bradglenn79

I had lunch today with the Pastor of my church and the Leaders of another. I wasn’t there because I am a leader of a church. I was there because I had ideas about softball. Either way I was there.

Toward the beginning of lunch we are talking and the topic of technology is brought up. Autonomous cars, computers in the house, and in your pocket. We all agreed that a day will come soon where human interaction will be so lost that when you sit down and have a cup of coffee with someone it will be reason to tell people.

This got me thinking on how to remedy that notion. It’s not that I’m against technology, against phones, or against the use of it. It is the fact that I am pro human interaction, I am a fan of conversation, and an advocate of loving people the way the Bible tells us to.

I read a quote not too long ago that said “The phone in our hand gets us closer to people around the world, while pulling us further from those in front of us.” I don’t think this has to be the case. I think these devices could bring the world together.

I think it is all dependent on the human part of the human interface. I think if we are more concerned about our impact on people than we are their impact on us we will see love grow. I believe if we can pour out the bad and pour love into people we will see all things work together for the good. I hope that we can use social media to spread love across the globe, but I pray there never comes a day where human interaction is second to a screen.

God calls us to Love people, all people, in all ways. Love them in person, Love them on social media, Love them through prayer, as long as you Love them. I love you.

I saw this picture today on Facebook. It said “Be strong, you never know who you’re inspiring”. I love to inspire. That is one of my goals when I set out to do anything. But I find a flaw in this logic.

I’m all for being strong, but I am also not put off by weakness. I find inspiration in the strength of people when they are going through pain I couldn’t imagine. I also find inspiration in realizing you are weak and letting go.

There is no shame in not being strong all of the time. People will gain inspiration from your willingness to be human. They will know they aren’t alone in their struggle. They will see that you too have battles, and don’t always have all of the answers.

I believe we inspire more when we are human first. The more relatable your story, the more people will be inspired by it. So yes “Be strong” even when being strong means humbling yourself in a time of struggle. They will be inspired by how you Love.

I love you.

In general we see people everyday. Colleagues at work, friends or even just random people in line at a store. Now if you’re anything like me you speak, because that’s what polite people do and we are all taught to be polite. I think the most important part of this interaction is how we respond.

If I think about it I will have a colloquialism as a response. Something I have heard listening in to conversations or something someone has said to me. One of my favorites is “Finer than frogs hair, split four ways.” A wise man I know always responds with “Better than I deserve”. Now people will catch me off guard and I will say “Good.”

The challenge today is to define good. The problem with good is I’ll say it no matter how things really are. I could’ve had the worst day I can imagine and when a stranger asks me how I’m doing I will say good. It is not with the intent to lie to them, but to keep them from having to take on my problems or them feeling like I need some help.

There is zero shame in being less than good. There is nothing wrong with saying I’m having a bad day today. There is not even a problem saying I wish I had just stayed in bed. Chances are that person has felt or is feeling the same way. You don’t have to unload all of your worries on someone but you don’t have to pretend to be “Good” either.

We are put on this earth in God’s image, but not alone. When God created Adam he saw that he needed a helper. Not with the work in my opinion, more with the fact that it’s not good to be alone. We are not meant to shoulder all of life’s problems alone, we are not meant to be “Good” all of the time. Look to the ones you love for support and when someone asks how are you just remember, you’re blessed, loved, and wonderfully created.

I love you.

What is faith? The dictionary describes it as “the complete trust or confidence in someone or something”. I can follow that. To have faith means you have complete trust in that situation.

We exhibit faith in a lot of ways in our lives. When we are growing up we have faith that most of our parents want the best for us. First time on a thrill ride you have faith that the ride has been inspected, deemed safe, and that the safety restraints are going to perform like they are designed. A lot of us grow up with faith in God, the trust and belief that he works all things for the good of his people.

Faith in God is believing in him and his goodness without being able to see him. This is where maybe I differ from most Christians. I believe in God whole heartedly and I know that he is working all things for the good of his people. Where I differ is I believe I can have faith and questions.

Having faith doesn’t eliminate questions, it doesn’t eliminate trepidation, it doesn’t resolve all anger, and it doesn’t make everything perfect all of the time. I still ask questions “God how could you let this happen?” “God can anything else go wrong?” “God why does so much good seem to happen for bad people, while I struggle?” “Why me God?”.

What faith does is it allows you to know you’re not alone, it gives you hope for brighter days, and it gives you a place to take all of your questions, doubts, fear, and anger. When you have faith you know you aren’t alone, you have people like you who are called to love all people, and you have an almighty God who will cherish you as his child until you are with him in the kingdom of heaven.

I love you.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is it a person, a place, a thing? Is it even something you can pick out? Are you often inspired, or do you long for inspiration? These questions interest me. They get way down deep in my mind and plant seeds that grow into curiosity.

I have led a very blessed life. I have been around or involved with people that have truly inspired me. There have been so many people that have taken an active roll to make me the person I am today.

As for me and inspiration I look for it everywhere. I look for inspiration in what I watch, listen to, and read. That’s not where it stops though. I look for inspiration in nature, in flowers growing through a crack in the sidewalk. I look for inspiration in things people see as trouble, in the hustle and bustle of a traffic jam, all of those people have been blessed with a job and a purpose. I look for inspiration in people, in the look on my best friends face as he looks at his kids, the pride and the love of a truly great father.

I know we are all given life, free will, and purpose. I often struggle with what mine may be. I hope I have been a great provider, protector, leader of both my family and when I have been called to lead, and last but not least I hope that I have inspired someone. I hope I have made a positive impact on someone’s life, and if they’ve gotten nothing else from me I hope they’ve seen God’s love through me.

Thank you to all who take time out of your day to read the ramblings from my head, y’all are a true inspiration to me and I will be forever grateful. I love you.

I have to be upfront and real transparent right now, I hate that phrase. I feel like that phrase is a way to not have to think. What do you want to eat? I don’t know. Where do you want to go? I don’t know. What do you want to do? I DON’T KNOW.

The problem with this is I use the phrase a lot too. What’s wrong with you? I don’t know. How can I help? I don’t know. Are you going to be ok? I don’t know. Sometimes in this life I get so turned around that I don’t even know what I don’t know.

I think as a society, as a culture, maybe even as humans in general we think we need all of the information. In some cases we do need as much info as possible. We need to be able to weigh the pros and cons and formulate a plan that is best for us. The problem comes when we are called to do something out of faith and we still think we know what’s best.

For Father’s Day Sunday after church we had a softball game. Jeff had mentioned the possibility of playing another church during the summer and I immediately got excited and had some ideas. I love the thrill of competition, I love playing sports, and I love being around my church. So for me the thought of softball was a great idea. When we were unable to get the game lined up with the other church in time we decided to play adults against our youth ministry, this game I was placed in charge of. Keep in mind I have played, cheered, and watched tons of sporting events I have never gathered a team, coached, and certainly never organized anything like this so I didn’t know how to make it happen.

I stepped up and took on the roll because I had been tasked with the job of making softball happen. As it came closer the pieces started falling into place, people were emailing calling and texting wanting to play, the field came available for us, and the rain was going to hold off. I still struggled with what I didn’t know. Lord I don’t know why it’s my job, I don’t know how to coach, I don’t know if I can organize, and the all too important I don’t know how I let my mouth get me into this lol.

Father’s Day was the hottest day of the year so far. 94° and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Going through the day I doubted myself, the decision to make that game day, the fact that anyone would watch, and honestly didn’t think I would have enough people to play. Because I don’t know what would bring people out on a holiday, hottest day of the year, to play a game with nothing to win. My eyes were opened as we got to the field, not only did almost all of the people that told me they were going to play show up there were more, not only did we have people on the field we had people in the stands, not only did we have food and drinks for all we had more than enough.

We spent an evening that I didn’t know how to make happen with about one hundred of the greatest people I’ve ever known. We spent the evening playing softball, talking to people we may not get to talk to often, and seeking the kingdom of God first by loving one another the way God loves us. Don’t let what you don’t know get in the way of God’s glory. I love y’all and thank you.

The morning after I die is something we rarely think about. The morning after you die is a morning that will come no matter who you are, or how you live. People will have to deal with that day just like they do today.

With death comes pain, sadness, heartache, tears, and grief. It also comes with unanswered questions, unmet expectations, and unfulfilled promises. It also comes with hope. We hope they knew Jesus, we hope they were saved, we hope we will see them again one day in heaven.

Let me tell you about the morning after I died. There was change but there always is. More than that there was a lot of questions that got answered that day about where I was going how I would look and act and who I would be with. There was maybe a little sadness, but it was overcome by joy. There were tears, but they were because of a weight being lifted from my shoulders. There was pain realizing how long I had gotten it wrong, which was eased by the realization that Jesus had given his life so I could be forgiven.

When I died it was the happiest day of my life. When I died I was crucified with Christ and now Christ lives inside me. I know when I leave this world where I will be. I think as a world the more people who die to themselves and love people like Jesus did, the more like Heaven this world will become. I love you.

In this life there have been so many villains. There were the Disney villains when we weren’t old enough to know better, the playground bully’s when we made it to school, and real life monsters as we studied world history. These people have been the enemy of happiness, of smiles, of good fortune, even of human rights.

Generally when we as adults think of these villains, especially the ones that steal all that we strive for, we think of the people we learned about in school, or the ones we hear about on the news. We can’t really imagine dealing with those people in real life. Villains are real, some are liars that steal trust, some are thieves that steal material possessions, and some are murderers that steal lives.

What about the ones that steal blessings? What about the ones that steal what God has given to you? What about the ones who steal your joy? That would make that person a villain, a monster, and I’m guessing your enemy, I know it would make them an enemy of mine. Well here goes nothing, that enemy lives inside of you.

In the best way I know how to put it, you are one of your worst enemies. No one can steal your blessings, your gifts God has poured into you, or your joy but you. We let this world get in our way, we let life get between us and the things God has promised for our good, we let ourselves become the wedge between us and God.

If you are in a season of doubt, of sadness, of sickness, of depression, open your life up to God. Get yourself out of the way, fill your day with prayer instead of doubt, fill yourself with the promises God has made instead of the despair brought on by this world. Fill your souls with God’s light instead of the darkness of fear.

If we get out of the way and let God step in tomorrow will be brighter than today. I love you.

I wrote about this before focusing on just the learning. The motto you are taught in the FFA, much like other organizations is repeated over and over. You are taught the motto almost until you get tired of hearing it, but here it is 21 years later and I can still recite it with confidence. “Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, and living to serve.”

Learning to do is the beginning of the motto and one of my favorite lines. I love to learn, always have, and strive to learn something new everyday. I have an almost insatiable need to know. I want to have all the details and be able to do everything anyone else can. I know these are not feasible goals but it doesn’t stop me from striving for them.

Doing to learn is one of the hardest parts for me. I grew up with one of my greatest influences telling me if you’re not the best there’s no reason to do it. So yes I want to learn everything, but if I’m not good at it I don’t want to do it. Sometimes we have to do things we aren’t good at and we don’t like so we will know how to do it.

Earning to live is another one I struggle with. I don’t struggle with earning, I am not scared to work until I have nothing left in me to make ends meet. I have always struggled to make sure my family never wanted for anything. Where I struggle is knowing when to stop earning and start living. My youngest son put it in perspective last week. We were talking about the things I had to do, the work I had scheduled and the jobs that would hopefully be coming. At which time he said “Daddy I wish you didn’t have to work so hard during the summer to provide, that way maybe you could spend some time with me.” I don’t feel like I have failed as a father, but I definitely feel like I have allowed the most important pieces fall to the wayside so I could provide them the kind of life they haven’t even asked for.

Living to serve, the last and in my opinion the most important parts of the motto. I have always tried to do for anyone I was in a position to help. One of the greatest feelings is doing for someone not wanting or expecting anything in return. It truly pleases the soul. This morning during church service my pastor said “Saved people, serve people” to me that couldn’t be more perfectly said. As followers, Christians, saved people we are called to love and in my opinion you can never love someone anymore than when you are selflessly serving them.

So this week as we move through the hustle and bustle of life, learn something new, do something to get better at it, go to work so you can live, but don’t forget to live, and most importantly get out there and serve someone. Love them until they ask you why, then tell them about he who loves you first. I love you.

As many of you know I do HVAC service for a living. It’s hard work, long hours, and mostly dealing with customers in some level of discomfort. When I find a customer who is in a good mood and wants to talk without complaining I don’t often turn it down.

Wednesday at work I was at a charter school looking at a water leak. The custodian was looking with me and was going to clean after I got done. We have talked each time I was there. Generally nothing but pleasantries and small talk of the weather. This day started out no differently. As I was getting ready to leave we had said bye and I was getting in the truck.

This is where things changed. He stopped me and said “You’re a Christian right? I mean you’re a church guy.” I have always tried to let everyone know that I was a Christian and that I took my faith very seriously even though I struggle to get it right. So when he asked I smiled knowing that I had been doing something right. “Yes sir I am” I said and he smiled. He asked questions about my church and told me about his church. I told him stories about churches that I had worked at and how they had grown and more people were following Christ and trying to live the right way now.

Right here is where he stopped me. He said “God has been after me for a while to build my church. Telling me if I will renovate it and make it nice people will come.” This got me, he hadn’t asked anything about churches growing or getting bigger but God drew him to me, and God gave me the words to say. This man told me I had sparked a Revival in his soul. My words had renewed his faith, gave him vision, and pointed him in a direction.

You can and will be used by God when he’s ready. He will place the person in your life at exactly the right time and will give you the words you are supposed to say. The most important thing we can do is follow his lead and do what we are called. You never know the impact you will make on someone’s life or situation. I love you.