Motherly Advice...

If you had a mom like mine, and I'm guessing you did, they were usually right. Mothers have an intuition and an innate ability to see things as they really are. Whether it's knowing you're telling a lie or that you haven't brushed your teeth...moms just know.

As I look back at life I would have been better off had I listened to more of what my mom said. In an attempt to be "independent" I made some dumb choices that would have been avoided had I heeded her advice.

So when you look for motherly advice in scripture you have to turn to Mary, the mother of Jesus. I bet she had some profound things to share which would be beneficial for us today. In John chapter 2, Jesus first miracle is recorded. He was attending a wedding where they ran out of wine, so he decided to take ordinary water and turn it into extraordinary wine. Mary's advice to the servants helping at the wedding was profound, she said "Do whatever he tells you."

That's pretty good motherly advice, "Do whatever Jesus tells you to do." That's the type of advice you should tattoo on your arm so you see it every day. That's the kind of direction you should recite as often as possible. How about you? Who is in your ear? Who are you taking direction from? Who are you listening to? Are you allowing Jesus to speak to the deepest part of your heart? When you hear him, are "Doing" what he's telling you to do?

Mary's advice is probably the best motherly advice you could ever receive....that along with wear clean underwear in case you get in an accident!

My Wife is Blogging...

My beautiful wife has decided to enter the blogosphere. She's exited to share stories of Brey life as well as photos and videos of the kids. The name of her blog is awesome "Sweetie Pie Brey" After you read a little of what she writes, you'll soon realize that I married way over my head...

I'm proud of you...

If you were to gather 100 men in a room and ask them this question, "what is the one thing you wish your dad would have told you", without a doubt the answer to that question would be...."I'm proud of you". There's an innate desire resting deep down in a man's heart wanting to know that his father is proud of him.

A father's voice carries significant weight. Jesus heard from his Father "this is my son in whom I am well pleased". The heavenly Father was proud of His Son and He took time out of his busy schedule to speak into His Son's life. The fact that it's recorded in scripture in huge....There is a good and natural desire to know that the father is proud of you. Many men reading this blog have never heard their father say those words. A grown man in his 50's will still well up with tears in his eyes thinking about it.

Fathers go and look you son in the eyes, hold them close and speak life into them..."I'm proud of you son". If he's heard it a million times, he needs to hear it again, again, and again. Mother's, if you're in a place where your son doesn't have an active father in their life...let them know how proud you are of them. And to all of you, I wish I could look each one of you in the face and simply let you know that your heavenly father is proud of you!!!!

I want you to do something, it may be kinda corny or cheesy, but recite these words out loud, "My heavenly Father loves me and He is proud of me". Keep repeating those words until you feel it in your heart....I pray that profound truth settle deep into your soul!!!!

Perspective...

I don't know what it is, but I've always been able to maintain a fairly optimistic outlook on life. Generally I see days filled with more potential than problem and more good than bad. I'm just wired to find the silver lining no matter how big the storm cloud. Many people often ask, "Larry, do you ever have a bad day?". The answer is yes I do, but they're not that often and they don't last that long. I'm not suggesting I'm more spiritual, on the contrary I often times feel like a spiritual novice.

As I've thought about my perspective I have come to realize something about myself. I've realized that when things go wrong or bad things happen I revert to a very simple faith....a simple faith that believes God is still God and things will work out for his glory, despite how they seem. Some days, for me to keep the right perspective requires me to go extremely basic. Some days in order to keep the right perspective I have to go to "a bad day would be if Jesus was a liar". Since He wasn't a liar I can make choices that line up with what He said...what He said defines my truth despite the circumstances surrounding me.

How about you? When your kid is not acting right, do you react from the place of seeing their potential or from the place of only seeing the problem? When you spouse disappoints you, do you react from your insecurities in yourself or from your security in Christ? When bad things happen, and they will, is your response based upon the circumstances or is it based upon who you are in Christ.

One of the biggest predictors of how you will navigate life is your perspective. Look back at your life and the perspective you've maintained, if you don't like what you see make a conscious choice to change your perspective.

A very special baptism...

One of the things that continually amazes me is that fact that God allows Elevation to be on the front row of life transformation. Let me tell you about one such story. Right now you are not familiar with the names of Michelle and Bailey French, but they're an incredible story.

Michelle is a single mother of a 13 year old daughter Bailey. Bailey begged her mom to come to church...pretty cool story....but it gets better. Michelle has a terminal illness. She was in a coma recently and was actually given last rights by the priest...she was supposed to die. It was a miracle, but she improved and came out of the hospital.

Sometime later is when Brittany came to Elevation and gave her life to Christ. It radically changed her world and she had a new passion. She was gripped with the fear of "what if", what if my mom dies before she gives her life to Christ. So Baily begged her mom to come to church with her and on Easter Sunday, Michelle came to Elevation where she gave her life to Christ.

Fast forward a few weeks and now a dying mothers wish is to be baptized with her daughter, it's what she wants to experience with her daughter more than anything else. The disease that Michelle suffers from is one that causes all her bones to fuse together; it's a slow painful process. The bigger problem is caused by the medications she takes to treat the symptoms, it wipes her immune system. She went into a coma because of an opportunistic disease that ravaged her body due to the suppressed immune system.

So this past Sunday we had the privilege of baptizing Michelle and Baily. We gathered around 100 of our volunteers to celebrate what God has done in their lives. I love what we get to do...