book #1

since Pappa God has put musings of an author on my heart for some time now, I am both grateful and excited to say that I believe we not have a catylistic idea that will bring together the first book.

It ill be titled

"TRE"

(keys to an amazing life from your loving Pappa)

I am now wrestling with ideas that will become the KEYS contained in the book

here are the random ideas from my piece of paper...

lead yourself, attitude, believe, forgive, direction, obey, openness, friends, rest, character, fun (balance)

It will have lots of stories from your Pappa's life that you can learn from, stand on, and reach higher than I have. I will keep organizing these thoughts in Pappa God's presence over the next month and then begin the fun journey of Pappa God speaking through me, to you!

How to be a son

Luke 15:11-31

It is the infamous story that we call "Prodigal Son." The Bible says there was a man with two sons. One of them goes to His Dad and asks him for his share of the inheritance and skips town going on a rampage doing all he can to ruin his life. He comes to his senses and thinks that he is no longer worthy to be his Dad's son and decides instead to be one of his servants. I have done this in my life after being a rebellious teenager, I realized how GOOD my Papa God is and I returned to him, and was welcomed back with a party of God's unmerited favor and enjoyed a season of wonderful time in His presence, were he spoke to me and through me in mighty ways, all in spite of me and not because of me.

At some point as I learned more of the things of God, I eventually became the OTHER brother! It was very subtle but my value or identity slowly became in what I was doing for God and what I was not doing that was bad, anymore. Now looking back on even a few years ago, when I was the Youth Pastor at The Rock, I was fault finding and critical of the humanity in other leaders, because they had not "Earned" what I had earned. I am now discovering God's increasing pleasure in being with me as I relinquish the false notion that I need to have a position or opinion about those around me. Am I Angry because my Papa is Good? (See Matthew 20) I live as His son, and all that is His is mine. It is not earned with my daily tasks, in fact they are not my daily tasks at all! I am working in His fields. The disconnect from the principal of Heaven that this brother was experiencing I have also experienced. His focus was on being diligent to earn the affections of His Father. His drive is that one day, it will all be his. Humanity is driven to please others in order to get something from them (money, advice, time, approval, friendship.) Yet the kingdom of God does NOT operate this way. Our father is not going to pass away. It will never become solely ours! Yet, many of us treat our relationship with Papa this way and are trying to get something from Him that He has already given us. Thinking that if we do a good job He will answer more of our prayers, give us a promotion at work, or bless our efforts that He never authored in the first place. His ways are not our ways, His thought are NOT our thoughts.... they are ALWAYS better.

³¹“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you and I are veryclose, and everything I have is yours. ³²We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life!He was lost, but now he is found!’”