At your feet

 

At your feet

 

We live in a world that exalts pride and dependency on self.  I was driving to work on Saturday, and I have quite the Spotify playlist of Christian music.  I was listening to this song called At Your Feet by Casting Crowns.  Just a beautiful song that reminds us of our dependence on God.  We get so caught up in the cares of the world and forget where we need to be focused.  I’m going to share with you the lyrics to this.  

 

“Here at your feet, I lay my past down

My wanderings, all my mistakes down

Here at your feet, I lay this down

Not in my strength, but in yours I’ve found 

All I need, you’re all I need

 

Jesus, Jesus, at your feet

Oh, to dwell and never leave

Jesus, Jesus, at your feet 

There is nowhere else for me 

 

Here at your feet, I lay my future down 

All of my dreams, I give to you now

And I find peace, I find peace 

Here at your feet, I lay my life down

For you my King, you’re all I want now

And my soul sings.  “

 

It’s a song but it’s also a prayer.  Get my focus off of me and back on God.  

 

1 Peter 5:6-7 

“So, humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”  

 

In Luke 11:38-42 there is a story where Mary and Martha had Jesus over to their house and Martha became distracted by a big dinner while her sister Mary sat at Jesus feet and listened to him. That’s us moment to moment day by day.  We have choices to make about our focus.  There’s a picture I saw many years back in an Incredible Hulk comic and he’s facing a signpost with hands on it pointing all directions and it says Crossroads.  Are we choosing to seek God or other things?  I get distracted easily by video games and stress in life and I need to get better with my choices.  I need to be back at his feet.  On Father’s Day morning I sent a message to my dad thinking he was still asleep but he’s a pastor and it was Sunday so of course he was getting his sermon ready.  I want to share this conversation we had.  Why because he reminded me that I still have the tools and the toolbox for this blog thing that I haven’t done in some time.  

 

“Happy Father’s Day!  You once told me something that all at once humbled me.  You said someone asked you if I was going to be a preacher like you and your response was “If he chooses to I’ve given him all the tools.”  I never even knew I had the toolbox.  I may not always get things right but I’m happy because of the way you raised me.  You taught me to care for the people in my life.”

 

“Thank you. The only Tool that matters is the Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you don’t have Him nothing matters.”

 

I don’t do this blog thing because I might be someone special because I’m not.  I do this with my prayer and goal being this “if just one person draws closer to God because of something I shared then I have accomplished my purpose.”  

 

This is another reason why I do these videos.

 

In Isaiah 55:8-11 it says this.

 

“‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts’, says the Lord.  ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.  The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.  They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word.  I send it out and it always produces fruit.  It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”  

 

What that means for Zac is this.  I share God’s word and he does the hard part of changing people’s lives.  I can’t do that and don’t want the responsibility.  I simply trust God that His Word will not go forth without doing what he intended.  When people share His Word it changes people somehow.  

 

Make the choice throughout your day to be at his feet.  

 

At your feet by Casting Crowns  

Break the statistics

 

Break the statistics 

 

Two and a half years ago I was married and my wife left me.  I ended up being divorced.  I spiraled out of control for a long time and did things I regret.  I remember about a year ago I was at Second Baptist Church in Corpus Christi and Pastor Dana said something that floored me.  He read off a statistic about how most people who have been divorced don’t return to church ever. Now you have to remember something I put myself through counseling twice because of what I went through.  I still have good and bad days.    I will be the first to tell you if God can use my hurt to help someone else, I am fine with that.  So often after all that happened to me, I prayed asking God to give me a purpose and hope.  It’s two and a half years later and I don’t blog like I used to, and my mom will even tell you that my ex took a lot out of me.  I’m called by God to encourage, and I haven’t always been able to.  I love to write and haven’t always known what to say.  This blog just happened spur of the moment and I felt God calling me to share it.    Jeremiah 29:11-13 says this “For I know the plans I have for you”, says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me

 

Two and half years later I find myself in a relationship with a woman named Becky.  Neither of us planned anything that happened to cause her to be a part of my life.  We met on the Facebook dating app and we talked for months before ever meeting in person.  My world and hers had both been shattered.  We both were convinced a person of the opposite sex couldn’t ever love us again.  She told me the first day we met that I mattered to her and she loved me.  I cried a lot.  Now we have a dog and a cat and 7 kittens.  Do you want a kitten?  I had no hope and neither did she.  We put God first and but we try our best to be better than the day before.  

 

I say all this to remind you that God created you and he has something special for you.  I don’t know what that looks like for you.  Get up seek God.  Answers may not always come easy but know that you are loved.  I was sitting folding laundry watching a documentary about WWE star Diamond Dallas Page using his exercise program to change people’s lives.  It reminded me that I can still be used by God to simply encourage people.  I don’t know what God has for you to do but you’re not alone and he can still use you no matter the hurt you’ve gone through.  You may say “But Zac, how do you know God can still use me with all I’ve been through.”  He uses me.  Plain and simple I’m just a person doing a Bible study blog when I can in hopes that if God uses it to change one person’s life, then I accomplished what I set out to do.  I’m not a great anything but if God can use me, he can use you.  I’ve been through hurt and emotional abuse. I’ve had some of the best and some of the worst days but if God can use that to help someone else by having me do something as simply as sharing a blog, then I want this to glorify God.  That’s all I want from my life is to glorify him. 

 

Galatians 6:9-10 says this.

“So, let’s not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone— especially those in the family of faith.”  

“Never give up!  At least not so early in the game.” 

 

Unexpected friends by Sandi Patty and Amy Grant

Anyway by Martina McBride 

Hurricane by Natalie Grant 

Words

 

Words

 

I haven’t blogged in quite some time.  I feel the need to though.  As a lot of you know I now have a girlfriend named Becky.  We were talking Friday night and we both talk a great deal about everything.  I told her I had been thinking.  Becky and I come from very broken past relationships.  I told her that she needs compliments and words of encouragement and affection as much as I do.  Because of our past relationships we have been through emotional and verbal abuse that no one should go through.  It falls on me as her boyfriend to build her up.  The first day we met she told me I mattered to her.  When you’ve been emotionally at a point that you feel like you matter to no one just hearing that can make you cry tears of happiness.  She did make me cry.  Each day we compliment each other.   You have people in your life who are dying emotionally and need some words of kindness.  God doesn’t bring them into your life by chance.  How you interact with people says a lot about you as a person.  I have another friend Erica who uses her Facebook page to try and build people up all the time.  You can build people up with written communication, spoken words face to face or just making someone feel like they matter.  

 

Proverbs 18:21 says this

“Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose.”  

 

Romans 12:18

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”  

 

Use your words carefully people, don’t be the reason someone suffers verbal abuse.  

 

Words I would say by Sidewalk Prophets

Because you Can

 

Because you can

 

A lot of you know I work overnight as a security guard.  I love my job.  I will admit I work in a neighborhood that has what I call a life of its own.  I have witnessed some of the weirdest situations ever.  I can’t talk about it all.  But I learned something years back because I used to work on a refinery under construction and I had a lot of free time.  I picked up the habit of praying for those people who worked there.  I go to work at night and while driving I pray for the safety of those I work with because we’ve seen things you wouldn’t imagine.  We have to patrol a lot lately due to an increase in homeless people and at night we have to tell them to leave when the campus is closed.  You never actually know what substances those people are on or how they will react.  Upscale security guards have no weapons or fighting training our presence is supposed to be the deterrent.  Each night at work can be weirder than the next.  Just a small summary of some things I’ve seen and dealt with.  One night my friend/coworker and I found a man clearly on something trying to steal metal and lifting things his physical build shouldn’t have enabled him to be able to lift.  We chased him across our job site into police custody.  I once arrived at the scene after a drunk woman tried to take a tour of the site in her van popping three of her four tires while off road narrowly missing buildings and a tennis court fence, insisting she was still on the road.  I have run off multiple homeless people and been scared doing so.  Quick instance.  One morning I was checking doors and something told me to shine my flashlight down.  It was definitely a God thing because I am not Spider-Man and I don’t have his spider sense warning me of danger.  I shined my flashlight, and this woman was laying on the ground wrapped up in a water hose with a mop on her head.  A literal mop you clean with.  Once I found my voice again, I had to tell her she was on private property and had to leave.  I have seen homeless people just appear and disappear.  I’ve seen them hide themselves and belongings in obscure places.  Like I said I pray for our safety.  But my life crosses the paths of others just like yours does.  It costs nothing to pray and ask God to help the people around you.  You don’t know what they’re going through.  Here’s an example.  I started my job almost two years ago.  While I was in training my wife left me, months later I was divorced.  Someone had to have been praying for me along with my family because I nearly went crazy.  Work and my dog were about the only stability I had.  You go to work with people, and you don’t know the struggles they go through just to get out of bed to be there.  You eat at a restaurant and your server might just have lost a family member and is fighting just to keep from crying while they interact with you.  This happened to a friend of mine, and I still pray for her. I know for a fact my mom prays for me when I go to work.  She’s my biggest supporter.  I text her when I get there.  I have also have a friend who prays for me.  Find someone in your life and make it a point to pray for them.  God will do things you may never see but you took the time to care enough to pray.  

 

Hebrews 4:16

 

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

 

James 5:16

 

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

 

Honesty by Margaret Becker 

Pray for me by Michael W Smith 

 

What do you want

What do you want

 

A not so small blog that I’ve been thinking about.  I have a friend who wants to be famous and make money.  I want to glorify God with my life and feel like I fail miserably.   The thing I want most in life I have no way to make happen.  I pray and pray for a purpose because I don’t feel I even have one.  For those who don’t understand this, in a lot of ways I was my ex-wife’s medical caregiver along with being her spouse and to not have someone that you take care of makes you feel like you have no purpose.  I matter to my family, and I try to matter to my friends.  What I want most is to be loved by a woman and love her in return, but I can’t find her.  Recently I made a friend smile and that whole day I was happy that in some small way I could make her happy.  I have another friend who sends me messages that she misses me, so I go visit her at work and it makes us both smile.  I feel like I work to the best of my ability get paid and come home.  I try to be the best dog dad I can be.  A lot of times I feel like I drift through life aimlessly.  I seek after God and I long to do what’s right.  As a writer I don’t have a lot to say.  I let myself enjoy reading.  I don’t always have the chance to.  

 

Psalm 37:4 says this “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  

 

Recently I read a Spider Woman graphic novel and Jessica Drew for a short time quit the Avengers and all she wanted to do was “help people.”  I get that.  I understand it.  If Def Leppard asked me with their song Rock of Ages, “What do ya want, what do you want?”  Well their response is wanting to rock and roll but like Jessica Drew aka Spider Woman I simply want to help people.  If I can make someone smile throughout the course of their day that’s fine with me.  If it’s simply giving a friend a Supergirl Funko pop while they’re working or showing up and visiting with another friend who’s working or simply showing kindness to others, I’m fine with that.  I recently posted something on Facebook to try and help people see something from another perspective.  I wasn’t trying to get a lot of attention or anything like that but to help people who know someone who has been divorced, had a spouse leave or lost a loved one, know how to interact with their friends who have been through this.  It takes showing kindness and treating that person like they matter and making them feel wanted.  We go through so much in life and sometimes the person next to us is one step away from falling apart.  I’ve been there.  See I asked at the beginning of this “what do you want?”  I recently watched a video of WWE general manager Adam Pearce and he was being interviewed and he mentioned how his wife watched him get so frustrated by things said on social media that were negative and he sat and thought about it and started ending his videos with one phrase.  “Love somebody today.”  It’s really that simple people!  Make it be that when you interact with others, they walk away better than how you found them.  Hug someone.  Tell them they matter.  I have a “hero’s compulsion.”  I want to help people. 

 

I had a teacher in college, and I’ve shared this before that I knew she was a Christian and I asked her to sign my Bible and she did and referenced these verses and I had to look them up.  

 

Galatians 6:9-10

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”  

 

Your life is connecting to people and the most helpful thing you can do is be kind.  

 

Meant to be by Steven Curtis Chapman 

Love one another by Michael W Smith 

Love by Petra

 

Add reaction

Smile

 

A smile

 

Today I was grocery shopping and I turned onto an aisle and this blonde-haired lady probably in her 50’s only other person on the aisle at the time looked me in the eyes and smiled.  There are little things that happened like her smile that just made my day a bit better.  Then later I went to Olive Garden, and I got seated on the far side of the building and I took the time to look out the window.  Never seen the view from that side before but it was basically across the parking lot and out to a bunch of trees.  It was beautiful.  I get often caught up in the stress of life and I forget to thank God for little pieces of beauty like a person just smiling or the world around me.  Over the past two weeks I’ve gotten to celebrate my 48th birthday with new friends, old friends and family and I have come to appreciate people who take the time to interact with me more.  I don’t know where my life is headed. I try hard to be the person I’m supposed to be but often I don’t know who that is.  I’m a simple person trying to be the best dog dad I can be.  I get very frustrated being alone because I feel like I exist to just pay bills.  But some days God has to get my attention with small things like trees and a person’s smile and remind me that I’m blessed.  Maybe just maybe this simple blog will remind someone else to be grateful and smile at those around them because they may need that smile.  Maybe just for one small moment I can help someone else.  I got reminded at church tonight that as flawed as I am God can still use me.  I don’t have as much to write or blog about these days I’m still trying to piece together who I am but hopefully in some feeble way I can help someone else.  

 

Psalm 103:1-5

 

“Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.  

Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.  

He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.  

He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

He fills my life with good things.   My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”  

 

Testify to love by Avalon 

Healer by Kari Jobe

Reaches

 

Reaches

 

Just going to do a simple blog.  Basically, I want to share lyrics to a song by Third Day and I’m going to show you what the passage is in the Psalms that they used to write it.  

 

“Your love, oh Lord

Reaches to the heavens.

Your faithfulness stretches to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains. 

Your Justice flows like the ocean’s tide

I will lift my voice to worship you, my King.

I will find my strength. 

In the shadow of your wings.”

 

In Psalm 36:5-9 it says this.

 

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, 

Your faithfulness to the skies.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your Justice like the great deep.  

O Lord, you preserve both man and beast.  

How priceless is your unfailing love!

Both high and low among men find shelter in the shadow of your wings.  

They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.  For with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.”  

 

 

 

Your love oh Lord by Third Day