Atrophy

I haven't played basketball in four weeks and then played Friday for over 2 hours and Tuesday night for over 2 hours. Now my calves are so on fire and sore. they feel like they could knot up any time.

I have read that when you don't use your muscles for a while you can get atrophy. Which means you have the loss of muscle tone and strength? It makes even more sense to me now after basketball.

I think it is like our walk with god if we are not using the gifts and talents that God has given us then I feel we will lose them.

Luke 19:12-27 God gives us differnt abilites to use for His glory. What are you doing with the talents God has given you?????


Just a thought.

Remember: It is All Good

Preparing for God

The last couple of days I have been working on getting some ground ready to put in a small garden with some corn and tomatoes. This ground has been grass and never been used as a garden so there is a lot to do. We have been pulling out the weeds and trying to kill what we could not get. When we tilled it to get rid of the grass, we came across many stones and it looks like this area used to be part of the driveway at one time. So we picked up and got rid of the rocks from the area.

Next we are going to put in some good soil and compost to make it rich soil for maximum growth.

After I was looking at this area I started thinking about our own lives in Christ Jesus. If we are going to have maximum growth with God then we need to start getting rid of the weeds in our lives. When we are done pulling the weeds then we need to let God kill the rest of the weeds we did not get and then we start working on the stones. One by one we pull out these things that have made our hearts hard. So we can be ready to listen to what God wants of our lives.

Matthew 13:1-23 Talks about the sower and the seeds I think it will help you understand better.

What do you need to get rid of in order for God to help you grow in your faith???

What do you need to do to prepare for God to move in your life??

Just some thoughts.

It Is All Good.

The Ride of Your Life

I read in Max Lucado's book "3:16 The Number of Hope," a story of an air force pilot who one day forgot to secure himself into the seat of his high-powered jet. he completed every other preliminary act. He satisfied his checklist from beginning to end. Yet he forgot to buckle his seat belt. His jet was configured in such a way that once the plane was airborne, the belt could not be secured. Ejection from the plane meant separation from his seat, and separation from his seat meant separation from his parachute and a face-plant at 120 miles per hour.

What would you do if you found yourself not having a parachute and flying a jet plane?

I was thinking that a lot of people do this. We live our lives daily doing things on our own. We don't take God with us or allow God to help us because we feel we can take care of it ourselves. Or sometimes we just get too busy and forget to spend time with Him and so are unable to connect with him.

Until we get in trouble then we want the parachute, then we cry out to God for help and ask Him to save us.

Let's ask God to be the Pilot and let him guide our plane.

It Is All Good

Deserving Great Things

It looks like our new family car is going to be a red Mustang convertible. I have been thinking about this and it has been hard for me to think that God is opening a door for us to own such a car. I feel like I don't deserve to drive such a car. It is really hard for me. I love that so many people are telling me it is okay and God never said he doesn't want us to have nice things.

This reminds me of God's grace sometimes it is hard for us to understand that God could love us enough to send His one and only son to die on the cross for our sins. I have heard so many people tell me that they did not deserve God's love.

I am here to tell everyone that God loves you and wants great things for your life.

Ephesians 2:4,5 "But because of His great love for us, God, who rich in His mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions(sin)- it is by grace you have been saved."

God wants to do great things in each one of our lives. We just need to be open for Him to move us towards greatness.

So when you see me drivng out in my new family car. Wave and know that I love that God loves you and me.

It Is All Good

God Chooses You

When I was in 3rd grade there were 1st graders that were bigger than me. So needless to say when it came to picking teams for kickball. It seemed that I was always last. At times I did not want to play just so I wouldn't be chosen last.

A couple of months ago on a Tuesday night someone came up with the great idea of having captains and choosing teams for basketball. You will never guess what happened.

It came to the end of choosing teams and the other captain said you can have Nate. Yes, I was chosen last. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. Funny, as an adult being picked last still bothers me. lol

I thought about being picked last and then in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-17 I read that God chose me. God loved me and chose me. God chooses each one of us to be on the first team. NO one is chosen last in God's eyes. YOU ALL ARE FIRST PICKS. Be encouraged God has a plan for you and he wants you on His team.

Now back to the Tuesday night basketball when I was chosen last. We play games to 11 counting 1 point for a basket and 2 points for a shot behind the three point line.

Well that night the first game I scored 5 of our 11 points , the second game I made 8 of the 11 points, and that happened all night. Maybe at the end of the night I reminded everyone that I was picked last and yet was the leading scorer, just maybe.

Thanks for reading.

IT IS ALL GOOD

Sometimes It Hurts

I took my son Sam to the doctor today because his back was hurting. It has been hurting for a few days and didn't want anyone to touch it. He could not get comfortable and no matter what we tried to do for him it hurt. The doctor suggested that he go to the chiropractor to have his back adjusted.

We took him to the chiropractor and his back was out and it hurt to get it put back in place. Once he got the treatment, he started to feel better.

It reminds me of how we are sometimes with God. We are living outside of what God wants and we are hurting. We can't get comfortable and no matter what we do it doesn't seem to help. We try everything we know of to try to help ourselves.

Until we allow God to adjust our lives, (and sometimes it hurts) we may never find peace and relief from the pain in our lives.

It is not what we may want for our lives but it is what God wants.

Mark 4:35-41 When the storms of life come there is only one who can bring a total calm.

Thanks for reading.

It Is All Good

Encouraging to Greatness

Some people have been telling me to help with my breathing i should be playing my trumpet more to expand my lungs and it brought back thoughts of when I was in 6th grade.

When I was in 6th grade I played the trumpet in band and I was not very good. I was like 10th out of 12. The band director was a rather mean man or so many people thought and he threw things at children not paying attention or messing up. Well half way into the year he had a heart attack. I went to the hospital to see him and took him a cactus because he could see it and it didn't need much care. I started to go see him on a regular basis and after the hospital at home. We built a relationship with each other.

Well at the same time we had a sub come in and teach band. He was not very nice to me and one day he had all the trumpets play one at a time and when he came to me. I tried to play but I didn't do very well. He told me I should think about quitting and that my lips were too big to play the trumpet. It was not only embarrassing but it hurt. ( He should have talked to Louis Armstrong)

Ephesian 4:29 is one of my favorite verses in the bible. It talks about instead of tearing people down we need to lift them up. Mr. Utley my regular band teacher did that.

My regular band teacher came back for the next year and when I started the 7th grade someone messed up my schedule and I wasn't in band or the sub did it I will never know. lol I went to the Band teacher Mr. Utley and he said come down during study hall and he would work with me privately. He not only worked with me on playing the trumpet but he taught me to play the baritone. He told me I had a gift and I could do great and that I should try playing the baritone in band. He taught me how to play the bass clef as well as treble clef. By the second half of the year I was back in band and became the first chair in the baritones out of 4.

There are many more stories of how people lifted me up and encouraged me. Since the 6th grade and going from being told to quit and having big lips to a man taking me aside and pouring his music into me. Leads me to now.

I have played professionally and now play all the brass instruments. I currently own 2 trumpets, a cornet, a trombone, a baritone, and Stephanie's french horn. I have come to love playing my instruments.

So if you have a chance and see an opportunity to encourage and lift someone up, Just Do it. You never know what someone else might have said to bring them down.

Just a thought.

Keep on Keeping on

Okay this blog thing is not as easy as it sounds I have rewritten this blog three times. lol

I was thinking that I got people thinking about what their shadow missions might be. Some of you might have been able to name your shadow mission while others are still wondering what theirs might be.

I want to share with you some ideas on how to defeat your shadow mission and live a victorious life for God. If you do know what your shadow mission is then you are ahead in defeating this mission that takes you away from the mission that God has for you. You can only destroy it once you know what it is.

Once you know what your shadow mission is you need to find someone who can help you overcome your shadow mission through loving and encouraging accountability.

I think if you have loving encouragment around you, you can conquer anything.

In Matthew 14, it mentioned about Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water. Walking on water towards Jesus. Many, many people will tell you over and over again that the reason that Peter began to sink is that he didn't have enough faith.

I want to chase a different angle on this passage. I had a friend share this with me and it makes sense. As I look at verse 29 it says that Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. From that I gather that Peter had enough faith and because of it, he got an oportunity to walk on water. How awesome is that.

What Peter lacked was people on the boat cheering him on telling him he could do it. Instead I can see the other disciples telling him that he is crazy. Don't do it Peter it is safer in the boat.

I think that if someone would have been yelling out to Peter good job, Keep going you are almost there, Don't stop Peter you can do it, that Peter could have gone all the way to Jesus.

I know for me when people tell me that I can do it, that I am doing a good and encourage me it makes me want to conquer mountains. It makes me want to do more and do better.

I think we all need an encourager in our corner if we are going to conquer our shadow missions.

Keep on Keeping on

your shadow mission

As I write this I am both humbled and overwhelmed that people might want to look inside this mind of Nate Gibbons.

I think we are all put on this earth by God for a purpose but we need to realize it is for God's purpose not ours. I have been reading a book called "Overcoming Your Shadow Mission by John Ortberg.

I love that John shares that in the book of Esther, Esther thinks that her mission was to be the queen but that was her shadow mission her mission was to save the Jews.

Since reading this book I believe that most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have a shadow mission or something that takes us away from what God has intended for us to do with our lives.

Here are the top ten shadow missions that John gives:

1. Just give me home, health, and a hefty 401(k)
2. Busy, busy, busy.
3. I don't care who is in charge as long as it is me.
4. Show me the money.
5. It is all about me.
6. Maintaining hidden addictions.
7. I'll think about it tomorrow.
8. Looking nice by avoiding conflict.
9. Climb the ladder first, put people second.
10. Shop til you drop.

I struggle over and over with the second one. Being busy. I find that I can be totally busy all the time doing great things. I forget to slow down enough to let God go in front of me. I am learning that instead of asking God to bless my plans I should ask God to go before me as a snow plow and create the path that he wants me to travel on.

I love though that I have people that will speak the truth in love to me and tell me to slow down and listen to God. Like Esther had Mordecai who shared with her in love that she needed to take care of her people the Jews and that God had put her in a position to do this.

What is your shadow mission? What is keeping you from doing what God wants you to do?

Who do you have that can lovingly help remind you when you go after your shadow mission?

Thanks for spending your time reading this.