The New Year...After a Run

So it seems to take me about a year to write a blog, ha. Hopefully, that will change from this point on!

So I just got back from a run, and well got a chance to think freely and meditate on some words a friend wrote on facebook, it went something like this:

All successes and failures in life are temporary. Don’t think of every failure as a loss. If we succeeded in everything we pursued, how would we ever grow to be something greater? You must look a little deeper to realize what you’ve gained when you feel you’ve lost it all. It is in the times of desperation and despair that we find ourselves again and realize our dire need of Him. Denise Carter

When I read this it put something in me. I mean, a seed that will not go with out bearing fruit. The point that I am wanting to share and make is this, that as I've been going and going about life. I have come to one conclusion- We need God!

That's really all there is to say about that. God is so so merciful that He would allow us to go through trials and tribulations, run into walls, etc. For us to realize that we need Him. With out Him, we are nothing. What I mean when I say that we need Him, is to be in love with Him, not only because He commands it, but because He knows - loving Him- wholeheartedly is the very best thing we could do in all of life. Loving God, is different from just knowing Him, because when you love Him, then you can actually be known by Him. That's a different story.

That in the end. He says, "Well done good and faithful servant." And we enter into His eternal rest and joy!!

Tonight, as I was running. I saw two things about my heart- the first is, the weakness of it, in my desire for Him. As the great writer of old, C.S. Lewis puts it, "Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak." And two- how if I'm not careful, if we're not careful, with our desires in our hearts, we can go astray so that our focus is not on Him, as our first love. But in His mercy -- He draws us and He woos us in, back to Himself.

The most important thing we need to do is - to love Him with all we have - heart, mind, soul & strength. Not just get through life - and be moral, be a good servant/good Christian, but to be empowered to truly love Him and to truly be loved by Him. That is what marked David's life, and one of the reason's why he was called, "A man after God's own heart." God will always be there to carry us through, by faith in His Son and by the Grace that has already been given to those that believe in Christ and Him crucified. We ought to have this mindset, that my life is no longer my own, but Christ's.

Really-- what are my light afflictions compared to the very weight of glory that awaits us!?

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” 2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV

Yeah, I also learned another thing that may be old knowledge per say- but truly what we think on or what we let our thoughts be, on a constant basis is what we will end up living out in the end. If thoughts of self piety, and defeat or even the "I am the victim" type of thought pattern- then that is what we will live out. Instead, we ought to have thoughts of victory and of a blessed mindset. This way, as a child of God and of His Kingdom- we will see that, God is in control - He holds it all together and will certainly perfect His work in us. Faith will again fill our hearts, so that they would not be troubled anymore - but be full of peace and we would enjoy Him forever!!

Grace and peace to ya!

Daniel Castaneda

http://twitpic.com/3nq188

New Year 2010

I don't really claim to know everything. Even though at 4 years old--I went up to my mother and told her---"mom, I think I already know everything--uh, except how to multiply and divide." Ha--what? --that was prolly what she was thinking. It sounds pretty funny now--but I think I actually really felt that way....I guess we can sometimes think we are somewhere that we are not--and keep on living that way. Its more of a fantasy than a reality. Maybe that is why the Bible says to us to "be ye sober" in everything. It's like saying, don't really live in the twilight---as it seems to be the popularity of our culture. The New year, comes with so much promise--it can be scary at times.

My thing is really to be free. Maybe its part of my DNA/personaltity, but mainly I feel---if my life is no longer mine, but to the One--God--I gave it to. When the Bible declares that "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free" I want to say that is exactly how I want to live then. For freedom's sake, not to be enslaved in bondage with fear, anxiety, or anything else. So yah, then, He will handle it all. It's like--we are in for a wild ride--and its all to be enjoyed as we go after it. After---the new year, the promises, the resolutions, go after....what? Well--go after it means to go whole-heartedly after what the LORD has placed in front of us. Its like a race, a course that He has set out--and its up to us to go live it out. To me, I think is brilliant. The Master Craftsman--has created a course that is charted out for us---meaning this New Year--a year full of new epsisodes, new adventures, new life lessons to be learned, etc. Its like the course gets more and more interesting as we're on it.

Ok, so maybe I'm babbling on...but I thought that was the point of a blog. Perhaps---one should take a scripture of the Bible and stand on it. We say, well resolutions don't really work, yareyareyare----true. But on the other hand--a Word from the LORD surely does. Take Ps. 65:11--what an amazing scripture. It goes like this---

"You crown the year with your bounty,

and your carts overflow with abundance."

And then, begin to stand on it. So in other words--it is God whom shall pour out and release with power His blessing and His glory to fill the whole earth. It is in His interest to make sure that His own are taken care of. It shall be so---we can just rest assured that it will happen.

=) I'm all smiles, because of the goodness of the LORD> This year shall our best year yet!! We will be more effective with our ministry, we will succeed in everything we set out mind to do and do it as unto the LORD> we will proclaim with more boldness the Gospel--and this year will be different. This will be the year of the LORD!! 2010--here we come!!!