from their homes, security, and all sense of normality. They had forgotten their first love, turned from the worship of the one true God and for generations, sought other gods, disobeyed his commands, and rebelled against Him in their hearts. After years of gentle discipline our just and loving God could no longer allow the patterns of sin to continue, and used the ungodly force of king Nebuchadnezzar and his armies to disciple Israel. Now, why did this happen? I thought "God is Love" (1 John 4:8b)? Well, but God is also just and "yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished." (Exodus 34:7b).

Blessings and Hope Despite the Circumstances
In verses 4 - 10 in chapter 29 the Lord instructs the people of Israel to "build houses and settle down; plant gardens. . . Marry and have sons and daughters . . . seek peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile." He continues to admonish and exhort Israel to seek Him and prosper while in the midst of a foreign land and to work towards the day they will be returned back to the land of their forefathers. He promises to bless them, restore them, and protect them.

Relevant Then, Relevant Today
Maybe today you are facing a situation in your life that seems impossible. You, like myself, might have made a few poor choices that have put you in a state of captivity to your lifestyle. Financial uncertainties, addictions, poor health, an unsatisfying career, loneliness, fear, past hurts, future worries, a lack of security in your heart, lacking a sense of purpose. . . I could go on.

The Lord promised the people of Israel that in what could appear to be their darkest hour, that if they would seek Him, they would find Him. He would hear their prayer, and restore them. God never promised it would be easy; sin always has its consequences, but He promised that he would never leave nor forsake them. Never forget the promises of restoration.


"God is in the resume building business he is always using past experiences to prepare us for future opportunities. But those God-given opportunities often come disguised as man-eating lions. And how we react when we encounter these lions will determine our destiny. We can cower in fear and run away from our greatest challenges, or we can chase our God ordained destiny by chasing our God ordained opportunity." [ Quote taken from In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day]