bradglenn79

I’ve been sitting on an idea for a little while. A post I wanted to write just not sure how I wanted to write it. I normally only wrote when I can’t get something out of my head, like this but most of the time the words just flow like they are written by someone else and I am just taking them down. With this one it seems to be a little different. The words are still there I can hear and see them all but with this one it seems as though they will never stop, like they are infinite.

As the thoughts pop in my head I try to push them out, try to forget them. Not because I didn’t want to write but because I didn’t understand the thoughts. They were coming so frequently and there seemed to be so many that I wouldn’t be able to condense them into one post.

The main theme, what I keep seeing is “I’m not done with you yet.” For me that is great news. Like the old adage goes “I’m certainly not where I want to be, but I’m glad I’m not where I was”. That is how I feel most of the time. I am most certainly not where I want to be but I know that God has kept me safe and removed me from where I was.

So now i need to figure out how to get where I’m supposed to be. I try to live right, I help people as much as I can, I tell people about God and how Jesus died for them, and most importantly I love people because that’s what we are told to do. I believe I haven’t gotten where I’m supposed to be because of fear. I am scared to give up all control to God and let him order my steps. I still want to decide what Brad wants to do and what is best for me. I open my heart for a cup full of blessing and the lord has over run my cup but that’s where it stops. What if I opened my everything for blessings. What if I gave him my whole world would he not over run my entire world with blessings?

God is working on each of us, he is the greatest artist of all time he is looking to create a masterpiece out of everyone of us. The problem is if we don’t open up our lives and hearts and accept him in we will never be complete.

We can never be a masterpiece if we never hold within us a piece of the Master.

I love you

Does forever truly mean forever? When someone says they want to be your forever does it really mean forever? Best friends forever, how long is that forever?

We come to realize as we get older as we go through life that (like Prince said) forever means a mighty long time. Things we were sure to have forever have gone, some regrettably so, and other gone so long you don’t even remember. We come to accept the fact that very few things in this world are here forever. Most things of this world have a shelf life (thanks Jeff). We live in a society where forever doesn’t mean forever, it means for now.

Best Friends Forever. I know some of you have said this and if you haven’t said it you have heard it. Funny thing about that statement is I can remember having best friends who I thought were going to be there forever, only to watch them fade into the struggle we call life. Watch them find more friends, different interests, other things to do with their time and we drift apart. Not saying it was them or me just saying I have seen it happen. Most of these people I am still friends with and would still help them out if they needed me but the relationship is not the same.

Let’s get into more real adult emotions lol. “I’ll love you forever” or “I want to be yours forever” how many of us have heard or said these? Most all of us I imagine. How many of us meant it when we said it, or believed it when we heard it? I believe in the good in people so again I will say most of us. Now the painful question, how many of us have only said it to one person, or heard it from one person? If you can say that you have only had that with one person I am so envious so jealous of you. Most of us have said it to more than one person and heard it from others which means we felt what we thought was true love, we found our “forever” and had to watch our heart break as our “forever” walked away.

Now please don’t misunderstand I am not saying that finding a forever love is impossible. I still believe in forever. I know that forever takes time it takes work and it takes a burning desire to keep pushing towards forever. I say all of this to say, we have all experienced a truly forever love, an everlasting love, a burning desire for you that can not be extinguished. That is the love of God. That is how we are loved by him. His love is true, pure, and everlasting. He gave his only son so that he could forgive us and welcome us into his arms.

Go love someone today not because I said so, but because God loves us and gave us the power to love. I love you.

In life we all hope for the best. We all hope and pray for our needs and wants to be met. We work hard to get what we want. We often sacrifice our needs and sometimes people to try to get what we want, that thing that will make us happy.

I know that me, in my life I have made great sacrifices for the things I want. No matter what if I want it bad enough I will give up everything to get it. I will lose friends alienate family and stop at nothing to get what I think will make me “happy”. The problem is rarely if ever does it make me happy. It often causes a great deal more heartache than I had anticipated. The desire to get what you want at all cost often doesn’t take into account his plan.

In our lives we are given great blessings. We are given people, relationships, opportunities for our faith to grow and our light to shine. We are also given difficult times, times of sorrow, times of sadness, and times where we don’t get what we want or what we feel we deserve. During these times we feel like our prayers are not being answered, our needs are not being met, and like God has forsaken us.

What we don’t understand is that God not only uses our good times for his glory, he uses the No’s to allow us to grow. There will be a time in your life when God will shut a door that you can’t open. We as people who want all of our wants met can’t see that that door as beautiful as it is on the other side isn’t meant to be gone through by us. There are a great many things in this world that we hope to get, if we do it without struggle without hardship, then who’s to say we will be strong enough to handle it when it comes. There are things in this life we are not supposed to have. We will have to go through the No’s to grow into the person we are supposed to be. God will use the No’s to teach us patience, humility, and strength.

We will be much happier once we realize that God gives us the No’s to help us grow and not to prevent us from being happy. God wants us to look to him through the yes and through the no. God loves you and so do I.

Einstein was known throughout the world as one of the most intelligent people of his day or any other. He made a lot of breakthroughs in science and changed the face of what we know in a lot of cases. I read one of his quotes today that I think might be the most profound of all. He said “not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that is counted truly counts.”

So that made me ask what counts? When we are on this earth we are so obsessed with things of this world. We need to have the nicest cars, biggest houses, best clothes, and most importantly the most money. These are things that can be counted, but do they count? I’ve got some others that may seem less obvious but fit in the same category.

I’ve got the most friends. Having the most friends is something that can be counted but honestly it doesn’t count. Yeah you have the most friends, but do you have the best friends? Are your friends behind you no matter what? Do your friends support you through all of the struggles you have in life, or are they there for the good times and leave you when it gets hard? Can you call those friends when you feel like you are at your lowest and know that they will be there to encourage you? Switch it around a little bit right quick and tell me are you that friend? Are you supportive, kind, caring, encouraging? When your friends call are you there through it all, or only there when it’s easy or convenient? Now possibly the most important question, do your friends know about your relationship with God, will you stand in the gap when they doubt their faith, and do you pray for your friends?

I got the most likes on Facebook. Ok so people like your post, your picture, or your video. What makes you value your worth on what happens on Facebook? How many of those likes are from people who like you IRL? How many of those likes are from people who only follow you because you followed them or in some cases because they don’t like you and they are waiting to have ammunition to use against you? How many of these likes are from people who only know you’re a Christian because of what you put on your post? How many times do you like or comment on a post just to see what happens, or what is said next?

Let’s start valuing our lives the way we should. Let’s base our worth on people we have touched, on lives we have changed. Let’s build our value on acts of kindness, generosity, and good deeds. Let’s start to be the encouragement to our friends and family. Let’s start to pray for our family, friends, and community. Let us ask the Lord to lead us into situations that may be difficult or scary with the hope that we will be able to touch someone’s life and show them the love of Jesus Christ.

Let us start to live our life in the light of What Counts. I love you.

A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist hopes the wind will change, and a leader adjust the sails to harness the wind. I read this a little while ago and it got me thinking about this life and how true this is of everyone I know. Just like everything else in the world we need them all to make the world go around.

A pessimist will always look for the negative. They will find a problem for every solution and a reason that something will never work. I know people who are pessimists. They have a very important role in my life. They keep me grounded and make sure I understand the negative in the situations so that I examine the situation before jumping headlong into something that will not end up good for me.

On the flip side the optimist will overlook all of the bad believing that it will all work out for the good. They are generally happy people and improve the situation they are in. My optimist friends will keep me striving, trying, throwing caution to the wind because the outcome will be so epic. What could go wrong? In their heart nothing and that is truly a breath of fresh air.

What we all need is a leader. We need someone in our lives to make sure we know there can and will be bad in a situation and we have to get past it. There can and will be good in everything but we can’t be jaded into believing that it will be that way through every step of the process. A leader must possess the qualities of both the optimist and the pessimist.

I have always thought of myself as a leader. I know I have failed at times and leaned more toward being a pessimist but I try to keep in the middle. Here lately I have started to feel like my leadership isn’t enough. I am not the leader I should be. I don’t do all of the things I can or should do. The first time I read that quote it made me see the importance of having a great leader and being a great leader to others. The second time I read that quote I looked at it completely differently. The next time I read that quote I thought of the leader that I follow.

The leader I follow doesn’t adjust the sails to harness the wind, he provides the wind that allows you to move. He places obstacles in your path to allow for growth. He gets you through those obstacles so you know that he will never forsake you. Most importantly he loves you through all of your doubt, all of your fear, and all of your pain.

I will strive to be a better leader here on this Earth because I will continue to follow the great leader. Starting with love. I love you.

How many of us have applied for a job? When you applied for a job have you ever been told you didn’t have the qualifications? God knows I have. We’re sorry Mr Glenn you’re not qualified for this position. It’s a very defeating statement. Makes you feel not good enough. You feel that they are judging your worth without knowing you.

Ok now how many of us have felt that way about something else in our lives? Have you ever disqualified yourself from something because you didn’t think you were smart enough, athletic enough, or good enough? Were these criteria even measurable to anyone but you? Do you think you may have missed out on an exciting life experience by letting your feelings of inadequacy get in the way? I know that I have.

Believe it or not I have a few friends probably had more when I was growing up. I was asked to do a lot of things, go a lot of places, and experience a lot more of life. I didn’t, I would always had a reason to decline the invitation. “Y’all go ahead without me, I don’t really like things like that.” Or “I’d love to go with you but that’s not really my idea of a good time.” The problem is all of it sounded like fun. It all sounded exactly like my idea of a good time, but what if I couldn’t do it? What if I wasn’t able, and held back the group because of my lack of qualifications? Would everyone then hate me, would they never invite me, would they avoid being around me because I had ruined their good time? These are the thoughts that went through my head. Whether rational or irrational I had to deal with it.

Later in life I have heard people say and I have thought myself that “I don’t deserve to be loved.” While I have thought it, said it, and maybe in some cases limited myself because of it. That may be one of the dumbest statements I have ever heard. There is not a person alive that doesn’t deserve to be loved. That is a job we are all qualified for. One of the greatest feelings in the world is being able to do for someone, to serve them, to love them. When you are able to do something for someone out of love it fills your heart up like nothing else on earth. You gain immense joy from the happiness you see that you have placed in someone’s life. The smile on their face makes your heart melt. When you feel like you don’t deserve love, when you don’t allow people to do for you, when you refuse to let people love you, you are stealing that feeling from them. They won’t know that immense joy, they won’t have their hearts melt, they won’t see that true happiness and know they are the cause. Why would you want to steal that amazing feeling from the ones you love?

You are divinely qualified to love and to be loved. God loves you and so do I. Go out and love someone today, and let them love you.

I don’t understand this world we live in. I don’t understand all of the division. I don’t understand why color or views or opinions would make a difference in the way we treat people.

I have always tried to treat everyone the way I wanted to be treated. When I was done wrong I have never wished bad on anyone. I know that sometimes things have to happen a certain way, and I know that I will be lead through the storm by God if I just keep my eyes on him and follow his lead. What I can’t figure out is why is this such a foreign concept in this day and time?

I understand that people tend to be a product of their environment, but I also think you choose to be kind, loving, and mindful of the situation of another. My youngest son put this on display for me a few years back. I love telling this story, because it is one of those proud parent moments. The kind of moment that shows you that as parents you’re doing something right.

Christopher comes home from school one afternoon I had gotten off early so I was there when he walked in. He walks straight past me without a word so I knew something was troubling him. I walk into his bedroom where he is sitting, head down, visibly upset. This was completely out of character for him, anyone that knows him knows how smiley and happy he is normally. I ask him what’s wrong, he looks up and begins to tell me about the playground at school that day. “We were picking teams to play a game and this kid told my friend he wasn’t going to pick him because he was too small, said he was a nothing.” Well I have always raised Christopher to stand up for others and he was one of the biggest kids in his class so I asked what he had said to that boy. “I didn’t say anything to him Daddy. I told Sarean that he was my friend, and that makes him something.”

At seven years old my baby knew enough to know that admonishing the bully wouldn’t fix the situation, but encouraging his friend could change the whole day. Instead of speaking death into the life of the bully he chose to speak life into his friend. He chose to be there for the one who needed him, and chose to react with kindness instead of hostility. As adults why do we have such a hard time with this. Why would we rather lash out at the offender than comfort the offended. Why is it easier to speak death into a person you don’t agree with than it is to speak life into their heart because they are a human who needs love just like you. Today perform an act of kindness for someone who won’t expect it or maybe in your opinion doesn’t deserve it. I bet after you see the reaction you’ll want to do it again.

I love you.

Today will be a gray day. I used to have a disdain for these days. I would get into a funk watching the clouds and rain throughout the day. Thinking about all of the work I needed to do but couldn’t get done because of the rain. Now I look a bit differently at the situation, thanks to wise words from a kid.

When Daniel, my oldest son, was younger he was having a conversation with our pastor about the rain. Jeff was complaining about the rain and Daniel said “with the rain comes a new beginning for the plants.” Daniel was probably twelve or thirteen and didn’t realize the impact he made on lives with that statement.

As I sit here today I think about that new beginning. I think about the way I lived my life before, how far I was from God, even how far away from being a decent human I was. I also think about how true God’s love for us must be that he is willing to allow us to have a new beginning. How gracious he is to accept us after we have lived our own life with little regard for his commands and his purpose for our life. I think about having a new beginning for my life, and the forgiveness that I don’t deserve. I think about the unending grace that he lavishes upon us because we continue to fall short of his glory each and every day.

This new beginning is not because he needs us. It is not because we deserve it. It is because He loves us. He has promised to never forsake us and as long as we look for him he will be right by our side. So as we look at the rain today let’s focus on God, his sacrificial love for us, and the new beginning that we are afforded each and every day. Let’s strive to be better today than yesterday, forgive more, appreciate more, and love more.

I love you.

This question is a struggle for me. There are so many things in this life that we run from. What we run from determines what kind of person we are or at least what kind of person the outside world sees. So I ask again what are you running from?

I have spent a lot of time running. I have run from pain. I mean who wants to get hurt. When I was in the seventh grade I wasn’t nearly as confident as I am now or as big so when one of the school bullies decided he wanted to fight with me before we got on the bus after school I ran. First one on the bus that day, first time ever lol. I didn’t know if I could fight or if he could but I ran because I was terrified at the thought of finding out that day.

I have run from my feelings. For a lot of the same reasons. Feelings can be more damaging than physical pain. Bruises heal, bones mend, and scars make great stories, unless they are emotional scars that no one can see or even worse know about. Feeling unloved by the ones you love the most will leave that kind of scar.

I have run from commitments, because I struggled with being good enough. I wouldn’t commit to doing anything out of fear of not being good enough, and then having to deal with rejection.

I have run from challenges out of fear of failure. My uncle was one of the most talented people I knew growing up. I thought my Uncle Bill could do anything. Everything he does he is so good at. When I got older he told me he was good at all that he done because he would only do the stuff he was good at. I have been scared to try to do things because what if I’m not good at it, what if I can’t do it, what if I fail?

The most painful thing though is the realization that I have run from God. God places people in your life for you to teach or for you to learn from. There have been so many people that I didn’t teach for a lot of the same reason as above, and countless others that I didn’t try to learn from. There have been so many opportunities placed in my life for me to grow and become a better me, but I have allowed them to pass me by for fear of the unknown.

As I’ve gotten older I have changed my opinion on running. I realize that running from things doesn’t eliminate the problems, the fears, or the anxiety it just makes it worse. If you are always left wondering what could’ve been then you’ll never be happy with what you have been given. Instead of running from things now i will more likely run to them. I realize that meeting challenges head on makes even the most insurmountable obstacle look small. When you choose to take on your tests you are more likely to achieve your goals. And when you run to God instead of from him you will find a more forgiving love than you can even imagine.

I love you.

The lord gives his people strength. The lord blesses them with peace. That’s what psalms says. It’s right there in the Bible. I know the Bible is our instruction book for life and he has answered all of our questions if we are just willing to go look.

There is no doubt that the lord has given me strength throughout the years, both physical and emotional. I seem to always have just enough strength to get through everything as long as I have his help. I have been through times when emotionally I was not prepared, I was not qualified for the test that was put in front of me. Watching one of the greatest men you’ve ever known, a man that loved you because he wanted to not because he had to, a man who found Jesus after a traumatic time but understood that God was the only reason he was alive, watching him take his last breath as I held his hand. I was not qualified for that I don’t think you ever really are, but through that I had strength. I was able to be there for the ones who needed me most in that time.

My heart aches at this next point though, what about peace? I have been through so much in this life. I have had the strength to get through it and the faith to know I was going to be better on the other side. In a lot of situations in my life I have made it through, grown, learned, moved forward, but have never been at peace with. There is still a little seed in there that continues to grow and this breeds worry, unease, contempt, and discord. This leaves me in a bad situation, because even though I made it through it something still just doesn’t sit right with me. There is still a shortcoming, there is still something left undone, like just waiting for “the other shoe to drop”.

I think I have come to a better place with this now. I have prayed about it, asked for guidance, asked for patience, and asked for forgiveness. The lord blesses them with peace. I think I have come to the understanding that the lord blesses us with peace in the things he has sent us. I think that peace comes in knowing that what has been laid in front of you, you have gotten over, around, or through by the grace of God alone. I don’t think there will be peace in every decision you make, if the decisions you make are for your own selfish desires. I think we will always find peace in our life as long as we continue to try to be more like him.

I love you.