Jono's Weblog

197. Today is the first day of the rest of your life

jbrower115 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:48:03 +0000

Look at the calendar on your wall and circle today’s date. Maybe draw a bold zig-zag around it too. Then a good hefty arrow to define it even more. Look at it for a long time and memorize the date, the weather, the events that will take place today. Because today is your first chance to take the step you’ve been waiting to take. It’s the opportunity to say what you’ve been wanting to say. It’s the perfect time to take on that burden and risk the failure. Today is the first chance you could ever have at changing someone’s life.

196. The Risk of Hopelessness

jbrower115 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:31:50 +0000

We shake our fists at the air as if it will ease the pain and quench the insatiable fight to survive. That fight that will encase our broken dreams in the spite and hate. The regret and remorse will shape our cocoons and lift our pitiful souls into the pragmatic beasts we will become. Our bitter hearts will follow the trails of deceit and the dread of another failure will accompany us to the revenge we ultimately seek. Our lives will be draped by the oppression of our own filthiness. And our hopes of brightness may be forever dimmed behind the curtain of anger and unspoken grudges.

195. What They Think

jbrower115 — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 08:16:23 +0000

What people think is only as effective as you let it be. Their words and expressed thoughts can only cut as deep as you let them. You are not who they think you are, they don’t know everything about you. Your life is yours to live, and only God can judge you. Don’t worry about what other people think, they don’t do it very often.

194. Show Me What You Know

jbrower115 — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:27:57 +0000

Walk me down the lonely road of oppression and greed. Guide me past the crumbling ruins. Show me a death or a loss. Show me a forsaken love and a crushed heart. Show me a trial and the pain of failure. Show me the depression, show me the anger. Show me the drama that surrounds the normal and the ignorance that enshrouds the paranormal. Show me the apathy and the drunken babbling of a scared world.
And I’ll show you the hope and the joy that we can have. I’ll walk you past the monuments that prove His mercy. I’ll show you the groves of vibrant trees that wave in the breeze. I’ll walk you up the steps to the heights of His grandeur and let you feast your weary eyes on the blessings He has given each of us. I’ll meander down the paths of faith and glory. I’ll show you a solution, a cure. I’ll show you the atonement you seek, the washing of the soul.

193. When a little bit goes a long way

jbrower115 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:49:46 +0000

Where do you regularly compromise? What do you do on a daily basis that you know may be wrong, unjust, or distracting? I have seen my friends carried away by one simple little compromise that they let grow as they matured, and as they make bigger decisions, they make bigger compromises. My question is simple: When will we stop making these dangerous “innocent, little, unimportant, momentary” compromises?

192. The Immune System of Your Soul

jbrower115 — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:46:12 +0000

I once had a weak immune system and I would catch all sorts of little viruses and yucky stuff. I would barely recover from one sickness before another would crash in and ruin my potentially good health. It wasn’t until I had begun to eat a better diet, and to focus on building up what little strength I had that I got better. And it seems to be so similar in our spiritual lives also. You may have a weak immune system of your soul, and it is only through a steady, healthy diet of God’s word and other materials that you will slowly, gradually build up the strengths you have.

191. The Rush

jbrower115 — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:35:12 +0000

It’s the moment when someone looks me in the eye and says “You’re crazy”. It’s the flash of light as I turn upside down above the hard ground. I love the shock of failure just as much as the thrill in success. My mind reaches for the greatest risk and sets my feet in motion. My body lurches over the edge to feel the rush that reddens my face and brightens my eyes. But what for? Why do I seek the rush, the thrill, the excitement?

190. Choose this day

jbrower115 — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:13:54 +0000

Bury your pride and cease the war you’ve brought on yourself. Forget the gossip and listen to what is true. Your life isn’t what you think it is, and a dose of humility will quell the ignorance you’ve been fostering. Your teeth are tired of the fake smiles, welcome the honest ones. When will your striving quit? Or will you fight for a false cause till the day you die? Choose this day who you will serve.

189. His plan and mine

jbrower115 — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:12:43 +0000

Its’ funny to think that so many of the successful people in the world have had pasts riddled with mistakes and faulty compromises. They lived lives of failure, and yet today they stand tall, chins held high. I have often looked at the lives of others, so perfect, and wondered if you had to be born into it. I would let myself feel comforted by the lies that I was not good enough, I was not destined to be great at anything. In my shallow little eyes my future was only a little job, with a little wife, where I would struggle to pay the electric bill and eventually die, never having retired. But with an attitude of premeditated failure, what could be expected? Of course that’s all I would become. But God gives us the motivation to be more than the minimum. He charges us to be more than conquerors. We as His servants are destined to do great things for Him. In our social life, our family life, our church life, and our business. We cannot. . .I cannot. . .shirk my responsibility, or ignore my calling, or shun the gifts and blessings I have received. I cannot turn away from God’s plan and pursue my own with unrighteous, selfish, doubtful goals.

188. The life of the young

jbrower115 — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:00:05 +0000

To some there is a point in life to goof off and mess around while they are young and wild and free. They treat life as though it is a game to be played until someday when they buckle down and get serious. To others life is s battle to be won by the efforts of their youth and the vigor they possess. One tosses their youth away for fun and pleasure, while another tosses it away for heavy responsibility and the fulfillment of their self imposed duties. Is there a middle ground, a happy medium, a safe compromise?