Just by a show of hands, (and I know you might not be alone while reading this), but raise your hand anyway if you truly know that you are ready for Jesus to return. If you raised your hands, then let me be the first to say congratulations because you are obviously in a great position. But for the rest of us, who are less than perfect, who steadily strive everyday; day in and day out to be more like Jesus; let me tell you that we have some work to do. And trust me when I tell you, whenever I write about something, it might not be that I am preaching to you, I could just be preaching to myself. You see I recognize that I am far from being perfect; I realize that there are things in my life I know needs changing. I am not just writing to encourage someone else to change their life for the better, I also write so that I can encourage myself to change for the better. You see me smile because I am not going to let myself settle for worry, I am not going to settle for fear, I refuse to settle for a life that is less than pleasing in God's eyes.

You see I am in a better place in my life right now, but there is still a better place that I am striving for. Some might look into mu life, and say but Bryan you seem to be ready; you seem to be living a godly life. But God can see things and can see deeper than the human eyes can see. And believe me, it makes me proud that people view me in that fashion of living a Godly life, but it can upset me at times, because deep down; I know there are times in which I am not. I might not be a drug-dealer, I might not be out there shooting my own brothers or sisters, but I am doing things that are not pleasing to God. And another thing, I might not be a drug-addict or an Alcoholic, but there are things I am addicted to that keep me from living a full life in God. And if we can admit to ourselves, and look at ourselves in a different view; then we can see that there are things in our lives that are not pleasing to God. You see my addiction might not seem wrong to you, but to me; it continues to hold me back.

I have an issue when I get money, I need to go and some new DVD or CD. You might be saying to yourself, well how does that compare with being a drug addict, or an alcoholic? Well as for the damage to the physical body it doesn't compare, but to my emotional and spiritual body it does. You see when I buy that new movie or that new Cd, just for that new song I heard on the radio, I am taking away from my family. And don't get me wrong; it's not about my wife having control over my money that I worked for; it's about not taking away from a growing foundation. Every penny that I earn helps my family grow just that much, and so for me to go buy a Cd in which I did not need, takes away some growth from that foundation. So the less that foundation grows; the less my family grows. And that affects my emotional body; which in turn will affect my spiritual body.

As you can see I am a person that looks at every aspect of my life, and I determine if what I am doing is pleasing to God or hurting him. Some might read this and say well you are just being too hard on yourself. You might be right, but being too hard on myself has gotten me this far in life; so I see no reason to change. Let me ask a question, what if Jesus had never given his life on the cross so many years ago? What would you be doing differently right now? How would you decide to live your life, if you knew your sins would not be forgiven just by asking for forgiveness? Would you take better care in how you lived. or would you just walk around hoping not to fall victim to sin?

You see I know in my heart and soul that Jesus died on the cross to save me, I know he died on that cross so that I could live a life more abundantly. John 3:16 is embedded into my heart, and I know that whenever my watchful eye falls asleep and I fall victim to sin, I can go to my father and be forgiven. You see I've learned that a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got back up. I've learned not to hide my mistakes, not to hide from my fears and my worries. Too many people have allowed that disease stress to overtake their bodies, and ruin them. And notice I called stress a disease, because it is. Now yes it has a cure, but it is a disease nonetheless.

Now stress might not be as deadly as cancer or diabetes or any other of those diseases. But if you allow stress to creep in, and you allow it to flourish; it will take over your body. There have been people fainting from dealing with too much in their lives(stress), there have been people committing suicide because something in their lives they could not control(stress). Everyday people you work with, people you go to school even church with, are dealing with some form of stress. Stress is one of those diseases that can creep up on you without you even realizing that you have it. Stress is an immobilizer, something that will not allow you to move on until you have dealt with it or basically cured it.

Take a look at your own life, and try to determine where you might be stressing. Is there somewhere in your life that stress has slowly taken residence at? Is there a place in your life, whenever the topic comes up a feeling of uneasiness occurs? At some time or another, we all deal with stress in our lives. At times we are stressing about something that we have no control over anyway. "They are going to write me up for being late to work", but this five car accident where a fatality occurred is blocking all lanes. "I never had a chance to say goodbye to my uncle", who suddenly passed away in his sleep. We worry too much about things that just happen; and that's fine, but know that stress is stress, and it can ruin you. Then there is the stress that we can control that has the most effect on us.

How about this one, I cannot stand this job; the people I work with and then my boss, man I cannot stand any of them. They don't treat me right, they treat other people better than me, and I have been there longer. I pray to God everyday that he blesses me so that I can keep this job, but in the back of my mind, I want something better. Is this situation something that I can control? How many people have been here before, or better yet; how many people are there now? How many wake up in the morning praying to God that he allows us to keep this job, but in the back of our minds we crave something better? We allow ourselves to be treated wrongly, we allow our bosses, our co-workers to basically walk over us. But then we go and complain to someone who is in the same situation we are in. Where is that going to get us, how far do we really think we can get in this current situation? For one, if you really do not want to working there, stop praying for it. God gives us what we ask for; we act like we never heard that saying,"watch what you ask for". If you continue to pray to keep that job, then you will continue to keep that job, but if you steadily ask God to bless you with something better, he will begin to place you in situations where better opportunities will come along.

Don't you even realize something, look at how old you are, and next look at how long you have been at your current job. Did you not know how to survive without your current job before, so what makes you think you will not be able to survive without it. And granted you might have more money now than before, but I believe in an awesome God. I believe in a God that has unlimited wealth to bestow upon me. I don't know about your God, but my God promised that he would never leave me nor forsake me. My God promised that if I would trust him and obey him, and abide by his word that he would bless my life, and not just bless it a little bit, but that he would bless it abundantly. So I don't know about you, but I know who I'm going to lean on the next time, I find myself slipping. You see because we tend to put too much faith and trust into people who can only do so much, and go so far with us in our moments of stormy weather.

You can go to whomever you want to go to, but I will tell you this; I want more than just an umbrella in a rainstorm. I want more than just snowshoes when it gets too thick in the winter time. I want more than a fan and an air-conditioner when it's hotter than hell outside. I can't speak for no one else, but I can speak for myself. All that is fine, if you want to just get by, but if you want to make through; I mean really make it through you need more than just an umbrella, snowshoes or a fan. To make it through that rainstorm, you need shelter from that rainstorm, to get through that thick winter storm or to get away from that heat; you need shelter. And the only shelter I know that can get you through anything this life or world throws at you is Jesus.

Stop placing your faith in temporary situations that will only mask the problem, you don't need masking tape or some crazy glue. Tape can only last so long, and while crazy glue will hold you together, look closely the problem is still there. Go to God and get yourself welded together. Get some permanent solutions to all your problems. Trust in God; allow him to direct your paths. His word promises you, and I promise you that your life will be fine. Let's go to God as we close...

"Lord we come to you right now, asking you for your guidance, asking you for direction. Lord you already know the issues we deal with in our lives, so we come seeking a better understanding of what you would have us to do. Our problems at work, our problems at home, the issues that may come on a daily basis, we ask that you bless us to see our solutions more clearly. We have dealt with things far too long, and so we turn them over to you right now. Our finances, our job worries, our relationships, our families we turn them over to you right now. Search our hearts Lord; help us to know you in a better way. Draw us nearer to you O Lord right now. Bless our coming in and our going out. Make a way out of no way, and we promise to give you the praise for the rest of our days. We love you Lord, thank you for your son, thank you for choosing us when you did. Nothing we do can ever compare. Continue to watch over us, in your darling sons' Jesus name we do pray; Amen!

"REMEMBER GOD FIRST AND THE WORLD LAST!"