Makin' Moves

I have been touching on the subject for some time now but ...its finally official... on Thursday nights I am going to be leading a Bible study/ discussion group at the house...we are starting small...6-10 people depending on the week but once we are in our new place I am going to open it up and I'm already hearing talk of 20 or more!!!!! its an awesome thing! I will be posting a brief message about what we are doing and whats going on with the group for all to see so if you want to join you can...and you wont feel left out because there will be a place for you to keep up with us right here!!!! YAY...ok...my first message is going to be called "Building on the Rock" I figure its a fitting place to start. If you would like to join us just email me so I can send you out some information. Hope some of you can make it out.....

Looking forward to it.....and please pray for us....we will definitely need it!

Grace and Peace be upon you all.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18a

You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

Deuteronomy 8:17-18a

This is a great verse for keeping you humble..... often times we get caught up in the thought that we DESERVE that raise or that promotion or that nice new toy we have been working so hard to get but this verse reminds us of the truth.

I have, many times in my life, found myself saying...I deserve this.... raise, job, promotion, reward for my hard work....I was wrong to think this and in Truth so is everyone else....not that its wrong to want to be rewarded for your hard work....because I believe you should be rewarded for hard work but to believe you DESERVE it is a different story....

This matter plays in almost directly to my feelings on tithing as well......
in short its like this:

If you give lets say 10% of your earnings away to the church....its not actually giving away anything....its GOD allowing you to earn the other 90% for you and your family...... if GOD didn't provide you with that job or the physical or mental ability to produce at that job you wouldn't have it....therefore that money you are giving to his house is small in comparison to not actually having a job at all...am I right?...of course I am!

this principle applies to any situation where we believe we DESERVE something...its because of GODs Good grace we were in the situation to earn this things in the first place....so if anyone deserves anything.....GOD deserves a than you for putting you in that spot....at least give the praise to him ....as well as a thank you when you get that object of your desire.....it ultimately is all up to him!

One of my favorite new sayings about this idea is this: "WORK like its up to you, BELIEVE like its up to GOD"

Follow that thought and your head will always be in the right place....and GOD will continue to put you in the right place...... That reminds me of a story my brother told me leading up to another great quote.... he go to speak with an elderly man (70's) who had been walking with the lord for well over half his life and my brother had the wits to ask him an awesome question..... in your long walk whats the single most important thing you have learned....the man thought about it for a second and replied.....

"Stay humble.....the second you believe that these great things being done are because of you ...GOD is done using you"

both of these are great quotes but you can never knock the advice from someone who is more than twice your age.....try to apply this things to your daily life and watch how many great things the lord has for you and does through you.....exciting times ...

Hope this helps someone .... Grace and Peace be upon you all

Colossians 2:6

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him."
Colossians 2:6

There is a very important message here that is echoed throughout the entire New Testament but gets overlooked by hoards of people every day. For those of us who speak "Christianeese" we can look at this verse and break it down....but then most of us after breaking it down would still fail to do as it asks sadly......

We received Christ Jesus as Lord through GODs GRACE....its his GRACE alone that saves us, its where it all begins and its what always carries us through! His GRACE sent his son to us to pay for our sins....his GRACE is what forgives us when we fall short and its his GRACE that comes through for us and puts us in the the right place at the right time ....without his GRACE we would all be doomed to a fruitless life.......

so then if we received Jesus because of the GRACE of GOD then we should live our life according to that as well....

So often we judge without thinking about it....we gossip about a coworker....bad mouth a relative... talk down or blow off friends in need or just turn our head at the homeless man on the corner.... What is it about people that gives them the attitude that we are better than or deserve better than this or that or them..... we are all equal in GODs eyes his only judgment is saved or not yet saved....

Open your eyes and look at people the way GOD would ask you to....know that perhaps instead of ridiculing them for their short comings we should tap into some of that GRACE he showed us and do the same for them....if they are down...pick them up....going through a hard time...help them out....need a shoulder to cry on....bring the tissues....feeling sick.....pray for them and ask GOD to heal them.....

I'm sure you have seen the wristbands that say WWJD (what would Jesus do) I like to think of it in reverse ....without GRACE...WWWD....what would WE do.... what hope would we have....what direction would we follow.....where would we turn when the situation is just humanly impossible to fix.....

Take note of this.... Nobody asked GOD to send his son to pay for our sins...he just did.... Most people aren't going to ask you for a little GRACE... Just do it

Hope this helps someone.
Grace and Peace be upon you all.

Houston Pics

HEre are a few random shots of our trip to Houston texas....good trip over all....but I think we are going to stay put...atleast for now MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

1 This is a pic of Anna and me...arent we happy!

2 This pic is the view I want to have from my backyard one day....the pic does it NO JUSTICE!

3 Pic of me sitting outside the mall in one of thier common resting areas....Houston knows how to treat people!

4 This is a pic of Anna sitting on a water sculpture that is actually used to recycle captured rain water to irrigate the shopping centers plant life...talk about going green!

5 this is city hall or Sugarland....beautiful place...and they have thier history as well as thier core values written in the bricks that you walk on....Check out the FAITH value on the bottom of the pic

6 Me at the Houston zoo....sitting next to my new meercat buddy!

7 Anna her aunt and her little cousin get to gether for a pic prior to yet another shopping trip lol

We have SOOOOOO many more pics...comment me if you would like some of them sent your way.

Easter Pics

Here are a few of our easter pics:

1 Family photo before church....one of the last known pic of me with long hair!

2 Allyshia and her hero Ashley prior to Allyshias' singing debut! she rocked the yellow....you wish your kids could do what mine do =)

3 Alana on her first easter hunt....she crushed it....check out Isiahs blog for a funny story about the hunt.

4 & 5 are pics of Allyshia and Isiah going down a HUGE inflatable slide after easter morning service...it was a free ride the church put out for all the kids who attended church that morning .....

As always we have tons of pics....if you want to see more leave me a comment and ill get them out to you.

Lakewood pics

We recently got to visit Joel Osteen and lakewood church while we were in Houston Texas here is some of our pics of his HUGE and beautiful church! from top to bottom they are :

1The front entrace of lakewood

2The sanctuary ...holds 16,000 people!!!!!

3One of MANY childrens areas aroudn the building.....they all are themed in one way or another this just happened to be the easiest one to get a pic of.....AWESOME childrens ministry there!

4 The exit of the church with PART of the rescource center above it.....I kid you not...thier rescource center is the most complete christian store I have ever been in....It was like goign to a christian mall!!!!

We have pics of the service but they came out blurry on a digital camera....from the 4th row...dont ask how that happens but hey we got some lol....

We have tons and tons of pics....if you would like to see more leave me a comment and Ill be sure to send them your way......

Its as easy as counting!

My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Psalm 27:8 (NIV)

When you said, Make search for my face, my heart said to you, For your face will I make my search.
Psalm 27:8 (BBE)

When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, Lord, I will seek."
Psalm 27:8 (NKJV)


1 verse, 2 main ideas, 3 different translations, 4 you!


obviously the 1, 3, and 4 are easy to understand but you may be saying what are the 2 main ideas.....

the first thing I notice when I read this is the "SEEK MY FACE" now obviously you cant actually physically look GOD or his son in the eyes, and I'm sure he didn't mean go find a picture of me..... what the message is here is spend your time trying to get to know me......read about me...pray with and to me ....talk to others about me....SEEK ME....put some effort into finding out who I am why I was here and what I did for you....sounds all to easy, however, its more that just reading a book or talking with a friend....how do you know your actually on the right path, actually seeking the right person.... well that's the second thing that stands out...

USE YOUR HEART....no where in those three translations did they say...figure me out...research me with your scientific methods, discuss me with your worlds scholars and great minds....no the LORD asks us to use our hearts....

why our hearts? because our minds are so easily misguided and deceived...our heart has no eyes to lead you a stray and no ears to to listen to folly.....our heart is the way GOD speaks to us....with that little voice inside ...the little voice that you have to pay attention to in order to hear...the voice that actually takes effort to obey.....while your eyes and ears dominate your mind and what you should accept ....your heart holds the true story....the world is full of problems.....we know this because we see them...or hear about them every day...but our heart reminds us that there is more.....more to life...more to this universe....more to everything and everyone.... Our eyes can teach us to lust for a person...our ears can teach us to admire a person......but it take our hearts to teach us to LOVE a person.....

in total....you should seek the lord as he asks....but not in traditional methods with research and science but with your heart....because when you find him using your heart.....there will be a bond with him that will not be easily broken...you will have found in him a true and loving relationship....and in my opinion....TRUE LOVE is the bond that can never be broken...

seek him using your heart and find a mutual deep love that nobody can break.....give it a try and test my opinion...what do you have to loose?

Hope this helps someone. Grace and Peace be upon you all.

You Dont need to read this....or do you?

A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.
Proverbs 29:23 (NIV)

Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.
Proverbs 29:23 (NLV)


These verses come from two different translations of the bible however they ring one very true and important fact.....

PRIDE is no substitute for Humility.....

at first glance you might think that the bible is saying pride is all wrong, I don't think that is what the author intends to tell us.....there is nothing wrong in taking pride in your work or being proud of your accomplishments ...... i think the author is simply saying being full of pride in self is destructive...... how many times can you recall needing help but refusing to ask for it.....how many situations could have been lessend in severity or hardship if only you humbled yourself to say....maybe I was wrong...or I'm sorry for my part of this.....or thought I shouldn't have done this how can i make this better......

i have found that in life a lot of people think the goal is to be perfect....or blameless ..... that is exactly opposite of what the bible teaches us.... the bible tells us out right....we are sinners and we are going to screw things up from time to time....saying you don't is calling GOD a liar plain and simple.

All you have to do is put aside your pride and humble yourself enough to own up to your mistakes and shortcomings..... that's what GOD wants ....and it is the first step to EVERY recovery program there is....admitting your problems and mistakes is what wakes us up to what we need to fix.....without admitting your messed up....you cant fix what you don't think is broken....and that is where PRIDE in self becomes dangerous.

Hope this helps someone out there.
Peace and grace upon you all.

Some of those BIG things Popin'

Hello all,

just throwing out a post to let everyone know some of the things we should celebrate... My wife and I are going to be starting a small bible study / cell group on Thursday....my first time stepping out in a leadership roll for GOD...so pray for me.....HUGE things planned on that front..... My brother in law is attempting to join the military....he had great scores on his ASVAB and has the ability to pick ANY job he wants....Praise GOD for giving him the ability to do well on his test! KATIE & DAN....friends / family members of mine.... just bought their 1st house!!!! WHO SAYS WE ARE IN A RECESSION!!!!!! GODs people aren't affected by recession and Katie and Dan are great examples of that today! MUCH CONGRATS to them. Also what may be the most important happening of the week....my brother-in-laws girlfriend made a decision to live for Christ on wed. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS TO RIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It takes a big person and an honest humble heart to ask the lord to come into your life and she stepped up and stepped out into the GRACE of the Lord.........I am so proud of you Rio.....GOD has great things planned for you and through you .......so happy for you. I'm so happy for all of you....

It is an awesome thing to see the lord still hard at work providing his children with blessing after blessing in this time of worldly recession.....The GRACE of GOD knows no bounds and its truly awesome to watch it come through for people over and over again!!!!

I hope this helps someone out there realize that there is always a better way ....and that the best is always yet to come.....May Grace and Peace be upon you all....

WE are BACK!!!!

Hello to all!

My wife and I returned from a 5 day stay in Houston Texas late yesterday afternoon and then attended wed night service at Wave....it was great to get home and back to our church....we attended Lakewood church while we were out there but in the words from OZ....there's no place like home! Lakewood is the church pastored by Joel Osteen incase you were wondering....its a HUGE place with an awesome kids ministry and an even cooler resource store......the sanctuary is overwhelmingly big......we have pics...and I will post them once we get unpacked and find all the necessary cords and what not to do that.

We had a good time...no wild stories to tell or anything like that...just a good break from reality.....Houston itself is not a place I think I would like to live but we found a small community on the outskirts called SUGARLAND....its definitely a place I could see me and my family living....not anytime soon mind you....but maybe one day.

While on our trip Anna and I had some time together to finally figure out what the lord wants to do with us. We had a few discussions about where we were where we wanted to be. We also talked about some things we are wanting to do in the near future and we spent some time in prayer together....for the first time.... it was a good get away for us though next time we are going some place TROPICAL....and without Walmart lol......we ended up going to like 3 different Walmart while we were there....that got me thinking ....did we really go all the way to Texas to visit ....walmart?

Anyway we had a good trip and discovered some things we really want to accomplish before the end of the year...GOD permitting....and we are back home and focused on accomplishing our goals.....be on the look out for posts.... we are going to be launching a few big ideas and this is where you will be hearing about them first. cant wait to tell you guys everything.!!!!! ...but I have to :*( also keep a look out for those pics...
thanks to everyone who kept us in there prayers while we were gone.

VACATION!!!!!!!

Hello all!

It will be a few days before my next post, My wife and I are finally after 10 years going on our first vacation together! we will be gone until the 26Th at which point i will be back with pix of the trip and whats more the announcement of my new vision ....BIG THINGS POPIN....Little things stoppin! Can't wait to get back and tell you all. PRAY for us ...Pray for yourselves....pray for the entire world..... and see ....well talk, to you all soon.

My Son the Prophet

Check out my sons new blog...filled with games....questions and blog posts....he says there is more to come :-)

check it out at www.4thgradeprophet.blogspot.com

Since I havent done one in a while....Im going to do a bible verse ...I should do this more often...sorry I dont...I will try harder....bu tif you want more meat please check out my brothers blog...he has a great online ministry he is starting up called Branches of the Cross....check out his teachings for more "WORD" check them out here: http://brian-mandy.com

James 5:7-8 (niv)
Be patient, then, brothers, until the lords comming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable cropsand how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the lords comming is near.


And now its time for a breakdown:

I think that this verse is pretty self explanitory.....be patient....with everything..know that whatever will be ...will be.....just as you can not rush the growing of the plants or bring on the rains of the seasons ....you can not rush the hand of GOD...he will put you where you need to be exactly when you need to be there and not a moment sooner.....

I recently heard or read something that goes with this....it went something like ....

Work like its up to you but believe like its up to GOD......

A good lesson...and great quote..... if this message combines with the passage taken from the bible then we lshould learn this.
GOD has a plan for you....though it may seem like you are lost or not on the right path ..just be patient...keep working hard and believe that GOD is in control and is going to put you where you need to be....it will all work out for the better in one way or another.!

In the imortal words of Bobby Mcpharen....DONT WORRY....BE HAPPY!

Hope this helps someone.

Wow-za

Just a footnote...
the other day my wife Anna got to speak with the grandson of Gandhi...from what she tells me the experience was very AWESOME they spoke about GOD, the family, his grandfather, all sorts of things..he said he would be back to visit her again...and this time he will bring photos and tapes of his time with his grandfather...awesome stuff....just awesome... and on the Job front...I was laid off last Friday ...booo....I know....but the lord has opened a new door for me....I will be interviewing with a HUGE (international huge) company in my field and they are looking to fill an estimator position ......its along the same lines of what I was doing but different...ill hold off on the details until after I get the job but it looks awesome! Pray for me!

Branches of the Cross

As a quick update:

My brother Brian is starting his own online ministry to be called Branches of the Cross.
I believe it will be started on his blog and they will grow it from there...so all thos interesed please check out thier blog.....the Brian-mandy blog I posted about previously.

HaHaHa

Ok....so check this out....

After my baptism, I started finding it really hard to stay in my walk where I work. I was trying to check my language and thoughts and practices with a bit more effort than normal and People noticed....some of my co-workers actually did their best to consider that around me (thanks charlie) while others decided to try to make things harder for me every chance they got....instead of going back at them and arguing I simply prayed to GOD to surround me with more like minded people....Christians ....or at least people who are mindful of other peoples choices.

Well the lord has answered my prayers.....I GOT LAID OFF ....LOL... one would think I learned my lesson when I prayed for patience ...but hey ....I'm hard headed lol....the up side to all of this is that I know this time the layoff has ZERO to do with the economy and everything to do with GODs WILL......I cant wait to see what he has in store for us...but in the mean while ....I ask that you all pray for me and my family as I am sure that the testing doesn't end with the layoff....that's merely where it will begin....so here we go...off and away twisting in the wind of the lords favor until he finds a place for me to land.....maybe Ill actually get a day of fishing in one day LOL....ill keep you all posted..thanks in advance for your prayers.